I agree about the Pratt fight, that is often the hardest for me. The Iron Throne you can take piecemeal by running back down the stairs, so you take only a couple at a time - although some would doubtless consider this cheese. As you say, going up against Sarevok you know it is time to burn though any one-shot boost (such as potions) that you have lying around, plus the battle is over once Big S hits the ground, you can mostly ignore his buddies.
Most of the other fights are optional, you can run away from random encounters, but it is really hard to avoid a Pratt fall on the way out the catacombs.
Sarevok would be the hardest if it was not the last fight in the game. Just using the potions you have been hoarding through the game should make it an easy fight.
I find the iron throne (chapter 5) fight much harder. Especially since you can get there relatively unprepared. In that case you will just get slaughtered. The fight versus Prats in the catacombs can go real wrong if he is lucky with lightning bolt.
Anyway, in the whole trilogy, the hardest fight by a huge margin, is the random bandit encounter when you are level 1 and going to FAI.
Let me guess... they kick you in the head till you're dead?
Sarevok would be the hardest if it was not the last fight in the game. Just using the potions you have been hoarding through the game should make it an easy fight.
I find the iron throne (chapter 5) fight much harder. Especially since you can get there relatively unprepared. In that case you will just get slaughtered. The fight versus Prats in the catacombs can go real wrong if he is lucky with lightning bolt.
Anyway, in the whole trilogy, the hardest fight by a huge margin, is the random bandit encounter when you are level 1 and going to FAI.
Let me guess... they kick you in the head till you're dead?
Exactly. They just use arrows instead of their feet.
If you are up for a challenge the mage in Ulgoth's Beard (I forget his name), the one who teleports you to the mages maze, is a tough fight.
Hard because:
1) His spells are scripted and cannot be interrupted. 2) He buffs quickly with some very meaty protection spells. 3) You only have a very, very short window to kill him before he permanently teleports away (Iirc correctly he spams 4 or 5 magic missiles, a couple of fire balls and then teleports).
Took me a good number of attempts to bring him down before he can escape.
I don't tend to do most of the optional fights, except occasionally Drizzt, but from the fights I do take I'd say the dwarven guards (can never remember what they're called) at the end of the first sublevel of Durlag's Tower. Everything else I've got pretty much down to a science, but those guys consistently manage to give me trouble.
Does Noober count? While not much of a physical threat, this guy can do some serious damage to my mental state if I choose to endure his seemingly endless pestering for some XP. Not that I usually let him get past the first dialogue before spreading him across the countryside like chunky peanut butter on my morning bagel.
I realized to my own surprise that I can waltz through many fights without any worries that used to traumatize me when I first played the game 20 years ago. The four warders and the Dwarven doomguards in Durlags tower or Degrodels minions are good examples. I found them excruciatingly difficult back then, very easy now with a little bit of strategy (positioning of the party members, micro during the fight and pre-fight buffs solve everything). Same with Karoug, though offers a slightly bigger challenge.
One fight that never gave me any trouble is the demon knight, he died so quickly under my concentrated attacks.
There are only two fights that still give me trouble: Sarevok with this immense assault of traps, aoe effects and magical debuffs, combined with his deadly melee prowess. And of course this bastard Aec letec. Hate him.
One fight that I do not find directly difficult, but challenging, is the fight against sarevoks six in the iron throne building. Easily winnable if you know what you're doing, but you really have to plan your actions. Love this fight.
Big A was real tough for me because I went into it blind and ill prepared. Its not so much winning that was the issue but companions perma-dying from his effect afterwords. Probably had a dozen reloads on that one, by far more than ive ever needed.
I think that without metaknowledge, Aec'letec has to be the hardest fight in the game by far. His gaze attack is nowhere hinted at before, as far as I know, so a party without metaknowledge definitely wouldn't bring potions of mirrored eyes and drink them before fight. And once it happens, due to him being level 11 (I think), which will be 2-3 levels above everyone else in your party, it is very hard to dispel it. Also, a sensible party would focus on attacking and killing him, instead of those cultists that just stand there, so even if they would manage to kill him the first time, they would be in for surprise when he respanws in one of the cultists. Only at that point would a party start killing cultists, which would give him more time to slaughter you. With Demon Knight, at least you are told well in advance that there is a very powerful demon in the next room, it uses a mirror to create clones of you that will attack you and that you can use that to your advantage. As far as I remember, it isn't even hinted anywhere that you will have to Aec'letec before you get down into that basement - for all you know, there are likely to be just more cultists there since you were stolen the dagger to summon a powerful demon just moments before. So it is not even clear that you would buff your party up before going there.
