(Request) RTL tactics on hard to impossible levels

By Ubbo_Sathla, in Descent: Journeys in the Dark

ok so me and the boys have a list here of levels that seem too strong for the OL and way inbalenced in his favor(some are nigh unwinable)

if any1 has beaten any of these levels without losing more than 3 heros plz comment(please give a generic way that any random hero team could acomplish)

if any feel that we are wrong and that the levels are balanced let us know and thx for your input!

7(Graveyard) too many targets to kill all in 1 turn

13(the summoning) OL take choice A:4 sorcerers,1master,4 skeles. Spawns on first turn useally behind a closed door and always gets summon off on turn 3.

17(bag of bones) impossible to win if OL rushes king to starting glyph

20(two by two)

24(eternal prisoner) very hard to beat 1 extra monster spawned every turn and a demon leader

25(the arena) OL abuses high ground cause no1 can move up to it

26(trial by fire) too many leaders to fight, because with our understanding by the FAQ "leaders may open up their runelock door"

31(puppet master) giants dont need more armor.....

34(reflections no way to catch the Manicore boss u need 6 heros, OL just waits cycles threw deck u lose.

38(throwing stones) another giant with more armor and wait an auto kill ability that he can start useing on turn 2....

40(shreds of Night) lets gimp range even more and destroy some gear very easy cause burn uses a template so he checks for each hero hit.....

41(snake pit) too many HP... extra monster choices are also too good(does RTL really hate melee heros that much?)

42(the secret garden) an undying ghost...reallly? and lets not forget it has trees to make it immune to all melee attacks...(yes RTL hates melee heros that much)

43(cavern of the wyrm) immune to most abilitys that do dmg, and getting swallowed useally kills any hero no matter how many HP in 2-3 turns.

44(the ice tunnels) maybe all the ToI levels should have been a"new" legendary dungeon the heros could clear......

Ubbo_Sathla said:

ok so me and the boys have a list here of levels that seem too strong for the OL and way inbalenced in his favor(some are nigh unwinable)

if any1 has beaten any of these levels without losing more than 3 heros plz comment(please give a generic way that any random hero team could acomplish)

if any feel that we are wrong and that the levels are balanced let us know and thx for your input!

25(the arena) OL abuses high ground cause no1 can move up to it

26(trial by fire) too many leaders to fight, because with our understanding by the FAQ "leaders may open up their runelock door"

34(reflections no way to catch the Manicore boss u need 6 heros, OL just waits cycles threw deck u lose.

been a while since I did the arena, but I recall that it wasn't too horribly bad, wasn't terribly difficult to just have my ranged guys snipe down whatever skeles and other monsters may have been up there, although overlord wasn't upgrading skeles at all so that wasn't so bad.

Don't have much advice for Trial by Fire, I killed the first leader on the first turn, and then had to deal with the gold master dragon with extra hp and armor when only at the beginning of silver level and lacking any silver items whatsoever. Would have fled on the spot if I weren't determined to continue on to get to the Fool's Rapids.

Reflections: wasn't so bad, even though I was dealing with a gold master manticore in silver level (encountered in same dungeon as Trial by Fire above). He's big, so it's kinda hard for him to hide, so by splitting the characters on either side, he may take someone down, but then you swoop whatever heroes you can onto him and take him out, he wasn't too hard to take some hits at with a little bit of fatigue use. Manticores aren't rediculously tough, so it's not so bad.

Ubbo_Sathla said:

ok so me and the boys have a list here of levels that seem too strong for the OL and way inbalenced in his favor(some are nigh unwinable)

if any1 has beaten any of these levels without losing more than 3 heros plz comment(please give a generic way that any random hero team could acomplish)

if any feel that we are wrong and that the levels are balanced let us know and thx for your input!

7(Graveyard) too many targets to kill all in 1 turn

13(the summoning) OL take choice A:4 sorcerers,1master,4 skeles. Spawns on first turn useally behind a closed door and always gets summon off on turn 3.

