Slayer of Bears Achievement - Questions

[Vayce]

First off, love the game, despite it being pretty frustrating at some parts.That's what makes it fun though! I looked through the achievements of the game and this one stuck out to me based on my experiences with the game that made it seem pretty rough. So...

Multi-part question here:

In the achievement it says
"Slayer of Bears
In chapter 1, kill the bear in the Temple of the Elk with single level 2 character, playing on Advanced difficulty or above."

I'm guessing that advanced difficulty is challenging and above then?

I just fought this bear ( I play as a wizard ) with a full level 2 group on challenging and he is no joke! That being said, anyone have any idea of a strategy to fight him with this single level 2 character?

[RunicLibrarian]

Originally posted by TeeQueue:

The bear does have that aggro radius, so if you're using a caster who has magic missile or other ranged attacks you can cast it and run away to stop the battle. Every time you return tristian's standing up again so you should have time to hit and run, and while Tristian heals the bear doesn't.

Slow and steady! You can do it! Or just make a monk with 100 strength via a character editor and do it in ONE PUNCH, but that'd be cheating. :P

The first strategy is basically what I used, although I had to bring a wand as well to have enough magic missiles. In some of my attempts, Tristian did stand up and heal, but in other attempts he didn't. It's possible this was patched out, but I can't confirm.

[fenix66d]

I'm back and frustrated. I found a save, on Hard difficulty just prior to the confrontation at Oleg's trading post. I replayed Chapter one up to the ambush by the Technic League slavers. After the fight, I exited the area and rested up. I then moved to the empty node just prior to the Temple of Elk node and dismissed my party members.

I then entered the Temple of Elk area alone...solo. After dispatching the local beaties and healing up up I buffed up with barkskin, blur and expeditious retreat. I moved toward the bear and released a magic missile with my wand to get its attention and then fired dozens of daze imbued arrows into the beast (Im a Eldritch Archer) while retreating. Finaaly the beast dropped at the bottom of the stairs....dead. Whew! I waited a while, drank a few healing potions and then scanned the area for any pick-ups, I didn't apprpach Tristian yet.

Hitting shift tab, I checked to see if the achievement popped and to my attonishment, it didn't! I walked away from the game for over two hours and the achievment still hasn't been obtained.

So what have I done wrong? Am I suppose to start and play the game on hard difficulty solo? I'm at a lost. Any help would be most appreciated.

[TeeQueue]

>I'm an eldritch archer


How did you accomplish this at level 2?

[fenix66d]

Originally posted by TeeQueue:

>I'm an eldritch archer


How did you accomplish this at level 2?

Daze spell ability used in automatic mode. Right-click on spell icon to activate.
Under abilities activate Spell Combat, Spellstrike, Arcane Weapon Enhancement.
Buff Barkskin, lasts 10 minutes. Buff blur, have spare ready since it only lasts 1 minute..
Activate Expeditious retreat or Haste (better- you can buy from Jhod at Oleg's)
Have Healing potions ready when needed.

Now every time you hit Bear, it will be dazed giving you a few seconds to retreat. Attack again/retreat, repeat until dead. it took me 3 tries to finally succeed. I was down to a sliver of health btw.

Note: The description of the Daze spell indicates it is for humanoids only. However, I've been using this spell against other beasties in the early part of chaper 1 with same result. They all are dazed. You can actually see a halo effect around their head, indicating a hit and they stop dead in their tracks for a few seconds.

[TeeQueue]

Oh, I thought you meant ARCANE archer.

yeah idk then.

[RunicLibrarian]

I'm pretty sure Daze will not work on the bear. It is not a humanoid and I believe it has more than 4HD. Also, you cannot imbue your arrows with daze because daze does not require an attack roll to begin with.

Important note about the achievement: Many achievements in this game take a long time to actually register as having earned them, Slayer of Bears is one of them. After earning mine, I didn't see it show up until the next day.

Edit: Side note about AC boosters like Barksin: Total waste of time. The attack bonus of the bear is so stupid high that at level 2, there is no way to boost your AC to the point that it has a realistic chance of missing. (+19 to hit, even at an unrealistic AC of 29, it still only needs a 10 to hit).

[Grizou]

I did it, finally !!!

My PC : Gnome kineticist 1 / vivisectionist 1
I started this new game on hard. After the technic league, I went to the temple of the elk and reduced my team to my main only just before leaving world map.
I killed the frogs, slept to recharge spells, then killed the bear.
It was yesterday, but no reward so far :'(
Note that wolves and the boar are still alive so far (much more of a challenge for me).

