I usually just fly as far north as I can from the Castle stormguard side and start there. Other than I do pretty much what you suggested with bows and meteor shower, though I've never tried targeting the witches first. I actually don't have as much trouble with it now as I used to, and saving and reloading can bypass most of the issues. I think I've just got it in my head that it's a major pain and always dread it. I had a major dim-witted moment yesterday doing the Temple of Baa in Ironfist. I'd done all the bathhouse stuff and was going to open the doors on the little room in the middle. I remembered NEWS but I just couldn't get the doors to open after I did that. Frustrated, I finally went and looked a couple of spoiler sites and both of them said that you needed to do the main temple/altar area before you could open those doors. I was sure I never did that before but I went ahead and cleared all that out, went back, and the doors still wouldn't open. Saved and reloaded and tried over and over again.
What was I doing wrong? I was clicking on the signs in NEWS order instead of the doors. It wasn't till I tried clicking on different doors that I finally got the 'click' and realized my error.
