In the past month I have started delving into the shivering isles and have noticed something that really annoys me. Heretics and Zealots are very tough to kill. There are usually about 3 of them, they all summon something, heal themselves, and run away constantly. I am hoping this thread could be used to gather and share strategies for dealing with these pesky enemies.

Lothran only has one strategy. Rush in swinging with an active shield spell. Never failed.

Oh, and never attack the summons. That′s pointless

Yeah they can be troublesome if you cant catch up to them. What type of character are you playing? I've only done the bulk of SI with one character and his strategy was to out conjure them, silence them, and paralyze them. Their melee was no match for his blade shield and suit of heavy armor, so once I took away their magic ability, he hack n slahed them to pieces.

If you can try to kill one of them with a sneak attack, if you cant do that then i recommend silence or paralyze. Focusing on them one at a time will keep them from healing themselves. If you have a summon of your own then use it to distract them so you can go in for the kill.

They're not as fast as a summoned Clannfear, but there's a chance your summon will attack theirs. Go for the summoner, not the summoned, maybe with a ranged attack (bow or spell) even if that's not your power base. A weak hit is better than a strong miss.

If my character is in a hurry, I like hitting them with a Staff of Hoarfrost, but any staff weapon with a dispersed attack/weakness combination will work. The downside of staffs is not gaining any skills.

If you don′t want to level up, that′s actually a plus

I can't really give just one specific character as I have 3 I play depending on what I want to do. I have my unarmored mystic archer, light armored and nimble claymore wielder, and my regular breton mage.

I can't paralyze or silence at the moment as I haven't achieved journeyman status in anything with any of them. And before anyone says I shouldn't be in the shivering isles at such a low level I would like to mention I have a quest award leveler mod that levels leveled items with me so I don't have to wait to get them.

I do have a mage's staff of paralysis, but I have a lot of trouble hitting them, and they don't stay down for long.

I always summon a hunger to help me out. I think maybe I need to use touch spells so I can be more accurate with my mage which is my current favorite. Maybe later on I can build my own AOE spell to take care of them. I also have midas magic so maybe I should look into getting the ring of fire. :flamethrower:

Even if the strategies are not useful for me they still may be for others so feel free to post up.