PC Ekspert Forum - Dungeon Siege 2

citiram iz guide by Papagamer

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Chapter 9: The Final Ascent
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* Locate the Temple of Valdis
* Destroy Valdis
* Go through the portal

You've got a lot of stairs to climb, and every inch is contested--many times
by groups of mini-bosses. If you've been following this guide and doing every
sidequest, you're probably running four to five levels above everything you
encounter, so this is mostly tedious.

**NOTE** It cannot be stressed enough that if you quit or die here, you have
to make this ascent again and *all* the mobs respawn.

When you finally reach the Temple of Valdis, it is remarkably (and
comfortingly clear). Open a town portal and hie thee back to Kalrathia for a
refit. Make sure you have rez scrolls for everybody. Lots of potions. Etc.

Continue into the temple until you meet Valdis. Don't try to attack him, he's
invulnerable. The only way to hurt him is to lure him in front of one of the
Eyes of Zaramoth placed on the edges of the room, then beat on the eye to
open it (and they don't have great range). Conversely, Valdis can kill you
quite easily. No matter how well you've outfitted your party, one sword combo
from Valdis and they all turn into grave markers.

The best way to handle Valdis is to get beyond an Eye in a straight line from
Valdis, so that he is forced to walk directly past the Eye you're near. Time
it so your ranger starts attacking the Eye when Valdis is about three to four
steps away (or two or five, depending on the damage your ranger can do). If
you time it right, Valdis will get zapped before he even gets close enough to
you to start swinging.

For example:

Eye

Valdis

X - start shooting the Eye when Valdis is here

Eye

You

It will take patience and practice, but once perfected, you can take Valdis
out pretty easily. You have to hit him three times to advance to the next
stage of the fight. After the first hit, Valids summons a horde of Qatall
Minions. Take them out while staying away from Valdis, then re-commence the
luring/zapping project.

After the third hit, you get the Fantasy RPG Plot Twists for Idiots cutscene
and the fight against Valdis takes on a more traditional flavor. Valdis is
now, essentially, just another boss character. He's got 90,000 health and he
can regenerate, so you don't want to leave him alone for a long time.

Don't worry about falling into the lava, if your characters are reasonably
well-equipped, you won't get hurt (much). Just don't go swimming in it. Lay
into Valdis with everything you've got.

Valdis has four main attacks:

1. A shockwave that will throw your characters back. Not a huge problem, even
if you fall in the lava. However, if your party is melee-heavy, it will push
the fighters off Valdis for a few seconds, during which he can regenerate.
Don't worry about the shockwave and just keep at him

2. He will bring rocks crashing down. This is (or should be) a non-issue. A
few rocks shouldn't hurt you, but, if they're giving you fits, just watch for
the enlarging shadows and run away.

3. A gigantic fireball. This one's dangerous. Fortunately, Valdis starts to
glow yellow before releasing it, and he won't change his orientation once he
starts the spell. So, as soon as Valdis begins to glow yellow, run behind him
and attack his back while he blasts empty air with a pretty fireball.

4. More a defensive maneuver than an attack, Valdis will clone himself,
giving himself time to regenerate while you attack a clone. However, the
clones don't react to attacks--they don't physically react and they don't
make any noise. So if you hit a Valdis and it doesn't do anything, go attack
another one.

Once you take off one-third of his health, he summons a horde of Qatall
Minions. By this point, Qatall Minions should be little more trouble than
flies. Don't worry about them and concentrate on Valdis.

When Valdis reaches 0 health, he revives and summons a shield around himself.
(So, why didn't he do this earlier?) You can't penetrate the shield, but the
great big Eye of Zaramoth that was just revealed, can. This one's easy
because Valdis doesn't have his sword. Stand in front of the eye, wait for
Valdis to get close, then whack it. Brutal Strike or Take Aim (or some other
high-damage, single strike power) works very well.

After the cutscenes you can return to Kalrathia and finish up whatever you've
left hanging. This would be a good time to do The Mysterious Mystery Quest.
You can also arrange your companions and equipment for playing at the next
difficulty level. One thing you might want to do now is visit a store and buy
some 0-level bows, swords and spells. If you want to do a little multi-
classing at the higher difficulty levels, you won't be able to buy any 0-
level gear to get you started. So buy it now and stick it in your Storage
Vault or on a pet at the Inn.

FINIS"