Mazzy Best Melee Proficiencies

craymond727

Following the release of SOD, I'm planning to run through BG2 with a party consisting of CHARNAME Fighter->Druid, Neera, Anomen, Mazzy, Nalia, and Valygar (last two spots tentative). With this in mind, what melee weapon/style should Mazzy focus on? I've heard Halberds thrown around on the forums, as well as FoA (going to Anomen, most likely) and Bastard Swords, but I wasn't able to find any sort of consensus. I've never really played a character w/ Halberds besides Kivan in BG1, but wasn't sure if it was a good option, especially late-game in ToB.

[Deleted User]

The user and all related content has been deleted.

Tresset

Halberds is an awesome option, especially in ToB! The Ravager is one of the most amazing weapons in the whole game with a flat out 10% chance of instantly killing an opponent (no save)! All other vorpal weapons that are player accessible have a saving throw attached so the effect can be resisted. Sadly, I find halberds slightly lackluster pre-ToB because there are plenty of good options, but really no outstanding options. When I used Mazzy in one of my runs I had her wielding long swords single weapon style with her main weapon being Daystar for most of the game, but that is only one possible option. As for finding a consensus here on the forums I don't think you will be very successful. The opinions of the people here are just about as varied as the options. If you never used halberds before I would recommend giving it a shot since it is definitely a viable option and you are missing out on some nice weapons if you ignore it.

Arunsun

For some reason I always give Mazzy longsword+ short sword, because Daystar is super strong for SoA and Angurvadal fits well her low strength later on. And Short swords are good as well.
Daystar+Kundane for most of SoA, and Mask+ Angurvadal for ToB.

Skatan

I just give her shortswords. It fits her character and there's plenty of options, including Kundane. If I use both Mazzy and Haer'dalis though, I tend to keep her with bow.

FrdNwsm

You don't have to use Mazzy for this, although as a fighter type she can get a lot of pips in the relevant skill, but SOMEBODY in your group should take up halberds. You can get Wave after you break out of the Asylum in SoA. Ravager is initially carried by an elemental prince of fire in ToB, and Wave (water weapon) is capable of killing him in one blow.

Just make sure that you don't sell off the Serpent Staff (from WK), since you need this to upgrade Ravager into the ultimate killer weapon.

As already mentioned, Daystar is pretty useful vs undead.

FrdNwsm

@Tresset

"The Ravager is one of the most amazing weapons in the whole game with a flat out 10% chance of instantly killing an opponent (no save)"

Just to re-emphasize this ... that's 10% chance of insta-kill per hit. The GWW skill gives a ftr 10 APR. With Grand Mastery in halberds, that's an almost guaranteed kill on every attack.

craymond727

Word, thanks y'all. Would it be worth putting a few points in Longswords for early-mid SoA, then switching over to Halberds for late SoA/ToB, or is that stretching her pips too thin?

sarevok57

everytime I take Mazzy if max out axe right away, because in SoA there are 2 +3 axes, and they both can be used to kill trolls without a mage/cleric/druid casting the final spell on them (very useful) plus both of them can be found very early in the game, and once she hits ToB, axe of the unyielding +5 has to be the single best one hand weapon in the game, when fully upgraded it: gives +1 to AC, regenerate 1 HP per round, +1 to con ( which means HP increase) and it also has the 10% decap ability as well with no save attached (unless they changed that in EE) so I say go ham with axe, I've used mazzy a million times, and every time it was with an axe, and she always kicks butt with it, infact the single player team that I have going right now has mazzy on it, and surprise surprise, she is axe wielding

[Deleted User]

Personally, I don't like trying to stretch Mazzy out to multiple melee weapons, especially if I want her to dual-wield. You will eventually get enough pips to make it work, but you'll be pretty far into the game before things finally come together. Besides, there are some pretty decent halberds in SoA that almost never get used because none of the NPCs are set up to take advantage of them.

FinneousPJ

Echoing @thespace Mazzy with Crom/Kundane is absolutely devastating and kind of hilarious.

FrdNwsm

craymond727 said:

Word, thanks y'all. Would it be worth putting a few points in Longswords for early-mid SoA, then switching over to Halberds for late SoA/ToB, or is that stretching her pips too thin?

