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The LoB + SCS Solo Challenge vs Bhaal´s Cataclysm

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  • semiticgoddesssemiticgoddess Member Posts: 14,903
    edited May 2019
    The Flail of Ages is indeed an excellent weapon. I actually put a pip in it way back in Candlekeep just so my Archer could use it, but I've found that the APR is so lousy that other weapons are almost always the superior option. Switching back and forth between the flail and ranged attacks would have been wiser in my case.

    Also, the Archer has taken down the Slayer! We entered with Hardiness, Armor of Faith, two Potions of Fire Resistance, and the Ring of Free Action to ensure we didn't get paralyzed or take too much damage from Implosion, and we immediately burned a Protection from Magic scroll on the Slayer before scurrying away. Most of the demons attacked our elementals, so only a single Glabrezu chased us down. We summoned more elementals directly via staff until we shot down the first Glabrezu, then followed up with the first Balor.

    Meanwhile, the other demons attacked the Slayer, who stood around doing nothing, though his regeneration essentially neutralized the damage. It didn't really change things much, since we were still able to use elementals to lure away demons one by one and shoot them down. I did let down my guard once, having neither the Greenstone Amulet active nor the Ring of Free Action equipped when a Balor was around, but it wasted a Symbol, Stun spell on my instead of Implosion, and our saving throws were deeply in the negatives, ensuring a successful save.

    When the Slayer was alone, we summoned a clone and shot it down with zero effort. Judging by the pace of the fight, I think it is viable to tackle the Slayer in a solo no-reload LoB run without access to SI: Abjuration and other mage spells, but the Protection from Magic scroll is probably the safer option.

    I took a leaf out of @histamiini's book and used Lesser Earth Elementals to block off the exit from the first Pocket Plane trial, allowing us to continue the fight in the main area, though we never needed to. We spammed elementals and slowly killed a wave of kobolds, a wave of doppelgangers, and then a wave of drow fighters close to the exit (no other monsters appeared!). When I noticed a bit of lag indicating new scripts were firing, I sent a single elemental over to provoke Irenicus' buffs, then summoned a clone to Smite him.

    However, Irenicus had Protection from Normal Missiles on top of PFMW, which meant our clone couldn't stun him with Smite before he cast Time Stop. Fortunately, our clone was able to dodge a Comet spell and survive a Horrid Wilting spell, and Irenicus failed to restore his buffs, allowing us to nail him with an Arrow of Dispelling. Kiting then won the fight.

    We summoned more elementals to deal with the opening fight in Saradush and the tavern fight, then recharged all of our stuff and bought lots of Darts +1 (which give us the best APR we can achieve until we get the Scorcher Ammunition) and Arrows +3, plus a few potions and a couple new Protection from Undead scrolls. We used Azuredge to slice through the vampires and are now faced with a bunch of epic-level goons before Gromnir himself.

    I'm going to try having a clone use the Staff of Command to charm enemies while my Archer hides, and just let the enemies kill each other. A high movement rate and Potions of Invisibility should let us avoid a lot of fights in the fire giant temple (including Brimstone), STR drain will give us a quick kill on Yaga-Shura, and then we have to deal with Anadramatis.

    Anadramatis looks really tough, since we're ranged attackers fighting a big-circle target in a small space, but when I thought about the structure of the area and did a quick test, I found that you can hide yourself in this space here and safely attack outside the range of her physical attacks. She'll only be able to reach you with her breath weapon and spells.
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    She has base 250 HP (should be 750 when her script kicks in) and 75% resistance to missile and piercing damage as well as -21 AC, but with our missile attacks, it looks like we only need to survive for 25 rounds before we could trigger her defeat dialog, and that's assuming we had no haste effects. With three Rods of Resurrection, Hardiness, and Armor of Faith, we should have more than enough HP to outlast her.

    Then we land STR drain kills on the Tyrant Golems (they only have 10 STR) and Death Tyrants, and we'll have access to the Scorcher Ammunition, Frag Grenades, and Pulse Ammunition, which will let us shred through the majority of the rest of the game.
    HarpagornisStummvonBordwehrGrond0histamiini
  • histamiinihistamiini Member Posts: 1,428
    edited May 2019
    @semiticgod Well done passing SoA, I see the Balor killing Slayer is still on. Anadramatis can also be backed out of sight without starting her dialogue, and summons can then casually hack her. But that spot seem nice back up as the backing up doesn't always work.

    Triss chain smoked Planar Prison Bounty Hunter and Yuanti parties, then with Time Stop killed Master of Thralls. Warden was a non smoker, but didn't survive a Time Stop. Planar Prison financed the recharge the third Wand of Cloudkill, Wave Blade and Spell Strike. Need more money.

