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Hardest fight in the game... (Heavy Spoilers)

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  • 7Vikks7Vikks Member Posts: 14
    marzbarz said:

    I used to have lots of issues with Gromnash and his mages/that one stealth guy with awesome armor.

    The end fight of ToB can be rough too.

    Sarevok without insta summon wands for the first time was a mess lol. As a kid I just swarmed him with adds but now its limited to 6.

    Sarevok was one of the few bosses in the series I found surprisingly easy, I just chugged down all my potions and spammed buffs then targeted him alone as the game ends as soon as you defeat him, regardless of whether or not you deal with Tazok, Angelo and Semaj.
    CARV3R
  • Abi_DalzimAbi_Dalzim Member Posts: 1,428
    Consumable magic items are always useful, of course, but I think the end of Baldur's Gate 1 is some sort of sweet spot where you both can afford ridiculous amounts of potions and scrolls and wands and magic arrows, as well as having said items be extremely OP for that part of the saga. As a result, you get things like my inexperienced younger self beating Sarevok and all of his minions my first time through with a level 6 fighter/thief with nary a scratch.
    CARV3R
  • ArchGhostArchGhost Member Posts: 30
    edited January 2017
    Arunsun said:

    Was pre-EE Kangaxx imune to the Mace of Disruption? I rarely get that far into the game these days (get too busy, and difficult to pick up a game again mid-play) but don't remember following a Kangaxx guide. Last time I took him down, it was effectively a solo effort by Minsc with the MoD and improved haste - 8 saves/round. I looks like the first form was immune to disruption though, and went down to the rapid damage - the mace counting as higher than +2 for purpose of striking undead.

    I believe that pre-EE, MoD would hit as +2, and +4 once improved, and now it's +3/+5 which means Kangaxx was already immune to the MoD, but not to the improved version
    MoD is a +2 weapon after some patch or another in the regular game. IMoD is +5. You need to upgrade it to kill the demi-lich form with it. Azuredge can also kill Kangaxx's lich form, but not his demi-lich form (it's only +3).
    jinxed75 said:

    Nope, there is no save or immunity for the mace of disruptions instant kill effect.

    There is a save for it.
    There is no save if you roll a critical hit (or rather, the target's save automatically fails on any weapon with a "save vs." effect when a critical is made; it works with things like Celestial Fury and The Sleeper too). it'll even blow through any combat protections like Mantle or PrMW. The same is true for Azuredge if you get a critical. You still have to be able to actually hit the thing base don enchantment level though (IIRC regular MoD can't hit Kangaxx's lich form, and it definitely can't hit the demi-lich)

    On Topic:

    I just spent the last couple evenings going through Watcher's Keep as soon as you can out of Chateau Irenicus, using only the items you get there and in between (for instance, I killed Mencar's party and did the circus quest, stole Korgan's +1 axe) and what spells my casters already knew importing from BG1. I dumped all my starting cash in reputation so had only a couple hundred in my pocket after buying the Glasses of ID. Started at levels 7/8/9 entering the keep and ended up from 11-14. I only broke down and left to pick up Azuredge and the Shield of Balduran, both of which had little impact. I forgot Azuredge can't harm the demi-lich there (and totally forgot it existed when Devil Shades showed up) and I only left to get the SoB because I was freaking out about Hive Mother in the final seal fight (I hate beholders), but she ended up dying to mob tactics while blasting expendable summons :wink:

    The whole thing is quite the challenge after not playing for a while. I spent most of my Saturday playtime just figuring out how to get through level 3 without being instantly face-rolled by demon ambushes and how to survive fights in the anti/wild magic rooms in general. I ended up having to take a very specific route to acquire items and exp for more levels in order to finally grab those scepter gems I needed without chickening out and pickpocketing them or something.

    Of particular note (warning, long):
    Saladrex is by far the hardest dragon fight I've ever had, which isn't saying much; dragons are fairly simple. The later dragons are easily beatable with your heightened abilities from more levels, but here his high HP (almost double Firkragg's) and beefed up breath weapon and melee damage in combination were a problem. Some of the attempts he simply beat through my frontliners faster than I could heal as his HP let him last long enough to do it. I really couldn't be bothered to make everybody fire immune, but even so lacking PfMW and good summons (and the levels to cast them in first place) made it more of a chore than usual, as AC is largely a vestigial thing against ToB level enemies like this.

