Author Topic: Eclipse on Insane  (Read 2416 times)

Brannin Vael

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Eclipse on Insane
« on: February 19, 2003, 11:57:20 PM »
Yay! I finally beat the Eclipse gang on insane difficulty.  :D  :lol:  Actually it was 2 weeks ago but I am just now getting around to writing about it, and wanted to share it with you all.  :D

First off I would like to thank Westley Weimer for making such a great mod and NPC in Solaufein. The dialog of these guys was hilarious! At least it was just before they turned my party into quivering sushi so many times... It took me about 10 tries to finally get a strategy for beating them on Insane without taking any damage.

I've thought about going in depth about how I did it but I will spare everyone the length(This incredibly long post was originally intended to be even longer!) Gag.... I think a lot folks here have probably already finished this 'battle' and don't want to bore you all too much...but I am just too excited and gotta tell ya! :lol:

My party consisted of:
PC(fighter/thief) equipped: CF+5 & Saanchudoku(sp?)
Solaufein            equipped: Moonblade +5 & FoA's+5
Sarevok              equipped: The Silver Sword
Edwin                 equipped: Elemental staff
Viconia                equipped: MoD+2 & energy blades
Valen                  equipped: Her hands +5 & Torgals claw

My Strategies:

1.) Since the Eclipse crew pretty much goes after the party member with the lowest AC. I made sure it would be Edwin. This took the heat off everyone else for the short term. Edwin would be very protected by any attack they might make, and it allowed his chain's to fire onto the appropriate enemies that needed to take the heavy damage.

2.)Buff heavily and keep it. In a nutshell I used Edwin to cast buffing spells(scrolls and from memory) from images. Buffing using the green protection scrolls from an image is great buffing cheese because the protections stack, last for hours, and are virtually free. Since Edwin's buff's are cast from a high level mage, my idea was they would better resist the remove magics my party would encounter. Viconia cast her particular brand of buffing spells such as regeneration, death ward, chaotic commands, etc. Edwin would not equip(it was in his quick weapon slot however) the Staff of the Magi. He did use its powerful spell trap ability however. Valen and my PC had UAI so they cast (from scrolls) stoneskins, fireshield red and blue, Spell turning(last buff). Everyone is protected from: energy, magic energy, the elements(120+% for a healing effect if necessary), poison, and undead(except Valen...I don't even know if it would work on her but even so she won't get it regardless...my quirkiness...  :rolleyes: ).Edwin and Sola had Protection from Magic Weapons set in a contingency. Also Edwin cannot be invisible since I needed him to draw everyone(the fighters) to him. They cannot see through invisiblity and rely on the cleric and sorcerer's True Sight and Remove magics, respectively, to clear that up(That's how it appeared anyhow). On the whole I didn't even mess with invisibility. Nor did I use any spell immunities, relying more upon spell turning instead. It seemed to work okay. I made sure everyones constitution was buffed to 16 or more(that I could) depending on the class. Potions of Mind focusing were drunk to max effect. Potions of giant strength where needed, etc., etc. You all know the drill...

3.) (also the actual fight summary)To remove their heavy buffs and cause very massive damage very quickly. Eliminate all the fighters within the first round or before the first time stop anyhow. Leaving the fighters to live and prowl around and attack during the time stop was very bad news for me on many previous occasion. So I made sure that Edwin had loaded in his chain a x1 remove magic and x2 ADHW(target enemy, see enemy). Solaufein had the same. After being teleported to the eclipse fight area, I had Edwin set another chain immediately after the first went off with the same as before. Solaufein however set a chain with x3 ADHW. Next they would each cast spell triggers with Death Fog x3 at the dead clerics belonging's. More on dead cleric below...

*side note* I used no teleportation spells at all in my final games. After using them in the beginning, it became evident that I was having too much trouble targeting these guys and maintaining a high, sustained rate of damage upon their persons in melee...

My fighter types would all set their HlA's: assassinate(PC), assassinate(valen), Critical strike(Sarevok), and viconia would use Energy blades on the weakest of the fighters from the chain's that went off. Before, I used to run her to the back of the arena and start casting Greater Restoration. But my party never took any damage in the final fights so it became unnecessary to use, and so I just had her wade in with energy blades, attacking the weakest.