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    Unseeing Eye was just ran through and looted with Staff of Magi, but it only financed the potions from Roger the Fence. Well at least he smuggled the Rift device out from the sewers.

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    The druids before Faldorn were charmed with SoC/SoM combo and fed for the Shambling Mounds. Cernd buffed with 5 Mind Focus, Defense, Speed, Chaotic Commands, Iron Skins, Power, Improved Haste and challenged Faldorn in Greater Werewolf form. And with few helps from RoR he killed her. Then did the rest of mundane guests in Trademeet. 30k financed the rest of the scrolls I needed and Reflection Shield.

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    Bodhi's upstairs was pawned with single PfU and MoD. Me and Planetar then cleared the downstairs before Drizzt and company joined the fun. Then cleared couple places, most notably North Forest for additional Time Stop scroll which was with the mage. Casually killed him with Time Stop. Selling the loot, and buying 80 Arrows of Dispelling and Vhailor's Helm just in case, I was left no gold, again. Time to move on, I've all the items I need I think.

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    Here's the list of 8 Time Stop scrolls in SCS install.

    1 Vithal (Underdark)
    1 Ribald (Chapter 6)
    1 Mage (North Forest)
    1 House (Suldanessellar)
    1 Dragon (Evil path in Test of Pride)
    2 Arcana Archives
    1 Book Merchant (Neera guestline ToB)
    Grond0AerakarStummvonBordwehr
  • ArnoArno Member Posts: 24
    edited May 2019
    Hi.

    As you know I`m a completicionist and I dont like to leave bosses behind me.

    I`m having some problem with the Shadow Aspect who is guarding the Sarevok`s Sword. I can't see him long enough to cast him any spell cause the mislead. The Detect Invisibility spell it doesn`t work (just blinks one second) and I don´t have the True Sight spell (it`s a 6th level spell and I`m at max. level [11 for mages]).

    Edit: I have used Proteccion Vs Undead Scroll and I have tried to stay near the Mislead figure. After I cast him Greater Malison (affects the real Shadow Aspect) and Hold Undead (affects the real Shadow Aspect too if its very near of the Mislead guy). Then I have used Detect Invisibility and Glitterdust but the SHadow Aspect remains hidden so I can target him to attack him or cast other spells.

    I have try to kill him with the Wand of Fire Balls but i Make him just 1 point of damage with each charge. I have 4 One Gift Lost and a plenty Wand of Fireballs but i don`t think that this will be enough to kill him (using all the charges of the objects I can make him just 150 points of damage).

    Any suggestions? :)
    Post edited by Arno on
    StummvonBordwehrMr_SaltyHarpagornishistamiini
  • Mr_SaltyMr_Salty Member Posts: 188
    Arno wrote: »
    Hi.

    As you know I`m a completicionist and I dont like to leave bosses behind me.

    I`m having some problem with the Shadow Aspect who is guarding the Sarevok`s Sword. I can't see him long enough to cast him any spell cause the mislead. The Detect Invisibility spell it doesn`t work (just blinks one second) and I don´t have the True Sight spell (it`s a 6th level spell and I`m at max. level [11 for mages]).

    Edit: I have used Proteccion Vs Undead Scroll and I have tried to stay near the Mislead figure. After I cast him Greater Malison (affects the real Shadow Aspect) and Hold Undead (affects the real Shadow Aspect too if its very near of the Mislead guy). Then I have used Detect Invisibility and Glitterdust but the SHadow Aspect remains hidden so I can target him to attack him or cast other spells.

    I have try to kill him with the Wand of Fire Balls but i Make him just 1 point of damage with each charge. I have 4 One Gift Lost and a plenty Wand of Fireballs but i don`t think that this will be enough to kill him (using all the charges of the objects I can make him just 150 points of damage).

    Any suggestions? :)


    Good luck on this guy in my runs (he has been the most hardest unit to beat i havent beated it yet due to its spamming mislead lol)

    some people say u could Secret revealed on him ? the wand kinda thing u need to use on the lich inside the cave on map 1
    StummvonBordwehrhistamiiniArno
  • semiticgoddesssemiticgoddess Member Posts: 14,903
    The Shadow Aspect has 90% resistance to all forms of magical damage, albeit no magic resistance. It looks like it casts Mislead every 2 rounds (!) and I'm not sure how to deal with that without access to True Seeing.

