Going after the Liberated Blue Dragon - Assault on the Pinnacle

[ferrisvalyn]

So, I have decided that I want to try and get the Liberated Blue Dragon (IE beat adventure 6 on legendary), and i suspect I am going to regret this more than the Blessing of Thassilonian Virtues

 

I am starting with Assault on the Pinnacle, because I suspect I'll need the Runeforge weapons to succeed (and I lose that when I finish Into the Eye - at least, that is my assumption)

 

My potential team could consist of Valeros, Kyra, Seoni, Sajan, Seelah, and Lem.

 

Any suggestions on strategy?  Who should I include, or not?  where should I start, party size, etc?

 

Here is a detailed breakdown of my team.  If card list would help, let me know

 

Valeros (Noble)

 

Skill improvements

Strength- +4

Constitution +2

 

Powers - weapons master

Handsize - 5

Superior Teamwork

Weapon Supremacy

Close Quarters

Miraculous strength

 

Cards list

8 weapons, 4 armor, 4 items, 2 allies, 4 blessings

 

 

Kyra

Skill improvements

strengh +3

Wisdom +3

 

Powers - exorcist

all proficiencies

Hand size 6

improved heal

Improved Enemy Lore and Outsider Lore

Purge Undead and outisder

 

Card List

4 weapons, 5 spells, 2 armors, 2 items, 1 ally, 8 blessings

 

 

Seoni

Dexterity +2

Charisma +4

 

Powers - celestial Sorcerer

True Arcane Blast and Acid Blast

Magic in the Blood and Magic in the Touch

Lady of Graves' Favor

 

Card list

Spell - 6

Items - 5

Allies - 5

Blessing - 6

 

 

Sajan

Skills

Dexterity +4

Constitution +2

 

Powers - Drunken Master

Handsize 5

Weapon Proficiency

Unarmed Magic and Fiery Strike

Improved Dodge

Bring Me Another

 

Card List

Weapons - 2

item - 6

Allies - 4

Blessing - 10

 

 

Seelah

Skills

Strength +3

Wisdom +3

 

Powers - Crusader

Handsize 5

Crusade and Precise Crusade

Improved Inspired Grace and Iomedae's Benediction

Enemy Lore

Inheritor's Favorite

 

Cards

Weapons - 5

Spells - 3

Armor - 4

Allies - 2

Blessing - 8

 

Lem

Skills

Dexterity +2

Intelligence +2

Charisma +2

 

Powers - Virtuoso

Hand size 6

Weapons proficiency

Superior Bardic Performance and Solo Performance

Versatile Performance

Bardic Lore

The Rose's Favor

 

Cards

Weapons - 2

Spells - 6

Armor - 1

Items - 4

Allies - 3

Blessing - 6

 

[Hannibal_PJV]

Try smaller croup. There Are some scenarios that Are much harder with so Many characters. Try to have characters who has high combat die... some scenarios penalice having Many dies...

[ferrisvalyn]

Try smaller croup. There Are some scenarios that Are much harder with so Many characters. Try to have characters who has high combat die... some scenarios penalice having Many dies...

That's why I listed all of my party, and was asking who I should include vs leave behind.  

[Hannibal_PJV]

Do you have the staff of thunder? It helps a lot other characters in the same location. You need a healer that can fight and a fighter. So three shall it be.

But a hard choise.

Sheelah, Valeros and Seoni if you have the staff would be my quess.

[ferrisvalyn]

Do you have the staff of thunder? It helps a lot other characters in the same location. You need a healer that can fight and a fighter. So three shall it be.

But a hard choise.

Sheelah, Valeros and Seoni if you have the staff would be my quess.

I don't know the staff of thunder - I don't even see it in my vault.  I have other staffs, but not a staff of thunder.  What are it's stats?  Is it an item, or a weapon?  Is it loot?

[Hannibal_PJV]

I did remember it wrong... staff of hungry shadow was what I was looking for. A loot item.

[Eumaios]

Staff of hungry shadows. As our Carthaginian friend says, it's awesome. ...And, as long as you have spells handy, it'll do multiple checks. I always have it on Ezren and he has a lot of spells. But it will work with other characters also, just a bit more limited with a smaller hand size.

[dabub]

A big part of the strategy is also to do a lot of scouting to arrange cards in specific orders. Having the quill that lets you scout 5 and rearrange as well augury/scry is very important. The key is to make sure you find the villain and stick him on the bottom of the deck as you do not want to fight him more than once. I did this with a 2 person party, someone that can fight and another person that has support/scout/healing etc is ideal. 

