These are the main things that have helped me finish with time to spare on Normal. Note: I usually have Blitz, Dietrich and Eiger. What works for me will need to be adapted for your party.
- Ignore the decking node and go straight for the terminals. It doesn't have much benefit compared to disabling vents ASAP to force Audran to come out and play. Those are the priority tasks; all the other enemies are only there to slow you down.
- Anything that takes AP from enemies or gives AP to you generally helps a lot because of the time limit and the specific tasks you need to carry out.
- Cram! Blitz packs it by default, but I always bring more. If you don't want to restart, the one in his inventory should be enough if you haven't used it by now.
- Dietrich has haste and on this level I usually have 3 earth elementals in his inventory. Since you're the shaman, you get his fun job of chewing gum and kicking butt.
- Earth elementals. If you have the DC, they are ridiculously good because of all the combat updates. If you don't, they are still amazing. Pre-cast the shield spell and stand anywhere you like because it provides cover! Petrify to sap all AP. Melee attacks sap melee on crit (they crit nearly all the time for me).
- Petrify and Blind are great. I believe they fixed Mind Wipe and Confusion in patch 2.0.6, so those are now amazingly good again (including Blitz's special ability if you have it). I don't know if you can swap Dante's spells, but if you can and if he has those, they will make the fight a cakewalk. If it's too late to go back, he still has Petrify (good dog!).
This is how I've usually done it:
- Since you have Dante, use Call of the Pack to increase movement.
- Apply cram. I usually use Blitz, but you may want to use it on Glory instead since she also has the adrenal pump. Use east terminal. Go for the vent if you can make it, otherwise wait for the next turn.
- Apply haste to shaman. Earth elemental. Shield. I usually get Dietrich to head for the west terminal while his elemental goes for the mage, but you can focus fire on the mage along with the elemental and Dante. If you only have 1 earth elemental, save it for Audran.
- Petrify mage to prevent pesky spells. He'll be dead before it wears off.
- Save a disabling skill or spell for the mage who'll pop up in the south door you came in through (flashbangs, blind, another petrify, confusion, Blitz's ability, etc).
- Blitz and Max can head for the west terminal and try to draw fire away from Glory.
- If Glory's disabling vents, send her to the next vent as soon as she's available. Use AP as necessary to heal up or shoot mooks. Sometimes they conveniently park themselves next to the northern exploding barrels, wheee.
- Audran comes out to play when the vents are disabled. I usually petrify him, then go to town with flashbangs and/or electro core (Dietrich's lightning ball) on his pet mages to stop them casting spells. They like to bunch up.
- Focus fire on Audran.
- Take Audran's key, stop the countdown.
- Mop up the rest. Mages > sword adepts > gun-wielding thugs.
