Three PotD ToI parties ended by dragon hubris

[omgFIREBALLS]

All three consisted of chanters only.

The thing is, once I unlock ogres, I feel invincible, because I know nothing can kill them as fast as I can replace them. That leaves only two problems - living long enough to summon them the first time, and staying far enough away that I don't die as collateral. Usually I can accomplish both of these with figurines keeping monsters busy while I build phrases. Usually. So anyway...

Party 1 (level 11), Alpine Dragon: Went to the top right corner, attacked without speaking, threw figurines out, was a little hectic but I got to the ogres without losing anyone. I was cornered at that point and a breath at my ogres got me too.

Party 2 (level 10), Adra Dragon: I lost 2 chanters pretty early, but she was blocked off by her own minions. I felt I had it under control and switched to some slower chants (Dragon Thrashed) to mop things up, but the Adragans stunned me too much, I fell behind on phrases and was more or less wiped by Unrelenting Storm. I was cornered and couldn't avoid them.

Party 3 (level 10), Adra Dragon, "I learned much from last time", I had to scramble to save the poor chanter I used to talk to her because she got stunned for 12s immediately. After a minute or so of fighting uphill, I was once again cornered even if with ogres fighting for me, and she breathed on my whole party critting exactly everyone (they have abysmal reflex saves) and wiping me.

Now, I know, I could (and should) just come back at a higher level, hence the hubris part. But, I was wondering if anyone knew some good cheese that would make this work. I need to keep these murder squads that oneshot my figurines busy and at a distance until I can summon ogres. Any suggestions?

[Boeroer]

Prayer scrolls?

[omgFIREBALLS]

Against what? They have their uses, but I don't see how they will help my figurines not get oneshot or myself out of a corner.

[Chaospread]

Trying to wear armors with preservation and break out (Blaidh Golan and Pike's Pride) and use items and scrolls to charme, dominate and/or paralyze them. For Alpine Dragon you can stay in the right side of cave, surronded by trash mob so the breath can't reach you while the ogres do their job.

[Boeroer]

On 9/28/2023 at 6:12 AM, omgFIREBALLS said:

Against what? They have their uses, but I don't see how they will help my figurines not get oneshot or myself out of a corner.

Hm, you don't? 

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but the Adragans stunned me too much

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I had to scramble to save the poor chanter I used to talk to her because she got stunned for 12s immediately

1. Prayer Against Imprisonment helps against Adragans. You mentioned problems with being "stunned", but they will mostly petrify you, which is a very nasty affliction:
   • -100 Dexterity
   • -40 Deflection
   • -40 Reflex
   • ×2 Damage taken
2. Prayer against Fear helps against all Dragons' auras - they terrify every 3 secs:
   • -20 accuracy
   • -4 DEX
   • -4 RES

Not a Parayer, but Scroll of Defense gives everybody (including figurines and Ogres etc.) +20 to all defense which can make all the difference. 

Like @Chaospreadalready suggested: what you can do besides using those scrolls is to use stuff like Spirit Spiral, Munacra Arret and Ring of ChHanging Heart to charm or dominate the dragon asap (there's only one of the bog dragons that's immune to mind control) which can buy you a lot of time in the beginning. BUT it's rel. hard to hit if you don't have a lot of accuracy support (a party of 6 chanters usually hasn't). But a Scroll of Valor (+15 ACC) will help.

Preservation only helps vs. stunned and prone - but if you encounter these then I would stack two sources of Preservation: for example Ilfan Byrngar's Solace + Blaidh Golan (also suggested by @Chaospread). This will give one character +100 to all defenses when stunned or prone - which can be given to a character who is most likely to get stunned and make him invulnerable for the time he or she is down or stunned. If you excpet a lot of stunning then this can tuen one char into the perfect "bait" tank. He will be very sturdy if stunned and will distract enemies from the rest of the party. 

A scroll of confusion can mess up a horde of dragon ads pretty badly - and also buy you a lot of time and take away attention from you and your allies. 

That will not guarantee a win, but it surely wouldn't hurt to use them.  

 

PS: I don't recall perfectly, but it may be the Aila Braccia reflects petrify attacks back to the Adragans. They are immune, but what it does is to turn all grazes to misses which improves survivability against adragans and other enemies who throw ranged single target attacks on you. Maybe worth testing beforehand in a non-ToI encounter.  

Edited September 29, 2023 by Boeroer

[omgFIREBALLS]

By stunned I mean stunned. I got stunned by the dragon's stomp and Unrelenting Storm.

[Boeroer]

6 hours ago, omgFIREBALLS said:

By stunned I mean stunned.

On 9/27/2023 at 5:38 PM, omgFIREBALLS said:

the Adragans stunned me too much

Edited September 29, 2023 by Boeroer

[omgFIREBALLS]

I don't know what you're trying to say. You have Returning Storm right there. Are you going to nitpick that I mixed it up with Unrelenting Storm?

Yes, adragans can petrify. No, the adragans did not petrify me.

Incidentally though, Prayer Against Imprisonment would have been a good thing to use for the lagufaeth hubris that ended a run two hours ago...

[Boeroer]

7 hours ago, omgFIREBALLS said:

I don't know what you're trying to say. You have Returning Storm right there. Are you going to nitpick that I mixed it up with Unrelenting Storm?

Yes, adragans can petrify. No, the adragans did not petrify me.

Incidentally though, Prayer Against Imprisonment would have been a good thing to use for the lagufaeth hubris that ended a run two hours ago...

Whatever, let's not dwell on this. The tactic with charming/dominating a dragon and Preservation might help you to prevent future wipes. It's never 100% foolproof, but I think it will help (together with Prayer ag. Fear and so on). 

Vs. Lagufaeth: besides Prayer against Imprisonment the shield Aila Braccia is extremely good. If you give it to the frontmost character with the best deflection (and boost the deflection up a bit further maybe) the Lagufaeth will shoot at that character, catch the reflected shots and paralyze themselves (they are not immune). This makes Lagufaeth encounter so much easier imo that it feels a bit like cheating. Because misses stay misses and all grazes will turn into misses, too (and get reflected). Also because in general it doesn't cost any resources to use it. It also works against Cleansing Flame from Broodmothers (which wrecked me often enough). 

And on combination with the Prayer those encounters turn from hard into story mode (sort of). 

Edited September 30, 2023 by Boeroer