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Swarmed in Ust Natha - With SCS...

kryptixkryptix Member Posts: 741
in Baldur's Gate II: Enhanced Edition
Does anyone have any advice on how to accomplish this? The closest I got was surviving until the demons spawn (which I think is the end of this) but even with 2 fighters improved hasted with speed weapons in the off hand I just can't kill fast enough to keep up, and if I try a choke point rather than viconia slaughtering with her sword shield thing (the weaker globe of blades), I just get overrun earlier. The biggest problem I think is that so many enemies spawn while drow are so magic resistant (does anyone know what spells actually affect them?)



I'm running with Fighter/Illusionist, Jahiera, Neera, Imoen, Viconia and Hexxat.



Fighter/Illusionist is running the axe from Nalia's keep with ice and acid, and MOD+2 for undead summons, off hand kundane. She has 1x Hardiness, 2x Critical Strikes, 1x Whirlwind (can't get mage HLAs yet).



Jahiera is using the club that ticks 2 points of damage a turn and belm. She has energy blades, 2x GWW and 1x Implosion.



Neera has timestop, wail of the banshee and 1x dragon's breath. (No wish scroll yet or I'd just be using wish rest when I need more dragon's breath).



Imoen has no HLAs yet, but does have horrid wilting.



Viconia has Fallen Deva and Energy Blades. (She also has like -13 AC unbuffed so I've been using her with blade barrier to tank and do a lot of the damage, along with her fallen deva's globe of blades).


Hexxat has UAI, 2x spike trap, 1x exploding trap and 1x assassination. Carosmyr, Celestial Fury and Scarlet Ninja-to.

One problem is that Hexxat keeps dying and can't be ressed (I have 2 charged up rods of ressurection). Also the mod doesn't allow in combat trap setting so her traps are useless.



I have a potion bag full of goodies plus more and every spell accessible up until this point on all three mages.



I'm willing to keeper a bit to reassign HLAs if it will make a big difference since I haven't had any fights where I relied on any HLA to win so far, Fallen Deva helped a lot on Deirex though, and does wonders in this fight too.



I don't have the item tweaks installed so I do have Helm of Vhaillor, Cloak of Mirroring and Robe of Vecna.



Also if anyone knows any Wizard/Druid/Cleric spells that would do good AOE damage to drow (I hate their magic resistance), I would love to hear it since Dragon's Breath seems to be the only reliable one.



I guess I'd also be willing to drop the difficulty from Insane to Core for this but towards the end it was the massive amount of mages that got to me, because by that point I had very little spell defenses left and they eventually landed a bunch of chaos/charm on me.


Also, advice on the battleground would be nice too. The farthest I got was actually defending the temple area where you enter the ritual chamber.

Comments

  • beingmarkhbeingmarkh Member Posts: 42
    Pretty sure firestorm ignores MR.
  • kryptixkryptix Member Posts: 741
    Yeah I finally decided to move on after 6 hours of tries and set the encounter to spawn less enemies but I got really close once except that my Charname got doom and malison and finger of death to the face after a 2 hour real time fight by the time the final matron mother spawned and one shot charname
  • syllogsyllog Member Posts: 158
    edited January 2014
    Only area spells that ignore MR are Firestorm (priest) and Sunfire (mage) - unless you use the self-targeting bug. Bolt of glory is a single target spell that ignores MR (very useful for demons) as is Imprisonment. [edit: I forget if any HLA spells ignore MR. Dragons breath might...]

    Never tried fighting Ust Natha in SCS though I always ran (but my characters were always a much lower level - never had access to spells more than lvl 7 mostly by that point).
  • SkaffenSkaffen Member Posts: 709
    Go Bolt of Glory! I actually had it memorized for the hell battle last night. By the time Vic got it off (interrupted the first time) and it did it's 32 damage to the deamon on the right Korgan, Dorn and CHARNAME sorceress had already killed the other 3... :). At least it really seems to bypass MR so it's only mostly and not totally useless. :)

    And yes, Dragon's Breath ignores MR.
  • elminsterelminster Member, Developer Posts: 16,315
    edited January 2014
    syllog said:

    Only area spells that ignore MR are Firestorm (priest) and Sunfire (mage)

