I see someone has played an evil WS too much... "And if you gaze long enough into an abyss, the abyss will gaze back into you."
Seriously though, I've tried not to make things easy for Yahiko and test him against SCS beholders. So that we can see a broader picture of how is the druid in the solo run:)
" Seriously though, I've tried not to make things easy for Yahiko and test him against SCS beholders. So that we can see a broader picture of how is the druid in the solo run:)
Hmm broader pictures are no doubt very interesting, but yours is a no-reload run remember? Please be careful, think about Yahiko's fans. They don't want to see him dying on them...
Yahiko reaches the 19th level. The Hand and the Crystal
If you remember, Yahiko defeated the greatest of Beholders. Gaal and his comrades were nothing compared to the Deva.
Finally Yahiko got 18 CON and thus his max HP became more than 80 - the thing Yahiko understood was essential against high-level mages.
Now, when all the needed stuff was acquired, nothing separated Yahiko and Brynnlaw. After reaching the place, Yahiko went straight to the most powerful wizard of Brynnlaw, Perth.
This is the usual buffing of a high-level druid: (before resting) Ironskins - resting - Death Ward, Chaotic Commands - Wondrous Recall (so that the previous 2 spells are back) - Shield of the Archons- Protection from Fire - Protection from Lightning - Protection from Fire and Cold - Barkskin - Armour of Faith - Ring of Improved Invisibility (the order can be a little different each time)
Yahiko followed this instruction precisely:
Then Yahiko found a safe place in the Perth's house so that the wizard didn't see him. The Deva was summoned. Then Death Ward and Chaotic Commands were casted on her by Yahiko. The Deva casted Remove Fear on both of us. Then she casted the Globe of Blades.
Checkmate!
The Deva just went up to Perth (still neutral and silent) and waited till the Globe of Blades ripped the wizard apart. 10d10 damage in one kick. No wizard will outlive it.
All the buffing was excessive this time but it shows the usual route of Yahiko entering every fight since the time he reached the very first 7th level spell.
Interestingly, in this playthrough Bhaal didn't follow Yahiko into the library (I think this bug is very old).
A Bhaalspawn had to spawn Bhaal in the library with the console command CreateCreature("PPBHAAL") .
Two spirit lions quiclkly finished the case.
Fire elementals, spirit animals and Devas (the list is from the weakest to the strongest available druid summons) were effective in defeating all enemies that could be found to west and to the north from the start of the maze.
The Deva (again, protected by Death Ward and Chaotic Commands) rocked against the Umber Hulks and all the undead on the next area. Even the Lich coudn't do anything.
Spirit lions were enough to defeat Dace the vampire and other enemies from this area.
It was a joy to watch how the Deva single-handedly dealt with Yuan-ti near the passage to the next part of the maze.
After that fight, Yahiko reached 3 600 000 XP and got the 19th level. He choose nearly all HLAs available already, so the future looks bright.
The so-called "tests" in the maze couldn't stop Yahiko's strong will to face Irenicus, his long-term aim. Enemies from the second level of the maze and different areas from the test were not up to Yahiko's summons.
Finally, the encounter with Irenicus happened. You all probably have read the detailed strategy of @semiticgod for that fight in his Sil's run. But in case of Yahiko's solo effort, this battle was *how would I better put it?* a straight-forward one.
Right after Irenicus's speach Yahiko (fully buffed before the whole encounter) went to the western corner of the room. Several seconds were enough to cast Insect Plague both on Yahiko's clone and Irenicus himself (several debuffing spells by Wanev helped here).
Yahiko's clone summoned a Fire Elemental next to Yahiko. The real Yahiko answered by summoning a Deva and then activating the Blade Barrier by her.
Stanging calmly in the corner of the room, Yahiko watched how the Deva and her Blade Barrier were enough (!) to deal with Irenicus. It was a pity, really, that this great mage couldn't deal with this high-level druid's option.
The Deva then calmly killed all the assassins (she could see them through invisibility). The further enemies, right till reaching the Sahuagin City, were swept by Yahiko's summons in the same fashion.
All inhabitants of the Sahuagin City were brushed aside by Yahiko's summons. Spirit lions, solid hitters themselves, could be hit by Rebels and Sahuagins, but their weapons were ineffective against Fire Elementals.
It's interesting that the Chain Lightning trap could be activated by summons.
Among other interesting things, I should mention that Deva's attack, if not saved against, stunned the Rebels.
The final battle with the Sahuagin king was won without much hassle. It's interesting that after the talk with the prince all summons were unsummoned as if a lot of time has passed.
Yahiko reached the Underdark. Here he faced the group of drow. It was a real test of Yahiko's summons.
