Ancient Cistern, really?

[The Red Baron]

I'd like to see the DEVs play this level. I love this game adaptation, but this level? How did this map get past Q&A. Battle through four rooms, self spawning, self heal, super shielding, super range, high damage mobs, then when you make it to the last room, unlimited spawning mobs blocked behind a wall of enemies.
Fourth attempt and about ready to uninstall because of one map.

[Slow Dog]

It's one of the famously difficult scenarios. If you're having problems why don't you turn down the difficulty rating? That's what it's there for.

When I last did it (on the third attempt or so) two of the characters had big move+jump cards for the back two pumps, and even then one of them did an emergency short rest to use that card two turns in a row. The tankiest character was just distracting monsters for long enough. You only have to cleanse the pumps to win, so it's a matter of surviving for long enough.

[cinsoniTe^-]

We did it on the second attempt (on hard) and won with one character (Angry Face). Like Slow Dog advised, you should really bring 2 characters with jump movements, even better if you have the ability to go invisible, so you can survive for another round to safely get to the pumps or get outta there. I also managed to win it, because I constantly filled up the monster deck with curses, so I took like quarter the usual damage, which comes in handy with the annoying "target 2, poision" of the Black Imps.

[Syrris]

Also, bring an AoE specialist or two, or at least ensure that your characters have some strong AoE-loss cards to pop in the final room to help clear the way. This scenario is really rough if you only have single-target specialists.

[ionlywearbrindle]

Beat this baby on Deadly the other day. It is possible! When I find myself frustrated with a scenario, sometimes I find it best to take a break from it, go do some other scenarios, then come back with a new strategy, like the fantastic strategies suggested above! Sorry to hear you're having a hard time with this one, I believe in you!

[Deso]

You need a mercenary with really good movement abilities. Without spoiling anything, some classes might surprise you in that reggard.

[Mike Garrison]

I have beaten this scenario twice, and lost it 2-3 times. It's one of the hardest.

The two ways I won:

1) Lots of jump, lots of movement. Just get past all the enemies and shut down the pipes.

2) Inferno. My 9th level spellweaver burned up that whole room of imps with a snap of her fingers.

[timlagor]

Having a full 4 characters seems to make things harder in general.

[Mike Garrison]

Originally posted by timlagor:

Having a full 4 characters seems to make things harder in general.

Well, it's supposed to. I find that having the right four characters can really pay off, but having the wrong four with bad synergy just makes things harder.

[scott_smart2000]

Originally posted by timlagor:

Having a full 4 characters seems to make things harder in general.

4 players solo isn't harder at all. Now, if you're coming from 2 or 3 players and still have that mindset of the characters, I could see it. 4 players lets you have at least 1 support class. In fact some of the characters really thrive with more characters because they're not major damage dealers. Now, if you're deadset on using the "Kill a normal enemy" cards, yes 4 characters tends to put out more elites. That's the one major drawback.

In this scenario, the map is going to stay the same. Which makes you think "But there's one less pipe so it's easier". That's one less damage dealer you have while the map gets filled up so it's not actually easier.

[Bilverkr]

Originally posted by timlagor:

Having a full 4 characters seems to make things harder in general.

It both is and isn't 4 heros takes more management and thought on positioning, and the enemy count doubles and gains more elites. However, you also have a more balanced team. I've done most of a campaign with a buddy on 2 Mercs with very little healing. It's been just fine other than the atrocious RNG card system that seems to stack the deck against you constantly.

As for Cistern, quite often you need to focus on the main objective, and not cleaning rooms. Some monsters, big slow ones, can be left behind, and room-clearing abilities or hindering movement can also be a very viable option. Also, timing. Don't have one guy hit a pipe while the other stands across the room, try and get to both within the same 1 or two rounds, or you've definitely got 1 Merc WAAAYYY too far from his friends.

[GodfatherPlunger]

high movement, jump or invis to just get it done or just a bunch of aoe. With the spellweaver, sawbones, sunkeeper and plagueherald we actually farmed the last room a while, because we could kill the spawns again and again... got like 200-300 gold. thats obviously not possible with every team, but if you can't beat them, rush the objective...