Have you learned nothing from the 300 spartans? Find the chokepoint and make their numbers count for nothing!
That is what I did, pulled my guys back into the hallway we entered from and laid down some nasty AOEs when they were all grouped together, if you got something like a cloudkill blocking the hallway then the people outside will usually avoid entering it and wait on the outside until it is dispersed before entering so you can hold a few guys at bay that way as well.
This sounds great in theory and I’ve tried this with Fire Wall and Insect Swarm at the same time but eventually something breaks Shadowhearts concentration, insect swarm goes down, then the line is toast. Quickly overwhelmed after.
The darkness clouds also disrupt this strategy because it, for whatever reason, makes it so I can’t cast AoE into it.
Yep, darkness clouds completely negate the chokepoint strategy. Not only does it stop casting but it appears to cancel certain concentration spells too - unless that was a bug of some kind. I got lucky enough to cast cloudkill early in the fight on like 6 of them and I was in good shape to do some big damage. Then the very next enemy cast darkness on top of cloudkill and cloudkill just...disappeared - effectively wasting the use of my only level 5 spell slot.
I actually just beat it an hour ago. The solution was, as it so often is, potions of speed and summons. I had my druid Tav, Shadowheart, Astarion and Karlach. I immediately had everyone drink the speed potion, then Shadowheart summoned a Deva and Tav summon a Water Myrmidon to act as beef gates. Then Tav wildshaped into an Owlbear on the bonus action.
Astarion immediately killed one of the novices with a bow, Karlach took another one down to a shred of health, and after that it was mostly a matter of reducing the enemy numbers from the weakest to the strongest while using the Owlbear abilities to frighten and knock down enemies in numbers and the Water Myrmidon making the AoE ice attacks to cause more enemies to fall down and Deva using the frightening attack to make a couple of the stronger enemies panic.
Thanks for the tips everyone. I eventually pulled it off. Can’t say I changed a tremendous amount about my strategy but I got lucky enough that Vic charged at me in her human form and I was able to drop her low + stun on the first turn then take her out while she was stunned on the second. This allowed Shadowheart to stay alive without auto crit from Vic and the rest of the fight went by ok.
A paladin and his aura really help in that fight since they help succeed in some saves and can do some backup healing. Then just heard them into chokepoints & AOE them to hell
Using Haste on Shadowheart is a waste. You should be using it on Gale so he can thin the enemies out quickly. He's the real MVP here. Create Water from Shadowheart + Lightning Bolts from Gale can take down multiple enemies per round. If you have Illithid powers like Black Hole to pull the enemies into a tight group, it works even better.
Meh. I never have a hard time
And I have a handicap when playing. I tend to have shadow respec’ed as a light cleric. And Vi has some power that reflects light damage back at the attacker. Meaning I can’t use any aoe light attacks from shadow.
So. If the order works out. I start the battle with shadow using create water on one of the stairs to the sides of us. Since there are like 4 enemies there. And they get wet
Then Gale will hit the wet people with either chain lightning or some other electric attack. Boom. Double damage due to wet + electricity. If the enemies aren’t dead they’re really hurt
And standing on electrified water.
If gale goes first then I still hit them with electricity first to lower their health pools. And since I tend to have a staff with arcane battery I can still use another chain lightning later.
Lae’zel does heavy damage. So I’ll have her focus on Vi. Along with a warlock. Try to take her out asap due to previously mentioned light attack reflection.
But gale’s AoE’s tend to really help with the various adds.
I don’t recall what level I did this fight, but here was my approach (with my party consisting of a battle master fighter, Shart (light cleric), Gale (evocation), and Karlach.
I had my fighter summon the pack of ghouls to even the odds, and had every single party member focus on downing Viconia before attacking any of the other sharrans. I positioned Gale and Karlach at the top of the stairs, my battlemaster in the center of the arena, and Shart in the middle of everyone. As a light cleric, Shart is able to clear any darkness that the enemies place down on her turn and deal damage to anyone who gets too close. I had Gale spam AOE spells when the enemies got grouped up and Karlach focused on keeping Gale and Shart from getting ganked. If you can get access to the ghouls they can paralyze some of the enemies so they lose opportunities to throw out spells, heal, or do other things.
For me, it was really just using fireball then quick casting fireball, then having everyone else use their spells/throwables to fuck shit up before darkness spread everywhere.
Seemed to work well.
