Irenicus Final Battle (Tactics installed)

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Wow. I must admit it, Irenicus and his little buddies hit like a truck now. I'm on core difficulty, and even with some of the advice in the hints section the fight is something incredible. I just visited Bodhi (she scared the living hell of my party before we went into Spellhold, so I wanted to be sure) and she was no problem. So everything was ok until we collected the five tears, and after a long and typically boring speech Irenicus and Co. simply slaughtered the party, several times in a row. So, unfortunately, I'd need to ask some questions. I'm running a 6-people group, in which all but 1 character (Imoen) are slightly above the 3.000.000 line (3.300.000 for PC - ranger/cleric DC, same for Jaheira, Keldorn and Kivan, Tashia is around 3.000.000)

- what can I do about the sword? So far everything except maze doesn't work, and it gets unmazed pretty fast... Unfortunately, I don't have imprisonment.
- any ideas on how to distract Irenicus, the beholder and (hopefully) the dragon so that I don't have to fight them all at once?
- do Irenicus and the beholder have additional powers except for, of course, unlimited magic and the rays? I'm looking for immunities, or more correctly any lack thereof.
- How did you take down Sarevok/Wrath? Kivan has a ThAC0 of -19, and he's not hitting every time!

 

The most effective tactic I've found when dealing with Improved Irenicus is to uninstal Improved Irenicus.

(Yes, I'm being my usual helpful self )

 

First one to die the sword:

fast char & 2 mages run to sword and bombard it with magic missiles till it dies(you can use spell sequencers, although I prefer stoneskin&fire&ice flame shield ).. the sword should never be able to hit your decoy otherwise it heals.

After that I deal with the dragon, wing buffet is annoying^^.. casting breach and the fighters should be able to take him down soon. At least 2 guys oppose him from two sides so that only one half gets swept away by his wing buffet. Or you block him in his corner with a mage that has amulet of power(neg. plane protection), protection from acid(i think) and prot from magical weapons. This should hold him down for a while (maybe he even damages himself when you have fire/ice flame shield up).

After the dragon you have enough air to deal with whoever annoys you the most (I usually kill irenicus at last)

All the while summoned warrior skeletons (nishruus probably work well too) keep irenicus and the beholder busy, at best somewhere outside the screen at best directly at their spawn locations. The closer those guys are to eachother the harder it gets.

The tough magic immune fighter is controlled by ~2-3 fireelementals/airial savants/mordekaines swords.. the target he is attacking always runs away. Against his strength drain you can use potions of giant strength. Your fighters attacking him should be drinking buffing potions(heroism/invulnerability).

During the whole fight your clerics/druids keep the summoned monster count at five.

The usual buffs(prot from evil, dispell fear, death ward, some prot. fire/cold, armor of faith,.. ) ... fighers improved haste all others guys(incl summons) regular haste, your fighers beeing really fast is important (you can even outrun impacting abi dalcims that way ;p).

Another advice use autopause on character hit, spell cast, enemy seen usw.. and the slowest game speed, ther will always be something to order around^^. I also usually turn party ai off during that fight.

And all the items those guys take away from you you can drop on the floor before the fight to safe them. Another handy item is the rod of ressurection which can heal someone instantly in sight range.

The second phase is relatively easy when you have 5 summoned guys around to beat him up for you since irenicus never changes his target. You can drop a pair of boots of speed in the south to pick up when the phase starts.

And finally in the third phase its mainly about endurance after some time his spells run out (better spoken a hole appears in his perfect defense) and you can whack him down. Just try to stay out of harms way with your weaker characters. Your guys attacking him should have really high fire/cold resistance due to his fire/cold flame shield... death ward, cloak of mirroring, the belt of air thingy stuff, potion/scroll of fire resistance stuff like that. Protection from magical energy works probably against his abi dalcims too but I think I can remember some really powerful dispelling spell of him. Or you use a protection from magic scroll on Irenicus... that should render him completly helpless^^.

It takes me usually ~30 minutes to win that fight (without reloads), ok 2-3 hours^^ counting all the reloads. Oh yeah and save the game after all preparations are complete..that safes quite some time^^.

[ January 13, 2007, 20:03: Message edited by: Exor ]

 

Well, I've been able to beat the Improved Irenicus fight with a solo Cleric/Mage, so I think you should have not that much trouble.

Here's what you do:

Wraith of Sarevok - ONLY goes down to physical damage.
Sword - Only goes down to Magical damage
Beholder - IIRC, has decent MR but goes down to magic damage AND physical damage...only, it keeps casting protective spells...treat like an annoying mage
Dragon - Just like any other dragon...only, its bite is NASTY!! I think it level drains...treat like any other difficult dragon...
Irenicus - He's a pansy in the first stage, just ignore him...if you are decently buffed that is...

