Solo Sorcerer vs Karoug (Greater Wolfwere) & co on Insane

SpaceInvader

After http://forum.baldursgate.com/discussion/11145/solo-sorcerer-vs-drizzt-melee-fight-on-insane,
here comes a fight vs Karoug and his pack.

Bugged? Godly regeneration rate? Immune to all weapon?




http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=nFY0XIDL0oQ

Madhax

You're my hero.

AHF

Very nicely done! Sorcerer with 44 melee damage in one strike is pretty sweet.

Grulo

Well done. I hope everyone that says this encounter is broken will shut their mouths now.

Ignatius

@SpaceInvader: interested in the same challenge but with a solo cleric?
http://forum.baldursgate.com/discussion/comment/207849/#Comment_207849

Pantalion

Grulo said:

Well done. I hope everyone that says this encounter is broken will shut their mouths now.

Whilst I don't consider the encounter inherently broken, and believe there to be items that can just about beat it for every class, suggesting that Sorcerers, who are an insanely powerful class in general, being able able to beat an encounter proves anything except that the player is a good sorcerer player and sorcerers are awesome is rather misguided.

The_New_Romance

Great example of why Skull Trap is actually better than Fireball.

AHF

Ignatius said:

@SpaceInvader: interested in the same challenge but with a solo cleric?
http://forum.baldursgate.com/discussion/comment/207849/#Comment_207849

It makes something of a difference to be able to hit for 44 melee damage whereas a cleric can do literally no melee damage because of fact that all weapons are non-cleric compatible.

SpaceInvader

@Pentalion well, actually is easier to solo BG1 with a ranger, berserker, bard, f/m, some kind of thieves and many other kinds of fighter in general.
@IGN made a resume about it that I found pretty accurate. (Ps. Kensai can use Shield Amulet instead of pot of defense, and sell/rebuy to refill the charges)

Anyway, after those holydays I'll try it with a cleric. @Ignatius I already have a tactic in mind

Ignatius

SpaceInvader said:

Anyway, after those holydays I'll try it with a cleric. @Ignatius I already have a tactic in mind

I can't wait !

Pantalion

@SpeceInvader

Not disputing that there are easier classes to solo with, especially early on, but once established, I'd put my money on a Sorcerer with the right spell selections over a number of other classes for this fight, it's not like anyone gets to really kite the Greater Wolfwere after all.

HunterOfBounty

I don't remember this guy being much of a problem for my Bounty Hunter, but I don't see how a Cleric could do it. I guess a massive stack of glyphs could do the job. Can you leave the island without defeating him? I also noticed that you did not use the Greenstone Amulet in a battle that involves a mage. That's a bit risky in my book, but then I guess you weren't playing no-reload.

SpaceInvader

@HunterOfBounty To answer your questions: no, you can't leave the island without killing him and yes, I always play no-reload. Greenstone Amulet makes me lose the lvl2 spell bonus I have, that's why I drink a Magic Shielding potion at the beginning. It hugely increase your saving-throws, making you pass them automatically.

HunterOfBounty

@SpaceInvader Ah, I should have watched you actual preparation. I just noticed that you didn't have the portrait icon during the fight. I usually prefer using the amulet over potions since I can recharge it at stores. Have you ever beaten Durlag's Tower no-reload with a Sorc? It seems like it should be possible, but I don't know the traps well enough to prepare for every single one. I also noticed that mind control on the PC seems to not end the game anymore. That should make some traps significantly less dangerous.

SpaceInvader

@HounterOfBounty yes I did it, pretty annoying, to say the least.
Lot of kite abusing my 19Str/Dex with a sling. As regards traps, there is only one you MUST avoid, the rest can be triggered with mirror image/stoneskin/potions without consequences.

HunterOfBounty

@SpaceInvader Which trap is that? I know that the chapel with the tome of understanding has a trap that even 100 Thief points in find trap can't remove, and I know that one trap in the first of the lower levels can't be removed.

