How to kill Hyborem ?

[Pintadvs]

Hi,

In my last game I was really at war with Hyborem for the first time, but I discovered how powerfull he was. How can I kill him ? What spell/effects/units must I use to attack without my attackers being feared ? Would lots of fireballs work ?

 

[Pyr0mancer]

Anything with Holy damage does better than usual, but I believe that Poison/Death/Unholy damage does nothing at all.

The level one spell Courage makes you immune to fear, as well as granting a nice healing bonus. It's Spirit I.

Lots of Fireballs would work, but it would take a fair number and you'd miss out on the XP from killing him. Priest units promoted with Combat + Demon Slaying would do nicely, as would Crusaders (Order UU) or Paramanders (Runes UU).

 

[MagisterCultuum]

Well, the most powerful spell to use against him is Divine Retribution, the Mercurian World spell.

Fireballs will work, but you'll need lots. Demons are resistant (although not immune) to fire damage. They are immune to Death and Unholy damage, so undead/demonic units (although these units immunity to fear could help), death summons, and the entropy 3 spell won't be effective. They are weak to holy damage. Hosts of the Einherjar are the only holy-damage summon, iirc. They also gain duration each time they kill a unit and they can get promotions, so you can kill lesser demons to level these summon up and prepare them to slay Hyborem. Angels, Crusaders, Monks, and Paladins also have holy strength, plus they start with the demon slaying promotion. When it comes time to actually kill him rather than just weaken him, I'd probably use a Paladin, since they are the strongest of these (excluding the top tier Mercurian Angel UUs, but even then I prefer a Paladin because if it loses it will return as an angel). The Empyrean High Priest/Chalid spell, Crown of Brillance, is quite effective at weakening him. The spell directly deals a considerable amount of holy damage and grant a promotion that passively casts the spell once per turn until the promotion wears off. Chalid is usually considered the best hero because he can hurt enemies with and earlier cast Crown of Brillance, then hit them with Pillar of Fire (a strong direct damage fire spell that is now unique to him), then he and his earlier summoned Einherjar (boosted by his loyalty and Valor spells) can attack.


Maelstrom is generally good for weakening foes, and this is no exception. It is a direct (lightning) damage mage (not a national unit like archmage) spell, so you can have lots of caster work together to help bring him down. Any summon with extra strength from affinity (excluding those whose affinity is only for death) can be effective with enough mana.

 

[Pintadvs]

Thanks to you two for your quick response. So playing as Keelyn I should use casters with lightning damage given demon slayer being only for good civs ?

I also read on an archive thread I had to kill him twice, but not compulsorily on the same turn, ist it still true ?

 

[Pyr0mancer]

Yeah, a few Maelstroms will do a nice job of reducing him. I think Hyborem gets the metal weapons promotions too, so -25% resistance to Lightning damage too. Keep in mind he'll still have a fair bit of strength, along with a pile of promotions for at least +100% strength. High-withdrawal units (Horsemen/Chariots with Flanking, Catapults) might be useful as well.

What religion are you following, by the way? If you're OO and Hyborem is near water, Cultists will do a decent enough job with Tsunami as well. I'm not sure if Hastur's Razor works on him, but if so it could be useful as well.

You do have to kill him twice; after the first kill he is returned to the Infernal capital but the Infernals do lose their traits, making them easier to manage overall. The second kill is a permanent kill, and he drops Gela then. Killing twice in the same turn only matters for true immortals (Immortals/Vampire Lords/Bone Golems/Valkyries/whatever other UUs I forgot, and Brigit). Hyborem just has the promotion I believe, not true immortality.

 

[MagisterCultuum]

Yeah, Hyborem's immortality is through the promotion.

I had forgotten that Hyborem starts with Iron weapons, which makes him more vulnerable to lightning. I think he can get lightning too.


You could convert to the Order if you want to turn good and use Paladins. Their priests' bless spell also gives your units +1 holy str, which can be helpful against demons.

 

[Milosrdenstvi]

Soooo...Brigit, archangel of fire, is a real immortal, but Hyborem, chief servant of Agares, is not?

 

[El_Duderino]

well i could be wrong but i thought that anyone with the immortal promotion only gets to come back once so bridgit would be as immortal as hyborem, although losha can regain the promotion be killing a living creature

 

[Natures_Wrath]

Brigit doesn't have the promotion, only the effect of being reborn in one's capital once she is killed. Hyborem, Basium and Losha are (I'm pretty sure) the only units that get the Immortal promotion naturally, while it can be bestowed upon any unit with Blood of the Phoenix ritual.

