HELP! The (failed) Assault on General Karador's Necro-Castle

[hawker]

Karador is probably the hardest fight in the game.

First of all, you need to level up. I think I was close to level 27 and had cleared pretty much everything before I took him on.

Now, in the Russian version 1.5.0 when I last played it (where the mage class was substantially weaker than in newer English versions), I used

Red Dragons (RD)
Green Dragons (GD)
Cyclops (CY)
Elven Pathfinders (PF) (dunno if that's what they're called in English version, you know, those stronger archers)
Archmages (AM)

Using Tactics I positioned my troops at the corner of the starting grid as such

             <>      ------that's the crystal


       |           |
    ___|     RD  GD|___
   |         CY  PF  AM|
   --------------------

Basically, hardcore turtling/weakening of units until the crystal is killed. Crucially, the Red Dragons were at the center and inline with the crystal, so that they could snipe the crystal with their fire stream. Archmage shielded the dragons that took the most damage, Pathfinders shot the crystal. All units are level 4-5, so they won't be hypnotized. Once the crystal is dead, the enemy's mana won't regenerate, so it finally becomes possible to finish his units. Low power Blind, and Target (on your archmage-shielded unit) are useful for keeping the damage of skeleton archers under control.

Holy Light - again, I think that's what the name is in English version - spell is doubly good here: focused on the dragons its AE effect both rejuvenates the friendly "tanks" and damages the attackers.

[Antiga]

I just defeated karador, and it was easier than some of the hero's i've taken down with my level 21 mage. I was suprised myself as well.. I just though i'd stop by the castle and see how large Karador's army would be, not even considering actually fighting.

Used Snakes, Royal Snakes, Demonesses, Dryads and Black Dragons. Anga's ruby for the she-fighters, Frog form wife for +100% attack for the snakes as well as Ring of the Snake King for +3 poison damage and a weapon that gives +50% attack to animals.

Level 21 mage, 12 attack, 18 def, 30 int. 9000~ leadership. 108 mana and 60~ rage. Maxed chaos, distortion, destroyer, higher magic.

6 fire rains in 3 turns and his army was completely gone, Necromancers, bone dragons and archers would die in the first turn before acting. Enemy broke down the barricade and statue, and positioned itself so my black dragons could use their fire skill to hit 6 stacks of enemies. Meanwhile I planted sprouts and did not get hit yet. 2nd turn the ghosts all died due to fire rain and the black knights lost most their men as well. All that remained were some skellies and zombies. I never used necro call, I didn't have to occupy dead stack's slots in order to prevent karador from raising because he was too busy casting fear. Once all enemies were defeated I did occupy the dead stacks and pummeled the crystal with my snakes and fire arrows. Zombies killed a single of my black dragons, I lost about 10 snakes and 20 royal snakes, nothing else.

Edit:
To hawker: The blue-ish ones are called 'Hunters' in the english version. The basic green one's just 'Elves'.

[renton]

I did this at my first attempt with losses but not a disastrous amount.
My technique was to whittle most of the mobs down to the lowest possible number without killing them. That way, they dont resurrect and they do less and less damage as the fight wears on. I had to monitor retaliation strikes to avoid killing the stack too early on but this strategy worked for me. Once every mob was weakened, it was fairly easy to take them all out close together and i had my emerald dragon on the crystals.
Cant remember what lvl i was but it was pre 20

[Suporex]

Just killed them...

Mage 22 12000 leadership

+14 attack +24 Defence +35 Intellect

Emerald Dragons
Evil Beholders
Orc Fighters? (th dudes with swords that hit twice if enemy will hit back after first time)
Necromancers
Orc Shamans

Lost 1 Necro, 32 Evil Beholders, 1 Shaman, so I think not much

Tactic:

killed bone dragons first and I have put shamans and evil beholders over their bodies, than necromancers with spells and resurected them with my necros... after that just killed opponents as fast as I could (but you have to make a kill just before necro turn as otherwise enemy will resurect), so final blow with dragons and necro resurect just after I have put all the chars that I have resurected on side of battlefield. Than summoned Ice Orb at the bottom, as roll way was so long killed crystal in few hits...

Hope that helps others...

[Rhym]

This fight seems pretty easy for a mage atleast. Though i plow through even impossible armies now with mine, only thing that can be annoying are dragons (especially black) due to magic resistance. Though I have a workaround for black dragons now Lay down a Trap (4000-6000 dmg) and use Emerald Green Dragons to drag them on to the trap, while thing usually kills 6 or so. Tactics help with positioning your troops so they hit a hard target on their first strike.

Did Karador at 23-24, estimate i had around 13k leadership worth of troops.

8 atk, 20 def, 37 int (ish)

Dwarven Cannoneers (+100% atk, +30% crit chance and + 1 morale from the set).
Royal Snakes (+100% atk from wife, + 3 dmg from Ring of the Snake king).
Emerald Green Dragons (had .
Cyclops (had 9).
Inquisitors (don't have ressurection, but inquisitors + Gift is a nice substitute).

Lost 9 Royal Snakes in total. Just blasted the everloving crap out of his army with rain of fire, and general combat until they are gone, my troop could easily take care of the ressurected troops after most of his army was gone. Cast Demon Portal by the crystal. Succubus', oh well, swap closeby dragons with royal snakes, let them smash the crystal.