SpaceInvader

@HunterOfBounty the chapel's one is just a domination/charm, so easy to avoid with mental shields/whatever.
The one I speak of is the instaskill one, at the 1lvl under the basement and it can be removed by a thief (tried it in a parallel playthrough)

Leronis

@SpaceInvader
I see what ya did there, fireshields to overcome his regen. Half of 2d8+4 every time he hits you, and he hits you 3? times a round. Just before the finishing crit, op trusts his stoneskin and mirror images and increases his AC to get hit more often. Could eventually win the battle with no offense at all, just recasting those 4 spells. Stylish. 5/5 stars.

HunterOfBounty

SpaceInvader said:

@HunterOfBounty the chapel's one is just a domination/charm, so easy to avoid with mental shields/whatever.
The one I speak of is the instaskill one, at the 1lvl under the basement and it can be removed by a thief (tried it in a parallel playthrough)

I think I which one you mean.

Hmm. This makes me want to try a solo no reload with a Wild Mage. Sadly, there are no high level scrolls in the game for them to abuse.

Quartz

Good job.

SpaceInvader

@Ignatius It seems in the next patch they will make the dog-boy immune just to normal weapons...

Grulo

SpaceInvader said:

@Ignatius It seems in the next patch they will make the dog-boy immune just to normal weapons...

They are nerfing Karoug?

SpaceInvader

"Karoug will be hit by anything magical (still regenerates like crazy, but this is really just a question of dps)."

Grulo

SpaceInvader said:

"Karoug will be hit by anything magical (still regenerates like crazy, but this is really just a question of dps)."

With every new patch im starting to think it was a mistake to buy this game. I should have kept playing the originals with mods.

Everything that is considered hard will keep getting nerfed. If we had the option to install what we wanted from the patches it would be fine, but the way it works atm it feels like they are trying to turn BG into some kind of mmo.

So sad.

SpaceInvader

Well, the problem of weapons not flagged as magical should have been solved in any case.
I guess we'll have to wait for SCS mod, or something similar, for more challenging encounters

AHF

I think a cold iron/silver staff would have solved all the issues more elegantly than this. It could be in the mage's hut next to the ship ala the sword and dagger that appear in the ship.

gunman

SpaceInvader said:

@Ignatius It seems in the next patch they will make the dog-boy immune just to normal weapons...

That is just wrong.

Ossory

Pantalion said:

Grulo said:

Well done. I hope everyone that says this encounter is broken will shut their mouths now.

Whilst I don't consider the encounter inherently broken, and believe there to be items that can just about beat it for every class, suggesting that Sorcerers, who are an insanely powerful class in general, being able able to beat an encounter proves anything except that the player is a good sorcerer player and sorcerers are awesome is rather misguided.

That's a very long sentence.

SpaceInvader

In my playthrough this and Drizzt's were the only fights I had to stop and think on how to proceed.

A pity indeed. Let's keep fingers crossed!

Grulo

SpaceInvader said:

In my playthrough this and Drizzt's were the only fights I had to stop and think on how to proceed.

A pity indeed. Let's keep fingers crossed!

If they "fix" this encounter, then hopefully we will get a mod in the future with the original Karoug.

Edit: Funny thing is, Drizzt is even more broken. He has silly APR that are just impossible in PnP with his real stats. But they won't touch him, because no one will dare to nerf the mighty Drizzt. On the other hand, you have a perfectly valid Greater Wolfwere who behaves just like PnP and... they break him.

As i said, they are turning this game from a DnD experience into a WoW nerf-fest.

Madhax

AHF said:

I think a cold iron/silver staff would have solved all the issues more elegantly than this. It could be in the mage's hut next to the ship ala the sword and dagger that appear in the ship.

Yes please. Karoug is one of the few BG1 fights that is more than just an application of my numbers >/< their numbers, like Sarevok.