Newbie STK solo Q

[uncus2]

Can anyone offer any useful advice on how to solo the "Giant" at the end of STK?

I've tried Slow and Web; I've tried Construct-bane arrows [never seen a melee weapon on AH] and seem to only hit on a 20 [currently +6 to hit with lesser bane bonus]; I've even tried meleeing the @#$% <strangely giving my best result so far of him half-dead to my fully dead >

Oh, "Don't solo him" is NOT useful advice!

My stats: Mostly balanced - 10 Cha, rest 12 or 14
My gear: non-twinked, I am my own main Best is +1 Holy rapier [useless in this case]
My classes: Cleric 3/Wiz 1/Rog 1 - most points are in spot/search/open lock/disable
not positive but I think hp 46 [or 49?], 401 sp [381 when put away power 2 dagger]

[Oreg]

Magic missile?

[Dariun]

Maximized magic missile and Melf's acid arrow. Hypnotism to stop the elementals.

Depends on your class though. He's a tough one.

[JaeBeam]

Maybe bring along some interesting scrolls?

Summon Monster VI or something. Bring a lot of them, in case you fail. Bring wands to cure and buff said pet.

Are there wands of Scortching ray? That spell does some big harm to the end chap. Once your pet has gotten aggro, use the wand a few times. Maybe go all out and try to find scrolls of comet fall or blade barrier (if they exist).

Just some ideas, I've never tried to do what you are attempting w/o a group. I don't know how rich you are either...

[Dariun]

There are wands of scorching ray. They are good to have, but when you are running for your life it can be hard to get him targetted properly.

Summon Monster VI would be nice, but if you can activate those scrolls, you are high enough level to deal with that guy in other ways.

[GeneralDiomedes]

Also I'm not sure if this still works, but you can kill the elementals before the battle starts. Just target them manually with a ranged weapon that can hurt them.

Also you have nimbus of light as a cleric .. that works fine. Get some superior beatitude pots or a superior potency item. If you could wait until you have 5 cleric lvls, then you could chain cast searing light as well. Anyways, basic strat is to hit and run. Just be aware that if you head to the water, there is a chance he will follow .. and respawn at full health.

I would normally suggest meleeing .. but your build with 3 0 BABs is going to have a hard time hitting him unless you get a really uber adamantine weapon.

[Talon_Moonshadow]

he hits soooo hard...and has such a long reach, that soloing him at any where near the lvl of the quest, is almost impossible IMO.

I have yet to run from him forever....and few weapons actually hurt him....plus he has a high AC.

Spells work....and work well. I think I've seen a caster use only 2 niacs or so and kill him.

I suppose you can technically solo him by dying a lot.

All the suggestions above will hurt him. But the real problem is staying alive at your lvl and AC/HP.

[Delt]

If you only go a certain distance in the water, he won't follow/reset, he'll just chuck **** at ya. Then just jump/cast. You'll need alot of heal pots to pull off that method though.

[uncus2]

Thanks for the suggestions!
The "Jump, cast" in particular sounds interesting...
I have a wand of scorching ray and a fireball one - didn't use either as I thought he might regen with fire [like the old AD&D Iron Golem]!

[Impaqt]

Get yoru self a dozen or so Haste Potions. some Mnemonic enhancers, a Superior(Maybe onbly Greater at your level) Potency 2 Item and Chain Cast
Magic Missle, Deific Vengence, and Nimbus of Light. They all do Red Damage to him.

Make Sure you have the 10&#37; Bonus to Good/Light Spell Enahncment onthe Cleric siude and FOrce on the WIzard side.

Iron Golems do Regen with Fire.... However, Hes not Iron(Or doesnt appear to be) I'm not really sure why hes a Construct at all to tel ya the truth.

[barabel]

If you are going to try and melee it, make sure you have an adamantine weapon. You should be able to do more damage than with a bane weapon if you can get past his DR.

Your best bet though is to Buff yourself up as much as you can before the fight:

Wands
-Blur
-False Life

Potions
-Bull's Strength/Cat's Grace,Bull's Endurance
-Heroism/Barkskin/Shield of Faith
-Invisibility w/ Hide skill (to temporarily get away)
-Rage
-Haste

Scrolls
-Summon Monster (just to give the bad guys something else to focus on)

No matter what, he's going to be tough at this level.

EDIT: Looking at your class mix, I calculate your Hit Points should be a bit higher. 20 + Cleric*3 (24) + Wizard (4) + Rogue (6). That should be a starting total of 54. If you are running a CON below 10 then, I'd definitely be staying away from any sort of melee that's near your level. You are not going to last long.

