"Temple of Scales" Reptilian battle 4, Lizard Darters too op!

Three guaranteed move cards each round, on a level 12 adventure? Coupled with the fact that you are almost always within the range of both the Lizardman cleric, or jelly, who both can cast almost on the first turn! Please please please limit the lizardman darters to two turns per move. How are players expected to out maneuver 5 darters, while also worrying about supporting spell casters. They aren't even in a remote room, they are right out in the open!!!!!!! A rod of ice staff requires one major power token, which is not available at a 12 character level build; mage walls only pop up from time to time, and I cannot spare enough power tokens to accommodate so many arcane items to assist in doing so. Please help : (

 

4 move cards in a single turn!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

 

Just tried it with my lvl 9 elf party (that's 3 levels below the adventure) and while it was a bit tricky, I finished it with only my warrior dead. I first ran down, killed the slime, then danced a bit with the Darters in the mud pool the slime had created. After the mud wrestling I had lost my warrior and both my wizard and priest were low on hp, but since I had killed some of the lizards I managed to start running around again. Then I just kited the last Darters, zapped the priest from afar, ran in with my priest who took one Strong Stab in the face and then he Draining Touched the priest dead. Ding ding ding, unicorns and party hats all around.

Hard but not impossible at all - sometimes you just have to take a few hits, can't always run away from every enemy.

 

The key is generally nova-ing the slime and evading LOS from the priest. Then try to focus fire on darters to dwindle their card draw.

 

That's why they are called 'Darters' I guess.

I don't think you can really out-manoeuvre them at the start, you can maybe start moving a bit when the slime and two or three darters are dead.

 

Wall Of Stone is great, it can keep two darters away from you for a quite a while.

I'd expect acid cards could have similar effect, but haven't tested them myself.

 

Well even with a full party of level 12 characters, it would take me sometimes two turns to take out the green slime, which left me with both encumbers and trapped behind the lizard men.

 

Yes, I had done the same with my entire party, but by the time that I had dispatched the slime, the lizardmen had already surrounded me, and can easily attack with tricky stabs, with a hard to block 3! How many free moves could a party of level 9 characters possibly have, and if so what items where you using?

 

1. Alll I have in the way of wall of stone, at the moment, would be The Soulstone arcane item; most often I only attain a Wall Of Stone draw two or three turns in, and by then it is practically useless as can merely skirt around or pin me in. (=_=)
2. Darters, as far as I know, do not have armor, and there are many more abilities which constitute more damage then either acid spray or acid jet. Coupled with the fact that they can hold 3 or more move cards in a single turn.

 

This is the tactic I usually take with mobs of baddies. Poke a hole on one side and attack from a place of defense if possible. If you have the cards to kill the slime in the first 2 rounds, do so. If not, run to either side that is less populated with darters and kill one the first round. Then play hide & go seek with them under some cover. The slime shouldn't be able to keep up or effect the battle if you stay out of its line of sight. Since I have a human warrior, dwarf priest and elven wizard, I usually equip the warrior and priest with 'spear attacks' (2 range) leaving the warrior in front to take hits and give hits. The priest heals him. Meanwhile, the wizard uses long range strikes to kill off whoever the warrior and priest have hit. Once the warrior gets low on HP, swap him with the priest so he takes the brunt. After three or four rounds you should have thinned out their numbers where your heals can keep up with the damage. After that, it's mop up time.

Edit: Normally I use chop on my warrior, but these mobs have an easy time of getting out of chop range so I go spear with them.

 

I didn't use free moves, I had killed enough Darters that there was room to Dash away. Though with elves I could've had some Elven Mobilities I guess.

 

My point was that if you put acid in your end of the Corridor, they won't come through. So, if they used to 2 moves to get to that point, they then waste another 3 or 4 to get into other corridor.

But like I said, I haven't tested it with Acid, just with Wall of Stone.

 

Path Of Knives is great against Darters, and the lack of armor makes fire attacks effective, including Fiery Stab if you have it.

 

I did this last night while leveling up a few toons.

Two dwarf warriors and a human priest.

Was able to smash the slime first round, then whittle down the darters as I drew the damage. Priest buffed and would nimbus as I saw damage incoming.

I was surprised how effective this team was even without a wizard.
Good times.

 

I can't believe, but attacking the rightmost darter actually kept me out of both the slime and priest's ranges, and allowed me plenty of time to dispatch the Lizardmen! Thanks for the tip

 

Thanks anyways for those remarks anyways, but if you had read the earlier postings I was usually cornered in the starting location, with the priest casting Unholy Curse and Path Of Knives.

 

Glad it worked! What's funny is I tried doing the 'No Party Deaths' challenge version of this and did so miserably that I was beginning to doubt myself! Still haven't done it but I have ideas to get me there that I want to try.

 

Armor also works here pretty well. I think highest damage Darters can do is 6 so even one decent armor reduces damage greatly. Just have to make sure armored guy takes the hits and stays away from Priests line of sight.

Or if you're lucky and get Arrogant Armor or two just remember to make sure Priest wastes all curses on that guy.

 

Armor and walls would be my suggestion. If I managed to keep my warrior alive long enough to pull heavy armor, the lizardmen became completely helpless. I had to keep the warrior out of LOS of the priest and keep a move if I was near the slime or kill the slime right away.

It's a tough one, though. I've beaten it twice and lost it maybe six times.

 

This is a particularly tough fight if you can't kill the slime in the first round. in 2 rounds, you will already be surrounded by the darters and probably encumbered by the slime.