How to properly beat the hag's guards?

[Vaarkhan]

I've been wasting the past two hours trying to defeat the swamp hag's masked guards and they've been kicking my ass so hard I've been on the verge of despair many time. Insane healing output, insane damage output, damage actions and reactions, AoE damage, DoT damage, impossible accuracy... meanwhile my group misses 70% shots all the time and makes saves only in the rarest occasion.
I've now managed to beat them but Astarion died... I don't care, screw that posh pony if that's what it takes to finally get past these guys. Holy damn.
A fight on the same level (4) shouldn't be so damn skewed. No other fight has been this insanely difficult so far.

[Vaarkhan]

Originally posted by Mad Max:

Sneak around the guards in turn-based mode.

Poison clouds try blowing them up with fire in turn-based mode, throw some water down, and then quickly disarm the trap. (or flower..it works whatever).

For the Hag fight, Use Gale's Magic Missiles to target all the copies to easily find the right one and then have the lovely Karlach kick her ♥♥♥♥ in.

EDIT: Also, when the hag sets the cage on fire put it out with water.

Turn-based mode seems to be something I need to pay more attention to. It feels weird to switch to it in normal gameplay, so I only use it for combat (obviously). If the gas traps require you to be in turn-based that is so... counter-intuitive...
Also, I saw a video where a guy snuck up on the masked guardians and then ambushed them all with a surprise round. Very smart, I need to learn how to do that.

[sajmon]

yeah that frog was annoying kek

[HozzMidnight]

Hag fight spoilers:

I just did the Hag at level 4 on Balanced and I found it to be easier than EA, but like a lot of things in this game could have just been lucky.

My PC is a Gloom Stalker and I had Karlach Wyll and Gale. Drank a haste potion with Ranger and Karlach to start the fight.

Make sure you hit all the hag clones ASAP because even if you identify the real Hag the clones will do Hag things until they are poofed.

The cage fire is easy to deal with just throw a bottle of water on it. Use non lethal damage on the Mayrina clones (I didn't but should have).

[Samiri]

The guards were easy to me. I blessed my fighter and she toke all the dmg, then I hit them over the head so they went to sleep. I only got 2 out of 4, since two of them died. My fighter has high AC so they misses a lot.

The Poisen.
I threw a fireball and blocked/disarmed the traps.

The Hags.
She was a bit of a pain, but use a spell so I could always see her, and just kited her down focusing on her and not her spawns.

I did this quest as a last part of the map

[Friend 🇺🇦]

Originally posted by Mad Max:

Sneak around the guards in turn-based mode.

If you sneak around the guards on final battle the hag will summon all of them to battle.

[MyLittleJohny]

Originally posted by Dr.Liam:

Originally posted by sajmon:

maybe explorer difficulty ;p

Balanced

This was VERY different in Early Access. She was humanoid back then, so you could have used many spells to control her movement and actions. In this version, she is a monstrosity or what, so things like "hold person", "control" or "laugh" don't work at all.

[MyLittleJohny]

Originally posted by Vaarkhan:

Originally posted by Mad Max:

Sneak around the guards in turn-based mode.

Poison clouds try blowing them up with fire in turn-based mode, throw some water down, and then quickly disarm the trap. (or flower..it works whatever).

For the Hag fight, Use Gale's Magic Missiles to target all the copies to easily find the right one and then have the lovely Karlach kick her ♥♥♥♥ in.

EDIT: Also, when the hag sets the cage on fire put it out with water.

Turn-based mode seems to be something I need to pay more attention to. It feels weird to switch to it in normal gameplay, so I only use it for combat (obviously). If the gas traps require you to be in turn-based that is so... counter-intuitive...
Also, I saw a video where a guy snuck up on the masked guardians and then ambushed them all with a surprise round. Very smart, I need to learn how to do that.

You don't need the turnbase mod for the traps. Just locate the vent, throw some crap on it so it stops venting the gas, proceed. It needs to be something larger, I usually use some crappy armor. Most of the time you can get past the vent and take it with you again.

[Brother Atheos]

I snuck around her, went out through the fairy ring. Did a long rest. Came back through the fairy ring. Popped a haste potion and snuck up to her, killing her in one round on one character.

[ACS36]

The guards were really really easy to beat even on tactician. Probably learn some more of the game mechanics.

[Snuffkin]

Originally posted by Vaarkhan:

I think I am done with the game for now. I'm extremely frustrated with it.
First I waste way over an hour trying to defeat an insanely difficult encounter at my level (which would be OK on its own, I managed to beat it eventually), then I run into obstacles I can't remove no matter what I try (apparently failed perception checks screw me over?) and then when I finally have enough I venture out of the hag's den to explore elsewhere and a random level 3 "addled frog" attacks me and deals 21 damage to two of my characters with one spit attack, downing both of them (they had some damage from trying to clear hag traps).
This game is... I'm speechless. It has such a solid foundation, great atmosphere, good story... and then it's absolutely out to frustrate you with the cheapest crap you would NEVER encounter in a game of D&D. If I attacked my players with a single frog that could potentially oneshot them they would ask me if I have brain damage.

I mean BG always had a darker tone and if you look at dark modules like Curse of Strahd, the encounters have similar difficulty level. I would say it's appropriate for the way WotC approach their own game.

You can always lower the difficulty, there no shame in that.
Also imho sometimes looking at the 'level' of enemies is misleading. Recently I've seen an undead with 17 hp and almost no damage output marked as level 7.
It is more of a signal of what level is expected from the player in a fight, not how challenging it is. Some encounters will be deadly on those levels. Usually in WotC stories that means that you will survive only with careful preparation, like, well potions, bombs and all the help you can get ogres
There is also some creative thinking that should be applied like casting magic missile to destroy clones or attacking from stealth with Tasha or something.

P.S.: hag is optional and imho deliberately made into a tough enemy. You can come back to her later. There are many tough and unfair fights in this game but I'm yet to encounter a tough mandatory fight.

[Mathias Giovanni]

Karlach can pick up barrels, chests and boxes. They are perfect for the vents. So can Liz as they are both very strong.

[Friend 🇺🇦]

It must be that your group build is lacking synergy.

I've managed to stun all of the guards with LVL 3 group. I was hoping to remove guard masks, but they were dying on mask removal. After killing the Hag they just disappeared.

[Shrub]

Your success is correlated with your ability to perceive your surroundings and prepare for the unexpected. The putrid bog is a great place to test that I guess. Addled frog is bright-pink. It's in a swamp full of illusions controlled by a powerful hag, something you forcefully have to experience before you can gain entry to this area. You even get a cutscene to sus out that something is up. Blind ignorance at this point should be an RP choice.

and a random level 3 "addled frog" attacks me

I had to wade through water to get to that frog, way in the corner. It's passive by default. It's pink to contrast against the dark bog so you have the best odds of seeing it. Evidently the designers tried to protect OP and they still wandered into the frog den (unassuming corner I'll add), bog aggro'd on them and without resting/healing post-trap.

You should watch Goblin Slayer. That dude knows how to prep.


I'd also like to add that I ignored the frog's passive warnings and nearly got wiped myself, but that was my own fault and a learning experience. I hope OP gives it another chance sometime. Everything experienced was telegraphed and learning those signs would be very helpful in the future.

[Harathan]

Does the Protection from Evil spell + wearing a Whispering Mask still work?

[Orion Invictus]

I rushed inside after her, ignoring the guards completely. Then I returned after leveling up a bit and crushed them.