Combat tips

24jel

Hi all,

I thought it might be a good idea to have a general thread in which experienced players can share some combat tips with the beginners. I found that some battles can be really tough and overwhelming, especially at the start of the game. I'm specifically reffering to the 'boss battles'. Without spoilers, people are welcome to share their tips on how to approach battes in general.

The only thing I have (as I'm a beginner) is don't forget to equip special ammunition (arrows, bolts, etc.) and use the potions available!

Madhax

There's a sticky up top on this forum for precisely what you're looking for

24jel

I've seen and read the thread, but I found that most information in there focusses on character development and stats. I thought it would be nice to have a thread focussing on combat and tactics instead. However, if any moderator feels this is a duplicate thread, please do feel free to remove it.

Tresset

General combat tips is a difficult subject; especially with a no spoilers limitation. A lot of combats in the game handle quite differently from each other and getting into specifics usually leads to spoilers. That said, I could probably talk for hours about what I have learned about combat. I will say a few things.

I find that experimenting with different spells and strategies for the same battle helps you hone your skills and discover new strategies that may be very useful later on. You will also be able to find out what works best this way. Furthermore this can help you get a feel for what each character excels at and what they struggle with.
It is important to know your spells. Read the descriptions carefully.
Always be prepared for what you face. Removing and protecting from nasty effects should probably be a part of your standard travel kit. For example: if you are going to fight a mage that casts horror, try to have a priest cast remove fear before you meet him. If you need to fight spiders then stock up on antidotes before hand.
A well balanced party is important. 2 warrior types, 1-2 priest/druid types, and 1-2 mage types is a pretty good balance. (I have never found pure thieves to be very good at combat after a backstab. The thieves I use are usually dual/multi classed.)
A lot of what you can and can't do depends on your level. If you are having trouble with an encounter then try coming back later.

I hope that this helps.

raywind

General strategy = Kill em all.

Against mages/clerics and anything that casts use poison so they cant cast.
Melee enemies cast hold/sleep/entangle anything that keeps em on place and shoot them off.
Ranged enemies backstab/stunning/slowing spells and shoot em.

Thats it and you are victorious!

24jel

Does casting poison prevent any mage from casting? Are there other spells that prevent it? Especially mirror image can be annoying at times - especially in the beginning.

ZanathKariashi

There's a chance (about 45%, supposed to be 100%) damaging enemies in combat will interrupt spells (it's 100% when they hit you though, cheating bastards). (this includes damage from poison and the like)

Sleep is the most OP spell in BG1. It affects most massed enemies, and has a pretty rough penalty so it works most of the time. This allows you kill them effortless, or keep them out of the fight if a more dangerous target is present. (it does have a level limit on what it can effect though, so it's of limited use against high level targets or in the sequel)

Unless it's an AoE, damage spells generally aren't worth it...and even then, you really have to ask yourself if a disabling, dispelling, or buff spell would be more effective overall.

Blind is devastating against casters, since they can't see you to cast, unless they're basically hugging you. The same applies to archers, but only a small handful have enough health and/or damage for it to be worthwhile. It's also quite effective against melee, since it makes them easier to hit, and harder for them to hit you.

Slow is also quite nice as it effects a group, it has a rather nasty penalty making it stick very well, and also makes them more vulnerable to your attacks, slowing their movement speed to a crawl, while making it harder for them to hit in return. It also forces their weapon speed to 10, dramatically slowing their damage output (It doesn't reduce their number of attacks, but you can hit them several times before their first swing, you can move away perhaps avoid the attack).

Web is nice if your group is ranged heavy or you have melee characters with some form of free-action.

Madhax

You can't get it until later in the game, but Emotion is fantastic. Sleep stops working at a certain level, making it only useful against weak enemies, but Emotion can knock over werewolves and high-level humanoids. It's probably my favorite level 4 spell of the game.

Fighting "unfairly" with backstab is a devastating strategy, too. Stealth in, backstab a target, then either charge in behind your thief or draw the enemies back to where your party is waiting with the thief. In my last run through with a Fighter/Thief PC, I would hide my part around the corner and stealth forward to backstab an enemy. After critically wounding or killing my target, I'd flee around the corner and quickly stealth again, so the enemies rounding the corner would wind up in close combat with Dorn and Kagain. Then, I'd backstab them again =D

Tresset

As for mirror image the best counter spell to that is actually magic missile. Once you become able to launch several missiles per cast just toss a couple of those over to the mirror imaged person and it usually eats right through that.

emjay

I've noticed that mirror image seems to behave a little differently now. Each missile doesn't seem to take out an image on its own anymore. And you can get hit with images up its just less common

Time4Tiddy

I find it's always a good idea to have one tanky character with all the missile avoidance options - Boots of Avoidance, Girdle of Piercing, Shield of the Falling Stars, etc. Close range immediately to the archer enemies. They will switch to melee weapons that they can barely use. Move to the next and the next, and typically the ones you've already tagged will follow you instead of switching back to ranged weapon.

This can be critical especially early on when you mages and thieves have few hit points and high AC. A group of skeletons with throwing daggers can ruin your day despite being some of the weakest enemies in the game.

Aegir_Fellwood

(1) Save often.
(2) Be ready to hit pause at any moment (or set the game to pause when enemy is sighted).
(3) When not outside have your thief check for traps while moving slowly forward (try to remain hidden while doing so).
(4) Never equip a unidentified item (shown in blue) as it may be cursed - and always read the item description.
(5) As a first time player; do not play as a sorcerer as that pretty much requires you to know what spells you want and/or need. So if you want to be an arcane spellcaster choose mage or bard.
(6) For a good team/party balance make sure to have at least; 1 warrior (fighter, barbarian, paladin, ranger), 1 thief (primarily focus on open locks and find traps), 1 mage (don't specialize as you'll not be able to scribe all magespells), 1 cleric and/or druid (they have access to healing and restorative spells).
(7) Take it easy, take time to suck in the atmosphere, cause this is not Diablo

24jel

Regarding 4, I fell in the trap of the Belt of Masculinity/Feminity. Yep, that was an expenive mistake (figured not to reload so I would remember it better!)

ZanathKariashi

Bassilus has AWESOME pair of gloves, try'em on.

Edwin

Stick um with the pointy end.