Candlemere Tower makes me want to rage quit the game

[kasaidere]

First: I'm playing on Challenging Mode and so far it has been ... challenging, but mostly managable. The hordes of War Wisps on the road of the Candlemere Tower map are not challenging though, they are insane.

And before you say: "Just use Resist Energy:Communal (Electricity)" - I do. I also cast Glitterdust. My party is Level 6 which I think is about appropriate - though I don't know, maybe this map is intended to be done at Level 16 or something. This is my first playthrough, so storywise I'm not sure I need to do this now.

Every single War Wisp has AC 29 and I don't even know what Ancients have because I couldn't even inspect them propertly so far.

AC 29? What am I supposed to do? Rest after every single fight so that I at least have some Magic Missiles. The 5 Magic Missiles I have on my mage with surely help to eat through the health of one War Wisp half-way through. Good luck with rest of the pack, lol.

Oh, and as a bonus: their attacks do insane damage even after DR 10. I'm in the middle of the map, so I have fought several packs now - with two rests so far.

Is this how I'm supposed to play this? Fight a pack - leave map, rest, come back. Fight another pack - leave map, rest, ...

[Flippy]

Need levels and yes the energy resist before every fight. There is a magic weapon that is for those things later to.

Its all about trying to get lvls before progressing i found. Its strategy trying to do the quests in what order and where to go next. Great game.

[Dixon Sider]

Are you using protection from energy after or before resist energy? I was told if you use it before it's less efficient. I never tried that myself though. Use resist before protect. You shouldnt take any damage from wisps there even on unfair. If you dont have communal protection yet, send in your tank with it on to absorb the first barrage. The wisps only have 2 casts of the AoE, and they use those 2 as their first actions. Once they exhaust their aoe spells, they single target touch you. Go in with everyone else after that.

Their AC is rough, but if you have a magus bring one. They have a skill that ignores DEX bonus to AC for a full round. Also there is s wand of true strike somewhere that makes them trivial. But only use the true strike wand if you need to. Once it's gone, it's gone.

[Aria Athena]

First of all wait until lv 7 when you get Protection from Energy (Communal). Protection and Resist do not stuck. Second of all I would swear Wisps are immune to magic missiles, maybe it's only Ancient Wisp or I'm completely wrong.

Who do you have in your party? What is your highest attack bonus? I had a fighter with a very high attack bonus, but everyone else in the party was more or less useless at that level.

[kasaidere]

Originally posted by Dixon Sider:

Also there is s wand of true strike somewhere that makes them trivial.

Trivial huh?
I have true stike on Amiri (huntsmaster levels) - she gets two true stikes out and two attacks before dying to attacks of opportunity triggered by her casting true strike. The two attacks she landed on an Ancient Wisp brought him to about 50% of his health.

Meanwhile: nobody else is landing a hit ... because to be honest ... AC 29, how should they?

Meanwhile: https://i.imgur.com/1NQRXxN.jpg

[kasaidere]

Originally posted by Aria Athena:

What is your highest attack bonus?

Just checked. Ekundayo has the highest attack bonus of the party. +12 lol. So even he needs to roll a 17 on a D20 to hit them.

Fun game. Just roll crits all the time brah.

Cya, candlemere tower. I guess I'll be back when I'm level 15 or something.

[Aria Athena]

Originally posted by kasaidere:

Just checked. Ekundayo has the highest attack bonus of the party. +12 lol. So even he needs to roll a 17 on a D20 to hit them.

I'm assuming it's +12 unbuffed. You can get +2 for Good Hope or Heroism, +2 from Linzi's bard song or Bracers of Archery and +1 from Aspect of the Falcon. Then you can trade some damage for another +2 from Reduced Person. I think +19 (+20 at level 7) should be enough IF you have Protection which shields you completely from 10 / level points of damage.

[Balekai]

You're still a little too low at level 6 for wisps. Any zone with Wisps in Chapter 2 are meant for 8-10ish. So Candlemere and the Witches' Hut fall under this. They can be done earlier but you need to use tactical positioning and make sure the character that's going to be the least likely hit takes all the dmg (like Valerie). Keep low reflex characters away from the Chain Lighting when Wisps alpha strike then move them in.

And yes, you may need to rest after every fight. The price of doing content too early unfortunately.

@Aria

I don't remember Ancient Wisps being immune to Magic Missile. I believe that's one of the things that counters their concealment fairly well in my experience. The shield spell however does make you immuned to Magic Missiles. If they cast that spell then they may be.

[jsaving]

Candlemere becomes significantly easier at level 7 when your resist energy goes from 10 to 20. Until then it would be a good idea to carry magic missile wands, which aren't very expensive and are usable by melee characters (provided you invest in umd).

[Aria Athena]

@Balekai

You are right, they are not immune, but I think they cast Shield some times.

[kasaidere]

Originally posted by Balekai:

the character that's going to be the least likely hit takes all the dmg (like Valerie).

Wisps use touch attacks. So Valerie's AC of 30 isn't doing ♥♥♥♥♥♥♥♥♥. And her touch AC is 13 atm.

Actually the highest touch AC of the party is Ekundayo again with 17.

Originally posted by Balekai:

Keep low reflex characters away from the Chain Lighting when Wisps alpha strike then move them in.

If I wasn't doing that, I wouldn't have made to the middle of the map.

[kasaidere]

Originally posted by jsaving:

Candlemere becomes significantly easier at level 7 when your resist energy goes from 10 to 20.

Wow, this is the most useful thing I have read so far. I really should read the spell descriptions till the end I guess. Damn! This will make a world of a difference. And 30 at Level 11?

Thanks for that.

[Balekai]

Originally posted by kasaidere:

Originally posted by jsaving:

Candlemere becomes significantly easier at level 7 when your resist energy goes from 10 to 20.

Wow, this is the most useful thing I have read so far. I really should read the spell descriptions till the end I guess. Damn! This will make a world of a difference. And 30 at Level 11?

Thanks for that.

Yep Protection should get you through the alpha strike of the chains. :)

Edit: I never had a touch attack problem in my games vs. Wisps. Just the initial chain lightning cast. I'm more concerned with reflex save on Valerie than anything vs. Wisps. Or at least was my first playthrough when I still had an anti-resist buff thing going on for some reason. Probably trying to keep spell slots ready.

[Eonwe]

Also, not sure if anyone mentioned this, but wisps are vulnerable to stinking cloud which makes them very easy to deal with after the initial burst.

If memory serves, their fort save is also pretty bad.

[Balekai]

I forgot about that lol I always think of Wisps as undead in this game. Always (flying skulls...).

Stinking Cloud is basically a solution to the entire game save for 3-4 bosses and some Undead areas (where I used Grease).

[Eonwe]

Originally posted by Balekai:

I forgot about that lol I always think of Wisps as undead in this game. Always (flying skulls...).

Stinking Cloud is basically a solution to the entire game save for 3-4 bosses and some Undead areas (where I used Grease).

I personally try to severly limit how much i use it, because it's just too damn OP. I feel no guilt using it on wisps tho. They're far too annoying.