IWD:EE HoF Solo Warrior Class Challenge
Tisamon
Member Posts: 209
All right, I did it in a non-EE IWD several years ago, and, since the EEs tend to be somewhat easier than the original games, mostly due to OH items/kits available, I am assured this is doable as well. If anyone is up to the task, I will surely become interested in a challenge and do it all over again (fully recorded, with annotations).
Ground rules:
- HoF solo, as already stated in the title.
- The ideal playthrough should look like this, schematically: IWD proper -> HoW at certain point -> TotL at certain point -> back to HoW to complete it -> back to IWD proper to complete it.
- The following classes/kits are considered 'warrior' for the purpose of this challenge: Fighter, Berserker, Wizard Slayer, Kensai, Dwarven Defender, Ranger, Archer, Stalker, Beast Master, Paladin, Cavalier, Inquisitor, Undead Hunter, Blackguard, Swashbuckler, Monk, Dark Moon Monk, Sun Soul Monk, Barbarian. Dual-/multi-classing is not allowed, obviously.
- All races are allowed. Unlimited rerolls on character creation screen are allowed. Reloads are allowed, it's not a no-reload challenge.
- No speedrunning tricks should be used. If you are unsure what those are exactly, please refer to http://speeddemosarchive.com/IcewindDale.html and https://kb.speeddemosarchive.com/Infinity_Engine. E. g.: one cannot trigger the lost caravan quest ending and return to Hrothgar without having actually completed the orc cave; one cannot fake-talk NPCs while hacking them to pieces; and one surely cannot abuse those neat XP/gp/item dialogue loops.
- I would love to include the video recording as a mandatory requirement here, but I realize that it's probably too harsh and unrealistic a condition for most people courageous enough to pick up the gauntlet. A reasonably detailed description with some screenshots would suffice, then.
Ground rules:
- HoF solo, as already stated in the title.
- The ideal playthrough should look like this, schematically: IWD proper -> HoW at certain point -> TotL at certain point -> back to HoW to complete it -> back to IWD proper to complete it.
- The following classes/kits are considered 'warrior' for the purpose of this challenge: Fighter, Berserker, Wizard Slayer, Kensai, Dwarven Defender, Ranger, Archer, Stalker, Beast Master, Paladin, Cavalier, Inquisitor, Undead Hunter, Blackguard, Swashbuckler, Monk, Dark Moon Monk, Sun Soul Monk, Barbarian. Dual-/multi-classing is not allowed, obviously.
- All races are allowed. Unlimited rerolls on character creation screen are allowed. Reloads are allowed, it's not a no-reload challenge.
- No speedrunning tricks should be used. If you are unsure what those are exactly, please refer to http://speeddemosarchive.com/IcewindDale.html and https://kb.speeddemosarchive.com/Infinity_Engine. E. g.: one cannot trigger the lost caravan quest ending and return to Hrothgar without having actually completed the orc cave; one cannot fake-talk NPCs while hacking them to pieces; and one surely cannot abuse those neat XP/gp/item dialogue loops.
- I would love to include the video recording as a mandatory requirement here, but I realize that it's probably too harsh and unrealistic a condition for most people courageous enough to pick up the gauntlet. A reasonably detailed description with some screenshots would suffice, then.
7
Comments
So far, it's kite-o-rama... kill an orc or two in the cave, run back to town and rage rest. At lvl 6 can go toe 2 toe with an orc or two.
The thing I regret is two ** in x-bows. This was great against the goblins (kiting with xbow) but now really hard to switch between 2 axes and xbow.
Taking a break mid orc cave. I'd love to hear more experienced folks take on this.
side note- for fun I tried it with an archer named 'Kite', and was awesome but gets one-shot killed at any group melee, and you just can't avoid that. Went back to trusty ole dwarf...
Anyway, I was feeling fine about kiting a bit with the xbow, then going toe to toe with 2, even 3 orcs. Barb level 7 with two weapon xx, axe xx, and xbow xx.
Then... I did a very stupid thing. I went outside the cave when the FOUR ogre's and elite archers got too 'groupy' in the cave and were trapping me. If I am clever, I can plow through them like Eddie Lacy (I'm a Packer fan) and get to the town exit and back to the cave, but I can't kite them long enough. Any time I try to get off a shot or hack and slash, I die in about 2 rounds or less.
