Lagufaeth Tactics

[0rangekun]

Could anyone give me some advice on how to fight these? I've just entered, uh... the hotsprings area, and the sheer size of every group of lagufaeth is making it extremely difficult. I'm level 11, by the way.

 

Paralysis is a non-issue; I died once, then cast Immunity ASAP and managed. The problem isn't CC but rather they seem to do a ton of damage to everyone in my party at once. I'll send Eder in first, my Paladin and Zahua second (both in full plate, both with 80-90 in all defenses) and I just can't kill them faster than they kill me. I'll see 160/200 endurance on my Paladin, unpause, and then she's just dead a second later. This is assuming I manage to get them to not target my casters right off the bat.

 

If I'm successful, it's only because I was lucky enough for no one to die before Durance could cast several buffs, and Aloth some debuffs. What really gets me is they don't even seem to be landing crits. I've never seen my Paladin's Shod-In-Faith trigger, but they're hitting hard and fast through 26 DR.

[Kinowek]

*EDIT* sorry, you're right Karkarov, potentially spoilerish  Names removed, tactics ideas left alone***

 

Like most battles in Pillars of Eternity, you can stack the odds in your favor a bit by starting off with an Alpha Strike or Fusillade of gun and crossbow fire from Stealth, to instantly kill 1 or more of the enemy group. (Alpha Strike/Fusillade just refer to everybody on your team shooting at once, ideally focusing on 1-2 enemies)

 

Other options include, starting off with an Oil slick from stealth, or even Fireball from stealth, since you have [Wizard], then send your [Melee] in to beat on their most dangerous healers, then take out range, then take out melee.

 

Or a combination of the above, Stealth Oil Slick from [Wizards], or Stealth Stun lock from [Ciphers or Chanters], while everybody else fires high damage firearms or Arbalests to instakill their best healer.

 

A less used option would be to move one character with a bit of Stealth skill up, let him/her start to get detected, then immediately run back. You can pull apart some groups with this, fighting 1 or 2 at a time instead of all of them.   Pillars enemy AI will walk towards you while the circle is yellow or unfilled red, and will only detect at full red of course.  Classic MMO style trick I feel dirty about using, but sometimes you need to break up large groups, either to farm [Certain Weapon] requirements or just to not waste a ton of hp and spells in your party.

 

As far as defenses go, breakpoint seems to be around 110+ Deflection before your tanks can really start to laugh off massed enemy ranged like [certain Species] use.  I really recommend getting your main tank to 125+ Deflection to be safe, with a ton of extra Pierce DR(Full plate +Pierce Res enchant).  Then send that tank in first, while your debuffers bring down enemy aiming ability and/or start stunlocking/prone-locking them, if you want to avoid Alpha Strikes or Stealth ambush tactics.

Edited February 19, 2016 by Kinowek

[Karkarov]

Pretty sure this thread should not be in the no spoilers section of the forums.

[0rangekun]

I don't think discussing tactics against a monster type you fight frequently without any relation to side or main quest is a spoiler.

[0rangekun]

*EDIT* sorry, you're right Karkarov, potentially spoilerish Names removed, tactics ideas left alone***

 

Like most battles in Pillars of Eternity, you can stack the odds in your favor a bit by starting off with an Alpha Strike or Fusillade of gun and crossbow fire from Stealth, to instantly kill 1 or more of the enemy group. (Alpha Strike/Fusillade just refer to everybody on your team shooting at once, ideally focusing on 1-2 enemies)

 

Other options include, starting off with an Oil slick from stealth, or even Fireball from stealth, since you have [Wizard], then send your [Melee] in to beat on their most dangerous healers, then take out range, then take out melee.

 

Or a combination of the above, Stealth Oil Slick from [Wizards], or Stealth Stun lock from [Ciphers or Chanters], while everybody else fires high damage firearms or Arbalests to instakill their best healer.

 

A less used option would be to move one character with a bit of Stealth skill up, let him/her start to get detected, then immediately run back. You can pull apart some groups with this, fighting 1 or 2 at a time instead of all of them. Pillars enemy AI will walk towards you while the circle is yellow or unfilled red, and will only detect at full red of course. Classic MMO style trick I feel dirty about using, but sometimes you need to break up large groups, either to farm [Certain Weapon] requirements or just to not waste a ton of hp and spells in your party.

 

As far as defenses go, breakpoint seems to be around 110+ Deflection before your tanks can really start to laugh off massed enemy ranged like [certain Species] use. I really recommend getting your main tank to 125+ Deflection to be safe, with a ton of extra Pierce DR(Full plate +Pierce Res enchant). Then send that tank in first, while your debuffers bring down enemy aiming ability and/or start stunlocking/prone-locking them, if you want to avoid Alpha Strikes or Stealth ambush tactics.

