Druid Summoner

[ShadowHM]

Hi

I need some tactical suggestions for defeating Hell Baal.

I have a Pure Summoning Druid called Huckleberry. One of his goals has been to defeat Baal in Hell solo. Since he kills very slowly, I have to be able to block off a fairly large chunk of time for this endeavour, as just getting to Baal can be a tedious process. He has a Fire Rogue mercenary, and maxed Oak Sage, Poison Creeper, Dire Wolves and Grizzly, with the balance of points in Spirit Wolf.

This morning, I had such a time slot, so I went for it. WSK2 and WSK3 were relatively easy, in that there were no Physical Immunes this time. The Throne of Destruction was a difficult but not unsurmountable draw - Doom/Oblivion Knights, Burning Souls and Horadrim Ancients. (Although it was news to me that said Ancients could resurrect Oblivion Knights and Burning Souls <_< ).

Eventually, the Throne Room was cleared (Lister and company are tedious in the extreme, but doable).

But Baal was elusive. I could not manage to make the Grizzly and Rogue stay fixed on the 'real' Baal, and squandered potions madly trying to stay alive while moving enough to get Aliza and the Bear fixed on the right Baal. After a 45 minute fight, I was out of purples and completely out of time.

So....

Does anyone have any tactical suggestions for a re-match?

[Minionman]

Do you have anything with cold damage or slow? Those usually help.

When you first get into the chamber, do you summon the bear right next to Baal? I notice with other characters that doing this usually keeps Baal from cloning or making those tentacle things, so this might be something to do if you haven't been.

Past this, what has your strategy usually been?

[vmxa]

Well you do not give us all the info we need. I did a summon druid recently and Baal did not even fight back the first time. My bear never even came over and neither did the merc.

So what level are you at this point ? I think I was 82. I had max fury and would fire off a few rage and then go to fury.

I think I was using ALdur's jagged star, but it could have been Bonehew. I think I did not get Bonehew until the Cow level where I was level 84. Actually I got it from Griswald when I went to get wirts leg.

I would dump the merc you have and get a might one from NM act II. Level him up and let him give you aura.

The only times I have had trouble with Baal, is when he jumps around and hits you with the frost wave that knowcks you back. Many times he does no damage to my vharacters. Note I only play SP, so I do not have any super gear. I mean no runeword or realm stuff.

[ShadowHM]

Do you have anything with cold damage or slow?&nbsp; Those usually help.&nbsp;

When you first get into the chamber, do you summon the bear right next to Baal?&nbsp; I notice with other characters that doing this usually keeps Baal from cloning or making those tentacle things, so this might be something to do if you haven't been.

Past this, what has your strategy usually been?
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No cold damage. No 'slows target'.

Aliza wields a Goldstrike Arch. She also has a Bow of Amp Damage that I have used for PI/FI Bosses. In my mule-headed attempt this morning I didn't even think about possibly pulling it out of the stash for a test. :o I could try equipping her with a Riphook, and see if the 'slows target' there might help.

And, yes, I did summon the Grizzly (repeatedly) right beside Baal. He was easily pushed away, and would (all too often) decide to head for the clone. Aliza has 'Cannot Be Frozen', but I do not, and nor, of course, does the Grizzly.

To vxma:

What else did you need to know? I did say "pure summoner" and listed his skills. He is currently clvl 84. He does not hit the monsters himself. He has base dex, so that there is small chance he could connect any hits anyway.

There is no chance I would replace Aliza with a Might Mercenary. For one thing, who would kill the Physical Immunes for me?

[Baajikiil]

I need some tactical suggestions for defeating Hell Baal.

A pure summoner really gets the short end of the stick when fighting Baal. I ran a summoning shockbear before (I shockwave everyone, and my minions/merc kill everyone while they are stunned). I used a might merc at the time, and he helped my offense more than the max grizzly did. I mostly skipped phys immunes though, or used open wounds to slowly kill them. Vs Baal, I hooked my merc up with some crushing blow, and with a little help, he made relatively short work of Baal. As a might merc is not an option, it gets much harder for you.

I think it can only be a battle of attrition with your merc and bear doing most of the damage. Riphook might be better of for this tactic do mainly to its open wounds, and not its slowing. Open wounds will have you constantly doing damage over time even while the merc is being knocked back. But Goldstrike's higher damage might be faster anyway...