I think I have to re-start and re-think. Barbarians are great for the rage-rest healing and speed for kiting, but I may try a swashbuckler and attempt to pick the pocket of an ogre for the packing list rather than fight that whole group. Water going around the rock and all that.
Tisamon you are a sadist.
I have a feeling that it gets better once you get past the orc cave (someone should make one of those 'it gets better' videos). Not sure I have the smarts or blind stubbornness to make it, however. Someone please do it and let us know how!
Hardest part were the Ogre-Orc-Fight. One of the four archers were blinded. After the others ran out of ammo (and drinking some potions) i still had 57 HP. The rest of the battle was all about kiting and not getting trapped by the monsters. Thanks to the high movement speed of monks this part was not too hard. Main problem was not to lose concentration as the battle lastet around 30 minutes (so many critical misses).
Dont know how far i will play this one cause of time trouble. But one thing is clear: The Druid was far more easier.
EDIT: Fought my way through to Kuldahar. The very first battle on this map where you pull a group of ~10 goblins at once was tough like hell cause there is not much room for maneuvering (if you run blindly you will only pull more goblins). Took half an hour to kite and survive the hunt. Without the high monk speed this battle would have been insane difficult. After that things got a bit easier but it still took me many hours to get all goblin troops down. At the moment i am perfecting the hit-and-run-tactic as it is faster than shooting with a sling (and saving ammo). Sadly enough the monk (lvl 9) stilll isnt strong enough to engage more than one or two enemies at once. But that is the price for a - hopefully - "godlike" endgame.
Fighter, Berserker, Wizard Slayer, Kensai, Inquisitor: no thanks!
Dwarven Defender, Barbarian: DR makes for a slow but plausible run
Ranger, Archer, Stalker, Beast Master, Paladin, Cavalier, Undead Hunter, Blackguard: spells and self healing give this category a massive edge at high level with the most unlikely candidates possibly being the strongest choices (Beastmaster)
Swashbuckler: high AC, traps, stealth, what more could we want?
Monk, Dark Moon Monk, Sun Soul Monk: oh the monk, promises to be unstoppable but how high do you have to go before it stops being painful?
My short list would probably be:
- Beastmaster (but that's just circumventing the intention of the challenge, right?)
- Swashbuckler
- Cavalier (spiritual hammer overcomes the limit on ranged weaponry)
Maybe half-Orc Swashbuckler would be the way to go? Though shorty saves would be very desirable ...
I too thought about taking a Beastmaster. But i fear that in the long run your summons will be far too weak. Even the powerful Druid summons like Shambling Mounds go down "pretty fast" later on.
Swashbucklers are for sure fun but i would miss the superior speed for kiting. Cavalier sounds interesting too even though i am not a big paladin fan. Gotural claimed that Blackguards are "pretty easy".....
My monk is currently lvl 10 and fighting his way through the Vale of Shadows. Its still pretty painful even though slowly but surely he is raising his power. After getting Mirror Image at level 11 things will getting a bit easier.... we will see!
EDIT: Level 11 reached and getting nearer to Kresselacks Tomb. Thanks to Mirror Image + Blur + Blind the monk can 1vs1 Yeti Chieftains without problems (often times without getting hit). Only thing that bothers me is that i have to rest often. Without the abilities everything is just hitting too hard and too often. Good thing in the crypts is: You can often pull only one enemy after another.
Things worth to remember: Undeads have big problems with "Blind". Only the tougher ones like Mummies or Skeleton Knights resist it from time to time. There is also a powershift to be noticed. It seems that around Level 12 the Monk begins to shine in HoF. Most undead stood no chance in a 1vs1, smaller ones like skeletons he can fight 4-5 at once without big problems. Only the Skeleton Knights right before Kresselack were a bit painful as they hit through Blur+ Mirror Image (even when blinded) for up to 5X damage - kiting ftw. The crypts and the tomb felt (much) easier than the orc cave as you can most of the time pull one enemy after another if you wish. Not to forget: You have more options (spells, abilities) to deal with your enemies.
