(Question) Opinions on Temple of Terror Map 3 ?

That was successful for me on every map of Attack of the War Monkeys, every map of Temple of Terror, and the monkey maps of Into the Black Forest and Yellow Dragon. It is exactly how I approached every map with monkeys in this playthrough and in several previous ones. You can say it's luck, but it has been remarkably reliable and effective for me.

With every monkey that falls, they draw one less card. Unless you draw a terrible opening hand - which certainly does happen - at least one will fall first turn. They rarely have more than two moves in their opening hand. Simple board awareness should allow you to stay out of range of the majority of the monkeys. If they do have 3 move cards, sure, you can be in trouble. But remember, the crux of this is you are intentionally putting one character in danger to draw monkeys to them and leave your other characters time to take them down.

 

I don't even understand how this could work in theory, but I tried it and was quickly killed each time. So I'm either missing some critical game concept (possible, I'm new), or it isn't as straightforward as you describe.

As you suggested, I sent my warrior at one of the monkeys that was already across the bridge, and my priest at the other one, in order to split them. In all three tries, all five war monkeys got into melee range by the start of the second turn. In addition, I was completely unable to kill a monkey in the first turn with my melee split - I literally didn't have 20 points of damage in my hand on the draw (I'm not even sure those cards exist in my deck) and I certainly didn't have 20 points of damage on my wizard, which is necessary since I don't have enough move cards to get behind that first monkey without getting swarmed, and I can't attack frontally without getting the card stolen.

I also haven't found a way to get behind them. My move cards move one character one time. Their move cards move all five of them at once, and they usually have multiple ones. Most of the time, my single move card doesn't even create a move that puts me behind a monkey. If I have two move cards, I might be able to pull it off (if they don't move at all), but of course, then I have few attack options.

I guess I'm curious - if this is such an easy strategy, would you mind describing it in a bit more detail? Here's a sample game for me - what do you see that I'm doing wrong?

Turn One

Me: Move warrior left
Him: Scuttle Mantis
Me: Move priest right
Him: Scamper Zaius
Me: Pass
Him: Scamper War Monkeys (none in melee range yet, but they do split the side monkeys, sending one at each)
Me: Deadly Spark (seems safe - hard to block); Duck revealed, but fails. One War Monkey takes 5 damage. I'm winning!
Him: Scuttle Mantis
Me: Pass - I don't want to move closer, because he'd get behind me, but all I have left are moves and heals.
Him: Scuttle Mantis
Me: Pass
Him: Pass

So, turn one is over, and I've done 5 damage to one monkey. Four of his war monkeys are across the bridge, and the two bosses are about 1/3rd of the way over. I've "split" the first two monkeys, but I wasn't able to kill any of course, and didn't have enough damage to do so even if they had been in melee range. And I know there is a Duck out there, which he keeps. He draws five more cards, so now I see six unknown cards and a duck going into round two.

Turn Two

Me: Pass - Let's get these monkeys to come to me, so I can react! Let's let them harmlessly waste their moves, as you suggest.
Him: Scamper Zaius (he's halfway across now)
Me: Pass
Him: Scamper War Monkeys (three enter melee range)
Me: Weak Chop - let's try to get that duck gone. Duck fails. Chop is blocked by armor and reduced to 1 damage, so that Monkey is at 19 now.
Him: Scuttle Mantis
Me: Little Zap - Ducked and stolen. At least the duck is gone.
Him: Little Zap back at my mage, but not too painful, and I have armor.
Me: Pass
Him: Dissolve Armor on my Mage. Ouch.
Me: Pass
Him: Pickpocket on my Priest.
Me: Move Warrior
Him: Acid Blast to where my Warrior just moved to.
Me: Move Warrior again, to get out of acid and behind a monkey
Him: Move monkeys, turning the one I just got behind to face me, and now all five monkeys are in melee range - two raced to my mage, two to my priest, one left with my warrior.
Me: Move Priest to get behind a monkey
Him: Dissolve Armor on my Warrior, turning my Warrior to face the Mantis, exposing my back to a War Monkey. But I've already moved twice - no more move cards, so he's stuck.
Me: Sizzling Bolt a monkey, getting him down to 11 health.
Him: Pickpocket my warrior.

So here we are, I'm in turn two. All five monkeys are in melee range, and are spinning my guys around to get backstabs. I'm out of move cards. Both bosses are more than halfway across. I have, at no time, been able to land a single melee hit on monkey, much less 20 points of damage to kill one.

How on earth was I supposed to "stay out of range" of those five monkeys? What "board awareness" am I missing that would prevent three scampers in two turns from allowing them to completely swarm me? Am I missing some key mechanic?

