droids are NOT overpowered:-)

[Fatt_Shade]

I agree with you, life shouldnt be about beer and games, it should be only about beer
I`ll try 14 fight playthrough, but not promising anything with my kiting skills (my worst map is Verona, after that is usually much easier).
It would be much easier if not that stupid counterstrike/undead uncompatibility (i know in 14 fight end game no counterstrike, but it`s frustrating bug/error). Is 38 quests max for 14 fight end game ? You did 35 with droids, and 38 with blackies, since i never did 93 quests i`m only asking if i try 14 fights end should i end on 38 quest mark.
Now i`m off to bed, working first shift today

[impy]

Originally Posted by Fatt_Shade

I agree with you, life shouldnt be about beer and games, it should be only about beer
I`ll try 14 fight playthrough, but not promising anything with my kiting skills (my worst map is Verona, after that is usually much easier).
It would be much easier if not that stupid counterstrike/undead uncompatibility (i know in 14 fight end game no counterstrike, but it`s frustrating bug/error). Is 38 quests max for 14 fight end game ? You did 35 with droids, and 38 with blackies, since i never did 93 quests i`m only asking if i try 14 fights end should i end on 38 quest mark.
Now i`m off to bed, working first shift today

38 quests should be close to the maximum if it isn't. I mean, with such a serious knowledge of the game as you have, just get to the new continent and do what you can, there is usually 2-4 things to do. As far as I remember difference of three quests which I have done with BK and did not manage with droids were:
1) I killed shenobi before Uchkuk, so I lost the quest for liberating the elven queen. I was aware of this, but shenobi was much easier fight in my playthrough so I needed the exp. badly.
2) I realized that once you have wings, you can do wealthy zombie quest for buried treasure without killing small skeleton stack on scarlet
3) I forgot about Mesmer's quest about feeding him with dwarves. When I realized it later, the experience bonus from this quest was way too little for making any difference ( getting a new hero level) so I did not bother. Of course, playing with BK I had to do this quest regardless, just to get access to his BK.
Kiting. There is probably good few threads dedicated to it, just look them up. Approach enemy from roughly 90% angle (no direct approach) and force him to move a little and pause. Save a lot. and again, and again, bit by bit. Verona guardian is not that difficult, since there is wide area in front of him, so you can approach him nicely from the right hand side, and you have all the time in the world to do it since richad the cruel only comes to this area every now and then. Also, do not drag the guardian right out but once you get their attention move to the side, which also moves the stack to the side. Point is, that at some point you'll have to get past him to get the scroll. Much more difficult are guardians with narrow passages. See screenshot. It is guardian of Elon scroll by artist house in Verona. Took mi 20min. Also better stacks for kiting are fast - griffins, wolves etc. Once you gain their attention and force them to move I believe their "walking speed" dictates the minimum distance their cover before they loose you and show those question marks.

[Fatt_Shade]

No mater how i count quests i get to 37, that`s why i asked you about number of free/no figth quests. I did simmilar thing as you with in Elon. Freed Elven queen, but killed Shenobi before promising him to bury him in Dersu, thats quest i keep forgeting.
As for kiting i know concepts, and how it`s done, but it becomes so tedious after 10+ reloads

[impy]

Debir - travel to Teana, training, choosing pet, amulet of Il., kings bride, fisherman
Scarlet - contraband
Bolo - 0
Rusty - bottles, rohaty, antidote
Tekron - soap, submarine, fighting temple of sorrow
Umkas - treasure
Uzala - traveler's papers
Shettera - get slave, demon in stone, Hephastus sword
Nameless - treasure for zombie, brother's package
Reha - memory grass, nasty soup, papers for DeGosh, fighting champion of arena, fighting Ktahu,
Elon - fighting Uchkuk, fighting Shenobi, Shenobi burial, open tower, falling star, fighting Gremlion
Dersu - glasses, 100 fairies (if you're lucky to find them), Bagouri love, fighting Rakush,
Montero - levers & gears, dwarves for Mesmer, fighting Hagni, axe of elements,
Verona - traveling for beer
+1 fulfilled prophecy
+1 final battle

I believe that is everything. Total is 42, so some of them are either not considered quests, or even I forgot some when playing. Happy Easter

[impy]

Well, I have done with bone dragons too.
But first things first. My previous post about number of quests is slightly incorrect, this time I got it right
Quest training you do not want to do, since it raises the number of fights by 2. Also, last battle with Baal is not considered a quest. On the other hand there is one more quest - Abyss on Tekron. I find out that when you get lucky with "size" of creatures down there you may get past them. It seems there are 3 "sizes" of creatures
a) large - dragons etc, from which can sometimes hide in unreachable corner. Example - behind the house of wealthy zombie
b) medium - majority of creatures
c) small - goblins etc.
I had in Abyss goblins & archdemons.
Total and definite number of quests is therefore 41.
Playing with bone dragons was fun, although baal, gremlion and ktahu were tedious. I did not take Moro, since dragon heart + voice of dragon 3 gives +3morale anyway and Moro has awkward slots. No artifact slot and a helm? There are so many wonderful artifacts to choose from : +20mana, +5mana/-5rage/turn (my favorite), crystal ball...I also needed someone with shield slot since scaly shield is always there and mirror shield is needed when fighting gremlion.
I guess it can be puled with vampires as well. Much lower defence and no resistances would be painfull, but you have drain life

[Fatt_Shade]

Gj with BoneD Why didnt you use Paladin`s shield ?
I tryed with Vampires but their ressistances are horible Only 50% poison, and only poison dmg in 14 fight end game are alchemists at Hagny and no1 else. I guess it`s doable but i had no nerves to try more games to get Scaly set (i never use KBscaner).
I tryed to change Counterstrike to affect undead, but cant find anything in that skill description that exclude them. It works on Fairies and Giants, so i want it to work with undead also. Does any1 have idea how to fix this?

[impy]

Paladin shield is +4def, tower shield is +5def on 5level creatures; i was after def, some extra bonus against undead from paly shield was not important. Did you try 14fights with vampires or just regular playthrough with single stack? 14fights playthrough is very demanding KBscanner might really be needed. At least 90% phys. res is needed = 50% without stone skin, which will be your first spell in most cases anyway. As you know, difference between having 10% or 20% phys. res and 80% or 90% phys. res is very big when you get hit for massive damage by those huge endgame stacks.
getting to 50% phys. res = scaly set + twinkling boots + crystall ball (or leather dress) + slippery cuirass. In previous challenges you job is made easier by natural resistances which lower the req = droids (20%), BK (30%) and bone dragons (10-15% I think).
You mentioned hating kiting; I was going to give a savegame with zero fights and all maps uncovered, but my PC packed up completely on Thursday and now i am on holiday, so you'll have to wait for two weeks