If the monk power level continues scaling like this than Dragons Eye shouldnt be a big problem. Well, at least Yxunomei will be for sure a tough one. We will see...
EDIT: The Temple of the Forgotten God was "pretty easy" cause the Verbeeg died like flies when the monk used Quivering Palm. On one occasion he killed three Verbeeg in one round - thats ridicoulus. Reaching level 15 gave him a new powerspike as his hands now deal 6-25 damage per hit. Dragons Eye is next...
Reached Dragons Eye. Cannot help me but it just feels that the monk is getting OP here. With Quivering Palm he slaughters the Lizard Man in no time. The first level is nearly cleared in under one hour - oh dear. And even if they make a save vs death he hits so hard that they still go down pretty quickly.....
Level 2 of Dragons Eye is cleared too. Things are getting weird when the monk hits level 20 and is now immune to non-magic weapons. This means: The Lizardman, the Trolls and even the Undead on Level 3 cannot hurt him. At the moment its been even easier than playing the i-summon-you-to-death-Druid.....
Level 3 is now also cleared. The fight against Presio was pretty easy. Stealth in, use Quivering Palm and watch him dying. As only the Imbued Wight were able to harm the monk they were focused down first. After beating them i could drink a cup of tea while watching the poison zombies going down one after another.....
Level 4 complete. The Yuan-Ti Mages were a bit tricky (acid & lightning spells) but beside this only the Yuan-Ti Elite Fighters could hit the monk with their arrows (surprisingly not when going melee). Looking forward to challenge Yxunomei soon....
Dragons Eye finished. I cant believe it but... well... the fight against Yxunomei - one of the hardest in the game - was nothing more than a joke. She died in a single blow thanks to Quivering Palm. Even the Mages couldnt harm the monk thanks to 78 % MR. Only one single arrow found its way through an AC of -12 and the Mirror Images. The power of the monk - he is level 28 now - is so far indeed what Wowo called "unstoppable". But as the enemies will grow stronger too new challenges are waiting. Hopefully.....
Upper Dorns Deep is finished. Finally the enemies are getting challenging again. The Drow can hit the monk but he still manages to tank them even in groups. Cold Hand works great to get through Stoneskin, even Quivering Palm works ok on them. The Orogs still cannot harm him. The Undead were not a big problem - he just had to be sure taking down Ghasts and Wights first. The Lich himself was no challenge so freeing the spirits were quite easy. Only the Greater Mummys are quite a pain cause of their spells and high DR...
Wyrm's Tooth Glacier is done. Finally we found an area that is challenging the monk to its limits. Nearly every enemy can hit him hard. Sometimes he had to fall back to good old kiting times. The Salamandres and the Giants took some time before they went down. Quivering Palm wasnt that effective anymore - worked against salamandres, ettins and the wolves but against the frost giants: No way. At least the giants are really slow and get stuck quite easy. So Lower Dorns Deep promises to be a real challenge - we will see...
Third Badge - Malavon: The Mage troubled me a bit more. Well Malavon himself was no big problem but his guards. The Iron Golems hit hard through Blur + Mirror Image and even the Umber Hulks had to be respected. First goal was to bring down the Golems without getting hit too much. A combination of hit & run and later using a tight spot did the job. Used Quivering Palm to instakill two Hulks so the rest was no big deal. The first Malavon got killed easily after this as the monk constantly interrupted his spells. The bigger problem was the real Malavon and his Invisible Stalkers. First i tried to kill the Stalkers first but in the meanwhile Malavon summons Salamandres and Earth Elementals - ouch. Biggest problem: You cannot leave the building until he is dead. Kiting the horde in the tight corridors was (nearly) impossible. At the end i used another tactic: Rebuff the monk and use 7 stacks of Chill Touch to get through his Stoneskin. By this way he wasnt able to cast anymore while the Stalkers were unable to hit me hard enough. Finally Malavon went down so i could left the building and kite the Stalkers easily in the streets. Job done!
