Weapons to choose in SoA/ToB?
moody_mage
Member Posts: 2,054
So I finally completed my solo run with my F/M/T. without the XP cap he ended up at levels 9 / 11 / 11 respectively.
For most of BG1 he was kiting and killing things at range, I gave him two pips in Single Weapon Style and with Drizzt's scimitar he'd get an instant -4 AC when wading into melee.
Now I'm going to solo through SoA and ToB. How should I redistribute his weapon proficiencies? I've added the 'multi-class can get Grand Mastery' tweak so ideally I'd want to stick with one weapon type.
Stealth and backstab are lifesavers and have won encounters for me more times that I can count so that'll need to stay.
Thoughts?
For most of BG1 he was kiting and killing things at range, I gave him two pips in Single Weapon Style and with Drizzt's scimitar he'd get an instant -4 AC when wading into melee.
Now I'm going to solo through SoA and ToB. How should I redistribute his weapon proficiencies? I've added the 'multi-class can get Grand Mastery' tweak so ideally I'd want to stick with one weapon type.
Stealth and backstab are lifesavers and have won encounters for me more times that I can count so that'll need to stay.
Thoughts?
1
Comments
There is so much choice after that, but weapon classes which are spectacular in SoA aren't necessarily spectacular in ToB and vice versa. Longsword, axe and flail will be solid throughout. You could grab the Hammer of Thunderbolts in chapter 2/3 and once it's upgraded in chapter 6 you will be set for the game. If you want to delve into WK in SoA then you could get Usuno's Blade from level 1 and / or Spectral Brand from level 3 and put everything into scimitars.
Powerstabs and easy Debuffs? Go with Quarterstaves : Staff of the Magi + Staff of the Ram combo is super lethal
Heavy Strength hits? Hammers in offhand, with any weapon you want in mainhand (possibly flail of ages, but that's two different weapon styles), so you go with Flail of Ages as your Spellcaster disabler (its elemental damage surpasses stoneskin and the slowing effect dramatically disables mages) and Crom Faeyr for 25 strength.
High Damage Per Second? Scimitar + Shortsword, for Belm and Kundane, to be replaced with Scarlet Ninja-to and Belm as you hit the first HLA for thief.
I generally don't go over certain weapons for various reasons. FoA + Defender of easthaven flails are good, but pretty useless for non-divine casters (you don't get the best out of that combo)
Reason: tons of them with usable abilities. The more abilities you gain through equipment, the better for a solo run.
You could also go Katanas. The stun proc on Celestial Fury is god-mode for a solo run and there's also a Katana in ToB which gives you an AC bonus so you could utilize that as though it were Twinkle.
Personally I think part of the fun/challenge is planning your character for the long run so I wouldn't redistribute proficiencies at all. Scimitars seem like a solid choice all the way through, anyway.
Stuff that increases survivability matters a lot more and in that regard, short swords are among the best weapons in BG2. You don't have to actually wield the short swords to get the benefits out of them, though, you're right.
Among ones you can get right away:
Found in the first random encounter while changing zones, after leaving Irenicus' Dungeon. Free Haste? Free protection from hold person? One of the best weapons in the entire series, obtainable pretty much right away.
Free mirror images. Whenever I bring Mazzy with me, she has this in one of her item slots even if she never actually wields it, because mirror images on a fighter are straight cash, homie.
One of the best weapons in the game even BEFORE you make it better in Throne of Bhaal, and all you have to do is head over to Watcher's Keep and buy it off the dude.
They are still good in BG1. The high speed factor on them makes them better for backstabbing reliably, which is important in a single-player game. It'll trigger your attack on your guy's first swing rather than second, so there's less of a chance a guy in motion will get away from you while trying to shank him, etc. Longswords have the potential to backstab for better damage, for sure.
I could be underrating it though, I don't think I've ever used it. I might be underrating the importance of speed factor.
Backstabbable
Longswords: Dime-a-dozen and tons with useful effects, from casting sunfire on yourself and double damage to undead, to the dragon slayer, to the +3 longsword you can buy immediately after exiting Chateau Irenicus. (Other fun ones of Note: Sword of Flame +1, Flametongue, The Answerer, Blackrazor, Angurvadal [Crom-Light])
Katanas: Celestial Fury main hand, Dak'kon Zerith Blade offhand (Extra spells 1-4) Also there is the WK Kata na that someone mentioned. Of course the downside here is that these Katanas have VERY low enchant values, so you'll be needing to find a way of making them hit in late SOA and most of TOB.
Scimitars and Shortswords were both covered above
Quarterstaffs: Staff of the Magi/Staff of the Ram cheese
Non-Backstabbable:
Axes: First choice no question here. By the end of Nalia's keep you can have 2 +3 Axes (one does fire, the other does frost/acid on hit). Also I seem to remember the +2 Throwing Axe that deals double damage (or kills them outright, don't remember) against undead is something you can acquire super early.
Flails:
Once upon a flail of ages............
Hammers:
Crom Faeyr walked into a bar. Chuck Norris left out of fear. Ok so that's overstating the weapon but its still really good. Plus you can get another nice +4 warhammer (Runehammer I think it is) in WK.
The on-hit effect of the Sword of Mask +5 is frighteningly good, btw.
That entangle effect works against all enemies, unlike the stun from Celestial Fury. It's amazing in the hands of a hit and run character (which is theoretically what you'll be with a solo FMT) because if it triggers, you have plenty of time to book it away to re-stealth. Can't argue with the level drain on hit, either.
Also remember you don't necessarily have to be wielding the weapon to use its special abilities. You have two slots for your main hand and one for your off-hand, so what you eventually do is throw Ilbratha or Arbane's Sword in that extra slot just so you can utilize it like it was a quick-slot item or something. You can swap that around with a lot of the longswords in the game, too.
I know that +2 "doesn't cut it" later on, but by then you'll have Short Sword of Mask +4 and the Cutthroat +4. Those definitely cut it and are obtainable fairly early. Pretty sure the Short Sword of Backstabbing +3 is also super easy to get, and that works through most of SoA, if we're talking raw damage.
BUT: Something I just thought about is he's probably an elf. If so, anything that was a "Large Sword" in BG1's proficiency table is worth looking at, which is Scimitars, Longswords and Katanas oddly enough.
Considering he's already using scimitars, I say stick with it.
You encounter Drizzt again and while the encounter is a lot harder than it was in BG1, the weapons are the same. People forget the Frostbrand has a bonus effect not listed on the item. It gives you a ton of fire resist. Pretty awesome because if you use it and manage to get +100% fire resist, you can start dropping fireballs on top of yourself to damage enemies and heal yourself.
Plus, you get to use Ninja-To and Wakizashi weapons as part of the same proficiency type for whatever reason.
Scarlet Ninja-To +3
You can combine this with Belm for an absurd number of attacks per round.
You can also combine Twinkle with Yamato +4 in ToB for a bonus 3 AC just from weapons. Kind of fun.
I think I'm going to stick with scimitars. As mentioned I added in the M/C get Grand Mastery tweak and the corrected Grandmastery tweak so a single weapon choice is preferable. Scimitars seem to cover most of the bases I am looking for. The Haste and Mirror image shortswords are slightly redundant when my character has ready access to both those spells although the Mask shortsword looks like seven kinds of awesome.
I read that with Belm in the off-hand you gain an extra attack, however the extra attack is actually gained on your main-hand weapon rather than with Belm? Well worth combining with un uber Scimitar in the main hand if this is true.