    All of Watcher's Keep lvl 3 was tougher than most of the rest of the keep, but the Tanar' ri room was the worst. At low levels you are instantly set upon by several fear/stun inducing Glabrezu, a succubus that drains levels and slings nasty mind effecting magics, and a Balor that has three different ways to immobilize you, a vorpal attack, and requires +4 to hit. All of this after coming through a anti-magic room, so you can't buff or anything in advance either. I'm not one that ever played SCS or Tactics or anything so this fight was plenty hard for me, and I only beat it by coming here last after collecting more items/exp elsewhere on lvl three, including wiping out Aesgareth's party for decent +2 items and using the Deck of Many Things for 1,300,000 free experience, which was greatly appreciated by my spellcaster multiclasses. After overcoming this all of level 4 was smooth sailing (though I lost a well armored fighter/thief to a cheeky teleporting minotaur when I wasn't really paying attention)

    The final seal guardians ended up being a lot easier than I thought they would be. I stumbled a bit on the Aurumach Rilmani blasting infinite, Improved Alacrity Prismatic Sprays and Cones of Cold before I remembered--hey, thief traps!--and instakilled him. I was finally able to summon fire elementals and simply had one of those deal with the Lich's Flaming Skulls, while he himself went down to mass summon fodder and a couple archers using all the glorious enchanted ammo provided by the keep.

    In the fight with the all female party, traps instantly killed the Alu-Fiend Nalmissra and as many Skull Traps as I could place (7) softened the tiefling fighter/archer a bit, though the drow shrugged them off. I retreated down to the south doors and shut the one into the room, summoned up a lot of stuff, backed everything away and baited them one at a time before shutting the door behind them again. These door strats allowed me to keep them from teaming up, at least when the drow wasn't script casting skeletons on my guy running the door, preventing it from closing! The tiefling women went down pretty easily to mob attacks wehn isolated (gotta be careful to keep summoning and gulp potions quickly, they can do INSANE damage in just a second or two) but Y'tossi presented a problem with my party's capabilities. As a Marilith she requires +4 to hit and already has -13 AC, not to mention she casts PfMW and has infinite scripted Stoneskins, and her poison weapons+ good THACO+always hasted offense could shred summons almost as fast as I could pump them with 2 casters. I was so close to Demogorgon I could smell him, and he was the last fight here, so I figured I could afford to burn some of my Wand of Spell Striking Pierce Magic charges on her. With only 120 HP, she died quickly to triple Magic Missile onslaught. Now with just Hive Mother and the drow cleric left (who seemed to be attached at the hip), I had the daunting task of killing the beholder without getting the rest of my non-Shield of Balduran-wearing party members wasted. Luckily for me, the drow suddenly decided she was either out of spells or just wanted to get up close and personal, and charged the door! I never expected that, and she got shredded in seconds by my amped up +4 wielding party who just got done dealing with a Marilith. Hive Mother followed close behind, and the summons swarmed her and soaked all her ray attacks anyway while I breached off her protections and hacked at her 180 HP.



    Big D himself was a fight that I went into with a solid plan, but had messy execution so I had to revamp and retry a few times to make it work. And then I didn't save (twice!) after finally getting a game plan that worked, so I got to prove the concept multiple times! But hey, at least I tweaked a solid strategy out of it.


    I originally planned to kite his two Mariliths (only two if you come here at low level) around up by the portals in circles and then lower his resistance with the wands of spell striking while kiting him with another character, then I would Magic Missile him as much as I could and Skull Trap him to death, and of course, plant 7 thief traps in advance. While the Marilith kiting went fine, I found out he's immune to Magic Missile, and that he'd Implosion my 2nd lure character to death even if he didn't catch him and couldn't Gaze him. Also, the traps only seem to hit before his Stoneskin contingency the first time you fight him only. Crap! That's a lot of damage I have to make up somewhere else with both the traps and MM being out, and I only have 8 Skull Traps at my disposal. I can't risk fighting him in hand-to-hand without PfMW and at range without Spell Immunity he'll Implosion spam everybody to death long before they can plink him dead with Firetooth and +4 bullets. To make matters worse, I'm seeing that the Skull Traps I *was* launching at him weren't even triggering (a common frustration with them) unless I had a party member or summon there to trigger it through friendly fire. If only Sister Garlena sold something useful for this fight...

    I ctrl+q him into my party to look at his stats for a clue and notice, hey, he's only 50% resistant to cold damage. I don't have have any Wands of Frost but there are at least three spells that I can reliably cast at my mage levels (11/12) to affect some cold damage without needing to attack him: Ice Storm, Fireshield Blue, and Cone of Cold. Loading my pre-fight save, I go talk to Sister Garlena, and by Helm, she has scrolls for all three spells! I teach my mages the ways of frost and return with a new plan. Chaotic Commands for everybody so nobody gets Beguiled or driven Insane while wanding his MR down. Tons of summons to bait out his Implosions and pull him back to center so my party stays out of sight. My Cleric/Ranger's job has changed from secondary kite to mass summoner. As many Skull Traps, Ice Storms, and Cones of Cold and Mirror Images (to hopefully absorb Implosions and Skull Traps) as I can memorize on three mages. I have my cleric/illusionist memorize Globe of Invulnerability, one of the only relevant lvl 6 spells I have found in the keep, so she can be Skull Trap bait and trigger the other two mage's while she CoC's Demo in the face. My last resort is to have her buff up and use one of the Fireshield Blue scrolls and let him beat on her, while everybody else uses slings with +4 bullets and the Firetooth +4 to finish the rest of his HP. Obviously I don't want this, as I want everybody to be alive and NOT LEVEL DRAINED to get that sweet, sweet experience payoff.

