Toughest fight in the game?

[Vaneglorious]

This might sound funny, but the toughest (or rather, most annoying) fights were in the Abbey. Those priests spamming crowns on their monk/fight/paladin frontliners can be a major pain.

 

I'm not even sure which was the toughest fight, maybe Brynlod. I pretty much melted every dragon with my Stormcaller cipher with priest buffs on.

[Boeroer]

Definitely Brynlod for me. It's all not too hard with a full party, but still: Brynlod & Friends are some really tough nuts compared to others.

[M4xw0lf]

On my current playthrough, old lady Adra dragon gave me the hardest time once again. (Have not met Llengrath yet, because I had forgotten where the quest is triggered, and most of the WM2 story is still ahead of me.)

I think I fought her probably 10 times between levels 10 and 14, before I finally put her down WITHOUT A SCRATCH ON ANYONE. It's mind-blowing how fundamentally different these encounters can go in PoE. On the succesful attempt I somehow managed to finish all her pets before she was in sight (think I sneaked all the way to the xaurips first, confused the adragans so they kept her busy for a while and were killed), then paralysis or gaze of the Adragan hit, and she was gone in moments. Nobody even close to being knocked out.

Edited March 18, 2018 by M4xw0lf

[Vaneglorious]

On my current playthrough, old lady Adra dragon gave me the hardest time once again. (Have not met Llengrath yet, because I had forgotten where the quest is triggered, and most of the WM2 story is still ahead of me.)

I think I fought her probably 10 times between levels 10 and 14, before I finally put her down WITHOUT A SCRATCH ON ANYONE. It's mind-blowing how fundamentally different these encounters can go in PoE. On the succesful attempt I somehow managed to finish all her pets before she was in sight (think I sneaked all the way to the xaurips first, confused the adragans so they kept her busy for a while and were killed), then paralysis or gaze of the Adragan hit, and she was gone in moments. Nobody even close to being knocked out.

Actually, the adra and the alpine dragons are both easy once you reach a certain level, especially with full party. And they're also easy because they get bodyblocked by their own minions. I think these fights are only difficult if you don't have a priest and/or spellcasters.

 

I remember the first time I encountered the adra dragon. Right after we finished the dialogue, my whole party got oneshot by her breath attack, even Edér. I was like "oookay then, come back later I guess".

 

For Llengrath you need to kill Concelhaut and take his skull, then in WM2 you can find a corpse right at the western exit of Stalwart, which will trigger it.

[M4xw0lf]

Yeah, I already had dealt with Concelhaut, but my memory was wrong on how you get the quest that leads to the bog, I thought another emissary would show up at Caed Nua.

 

Downed Llengrath today, on third attempt (loads of reviving required though, plus reloading due to multiple character deaths - those dragons depleted even Maneha's health pool). I relied mainly on Tayn's chaotic orb to keep the dragons stunned for large stretches of time. Llengrath him/herself was just a sideshow, as others have said here before.

[George_Truman]

Definitely the platoon of phantoms inside the Caed Nua main keep.

[Vaneglorious]

Definitely the platoon of phantoms inside the Caed Nua main keep.

How? You pull them into the left corner next to the lower end of the stairs, easiest fight ever.

[Matteo89.b]

Ghosts in Caed Nua, PotD.

I always face them without running away in corners and such tactics.

Battle is always hard.

[AeonsLegend]

Hm, I think every fight can be won without any equipment, even solo as long as you abuse the buff stacking this game. You simply become invulnerable to damage and can just tickle enemies to death.

[Boeroer]

If you do Gilded Vale (pick up Aloth+Edér) -> Mangrans Fork (pick up Durance) -> Caed Nua Entrance (pick up Kana) -> Valewood -> Analög's Compass -> Madhmr Bridge -> Temple of Eothas -> Esternwood -> Raedric's Hold and finally Caed Nua/Maerwald the phantoms are whimpy sausages and not hard at all.