    My best guess is to use Polymorph Self to switch to Mustard Jelly form to get immunity to piercing damage, and rely on Fire Shields and the occasional wand to deal damage. You would need a total of 4 castings of both types of Fire Shield, or 16 castings (not 8) of just one of them, in order for the Shadow Aspect to kill itself on your Fire Shields, since the Fire Shields will only last a little over 10 rounds each, the Shadow Aspect will only take 1 damage from either, the Shadow Aspect will have 4 APR due to its haste effect, and the Shadow Aspect has 260 HP total. You can probably do this by switching back and forth between jelly form and natural form, but this would give the Shadow Aspect an opportunity to instantly kill you with a critical backstab, so I would recommend gathering as many Fire Shield scrolls as you can and casting them while in jelly form as they wear off.

    If you can see its circle for even just a fraction of a second, you could use Magic Missile scrolls, the Wand of Missiles, the Ring of Energy, and/or the Wand of Fire's scorcher charge to tack on tiny bits of damage.
    HarpagornisStummvonBordwehrhistamiiniArno
  • HarpagornisHarpagornis Member Posts: 1,658
    edited May 2019
    A year ago the easiest thing to kill the Shadow Aspect was Protection from Undead + True Sight but i cant say if anything has changed here due to the patches. But instakilling it with Harm was such a pleasure after suffering over and over again... :D

    Any items/spells that can dispel invisibility will be a big help here as well as items that gives you boni against undead. With PfU it wont be able to attack you even though it will most likely still use Mislead. This with the tips of @semiticgod should make it more than possible to kill the beast. ;)
    StummvonBordwehrhistamiiniArno
  • histamiinihistamiini Member Posts: 1,428
    Suldanesselar passed and looted with Invisibility from SoM. WoW stoned Nizi with first strike, Rillifane then pawned everybody. Got 50k selling all the loot for Reirra. Irenicus in Tree of Life, backed up invisible when Irenicus summoned some help for himself. Triss just waited them out. Then baited Irenicus Time Stop, and after bating didn't produce any more spells, I summoned my own army and attacked. In the end Planetar soloed Jon.

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    Nice haul from the Hell Trials. Dragon was stoned, and Genie force talked afterwards so that it didn't teleport away and hacked during Time Stops.

    20 Arrows of Dispelling
    Time Stop scroll
    Blackrazor +3
    Evil Alignment (for Soul Reaver and easier WK 3rd level)
    +4 to Strength
    -4 to AC
    -2 to Saving Throws

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    Started the fight with Slayer with Magical Swords, who were swept away at the start but managed then to recover and attack the Slayer, and I managed to get away in to hiding. Balors then started attacking Glabrezus and killed them soon after. Then they turned on to Magical Swords until they were killed, and then on the Slayer himself. Eventually the Slayer was killed by his own Balors, and again I did nothing. Illasera was no match for Triss and succcumbed during the third Time Stop.

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    First Pocket Plane challenge. Used summon door trick just in case because I wasn't using the usual meat shield tactic, as I didn't take the +1 weapon immunity. No matter, smoking killed all, although Ellesime was hacked during Time Stop because her MR was so good. Planetar soloed Saradush landing. Sold all my useless stuff and had got 121k gold. Bought Wish, 2x Time Stop, 2x Imprisonment, 2x Shapechange, 2x Simulacrum, 2x Project Image, 2x Black Blade of Disaster and was again at zero gold. Now I also allow casting Spell Trigger and Chain Contingency, because they've been as abilities already. Kiser hacked during Time Stop. Prison passed with mostly MoD and Planetar.

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    Only Eler Had and Lasharra survived the smoke in Gromnir's place, Time Stop handled them.

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    Going smoothly, I've so many tactics in disposal that I've not even using most of them. Smoke for the win. Next Triss is going to tackle the Watchers Keep.
    StummvonBordwehrGrond0Aerakar
  • semiticgoddesssemiticgoddess Member Posts: 14,903
    @histamiini: You're going for Watcher's Keep? How much of it? That Spirit Warrior challenge is such a crapshoot in LoB mode!

    Don't forget about Abazigal's instant-casting Maze spells. Watch out for the Cambions at the Throne of Bhaal and their nasty THAC0-draining swords, and make sure you can handle those -5 save penalty charm spells from the Succubi. Otherwise you should be in excellent shape to take down the rest of ToB!
    StummvonBordwehr
  • histamiinihistamiini Member Posts: 1,428
    @semiticgod Stopping after killing Y'tossi for the apr gloves I think. Spirit Warrior is repeatable with certain route if I recall correctly, I passed it first try with my Cavalier 2.5 LoB run recently.

