Kensai

Xasil

Never played that kit before so I started one last night and I really like the no-armor fighter style!

The only thing I wonder is what should I aim for with the Kensai? Should I just go pure Kensai or dual at some points (he's a human). I saw some topics about Kensai/Thief and Kensai/Mage but no one seem to know at what lvl it's good to swap from Kensai to T or M.

If someone could provide me with some knowledge of what I should do in BG:EE 1 and BG:EE 2 (ex: in bg1 go pure Kensai and in bg2 reach lvl 13 and then swap to mage).

Thanks!

karpasz

Kensai until level 13, then dc to mage.

Xasil

Ok cool I'll just go pure Kensai in BG1 and dual in BG2!! And is pure Kensai good at high end or Kensai/Mage offer more possibilities?

Masonguitar

I just rolled a 100 point Kensai Elf for the +1 THACO for Longswords and placed 2 slots in that weapon proficiency. With that said I am in the same boat as you not sure how this is going to turn out! Any ideas the max level in BG1 for a Kensai?

ZanathKariashi

Pure Kensai is awesome. I actually recommend it over all. They struggle a bit right at the beginning of SoA, but once you get the boots of speed and optionally the shield amulet, you're Death Incarnate. (solo is especially nasty since you can get the full +13 bonus well before the 1/2 way point of SoA)

Kensief is also pretty good (13 dual). They compete with high lvl assassins for highest backstabs, and UAI removes all their disadvantages.

13 Kensage is a waste of time. You're better off going with a 9 dualed berserker if you plan to do a mage, since at the end of the day, you're only getting +1 more damage (vs the 9 dual berserk) and a bunch of penalties and taking most of the game to get your abilities back. While lack of armor is no big deal, the loss of bracers is a annoying.

Quartz

I'd stick with pure Kensai. Dualling Kensai just feels cheap to me.

Tresset

@ZanathKariashi You seem to know your stuff. I can only imagine that the Kensai can dish out some serious damage but... What about the AC? Does that ever get better? If so how the heck do you do that without being able to wear armor or poor man's armor (aka bracers of defense)? Mages casting spirit armor? Druids casting barkskin?

Nitram_Vi_Hermannia

Well how to improve yours mage AC? first level spell Armor reduce it for 9 hours. And than fourth level spell stoneskin (duration 12 hours) let you take a couple hits. When you combine it with blur, mirror image and shield you can be sure, that melee and range won't hurt you. There is ton of spells to use vs mages... Soooo... Somehow like this

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CaptRory

That's it dude. If your Kensai isn't dualed with a cleric or mage or druid you need to get someone else to cast stuff on him or use equipment that lets him buff himself. There's a greater variety of gear that casts spells in BG2. Anyone else think the Shield Amulet should be a once a day thing instead of just once? XD

ZanathKariashi

IF you worry about AC, you're playing a Kensai wrong. Your ridiculous hit and damage is your primary defense. You suffer a bit when you don't have boots of speed, but once you have those, you can chunk several enemies in a single round without breaking a sweat.

BG1 is pretty hard, since there's a lot of archers, you don't get boots of speed till about 2/3-3/4 of the way through the game, and your hit/damage is low at first. But in SoA things change dramatically.

The shield amulet is nice for the early game, when you don't have a lot of options (there's an easily, if expensive one you can acquire in BG1, and a free, but slightly harder to acquire one in BG2), but once you get the ring of gaxx, cloak of the sewers, boots of speed, an ioun stone to block crits (though the +10% HP, +1 thac0 one is easy to get so very nice), and a couple rings of air control (the improved invis gives +4 to AC for several rounds after attacking + makes you untargetable by spells), Ring of Earth Control, and a belt of inertial barrier (all pretty easy to get when you know where they are), nothing can stop you.

For added benefit, dual-wield the DoEH in your off-hand + hardiness HLA gives a respectible 60% DR (or 20% with just the flail) which is nice, Very nice for ToB enemies that will hit you regardless and have enough HP you can't kill them in 1 round..usually.


The Shield amulet has 50 charges....if used only when absolutely necessary, you shouldn't ever run out...I rarely even get to half-charges on SOLO runs.

Tresset

@ZanathKariashi Wait what? The ring of air gives IMPROVED invisible? I thought it was just regular type! (hence the addition of the improved invisible ring in ToB) If that is the case then you could have literally a ton of improved invisible rings since the guy seems to have a rather large stock of them. Wow you learn something every day on this forum... Thanks Mr. Heart Eyes! I swear Between you Mr. X Eyes (Moopy) and Mr. Eye Patch (Alsn) there is nothing you don't know...

ZanathKariashi

Yeah, he has...well..more then 20...that's the most I've ever bought in one game (more then 6 is overkill really, 10 at most if you're REALLY paranoid). They're 1/day too, not charge based.

I usually blow all my money buying 2 out of the prelude during solo runs, which are ridiculously awesome. Used on where you REALLY need them you can take out several hard fights early for a nice chunk of XP, and once you get the cloak of the sewers and Arbane's, you can go after that early pair of boots of speed (though the FoA is recommended, it eats mages)

Tresset

I always picked Gaxx's pocket... I hope (but doubt) you still can though.

Zanian

You can. I'm fairly certain no fixpack changes it either. It is kind of cheesy to do so though. ^^

ZanathKariashi

Meh, just kill'em...gets a few summon statues, summon them, then lay into him with IMoD...it's never failed to 1-2 shot him. The cloak of the sewers completely de-fangs his first form (or any lich for that matter)

Edwin

A Kensia dualed to a Theif can be a lethal combination with HLA and KAI backstabs.

Shrimp

Edwin said:

A Kensia dualed to a Theif can be a lethal combination with HLA and KAI backstabs.

This. My kenthief has been one of my favorite solo runs, even though I never finished it (I'll have to check to see if I still have a save somewhere...). You can do pretty much everything, traps, backstabs, spell scrolls, and have a hell of a lot of fun doing so.

A kenthief also has a nice advantage compared to fighter/mage duals: thieves level up very fast, so it's much easier to catch up to your kensai levels after dualing. I still have a piece of paper on which I wrote down every place with active traps and locked chests, to get back there once I dualed and disarm them for massive exp. Writing scrolls down will get you your first mage levels, but that's it.

Darkcloud

In BG2 you can get his AC pretty decent even without spells and there are two ways to protect him from damage regardless of AC.
a) don't send him in first. The AI focuses on the first character in melee range so if you sent someone else in slightly ahead of him they attack that char and you can always kite them away if they attack him.
b) use him as a ranged attacker. Kensai can be the best ranged class with throwing axes or throwing daggers.

ZanathKariashi

Which they shouldn't be able to use, cause someone was too lazy to flag them as restricted to kensai and cavaliers. While they technically COULD be used as a melee version, even that doesn't work as it should.

moopy

I liked Kensai 13 / Mage 28? (I think) a lot for the only solo run I finished all the way through ToB with.