The Real Wizard Slayer Party
Grum
Member, Mobile Tester Posts: 2,100
Something that I thought of...
Monk Charname: 78% MR base at lvl 26. +10% from hell trials for 78%. + 10% from Ring of GAx for 88%. +5% from the Machine of Lum the Mad = 93% MR. Then add amulet of magic resistance for 98% magic resistance.
Raasad: 78% MR base at lvl 26. Kaligun's Amulet of Magic Resistance +10% for 88%.
Viconia: 65% MR base. +20% from Human Flesh armor for 85%. Shield of the Lost gives +5%, Amulet of Power for +5% MR. Gives 95% magic resistance.
Jan Jansen: UAI with Cormosyr for 50%. Robe of Vecna for 55%. Amulet of the seldarine gives + 10%, for a total of 65%. Add in spell protections as needed.
For even more protection, chug a potion of magic protection (+50% magic resistance) before a major boss fight. Mostly for Jan and maybe Raasad.
Even without the potions, just walking into a mage will cause any mage to weep in despair. Almost all spells will simply bounce off. And in addition, the party is balanced with 2 close combat warriors, a cleric, and a thief/mage.
Monk Charname: 78% MR base at lvl 26. +10% from hell trials for 78%. + 10% from Ring of GAx for 88%. +5% from the Machine of Lum the Mad = 93% MR. Then add amulet of magic resistance for 98% magic resistance.
Raasad: 78% MR base at lvl 26. Kaligun's Amulet of Magic Resistance +10% for 88%.
Viconia: 65% MR base. +20% from Human Flesh armor for 85%. Shield of the Lost gives +5%, Amulet of Power for +5% MR. Gives 95% magic resistance.
Jan Jansen: UAI with Cormosyr for 50%. Robe of Vecna for 55%. Amulet of the seldarine gives + 10%, for a total of 65%. Add in spell protections as needed.
For even more protection, chug a potion of magic protection (+50% magic resistance) before a major boss fight. Mostly for Jan and maybe Raasad.
Even without the potions, just walking into a mage will cause any mage to weep in despair. Almost all spells will simply bounce off. And in addition, the party is balanced with 2 close combat warriors, a cleric, and a thief/mage.
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Comments
30% MR base, +10% from Sword of Balduran, +10% from the other sword. Add in the +5% MR armor, and +15% from Hell/Lum the mad, and the wizard slayer ends up with 65% MR. He can't boost it any further from amulets or rings.
In comparison, the monk has 98% magic resistance. The monk also can have bracers of +4 to hit, with his fists being 1d20+4 weapons already.
I just don't see what an actual Wizard Slayer can do that another class can't do better.
Even a Charname Inquisitor.
Purifier (+30% MR), Sword of Balduran (+10%), Amulet (+10%), Hell+Mad (+15%), Gax (+10%). That's 75% magic resistance right there, with a super strong dispel and true sight built in. A much better wizard slayer than the wizard slayer!
On a side note, how ironic it is that your ultimate wizard slayer group has no wizard slayer. Commentary on the class, obviously...
And yes, it is a pretty damning statement as to the wizard slayer. Monks and inquisitors just do their job so much better that they become worse than redundant.
As a note, I used a wizard slayer in the black pits. He really didn't add anything of value and wasn't all that good at killing wizards. Any wizard worth fighting will have enough spell protections up that getting a hit isn't easy. And once you can hit, they die fast enough that the wizard slayer's bonuses are superfluous. Casting penalties on a corpse don't do much.
On the other hand, I found that the equipment penalties really hurt, and that an inquisitor did the job so much better that it was just sad.
Of course, Miscast Magic isn't exactly gonna be necessary here, so I can't say I really see the point.
It's not as good as a monk 98%
It's not as good as inquisitor (50% from the sword, amulet for 10%, upgrades for 15%, ring for 10%, armor for 5%=90%)
But it is much better than I gave them credit for.
My main issue with the WS is that their spellfailure penalty doesn't work the way it should in SCS because that mod's scripts pretty much overwrite the penalty.