    Triss should've enough tricks against Maze, and even if I somehow fail on that, PfM is ready to save the day. I took -2 saving throw bonus from Hell Trials just because of the Succubi, and now I've item based -6 vs. spells with Helm of Balduran, Ring +2 and Ring of Gaxx. Cambions are bastards, and something I'll not take lightly. My last playthrough though I noticed that slinging them was the best tactic, fast damage and out of the way of their attacks.
    semiticgoddessStummvonBordwehr
  • semiticgoddesssemiticgoddess Member Posts: 14,903
    edited May 2019
    @histamiini: Triss is a Fighter/Illusionist? I thought she was an elf, and therefore had no shorty saves.

    Do you think the saving throw bonuses are worth losing the Necromancy spells? Ordinarily, I'd have thought yes, but your previous work seeding the Throne with Skull Traps made me reconsider that an elven Fighter/Mage might be more optimal.
  • semiticgoddesssemiticgoddess Member Posts: 14,903
    The Archer is at Amkethran. The Staff of Command was of limited use against Gromnir's crew, but it did take down Berena Elken, Eler Had, and one or two nameless goons, entering and exiting the area combined with stealth let us wait out the mages' defenses (note that a charmed Ramazith will go back to being hostile if you leave and come back) and then nail the mages with Smite and Arrows of Dispelling. We kited the remainder and then slew Gromnir with STR drain.

    Two Potions of Fire Resistance, an Oil of Speed, stealth, some Potions of Invisibility, and a Protection from Undead scroll let us sneak through and loot the fire giant temple safely without fighting anyone, and the Efreeti Bottle gave us a decoy to briefly distract Brimstone let us steal the hearts as well with only taking a single hit from Brimstone.

    A Protection from Undead scroll and Azuredge cleared Nyalee's place, and Arrows of Dispelling and Smite killed Nyalee herself. Before entering the siege camp, we sold and re-bought the Cloak of the Stars to get more uses out of the cloak and get 36 Darts +5 at a time.

    We hit Yaga-Shura once, hid behind a Potion of Invisibility, and then summoned a clone when he came back. With Improved Haste from the Improved Cloak of Protection +2, we were able to slay Yaga-Shura within seconds.

    Next up is Abazigal's lair.
    StummvonBordwehrGrond0histamiini
  • histamiinihistamiini Member Posts: 1,428
    edited May 2019
    @semiticgod Yeah Triss is Fighter/Illusionist.

    I think so, besides better saves, additional Time Stop is valuable. Skeletons can be replaced with other summons, and Skull Traps aren't that good anymore without quick slot casting from clones, and because you can't access Pocket Plane and rest at Throne of Bhaal anymore. Skull Traps are still very valuable for something like Cleric/Mage at Crusader Attacks so it depends, but haven't had any need for the Necromancy spells in this run. I'm still thinking blasting Melissan with Delayed Fireballs though.

    EDIT: numbers for blasting Melissan still look good

    Melissan

    HP 1580 (Rift Device 632 hp + Dispel)
    MR 70 (Spell Trigger: 3x Lower Resistance MR 0)
    Save vs. Spell -5
    FR 50

    Delayed Blast Fireball 15d6 52.5 avg
    Saved 8d6 28 avg
    FR 4d6 14 avg
    632 hp / 14 dmg = 45 avg

    Simulacrum can cast only 5th level spells so it's out, but Project Image can cast all spells including Delayed Blast Fireballs. I've 7 level 7 slots, so DDDDPPP configuration should give 16 traps per rest, pools refresh 3 times, and I've 4 Project Image scrolls, so max number of traps layed should be 64 for F/I at Throne of Bhaal.
    Post edited by histamiini on
    StummvonBordwehrsemiticgoddess
  • Mr_SaltyMr_Salty Member Posts: 188
    edited May 2019
    @semiticgod seriously this Lob save fix has been nothing but a nuisance to me....... charms flesh to stone vorpal strikes nothing works now anymore i think complete immunity takes away the fun for me,.... in my eyes there should always be a chance even 1 out of 100... that it is succesfull so far i managed to SOA and did few quests but now i was planning on doing Watcher keep ... and u guessed it.... vorpal strike no longer works on this chromatic guy......i call in a new challenge... for u guys ! beat all 3 games as a level 1 with no spells! GL! lol thats how i feel right now ^^

    Edit: There is still 1 stupid thing that works tho (wand of wonders lmao)
    histamiiniStummvonBordwehr
  • histamiinihistamiini Member Posts: 1,428
    Watchers Keep 3rd Level. Triss passed the Dead Magic room to Tahazzar casually, as Balors and Cornugons fought themselves. Being evil Tahazzar offered a deal, which Triss took. But this was just a ploy to get Tahazzar killed. Buffed up and 10 apr Black Blade Disaster dispatched him with double Time Stops. Then escaped and passed the Balor room second time casually as they were still fighting themselves.