With metaknowledge, for me the hardest fight is the last fight, if you want to kill everyone and not just Sarevok. I don't think I ever managed to kill Tazok, Semaj and Sarevok there - I always focus only on Sarevok since the game is finished once he dies. Killing all three would, I imagine, be incredibly hard since Tazok and Sarevok hit like trucks and Semaj is one of the most dangerous, if not -the- most dangerous mage in the game.
I think that without metaknowledge, Aec'letec has to be the hardest fight in the game by far. His gaze attack is nowhere hinted at before, as far as I know, so a party without metaknowledge definitely wouldn't bring potions of mirrored eyes and drink them before fight.
That's why there was (and still is) a reload button when you die : I don't think Aec'Letec was supposed to be killed on the first try.
Then you reload, and go to the Ulgoth Beard's inn to strategize and look at the stuff the innkeeper sells... and find potions of mirrored eyes... Now, I'm not saying that it's obvious that it would help, but the hint is there
With metaknowledge, for me the hardest fight is the last fight, if you want to kill everyone and not just Sarevok. I don't think I ever managed to kill Tazok, Semaj and Sarevok there - I always focus only on Sarevok since the game is finished once he dies. Killing all three would, I imagine, be incredibly hard since Tazok and Sarevok hit like trucks and Semaj is one of the most dangerous, if not -the- most dangerous mage in the game.
EDIT: I forgot Angelo is there too. Fuck that.
I agree, clearing that final fight entirely is the probably the most difficult fight. Which is good since it is the final fight after all.
I think the only times I manage to kill the 4 of them is when I successfully separate them (well, Semaj separates himself from the rest, so facing him alone is easy). Then I lure Sarevok who's faster than the rest in a corner, gulp a invisibility potion, and go aggro the other 2 outside Sarevok's field of vision, saving Sarevok for last.
I'm not sure this strategy is possible in SCS though, since I think the "call for help" is improved in this setting.
Picking them off one at a time is MUCH harder with SCS, but doable. On my last run, with SCS, I carpeted the area with web, which at least slowed down everyone but Sarevok - who actually got to the party just as the spells went into affect. By keeping the party near the door, they were able to focus on just him. However, that meant they did not get to take on the other three.
The new mod, Endless BG1, should fix this issue, though, and allow you to take out the other three after tackling Sarevok himself. I'm looking forward to seeing how this works on my current BG1 run.
its kind of ironic actually, i found Aec'Letec to be super easy in the vanilla than in the EE and that is because of this wonder spell; protection from evil 10' radius
see in vanilla, protection from evil would give a static +2 bonus to AC/saves, now the level 1 spell only lasted for 10 rounds, but the level 4 variant would reach all party members ( and summons ) and last way longer, and with 21 WIS and a ring of holiness, a level 8 cleric can have up to 6 level 4 spells, which means the WHOLE team gets a +12 AC/save bonus
this made a lot of "difficult" fights pretty trivial when my front line had -20 or so AC and all my team mates had saves in the negatives, even my vast skelly armies would be virtually indestructable just adding to the godliness
but, now of coarse bg1ee uses the bg2 engine that is no longer the case, and every time i fight good ol' Aec'Letec i still don't even use potions of mirrored eyes to win ( since its actually not necessary )
so now with those "exploits" gone, i would say the hardest fights are either the demon knight if you don't shatter the mirror, or the final battle with sarevok ( and actually kill his entire team )
but the problem with the sarevok battle is that i save the best items/potions in the game for that battle so it makes it much easier
i find with every other difficult fight, i can just cast protection from fire on my front line and just huck in fireballs into the fray without a worry or care until all the baddies die, and if that doesnt help, throw in a greater malison with a slow/glitterdust/ or blindness and watch the baddies die, or when all else fails, the good ol' wand of paralyzation, seriously, if the creature doesn't have huge magic resistance or isn't immune to hold this wand is an absolute killer, with that sexy -4 penalty to saves, a held enemy is a dead enemy,
i always use it on the werewolf chief dude in the balduran ship, and he becomes chop suey in literal rounds, also want to kill the super mage in ulgoths beard? greater malison then a blast from the wand, and game over, with a hasted team holmes is going down without a hitch, for that lovely 26 000 XP and REP loss
Comments
Most of the other fights are optional, you can run away from random encounters, but it is really hard to avoid a Pratt fall on the way out the catacombs.
