Help please

Hail all,

I am slowly going insane TRYING to kill the Balor in the fire node. I quit using Scather since it locked up the game, my fighter that has the frostbrand still seems to fail the slay living spell first no matter what . . . F--king bulls--t!!!!!

I cast bless, prayer (in combat), stoneskin (6), prot from evil (2), use potions of bull's strength, mage armor (for mage), blur (3 or so), mirror image (1). I cast cone of cold before I enter combat instead of talking and keep casting ice storm and cone of cold when I can.

I either have most everyone become afraid and run or they are missing almost all the time (almost worse IMO).

The NPCs I use are Elmo (lvl 9), Taki, and Darley (that is how I get all the stone skins). I give Taki the holy great axe +1, and the holy longsword to my ranger (single weapon style) and equip my cleric's holy mace instead of the warhammer +2, and the staff of striking from Balsornig goes to my thief.

I destroy the Efreet in the first or second round but I'm running out of ideas. I summon earth and air elementals and they cannot hit him . . . :sadblinky :thumbsdow :blahblah:

I do not want to summon the demons from the stones but I guess I will have to for fodder.

Thanks in advance, (I am not totally insane yet so I still remember my manners)

I am just so close to the end that it kills me not being able to get past this thing

 

Do you have any bard in your team? I alway have a bard - because of his Contersong, Inspire courage, Inspire Greatness - those song are really helpful in fighting against all 4 guardians. :headfones

Why do you afraid to summon deamons :twisted: - they are really great in fighting against bosses (even if they slowing game) - taking most of the boss strike impact on themself... :chainsaw:

I must say that the Balor-boss-fight is real tough - even the toughest of all in ToEE - so don't worry, I killed The Balor guardian after 10 times loading game :tombstone:

I prefer to kill another guardians first: Vrock, then Glabrezu, then Hezrou - and at last Balor. Before I meet him - my thief is sneaking behind his back :ninja: , and steal the Fire Gem (so before the fight I have completed Orb - and can summon all 4 daemons against Balor Guardian). And the rest - is a silence, only ... :dead:

 

Sorry to disappoint you, but Countersong has no effect in the game.

 

Yes, some or many chars will run scared. There isn't any way I am aware to avoid this tragedy.

Spells, Spells, & more Spells...Can you say Shock & Awe?

Clear the initial Efreeti, the ones before you walk up the rock stairway (for lack of better words), and return back to Hommlet to rest to get your spells and hit points back to full. Then, go back to face the Balor and his subjects.

The Wizard with the Cone of Cold should be the first action. (Dont' talk to it Gomer Pyle, Kill it!)

Everyone stay back [keep a safe distance] from the Balor.
-Wizard casts all cold damage spells, best first, until depleted. Then, cast magic missile until depleted.
-Cleric casts spiritual hammers, until depleted. Then, cast damage spells using whatever you've got.
-Druid casts summon monsters, until depleted (waits until after Wizard ice storms are used up).
-Bard sings songs.

The Balor will kill at least one summoned per round [or more]. Hopefully, the fear cast by the Balor will end before your characters run out of spells. When you've done all the damage you can do using spells, charge the Balor with the characters with weapons that can do damage to it.

Finally, hope for good die rolls, good fortune, etc.

 

Thanks you guys for the good ideas!

I had already saved my game before I met the Balor so all I had to do was ehnance my party with spells, etc and start throwing spells at him. I only have 1 mage and 1 cleric and then Darley for casters (my ranger does not count *wink*)

For those inquiring as to my party makeup: Fighter, Ranger, Cleric, Wizard, Thief.
NPCs: Elmo (lvl 9 ftr), Taki (lvl7 ftr), Darley (lvl 10 sorc-alu fiend)

I may try to kill the water node boss first and then go back to fire last . . .

I will try sometime this weekend

Again, thanks

 

Just a suggestion,but go to Hommlet and drop off Elmo and pick up Burne. Go to the Inn and buff him up. He has a poor selection of spells, but he has a scroll of Icestorm and a wand of magicmissiles.He also has a scroll of cone of cold but you need to buy it BEFORE he joins. You need lots of magic power to fight the Balor. Magicmissile works well. Have the wizard use the ORB to keep something between it and the party and throw missiles. The thing is AC34 so you wont hit with weapons very often, if at all. It's hard to kill and you will probably lose a few, but don't feel bad. This list of adventurers killed is very, very long.

 

From your description of your weapons, it sounds like you could use some crafting. By that point in the game, my weapons are all just ridiculous: +3 with all or most of the bursts, plus holy and keen. Especially if you've got the three cleavers (as they originally were), not even the Balor is going to be giving you headaches. Hooray for 140 damage! :headfones

 

If somebody, anybody could fix the problems with Scather then a AC30+ fighter could slug it out with it. My last party of 8, 3 fighters, 3 wizards, cleric and rouge all maxed out with magic goodies and I still lost 3. It was hard before and Liv made it even harder. Man I hate that thing, bigtime.

 

Heroism and Super-Heroism do a good job of keeping characters free from the effects of the Balor's fear. +3 weapons are a must, and at least two should be holy as well. Have the cleric standing back casting spells and ready to heal with the Staff of Life. Lots of summoned creatures, lots of damaging spells, lots of buffs (aid, bless, prayer, circle of protection, etc.). I find the Balor almost always makes his saves, so Feats like Maximize Spell and Empower Spell are important, as well as Spell Penetration and Greater Spell Penetration. Finally, Darley has great natural AC and HP. Put her in your best armor (she can wear anything) and even the Balor has trouble hitting her. Buff her up and give her a good weapon (not a holy one) and she can hit as well as any fighter. I've always used her this way, not as a spell caster.