My PC went straight for the cleric. Who died in about 2 blows or less. Next moving to the Sorcerer after that. Once Sola and Edwin got their triggers targeted and off on the belongings they started doing what melee they could and Sola set Critical Strike and took off for the Druid if all the fighters had died. The Druid and the Sorcerer were still protected and buffed so they usually lived the longest. Valen and Sarevok would clean up on any fighters that lived through the ADHW's and would move to the Sorcerer afterward if still alive.

The Sorcerer's chain usually went off during this time with a remove magic, a Dragon's breath, and Spell Trap. Since my party is heavily buffed and well protected the Dragon's breath does nothing at all. By now, Edwin's and Sola's chains go off and all the Undead(whom I've ignored) finally die off and all the fighters died. The cleric has been dead for awhile now and the Druid is soon to become fertilizer for some forests somewhere.

Total eclipse. The Druid dies very quickly now and the Sorcerer is targeting my PC who has spell turning buffed. No problem. Sola moves to the last and final, the Sorcerer.

Time starts to flow again and Edwin loads another chain with x2ruby ray and breach. As well as casts a Remove magic. My PC uses the wand of reversal and everyone hits upon the Sorcerer. It is important to note that Vorpal weapons(thanks Alson :)) do indeed work very well here and would make very quick work of the Sorcerer. I elected to use a slightly inferior (because it allows a save) one, the Silver Sword, compared to the ToB level items. This was because I wanted to keep Sarevoks attacks per round up, since he had grand mastery in swords. The Sorcerer soon dies anyway because were all over him.

Success! What a great feeling it was to go from getting sliced and diced to doing the slicing and dicing for a change! But I will very much miss their most humorous banter. A great mod. Totally hilarious and intimidating at the same time! :lol:  :D  :lol:


To all players of this mod- What did you think of the Eclipse battle and/or what strategies did you use to beat them?

Thanks for reading my long post.  :)
                   

Mike B.

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Eclipse on Insane
« Reply #1 on: February 20, 2003, 05:05:37 PM »
I had fun with the Eclipse encounter too.  I beat it on core rules with NO buffs of any kind on my party.  I didn't use any potions or spells.  Of course, I had already beaten the Eclipse fight many times and knew what to expect. As I was teleported in, my PC (fighter dualled to a mage) and Sola quickly cast Remove Magic.  Imoen cast Teleport Field.  Aerie cast Holy Smite and Jaheira cast Insect Plague.  Minsc used the Sunray from Daystar to eliminate the Devil Shades/Shadows.  The enemies couldn't close on me because of the teleport field.  The next round, Imoen and I cast Dragon's Breath killing the Druid and Cleric.  Sola closed on the Sorcerer and finished him with greater whirlwind.  Jaheira and Minsc kept the fighters busy.  The next round, everyone focused their attacks on the anti-paladin lowering him to near death.  I lost track of time and forgot to cast Protection from Magic Weapons before the first eclipse (time stop).  I lost Aerie to the barbarian, but would have been fine if I had cast PMW.  After the time stop, I killed off the anti-paladin and crushed the barbarian out of spite.  The last fighter died in the next round.  Lots of fun, but couldn't had done it without lots of practice.                    

Brannin Vael

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Eclipse on Insane
« Reply #2 on: February 20, 2003, 10:32:45 PM »
That's a lot harder than the way I did it for sure. Going in without buffs...whew! Most of my strategy totally relied on it. I'll be practicing a LOT more before I try that.  :ph34r:  :o

Mike...what weapons did jaheira and Minsc use? And, did the fighters ignore them and try to get to Aerie? Also, while they were being teleported around, how did you target and keep damaging the fighters? I found this to the hardest thing to do unless I used throwing spears or axes.                    

Mike B.

