The first hurlock emissary

[pretorian]

So I am in Korcari Wilds and the group with a emissary completely decimates my team in no time. I have really no idea how to handle it. I have never been able to stop the emissary from running away past the bridge and traps or to lure him back again. He always retreats back where a throng of his firends are waitong to ambush.

I know the game is hard but this seems quite unfair this early. One time he pretty much one shot every one with a fireball, other times I just get swarmed by all the dark spawns around him. How do you deal with this fight?

[Ilja]

He retreats, but he also returns. If you fall back and wait for a moment, then he will return to exact place where he was in the begin with.

[Stormsong]

I have Daveth get in range and then pinning shot the emissary. After that, have everyone run to him ignoring absolutely everything else and chain CC him into oblivion, then clean up what remains after the emissary has fallen. Done correctly, the emissary never gets to leave the bridge.

[neil]

Agree with above|
Shoot him full of holes
Every one else just charges straigh at him ignoring every one else
Kill him asap
Then go back and get the rest

[insolent1]

I normally have everyone equip bows and take him out at range, the paralysis glyph is handy(although I tend to rush cone of cold and fireball if i'm a mage).

[pretorian]

Ok, so I cleared that on but now come the next hurdle. In the tower of Ishal, first floor. After that emissary you come to two doors. As soon as you open them, 8 enemies rush out and completely swarms you. I tried to set up an ambush and lure them out but it doesn't help. Alistair isn't strong enough to tank them and concentrating fire doesn't help either. They don't go down fast enough.

[Ilja]

Ambush should work, if yo need to use that method. You can just open the door, without peaking in. That should draw a bunch of enemies after the character, without drawing all of them. Bringing them to ambush on the hall side should help you to deal with them.

I don't know which sort of team you have at the moment. The mage that comes (if you are not one) has plenty of good spells to help you. He can temporarily stop strong enemies, so that you can concentrate on others.

Also, tactics can play a big role here. Alistair is not strong enough to properly tank them, but his starting talents should allow to bash enemies around the hall, preventing from being swarmed by them.

If you haven't fully investigated what your current team members can do, then I would recommend taking a moment with their talents and spells. There are plenty of tough spots early in the game, but those doors shouldn't be an issue, if team is working together against enemies.

[Stormsong]

I agree with Ilja here, not much to add.

[insolent1]

You will be faced with similar situations throughout the entire game, the best way to deal with this is to have your party hold back some distance from the door on "hold position" command and use 1 charcter to open the door and lure what chases(only some of the enemy will follow them) him back to the rest of the party where you mob them(all party attack same target).

[pretorian]

I realized that the "ambush strategy" is effective but wonky at times. It seems a bit random how the mobs act. Sometimes the entire squad AND their mates in other rooms burst out and I'm facing 10+ darkspawns. Other times they come one by one and fall into my traps. It seems you have to take baby steps so to not risk pulling too many.

Ironically, the ogre fight in the tower was the easiest of the "tough fights" so far.

[MTV]

I just hit him with a disable move. I can't remember exactly what one I used, but he can be killed on the bridge.

[insolent1]

How difficult a fight is depends mostly on what your PC is and your party. The main thing with ogres is their grab attack which is normally an instant kill/ko on whoever it targets. It can be interrupted though which is very handy. Each time you try a fight can also vary wildly due to resisting spells or other disabling effects.

Originally posted by pretorian.stalker:

I realized that the "ambush strategy" is effective but wonky at times. It seems a bit random how the mobs act. Sometimes the entire squad AND their mates in other rooms burst out and I'm facing 10+ darkspawns. Other times they come one by one and fall into my traps. It seems you have to take baby steps so to not risk pulling too many.

You can block them in doorways as only 2-3 can pass through at a time which gives you time to finish them off.
There is the glyph of repulsion spell which is very useful for blocking enemies(works really well in doorways) and keeping enemies away from party members, it also has a spell combo(paralyis explosion) which is the best disabling effect in the game, sadly its not party friendly and causes a lot of crashs.