 

Pls post your item builds (http://www.cardhunter.com/forum/threads/show-us-your-party.347/). Btw, I LOVE monkeys and all the high level adventures (goblin swarm, ogre bruiser/shaman combo)...except for wyverns (no brainer adv ). And eyeballing your 'creative log', it seems like it lacks bite to take monkeys on.

edit: this might help ? http://www.cardhunter.com/forum/threads/how-do-i-beat-monkeys.2574/#post-28151

 

Wow, that's a pretty cool feature! Here's my most recent party:

Flabobblail
Level 16 Human Warrior

Lochaber Axe
Burnished Blade
Dagger
Northgale Plate
Dueler's Buckler
Bellowing Helm
Boots Of The Cheetah
Untrained Command
Sharp Slicing
​

Winsome
Level 16 Elf Wizard

Lesser Furnace Staff
Black Walnut Staff
Wand Of Seared Air
Stone Of Shards
Burning Bangle
Orzo's Excellent Wand
Firehide Robes
Mazarine Boots
Perfect Evasion
Superb Pyrmancy
​

Tensley
Level 16 Human Priest

Healer's Spear
Virescent Spear
Pauldrons Of Vigor
Heavy Wooden Shield
Chainmail Socks
Hand Of Melvelous
Novice's Healing Ring
Onyx Healing Token
Untrained Command
Pious Healer
​

I put a lot of movement-heavy attack cards on my Warrior, to maximize his ability to get behind monkeys. The mage is fire-heavy with walls of fire, firestorms and dots. The cleric is healing-heavy.

Love to get feedback on this trio! They've been crushing everything . . . but monkeys!

 

It is good advice for monkeys in general.

Not so much for this map however, since there are so many ways the war monkey group can just out draw that strategy. Expecting to kill at least one or two monkey on first turn reliably is entirely unrealistic considering the sheer number of block cards they have with a 7 cards hand size. That's what I call luck. Try playing this particular map regularly and see how often this advice actually caries you to victory. It requires very specific draws on both sides for the few turns, most obviously in the move cards department, to even work in my opinion.

Essentially I'm talking about this:

Which is the standard experience for this map. You can't just dismiss it with anecdotal evidence that you beat the map that one time by doing nothing special.

 

Naw man you're not listening, you have to bait them by rushing them. The AI isn't supposed to be unstoppable intelligent, what it usually does is go after the closest player. Once the monkey's aggro to the warrior you can then move the priest to take some more aggro (play the priest as an off-tank) while the wizard and warrior take turns unloading on the monkeys, always targeting them from behind (to avoid duck).

Get it? Tactics will take you very far in this match up.

 

No need to be condescending, especially when the advice you give is so generic as to be useless, and anyone reaching a level 16 adventure is likely already aware of it.

You can do all this stuff and still get your tank slaughtered on turn 1/2 from multiple backstabs. A strategy that's so reliant on the luck of the draw on both sides is no strategy at all.

 

I don't think this map is too difficult. It is difficult, but like many difficult maps in this game it can be overcome after adjusting one's tactics to suit map.

I think it's great that this game has some challenging maps in it, and I think it would be a shame if the difficulty got toned down to the point where no map required strategy adjustments.

 

Again, I have no idea why you're getting backstabbed. For god's sake, all you have to do is position your warrior and priest with their backs to each other and then put the wizard opposite from your warrior while they take turns wailing on a monkey.

There are also other strategies such as going in a corner and putting down lava tiles in front of you so you can't be rushed easily.

If you find that you aren't getting the cards that you want, then you should probably play MP more and earn some better loot to supplement your campaign.

 

Here's a hint: getting attacked changes your orientation, you cannot prevent this.

Man I wonder who ever suggested such a strategy.

 

Maybe some of the folks who have had an easier time with this map would post their party builds?

I think it's just a challenging map. Thanks to everyone for offering advice; I think we have provided a lot of tips that will help people in this encounter. To summarize:

• Equip your wizard with wall spells and force/TK spells/Whirlwind Enemies that can repel monkeys
• Use a corner or wall to minimize monkeys' ability to get behind you, and to stay out of range of "bosses" as long as possible
• Try to hit the monkeys from behind to avoid blocks
• Cards that force the monkeys to discard are helpful
• Equip your warrior with powerful chop attacks to hit multiple monkeys at once
• Focus your attack on one monkey at a time; killing a few will reduce their card draw
• As always, builds that allow you to cycle your deck more efficiently will help you get the cards you need into your hand

 

I used nothing but fire, and no melee attacks in order to make half of their blocks worthless. They can't get the smell of burnt monkey out of their robes.

