How do you kill Monoliths??

magnate · #1 August 5th, 2004, 12:20 PM

It resists all four elements, it has 350hp, it's ethereal, and it has Luck. Twice I've attacked and twice it's decimated and routed my armies, even my pretender. Do I just need huge numbers, or is there some other way?

(I got it down to about 150hp at which point it started casting Healing Song every turn, which healed it more damage than my guys could inflict in a turn)

CC

Cainehill · #2 August 5th, 2004, 04:04 PM

Quote:

Originally posted by magnate:
It resists all four elements, it has 350hp, it's ethereal, and it has Luck. Twice I've attacked and twice it's decimated and routed my armies, even my pretender. Do I just need huge numbers, or is there some other way?

Yes. You use the "search" facility at the top right of the page, and look for "Monolith".

More immediately helpful : You use armor negating weapons (such as Gate Cleavers on commanders), or you use troops / weapons / spells that inflict fatigue damage rather than physical damage. Once the Monolith is "napping", it isn't casting spells anymore.

Insta-death spells like Disintegrate and Magic Duel can also be useful, but mages who can effectively cast them may be hard to come by, plus you need some luck in getting through the defense.

Others like Banefire or Gift from the Heavens aren't affected by resistances, and either ignore armor (Banefire) or do so much damage (GftH) that the Monolith's armor won't help.

The etherealness will only help the monolith against your normal troops / unequipped commanders, but luck will eliminate 50% of the damage / effects against it.

Vynd · #3 August 5th, 2004, 05:32 PM

Also, it doesn't move. My guess is that you are attacking it in its fort. Try just letting it sit there, conquering the rest of the enemy's territory, and then driving their dominion down to zero. This is the easiest way to take out the big, immobile Pretenders.

Cainehill · #4 August 5th, 2004, 06:21 PM

Quote:

Originally posted by Vynd:
Also, it doesn't move. My guess is that you are attacking it in its fort. Try just letting it sit there, conquering the rest of the enemy's territory, and then driving their dominion down to zero. This is the easiest way to take out the big, immobile Pretenders.

Eh, I believe it does too move. Only the Sphinx actually can't be moved, unless this has changed in the latest patches. I've teleported or Air Trapezed several immobiles to take provinces all on their lonesome.

Norfleet · #5 August 5th, 2004, 07:31 PM

Monoliths tend have a weakness against point-blank annihilation. Exploit this ruthlessly, and it'll die easily.

Master Shake · #6 August 6th, 2004, 05:34 AM

Anything can be taken down with Disintegrate. It has a ridiculously low fatigue cost (10 for a D2 mage, 5 for a D3 mage!), so a couple death mages can cast it over and over.

I had 4 Abominations that were GoR'd with antimagic amulets, for a total MR of something like 25, all taken out by disintegrate during a single siege of an Ermor castle with 5 Dusk Elders, a Wraith Lord, and a D6 pretender inside. They just slammed Disintegrate into the Abominations over and over, and each one sucumbed eventually. Fail one MR check and that's it.

Another nice anti-SC spell is Petrify, which paralyzes if the MR is made (destroys if it is not).

magnate · #7 August 6th, 2004, 09:09 AM

Quote:

Originally posted by Vynd:
Also, it doesn't move. My guess is that you are attacking it in its fort. Try just letting it sit there, conquering the rest of the enemy's territory, and then driving their dominion down to zero. This is the easiest way to take out the big, immobile Pretenders.

This is how I did it in the end, not having access to the relevant spells (is there a spell to give a whole squad AP weapons?). It wasn't easy though - he was on a coast and I couldn't take the sea province, so it took about 10 turns to preach him away.

Thanks all.

Now, a new question. One of my commanders was assassinated. The assassin cast "Decay", my guy killed the assassin, then he dropped dead. I've looked through the spell lists and I can't find "Decay" anywhere - what is it?

CC

Yossar · #8 August 6th, 2004, 10:02 AM

Quote:

Originally posted by magnate:
Now, a new question. One of my commanders was assassinated. The assassin cast "Decay", my guy killed the assassin, then he dropped dead. I've looked through the spell lists and I can't find "Decay" anywhere - what is it?

Try Thaumaturgy 1, D1.

I believe that if it connects it does 1 Hp damage per round until the target dies. I think regeneration is one of the few ways not to die.