The SCS-Ascension Solo with fighter possible ?

Danacm

Possible to won against the fallen solar and melissan in scs ascension solo with a pure class fighter ?

Grond0

Fighters can use the reflection shield so the solar is not that much of a threat. Ascension is certainly possible, though the fight needs close control. Having Balthazar on your side will be helpful and wearing down the others before killing them seems to be a helpful tactic (to delay Mel's entry into the fight).

DJKajuru

Just a thought: soloing you'll probably hit level 40 way before the end.

Danacm

I just finished bg1 no reload, and i will start soa now, it will be hard challange for me. What items are must to have ?

Grond0

Early on it's helpful to get some decent armour (Officer Dirth has some). Next up you may want some equipment granting immunities. The Shield of Harmony is fairly easy to get and Roger sells some useful potions. The SCS thieves are a potential danger when trying to get Arbane, but shouldn't be too much of a threat for a fighter.

For a solo fighter you will probably want to get the available summons. The berserk warrior can be picked up with magic resistance or protection. Pai'Na has a cuddly spider. The efreeti bottle and Ras are in Trademeet and you can buy the simmy helm in the Adventurer's Mart. I tend to find the Planar Sphere and Planar Prison more difficult at lower levels, but if you don't mind those you could go looking for the Staff of Air / Fire.

Another item I like as soon as possible is the Ring of Gaxx. With SCS that's difficult to get just using protection from undead scrolls, so you may need to do a bit of area hopping to avoid lich spells (though remember you don't have the ability to do that with the City Gates lich). If you don't like doing that then you could use a protection from magic scroll, but you are still likely to be put under threat by high level summons.

Level drain protection is another useful thing for a fighter. You can get that by recovering the mace of disruption from the vampires and upgrading it with illithium from the Sir Sarles quest.

Many people like to use Ilbratha for the mirror images. I rarely do so myself and you will face the problem of the images being dispelled a lot in SCS, but it can be pretty useful in certain situations.

JuliusBorisov

@Danacm If you wish/have time, you could share your adventure in the no-reload thread. Many people would like to hear your thoughts on completing BG1 no reload and trying BG2 with SCS and Ascension as a solo fighter. https://forums.beamdog.com/discussion/40393/maybe-this-time-no-reload-thread-aglaias-fall-kythran-gnolls-seluna-wyverns-freya-25

Danacm

Thank for the tips @Grond0 , i can start soa next week, i have lot of work irl
@JuliusBorisov i didnt documented my last no reload bg1 run, but next time i will
And the soa of course, but i expect to die very early

Danacm

@Grond0 i have another question, cause u are an experienced no reloader. In bg2 only some fighter types, arcane casters maybe thieves are only good to pick ? Purely divine casters maybe rangers are inferiors?
Because i really like non dualed or mc classes, and in sad that they are over the balance.

AnonymousHero

Grond0 said:

Another item I like as soon as possible is the Ring of Gaxx. With SCS that's difficult to get just using protection from undead scrolls, so you may need to do a bit of area hopping to avoid lich spells (though remember you don't have the ability to do that with the City Gates lich). If you don't like doing that then you could use a protection from magic scroll, but you are still likely to be put under threat by high level summons.

Because I'm experimenting with absolutely horrible and cheesy tactics ATM: As long as you have a +4 weapon with high APR, I think it should be possible to use a Scroll of Protection from Magic on Kangaxx[1] to completely neuter him... and then just bash him to death. You might still need great saves to avoid the Soul Trap thingy (which grants a save at -4 in SCS, IIRC), but that should be trivial with potions. (I'm guessing that it counts as an "innate ability" rather than a spell, so I'd guess it's going to bypass the PfM scroll.)

Can anyone with SCS installed comment on whether that works? (AFAICT from experimentation with enemy mages, it definitely should but I'm not quite ready to actually try it what my characters...)

[1] Btw, this is why I really love this game. It's amazingly symmetric wrt. effects of spells, etc. etc.

EDIT: Not sure if the no-reload solo (plain) fighter has been done, but I'm pretty sure I saw a victory post for one of these on the old Bioware forums. AFAIR the major problem was fighting the dragon with a "sleep" spell-like effect, but IIRC it's possible (in that fight) to place your character such that you cannot be hit and to just chip away over time. It might have been Alesia_BH who did the run, but perhaps I'm misremembering because she did sooooo many successful no-reload runs.

Grond0

@Danacm I wouldn't worry about the class - all classes have big advantages of their own and you just need to play to those strengths.

Clerics and druids both get some excellent summons, which can make progress pretty easy for much of the game quite apart from their healing and buffing abilities.

