Difficult encounters/areas of IWD (a guide).

[Maggelaggen]

This is not a comprehensive list of all encounters in IWD, rather some from each area that many find challenging, from all parts of the game. I have done my best to choose encounters with as many different enemy types as possible. Hopefully it will be of help to you in your journey!

Part 1 (Easthaven + Orc cave + Kuldahar pass).

In both IWD and BG the early areas and encounters can be quite frustrating. Your characters are squishy, with low hp, ♥♥♥♥♥♥ gear and few spells to choose from. In IWD in particular there are three encounters early on that can be a real challenge.

A. Kobolds south of the bridge.

- As soon as you cross the bridge stay north of the path until you come to where the path bends south.
- Position your strongest melee at the front and your casters to the rear. If you have shield, barkskin or other defensive spells, cast them now.
- Move slowly towards the area where the Kobolds are hanging out, the point being to pull only a few at a time. As soon as you make contact run back to the party.
- Cast AOE-spells if you have them. Horror, Entangle are most likely the only ones available to you at this point.
- Focus fire one mob at a time, taking out ranged enemies asap.
- Keep your casters to the rear as soon as they have exhausted their spells (which should be pretty quick). Have only your strongest characters engage in melee and use ranged attacks for the rest.

B. Orc cave (final chamber).

- By this point you should have leveled up at least once with most characters (if you did all quests in Easthaven beforehand).
- Position your party in the area east of the tunnel that leads south to the final chamber.
- Send a runner down the tunnel and run straight back as soon as you make contact.
- As soon as the runner is back out of the tunnel cast AOE spells (web, entangle, stinking cloud, etc.) at the tunnel entrance.
- With any luck most of the enemies will be stuck in the AOE and only a few at a time will slip through. Focus fire them down, focusing on the orc archers first, then the ogres, then orc melee. Cast horror or sleep if available.
- Keep your weaker characters close to the wall on the left, so that they aren’t visible to ranged enemies inside the tunnel.

C. Kuldahar Pass (specifically the kobold-infested area to the north with the bug cave).

- This area can be quite tricky since you are attacked once you enter, so there is no way to do a controlled pull/cast aoe spells ahead of time.
- Cast protective spells before entering the area (shield, armor, bless, protection from evil, barkskin etc.)
- As soon as you enter hit pause (or select pause upon spotting enemy in the auto-pause menu in options).
- Cast AOE spells (entangle/web/horror) on the mobs to the north-east (near the centre of the area) and send your melee to the archers on the small bluff to the north-west. Have your ranged characters take down any melee that avoid the AOE.
- If you pull additional enemies move back towards the entrance and let them come to you, hopefully leading them into the AOE and take them down with ranged/spell-attacks.
- If you find yourself overwhelmed and about to lose one or more characters move outside the area and rest up, before trying again.

[Maggelaggen]

Part 2. Vale of Shadows. (The lower level of the final crypt).

Most of the lower level is a challenge, but I will focus on the chamber where you have the Undead Mage, a few Imbued Wights and a truckload of skeletons. This encounter pretty much sums up the challenges of this area.

- You can start this encounter in one of two ways. Option 1 requires a barbarian or Berserker with rage. Send it in and let the mage cast his Stinking Cloud spell. As soon as the spell hits, run back to your party (not before mind you, since the spell will follow you back and hit your entire party). Option 2 requires Animate Dead (ideally) or another summoning spell. Send your summons in and have them be the targets of the Stinking Cloud while your party waits in the background. Take down any enemies that approach with ranged weapons or melee (once they clear the AOE of the Stinking Cloud. ) If you have neither a berserker/barbarian or summoning spells you will just have to pray the character you send in will make his save or that your party can take down enemies that follow, with ranged weapons, before they get to your sleeping party member.
- As soon as the Stinking Cloud clears and you have taken out any enemies that were aggroed by your pull send a mage forward with mirror image + shield to aggro the Imbued Wights. The shield will deflect the Magic Missiles and you can take them down when they reach your party.
- Once the Imbued Wights (and whatever other enemies that come along) are dead, focus fire down the Undead Mage with ranged attacks + spells. Don’t send in melee since you are bound to pull pretty much every remaining enemy in the chamber.
- The rest of the room can be pulled and cleared sector by sector with little difficulty.

