@histamiini: No racial enemy for the Archer/Mage. Due to engine limitations, only fighters, thieves, and clerics can dual-class to mage; not rangers. Theoretically I could add a workaround for the missing racial enemy, but I'm not sure I want to. I only created the kit so I could dual-class to a mage or thief; I never intended to make the fighter Archer kit a true replica of the ranger kit.
@Victor_Creed_SFV: To my knowledge, elves only get resistance to the unconsciousness effects of Command and Sleep.
If that's the case I've been very unlucky with the 10% miss chance, I've never gotten a sucessful resistance ever since I play BG.
The game doesn't tell you that the spell has been resisted - it just has no effect. It's common when trying to use Algernon's Cloak on a target for that to do nothing, so identifying when that's the result of elven resistance is not obvious. However, if you try and charm an elf you will find it takes rather longer than would otherwise be expected .
Up to v2.3 there was a bug which resulted in 2 separate sources of resistance potentially cancelling each other out. Thus for instance if you add Greenstone Amulet protection to an elf that can actually make him more susceptible to charm, rather than providing immunity. I haven't got around to testing if they've solved that in v2.5.
@semiticgod have you experimented with trying to use Caelar to win the fight? I haven't done so, but intuitively I would have thought that might be a much easier option than the one you describe - if that fit with your idea of a solo run of course.
Any character just making use of the greater restoration scrolls you can buy could keep Caelar going for a long time. If you add mage buffs like spirit armor and improved invisibility I would have thought he would be more than a match for Belhifet.
@semiticgod have you experimented with trying to use Caelar to win the fight? I haven't done so, but intuitively I would have thought that might be a much easier option than the one you describe - if that fit with your idea of a solo run of course.
Any character just making use of the greater restoration scrolls you can buy could keep Caelar going for a long time. If you add mage buffs like spirit armor and improved invisibility I would have thought he would be more than a match for Belhifet.
She joins the party by force if you don't have a full party, which means she takes twice as much damage as if she was simply an ally acting on her own. My original idea was to let her join and then have her act on her AI, but the double damage means she dies in a single round.
In my previous install, there were Greater Restoration scrolls everywhere, but in this install, the scrolls only cast Lesser Restoration.
The reason my Archer/Mage can't just buff up and smash Belhifet in the face is because Archers cannot put more than a single proficiency point in any melee weapon. A BG1 or SoD Archer's base melee APR maxes out at 1.5 instead of 2 or 2.5. And because of the old haste bug, haste effects only bump up Frisk's APR from 1.5 to 2 instead of 2.5.
Having only 2 APR instead of 3 APR means that Frisk is 33% less effective in melee combat. And that's just APR; Frisk also has crippling disadvantages to THAC0 and damage. I've done the math many times, and an Archer dual-classed to mage at level 8 is absolutely incapable of taking down Belhifet using the same methods as a typical fighter.
With every buff imaginable, Frisk could deal 12.6 damage per round to Belhifet with a +3 longsword.
A properly buffed single-classed, unkitted fighter with specialization instead of grandmastery will deal 29.25 damage to Belhifet per round. Belhifet dies in 40 rounds.
Make it a standard Fighter/Mage and it'll take 41 rounds.
Make it a Cavalier and Belhifet dies in 28 rounds.
Make it a ranger with Demon as a racial enemy and Belhifet dies in 25 rounds.
Make it a fighter with grandmastery and Belhifet dies in 24 rounds.
But if Frisk resorted to melee, it would take 93 rounds to kill Belhifet. Durlag's Goblet will definitely not last for 93 rounds, and the Mirror Image and Stoneskin spells we have won't be enough to cover the gap. Mirror Image is great, but there's always a chance Belhifet hits you instead of the images, so Stoneskin is necessary. But Stoneskin scrolls are bugged to be unusable (you can scribe them but not cast them), so I never created them--which means my only means of surviving Belhifet's attacks are 10 castings of Mirror Image, 4 castings of Stoneskin, and 20 charges from Durlag's Goblet. That will last me last 80 rounds... if I keep my buffs open constantly, if I never get disrupted, if I never fall low on HP when I'm trying to re-drink a Potion of Invulnerability or Oil of Speed, and if no one but Belhifet ever lands a hit on me.
