impy
02-21-2010, 10:51 AM
There was a post while ago from mr. Dobrev (and others) about playing the whole game with single black dragon, eventually employing black knights & trolls towards the endgame. I was interested to find out how far you can push it with single black dragon only. I dare to say, if everything is done properly, every stack apart from few bosses can be beaten this way. Yes, that includes frog, spider, driller. I’m currently 54 level, all creatures and heroes on the maps beaten, apart from arena of death so far, and about to try my luck with gremlion. There is a fighting change since his magic damage does only 51 damage and with a bit of luck he summons 5 non-summoning towers. So I thought I share my experience. But first, boys, understand this, in case some funny threads appear again - many of us have finished the game on impossible no loss, and looking for ways to keep entertained with the game - for some it is finding interesting set-ups, for me it is extreme difficulty.
This challenge will ask you to do things which are fairly infrequent - necro call, mystic egg anyone?
Points distribution:
1) attack. None. Your dragon will be ,apart from finishing last few troops, just flying around not directly engaging anyone. Attack may be useful for your summons, but points are better spent elsewhere. Do not rely on dragon burning ability, since the damage depends on leadership of this stack, which in this case is only 2500/dragon, so your burning will be cca 300/turn
2) Defence. I wanted to make sure I have 60 points difference between dragon and creatures in order to receive only 1/3 of damage (see KBAP info thread). So I went for composite artifact +50% defence plus +2 dragon morale ending up with 135 defence, which should be sufficient. Defence also helps your summons to survive, which under these conditions is more important than attack. Do not stock up on defence too much, mana+int are more important.
3) Intel. & mana. As much as you can get. However, be flexible. In situations where you need to dish huge amount of damage quickly equip +intellect, less mana, and use pet dragon for recovering mana. In other fights I go for convenient 200+mana pool with less damage and cast summons.
4) Pet dragon - mystic egg,lighting ball, mana accelerator. Pick blue one for + 1 initiative. Lightning ball not strictly needed until Reha. I was also experimenting with stone wall, but it is of no real use. Oh, and treasure search for runes. Since you will not be buying any army, you'll be swimming in money, I had 4mil at the end.
5) Might tree. Anger 3. you want to be able to use dragon for +25 mana preferably every turn. Caution 3. Saved my live many times. You want extra physical resistance in first round while you have no summons and enemy is in full numbers.
6) Mind tree. Voice of Dragon 3, naturally. Adrenaline 3, more on that later, Absolute Balance 3, for extra rage& mana, and all skills giving +intellect.
7) Magic tree. Everything but alchemy. Alchemy is a waste, get neatness 1, buy all artifacts level 1-3 and destroy them for crystals. Order magic is also pretty much useless, leave it as the last one for faster calm rage.
8) Spells. Fire arrow+poison skull will be of massive use. Frequently you'll find yourself just flying around for rounds, with enemies burning. I have 4254 hits on Battle alchemy medal. Later in the game you'll have fun with death star. Also have pygmy, sheep, blind, necro call, nature call, demon portal, plague, fear,slow ready. I hardly used anything else. Geyser+lightning not really needed. I also carry many of abovementioned scrolls in case i run out of mana. Equip sage skull, increase the quantity of scrolls, take it off. I really like using Fire rain level 2 as a first spell.
9) Resistances. Fire&magic res will be maxed easily. Ignore poison res - kill frog quickly, slow and death star bone dragons, avoid alchemists. Astral res not needed. Physical res - i really considered restart since i did not have twinkling boots, but i managed. You'll need a lot, but do not sacrifice to much intellect. P res is very much needed in middle game, when spells are still weak, I had 47%. Later i dropped it to 32%.
10) Companion. Elenhel, suprise:-). I actually did not pick her until i was level 46, to make sure i beat her. Scarlet island fella was ok untill then.
11) Wanderer scrolls. I did not need any until Reha, so save them,unless desperate. Make sure you have several of +attack, deff, int, mana,rage,crit. I started using ancient knowledge after level 40 on heroes, just to get extra levels& runes quickly, since things get tough on last few islands.
12) Equipment. Collect belt of the victor, Gloves of the destroyer most importantly. Things, which will make your life easier are - Elkonium, Twinkling boots, Chains of war, Living book...
13) Arch enemies. Repair droid - yes, no blind, fear, weakness, sheep. I usually use pygmy+death star, followed by fire ball+death star. Arch demon. Halving ability. This is why you need Adrenaline 3 + blue pet dragon to match their initiative 9. I use poison skull+death star, repeat. Cyclopes - fire ball + death star.
14) strategy. see attached screenshots and you get the picture. Just few things - demon portal is of huge importance, Your fighting, rage generating force. for tough fights - round one - cast nature call 1 with target on it while pet dragon brings mystic egg. Or find a hardly accessible spot for your black dragon and surround him with demon portals. or, kill weakest stack first, cast necro call. Don't forget, most enemies level 1-4 can be easily feared.
15) Spider. dragon in the corner, surrounded with demon portals, kill spider with spells. no rush, since he does no direct damage.
16) Frog. again dragon in the corner, 3-4 demon portals only , but be quick to kill him due to poison spit. He has weak fire resist, so keep slapping fire balls on him.
