I don't really think he is unbeatable. He, and the dungeon itself, are just harder. I mostly play mage classes, and have lost one of my best (very few) tries with Archmage in there, but not to him but to a bandit randboss uber stealth and more talents than I could bother to count, among them a silence skill.
I have successfully killed the Bandit Lord like three or four times with a vanilla Necromancer, though. I just use my standard I-am-going-to-fiddle-with-something-that-will-probably-get-me-killed tactic, which consists of lying down my debuff AOE talents (Circle of Death and Cold Flames if I have it) near the thing that will presumably kill me, and having all my minions (7.5 talent level preferably) as near me as I can. Preferably in Wisp form, but if not with Surge of Undeath as the last talent used.
With the Bandit Lord, there is also the nifty fact he won't attack until you actually hurt him or talk, so I can also preemptly cast my 5/5 Displacement Shield (Which is Awesome, specially on a Necromancer who has shitty defences.) Which helps a lot with his tendency to appear out of - nowhere and critical and poison you (bane of blindness is a godsend in this case). A 5/5 Chill of the Tomb to nuke the hidden opponents also doesn't hurt, but with the Talent's ludicrous AOE at that level you have to take care of not hitting the merchant.
Also, do not, under any circumstance, visit the northern frozen regions until you hit around lvl 20, preferably more, but if you're 15+ and reasonably confident then you may be able to do it. You may still die, though. It is also of paramount importance that you have either a high level of Heightened Senses or Arcane Eye, though a lantern with Track could also save your life.
Also, on pretty much any mage class, having a high level Phase Door and even a level 1 Teleport importance's cannot be understated. Teleport, specially, has saved my ass in many "whelp, I'm basically dead, might as well try" situations.
I mostly play Nightmare Roguelike, though, so if you're one of those guys that has won the game like 20 times on insane, and actively play on insane or madness, then my advise is probably worth shit. Though I also have the impression that those guys are pretty inflexible, so maybe they just have to try new approaches?
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