Getting past the bloody spider.

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Originally Posted by namad

@everyone talking about warrior maidens... darnit darnit... my game I didn't have any! although I think it may even be due to some sort of bug because one of the shops in the game spawned them, but with 1 and only 1 maiden for sale? which made them unusable... thats one thing I don't like about wotn... first four islands don't have a done of random troop variety... difficult boss for which you don't have many choices of troops to bring? not fun! I might give it another try tho with jotun/berzerker/polar bear/bear/royalsnake the only problem is... the first four islands combine to give me ONE CASTLE, with THREE garrison slots... so I don't have enough space to really store my entire old army that easily

also no trolls either... strategies that only work with specfic troops are usually fine for bosses in king's bounty games because usually you can bypass the boss explore a ton... have so many places to recruit from that eventually randomly you'll find what you need... but in wotn half the shops on teh first 4islands have basic vikings troops... I'm really sad I couldn't get warrior maidens in my playthrough ... by the time they become available in my playthrough I'll probably have something better like paladins or something..



actually wait nevermind: here is flat out the one and only flaw with this boss fight! the first time you fight this boss you will probably lose, at least depending on random happenstance, what's the problem? well you can't do go anything else! you realize frenzy would be a great ability to use against the boss? oh well too bad by the time you first encounter the boss there aren't enough enemies left in the game to fight to gain even 1 level, so if you don't already have exactly what you need, it's just not fun! typically in king's bounty you can fight a boss, lose, think about strategy, go acquire a different army, maybe level up once or twice, get what you think you might need, and then try again!!!

for example I went for learning rank 3 early because it can pay off in the long run, I could've had glory rank 3 instead but I didn't realize that the bosses weren't things you could come back for later, crossworlds campaign is 90-95% all about skipping every boss and coming back for it later?!!?!!!!!!!!

Most of your grievances are quite justified. But I am pretty sure there are 2 castles - on on Nordlig, one on Fastlands. (Yes, you can go back to Nordling - it's a weird thing but Runolv actually goes back to his house and you can enter the town. The smith Grunorm will have moved into the Castle (so you lose access to his sales - buy them before this event)

Also, the three Houses of Jotun (one in Vestlig, one in Isterreg, one in Nordlig) accessible after you get the winged horse) sell Trolls with a good chance. They are hard to find unless you check your maps... another weirdness with the designs.

Originally Posted by Zechnophobe

Skald, hard. I did all previous content before fighting him, and was level 20 or 21 when I fought him, with 22/22 Jarls (for comparison)

I used Jarls, Soothsayers, Royal Snakes, Battle Maidens, Jotun's.

I used Valkyrie to give more leadership (900) and stomped the spider fast enough to get the achievement.

I think the problem you have is that your troops look very weak. Axe throwers and Berserkers really don't cut it that far into the game. Need some stuff with higher damage and health.

Axethrowers are some of the worst Viking units - due to the 120 Leadership. I mean, cannoneers have the same leadership, have more HP and can attack at any range and without melee penalty. The "nimble" skill is not worth it for that... As I noticed, their damage output is fairly low since you can only get a few. In comparison, other Level 3 units with 90 HP have much lower leadership (Cerberi, Griffins, etc.)

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Originally Posted by Xargon

I'd question Jotuns (never tried them, stats don't look that impressive) and soothsayers (they seemed not much use in this fight). I used a standard army of Jarls (only 11, that's all that were sold), Axe Throwers, Warrior Maidens, Berserkers and Trolls (Soothsayer, hard, lvl18 ). Came out with losses of 1 jarl, 1 warrior maiden, 5 axe throwers and 28 berserkers on turn 11. The berserkers really do a lot of damage against the spider (stone skin and use their rage ability), trolls always hit the spider as well, the rest takes care of the little spiders (well, maybe the jarls hit the big spider once or twice).

Jotuns are quite good - I usually start a fight with freezing mace, and switch to life-steal after they get damaged. 10% may not sound like much, but they can quickly get their HP back.
Also, they have 35% cold resistance... throw a Snowstorm over them, and it will increase their attack and defense significantly.

EDIT: Oh, I see now, the Spider spawns Undead Spiders... that makes life-steal a no-go. Still, the high HP of the Jotuns+Healing would make them good tanks against the small spiders. Right now I am trying to get Ice Dragons - once I reach 2200 Leadership I will spam those Call Colossus scrolls... (PS: check my bugfix, the scroll can now give you Jotuns).

Originally Posted by Jarcik

1. I used 4 trolls not 3
2.I havent used any mana ressurect spell just bought all offensive scrolls on the map from all vendors, it should be absolutly enough.

Finished all game as mage on impossible difficult with no loss then I really know a little about this game.

Visit please Jarcik bounty Youtube channel. There is a lot of HD movies about that including all hard fights.

Wow, nice. Can you tell us some basic tips about how to get through the first island without losses? It's more manageable afterwards (but depends on luck - me, I still don't have Resurrect scroll and only a few Warrior Maidens) - but Nordlig was only doeable until the Butcher - he ALWAYS Poison Skull-s some of my units and I cannot stop him in 2 rounds (undead cannot be Fear-ed) to stop him from casting it on 2 troops.

[sethmage]

I went with on impossible with no losses until the last six fights (I might replay them just to get the bragging rights). On top of that I finish the game 100k short of level 70 so it is possible to get level 70 on impossible since I didn’t use any equipment which increases experience and I got my “learning” not as a priority.

No question about it the first island is the most painful if you trying for no-loses, besides luck of the draw (opponents’ army strengths and units varies from game to game), BUT there are few things to change the fight:
1. different unit
2. different equipment
3. different level
4. different action (for example wait instead of walk or vice versa, atack different unit)
5. if you having very though encounter with a boss try to come back after you killed another wandering enemy.