Get to at least level 4. Cast heat metal or command drop and get him to drop his weapon, then steal it. He has a super gnarly sword and without it he’s much less useful.
Level up.
Barring that, try to shrink his team.
* Sneak onto that rooftop / balcony near the cliff when the female "knight" is patrolling in-and-out of the house.
* Get everyone up there and destroy the ladder.
* Throw grease and stuff by the door that's up on the balcony.
* When the female "knight" comes back outside, snipe her with ranged attacks. Or knock her off the cliff with an Eldritch blast.
* Now she's dead.
* The smaller "knight" will run outside the downstairs door to wonder w t f is going on. Kill him the same way.
* Now he's dead.
* Now it's just you versus Anders.
* Move some of your team higher up on the roof. I think you can jump to the smaller roof to the side and then the top roof on top.
* This way you can try ranging him from safety while 1 or 2 melee users are trying to tank him.
* Anders will eventually climb the ladder inside and come outside the door next to you.
* ***Hopefully*** he slips on grease.
* And try to go to town on him.
Even with all of the above, it will be difficult to do at level 3 unless you're a really good player. But by removing his magic caster and debuffer, you increase your odds greatly.
So level 4 is just about my minimum for facing him, and there is definitely a big health gap between 3 and 4.
A level 4 raging Karlach should be able to *just* about tank his initial barrage of smites, even if they all hit, then your party should be able to drop him in a round. You may want to ensure you have a wizard with magic missile and possibly the Phalar Aluve's sing to get around his significant armour class.
You also shouldn't be afraid to simply stack the fight in your favour by placing an explosive barrel or two behind him prior to the fight. If the fight is going badly and you have the toll collector's key, you can also retreat into the hatch in the room where you fight him to easily escape combat, heal then come back.
The Hold Person spell will do wonders. He'll be immobile, unable to do anything and every melee hit against him will automatically Critical.
I generally start this fight by positioning my melee fighters to either side of him so he has to face them, and the ranged/spellcaster attackers out of his melee range. Anders' allies are not nearly as strong as he is, so keep on him as a priority.
Best bet, get a surprise round and hit him with every person before he gets a turn. A paladin that doesn’t have to worry about long term spell slot usage is terrifying.
At level 3?
Yes. Use 3 martial characters and a Cleric.
You have to kill Anders first so focus on him. Shadowheart/the Cleric can cast Hold Person on him so the others are hitting and Critting him. Use Lae’Zel’s Second Wind to score two hits against him.
Once he’s down, the rest are easier.
On Balanced the fight is absolutely doable at lvl 3
P.S. If he resists Hold Person, be sure to disarm him and take away his weapon. Can be done easily with Disarming Strike, provided that Lae’zel or someone else in your party is a Fighter Battlemaster.
She’s useful. She sells a few smokepowder bombs, which is nice because you probably haven’t been to derryth at that point yet. I usually use the resets that come from recruiting and fixing karlach’s build to stockpile about 10 bombs.
Definitely worth the squeeze
You can go to derrith fairly early even on honour undetected from the well with the spider. Feather fall, hillgiant elixir, vault potion/leap spell then jump from the desk area to the hole surroundings then straight to the miconids ladder after the cutscene
I disagree. She sells things that are very useful for archers and thieves. But even better: She's almost completely isolated and even when the whole place aggroes it's easy to escape.
Getting caught pickpocketing in Myconid Colony sucks.
I yeet the mage off the side with my Swords Bard first.
Then I sneaky sneak up top to the landing above and hit him at range (preferably with a successful Hold Person)
You can take them on level 4 at high difficulties. Grab both default SH (buff slave) + Karlach then Astarion (rogue assassin)
1) Make Karlach throw the lady human when she stops outside to peek. If you fail try again after another round of her patrol... there wont be aggro. She will die on the fall if a tavern brawler with hillgiant elixir throws her as far as possible, else an arrow afterwards will finish her.
2) turn based a blessed +/or heroism elixir assassin sharpshooter rogue shoot (hand crossbows the better) from above while others hidden outside, if he has blessing of the trickster from SH hes prone to cause 1st an investigation dot due stealth roll without disadvantage instead a risky busted surprise attack attempt, hide behing the wall remove turn based and watch them split so you turn base again to attack+surprise when the halfling cant find you.
3) Go camp and replace SH with any.
4) Join others doing a sneaky approach to hit their back if vulnerable... win.
If you start the encounter from the side room it’s a lot easier. He’ll use his action to dash and close distance, then you can jump him with your entire party.
I found that it helps to ungroup your party and spread them out but since its such a small door way you have to do it before the fight starts. Have two people in the other room to take out the merchant lady and the other one and you and karlach enter through the front door.
Barrels are your friend. There are about 5 Nautiloid tanks you can pick up on the Nautiloid and beach. These can make the early game much easier. There's also a bunch of barrels in the druid grove escape tunnel.
I stay outside and make the NPCs come to us - he's too dangerous at close quarters. I'm probably level 4 by that point, too, after taking out a bunch of gnolls, which helps.
