Dungeon Master Forum

i just met an animated armour and was killed.

any tips?

thanks

matttcattt

If you have magic boxes to use, use them. Depending on what level your characters are at, casting a high level Invisibility spell (OH EW SAR) may buy you some time. If you have any weapons that berzerk, use them. If you only have one then equip the other fighter with a weapon that jabs. Don't waste time with attack spells, instead try casting the Shield Spell (YA IR).
Have some high level VI potions prepared ahead of time. If a door is near, lure the Armour under it and close it. Activate the four pits when an Armour walks onto one (located in the begining of the Armour level). Having all that armour, you might think that the Animated Armour would be a slow moving monster, but it isn't so make sure you aren't overloaded. Hope this is enough.

I've managed to kill them with PAL level lightning bolts, but it completely drained my party of mana doing it. This is one of the few monsters where YA IR spells help greatly. Chop at them (or better yet, bezerk) with Hardcleave and stab at them with Diamond Edge. If you have mana to spare hit them with powerful OH KATH RA spells, but maintain a YA IR shield, and don't be afraid to run away and sleep. MON VI potions will also be needed. You might also want to try ninja attacks if you're party is all spellcasters without the strength to do damage with diamond edge and hardcleave. Remember to throw lightning as well as punches however.

Lightning isn't nearly as effective as people make it out. A MON level lightning bolt only takes off 3-4 hitpoints at a time. The most effective forms of attack are with heavy edged weapons: Diamond Edge, Inquisitor and Hardcleave. Oh, and trapping them under a closing door with a freeze life always helps.

I'd agree with the above, I'd pour magic into having lots of VI potions made up ahead of time, keeping a powerful YA IR shield going, and if you have any spare mana throw it into a few nice KU potions to give you some added damage to your blows.
Strong weapons, unloaded party to move fast, and you'll start to find them less evil. Try not to go toe to toe with them without a few shields, VI potions and good armour though!

use ya ir shields and punch them down, id say. probably train a bit at the end of the rat level. 400 health or more is quite ok at that time...

I prefer to fight them directly at a (closing) door with two heavy armored berzerking fighters protected by YA IR in front and making use of the OH VEN spell to heighten the continual damage done by the door somewhat.

The closing door is good because they are so intelligent..they will keep retreating after a few seconds, giving you breathing room to heal, and normally only dishing out one blow themselves.

Lunever - OH VEN has no effect on Animated Armours, so save your Mana!

Yup, this isn't like the minimal spell damage thing taked about earlier, there is a complete immunity for poison clouds (poison darts spells can still do damage, impact damage i guess!). Golems, mummies and skeletons are also immune.
Forgot about that!

Thanx, didn´t knew ´til now!

Animated armors turn so slowly that you can kill them with whatever you want unless they have you cornered. Just run around them all the time and hit them in the back if you have at least 2x2 squares to fight them. In a corridor you can step back, hit them when they reach you, step back again etc. No need to waste mana on the armors.

Matttcattt wrote:i just met an animated armour and was killed.

any tips?

thanks

matttcattt

You don't have to fight them. You can lure most of them in a small room and close the door. Only one of them needs to be defeated because it has a key you need. An easy way to kill it is to let it fall in the hidden pits at the beginning of the level. (Don't forget to get the key.)

Kind regards,

Dennis

The two at the end need to be confronted unless you are lucky and they are before the 2x2 bump in the end corridor. And even then, you need to hope the oitu doesn't trap you too

Animated armours aren't slow though, i'd say they are about the same speed as other normal creatures...we have dm tools to find this stuff out now, don't we?

Ha! No problem. I defeated them with only 1 character (Chani) without any spells or magic shields or so, just with door and sword.
I agree with Beo - they are not so slow!

Knights hit hard, obviously, so you want to avoid that...when killing things in doors if you stand in front of the door and shut it whenever they step forward (do NOT step back yourself or they'll just come through the door and get you), they hopefully won't have time to hit you before they have to retreat. But you should have time to get in a couple of smacks .
Don't waste mana casting spells on them...they're pretty resistant to everything, I think.
There are two locations on that level (one to the south, not far from the stairs up, one to the north at the end of a corridor with some Spiders and more Knights) where mobs can't pass. Both are at corners. So you can hide around the corner and face the wall so you can see round the corner. The mobs will come to, like, the square before the corner and stop, unable to pass. You just ready a weapon, sidestep, hit 'em, and step back again. If they're facing sideways when you step out this gives you even more time to hit them before they turn and strike back.
Black Knights are tough buggers, but keep chipping away and you'll get 'em in the end. They're kinda similar to Scorpions I suppose, only less susceptible to Fireballs and not poisonous (erm well I think Scorps are poisonous anyway, can't remember off the top of my head lol).

knights/armours also hit fast - a double attack isn't to be sneezed at!
scorpions have slight fire resistance but are otherwise easy enough

I had more luck with keeping 2 top level heal pots on me and going bare fisted then to sit there and miss a lot with beserk or swing.

Punches lack damage but very very very fast. More DPS suprisingly then beserik IMO.

beowuuf wrote:knights/armours also hit fast - a double attack isn't to be sneezed at!
scorpions have slight fire resistance but are otherwise easy enough

Posion bolt would either kill those in 1 shot or leave it weak enough to go and beat on it (scorps)

Some of the animated armors are easily dealt with as you can make them fall into traps. This is the case of the first one you meet in DM, thanks to the invisible traps at the first room of the level, and maybe other armors can be killed that way (I don't remember which can reach that room, not all of them can). This suffices to kill them (or maybe they cannot survive at the level below ?).

This is also true for the ones you meet in the ROS way of CSB. There is a group of 2 and a group of 4 animated armors. One of them (I don't remeber which) dies when it falls from one floor, the other need to fall from 2 floors, and of course, it is possible to open two traps one above the other to get rid from them.

The dropping-them-through-the-invisible-pit thing used to work in the Atari version (and possibly other versions as well, but I don't know 'acuse I never playde 'em) 'cause there was only the memory to have certain types of creatures on each level. So the level below the one with the Knights didn't have the capacity to cope with one being there, so it killed them when they fell down the pit.
In RTC (possibly some other clones too?), there is memory for that so when you dump them down the pit and follow in order to loot the key or whatever, be prepared for a grumpy Knight or two! But they're easy, just move in backward circles and twat 'em when they sidestep. Same technique works flawlessly with Dragons too. Just don't get cornered or any mobs behind you .