Favored Enemy - What's Your Choice?
Abi_Dalzim
Member Posts: 1,428
I considered making this a poll, but I think there's probably too many choices to include, especially taking the whole series into account. Anyways...
When you play a Ranger, what's your preference when it comes to the Favored Enemy feature? Speaking for myself, I tend to go with giant spiders in the first game, because Phase Spiders and especially Sword Spiders are especially dangerous enemies, and since they're also quite common, the more damage you can inflict on them, the better. For the sequel, there's obviously a whole new selection available. For SOA, I tend to go with golems, since my Rangers tend to be either Archers or Stalkers. Since golems are immune to backstab and clay golems are immune to piercing damage, they still cause some serious problems, so that's where I want the extra damage. On the rare occasion I start in TOB, I'd probably go with demons, since there isn't much left that can threaten you, and it'd make level three of Watcher's Keep a fair bit easier.
So, what are your choices, guys?
When you play a Ranger, what's your preference when it comes to the Favored Enemy feature? Speaking for myself, I tend to go with giant spiders in the first game, because Phase Spiders and especially Sword Spiders are especially dangerous enemies, and since they're also quite common, the more damage you can inflict on them, the better. For the sequel, there's obviously a whole new selection available. For SOA, I tend to go with golems, since my Rangers tend to be either Archers or Stalkers. Since golems are immune to backstab and clay golems are immune to piercing damage, they still cause some serious problems, so that's where I want the extra damage. On the rare occasion I start in TOB, I'd probably go with demons, since there isn't much left that can threaten you, and it'd make level three of Watcher's Keep a fair bit easier.
So, what are your choices, guys?
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Comments
Sniff... really? You mean it?
Aww...
I love you guys.
/dies because my heart melted and stopped pumping blood.
For BG1 I would go with either Spiders, Ogres, or Skeletons. Spiders and ogres can be pretty nasty and I would want them dead fast. Skeletons are just resilient.
For BG2 it becomes a much harder choice. The one ranger I have in BG2 right now went with Demons because they are both nasty and numerous. Dragons are tempting because of how incredibly nasty they are, but they are also very rare so that would limit its use. Golems would also be a good choice. They are incredibly resilient and very hard hitting, but usually not as nasty or numerous as some other options so I would probably not pick them. Liches are almost as nasty and numerous as demons so they might make a good choice too. So to summarize I would probably put them into 3 teirs of which ones are my most tempting choices for BG2:
Most likely choices: Demons and Liches
Second most likely choices: Golems and Dragons
Least likely choices: Everything else.
Keep in mind that I am quite indecisive about this and I would be likely to change my mind later.
BG2EE: Dragons
IWDEE: Spectral Undead
They deserve it.
BG2EE: Golems
IWDEE: Spectral Undead
For BG2 I choose Demons. Even with golem and dragons, fights with Demons are the ones most dangerous in my playthroughs.
As for IWDEE, I agree on Spectral Undead.
Lets face it you don't get much more sadistic than illithid... Even demons still seem more tangible to me.
Why do all the evil humans get a pass then?
But humans don't get to be picked as a racial enemy for the genocidal stat!
*rolls a team of dwarven Kensais*
It's that stat that a ranger gets to pick saying which race that they'd prefer to genocide.
Salamanders
For BG2, it's a more marginal choice. I tend to go with Demons, since there are quite a few of them (especially in WK) and they're usually quite tough. However, I think there are also good arguments for choosing either Vampires or Drow, both of which are numerous and can hurt you significantly. In fact, next time through BG2ee with a Ranger, I might change my mind and choose Drow.
I reckon other categories are either too rare (e.g. Dragons) or too feeble to be worth dedicating a Ranger's special ability to them.
They're the BG1 equivalent of Beholders.
I've only ever played a ranger once, to be honest, and I chose gnolls. That was the first time I ever played any of the BG series, and I remember seeing a world map with 'Gnoll Stronghold' in the bottom left corner. That was the basis of my decision.