Return to the Astral Shrine - HELP!

Wow, this went from "challenging until you think it through" in the beta to "I've tried this half a dozen times and can't even get close" - and I'm only talking about the first battle. They seem to have added a second Rook type unit to the mix, and I don't remember being bathed in acid even when I did mind where I was standing - does anyone have any tips for this? I've been banging my head against it all night.

I've got units with Shimmering Armor, missile blocks, lunging attacks to help with maneuvering around a little easier, I loaded up with Wall of Fire to force enemy units to move around or even hit them hard if they can't, and no matter how I try it I'm just getting creamed by cave-in, lighting zap's, acid pools, and on occasion the diagonal or four-way blasts.

Any advice would be most welcome!

 

The only change from beta I remembered was that they fixed one Bishop unit being alone yet still considered in a group. That way, the bishop can freely use all his move without being restricted to 1 action point (being greyed out). That could cause a slight difficulty increase. However, the strategy is the same. Step attack is fine, but I don't think Wall Of Fire is that effective against them. Try some telekinesis, winds of war to close distance for your warrior. The big dmg from warrior will make the difference.

As a general strategy, focus any unit that doesnt belong to a group (alone) to cut down on potential incoming attack.

 

I sent one wizard to the bottom-right enemy and fought him 1v1 - I sent my healer and warrior to take out the Rook in the top- middle and his buddy that comes around from the right.
My builds were movement heavy and I loaded up on big damage attacks (no chops) or attacks with Step.
Good luck on this one. It's a tough one!

 

I was looking for tips from YouTube/Let's Play and the only video I found of this fight was in July, with just one Rook and two Bishops, which is how I remember doing it myself. I tried a few more times, I can't even get to and kill one of the four units let alone two or three, before they get too many victory points. I think the fight would be hard but doable without them standing on victory squares. Very frustrating.

 

Well, there's always Whirlwind Enemies. But yeah I agree, it was hell of a fight to get those two battles done - in my experience the hardest dungeon so far. I remember resigning the first battle once after the first card enemy played was that huge rubble AE trapping two of my characters in one go in such a way it would've taken them 3+ turns to get anywhere.

 

The thing is, this fight is all about positioning - one whirlwind and you've changed the battle completely, almost certainly in your favor. Once you've taken control of the center of the board, you've basically won.

So that's my suggestion: WW/WWE should win it for you.

 

Thanks everyone, I did equip a few WW/WWE cards I'd accumulated so far and found them to be very useful here after all. I completed the first map at last, and the second one only took me two tries, thanks in no small part to good draws (a few Wall of Fires, and some wind to blow enemies back onto them!) so now I'm off to other campaigns. Much appreciated!

 

i just finished the chess campaing too again,it's not as hard as it seems

 

I remember two rooks and acid in the beta.

Don't be in too much of a hurry, often they don't sit on the victory squares initially and you can afford to kill a couple off one-by-one in the corners.

 

I just completed the module, first time through, with the following setup (optimzed for the module because I just did the previous one with the same opponents):

Septimus Salus
Level 14 Human Warrior

Lochaber Axe
Simple Dagger
Excellent Rapier
Sharp Shell
Spellthwart Shield
Solid Iron Helmet
Bertha's Big Clogs
Novice Flexibility
Superb Gouging
​

2 x Shimmering Aura
1 x Leadership
4 x Nimble Strike
3 x Lunging Thrust
5 x Lunging Hack
1 x Impaler
2 x Slowed
1 x Penetrating Stab
1 x Fiery Stab
3 x Missile Block
1 x Weak Chop
1 x Officer's Harness
2 x Shifty Stab
1 x Puncturing Stab
1 x Jarring Block
1 x Dancing Cut
1 x Walk
3 x Reliable Mail
1 x Unreliable Block
1 x Vicious Thrust
​

Lady Claudia
Level 14 Human Priest

Rapier Of Misfortune
Initiate's Glaive
Zealous Mail
Ichabod's Buckler
Vira's Shoes
Oak Roots
Silver Healing Ring
Hand Of Melvelous
Trained Flexibility
Trained Cleansing
​