Fourth Badge – Marketh: This one was easy as the Thiefs were unable to harm the monk. Killed the two Warrior Brothers and went upstairs. I spared Markeths life and ran downstairs again. The Thiefs, a mage and the sneaky little rat called Seth followed me. Instakilled the mage with Quivering Palm. After this i only had to take care of Seth but he wasnt a real danger. Finally the Thiefs went down without any resistance. Rested and instakilled one of the Kraken Mages with Quivering Palm. Spared the lifes of the other two and moved on.
Fifth Badge – Maiden Ilmadia: This one was endless torment because – as the challenge stated – speedrun tricks are not allowed. This meant that i not only had to kill Ilmadia but her whole army of Fire Giants too. Going into melee worked only for a short time. It was quite surprising that even if the combat log was stating „Fire Giant – Weapon ineffective“ they could still hit me really hard. After instakilling Ilmadia with Quivering Palm i lured the huge group of Fire Giants to the Palace Courtyard. This was maybe the only safe place where i could kite them without getting trapped to death. Four Myconids and later on even a Fire Salamandre joined the party. It took ages to bring the Giants down one after another. At the end i was losing concentration so the monk nearly got killed. Damn this was a close one. Maybe there is a better and safer tactic...
Sixth Badge – Palace Courtyard: When i stealthed into the room and found the idol surrounded by several Zombie Lords, Greater Mummys and huge Boneguard Skeletons my first thought was – ok thats the end. So i was really shocked that after one (or two?) minutes it was over. The trick was to keep maximum focus on the idol. After it went down all undeads instadied – great. Even more funny was that the Zombie Lords and the Boneguard Skeletons were unable to hit the monk. Thanks to the high MR and fantastic saving throws the spells of the Greater Mummys could not get through.
The final battles are wating.....
Ascension Cave was all about focusing Brother Poquelin fast enough down before his summons were able to tear the monk apart. Thanks to Cold Touch Stacks this worked on the second try.
And here is how the monk took Belhifet down: Sadly enough kiting him was not possible - damn i need a better sling. Going into Melee Range against Belhifet was troublesome cause he hits really hard (70 damage is no problem for him). The trick was: Attack him after he teleported! In this case he will not attack instantly as he is on his run for a spellcast. To avoid the dispel-traps i moved on the outer circle only. Thanks to his high movement speed the monk was able to outrun the monsters pretty easily. From there he was circling and waiting for Belhifet to teleport to a new location. When he was in time he ran up to the demon, hit him once and circled again. From time to time Belhifet will summon new shadow monsters – ignore them. If he is in the inner circle and running to you – ignore him. Because if you try to hit him in this case he will instantly counterattack. To survive his Fire Spells the Monk used: Mantle of the Coming Storm (30 %), Scroll of Protection from Fire (50 %) and Fire Resistance Potion (50 %) = 127 % (?) Fire Resistance. Beating Belhifet down in this cautious manner took a while but in the end he got a fine result: Monk 142 HP – Belhifet 0 HP.
So it has been proven that the Dark Moon Monk is more than capable of soloing IWD EE in HoF-Mode.
Heart of Winter would be next... hmmmm... maybe a need a pause!
Barbarian Camp: Its quite laughable that the Barbarians cannot hit the Monk. This means later when we will have to fight the whole camp this will be an easy ride...
Burial Isle: Here things got a bit tricky. Funnily enough the Wights cannot touch the Monk and even the Wailing Virgins are no problem at all thanks to 78 % MR and -1/3/2/4/2 Saving Throws. So after killing Mebdinga and her whole army he still had 102 HP (without drinking any Potion). Only once the Symbol of Hopelesness got though but after one (or two) rounds he was back in business. The main problem were the Drowned Dead. And - furthermore - that you nearly always pull a pack of three or more. As they absorb 15 damage from Missile Weapons the good old Kiting Game would have last forever. Most of the time Wailing Virgins joined the party and hastened everyone - great. Even worse: If you kill one or two Drowned Dead and ran out to recover everything will be reset - damn. As i did not had the patience to kite them down investing a whole day (or more) i made a compromise. If the monk is able to kill Mebdinga and her horde its ok. So i banished all Wailing Virgins, grabbed the Amulet and stealthed through to Hrothgar. Yeah, this is really not satisfying. Maybe i will return later to extinct the Drowned Dead from the surface of this world. One after another. *snarl*
Isacaracht is waiting......
