Battle Squares

Remove all ads!

Bah, the fights in the Battle Squares stink to high haven. I wonder for what type of characters they were designed. Even for the most min-maxed barbarian, fighter, whatever, I do not think there is a realistic chance of going over level six.

Also, I was under the impression that you are supposed to get some rewards out of it. I got rank five in the levels 1 to 4 (and only rank 4 in level 5), and the most I got were some lousy darts +1 (plus some scrolls- like getting a scroll of cure critical wounds would make up for the 30+ potions of healing I used )

 

Make sure you're actually completing the square. You need 3, 4, 5, 6, and 7 wins to complete each. There is some very worthwhile stuff. Remember to fully buff whatever character is doing the fighting. Also, you can go back and complete them whenever you like ... up until you leave the underdark. Take your time

 

There are some awesome items for completing Battlesquares. That club makes the first part of Kuldahar a complete breeze.

 

Buffs make Battle Squares all the more manageable, stoneskin, emotion: hope and aid being my personal favourites. You can walk out of the room between any rank for a refresher and for healing with no penalty. You can also abuse the doorway by trapping big monsters like giants, remhorazes and rhino beetles in the doorway and then beating on them freely with a 2 handed weapon so you're out of reach. You can also hide a mage just out of sight of the golem and cast stunning spells like chromatic orb and icelance (this works with nasty things like greater feyrs, although they're not so big so you have to place your fighter just right). Still, theres some nasty things like elementals that are a pain in the arse whatever you do, so save often.

Cheesy tactics, and not ones that I would usually condone, but Battle Squares is annoying enough without having to fight fair. The rewards are worth it, believe me.

 

Say that again? I need 3, 4, 5, 6, and 7 wins at each level? WTH? I assumed if I get the highest rank (5, equivalent to 7 wins) I would not need the previous ones.

God, that make 25 fights for a single level. What are they, insane ?!

Well, maybe I'll try to lower levels again. I suspect the rewards one gets at higher levels (>5) would completely unbalance the game, anyhow.

As to the monsters: the water elemental was the only one I could not beat on lev 5. Just could not manage to inflict enough damage; it has +10 absorbtion for both slashing and crushing damage (I did not even try anything with piercing, since I suspect is useless). The remorhaz were pretty bad, too; but at least you can finish them in time (provided you have plenty of hit points to lose)

 

I found Battlesquares to be impossible the first few times as well but now I can beat it more easily (but not that easily).

Usually nowadays, I use the Ease of Use mod to skip this sequence of the game (because I know I can beat it and it takes ages)

 

Ever since I have discovered that the Gnome who was swallowed by a Rhemorazz can cast Stoneskin and Improved Invisibility on you, none of the fights in the Ice Temple have been difficult. That works for Battle Squares as well. These spells have a duration long enough that they can be used every so often.
Ofcourse other buffs like Bull's Strength, Bless (girdle bought from Elytharra), Haste are cool as well.

Yeah khaavern, (7+6+5+4+3)*10=250 fights

Against any of the large sized creatures, simply walk out of the room thru the northern door and attack using ranged weapons. They will get stuck in the door and then you can use two-handed weapons without the risk of them reaching you.
Elementals have an innate 10/+3 damage resistance. So unless you get a +4 weapon (reward for L6 squares iirc) or something that disrupts them (reward for L5) you are tough out of luck. The rewards are not unbalancing, simply uber. So you should do all 10 levels.

 

Well, the golem sits in the door, I don't think I can get out. I use buffing spells, but they are of limited effectivness. A stoneskin (cast by my mage) is good for about 100 damage - that means one fight on the fifth level. Improved invisibility would be good, but I did not find a scroll yet. Maybe I'll get Zack to cast it on me (although I think is pretty short duration, so I'd have to go back and forth all the time).

 

There is a door in the north wall of the battle squares room. It will only open if you have Oria's key in your inventory. That is the door thru which we torment the larger sized creatures. Note that elementals are small enough to go thru that door.

Zack's spells (thanks for reminding of his name) will only last for two or three sets of fights. So you will need to get them cast twice every level of battle squares. Ofcourse if you get lucky with the Club of Disruption, then you might not need to.
Enable the cheatkeys and Ctlr-J your party around so as not to waste time walking. Also remember that the magical stairs on level 1 of the temple will bring you directly to the battle squares once set.

 

Here's how I do it in HOF. I have only finished the first 6 ranks and part of rank 7, but it doesn't seem to be getting much harder.

Sorcerer with the following spells on him:
M. Sword (essential)
Haste or Mass Haste (essential)
Mirror Image (nearly essential)
Emotion:Hope (lasts 50 rounds so why not)
Recitation (expires quickly. not needed but the cleric isn't casting anything useful, so why not)
Luck (but it uses the same slots as mirror image so you can't afford to cast it much)

I put all the best items on the sorc, but they are mostly useless except for Lucky Knucky, which significantly inproves damage dealt.

