Vampiric Wolves - surviving at early levels
FrantiCupcake
Member Posts: 1
I stumbled my way onto these forums looking for an answer on how to survive encounters with Vampiric Wolves because they seem a little overpowered for a party level 1-2 encounter (which is when I was running into them). But it seems that the original discussion was closed and I couldn't post the method I used, so I figured I'd fire up another thread on defeating Vampiric Wolves with limited character resources.
*SPOILER ALERT* - just a heads up because it involves acquiring certain NPCs, doing certain quests right away, acquiring new NPC's to BG:EE, that sort of thing.
So, this is how I am able to survive these encounters now, but I'd like to hear back from anyone else to see if I could've been doing better. Also, when I started out, I didn't know these creatures existed so I just had to adapt what I already had.
Started with a human Sorc (poorly rolled, I might add, with gobs of charisma and only a bit of dex and con since I played d&d before BG, and just made assumptions about SORCs). Took magic missile and chrome orb.
Skipping the fine details, I'll just post what was relevant;
Party was Imoen, Khalid, Jaheira, Neera, and Viconia (I was mostly rolling good and neutral, but wanted a cleric).
I finished up the Silke quest by killing her, this gave both Neera and my Sorc a magical staff (not that I wanted to have them in melee range with wolves, but I always have a backup plan). Neera was also given the Ring of Wizardry from FAI so she had 4 magic missiles at a time.
Ending up buying a magical mace for Viconia, but this can be avoided since she is level two when you pick her up, so she already has 'Spiritual Hammer'.
I had a +1 wakizashi for Jaheira (I know, not proficient, but had to use what I had access to.) Since I can't remember where I picked it up for sure (I want to say it was loot from the encounter where Dorn Il-Khan kills some old bandit partners) you can also use 'Shillelagh' so she has a magical weapon for the encounter. Also, I took 'Doom' to lower the Wolfs attack rolls, but I didn't take 'Armor of Faith' and I should have.
Khalid was actually stuck using Beruel's Retort +1 from Beregost since the +1 Mace for Viconia (also Beregost) cost almost all of my gold.
+1 Arrows for Neera, those aren't too expensive to have a few in the backpack...just in case.
The armor? Whatever I could get my hands on for free of course!
As for the fight (I only take on 1 Vampiric Wolf, by itself, fully rested and stocked, I ran otherwise); make sure to swap to magic weaps and ammo (obv).
Opened with 'Doom' (Jaheira), 'Chromatic Orb' (Main, but Neera could also), and 'Bless" (Viconia), everyone else just started whipping out damage, and making sure that Viconia was the closest to the Wolf (she was to be the tank).
'Barkskin' on Viconia before she has a chance to get 'Held' by the wolf, everyone else was just spamming ranged attacks and 2x magic missiles from both casters, and Jaheira is waiting until the wolf starts hitting Viconia so she doesn't get stun-locked (If you're going 'Shillelagh', this would be the time to cast it).
Finally, Viconia's last spell was 'Spirit Hammer', and then it was just the luck of the rolls while she waited to get stun-locked as everyone else in the party dished out damage.
I got away without too much damage but almost all my spells were exhausted, and I got a 1000 xp reward for my troubles =D
Hope this helps anyone looking for it, and I look forward to contributing more to the forums as I play.
- FC
*SPOILER ALERT* - just a heads up because it involves acquiring certain NPCs, doing certain quests right away, acquiring new NPC's to BG:EE, that sort of thing.
So, this is how I am able to survive these encounters now, but I'd like to hear back from anyone else to see if I could've been doing better. Also, when I started out, I didn't know these creatures existed so I just had to adapt what I already had.
Started with a human Sorc (poorly rolled, I might add, with gobs of charisma and only a bit of dex and con since I played d&d before BG, and just made assumptions about SORCs). Took magic missile and chrome orb.
Skipping the fine details, I'll just post what was relevant;
Party was Imoen, Khalid, Jaheira, Neera, and Viconia (I was mostly rolling good and neutral, but wanted a cleric).