Part 3. Temple of the Forgotten God. (Entrance of level 2)

This is actually one of the areas that I find the most challenging. You are still low level, the Ettins are formiddable in melee (heavy damage and loads of health) and the casters have some really nasty spells (entangle, hold, static charge). The most challenging part imo is the start of level 2 where you will be attacked by four or five Ettins and two or three casters.

- Before going down to level 2 remember to buff up. Have your strongest melee character buffed as much as possible and use a shield if you have one available.
- As soon as you enter level 2 cast stinking cloud and entangle/web where the tunnel bends. Web/entangle doesn’t affect the Ettins, but will hold the casters. Stinking Cloud works on both Ettins and Casters. Chromatic Orb is also very effective vs the giants (if you are high enough level to have the stun version). Hold Person and hold Monster is effective vs the casters and Ettins respectively. Have your melee focus on the Ettins (be careful not to get stuck/slept by the AOE) and your ranged/casters on the enemy casters as soon as they appear.
- If you have a druid and are high enough level, memorize Call Woodland Being. The nymphs have two spells that are awesome in this fight (Hold Monster and Domination). Cast Domination first to get one of the Ettins fighting for you and then cast Hold Monster and Confusion. The nymph normally starts by casting Hold Monster, so you need to micro-manage the casting.
- Alternatively you can use Stinking Cloud and Animate Dead if you have both spells. The Undead won’t be affected by the AOE and will stop the Ettins from reaching your party.

Part 4. Dragon’s Eye. (Level 5, final fight).

I choose to focus on the tactics for the final fight, but since this entire area is quite challenging I will start by offering some general advice.

1. Save all arrows + potions that deal fire/acid damage for trolls and use them sparingly (only to finish off the trolls).
2. Use summons and plenty of them. You are bound to run into large packs of enemies and summons will give you the time you need to cast aoe, buffs and position your party.
3. If you have a druid or sorcerer learn/memorize Conjure Fire Elemental (5th level spell). Fire elementals are immune to web/entangle and deal fire damage which is awesome vs. trolls. As a back-up Spider Spawn is also very good. They are immune to web/entangle and deal a lot of damage.

And so for the final battle.

- Position your party in the area outside the final chamber. Cast your summoning spells and buff up (remember to check duration on the respective spells and cast the ones with extended duration first.)
- Send one of your summons into the final chamber to start the fight.
- Cast Web/Entangle/Grease etc at the doorway and block entry with your summons.
- Kill off the Yuan-ti Priests that teleport into your chamber asap.
- Watch out for the Yuan-ti Elite (archers). If your cloth gets aggro move them into the room on your left and heal/buff up). Kill of the Yuan-ti Elite archers quickly and leave the boss for last.

[Maggelaggen]

Part 5. Shattered Hand.

It is kind of hard to pick one specific encounter that is the hardest in this area. Instead I will focus on the area in its entirety, since there are plenty of challenging encounters to be found, and give some general advice.

