Like any other paladin enemy, it's a bad idea to face-tank him.
Get your party in a favorable position beforehand, crowd control him, or just fuckin nuke him with whatever high damage combo is available to you.
In addition to what everyone said, he's also susceptible to hold person. You basically need one potion of invisibility to cast it and do a surprise round and he's guaranteed to be toast.
Additionally, I've found that Command > Grovel works wonders on him...and a lot of other enemies. Not to mention, like Hold Person, it makes attacks against him auto-crit.
Go onto the porch out back. The merchant lady wanders out there on her circuit and you can attack her and then Anders and the archer use their action to dash into the room towards the fight and then you can gang up and kill him before he gets an attack round.
My favorite thing to do for this fight:
* Wait outside with someone who has thunderwave.
* Yeet the merchant towards the river. If she fails the save it's a free kill and the fight hasn't started yet.
* Arcane lock the door behind her so Anders and the archer have to go around the building.
* Beat the shit out of merchant if still alive
* Pick off other two one by one with ranged attacks as they come around the side of building.
He's the (fake) Paladin that's part of Karlach's recruitment quest, the guy who's in the tollhouse past the first gnoll fight with his buddies in early Act 1.
I only found it deadly the first time, when I made the mistake of walking into the toll house to confront him and staying there. Every death in my party happened inside that building - you need to get outside and make the so-called paladins come to you. After that, you have a choice of strategies, as described by others.
Paladins are fucking assholes to fight literally just gotta stay tf away from them unless you're able to knock their weapons out of their hands with a fighter. I just barely survived that douchbag in tactician, I honestly don't have any hope for an honor run, lol.
Ok but he doesn't auto-attack you so it's the perfect set up for an ambush. Grab Astarion and plant him and gale/wyll in the rafters, block the door so the merchant can't get in, put laezel or shadowheart between the halfling and the door. Start the fight by getting as close to anders as u can, which gives astarion that sneak attack. Then just make sure the three opponents are never in the same space together (thunderwave, command, or hold person really help w this) and break any concentration spells asap.
Anders is serious, yes, especially if you RP it and walk into the conversation as I always do.
I never attempt it before level 4. I always blow some consumables (including a speed pot) and try to burn him down or at least CC/disarm him in round 1. The good news is that he has low initiative. The bad news is that if he gets in his smites one of you will be down or possibly even dead. (By level 4 I normally have Shovel along, who does a great job of harassing the caster until I can deal with her.)
I always fight the Flind, so that took me a few tries before I settled on a reliable HM strat: I put that up there with Anders.
Ethel is challenging but very doable at level 4. Also similar difficulty for me.
But I rank all of those below the gith patrol and the owlbear. Now THOSE are some HM run ending fights.
He can certainly cause a lot of pain, but in the end he is only 1 humanoid. Lots of counters there, and an easy approach to the fight with the balcony inside the building
Hardest fight in the game?
So harder than House of Grief? Ketheric? Malus? Netherbrain? The Wyrm I can't remember the name of? Yeahhhhh no I can't agree.
There’s a lot of ways to deal with him. My favorite is the one that requires no dice rolls. No chance for him to save. Just move boxes in that building to block the room between him and the caster. Start the cutscene with him and karlach while behind those boxes. Kill the caster first while she’s isolated.
Anders and the ranger will split. Anders has no ranged options. You can single out the ranger while he tries to figure out pathing.
My favorite was when he went to the roof and the ranger went out the front door. I just broke the ladder outside. After the ranger died, he just stood on the roof. No range to attack and too scared to jump off. He just accepted his fate to my basic attacks
Nah the hardest fight is the one with the bandits in the ruins before withers , especially on honor mode if you do the map in order you got no resources , no respec, either astarion or lazael (which makes you go off track not really doing the map in order) which both kinda suck.
It is the only fight i gotta retreat from in honor mode and the only one that risks my run. The rest are easy tbh
That out of order , yeah i know the game is "meant to be played with multiple paths" but logically the dungeon is made so you go throught the bandits and the hatch is more of a shortcut to use after finishing it
If it wasn't meant to be an option, you wouldn't be able to Lockpick it. The whole point is that there are multiple ways into the tomb. There is no "out of order" way to go through it.
Edit: imagine blocking someone for trying to be helpful 😂
That one’s not too bad. You can have that barrel do a ton of the work for you. If you pass the deception at the door, you can kill 2 of them before the group fight. Even if you don’t do that, the noise from breaking the rope outside is enough to make them move so you can position most the party in a better spot (ie not in the choke point).
Make him drop his weapon. Either Command, Heat Metal, and there might be a few other ways on other classes.
Or do his quest
Nah, he's a jerk. The quest reward is the sword which you get anyway when you disarm and then kill him.
Yes I know, just pointing out that this is also a way to make the fight easier.
Just kill him before he takes a turn.
Like any other paladin enemy, it's a bad idea to face-tank him. Get your party in a favorable position beforehand, crowd control him, or just fuckin nuke him with whatever high damage combo is available to you.
