Argh! Temple of Al-Shedim!

[VPeric]

Alright! My level 50 (+) char hasn't has much troubles 'till now, but... I just take care of that temple! Those mages at the end... they are mean! There's one in the first room, and two more (along with a bow-wielding skeleton) in the second room, and I'm totally powerless among them. One isn't really a problem, two probably would be, but three are just impossible, I feel.

I tried freezing the first mage, but even when I suceed, it only lasts a short while (I can't "channel" more mana, because he keeps hitting me with his own spell!). On the other hand, I can't see a way to draw him towards me (he won't charge at me like skeletons, but just stays there once he detects me). I know Lester is supposed to help me, but I don't think he'd fare much better against those fireballs.

My Nameless Hero is a pure-bred fighter, with 1000 HP, ~360 STR and Paladin Armor.

Help!? =\

[curious]

first equip 2 rings of fire protection along with an amulet of fire protection as well. lester can usually take a few more magic hits than you as well. also i know your not a mage but where you aware you could 'quick cast' the simple spells like, fireball, lightning bolt, and ice arrow. just tap the button instead of holding down. this will not freeze the enemy or catch them on fire (never used lighting so not sure what it normally would do) but it will do damage and you can beat any spell or ranged weapon with this method. though it does burn through mana super quickly.
also if you time it right you can often jump or dodge ranged attacks such as magic. make sure you have just used a light spell before going down as they don't last very long.

you could send lester down to draw fire, quickly freeze the mage that he is not attacking then help lester with the other and 'everything will be alright'

[VPeric]

Oh yes, I can dodge without problem. But I can't attack and keep dodging attacks from 3 different enemies (2 more mages, 1 skeleton). The spell bit probably won't work, because my mana is only ~120, but I'll try to fry him somehow. Thanks, in any case.

[Corwin]

I used a summon spell to help draw fire. If you have a summoning scroll, try that as well!!

[MasterLich]

This was, in my humble opinion, the most difficult fight in the whole game. I used Lester as a helping hand, froze one of the mages (Lester always attacks the target you have attacked yourself with the ice lance), sweeped in close past the shooting skeleton to get it off the ranged fighting mode, killed the other mage with an axe, then the skeleton and finally Lester's target. You have to be quite quick to prevent Lester from dying, but I had around 570 STR at that point so I got it right in about five tries.

EDIT: I was level 70-something, it was one of the last quests I did before the endgame missions.

[curious]

never used an axe myself, but got to thinking that it would be cool if you could throw them. not unrealisticly like a lot of games but one shot, or two if they were duel wielded hand axes. i imagine they could set it up like magic where you lock on and hold down. probably not likely but again i would pay 5 extra bucks if the addon had something like that.

[VPeric]

A-ha! I did! Mwahaha! (<--- Cry of triumph)

I tried everything, brining Lester down, trying to freeze the mage(s), tapping the button for fast fireballs (didn't work - the mage heals when low, and my mana isn't enough to spam him to death in one shot (without pauses for potions)), but Corwin had the right idea...

I didn't have any summoning scrolls though, so I did the next best thing - transformed myself into a snapper! And, the wonderous thing - it worked! The mages are non-aggressive towards snappers, so I only had to fight one at a time. Furthermore, once I started hitting the mage, the snapper's fast attacks gave him no chance to strike back, or heal. Of course, this took a while, since the snapper's attack is weak, but I did it.

<is still unbelievably happy>

[MasterLich]

Good good, although your method was a bit special...

About axes: I played the whole second half of the game wielding a sharpened Krush Tarach, and it was a bit of a disappointment I couldn't find a weapon doing more damage than that (not-so-worn Ogre morningstar, anyone?). You can't even bless the damn thing for some reason.

I think the problem with throwing axes is the huge graphics performance it takes, especially when of course your enemies should be able to use them as well. You don't really have to animate an arrow or a bolt, but an axe should probably be animated when it's flying. I don't recall any first-person game where you can throw axes, actually.

[Corwin]

I did the temple at level 35 and didn't find it too tough after my first failure when I didn't realise there was a third mage there!!

[Sem]

I did it on level 42 all by myself.
It wasn't really a fight to be pride of. I ran to one the mages, hit him a few times, ran away, healed myself, ran back and did it all again. Anyway, it worked.

[Corwin]

Ah, the old hit and run technique!! :)

[Zaleukos]

Three words: Summon demon scroll.

I found this to be the toughest fight in the game as well. There are some other fights against multiple casters (three of the liberation quests come to mind) but those other fights take place in an open space where you can dodge the spells, and the enemies in the other fights have much less HP than the undead high priests (who also heal themselves).

The goblin shaman takes the cake as the most annoying caster though.

[aldee]

Yes, that was a tough spot indeed. I didn't take Lester with me (thank god), yet somehow managed to get all of the three ud mages to aggro me as soon as I entered the room. Nameless hero would die within split seconds. The only summon scroll I had at the time was army of darkness. The problem: When spawning the undead in the corridor outside the room, the skeletons would run in one by one, get fried, and the others would just stand there and watch. Finally, got into the corner past the room's entrance (still in the corridor) and managed to spawn them into the room, without being hit. Most still remained standing around, but, oddly enough, weren't immediatly aggroed by the undead mages either. One skeleton cornered up one of the mages and killed it single-handedly. Only after this, a few zombies decided to get frozen by the remaining mages, but some others decided to yet move out after all, and managed to hold off aggro long enough for me to take out the second mage, taking cover behind the frozen ones. The last ud mage wasn't so hard to beat, in the end. Gothic's AI ftw.

