I'm having trouble battling the Dark Savant. What spells will work on him? What weapons are most helpful? Thanks

Have all buffs running before combat starts, cast soul and element sheild, and haste. Make sure all characters are using best weapon: lightning bolts, gold nuggets, etc. Use Hex with death cloud or other massive damage spell to get rid of his henchmen so bella can concentrate on DS. Launch an elemental [canned if needbe] for every character.

Oru

buffs are your best friend

Ya its weird I beat him easily. Hes much easier than that soul eater thing on ascension peak.

Nothing special about him just beat on him.

Im very disappointed from that fight. DS gives you less XP than a Trydra and that is okay, cause he is weaker.
The main problem is how to save Bela.

None (except armormelt).

It was a long long battle with my pure spellcaster party (no melee or missile weapons used). I didn't manage to damage him once with a spell. He didn't melee me, so razor cloak is useless. And my elementals always attacked the henchman first (since they had lower AC). At least, DS does almost no damage, so its only a matter of patience to finish him off.

I played the ending several times, and this strategy always worked. I just popped open about three canned elementals on the first turn to help Vi and Bella keep the minions occupied. Beefed up my fighters with enchanted blade and superman, protected them with elemental shield and soul shield, and then just let them hack away while my bard handled the healing duties. My valkyrie, ninja, and the android took the DS down petty easily every time.

Hmmm, I think the fight with Savant isn't really meant to be the hardest one... In Wizardry 7 he wasn't the most powerful creature too, compare him to the Gorrors... I think that his main power is his knowledge.

Unsure if it's been mentioned before but Klarius on the VN Boards created a Super Dark Savant with loads of HP (I think 50,000!) and masses of physical and magic resistance so he is almost invulnerable. So if you want a real challenge head over there.

There's also a super Dark Savant with all the same resistances but has the same number of HP as the 'ordinary' one.I'm at work at present so don't have the link to hand, sorry.

I assure that everyone stays focused on the DS and ignore his mingions, get close to use heaviest weapons (although VI foolishly returns all the great stuff I gave her).

Buff up, I like to repeat Haste, Enchant Blade, Missile shield, etc. AFTER my elementals are summoned so thet they also get buffed - although they rarely go after the Savant. Some weapons can KO or Paralyze - they work even though spells do poorly - once the Savant is immobilized, he dies quickly (try to get behind him for 3x damage when immobilized). Keep telling your party members to attack the Savant (they quickly prefer to attack the mingions - who all evaporate once the Savant dies).
It helps when everyone (except gadgeteer, holding the thief's buckler) has secondary weapons so good that you sell off stilettos - then with haste, it's a hackfest (everyone who can use them has SnakeSpeed Boots also).