samman's isle -- spoilers/strategies[G5]

[jlsgaladriel]

Ooof, I've just been throwing myself against the Samman's Isle bosses, and have some questions for y'all.

 

At what level do you normally attempt Samman's Isle? What level without using any cheats?

What strategies have you found work best for the bosses?

 

I threw a level-50 shock trooper at the wormhost rotghroth in the southeast. The best strategy I came up with was to pull him out of his grove a bit to the north, so that the gazers, kyshakks, and shock tralls are forced together into the narrow pathway.

 

I *hate* cheating, except for saving-myself-annoyance purposes -- I have no qualms about healing and recharging at the border of a territory -- but I absolutely could *not* get through fighting the rot without an emergency "healmenow" or two. (At least it wasn't ten?)

 

What strategies have you used for this boss, or for the other two bosses? Have they worked for a cheat-clean run? What level and what class were you when you tried them?

[Lilith]

Level 50 is about right. It's supposed to be very difficult, and gaining a couple more levels won't really help that much. I used a Sorceress and no cheats, on Torment difficulty, with 6 War Tralls as backup. Use essence blessings for every fight, even if you have to burn through a bunch of essence pods to do it. Essence Blade is the best if you can spare the pods, but you'll probably have to recast it after every battle. If you don't have that many pods, use Essence Armour instead.

 

Charm works reasonably well against most of the enemies on Sammann's Isle, but of course you're a Shock Trooper so I'm guessing your Mental Magic skills aren't great. It's still worth a try, though. Use regular old Charm rather than Mass Madness for the best possible success rate.

 

For the Wormhost Rotghroth, charming the worms he spawns but not the rot itself will make the fight very easy as he wastes time killing his own worms. While he was occupied doing that, I sent my creations out to hunt down the eyebeasts, kyshakks and tralls; getting the jump on them reduces the chance that they'll run out at random and murder you.

 

The Spectral Gazer doesn't have many fancy tricks, but the ones it has are deadly. Pick off all the creations around it one by one before fighting it. Anything less durable than War Tralls will probably just die in one hit to its acid aura, and even then you'll need plenty of healing to keep your creations alive. If you can't survive its attacks, don't stand in its attack range!

 

Sammann himself is a nuisance who needs to be killed quickly. Lure him into the outdoors so you're not taking hits from his indestructible pylons, charm his creations if you can, and beat him up relentlessly. Keep everyone fully healed at all times, as some of his attacks can do over 600 damage.

[Randomizer]

On torment the spectral gazer and Sammann can do easily a 1000 damage before armor per scripted area effect attack. I was getting hit with 200+ penetrating damage.

 

Charm is the best attack even with low mental magic and spellcraft. I got through with a guardian with 9 and 10 in those. Forget getting experience and make them fight each other as much as possible. I really should have save a few kyshakks for the spectral gazer because that is a really tough creation with it's area effect damage.

 

Sammann was the only one I couldn't fight by myself. Creations really are needed to buy time to weaken him once he is outside.

[jlsgaladriel]

The funny thing is that Samman and the spectral gazer turned out to be a cakewalk for my character* -- it's the rothghroth that was just killing me. I think you're right, and strong mental magic is best for the rotghroth. As Thuryl pointed out, that's not a strong area for most shock troopers!

 

Originally Posted By: thuryl

For the Wormhost Rotghroth, charming the worms he spawns but not the rot itself will make the fight very easy as he wastes time killing his own worms. While he was occupied doing that, I sent my creations out to hunt down the eyebeasts, kyshakks and tralls; getting the jump on them reduces the chance that they'll run out at random and murder you.

 

I haven't re-fought this battle yet, but I think my mistake was killing the worms and the rot too quickly. (The plated ones could be one-shotted by my kyshakks; the others by my war tralls.) Once I killed the roth, I had too many of his allies jumping me at once, and stunning such that I was bearly getting one turn every four rounds.

 

I'd tried mass madness, but there was too much resistance (I think my skill was at 9 in mental magic, including gear.) Charm is most certainly a better way to go. Sounds like a good strategy, thanks!

 

* mind you, this is on normal difficulty...