A good army to beat Karador on impossible with a paladin?

[DGDobrev]

I was wondering what kind of an army + spell setup could beat karador on impossible without getting wiped out easily. I personally consider karador to be one of the toughest battles around, mainly because you start at a serious disadvantage - behind a barricade, with a cursed cross to cripple your army and with enough space for the bone dragons to harass you and a nice crystal that casts necro call once every turn.

In a battle like this I see how the superior leadership of the warrior or the 2x cast per turn of the mage here will make it a lot easier. My spirits are level 19-23, which is a generally normal level at this point in the game. A warrior would have them at higher level I guess.

Right now I'm lvl 24, close to 25 at day 7 (yeah, I'm a bit slow, I know), about to tackle Karador, and I'm hitting the brick wall.

Stats:
Attk: 19
Def: 32
Int: 15
Rage: 64
Mana: 78
Ldrshp: 17092

I also have pretty much every useful spell in my book - spring, resurrection, gift, target, sacrifice, etc. No teleport though... Not a single spell of that kind in my game so far.

I've mastered pretty much everything and went almost all the way down through all the trees - lvl 3 onslaught, own inquisitors, runic stone, lvl 3 archmage/bowmen for more recruits. No destroyer yet, but I can take it, I just don't see much of a point since I'm not using offensive spells at all, and besides, I consider the paladin to perform better as a fighter than a caster.

So...

For starters, the barricade is 500 HP, so even a high-level shoal can't destroy it, as it's 450 max.

2x archer + inquisitor + archmage + green dragon as tank doesn't seem to work very well because the bone dragons easily break through any thorns/walls or whatever I use to slow them down and start harassing the archers.

The ultra power girl party isn't working well either. You must waste a turn to destroy the barricade which allows the enemy to get quite a bit of free hits at your frail army, and the thorns aren't doing much good either. I tried using demonesses to swap the units and give me tactical advantage, but karador uses fear all the time - usually after all my units have moved and I can't cope with dispelling that all the time.

I also tried using a power party of lvl 4-5 units - to not that good effect either. Those 110 Black knights, 800 zombies, about 1500 skelies and 1700 skel archers are a pain in the butt.

I can actually see a way out - get the power girl party back to darion, travel through the mines and go get more XP and a few more levels in Demonis. It won't be hard hard at all, because I can easily own even overpowering enemies with thorns or tank strategy (alternating between the two, depending on the battle), but I hoped to save a few days worth traveling

So I'm just looking for some opinions from the hardcore players who have beaten impossible before I pack my bags and go on my merry way to demonis and/or the islands to get anga's ruby and a few more levels + Xeona

[Ryastar]

Sorry, but why are you breaking the barricades? I consider them to be one of the big advantages you get at the start. Them plus some ice thorns means that it will take several turns for their melee troops to get to you, meaning that you have plenty of time to whittle away at their troops. Essential troops include:

Dryads (you NEED the thorns to stand on dead corpses/spawn more thorns to prevent necro calling.)
Inquisitors (bonus undead damage + holy rage + res)

The rest is up to you, but I would advise two more range + one tank, though steer clear of arrow-wielding troops since they do less damage to bone dragons and skellis. Consider things like evil beholders or cannoneers, both of which do decent damage and can survive fairly well. As for the tank, red dragons work amazingly well. Many undead troops are vulnerable to fire (and none of them are strong against it), and you can easily work it so that you hit and run at the beginning and then switch to tanking.

Other advice:
1. necro call before he does (you DO have necro call, right, I mean it's a guaranteed spell).
2. A dead stack can be necro called, but a severely damaged one can't. A handful of skelli archers or necromancers can't do a whole lot.
3. I've mentioned this already, but make sure that you block corpses. Stone wall and ice thorns can even be used in a pinch.
4. Leave the crystal to last. So long as he doesn't have any troops, Karador can't cast spells, and all the crystal can do is res one stack, which can easily be killed. You can use this time to res your losses, and end up with none.

[Vilk]

Yes Dryad are a big plus in this fight, I didn't try but Royal Thorn could do the trick too and both could be nice for this fight.

The necro call can be found in a quest item, the book of the lost city.

[DGDobrev]

Interesting, Vilk, I may have missed that scroll. I did almost all quests available (I think only the red dragon eggs is not done yet) and didn't see this one. Are you referring to "The wayward book" quest, taken from necromancer kvorum?

As for the tank, all I have available now is emerald and black dragons. Black dragons are nice, but I can't cast target on them, and even though they're wickedly powerful, those black knights and zombies prove to be a bit too much if I leave them in the line of fire too much.

I only try to drop the barricades if I need any units to get out and fight. Sprites and faeries can't do a great deal sitting behind them, because Karador loves to cast fear them, and the same goes for any dryads you might have. I did try that thorn tactic.

Well, I will try a few more army setups and see what happens. I'm sort of limited in terms of army selection in ellinia... Even some sea dogs with their three-pronged attack would have been nice to use with some time back.

EDIT: Updated. I tried doing a strategy with inquisitors + canoneers + dryads + giants (or dragons) as tanks and hunters. I tried setting a wall in the 3 free hexes there are and summoned a thorn on the free spot after the dragon went on tanking. In that case karador casts fear on the dryads and one of the necromancers uses his attack to destroy both the barricade and the wall. The ghosts and the black knights charge in and... you can imagine the rest

EDIT 2: Tried using ice thorns, hunter thorns and a book of evil on the free spot. To not that good effect either... the following few turns I managed to buy weren't enough to drop karador's party down to a reasonable amount of troops.

I guess I will try going to demonis and get a few more levels and a few more units. I can remember how easy this battle was with this tactic on normal and hard - but I guess impossible is another matter The AI plays very strongly and takes out your important units with spells and debuffs first. I don't recall having that much trouble on the other 2 difficulties... But it's normal. With the XP I have, I would have been lvl 26 on hard (meaning I can get even more troops, because it means + 1300 leadership) or lvl 28 on normal (that's even more troops, because it's +2700 leadership)... or level 30 on easy, LOL

[Vilk]

The book is the book of the Necromancer lost city. Magic School offer this quest then you have to ask to the old which that throws you to a tomb magically sealed in the swamp cemetery. In this book when you use it you get the Necromancer scroll.

EDIT: I also agree that it's one of the easy fight once you get it in the right way. I haven't tried yet in impossible (still polishing my play during previous parts for a better time record) but I suspect it will be still a fight more easy than other.

EDIT2: About fear, if the enemy hero lost time to cast this that's not a bad point for you, just cast dispel right before it will the turn of feared unit. Anyway Dryads aren't useful during first parts of the fight but more later. With Royal Thorn you won't have this problem... At this point of the game Royal Thorn suck a little but that is true too for Dryads in the area.

[DGDobrev]

Oh, Vilk

That quest reward is completely random. In my case the reward there was some stupid spell like berserk or something. I remember it clearly, because up until the islands I had only healing and resurrection as useful spells. No gift, no sacrifice, no magic spring, no nothing.

I disagree about fear though. If the enemy breaks through the barricade, your dryad/sprite goes to charge any skeleton group she sees, even if it's not within the fighting range. That's a severe problem, because you don't want to have weak units run into the middle of the enemy lines just like that. They get minced in just one turn by the zombies and the black knights, and on impossible, karador's units just LOVE to crit - especially the black knights who even have it as a skill.

BTW, the battle is very different from normal and hard difficulties. On normal and hard you can do it with a powerpuff girl army just because you'll have a serious strength in numbers and your spirits will be leveled beyond 25 at this stage, and you will be 26+ level in any case.