I recommend pulling off a Time Stop with Tashia...follow up with Improved Alacrity and spam magic missiles...if you are not high enough in level to have these two spells, I recommend using Abi Dalzim's Horrid Wilting or Skull Trap instead...try baiting the sword so that its right next to the Beholder!! If you are lucky, you can take them both out in one shot.

A spell sequencer with Lower MR, Greater Malison, Skull Trap as a preparatory casting BEFORE you hit Time Stop and try to take out the Beholder and Sword simultaneously is advisable!!

Okay, now that you have disabled these two enemies, you can concentrate on Sarevok and the Dragon...IMO, while you are using Tashia to kill the Sword & Beholder, have your PC and Keldorn run up to the Dragon and start whacking away at him. Keldorn should have Carsomyr +5 and since the Dragon has annoying protections up all the time, he will go down fast this way. And yeah, keep the two tanks spread out.

Finally, simultaneously also have Kivan and Jaheira attack Sarevok. He has no buffing spells activated, and goes down to sheer brute force. Only...don't even THINK about trying to cast anything at him. Summons also work nicely...see if you can get a Planetar or a Deva to come in and attack Sarevok to help out Jaheira and Kivan.

Now...during all of this, Irenicus is going to be casting annoying ADHWs and Flame Arrows at you...I recommend summoning a Hakeashar or a NIshruu and attacking Irenicus with them. Also, IIRC he has a finite number of Death Spells...so if he casts Death Spell straight off at your summon...just use a wand to use up his spell castings and then get your Nishruu and Hakeashar going. If Tashia is occupied with the Sword and Beholder...get her to do this AFTER they are disposed of.

Well, there you go. That is the basic strategy you need to employ to get rid of these enemies. The next stage, when you have to fight with Irenicus without any items and the stage when he keeps teleporting around the place are the really annoying ones you know...since I was a non melee Cleric/Mage, and SOLO while I was at it...it was really hard to kill Irenicus, especially because he was immune to direct spells and he kept force-casting Protection from Magic Weapons...but guess what? Fists are non-magical...so yeah...I punched him to death with my puny Cleric/Mage...

If you have trouble with the next stage of the battle, just update!!

 

Ok, my progress so far before i read the advice;

1st stage is usually cleared. Kivan can easily get a THACO of -20, so it's a matter of time to kill off the wraith (unless the plan totally fails). My save includes having a deva, greater summoned animals (the werebear version, it's still a great tank even though it's starting to lose its offensive power), a mordy sword and 2 16HD earth elementals that disappear quickly. Their entire purpose is to keep some of the creeps from closing in quickly. It's a tough enough fight even when they're separated.

I usually take down Wrath first, unless the dragon comes too quickly, in which case (I hate level drain) I concentrate on it. I hope that the summons keep the sword, irenicus and the beholder occupied, although given the werebears atrocious AI (tenacious buggers) I think I should sic them at the dragon and not the sword. Last level I chose chain contingency for Tashia and I'm regretting it... wish would be so much better. Anyway, I'm using a scroll and a cast of lower resistance for the dragon, and then it's time stop, improved alacrity, and magic damage until it drops. I had thought it falls only to magic, my bad. Keldorn would be so happy. The sword afaik is only vulnerable to magic, so I usually kill it with magic missiles and the odd ADHW. So far I've cleaned stage 1 four times, but I'm not prepared for the slayer fight and lose. I wish I knew where my items were, or at least left a potion of defense for my PC. I'll give it another try tonight. Swords vs Wrath seems a great idea.

 

The easiest way is to leave there an oil of Speed/Boots of Speed and to run immediately and take your dropped equipment (you drop it at the north part of the area - where the second phase begins).

Another way to kill the sword is to attack it with the Silver sword - it's not immune to vorpal hits


In the first stage of the battle, like Exor said, pausing the game a lot is very important.
Rods of resurrection help a lot for insta-healing your characters and if you don't have one you can use some Greater Restoration spells (7 level).

This spell heals completely ALL your characters (even those out of the caster's sight) and of course restores the drained levels too (Dragon of Pride).


The final phase of the battle is a bit tricky.
It's difficult to dispel Irenicus' protections (Wand of spellstriking which ignores SI Abjuration and can target Imp.Invisible characters is excellent here), but it's not so important.

Just keep attacking with ALL your characters.
Irenicus main protection is: a)PfMWs or b)Improved Mantle.

In the first case attack with ranged weapons and non-magical ammo.
In the second case Energy Blades and MM meteors can do the trick.

Attacking from distance is better, since this way you can hit easier Irenicus who keeps teleporting and also your characters don't get hurt from Irenicus' shields.

Just remember to have all your character (improved) hasted and when Irenicus teleports away just let them go after him.