The Eight Chambers (spoiler)

[jeremiah]

I usually just have a wizard cast mirror image, summon fire elemental then go invisible for the 8th chamber.

[mr_sir]

ok, so my latest party consists of a level 16 half-elf cleric mage (8 levels of each) with specialisation in necromancy, a level 16 aasimar paladin (thanks to the tome that gives 20k xp lol) and a level 16 halfling rogue. i have tried every single one of them at some point in the last chamber yet get nowhere. the most effective was my rogue but he does nowhere near enough damage as he cannot sneak attack them and only has 110hp, although he evades the flame strikes everytime. my paladin is a very effective fighter with over 200hp but low dexterity means very low ac so she gets pounded by the monks. and my cleric/mage lasts a few seconds only. any advice as slaughtering the monks is something i don't want to do due to my paladin?

[Aerich]

I'd say that your rogue has the best chance due to evasion. Have you buffed it up with every spell possible? I completed the entirety of the Eight Chambers with a low hp monk carrying all the spell buffs I could think of.

Try Bull's Strength, Cat's Grace, Luck, Protection from Evil, Bless, Aid, Prayer, Recitation, Improved Invisibility, Ghost Armor, Stoneskin, and Emotion: Hope.

[mr_sir]

whenever i buff them up all the stuff gets dispelled as soon as they enter the chamber and as my rogue has no spells i cannot buff him in the chamber itself. as for my paladin, by the time i have cast all the buffing spells i am already being beaten to a pulp. and my cleric mage gets down to less than half hit points before she can cast any decent spells. i have just tried my rogue using darts but they only do 2 or 3 hp damage each time and this is just no where near enough to get through it before kill him by having lucky hits as i'm running around the place and there are only 20 darts which is not even enough to kill one of the monks.

edit: managed it now, although largely thanks to what i think was a bug. i tried my rogue and she got one of them down to almost dead before dying on me, then instead of reloading i decided to just continue with my paladin. when i entered, it still dispelled everything but this time, for whatever reason, there were no flame strikes so defensive harmony and divine power plus a longsword destroyed the bronze monks in no time at all as i didn't have to worry about running around avoiding the annoying flames. it must have been a bug but i'm not going to complain as i was getting fed up with it thanks for the help.

[Crucis]

My experience is that the best option for the 8th Chamber is either a cleric or a mage. Immediately after starting the 8th chamber, summon a Fire Elemental. Yes, it will go hostile. Don't worry about it. Run away and cast Invisibility (for a mage) or Sancturary (for a cleric) on yourself and your Fire Elemental will turn on the monks. And the great thing is that the FE will be immune to the fire blasts.

If you're playing in HOF mode, you can get even more nasty and cast a Gate spell. The demon will also be immune to fire and will tear the monks to shreds.


If you have trouble getting in your first summoning spell, perhaps your mage or cleric doesn't have high enough Concentration skill. As other have said, you can try summoning something with a quicker casting time initially, before going Invis and casting your true nasty summons. In the 8th Chamber, the best summons are those who are REALLY nasty and immune to fire.



On a more general note, Clerics are very well suited to ALL 8 chambers, mostly due to their ability to summon all sorts of creatures, and the ability to cast Sancturary.


On the Spider chamber... This can be a very easy room or it can be a rather tough room, if you get hit, poisoned, and confused. My experience is that this room is great for a cleric or a mage. Clerics for the obvious summoning and sancturary reason. Mage, because they can cast some rather nasty other spells that work well on lowly spiders (Acid Fog, Sunfire, Symbol of Hopelessness, etc.), and Mirror Image is a useful defensive spell in this scenario.

This room can be a bit of a challenge in HOF mode, since the spiders won't die with a single fireball. You usually end up wanting to use a lot of summons to defeat this room in HOF.

[mr_sir]

my cleric/mage has ridiculously high concentration. i have done the eight chambers loads of times, just wanted advice on my particular party i have this time as i have a 3 man (well woman) party and no really powerful caster as my cleric/mage is low cleric and low mage as she is just there to tag along and provide the odd buffing spell here and there while my rogue and paladin do all the hard work. also, no invisibility due to being a necromancer. and no really powerful summons. but its sorted now so it doesn't matter anymore. i agree completely with your strategies though as they are what i usually use when i have a character that is capable of those spells thanks for the help though.