Tips for final fight in Raedric's hold

[Zakaste]

Hello all,

 

Finished this fight Sunday night on Hard difficulty, two-shot it with a party of 4 at 4th level. Since I like to play these games with a mild degree of immersion, I didn't utilize any positioning tricks. It's difficult but doable at this level even with the initial charge and being vastly outnumbered. Thought I would post some tips regarding what to do. My party: Me (4th level Druid), Eder, Aloth, Durance. Tips, in no particular order.

 

1. Focus on disabling spells over blasts to start: This is a key rule in all Infinity Engine-style games. Going pew-pew-pew will only get you to the reload screen, fast. Open with spells that will take several enemies temporarily out of the fight, either knocking them prone (Slicken, Repulsing Seal), or confuse them (Bewildering Spectacle). Confusion is great because it causes your enemies to fight amongst themselves and soften each other up for you.

 

2. Use self-buffs, consumables and HoT (heal-over-time): Potions can only be used in-combat . . . but food buffs can be gained anytime and stack with potions. Take advantage of this as things like Savory Pies and Ricepans are easy to craft or just buy from the Black Hound. During the fight, make sure Durance or your pocket-priest pops Holy Radiance as the first or second action to keep everyone's Endurance up. Crafting/buying potions of Power (for your tanks) or Minor Regeneration and using them halfway through the fight can make sure that at least one member of your party is left standing. Also, make sure that you have at least a couple of scrolls of Restore Minor/Light Endurance in the Quickbar of a high-Lore character as these are relatively easy to craft and can heal multiple characters quickly as long as you are all stacked up.

 

3. Kill/neutralize the mages first: Basic rule in any D&D-style game. The archmages need to be focus-fired down fast before they destroy you. Use a ranged attacker with high damage (Kana is ideal if you have him) and a spell like Fetid Caress to take them down, or make sure they are included in the AoE of your disabling spells and prioritize them for your high damage dealers. 

 

4. Debuff Raedric: He has a nasty two-handed blade and can take down your tank in 3-4 swipes if he crits. Blind him, frighten him, charm him . . . just don't let him hack away at you (I learned this the hard way when he dropped my druid in werewolf form).

 

5. Bypass DR when it's time to blast: Raedric and all his bodyguards/champions are plate wearers. . . . and plate has a DR of 6 against Shock damage. Spam electrical attacks (Jolting Touch/Dancing Bolts) if you have access to these spells, and remember that a wizard's Arcane Assault is Raw damage (bypasses all DR). 

 

Hope this helps! Remember, it's a challenging fight (especially at lower player or higher difficulty levels) and all the more satisfying to beat because of this. Enjoy looting his Keep after.

[Mungri]

But I always help Raedric .... Am I evil?

[Jimmious]

Yes I am

[Mungri]

But I also kill the animancer for phat loots and

 

 

BLACK CAT PET!

 

[evensen007]

Thanks so much for this advice. As an old Gold Box and then Baldur's Gate player, it's been a long time since I've played a game like this. I've been spoiled with more modern easy RPG's like Dragon age and the mechanics are taking a while to come back to me. Everything you said makes sense. I'm on try 5 or 6 trying to kill Raedric's crew and will use your advice on the next tries. 

 

I'm having trouble wrapping my head around a couple of concepts in this game. I'm a little confused about the HP vs. Endurance and how they interact. My priest doesn't have 'Heal' spells, he has 'restore endurance spells'. 

 

Also, when I am paused and lining up my next attacks, do my AOE attacks miss if the enemy moves away from where i Initially set the AOE spell to hit? I find myself leaving un-paused until the enemies stop moving and then I pause to launch an AoE spell (I know this is probably very, very wrong.). I have a feeling that I should target them wherever the enemy CURRENTLY is while paused and he will still get hit with the spell even if he is in the process of moving. 

 

Anyhow, thanks for reminding an old veteran about the core concepts that are required to win these fights in REAL rpgs!!!

 

Best regards,

 

Chris

[ORCACommander]

ya AOE spells go off where you target them regardless of where you victim is currently. this is a  bit frustrating when it makes you miss a lot. makes intellect a very important state

 

thanks for the advice maybe now i can last more than 20 seconds

[evensen007]

Well I tried and failed to do this without any trickery... I have 4 total in my party and we're all level 4. I attempted it with your advice about 20-30 times and got frustrated. Many times, my tank would instantly be one shotted by the mob of 8 guys. I think ONE time out of all those tried I felt like I had a slight chance. Your advice was good, unfortunately I'm just not good at these games anymore. 

 

I ended up shooting a bolt to the Paladin on the periphery and drew 2 or 3 of them out to fight. After that I immediately moved up the stairs and faced the other 4. Finally, I fought Raedric one on one and was able to finish the battle. Oh well, at least I tried!

 

Thanks again!

[hglaser]

This post is a huge help. Read it after maybe 20 attempts with a part of 4 level 4s. The focus on debuffs and burning down the mages is particularly good.

[Evange]

This fight is a walk in the park compared to the second time you'll be fighting him...

[thestigma]

Honestly the basis for most fights is to control the crowd. that doesn't necessarily mean incapacitating them (although that certainly help) but primarily just making sure that the situation unfolds such that tanks are doing the tanking and the squishies are left alone. Once you are in that situation most battles are half-won already unless you are woefully underleveled or have some basic build "mistake" like trying to make a DPS build out of your "tank". Party generally happen when aggro gets out of control and then your squishies die and the tanks are left to a slow inevitable death without backup.