Hard because:
1) His spells are scripted and cannot be interrupted.
2) He buffs quickly with some very meaty protection spells.
3) You only have a very, very short window to kill him before he permanently teleports away (Iirc correctly he spams 4 or 5 magic missiles, a couple of fire balls and then teleports).
Took me a good number of attempts to bring him down before he can escape.
One fight that never gave me any trouble is the demon knight, he died so quickly under my concentrated attacks.
There are only two fights that still give me trouble: Sarevok with this immense assault of traps, aoe effects and magical debuffs, combined with his deadly melee prowess. And of course this bastard Aec letec. Hate him.
One fight that I do not find directly difficult, but challenging, is the fight against sarevoks six in the iron throne building. Easily winnable if you know what you're doing, but you really have to plan your actions. Love this fight.
Technically, wouldn't a blind character be immune to his gaze ?
(Test subject: a level 1 illusionist who cast Blindness on himself)
With metaknowledge, for me the hardest fight is the last fight, if you want to kill everyone and not just Sarevok. I don't think I ever managed to kill Tazok, Semaj and Sarevok there - I always focus only on Sarevok since the game is finished once he dies. Killing all three would, I imagine, be incredibly hard since Tazok and Sarevok hit like trucks and Semaj is one of the most dangerous, if not -the- most dangerous mage in the game.
EDIT: I forgot Angelo is there too. Fuck that.
That's why there was (and still is) a reload button when you die : I don't think Aec'Letec was supposed to be killed on the first try.
Then you reload, and go to the Ulgoth Beard's inn to strategize and look at the stuff the innkeeper sells... and find potions of mirrored eyes... Now, I'm not saying that it's obvious that it would help, but the hint is there
I agree, clearing that final fight entirely is the probably the most difficult fight. Which is good since it is the final fight after all.
I think the only times I manage to kill the 4 of them is when I successfully separate them (well, Semaj separates himself from the rest, so facing him alone is easy). Then I lure Sarevok who's faster than the rest in a corner, gulp a invisibility potion, and go aggro the other 2 outside Sarevok's field of vision, saving Sarevok for last.
I'm not sure this strategy is possible in SCS though, since I think the "call for help" is improved in this setting.
The new mod, Endless BG1, should fix this issue, though, and allow you to take out the other three after tackling Sarevok himself. I'm looking forward to seeing how this works on my current BG1 run.
see in vanilla, protection from evil would give a static +2 bonus to AC/saves, now the level 1 spell only lasted for 10 rounds, but the level 4 variant would reach all party members ( and summons ) and last way longer, and with 21 WIS and a ring of holiness, a level 8 cleric can have up to 6 level 4 spells, which means the WHOLE team gets a +12 AC/save bonus
this made a lot of "difficult" fights pretty trivial when my front line had -20 or so AC and all my team mates had saves in the negatives, even my vast skelly armies would be virtually indestructable just adding to the godliness
but, now of coarse bg1ee uses the bg2 engine that is no longer the case, and every time i fight good ol' Aec'Letec i still don't even use potions of mirrored eyes to win ( since its actually not necessary )
so now with those "exploits" gone, i would say the hardest fights are either the demon knight if you don't shatter the mirror, or the final battle with sarevok ( and actually kill his entire team )
but the problem with the sarevok battle is that i save the best items/potions in the game for that battle so it makes it much easier
i find with every other difficult fight, i can just cast protection from fire on my front line and just huck in fireballs into the fray without a worry or care until all the baddies die, and if that doesnt help, throw in a greater malison with a slow/glitterdust/ or blindness and watch the baddies die, or when all else fails, the good ol' wand of paralyzation, seriously, if the creature doesn't have huge magic resistance or isn't immune to hold this wand is an absolute killer, with that sexy -4 penalty to saves, a held enemy is a dead enemy,
i always use it on the werewolf chief dude in the balduran ship, and he becomes chop suey in literal rounds, also want to kill the super mage in ulgoths beard? greater malison then a blast from the wand, and game over, with a hasted team holmes is going down without a hitch, for that lovely 26 000 XP and REP loss
yeah i remember hearing about that, i wonder if the sleep spell could have also took him out hahaha