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    Tahazzar 455 hp, 25 DR
    Ka'Rashur 500 hp, 25 DR

    Then buffed for Ka'rashur in the start room, lastly hitting PfMW. And quickly ran through the Wild Magic Quasit and Succubus rooms. Again the double Time Stop was enough for BBD to hack Ka'rashur to pieces. Escaped through the two of the closest portals and was at the start again.

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    Then Triss casually ran through the rooms to Aesgareth. WM Quasit, WM Tiefling, Demon Knights, Demon Wraith, Aesgareth, picking up the loot in the Demon Wraith room.

    The Tieflings were charmed one by one with SoC and then casually hacked away with Time Stops. The Fell Cats then were petrified with the WoW, and Aesgareth was all alone. Gambled my experience for additional Wish scroll which I won, do not gamble health if you don't want to risk losing it permanently. Then buffed up and summoned Planetar, Time Stop and attacked. The double Time Stop was again enough though.

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    Time to gamble even more with the Deck of Many Things, one of my favorite parts of the game. Buffing up correctly run ending effects can be blocked, but this still should be done in some place away as the summons can't be blocked. I chose the second level of Watcher Keep to this:

    1st Draw (SI:Abjuration, SI:Evocation): Euryale
    2nd Draw (SI:Alteration, SI:Enchantment): Vizier
    3rd Draw (SI:Conjuration): Erinyes

    So the only effect I basically got was Ability Scores +1 for 7200 seconds. That's a long time if it's in real time. Maze level is pretty relaxing and fun level with correct tactics and some gambling. Onto the next level.
    StummvonBordwehr
  • ArnoArno Member Posts: 24
    Grond0 wrote: »
    I think the problem with detect invisibility is it only dispels invisibility and not illusion. The mislead spell is essentially illusion, so that's why detect invisibility only dispels the invisibility on the real shadow aspect momentarily (like when it attacks) - nothing short of true sight will dispel mislead, though I'm not sure if glitterdust would reveal it enough to attack it.

    That give me an idea. I have Detect Illusion. So I have paraliced the real Shadow Aspect with Hold Undead casting it near of the mislead guy and affecting the real one cause his small area of effect. And then I have cast Detect Illusion. But the real Shadow Aspect appears just a fraction of a second and disapears again (while it`s paraliced!).
    semiticgod wrote: »
    The Shadow Aspect has 90% resistance to all forms of magical damage, albeit no magic resistance. It looks like it casts Mislead every 2 rounds (!) and I'm not sure how to deal with that without access to True Seeing.

    My best guess is to use Polymorph Self to switch to Mustard Jelly form to get immunity to piercing damage, and rely on Fire Shields and the occasional wand to deal damage. You would need a total of 4 castings of both types of Fire Shield, or 16 castings (not 8) of just one of them, in order for the Shadow Aspect to kill itself on your Fire Shields, since the Fire Shields will only last a little over 10 rounds each, the Shadow Aspect will only take 1 damage from either, the Shadow Aspect will have 4 APR due to its haste effect, and the Shadow Aspect has 260 HP total. You can probably do this by switching back and forth between jelly form and natural form, but this would give the Shadow Aspect an opportunity to instantly kill you with a critical backstab, so I would recommend gathering as many Fire Shield scrolls as you can and casting them while in jelly form as they wear off.

    If you can see its circle for even just a fraction of a second, you could use Magic Missile scrolls, the Wand of Missiles, the Ring of Energy, and/or the Wand of Fire's scorcher charge to tack on tiny bits of damage.

    If tryed the tactic with Fire Shield + Mustard Jelly (I don't have so many scrolls, just 6, but i wanted to try it anyway. At first it seems fantastic. The Shadow Aspect receives 1 point of damage every attack he does and I have immunity to piercing damage like you said. But. After every attack received, although i don`t suffer damage, Arno has to pass a TS vs death. And after a while he fails his TS and results dead. It seems that the Shadow Aspect has some especial attack that causes your death if you fail one roll of salvation.
    StummvonBordwehr
  • Mr_SaltyMr_Salty Member Posts: 188
    edited May 2019
    Arno wrote: »
    Grond0 wrote: »
    I think the problem with detect invisibility is it only dispels invisibility and not illusion. The mislead spell is essentially illusion, so that's why detect invisibility only dispels the invisibility on the real shadow aspect momentarily (like when it attacks) - nothing short of true sight will dispel mislead, though I'm not sure if glitterdust would reveal it enough to attack it.

