Can't defeat thugs in north Thaermore

[AlexH]

Hi guys,

I officially bought the game last night. I'm playing as a level 5 ranger. I'm in the north parish area (two areas north of the Aridell area). There is a place called the "shortcut" path in the woods where you are ambushed by 4 thugs demanding money. At the level I'm at right now, I can't beat them. Any tips? I know I could come back later but where's the fun in that?

[Getharn]

That's unfortunately a really tough situation for a ranger, since it renders your ranged attacks a lot less useful. If you're intent on taking them toe-to-toe, you could try waiting until it's dark, and fight with the Cat's Eyes spell in effect. This makes it rather harder for them to hit you. You may be able to cast this, depending if you have points in divination, or you can find potions that duplicate the effects. Also, if you have divination spells, make sure you're loaded up with leatherskin and bless before you go into combat. Also, spells like entangle are really handy for keeping some of them busy while you whittle down their numbers.

One thing to bear in mind is that in melee, swigging a weak healing potion can be useless if you're surrounded by enemies, since they effectively get a free attack on you that round, so they might negate all the HP gain in one fell swoop.

A completely different strategy would be to see if you can weave your way from outside the group of them without taking too many hits, and lead them a merry jig around the forest. If you weave between trees as you move away, they sometimes get caught up amonst themselves and you gain a square or two's lead on them. At this point you can loose a couple of arrows, then resume your flight. You might think of this as a "fighting withdrawl".

I've successfully killed a few powerful monsters using this approach, but it does tend to be desperately slow unless you can find scenery which makes it easy to pull ahead of your pursuers. With a larger group, you could use this tactic to take down some of their number, and then move in to melee to finish the rest off.

Finally, you could go for the debatable tactic of leading them to the edge of the map, and then simply flip back and forward between the areas (they won't follow you), resting in the quiet area. Personally I regard this as "cheating", but that's something you have to decide for yourself - it's not a competetive game, so whatever gives you the most fun is good.

'Course, the last tactic also has the disadvantage that if you have a random encounter while resting, you'll be caught between a rock and a hard place. Well, or a thug and a sharp place, as it might be.

[Turtle]

A Predator Sight potion is more effective for rangers than Cat's eyes.

Also, if you happen to have any demon oil, you can use it as a barrier: flee into a narrow area, such as the little path that leads to the south, toss a flask of demon oil in such a way as to block the path, and snipe away. Thugs won't walk into flames to get at you. You will probably need a few flasks, depending on how good a shot you are with your bow.

Another option is to flee to the east or west and then across the border to South Parish--then circle back from the other direction, carefully sneak up on them from behind, and snipe at the limit of your range until they get too close for comfort. Repeat as necessary.

I know you said you don't want to wait to fight them, but if you change your mind, it is possible to raid their camp without triggering the ambush: approach from the west, skirting the southern edge of the trees, and take the southern path without taking a single step past it to the east!

Good luck!

[Unclever title]

A Predator Sight potion is more effective for rangers than Cat's eyes.

Also, if you happen to have any demon oil, you can use it as a barrier: flee into a narrow area, such as the little path that leads to the south, toss a flask of demon oil in such a way as to block the path, and snipe away. Thugs won't walk into flames to get at you. You will probably need a few flasks, depending on how good a shot you are with your bow.

I was in the same boat in this situation the first time through, I had made the mistake of spreading my skill points out instead of focusing them, I also had originally selected short blades as my main weapon skill and at that point I still only had a dagger with a base damage of 1.

But I had a few flasks of demon oil and a haste potion and there was a convenient narrow pathway between the trees. I could pretty much imagine my character laughing insanely at the trappers walking into his trap. Even though two of the bandits found a way around the flame by walking in between trees, this gave me enough time (while hasted) to pick off two, which gave me a level up that I didn't even have to use against the other two. But I did get the most out of leveling up in terms of hp recovery.

[AlexH]

Thanks guys. I took all your tips and pulled it off by wandering around the area and slowly picking off the thugs. After clearing the area and finding Brandon, I am now level 6.

[AK_Marty]

Once I lead them northeast through the marsh, then back south to the border with a herd of fungal slimes in tow. Then I went west and back north, going through the short cut, and then south to watch the thugs fight the slimes while I sniped at them from a distance. Now that's entertainment!