 

Everybody has a lot of good advice but I didn't see this mentioned: Death Ward (Clr 4) should stop the Slay Living.

 

LOL!!! I TOTALLY appreciate all the advice! :rock:

I was able to kill him Thursday evening and I did not lose a single guy (but it was way close)!

I pumped up my party with all the goodies I had like bless, prot from evil, prayer (in combat), stoneskin, spiritual weapon.

With NPCs I used Darley's stoneskins on as many PCs as possible (5) and blur on the rest.

I cast cone of cold first and killed both Efreets so that was cool. I stayed out of melee as long as possible by casting an air elemental and earth elemental from the gems I had. I cast both dismissal and dispel evil and hit with one (not sure which) but even though it said he failed it then immediately said he saved . . . I tried!.

The spiritual weapon kept him occupied since he did not seem to be able to hit it. He did not kill the Earth elemental as soon as he did the air one so I know I got lucky there. I got "feared" but not everyone ran so I kept hitting him with all my spells and Darley's magic missles until she was out. Had to recast bless eventually too. Taki kept at the nephits and my rogue had the proof vs poison amulet so never got poisoned and that made a difference too.

When I did have to engage in melee he was fairly weak from all the spells but still a bast--d. I was at a standstill with not hitting him and my stoneskins running out and low on spells. I cast cat's grace on my fighter wielding the frostbrand and it seemed to make quite a difference. I critically hit him twice in a row and did great damage. Holy longsword to my ranger and holy mace for my cleric helped in melee but I do not think they hit more than 1 time combined! Taki has an iron will or something because when people get feared and charmed he says "I will not attack a good creature" even though he is under a spell. It was not a pretty win but it was a win.

Anyway I am thanking the good dice-rolling gods because no one died. I am getting ready to fight the Hezrou and have equipped Taki with the Moradin hammer (he's the only lawful guy I have) and Hedrack's hammer to Darley. Both seem to hit alot with them . . . wish I would have remembered I had them before I fought the Balor.

Anyway sorry to babble :blahblah: but thanks again for the help.

I need to restart the game if I want to craft items (yeah I know I messed up) since I did not take any crafting feats . . . DOH!

 

BTW does anyone know if you HAVE to put the power gems into the skull to successfully destroy it (or should I)? I was thinking of keeping the gems to use against Zygmoty (sp?) and destroy the skull at Burne's. :ninja:


I wish they allowed you to ask Darley to leave explaining to her that people in town will not deal with the party if she is in it. I asked her to leave once and then came back for her after selling loot, etc. Now if I ask her to leave anymore she immediately attacks me after. I can't figure if another NPC is doing it or if she is programmed that way. I like her but I can't sell gems to the jeweler and deal with Otis with her around :rant: (but since I am pretty much at the end maybe it does not matter) I doubt Burne will deal with me in destroying the skull with Darley around so I guess I will try to non-lethal damage her into unconsciousness if I can.


peace :rock:

 

I dunno....but you should have to do this to be in line with 'destroying its evil forever' from a RP standpoint. I doubt that it matters, 'cause many such details were overlooked in the crafting of this game from the original module. Make an extra save, give it a try, and see what happens. There was an old bug (that's been fixed if you've properly patched) that let you get a gem each time you killed a demon. I believe it was fixed when their duration was corrected...they used to hang around for a relative eternity. Demons have such a unique concept of time, anyway...

Another thing to try is consoling the gems back in after destroying to skull. This too could have weird effects, too, so if you try it at all, try it on your 'experimental' save.

 

Try keeping the power gems on one character and the orb (skull) on a different character. Have the character who has the skull talk with Burne and, then, his apprentice to get the orb destroyed. The character with the power gems should NOT talk to anyone. You can stay and watch it be destroyed. The graphics should be better for its destruction when you watch it be destroyed. The character with the power gems should still have the gems after the orb is destroyed.

When you talk with the old crone (Zuggtmoy in human form), state you reject the pillar of gems and when she disappears, do NOT try to take the pillar of gems from the throne. When you kill Zuggtmoy, she is eternally and permanently destroyed as she is trapped on the prime material plane because you rejected the verbal offer and you also did not try to take the pillar of gems. Taking the pillar of gems means she is no longer trapped on the prime material plane.

[EDIT]
Notes: She is in a weakened state as she is held in the emprisoned area, the locked room. This makes it possible for a 10th level party to kill her [or it - ha]. It has been debated by many people on several boards that if she was not in a weakened state, it would take a 20th level party, minimum, to have an outside chance to kill her [or it], but not everyone in the party would survive. However, a 30th level party should be able to kill her, within reason and die rolls, and have an opportunity to have everyone survive the fight. Destroying the orb prior to the fight further weakens her already weakened state.
[EDIT]

 

Heh Heh,

Yeah I beat the game 3 times to see what happens when you take a certain path.

1) I destroyed the orb and power gems but took the gems under the throne after rejecting her offer so she was only banished for 66 years.

2) I destroyed the orb and power gems but took nothing from her stash and therefore killed her permanently.

3) I destroyed the orb but not the power gems. I could then dismiss Darley on her fire node and return for her after I was done smashing the orb. I wanted to keep her in my party but Burne refused to talk to me when she was there. The ending was the same as my #2 scanario so I guess it was for nothing. Although I did keep the gems! I did not have to summon anything but now I will just have fun with it.

I did solve the game one other time awhile ago by agreeing with Hedrack to join the greater temple and the ending had several people getting eaten by ocher jellies, which I thought was funny.

Now I will try another party and make sure I take crafting skills so I can make/enhance items.

Thanks for everyone's help & input eace: :rock: