How to kill anything other than giants?

[Kevin Rudat]

I'd normally not have registered for a forum, but being up past midnight local time has loosened my usual whining inhibitiions.

Questions related to this have popped up on the Crossfire mailing list from time to time; I figure it's my turn to ask the Frequently-Asked Question here.

I'm going to gloat about my character below, so skip the next two paragraphs if you want to.

My character (local server; too much latency on the public servers from Australia), is a twenty-ninth level warlock of Lythander. I've drunk many 'stat' and and improvement potions, obtained a ring of War and a ring of Elrond, appropriate light armour, and Lythander has blessed a small collection of artifact weapons (all from the bottom of the *spoiler, but fixed between 1.2 and 1.5*).

With this modest advancement, I can both hew my way through, fireball into oblivion and holy word into submission the giants on the bottom floor of the first Pupland raffle, and the bigger trolls on the first floor of the second raffle, without breaking a sweat. I've even cleared out the undead level of Lord Butakis' Training Tower. I get the feeling that so can many others. The problem is that I can't seem to advance any more.

The rest of this post is just a whine about what I can't seem to do...

• I can't take skulls and beholders. They seem to have access to every attack magic; their first wave of attacks will pin me with fear, slow and/or confusion, and then their choice of damaging magic will finish me off.
• I can't take on acidic creatures. While I might get lucky and convince Lythander to restore a weapon to its pristine state, just about everything else I'm wearing will be permanently ruined by the acid, and need to be replaced.
• I can't take on grim reapers, because it's impossible to get immunity to their deathstrike.
• I can't - quite - take on dragons. The two-tile wyverns don't pose a huge problem, unless I'm taking on more than one at a time. Even a baby dragon can flame me faster than I can hit back, and adult dragons add fear.
• Anything bigger - the four-tile beholder, titans, larger demons, -anything- guarding an artifact - is like the above, only with more hitpoints.

I'm sure there's a few specific 'questions' in the Crossfire mailling-list archives; I might follow up with a pile of links.

[hoxu]

I can't take skulls and beholders. They seem to have access to every attack magic; their first wave of attacks will pin me with fear, slow and/or confusion, and then their choice of damaging magic will finish me off.

Tried using ring/amulet of Free Action?

I can't - quite - take on dragons. The two-tile wyverns don't pose a huge problem, unless I'm taking on more than one at a time. Even a baby dragon can flame me faster than I can hit back, and adult dragons add fear.

What 'bout paralyze -spell?

[Leaf]

With this modest advancement, I can both hew my way through, fireball into oblivion and holy word into submission the giants on the bottom floor of the first Pupland raffle, and the bigger trolls on the first floor of the second raffle, without breaking a sweat. I've even cleared out the undead level of Lord Butakis' Training Tower. I get the feeling that so can many others. The problem is that I can't seem to advance any more.

Sounds like you are trying to kill monsters with spells (and spells only..), correct?

Fireball is great, but should be used primarily when monsters are far away since it's relatively easy to burn yourself within the area of effect. One tactic you can use is, enter map the leads ot a relative large room (don't move off the entrance/exit), fire off 4 or 5 fireballs and immediately go back through the entrance/exit. You will still gain experience for the monsters killed this way. Otherwise, burning hands or icestorm is very effective with less risk to your character.

Biggest tip - potions!
Potions of invulnerability along with potions of lava and frost resistance will give you about 20 seconds to cast several spells in a row, hopefully kill numerous monsters and allow you to level up past this tough spot.

I can't take on acidic creatures. While I might get lucky and convince Lythander to restore a weapon to its pristine state, just about everything else I'm wearing will be permanently ruined by the acid, and need to be replaced.

These are monsters you definately want to use spells on or range attacks. Try magic bullet on acid spheres. Summon an avatar/golem/elemental for large monsters, if the map arrangement allows it. Rings of Acid are also helpful in protecting you against these creatures.

I can't take on grim reapers, because it's impossible to get immunity to their deathstrike.

