Originally posted by Hydro Boom:

Feel like fighting the elder soon but I am unsure what gear/armour I need and tips when I am fighting it

I know everyone likes fire arrows for this boss but honestly? I found them useless. Too much dancing about if you're not very dextrous.

You can use troll armor but top-notch bronze for face-tanking might be better, depending on how much speed you need for your style.

Same for Eickthyr.

I face-tanked both of them because they are hit point sponges. The Elder is a tree and weak to axes/slashing damage. He can also be stopped/staggered with a high shield as he stomps His long range attacks won't hit you so you just run away when he throws out his barbs (heal regain stamina). Don't run too far though because you'll attract the greydwarves even if you mop up all their spawners before the fight.

You can prepare campfires to discourage grey dwarves etc. and as a distraction. Have a portal nearby to retrieve your corpse because it's a bit of a doololly if you do die and he's squatting your corpse.

Yes, facing down huge monsters is very, very scary. Get great food first, well-rested, lots of stamina/health. Keep some top notch food wherever you are resting in case you need it to retrieve your corpse.

Whatever way you choose, Good Luck, Viking!

Originally posted by cybersol:

Originally posted by kaypy:

Has no-one mentioned yet?:
Nevermind the boss fight itself, make sure your *home* defenses are up to scratch first.

Great point, expect some big blue visitors to say hello at some point afterwards.

Also you start getting "Foul Smeel From the Swamp" events that can quickly overwhen an upprepaired player and do a lot of damage to an unsecured base. Helps to add stone walls around your base as soon as you get the 2 Iron needed for the stone cutter. All that stone you ended up with from copper mining will come in handy.

Boss arenas are made for setting up. Get top quality food and check out the new healing potions. Make sure the arena is flat and free of obstacles. Your home base should be fairly decent at this point, keeping a permanent "well rested" buff will serve you well for the rest of the game. Bonus points for setting up a portal somewhere convenient, in case of the worst.

The Elder has two different patterns for range or melee. I generally find the melee pattern easier to contend with. Axe+shield is the name of the game. Just get in there, whack away, and get ready to flee when it summons the vines. Don't challenge the vines, just get away and heal up for the next melee opportunity.

The Elder's range attacks can be blocked by hiding behind arena pillars. Dodging helps, but be careful of your stamina budget. The bow strategy is all about lining up against the pillars and fleeing to a new location when the vines rise up.

Originally posted by kaypy:

Has no-one mentioned yet?:
Nevermind the boss fight itself, make sure your *home* defenses are up to scratch first.

Great point, expect some big blue visitors to say hello at some point afterwards.

It is a decent idea to completely surround your base with a picket fence, even the water line. It will cost a few hundred wood to set up, but they don't decay and give a full refund when not damaged. So moving a fence isn't too bad.

I also dig under and let the Elder try to play whack-a-mole with me, except this mole has fire arrows.

You can dig a hole under all four sides of the altar or just two sides, and have them meet up in the middle. I usually run back and forth between two entrances. Make sure there's enough room in your side ditches to get around any roots that sprout up, but better yet, run under when you see him raise his hand. Prime the bow before you go outside. Alternate between fire and flint because there's no point in stacking fire on top of itself.

If you're lucky, he might spawn in one of your ditches and then it's even easier.

just get a lot of fire arrows and keep making large circles around the 4 pillars. use pillars to block tendrils line of sight and just keep backing up.

like all boss fights, make sure you start this in the morning and clear the area of mobs first. also doesnt hurt to level some of the terrain so you dont back pedal into bushes and rocks, etc.

Has no-one mentioned yet?:
Nevermind the boss fight itself, make sure your *home* defenses are up to scratch first.

Wow, that's some ambitious approaches, digging under the area and whatnot. Interesting.

I, umm, I just use the best bow I can make and fire arrows. Shooting and running around, always keeping one of the four pillars between me and his ranged attack.

best upgraded gear you got.. bow n arrows with a refuge just far enough away to run from and get your gear when/if you die :-) but not that close that forsaken can destroy
Skall !!

Its a tree.
Burn it.

Get a bow, 200 fire arrows, and food that gives you stamina. Then just kite him and hide behind trees n rocks while constantly shooting him. Ez

Bow with fire arrows, troll armor and just hide behind the pillars for protection. No need to start some excavation project and what not. You can kill him in 5minutes.

Core wood logs around the bottom and top.
Put a roof on top, The roof will make the roots he spawns go up to the roof.

Dodge vine attack and shoot with fire arrows.

https://steamcommunity.com/sharedfiles/filedetails/?id=2721467410
Basically like this

The core logs will keep him out so all you have to do is dodge and shoot with fire arrows.
You can basically ignore the roots unless the roof over that spot gets destroyed. You should be able to down him before too much damage is done though.
https://steamcommunity.com/sharedfiles/filedetails/?id=2710324915
https://steamcommunity.com/sharedfiles/filedetails/?id=2556387959

Lots of fire arrows, drop a few campfires around the base for him to walk into for an extra boost of damage. Then just play chasie around pillars shooting at him. Using the pillars to shield yourself from the vine whips he shoots at you works well and dodging the roots that he brings up is easy. Takes a little time but it's easy. Build a spawn hut a little ways off. If you're daring or a playing with a friend, have them go in with an axe for max damage and drawing aggro while you shoot.

use a pick axe and dig under the plaza, its a safe place to drop a bed for a local spawn point. If you can get close enough to the central fire that is will count as shelter renew your rested buff too. makes for a nice spot to duck into while you recover HP/Stam. I Usually also drop a workbench, portal and chest with food and some health meads if I've made any. I've seen other players completely dig out the area under and around hte plaza, then stay under it while poking the Elder with a two handed spear and dropping campfires under it.

Drop a bunch of camp fires around the perimiter, at least a dozen or so if not more. The fires will keep any greydwarf adds away and when the Elder walks over one it will light it's barky arse on fire as well.

Use the best foods you have, I like to go a little high on the stamina side since I normally will be using Troll hide armor and sprint around a lot kiting Elder. The Troll armor gives almost the same protection as Bronze gear without the movment penalty so its easier to run around the battle field.

My strategy is to use fire arrows at range while kiting around using the pillars for protection from his ranged vine attacks and also while I regen health. Move as needed to avoid the roots the Elder will call up from time to time. I can also just duck into the shelter I dug out under the plaza, the vines and roots can't get me there :)

Once my health is back I close in to melee and hit with a torch first if it is not already burning from the campfires or fire arrows. Then go with a two handed spear (better range than an axe) and try to dodge it's footstomp AOE when ever possible.

The only weapon The Elder's is weak against is a torch of all things. Otherwise any weapon you have at that tech tier should do fine. Be ready to dodge when it tries to stomp you in Melee. Then it is just a matter of whittling down it's hit points till you win.

Good luck o7