LotI Walkthrough-Part2-Chapter09
Part II, Into the Light, Chapter 9, Under the Burning Skies
[WHU] Welcome to Inferno. This chapter is much like the end of chapter five. There are a number of scenarios connected by a world map, and you will be given various objectives. You will almost certainly pass through each scenario more than once as you accomplish the world map objectives. In this chapter, you are not given a map, but there will be a map detailing what you have discovered available via right click. You may choose to exit the current scenario and move to a new one by moving to locations which are clearly labelled once discovered. You probably want to leave one or more troops near the entrance to each scenario so that if you find yourself in trouble you can retreat, healing all your units. In some cases, if you kill a boss in one scenario and then retreat and come back, it will remain dead, in other cases it will be back. Either way, you're healed and return with more experience. Some scenarios play out a lot differently depending on which direction you enter, if you find yourself stuck, try going around. There is a right click menu "Configure Autorecall", see chapter five. Most scenarios have some really nasty aspects, start each one slowly until you know what you're up against, retreating to another scenario to heal and modify your autorecall list accordingly.
[WHU] Often, you will encounter some particular bosses and a horde of their minions. Repeatedly. IMO, these are just cheap excuses to grab some XP for your troops, but again you can always retreat if you don't find yourself ready for the fight, coward.
[WHU] If you've kept the Duke alive and advanced him well, you can use his leadership and "push" (adjacent allies get "penetrates") to great advantage here, helping other units advance and keeping them alive in the process. I begin just about every turn by planning where to position my Duke to benefit as many units as possible.
[WHU] Watch out for any terrain that looks, or is labelled, weird. Bad things will happen to you, but not your enemies of course, if any of your units are standing on a weird tile at the beginning of your turn. Various types of evil vegetation can only travel on infernal forest tiles (and are great targets for redeem). In some scenarios, when you kill a unit a pile of blood will be left behind which will attract flies. In some scenarios, when you kill a demon it will be replaced by a much more powerful version, make sure you're ready to kill, or at least slow, the replacement. In some scenarios, Demon Souls will appear (look for visual clues as to where) and attack you on their turn, disappearing again so you can't attack them. Inferno is not a very nice place.
[WHU] After about 10 turns, blood will start to rain in places. At first, it will cause lethargy, stripping your units of attack strength. As it intensifies, it will start to do damage. Be prepared to accomplish a single objective, such as killing a boss or retrieving treasure, then retreat and return to reset the turn clock.
Inferno
[WHU] You begin in the Transporting Facility, with no control over the units that were recalled, and no way of immediate retreat. You want to crush all of the demons in the initial castle on the first turn, or at least kill most and leave the rest slowed. Take your time and carefully consider each of your units' advantages and how they work together (i.e. use one unit to lower penetration of a certain type while another units hits with that type of attack). Once this is complete, you can rush a unit straight north to the opening of Tunnels of Cruelty in case you want to leave the scenario to heal and/or reset your recall list. Once Transporting Facility is clear of enemy leaders, I find exiting to the west (Doom Ford) and exploring generally clockwise is easier.
[WHU] Your objectives in Inferno are to defeat the four Seal Guardians, located in the corners of the map. If you defeat a rather nasty boss and he runs away, he's a Seal Guardian, follow him and defeat him again. You also need to defeat Lilith in Foul Pits, which is a very long difficult battle that probably should be left for the end. To defeat her, you're going to need a team of flying units, some very powerful and at least one very fast, so you may want to work on building up some of those as you explore Inferno. I recommend some with a lot of cold penetration and some really hard hitters with cold, though other combinations could work depending on your army, gear, legacies, and books. And definitely max out some healers, like fairie incarnations or really good items. You're also going to need gold, which can be found in pitifully small amounts in chests, so consider gearing units with Generous Armor or items with steals, and avoid Taxes boots.
[WHU] As you explore Inferno, be particularly careful on turn 1, where most surprises will be exposed. Expect to have to retreat back to another scenario and regroup and/or re-gear your army. Use packs of imps and mushrooms to run up your redeem scores. Always check caves and corners for barely hidden treasure.
[WHU] When you get to Foul Pits, you have to defeat Lilith. When you do, she'll respawn. And then she will continue respawning in that location every time you defeat her, until you discover her secret lair in the northwest (that's what the fast flyer is for). Use caution when you kill her, she's probably going to respawn close enough that she will be able to attack on her first turn, so you may not want to kill her if you can't get a unit (something like Efraim or Lethalia) to her new location to slow her on the same turn you kill her. You're going to have to fight your way through a ton of demons and the blood rain is going to get terrible. Maybe you can use flying units to draw the demons away so get you can at least get out of the rain once in awhile? Not all paths lead to her lair for your non-flyers, so make sure to scout out the path before you commit slower, walking units to the wrong one. There's a ton of loot here, it may be worth coming back for, although at this point I usually have so much extra gear that I don't bother, unless there's something specific I want but can't find.
Pandemonium
[WHU] While wandering through Inferno, you certainly ran into some passages which were blocked. Once the Seal Guardians have been killed, these passages are now open. They will take you to a few new areas, and finally to Pandemonium where you will confront Uria. I find entering Pandemonium from the southwest to be the easiest coarse. After dispatching the other bosses, at the beginning of a turn, hit Uria several times with units that can handle her retaliation (hit and run or penetrates would be helpful), saving your heavy hitters (who should be within striking distance) for later. Once you dispatch Uria, the entrance to her den will be opened and you can progress to the next mission.
Uria's Den
[WHU] You won't be getting any map updates while in Uria's Den, because the configuration of the rooms will be constantly changing. The objectives provide the general path to follow (though you'll need to take a detour in Gathering Alcove to hunt down the Pillar of Continuum's Alteration), which is not strictly required. There are some other areas you will want to explore along the way.
Final Battles
[WHU] It starts with Uria and three bosses. I like to lure them into splitting up, using the indoor areas to the south as cover. Hit them with slow every turn. I use prophets and dragon riders to quickly dispatch the bosses. As soon as you engage Uria, she will start spawning Burning Souls around herself every turn, so have some arcane attacks, along with penetrates, hit and run, and/or a Duke's push to ensure you can break through. Now you just need to kill her several times. Be careful each time you strike the killing blow, you don't know where she will respawn (have some movement points left with some of your key units so you can get into a defensive position before she gets a chance to attack).
[WHU] After Uria is finally defeated, you'll enter an endless dungeon. There's no way to win, play as long as you like and then sacrifice one of your leaders. You don't want to lose any of your valuable support troops, however.
[WHU] Before you end Chapter 9, you'll probably want to smash most of your excess inventory into gems, as your items in inventory won't carry over to Chapter 10, but the gems will. You probably have hundreds of items in your inventory that you're never going to use. It's tedious, but those gems will come in very handy.
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