Compass of Xorr

Discussion in 'Adventure Discussion and Strategy' started by deeincognito, Sep 19, 2013.

  1. deeincognito

    deeincognito Kobold

    I wanted to start a thread about this adventure because so far (level 8) it's been the hardest adventure i've done. I've finished the 3 quests with only 1 character remaining, and i had to try the adventure 3 times before making it to the end.

    I think this adventure it's hard because it's the first one i did that overwhelm you with hard to touch characters, they have a lot of parry, and the dogs are armored, so you need to effectively use "penetrating" to kill dogs as well as move around the other guys to avoid them using "parry" all the time. At the same time, the bad guys have quite good attacks card and can kill your party pretty fast even with a priest.

    Am i the only one who had issue with this adventure?

    BTW i'm not saying it's unbalance or unfair or whatever, i like myself a good challenge and i improved the way i play this game by learning in this adventure, i just wanted to start a thread, it can be about your harder adventure yet or just comments ... just felt like sharing!
     
  2. Pengw1n

    Pengw1n Moderately Informed Staff Member

    You're not the only one - but it's not impossible, I'd say there are people who had way more problems with it than you. I had to retry 2nd map last time I played it (and usually don't have to).

    Also, it has been discussing that retrying adventures could be seen as part of the game. That you're not "supposed" to be able to beat every adventure on your first attempt.
     
    deeincognito likes this.
  3. ZiggyZebulon

    ZiggyZebulon Kobold

    Yup it's hard. I liked that I didn't get through it the first or second time. I had to rethink my strategy for that adventure which is part of what makes the PvE in this game great.
     
  4. Assussanni

    Assussanni Ogre

    In my opinion, this is the level where the game starts getting harder (some people would say it's the Trogs of level 7, but I never had too much trouble with them). The 2nd encounter is definitely a tough one, although I managed to get through it first time without too much difficulty. When I played it back in beta I'm pretty sure I failed it at least once on my first attempt.

    If you're looking for other hard adventures, a level 10 adventure called The Viscous Tombs has given me the most trouble so far. I finished it having lost twice on the last encounter. I won't give any spoilers but I found trying to build a deck for it both tricky and interesting.

    I also played The Defense of Woodhome with level 4 characters after it appeared to unlock earlier than intended. Managed that after losing twice too.
     
  5. Jotun

    Jotun Mushroom Warrior


    Yup. Tbh before this the game was in ezmode.

    Expect another difficulty jump around the 11-13 mark.
     
  6. Isotope-X

    Isotope-X Mushroom Warrior

    Yes, that's where I am now, pulling my hair out.
     
  7. Angry Penguin

    Angry Penguin Mushroom Warrior

    Yeah the last fight in compass gave me fits.
     
  8. Gerry Quinn

    Gerry Quinn Goblin Champion

    It's an interesting one, you need to know the strengths and weaknesses of all mob types, and consider the cards in your hand and the tactics to decide what can be killed. Dogs have armour, you need penetration, armour removal or, at a pinch, plain old big hits. Soldiers have melee parries, you have to hit them from the back or use magic. (They have some blocks that can stop magic, but (i) they have not so many of those, and (ii) at least they don't draw cards like on certain parries.) Sometimes they drop their guard, which may leave an opening for you if they draw poorly. When you have established that they are out of defences for whatever reason, take them down with prejudice.

    One thing that helps is that - except I think there may be one mercenary somewhere - the mobs are minions and have one action each per turn. And they don't draw a ton of moves, even with the help of servants. So get away from soldiers who still have an action but don't look like moving this turn and save taking a hit. (Dogs get more moves.) By the same token, if one has hit you, he can't do any more damage on this round. This can help you get in position to hit a soldier from the back next round, or put him in between two of your heroes for multiple back-hits.

    [These are my conclusions after replaying it just now. I think it is more 'fluid' than either the first or third Lord Stafford campaign, in that you are always facing two types of equally dangerous mobs, and you want to make the most of the cards in your hand. The other campaigns are more amenable to a fixed kill-order.]
     
  9. deeincognito

    deeincognito Kobold

    I finished the Compass of Xorr quite easily finally! Here my strategy,

    i went on the left side (behind the small wall) to lure the tough guy, i kite him and the first armored dog to the entry of the tunnel, i enter my 3 char in the tunnel in this order (cleric, mage, warrior) so the warrior is the last. At that time, i let the armored dogs come in and avoid long range from the tough guy, in no time i was in control because the ennemies were stuck behind the armored dogs. It was easy as 1-2-3, but i've been lucky with my few first draw, it helped a lot.

    I thought i would share my working strategy, i'm not saying it would work in every situation.
     
  10. Questor

    Questor Ogre

    Kill the servants first even if it costs you a lot of hp, after that its relatively easy.
     
  11. Pengw1n

    Pengw1n Moderately Informed Staff Member

    Tbh, I suggest against ever killing servants - unless you can oneshot them from range. Yes, they can cause RNG issues - but that happening is RNG in itself, and you can usually work around them.
     
  12. Melzas

    Melzas Kobold

    Yeah, not a big fan of those servents but it usually costs me more the kill them than leave them specially since the AI will hold cards based on what you have in your hand.

    Some of those fights are pretty damn unfair if you don't spend a lot of time farming the previous missions and hoping for good drops.

    I'm guessing I'm gonna hit a wall soon as well and be forced to pvp for a leg up.
     
  13. Mx_Paladin

    Mx_Paladin Kobold

    If you have Firestorm it's very easy to take out ALL servants on the board at once.
     
  14. Pengw1n

    Pengw1n Moderately Informed Staff Member

    Yup, or rather - on the next turn. 4 damage, and a burn. But still, very useful on all maps with many enemies - esp weak ones.
     
  15. Melzas

    Melzas Kobold

    I do have a few firestorm items, that could be entertaining on a few maps.
     
  16. karadoc

    karadoc Hydra

    I've replayed this map a few times recently. For me the key point on these maps is that the guards almost always have Parry in their hand. So my general strategy is to stand around waiting for all the guards to use their moves and attacks - and then I run behind them to hit them with something big such as Violent Overswing. (My priest is currently using Mace Of The Angry Novice and Club Of Wrath - so I get to use Violent Overswing a lot). And while I'm waiting for an opportunity like that to present itself, my fallback strategy is to use all my magic damage against the guards and all my melee damage against the dogs.
     
    Zalminen likes this.

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