Is Zero Losses on Normal Mage possible in KB:AP?

[Elwin]

Geez dobrev, 2 magess dresses? I dont even have one .. just black widow and advisor but thery are crap compared to magess ...
and i think there is no place i can get them .. unless they well apear in elven castles ...
deathstar i have but it requires tactics mostly to not damage my own units.

I have 53 int ... with those dresses and some upgrade i could hit well over 60 but i dont have ;/ I could rise my int anyway ... but its hard choice : inquistor blade vs archmage staff ...

[DGDobrev]

Originally Posted by Zechnophobe

I managed no losses against Baal with my warrior, it was surprisingly easy actually. Make good use of Mana Spring, and PHantom a stack of paladins, and then only attack Baal himself with ranged units. Level 3 divine anger to get mana off his wussy demon stacks.

Edit: I take it back, I had some small amount of losses, but end of battle was just a stack of imps, so I could easily have resurrected if I'd wanted to.. just didn't see the point.

I was thinking something like this. However, as a mage, I can't get lvl 3 divine anger if I want an efficient build (I have only lvl 1), because it costs a lot of mind runes, which can go to boost rage/mana values, learning, critical chance, etc. I was thinking about max phys resistance equipment, paladins + ranged units army. Paladins get magic shield + stone skin all the time, which minimizes the damage they'll suffer dramatically. Then it's all about phantoms to recover the other stacks from baal's demons' attacks and when he throws his sword or breaks down the arena.

Ktahu is king of easy - Paladins in his weak spot and strong units with physical resistance to deal with anything he summons. His mass attack is also physical based, so any unit with high resistance will do. I may even miss out on the archmagi in this battle as well and swap them with demonologists for their summonings. We'll see.

I'm more worried about zilgadis than baal or ktahu. His mass attack is really strong (2700-3500 MAGIC damage) and he uses it often. I will leave a friendly gremlin tower standing when he's low on HP in an attempt to recover the losses after he dies, but it will be a certain problem if I'm low on mana. In any case, I'm hoping that the slippery cuirass (10% phys resistance), the anti-magic diplom (20% magic resistance) and the mirror shield (25% magic resistance) will help here. I also plan on making a party consisting of strong melee units. Knights near the left hand, Paladins near the right one (both hacking) and Horsemen + Guardsmen (or another unit with decent damage) to deal with the towers and Archmagi for shielding.

Actually, the worst thing in boss battles is that you can't use your rage to create more mana. I wonder if the Rage eater artifact works here. I'll most certainly try it out. It takes 5 rage and transforms it into 5 mana, but I don't know how often. I'll just have to use it sometime and see what happens.

@Elwin

I found the first on Reha (while I was stealing early in the game) and the second off a lying skeleton in Elon some 7-8 battles ago. So I can't say I was considering myself all that lucky throughout the game, but eventually, the second one popped up. I would also love a marshal's batton... Using it will allow me to put on the +5 int Amulet of Death. I can't do it now because of that -2 morale to all humans.

[Elwin]

I cleared elon and no dresses ;/ ukchuk was damn hard .. only melees but invincible and ogres + sheep were screwing things.
i have been on reha already .. also i do not have any baton :p i lack a few very good items
and that diplom .. from mastar dumbor? i screwed it, i didnt know what is it and i took lizard test i thought i will be able to do second test too...

[DGDobrev]

Progress report.

287 battles without losses, lvl 55 now. All that is left is to win the arena battles and fight K'tahu, Gremlion (Zilgadis) and Baal. I'll also see if there are unsuppresed or unupgraded items, but that's pretty much the end of the game, and the battles that actually prove whether I can or cannot do it without losing units.

But that will happen tomorrow.

[Elwin]

OK cleared almost all as i guessed none good items ffound ... so i am with the same stuff .. demenion was childly easy, raha death arena a was challenge for no loss..
Tomorrow bosses fight : Zilgadis, Ktahu,Baal. I went to Ktahu too look him but hell he started with AoE for 5-6k Dmg ridicoulous, I read on info thread hes only 3-4 . That will be hard ... this AoE would kill me in next few rounds ..
256 no loss not bad ;P

[DGDobrev]

Well, I'm almost there myself. Stock up on units with high physical resistance and if you have the slippery cuirass or twinkling boots, put them on. That should take care for part of the damage.

[Elwin]

Zilgadis was a dissapointment . .no challenge at all .. but ktahu hmm ...
have to find that cuirass but i do not remind seeing it anywhere in my game maybe i dont have it i will look .. i know my brother got 2 of them on his game ... i only have leather dress with 5% resists .. i am thinking about the army .. inqisitors and demenologists suffers most in this battle .. actualy i think i will get rid of inquis .. to low defense .. rage gaining is not neeeded and as ranged hes not doing much when lizards are summoned .. so i guess i will go for knights .. demonologist i think will stay

[DGDobrev]

Well, suffice it to say that on Impossible against ktahu, with an army of:

Paladins
Knights
Horsemen
Guardsmen
Archmagi

I can't do it without losses. That spit ktahu does on the first turn and then every 2-3 turns is absolutely awful, even with high phys resistance. Usually I lose at least 50 units after the resurrecting is done.

I'm not out of options yet though. I wonder now is how some Ghosts and Cursed ghosts will fit in this situation. They have very high physical resistance, but my problem is that I have absolutely no way of reviving them.

[Elwin]

geeez no slippery cuirass .. to additon no knights ... oooo / ihave big craploads of paladins inqis horseman guardsman .. but i have just 70 knights at frederick and 13 at demenion just 80 of 180 and those are end game main quest parts .. i could say i dont have them in my game at all lol ... what a bad luck ...

i was thinking about cyclop .. but will not have a way to resurect him ..

[DGDobrev]

Absolutely.

The army:

Paladins
Knights
Horsemen
Ghosts
Cursed Ghosts

- can do it with minimal losses. However, you'll be facing one really big problem all the time. Both ghosts must feed equally. Otherwise they'll simply outgrow their stacks and go out of control. I have confirmed it, that happens. The next thing you should be aware of is that if one of the ghosts isn't feeding enough, the stack will be killed by Ktahu's spits.

With any luck, this can be done without losses. But it must really be a stroke of luck, because come to think of it, there is no way that you can ensure that the ghosts will remain at their max leadership by the time you kill K'tahu.