Some snags:

Certain monsters like to teleport away into the room with the other party members. When that happens, I cast 3 or 4 summons and win easily. The active character must closely follow the ice golem when this happens to get credit for the square.

Early on I would get white abashi, who like to summon lemures or other white abashi. The secret is to run to the other side of the room when the summon portal appears; if they cant see you they won't join the fight. After I finish the initial monster I can mop the others up at my leisure.

The doorway to the north-east is very useful for hitting monsters who can't fit through it, saving you mirror images. Also, all of the monsters move slower than you, some much slower. Do a little bit of running and you will save images.

Sometimes the ice golem doesn't follow you and the monster closely enough, and you don't get credit. If needed, you should reposition yourself before making the killing blow.

Some monsters have too many HP to kill in time. But some of those ARE vulnerable to Dismiss. Cast it a few times and even elder air elementals go down.

Plan each board carefully to minimize the negative effects of failed battles. Do the 7-battle one first and work your way down. That way, if the board gets badly messed, you can usually complete a lesser amount of kills. Do the side squares first, then a pair of diagonally opposite squares, then any of the remaining three. If you lose a battle along the way, adjust.

A cheesy tactic: cast a bunch of skull traps to one side. If a high-HP monster appears, lure him onto them. Skull Trap uses the same slots as Haste so don't go crazy here; Haste is way more important.

 

My bard had improved ivisibility, so I just cheesed out with that, Haste, and anything else raising my attack and damage that I could find (Bull's stength, etc), all used on my ranger who had dual-wield and AC 27. I figured out the door thing, too.

Also, I would somethimes let the monster see me, and then run into the center room and let off lightening bolts from that machine in the middle. The monster always comes through the southmost door, and if it manages to get to me, it will have only a few hits left.

 

I know this is a Royalle with extra cheese, but as noted in an earlier post, I would load summons into the upper right corner of the room. As long as the fighting character stands between the golem and the summons, he does not teleport them away. On the first square the monster always tagets you, (unless invisible, but you don't want him moving to far towards the golem so don't do this). Once you finish the monster off, your summons will be near the center square. When you call up the next monster, it will target on of the summons (that is what you want right?) All proceeding monsters will then target summons. Once you finish a level, rebuff, resummon as needed, then push all summons back to the corner.
I finished lvls 1-6 with a monk1/rogue1/illusionist 8-9, using spells and shortsword from druid, then mace of d. Got tougher late, so switched to bar2/druid10, sometimes shapeshifted, sometimes spelling, sometimes with Fang bastard sword.

 

Woah. Plenty of stuff I did not think about. Thanks for the advice Still, it seems too much of a pain. 250 battles
I don't think I need the rewards that much.

 

With my patched IWD2 i couldn't get summons to stay around... they were able to stay using the right back corner tactic as long as they wanted but the second they performed an attack on the monster they were ejected...

but theres another spell that can win the entire battle squares all by itself (on normal play mode) the mordekein sword is enuff to win everysingle battle on everysingle level.

i just came back to the battle squares a little later in the game when i had that spell and winning was super easy NO monster EVER forced me to reload the only times i had to reload was due to the bug where the monster ports away

the sword has such an insane attack bonus it usually will hit and it does quite good damage throw in a few buffs from your group or yourself (haste/stoneskin/mirror image/hope/bless..etc) then it just becomes a matter of not getting bored before beating all the levels... i was actually able to kill elementals and the like more easily with mordekein than with the disruption mace

the rewards were for the most part a little disappointing though because my party isn't very melee focused the 4armor bracer and +5brilliant sword weren't bad though

 

Remember to keep your party member in between the Golem and the Battle Square monster. All summons need to go to the far corner until the 1st monster is called in. Have everyone target the BS Monster. You can have up to 4 summons attack without being seen by the Golem. I load up on undead and suppliment with the druid spell that lasts a few turns (Nature;s ally?). Some of these summons are just meat fodder. Some of the higher level zombies are imune to a lot of the BS monster's attacks. Even level 10 Demons have a hard time hitting em. Just let them wale away on your sum mons while you kick ass from behind.
You don't have to move your summons to the corner on every battle. Just the start of the level. On the second square on, leave them where they were when you finished the BS monster. When the next phashes in, it targets your summons and not your BS fighter.
I had great luck with a barbarian1/druidX who could shapeshift for easier fights, spell cast on some, rage on others, then summon in backup if needed. Later on swiitched to my DG monk1/rogue2/rang1/IllX duel weilding the mace of disruption and the moonblade on the late rounds.
Rest between levels, summon, then buff, so the summoned get buffed too!