- spirit animals are quite weak against the drow becase the drow weapons easily kill the animals - fire elementals are much more effective here because the drow weapons are ineffective against them and only spells make harm to the elementals - Yahiko needed all 4 his elementals to eliminate the group of those drow because magical spells were quite deadly - the Deva was a reserve option that helped to finish the job
In the process, Yahiko gained the 22th level - the first level when Yahiko wasn't given any additional spell at all.
The experience that the first encounter with the drow provided (mentioned above) shows the druid has all the possibilities to survive in the Underdark.
I hope you haven't forgotten Yahiko. His story has not ended yet.
Although this time I personally thought "That's it!" Only to be saved by a potion of invisibility a second after. With 4 HP left. Surrounded by 4 enemy Skeleton warriors.
But let's go step by step.
The party of drow who met Charname at the bridge to Ust'Natha were effectively killed by Yahiko himself, fully buffed and using the combination of the Aura of Flaming Death and the Globe of Blades HLAs. These spells make insane damage to a melee opponent.
In order to enter the Adalon's cave Yahiko went to the Svirfneblins' village first. There a task of defeating a demon waited for him.
The demon quickly one-hitted spirit animals with vorpal attacks and then faced the Deva. But the course of their battle suggested the Deva would be defeated. Then Yahiko, again using the the Aura of Flaming Death and the Globe of Blades combination, decided to interfere.
Success! Now Yahiko, in the drow form, entered Ust'Natha.
The first task was to rescue Phaere from Mind Flayers. 4 spirit lions helped to accomplish it. Also, the assassins group couldn't manage the Deva.
The second task was to defeat a Beholder spy in the city. The Deva and both drow companions (or should I say, tools) didn't have any problems with it.
This is when the quest to retrieve the Qilue's brain was given. Yahiko, being fully sure of his invincibility, made a usual pre-buffing and entered the Qilue's house bravely.
It was a mistake to start this battle in the far end of the house.
When everything went wrong Yahiko had a long way to retreat outdoors. And yes, it all went wrong. The death spells quickly left Yahiko without his first pack of summons, the Deva was eventually stunned and thus finished, and a pack of 4 summoned Skeleton warriors and an Aerial Servant went for Yahiko's blood. Only full pre-buffing saved Yahiko here, I think. Not a single spell affected him, his HPs were severely damaged by enemy melee attacks, rather then spells.
Yahiko managed to summon another Deva only to find himself in the next second pushed by enemy summons to the wall of a small room without no way to retreat. No Ironskins left. Only 90, no 70, no 50 HP already, with a crappy AC.
This is probably the first time when I thought the run would end. This is the first time I regretted a druid was not a mage / a bard / a thief with tons of quickly casted spells from scrolls.
The only hope was to gulp a potion of invisibility. Come on! Do it! 30 HP. 20 HP.
And then...
Invisible Yahiko with 4 (!!!) HP left was saved!
Encouraged by this wonderful outcome, the Deva ripped all the Undead apart and then defeated the Aerial servant and all the remaining drow.
The Qilue's brain was retrieved to the mystery creature and Yahiko could safely rest in the city tavern.
What can I say?
The rest of the game will be interesting. The level of enemies, especially their spells repertoire poses a real threat to a high-level druid. The main striking force of Yahiko (his summons) through both BG1 and BG2 has started to quickly lose its effectiveness against big group of enemies.
Also, this battle will, I hope, serve as a good wake-up call for Yahiko just as the Davaeorn fight did back in BG1 (when my first druid, Karasu, was killed).
Ah man having to drink an emergency potion when your aura is turbid, always a nailbiter As the others, I'm very glad to see Yahiko pulled through there!
I agree that in your situation a Potion of Invisibility seems to have been an excellent solution. Do you have the Cloak of the Sewers? When you're taking a lot of physical damage, Rat form with 90% physical resistance can allow your character to heal faster (drinking potions) than the enemy can injure you, and to survive a host of hard-hitting summoned foes like the Aerial Servants you were dealing with until they are unsummoned.
The rest of the game will be interesting. The level of enemies, especially their spells repertoire poses a real threat to a high-level druid. The main striking force of Yahiko (his summons) through both BG1 and BG2 has started to quickly lose its effectiveness against big group of enemies.
At this time my shapeshifter is fighting its way trough ToB. The GWW form is still surprisingly useful sometimes, but the summons (even the Deva) are only cannon-fodder at best. In most cases, I resort to hit and run tactics, trying to isolate individual enemies and bring them down with Energy Blades. By using my clone to double the damage output even tough enemies fall relatively easily. As far ranged weapons go EBs are the best. I also prefer starting the battles with me&clone-me both casting Nature's Beauty at the same time, and hoping that at least one gets trough. Once enemies are blinded it's over for them.