A Ring of Life should take care of that problem for you. There are also a few other weapons or items that will also give you enough proection or immunity to their attacks.

I can't - quite - take on dragons. The two-tile wyverns don't pose a huge problem, unless I'm taking on more than one at a time. Even a baby dragon can flame me faster than I can hit back, and adult dragons add fear.

What level are you in Physique? How many hit points does your character have?
Dragons can be tough, they should be IMO.
Pile on the necessary equipment to give you protection from the target dragon attack type and/or use the proper potions. Consume a potion of lava resistance and a potion of invulnerabilty and chuckle as you stand in the face of a red dragons and blast them with icestorm while suffering minimal damage from their attacks.

Anything bigger - the four-tile beholder, titans, larger demons, -anything- guarding an artifact - is like the above, only with more hitpoints.

If you are not very high level in Physique (under 20..) then you probably shouldn't go into melee with the monsters you mention above. I have always used avatars or holyword or holy orb for these monsters. They may take a while to kill and require some fancy combo of hit and run attacks with spells (and time..) but these monsters can be killed with spells. Use the map layout to your advantage to run and take cover while regenerating spell points (or consume potions of magic to restore your spell points quickly)

Some helpful links:

http://crossfire.real-time.com/guides/s ... index.html

http://crossfire.real-time.com/guides/w ... index.html
(contains some tips for monster combat)

[philc]

Being creative often helps. Try to experiment with directors (not the plural) and earth walls to block monsters.
Try to learn some prayers, too. You can learn all skills in CF and use of course any god though not at a time and changing might be 'expensive'. However different gods have different abilities.

[dark.schneider]

lo Kevin
Just to give you some reference for a spellcaster only player.
1st dragon (chinese dragon) is level 12 (level 4 phys, maybe less)
then at level 15 (depends on the amulet you have) you should be able to take out electric dragons.
At level 20 with some tricks you should be able to take out red dragon, but take LOT of care with those since they just still can kill you easly at level 50.
For many other monsters, it's just a game of tactics.

[Zortan]

FYI, Last night after getting killed twice by two red dragons, and going from level 20 to level 17, I managed to kill them both fairly easy. As was said in above post.

Use map to your advantage.. I accidentaly walked too far and too close to the dragon. 1st mistake.. He cast dragon breath, and I run like hell, but in the wrong direction (with the dragon breath) hence taking damage all along while running.. 2nd mistake..

3rd mistake.. Getting my self stuck behind their buddies.. For some reason on the map I was on, there were elementals.. few of them happen to block my way out when I cast large ice storm.. got caught in that, then the dragon finished me off..

Summarise: Use the lay of the land.. Don't run with the directional spell (icestorm, dragon breath, lightning, burning hands, etc). Make sure you have a way out, not blocked by anything.. Be patient.. hand-to-hand I wouldn't last a second against a red dragon, esp. since my physique was level 12.. Some strategically placed large snowstorms did the trick..

One more hint.. On creatures immune to magic or specific element (fire, lihtning, etc).. I noticed steambolt works well, and "create bomb" spell works even better...

[Zortan]

...Ohh, it would help if I said what I was.. Race: Dragon, Class: Sorcerer, god: Devourer.... Equipment.. almost nothing.. Dragons don't wear much to begin with, and the stuff I have has been long-corroded by my many encounters with acids, etc..

[dark.schneider]

Zortran, exxelent tips )
You perfectly got my point..
and at level 61 (around 50 amgic and 50 physique) I jave been just killed by a ligthning dragon. This to say to allways pay attention when figthing "big" monsters.

[mathwizard]

Which dragons are easiest to kill also strongly depends on your resistances. I had a hero (standard warrior) with high fire resistance thanks to full helmet of Argoth and other stuff and killed a fire dragon before having killed either of the other dragons. It was quite surprising for me to see, that my next hero had by far greater problems with red dragons.

BTW: Blue dragons are quite "easy" when you have an amulet of deflection.