My strategy :
Buffs :
Reduce person + shield + expedicious retreat (only two slots on vivisectionist so one of them comes from a scroll or a potion, you have a potion of reduce person and a scroll of expedicious retreat earlier in the game)
Dex mutagen
Actions :
I approach for a first sneak attack with a lightning blast from the kineticist abilities
Then I run away while action sphere recharges
Then I strike another lightning blast
Then repeat Run/Hit routine around the crumbled walls south-south-east of the map
Then the bear dies

Does anyone see something that could explain that I don't get the reward on steam ?
Thanks for your help.

[RunicLibrarian]

Originally posted by Brits Buster:

I did it, finally !!!

My PC : Gnome kineticist 1 / vivisectionist 1
I started this new game on hard. After the technic league, I went to the temple of the elk and reduced my team to my main only just before leaving world map.
I killed the frogs, slept to recharge spells, then killed the bear.
It was yesterday, but no reward so far :'(
Note that wolves and the boar are still alive so far (much more of a challenge for me).

My strategy :
Buffs :
Reduce person + shield + expedicious retreat (only two slots on vivisectionist so one of them comes from a scroll or a potion, you have a potion of reduce person and a scroll of expedicious retreat earlier in the game)
Dex mutagen
Actions :
I approach for a first sneak attack with a lightning blast from the kineticist abilities
Then I run away while action sphere recharges
Then I strike another lightning blast
Then repeat Run/Hit routine around the crumbled walls south-south-east of the map
Then the bear dies

Does anyone see something that could explain that I don't get the reward on steam ?
Thanks for your help.

The achievement tends to unlock silently with time. I waited for over a day to see it and I never got a notification that I received it.

[Grizou]

Originally posted by Zer0darkfire:

The achievement tends to unlock silently with time. I waited for over a day to see it and I never got a notification that I received it.

Thanks for the info. Sadly it's been 3 days and still no achievement :'(
I guess life is trying to teach me to be patient.

[RunicLibrarian]

It's possible the game is just bugged, not really a surprise for this game, but unfortunate. Just to confirm when you say "leave the world map", only your main character ever stepped foot into the map node right? If you party was also at that map node at any point, it likely locks the achievement so you have to empty your party before you load into the Temple location node.

[Lightning]

dang finally got it the achievement didn't pop up in game but it shows I have it on steam, check your steam achieves if you think its bugged though you might have gotten it even if it didn't pop up in game

I followed someones guide and went with alchemist and that was the best class to solo the bear with a couple vanishing pots I used not sure if they did the same or not

The bear actually seemed easier to do than the bandit camp where you find to get to the abandoned hut for some reason

[Chatty Cathy]

Ok, so here's an unorthodox strategy that worked for me: I created a cleric and loaded her up with dex and stealth and blasted through everything in story mode with a mostly full team so she didn't accrue too much experience.

I made sure I collected at least one Vanish potion along the way. I will say that she had two and eventually used them both.

She also made the evil deal with that worg, Grarrukh, in the northeast corner of Old Sycamore to find him some fresh meat (which was easy because it's those Kobolds who are in the nearby moon radish field). That gets you a Slay Living scroll which a cleric can use.

Then it was on to the Temple of the Elk solo. I also switched to Hard mode at this point. At the temple, I forgot about those frogs, but she was able to stealth by those on a re-load -- she's a delicate thing and can't even deal with that group!

Then she snuck close to the bear-like treant after downing a Vanish potion. While it's occupied ripping apart Tristian, you can get close then cast the Slay Living spell. It was about 50-50 that she was able to actually touch the bear (touch AC 14). Also, if the bear makes it's fortitude save, it takes much less damage, so that's a problem, too. In other words, there will be re-loads! It did only take about 10 minutes of re-loads and attempts, but she literally slayed it in one shot!

[Error3]

In addition to the hit-and-run, you can turn the difficulty down to minimum, then just swap the difficulty up right before the killing blow.

[Rage]

Originally posted by Vayce:

Oh, I guess I should post what I used too!

I went with the Alchemist Grenadier.

- Cleared the area of all other animals
- Buffed up before the fight using expeditious retreat, dexterity mutagen, reduce person, alchemist's eye, and anything else you can find to increase attack rolls!
- Was able to throw acid bombs and retreat faster than the bear, and throw bombs at the farthest range possible
- As long as you cleared the area and don't get stuck on anything you should be able to run circles around him and while you're getting further away the acid bombs will do a little bit of damage from the after affects, I think I used 5 bombs or so and it was over!

Cheap I know! But the bears stats are insane to fight in a melee confrontation, unless you get super lucky.

I know this thread is over 2 years old but maybe you can help me? My question is whether I can skip some quests to get to the shrine quicker or do I have to do them all. I'm a bit worried I will hit level 3 by doing them all

[Mork]

I think the minimum is

- Thorn ford to rescue and to talk to Jhod
- Abandoned hut
- Temple of the Elk

But in the end, you just have to hold your level up if you ever get too much xp.