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Eclipse on Insane
« Reply #3 on: February 21, 2003, 06:39:05 PM »
Jaheira used Pitchwife +5 (club) and Minsc wielded Lilarcor +5 (two handed sword).  Both items are found in the Item Upgrade mod.  The fighters weren't much of a problem.  Imoen was wearing the Robe of Vecna so her teleport field was cast very quickly.  Thus, the fighters kept being teleported away from my party.  I ignored them at the start of the battle and concentrated on killing the spell casting Eclipse members first.  Only after the three spell casters were dead did I focus on the fighters.  Minsc, Jaheira and Sola all had the improved boots of speed (also in the Item Upgrade mod.)  All three ganged up on one fighter at the same time.  My three magic users simply cast away with area attack spells like Horrid Wilting, Dragons Breath, Holy Smite and Storm of Vengeance.  The fighters were taking a severe beating.  The anti-paladin was the closest to my three tanks, so he was attacked first.  When the teleport field moved him, they followed in hot pursuit.  I lost Aerie because I forgot about the Eclipse.  Sola had earned the Moonray and spell memorization award.  Sola tried to heal the party(one of the Moonray's many powers) during the Eclipse, but the Barbarian closed in and killed Aerie just as the Moonray healed everyone (20d6 of hit points restored).  After the Eclipse, the anti-paladin died in seconds and my three tanks hunted the Barbarian down out of spite.  The third fighter didn't last long against  the remaining five.  

Buffs are helpful in this fight , but not required.  The Remove Magic spells at the start of the battle removed the Eclipse party's buffs.  My party didn't use buffs, so it was even.  Don't forget I used CORE rules which slows down the time between Eclipse (time stop). Besides, I didn't send my party in naked.  Every party member had  the best weapons, armor and magic items.  My spell casters had just finished resting and had maximum spells memorizied. The point I'm trying to make is good strategy and a bit of luck can overcome a lack of preparation before a battle. As a side note, this was a special event based on me knowing exactly what the Eclipse gang would do.  I usually start every battle buffed up and ready to go.                    

Brannin Vael

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Eclipse on Insane
« Reply #4 on: February 21, 2003, 10:11:32 PM »
Thanks for that info Mike. I always like hear what strategies people use. Knowing when the Time Stop would happen seems to be a bit of a trick. I can get a semi-close gauge on when its going to happen by counting the number of attacks my party members make and using auto-pause. But it is still tricky however.  :)                    

Rataxes

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Eclipse on Insane
« Reply #5 on: February 28, 2003, 07:05:31 PM »
I just very recently beat them as well on Insane with the following party

Lvl 18/22 Ranger/Cleric with the Fulcrum +4 (bloody awesome weapon) and Crom Faeyr +5
Minsc at lvl 28, wielding Foa +4 and Storm Star +3
Keldorn at lvl 28, wielding Foebane +5 and Purifier +5
Mazzy at lvl 32, wielding Bloodbane +5
Sola at lvl 18/20 with Angurvadal +5 and Defender of Easthaven +3
Aerie at lvl 18/21 with Staff of the Ram +6

Wrote a huge report about it here

I'll make it a bit shorter here

I used most prebuff spells available in my spellbook before going in, though most of them wore off or were dispelled shortly after the battle began. The essential stuff like Imp Haste, Prot from Fire, Prot from Evil, Free Action and Stoneskin remained intact for a sufficient amount of time at least.

What I did in the starting round was to use a very carefully placed Dispel Magic from Keldorn so that it would affect as much of their party as possible, but none of my members. I had used Teleport Field in a previous attempt and came to the conclusion that for Hack'n'Slash parties like my own, it complicates the battle rather than making it easier. Thus, I was forced to come up with another solution to the problem of facing all three eclipse fighters at once.

Mazzy immediately used Smite and used her mighty throwing spear to knock the Berserker and Kensai away from the action. This worked like a charm and left the Anti-Paladin (who, among with the rest of his party, now had his protections dispelled by Keldorn) all alone with five hasted and deadly fighters. We were actually able to kill him before the first eclipse kicked in. The Kensai and Berserker spent their entire free round slashing at Solas PfMW, while the spellcasters did their best to try and kill two Skeleton Warriors Aerie had summoned with a Spell Sequencer.