17(bag of bones) impossible to win if OL rushes king to starting glyph

20(two by two)

24(eternal prisoner) very hard to beat 1 extra monster spawned every turn and a demon leader

25(the arena) OL abuses high ground cause no1 can move up to it

26(trial by fire) too many leaders to fight, because with our understanding by the FAQ "leaders may open up their runelock door"

31(puppet master) giants dont need more armor.....

34(reflections no way to catch the Manicore boss u need 6 heros, OL just waits cycles threw deck u lose.

38(throwing stones) another giant with more armor and wait an auto kill ability that he can start useing on turn 2....

40(shreds of Night) lets gimp range even more and destroy some gear very easy cause burn uses a template so he checks for each hero hit.....

41(snake pit) too many HP... extra monster choices are also too good(does RTL really hate melee heros that much?)

42(the secret garden) an undying ghost...reallly? and lets not forget it has trees to make it immune to all melee attacks...(yes RTL hates melee heros that much)

43(cavern of the wyrm) immune to most abilitys that do dmg, and getting swallowed useally kills any hero no matter how many HP in 2-3 turns.

44(the ice tunnels) maybe all the ToI levels should have been a"new" legendary dungeon the heros could clear......

No Level is unbeatable. Not all levels are created equal. The difficulty of any particular level can be heavily influenced by what monster upgrades have been purchased, the composition of the hero party, and the general campaign level.
Also, please remember, the OL has to get some good levels for him too! Sometimes the right answer for the heroes is to flee. Their job is not to cleanse the world of the small fry in dungeons (the local militia can probably do that most of the time), it is to gain loot and experience sufficient for them to cleanse the world of the one big guy (the OL) that is really dangerous.

Now, our experiences....

7. The Graveyard - This one has been easy 2-3 times. Speed at the start, use knockback to put Adrian in a corner, sit on the ? markers nearest him and take out any skeletons within 5 then Adrian is toast. Only time it could ever be difficulty is with Silver Eldritch in early-mid bronze. Average loss probably 1 hero.
Speed is Life

13. The Summoning - never had any trouble with this level in at least 3 plays. Someone runs, first or second turn, with a fatigue potion, and opens the door. That limits spawning quite a bit. Some blast/breath/cleaving/Knight by turn three is always enough to clear the sorcerers, so far at least. Average loss of heroes is probably approximately 0.7.
Speed is life.

17. Bag of Bones - This one is easy. Heroes spread out, which limits or prevents spawning. Kill Janius with the first hero, or with a guard order, then chain-gang him to the sarcophagous. Usually lose one hero early and maybe another one if things don;t go well. Average hero loss 1.3ish.
Speed is Life

20. 2 By 2 - One of the most interesting levels as the heroes can't just dash right through it. We played when Poltergeist was still available and I managed to split the hero party on either side of the first door so no doors could be opened until the forward heroes died and came back at the starting glyph. Nasty. They did win through with about 4 casualties total though, as it was in the middle of a legendary dungeon so they couldn't afford to flee. Poltergesit aside the heroes need to put three heroes on the ?s and the last hero is the centre covering spawning. The central hero goes first and the door opens with three heroes still to go on their turn.
A good, interesting, tough level for the heroes.

24. Eternal Prisoner - you don't have to kill the demon! Which makes this a pretty easy level all told - this is a grab and dash level, every time. The nice thing is that you can dash forward rather than flee. Played at least twice, no problems. Admittedly not with Eldritch higher than silver. Average loss 0.3 heroes.

25. Arena - Blast or Breath sweeps the higher ground quickly. The Ogre is easily blocked from coming out, then finished off later. One hero stays behind to prevent spawning while hoovering up the bone pits (yay, extra treasure!). I watched one weak party get caned in this level in early bronze (sniping silver skeletons) and lose 3-5 heroes, gone through it twice since without losing more than 1.

26. Trial By Fire - This is probably the second hardest level (unless the OL has concentrated on Humanoids). This is usually a flee, occasionally lasting just long enough to clean out the first room. It has come up at least three times, at least once not even put together (heroes - don't bother, we flee the dungeon first turn, glyphing back to town for healing/shopping).

