Good advice, Robert. I decided eventually just to knock down the difficulty to easy for this one fight. Considering how much I love the game I didn't want to quit playing just because of one bad dude. Even on easy it took me 15 minutes to finish him. I tried respecing several ways but it only gimped me further because a lot of my armor was dependent on my original specs.

But now I'm back on hard and doing the second dungeon with a vanquisher. I like it much better than the alchemist. It actually seems too easy now. I may have to kick it up to very hard.

Frustrating, isnt' it? I died and respawned in town a lot while fighting him. Then one time it just reset.

Okay no workie. I tried 3 new specs and it didn't help. BTW, Ember Lance did much less damage than when I was using Ember Strike.

I don't get it. My specs worked so beautifully for the entire game. I don't think it's my character or playstyle. I think they just gave us a lame-ass boss. Apparently it's a widespread problem. At least I know I'm not broken. If it really is as easy for you guys as you say, then you must have done your character development and developed you playstyle just the right way. I think you guys are actually the wierd ones :D.

I'm done with it, but thanks for your help anyway.

The game doesn't end here? Crap now I'm going to have to go through that again :?.

The reason for the specs I have was to get the best damage skills from Arcane and armor skills from Battle because I figured a mage would need it. When I did my second respec I put points into Adventurer to level quicker (something I should have done from the beginning I think). Maybe that's why I'm only lvl 35 because I've made sure get every bit of experience possible.

Are you saying I should stay in one category like Arcane? Some of those skills seem worthless.

I am a lvl 35 Alchemist playing on hard. I thought hard was just perfect for the whole game. My skills in the game are fine - I've had no problems. I like having a hard endgame boss but giving him 10 bazillion health is a dumb way to make it difficult. It doesn't challenge me, it is only an excercise in tedium. There are better ways to make an endboss challenging - like actually testing your skills, not how long you're willing to sit in your seat until its finished.

The worst thing is that if it weren't for that glitch that reset the level I would have beat him. For me it's not worth going through that again. As far as I'm concerned, I won the game. Achievements be damned.

Here are my specs:

23 str (2-3)

12 dex (310-619)

115 mag (310-619)

97 def (402-804)

Resistances:

251 poison

141 lightning

196 fire

170 ice

Skills:

Rank 10 Ember Lightning

10 Ember Strike

10 Armor Expertise

10 Ember Sentry

10 Adventurer

6 Ember Shield

It took me 30 minutes to get Ordrek down to 1/4 his life. I spent nearly 40,000 on potions just to stay alive. When I died and respawned about the 30th time (literally), THE LEVEL RESTARTED AND HE HAD FULL HEALTH AGAIN. Even without that damned glitch (it is a glitch, right?),this is the most ridiculous and contrived end boss I've ever played. What a lame way to end a cool game.