Giant Spider F'n Lame

[Llam4]

This battle was the most fun I've had so far. Got almost a whole level from it.

[dengue fever]

I died as a mage on normal diff first time round because of low attack and defense and made the mistake of focusing on stacks of spiders rather than the boss. Changed my strategy with the same units and same stats to pretty much ignore reborn spiders and just focus on the boss with ice snake and dwarfen army alchemists and canoneers. This time, I won without heavy losses.

[phoenixreborn]

I enjoyed the fight. Having the spider switch sides was a nice touch. It made the fight stand out from the humdrum of regular killings.

[Xelian]

I got half an level from it at Hard. I used 2 melle fighters (Dwarves, Polar Bears) and 3 Archers (Cannoneers, Cyclops and Evil Eyes). The 2 melle fighters take care of the summoned spiders while the archer keep shooting on the Queen. If you are unable to kill the spiders fast enough Cyclops can help in melle also) I also used Fire arrow to attack her cause Ice Snake wastes mana too fast and 4 Arrows do more damage then 1 snake

[Marlowe]

I did this on normal as a paladin with shamans, evil beholders, royal snakes, griffins, and inquisitors. As an old (though long retired) EQ1 raider, this fight was the most fun I've had in the game thus far. While the spider was fairly straightforward compared to some EQ bosses, the summoned adds and warping was enough to make me nostalgic for a good EQ raid.

[Ryastar]

I did this with no losses as a mage on normal. I had Archmagi, cannonneers, Giants, Horsemen, and emerald green dragons. The horsemen and dragons easily took care of the venemous spiders, the archmagi and cannonneers just rang damaged the boss over and over, and my giants sat in front of the boss' mouth, and smashed it with their clubs. I used heal on the giants when necessary, as they could take 3-4 hits from the boss without dying, and used teleport to move them when the boss moved. NO LOSSES.

[renton]

as a mage on normal i pretty much took her out with flamearrow (with maxed spell lvl and 2/3 higher magic.)
I had miners, dwarves, shamans, cannoneers & beholders. These took care of all the adds whilst i whittled the boss down. Occasionally used blade of axes, salvo and a beholder ray on the boss as they refreshed.

Easier fight than *my everyone on the boss* disaster first time.
I found it helpful to have no troops in melee range of the boss.

Minimal losses this way, ranged on boss, melee on adds

[dbgager]

I thought it was pretty easy.....@ tank units to take care of the summoned spider drops ( at the time I had Ancient Bears, and Swordsmen) 3 Ranged units to attack the spider..so as not to be right next to him when he attacked. (Beholders, Cyclops, and also Royal Snakes with there 2 space attack..who also I used to destroy spiders when there numbers got to high.) an occasional foray with my tank units (when the summoned spiders where all destroyed)to knock off hit points since the Spider Queen could only counterattack once. Also if you notice there is a whole free turn..for cleanup of summoned spiders..when the Spider Queen changes position...I thought it was a pretty easy battle.

[bugmenot]

First time I battled the spider I thought it was pretty easy.... till I got horribly beaten.

Round 1: Giant Spider summons 300 spiders. I kill them and hit the boss a couple of times.

Round 2: Giant Spider summons another 300 spiders. Again I kill them and hit the boss a couple of times.

A few rounds later he's summoning 800 spiders, and by round 25 he was summoning over 1,000 spiders per round.

On my second try I found it very easy.

I grouped units (mainly archers) together in the middle of the battlefield, and used shaman totems and raise dead to surround them.

When the giant spider summons a bunch of spiders they have low attack, and when can raise dead on them I've got a stack with 20+ defence.

Within a few rounds I'd got a protective ring of totems and spiders around my archers, and I beat the giant spider without a single troop dying.
________
CBR954RR

[waveform]

I wonder if you could level up like a maniac if you spared this fight right until the end, when your hero is at its peak condition and you have gazillion troops to thwart the thousands of spiders for 4-5 hours or so...