Act
3 - Chapter 9: The Final Ascent
* Locate the Temple of Valdis
* Destroy Valdis
* Go through the portal
But wait! First you have to battle through another
horde of minions. At this point, you're probably
wondering, "What's the point?" Persevere,
the end is near. 
But not that near. You've got a lot of stairs to
climb, and every inch is contested--many times by
groups of mini-bosses. If you've been following
this guide and doing every sidequest, you're probably
running four to five levels above everything you
encounter, so this is mostly tedious.
On the other hand, if you're hovering around level
40, you're in for a long night. You would be better
served, before attempting this ascent, going back
to town and finding some good respawn areas to gain
a few levels. Make sure you've wrapped up all the
secondary quests. Do whatever needs be done to get
yourself a few more levels and some additional gear.
You'll need it.
**NOTE** It cannot be stressed enough that
if you quit or die here, you have to make this ascent
again and *all* the mobs respawn.
It ain't pretty. Don't die and don't quit.
When you finally reach the Temple of Valdis, it
is remarkably (and comfortingly clear). Open a town
portal and hie thee back to Kalrathia for a refit.
Make sure you have rez scrolls for everybody. Lots
of potions. Etc.
Continue into the temple until you meet Valdis.
Don't try to attack him, he's invulnerable. The
only way to hurt him is to lure him in front of
one of the Eyes of Zaramoth placed on the edges
of the room, then beat on the eye to open it (and
they don't have great range). Conversely, Valdis
can kill you quite easily. No matter how well you've
outfitted your party, one sword combo from Valdis
and they all turn into grave markers.
The best way to handle Valdis is to get beyond
an Eye in a straight line from Valdis, so that he
is forced to walk directly past the Eye you're near.
Time it so your ranger starts attacking the Eye
when Valdis is about three to four steps away (or
two or five, depending on the damage your ranger
can do). If you time it right, Valdis will get zapped
before he even gets close enough to you to start
swinging.
For example:
Eye
Valdis
X - start shooting the Eye when Valdis is here
Eye
You
It will take patience and practice, but once perfected,
you can take Valdis out pretty easily. You have
to hit him three times to advance to the next stage
of the fight. After the first hit, Valids summons
a horde of Qatall Minions. Take them out while staying
away from Valdis, then re-commence the luring/zapping
project.
After the third hit, you get the Fantasy RPG Plot
Twists for Idiots cutscene and the fight against
Valdis takes on a more traditional flavor. Valdis
is now, essentially, just another boss character.
He's got 90,000 health and he can regenerate, so
you don't want to leave him alone for a long time.
Don't worry about falling into the lava, if your
characters are reasonably well-equipped, you won't
get hurt (much). Just don't go swimming in it. Lay
into Valdis with everything you've got.
Valdis has four main attacks:
1) A shockwave that will throw your characters back.
Not a huge problem, even if you fall in the lava.
However, if your party is melee-heavy, it will push
the fighters off Valdis for a few seconds, during
which he can regenerate. Don't worry about the shockwave
and just keep at him
2) He will bring rocks crashing down. This is (or
should be) a non-issue. A few rocks shouldn't hurt
you, but, if they're giving you fits, just watch
for the enlarging shadows and run away.
3) A gigantic fireball. This one's dangerous. Fortunately,
Valdis starts to glow yellow before releasing it,
and he won't change his orientation once he starts
the spell. So, as soon as Valdis begins to glow
yellow, run behind him and attack his back while
he blasts empty air with a pretty fireball.
4) More a defensive maneuver than an attack, Valdis
will clone himself, giving himself time to regenerate
while you attack a clone. However, the clones don't
react to attacks--they don't physically react and
they don't make any noise. So if you hit a Valdis
and it doesn't do anything, go attack another one.
Once you take off one-third of his health, he summons
a horde of Qatall Minions. By this point, Qatall
Minions should be little more trouble than flies.
Don't worry about them and concentrate on Valdis.
When Valdis reaches 0 health, he revives and summons
a shield around himself. (So, why didn't he do this
earlier?) You can't penetrate the shield, but the
great big Eye of Zaramoth that was just revealed,
can. This one's easy because Valdis doesn't have
his sword. Stand in front of the eye, wait for Valdis
to get close, then whack it. Brutal Strike or Take
Aim (or some other high-damage, single strike power)
works very well.
After the cutscenes you can return to Kalrathia
and finish up whatever you've left hanging.
This would be a good time to do the Mysterious Mystery
Quest. You can also arrange your companions and
equipment for playing at the next difficulty level.
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