    That give me an idea. I have Detect Illusion. So I have paraliced the real Shadow Aspect with Hold Undead casting it near of the mislead guy and affecting the real one cause his small area of effect. And then I have cast Detect Illusion. But the real Shadow Aspect appears just a fraction of a second and disapears again (while it`s paraliced!).
    semiticgod wrote: »
    The Shadow Aspect has 90% resistance to all forms of magical damage, albeit no magic resistance. It looks like it casts Mislead every 2 rounds (!) and I'm not sure how to deal with that without access to True Seeing.

    My best guess is to use Polymorph Self to switch to Mustard Jelly form to get immunity to piercing damage, and rely on Fire Shields and the occasional wand to deal damage. You would need a total of 4 castings of both types of Fire Shield, or 16 castings (not 8) of just one of them, in order for the Shadow Aspect to kill itself on your Fire Shields, since the Fire Shields will only last a little over 10 rounds each, the Shadow Aspect will only take 1 damage from either, the Shadow Aspect will have 4 APR due to its haste effect, and the Shadow Aspect has 260 HP total. You can probably do this by switching back and forth between jelly form and natural form, but this would give the Shadow Aspect an opportunity to instantly kill you with a critical backstab, so I would recommend gathering as many Fire Shield scrolls as you can and casting them while in jelly form as they wear off.

    If you can see its circle for even just a fraction of a second, you could use Magic Missile scrolls, the Wand of Missiles, the Ring of Energy, and/or the Wand of Fire's scorcher charge to tack on tiny bits of damage.

    If tryed the tactic with Fire Shield + Mustard Jelly (I don't have so many scrolls, just 6, but i wanted to try it anyway. At first it seems fantastic. The Shadow Aspect receives 1 point of damage every attack he does and I have immunity to piercing damage like you said. But. After every attack received, although i don`t suffer damage, Arno has to pass a TS vs death. And after a while he fails his TS and results dead. It seems that the Shadow Aspect has some especial attack that causes your death if you fail one roll of salvation.

    @Arno
    If u do manage to get him with something i would love to know :smile: as i said hes the toughest badass ive encountered so far in SOD lmao

    Talking = easy, Doing it is entirely Different story haha
  • ArnoArno Member Posts: 24
    edited May 2019
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    It`s done! Here is the tactic. Before engaging the Shadow, prebuff yourself with Resist Fear and Mirror Image. Go to the Shadow, he will cast Mislead. Put yourself next to the false Shadow and the real Shadow will aproach you to backstabb you. Now the real Shadow is near to the false Shadow. Use Proteccion vs Undead. Use Greater Malison. Use Hold Undead vs the false Shadow (it can affect to the real one thx to his small effect area). Once the real Shadow is paralized, cast Oracle. The real Shadow will use inmediatly Mislead even being paralized. Use another Oracle. Now you have only two rounds to kill him, like Semiticgod said, before the Shadow could cast again Mislead. So you have to use Wand of Polymorphing and attack him fast. And it`s done.

    Without your tips I couldn´t make it, so THX to all :D
    Mr_SaltyStummvonBordwehr
  • Mr_SaltyMr_Salty Member Posts: 188
    edited May 2019
    @Arno Wand of Polymorph. So noted! thnx i keep forgetting about this wand anyway (if u cannot use that wand its pretty much GG)

    Btw u are not using LoB save fix are u ? i doubt u can paralyze him if u had that fix :smile:
  • semiticgoddesssemiticgoddess Member Posts: 14,903
    Oracle! Of course! I forgot that that was an option. Well done, Arno!

    Looking at the Shadow Aspect in Near Infinity, it seems it drains 2 Strength per hit on a failed save vs. death. That's what resulted in the instant death despite the lack of damage. It's a level zero effect that bypasses MR, so the only way to resist it is to get a save vs. death of 1 or less. That would require either a single Potion of Magic Shielding or multiple Potions of Stone Form (or Potions of Invulnerability if the character has any warrior levels).

    The Shadow Aspect has a base save vs. spell of 6, which would be 1 with the LoB save fix. Greater Malison would bump it up to 5, so Hold Undead would be viable for mages besides Invokers. Clerics of Lathander could also hit it with Hold Undead, but since they would only have access to Chant to penalize its saving throws, each casting of Hold Undead would only grant a 5% chance of success.