 

With your party, I would either try Valeros fighting and Lem/Kyra for support or Seelah and Seoni. The smaller the party you can get away with, the less henchmen you'll have in the deck to fight through so smaller is better.

Edited February 27, 2017 by dabub

[ferrisvalyn]

Well, I have that scenario beaten to a pulp.  Now I only have Heroic and Legendary on the other scenarios.

Wait - why am I trying to do this again?  

 

If people have some more specific suggestions, I am very interested to hear them.  

Edited February 28, 2017 by ferrisvalyn

[Thyraxus]

A big part of the strategy is also to do a lot of scouting to arrange cards in specific orders. Having the quill that lets you scout 5 and rearrange as well augury/scry is very important. The key is to make sure you find the villain and stick him on the bottom of the deck as you do not want to fight him more than once. I did this with a 2 person party, someone that can fight and another person that has support/scout/healing etc is ideal. 

Another great item is the Amulet of Inescapable Location - unfortunately that's a legendary treasure, so it requires an inordinate amount of luck to get.

 

But once you have it, it's amazing - for those who haven't seen it, it lets you examine the top 5 cards of the deck, place all monsters found on top of the location (in any order) and shuffle the rest. And it's a discard-or-recharge, not a bury. It's essentially a super-powered monster-only Augury (minus the option to shunt the monsters to the bottom though - but combining with an actual Augury in a one-two-punch can take care of that and be well worth it).

 

Now give that thing to Lem and he can do that every turn as long as he has a spare item in hand to swap it out for and he'll become the supreme locator of henchmen and villains...

[ferrisvalyn]

So, I made it through Assault on the Pinnacle.  I believe my final team consisted of Valeros, Kyra, Seoni, and Lem.

 

My next target ended up being Into the Eye.  For this, I ended up using just Valeros, and for that I used a 2 part strategy.  First, I made sure he had some reveal items that would cover damage (Ring of Superior protect was my primary), multiple armors that could easily absorb high levels of damage of any type (for the before you act checks), and as many Slayer weapons as I could load him up with - those took out the henchmen very nicely, combined with the Revelation Quill, I was able to place the big bad at the bottom.  And then the Burning Glaive worked really nice for the final battle (yes, thank you for letting me borrow it Karzoug)

 

Just finished Cabin in the Snow, using only Lem (of all people).  I really like him with a Slayer's Bow, and his solo performance.  And a few Augries.  

[Edannan]

Honestly, if you're going to try beating Into the Eye on Heroic/Legendary, your party matters a lot less than your specific cards. Make sure everyone has a solid, reveal means of reducing non-Combat damage. Things like Ring of Protection (Or Superior if you can), Ring of Energy Resistance, Blue Ibis Lamellar, and so on. It'll save you a _ton_ of heartache. Stock up on means of searching/manipulating the deck. Augury, Scry, Magic Spyglass, Revelation Quill, Amulet of Inescapable Location, and so on. Designate one or two of your characters as your battlers, and make sure everyone else is equipped to support them. As an example from your list, make sure Seoni has Lady of Graves's favor power and stock on up Pharasma blessings, as they'll give d12's.

[ferrisvalyn]

Honestly, if you're going to try beating Into the Eye on Heroic/Legendary, your party matters a lot less than your specific cards. Make sure everyone has a solid, reveal means of reducing non-Combat damage. Things like Ring of Protection (Or Superior if you can), Ring of Energy Resistance, Blue Ibis Lamellar, and so on. It'll save you a _ton_ of heartache. Stock up on means of searching/manipulating the deck. Augury, Scry, Magic Spyglass, Revelation Quill, Amulet of Inescapable Location, and so on. Designate one or two of your characters as your battlers, and make sure everyone else is equipped to support them. As an example from your list, make sure Seoni has Lady of Graves's favor power and stock on up Pharasma blessings, as they'll give d12's.

I'd say that's true no matter what level you are fighting for.  I would also try to avoid having spell casters as my primary fighters for Kazroug.  

 

At this point, the only thing I need is to do The Road through Xin-Shalast.  Gonna need to think carefully

[Edannan]

Suppose it depends on the party. That's the only scenario that required a modification of playstyle. Into the Eye was the only one I ever really strongly cared about deck manipulation, though I understand others really enjoy it. Ensuring you only have to fight Karzoug once is just huge.

[ferrisvalyn]

Success - I liberated the Blue Dragon last night, with the team of Valeros and Lem.  

 

Now, I have to find the card...