Some great ideas I'll have to try. I haven't used stealth much (I only have one character with it) but I'll give it a shot. 110 Deflection, though? I can't imagine how I'd get that much. With a superb shield I have that much on my tank, and with +9 deflection gear on my monk and Paladin (plus Faith and Conviction and the monk's toggleable +defense that I forget the name of) I have only 75 on them. I'm sure part of the problem I have is spell usage, but I can only cast the big +deflection spells so many times per rest.

 

Finally, with a crit-based trigger on two of my paladin's items, and how monk/wounds work, I'm having difficulty in general finding a balance between taking enough damage to make use of these things and mitigating too much damage.

[Kinowek]

Well, one thing to remember: even if a character has zero points in stealth, they can still Enter Stealth mode and give you that much more space to move up and get into firing range, while being out of Detection range.

 

I am trying to remember if you can easily get 110 or so deflection by level 11, I'm pretty sure it's doable but your Fighter or Paladin would of course need a shield, a +9 Deflection ring or Bracer, as well as Superior Deflection taken as a talent, etc.  I'm not really a fan of having too many characters set up that tanky, more damage and more crowd control is always the better choice.  Monk by default should choose distance closing talents as well as some zero wound requiring stuns, to help out. Paladins can easily get almost as much Deflection as a Fighter, while holding  a decent shield and possibly a hatchet or Interference granting weapon, without sacrificing the Zealous aura for better accuracy.

 

As far as monk wounds, it doesn't help to get shot 10 times getting close to your opponents, they need to be in melee range to make up for the damage they take getting wounded.  Still, monks are extremely strong, and if he has to use a shield while he runs up, then switch to dual fists or dual 1handers of your choice, that's not terrible either.

 

Not sure what the rest of your party composition is like, but it sounds like you don't have a great deal of ranged DPS.  Even your melee tank guys can have an pistol, arquebus or arbalest on a 2nd weapon set, fire them all off from stealth or even just outside of detection range to even the odds before you start the fight.  You don't have to wait for the enemy to initiate combat, just focus fire on enemies from the outer limit of their detection with 6 Arbalests or Arquebuses and you are good to go.

[Abalon]

My tactic is to use dominate effects I run x2 cipher in all my groups open with a mind wave then control 2 of the stronger targets you really need cc and prone dominate effects to deal with them

[0rangekun]

Well, one thing to remember: even if a character has zero points in stealth, they can still Enter Stealth mode and give you that much more space to move up and get into firing range, while being out of Detection range.

 

I am trying to remember if you can easily get 110 or so deflection by level 11, I'm pretty sure it's doable but your Fighter or Paladin would of course need a shield, a +9 Deflection ring or Bracer, as well as Superior Deflection taken as a talent, etc.  I'm not really a fan of having too many characters set up that tanky, more damage and more crowd control is always the better choice.  Monk by default should choose distance closing talents as well as some zero wound requiring stuns, to help out. Paladins can easily get almost as much Deflection as a Fighter, while holding  a decent shield and possibly a hatchet or Interference granting weapon, without sacrificing the Zealous aura for better accuracy.

 

As far as monk wounds, it doesn't help to get shot 10 times getting close to your opponents, they need to be in melee range to make up for the damage they take getting wounded.  Still, monks are extremely strong, and if he has to use a shield while he runs up, then switch to dual fists or dual 1handers of your choice, that's not terrible either.

 

Not sure what the rest of your party composition is like, but it sounds like you don't have a great deal of ranged DPS.  Even your melee tank guys can have an pistol, arquebus or arbalest on a 2nd weapon set, fire them all off from stealth or even just outside of detection range to even the odds before you start the fight.  You don't have to wait for the enemy to initiate combat, just focus fire on enemies from the outer limit of their detection with 6 Arbalests or Arquebuses and you are good to go.

That's about right. I have a very strong disdain for ranged weapons. I don't like guns whatsoever and I've had no luck getting a ranged attacker to do any damage with a bow (~15 damage a hit on low DR enemies is the best I've done, and Sagani's fox was hitting twice as hard as her; I dropped the ranger though because I didn't like babysitting her and a pet)

[AndreaColombo]

Got a Priest in your party? Are you using any scrolls or potions?

[anameforobsidian]

I had a hard time with Lagufeth when I saw them at first.  They spike hard but go down quickly.  I've found that you want to target the normal base Lagufeth first, ignore the broodmothers and redfins or cc them out of the fight.  Then go after the redfins, then go after the broodmothers.  Also, confusion and slicken will help you in almost any battle.