    In vanilla BG2EE Sunfire doesn't ignore magic resistance. Not sure if that changes with SCS.
    Post edited by elminster on
  • kryptixkryptix Member Posts: 741
    Yeah sunfire is no go, I ended up almost winning by having Viconia memorize 3x firestorm and Jahiera take 1x, I think its doable if you are just a bit higher level than me because I was too afraid of wasting my firestorms so I would let the waves build up really big but then it just takes a lucky interrupt or failed save on charname to die.
  • syllogsyllog Member Posts: 158
    edited January 2014
    @kryptix
    What do you mean sunfire is a no go?
    Did they correct the self targeting bug?
    (That self-targeted spells' damage ignores magic resistance? [By default that's just Sunfire, but you can use contingencies to make it apply to other spells - though not pointing at caster and casting, as that just targets the ground beneath them.])

    Edit: @elminster
    Oh. Nice. They fixed the bug then! :)
  • syllogsyllog Member Posts: 158
    Skaffen said:

    Go Bolt of Glory! I actually had it memorized for the hell battle last night. By the time Vic got it off (interrupted the first time) and it did it's 32 damage to the deamon on the right Korgan, Dorn and CHARNAME sorceress had already killed the other 3... :). At least it really seems to bypass MR so it's only mostly and not totally useless. :)

    It's good in a sequencer against demons or (to a lesser extent) liches if you have a Cleric/Mage.

  • kryptixkryptix Member Posts: 741
    syllog said:

    Skaffen said:

    Go Bolt of Glory! I actually had it memorized for the hell battle last night. By the time Vic got it off (interrupted the first time) and it did it's 32 damage to the deamon on the right Korgan, Dorn and CHARNAME sorceress had already killed the other 3... :). At least it really seems to bypass MR so it's only mostly and not totally useless. :)

    It's good in a sequencer against demons or (to a lesser extent) liches if you have a Cleric/Mage.

    I just go with blade barriers because those seem to be the most effective at that level, I guess if I ever played a Cleric/Mage I might use Harm...
  • SerpionSerpion Member Posts: 67
    Teleport field with summons will make that battle more easy :)
  • JuliusBorisovJuliusBorisov Member, Administrator, Moderator, Developer Posts: 22,725
    kryptix said:

    The closest I got was surviving until the demons spawn (which I think is the end of this).

    I've been playing BG2EE this weekend and too tried to survive the SCS drow army in Ust Natha. And I too managed to last only till the drow archmages start coming and summonning demons. Even with my fail it felt like a victory, with about 50+ drow warriors and priests already dead. Project Image summoning Planetars and Magical Swords helped a lot, as Magical Swords were blocking the way to the rest of the party and Planetars casting Fire Storms.

    It would be cool if people shared their experience with going through this battle.
  • Lord_TansheronLord_Tansheron Member Posts: 4,211
    edited June 2016
    JuliusBorisov said:

    It would be cool if people shared their experience with going through this battle.

    I am not ashamed to say that I deactivated the component for now, as there is just no way for me to keep up on LoB mode without resorting to major cheese or GROSS overleveling (which would sort of defeat the purpose of the whole exercise).

    It's challenging bot doable without LoB, just requires a decent enough damage output so you don't get overwhelmed by new spawns.
  • lunarlunar Member Posts: 3,460
    This guy did it on insane. Without hlas. But with some overpowered tactics kit, I believe. (despite this, lost a member permanently) Still, I believe this is the craziest challenge of the game. Even solo-ascension is easier than this.
    https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=LYHJgD1O8cs

    There is also one fail video from the same guy, courtesy of Minsc berserking and chunking party members in the middle of the fight. Pure hilarity.
  • JuliusBorisovJuliusBorisov Member, Administrator, Moderator, Developer Posts: 22,725
    @lunar I know that video, thanks, but the tricks he used no longer work in the EEs. For example, Sunfire no longer goes through Magical Resistance, and this guy heavily used this spell.

    Also, even in that video one of his party members is chunked by Balor, which I would not tolerate in my run.
  • lunarlunar Member Posts: 3,460
    Oh yes, you are quite right about that. Sunfire erronously bypassing mr and anti-paladin kit cheese are his main strategies. Still, video is useful for demonstration purposes, and to show just how nasty the battle is.
  • Lord_TansheronLord_Tansheron Member Posts: 4,211
    lunar said:

    anti-paladin kit

    Yeah, disregard anything that involves the Tactics AP. Beyond bonkers, that kit.
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