BP2 - in praise of a thief (well, traps actually... ;) )

Skaffen

Just finished a non-caster BP2 run and was pleasantly surprised by my assassin. Party setup: Inquisitor, Berserker, Dwarf Defender, Dark Moon Monk, Archer and Assassin. Conventional wisdom here seems to be that you don't really need a thief but I found that he can contribute even in fighter-heavy party to the total damage output.

I didn't utilize him to full potential (maybe 3-5 backstabs over the full run) but in addition to the always helpful poison (-> Tuigan as the main weapon for the full run) the traps were really great. Basically I played him like a bounty hunter and should have taken one instead...

The fact that traps carry over to the next battle on the same battleground is really nice: you can generally place one trap immediately at the beginning of the fight and then as soon as the mopup began I was setting traps for the next one (usually 2-3 as a welcoming gift for the next victims).

So with at least 3-4 spike traps per fight that really adds up damage-wise.

Even at the reduced assassin skill points I had more than enough to go around to pick all locks, traps and items (unfortunately the guards seem to be "reset" when the revolution starts and have their carefully liberated arrows and potions again) plus the alchemy and scribe scrolls skills is actually useful for a change compared to a normal run.

Probably a Fi / Th is a better choice of course but in any case I was pleasantly surprised that even a single class thief could hold his own in combat usefulness in this setting.

On the other hand the dwarf defender was a bit of a letdown, the movement penalty really hurts in this setting and hardiness is available at tier 2 for the others. The only time he really shined was in tanking the slayer with DoE in the offhand where he withstood a boatload of damage that would have killed anyone else in the party.

Taear

I killed the final boss of ToB by placing spike traps where they appeared. It's absolutely crazy how strong they are.

enqenq

Skaffen said:

Basically I played him like a bounty hunter and should have taken one instead...

Not to crash the party, but I never understand this logic. It's not the first time I see it. "Traps are good, so I should be a bounty hunter". Traps ARE (too) good, but I for one don't think the *BH* traps are better than normal snares (not to mention HLA traps), and you can only place five traps in total. When I read the BH description I see assassin without bigger backstabs and without Poison Weapon, in exchange for more skill points. But as you said, even assassins get enough skill points with this level cap.

Even if traps were to be the very lifesoul of my party's success, I would still make six thieves out of six - if I were running that many - assassins or swashbucklers.

Skaffen

Well in BP2 the time to place the traps and not the number by area is the bottleneck. True that once you get the HLA traps the standard traps more or less get obsolete but esp. in BP I would have liked the tactical option to maze some enemies out of the fight. In normal games I can't be bothered and there I would only play BH if I dual afterwards.

Abel

Interesting party you played there!
I agree traps can really make a difference. But I read the fact they stay between battles will be fixed in a next patch.

Skaffen

Well then use it while it lasts!

Then again, giving the patch frequency you still have a lot of time to try this...

The party was great fun to play and actually had less trouble in some fights than my "normal" run because you don't really have any squishies and even the archer can whirlwind with silver sword to great effect when people bypass the tanks - especially after running into that spike trap that was planted in the first round of the fight.

Of course two sorcerers with 6 Horrid Wiltings on "enemy sighted" in Chain Contingency are nice as well Next time will be casters only I guess.