Cragholdt Bluff...Agrrrrhhhhhh

[stiven]

So, PoTD, i come to merc camp, and every single one of them has 100+ defenses, in everything, 9999 hp, plus a lot of BS abilities. Those mercs would probably easily kick ass of any "god". So for now im aggring them 1 by 1, and fights 6vs1, lol. Any suggestion how player supposed to beat this camp? Partially of how to lower their differences enough to actually do some damage. Atm my main Wiz, blinds them, then Alot chil fog them, and expose vulnerability, but this is still not enough. Maybe you supposed have some special weapon?

[rheingold]

They are tough, maybe you should come back later after you have leveled up a bit. Cause as tough as they are they are nowhere near as tough as what's coming

Edited February 17, 2017 by rheingold

[Boeroer]

It's simple: you are underleveled. End of story.

 

This is supposed to be tough - it's end level stuff for WM I (=lvl 14). It's not that tough anymore if you have enough levels though. You don't need anything special, you just have to know the mechanics (! not the skill - I mean the rules, how the game works and so on) and have enough levels.

 

Your tactics seem to be OK, but not perfect.

Make sure you buff yourself. If you have a priest you should cast Inspiring Radiance and Devotions before attacking with Chillfog and stuff. Also use prayers.

If no priest is available: use scrolls to buff ACC and to cast prayers.

 

And most important: you have to watch out what attack targets which defense. For example it's of no use to blind enemies and then cast Chillfog on them. Chillfog targets fortitude, but blind doesn't lower fortitude and Chillfog blinds anyway. So why cast blind before Chillfog? A smarter move would be to buff ACC, then cast a weakening spell (=lowers fortitude) and then add ChillFog which will then hit way more easily.

 

But I know this mechanics stuff is all a bit obscure and PoE does a fairly poor job of communicating its mechanics. You have to try out things.

You can't imagine how I struggled when I went to Crägholt Bluffs for the first time.

 

Funny thing: the Torn Bannermen are total losers compared to the things that await you inside the tower, hehehe.

Edited February 17, 2017 by Boeroer

[stiven]

Funny thing: the Torn Bannermen are total losers compared to the things that await you inside the tower, hehehe.

Heh, i know. I beat WM1, right when it first come out. My wizard had Ninagauth's Freezing Pillar, before even entering DLC. Back then Ninagauth's Freezing Pillar has a lot more damage but also friendly fire. So my party (wiz main, Aloth, and custom druid as dps, plus tanks and heal) just cleaned whole dlc with mass AoE, but now i dunno what would it be, heh. Honestly i come to this location - only for spells from the Wizard grimoire. Because he had a couple of good low lvl (something like 3lvl, and lvl 4?) spells which is useless for high level party but would be very nice for my current party. Oh well, im already looted a couple of high level grimoire's from wizards in merc camp, so it definitely was worth trying.

Edited February 17, 2017 by stiven

[JFutral]

If one is a linear thinker it doesn't make much sense to visually come across this area before the rest of WM1. When I first played the expansion I thought "Oh, look. I should run this first, because, well, there it is." I struggled and made it through the bulk of the area with a ton of rests, saves, and restarts. But I had to hold off on latter parts until I leveled up. One level can make a world of difference in this game. The complexity of defenses and appropriate attacks is ridiculous, but necessary to understand on PotD.

 

Luckily nothing is time sensitive. Continue with the rest of WM1 and come back to this area last. The rewards are nice, but nothing you can't live without. I'm still not totally clear what the ultimate treasure is or was supposed to be. But that's story stuff. I just accepted that my goal is to get through the game as the only justification for proceeding through, well, much of anything.

 

Good luck!

Joe

[Boeroer]

Not that your steward told you it's supertough high level stuff.

[JFutral]

Not that your steward told you it's supertough high level stuff.

Well, yeah, but the steward is paid to say that stuff. ) I have no idea what I mean by that.

 

I did assume, without checking, the map worked like it did everywhere else, that I had to go through the Bluffs before being able to reach Stalwart. So, again, I just assumed I was supposed to do that first. Then, tail between my legs, I decided I misunderstood. I think I restarted the big fight about 25 times before just giving up until later. I am a glutton for punishment.

 

Joe

[Niclole]

Cragholdt irritated me to no end.  That said it wasn't trouble outside "Fight - Rest, Fight - Rest, Fight - Rest".  Mainly cause I was winning fights but through healing and ending up with everyone grey lol.  Its a fun area though and its cool to go there early and see how quickly you lose and then come back with all your gear and power and being like "Well, fun".  Main reason being there are few areas that feel like this for me. Most of the time all the gear and power I accrue in this game just makes every area a cake walk.  Early game: cautious pulling, tactics.  Mid game: Swarm.  Late Game: Fall asleep watch AI win.  White March areas and a few fights break this for me, but that is generally how Pillars felt for me so something like Cragholdt is very welcome, if slightly irritating lol.

[Baraz]

For fun about Cragholdt mercenaries [spoiler of course] :

with a pretty buffed level 10 full party, I was able to defeat most in small groups of about five enemies, BUT suddenly I fell upon two "brawlers", who I guess are high level monks.  Holy moly !  After blasting the lot with tons of fireballs and other spells, they zipped past my two tanks (Eder and Pallegina) and destroyed my four other members in little time!  While they spun at Flash speed back to Eder and Pallegina, who were busy bashing fighters and warpriests, the monks healed their buddies and rather quickly globbered my two tanks! 

 

Hmm, I told myself my character had a vision/divination of the future and realized they should go to the White March now...

Edited February 9, 2019 by Baraz