1 x Walk
1 x Advanced Battlefield Training
1 x Misguided Heal
1 x Purge
1 x Limited Heal
1 x Invigorating Touch
3 x Bad Luck
1 x Greater Heal
2 x Reaching Swing
1 x Defender's Block
1 x Consuming Touch
1 x Holy Presence
1 x Strong Stab
2 x Nimble Strike
3 x Bad Medicine
2 x Shimmering Aura
2 x Spear Of Darkness
3 x Entangling Roots
1 x Fiery Stab
2 x Wounded Block
1 x Weak Parry
1 x Hardy Mail
1 x Parry
1 x Reliable Mail
1 x Help The Weak
​

Metella le Fey
Level 14 Human Wizard

Lizard Fryer
Silver Fir Staff
Wand Of Hot Winds
Crisping Rod
Wand Of Hot Winds
Crisping Rod
Rockshard Robes
Lizard Hide Boots
Untrained Command
Focused Electromancy
​

4 x Hot Spot
1 x Walk
1 x Shuffle, Team!
2 x Scuttle
3 x Short Spark
3 x Stone Spikes
2 x Whirlwind Enemies
2 x Counterspell
1 x Deadly Spark
1 x Resistant Hide
1 x Weak Parry
4 x Spark
2 x Wall Of Fire
3 x Spark Generator
1 x Flimsy Block
1 x Run
2 x Potent Spark
2 x Boiling Armor
​

 

Mind you, I am not in any way saying my setup is optimal. Just that it was good enough to pass the two encounters with no defeats. I may just have gotten lucky draws.

 

For the first part of the campaign:

WW or WWE will screw them up entirely. If they are sent further away they don't even be able to make it back since they move 1 space per turn. Gang up on the ones that remains on VP and kill them. Then cam VP and win.

For the 2nd part of the campaign:

Initially move SE, kill the bishop. Ensure you are not on any diagonal spaces. Disregard and tank the damage from pawns. During this period of time, Rooks will move towards you away from the VP they are initially on. After the bishop is dead, the most optimal follow up is to move towards the 2nd bishop and kill him asap, then ambush any one of the 2 rooks at the exit of the tunnel leading to the VP in the middle. Some times if you are fighting the bishop in the SW room one of the rooks will even backtrack to his initial position. Thats the best result you can hope for since it means the 2 rooks will end up in different rooms when you confront one of them.

Things will happen to screw up that plan, i've had rockfall block the way to the 2nd bishop, i've had the fight with the 2 bishops take longer than usual and allow the rooks to reach LoS. Its still winnable, just be slightly more flexible. Having a mage with acid/electric immune hide will help immensely.

Never ever tank their specials. So make sure you check every move to ensure its not in the path of their special attacks. also, being on VP yourself increases the chance they will move towards VPs near them (but not always), keep that in mind. If you're trying to lure rooks away from VP, don't stand on it yourself.

My party was a standard mage warrior priest build, nothing special. On a side note, smoke bomb does not help, they don't need LoS for their special attacks to hit you.

the campaign will take an immense amount of time, even if you are successful on the first try. Thats what makes it super frustrating. Lots of positioning and waiting and kiting.

 

I have to say, even after following these guides (because this campaign has been kicking the snot out of me!), that this is ridiculously difficult. Not fun difficult, not challenging, just bang head against wall difficulty where everything depends on drawing EXACTLY the right cards and hoping the bishops don't spam their acid and rockfalls. That's not something you build for. That's something you pray to get lucky. I don't know how the difficulty could be made from "Odds of winning are 1:1000" to "There's a strategy here, figure it out and apply it".

Every other scenario has been the latter. Find the strategy. Use the strategy. Sure, sometimes you don't draw great hands for a couple of turns, but overall you've got a good shot to win. This one just feels like NOTHING I do is winnable.

 

Whirlwind and lots of it.

 

I hadn't thought of putting some of those into play. I'll try that.

 

Hover and Counterspell are good too.

 

The cleansing ground stuff was quite helpful in dealing with acid spam. I also threw a consecrated ground card a couple of holy presence cards into the deck. It was a nail biter but my dwarves tanked it out! Thanks for the advice!

Also I find it amusing that just by reading the intros and planning ahead for the other scenarios I was able to complete the campaign before this particular mission >.>