Valygar

Rawgrim

I am going to play through BG2 this month, but I want to use different characters than the ones I usually do. Playing as a human sorcerer and I will be picking up Imoen later as well, for plot reasons.

I have never really used Valygar at all in BG2. I seem to remember he was a pain to manage. He kept croaking the few times I used him, if I remember correctly.

Any tips on making him really kick ass (if possible). And I guess some tips on the rest of the party composition. I will be using a good\neutral party, by the way.

Gallenger

Valygar does have to be micromanaged a little bit because he'll be used as an extra melee type guy and as a backstabber. BUT you don't have to *always* use him that way - sticking him with a bow of somesort and having him chill out and shoot things from distance when it's not *necessary* to go stabby stabby is a pretty good way to use him - albeit with far less DPS. If you've got plenty of tanks in the party you can use him in melee full time as long as you carefully manage his positioning and make sure he isn't the one drawing attacks however (his DPS can be very high).

Zendog7

I really like the stalker class, which Valygar is ofc. And I quite like Valygar.
Remember reading someone on here saying 'stalkers are what vanilla ranger should have been' and i completely agree with that statement.
Broadly speaking, if you enjoy using a party slot for a stealther/backstabber, defo pick him up, because after he's opened with backstab he will still dish out some dmg (love free pips in dw) and won't necessarily need to run away/restealth. A natural match for a certain Katana too, and ofc gets some priest spells (hypocrit *cough*).

Biggest potential mistake is playing him like a front-liner..he is deadly (and imo, fun playstyle) just don't try to soak dmg with him

Kurona

You can use Valygar as a Fighter/Thief lite for backstabbing or just use it like you would use Minsc. Really Valygar is just a better Minsc. Only his Strength is inferior, and with the mountain of Strength-enhancing items the game throws at you it's a non-issue. Armor restriction isn't much of a problem either, as he keeps access to those made out of dragon scales.

And if you want to be really powergamey, he can reach 85% physical damage resist.

Rawgrim

Sorcerer, Yoshimo\Imoen, Haer D'alis are my planned ones so far. Anomen might be my healer. That leaves 2 spots.

Hmm I guess I can play as a fighter, and use Aerie. That should cover healing and arcane.

Fighter
Imoen\Yoshimo
Aerie
Haer D'alis
Valygar
Mazzy

That sounds rather usable. It makes the party pretty good spell-wise, and decent at physical damage. Especially if I do as suggested and use Valygar for backstabbing.

Yamcha

You could add Korgan to the mix, he's the perfect tank and has quite a few banters with Valygar. They get along despite the alignment difference.

Rawgrim

Yeah but I have used Korgan plenty. Going to use the ones I hardly ever used before.

Dee

I see a disconcerting lack of gnomes in that party. You clearly need more gnomes.

(Seriously, I don't know how anyone refuses Jan's request to join their party. That's like walking by a Bank when they're giving away free money and saying "No thanks I need room in my wallet for all these pictures of Gary Busey.")

Montresor_SP

More like walking by a turnip stall while they are giving free turnips and saying, "No thanks, I need to make room in my stomach for Brussels sprouts and carrots!"

I mean, money is nice to have and all but only because it allows you to buy turnips.

dockaboomski

I love playing with Valygar in my party, mainly because he's just cool. I also have a thing for NPCs that are generally disliked or viewed as bad.

Anduin

Dee said:

I see a disconcerting lack of gnomes in that party. You clearly need more gnomes.

(Seriously, I don't know how anyone refuses Jan's request to join their party. That's like walking by a Bank when they're giving away free money and saying "No thanks I need room in my wallet for all these pictures of Gary Busey.")

*Anduin adds names to the special friend of gnomes list*

Rawgrim

Dee said:

I see a disconcerting lack of gnomes in that party. You clearly need more gnomes.

(Seriously, I don't know how anyone refuses Jan's request to join their party. That's like walking by a Bank when they're giving away free money and saying "No thanks I need room in my wallet for all these pictures of Gary Busey.")

Crap...now you got me thinking of ditching Valygar for Jansen.

Ihatememes

Rawgrim said:

I am going to play through BG2 this month, but I want to use different characters than the ones I usually do. Playing as a human sorcerer and I will be picking up Imoen later as well, for plot reasons.

I have never really used Valygar at all in BG2. I seem to remember he was a pain to manage. He kept croaking the few times I used him, if I remember correctly.

Any tips on making him really kick ass (if possible). And I guess some tips on the rest of the party composition. I will be using a good\neutral party, by the way.

He is like my favourite fighter NPC. A smart, calm dude personality-wise, the kind of guy you would want watching your back in war.

Just make sure you spent proficiency points on weapons u can backstab with, Celestial Fury makes him ridiculous. You can use any weapon off-hand really, but I would go Crom Faeyr off-hand. Even if they don't die from first backstab it doesn't matter because he's a fighter not a thief so he just finishes them with many attacks before the round is over.

But truth be told you don't even need to backstab and stuff, you can use him like a regular fighter and just wail on people. He's as good as Minsc once he gets 18+ strength and his starting armor is good.

He gets druid spells too, so u can armor of faith yourself, haste and bless the party, maybe doom a tough opponent so it doesn't save vs spell - it helps alot.

If you utilize backstab he's better than every fighter except Korgan, Sarevok and Charname fighter, in my opinion.

Enjoy your Ludacris look-alike.

DregothofTyr

@kurona how does Valygar get 85% physical damage resist? 40 for hardiness, 15 for DoE, what am I missing?

TheArtisan

DregothofTyr said:

@kurona how does Valygar get 85% physical damage resist? 40 for hardiness, 15 for DoE, what am I missing?

25% from Armor of Faith, and DoE gives 20%, not 15.

ThacoBell

Not to mention, he is basically Blade if you replace "vampires" with "mages"

TheArtisan

Dee said:

I see a disconcerting lack of gnomes in that party. You clearly need more gnomes.

(Seriously, I don't know how anyone refuses Jan's request to join their party. That's like walking by a Bank when they're giving away free money and saying "No thanks I need room in my wallet for all these pictures of Gary Busey.")

I throw him in jail. Mwahahahahaha.

ThacoBell

Meh, he probably bribes the guard with turnips.

brus

Anduin said:

Dee said:

I see a disconcerting lack of gnomes in that party. You clearly need more gnomes.

(Seriously, I don't know how anyone refuses Jan's request to join their party. That's like walking by a Bank when they're giving away free money and saying "No thanks I need room in my wallet for all these pictures of Gary Busey.")

*Anduin adds names to the special friend of gnomes list*

So, Gary Busey has finally been enrolled in your special friend of gnomes list. What a nice fellow.