    @histamiini: The LoB save bonus is definitely a colossal game-changer, particularly against the toughest critters who end up with subzero saving throws. SCS v32 does give us a way to counter them: Curse can penalize saving throws by -1 for 6 rounds, Prayer can penalize them by another -1 for 1 round per level, and Recitation can penalize them even further by -1 for 1 round per level, so clerics can impose an additional -4 save penalties on top of the penalties they could get from Doom and Chant. It's not enough to land Slay Living reliably, since none of those effects will bypass MR, but it does make it possible. The Archer, as always, can penalize saves vs. spell all the way up to 20, though only a dual-classed fighter Archer could make much use of that.

    I notice that Melissan has a base save vs. spell of zero. I thought it used to be 2 or maybe 4 in Ascension, but either way, the net -5 after Sendai falls is pretty bad.
    StummvonBordwehr
  • ArnoArno Member Posts: 24
    Mr_Salty wrote: »
    @Arno Wand of Polymorph. So noted! thnx i keep forgetting about this wand anyway (if u cannot use that wand its pretty much GG)

    Btw u are not using LoB save fix are u ? i doubt u can paralyze him if u had that fix :smile:

    Nop, I don`t remember to have that fix installed. My installation is normal, just with SCS + Unfinished Bussiness.

    That wand is awesome and I don`t know how I could beat some particular bosses without that fantastic objetc!
    StummvonBordwehrMr_Salty
  • histamiinihistamiini Member Posts: 1,428
    @semiticgod Definitely. And I need still to check Abazigals saves before trying to attempt Feeblemind on him, and calculate how viable that really is.

    Planetar and Triss easily cleared the starting area in 4th level of Watchers Keep, looted the Githyanki area with SoM and Petrified Saladrex.

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    Then I decided to check the Greater Grimoire of Demon Binding. And I was in for a world of hurt with the Demilich. It locked the exit, summoned an incredible amount of enemies, cast PfMW although apparently it was also immune to MoD death effect, and last but not least could see through the PfU. In the small area I was completely cornered, relying only on my buffs to survive. Used my two Time Stops to kill Glabrezus, but I was still just waiting enemies to unsummon, casting Spell Shield, Spell Turning and Abjuration as the Demilich was freaking spamming spells like no tomorrow. Then it summoned Fallen Planetar who started freely hacking away, and oh boy did it hurt. I was pinned down and had to burn two RoR's and my hp went multiple times under 20. And the Demilich was still casting which ever spells to dispel me, and it even insta dispelled my own Planetar. Luckily my item based save vs. death was -4 so the Fallen Planetar couldn't instakill me. Used another PfU on my self, and on the Demilich because my protection spells were out. Either that helped or it was really out of spells. Then the Fallen Planetar unsummoned and I started hacking, and omg did it take a long time with I don't know, about 90 DR or so. Surviving this fight was a complete miracle, I stupidly wandered blindly on it thinking the Demilich wouldn't be different than Kangaxx, but oh boy was I ever wrong. Now I need to know what the freaking Grimoire even does, and it better be worth it. :#

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    StummvonBordwehr
  • semiticgoddesssemiticgoddess Member Posts: 14,903
    Abazigal's save vs. spell is 6, or 1 in LoB mode. With Greater Malison and his MR reduced to zero, that should be a 30% chance of success per casting of Feeblemind, or maybe 35%. After 5 or 6 castings, the chance of success should be roughly 90%. It would take 7 or 8 castings to hit a 95% success chance, and 10 or 12 to hit a 99% success chance.
    StummvonBordwehrhistamiini
  • Grond0Grond0 Member Posts: 7,305
    @Arno well done with the Shadow Aspect. I didn't expect detect illusion to work as that only affects spells up to 3rd level. However, I also didn't expect oracle to work as that only affects spells up to 5th level and mislead is a 6th level spell - presumably the shadow aspect uses a custom ability though rather than a clone of the mage spell.
    StummvonBordwehr
  • histamiinihistamiini Member Posts: 1,428
    Watchers Keep done to the point I wanted. The hardest Mind Flayer area in the game. 20x Mind Focus, Potion of Absorbtion, Blunt Belt, and Roranachs Horn, 77 Int, -29 AC vs. crushing and 50 DR. 9 apr FoA +4 dealed pretty quickly the first party of 5x Mind Flayers and 4x Umber Hulks. Next party, 2x Ultiharids, 5x Mind Flayers, 4x Umber Hulks, and after they were mowed down I still had my Stoneskin on. Pressing on, last party was the biggest one, 4x Ulitharids, 6x Mind Flayers, 2x Umber Hulks. Needed 3x RoR and 1x Hardiness. 3x Umber Hulk party mopped up lastly, before I could loot the Red Oil and escape without fighting the Vampiric Ulitharids.

