The infamous spider.

[76561198105675618]

This spider is really a pain in the backside. I did most of the quests and cleared off all the opposing troops and so came up to level 18. I used trolls (since they regenerate before each turn) and war maidens (spear-throwing) as my shock troops, plus bersekers and assassins to handle the spiders and soothsayers as a reserve. BUT... the spiders came so thick and fast that it was impossible. AND.. the spider responded to EACH attack (up to 4 times if necessary - with melee as well as ranged attacks) and so he whittled down my troops while his own attacks increased.The only way I found was to cheat (I leveled up to lvl 22 and used 5 trolls). I think that at lvl 18 and with 3 trolls this one is mostly a matter of luck - it is my impression that the designers got too enthusiastic with this boss :-). Or did I miss something?

[sethmage]

No, that fight is really tough, on my impossible run no-loss as a mage lvl 19( I got lucky with ancient knowledge early on) with all the necessary spells (mana spring, stone skin, avenging angel, calm rage) it took me 80+ rounds to take him down (3 trolls). If you don't care about casualties you take melee units only and pound the spider as fast as possible. I read some tactics some people were trying: like cover the field with ice spikes so the big spider can't summon little spiders. There is a huge tread on the official forum regarding that one encounter.

[Zlorfik [CH/BY]]

If you are lucky, you find scrolls like demon portal, summon phoenix or alike. As a mage, you should have enough mana to summon that many troops to kill off the spider in few hits. Let the rest of your troops fight the summoned spiders.
As Skald, you should be carrying around many troops anyway and should just hit the spider as hard as you can (preferably ranged as in range the spider more often uses web instead of damage).
As Warrior, I can't tell, Warriors just suck IMO.

[peterbalada]

Indeed the toughest opponent in the game especially when playing for the soothsayer class. It is convenient to have distortion magic levelled up to second level and to have such spells available as ghost blade, teleportation and stone skin. Any piece of equipment boosting the resistances (e.g. Crystal Ball) or the guardian award are welcome. Among the units, royal snakes and witchhunters seem to be effective as well.

[.//slayer]

I used the slow but sure method - three trolls with Mana Source on them (or whatever the spell is called, which gives you mana when the creature is attacked). Trolls just stand in defense mode, never attacking anything themselves. I kill the spider with the Firebolt (or whatnot, Fire Arrow? I have been playing that in other language). Takes 80+ rounds, but you suffer no losses.

[LEGACY]

I made a video of my fight against the spider on impossible difficulty. No fancy tactics, no overpowered items at all. And I explain how I beat it.

Take a look, I hope it helps you.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=AF-BTSlMeJk&list=PL_mnNCkmcEp_vOH-DaDDw0vCv5cwalBdN

[76561198105675618]

Thx for those interesting replies - there seem to be more than one way to skin this cat (er...spider) but there also seems to be a strong element of luck involved: if you get a series of spider calls (with stacks going up to 200+) then I believe that at lvl 18 or 19 you're cooked (except maybe for the mana source trick? - I'll have to try that one). And yes - I agree that the mage class makes for a more interesting game. But I also think that the soldier class reflects the (more realistic) Eastern Europe view of war, mainly the Russian experience: it was the Soviet army who broke the back of the Wehrmacht but they took huge casualties doing it.

[Sprocker]

Trolls are your friend here. The spider can't do enough damage to kill any and they fully heal up at the start of each turn. Just use them to tank the giant spider while the others take on the summoned spiders. Paladins obviously help too.

[.//slayer]

paukaline, here's a screenshot of that fight with Mana Source on, btw:

http://i215.photobucket.com/albums/cc197/Xaenor/2012-11-07_00002.jpg

Rounds: 85
Total mana spent: 415

Trolls dealt 66% of damage, but that's the retaliation damage on the summoned spiders. The stacks of spiders were as many as 300+ in the end, and yet trolls stood tall, not letting themselves fall prey to the nasty insects. Difficulty level is Impossible, if that accounts for anything.

[76561198105675618]

slayer I tried the mana source fight but it seemed to me that mana source holds for only half the promised rounds and I did not trust my trolls enough to survive stacks of 300+ spiders mostly alone so I used my trolls to attack the boss - and I gave them the extra fire damage instead (Fire Breath? Breath of Inferno?)

[.//slayer]

Hm, might be because Mana Source not only gets reduced by 1 per round, but also by 1 per each attack made on the unit. So, unless you upgrade your Illusions school at least once, it MIGHT not be viable. I don't remember if I upgraded it in my run, sadly :(

Anyway, the important question is, did you beat the nasty spider into oblivion? =) If yes, congratulations and well done!

[76561198105675618]

I did but I cheated by upgrading 2 lvls - I might add that for me a game is an interesting pastime but I do not feel motivated to spend a big amount of time on a boss fight :-)

[Vlad the Impala]

Soothsayer- split the trolls in 3 get them in midle of the filed back 2 back hit it whit your fireball or whatever u got 4 dmg , use magic spring on trolls a few rounds 2 get your mana back up.Dont hit the spiders whit trolls and dont hit the big spider whit trolls . Just cast your spell and defend whit trolls . Izi game gg wp gl hf

[D#]

I beat him in 8 rounds as a mage on normal, just hit him with my 3 trolls and cast lvl 3 rune magic bolt spell. Everyone else just sat around killing the adds.

[da_venom]

it;s a tough fight but not impossible

3 troll(at night)

put one in each corner
and only hit the big spider never the spider stacks
and use stoneskin on trolls/mana spring

the rest should be easy peasy will take a long run though

[jb.abauzit]

Always attack the big spider whenever you can. Regarding smaller spiders, most of the time when they attach you, your retaliation takes down most of it, you have a lot ground occupied by harmless litle groups of spiders. Also use invocation capabilities (some beholders can invoke royal snakes)