Frisk has about a third of the melee output of a normal fighter, so their best bet is to use missile weapons, even though Belhifet has 50% resistance to missile damage instead of 25% for other weapons. The numbers are much, much less friendly than they are for a normal fighter type.
Imagine if Belhifet had 4,500 HP instead of 1,172. That's what Frisk is working with here.
For me its the other way around @semiticgod - i fear Melissan much more than Big B.
The easiest way even for my Bounty Hunter is grabbing 100+ Invisibility and play hit and run after some shooting and using summons (Myconids!) in the beginning. If you buy every potion and wait some time during the final Siege on Dragonspear you can easily get 130 or more Invisibility Potions.
With Speed Boots and Oil of Speed its really easy to get space between you and the following demon army so at the end its all about timing that Big B will port near you while the demons are still away to get in you attack(s) in and immediately go invisible again. This worked even with 50+ demons on my back when testing it with my Bounty Hunter and Totemic Druid.
If you get the right routine about timing and positioning there is not much that can go wrong as long as you keep a cool head and remain patient - unless really bad luck hits you.
Even if the demons manage to surround you invisibility will most of the time still be a lifesave as the demons will start to scatter after some seconds so you can keep circling - unless Big B somehow manages to hit you hard.
Candlekeep, charmed (1) Kestor and fed him to the rest of Iron Throne for 3 invisibility potions. Charmed (1) Rieltar for the same fate, then Tuth (4), and finally tanked Brunos himself. Looted the place, used PfP and smacked the four Phase Spiders. Cloud Giant Strength potion and Duhm opened the chest with Str tome. Didn't bother with the Doppelgangers or the last mob. All in all the place netted 16k gold, Wis and Str tomes, PfM, Cloak +2, another invisibility potion, and one of Speed, Invulnerability, Heroism and Clarity potions each. Bought 120 acid arrows and bunch of more potions.
Tamoko->Invisibility Ring->Eltan->Invisibility potion->Harbor Master->Elfsong Tavern rest, which still leaves 7 potions of invisibility. Alerted Slythe which made Krystin visible, charmed (1) Krystin and made her attack Slythe who wasted his potions on her. I then dispelled him with an arrow, and started tanking him when Krystin summoned three Skelis, who then helped to kill Slythe. Then Krystin hit herself with Skull Trap, after which her summons killed her. 8k gold. Next up Palace ambush which is the first hairy fight for Seven.
Thought I found a perfect strategy for the Palace ambush. Charm the Mage, rest then charm the Assassin and walk them to the stairs. This may take several tries but I got it with the first. Activate the battle, PfM the Shaman, dispel all four doppelgangers and kill them. Although couple guards still died and Belt got onto his last hp bar. Walk the assasin to the opposite stairs, wait the mage to appear and PfM him. Then dispel him, and hunt him, took 20 acid arrows. Then walk the assasin back away from Liiath, wait him to appear, dispel and kill, took 10 acid arrows. And then just smack Sarevok. You can use the two PfM's here, as there's six of them, and you only need like two in SoD, so there's no point of saving them. But all this, Belt still died, and Liiath survived with just one health bar.
I stopped Krells poverty run as - for now - its no fun anymore: The summons just crush everything...
Maybe i will continue with him another time when i need some chilling but with all the experience gained thanks to the poverty runs it might be the right moment switching to no-reload again.
The Wizard Slayer looks like the right candidate for some kind of new madness - no? First i thought dual classing him to Thief but i cant see any way past Big B so the Druid seems to be the right candidate. Once more. I am not sure how good all the available stuff will be to compensate for the loss of the nearly gamebreaking Spirit Summons. We will see!
But first i will need some time to get a decent roll.....
Any advice or ideas about this one is highly welcome!
