Getting past the bloody spider.

[Donnylicious]

For anyone having trouble with the Giant Spider, here's what I did. This took me a bout a week of frustration. I read up on the posts here that going into the might tree is a must. However, I had about 3 skills in might as I was a soothsayer and pretty much put all my points down that tree, which was pretty useless in this boss fight, except for maybe level 2 distortion and level 1 creation points. Here are my stats:

18 Soothsayer hard mode
13 attack
16 defense
18 int
3964 leadership
--- talents ---
3 might
8 spirit
18 magic

Thought I was screwed because this is an attack damage heavy fight and I had mostly magic (destruction was useless because units were too mixed up) So here's what I went with;

66 berserkers
99 vikings
113 skalds
19 war maidens
8 jarls (had possible 12 but couldn't find any more)

The biggest problem most people don't realize is morale. If it's poor you will get -10% attack/defense. If it's positive you will get +10%. Skalds were very important in that they boost morale of all vikings by 1. This plus the racial morale bonus gives you 2. The spiders will automatically lower you morale with their attacks so this is crucial.

The main trick I did was to bring the Giant Spider's health down as fast as possible to avoid the strengthening spiderlings.

Here's what you do:
First put your vikings in the Giant Spider's head, put him on berserker and watch the super crits. He will always attack the Giant Spider. Buff him with a stone skin or blessing to max damage. Group him up with your jarls for the jarls aura. Just have the rest of your party kill the spiderlings.

When the Giant Spider switches positions, have your Berserker ready and do the same thing.

The third switch will be tricky because you'll have to maneuver your damage dealer around the spiderlings.

On the fourth switch go all out; have 3 units attacking the Giant Spider to finish him off.

Hope this helps. Took me a while to figure it out =/ (also got the achievement for beating it under 15 rounds)

[ivanvazovv]

So anybody found a way to kill this boss without any losses? Is there any way to kill with the console or is there any way to cheat?

[gunnyhighway]

As a soothsayer I coved the entire ground with ice spikes the spider adds couldnt fall /profit

[Lancian]

I did this as Soothsayer without trolls using Jarls, Warrior Maidens, Royal Snakes, Polar Bears and Swap Snakes. I found I can buy trolls at the map AFTER I killed the spider (the dwelling is not shown on map). The idea is try not to melee spider much with any other units than Jarls and Bears. Snakes and maidens should clear spiders, while using ranged/bite attack on boss when its ready. Use protection spells on jarls and bears and offensive on the boss. You will kill him eventually, but if you aim for some achievements or dont want to lose many units (as you will), use the trolls and profit.

[ivanvazovv]

Originally Posted by gunnyhighway

As a soothsayer I coved the entire ground with ice spikes the spider adds couldnt fall /profit

That was something I had in mind... so it's possible... I'll try it.

Originally Posted by Lancian

....but if you aim for some achievements or dont want to lose many units (as you will), use the trolls and profit.

That's the point - it's easy to kill him, but I want to kill without any losses. I have 3 trolls but they don't seem to deal a lot of damage

[gunnyhighway]

The spiders fall from sky but die instantly lol too funny

[Lancian]

Originally Posted by ivanvazovv

That's the point - it's easy to kill hib, but I want to kill without any losses. I have 3 trolls but they don't seem to deal a lot of damage

Yeah well..I was talking about impossible difficulty

[ivanvazovv]

I have only first level of rune magic, so my Ice spikes magic gives only three spikes and it's impossible to fill the whole battlefield. And I can't think of anything else Is there no other way to kill the spider without losses? Doesn't nobody managed to kill it without losses with different tactic that filling the battlefield with spikes? I've beaten all the previous games without losses on impossible, and now I can't even kill the first boss on Normal. WTF?
edit : just killed it. Used only trolls split into three groups of one. Easy but long battle - around 50 rounds. Didn't like it, seems the tactic with the trolls is the only designed way to defeat the boss without losses.

[gunnyhighway]

Finally beat it last night on impossible my icespike trick took while and lots of luck. Needed him to not drop spiders down a few times to catch up on the ice spikes. Trolls are so awesome with their instant life return on start of next round.

[Xargon]

Originally Posted by ivanvazovv

I have only first level of rune magic, so my Ice spikes magic gives only three spikes and it's impossible to fill the whole battlefield. And I can't think of anything else Is there no other way to kill the spider without losses? Doesn't nobody managed to kill it without losses with different tactic that filling the battlefield with spikes? I've beaten all the previous games without losses on impossible, and now I can't even kill the first boss on Normal. WTF?
edit : just killed it. Used only trolls split into three groups of one. Easy but long battle - around 50 rounds. Didn't like it, seems the tactic with the trolls is the only designed way to defeat the boss without losses.

Or maybe they simply did not care about a way to defeat the boss without losses, and why should they? This is just some additional restriction some players like to play with, so if they manage to do it somehow, congratulations, but if not, bad luck.

edit: @the one below: Vestlig, hidden store on the cliffs