How to defeat Prowlers and Stalkers? [ANSWERED]

[limmer]

*sigh* I keep seeing this all over this forum. No, the end of the stalker fight isn't a dead end with nothing valuble to be found. Wizardz, the wise old veteran that he is, reveals the true gem of what is in store. For those poor lost souls that hope on grinding maps and hitting random encounters is the way to go, well this treasure here makes grinding life lke taking candy from a baby. For those not following closely, this is a feature request granted by Mario. And knowing that, I made it a point to defeat the stalker early using a lowly sub level 35 group (it's the highest I could muster at the time that could survive the fight.)

Spoiler

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It's not impossible. Just tricky. It's not just Silver or higher runes. It's that + the right damage weapons paired to the right character + some indirect spells from AMs and the right combo of characters which *surprise* consisted of a Monk.

The Stalker Hunting Party:
At sub level 35, plan your party carefully. Have at least a Paladin, Monk, Bard and 2 x AM. All strikers must have at min Silver Runed weapons. Finish it out with 2 x Warriors if you can. The second warrior doesn't have to be too high a level, just high enough to hit, and deal at least the equivalent of the Paladin in damage. Sitck the Bard at slot 5. Front load all your high damage folks.

Paladin
The Paladin carried the party to the Stalker with full HP and SP intact and can deal damage in his own right. Then, Sodars Blessing + Sodar's Shield at level 35 = +7 bonus each. Dump the Stone Blade. If you can afford to Silver Rune the Fiery Avenger of Forgus, the damage bonanza would be obvious. Otherwise, the next best high damage weapon you have.

Monk
A properly developed Monk was invaluble. She killed 3 Prowlers for every 5 that my party knocked out, including the Stalker. My Monk was doubling my Warrior's (equiped with Silversword) average damage, and at peak 4 x Warrior's damage. Wish I had two monks instead (TWO MONKS???) But the overall damage to HP tradoff makes 2 warriors a better balance.

AMs
Casting Farther Foe was not necessary.The closer, the better (so no bows, yeah?) AMs have the deepest toolbox in the party. Don't just think direct brute force frontal attack spells is the be all to end all. What spells here can help the party? Plenty. Old school grizzled veterans will use the term "buffs". Harmonics keep the gas tank deep, but since I was no longer using expensive brute force spells, I didn't need to use any.

Bard
Absolutely necessary. Take one along. Tell him to sit tight and look pretty.

Also think, if you can't hit crits, then the crit makers sit this one out, no? Not saying the Hunter and Thief were useless, but the Monk kept the fight short (and the AMs SP reserves managable.) Damage dealers wanted here, not crit dealers.

[gamerdork]

IMHO, one should not have to customize a party to deal with any given encounter. I want to play with the seven characters that I have had since (re)beginning the game! I do NOT want to feel like I need to (temporarily) dump my rogue and hunter and create a monk and another warrior just to fight this one damn battle. Maybe reducing the crit chance would have been more fair, even if was 1/10 of normal (9 or 10%).

For the love of boss monsters how many frackng hit points does this shadow stalker have?!?! I have played about 12 rounds now and my Pal and War have probably dealt a total of about 18000 points!

Love the game, love the expansion, am decidedly not loving this specific encounter. Still, back to it I guess.

Sincerely,
Frustrated in Lake Geneva.

[wizardz]

You shouldn't have to customize your party for the encounter, however I stand by my advice to develop all the character types and swap them in and out as seems appropriate.

In the modern game I took out the prowler stalker encounters with my group of a rogue, three bards and three arch Mages. Like Limmer I never used a harmonic gem. My battle(s) probably lasted longer than Limmer's, but my party was never in danger. All four fighters were using Electrum Runed Singing Swords. Yes, my monk back at the inn with his Electrum Runed knuckles would have been more effective, but I'm grooming the rogue to be my DC for after I defeat Mazuriel.

To each his own. Just have fun. I'm sure you can find a clever way to win these battles with your party of choice.

After all I beat Mazuriel in the traditional game with just two Arch Mages to prove it could be done--yes, a party of two characters and no summoned assistants.. (A very long battle, but it can be done. I prefer taking him out in one or two rounds with a well-balanced party, but I do usually tend towards overkill.)