17) Driller. Cast demon portals like crazy, fire arrow in the meantime. All summons apart from archdemons just defend or kill droid summons. Archdemons, cast stone skin on them and bash driller. Always make sure you have 2 useless summons standing in the line, so driller is likely to attack them and leave your dragon alone.
That's it. Have fun. I laso include my latest save when facing Gremlion, if someone want to give it a try.
This challenge will ask you to do things which are fairly infrequent - necro call, mystic egg anyone?
Points distribution:
1) attack. None. Your dragon will be ,apart from finishing last few troops, just flying around not directly engaging anyone. Attack may be useful for your summons, but points are better spent elsewhere. Do not rely on dragon burning ability, since the damage depends on leadership of this stack, which in this case is only 2500/dragon, so your burning will be cca 300/turn
2) Defence. I wanted to make sure I have 60 points difference between dragon and creatures in order to receive only 1/3 of damage (see KBAP info thread). So I went for composite artifact +50% defence plus +2 dragon morale ending up with 135 defence, which should be sufficient. Defence also helps your summons to survive, which under these conditions is more important than attack. Do not stock up on defence too much, mana+int are more important.
3) Intel. & mana. As much as you can get. However, be flexible. In situations where you need to dish huge amount of damage quickly equip +intellect, less mana, and use pet dragon for recovering mana. In other fights I go for convenient 200+mana pool with less damage and cast summons.
4) Pet dragon - mystic egg,lighting ball, mana accelerator. Pick blue one for + 1 initiative. Lightning ball not strictly needed until Reha. I was also experimenting with stone wall, but it is of no real use. Oh, and treasure search for runes. Since you will not be buying any army, you'll be swimming in money, I had 4mil at the end.
5) Might tree. Anger 3. you want to be able to use dragon for +25 mana preferably every turn. Caution 3. Saved my live many times. You want extra physical resistance in first round while you have no summons and enemy is in full numbers.
6) Mind tree. Voice of Dragon 3, naturally. Adrenaline 3, more on that later, Absolute Balance 3, for extra rage& mana, and all skills giving +intellect.
7) Magic tree. Everything but alchemy. Alchemy is a waste, get neatness 1, buy all artifacts level 1-3 and destroy them for crystals. Order magic is also pretty much useless, leave it as the last one for faster calm rage.
8) Spells. Fire arrow+poison skull will be of massive use. Frequently you'll find yourself just flying around for rounds, with enemies burning. I have 4254 hits on Battle alchemy medal. Later in the game you'll have fun with death star. Also have pygmy, sheep, blind, necro call, nature call, demon portal, plague, fear,slow ready. I hardly used anything else. Geyser+lightning not really needed. I also carry many of abovementioned scrolls in case i run out of mana. Equip sage skull, increase the quantity of scrolls, take it off. I really like using Fire rain level 2 as a first spell.
9) Resistances. Fire&magic res will be maxed easily. Ignore poison res - kill frog quickly, slow and death star bone dragons, avoid alchemists. Astral res not needed. Physical res - i really considered restart since i did not have twinkling boots, but i managed. You'll need a lot, but do not sacrifice to much intellect. P res is very much needed in middle game, when spells are still weak, I had 47%. Later i dropped it to 32%.
10) Companion. Elenhel, suprise:-). I actually did not pick her until i was level 46, to make sure i beat her. Scarlet island fella was ok untill then.
11) Wanderer scrolls. I did not need any until Reha, so save them,unless desperate. Make sure you have several of +attack, deff, int, mana,rage,crit. I started using ancient knowledge after level 40 on heroes, just to get extra levels& runes quickly, since things get tough on last few islands.
12) Equipment. Collect belt of the victor, Gloves of the destroyer most importantly. Things, which will make your life easier are - Elkonium, Twinkling boots, Chains of war, Living book...
13) Arch enemies. Repair droid - yes, no blind, fear, weakness, sheep. I usually use pygmy+death star, followed by fire ball+death star. Arch demon. Halving ability. This is why you need Adrenaline 3 + blue pet dragon to match their initiative 9. I use poison skull+death star, repeat. Cyclopes - fire ball + death star.
14) strategy. see attached screenshots and you get the picture. Just few things - demon portal is of huge importance, Your fighting, rage generating force. for tough fights - round one - cast nature call 1 with target on it while pet dragon brings mystic egg. Or find a hardly accessible spot for your black dragon and surround him with demon portals. or, kill weakest stack first, cast necro call. Don't forget, most enemies level 1-4 can be easily feared.
15) Spider. dragon in the corner, surrounded with demon portals, kill spider with spells. no rush, since he does no direct damage.
16) Frog. again dragon in the corner, 3-4 demon portals only , but be quick to kill him due to poison spit. He has weak fire resist, so keep slapping fire balls on him.
17) Driller. Cast demon portals like crazy, fire arrow in the meantime. All summons apart from archdemons just defend or kill droid summons. Archdemons, cast stone skin on them and bash driller. Always make sure you have 2 useless summons standing in the line, so driller is likely to attack them and leave your dragon alone.
That's it. Have fun. I laso include my latest save when facing Gremlion, if someone want to give it a try.