How to pass Ziraks x2 without losses?

[kbnewbie]

Hi there,

I'm playing on hard difficulty with Mage and it seems like I've completed most of the game. There are supposedly three bosses left, but now I'm stuck with Ziraks because I've no idea how to kill him without casualties. Also, there's a wretch on Verona (who's killable but it'll be very difficult) and a mage in a tower (100000hp, damn it).

My save file can be downloaded here (http://www.mediafire.com/?r8ixmmck1kwx7g1).

So, please, take a look on my save and give me some recomendations on how to finish this game without casualties. I wonder if it's possible at all ;)

PS I managed to eliminate the first part of Ziraks but ... just look at the screenshot:

[ludak021]

I would dump those beholders (I dump them at aprox. level 20, they aint putting to sleep anthing with higher attack or level that theirs so as a mage there is not much point), I would dump those giants also (they dont have any resistances except some useless %)

actually, I do that quest with paladins/black knight and red and green dragons. stoneskin paladins or BKs, depending what you opt for, cast mass lock because of gorguanas mark of blood and those birds spamming egs. next turn, phantom red dragons and use some more buffs on your units, depending on what is being target, you can also cast 2x20 mana phantoms of red dragons or BKs/paladins (ressurect + additional turn), you could use traps or demon portal later. Last fight in the arena is really hard but doable. If you just want a no loss game then do a invissible ED or go with stoneskinned black knight and some items boosting their morale defense/dmg, whatever. Make sure you stoneskine them asap, cast demon portals after dealing with locking mark of blood before that. Then just give infernal blade to BKs later, 20% additional fire damge witch lizzards LOVE to suck + their crticicall chance = GG. ressurect them with evlin later and thats it. It's kind of borring playing like that after you do it a few times :P

[kbnewbie]

Mass lock won't really work, because my intellect skill isn't powerful enough, that effectively means that even if I cast this spell all enemy creatures start attacking me immediately, and it gets very complicated, because e.g. 450 spearmen easily kill two black dragons with a single hit :(

The rest of your explanation has to be tested thoroughly and I'm afraid I will spend days trying to pass this boss :( Anyway, what's the best army I should attack this bastard with?

Also bear in mind that I have a few Ancient Spells, I spent them only once before when killing a mechanical creature in Montero underground. But then again I don't want to waste them wholesale since there are other bosses ahead.

[ludak021]

well, point is to lock that birds from spreading and those lizzard priests from casting mark of blood. Mass lock is tied to a leadership witch depends on your intelect. The more it locks - the better. Even if it fails on some of them, some is still better than none. If it can't lock anyone then go for debufs/buffs, I can't really guess, depends on what you have in your arsenal. Most times, the harder the battle - the less units you need. I just finnished samman in 4 rounds with only 8 red dragons, and they didnt really shoot anyone, just armagedon, time back, armagedon, timeback, kill two crap units standing...Maybe you should focus on one stack tactics. Defiting those guys is a breeze comapred to what lays after them, and I haven't found a decent tactic for no loss on K'thulu except for single stact tacticts, all else is doable but it's much more complicated.

as for ancient spells, they make things easier but are not a neccessity. If you have that ancient knowledge one, that arena and boss are a good time to spend it to gain 50% more exp. :)

anyway, I don't know what spells you have, and your save is not compatible with my game. If you have timeback spell you can try to go single stack and count on it for round two and four, blaze the lizzards with fire or dath star, or geysir in the mean time. as long as you can keep up the mana ad troop from dieying - you are fine.

like someone said here in one of the tis & hints "less is sometimes more". In my current run I am going for the black helmet + shroud of darkness set. In last one I went all demons + some dragons sometimes. Depends. You can go to shaterra and replace your army for excecutieners or demons + archdemons. stoneskin archdemons, stoneskin demons/exec. whatch wats happens, round two, give mana spring to execut./demons (dont forget to cast that aura) and just mollest them, later resurect them (make sure archdemons dont die since they are lvl5). Like i said, i dont know what spells you have. If you have timeback, then you can wreck havoc with one unit then timeback it. Phantom spell acts like a "target in 99% of cases, draw dmg that way.
It's not too hard really, just take less stacks, define your tanks, define units that go after retaliations have been dealt with, make sure mark of blood is not on you, at least not when it matters. Stoneskined archdeamon with magic spring isn't gonna notice mark of blood on him ;) You can cast divine armor on demons also :D One stack with stoneskin first, dmg/debuff on enemty, round two - divine armor + dmg/debuff on enemy or demon portal, rinse and repeat. It's really hard not to loose anything when you have 5 stacks that get damaged.

also, your pet is usefull for mana, wall and most important in these battles is shock ball, ball of lighninthg, whatever it is called :)

I think I will try for fun one stack of demons, their aura, stoneskin, divine armor and debufs on lizzards. Those guys deal next best dmg to black nights, phantom them to get aura again, since if they are only stack on field, magic spring gives you tons of mana to cast whatever you want.

[ludak021]

I just got to him yesterday (again)
http://imgur.com/prVMql.jpg (http://imgur.com/prVMq.jpg)
[click for large one]

I forgot to save the end screen, but it's no loss, althou I was lucky to find necromancers set together with set of darkness, and this is crossroads and I got that artefact from "mistycal tower" set to give me 2000 LS so this high number of BKs is just insane for a mage lol :D BUT, even if I had ~150 of them, result would be the same, 250 just makes it faster win.
in Second turn I casted magic spring and infernal flame on BKs. Besides that, I had 50 intelect, onslaught 1, that undead commander on 3 and it was night. I think my defense was ~10 and attack ~15, I could post a screen of a hero if it helps. I also jad +15% physical resistance boots. I think BKs had ~75 attack and ~110 defense in second round with stoneskin and magic spring, physical resistance was at max, 95% I think (15% boots, 45% stoneskin, and I think gloves of destroyer or some other item gave +10% to allresistances, can't recall atm.)

anyway, BKs are just way too easy to play with. Even heroes that cast displel on them are not that much of a problem if you just "wait" or save your second spell cast to stoneskin them again, or phantom them.

I am going to try and go with just demons the next time. They may not have rising furry, but they always retaliate by default and I can have some demon set instead of wasting two slots on helmet and shard, I could have 7-8 inteligence instead, or more defense or leadership, who knows :D Also you can cast ress and divine armor on demons :)

[kbnewbie]

It's cool that you managed to pass him playing your own game. :grin:

However with my hero I've tried many different ways and I failed miserably.

Perhaps I don't know how to play this game. ;)

[ludak021]

use shift + lock to lock at least one flock of birds from laying eggs. Or see if you can destroy those eggs in second turn with some fire spell. Primary thing is to make enemy have less units, not to allow them to have more. :) I think that in this case less is really really much more. Try demons or executioners. Buff them up, you can res them later, you can cast divine armor on them. I passed Ziraks 4 times, 2 times on normal, one har and one imposible, he wasn't a problem, but I always had one stack of units (2x BK's, 2x red dragons) lizards are -10% to fire...