Grimrock

How many hit points do the dead have in the cemetery?
My level 4 characters can't seem to survive even one of the damn things and its worse when they keep surrounding me.
I see that I must get the serpent staff in the cemetery?
If so, then I am really stuck!!

What difficulty are you on? Fighting them on hard requires tactics and square-dancing for my party and we're at level 8 right now.

Take advantage of their sluggish movement. Lead them into a more open area and let them chase you around in circles. Take shots at them when you get an opening. They've very strong but they're also among the easiest enemies to out-maneuver.

Whatever you do, don't let them surround you. Kite one away from his friends and deal with them one at a time.

Get to a 2x2 open square and let the zombie get diagonally adjacent to you. Turn so that you are looking at the zombie, but perpendicular to it. Then turn so that you are looking the same direction as the zombie. The zombie will move forward; as soon as it begins moving forward, back up and stab it in the back.
This tactic works on most of the enemies in the game, even some of the ranged ones (such as the ratling knife thrower). Most monsters are reluctant to move adjacent to you if you are looking at them, but as soon as you look away, they will move, and prefer to move in the direction they're already facing. Thus the fastest way by far to kill melee enemies in melee is to exploit this. It's also one reason why it's easy to backstab almost anything (the other reason being invisibility). There are a few exceptions - many of the monsters carried over from LoG1 (most noticeably slimes and crabs), both of the archers, and ice guardians don't exhibit this behaviour very much, and wargs and snakes can move and turn at the same time so it works for manipulating their position but doesn't work as well for backstabbing.

As for getting surrounded...don't do that. Grimrock combat is basically an FPS with grid movement, you have to move and dodge attacks. There is not a single place in the game where you are required to get surrounded. If it seems like there is, you need to approach that place differently, perhaps with bombs or invisibility.

Also, the serpent staff is not in the cemetery.

lmaccarty wrote:My level 4 characters can't seem to survive even one of the damn things ...

Level 4 seems a bit low to tackle the cemetery. Being level 6 to 8 along with the matching gear is a lot more reasonable.

level 4 is definitely low for those duel wielding triple hitting zombies

unless you track exactly where they spawn and for those times you get cornered use a ice bomb
it is doable at 4 but will take some time and precise strafing.
zombies appear on a timer in packs when they are triggered so you have time to get set up if you know they are coming.
the staff lies elsewhere

Yeah I am level 9 and those fights will still last 30 second to a minute for just one. I couldn't imagine taking those hits at level 4 (with less hit points, armor and weapons, and even skills!)

Playing on hard, the first 2x1 drop down grave is good cover when they spawn everywhere, just rest and pop up for hits. The three teleporter puzzle I dropped on two heads, making sure I was next to the ladder and killed the third and used this area for the second spawn.
The second 2x1 drop down grave is a trap with a spawning zombie, so can't go down there on hard.

OK,
My guys are now level 6 and they were still kicking my butt.
Plus, when I dig in the cemetery my game boots to the desktop.
There is supposed to be a patch coming out to fix this bug, but haven't seen it so far.
There was a recommendation to post some code using the console to fix this but I don't even know how to get to the console.

Thanks for the movement strategy and I will try that rather than just standing still like an idiot.

Also, someone posted that the serpent staff was in the cemetery, which you say is wrong.
Can anyone tell me where it is?
I seem to be stuck right now as the glowing, floating entity is blocking my progress.
The damn thing keeps following me around.
When my spell caster goes up a level I will try the Dispel on it.
Thanks for your help as I love this game but it can get pretty tricky even on my restart in the Easy mode.
Don't see much difference except there seems to be a few more Bloodcaps laying around.

lmaccarty wrote:OK,
Also, someone posted that the serpent staff was in the cemetery, which you say is wrong.
Can anyone tell me where it is?

The serpent staff is in called

lmaccarty wrote: Plus, when I dig in the cemetery my game boots to the desktop.
There is supposed to be a patch coming out to fix this bug, but haven't seen it so far.
There was a recommendation to post some code using the console to fix this but I don't even know how to get to the console.

viewtopic.php?f=21&t=7959&p=81545#p81545