1. Choose your battleground. The first three levels of the tower are pretty similar. You move about and enemies appear from nowhere leaving you surrounded, if you don’t plan ahead. To top this off most mobs are ranged which makes it that much more difficult to control the encounters. To avoid being surrounded I advice you to do the following: Position your party in a safe area, summon monsters to assist you, buff up and send a strong character around to initiate the encounters. Move the character back to the party and trap enemies with AOE and send in your summons to intercept. I normally position my party close to a stairwell, since this gives me the option to retreat if overwhelmed.
2. Choose your spells wisely. A few spells really come in handy for this area.
- Protection from Normal Missiles: For the first few levels in particular Protection from Normal Missiles is a must have. Cast it on your melee characters and send them into the frey with abandon. The duration is very good (1 turn/level of the caster) and should allow you to clear an entire level without needing to refresh it.
- Protection from Normal Weapons. This is a bit more limited since a) it only affects the caster and b) it has a shorter duration 1 round/level. If you happen to have a fighter/mage however it is a game-breaker.
- Summoning spells. Your party is only as strong as your strongest summoning spell. Keep 6 summons around at all times to make everything that much more managable.
3. Read the combat log. Pay attention to what the different enemies do and also what damage they are immune/resistant/susceptible to. As a rule of thumb undead enemies are immune to poison and mind-affecting spells and every enemy you encounter in Shattered Hand is undead. This also means that Turn Undead is a powerful tool, as well as spells like Hold Undead, Repell Undead and other spells that are specifically tailored towards undead enemies.

Part 6. Dorns Deep.

This area is really extensive and it is difficult both to choose a single ”hardest” encounter as well as giving general advice, since there are so many difficult encounters and enemies to be found. I will try to give a few pointers for each area and the most challenging enemies of the same areas.

1. Area outside Temple/Museum. Snow Trolls need fire or acid damage to kill. Send your fire elementals ahead of you and load up on Web/Entangle/fire spells to make the first part as managable as possible. If you don’t have elementals another tactic that is quite good is to cast Freedom of Movement and spells/potions that protect from fire damage on your strongest melee character(s) and have them engage the enemies. If their fire resistance is above 100 they will actually be healed by fire damage, in which case you can just unleash all your fire spells with abandon.
2. Museum area: The common denomenator here is that most enemies are a pain in melee. The Winter Wolves have a cone of cold and the Frost Salamanders have an aura of frost. Both deal quite a lot of damage. Again, send in summons first and pelt the enemies from afar with ranged + spells or refer to the freedom of movement + aoe-tactic from the first area, only replace the fire resistance with frost resistance.
3. Frost giant cave. I actually find the second cave you enter to be the most difficult. The sheer number of Snow trolls can easily overwhelm you and since they attack once you enter the area you cant perform a controlled pull and/or send in summons ahead of you. As soon as you enter cast web/entangle/grease etc ahead of you and focus fire with ranged weapons + spells. Start summoning monsters at once to get some assistance and if you are sorely pressed just retreat back through the entrance.
4. Lich area. I cant remember the name of the lich and cba looking it up (Terykan?). Anyhow, this does not affect the tactic. As soon as you enter you will be attacked by countless undead. Web + Hold Undead + Repell Undead + Turn Undead are really good openers. Once you head up the stairs to the lich + mummies the real trouble begins. Cast haste on your party and dispel magic + spell removals on the lich and focus fire him down with your melee asap. Cast web + use ranged and spells to interrupt mummies, since their spells can really hurt you. As soon as you are done get the key from the crypt (on the left hand side, second from the door). Go through the door to the next area. If you are quick you should only have to kill the lich once more. Get his phylactery and destroy it quickly.
5. Citadel (exterior). The combination of Fire Salamanders and Tarnished Sentries is quite difficult. Fire Salamanders are more powerful versions of their frost counterparts and there are plenty of them around. Fire protection spells/potions, web+freedom of movement+haste+protection from Normal Missiles are great.
6. Marketh’s castle: I recommend that you do Markeths castle first (after visiting the gnome mines) Send summons ahead of your party or a mage with stoneskin + mirror image + true sight (if available) to engage the many thieves lurking in the shadows. Make sure you clear the second floor completely before you engage Marketh. The nitty gritty of the Marketh fight:
- Position your party outside Markeths chamber and summons to the left and right of your party. Buff and haste your party and engage Marketh (you should be able to kill him and his rogue side-kick quickly.)
- As soon as Marketh + cronie fall head outside and engage the Kraken society mages on either side. Dispels/spell-removals are very effective vs the mages as well as chaotic commands/rage or similar protection spells for your party. Remember to pick up the golem book from Markeths chamber to turn the Iron Golems on Malavon later on.
7. Malavons castle

