Your ideal weapons to dual wield?
SharGuidesMyHand
Member Posts: 2,580
I've always fantasized about doing a playthrough of BG2 while dual-wielding the Flail of Ages and Celestial Fury. If one weapon doesn't slow them, the other will freeze them!
What would be your ideal weapons to dual wield in either game?
What would be your ideal weapons to dual wield in either game?
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Fighter, Ranger, F/M: Crom Faeyr and Belm.
F/D: Spectral Brand and Belm.
F/T: Angurvadal and Belm.
Paladin (non-Inquisitor): Foebane and Belm.
F/C or R/C: FoA+4 or Runehammer and Defender of Easthaven.
For mainhands, the top is the so-called "blunt trifecta": Flail of Ages+5, Crom Faeyr, and Club of Detonation+5. The first two in particular are ridiculously powerful weapons. FoA+5 has massive elemental damage that e.g. pierces Stoneskin and bypasses physical resistances, as well as a no-save slow and passive Free Action. Very, very good indeed, but it takes a while to get (well into ToB). Of course, the earlier versions are quite good, too.
Crom Faeyr is also quite ridiculous, mainly because of the 25 STR it gives you. Note that this is best used on a character that doesn't already have very high STR (through Tomes, race, Machine of Lum the Mad, etc.). Crom Faeyr's damage is sometimes displayed incorrectly (vanilla BG2), it is definitely quite high!
Club of Detonation gets a lot of damage from its fire effect - the regular one, not the Fireball. That FB is also the big drawback of the weapon, though, and can sometimes ruin a perfectly pleasant day (while fighting next to innocent townsfolk for example...) but it can also be very powerful if it hits multiple enemies. Still, even without the FB the single target damage is much higher than you'd perhaps expect. Do the math, be amazed!
Outside of those three, there's several good choices. Purifier for Paladins is definitely good, as is Foebane. Angurvadal is likely the strongest sword, again because of the STR bonus (see Crom Faeyr). Daystar deals double damage against undead, which cannot be discounted - it adds up to a lot! And then there's always Celestial Fury, of course, which can do truly silly things with high APR and enemies not immune to stuns. I remember stunlocking the Chromatic Demon in WK for about 90% of the fight once... lovely! Outside of the stun, though, CF's damage is not exactly amazing
That should be it for the most popular choices. As always, YMMV depending on mods, setup, difficulty, etc. Also I haven't bought BG2:EE yet, there may very well be weapons that are much better there. When in doubt do the math! It's very simple mostly, just look at average damage: (maxdmg + mindmg)/2 + static_mods + (procs * proc_chance). Don't forget passive bonuses like +STR, too
I bet Chuck Norris could do it.
Even if my dwarf goes good in Hell (which she will), I will gain 25 Str from Crom Faeyr (she's a wizard slayer anyway so I need the str), she will go up to 22 Con (machine of lub the mad, possibly 23 if I use deck of many things) and sit at either 19 or 20 dex.
Furthermore, axes are terrific early in BG2 as well. Within 2 quests you can buy 1 +3 Axe with fire damage, you can loot a second +3 axe that does ice/acid damage, AND if you're good you can get a throwing axe with an insta kill effect on Undead.
If you're of an evil bent Blackrazor is a nice weapon (shame its not upgradable) to mainhand with Belm; granting 1hp/5, Immune to Charm and Fear (unfortunately later than both of these would really shine), 15% chance to drain 4 levels from the enemy and heal you, haste and a chance to raise your strength. My bard will likely run this weapon and kundane for all but the most weapon immune of enemies just for RP.
Also I feel that mentioning longswords is remiss without mentioning The Answerer +4. This is another ToB longsword that causes the target to lose 15% MR and 2 AC every hit. Granted with how low Thac0 levels are in ToB and having spells like pierce magic, again these have reduced effect, but in 1 WW (assuming they all hit) you can completely remove any MR and 20 AC. I think my cavalier may have main handed this sword when I beat the game (with purifier in the offhand).
The only reason I'd consider Kundane is if I'm mainhanding a Longsword or shortsword.
The only reason I'd consider Belm is if I'm mainhanding a scimitar.