I think rangers are great, but then I normally play solo when their stealth is a major bonus. All types of rangers can be nice:
- basic class can wear plate armour. It's always fun to stealth up behind an enemy in your leather and then change into plate before attacking them.
- archers do almost as much damage as melee types (more in BG1), while staying safe themselves and can also make some fun use of called shots.
- stalkers normally get more kills than a standard fighter type due to their ability to backstab (though that assumes you are controlling fights in detail rather than relying on AI).
- beastmasters get a nice HP bonus from their familiar and can summon allies.

Arthas

DAvidW said that you sdhouldn't play SCS without a mage, because more than being an act of great willpower, it is an act of lesionism (he told that in G3 forums). If you already go solo with a fighter, just get the improved stuff without the improved AI. It will be exactly as hard, but less frustrating.

Grond0

AnonymousHero said:

Grond0 said:

Another item I like as soon as possible is the Ring of Gaxx. With SCS that's difficult to get just using protection from undead scrolls, so you may need to do a bit of area hopping to avoid lich spells (though remember you don't have the ability to do that with the City Gates lich). If you don't like doing that then you could use a protection from magic scroll, but you are still likely to be put under threat by high level summons.

Because I'm experimenting with absolutely horrible and cheesy tactics ATM: As long as you have a +4 weapon with high APR, I think it should be possible to use a Scroll of Protection from Magic on Kangaxx[1] to completely neuter him... and then just bash him to death. You might still need great saves to avoid the Soul Trap thingy (which grants a save at -4 in SCS, IIRC), but that should be trivial with potions. (I'm guessing that it counts as an "innate ability" rather than a spell, so I'd guess it's going to bypass the PfM scroll.)

Can anyone with SCS installed comment on whether that works? (AFAICT from experimentation with enemy mages, it definitely should but I'm not quite ready to actually try it what my characters...)

[1] Btw, this is why I really love this game. It's amazingly symmetric wrt. effects of spells, etc. etc.

EDIT: Not sure if the no-reload solo (plain) fighter has been done, but I'm pretty sure I saw a victory post for one of these on the old Bioware forums. AFAIR the major problem was fighting the dragon with a "sleep" spell-like effect, but IIRC it's possible (in that fight) to place your character such that you cannot be hit and to just chip away over time. It might have been Alesia_BH who did the run, but perhaps I'm misremembering because she did sooooo many successful no-reload runs.

My concern about advising the use of a scroll of PfM is the horrible things that Kangaxx can summon. A fighter would need to be quite high level before tackling dark planetars with impunity (even protected by scroll) - though that may be different if you haven't installed the improved mages component. Liches also love using dispel magic, so keeping your saves low using potions won't necessarily be easy (my memory is the green scroll doesn't prevent dispel, but its a while since I've tried that and never in BG2EE).

I think the best weapon by far for Kangaxx is Daystar. His resistance to standard weapon types makes overcoming his regeneration a significant challenge for normal weapons, but Daystar's bonuses against undead and chaotic evil creatures bypass the resistances.

In relation to no-reload the only person who did a successful run with a plain fighter on the Bioware Forums was @CharlestonianTemplar, but that was non-SCS and not solo. @Alesia_BH did do a solo barbarian run.

AnonymousHero

Grond0 said:

My concern about advising the use of a scroll of PfM is the horrible things that Kangaxx can summon.

He can't summon anything when he's under PfM. (Note that I suggested using the scroll on Kangaxx not CHARNAME.

Aasim

Danacm said:

Possible to won against the fallen solar and melissan in scs ascension solo with a pure class fighter ?

Yes. Even a wizardslayer can be succesfull (iirc Saros did it). Run around tossing axe of Klogarath, swap shields (Harmony/Reflection) if neccecary.

P.S.
Hi @Grond0, long time no see.

Danacm

@Aasim can you link me Saros' play with wizard slayer pls ?

Aasim

I think it's in old BG2 forums at Bioware, but the access to those files is long lost I think. It wasn't a No-Reload, but it's possible, he even played it on Insane difficulty.
Did find this.

I also found this page (link to Saros' run is at the very bottom of the page, but it works no more.)

AnonymousHero

Yeah, I remember that run by saros. ISTR he also abused the infinite respawn of the Athkatla guards and basically leveled up to 8M XP just by killing guards? (It's been a loooong time, so I may be remembering some other guy/run.)

Wasn't there some snag during one of the dragon fights that makes this a bit dicey? One of the dragons has a "Sleep" breath/attack or something and WS has no way of defending against it?

Aasim

AnonymousHero said:

Yeah, I remember that run by saros. ISTR he also abused the infinite respawn of the Athkatla guards and basically leveled up to 8M XP just by killing guards? (It's been a loooong time, so I may be remembering some other guy/run.)

I tought he got up to 8million by killing Ankhegs in BG1....