I have literally dedicated every free second for two days trying to beat this absolutely awful quest. Just GETTING to runt required surgical precision and an amount of luck I am honestly not comfortable with. I HAVE to shoot at the archers cause if I dont literally everyone will die, but nobody seems to want to put forth any effort whatsoever to live like a heard of handicapped lemings in mail. It gets better, though, cause I have to agro the archers and then kill them all without getting pegged once because if I do, it takes so much health it might as well be a death sentence. I also have a time limit because the longer they are alive the more of my band of the mentally disabled gets killed. Then after i have survived all this which I have only done twice and both times injured, I have to fight Runt. I got locked in a fight where I leveled up my warfare skill twice and sword once it was so long and fierce but my strikes were as the faint kisses of a loving pets tongue on his cheek as he returned with a blow that hits like lead schoolbus after itâs been pitched off a bridge and down my throat. If I fail in this Herculean task, which I always do, I have to do it all over including the misreable loadtimes and cutscenens because there is no auto save. Is there any advice other than âget gudâ for me? If not I am almost absolutely finished with this misreable experience. I like a good healthy challenge but this feels more like self flagellation, and I am not having fun.
Just to add to that bcus it may not have been clear Im playing in hardcore mode
hard to say because i donât know what youâre bringing to the table. if Henry is a noob or equipped with lower grade stuff, youâre pushing your luck in HC.
my strategy is perverse but it works for me. in nest of vipers, i hit and run attack the camp until everyone is dead. then, i burn all the arrows and poison all the pots. when you provide troop estimate to Sir Radzig, donât go low on the estimated number of troops needed.
hope youâre geared up for baptism. if so, hit the archers on the right first (saves your guys from taking too many arrows). if you stay on the right flank (facing enemy), youâre not an easy target for the bandit archers behind the palisade and you can kill off the enemyâs flank. if youâre weak/taking lots of damage, donât get separated from your guys. if need be, use one of the guards to take the heat off you. when you attack the flank (no shame in dodging in and out), you kill off the enemy group faster, and that advances baptism faster. iâve used the naval equivalent of crossing the T with great success in every major battle (Pribyslavitz, Vranik, Talmberg).
before the end of battle in front of church, add all the potions you can (dollmaker, bane, or poison weapon; marigold, etc for yourself). then, attack with the weapon that works best for you. realize too that unless you shoot Runt in the eyes, you likely need to counterattack and avoid trading blows. when you counter, try to chain. focus on timing the counters but donât be afraid to back pedal if Runt get too close or connects well.
be aware of the surface changes atop the church. swinging down hill seems to connect less. i used the surface difference to stab Runt in the head/eyes. that brings up another point, donât be afraid to use stab as a jab to make Runt keep his distance. once a longsword NPC is in your grill and chains strikes on you youâre in trouble.
regarding weapon choice, pick the best available.
longsword - St George, St Michael, Magdeburg
shortsword - stinger
mace - ceremonial
axe - metal plated
each player has his/her own style. you need to find yours. hope the above is of some value
it is the archers giving me problems, not the soldiers themselves. I do not have a full set of plate kit but henry is not quite a noob. i have a full set of mail head to toe and gambeson undet it and bascinet of course. no amount of stealth has allowed me to sabotage more than one pot, which i did with what seems like no effect, and the cuman disguise doesnt work. I use a longsword which could be my issue as runt is in full plate, but it is my best weapon. his head is not exposed either he is wearing a german bascinet with a visor. i really dont want to interrupt the flow of my story to grind but i may do just for full plate. and counter attacking will be difficult as i do not have the green shield to go off of so its up to me to spot the attacks, which i do regularly and even dodge more than i block. the problem is his health and defensive capabilities, which i cannot really overcome. should i go at it again with a mace? i am not as good with it but blunt force may be necessary. guerrilla raids are almost not an option i cannot take more than two armored men at a time.
I horse archer the death out of nest of vipers. Draw a few out and then shoot them up, or dismount and scrap. Rinse, repeat. If you arenât reasonably good at archery, youâll fail.
Re: Cuman disguise. Iâve seen a vid or 2. I watched them after I failed once. Watch them⊠anyhow, when i tried, I got in and watched Runt kill an insubordinate guy. Then, they turned on me before I could mount Jenda and ride away. 2nd HC attempt I went horse archer
If youâre doing longsword, not sure why you donât use Milanese cuirass/brigandine or better. Donât sweat legs so much. Donât be afraid to stab w longsword to make Runt keep distance and to start chains.
