Tips for the only 1HP quests?

The only thing I don't like with quest is that I am forced to handicap myself. It's more about here's the same enemy you beat before, now do it but with your eyes closed.

This absolutely go against the power-feeling of any RPG. In an RPG your character get stronger and feel more powerful. That's actually the drive for levelling. I'd love to have more quest that actually buff my opponent instead of handicapping me. The battle could still be impossible, but at least I have my entire deck collection at my disposal (instead of a handful of handicap card), and take proper advantage of my racial advantages (instead of everyone having 1 HP).

In fact that's the only 2 quest I dont like. No party death is standard and is generally expected to maximize your chance of winning anyway. Party composition is always fun. The lvl 1 quests are exactly what I'm talking about, facing buffed enemy without handicapping yourself (imagine you actually face this enemy at lvl 1)

 

Feel free to imagine two zeroes at the end of your HP and the damage from the enemy. Now you're very high level, HP 100 and the enemies are heavily buffed, even their Weak Strike does 200 damage! And all without Blue Manchu having to code new mechanics or to create new cards! I do get your point, though.

 

8 left . The 1 hp challenges are deckbuilding challenges. Think of them as puzzles to solve and not tactical rpg combat. As such I have grown to like them.

 

I got through the low-level quests with three lvl 1 wizards (to improve consistency), two equipped with bashes and force blasts, one with electricity.

 

Anyone got suggestion for map 2 of Goblins in the Woods or the last map of the level 11ish demon portal?

 

All quests done! If you haven't tried it, I recommend 2 priests 1 wizard (Level 4 with resistant hide and firestorms). Nimbuses and Lifesaving Block to survive while making the mage draw cards until he finds his hide and can set everything on fire!

 

I've been running 2 (level 4) firestorm wizards and a nimbus lifesaving block priest, but it's been getting tougher at the level 10 range. I was thinking about going to a 2nd priest, but I don't have enough nimbus yet. I also thought about block warriors which worked on Slub Gut's Sanctum, but I don't think the damage output is high enough to clear a lot of the level 10+ maps, and you can easily get attacked more times than you have blocks for at that point as well.

 

the lv 6-8 quests i did using a 3 mage setup with alot of winds of war, fire wall and path of knifs, they keep getting close and take dmg,then wind then to fire, they take more dmg and then the fire dmg. resistence hide is a most for those pesky caster mobs

 

Unnnnnnggggggggghhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhh... finished. They actually weren't as ball/bank-busting as I had anticipated. It probably cost me 2500 gold or so. That 2500 bought me 2 or 3 legendaries + 3 or 4 epics. Feel free to message me if you have any questions about a specific quest. Below is some general advice before you start and some specific advice on the missions that I thought were the worst. Good luck!!



General advice:
Do all of the other quests first. Mainly you'll need the equipment and the cash, but you'll learn a lot about each stage as well.
I'd suggest having 3 Level 4 Elves, 2 Level 18 Dwarf Priests, 2 Level 18 Dwarf Wizards, and 1 Level 20 Dwarf Warrior at your disposal.
Depending on the quest, you'll need enough equipment for potentially two of each of the following: Firestorm Mage, Wall Building Mage, Whirlwind Mage, Smoke Mage, Cold Mage, Nimbus/Saving/Tough Priests, Bejeweled/Nimble Warrior.
Generally, two Nimbus/Saving/Touch Priests and one Firestorm Mage will do the trick. Sometimes two Firestorm Mages works better; and sometimes, you'll need one or more of the other Mages.

Specific advice:
The worst three missions in my opinion are Return to the Astral Shrine, Temple of Terror, and Black Oaken Heart. Black actually wasn't that bad once I developed a strategy, but it took a bit. The first Astral stage and the third Temple stage just f'n blow. Here's what I did:

Return to the Astral Shine:
The first stage is brutal, the second is mostly cake once you know one simple trick (I was pretty upset when I realized how much I was over-complicating it). At any rate, my strategy for the first stage was two Priest tanks and a Whirlwind/Stone Mage. It was the best thing strategy I could come up with. I tried several other decks, but this was the one. Took me probably 40 or 50 tries to beat. Just have to rinse and repeat until Wind and Nimbus win it for you.
The second stage isn't so bad once you realize one thing. That one thing is that you absolutely shouldn't move. At the start, the enemies are only able to see one of your characters. So as long as you get a Nimbus on your character on the starting cap, you're okay. Standard Firestorm on this one and you'll get it if you're smart about your moves.
Edit: I believe it was Karstedt that let me know this isn't completely accurate. It sounds like one or both bishops can see all three characters. Either way, the initial positioning prevents the other mobs from seeing your characters. If your Priest gets a life saving block and some nimbus, hopefully you can buy enough time to get some storms off. Smoke doesn't work well because it will only force the linear acid attack and/or rockfall. I got lucky and it only took me two tries standing still and I believe it took Karstedt a bit more, but he eventually got it with this strategy.