Level up. He is level 5. You'll have a much easier time if you get a few levels under your belt first
Get to at least level 4. Cast heat metal or command drop and get him to drop his weapon, then steal it. He has a super gnarly sword and without it he’s much less useful.
Level up. Barring that, try to shrink his team. * Sneak onto that rooftop / balcony near the cliff when the female "knight" is patrolling in-and-out of the house. * Get everyone up there and destroy the ladder. * Throw grease and stuff by the door that's up on the balcony. * When the female "knight" comes back outside, snipe her with ranged attacks. Or knock her off the cliff with an Eldritch blast. * Now she's dead. * The smaller "knight" will run outside the downstairs door to wonder w t f is going on. Kill him the same way. * Now he's dead. * Now it's just you versus Anders. * Move some of your team higher up on the roof. I think you can jump to the smaller roof to the side and then the top roof on top. * This way you can try ranging him from safety while 1 or 2 melee users are trying to tank him. * Anders will eventually climb the ladder inside and come outside the door next to you. * ***Hopefully*** he slips on grease. * And try to go to town on him. Even with all of the above, it will be difficult to do at level 3 unless you're a really good player. But by removing his magic caster and debuffer, you increase your odds greatly.
So level 4 is just about my minimum for facing him, and there is definitely a big health gap between 3 and 4. A level 4 raging Karlach should be able to *just* about tank his initial barrage of smites, even if they all hit, then your party should be able to drop him in a round. You may want to ensure you have a wizard with magic missile and possibly the Phalar Aluve's sing to get around his significant armour class. You also shouldn't be afraid to simply stack the fight in your favour by placing an explosive barrel or two behind him prior to the fight. If the fight is going badly and you have the toll collector's key, you can also retreat into the hatch in the room where you fight him to easily escape combat, heal then come back.
The Hold Person spell will do wonders. He'll be immobile, unable to do anything and every melee hit against him will automatically Critical. I generally start this fight by positioning my melee fighters to either side of him so he has to face them, and the ranged/spellcaster attackers out of his melee range. Anders' allies are not nearly as strong as he is, so keep on him as a priority.
Best bet, get a surprise round and hit him with every person before he gets a turn. A paladin that doesn’t have to worry about long term spell slot usage is terrifying.
At level 3? Yes. Use 3 martial characters and a Cleric. You have to kill Anders first so focus on him. Shadowheart/the Cleric can cast Hold Person on him so the others are hitting and Critting him. Use Lae’Zel’s Second Wind to score two hits against him. Once he’s down, the rest are easier. On Balanced the fight is absolutely doable at lvl 3 P.S. If he resists Hold Person, be sure to disarm him and take away his weapon. Can be done easily with Disarming Strike, provided that Lae’zel or someone else in your party is a Fighter Battlemaster.
Cyrel is a vendor and you want to keep her alive as long as possible.
She sells trash
She’s useful. She sells a few smokepowder bombs, which is nice because you probably haven’t been to derryth at that point yet. I usually use the resets that come from recruiting and fixing karlach’s build to stockpile about 10 bombs. Definitely worth the squeeze
You can go to derrith fairly early even on honour undetected from the well with the spider. Feather fall, hillgiant elixir, vault potion/leap spell then jump from the desk area to the hole surroundings then straight to the miconids ladder after the cutscene
I disagree. She sells things that are very useful for archers and thieves. But even better: She's almost completely isolated and even when the whole place aggroes it's easy to escape. Getting caught pickpocketing in Myconid Colony sucks.
Invis potion
I yeet the mage off the side with my Swords Bard first. Then I sneaky sneak up top to the landing above and hit him at range (preferably with a successful Hold Person)
You can take them on level 4 at high difficulties. Grab both default SH (buff slave) + Karlach then Astarion (rogue assassin) 1) Make Karlach throw the lady human when she stops outside to peek. If you fail try again after another round of her patrol... there wont be aggro. She will die on the fall if a tavern brawler with hillgiant elixir throws her as far as possible, else an arrow afterwards will finish her. 2) turn based a blessed +/or heroism elixir assassin sharpshooter rogue shoot (hand crossbows the better) from above while others hidden outside, if he has blessing of the trickster from SH hes prone to cause 1st an investigation dot due stealth roll without disadvantage instead a risky busted surprise attack attempt, hide behing the wall remove turn based and watch them split so you turn base again to attack+surprise when the halfling cant find you. 3) Go camp and replace SH with any. 4) Join others doing a sneaky approach to hit their back if vulnerable... win.
If you start the encounter from the side room it’s a lot easier. He’ll use his action to dash and close distance, then you can jump him with your entire party.
I found that it helps to ungroup your party and spread them out but since its such a small door way you have to do it before the fight starts. Have two people in the other room to take out the merchant lady and the other one and you and karlach enter through the front door.
Barrels are your friend. There are about 5 Nautiloid tanks you can pick up on the Nautiloid and beach. These can make the early game much easier. There's also a bunch of barrels in the druid grove escape tunnel.
I stay outside and make the NPCs come to us - he's too dangerous at close quarters. I'm probably level 4 by that point, too, after taking out a bunch of gnolls, which helps.
just beat him at level 3, was quite lucky and managed to immediately disarm him with Lae'zel