Chittering Clawbug Leaper Posted October 12, 2012 Share Posted October 12, 2012 I'm not a huge expert on this style of game (JRPGs is mostly my wheelhouse, although I have played tactical RPGs before), but I'd been having fun with this game. (Well, there was that long stretch when I felt too weak to do anything, but I managed to get through it, then realize I missed a lot of level-appropriate stuff until after I was too strong for it to give me a challenge.) So I decided to play on Hard and see what happened. Other than the aforementioned stretch, it seemed to be going good. So now I'm fighting Grah-Hoth, and losing repeatedly. On eight or nine attempts, I've defeated him exactly once, and then got beaten down by all the monsters that he summoned (although I was stupid and didn't see a precious Energy Elixir that was in my inventory that would've made a difference). All the other times, I've gotten him down to less than 1/3 (once, even a sliver) of HP before my party got separated, immobilized, and beaten down by fifteen monsters taking three actions each. Most, if not all, online resources are worthless for strategy. Either they're vague or do not apply to this iPad remake (the monsters do NOT vanish when Grah-Hoth is defeated!). I'm seriously, seriously getting frustrated. I am NOT having fun (and no, I do not want to downgrade the difficulty; I got this far, so I want to finish this way). I bought Avadon and Avernum 6 before getting to this point on the strength of the previous experience, and now I'm actually regretting it. And to hear the Hawthorne fight is HARDER than this...? I am considering just giving up on the game now. Please help steer me away from this path! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Hatchling Cockatrice Randomizer Posted October 12, 2012 Share Posted October 12, 2012 Boss fights heavily rely on tactics especially at harder difficulties. Summon monsters appear every few rounds, so there are two schools of thought on dealing with them. Both assume you will use potions and scrolls to haste the party for extra attacks. 1 - Area of effect magic attacks from mages to destroy groups of monsters as fast as possible. However if you have a high dexterity party that is hardly hit by the first two waves of summons, you may want to use them as shields to block the later rounds from closing. In the later rounds make sure you get the ones that heal. 2. Taking advantage of terrain. Either retreat to a corner so your fighters shield the rest or there is a hidden switch behind Grah-Hoth that opens a narrow passage in the northeast. This is a great place to hide the party so only a few monsters can attack at a time. Hawthorne fight is just hard if you let yourself get bogged down and swarmed, The idea is to keep moving and not stop to explore and loot. Welcome to Spiderweb Software. Please leave remaining sanity at the door. I know you don't have much left after all those attempts. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Chittering Clawbug Leaper Posted October 12, 2012 Author Share Posted October 12, 2012 Actually, that's a good question you bring up. From the dialogue from when he goes berserker, I assumed that if I didn't kill Grah-Hoth first and fast, he would just keep endlessly summoning monsters. Is this not so? And I saw the switch, but I thought it would take too much time, especially when dealing with knockback/immobilization and going through all those monsters', uh, personal areas. Maybe it's worth it. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Hatchling Cockatrice Randomizer Posted October 12, 2012 Share Posted October 12, 2012 There are a fixed number of summons and it is scripted that Grah-Hoth can't die until the last group is summoned. The first time I tried it on torment I made it to the second to last group. Most players that can make it to the corridor find it worth it. You need to have used a speed potions/scroll to do it quickly before getting swarmed. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Rotghroth Rhapsody The Reverend Posted October 12, 2012 Share Posted October 12, 2012 Yes, if you keep hitting Grah-Hoth, you'll quickly get overwhelmed by the all of the summons - I believe the scripts are set up so that the summons occur when his health gets down to certain set levels. So, once he summons a group, stop attacking him and take out that group. Then go back to attacking him until he summons another group, and repeat... Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Chittering Clawbug Leaper Posted October 13, 2012 Author Share Posted October 13, 2012 Aha! THAT was very useful info! I guess because I was trying to hurry and kill Grah-Hoth first (for erroneous reasons mentioned above), I didn't realize that it was a staged thing. This will definitely make it much easier! Thanks! (Hopefully, I'll be able to get through Hawthorne... Any tips on that would be appreciated too.) Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Hatchling Cockatrice Lilith Posted October 13, 2012 Share Posted October 13, 2012 For Hawthorne... save up a few invulnerability potions for the final phase of the fight. You'll know it when you see it. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Kyshakk Koan Alberich Posted October 13, 2012 Share Posted October 13, 2012 With respect to that switch - which was the key to me (on torment) - you can do even better than fighting from the passage; if you leave one fighter at the far end of the passage, you can have your mage zap the north barrier in the side room, and then you can shoot at G-H and his little friends through the unbreakable barrier. What I liked about this was that G-H's charm spells were then targeting my priest and mage/priest, who were quite uncharmable, instead of my fighters, whom he couldn't see. I didn't do this until after killing the two summoned gazers - because I didn't want them shooting back through the barrier. Most of the summoned monsters are hand-to-hand only, which is why the terrain is so helpful. One of the "stunlings" jumped through the barrier but by itself it was no match for my three party members who weren't guarding the passage. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Unflappable Drayk Death Knight Posted October 13, 2012 Share Posted October 13, 2012 Originally Posted By: Leaper Aha! THAT was very useful info! I guess because I was trying to hurry and kill Grah-Hoth first (for erroneous reasons mentioned above), I didn't realize that it was a staged thing. This will definitely make it much easier! Thanks! (Hopefully, I'll be able to get through Hawthorne... Any tips on that would be appreciated too.) The most important thing that worked for me with Hawthorn was resistances on my fighters. I made 2 attempts at him and found that when I had my first attempt, I lost. The reason why was because I rushed and didnt buy extra training and or get extra armor on my 2 tanks. In my opinion, you need a good amount of resistances to elemental damage to ensure that your fighters are sturdy. The reason the 2nd attempt worked was because I went back and got enough armor and resistance to where he couldnt hurt my tanks badly. I didnt have to worry about protecting my mage/priest much due to resistance, but Im not sure what I would have done if I had an archer as they dont have high resistances. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Rotghroth Rhapsody The Reverend Posted October 13, 2012 Share Posted October 13, 2012 Originally Posted By: Death Knight I didnt have to worry about protecting my mage/priest much due to resistance, but Im not sure what I would have done if I had an archer as they dont have high resistances. My first playthrough I had an archer, and she had no trouble with survivability, including in the major quest final fights, due to high dexterity. Except for cold attacks, everything had just a 5% chance to hit her from pretty much the mid-game on. I gave her some cold restistence boosting items to counteract that weakness, and also put a few points into melee to get some hardiness. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Seasoned Roamer Kingdom of West Brom Posted October 14, 2012 Share Posted October 14, 2012 Dont attempt Hawthorne without plenty of energy potions, mass heal and mass haste etc scrolls! Awesome part of the game though! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Recommended Posts
Join the conversation
You can post now and register later. If you have an account, sign in now to post with your account.