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Killing Elminster as a Monk Solo

cmalunecmalune Member Posts: 9
edited December 2013 in Baldur's Gate: Enhanced Edition
Hi.

First, I would like to say that you can legitimately kill Shandalar with unholy blight as a Cleric by simply walking off screen and spamming + resting. I haven't read this way of killing her before so thought I would share. Pretty much any character can kill her with wand of magic missiles by abusing talk -> kill, so this post is not about her. :)

This thread is about either exploiting talk -> kill in the game with the monk in order to kill Elminster fast, or just straight up kiting him with something that actually can hit him.

Legitimately, I have successfully defeated Elminster with a Thief by placing 6 traps and attacking him off screen. Poison abilities of the assassin / blackguard may also kill him based on youtube playthrough footage though I have not tried this myself.

Now on to the meat of the subject. I rolled a monk solo and wanted to gain the exp by killing Elmy and Shandalar and am failing to figure out how to do it fast, even with the talk -> kill exploit. I know you can kill him by successively rolling 20s on the dice but it takes an eternity to do it. Maybe the blades offensive spin would work well here though I haven't tried this. Weirdly enough, THAC0 does not influence the hit chance!

I used a sling at the beginning and managed to hit him a couple of times with 80 bullets. I then used a sling + 1 with bullets + 2 and managed to hit him twice again with 80 bullets. This took a LONG time. :)

My question for the Elminster killers on this board are, how the !"£$ do you kill Elmy with a solo Monk without spending an hour or two doing so, given that he is extremely magic resistant and monks cannot use the majority of wands?

At first I thought maybe darts of wounding would be able to take care of him, but then I realised that the chance of him actually getting poisoned by the dart is low since he will almost certainly save vs spell. If anyone knows a trick that I haven't thought of please post it! :)

Edit #1: Wand of Heavens fails as does Potion of Explosions, no darts of wounding until BG?

Edit #2: You can use a 1-handed weapon with single weapon proficiency to increase the chance of crit by 5%. This is all I've found so far.

Edit #3: Well, in the end I just killed him without exploit with a sling by getting him stuck in some trees. Took some reloading though. :)
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Post edited by cmalune on

Comments

  • cmalunecmalune Member Posts: 9
    Yep you are correct, I acquired some darts of wounding from the Lighthouse area (the cave past the sirines) and gave it a go. He seems to save everytime.
  • CrevsDaakCrevsDaak Member Posts: 7,155
    Monks rock, I created a lvl40 Monk once, he killed Drizzt in 5 rounds.
  • AigleborgneAigleborgne Member Posts: 24
    What's the point to kill anyone with exploits?
    If you just want experience or items, just use cheat and control-Y...

    "legitimately" you said, but you are exploiting a major AI issue: it won't track you down if it can't see you. For me, it's an exploit.

    Now, I agree that Shandalar is really hard to kill because of his unfair resistances. But as a high level mage, he could have better defense and very strong offense. So, he could definitly win anyway.

    I won't even start with Elminster. Not only he is a level 29 mage, but also a chosen of Mystra which grants him special powers and immunities. Plus, he started as a rogue then cleric, so he has good hit points.
    So well, if he could unleash his power, you would be dead within seconds.

    Better install an AI mod that also remove those unfair resistances and start a real fight without exploit. It's more glorious and first of all, fair.
  • nanonano Member Posts: 1,632
    It's just for the challenge, who cares if it's realistic? I've done it too, just for fun but he disappears within one or two rounds in my game so I think it's basically impossible to solo. Even with a full party it was hard because you have to dish out a hundred+ hp of damage against his crazy AC and full MR in about one and a half rounds, while he's running away.
  • jackjackjackjack Member Posts: 3,251
    Also, I don't believe ctrl-Y gives any experience xD
  • cmalunecmalune Member Posts: 9
    I do it for fun. Once you have completed BG: EE many times it becomes fun to try weird and new things. :) It is a challenge to kill him with a solo Monk legitimately trust me! Took me at least 30 minutes last time, because there is a random chance he polymorphs you into a chicken or dumps a cow on your face and poofs out.

    With a Thief you can easily kill him though. Without any exploits or making him stuck in trees. :) I would love to put an AI mod which allowed to fight him without him disappearing, thats a cool idea. I play evil characters though and I like being able to kill the good guys. :)
  • AigleborgneAigleborgne Member Posts: 24
    I do play evil character too! I don't like the idea to see a son of bhaal beeing a true paladin or whatever.