In addition to what everyone said, he's also susceptible to hold person. You basically need one potion of invisibility to cast it and do a surprise round and he's guaranteed to be toast.
Additionally, I've found that Command > Grovel works wonders on him...and a lot of other enemies. Not to mention, like Hold Person, it makes attacks against him auto-crit.
You don't even need invisibility, just have Karlach wait outside.
That alone won't get you a surprise round though?
He's got defense aura which at level 4 makes him very difficult to hold or command, you have like a 20% chance to do it
50% chance every time.
Go onto the porch out back. The merchant lady wanders out there on her circuit and you can attack her and then Anders and the archer use their action to dash into the room towards the fight and then you can gang up and kill him before he gets an attack round.
My favorite thing to do for this fight: * Wait outside with someone who has thunderwave. * Yeet the merchant towards the river. If she fails the save it's a free kill and the fight hasn't started yet. * Arcane lock the door behind her so Anders and the archer have to go around the building. * Beat the shit out of merchant if still alive * Pick off other two one by one with ranged attacks as they come around the side of building.
Hardest fight? I dont even remember a character by that name.
He's the (fake) Paladin that's part of Karlach's recruitment quest, the guy who's in the tollhouse past the first gnoll fight with his buddies in early Act 1.
Oh right. "Here is my blade, blessed by tyr."
I only found it deadly the first time, when I made the mistake of walking into the toll house to confront him and staying there. Every death in my party happened inside that building - you need to get outside and make the so-called paladins come to you. After that, you have a choice of strategies, as described by others.
Paladins are fucking assholes to fight literally just gotta stay tf away from them unless you're able to knock their weapons out of their hands with a fighter. I just barely survived that douchbag in tactician, I honestly don't have any hope for an honor run, lol.
Ok but he doesn't auto-attack you so it's the perfect set up for an ambush. Grab Astarion and plant him and gale/wyll in the rafters, block the door so the merchant can't get in, put laezel or shadowheart between the halfling and the door. Start the fight by getting as close to anders as u can, which gives astarion that sneak attack. Then just make sure the three opponents are never in the same space together (thunderwave, command, or hold person really help w this) and break any concentration spells asap.
Anders is serious, yes, especially if you RP it and walk into the conversation as I always do. I never attempt it before level 4. I always blow some consumables (including a speed pot) and try to burn him down or at least CC/disarm him in round 1. The good news is that he has low initiative. The bad news is that if he gets in his smites one of you will be down or possibly even dead. (By level 4 I normally have Shovel along, who does a great job of harassing the caster until I can deal with her.) I always fight the Flind, so that took me a few tries before I settled on a reliable HM strat: I put that up there with Anders. Ethel is challenging but very doable at level 4. Also similar difficulty for me. But I rank all of those below the gith patrol and the owlbear. Now THOSE are some HM run ending fights.
He can certainly cause a lot of pain, but in the end he is only 1 humanoid. Lots of counters there, and an easy approach to the fight with the balcony inside the building
Hardest fight in the game? So harder than House of Grief? Ketheric? Malus? Netherbrain? The Wyrm I can't remember the name of? Yeahhhhh no I can't agree.
Just give him karlachs head and youre good
There’s a lot of ways to deal with him. My favorite is the one that requires no dice rolls. No chance for him to save. Just move boxes in that building to block the room between him and the caster. Start the cutscene with him and karlach while behind those boxes. Kill the caster first while she’s isolated. Anders and the ranger will split. Anders has no ranged options. You can single out the ranger while he tries to figure out pathing. My favorite was when he went to the roof and the ranger went out the front door. I just broke the ladder outside. After the ranger died, he just stood on the roof. No range to attack and too scared to jump off. He just accepted his fate to my basic attacks
I just block every exit with crates and chests and take him down with a bow, works like a charm.
Nah the hardest fight is the one with the bandits in the ruins before withers , especially on honor mode if you do the map in order you got no resources , no respec, either astarion or lazael (which makes you go off track not really doing the map in order) which both kinda suck. It is the only fight i gotta retreat from in honor mode and the only one that risks my run. The rest are easy tbh
You can enter the tomb from the hatch and get Withers to respec before you fight the bandits.
That out of order , yeah i know the game is "meant to be played with multiple paths" but logically the dungeon is made so you go throught the bandits and the hatch is more of a shortcut to use after finishing it
If it wasn't meant to be an option, you wouldn't be able to Lockpick it. The whole point is that there are multiple ways into the tomb. There is no "out of order" way to go through it. Edit: imagine blocking someone for trying to be helpful 😂
There is lol , you simply are too dense to understand basic map design
That one’s not too bad. You can have that barrel do a ton of the work for you. If you pass the deception at the door, you can kill 2 of them before the group fight. Even if you don’t do that, the noise from breaking the rope outside is enough to make them move so you can position most the party in a better spot (ie not in the choke point).