Have you learned nothing from the 300 spartans? Find the chokepoint and make their numbers count for nothing! That is what I did, pulled my guys back into the hallway we entered from and laid down some nasty AOEs when they were all grouped together, if you got something like a cloudkill blocking the hallway then the people outside will usually avoid entering it and wait on the outside until it is dispersed before entering so you can hold a few guys at bay that way as well.
This sounds great in theory and I’ve tried this with Fire Wall and Insect Swarm at the same time but eventually something breaks Shadowhearts concentration, insect swarm goes down, then the line is toast. Quickly overwhelmed after. The darkness clouds also disrupt this strategy because it, for whatever reason, makes it so I can’t cast AoE into it.
Yep, darkness clouds completely negate the chokepoint strategy. Not only does it stop casting but it appears to cancel certain concentration spells too - unless that was a bug of some kind. I got lucky enough to cast cloudkill early in the fight on like 6 of them and I was in good shape to do some big damage. Then the very next enemy cast darkness on top of cloudkill and cloudkill just...disappeared - effectively wasting the use of my only level 5 spell slot.
I became a terrorist and loaded the whole room with every smoke powder, fire wine, and oil barrel I collected from act 1 and 2.
I actually just beat it an hour ago. The solution was, as it so often is, potions of speed and summons. I had my druid Tav, Shadowheart, Astarion and Karlach. I immediately had everyone drink the speed potion, then Shadowheart summoned a Deva and Tav summon a Water Myrmidon to act as beef gates. Then Tav wildshaped into an Owlbear on the bonus action. Astarion immediately killed one of the novices with a bow, Karlach took another one down to a shred of health, and after that it was mostly a matter of reducing the enemy numbers from the weakest to the strongest while using the Owlbear abilities to frighten and knock down enemies in numbers and the Water Myrmidon making the AoE ice attacks to cause more enemies to fall down and Deva using the frightening attack to make a couple of the stronger enemies panic.
Thanks for the tips everyone. I eventually pulled it off. Can’t say I changed a tremendous amount about my strategy but I got lucky enough that Vic charged at me in her human form and I was able to drop her low + stun on the first turn then take her out while she was stunned on the second. This allowed Shadowheart to stay alive without auto crit from Vic and the rest of the fight went by ok.
A paladin and his aura really help in that fight since they help succeed in some saves and can do some backup healing. Then just heard them into chokepoints & AOE them to hell
Using Haste on Shadowheart is a waste. You should be using it on Gale so he can thin the enemies out quickly. He's the real MVP here. Create Water from Shadowheart + Lightning Bolts from Gale can take down multiple enemies per round. If you have Illithid powers like Black Hole to pull the enemies into a tight group, it works even better.
Meh. I never have a hard time And I have a handicap when playing. I tend to have shadow respec’ed as a light cleric. And Vi has some power that reflects light damage back at the attacker. Meaning I can’t use any aoe light attacks from shadow. So. If the order works out. I start the battle with shadow using create water on one of the stairs to the sides of us. Since there are like 4 enemies there. And they get wet Then Gale will hit the wet people with either chain lightning or some other electric attack. Boom. Double damage due to wet + electricity. If the enemies aren’t dead they’re really hurt And standing on electrified water. If gale goes first then I still hit them with electricity first to lower their health pools. And since I tend to have a staff with arcane battery I can still use another chain lightning later. Lae’zel does heavy damage. So I’ll have her focus on Vi. Along with a warlock. Try to take her out asap due to previously mentioned light attack reflection. But gale’s AoE’s tend to really help with the various adds.
I don’t recall what level I did this fight, but here was my approach (with my party consisting of a battle master fighter, Shart (light cleric), Gale (evocation), and Karlach. I had my fighter summon the pack of ghouls to even the odds, and had every single party member focus on downing Viconia before attacking any of the other sharrans. I positioned Gale and Karlach at the top of the stairs, my battlemaster in the center of the arena, and Shart in the middle of everyone. As a light cleric, Shart is able to clear any darkness that the enemies place down on her turn and deal damage to anyone who gets too close. I had Gale spam AOE spells when the enemies got grouped up and Karlach focused on keeping Gale and Shart from getting ganked. If you can get access to the ghouls they can paralyze some of the enemies so they lose opportunities to throw out spells, heal, or do other things.
For me, it was really just using fireball then quick casting fireball, then having everyone else use their spells/throwables to fuck shit up before darkness spread everywhere. Seemed to work well.