I finished up the Silke quest by killing her, this gave both Neera and my Sorc a magical staff (not that I wanted to have them in melee range with wolves, but I always have a backup plan). Neera was also given the Ring of Wizardry from FAI so she had 4 magic missiles at a time.
Ending up buying a magical mace for Viconia, but this can be avoided since she is level two when you pick her up, so she already has 'Spiritual Hammer'.
I had a +1 wakizashi for Jaheira (I know, not proficient, but had to use what I had access to.) Since I can't remember where I picked it up for sure (I want to say it was loot from the encounter where Dorn Il-Khan kills some old bandit partners) you can also use 'Shillelagh' so she has a magical weapon for the encounter. Also, I took 'Doom' to lower the Wolfs attack rolls, but I didn't take 'Armor of Faith' and I should have.
Khalid was actually stuck using Beruel's Retort +1 from Beregost since the +1 Mace for Viconia (also Beregost) cost almost all of my gold.
+1 Arrows for Neera, those aren't too expensive to have a few in the backpack...just in case.
The armor? Whatever I could get my hands on for free of course!
As for the fight (I only take on 1 Vampiric Wolf, by itself, fully rested and stocked, I ran otherwise); make sure to swap to magic weaps and ammo (obv).
Opened with 'Doom' (Jaheira), 'Chromatic Orb' (Main, but Neera could also), and 'Bless" (Viconia), everyone else just started whipping out damage, and making sure that Viconia was the closest to the Wolf (she was to be the tank).
'Barkskin' on Viconia before she has a chance to get 'Held' by the wolf, everyone else was just spamming ranged attacks and 2x magic missiles from both casters, and Jaheira is waiting until the wolf starts hitting Viconia so she doesn't get stun-locked (If you're going 'Shillelagh', this would be the time to cast it).
Finally, Viconia's last spell was 'Spirit Hammer', and then it was just the luck of the rolls while she waited to get stun-locked as everyone else in the party dished out damage.
I got away without too much damage but almost all my spells were exhausted, and I got a 1000 xp reward for my troubles =D
Hope this helps anyone looking for it, and I look forward to contributing more to the forums as I play.
- FC
1
Comments
It's also one of the reasons that going to Ulgoth's and pickpocket the gnome lady for the ring of free action is great. Once you have got that ring from her you'll be immune to stun, slow and web etc. This will let your tank (With the ring equipped) fight vampiric wolfs, ghouls and all the other nasty stuff without getting held.
Personally, I'm just in love with wands and their power in BG. You can easily get a Wand of Frost at the Nashkel Mines map. It inflicts 8D6 (save vs. wands for half) damage.
Use the Wand of Frost on this nasty creature. When an NPC has used it, pause the game and give this wand to another NPC - let him use it. If needed, it can be repeated. This will successfully terminate the vampiric wolf's life in a matter of seconds. It's the easiest and the most convenient way of killing a vampiric wolf.
Wait... hasn't anyone mentioned werebears yet?
Well, unless you have warriors who are proficient in bastard swords, a long sword, or a dagger 9_9
Going full circle, I've recently started to play with a Limited Minimal Reload rule, meaning a certain number of reloads permitted based on my Charname's CON, so I try not to meta-game this encounter and see how often I get through it on a low level without going over to other maps to obtain special items for it. Now I've succeeded more often than not, usually using Doom, Blindness, magic missiles (spells and wand), +1 arrows and bullets. Even Bless and Entangle have helped. I remember once handing a +1 staff to my fighter, and he managed to get in some decent blows with it. Once, I recall using a wand of monster summoning to occupy the wolf, but I don't recall now where I got it that early in the game.
At low level I think it's a great challenge. The only encounter I find almost impossible to survive so far is the random one that occurs on the first or second map of the game to a level 1 party, where eight bandits suddenly surround you with bows drawn. Thank goodness it's random.
Be an inquisitor. ;-)