I'm finding a group of 5 Diremares in the Swamp tough to beat. My party is on about level 13. I don't have any pure spellcasters, only a mix of hybrids, and also some who don't use any magic.

I notice that during combat, the Diremares often retreat. Is it best to keep my distance from them? I find that my ranged combat skills aren't good enough to efficiently pick them off - it would probably take hundreds of bullets/arrows to do so. When they strike, my party members get 'turncoated', which is really bad.

Any tips/advice on dealing with these monsters most welcome. Thanks a lot.

Rings of Sanity can be useful if you have a monk; they cast Sane Mind when used and give you a bit of Mental resistance.

Also, try boosting your Mental resistance. You *do* have power 7 Magic Screen up, right?

Thanks a lot. I do have one ring of sanity, but am I right in thinking that it can only be used on one affected party member for each combat round? BTW, I think it's got 4 charges. Can you recharge them?

Regarding the magic screen. Vi is able to cast this spell, but I only had it on level 4. I just tried level 7, and it worked, despite the level 7 circle not being green. (I guess I could reload, if the spell fizzled.)

When you have run out (or low) of mana, what do you tend to do? Camp, or drink some magic nectar? I'm reluctant to camp, because I'm worried that this will simply generate more spawned monsters to fight, kind of defeating the purpose behind camping, as you will then use mana for those battles! The same question goes for running out or low on HPs. Do you camp, or drink health restoring potions?

So with the magic screen set to 7, should I run up to the group and use melee combat, or perhaps maintain some distance (but not too far), and pick them off with ranged attack, including some spells perhaps?

Also, Vi has a spell called Soul Shield, and someone else has a spell called Silence. Would any of these be useful against these monsters?

Thanks for any further advice! :)

The Ring of Sanity can indeed only be used on one character per round, but that might still be enough.

You can recharge items by selling them to a store and buying them back. (Also, I believe this particular item is buyable in a shop, so you can get more if needed.) The only items you *can't* recharge are those that can't be sold anywhere, and I can only think of one item like that at the moment (which doubles as a key item, and is hence marked undroppable).

Soul Shield will raise your party's Mental (and Divine) resistance, which *should* help against the Turncoat effect. (The drawback of this spell is that it takes a round to cast and it wears off when the battle ends.) Silence will not prevent their turncoat attack, but it will prevent the enemies from casting any actual spells they can use.

If your party is melee oriented, it is probably best to get into melee combat and hope for the best.

As others have said. Magic Screen cast at power level 7 and Soul Shield cast at start of battle. What races are your party members? Lizard Men and Dracons have negative mental resist. I chose a Mook fighter because of their higher resistance.

Ah I see. Unfortunately, I have a Dracon fighter. I wonder if there's anything I can do to increase its mental resistance?

Have you tried running? These Mares don't charge too much and even run away themselves at times as you already pointed out. As long as somebody is sane you can move the party. That also costs all your attacks - including the turncoated attacks against yourself. If half your party is afflicted buying time can be a good thing. Perhaps you don't need to fight them, perhaps you can fight one at a time. What weapon does your Fighter wield? If he has good damage he ought to be able to kill them quickly if not turncoated. Cast Magic Screen & Soul Shield, give your Fighter Guardian Angel and Superman. If you are low on mana right now make sure you refresh it with a Magic Nectar. It is a tough fight so you don't want to be greedy. Run away or invest whatever you need.
*Oh and DON'T use your limited 'Sane Mind' charges on expendable characters! Focus on a limited few members you really need to win the fight (Fighter & Divinity caster would likely be my choice). If your Fighter's weapon is good you can skip on dealing low damage with other members. You could even disarm & ignore them, making sure they don't deal damage to anybody. They can protect the decisive characters.

As to resting: regen items work wonders. You should already have an Amulet of Healing (+1 HP regen) since that is buyable in the Swamp and can be found in adjacent regions. With only +1 regen you already regenerate extremely well. Resting will be very effective, running around for a while may be enough even. Mana regen comes later, so you need to make do. A style question imo.
1) You can rest (which I would do in safe regions, e.g. at a shop)
2) You need to mini-rest sometimes anyway (Stamina regen, HP regen IF you have the AoH)
3) You can rely on potions if you rush through a region (pass-through regions, e.g. roads & railroads)
4) You can maximize your Mana efficiency. Some cheap spells can do a lot to ease up low level fights. Using all magic realms with all casters allows using more Mana in total. Later on you get mana regen items (buyable). A psonic spell called "Might to Magic" gives Mana back, so it is 'free' if used well (single target ranged spell, main advantage of which is mana efficiency).

There are items that up your resistance. Look for them at the various vendors. I think raising piety may give your bonus resits too.

+1 HP regen means your charter will regenerate hitpoints fairly quickly.

Element Shield protects only again the four element spells AIr Earth Fire Water. Soul Shield for Turncoat. Bows and Crossbows are both good. If you have a gadgeteer he can create the double and triple shot crossbow. Those rock.

Just watch your stamina, especially if you use the tripleshot crossbow; it tends to use up the user's stamina extremely quickly. (In particular, if it's being used by somebody other than the gadgeteer, you now have (at least) 2 stamina dependent characters and may find yourself needing the Rest All spell.)

Thanks a lot. So simply by wearing the amulet, that character's HP will automatically go up, over time. If the AoH is "HP +1", I wonder if this means that over the course of perhaps a minute or maybe an hour (in-game timing), that character's HP will increase by 1 point?

Every time I think about my party, I wish I could tweak it a bit. Now I want a gadgie, lol. My ninja isn't brilliant. At first, he was dual wielding daggers, but the daggers were weak, so I gave him a two-handed sword instead. Still not brilliant though.

I sometimes wonder about the lack of a Bard in my party, but I've read that they can be a bit weak during the end game segment. And then there's my lack of a Bishop, but I'm hoping that my hybrids will eventually have all spell casting bases covered...

EDIT: dtgreene, good to know info about the gadgie, thanks! I only just spotted your reply, as I was replying to gods.

No harm is starting over. I have done it many many many times.

My current Party. It was rough at the beginning but they are kicking major hindquarters now (Levels 12-13)

Mook Fighter Sword/Mace
Human Valk Polearm
Mook Gadgeteer
Hobbit Bard Sword / Dagger She has blood lust and is #1 kills
Elven Bishop (4 School & Staff)
Hobbit Samurai Sword / Sword

have x-ray up to track them on the map so you can go around but melee is the best way to deal with all the pony monsters

p.s, just so you know I run away from them most times because they don't drop any good loot so its just not worth it

Thanks a lot for all the really helpful info everyone. Update - I've now managed to defeat all 5 Diremares. Luckily, the pack split up when I first encountered it, and so I was able to defeat them in stages. I think the fights consisted of one group of 2 or 3, then a couple of single ponies, per encounter.

I found Soul Shield helpful, along with all other ideas mentioned, including walking up to the ponies and using melee. Other spells that were effective, to a degree, were silence, noxious fumes, insanity, and I think I managed to get either paralyse and/or sleep to work now and again too.

I don't think I'll start over to alter my party, but perhaps I could recruit a Gadgie once I find one, and jettison Myles the rogue? (Vi seems OK, but I already have a Valk though, which is perhaps a bit unfortunate.)