That's an excellent question. I am not familiar with Mazzy's initial skill placement when you first get her; judging from her skill set in ToB, I suspect she has pips in both short sword and shortbow. What training is she already committed to when you first encounter her in SoA?

FrdNwsm

craymond727 said:

Following the release of SOD, I'm planning to run through BG2 with a party consisting of CHARNAME Fighter->Druid, Neera, Anomen, Mazzy, Nalia, and Valygar (last two spots tentative).

I just looked back at this portion of your initial post. If you aren't committed to the last two NPCs, then you have more flexibility. You can keep the short fighter equipped with short weapons and grab someone else to train in some halberd skills. Drop Valygar in favor of anyone capable of training in THW + GWW. Keldorn, for example. He can get 2 pips in THW and two in Halberds, and also gets GWW as an HLA. You can give him both Carsomyr and Ravager and have him use whatever is the most appropriate.

And Nalia will be your thief? You will need the rings of danger sense and lockpicking, and even then she will miss a few locks, but that's why the gods made knock spells. You can also dump her in favor of Imoen once you rescue her from Spellhold. Neera is good choice for a mage, I usually take her also, but she needs the robe of Goodman Hayes to be more reliable as a caster. Having her summon an uncontrolled demon instead of casting magic missile can be ... inconvenient. You can also give her more health total by pumping her con up to 16 via the Machine of LtM + the girdle of fortitude. The two effects combined give her another 20 HP.

For that matter, the girdle alone will suffice. (Depends on when you do WK; I did most of it in SoA, and gave Neera the extra 1 con at that time. Didn't have the girdle yet. If I had done WK in ToB, I might have given the extra +1 con to someone else)

sarevok57

@FrdNwsm +1 con to your mage? most interesting, never in a million years would I ever give the +1 con to a back seater party member, I always exclusively give it to a front liner since they are the ones in the trenches taking the beating, and every little bit helps

Gallowglass

How to build Mazzy's proficiencies depends on various factors, of course, such as her intended role in the party and which weapons your other companions will use.

From your proposed party, I'm guessing that Mazzy's role will be as your main front-row warrior. In that case, I recommend setting her up for dual-wielding, using an Axe as her main-hand weapon (eventually the Axe of the Unyielding), initially with a Short Sword in the off-hand (she already has that proficiency, and Kundane gives her an extra APR), then later (i.e. mainly for ToB) putting proficiencies into Warhammer and giving her Crom Faeyr in her off-hand. As an alternative to Axe in her main hand, Bastard Sword would also be a good choice (so that she can use Foebane in ToB), but I slightly prefer the Axe option ... whichever you choose, however, stick to that choice once you've made it (and get Grandmastery in it), don't waste proficiency points by spreading them around too thinly.

People recommending Halberds are right that someone in the party ought to be able to use them, for Wave from mid-SoA to mid-ToB then Ravager from mid-ToB to the end. However, in your party I'd probably give that proficiency to Valygar rather than Mazzy. Since he can only go as far as Specialisation (i.e. ** rather than *****), he can afford to spread his proficiencies a lot more than Mazzy.

In a different party than yours, someone might intend to use Mazzy as a second-row archer rather than for front-row melee - she's pretty darn good with that Short Bow. In that case, there'd be more of an argument for setting her up for two-handed melee weapons ... although I've personally always found it uncomfortably incongruous to equip huge two-handers on a shorty character.

FrdNwsm

sarevok57 said:

@FrdNwsm +1 con to your mage? most interesting, never in a million years would I ever give the +1 con to a back seater party member, I always exclusively give it to a front liner since they are the ones in the trenches taking the beating, and every little bit helps

Well, that happened to be on my first run through. I did that level of WK in mid SoA, and didn't have, or even know about, the girdle of fortitude yet. Doing it over, I'd just give Neera the girdle, since a con of 16 will give her the maximum extra HP, and save the Machine's +1 con for someone else.

Neera's a bit more fragile than some of your other mages; Nalia, Imoen and Jan benefit from their thief components. The fact that the Robe of Goodman Hayes actually drops her AC didn't help, either. I found her dropping too easily even with stone skin in effect; an extra bunch of HP did wonders for her survivability.

FrdNwsm

Oh, and if you like Mazzy as an archer, be sure to pick up the Tuigan shortbow; it's available quite early in SoA, once you settle down in the Copper Coronet. Gives her an extra +1 APR.