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Solo Berserker/Cleric

MalacPokMalacPok Member Posts: 96
edited March 2015 in Challenges and Playthroughs
I'd like to try this one. Mainly because the idea of a raging berserker, suddenly choosing a priestly path, just sounds so wicked. Since I'm going solo the dilemma is the following> to dual at 9 or 13?

9 is fairly easy. 450K Xp is not such a huge deal to collect. A couple of courier missions should suffice. However, this could make the end of ToB even harder.

13 could be a real pain. The question is whether the +1/2 attack is worth it? I don't know how to collect 1.35M XP with such a weak&low-level character. I'm not very good with clerics either.

I did it with a kensai/mage without serious troubles, but that happened with the possibility of using scrolls to gain XP, and the superior utility of Arcane magic.

Any suggestions? (I know about the trick of finishing missions only after dual, but even with that 1.35M is just lightyears away)

Another question: what weapons to specialize on? Dual-wield or sword and shield style? Any tips would be helpful.

Post edited by MalacPok on

Comments

  • WowoWowo Member Posts: 2,064
    Flail and 2 pips in dual wield. At least 2 pips in mace.

    Level breaks are about APR:
    9 berserker: 2.5 attacks, 3.5 dual wield, 4 bracers, 8 IH
    13 beserker: 3 attacks, 4 dual wield, 4.5 bracers, 9 IH
    Fighter or Ranger/Cleric: 2.5 attacks, 3.5 dual wield, 4 bracers, 8 IH, 10 whirlwind attack
    Fighter/Cleric/Mage: 2.5 attacks, 3.5 dual wield, 4 bracers, 8 IH, 10 whirlwind attack

    Obviously access to IH will significantly impact the experience.
  • FinneousPJFinneousPJ Member Posts: 6,455
    If you think you won't like collecting the extra XP, just dual at 9. It's still a great build.
  • MalacPokMalacPok Member Posts: 96
    The part I'm most worried about are the late battles of ToB. Any good&cheesy stategies bringing down the Ravager and Melissan with a cleric type?

    I'm gonna go with the Flail of Ages, and probably pick up the exploding club later on.

    Are there any good survival strategies for a relatively low level cleric, if I were to dual on 13?
  • MalacPokMalacPok Member Posts: 96
    I decided to try the level 13 version. Hopefully I won't suffer too much...
  • MalacPokMalacPok Member Posts: 96
    Pongo the Mad finished SoA last night and is ready to face the foes of ToB. Some of my experiences so far:

    For weapons I decided to focus on just flails and clubs (and one pip on mace). The FoA + Defender of Easthaven proved to be a nice setup, and I was hoping to do a WK run in chapter 6 to secure the Club of Detionation (I love its animation).

    The first shock came early in the Irenicus stronghold (probably one of the worst staring dungeons in gaming history). No flails nor clubs were to be found next to jailkeep golem. This resulted in some VERY tedious mephit fights.

    Things got slightly easier after escaping the prison. I decided to do all the fighting-type missions before I hit the dual button, and receive the quest rewards after that. To make things go smoother, I briefly hired the services of Jan Janssen to do some pickpocketing&stealing and to unlock some doors. With decent equipment clearing out the trolls of d'Arnise keep was a piece of cake.

    Soon the berserker was strong enough (lvl12) to enter the planar prison. At that point I got really lucky with timing: level 13 was hit right after killing the Warden, so all the quest XP went to a freshly dualed cleric. The hard part begun there. Or so I tought...

    Contrary to my expectations, the low level cleric wasn't that bad afterall. For a while I avoided all the fighting and focused on peaceful&easy xp and summoning skeletons when a brawl was unavoidable. Without any annoying setbacks I soon reached level 14 and after that almost any challenge in SoA was a history.

    The most fun part is turning dead with a relatively high level cleric. Dunno why, but the sight of exploding vampires causes me a certain joy.

    I hurried trough Spellhold, the Shark-city and the Ust-Natha (just going into the egg-chamber, taking eggs, killing all drows for fun). In chapter 6 I visited the Watchers Keep too, taking its stat bonuses and loot. All easy stuff.

    ToB however could still be challenging.
  • WaylaidWaylaid Member Posts: 2
    MalacPok said:

    Pongo the Mad finished SoA last night and is ready to face the foes of ToB. Some of my experiences so far:

    ...

    ToB however could still be challenging.

    Shame you never finished this. I'd like to know how your character fared in TOB.
  • MalacPokMalacPok Member Posts: 96
    Waylaid said:
    Shame you never finished this. I'd like to know how your character fared in TOB.


    I actually did finish it. ToB wasn't that hard either, except the very last fight, where I had to use Harm. Melissan has the nasty habit of removing the useful enhancement this type of character relies upon late in the game. Harm however is nice, especially with a decent thac0.
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