Because it's the only part of his deck that truly pisses me off. Everything else about him feels powerful, but fair, while rockfall just feels cheap in this guy's claws, mostly as it takes him only one or two movements to get a halfway decent shot and cram me into that hallway, feeling acid burning away my flesh. Again, nothing else about him needs changing, but him having Rockfall is just not right. Replace it with freaking Fireball or something, just quit locking me in that damnable hallway.
So what you're saying is "Geomancers are the worst," but you haven't actually played any Geomancer levels in order to have to strategize around Terrain modifiers of that magnitude. Here are suggestions from one such thread: If the problem is, seriously, that you get pinned in the hallway and Xanthicus reaches you in two moves, I'd say just to play the level again. Move the instant it starts and split up your team. Most likely only one of you will get pinned, and then the above anti-Terrain strategy still applies. . . . I'd personally prefer it if Rockfall were more common in the campaign so that anti-Terrain strategy saw more use. Players don't get as much preparation for it as they do, say, Blocks or Armor, and therefore a lot of folks complain about Geomancers. This thread is the first one I've seen that said Xanthicus is too difficult because he's like a super-powered Geomancer, but it's inevitable that there will be more.
Well, if that's the case, then perhaps the Geomancers shouldn't be treasure hunts, and replaced with something else(Hey, I did say I LIKE the way Treasure Hunts worked.) so that us F2P guys get a bit more of a taste of terrain based combat beforehand. The only other time I had ever seen rockfall that I can remember was with Melvelous and I had no problem with him because it was a wide open space and didn't lock me in the bloody hallway. As for the imps, well, to be perfectly honest, lava and acid aren't nearly annoying as just making a Fireball's area into a slog fest. Lava doesn't stop me running over it(Not much sense there, but hey, I'm not going to complain.) and I have yet to see an acid have as big of radius as Rockfall. Although, now that I think about it, replacing Rockfall with that 3x3 acid terrain spell, would be good. It's more thematic(His only other magic is acid breath, so why not give him a few more?) and has less of a radius, giving some more maneuver space. Yeah, slowing terrain should be used more often, but not when I'm facing the huge ass dragon that I NEED to be constantly ducking into cover from in order to not die.
Strange, it's the only one that I had to retry multiple times even after I knew what I was getting into. Who knows, maybe it's just me it gives trouble to.
Funny, my strategy for Xanthicus is letting him pin me in the hallway (where he can't get his bites and claw attack to hit), chipping away at him from range, and healing the minor damage he does with acid and rockfalls.
I'm just about to make my 10th attempt on him. I've tried splitting my party, I've tried hiding in the corridor, and nothing works. In the last game he hit me with two Rockfalls in the first round (my wizard dashed ahead to get LoS on him), second round I hid in the corridor and he hit me with three Corrosive Breaths. Even with Focused Healer my priest couldn't possibly keep up. I'm going to try a frenzy/impenetrable build next, to see if I can get that to work. If he has LoS on you, he destroys all your armor with the breath, and if he doesn't have LoS he can still hit you with those rocks. And since he draws 5 cards per round, he almost always has at least two of Rockfall, Corrosive Breath, or Shimmering Aura.
... and with a little luck in the shuffle, Xanthicius goes down in the fourth round. I should have tried this the first time. My build: Esammae Level 16 Elf Warrior Surging BattleaxePowerful SwordNifty HalberdCuirass Of FrothRusty BucklerCommander's CapMarmot BootsApprentice EvasionFrenzied Slicing Amthien Level 16 Elf Wizard Staff Of BlazesStaff Of FireballsBurning BangleBurning BangleBlister StoneRunestoneBloodfoot RobesScrap-heap BootsUntrained InsightFireblinker Initiate Amalias Level 16 Elf Priest Dark Drewg's MaceMalign MaceHide Of The FrenziedHeavy Dueler's ShieldCrazy Fast BootsShielding TokenSt. Bethan's CharmTwilight TalismanAdvanced EvasionAdvanced Piety
This is what I used today to defeat Xanthicus. With 10 Impenetrable Nimbus and 6 smoke bombs, you can keep your guys alive even in melee range of Xanthicus and turn the rockfall terrain into smoke terrain instead. Also use the smoke bomb to break his LOS to your vulnerable characters that he can't get in melee range of. I use all big attacks rather than step moves on the warrior to bring him down as fast as possible. There are some acid and armor removal spells on the wizard. The priest is jampacked with nimbus and healing. Enjoy. Gwyne Level 20 Human Warrior Bejeweled Shortsword Infused Greatclub Infused Greatclub Perilous Ringmail Slippery Shield Gouging Helm Boots Of The Foolish Inspired Command Savvy Attacker 1 x Slicer 3 x Powerful Hack 1 x Impaler 1 x Quick Step 2 x Trained Bludgeon 1 x Reliable Mail 3 x Hard To Pin Down 1 x Inspirational Thinking 1 x Shimmering Aura 1 x Thickened Mail 6 x Bludgeon 2 x Vicious Thrust 4 x Obliterating Bludgeon 1 x Powerful Bludgeon 1 x Dangerous Maneuver 1 x Shuffle, Team! 1 x Wild Run 1 x Traveling Curse 1 x Weak Parry 1 x Team Run 2 x Lunging Thrust Chryseis Level 20 Human Wizard Sour Staff Redrune Staff Smoke Pin Chit Of Choking Smoke Smoke Pin Armorbane Pendant Robe Of Lightness Rhood's Boots Perfect Tactics Electroporter Novice 4 x Acid Blast 1 x Lateral Thinking 2 x Telekinesis 2 x Acid Jet 2 x Potent Spark 1 x Cloth Armor 6 x Smoke Bomb 1 x Rushing Aura 1 x Inspirational Thinking 1 x Memory Loss 1 x Dimensional Traveller 1 x Spark Inductor 1 x Spark Generator 2 x Counterspell 2 x Dancing Cut 1 x Team Run 2 x Hover 1 x Glob Of Flame 1 x Wild Run 1 x Unreliable Block 1 x Combustible 1 x Dissolve Armor Sis Level 20 Human Priest Nimbus Blade Duality Mace Mail Of Succor Czint's Buckler Lt. Buckwell's Boots Shielding Token Medallion Of St. Vigus Shielding Token Advanced Flexibility Novice Piety 10 x Impenetrable Nimbus 1 x Healing Blessing 1 x Fiery Stab 2 x Consuming Touch 1 x Slowed 1 x Unholy Frenzy 2 x Touch Of Death 1 x Weak Parry 2 x Help The Weak 1 x Chop 1 x Polearm Slash 1 x Dynamic Armor 1 x Minor Heal 2 x Flanking Move 1 x Icy Block 1 x Strong Bash 1 x Wounded Block 1 x Officer's Harness 1 x Lifesaving Block 2 x Altruism 2 x Leadership