Seven tanked everything in Durlag's Tower, even the three Greater Doppelgangers, after dispelling them. Activated the Wardens, invisibility, hit Love with Necklace of Missiles to get him wandering, another invisibility potion. Waited that Love was alone, with acid arrows I lured him to the Engine Room, where I tanked him, Speed, Storm, Duhm, Defensive Stance and 3 Extra Healing Potions. Got the Kiel's Helmet and Durlag's Goblet and 19k gold for my troubles.
Undercity, Magma Bulwark, and tanked Tamoko, 10k gold. Smacked Sunin for another Ring of Wizardy. Bought all the dispelling arrows and potions I could need. Recharged Durlag's Goblet and all four Necklace of Missiles for 100 combined hits. Invested rest of the gold, around 70k to gems, jewerly and scrolls. Still have 3 invisibility potions left which should be just enough for Sarevok and Korlazs. This wasn't perfect run though, as I forgot to charm kill Naaman for 6th PfU, went back to Iron Throne, but he dissappeared right before me. 5 should still be enough, one for Sarevok, one for Korlasz and two for Coldharbor, one in reserves. Lets see if Sarevok has learnt anything getting always killed by his younger brother.
For me its the other way around @semiticgod - i fear Melissan much more than Big B.
The easiest way even for my Bounty Hunter is grabbing 100+ Invisibility and play hit and run after some shooting and using summons (Myconids!) in the beginning. If you buy every potion and wait some time during the final Siege on Dragonspear you can easily get 130 or more Invisibility Potions.
With Speed Boots and Oil of Speed its really easy to get space between you and the following demon army so at the end its all about timing that Big B will port near you while the demons are still away to get in you attack(s) in and immediately go invisible again. This worked even with 50+ demons on my back when testing it with my Bounty Hunter and Totemic Druid.
If you get the right routine about timing and positioning there is not much that can go wrong as long as you keep a cool head and remain patient - unless really bad luck hits you.
Even if the demons manage to surround you invisibility will most of the time still be a lifesave as the demons will start to scatter after some seconds so you can keep circling - unless Big B somehow manages to hit you hard.
I'm afraid my last save is at the elevator and I only have 60 Potions of Invisibility.
I'm not sure how you made it work with a Bounty Hunter. In the late stages of the game, the demons will teleport to me and start making attack rolls before I can fire a second arrow, so a single Potion of Invisibility only gives me a single safe attack, amounting to 4.5 damage per round (since I'd have already expended the good arrows), or 2.5 considering Belhifet's regeneration. Even 100 Potions of Invisibility would only let me tack on 250 damage to Belhifet.
With a minimum THAC0 of 1, a Bounty Hunter would have only a 20% chance of landing a hit on Belhifet. With 60 Arrows +3 and 80 Void-tipped Arrows, that amounts to 200 damage before the Bounty Hunter runs out of ammunition. Then it's just 1.5 net damage per round if you're using hit-and-fade with a melee weapon, and with 130 Potions of Invisibility, that amounts to another 200 damage, leaving Belhifet with 772 HP. And with 20 rounds of tanking via Durlag's Goblet, we're looking at another 60 damage. Where does the other 700 damage come from?
Actually, with Detect Illusions to remove Improved Invisibility, the Bounty Hunter's damage output doubles, and it comes out to 1256 damage--doable on average, but still subject to bad luck.
The funny thing is that the Bounty Hunter is actually better at dealing melee damage to Belhifet than the Archer/Mage. The Archer/Mage has 13 base THAC0 to the Bounty Hunter's 15 and can wear the Helm of Balduran, but Detect Illusions removing Improved Invisibility grants an effective +4 THAC0 to the Bounty Hunter. The single-classed thief deals 5% more damage than the Archer/Mage.
@semiticgod You need to drink the Violet potion, in conjunction with potions of agility and potions of fortitude. It will bump your thac0 and damage by quite a lot. Then, the hit-and-fade strat totally works. I did roughly the same with my pure fighter, but with Storm giant potions instead (it's enough for a fighter type). It takes quite a while, but it's safe and it works.