The Problem is: Because it takes ages to bring down Icasaracht with a Sling (thanks 50 % DR) the dragon summons 50+ Whirlwinds that are constantly hunting me. Yes i normally would be able to outrun them but you know it: After the death of the dragon there are spawning great numbers of Vodyanoi. Unfortunately they can hit hard too. Kiting the horde of Vodyanoi AND avoiding the 50+ Whirlwinds with an already wounded character seems at the moment impossible. I will try on to find a way around. We will see.....
Any ideas are welcome!
The sequence of finishing the first part was: Kill the Sahuagin. Spare the life of two or three till Icasracht is nearly dead because they will hinder the movement of the dragon. Kite the beast down with your 18-21 damage Slingshots (-50% thanks to DR). And foremost: Avoid the Whirlwinds at any cost because they will slowly but surely bring you down. To do this i circled through the room. When running to the East i nearly constantly could fire around 6 Slingshots at the Dragon. When turning to the West its all about running because - for whatever reason - the Whirlwinds will get faster and faster. Running to the Southwest part of the room makes them stacking there for a short while. Circle around them and run to the Northeast. This gives you time for new Slingshots again and - thats the best - some of the Whirlwinds will pass through the Soul Gem and - maybe - damage it. Thats cool. Thanks to this method you can bring down Icasaracht relatively safe. With good microing you should still be at full health after the dragon falls (some health potions maybe needed). Dont forget: Never ever try to melee the beast. He kills you in no time. Well at least my Monk stood no chance.
The trick after killing the dragon was: Ignore the Vodyanoi and keep on circling. As many Vodyanoi get stuck (bug?) you can slingshot the Gem on each of your rounds, bringing it slowly but surely down. Funnily enough the Whirlwinds will damage the Soul Gem too, make your task a bit easier. To survive the Fire Spells of the Soul Gem i just had to make sure using Fire Resistance Potion and Scroll. The whole fight is all about Kiting and Micro your Character. Took more than half an hour to finish this epic battle. One of the most challening encounters in the whole series so far.
The Trials of the Luremaster are left...
It would seemed like the orc cave alone is enogh to sleep thtough the while winter .... (for HP and skill recuperation sake)
Also, I want to read about end of this great adventure. Did your Dark Moon Monk own TotL?
I've always wanted to solo hof with bard or archer, choosed archer this time.
I have a conclusion that early levels in hof with no summons is one big kiting, no matter what class you play.
I choosed skeletons as racial enemy, becouse i knew their 50% resistance to bolts would be extremely long and painful for archer.
Currently im finishing valley of shadows, last chamber wher Kresslack is and got some issues.
Most of the time I was just kiting enemies with bow and they were dying sooner or later.
Last chamber is more difficult, cant hide in shadows and took enemeies one by one - there are always 3 or more enemies triggered on me when i attack one. And when i start to run i only trigger more skeletons and finally they are like 30 enemies or so, cant pass that for now and im stuck.
I bought 3 fireball potions and tried to throw into 30 following enemies, but they were all on mid hp still. Kiting 30 enemies at once is rather impossible.
Another issue is lacking of +1 arrows. They are mummies and other monster immune to normal arrows and there is literally now way to deal with them as archer.
He is extremely bad on meelee, no chance to fight them with magic weapons even 1vs1.
For now I am stuck at last chamber, but i believe I'll manage it somehow.
About character - currently level 11. he had incredible dps boost at level 9.
4 attacks per round for 12-15 dmg, +16 attack roll on racial enemy skeletons so he only miss when attack roll is 1.
Got lvl 1 druid spell that does fire dmg and blind enemy for 3 rounds, that helps a lot and saves time. Sadly only 1 slot for this spell what is pretty annoying.
Got now level 2 druid spells, but sadly they are very useless for archer.
At level14 there will be level 3 spell and at least battles under the sky would be much easier with call lightning.
At level 18 there is summon bugs spell and then i can finally shoot everything from distance while bugs are taking hits. No more kiting from level 18 i guess.
Basicly i consider solo hof with non caster class as some king of masochism.
I've already burned around 6000 arrows and im not even done with valley of shadows.
I'll post here if i manage to go through last chamber and finish valley