    Game time. I setup, move my main PC up on the right stairwell out of the way, have the rest of my party with pre-summoned fodder wait at the bottom of the right stairwell out of sight, and send a buffed, high AC Fighter/Thief and a skeleton to talk to Demogorgon. I call him ugly and it's on. The thief traps do jack as I expect (he gets poisoned even if his stoneskin manages to block the physical hits, but he's immune to poison...) due to the loading quirk, he summons the Mariliths, and my skeleton and F/T lead them left while my three mages hit him with Pierce Magic from the wands then retreat out of his vision. I make sure the Skeleton moves as far left as possible by the time his Death Spell comes out, and keep the Mariliths in sight of my F/T (they always move towards the party even if off screen, so it's a good idea to make sure they chase the right rabbit!) so when it dies they follow him up the left stairwell. Every new round, I send in another sacrificial skeleton to wave his club in Demo's face while the mages launch another Pierce Shield volley. In the mean time, my F/T leads the Mariliths on a merry chase in circles up by the portals and my PC (a Kensai dualled into thief by now) lays 3 traps on his stairwell for insurance?...well for later anyway. After three triple volleys of wands, demogorgon has all 90% MR stripped away (wands and scrolls cast as if caster level 10 unless tweaked). Now I pile on the Ice Storms, 12 of them to be exact, casting just out of his sight range but keeping him in the AoE. Waiting for these Storms to run their course (4 round process for each storm, but I cast 5 times total, so 9 rounds) I send the C/I up the stairs to recast haste on the kiting F/T who is getting quite dizzy by now. I have her return and buff for Skull Trap target practice after that: Mirror Image, Globe of Invulnerability, and Haste to run away. I send in a skeleton, move the C/I forward to check things out and bring up the other two mages. Demogorgon is at Near Death already. Sweet. I realize that he'll kill one skeleton quickly enough to whack Ms. Gnomey and interrupt her long cast time of Cone of Cold, so I send the rest of my skeletons in a single file stream towards him so he has a constant target in his face. The mages wind up, blast out a CoC and 2 Skull Trap which instantly go off thanks to the C/I triggering them, and everybody retreats while the C/R frantically summons more fodder. It thankfully was enough, and Demogorgon bites it off screen from this last assault.

    Now just the Mariliths. I have exactly 9 casts of Pierce Magic left between my 5 wands and they have 85 MR each. Hmm, that sucks. Anyway, Marilith #1 goes the way of Y'tossi and is Magic Missiled to death. Marilith #2 is a bigger problem. I bait her over to those 3 traps I laid on the stairs earlier after taking care to Breach her Stoneskin away with the wands. A good chunk of damage, she's at Injured now. But I still have to finish her, and I'm out of MR removal (Garlena does sell Pierce Magic, but only one scroll and I had at most 2 mage slots to cast it with. I opted for Globe of I. instead). This is gonna be rough.

    I have my PC cast the Spectral Brand's dancing sword ability and have it tank her while I summon more fodder to reach the 5 unit limit, buff with Bless/Chant/Haste, and spread out my +4 weapons to everybody while the C/I already has MMMs in hand. Crucially, I spend one point in Single Weapon Style for my thief who just leveled to 12, so he has at least a 10% hitrate with Spectral brand, but he also buffs with the STR ability of Angurvadal and then casts DUHM from his Bhaalspawn abilities to hit 25 STR total. A Fighter/Mage with ** in crossbow is wielding Firetooth +4, but aside from her everybody is wielding weapons they are only proficient (1 star) or worse in, so I don't have a very good chance to hit with anybody against the -13 AC Marilith. After the Spectral Blade expires, I lure it down the stairs and mob it on the big platform where Demogorgon died. She chops through my summons with ease and keeps whacking my party members--hard--but I run them back, summon more fodder, drink potions and charge back in. She repeatedly puts up Stoneskins (Mariliths have infinite scripted casts) which slows things, so I burn them off as soon as she puts them up. After about a minute of chopping, plinking, stabbing and whacking, looking for those high rolls and critical hits, my thief hits massive 25 STR critical with Spectral Brand, on a 19 thanks to Single Weapon Style, and kills her at Badly Injured while she's trying to cast Cure Serious Wounds. Whew! In hindsight I would have kept around a couple Bolts of Glory for the last Marilith...I tested them on Demogorgon after running into my damage crisis and they didn't effect him, so I opted for Fire Elemental/Aerial Servant instead on my clerics. I'm sure they would/ve been handy here.


    When all was said and done, I had gained aorund 1.5-1.6 million experience for each character, was sitting at levels I typically go to Brynnlaw at, and had some of the strongest equipment you can have from a non-ToB exclusive area in the game. And it was extremely satisfying to challenge myself to these restrictions and figure it out. Nothing says awesome like walking into the hardest dungeon in the game with some of the most difficult creatures pretty much right after importing in from BG1, and coming out on top.
    droogishGrond0GallowglassCARV3R
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