My pure mage didn't have that much trouble with them on expert.Those guys kicked my Khajiit butt over and over again. They are pretty tough, even on Adept. But my Altmer mage did not have too much trouble with them on Expert. I just dual cast ice spike and impact staggered them. I also took a resist fire potion and I think I had one piece of gear with some fire resistance in it, so my total fire resistance was about 50% or so. Another strategy is to try to take them on one at a time, and not all at once, but walking up and getting the attention of the closest one and then running back a little. The corridor is narrow and you can use that for cover somewhat. Good luck!

BTW, as others have said the battle si the same whether you go for the white star or the black star.

1. Frenzy or Calm
2. Dragonskin (Breton)
3. Rose of Sangiure
4. Staff of Frost/Shock Atronach (Crafted in winterhold)

There are dead angles in that place. Lure out their spells.

You're wrong. Tried that already.

As to the other suggestions:

They autoresist Fury (Either fury doesn't work on Dremora, or I need to get the Kindred perk to affect em)
Don't have dual-casting destruction.
Only Electric spell I have is Sparks, and by the time I'm in range, I'm roasted.
I'm level 19, so I don't have any really hard hitting spells yet. My best spell yet is Bound Bow, but they DO close to meele if you hide around the corner.

Actually I reloaded it and finally managed it...had to spam about 5 atronochs before it finally managed to kill one...after that, I summoned one more Atronoch then whipped out my bound bow and provided fire support...was real frustrating for a long time there though.

I've never had them all at once.... no matter what sort of "class" my toons are. Azura dumps you in, there's a brief convo with Varyn, then he runs off. A dremora runs toward you. Kill it, move down into the area, another one spawns. Kill it. Actually.... I've never had more than two of them, then Varyn.

Odd, I always get all 3 at once...not sure how you managed that one, but they always seem to come after me right away. My other characters did it at higher level, and mostly had fire resist gear already (or just turned into a werewolf and chowed down on the Daedra, then waited to revert to normal so they could loot the hearts (and so he wouldn't get attacked in the inn when he got returned to the normal world), then went on and killed Varen 1 on 1.)

I've only done it once so far and I got at least 3 maybe even 4. I didn't have Resist Fire enchants on my gear at the time so I ran by them, but 3 for sure.

I don't "manage" it at all.... that's just how it is. I've done this probably 15 times now, maybe more. And that's how it's worked every time.

They're afraid of you.

Damn straight.

Rogue Daedric Princess?

Oh HELL no. Just a common *insert race here* (Khajiit currently) woman with a drop of dragon blood in her background somewhere.... yeah - figure THAT out for Khajiit or Argonian....

But scary? Yep. It's all in how you swagger.

Oy. Apologies for the derail....

Me too but I've always done the black path; Serethil mentions Azura, is there a difference between the two choices?

Hmm. That's a possibility. I - just don't like Nelacar.... and I have NO beef with Azura, Daedra notwithstanding.... I've never tried the black path.

It's just that it makes it so easy to get grand souls...

I buy what I need. Gold's just not a problem in this game.... and I really dislike Nelacar.

its pretty simple to kill him with the right tactic, this is how i do it now, take potions, regen health, one handed and anything else you got that might help, get a powerful sword or dagger ready, enchanted is best, and rush him and he goes down pretty easily then. just take potions, but make sure you rush him right away, don't even worry about the two thralls, also, wear plenty of armor. thats how you kill him easily, anything else is really tough cause he's got too much firepower, so rushing in on him loaded with potions and a sword is the best strategy, cast an oak flesh spell if you have it also.

Like Serethil I get them one at a time. But then I sneak-roll, warhammer to the head, sneak-roll, warhammer to the head, etc. Probably your activities are attracting their attention.

One option for people having problems is to dodge and run for it. Kill the mage and the dremora vanish. The mage is a mage and goes down easy.

Pretty much how I did, just went for Become Ethereal and ran downstairs and finished him before the others could catch up.
Got pwned a heap of times before them trying to fight them.
If you take Spellbreker with you, I would imagine it would be a peice of piss then.

An alteration mage with the atronach perk and atronach guardian sign will be nigh immune to their spell spam.

An alteration mage could also just paralyse the guy

An illusion mage could frenzy them all so they kill each other

A conjuration mage could just hide and keep spamming summons and try thin the herd

A destruction mage or alchemist could bring a set of staves (destruction pots) and soul gems as a backup weapon to conserve mana

Any number of shouts could be helpful here (Fear, Ethereal, Unrelenting Force)

Honestly, this is why I hate people who harp on about the virtues of destruction. People talk about "dumb warriors", but destruction mages who try solve all their problems by bludgeoning it over the head with a fireball are really no better than a guy who blindly bludgeons with a warhammer. A good mage is all about finesse (My mage is exclusively alteration/illusion xD)

And a level 19 with none of those things yet?



How is this the "right tactic" for a pure spellcaster at level 19 with no high level alchemy, no "powerful sword or dagger",

And there are three "thralls", not just two. And they spam fireballs, so "ignoring" them is not a plan for a successful rush.

@RE - what magic skills have you been perking? Any of them at level 50 yet? I don't exactly recall how far my magicka skills had leveled at character level 19, but at 26, I was 50+ in Alteration (perks up to adept and a couple each in the armor buff and magic resistance), Conjuration (perks up to adept for summon frost and flame atronach), Destruction (perks up to adept and +50% damage for fire and shock) and Enchanting (couple perks in the initial perk - not used much yet). Rest of the perks are in Restoration - almost Adept. I found I just used Summons and healing, but like some of the others I didn't have to fight all 3 at once for some reason.

If you have trouble, try getting the Atronach standing stone; makes just about any spell caster fight *much* easier. IIRC, the stone is in that region south of Windhelm, where all the hot springs are.

I had the same experience you did. I didn't have much elemental resistance, I was a part mage and part fighter, I couldn't close and kept getting killed. In the end I ended up moving the game level down a little so I could kill him.

In restrospect, there are some possibilities that occur to me. Sanguine Rose or Wabbajack are both items you can get which could maybe balance the scales. Easier is to progress along the main path till you find the helmet of the unburned. That plus a good potion of fire resistance should let you just run through the fireballs and just kill the guy. With the helmet and one other fire resist item (not hard to find out there) plus the potion it would be even easier.

As many said above, giving him something else to shoot at would probably work. Firing off a familiar or atronach and running in behind it might give you some breathing room. Also I find that with REALLY good armor, even fireballs are quite a bit less effective. And there are some shields, like the Shield of Yaggramor (spelling?) that you get from the Companions quest that resist magic which could help. Good luck.

I only have two words for those of you struggling with this part of the quest.

Sanguine Rose

If Malyn Varen can throw three Dremora at me at once, it's only right that I throw back an infinite stream of mine at the four of them. Take that you Voldemort wannabe, with your star shaped Horcrux. I have cleared the star several times now using this method, and healing from the occassional stray bolt of lightning or fireball that might come my way. Sadly this is because no matter how many times I do it, I never get teleported out by Azura/Nelacar. The next time I am just going to do the work, teleport myself out, mark the quest completed, give myself the black star, and then hit ~ to close the console. I am tired of the game cheating me out of what's rightfully mine.

i play a mage myself but for that mission, i rush him with an enchanted sword and i take some potions and he's dead in like 20 seconds max, if you want to try to stay far away and fight him, go for it but the area is too smalll and there really isn't any places to hide, plus he has massive firepower so for that job, i just use a double enchanted sword and he's dead real fast, you can also just rush right up to him and cast ice storm spells at him from directly in front of him.