@ Mythdracon - locations for Arrows of Biting are not that hard to find when you keep your eyes sharp
Sirines in Lighthouse map, area where you can recruit Safana and in area north from there, drop allways Arrow of Biting. They are also sold in Sorcerous Sundries (spell shop in Gate), I don't remember Thalantyr in High Hedge selling them (I could be wrong as I don't remember well). There could be other locations aswell, but these are what I remember from top of my head.
I pretty much went pure magic. No spells that my cleric cast did any substantial damage.
Really sucks that +3 weapons don't work....you'd think they should have the wolfweres at least take minimal damage from them...sheesh. Complete immunity? Jesus.
That fight is an incredible pain. The regen he has (and greater weres in general) is incredibly fast. Having everyone that can use a magic missile wand use them, while the frontliners use the dagger from the ship, really does help. Hold Monster. Wand of Paralyzation is amazing in BGI, as it is pretty much your 'oh crap' button that can stop nearly anything in its tracks.
Another upcoming fight, with Aec'telec, can be handled really easily using the Wand of Paralyzation. The werewolf fight and that fight were the hardest in the entire game for me.
Only four weapons can hurt greater lycans in BG: Kondar, Werebane, Scorched Earth, and Balduran's Sword. Otherwise you'll need to lob a lot of spells at them.
The insane regeneration was due to a bug in their item, which allowed it to stack repeatedly if you save/re-entered thier area repeatedly, which is fixed in BGEE.
I struggled with this for ages. I eventually won by holding the damn thing. Then barraging it with magic attacks. Every part member had a magic missile or frost wand. Just relentlessly hitting it with magic.
Only four weapons can hurt greater lycans in BG: Kondar, Werebane, Scorched Earth, and Balduran's Sword. Otherwise you'll need to lob a lot of spells at them.
The insane regeneration was due to a bug in their item, which allowed it to stack repeatedly if you save/re-entered thier area repeatedly, which is fixed in BGEE.
BTW I tried to provide a complete list of weapons in BGEE with the "cold iron" ability here (as well as some spells which have it, not sure if they work against Greater Werewolves as expected, though)
Flame Tongue - The Burning Earth Long Sword +1 / Special: +2 vs. regenerating creatures, +3 vs. cold-using creatures, +4 vs. undead SW1H24.ITM
Sword of Balduran +4 vs. Lycanthropes Listed under comps18.ITM and SW1H18.ITM
Kondar +1 Bastard Sword / +3 vs. Shape Shifters Listed under comps03.ITM and SW1H03.ITM
Dagger Werebane +1 DAGG09.ITM
Is it worth giving a fighter-type character (e.g. Dorn) one pip in Bastard Swords just so he can use Kondar or the Sword of Balduran effectively against werewolves?
BTW there's also the new Bastard Sword +1 Albruin, which has "Silver" as a property, but not "cold iron", apparently this means it can damage Greater Werewolves, but not Loup Garou (which I presume is what Karoug counts as?)
Is it worth giving a fighter-type character (e.g. Dorn) one pip in Bastard Swords just so he can use Kondar or the Sword of Balduran effectively against werewolves?
Not if you are playing with a party, IMO. This proficiency points are just too valuable.
In my last run, I played with a party with Dorn (using the bastard sword with no pips), Jaheira (using the dagger with no pips), Rasaad (using the sword of balduran with no pips), and then spell casters firing damage spells and took him down with no problem. If you are having problems, then use the wand of paralyzation and then plan your barrage for maximum impact over 1 round.
If you are using a small party or soloing, then this is worth thinking about.
warrior classes have only a small (-2) to hit penalty for using weapons they are non-proficient with, so I wouldn't worry, especially since most of them have such high to-hit bonuses vs shapeshifters/lycanthropes.
Karoug is not Loup Garou, only the headlady and the guy back in the cottage in Ulgoth's Beard are, and they're not nearly as dangerous as karoug anyway.
Is it worth giving a fighter-type character (e.g. Dorn) one pip in Bastard Swords just so he can use Kondar or the Sword of Balduran effectively against werewolves?
Not if you are playing with a party, IMO. This proficiency points are just too valuable.
In my last run, I played with a party with Dorn (using the bastard sword with no pips), Jaheira (using the dagger with no pips), Rasaad (using the sword of balduran with no pips), and then spell casters firing damage spells and took him down with no problem. If you are having problems, then use the wand of paralyzation and then plan your barrage for maximum impact over 1 round.
If you are using a small party or soloing, then this is worth thinking about.
I have a full party, and CHARNAME (elf fighter/mage) has 2 pips in longswords, so if I can get Flame Tongue - The Burning Earth, before the werewolves (which I think means doing Durlag's Tower before then...), then that one is covered at least. Imoen has one pip in daggers (Level 8). I've given Dorn one pip in crossbows, but am not sure whether to give him a second pip in them, or to give him a pip in Bastard Swords...
I would personally do the second pip in crossbow and then hit the Greater Werewolf with spells for the rest of the damage.
I think I might wait to see if the new APR limit for ranged weapons is a bug or intended, otherwise there's less (though still some) incentive for putting 2 pips into it
Not worth throwing the proficiency points away in my opinion. The easiest way to counteract any penalties is to give the items to fighters and use potions of giant strength. I believe there are a couple on the ship itself. Add a few buffs in (Haste, maybe Bless + Chant), and you shouldn't have problems focusing him down.