I'm not sure yet how to defeat Melissan, because the lack of wish-rest makes the EB-combo unusable for that battle. Probably Harm&Reload.
Finally, Suldanessellar. Yahiko can no longer level up
From the 3 greatest creatures Yahiko had to kill in order to please the Matron Mother, Yahiko chose a Kuo-Toan Prince. He seemed less dangerous if compared to beholders and mind flayers.
Yahiko had to poison the water in order to overcome a fastly regenerating Prince:
The rest of the Underdark, up until the very exit from it, was rather a good-looking quest than a difficult task.
Spirit lions were left in the chambers with the Dragon Eggs while invisible Yahiko left the room and closed the doors.
The party of drow that awaited Yahiko near the gates proved a slight delay. Aften Adalon transferred the druid right next to a group of enemies, Yahiko had to retreat almost as far as the start of this location, so that he could deal with seeing through invisibility Glabrezu one by one.
Then an interesting thing happened. Yahiko couldn't finish the level up.
So I guess till the rest of the game Yahiko will remain a 23 lvl druid. This is strange a bit, but still I think it's not a big deal.
The first second of Yahiko reaching the Graveyard district was very important as the game makes so that a party can enter it only at night and thus all buffs (casted at the previous area while it was still a day) are off. This was a perfect time for a potion of Invisibility.
The non-enhanced vampires in this SCS setup didn't trouble Yahiko's summons and soon the druid was ready to enter the Bodhi's lair.
So, a final blow to Bodhi was dealt by Arkanis, not Yahiko or his summons.
@semiticgod Exactly. As soon as Yahiko returned to Athkatla, he went right to the Shadows thieves and asked their leader to help in the Bodhi's Lair. He promised to sell his troops.
So when Yahiko came to the main vampire hall, the group of Shadow Thieves led by Arkanis Gath appeared and helped him. Arkanis followed Yahiko to the second level, took off 2 traps there and dealt several blows to Bodhi.
The first ever dragon. Yahiko develops a strategy to deal with dragons if you're a druid
When Yahiko entered Suldanessellar, he casted the Pixie Dust to go through the majority of foes there unnoticed.
Only Nabassu saw through the Invisibility, so Yahiko had to summon three spirit lions to deal with the demon.
The Deva then fought the drow wizard by the name Raamilat.
Unfortunately, a group of Rakshasa quicly finished Priestess Demin so Yahiko didn't even have a chance to talk to her.
His summons, though, vere immune to Rakshasa's attacks and the Priestess was avenged.
On Demin's corpse Yahiko found a note from which it was clear the next enemy was a dragon. A DRAGON!
Yahiko rested in the Demin's house, then casted the Pixie Dust and went through all the golems, completely unnoticed again.
At last, he came to the Dragon's lair. An epic battle awaited.
I've been thinking for a long, long time about how a druid can deal with the dragons. The problem was that my usual strategy didn't fit at all: it was clear that the Deva would NOT be able to defeat a dragon and Yahiko didn't have nor arcane spells, nor warrior's APR, nor rogue's traps to defeat it.
And I've found a solution, probably for the most difficult problem so far in the whole run.
It was time for another HLAs.
Greater Elemental Summoning - and Chan, a Lord of Air, came.
Then the usual Death Ward - Chaotic Commands - the Belt of Con - the Armour of Faith were casted. The Deva was summoned for the Resist Fear spell.
It was 100% needed to lower the saves against the Breath Weapon to the max. The Dragon could one-shot Yahiko if its Breath attack succeeded.
With the cloak from Trademeet, Yahiko's saves against the Breath Weapon were good enough.
And then... then the answer in the form of Energy Blades was casted. They are simply amazing, as the battle shows.
Nizidramanii'yt casted the Stoneskin, so the first Energy Blades were spent to take all the skins off.
Chan was soon unsummoned, Yahiko summoned another Prince, Sunnis this time. The Dragon made its Breath attack on Yahiko. The biggest healing potion was needed.
The rest of the battle was the most epic thing Yahiko went through in this run.
Constant Energy Blades, Sunnis's heavy hits, Deva's healing of herself to distract the Dragon as long as possible.
The biggest problem was when the Dragon sent Insects on Yahiko: combined with the Breath attack and the fact Yahiko was hasted due to the Energy Blades threated Yahiko's life. A retreat. Healing potions. The death of the Deva. New Ironskins. New Energy Blades.
I would just paste here all the screenshots that illustrate this battle. Nothing can illustrate it better.
I have to say that without this amazingly powerful weapon Yahiko would have a ZERO chance against Nizidramanii'yt.