[Wulf]

As a non magic user i struggled at first, no way could i get a target-fix on those undead priests. I returned again to the Al-Shedim temple after getting the druid stone of the wolf which appears to have re-gen' qualities (to 50%) after transforming in the next room i ran in and trapped each priest into a corner, the attack speed of the wolf (dead white-ripper) was far too fast for the undead priests to re-cast and their life bars slowly but eventually fell to zero....yay! :D

[electric80]

Alright! My level 50 (+) char hasn't has much troubles 'till now, but... I just take care of that temple! Those mages at the end... they are mean! There's one in the first room, and two more (along with a bow-wielding skeleton) in the second room, and I'm totally powerless among them. One isn't really a problem, two probably would be, but three are just impossible, I feel.

I tried freezing the first mage, but even when I suceed, it only lasts a short while (I can't "channel" more mana, because he keeps hitting me with his own spell!). On the other hand, I can't see a way to draw him towards me (he won't charge at me like skeletons, but just stays there once he detects me). I know Lester is supposed to help me, but I don't think he'd fare much better against those fireballs.

My Nameless Hero is a pure-bred fighter, with 1000 HP, ~360 STR and Paladin Armor.

Help!? =\
Get the NPC "Gorn" to help you as he can "literally take a beating and keep on ticking". Gorn can take tremendous punishment from the Undead Mage's Firebolt's and if you're a pure melee type once he gets aggro run in and attack the mages with your 'swords a swingin'

[Corwin]

I think you might be just a little late with this post. Please check dates!!

[Danicek]

I think you might be just a little late with this post. Please check dates!!

On the other hand, it might be good tip for someone searching the forum for this type of info. Like me for example ;].

[Dajjer]

I too had a tough time with this but I simply summoned a skelly who took some of the heat for me and then I was free to go in a wailing wiht my sword. It was so much fun getting vengence because those two mages must have killed me half a dozen times.

One interesting exploit. The mages were right handed as was my character. So if you can manuver both the mages and yourself at the right disance where they will not advance and at the right angle, Your arrows will hit while there fireballs will mostly hit a wall.

[Danicek]

One interesting exploit. The mages were right handed as was my character. So if you can manuver both the mages and yourself at the right disance where they will not advance and at the right angle, Your arrows will hit while there fireballs will mostly hit a wall.

While this worked for me, it wasn't good for really killing these mages. They are quick enough to cast heal spell on themselve (same of orc shamans...). What is good with this is that once you figure out on what health level they will cast the healing spell, you can bring them close to this level (which is usually less than half total health) and then it is much easier to bring them down with you sword.
Also it may be due to my not high-enough bow skill.

[txa1265]

On the other hand, it might be good tip for someone searching the forum for this type of info. Like me for example ;].

Very true - the only thing worse than leaving it unanswered is having someone post and say 'figured it out, thanks' - and then not sharing what they figured out!

[Zaleukos]

While this worked for me, it wasn't good for really killing these mages. They are quick enough to cast heal spell on themselve (same of orc shamans...). What is good with this is that once you figure out on what health level they will cast the healing spell, you can bring them close to this level (which is usually less than half total health) and then it is much easier to bring them down with you sword.
Also it may be due to my not high-enough bow skill.

Orc shamans might be killable with a high bow skill, but the undead high priests sure arent. I have a bow skill of about 600 and can kill neither these guys nor any of the named black mages in Ishtar. Summons will however distract them nicely. It seems like creatures summoned while you are in the tunnel leading to the very last chamber (with the final two priests) will manage to get in, even if they are bulky like demons or golems.

[Acleacius]

You could try Bloodlust since they don't chase you, though you would have to sneak down to them to possibly have time to cast it and obvioulsy only exposing yourself to one to cast, then if you run up a level they would fight each other, im just guessing here.

[Zaleukos]

I dont have any save with the temple open, but I dont think it would work. I suspect these guys are immune to bloodlust just like orc shamen. Did some interesting experiments with bloodlust in Geldern and managed to get the guards to kill the leading shaman for "murdering" a bloodlusted guard.

Its a bit of a fuss to use the spell against orcs though, as the melee fighters dont fight to kill when bloodlusted, and one on one even a slave will kick the crap out of a shaman... And the bleeding shaman only starts "defending" after being hit.

[nameless hero]

The Temple of Al-Shedim was one of my favourite battles. I died like 20 times before I could figure it out. I basically lured each priest one by one out of the others range. That way I could deal with one of them at a time.

Then I shot 2 arrows at him from a distance. When he was healing, I switched to swords, and flurried him to death. He didnt stand a chance.

[Acleacius]

I think I used Ice Lance on them (actually everything in the desert died quickly with it) which froze them, one at a time of course and prevented them from healing.

[jmurdock]

Yeah, yeah, it's been months but thought this might work for some.

Ok, another solution. I had my own trouble. (died about thirty times). Could never lure the suckers out one at a time.

However one comes in range of a frostwave cast in safety (in the hallway--out of view). Lasts long enough to position yourself behind a wall between first and second room. Out of other 2 priests view. Need lots of luck, and of course mummy and skellies need to be lured out first. Of course they always bite.. hee hee. Then you can back the priest to the wall and hack him to bits.

For other 2, one of them usually comes in range of a safely cast frostwave (right next to entrance to second room, again out of view). Good thing is, this spell lasts much longer than ice lance, I had time to kill the unfrozen priest before frozen one came back to "life".

Ok, forgot this part, since you need 2 frostwaves and I only ever found one scroll, you need enough ancient knowledge and enough spell points. Most of the water mages teach spell.

[lanux128]

sorry to dig up an old thread but +1 to all that has been said about this quest.. it's that tough! so much so that i'm wearing the robe that i found in the chest as a reward.. :)