Wow, I was just looking to see why Hento says Horseman do not count as "melee" and if that means neither the driller or battle axe work with them.
That said, I have happily defeated Ktahu with Elves, Hunters, Bowmen, Paladins, and Royal Griffins. Warrior class, gift bag, impossible, no-loss.
Honestly the royal griffins were mostly for show.
Not sure if the morale drop from using goblins would kill me, but they are pretty tough too.
Only possible with the gift bag for the critical hit items. Only had twinkling boots and leather dress. Mass "defense" will never win (despite what everyone says) with such fragile troops.
Key points to win
- 100% critical hit on ALL 3 archer stacks.
- Occasional Mass resurrection with paladin and turn back time.
- Phantom with paladin.
- Properly hitting K'Tahu to minimize the AoE damage.
- Killing K'Tahu very fast.
Ultimately the answer is hit hard, hit fast to force him from not using his AoE as much. Kill him very quickly (12 rounds for me, and that was with a couple of rounds of "phantom" healing) and have a very efficient resurrection method (archer circles around the paladin).
I probably literally killed him in 10 rounds?