 

Once you have a somewhat stable front-line engagement going on it's mostly just a matter of applying debuffs and then damage, usually AoE in some sort of optimal manner (ie. preferably clustered enemies), and if you can then try to disable, delay or nuke down things like mages or casters in general that can generate nasty surprises. Damage heaping up on your tank is something fairly predictable you can handle. A mage dropping a confuse on your tank on the other hand can turn an otherwise easy fight into a massacre... so keep those "extra threats" in mind.

 

If in an extra tricky fight - use some pre-fight setup. There are some buffs you can apply before batte, and many traps can be especially handy. Many of the priest seal-traps are just BRUTAL if used correctly.

 

I put this in general terms because the Raderic fight is really nothing "special" in terms of how you have to handle it. There are some casters combined with some tough melee, but aside from that nothing that really requires you to radically alter the base-strategy that you can apply for most fights.

 

-Stigma

[BiggusD]

Necroing this thread (sort of), but I have a few questions regarding this fight. (Normal dificulty)

 

I position myself quite well at the end of the stairs, kill the Archmage and priest early on as a first priority and double up on the Champions/Paladins with my melee fighters while I heal with my priest and cast spells with my mage. I have a party of six (Barbarian, Paladin, Fighter, Ranger, Mage, Priest). All well so far.

 

However, once that is done, I am in deep trouble because the rest of the bunch keep healing themselves to full Endurance while Raedric runs around finishing off my casters.

 

Who is the one responsible for the full healing of these guys? I can't figure it out! That guy is of course priority number one to get rid of, after the squishy Archmage of course. The loss is inevitable if I can't prevent them from returning to full Endurance.

 

Thanks in advance.

[Blades of Vanatar]

There are Priests of Berath and Paladins....

[Tennisgolfboll]

To make the fight easy you can use a bottle neck.

Edited June 29, 2015 by Tennisgolfboll

[Tennisgolfboll]

If not hot from druid and cc from mage will fix it.

 

1st level cold aoe spell, hot druid and insects will really hurt them

[Fardragon]

I just hit him with a sword until he was dead.

[abaris]

But I always help Raedric .... Am I evil?

 

Sometimes I do too, but only after I took his whole garrison down and picked his castle thoroughly clean. 

[NightRevan]

I attacked the guards from the bottom of the stairs which provoked everyone else around the throne to attack. Wasn't sure if Raedric himself was amongst the attackers till the end and he was one of the last there. I could guess a scripted event would happen that would end with my party badly positioned and semi-surrounded with my weaker members exposed when combat started, so I choose to initiate attack before that could happen and took them by surprise, with everyone positioned and ready. Wasn't to bad with that in place, just focused on locking down and killing the archmage and the priests and occupying and then killing the paladins and Raedric (as it turned out).

 

I just hate when games have scripted events/cut scenes which take charge and have your character and party walk into an obvious trap or compromised position and you start in the fight from a bad position even when that outcome was obvious going in and yet there is nothing you do about it, the cut-scene forces take over and your characters get hit with the idiot ray (the ambush by Zevran and the Antivan Crows in DA:O always sticking out in my mind as a good example of this annoying phenomenon).

 

At least here I was able to get around that and circumvent it which is a definite plus .

[TT1]

Bring your party to the chamber located on the right side of the throne room (Raedric bedroom) and choose a formation that you can block the door from inside. Choose a character to enter alone in the throne room, start the fight, then run back to the party. The enemies will stack so you can kill them one by one.

[IamNOOB]

It is super hard for me, Redrick himself is OK but **** is that he has a large group in there - if there was -1 archer and one swordsman less I d manage it. But they are too many. Im playing on normal and dying 6times in a row. I dont wish to abuse doors.

[Gromnir]

It is super hard for me, Redrick himself is OK but **** is that he has a large group in there - if there was -1 archer and one swordsman less I d manage it. But they are too many. Im playing on normal and dying 6times in a row. I dont wish to abuse doors.

tell us your party disposition.  tactics will change substantial based 'pon what you can actual do.

 

 

if only we had a wheelbarrow.

 

HA! Good Fun!

Edited January 3, 2017 by Gromnir

[BrotherFerg]

When I first read "final fight" I assumed it was the next time you come into contact with Raedric. LOL. The first time I encountered him I was level 5 with a full party. Bottle necked the goons and forced them to fight me at the bottom of the stairs. Inisiated the fight by firing an arrow off to the side. Most fights you can almost always force the enemy to fight this way so that your squishes are untraceable. Except for spirits, they'll fly through your front row.

 

Abuse doors, it's the realistic way to play, that's how I win all my fights even IRL.

[IamNOOB]

I just dont like abusing doors. It sucks

[JerekKruger]

If you fight Raedric with a full group, after doing all the quests in Act I, you can absolutely beat him without abusing doors, even on PotD. I know this because I too hate abusing doors. I would recommend not immediately attacking him though, instead agreeing to help him to that you can rearrange your party, then talking to him again and attacking.

[Gromnir]

I just dont like abusing doors. It sucks

what are your assets?  can't help you if am not knowing what you got at your disposal. without gimmicks the battle is doable with a level 4 party.  we typical head to raedric's immediate after reaching level 4 'cause, well, "look at all that cheddar." can fill our digital coffers early in the game by killing every raedric defender and looting their corpses.

 

don't hesitate to use food and potions.  hire a henchman if you don't have a full party. kill weakest m00ks before trying to kill raedric. etc.

 

*shrug*

 

what are your assets? am gonna be able to give more useful tactical guidance if we know what resources you have available.

 

HA! Good Fun!