The Yellow Dart
Level 18 Elf Wizard

Roaring Staff​

Hickory Staff​

Blister Stone​

Blister Stone​

Glittering Pin​

Runestone​

Firebug Robe​

Red Jon's Boots​

Superb Footwork​

Fireblinker Initiate​

​

Johnny Boomstick
Level 15 Dwarf Wizard

Hickory Staff​

Arcanist's Staff​

The Soulstone​

Blazing Stone​

Burning Bangle​

Glowing Ring​

Hotblast Robe​

Boots Of The Cheetah​

Advanced ​

Superb Pyrmancy​

​

Buzz Buzz
Level 13 Human Wizard

Lesser Furnace Staff​

Tangerine Staff​

Banik's Bubbling Bauble​

Green Wand​

Hot Crystal​

White Orb​

Hotblast Robe​

Novice Boots​

Novice Flexibility​

Superb Pyrmancy​

​

 

I like the names! A sort of specific party build, but good idea nonetheless. Just don't let the monkeys steal your Wall of Fire....

 

I just beat "Temple of terror" map on my first try with my volcano/firestorm deck, nothing too hard. I found "Into the black forest" much more challenging, especially on that open forest map with the flying monkeys. There is no cover on that map and the flying moneys destroy everything.

My warrior did most of the heavy lifting, I just made sure to use firestorm to draw out the monkey's blocks, and I made sure to always try and keep one extra movement card at the end of a round in order so I could make sure my guys were always facing the monkeys.

I did not back into a corner either. I just stayed around some of the blocks in the middle and did fine. The monkey AI is easy to abuse, all you need to do is move your warrior forward first. The monkeys will rush him 9 times out of 10.

 

I just tried this map again as well. Unsure if there have been tweaks since last time I played it, but I also found it much easier. I think that knowing how to approach it, tactically (basically, knowing what cards the monkeys have in their decks) really enables you to beat the map much more easily.

Forlorn has a good point about Firestorm, which also applies to things like Cone Of Cold and Fireball: Large AoE spells do a great job of drawing out Duck, at least. I had much less of a problem with their other blocks, too. I will note that I recently switched the build on my warrior to have one weapon slot with a weapon that only does step attacks. These are incredibly useful for either getting into position to attack from the back, or just to change your own facing to avoid backstabs.

I think I was routinely able to get rid of 1 monkey per turn after the first turn. By the time the leader and the Hell Mantis were close, I had killed all other monkeys. I lost my priest to the Mantis, but my warrior and wizard easily dispatched the other two.

Cone Of Cold and Frost Jolt really helped slow the monkeys to an acceptable pace, and gave a lot of breathing room!

 

Oh, and to a specific point, I spent most of the battle with my wizard stuck back in that hole in the wall, with the other two right in front of him, occasionally taking steps to deliver attacks. Once or twice, I even cast Cone of Cold right through my party members!

 

Man, I'm just going to assume that this whole monkey arc is a newer part of the campaign or something, because everything was super well balanced and fun up to this point and then its 11 straight levels of annoyance and frustration. Don't get me wrong, the monkeys are brilliant, very well designed, great gimmick enemy to spice up the campaign. They *feel* like monkeys, very annoying. But level after level of the damned things, its uninspiring and player-hostile in a way that's totally contrary to the rest of the game. It's like playing a Magic tournament of nothing but Counterspell decks. Sure, there's strategy sure, I'll adapt, but its not what hooked me, and it has sincerely turned me off the game.

As for this level, apparently all I have to do is not ever have my facing changed and have a "volcano / firestorm" deck, which sounds real fancy, but as a normal person playing through the campaign, I don't have anything in my previously-totally-adequate arsenal that can touch this level.

I could deal with the difficulty spike even! But my main complaint is that these levels are no fun at all, mapcap difficulty spike aside. I don't even want to try, I don't even like these levels thematically: "I'm going to need to muster every resource! Plan every strategy! Use amazing tactics! Gather mighty cards! To beat some monkeys that throw acorns at me. Maybe I'll play something else".

For what it's worth, I only complain because this is *so* out of line with an otherwise incredibly balanced and fun campaign.

 

Information of little to no value to anyone but just putting it out there. This map has never been a problem for me not even before wizard items where buffed and all i can say as far as tactics is that i always left the unique monkey for last.

 

I honestly had the same feeling kinda when i got to monkeys the first time but the second and third it was more like a extra tiny nudge on the difficulty curve than a flat oiled wall with the note climb up me taped to it. So what I'm saying is your feeling isn't uncommon but its something that go away for most people if you push past it the first time.

 

Just ignore the trolls, Oatmeal. =]

Several of us have posted a bunch of suggestions for dealing with this level earlier in the thread. Take a look! I don't think you need a specific deck type to beat this level, but doing a little re-jiggering might be helpful. If you have other questions, don't hesitate to ask!