Only the golem fights gave me any trouble after that happened.. Btw, MR doesn't protect you against Imprisonment.
Base AC: 2
21dex (19 elven, +1 from MoLtM+ 1 from deck of many things+ 1 from Malla soulstone -1 from hell trials): 5AC
Hell Trials+ MoLtM: 15% Magic resist
Purifier +5: 30% MR
Cloak of the Balduran (import from BG1/ get in BP2): 25% MR 1 AC
Ring of Gaxx: 10% MR 2 AC
Armor of Silver Dragon scales (the one you get in Dorn quest I believe): 12AC 15% Magic resist
Amulet of the Master Harper: 3 AC
Ring of Earth control: 1AC
As for boots and belt: Boots of speed are a must have IMO, the game is way too slow without them. Strength belt are good as well
Overall:
Solo wielding with blur scroll: 95% magic resist -26AC
Dual wielding Yamato +4 with Blur scroll, replacing ring of Earth control by lvl 25 priest ring: 100% magic resist -25AC
Another alternative would be taking +2AC in hell, replace amulet of the master harper by one of the Seldarine and Malla Soulstone by an AC headgear (dex being no longer needed to reach 21)
Of course Cloak of the Balduran allows much more possibilities due to its very high amount of magic resistance. I added blur scroll even if it is not a permanent buff because the scroll can be found nearly anywhere in a fairly high amount, but for most fights mirror image from Ibratha and -22 AC would be more than enough.
In a vanilla "old" BG2 with no exploit (importing Cloak of the Balduran), in one run, I believe the lowest reachable AC not taking drow equipment in account while still keeping 100% MR would be
Wizard slayer/thief dualed lvl 25: 36% magic resist
Wielding Purifier (30% magic resistance)
Ring of Gaxx (10% magic resistance 2AC)
MoLtM+ hell trials (15% MR)
Enkidu s plate (12AC 5% magic resistance)
Priest ring (5% MR)
Darksteel+4 (5AC)
Amulet of the master harper (3AC)
Helm of the Balduran (1AC)
Cloak of the Sewer (1AC)
18dex(4AC)
Gauntlet of Tzu Zan (1AC)
This would make an overall:
101% magic resist
-18AC down to -21 with blur
In a BG2EE single run without black pits between SoA and ToB (basically without Cloak of the Balduran) you would get AC in hell rather than magic resistance, and the silver scale armor I mentioned earlier to compensate the loss of MR. You would also get cloak of the dark moon rather than cloak of the sewer:
That would be a total of -21AC, -24 with blur
Actually you need not have a paladin, you just need a LG character, Rasaad works as well
Ahem, ubernerdery aside, Inquisitors do a great number on mages, as do evil Dwarven WS, but the inquisitor is more straight forward.
Not to mention there AI is not that good, nor is their gear. They do not have anything to reduce cast time, and that is just stupid, for once you dispeled their first wave of protections they get through contingency, they all but die because they have no time to use another protection.
Concerning their AI, the best example would be the fact they immediately use true sight when someone invisible is in their sight. Meaning that sending an hidden assassin would force them to use true sight, then you just have to backstab them for a quick, simple one shot.
when you know the game mages are not a real challenge. But at that point, using proper tactics, nothing in the game is a real challenge.
Before gathering sufficient knowledge, they are among the hardest foes in the game.
Back to the original question, i don't think that stacking MR makes the ultimate wizard slaying party.
You don't really need more than 1 magical immune character.
I would rather replace the second monk by an inquisitor (mages without protections = dead) or blackguard (poison weapon OP-ness). This would also make for an easier early game.
Now I do know the game quite well, but even when I first made a playthrough, I found mages relatively easy (except Kangaxx maybe) and I have really had a lot more problems dealing with Abazigal or Demogorgon than with Sendai or Irenicus.
By the way, I wouldn't say the game is overall easy even with proper tactics. My example would be the planar hunters fight in BP2 which is a real, real challenge in Insane