[GeneralDiomedes]

I myself in the past have gone about 3/4 of the way back, and swam back and forth chucking daggers at him and he never respawned, so take it for what it's worth. It may just be pure chance. And at that distance, I was able to time my swim to only get smacked by about 1 out of every 20 rocks.

EDIT: I saw your HP .. and yeah I would suggest staying out of melee range whatever strategy you decide. The guardian crits in the mid 60s on normal.

[JaeBeam]

Can't you cast from scrolls that are higher level, just at a % chance to fail?

I'm thinking you buy 10 scrolls, and if you are at a 30% chance to succeed... you get the idea. What is the highest level monster you can summon from a scroll at a reasonable success chance. You summon and buff before spawning the final fight, so you don't have to be stressed about failing.

Isn't it like 5% chance of failure * caster level needed?

So 5th = III, 7th = IV, 9th = V, 11th = VI, 13th = VII, so monster summoning VII is a 13th level spell, 10 levels higher (you are 3rd level cleric) or 50% chance to succeed? I can't seem to find the rules for successfull scroll use on the DDO Wiki, but it looks like Monster Summoning scrolls are going to have to be purchased from the AH.

[GeneralDiomedes]

Scrolls have minimum level of 2 below the min caster level to cast the spell. So lvl 3 cleric could scroll summon monster IV.

But .. he has cold resist 10, fire resist 10, acid resist 10 and DR 10-15/Adamantine (AFAIK, can't get to DDO catalog from work) so that is not going to help you as no mob IV and below could even do damage to him (hell hound might get lucky with some fire breath). That, and big red would squash them in 1 or 2 hits.

Where it might help is if you can get him to aggro on the pet first, and head to the water .. you might get him to go into rock throwing mode right away and lessen the chance of him water spawning.

P.S. With the way the forums have been going lately, I think this is the last public post I will ever make on game mechanics.

[jjflanigan]

Scrolls have minimum level of 2 below the min caster level to cast the spell. So lvl 3 cleric could scroll summon monster IV.

But .. he has cold resist 10, fire resist 10, acid resist 10 and DR 10-15/Adamantine (AFAIK, can't get to DDO catalog from work) so that is not going to help you as no mob IV and below could even do damage to him (hell hound might get lucky with some fire breath). That, and big red would squash them in 1 or 2 hits.

Where it might help is if you can get him to aggro on the pet first, and head to the water .. you might get him to go into rock throwing mode right away and lessen the chance of him water spawning.

...when did they move Big Red into STK from the Shroud?!

Best bet is ranging from the water. It's a fine line to get a spot where he'll range you without charging into the water, though.

[GeneralDiomedes]

...when did they move Big Red into STK from the Shroud?!

Well, I guess he's now Little Red

[Heels]

I solo'd him at level 5 on my sorc without going to water, straight up stood there and fought him. Maximized Melf's followed by Maximized Shocking Grasps, just chugged a jump/mage armor/shield/blur/heroism/aid potion/clicky/wand and killed him in 3 shots I believe. Also had greater efficacy II on which helped with both spells.

Think I may have had to toss one heal on myself in the middle of it all. With your class combo, the water may be the best route to run, although I've never done it that way, so can't really comment on the chances of success with it.

Here's a link to the solo kill at level 5 for what it's worth: http://i141.photobucket.com/albums/r...nShot00005.jpg

[Solmage]

As for how to solo him, that depends:

on normal, cast 1 disintegrate.

on elite, cast 1 disintegrate.

=)

Seriously, the shocking grasp approach is your best bet, or if you want the non magic approach you will have to get a construct bane melee weapon, he has a pretty high AC. Failing that, at least get a +4 or +5 adamantine weapon. Also use heroism pots, haste pots, and just about any other boost you could possibly come up with, including a fighters to-hit boost.

[GeneralDiomedes]

Look at his build first ,, I kill him with shocking grasp too ,, but pretty sure lvl 1 shocking grasp isn't going to cut it.

[uncus2]

Maybe not shocking grasp, but I do have a Lightning Bolt wand Is he more susceptible to electricity?

Again, thanks to all - especially the others who solo and can offer first-hand knowledge!

Oh and the above poster who did hps - you are correct, my total is actually 54 [I was remembering the hp from waking up in the Tavern after the smackdown] I hope to try again this weekend - I'll try to post a screenie of my success!