Introduction

Ulitharids are the nobility of Illithid society, possessing psionic abilities far surpassing their common mind flayer brethren. As such, knowledge and preparation is essential to surviving any engagement with an Ulitharid.

Illithids are are known to use Ego Whip and Mind Thrust frequently as their preferred mode of telepathic attack. Given the telepathic defence mode Mind Blank’s vulnerabilities to these attacks, Intellect Fortress and especially Tower of Iron Will defence modes are much more highly preferred:

Repeated engagement with an Ulitharid called “Qholillaroon” in the Heartcoil Deeps has revealed a set attack pattern that may be of use against other Ulitharids if they are encountered. Below is a summary of my observations of this pattern.

Physical Acceleration, the Extra Action

Qholillaroon appears to be operating under the psionic “Physical Acceleration” ability (a psionic analog of “Haste”), and gains an extra action per round.

This extra action always occurs before his normal action for the round. The nature of this action and the target depends entirely on your party’s formation.

The Psychic Bomb is the most devastating and preferred attack of this Ulitharid for their extra action. This attack will target all characters within the same row within 15’ (Range 3) and inflict the “Injure” status on all characters hit by the blast:

Condition for attack: Quolillaroon will only engage in this attack mode if all characters are in the same row. (Either the back, middle or front row.)

Tactical considerations: To prevent the use of Psychic Bomb, simply move a character out of the row before Qholillaroon’s round. Alternatively, avoid moving a character into a row if it aligns all the characters before the ulitharid’s round.

The Mind Sword is the second choice of Quolillaroon for his extra action. The ulitharid will randomly target one of the characters who are within 5’ (Range 1), ignoring Taunt and Stealth conditions. Any character who is hit by Mind Sword will be Pushed back 5’ unless there is a character directly behind them.

Condition for attack: A character in Melee range (Range 1), and not all characters in the same row.

Tactical considerations: Quolillaroon’s attack can chosen by your party to be against a character who has high Hit Points or Defense, with Counter-Attack, if they are the only character in Melee range. For example, in the following formation, Quollillaroon will always use Mind Sword and it will always attack Tommus.

The Mind Whip is the last option for the Ulitharid’s extra action. This attack will randomly target the furthest character, ignoring Taunt and Stealth Conditions. Any character who is hit by Mind Whip will be Pulled forward 5’ unless there is a character directly ahead of them.

Condition for attack: No characters in Melee range and not all characters in the same row.

Tactical considerations: In general, it’s beneficial for a character to be pulled forward to enable more ability options. Conversely, moving a character ahead of another character potentially will prevent the character in the back row from being pulled forward, and may cause extra damage from the attempt to being moved to an occupied space. Therefore, for any movement actions from the back row to the middle, the character should step directly forward.

Normal Actions

Each turn, after the Extra Action has occurred, Qholillaroon will then perform the one of the following actions, if available, in the following three-step sequence for the duration of the fight.

Step 1:



Alter Senses is the ulitharid’s first regular action following his extra attack. He conjures up 3 false mirror images, which will dissipate when hit with an attack that does damage or inflict a status condition. The real Qholillaroon will randomly take the place of any remaining images (real or illusion) after an attack, or upon being hit*. Intriguingly these are active mirror images of Qhollilaroon, such that if there is an animation that will affect the actual ulitharid, it will also be visible on the mirror images:

Tactical Consideration: Area of Effect spells are the most efficient means to determine which images are illusions by instantly dispelling them. Attacks that attack multiple targets upon weapon proc (such as Wizard and Fighter’s legendary weapons, Barbarian’s Rare Hammer) also efficiently remove false images. *Note that currently, counter-attacks will always attack the real image, and the boss will not change locations upon being hit by a counter-attack, ensuring that the next attack will also target the real boss.

Step 2:



Alter Battlefield ability will randomly select one of the closest characters and one of the most distant characters, ignoring Taunt and Stealth conditions, and swap their placements, doing minor damage to both characters. If, however, all the characters are in the same row, no swap occurs.

Tactical Considerations: If there is a single character in the front row, and a single character in the back row, then it is guaranteed that those two characters will have their placements swapped. Because the attack also does damage, it will trigger a counter-attack if the characters who are damaged are within their basic attack range.

Step 3:



The most feared ability of Qholillaroon is his ability to dominate heroes for 2 turns. The ulitharid will use this ability on one of the most distant characters, randomly without regards to Taunt or Stealth conditions. The dominated character will perform a basic attack against their own allies, with a chance for their basic attack abilities to trigger at the normal rate.

Note that the domination attack does in fact miss, and I estimate that it happens around 5% of the time.

Tactical Considerations: Given that the Alter Loyalty ability targets the character furthest away from Qholillaroon, the party can designate which character will be affected by keeping them as the only character in the back row. Characters with self-restore abilities like the Fighter and the Paladin make ideal candidates to be targeted for domination.

Summary

Combining the above information, Qholillaroon will have the following repeating action pattern:

Round 1:

Extra Action: Psychic Bomb if characters in row, else Psychic Sword if character in front row, else Psychic Whip on most distant character.

Normal Action: Alter Senses to create mirror images.

Round 2:

Extra Action: Psychic Bomb if characters in row, else Psychic Sword if character in front row, else Psychic Whip on most distant character.

Normal Action: Alter Battlefield to swap closest and most distant characters.

Round 3:

Extra Action: Psychic Bomb if characters in row, else Psychic Sword if character in front row, else Psychic Whip on most distant character.

Normal Action: Alter Loyalty to dominate most distant character.

Round 4 cycles back to Round 1 actions.

General Strategic Advice: Equip Tommus the Fighter with Extra Action granting footwear (Epic or Legendary), Counter-attack granting headgear (Epic) and self Restore granting wondrous item (Common). Use Counter-attack in the fight preceding the encounter with Qholillaroon so it remains active.

Review initiative order and move Tommus immediately forward and then in front of where another character has already moved or will be moving. Leave Tommus as the only character in the front row. This will ensure that Mind Sword will hit Tommus, providing you a counter-attack to identify the real Qholillaroon. This will also set up Tommus to be the target to be swapped with a more distant character.

In the round preceding the Alter Loyalty attack, position the characters such that Tommus is the only character in the back row. Once Tommus is dominated, his Wondrous Item ability will clear it (up to 100% success at higher levels) at the beginning of his next turn, resulting in friendly fire.

The other characters just depends on personal preference. I like Mage, Bard and Cleric, but I’ve also had some success with Warlock instead of Bard.