Aerie now died for some reason, not that it mattered much. We again concentrated fire on one of the fighters and this time chose the Kensai, who died quite fast as well. The Skellies were now dead and Sola had summoned a Planetar. Needless to say though, my entire party had still taken massive damage from the constant barrage of Dragon breaths and Creeping Dooms and all of them chugged down potion after potion to stay alive.

Another eclipse, the Berserker spent his free round slashing at my PC's Ironskins. We killed him in the following two rounds, though victory didn't come as easily as before.

Only the spellcasters remained now and they had already exhausted their most damaging spells on my Skeletons and the Planetar, who was still alive! Taking them down wasn't that difficult, they didn't accomplish much in their free rounds either. I had to use a Greater Restoration at some point in the second half of the fight since my entire party was extremely badly wounded. Minsc even died from a Creeping Doom, and we killed the Sorceress with our fists since she insisted on casting PfMW all the time.
I had two casulties, I revived them both instantly after the fight, and we snatched enough loot to go above 1.000.000 GP, so I guess it was a total victory! :)
                   

Brannin Vael

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Eclipse on Insane
« Reply #6 on: March 01, 2003, 12:26:29 PM »
That's a pretty good job, Rataxes, considering the minimum use of spells and such.

I found that targeting the Druid with Sola was very helpful for me because the elemental damage that his sword does was causing the Druid to miscast his spells. Or it seemed like it was anyway, even though the Druid was taking no damage (until the iron skins wore off or Edwin cast a Remove Magic directly on or near him) from it at first. But Creeping Doom and Natures beauty...I hate it when he gets those spells off... :angry:

I read your report on the Ironworks board. Who had the chain contingency loaded? Did Aerie and Sola both have contingencies?

                   

Rataxes

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Eclipse on Insane
« Reply #7 on: March 01, 2003, 02:02:07 PM »
Sola had the chain contingency, I only needed it to kill of the devil shades, and one batch of 3x Abi-Dalzim's was enough for that.

I killed them a few more times that evening, refining my strategy :) I'm finding the Smite HLA to be more awesome the more I use it. Armed with the Bloodbane and Imp Haste, Mazzy alone removed both of their priests from the action for 2-3 rounds, as well as knocking the kensai and berserker away from the action. That alone won me the first half of the battle. Also had Sola use his Moonrays to get rid of the Shadow Fiends. They didn't do much damage to the eclipse team though, but getting rid of the 10-12 Fiends was more than enough. Weak as they may be, things get a hell of a lot easier the fewer enemies you have to contend with.

One cheesy thing I tried a few times was to get a load of things done before their party loads, it's possible to pause in-between the loading screen and their appearance (though you probably already know that). The best use I found for this free time was to move my R/C up to the Devil Shades (it's all dark so you have to guess the right spot) and turn them. This rid me of all undead creatures before the battle had even started! Though things became almost too easy when I did that ;)                    

Brannin Vael

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Eclipse on Insane
« Reply #8 on: March 01, 2003, 02:38:12 PM »
Actually, I have not been able to pause before they load. Are you just timing a hit on the spacebar? I'll give it a try the next time I play these guys. The best I was able to do was to pause just after the Sorcerer loads and before they initiate dialog. However, I was able to get several things done during this time that indeed made the battle go a bit easier versus waiting for the dialog to end.

I used smite a couple of times but elected not to use it in the end because I really wanted them to come to me. However, I like your strategy of knocking them away like that. Depending on what tactics your using, I can see that would be a great advantage indeed.   B)                    

Rataxes

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Eclipse on Insane
« Reply #9 on: March 01, 2003, 02:46:48 PM »
Nah I think it's very hard to actually time a pause. What I do (did) is constantly tap the space button when the loading screen is almost finished. Just make sure you're not tapping too fast, or else you might unpause and not have time to pause again. I don't like it myself like I said, a tad cheesy and it takes away a little from the satisfaction one should feel when they finally go down :)

I also wanted them to come to me, but one at a time, five of my fighters vs one of theirs sort of gives me the advantage  B) That is why I decided not to use Teleport Field, it left me unable to choose who I wanted to take out and I really lost both control and the ability to overlook the battle when I used it, not my thing!                    

 

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