 

[smusebaer]

And Imortal creatures can´t be crafted into flesh Golems.
The last time, I destroyed Hyborem, I used a mage. I made a false click and moved my mage next to the city of Hyborem. Hyborem killed my mage, and I fireballed his city to death and took the city with a hunter. By the way, a mage with water 1 is an good idea, because most of the time, his capital city burns.

 

[Pyr0mancer]

Soooo...Brigit, archangel of fire, most powerful servant of the most powerful of the gods, is a real immortal, but Hyborem, chief servant of Agares, is not?

Note the bold . Also, she had the chance (and based on Bhall's words, the ability) to KILL A GOD. IIRC, the only other entity that has been capable of such a feat was Kylorin wielding the Godslayer.

Oh and an adept with Life I would work too, since Sanctify also turns Burning Sands back into normal desert. It's simple enough to know beforehand though if you need one, since you can simply take a look at the terrain under Dis.

 

[avalonnn]

Thanks to you two for your quick response. So playing as Keelyn I should use casters with lightning damage given demon slayer being only for good civs ?

I also read on an archive thread I had to kill him twice, but not compulsorily on the same turn, ist it still true ?

I'm playing Khazad on Noble and I used almost a dozen trebuchets and a half dozen infantry, cleaning up with two heroes. But Hyp was in a corner of my continent and never grew much. There were no special demon forces to contend with.

 

[MagisterCultuum]

I don't think Brigit could have actually killed a god.

Killing a god is supposed to impossible without the Godslayer, which gets it power from the fact that each god agreed to be vulnerable to it. It isn't about the strength of who uses it.

That doesn't explain how Sucellus was defeated though.



Bhall was not the strongest of the gods. Kael has said that the different spheres have very different, incomparable types of power, and so the god's powers can't really be ranked. However, Bhall did had the most worshipers and the strongest presence in creation before her fall.


Basium and Hyborem are also archangels. However, Basium willingly chose to become mortal (much like Sphenor) rather than remain in Arawn's service and abide by the Compact.

Hyborem did not choose mortality or abandon his god. Agares helped Hyborem enter creation, but he had to do it secretly. If his help was too apparent then he would be considered to be in violation of the Compact. I figure that Hyborem is still immortal, but that Agares is not willing to take the risk of sending him in to Creation a 3rd time.

 

[uberfish]

Soooo...Brigit, archangel of fire, is a real immortal, but Hyborem, chief servant of Agares, is not?

Hyborem is immortal, he just gets banished back to hell if he dies twice

 

[Ksi]

Poor Hyborem the expansionist always forgets his gela too. How Agared must berate him.

 

[Vladesch]

Last game I was playing Calabim, and a stack of about 7 summoned skeletons (+50% empower) worked, with of course no real loss. I was surprised how much each attack hurt his health.
Skeletons dont seem affected by his fear, although for some strange reason, vampires are.
Not sure how vanilla skeletons would go, you'd probably just need more.

 

[KingOfLands]

I'm playing Khazad on Noble and I used almost a dozen trebuchets and a half dozen infantry, cleaning up with two heroes. But Hyp was in a corner of my continent and never grew much. There were no special demon forces to contend with.

I went the Instrumentalities of the Night route and shot him with cannons, myself. The Khazad (and presumably the Lurichurip, with the golems) don't have too much trouble with Hyborem.

 

[smjjames]

It didn't seem like Brigit really wanted to kill Bhall, just like Bhall didn't want to kill her archangel. Bhall saved Brigit for some reason of her own, either to giver her some hope or to preserve some part of herself.

Brigit WAS trying to stop Bhall from falling and I think Bhall could have easily destroyed Brigit, just as she killed those who refused to fall with her in a flash of fire.

Sort of off topic, but it seemed like Sphener wanted to experience the mortal world and go on an adventure of sorts.

 

[Pyr0mancer]

Sort of off topic, but it seemed like Sphener wanted to experience the mortal world and go on an adventure of sorts.

Heh, quite frankly Junil's perfectly ordered heaven sounds really boring. No doubt the guy has wanted to go muck about in creation for a while, and the Svartalfar looting Seven Pines was a perfect excuse.

 

[Magma_Dragoon]

A friend of Hyborem is a friend of mine. If I get home before daylight, I might just get some sleep tonight.