There're threads in the Internet where people share their frustration that their druids in solo runs failed against dragons. Perhaps, the Energy Blades is best option.
I can't describe my joy enough right now. I didn't even think that defeating the dragon for the first time with a druid would be so sweet.
Love this thread. Quick comment on lvling past 23 with scs druid: try clicking on the blank squares beneath two bottom left hlas. This should grant u earth and fire elemental shapeshifts.
Thanks, @roms , for your tip - I'll check it! Do you, by chance, know if it's a SCS thing, or a EE thing?
I'm glad that this thread - at least - has become a reason an old forumite (who joined in 2013) made the first ever post.
Understanding the fact that there're people who follow the playthrough, althouth being hidden in shadows, is probably the most pleasant thing for me as the threadmaker:)
@Bengoshi I just found this play through, I can't believe I've missed it up until now. I'm still on the early parts so I'm avoiding reading any spoilers in the latest section but I just wanted to say thank you as it has been a very entertaining read thus far.
I believe it is caused by either the shapeshifting or hlas as abilities component of scs, but it's just a guess. One more note: earth elemental shapeshift in my game gives 100% DR to ALL physical (it should be 50%) so it's tad OP and therefore i choose not to use it.
The time came for the final SoA episode of the totemic druid's adventure.
After defeating the black dragon Yahiko didn't have problems while dealing with other enemies in the Elven city. Golems, rakshasa - all of them were killed by Yahiko's summons, he could bring many of them if needed.
The guess about the Fire and Earth Elemental forms as unseen HLAs was completely spot on, thanks for that a lot, @roms.
As the next several paragraphs show, it helped a lot.
Reaching the 25th and quickly afterwards (due to some killing in the city) the 26th level granted Yahiko 1 additional spell slot for the 7th level.
Yahiko was ready to enter the last building before going to the Palace. Completely buffed and invisible, Yahiko entered the building. Only a demon saw him but didn't follow and while a mage was casting the True Sight, Yahiko managed to find a place where only rakshasa was in the line of sight.
From there Yahiko summoned a Deva and then an Elemental Prince. An interesting thing - the Deva's attacks, if not saved against, can stun even big golems.
The pair was enough to deal with the mage and several summons he brought.
Yay! The road to the final battle was opened. Yahiko's 3 fire elementals and a Deva dealt with creatures who tortured The Great Tree.
So as soon as Yahiko was teleported to Irenicus, the druid had only 2 Elental Princes among his realistic options for that fight. As the next minutes showed, it was completely enough.
Irenicus couldn't do anything against the Princes. Only 2 spells were enough to defeat the most powerful wizard in the game. Huh!
In the Hell Yahiko chose good paths for all the mini-quests.
It was a joy to watch how 5 Yahiko's spirit animals, the only companions he had since the very Candlekeep, were completely competent against Sarevok.
I have to say that Yahiko still remembered well the Beholder threat from his quest of the Unseeing Eye. So for that battle Yahiko changed his chosen 7th level spells once more: the main vote went for the previously unused Fire Storm.
A Deva was summoned and then sent to fight right next to the Beholders. Yahiko spawned Fire Storms on them all.
In the end, the Deva's magic resistance failed and the Deva turned against the druid. The good thing all the beholders were already fried to death so Yahiko could calmly summon his spirit animals to protect from the Deva.
The very last battle in SoA awaited. A full buffing. A Simulacrum. A Deva and a Prince.
Irenicus comes. Yahiko retreats. One demon at first follows him but then returnes to the main battle. Yahiko is calmly waiting far from the battlefield and is summoning new enforcements when needed.
It became the main strategy for Yahiko to use his summons and wait in the safe place through the whole game: from the first kobolds to the end-game bosses.
@Blackraven recently wrote about the lack of the fighting resources for his Illusionist/Cleric and I can second that on the example of the druid. But I found it both natural and effective to use summons, rather than fight in melee, for Yahiko. Not every character should act the same. Fighters can fight, thieves can set traps and divine casters can constantly summon monsters. This is the way, at least as I see it. The most important thing is to win.
Irenicus teleported to the south of the battlefield so Yahiko had to join the main fighting.
Manoeuvring through the place, Yahiko constantly was either recasting his protections or summoning new creatures.
At last, the demons fell.
Yahiko sent all his troops to Irenicus, or the Slayer, as he was called here. As the screenshots show, their fire power was not enough to even wound the fastly-regenerating beast.
One by one, each and every option of the druid were used.
This is when the Earth Elemental form was used. Its amazing resistance against the physical damage, the most dangerous threat through all this playthrough for Yahiko, became a key.
