How do you beat 14 serpents?

[Obelus]

They just pull my guys off the line and kill them no problem. Even with shield wall up doesn't matter. You hit shield wall they just pull the guy to a new spot where he's still surrounded.

[McFuzz]

You don't.

[Razzlie]

Wondering the same thing. I guess rush them with 2H bros or something? Maybe go ham with ranged? I don't know.

[Estieukua]

Strange Mushrooms, Adrenaline, and Round Swing.

[Hairy Coo]

You beat 13 and then kill the last one ;)

[Jmac]

I have two suggestions
#1 use fire pots, unleash split ur team into two, one heads north the other south but keep moving, once they are nice and split unleash all 12 dogs and bombs rush them.

#2 what I would actually do.....Have them chase me into a regiment from the southern states or northern militia so i get them in battle with me. wait for the two to take each other out then go in and kill the remaining snakes. Worked like a charm when i had to kill 18 irfits

[Obelus]

Going to abandon the mission. I have no money for dogs or fire pots. I was on caravan duty so no running away without losing the contract

I'll take a hit to reputation but I guess that's the point of setting impossible to kill monster groups in the game...to add a setback

[serpentology]

shouldn't fight them until you get a nimble frontline with decent md
kiting for a couple of turns while shooting may help (less so if fighting in wetlands without pathfinder), firepots may help (unless wetlands). eventually you'll need to shoot/whip them from afar with your backline while they deal with you frontline. dividing them in two groups is recommended so they don't gang on a single target too easily

[Meeky]

I haven't had much trouble (if any) with Serpents, but I built my team toward 2H weapons and polarms mostly. Formation is very flexible for me.

I'm also experimenting with handgonnes, and DAMN are they fun against big packs of enemies.

[Hairy Coo]

I am thinking a 2h axe bro with adrenaline and inderdog, ideally two. Move, wait, get pulled, adtenaline and wreck. Survive a turn, wreck again. Should be ok afterwards. Havent tried it yet though.

[Hans]

Serpents aren't worth fighting until you have dedicated tanks rocking 40+ mdef and underdog, otherwise it's just too risky. The serpents AI is designed to target your bros with the lowest mdef and they'll kind of just stand around in a staggered cluster like a bunch of idiots if you rush out your tanks. This will enable you to take out several serpents with your snipers and hopefully start the cascading morale failure for the rest.

At least that's what I did, I just finished the Holy War end game and I think I ignored all serpent fights for most of the time. Even with 12 bros between levels 8-13 I still need to respect large groups of serpents because their grab has a range of 3 and hits 100% of the time.

IMO, interesting enemy, but needs a rework.

[Muscarine]

I pull them in 2-3 different directions so the magical constriction doesn't send someone in the middle of a nest, much more manageable

If you can line up melees only, better, once you get underdogs much better but at this point you're probably busy fighting more lucrative encounters.

Also, bombs
Pretty much the new DLC is designed around compensating all the sh*t thrown at you with nets and bombs when it's too much to swallow

[Meeky]

I'm honestly surprised people have had problems with the serpents. My solution is just KILL THEM FAST.

As I see it, a serpent that pulls a Bro is a serpent that isn't attacking. Yes, that bro is out of position, but I just cleave my way to him and he's safe. Serpents aren't exactly beefy. They can hit decently hard, but... Yeah.

Ifrits, now, THOSE things annoy the heck out of me.

[Muscarine]

Originally posted by Meeky:

I'm honestly surprised people have had problems with the serpents. My solution is just KILL THEM FAST.

As I see it, a serpent that pulls a Bro is a serpent that isn't attacking. Yes, that bro is out of position, but I just cleave my way to him and he's safe. Serpents aren't exactly beefy. They can hit decently hard, but... Yeah.

Ifrits, now, THOSE things annoy the heck out of me.

That's likely tied to the type of formation the player uses because Ifrits on the other hand are a formality for me, and as Beastlayers a good source of free money

[Hans]

Originally posted by Meeky:

I'm honestly surprised people have had problems with the serpents. My solution is just KILL THEM FAST.

As I see it, a serpent that pulls a Bro is a serpent that isn't attacking. Yes, that bro is out of position, but I just cleave my way to him and he's safe. Serpents aren't exactly beefy. They can hit decently hard, but... Yeah.

Ifrits, now, THOSE things annoy the heck out of me.

Yes, at the start of the game when you have 60 matk just kill them fast. What other tactical tips what you like to give.

[Meeky]

Originally posted by Arngrim:

Originally posted by Meeky:

I'm honestly surprised people have had problems with the serpents. My solution is just KILL THEM FAST.

As I see it, a serpent that pulls a Bro is a serpent that isn't attacking. Yes, that bro is out of position, but I just cleave my way to him and he's safe. Serpents aren't exactly beefy. They can hit decently hard, but... Yeah.

Ifrits, now, THOSE things annoy the heck out of me.

Yes, at the start of the game when you have 60 matk just kill them fast. What other tactical tips what you like to give.

Sarcasm noted. Sarcastic answer in response: pick a Northern Raider start and you'll have 3 melee bros with around 60 attack on day 1. See? Problem solved.

Ending sarcasm.

The start of the game isn't generally when you're fighting 14 serpents. If you're fighting 14 serpents with a fairly fresh warband, then the *strategic* suggestion I will make is abandon that fight. Avoid it. Knowing what you can fight is just as important as being good at fighting.

However, I don't have dedicated tanks in my composition. I started tangling with 8+ serpent packs pretty early because I tend to favor two-handed weaponry. I have a couple shield dudes, of course, but the serpents just never caused me many problems beyond the first few days. And I'm not even talking about AoE two-handers; I got a couple good kills on some Nomads and got two-handed saifs (two of them!) and had basic polearms (a pike, a pitchfork, and that proto-billhook). Beyond that, I used javelins and a couple early-game one-handers. That was more than enough to beat the snot out of snakes.

Now that I'm in the mid game, I still only have a couple shield dudes, but serpents aren't a danger to me. I have some nimble bros and a couple heavily armored guys, and most of my company has two-handers or polearms, plus two crossbows/gunners, an archer, and a javelineer. This company has zero problems with serpents. Bring 'em on.

Ifrits can still go to Hell, however.