What's wrong with this battle?

[magnate]

OG_Gleep said:
There are lots of ways to kill an ice devil. Ice Devils are classified as SC's, and there is a very recent thread on magic vs SC's. 20 resistance doesn't make them immune to spells.

That's true, and it looks like I'll have to rely on spells. It's a shame that they're unbeatable in melee though - they are only research level 5 summons with level 6 kit.

What weapon is the athame. I don't recognize it and I couldn't find it in the magic item list.

It's shown on the item list as "Blood Thorn", but once equipped it's called Athame.

The Naj has the ability to conifg a lot of different ways weapon wise. If the Athamme doesn't give fire protection, the dragon scale armor won't give 100% resistance to fire, so you could use any of the multiple fire weapons.

Vine Shield/Eye shield could also work.

And as Oversway mentioned there are a few +demon weapons that you could use. The flambeau does fire dmg + 3x dmg to demons. You could use 2 of them, 1 + weapon + shield or 1 + 2 weapons.

As I replied to Oversway, it's not dealing damage that's the problem - if Astral Weapon actually works as stated in the game, I don't need AP weapons or anti-demon weapons or fire weapons or anything special. If AW is buggy then my whole strategy collapses, because without the insane DEF the nataraja will not last long enough to kill them whatever her weapons.

Also, why not use more of the buffs you have available?

A3 has Mistform and Mirror Image
S3 gives you access to Astral shield and Body Etheral
W2 gives you access to cold resistance

Mistform vanishes on being hit with a magic weapon, so it's useless vs equipped SCs (I don't know if it protects from that first hit or not, but it's no better than Twist Fate even if it does).
Mirror Image potentially absorbs up to 4 hits, though I'm unconvinced by this - anyone want to argue in its favour? (Would you use it over Quickness, Personal Luck, Ironskin, Astral Weapon or Cold Resistance?)
Astral Shield is defeated by an MR check, so is pointless against SCs with MR in the 20s.
Body Ethereal doesn't protect against magic weapons so is the same as Mistform (and doesn't even protect against the first hit).
Cold resistance is a good suggestion though - thank you.

And if I'm not mistaken Naj are cold blooded...you could be going in with a stacked deck if the province your fighting in is cold. Not only does it effect you, but it buffs ice devils.

You are mistaken - the Nat is not cold blooded. Besides, the IDs are Abysian, so the whole world is boiling, and their cold bonuses are the least of my worries (in fact the heat is making them weaker).

CC

[Graeme Dice]

magnate said:
Mirror Image potentially absorbs up to 4 hits, though I'm unconvinced by this - anyone want to argue in its favour?

Mirror image potentially absorbs dozens of hits, since they only dissappear when the real unit is hit, and you can have 10 or more images with a high enough air magic.

(Would you use it over Quickness, Personal Luck, Ironskin, Astral Weapon or Cold Resistance?)

I'd defintely use it instead of cold resistance. Breath of winter isn't going to cause you significant damage with reasonable protection.

Astral Shield is defeated by an MR check, so is pointless against SCs with MR in the 20s.

It's still going to succeed 1/20 times for MR 18, and 1/100 times for MR in the 20's. That's about one paralysis per battle.