Tackling Banelords?
 

Fully geared Banelords seem like an incredible obstacle to overcome. Fully decked out with decent items, these supercombatants seem very hard to take down.

I am curious as to what strategies work best against equipped Banelords considering they take no fatigue from combat. Do they still receive penalties from facing multiple attackers? Magically or mundane, how do you topple these foes?

Thanks!

Re: Tackling Banelords?
 

I hear that spells that target undead only such as maggots work quite well.

In general it seems that for every SC type there is a specific and somewhat simple counter. Sometimes that somewhat simple thing requires you to have fire magic for example and if you don't well..

Rathar

Re: Tackling Banelords?
 

Undeath to death is great.

Jazzepi

Re: Tackling Banelords?
 

They are one of my favorite thugs as well.

Like all scs though, they can be brought low by paralyze, soul slay, smite, etc.

Re: Tackling Banelords?
 

Generally things that dont check MR rolls are good, as many people kit out their SC's with MR-boosting equipment. I've found simple spells like incinerate and even lighning bolt can work well.

Re: Tackling Banelords?
 

I have found it hard to resist paralyze, even with really high mr. If you get 3-4 mages spamming it, you likely are toast.

Re: Tackling Banelords?
 

just lost a Angel of Fury to Drain Life spam http://forum.shrapnelgames.com/image...ies/tongue.gif , does that work on undead?

Re: Tackling Banelords?
 

Drain Life always hits, is impossible to resist, and comes on a D4 item. You won't gain any fatigue back from the Bane Lord, but item-casting is cheap anyway. The tactical AI is pretty good about casting Drain Life only on tough enemy units, so you should pick him out of a horde of chaff pretty quickly. Depending upon what "fully decked-out" means, the specific anti-undead counters (Inner Sun, Just Man's Cross, Solar Rays) may be more cost-effective, but Drain Life items are useful to have lying around anyway and AFAIK there's no way to counter them except killing the casters.

-Max

Re: Tackling Banelords?
 

the drain life item is an artifact, however, which diseases whomever holds it.

Re: Tackling Banelords?
 

No, you're thinking of Sun Slayer (which is D5 incidentally). At Construction-6, D4 mages can construct the Standard of the Damned, which casts Drain Life. Give it to a non-spellcasting commander and set him to "Cast Spells" and that's all he'll cast. The Standard of the Damned is a pretty sorry melee weapon (you lose -2 att, -3 def), but it does cause Fear +0 and besides, you're using it as an oversized magic wand and not a melee weapon. Downside is that you can't hold a shield so you're vulnerable to missile fire.

-Max

Re: Tackling Banelords?
 

Two spells stand out against a undead SC.

Dust to dust. Level 1 thau 1D spell, negates armor and no resist.

And the improved version, level 6 thau 3D Wither Bones.

Enjoy http://forum.shrapnelgames.com/images/smilies/happy.gif

Re: Tackling Banelords?
 

Dust to dust does not work on bane lord. or he regenerates more damage then it does. I have had bane lords with ring regen. fight through countless spams of dust to dust solo. So i know he was the target. Of course he also usually has pendant of luck, but that only gives him 50 percent chance to resist, not 100.

Re: Tackling Banelords?
 

thats strange, DTD should do 22+ an damage according to the manual.

Re: Tackling Banelords?
 

I think it can be resisted, despite what the spell description says. Banelords have high mr.

Re: Tackling Banelords?
 

They dont have extremely high mr or health so spamming it should take them out. Other options are high damage spells like gifts from heaven ect.

Re: Tackling Banelords?
 

What sorts of things do people put on a Banelord?

Re: Tackling Banelords?
 

Depends on the job. For basic fights against normal troops, something like:

firebrand
charcoal shield
jade armor
starshine cap
flying boots
luck ammy
regen ring

Re: Tackling Banelords?
 

Well for fighting against just normal troops i would expect horror helm rather than the cap but yea, RonD covered the basics pretty well.

For an anti SC banelord for example you might have:

Shadow Brand
Dusk Dagger
Spirit Helm
Jade Armour
Winged Shoes
Ring of the Warrior
Stone Bird

Place him where you know the enemy SC will go and let him do his thing. With the bonus of defending he'll attack first and with flying he'll be there on the first turn of battle.

He has 12 attacks:
2 Shadowbrand attacks at 31 AP damage and 24 attack
2 Duskdagger attacks at 21 AN damage and 22 attack
8 Stone Bird Attacks at 9 damage and 22 attack(these reduce enemy defence and cause morale checks)

He also shoots lightning from his head, had 20 prot, 19 defence and a chill aura. Another advantage is that with decent survivability and that many attacks he can handle basic troops too(generally clearing out 2 squares full of troops per turn).