Not even the fast regeneration helped the Slayer here. I post the screenshots of the fight and Yahiko's stats and inventory.
This was the only time I ever used the Earth Elemental form HLA (not only in this playthrough but ever), and I completely fell in love with it.
As a side note, I have to say that all the druid HLAs are wonderful and offer in fact diverse and useful tools: the Deva dealt with 90% of general enemies, the Energy Blades were essential for killing the dragon, the Princes helped greatly in the boss fights in the very end and now the Elemental form won against the last boss.
"Victory!!!"
Both BG1 and SoA are completed with the solo druid on a no-reload run.
Thank you everybody who followed the run. Thanks @bbear for that poll that in the end resulted in this run, among other things.
It was a joy to share all the experience I got myself of exploring and revealing the strong sides of the druid.
Comments
Great read, fantastic to see new strategies developed to overcome difficult encounters.
I see someone has played an evil WS too much... "And if you gaze long enough into an abyss, the abyss will gaze back into you."
Seriously though, I've tried not to make things easy for Yahiko and test him against SCS beholders. So that we can see a broader picture of how is the druid in the solo run:)
Yahiko reaches the 19th level. The Hand and the Crystal
If you remember, Yahiko defeated the greatest of Beholders. Gaal and his comrades were nothing compared to the Deva.Finally Yahiko got 18 CON and thus his max HP became more than 80 - the thing Yahiko understood was essential against high-level mages.
Now, when all the needed stuff was acquired, nothing separated Yahiko and Brynnlaw. After reaching the place, Yahiko went straight to the most powerful wizard of Brynnlaw, Perth.
This is the usual buffing of a high-level druid: (before resting) Ironskins - resting - Death Ward, Chaotic Commands - Wondrous Recall (so that the previous 2 spells are back) - Shield of the Archons- Protection from Fire - Protection from Lightning - Protection from Fire and Cold - Barkskin - Armour of Faith - Ring of Improved Invisibility (the order can be a little different each time)
Yahiko followed this instruction precisely:
Then Yahiko found a safe place in the Perth's house so that the wizard didn't see him. The Deva was summoned. Then Death Ward and Chaotic Commands were casted on her by Yahiko. The Deva casted Remove Fear on both of us. Then she casted the Globe of Blades.
Checkmate!
The Deva just went up to Perth (still neutral and silent) and waited till the Globe of Blades ripped the wizard apart. 10d10 damage in one kick. No wizard will outlive it.
All the buffing was excessive this time but it shows the usual route of Yahiko entering every fight since the time he reached the very first 7th level spell.
Interestingly, in this playthrough Bhaal didn't follow Yahiko into the library (I think this bug is very old).
A Bhaalspawn had to spawn Bhaal in the library with the console command CreateCreature("PPBHAAL") .
Two spirit lions quiclkly finished the case.
Fire elementals, spirit animals and Devas (the list is from the weakest to the strongest available druid summons) were effective in defeating all enemies that could be found to west and to the north from the start of the maze.
The Deva (again, protected by Death Ward and Chaotic Commands) rocked against the Umber Hulks and all the undead on the next area. Even the Lich coudn't do anything.
Spirit lions were enough to defeat Dace the vampire and other enemies from this area.
It was a joy to watch how the Deva single-handedly dealt with Yuan-ti near the passage to the next part of the maze.
After that fight, Yahiko reached 3 600 000 XP and got the 19th level. He choose nearly all HLAs available already, so the future looks bright.
I liked the buffing instruction, very useful
Thanks for sharing Yahiko's latest exploits!
Down to the Sahuagin City
The so-called "tests" in the maze couldn't stop Yahiko's strong will to face Irenicus, his long-term aim. Enemies from the second level of the maze and different areas from the test were not up to Yahiko's summons.Finally, the encounter with Irenicus happened. You all probably have read the detailed strategy of @semiticgod for that fight in his Sil's run. But in case of Yahiko's solo effort, this battle was *how would I better put it?* a straight-forward one.
Right after Irenicus's speach Yahiko (fully buffed before the whole encounter) went to the western corner of the room. Several seconds were enough to cast Insect Plague both on Yahiko's clone and Irenicus himself (several debuffing spells by Wanev helped here).
Yahiko's clone summoned a Fire Elemental next to Yahiko. The real Yahiko answered by summoning a Deva and then activating the Blade Barrier by her.
Stanging calmly in the corner of the room, Yahiko watched how the Deva and her Blade Barrier were enough (!) to deal with Irenicus. It was a pity, really, that this great mage couldn't deal with this high-level druid's option.
The Deva then calmly killed all the assassins (she could see them through invisibility). The further enemies, right till reaching the Sahuagin City, were swept by Yahiko's summons in the same fashion.
