The strategy I use with Echinops and the Archespore is to cast Ingi (with Incinerate) and then retreat behind a tree, but staying close enough to see the plant burning. If the plant is out of your sight, it will go underground. If you watch it, it will remain above ground trying to hit you, and it will keep burning. With a little luck you can Incinerate it, find a tree that protects you reasonably well while you heal, and then you can dash in to Incinerate again if you need to. I killed the Archespore the first time I went into the swamp in this game, just using Ingi.The key is not to let it go underground.
one thing that helps is the ability to deflect arrows.coccadium kicked my butt until I did the following:1) swallow2) strong silver sword with igni and3) tawny.I think I rand once to heal up.it really helped that I could deflect arrows. otherwise, every attack he makes will hit.
Well, echinops sure is a very though enemy ( wait 'till you see archespore ) but I don't recommend you to fight it until you have a GOOD igni sign ( yes they're very susceptible to incineration ) and maybe lvl 20 or higher...Me myself found very frustrating that around lvl 15 I was still no match for these plants but after you gain some improvements in your strenght, dexterity and signs you'll see that they're not THAT hard although they're never easy too....but what I'm saying is that at a first moment when you go into the swamp area don't fight echinops, wait until you complete some more quests and get stronger and then you can go for then, that's what I did, and if you're really into killing the damn plants don't forget that burning then is always a very good help !!Hope it helps
On Echinops, Archespore and Coccacidium:You can get an Echinops entry in the journal in Chapter 1. Talk to the Old Woman, give 20 gold, ask about monsters. Enter hut, come out, bribe again and ask about monsters a second time, you get echinops entry. Once you do that, you can gather enough echinops rootstock from the cave and Odo's garden so that you can finish the gardener quests immeidately upon getting it.Torch. Works wonders on echinops. No need for igni, just run up close with a torch in hand and whack away. Kills them VERY fast because they take incineration damage and normal damage. Finished 8 echinops in the cave in Ch 1 with just torch and 1 swallow, no poison immunity, no arrow deflection or anything else. Archespores require more work and preferably arrow deflection and poison resistance. No idea how susceptible they are to the torch.Coccacidium: Rubedo Tawny Owl is easy to make, coupled with Swallow, Blizzard and Igni, it is a good combo. Haven't tried with torch. Killed Coccacidium at around Lv 12 or 13 on hard with those. Just make sure there are no other creatures interfering, because that gets dangerous very quickly.
ever think that maybe killing the cannibal wasn't such a hot idea ? but it is not impossible to get through those echinopsae if you did kill him. Just retreat to his hut (you don't even need to enter, just get to the boardwalk near it) and rest up when you are down in hit points, then dive back in. Even if you must pick off the echinopsae one by one, you can do it that way quite easily.
But he needed killing! We have to draw the line somewhere. You let a cannibal go and before you know it you're paying taxes and voting in elections. It's a slippery slope, I tell you. (Or perhaps I'm too moralistic...I ratted out the drug dealer to his enemies too. He deserved it. The 500 oren reward was a nice bonus.)gamewidow said:
Igni, igni, tawny owl, strong silver, and more igni. It's a pain, but doable.gamewidow said:
Oh pretty pls, spill the beans. I HATE the cannibal and always slaughter him. I don't think I can ever change my habit of killing him.WHAT ARE THE REPURCUSSIONS? Do you have them on the Wiki?
What I wanted to know before making a decision was whether he killed people for food or whether he consumed people who'd died from other causes. If it's the latter, well, that's gross, but I don't really have a moral objection, whereas if it's the former, that's a pretty big deal. I couldn't find this information in the game, though -- Game Widow, have you found it?
He killed people for food. Doesn't come right out and say that he explicitly killed them, but the way he does say what he says, is something like "Nobody will ever miss the odd brickmaker who vanishes". It is made very, very clear that he has no qualms about murdering people so he can eat them. That depends a bit on just how far you take the dialogue, but he's guilty, all right. An archespore and a bunch of echinops in his backyard to boot...
I'm with Edirr ... he's a pro-active kinda cannibal, not a scavenger, although he's not above scavenging ... like his story about dwarf meat .. so he's not nice, it's rather hard not to label him a monster, but i must confess that i mostly let him live . I've only killed him twice in 27 runs
.. so he's not nice, it's rather hard not to label him a monster, but i must confess that i mostly let him live . I've only killed him twice in 27 runsThanks, Edirr and Game Widow. I gotta say, I'm amused at calling him a "pro-active cannibal" -- that sounds SO much nicer than "murderer." Have you considered a job in advertising? I went to the wiki and looked at the information for this quest and was surprised. Whether I kill Gramps or let him live, I've never had the quest resolve. I'll have to go look at it and figure out what I've been doing wrong.
I went to the wiki and looked at the information for this quest and was surprised. Whether I kill Gramps or let him live, I've never had the quest resolve. I'll have to go look at it and figure out what I've been doing wrong.I kill Gramps simply because, if he keeps eating human(oid) corpses, he'll almost certainly turn into a ghoul or some other necrophage. That's pretty common fantasy knowledge. So it's better to kill him now than having to hunt him down later when he goes berserk.
Oh, I dunno -- one lousy ghoul is a lot easier to kill than all those echinopsae and archespores.Planewalker said:I kill Gramps simply because, if he keeps eating human(oid) corpses, he'll almost certainly turn into a ghoul or some other necrophage. That's pretty common fantasy knowledge. So it's better to kill him now than having to hunt him down later when he goes berserk.
The plants will be there regardless, for the crimes have already been committed. If you let him live, he'll just murder more people, which will result in more vile plants cropping up.Corylea said:Oh, I dunno -- one lousy ghoul is a lot easier to kill than all those echinopsae and archespores.
And I prefer an old man coming towards me with an axe to a ghoul who jumps from beneath the ground at me with big claws and teeth. An excellent point. There are enough things in that swamp with claws and teeth. You can hardly move for the drowners.The old guy remarks at one point (and I'm paraphrasing here) that he every once in a while picks off a druid or a brickmaker but that he prefers elf meat because elf meat is full of aromatic herbs and spices. I'd say this guy is most definately a "pro-active cannibal."Planewalker said:The plants will be there regardless, for the crimes have already been committed. If you let him live, he'll just murder more people, which will result in more vile plants cropping up.Planewalker said:Oh, I dunno -- one lousy ghoul is a lot easier to kill than all those echinopsae and archespores.