31. Puppet Master - The Sorcerer can't hide and once he goes, so does the giant. Only time this level has lasted more than 3 turns (in three plays) in in early bronze. Even with Diamond Beasts the Master Naga couldn't slow things down in gold level.

34. Reflections - Only played this one once and the OL screwed up and got caught early, so can't really comment sorry.

38. Throwing Stones - Easy level to prevent spawning IIRC. If the heroes avoid the walls it is pretty easy to not get squished by the stones, though if the OL is smart and has a crushing block to provide just the right ammo and location/timing he should probably get one hero. Twice we have gone through this level rather quickly.

40. Shreds of Night - Has come up twice, once with Beasts Gold in Silver level, so immediate flee for the heroes and once with Beasts at Bronze during Silver level (different campaign obviously) so it was easy for the heroes. Another Speed is Life level and if you don't bunch them the breath can only get one at a time anyway (and if you need to bunch, give someone a dodge order)

41. Snake Pit - Not terribly difficult the one time we played it. A dodging Okaluk (with Ox Tattoo, so ignoring grapple) limited the Boss Naga's opportunities and some judiciously timed running limited the spawn spots available (and avoiding a pit on the last fatigue point helped a lot). Lost a tank to a ferrox spawn on the way out, and a runner to massed Skeleton/Priest/Naga shooting so honours about even I guess.

42. Secret Garden - This is the toughest level of all. With Bronze Eldritch against a late silver party I still claimed at least 5-6 heroes dead. Critical was a Green treachery glyph, so the heroes had to keep coming back from the start (a long way back) and force their way through the hedges again. Important skills for the Heroes are Spiritwalker (mage at teh back can shoot from a hedged hero), Leadership (to give a hero that has moved into the hedge a Guard order) and Rapid fire/Quick Casting (maximise the value of that guard order/spiritwalker). The Ghost armour is also important, so you can Ready, Guard, move into the hedge and prevent the damage so you keep the guard. When the roles were reversed the second time we played I was up against upgraded Eldritch which was tough, but without the green treachery glyph once I got one hero through to activate the glyph the OL went down very quickly.

43. Cavern of the Wyrm - Can't comment much since this has only come up with bronze eldritch vs a late silver party - cakewalk!

44. The Ice tunnels - cruised through this with ease and not a single loss. Karnon should have helped but was actually immaterial as the Flying +2 Mv magic feat let the mage run (fly) through to activate the forward glyph and then the ice actually helped as the Gold Troll struggled to catch up. The other time we played it was with Telekinesis still operating (old campaign still going, late gold now) which totally negates the Ice. Since Beasts were Diamond the Boss killed a hero and good timing on a (silver) Mimic got another and slowed the heroes an extra turn or two, but I think that was it.

General comments;
Speed is Life. Fatigue potions (especially with a fatigue upgrade) are huge. The hardest levels can become incredibly easier if you can get that one 'play' just right. Sometimes it needs inventiveness - using a guard to knockback your own colleague hero onto a glyph that neither of you could reach, thus allowing the hero that went back to town (and the other that gets killed) to boil out of the forward glyph straight into the action next turn, for example.
Party Balance is critical. Never more than 1 primary melee hero - they hit hard but have too many restrictions - just like Humanoids! Always at least one Mage, possibly 2. At least one runner capable hero who is usually also a backup mage/melee, sometimes the primary ranger. Speed is important. That 2 armour 3 speed tank with only 3 fatigue - tough but too slow. If you use him, he has to get fatigue upgrade ASAP and you should have other plans for hustling him as well (mage with Water Pact and a staff to knockback him?).
Spawning cover is usually the priority for at least 2, often 3 heroes on turn 1. That means usually one is 'staying back' (ish) and 1-2 are moving at speed to cover other spawning areas (or heading back to town ready to boil out of an activated glyph). The fourth is probably running, possibly with a dodge order, in order to activate a forward glyph/open a chest/open a door and prevent spawning/etc.