I would personally do the second pip in crossbow and then hit the Greater Werewolf with spells for the rest of the damage.
I think I might wait to see if the new APR limit for ranged weapons is a bug or intended, otherwise there's less (though still some) incentive for putting 2 pips into it
Seems pretty clear it is a bug, but I get what you are saying. Even then, though, the damage bonus from specializing is worth more than a pip in a weapon you use in exactly one fight when that pip isn't essential.
I would personally do the second pip in crossbow and then hit the Greater Werewolf with spells for the rest of the damage.
I think I might wait to see if the new APR limit for ranged weapons is a bug or intended, otherwise there's less (though still some) incentive for putting 2 pips into it
Seems pretty clear it is a bug, but I get what you are saying. Even then, though, the damage bonus from specializing is worth more than a pip in a weapon you use in exactly one fight when that pip isn't essential.
My Kargain, with -8 AC, tanked him (gulfed 7 healing potions) all the way, while everyone else killed all his minions.
Then, my charname, with 1 point in bastard swrods, gulfed a 21 str potion and a heroism potion and started hacking him (with the necktale +2 damage too).
My Edwin used magic missile all the way too.
The rest of the party did not even atack, since they had nothing effective.
I myself found that fight quite difficult, only because of the greater Wolfwere. All the others were very easy: I just dropped a charge of the wand of horror and they started fleeing like hell. Got them down one by one, then got the sword and dagger from the chest (was it a table?) in the other room, id'd them and gave the sword to my main, the dagger to Dorn. Edwin and Neera were casting magic missile all the time, Dorn was doing a decent damage. but the main with that sword... man, the fight was over in like 20 seconds. The only thing was, before the latest patch you had to identify objects for their properties to be accounted for. i.e., if you didn't id the objects, you wouldn't be able to use them effectively. I think I've read somewhere that this problem was addressed in the latest patch , but I wouldn't bet my house on it.
I myself found that fight quite difficult, only because of the greater Wolfwere. All the others were very easy: I just dropped a charge of the wand of horror and they started fleeing like hell. Got them down one by one, then got the sword and dagger from the chest (was it a table?) in the other room, id'd them and gave the sword to my main, the dagger to Dorn. Edwin and Neera were casting magic missile all the time, Dorn was doing a decent damage. but the main with that sword... man, the fight was over in like 20 seconds. The only thing was, before the latest patch you had to identify objects for their properties to be accounted for. i.e., if you didn't id the objects, you wouldn't be able to use them effectively. I think I've read somewhere that this problem was addressed in the latest patch , but I wouldn't bet my house on it.
Just for reference for others doing this, the sword on the top floor is very helpful but the knife there is only the butterknife of balderan which is not effective. The dagger that is effective against GWWs is on a lower floor of the ship.
Comments
Sirines in Lighthouse map, area where you can recruit Safana and in area north from there, drop allways Arrow of Biting. They are also sold in Sorcerous Sundries (spell shop in Gate), I don't remember Thalantyr in High Hedge selling them (I could be wrong as I don't remember well). There could be other locations aswell, but these are what I remember from top of my head.
Only weapon with the hidden "Cold iron" stat can hit them. Basically, any weapon that has +X to shapeshifters of werewolves.
Really sucks that +3 weapons don't work....you'd think they should have the wolfweres at least take minimal damage from them...sheesh. Complete immunity? Jesus.
Another upcoming fight, with Aec'telec, can be handled really easily using the Wand of Paralyzation. The werewolf fight and that fight were the hardest in the entire game for me.
The insane regeneration was due to a bug in their item, which allowed it to stack repeatedly if you save/re-entered thier area repeatedly, which is fixed in BGEE.
http://forum.baldursgate.com/discussion/14394/complete-list-of-weapons-with-cold-iron-ability-vs-werewolves-spoilers#latest
i.e.
Flame Tongue - The Burning Earth Long Sword +1 / Special: +2 vs. regenerating creatures, +3 vs. cold-using creatures, +4 vs. undead
SW1H24.ITM
Sword of Balduran +4 vs. Lycanthropes
Listed under comps18.ITM and SW1H18.ITM
Kondar +1 Bastard Sword / +3 vs. Shape Shifters
Listed under comps03.ITM and SW1H03.ITM
Dagger Werebane +1
DAGG09.ITM
Is it worth giving a fighter-type character (e.g. Dorn) one pip in Bastard Swords just so he can use Kondar or the Sword of Balduran effectively against werewolves?
BTW there's also the new Bastard Sword +1 Albruin, which has "Silver" as a property, but not "cold iron", apparently this means it can damage Greater Werewolves, but not Loup Garou (which I presume is what Karoug counts as?)
warrior classes have only a small (-2) to hit penalty for using weapons they are non-proficient with, so I wouldn't worry, especially since most of them have such high to-hit bonuses vs shapeshifters/lycanthropes.
Karoug is not Loup Garou, only the headlady and the guy back in the cottage in Ulgoth's Beard are, and they're not nearly as dangerous as karoug anyway.
Then, my charname, with 1 point in bastard swrods, gulfed a 21 str potion and a heroism potion and started hacking him (with the necktale +2 damage too).
My Edwin used magic missile all the way too.
The rest of the party did not even atack, since they had nothing effective.
It was a good fight.