Edited March 20, 2018 by Boeroer

[fgalkin]

In my current (first 3.0+) playthrough, I did the Adra Dragon around level 13, and the Alpine Dragon at level 15, and found the Adra Dragon to be infinitely harder. To be honest, she (or rather, her Adragan groupies) was kicking my ass until I got lucky and charmed her, and she wiped out her own mooks with her breath attack. The Kraken wasn't even worth mentioning, I'm doing Concelhaut's quest now, so I will get back to you how that goes. So far, the hardest fights in this playthrough have been 1) The Adra Dragon @ level 13, 2) Endless Paths Ogres @level 5, 3) Raedric #1 @ level 4 with only Eder, Aloth, and Durance. 

 

The Caed Nua spectres weren't hard, but I did have to rest after every second fight 

 

 

EDIT: Concelhaut wasn't even in the top 10 for a level 15 melee focused party 

Edited March 21, 2018 by fgalkin

[George_Truman]

Oh **** you're right the endless paths ogres are ridiculous. Going down the tunnel and killing the drake is always easier. Also not sure if you guys knew this but you can sneak around every single ghost in the courtyard and only fight a wisp by hugging the south wall (with minimum sneak).

[M4xw0lf]

I always find Searing Falls and Caul the Silent rather tough, too... because I go there as early as I can possibly manage, to get my hands on Tidefall.

This time, it was literally Caul's last HP vs my Rogue's last HP, and he died of deep wounds while I was running away.

Edited March 21, 2018 by M4xw0lf

[Vaneglorious]

Oh **** you're right the endless paths ogres are ridiculous. Going down the tunnel and killing the drake is always easier. Also not sure if you guys knew this but you can sneak around every single ghost in the courtyard and only fight a wisp by hugging the south wall (with minimum sneak).

Yeah those ogres are very tough for being only at level 3 of Endless Paths lol. They're lvl 9 or 10, they're using lvl 5 druid spells. I could beat them at lvl 6 on potd with a 4-man party, but it was tough and needed to rest.

 

 

In my current (first 3.0+) playthrough, I did the Adra Dragon around level 13, and the Alpine Dragon at level 15, and found the Adra Dragon to be infinitely harder. To be honest, she (or rather, her Adragan groupies) was kicking my ass until I got lucky and charmed her, and she wiped out her own mooks with her breath attack. The Kraken wasn't even worth mentioning, I'm doing Concelhaut's quest now, so I will get back to you how that goes. So far, the hardest fights in this playthrough have been 1) The Adra Dragon @ level 13, 2) Endless Paths Ogres @level 5, 3) Raedric #1 @ level 4 with only Eder, Aloth, and Durance. 

 

The Caed Nua spectres weren't hard, but I did have to rest after every second fight 

 

 

EDIT: Concelhaut wasn't even in the top 10 for a level 15 melee focused party 

What are you fighting the adra dragon with? Difficulty and party composition: ?  After hitting lvl 11/12 it's not difficult, and it used to be the encounter I really dreaded before, even on hard lol. I always have a priest and a wizard, use scrolls and cc the hell out of everything with juicy priest buffs on my whole party. Druid or cipher make it very easy, too. You can just spam whisper of treason on the dragon lol. Disintegrate completely destroys her.

[smilehigh]

Brynlod and Magran's Faithful on upscaled PotD for me.

 

All dragon fights including Llengrath are actually kinda easy with a full appropriately-levelled party.

Edited March 22, 2018 by smilehigh

[The Sharmat]

If you do Gilded Vale (pick up Aloth+Edér) -> Mangrans Fork (pick up Durance) -> Caed Nua Entrance (pick up Kana) -> Valewood -> Analög's Compass -> Madhmr Bridge -> Temple of Eothas -> Esternwood -> Raedric's Hold and finally Caed Nua/Maerwald the phantoms are whimpy sausages and not hard at all.

True, but if you're just trying to get out of Act 1 as fast as possible on PotD and skip most sidequests they're real sons of bitches.