The first encounter with the drow
All inhabitants of the Sahuagin City were brushed aside by Yahiko's summons. Spirit lions, solid hitters themselves, could be hit by Rebels and Sahuagins, but their weapons were ineffective against Fire Elementals.It's interesting that the Chain Lightning trap could be activated by summons.
Among other interesting things, I should mention that Deva's attack, if not saved against, stunned the Rebels.
The final battle with the Sahuagin king was won without much hassle. It's interesting that after the talk with the prince all summons were unsummoned as if a lot of time has passed.
Yahiko reached the Underdark. Here he faced the group of drow. It was a real test of Yahiko's summons.
- spirit animals are quite weak against the drow becase the drow weapons easily kill the animals
- fire elementals are much more effective here because the drow weapons are ineffective against them and only spells make harm to the elementals
- Yahiko needed all 4 his elementals to eliminate the group of those drow because magical spells were quite deadly
- the Deva was a reserve option that helped to finish the job
In the process, Yahiko gained the 22th level - the first level when Yahiko wasn't given any additional spell at all.
The experience that the first encounter with the drow provided (mentioned above) shows the druid has all the possibilities to survive in the Underdark.
A close call with the brain girl
I hope you haven't forgotten Yahiko. His story has not ended yet.Although this time I personally thought "That's it!" Only to be saved by a potion of invisibility a second after. With 4 HP left. Surrounded by 4 enemy Skeleton warriors.
But let's go step by step.
The party of drow who met Charname at the bridge to Ust'Natha were effectively killed by Yahiko himself, fully buffed and using the combination of the Aura of Flaming Death and the Globe of Blades HLAs. These spells make insane damage to a melee opponent.
In order to enter the Adalon's cave Yahiko went to the Svirfneblins' village first. There a task of defeating a demon waited for him.
The demon quickly one-hitted spirit animals with vorpal attacks and then faced the Deva. But the course of their battle suggested the Deva would be defeated. Then Yahiko, again using the the Aura of Flaming Death and the Globe of Blades combination, decided to interfere.
Success! Now Yahiko, in the drow form, entered Ust'Natha.
The first task was to rescue Phaere from Mind Flayers. 4 spirit lions helped to accomplish it. Also, the assassins group couldn't manage the Deva.
The second task was to defeat a Beholder spy in the city. The Deva and both drow companions (or should I say, tools) didn't have any problems with it.
This is when the quest to retrieve the Qilue's brain was given. Yahiko, being fully sure of his invincibility, made a usual pre-buffing and entered the Qilue's house bravely.
It was a mistake to start this battle in the far end of the house.
When everything went wrong Yahiko had a long way to retreat outdoors. And yes, it all went wrong. The death spells quickly left Yahiko without his first pack of summons, the Deva was eventually stunned and thus finished, and a pack of 4 summoned Skeleton warriors and an Aerial Servant went for Yahiko's blood. Only full pre-buffing saved Yahiko here, I think. Not a single spell affected him, his HPs were severely damaged by enemy melee attacks, rather then spells.
Yahiko managed to summon another Deva only to find himself in the next second pushed by enemy summons to the wall of a small room without no way to retreat. No Ironskins left. Only 90, no 70, no 50 HP already, with a crappy AC.
This is probably the first time when I thought the run would end. This is the first time I regretted a druid was not a mage / a bard / a thief with tons of quickly casted spells from scrolls.
The only hope was to gulp a potion of invisibility. Come on! Do it! 30 HP. 20 HP.
And then...
Invisible Yahiko with 4 (!!!) HP left was saved!
Encouraged by this wonderful outcome, the Deva ripped all the Undead apart and then defeated the Aerial servant and all the remaining drow.
The Qilue's brain was retrieved to the mystery creature and Yahiko could safely rest in the city tavern.
What can I say?
The rest of the game will be interesting. The level of enemies, especially their spells repertoire poses a real threat to a high-level druid. The main striking force of Yahiko (his summons) through both BG1 and BG2 has started to quickly lose its effectiveness against big group of enemies.
Also, this battle will, I hope, serve as a good wake-up call for Yahiko just as the Davaeorn fight did back in BG1 (when my first druid, Karasu, was killed).
I agree that in your situation a Potion of Invisibility seems to have been an excellent solution. Do you have the Cloak of the Sewers? When you're taking a lot of physical damage, Rat form with 90% physical resistance can allow your character to heal faster (drinking potions) than the enemy can injure you, and to survive a host of hard-hitting summoned foes like the Aerial Servants you were dealing with until they are unsummoned.
I'm not sure yet how to defeat Melissan, because the lack of wish-rest makes the EB-combo unusable for that battle. Probably Harm&Reload.