Temple of Terror:
Believe I did two Priests and one Mage here a well. I got through the second stage okay, the third stage is the real pain in the ass. The best thing on the second stage is to try and separate the monkeys. Get a set of three on one tank, get a set of three on another, and get your Mage on the cap. Live long enough to fry them.
I struggled with the third stage. The flying monkeys are complete assholes. The winning mix involved Firestorm, Smoke, and Winds one the single Mage. Just have to grind it.

Black Oaken Heart:
This was cake once I developed a strategy. Two Mages and one Priest for the win.
Stage 1:
Ten smokes on both Mages, Firstorms staves (I've no Fire Hide ><), tank Priests. The trees on this stage wont move, just chill and nuke em.
Stage 2:
This is probably the hardest stage because the build isn't great for monkeys and goblins. Priest tank, Cone/Stone/Volcano Mage, Cone/Wind/Volcano Mage. Frost em, waste their moves, Volcano. It'll work, just have to grind some good Winds.
Stage 3:
Same strategy as Stage 1, except the tress will advance. They won't sit... they'll advance. Keep your Mages mobile, but keep Smoke on them at all times. Use the tank to distract as many as you can, take them out with Touch and Firestorm as applicable.
Stage 4:
He killed my Mages, but my Priest tank took him out. You can try and delay their deaths with Stone and Smoke, but meh. He makes it easy to get the first move, so just make sure you're a fully loaded tank.

 

I only have 4 to go myself and Return to the Astral Shrine is one that I already dumped 800 gold on and failed. So they won't rockfall you if you stay put?

How did you handle Cardstock II map 3?

I actually had a pretty easy go of Black Oaken Heart... had 10 smoke on one wiz, level 4 firestorm on the other. I ran elves for the moves though, so staying away from the trees wasn't too hard.

 

On Return, the first stage is the worst, the second isn't too bad. On the first though, they love to Rockfall no matter what. I went went with two tanks to survive Rockfall and a Whirlwind Mage. Spit out Whirlwinds until you're on the cap and they're not. Hope the Priests survive on the cap and keep Winding the enemy off. Stone can help prevent them from getting back in a couple of spots. The second stage is the one you don't want to move. Go check it out w/ full HP and you'll see. At the start, only the two Bishops can see your one character. Get Nimbus on him first turn and hope your tanks can survive a Rockfall. Repeat until you can Firestorm them to death.
Edit: I believe it was Karstedt that let me know this isn't completely accurate. It sounds like one or both bishops can see all three characters. Either way, the initial positioning prevents the other mobs from seeing your characters. If your Priest gets a life saving block and some nimbus, hopefully you can buy enough time to get some storms off. Smoke doesn't work well because it will only force the linear acid attack and/or rockfall. I got lucky and it only took me two tries standing still and I believe it took Karstedt a bit more, but he eventually got it with this strategy.

 

I actually did all of the CS2 missions before I started on any of the other quests. I was running a Priest tank, a lightning Mage, and a heavy Warrior. The key here is a single Smoke believe it or not. Assuming you don't eat a first turn Rockfall, fire a Smoke smack in the center of the map. This will cause the Mage to come rushing in first. No idea why. Get in there and kill her and it's a lot easier. Kept Nimbus on the Warrior and had him kill the others.

 

Great post thx.... Neoburia

 

That worked, I put a bunch of high damage weapons on my elf warrior including the Hackmaster and a bunch of step attacks from other equipment. Sent him into the smoke while under the influence of a nimbus, and won. Was very easy.

Only one to go, for me and it's that damn Astral Shrine. I tried the WW approach for map 1 but didn't have any luck. I remeber the first time I got past one took about 40 tries and I used smoke/wall/nimbus, I only went about 20 times with WW before giving up for the night. I did get my first volcano item, but it's only got one, so I don't think it is the edge I need to get past map 1 with anything short of a 1 in 50 chance.

 

Glad to hear that worked on CS2. The WW approach on RAS isn't anything great, it's just what I got to work. I liked WW because it prevented me from getting walled in a corner first turn primarily.

 

I'm working my way up from lvl 2, so here are my notes so far:

- Wizard's Workshop -

I used 3 high-level human wizards and fairly standard equipment. You can use Lizard Fryer, Staff Of Peril and similar staffs, just avoid the ones with Brain Burn, Bungled Bolt and Unstable Bolt because of self-damage. Armorbane Pendant is a huge help, I think I used three or four. You can use Memory Loss to snipe move cards and glue the golems in place. Burning Bangle, Ring Of Hot Spikes and Stone Of Shards are great if you have them.