I calculate 2,180 total damage for the Archer/Mage under optimal conditions, almost twice the Bounty Hunter's. The only problem left is the degree of micromanagement left, and the possibility of being boxed in when my aura's not clear and my Potions of Heroism/Power wear off. If that happens, the chance of death is 12.5% per round.
My Bounty Hunter got -3 THACO including Chant and Luck bonus plus attacking out of invisibility negating Big B´s one if it wasnt dispelled. Detect Illusion is tricky as Big B can recast Improved Invisibility nearly at will so its not 100% reliable @semiticgod.
But the most important one are NOT the pure numbers. For me it was getting the routine of hit & run with good timing and positioning. I still do not agree with you that this is not working after 50+ rounds. There was a time were i could win this battle nearly sleeping cause i just knew when Big B was jumping to me to hit him once in close combat and getting immediately invisible again. This worked nearly like an automatism. At least as long invisbility potions were available!
Just a quick question on the challenge - do familiars count as NPC's for the purposes of this challenge? Or are they allowed?
@canadianchris familiars are definitely allowed. Even if you just keep one in your backpack it gives a useful HP boost to a mage. That's one reason why a possible candidate for this challenge would be a mage dualled to something else almost immediately - not just extra HPs, but free use of wands as well .
The Wizard Slayer looks like the right candidate for some kind of new madness - no? First i thought dual classing him to Thief but i cant see any way past Big B so the Druid seems to be the right candidate. Once more. I am not sure how good all the available stuff will be to compensate for the loss of the nearly gamebreaking Spirit Summons. We will see!
But first i will need some time to get a decent roll.....
Any advice or ideas about this one is highly welcome!
That sounds tough. Were you aiming to get a decent THAC0 from the wizard slayer or dual fairly early to druid? If the former then you're in for a fair amount of grinding .
@semiticgod You need to drink the Violet potion, in conjunction with potions of agility and potions of fortitude. It will bump your thac0 and damage by quite a lot. Then, the hit-and-fade strat totally works. I did roughly the same with my pure fighter, but with Storm giant potions instead (it's enough for a fighter type). It takes quite a while, but it's safe and it works.
No Violet Potion here; I never picked it up. I really sped through BG1, so there's a lot of stuff I never collected. Once I even forgot to collect Durlag's Goblet!
My Bounty Hunter got -3 THACO including Chant and Luck bonus plus attacking out of invisibility negating Big B´s one if it wasnt dispelled. Detect Illusion is tricky as Big B can recast Improved Invisibility nearly at will so its not 100% reliable @semiticgod.
But the most important one are NOT the pure numbers. For me it was getting the routine of hit & run with good timing and positioning. I still do not agree with you that this is not working after 50+ rounds. There was a time were i could win this battle nearly sleeping cause i just knew when Big B was jumping to me to hit him once in close combat and getting immediately invisible again. This worked nearly like an automatism. At least as long invisbility potions were available!
With -3 THAC0, the math actually checks out. Hit-and-fade with Potions of Invisibility and a +3 scimitar means 745 damage to Belhifet when factoring in regeneration.
I've heard that the THAC0 bonus from invisibility does not apply if the target can see through invisibility, just like the +4 AC and saving throw bonus from Improved Invisibility does not apply to liches and demons and such. That's the whole reason I never bothered using the potions offensively. If Potions of Invisibility do grant +4 to hit even against critters that can see through invisibility like Belhifet, then hit-and-fade would indeed work for the Archer/Mage.
Have I been working with faulty information this whole time?
Seven vs Sarevok and his lackeys. In, say hello, ring of invisibility, start hitting Necklace of Missiles. Hit all four, good, good.
Except Angelo agroed and started hunting me, which was fine as I used PfM on him, dispelled him and then smacked him down.
Then smacked the Skeleton Warrior, and resumed hitting with Necklace of Missiles, which hit all three.