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    It took about 20 seconds for Triss and Planetar waste Rock, Garock and Salamanders. Using the Machine Triss achieved her final form, innate 24 strength being the highlight.

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    Final Seal level. For the Heart Key Triss had to stone a Dragon. Buffed up and activated the Heart Seal, and Y'Tossi was killed during the second Time Stop. Didn't bother with anything else, got what I wanted, apr gloves for 10 apr FoA and made my hasty escape. Time to move onto Fire Giant territory.

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    Grond0HarpagornisStummvonBordwehr
  • histamiinihistamiini Member Posts: 1,428
    edited May 2019
    Ok tested the Grimoires a little, seem pretty powerful. Basically it makes summoned Demons green circle. They still can't be controlled and cast spells at you, but they don't attack with weapons. For evil characters there doesn't seem to be any drawbacks.

    Lesser Grimoire of Demon Binding:

    This vile text contains forbidden secrets of the fiends of the Lower Planes, including the true names of several powerful fiends. Through detailed study of the grimoire, a mage can learn how to exercise a modicum of control over some summoned fiends. When using the mage spells Summon Fiend and Cacofiend to bring forth a fiend, the character will bind the fiend called forth to obey <PRO_HISHER> will, instead of simply leaving it to rampage at random.

    Most wizards avoid demon binding for good reason: <PRO_HESHE> who trafficks with fiends puts <PRO_HISHER> immortal soul at risk. Each time the character summons and binds a fiend, there is a 10% chance that <PRO_HISHER> alignment will shift one step towards evil. If <PRO_HESHE> is already evil, there is instead a 10% chance that <PRO_HISHER> soul will be forfeit to the denizens of the lower planes. A character whose soul is lost in this way cannot be resurrected from the dead - once slain, <PRO_HESHE> is forever lost.

    STATISTICS:

    Special: Upon use, the book disappears, to reappear somewhere else across the planes
    Usage: Place into quick item slot
    Weight: 25

    Greater Grimoire of Demon Binding:

    This terrible book, bound in angel skin and scarred by powerful magic, contains some of the deepest secrets of the fiends of the Lower Planes, including the true names of pit fiends and balors. Through detailed study of the grimoire, a mage can learn how to exercise a modicum of control over summoned fiends. When using the mage spells Summon Fiend, Cacofiend and Gate to bring forth a fiend, the character will bind the fiend called forth to obey <PRO_HISHER> will, instead of simply leaving it to rampage at random.

    Most wizards avoid demon binding for good reason: <PRO_HESHE> who trafficks with fiends puts <PRO_HISHER> immortal soul at risk. Each time the character summons and binds a fiend, there is a 10% chance that <PRO_HISHER> alignment will shift one step towards evil. If <PRO_HESHE> is already evil, there is instead a 10% chance that <PRO_HISHER> soul will be forfeit to the denizens of the lower planes. A character whose soul is lost in this way cannot be resurrected from the dead - once slain, <PRO_HESHE> is forever lost. Summoning the mightiest of fiends only increases the risk - when using the Gate spell, these chances are instead each 25%.

    STATISTICS:

    Special: Upon use, the book disappears, to reappear somewhere else across the planes
    Usage: Place into quick item slot
    Weight: 25
    Post edited by histamiini on
    semiticgoddessHarpagornisStummvonBordwehr
  • histamiinihistamiini Member Posts: 1,428
    edited May 2019
    After testing it some more now I know how it's supposed to work. Learning the Grimoire gives ability that makes summoned Demons green circle. They're drawn to you under PfE, so you can basically move them that way to the enemies. If you don't use PfE they will try to fight you. Hmm this could be useful.
  • semiticgoddesssemiticgoddess Member Posts: 14,903
    @histamiini: Looks like you're on pace to get the first v2.5 solo no-reload LoB run. Good luck!
    histamiiniStummvonBordwehr
  • Grond0Grond0 Member Posts: 7,305
    @histamiini from the description it suggests the grimoires are single use only - in which case they would seem of relatively little use. Is the description wrong?
  • histamiinihistamiini Member Posts: 1,428
    edited May 2019
    @semiticgod Thanks.

    @Grond0 Once you learn them it's permanent, so the summoned Demons are always green Circle. 5 Hasted Bonefiends pretty easily pawned the couple first Fire Giants, although because they only last 15 rounds, don't know how useful that is.

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    StummvonBordwehr
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