Starling Guardians

[Karina]

Why are they so balls crushingly difficult? Even when i fight just 1- its a very hard fight. And when i fight more then 1- its a fight for my life and i drink potions like a maniac. I come prepared you know, im at level 38, i have 450 armor and i block almost all their attacks. I barely get by by running away, chugging potions and using all cc that i have. Im a shield and spell battlemage.

https://steamcommunity.com/sharedfiles/filedetails/?id=1840270467

[Sidian]

What's your level? What's your weapon? Your skill levels? The level of the quest you are on (or the region you are in)?

[Karina]

Originally posted by Sidian:

What's your level? What's your weapon? Your skill levels? The level of the quest you are on (or the region you are in)?

38 level, 99 elementalism, V spells, wreck of the starling starship in the frost cliff mountains, Iron Path. Everything prior that was manageable but this guys are relentless and brutal. Even despite all that armor and block they HURT. I wear 2/4 Inodan set and 2/4 wandering mage set.

[Sidian]

Oh, sorry, i have no experience with the Iron Path difficulty.

[Karina]

I drank more potions in this area then in the rest of the game. When i enreted this area- i had aroud 30 standart potions, 10 quality and 4 exlsuive. I cleared two areas and only 1 potion left. If this keeps going like that- i will have to lower difficulty. Its better be something ♥♥♥♥♥♥♥ good in here, for all this trouble i went through.

[Karina]

Well, it went A LOT better when i took Fast Reflexes talent. They only do power attacks pretty much and when slow time activates- i can simply dodge out of the way. And weirdly enough fire spells are A LOT more effective then lightning. Starling Centurtion dies in 22 IV Fire Balls (69 damage) or 25 Blazing Sparks (85 damage). I dont know that to make of it- i always thought dwemer constructs are weak to lightning. Is combination of burn damage + more fire to burning targets that good?

[Sidian]

I think burning targets receive additional damage from fire spells.
In addition, dual castred rune spells could be great in difficult fights. I only played on "normal" (adept?), but i think they did around 150-200 damage each in a very big AoE radius (220% of the damage in the tooltip with the dual casting perk). And if you use blocking very often, a cloak spell (the damage aura) might also get really handy as the damage adds up to a lot when staying in melee range for some time.

[Karina]

Originally posted by Sidian:

I think burning targets receive additional damage from fire spells.
In addition, dual castred rune spells could be great in difficult fights. I only played on "normal" (adept?), but i think they did around 150-200 damage each in a very big AoE radius (220% of the damage in the tooltip with the dual casting perk). And if you use blocking very often, a cloak spell (the damage aura) might also get really handy as the damage adds up to a lot when staying in melee range for some time.

I would use Winter Skin if i could- but they immune to frost. Fire cloak I compared to Winter Skin I (and never seen fire cloak of higher level) does pitiful damage, has a lot less range (almost point blank) and does not slow/drain stamina. Trying to stay point blank against those things is suicidal- you cannot tank this much damage. After i ranned out of potions- i resulted to cheesing them on terrain and dodging them with fast reflexes slow motion.

Also currently cannot dual cast elemental spells since im using shield + spell in combat. It would be a bit easier if i had dual casted fired runes prepared before combat.

Also also- im getting strong impression that this was main quest dungeon, since i found strange mechanism with levers in the very end. Its not the first main quest dungeon i spoiled for myself- SureAI really should lock the doors to the places you not supposed to see too soon. You expect me NOT TO explore a frickin crashed space ship? Common!

[MikeBob2013]

I use stealth and high-damage ranged attacks against them, and it helps a lot. Normally it allows me to pick off a few before they get to me en masse (they're social), and I'm then able to finish the rest of them off without much difficulty. (Wearing decent quality heavy armor doesn't hurt either. =p)

[Ferroxus]

Another iron path mage player here, lvl 60-something, full wandering mage gear, and yeah, those guys are pain, even harder that Thalgard area. The biggest problem is when they manage to hit and stun you, it lasts forever. I legit runned away from them to create distance and heal myself. They usually die after 3-4 strikes of Blazing Spark VI for me.

I'm also leveling phasmalism and use tanky-oriented level 4 apparition to assist me, so she is tough enough to handle up to three enemies if I heal her in time.

[Eternie]

Like Ferroxus I use Full wandering mage gear and blast them with Fire and lightning keeping out of their way and trying to avoid hitting the companion there.
When there's a swarm of enemies I will instinctly back off to take them on in ranged magic combat, I wouldn't contemplate trying to out tank a tank, and I only got there at level 64.

[Karina]

Originally posted by Eternie:

trying to avoid hitting the companion there.

So this IS a quest dungeon? Damn, why didnt they lock such places down until you get the quest for them? I made the mistake of ignoring main quest and i already spoiled myself a suprise of nehrim invasion by finding nehrim soldiers in a dungeon. They should not be there because story wise this event did not yet occured.

[Sidian]

Originally posted by Esteban Failsmore:

So this IS a quest dungeon? Damn, why didnt they lock such places down until you get the quest for them? I made the mistake of ignoring main and i already spoiled myself a suprise of nehrim invasion by finding nehrim soldiers in a dungeon. They should not be there because story wise this event did not yet occured.

Well, if the dungeon is what i think it is, then it's a dungeon for a quest. But it doesn't matter for the quest if you go in alone first. Quest dungeons are only sealed off when there are some scripts that are important for the quest itself. Sometimes you can explore an entire dungeon except for like 2 rooms that are locked and only open if you go there with the quest active.

Regarding the soldiers: I think they are just a scout unit that was sent way before the events of the main quest. It's a hint that Nehrim has been planning the invasion or has been sabotaging the Order for quite a while.

[Eternie]

@Esteban Failsmore sorry I missed the detail in your second post!
Where you said you were in the "wreck of the starling starship in the frost cliff mountains" Agnod
I had assumed it was a much later quest with companion that has a lot of Starling enemies.
Sorry about that confusion. I did still use the same technique to blast them from a distance or from ramps. Which allows me to attack them, with some level of safety.

[Karina]

Originally posted by Sidian:

Well, if the dungeon is what i think it is, then it's a dungeon for a quest.

Its dungeon with a big frozen skeleton in the very end. Dead keepers everywhere, lots of spiders. Also boss of the dungeon had 3/4 wandering mage set on him.

[Sidian]

Originally posted by Esteban Failsmore:

Originally posted by Sidian:

Well, if the dungeon is what i think it is, then it's a dungeon for a quest.

Its dungeon with a big frozen skeleton in the very end. Dead keepers everywhere, lots of spiders. Also boss of the dungeon had 3/4 wandering mage set on him.

Well, no, THAT dungeon is not related to any quest. At least i haven't found a quest for that. I was speaking about the ship.