After 24 strikes, Semaj was dead, and I smacked the Skeli. 43 and 48 for Diarmid and Tazok, then smacked their Skelis. Continued spamming all 96 hits from the Necklaces, but Sarevok was still only injured state. Buffed, tried to dispel him, which didn't work, so I tanked him. Which wasn't hard and after four zips from Durlag's Goblet he was dead.
Didn't need any Invisibility Potions, actually gained two, and didn't use PfU but just smacked the Skelis down, so I should've plenty for some xp hunting in SoD.
This was now what, fifth time I've played this fight with LoB SCS, and never died, not even close. And Seven rocks on.
Just following up on @Harpagornis post about wizard slayers I realised I didn't have a starting character for that class and spent a few minutes rolling one up to see what I got. The result was pretty impressive - it's a long time since I've had such a high roll (particularly for a character without any high minimum scores). I suppose I'll have to give him a run now .
I've always thought Wizard Slayer being the absolute worst class in the game, that's why nobody plays them. Looking forward of you two suffering it. @Harpagornis@Grond0
Just a quick question on the challenge - do familiars count as NPC's for the purposes of this challenge? Or are they allowed?
@canadianchris familiars are definitely allowed. Even if you just keep one in your backpack it gives a useful HP boost to a mage. That's one reason why a possible candidate for this challenge would be a mage dualled to something else almost immediately - not just extra HPs, but free use of wands as well .
Testing found that my tanking strategy doesn't always work without the right additional steps. I took massive damage when there were two Hamatulas on the map, since each Arrow of Detonation triggered a Barbed Defense. Worse yet, with 4 Cornugons on the map, their Absorb Health spells could deal 352 damage in a single round if they acted in concert--which they did.
Two Potions of Magic Shielding could block the Absorb Health spells entirely, but the Hamatulas remain a problem. Having to drink from Durlag's Goblet two or three times as often really slows down the process, even if the process is still productive.
Jesus Christ. I looked at the numbers again and only having 60 Potions of Invisibility is not enough to beat Belhifet without tanking. The most damage I've ever dealt from kiting alone was 780, while 60 Potions of Invisibility would give me 320 damage if I used missile weapons or 380 if I used a scimitar. Belhifet's almost dead by that point, but only barely (12 HP short of death), and I need more wiggle room to account for bad luck.
Tanking with Arrows of Detonation is still optimal. Under bad circumstances, it deals less damage than a scimitar does before Durlag's Goblet runs out, but its ability to thin the enemy herd means that kiting without Potions of Invisibility can go on much longer, allowing me to deal 700 damage instead of 380.
Without more Potions of Invisibility, Arrows of Detonation remain necessary.
Korlasz crypt. Alerted the mob so that I could run to Potros, and made him surrender. Invisibility + PfU and another invisibility got me to Korlasz. Buffed with two Mind Focusing, Power and Speed potion, dispelled Korlasz and attacked with Acid arrows, dispelled her second time, after which 3rd acid arrow made her surrender. Holy hell, I've never noticed that making her surrender kills all the undead also, for 80k xp. Cashed all my possessions for cool 50k gold and bought bunch of stuff from Sorcerous Sundries. Also hit level 9, which meant that my saves are ridiculous 0,-4,0,0,-3 with defensive stance, and they improve yet by three, when I get the Lucky Boots, should make me immune to all the bad stuff, except the maze trap in Heprenaan quarters.
I've always thought Wizard Slayer being the absolute worst class in the game, that's why nobody plays them. Looking forward of you two suffering it. @Harpagornis@Grond0
They can't even wear the Boots of Speed.
I'm actually rather fond of Wizard Slayers and think they've had a worse press than they deserve. It's true that they're a difficult class to solo, but at high levels they're pretty good - and I have completed a no-reload trilogy run with one (admittedly that was a dwarf though).
@histamiini they can wear magical boots so the boots of speed are definitely a target . I got distracted by family this evening, but should be able to make a start with Frere tomorrow.