Exterior:
- Stack up on chaotic commands and/or use rage if you have barbarians/berserkers.
- Use summons sparingly since they are susceptible to Umber Hulk gaze and could turn on your party.
Malavons castle (interior).
- Buff up (remember Chaotic commands).
- Send in a character to engage dialogue and turn the Iron Golems on Malavon.
- Pull back to the other chamber and send in your summons. Use ranged weapons/spells to take down Malavons simulacrum + umber hulks.
- Once Malavon appears cast spell removals (breach, dispel magic etc.) and hammer him down.
8. Maiden Ilmadia.
- Choose the peaceful dialogue with the fire giant sentries and proceed to clear the upper parts of the map (fire salamanders and various elementals).
- Position your party in between the bridges (middle part of the map) and place summons to block access to your party.
- Send a character to turn the giants red and retreat to the party.
- Only one fire giant can cross the bride at a time so you should be able to focus fire them down on at a time. Remember to dispel protective spells on Ilmadia and her priest-warrior side-kicks and trap them with grease, web, etc. Pelt the enemies with ranged weapons + spells and once your summons are gone have your strongest melee characters block the bridge and engage the remaining giants + Ilmadia and her side-kicks.
9. Main temple (Priests of Illmater and tons of undead).
- This area is either extremely painfull or a breeze and it all depends on wether you have a high level cleric or not. If you do have one in your party cover him in protective magic + haste and improved invisibility. Use Turn undead and run around to all corners blowing up skeletons as you go.
- If you dont have high level turn undead send your party along the wall to the south east and then north killing skeletons along the way.
- Once all skeletons are done for focus fire down the mummies and avoid the Statue for now.
- The Statue casts Petrification so either send in summons first and quickly focus fire it down or protect your front-runner with Protection from Petrification or the like and do the same.

PS. I realize there are areas of Dorn’s Deep I haven’t mentioned. This is simply due to the fact that they are not very challenging and you should be able to take em down with any number of tactics.

Part 7. Belihfet.

Depending on the difficulty you have chosen this fight can be either a proper nightmare or slightly challenging. I have deviced two tactics. The first is for up to and including insane difficulty, the second is for HoF-mode.

1. Easy – insane difficulty.
- Wait for the excruciatingly long dialogue/cut-scene to finish and ress anyone that died from boredom (jk).
- Cast haste on your party and defensive harmony since they are quick casts and will help quite a lot.
- The Iron Golems will go for a mage or caster so have this character kite them around the room and cast mirror image + stoneskin as soon as possible and avoid the poison clouds.
- Bullrush Belhifet and kick his ass asap. He is pretty much immune to magic so don’t bother with spells. He should go down rather quickly at which point his side-kicks die as well. Game over.
2. HoF-mode. (Stack up on extra healing, mummy’s tea and haste potions and use +4 weapons on your melee).
- Same start as 1. with haste + defensive harmony and mage/caster kiting the iron golems + casting protective spells and summons when possible.
- Avoid the center of the room due to traps, rather retreat to the back of the room and cast summoning spells + whatever protective spells you have time to cast.
- If you have an archer with arrows of piercing take down the Iron Golems as quickly as possible to free up the caster from kiting duty.
- Do NOT enter melee with cleric and/or druid vs the Cornugons since they have nasty attacks that deliver bleeding wounds that effectively interrupts spells and deals huge damage over time.
- The next steps are dependent on which classes you have. If you have a druid cast summoning spells and avoid melee at all costs. Your cleric should also avoid melee and try to get a protection from evil 10’ radius off asap to protect your melee from the Cornugons.
- As soon as your party is protected from evil, focus all dps on Belhifet and have your healers focus on keeping your melee up. Make sure you remove disease with spell or potion as soon as possible. I am not sure wether protection from evil works vs Belhifet come to think of it. It should, since he is a demon, but I will have to verify this.