EDE... I need help, Badly Options

[Nominar]

Yes, it's the famous Epic Divine Encounter that I'm stuck on. I want to finish the game before starting a new v6 game, but it doesn't look like that's going to happen in the next month or so with the tactics I'm currently using.

OK, so here's my party:

Vagrant protagonist - 32
Minsc (Berserker) - 36
F/M - 23/20
Anomen - 38
Imoen - 30
Nalia - 30

I've forged every IA item that I want, I've got JD and FoDaW on my Vagrant, both halberds and Staff of the Ram on Minsc, Hammer of Thor and Death of a Thousand Cuts on F/M. I've got Gaxx +5 but all other rings/cloaks are of +2 enchantment, in harmony with the next version. I'm not using rod of resurrection, also in harmony with v6.

I summon basically everything I can, 5 swanmays, 4 mordy swords, planetar, greater djinni and a noble spider. Most of the summons go straight for the prince to delay him while the greater swanmays and the queen help my warriors. I focus the Supreme Golem and have both bleeding weapons equipped in main hand. I usually get him down to badly injured before the first wave of the rakshasas spawn and then the bleeding effect may or may not take him down to near death while I focus the rakshasas. I normally kill the first wave of rakshasas before they can do any harm and then finish of the SG quiet easily. Then I focus the Ultra Golem (with crushing weapons equipped in main hand) and by the time the first UG is dead my summons are as well (if not earlier).
Next, I focus the Elemental Golem or the second UG, whichever is closer. I try to station my F/M so that the prince is more likely to attack her. I've never managed to get farther than this; the newly spawned rakshasas I can't kill fast enough either because my HLAs are exhausted or I can't reach them because of all the minor golems that block my every move. And then comes the dreaded "purge magic" something and my F/M is chunked (!) within seconds either by golems or >9000 ADHW. When the F/M is gone the prince is free to attack my vagrant or Minsc and my resistances are no more resistances. And then my party is history.

I've got 5 Barbarian Essence potions; Minsc drinks 3 of them while my vagrant only drinks 1 which is enough to get both up to 100% physical res. with Hardiness. The last one I'm saving for later use in the battle, in case the duration expires. I'm using the dual halberds tactic although I favor Poseidon's. Nalia's job is to summon more help, mainly MS, and Imoen's is to cast Wish and Remove Magic. Anomen is obviously a sitting duck, casting GR and occasionally refreshing Regeneration on Minsc, if he's able to get out of the wall-of-golems that is. I try to keep the warrior's HLAs up all the time.
My F/M has got 51 PFMW scrolls but I haven't been able to use but 1 of those (I normally use memorized spells because they are faster thanks to the Amulet of Power, even though I know scrolls can't be interrupted, with careful timing I've never been interrupted). I buff my F/M so that it takes 6 RRoR to take down her SI:Abj. Or one purge magic

I'm playing on core rules. Shouldn't this be an optional battle?

This post has been edited by Nominar: Feb 5 2010, 11:34 PM

[bulian]

A few comments - I wasn't able to finish EDE with a similar party on my first run. Its called "epic" for a reason. That being said, I think I could probably win it, now that I understand the mechanics of the fight. Keep trying!

EDE is really the last fight in the game - Mel is vanilla, so in some sense EDE is optional.

SPOILER!

Unfortunately, with that party, you only have 4 melee, so your damage output isn't as good as if Nalia were a fighter. You can probably get away with your sorceror for buffs, especially considering you will get plenty of wishes from the JD sword - staff of magi, or better, royal elemental staff + tensors, with Nalia may help out a bit. I've never used tensors, but I believe you can use triggers, contingencies, and scrolls while tensored. You won't need many PFMW scrolls while the prince still has his army - using offensive HLAs is much better, even better than summoning swanmays.

What is Anomen doing? Casting greater resto each round? Hopefully hes in the thick of things. Give him a shield when its time to cast greater resto. You also have your cat figurine once per wish rest.

You want bleeding weapons MH when fighting the golems to maximize damage. You should be using "critical strike" every round, and everyone should be improved hasted at all times. Burst damage isn't useful against the golems.

Don't be afraid to burn 9th level spells on Improved Alacrity - instantly reapplied improved hastes to everyone after "remove magic" help quite a bit. 8th level protective spells are superior to similar 6th level and 3rd level spells in terms of speed in reprotecting people.

Check the damage resistances of the major golems carefully - elemental golems should be a lower priority than UG, but some of your weapons aren't very effective against UG. Perhaps you can take them down simultaneously?

Skeletal warriors will last longer than mordy swords. Plus you can put skeletal warriors in spell triggers. I didn't find the noble spider to be very helpful, actually for 90% of the game.

See if you can figure out what causes the dreaded "purge magic" - my experience is that certain combinations of buffs on a single character tend to trigger it. Avoid those combinations until absolutely necessary.