Okay, the Potions of Magic Shielding did the trick. I had to do two rounds of tanking: one with the pre-drunk Potions of Heroism, and then some Potions of Power drunk while invisible. That warranted 4 Potions of Magic Shielding on two occasions. It also required kiting in between--not because thinning the herd with Arrows of Detonation made kiting, the more productive activity, possible, but because I couldn't risk trying to tank the enemy until after my Potions of Heroism ran out, which could be fatal if I was surrounded when it happened.
I checked the enemy's HP using CTRL-M and made sure that while I was firing Arrows of Detonation at the wall of demons, I made sure that I never accidentally killed one of the enemies boxing out Belhifet, which meant that Belhifet could never slip in and land some lucky hits when I was low on HP. Instead, I went invisible after healing myself to full, which broke up the herd and let me escape and start kiting again. I then picked off the enemies at Near Death from afar with Acid Arrows and Arrows of Detonation, giving me extra room and extra time to kite Belhifet.
I got Belhifet to 4 HP without using any Potions of Invisibility and with maybe 10 enemies on the map, plus about 40 Arrows of Detonation left. So, as long as I remember to drink all the right potions and switch around the right pieces of equipment, I can kill Belhifet safely.
Comments
Up to v2.3 there was a bug which resulted in 2 separate sources of resistance potentially cancelling each other out. Thus for instance if you add Greenstone Amulet protection to an elf that can actually make him more susceptible to charm, rather than providing immunity. I haven't got around to testing if they've solved that in v2.5.
Any character just making use of the greater restoration scrolls you can buy could keep Caelar going for a long time. If you add mage buffs like spirit armor and improved invisibility I would have thought he would be more than a match for Belhifet.
In my previous install, there were Greater Restoration scrolls everywhere, but in this install, the scrolls only cast Lesser Restoration.
The reason my Archer/Mage can't just buff up and smash Belhifet in the face is because Archers cannot put more than a single proficiency point in any melee weapon. A BG1 or SoD Archer's base melee APR maxes out at 1.5 instead of 2 or 2.5. And because of the old haste bug, haste effects only bump up Frisk's APR from 1.5 to 2 instead of 2.5.
Having only 2 APR instead of 3 APR means that Frisk is 33% less effective in melee combat. And that's just APR; Frisk also has crippling disadvantages to THAC0 and damage. I've done the math many times, and an Archer dual-classed to mage at level 8 is absolutely incapable of taking down Belhifet using the same methods as a typical fighter.
With every buff imaginable, Frisk could deal 12.6 damage per round to Belhifet with a +3 longsword.
A properly buffed single-classed, unkitted fighter with specialization instead of grandmastery will deal 29.25 damage to Belhifet per round. Belhifet dies in 40 rounds.
Make it a standard Fighter/Mage and it'll take 41 rounds.
Make it a Cavalier and Belhifet dies in 28 rounds.
Make it a ranger with Demon as a racial enemy and Belhifet dies in 25 rounds.
Make it a fighter with grandmastery and Belhifet dies in 24 rounds.
But if Frisk resorted to melee, it would take 93 rounds to kill Belhifet. Durlag's Goblet will definitely not last for 93 rounds, and the Mirror Image and Stoneskin spells we have won't be enough to cover the gap. Mirror Image is great, but there's always a chance Belhifet hits you instead of the images, so Stoneskin is necessary. But Stoneskin scrolls are bugged to be unusable (you can scribe them but not cast them), so I never created them--which means my only means of surviving Belhifet's attacks are 10 castings of Mirror Image, 4 castings of Stoneskin, and 20 charges from Durlag's Goblet. That will last me last 80 rounds... if I keep my buffs open constantly, if I never get disrupted, if I never fall low on HP when I'm trying to re-drink a Potion of Invulnerability or Oil of Speed, and if no one but Belhifet ever lands a hit on me.
Frisk has about a third of the melee output of a normal fighter, so their best bet is to use missile weapons, even though Belhifet has 50% resistance to missile damage instead of 25% for other weapons. The numbers are much, much less friendly than they are for a normal fighter type.
Imagine if Belhifet had 4,500 HP instead of 1,172. That's what Frisk is working with here.