- Caverns of the Troglodytes and up -

I switched to a lvl 4 Elf Wizard Firestorm setup. Staff Of The Inferno is perfect for this, and I'm lucky I just found a third one. Combustible makes no difference at 1hp, so you add 2 cycling cards. However, I ended up using Firestorms much less than I thought, mainly because my Wizards can't draw a Resistant Hide even if their lives (literally) depend on it. Firestorm really is more of a finishing move. At first, I had all my Firestorm items equipped, like Gaudekki's Orb and several Orb Of Flames, but I ended up with 2-3 Firestorms and no hides in round one. I reequipped the items and only relied on the staff for Firestorms, which worked much better.

My main tactic was hiding and sniping until I finally drew at least one damn hide. The Ember Bursts come in handy here, especially against ranged enemies like imps and lizardman netters. Ember Bursts allow you to hit things even if you don't have direct line of sight, and more importantly, they don't have line of sight to you. Always check each square you enter for potential line of sight, especially when dodging imps.

For armor, I used one each of Forceful Robes, Firebug Robes and Ochre Robes, mainly because that's what I had. The first one is my favorite.

I used Jumpdragger Boots for the Hard To Pin, until the last level of Dungeon of the Lizard Priest, where I switched to Nimble Chain Boots. The Mail on them really helps against the Lizardman Netters that have you in their target line on round one.

A Booming Ring is very handy against Shifty Goblins and the Dog in the second fight of Highway Robbery.

Trogs and Lizards have range 2. This is really annoying, because it means all range 2 attacks are too dangerous to use against them (fire spray, zaps...). They also tend to have just one more move than you thought. Still, ember spray, stone spikes and lava are your friends. In the first Dungeon of the Lizard Priests, immediately retreat back into the 2x3 room and block passage with a Stone Spike.

Against the imps, hope to draw at least one robe early, then run the protected Wizard in the middle of the map to draw fire and move actions. Since imps are grouped, they only get one attack per round. Your unprotected 1hp wizards can safely walk around the blacked out imps and zap them or place spikes / acid / lava.

 

I got the WW to work on Return to Astral Shrine 1, I just resigned first turn if I didn't get a useful WW which sped things along considerably.

I'm still stuck on 2 though. I've been trying the not moving thing and it doesn't really work so well for me. The left bishop can see everyone and doesn't always stay focused on the middle guy. Especially if he's got an acid stream, he'll pick off one of my others... on top of that I can only stack 7 nimbus on each priest and in my last 10 attempts have drawn exactly 1 first turn nimbus, and the left bishop decided to pick off my other guy on that occasion. It's my last one so I'll keep at it, but I think it's still going to be a very lucky first few rounds to get through.

 

Hrm. I thought the right Bishop was the only one that would see them all. I didn't think about Acid Blast though; I forgot that it can fill in spaces that they can't see, which is annoying. That strategy worked for me on like the first or second try though, but I probably just got lucky. I felt like if I moved them, I was too difficult to keep them alive. I had 8 Nimbus on each Priest, 6 Life Saving Blocks on each, and 2 Toughness on each. If you want me to break down the load-outs I had on each further I can. Best of luck!

 

I finally finished the ass shrine, all 1hp now complete. I stuck with the 2 priest 1 firestorm/stone wall wiz. But I moved, very very carefully, and got a little lucky for the first couple turns.

My wiz drew resistant hides, so I ended up moving him toward the right bishop once the pawns uloaded so he would be out of LoS of the penetrating bolts and bishop blast, so the only thing that could hit him would be bishop elementals that would bounce off the hides. I had firestarter and got a glob and firespray on him and moved my lifesaving block equiped priests along the left hall to deal with the left bishop. At that point, it was pretty much a decent draw for the next round and very careful placement so that I would never be hit by something I couldn't block/resist. I had both bishops out by the end of round three, the right one burned up from stacked firestarter and the left one caught a glob and a couple death touches. I didn't keep track of how many times I resigned on a first turn kill, but it took about 3-4 good starts (eg drew a nimbus, didn't lose anyone turn 1) to beat with this approach.

My priests were not quite as well equipped, 7 nimbus, 5 lifesaving blocks. There's definitely a good deal of luck involved here, but after having done it this way, I think it's probably repeatable on at least 1/6 good starts, just bring gold for the first turn kills, you may as well not waste time.

Tips: I leaned it yesterday and used it extensively on this quest, CTRL-right click on an empty tile show all LoS to that tile. Use it before you move to verify you won't get zapped by surprise. Also, keep an eye on those pawns, when I'm on my laptop I can't see the top and bottom corner so I got a surprise penetrating bolt when I didn't notice one draw LoS. I probably spent about 30 minutes on my winning game just being cautious and checking the angles, because once you're on a winning track track you don't want to blow it.

 

Congrats, glad to hear you got it.