Finally, Suldanessellar. Yahiko can no longer level up
From the 3 greatest creatures Yahiko had to kill in order to please the Matron Mother, Yahiko chose a Kuo-Toan Prince. He seemed less dangerous if compared to beholders and mind flayers.Yahiko had to poison the water in order to overcome a fastly regenerating Prince:
The rest of the Underdark, up until the very exit from it, was rather a good-looking quest than a difficult task.
Spirit lions were left in the chambers with the Dragon Eggs while invisible Yahiko left the room and closed the doors.
The party of drow that awaited Yahiko near the gates proved a slight delay. Aften Adalon transferred the druid right next to a group of enemies, Yahiko had to retreat almost as far as the start of this location, so that he could deal with seeing through invisibility Glabrezu one by one.
Then an interesting thing happened. Yahiko couldn't finish the level up.
So I guess till the rest of the game Yahiko will remain a 23 lvl druid. This is strange a bit, but still I think it's not a big deal.
The first second of Yahiko reaching the Graveyard district was very important as the game makes so that a party can enter it only at night and thus all buffs (casted at the previous area while it was still a day) are off. This was a perfect time for a potion of Invisibility.
The non-enhanced vampires in this SCS setup didn't trouble Yahiko's summons and soon the druid was ready to enter the Bodhi's lair.
So, a final blow to Bodhi was dealt by Arkanis, not Yahiko or his summons.
Suldanessellar awaits.
So when Yahiko came to the main vampire hall, the group of Shadow Thieves led by Arkanis Gath appeared and helped him. Arkanis followed Yahiko to the second level, took off 2 traps there and dealt several blows to Bodhi.
The first ever dragon. Yahiko develops a strategy to deal with dragons if you're a druid
When Yahiko entered Suldanessellar, he casted the Pixie Dust to go through the majority of foes there unnoticed.Only Nabassu saw through the Invisibility, so Yahiko had to summon three spirit lions to deal with the demon.
The Deva then fought the drow wizard by the name Raamilat.
Unfortunately, a group of Rakshasa quicly finished Priestess Demin so Yahiko didn't even have a chance to talk to her.
His summons, though, vere immune to Rakshasa's attacks and the Priestess was avenged.
On Demin's corpse Yahiko found a note from which it was clear the next enemy was a dragon. A DRAGON!
Yahiko rested in the Demin's house, then casted the Pixie Dust and went through all the golems, completely unnoticed again.
At last, he came to the Dragon's lair. An epic battle awaited.
I've been thinking for a long, long time about how a druid can deal with the dragons. The problem was that my usual strategy didn't fit at all: it was clear that the Deva would NOT be able to defeat a dragon and Yahiko didn't have nor arcane spells, nor warrior's APR, nor rogue's traps to defeat it.
And I've found a solution, probably for the most difficult problem so far in the whole run.
It was time for another HLAs.
Greater Elemental Summoning - and Chan, a Lord of Air, came.
Then the usual Death Ward - Chaotic Commands - the Belt of Con - the Armour of Faith were casted. The Deva was summoned for the Resist Fear spell.
It was 100% needed to lower the saves against the Breath Weapon to the max. The Dragon could one-shot Yahiko if its Breath attack succeeded.
With the cloak from Trademeet, Yahiko's saves against the Breath Weapon were good enough.
And then... then the answer in the form of Energy Blades was casted. They are simply amazing, as the battle shows.
Nizidramanii'yt casted the Stoneskin, so the first Energy Blades were spent to take all the skins off.
Chan was soon unsummoned, Yahiko summoned another Prince, Sunnis this time. The Dragon made its Breath attack on Yahiko. The biggest healing potion was needed.
The rest of the battle was the most epic thing Yahiko went through in this run.
Constant Energy Blades, Sunnis's heavy hits, Deva's healing of herself to distract the Dragon as long as possible.
The biggest problem was when the Dragon sent Insects on Yahiko: combined with the Breath attack and the fact Yahiko was hasted due to the Energy Blades threated Yahiko's life. A retreat. Healing potions. The death of the Deva. New Ironskins. New Energy Blades.
I would just paste here all the screenshots that illustrate this battle. Nothing can illustrate it better.
I have to say that without this amazingly powerful weapon Yahiko would have a ZERO chance against Nizidramanii'yt.
There're threads in the Internet where people share their frustration that their druids in solo runs failed against dragons. Perhaps, the Energy Blades is best option.
I can't describe my joy enough right now. I didn't even think that defeating the dragon for the first time with a druid would be so sweet.
What happens if you fail a save versus that dragon breath attack ?
I'm glad that this thread - at least - has become a reason an old forumite (who joined in 2013) made the first ever post.