Obviously you really need to get rid of the clone by going back to town and wandering a little whenever he appears. The clone would make things almost impossible. Crushing blow might help, but it's penalised on ranged attacks, and not the easiest to get for rogue mercs.

I've found that any % slow below 50% on Baal is pretty useless, and there is a bug which causes Baal to basically cease fighting when hit with
50%+ slowing. A rogue could also equip Blackhorns to reach a high enough % slow, but that is cheesing it to the extreme.

Good luck, sorry I can't be of much help.

[Minionman]

And, yes, I did summon the Grizzly (repeatedly) right beside Baal.&nbsp; He was easily pushed away, and would (all too often) decide to head for the clone.

No, I meant at the beginning of combat, as in, enter the chamber, summon a bear near the bridge where Baal is, run up to him.

[ShadowHM]

Obviously you really need to get rid of the clone by going back to town and wandering a little whenever he appears.&nbsp; The clone would make things almost impossible.&nbsp; Crushing blow might help, but it's penalised on ranged attacks, and not the easiest to get for rogue mercs.

I've found that any % slow below 50% on Baal is pretty useless, and there is a bug which causes Baal to basically cease fighting when hit with
50%+ slowing.&nbsp; A rogue could also equip Blackhorns to reach a high enough % slow, but that is cheesing it to the extreme.

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I had not realized that the clone would disappear from the room if I did. That would be certainly worth a try, next time.

I do dislike the gear dependency notion of using specialized gear for one quest of the whole game. Aliza has managed incredibly well with a Lore circlet, Spirit Shroud armour and an unsocketed Goldstrike Arch for everything else the game has thrown at me. Despite the slowness of his killing speed, this has been a surprisingly viable character, despite the oddities I have forced on him, like his Blue Fashion statements (Huckleberry Hound, eh?) and his stubborn lack of attribute point placement. I did want to have the ability to say that he was capable of soloing all the game. I have already had to compromise on gear for him, although he remains mostly Blue. (His hat is no longer blue.) So, I may well have to accept the cheese for that last quest. <_<

Thanks for the suggestions. :) I will give them a try the next time I can allocate a lengthy enough time slot for the quest.

[AtomicKitKat]

Just for the heck of it, try summoning the poison creeper next to him in between dodges. If nothing else, at least the poison should stop his regen(do Act Bosses regenerate? I think I saw Normal Andy regenerating, but I can't be certain), and maybe provide just that little bit more damage(even more so, if he summons those gross fingers right next to himself, or if the clone wanders into the same tile).

[ShadowHM]

I think it can only be a battle of attrition with your merc and bear doing most of the damage.&nbsp; Riphook might be better of for this tactic do mainly to its open wounds, and not its slowing.&nbsp;
...
A rogue could also equip Blackhorns to reach a high enough % slow, but that is cheesing it to the extreme.


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Cheesing it to the extreme indeed. <_< More like a heavy helping of poutine.

I just gave that combination a try. As usual, getting to Baal was an interesting and time-consuming journey. But once there? It took 12 minutes for Baal to die, but he didn't move and didn't clone himself. My character just stood there while the rogue and the Grizzly slowly whittled away at Baal. No recasting, no activity - heck, I got up from my chair, went and checked on the kids, checked that breakfast in the oven was not burning, re-filled my coffee.......

[Minionman]

Just for the heck of it, try summoning the poison creeper next to him in between dodges. If nothing else, at least the poison should stop his regen(do Act Bosses regenerate? I think I saw Normal Andy regenerating, but I can't be certain), and maybe provide just that little bit more damage(even more so, if he summons those gross fingers right next to himself, or if the clone wanders into the same tile).
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No, 99.9% sure act bosses don't regenerate.

[Yogi_Baar]

I had not realized that the clone would disappear from the room if I did.&nbsp; That would be certainly worth a try, next time.

Whenever Baal spawns his clone, I run up into the room on the far north or northwest (depends on how you look at the map) of the Worldstone chamber. When I wait in the top-most corner of that little room and I don't have the clone or Baal on screen, the clone disappears as well. Without me going to town. Useful if you don't like spending money on TP scrolls. :)

I don't know precisely how long I wait in the corner, I just take a peek every 30 seconds or so and see.

[vmxa]

Saving the price of a scroll, now really that is funny.

[Minionman]

Saving the price of a scroll, now really that is funny.
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It would be usedful if you only carry one around, so that you don't forget to get a new one.

[Yogi_Baar]

Saving the price of a scroll, now really that is funny.
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Thank you. And again: :)