OK,

I've only played a few games of arkham horror so far and am quickly obtaining the various expansions and working out what to include in the base game, so have been reading through some of the posts and looknig at the various expansions etc to get a feel for the game and have come across Zhar and his attack power...

If i am reading that power correctly, then it means each investigator will basically get two rounds to attack him in the final game before being devoured, and considering you need to kill him twice, this seems very very unlikely...

I realise that the AO's are supposed to be hard to kill in final battle and read somewhere that the IH ones are harder than most, but is it pretty much impossible or do things like the epic battle variant make the kill more likely?

Is there a combo of cards/powers etc that make it more feasible than the mere numbers suggest?

I've beaten Zhar. And didn't gear up (aka prepare for final combat), though the Mythos kinda did that for me, namely getting "All Quiet In Arkham" on the turn before Zhar woke up, which saw all investigators Blessed. Of course, I only needed 1 more turn to seal his double-ass, so I'm kinda pissed I got a win stolen. With 4 investigators (which I use), 88 hits and investigator devoured every other turn (and also using only 1-hand for the second attack). Even with good weapons, and importantly "discard after use" ones for the early investigators, it went down to the wire, Roland was the only one left, had the Zhar token already, just managed to pull it off.

Quachil Uttaus is just below Azathoth in final combat for me. -3 AND Magical + Physical Immunity, no Allies, investigator devoured EVERY turn (Zhar only has first one, then the other type). That's like a maxed Zhar, only with 1x doom track.

IH also added Personal Stories that only function in final combat, which totally sucks from my POV. But Norman + Lily + Marie can remove 8 doomers right off the bat. Tommy can also remove 1 and then you have Call Ancient One... I think I counted that you can zap 18 doomers off the GOO without using the Crystal from KH with all the above mentioned cards (need Sanity 7 starting max investigator with Duke and Third Eye for CAO).

Ah thanks, seems pretty difficult then, depending on which investigators you get and a bit of luck which is as it should be!

QU looked pretty impossible too, aye!

Haven't got KH yet, but will be getting it shortly, but still jut playing with the base game (plus CotDH thrown in) along with some of the bits from each of the bigger expansions, PS, I/M cards etc

I'm a long way from getting even close to winning my first game though!