Understanding the fact that there're people who follow the playthrough, althouth being hidden in shadows, is probably the most pleasant thing for me as the threadmaker:)
Maybe you may also check the OP here: http://forum.baldursgate.com/discussion/18913/challenges-and-playthroughs-archive-make-your-submission-here-discuss-archive-categories - @Lemernis has gathered links to interesting playthroughs/run concepts
Well, that's it!?
The time came for the final SoA episode of the totemic druid's adventure.After defeating the black dragon Yahiko didn't have problems while dealing with other enemies in the Elven city. Golems, rakshasa - all of them were killed by Yahiko's summons, he could bring many of them if needed.
The guess about the Fire and Earth Elemental forms as unseen HLAs was completely spot on, thanks for that a lot, @roms.
As the next several paragraphs show, it helped a lot.
Reaching the 25th and quickly afterwards (due to some killing in the city) the 26th level granted Yahiko 1 additional spell slot for the 7th level.
Yahiko was ready to enter the last building before going to the Palace. Completely buffed and invisible, Yahiko entered the building. Only a demon saw him but didn't follow and while a mage was casting the True Sight, Yahiko managed to find a place where only rakshasa was in the line of sight.
From there Yahiko summoned a Deva and then an Elemental Prince. An interesting thing - the Deva's attacks, if not saved against, can stun even big golems.
The pair was enough to deal with the mage and several summons he brought.
Yay! The road to the final battle was opened. Yahiko's 3 fire elementals and a Deva dealt with creatures who tortured The Great Tree.
So as soon as Yahiko was teleported to Irenicus, the druid had only 2 Elental Princes among his realistic options for that fight. As the next minutes showed, it was completely enough.
Irenicus couldn't do anything against the Princes. Only 2 spells were enough to defeat the most powerful wizard in the game. Huh!
In the Hell Yahiko chose good paths for all the mini-quests.
It was a joy to watch how 5 Yahiko's spirit animals, the only companions he had since the very Candlekeep, were completely competent against Sarevok.
I have to say that Yahiko still remembered well the Beholder threat from his quest of the Unseeing Eye. So for that battle Yahiko changed his chosen 7th level spells once more: the main vote went for the previously unused Fire Storm.
A Deva was summoned and then sent to fight right next to the Beholders. Yahiko spawned Fire Storms on them all.
In the end, the Deva's magic resistance failed and the Deva turned against the druid. The good thing all the beholders were already fried to death so Yahiko could calmly summon his spirit animals to protect from the Deva.
The very last battle in SoA awaited. A full buffing. A Simulacrum. A Deva and a Prince.
Irenicus comes. Yahiko retreats. One demon at first follows him but then returnes to the main battle. Yahiko is calmly waiting far from the battlefield and is summoning new enforcements when needed.
It became the main strategy for Yahiko to use his summons and wait in the safe place through the whole game: from the first kobolds to the end-game bosses.
@Blackraven recently wrote about the lack of the fighting resources for his Illusionist/Cleric and I can second that on the example of the druid. But I found it both natural and effective to use summons, rather than fight in melee, for Yahiko. Not every character should act the same. Fighters can fight, thieves can set traps and divine casters can constantly summon monsters. This is the way, at least as I see it. The most important thing is to win.
Irenicus teleported to the south of the battlefield so Yahiko had to join the main fighting.
Manoeuvring through the place, Yahiko constantly was either recasting his protections or summoning new creatures.
At last, the demons fell.
Yahiko sent all his troops to Irenicus, or the Slayer, as he was called here. As the screenshots show, their fire power was not enough to even wound the fastly-regenerating beast.
One by one, each and every option of the druid were used.
Could Yahiko overcome the Slayer?...
Epilogue
This is when the Earth Elemental form was used. Its amazing resistance against the physical damage, the most dangerous threat through all this playthrough for Yahiko, became a key.Not even the fast regeneration helped the Slayer here. I post the screenshots of the fight and Yahiko's stats and inventory.
This was the only time I ever used the Earth Elemental form HLA (not only in this playthrough but ever), and I completely fell in love with it.
As a side note, I have to say that all the druid HLAs are wonderful and offer in fact diverse and useful tools: the Deva dealt with 90% of general enemies, the Energy Blades were essential for killing the dragon, the Princes helped greatly in the boss fights in the very end and now the Elemental form won against the last boss.
"Victory!!!"
Both BG1 and SoA are completed with the solo druid on a no-reload run.
Thank you everybody who followed the run. Thanks @bbear for that poll that in the end resulted in this run, among other things.
It was a joy to share all the experience I got myself of exploring and revealing the strong sides of the druid.