If you want to go mace-shield route, you need to kill a bandit and take his heavy shield. Or, buy one. This is a near must if you intend to attack Runt with a mace, axe or shortsword. You lose too much stamina if you absorb Runtâs hits with a plain heater shield, and that makes you suspectible to chaining and death
helps to set alight the hay pile near the ramp to draw out the cuman archers to melee.
If on PC can use the bow reticle mod, pro-bane poison, and robinhood for the combat improvements. And yes, get the best plate and mail before the fight. Mace and heavy shield I found the best if you have good strength and perks that buff you and your weapons.
console, this mission alone has made me pretty good at archery but not henry cause i havnt practiced very much. i am just going to quest for a few more levels and money and try to burn some arows.
yea, his chains are killers. i will invest the time into a cuirass and some extra sword practice
Go to either the Rattay range or Ushitz archery range and enter a contest at or just below your skill. Win and you get points towards next level and coin, lose and get less and lose coin. It is a fairly stress less run. I made 4 levels at Ushitz. may not be fast but steady way
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Baptism of fire is a battle quest. You need good armor to allow yourself some more aggressive fighting style (like running from combat and charging the archers). Mail is important, but it will never subsitute a plate or brigandine (or scale armor), because it only does a good job against slashing damage and deteriorates quickly and loses defense.
This mission is a lot easier if you sabotage the camp in the prior mission Nest of Vipers. Even if you suck at stealth you can just fight the opponents in small groups (some of tge bandits have pretty decent armor which you can repair and use) until the camp is free of hostiles (they really arenât that many). When youâre done you need to set fire to four arrow buckets (need to have a torch for that) and poison four pots (there are four vials of poison to be found in the camp, three of them inside easy level chests).
Runt has a lot of health, high defense and warfare stats as well as high sword skill. You cannot defeat him playing aggressively, unless you grind hard. Instead you should use defense and counter parries (aka ripostes aka master strikes). Maces work well against armored goons, and the best one (ceremonial mace) is available at the Rattay swordsmith. You can easily beat Runt with counters, but donât bother with a sword worse than Merchantâs sword or Fearnot (or anything in this damage range).
Sabotaging the camp will result in fewer footsoldiers (due to poisoned food) and fewer archers (due to burned arrows). Killing Runt requires you to defend against his blows and parry (you can try to follow up after your parry with a stab to the face).
Itâs not a mission youâre supposed to undertake with poor skills and poor equipment, and you wonât beat Runt by throwing yourself at him.
. I donât know whatâs up but Iâm literally getting torn to shred there. The guys with the pikes take 75% of my HP with a single stab, the archers just make my life miserable and if I manage to survive for a little while, friendly guys die and the quest fail because we lost too many men.
Also, 2 or 3 times Iâve had a random ââYouâve lost the battleââ end game message for no reason whatsoever. neat. Also at some point right after we kill the Coumans leader they give me like 45 seconds to kill, all by myself, 7 archers. Oh and when we go up the hill thereâs a 70% chance Iâll be either alone or only with 4 men. Cool. This part definitely doesnât feel right and bugged out.
Iâve been having a blast with the game so far and I love hard games but this part just has a weird clunky buggy feeling. Iâve been stuck on it for hours and I feel thereâs no way out, itâs honestly starting to turn me off BIG TIME.
I hated this quest with a passion on my first playthrough. Iâm still not fond of it to be honest, and had to cheese it since I ran in at level 6 or so without riposte or combos and cloth gear, no armor on any body part exceeded 10.
My solution was the bow and arrows. I had both which were weak, but thankfully I had plenty of arrows. I went next to the stairs behind an obstacle to shoot the archers from up close, taking them all down while getting shot only once.
For Runt I didnât even bother moving at all, immediately I consumed a marigold, pulled out the bow and charged two shots right through his eye sockets to kill him. He almost killed me in the process but I found moving makes your loading slower and your aim shittier, may as well just stand still like a turret and nail him with arrows. Two of them through his eyes did the job just fine.
Good riddance it was over. Iâm in HC playthrough all negatives now and Iâm not planning on rushing the main story at all. I just saved ginger, and am leaving it on hold as I explore the cities and complete the other quests before I move on. My current bane is bandits and my shy as shit horse that scares easily for no reason whatsoever.
@adarshshetty: what level are you? how high are your skills ? what perks are you using? what is and level of your armor? Trained with Robart?
Sounds like you are under equipped, not trained, skilled high enough , leveled enough to do the mission.
Your skills / weapons skills should be well north of 12, have the good weapons perks, wear good lvl 25 plate chest and 23 leg and arms, set fire to the hay stack at the ramp, tell the lords to bring everyone, use a GOOD mace& shield for armored foes and a strong bow ( 77 yew bow with better piercing arrows). use Lazarus potion and rage potion just before runt and keep stamina at 1/3 min. all times.