Another weapon I should have mentioned is Defender of Easthaven, aka. the best shield in the game. Damage reduction becomes increasingly powerful the further you go in the series, because AC and enemy THAC0s progress at diverging rates. In BG1 AC is great at preventing damage, but in ToB even characters with truly godly ACs of -20 or less are getting hit routinely. Damage reduction kicks in there beautifully, and works with stuns, Time Stop, etc. besides. Not to mention how silly things get once you start stacking it... DoE is definitely and hands-down the best defensive weapon in the game, and likely a better offhand than any shield (except the Shield of Cheese against Beholders of course).
- Arbane: a short sword +2 which grants immunity to hold and haste for 2 rounds
- Adjathla the Drinker: a long sword +2 which grants immunity to charm and domination and heals 1HP per hit
For the main-hand I generally take the one with the best enchantment or the best plain weapon
It takes your best weapon as you progress through the game and doubles it so it always stays relevant.
Defender of Easthaven does allow for ridiculous tankiness when you stack it. I've moved into wielding Crom Faeyr + Defender of Easthaven on Viconia even and it works better than a shield.
But yeah, most treasured weapon is definitely Belm for extreme mileage.
edit. He has a proficiency point in both weapon categories and three points in two-weapon fighting category.
PC: Celestial Fury+Belm in SoA, Foebane+Scarlet Ninja-To in ToB
Mazzy: I have her dual wielding Club of Detonation+Crom Faeyr in offhand
Korgan: Axe of Unyielding+Crom Faeyr in offhand
These are the only "stat boosting" weapons that should be used in the offhand in my opinion:
Belm, Kundane, Scarlet Ninja-To, Crom Faeyr, Blackrazor, Angurvadal(a bit weak due to strength enhancing belts), Defender of Easthaven
The FoA is probably my favorite weapon in the entire BG series. Although the CF is able to stun rather than simply slow enemies, the FoA has little or no saving throw against its effects.
But in the end, I would recommend trying both options yourself and seeing which one works best for you.
My wizard slayer has +++++ in axes, ++ in warhammers and + in two weapon fighting atm (almost level 13). Should I main hand Crom Faeyr when I get it until I upgrade Axe of the Unyielding, or should I stay with axes just due to grand mastery?
Disclaimers: Estimation for my character will be 18 by the time I get Crom Faeyr, so pips will likely be changed to axes +++++, warhammer +++, two weapon fighting ++
That means a difference of +2 damage, -3 speed (doesn't mean anything as Crom has speed 1), and 1/2 attack. So lets roll!
Axes I might have about that time:
Frostreaver +3: 1d8+3, +1 acid damage, +1 cold damage (total damage before str/proficiency: 5-13)
Stonefire +3: 1d8+3, +2 fire damage (total damage before str/proficiency: 5-13)
Axe of the Unyielding +3: 1d8+3, 1 AC, 1HP/Round (total damage before str/proficiency: 5-11)
and our Warhammer in question:
Crom Faeyr: 2d4+3 and +5 electrical damage (total damage before str/proficiency: 10-16)
Therefore the difference in Mastery to Grand Mastery is made up from the additional electrical damage, and while it doesn't matter as much that late in the game, you gain 2 extra thac0 with Crom compared to any of those axes.
In the end it would come down to 2 things:
1. Seeing as how I'm only level 12, I can still plan my proficiencies. By only keeping the 1 point I have in TWF atm, I can reach grand mastery by level 21 (Feasable by the end of SoA on a fighter), where the thac0 loss is made up by the additional thac0 gained by Crom Faeyr.
2. Honestly, I think I may have just answered my question, but it is delaying Grand Mastery in Warhammers until 24. I think in this scenario, even the few levels without Crom Faeyr are made up by the fact that I already have stupidly low thac0 (I want to say my thac0 atm is already 1/3).
Please note: even with the math (and figuring out that Crom Faeyr is actually slightly ahead sans the 1/2 attack), I think Crom is the better main-hand weapon UNTIL you get AotU +5. The reason for this is simply because the other axe options are inferior to main handing CF while offhanding an AotU +3.
YAY FOR MATHS!