[Sethroskull]

I am maxed out at level 16 in my current play through.  I alternate party members and all are outfitted quite nicely with great equipment and such.  I did the Alpine Dragon at 13, Adra at 15, Concelhaut at 16 and the Toughest Bounty...(level 21 guy)..and I feel like at level 16 neither were hard.  Alpine was hardest for me at 13.  Now I haven't even done the White March Part 2 all the way through yet. I still have Dragons and the magician, and the Kraken to go.  And I guess some tough monks.  Gonna just power through.  I'm guessing the end of the regular game won't be too tough at level 16.  I am playing on hard difficulty BTW.  I may need to ramp it up to PotD.

[Zoso der Goldene]

For me, on the "Solo Ultimate Wizard" run, it was definitely Concelhaut. I just didn't have the hammer back then, so by comparison, Brynlod, Llengrath, Alpine Dragon, and Adra Dragon  were all easy.

(Phantoms in Cead Nua hall were also easy once I got the Adra Animat: Just pull them, run to the souteastern corner of the map, spawn the animat and kill them with whatever - they will stun lock the Animat instead of you if you position it correctly. (That trick requires you to sell Gaun's Pledge - among other things, including your starting armor - to Heodan, as he pays 5 times normal prices.)

 

On my Frozen Crown Playthrough, the hardest fight was actually Thaos himself - having aced everything else, I went into that fight without too much preparation and thought, completely underestimating it. Aloth got killed, which makes for a fine story twist. On my Ultimate playthrough, though, I totally overcompensated, Thaos and one of the Statues were toast after less than 10 seconds.

Edited April 23, 2018 by Zoso der Goldene

[SoloGirl]

Just finished my first playthrough.

 

I think there are two ways to weight the difficulty of fights. One on the 'absolute' scale, were probably Llengrath, Alpine and Radiant Spore would take the prize. And another related to the perceived difficulty upon first stumbling. For example I still remember that bear in the cave. On level 1, it took me 6 attempts to realize that it is nigh-impossible to beat him. For me it was as follows (from hardest to easiest):

 

1. Bear in the cave (lvl 1)

2. Warchief Iklak (stumbled upon on lvl 4; gave up after 7 attempts; only on level 5 could finally kill him)

3. Zolla + ogre + ogre druid (lvl 4; it took 4 attempts)

4. Adra Dragon on lvl 11 (lvl 11; took 3 attempts) (it feels like both breath and wing slam range is way bigger than that of other dragons)

5. Felisa and her gang (lvl 8; 3 attempts)

6. Llengrath (lvl 16, 2 attempts)

7. Final battle at white forge (with dwarf spirits and guardians) (lvl 10; 2 attempts) (the first Shadowflame hit all party, and was spammed again and again)

8. Radiant Spore (lvl 14, 2 attempts)

9. Alpine Dragon (lvl 15, 2 attempts)

10. Eyeless ambush (lvl 12, from first attempt, but my frontliners ran out of health)

11. Ondrite monks (that fight at Reliquary) (lvl 14, from first attempt, but it was brutal)

12. Colcelhaut (lvl 15, first attempt)

 

The first try on Llengrath was quite hilarious tbh. I summoned all figurines and I suppose that's what triggered both the dragons to start the fight with dual Breath attack, annihilating my backline. And the second breath followed instantly after the Second Chance kicked in. While the next try (without figurines) sealed the deal.

White forge final battle doesn't have to be difficult. If you save some of battery defenders/spirit groups, you can lure the guardians towards them and they will fight each other, and battery sirens are quite a match for guardians, unlike figurines, which just get roasted. I just did this with a solo rogue. I discovered it by accident while trying to separate the group. After that the battle was easy. Lured them towards the first group, and used shadowing beyond to sneak back to the forge to kill off the fragments, which were easy pickings with figurines and rogue abilities like sap and finishing blow.

 

Also, you don't have to fight Ondrite monks. If you sneak out with the reliquary and go straight to the top, the veil lifts and you can talk to Ondra, and you can exit the area. Just don't go back to the monastery, because they all turn hostile.