    Back to the subject, I will make them fightable in my own mod.
    Every hero will be able to fight : no cheat immunities, normal hp...
    You will be able to challenge:
    - Gorion
    - Tethtoril
    - Talanthyr
    - Shangalar
    ...

    As for Elminster, I'm not sure yet because it would require to change his dialogs that make him disappear.
    cmalune said:

    I do it for fun. Once you have completed BG: EE many times it becomes fun to try weird and new things. :) It is a challenge to kill him with a solo Monk legitimately trust me! Took me at least 30 minutes last time, because there is a random chance he polymorphs you into a chicken or dumps a cow on your face and poofs out.

    With a Thief you can easily kill him though. Without any exploits or making him stuck in trees. :) I would love to put an AI mod which allowed to fight him without him disappearing, thats a cool idea. I play evil characters though and I like being able to kill the good guys. :)

  • HaHaCharadeHaHaCharade Member Posts: 1,644
    I'm pretty sure he's about unkillable now... except to a backstab.
  • gismorumgismorum Member Posts: 9
    He drops a cow on you and you just die and game over screen, no saves or damage or whatsoever involved.

    A scripted pc death similar to how gorion kills you with a cheat lightning bolt.
  • ZaghoulZaghoul Member, Moderator Posts: 3,938
    Always bugs me(but makes perfect wizard sense) when Shandalar Dimension doors away when wounded, sometimes not letting one finish the job. I would like to know where he goes in order to track his butt down and finish the job.
  • KuronaKurona Member Posts: 881
    My experiences with Elminster seem to suggest he can't see invisible characters and can't drop the killing cow if you're out of his visual range. I fought him in the Friendly Arm Inn where the guards ganged up on him and he was dropping cows at them too.
  • ZaghoulZaghoul Member, Moderator Posts: 3,938
    OK. Dropping cows huh. Druids are puttin an APB out for that dude.
  • HaHaCharadeHaHaCharade Member Posts: 1,644
    Kurona said:

    My experiences with Elminster seem to suggest he can't see invisible characters and can't drop the killing cow if you're out of his visual range. I fought him in the Friendly Arm Inn where the guards ganged up on him and he was dropping cows at them too.

    Any luck killing him? I just can't do enough damage before he ports away. Even if I get him to run off, and then I save, when I encounter him again, he immediately takes off again. I was trying to rush in, fire an arrow (get a 20) rush out

    But he just teleports.
  • KuronaKurona Member Posts: 881
    HaHaCharade said:

    Kurona said:

    My experiences with Elminster seem to suggest he can't see invisible characters and can't drop the killing cow if you're out of his visual range. I fought him in the Friendly Arm Inn where the guards ganged up on him and he was dropping cows at them too.

    Any luck killing him? I just can't do enough damage before he ports away. Even if I get him to run off, and then I save, when I encounter him again, he immediately takes off again. I was trying to rush in, fire an arrow (get a 20) rush out

    But he just teleports.
    No, I haven't managed to kill him since I switched to the EE. Maybe try to ask @Skarose about advice, he's the forum expert on killing annoying canon characters.
  • blackchimesblackchimes Member Posts: 323
    edited April 2017
    Assuming you do kill him, how does the game handle it? Does he not appear later(in Beregost in Chapter 3, etc.)? Is he hostile? Does the game just not care?

    Furthermore, what happens if you just run away from him when he tries to talk to you? Will he just stay in the fog of war, waiting forever(for you to kill him when you're capable of higher damage output)?
  • KuronaKurona Member Posts: 881
    blackchimes said:

    Assuming you do kill him, how does the game handle it? Does he not appear later(in Beregost in Chapter 3, etc.)? Is he hostile? Does the game just not care?

    You get a buttload of XP and he appears again later as if nothing ever happened.
    blackchimes said:

    Furthermore, what happens if you just run away from him when he tries to talk to you? Will he just stay in the fog of war, waiting forever(for you to kill him when you're capable of higher damage output)?

    He'll just stay there. I think he eventually despawns when you trigger another one of his appearances but don't quote me on that.
  • blackchimesblackchimes Member Posts: 323
    I just did a quick run to check, and the "previous" versions of him DON'T despawn.

    Furthermore, it seems you can get him hostile if you attack him before he talks to you, so you can kill him easily just by trapstacking.
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