What to do when they come calling for you (anti thug/SC strategies)

[thejeff]

MR of 20 isn't enough. Not if he's the only target and you can spam spells at him. You can go with a few mages w/ penetration or more without. Soul Slay, Enslave Mind. Charm or Hellbind heart if you've got those. Make sure you've got enough chaff to give you time for multiple casts.

Thugs of your own with AN weapons. Preferably no-buff flying ones to hit him before he can buff.

Life Drain? Infernal Prison/Claws of Kokytos?

It all depends on what you've got.

Well buffed troops might even work. Weapons of Sharpness, Strength of Giants, Quickening. If you can swarm him, that's 30+ attacks which makes his defense irrelevant. With AP, he's only got effective protection ~12.
Don't worry about protection on the troops, go for high damage.

[aaminoff]

The spell I see that neutralizes thugs more than any other is Paralyze.

There is also the E5 spell Petrify, which says in the description that even if it is resisted, you still get paralyzed for a while. So in theory that would work, but I have never seen it used.

Also, the Acid series of spells (Acid Bolt, Acid Rain,...) has nothing that resists. I think they are AP, so 30 protection + regen should be a decent defense against a 15 AP spell. But less protection than that or no regen and spam it and that will work.

There's also Mistform. Every attack that would normally do damage has a 1% chance of popping the mistform. I've lost more Oreiads that way...