The easiest way even for my Bounty Hunter is grabbing 100+ Invisibility and play hit and run after some shooting and using summons (Myconids!) in the beginning. If you buy every potion and wait some time during the final Siege on Dragonspear you can easily get 130 or more Invisibility Potions.
With Speed Boots and Oil of Speed its really easy to get space between you and the following demon army so at the end its all about timing that Big B will port near you while the demons are still away to get in you attack(s) in and immediately go invisible again. This worked even with 50+ demons on my back when testing it with my Bounty Hunter and Totemic Druid.
If you get the right routine about timing and positioning there is not much that can go wrong as long as you keep a cool head and remain patient - unless really bad luck hits you.
Even if the demons manage to surround you invisibility will most of the time still be a lifesave as the demons will start to scatter after some seconds so you can keep circling - unless Big B somehow manages to hit you hard.
Tamoko->Invisibility Ring->Eltan->Invisibility potion->Harbor Master->Elfsong Tavern rest, which still leaves 7 potions of invisibility. Alerted Slythe which made Krystin visible, charmed (1) Krystin and made her attack Slythe who wasted his potions on her. I then dispelled him with an arrow, and started tanking him when Krystin summoned three Skelis, who then helped to kill Slythe. Then Krystin hit herself with Skull Trap, after which her summons killed her. 8k gold. Next up Palace ambush which is the first hairy fight for Seven.
Maybe i will continue with him another time when i need some chilling but with all the experience gained thanks to the poverty runs it might be the right moment switching to no-reload again.
The Wizard Slayer looks like the right candidate for some kind of new madness - no? First i thought dual classing him to Thief but i cant see any way past Big B so the Druid seems to be the right candidate. Once more. I am not sure how good all the available stuff will be to compensate for the loss of the nearly gamebreaking Spirit Summons. We will see!
But first i will need some time to get a decent roll.....
Any advice or ideas about this one is highly welcome!
Undercity, Magma Bulwark, and tanked Tamoko, 10k gold. Smacked Sunin for another Ring of Wizardy. Bought all the dispelling arrows and potions I could need. Recharged Durlag's Goblet and all four Necklace of Missiles for 100 combined hits. Invested rest of the gold, around 70k to gems, jewerly and scrolls. Still have 3 invisibility potions left which should be just enough for Sarevok and Korlazs. This wasn't perfect run though, as I forgot to charm kill Naaman for 6th PfU, went back to Iron Throne, but he dissappeared right before me. 5 should still be enough, one for Sarevok, one for Korlasz and two for Coldharbor, one in reserves. Lets see if Sarevok has learnt anything getting always killed by his younger brother.
I'm not sure how you made it work with a Bounty Hunter. In the late stages of the game, the demons will teleport to me and start making attack rolls before I can fire a second arrow, so a single Potion of Invisibility only gives me a single safe attack, amounting to 4.5 damage per round (since I'd have already expended the good arrows), or 2.5 considering Belhifet's regeneration. Even 100 Potions of Invisibility would only let me tack on 250 damage to Belhifet.
With a minimum THAC0 of 1, a Bounty Hunter would have only a 20% chance of landing a hit on Belhifet. With 60 Arrows +3 and 80 Void-tipped Arrows, that amounts to 200 damage before the Bounty Hunter runs out of ammunition. Then it's just 1.5 net damage per round if you're using hit-and-fade with a melee weapon, and with 130 Potions of Invisibility, that amounts to another 200 damage, leaving Belhifet with 772 HP. And with 20 rounds of tanking via Durlag's Goblet, we're looking at another 60 damage. Where does the other 700 damage come from?
The funny thing is that the Bounty Hunter is actually better at dealing melee damage to Belhifet than the Archer/Mage. The Archer/Mage has 13 base THAC0 to the Bounty Hunter's 15 and can wear the Helm of Balduran, but Detect Illusions removing Improved Invisibility grants an effective +4 THAC0 to the Bounty Hunter. The single-classed thief deals 5% more damage than the Archer/Mage.
But the most important one are NOT the pure numbers. For me it was getting the routine of hit & run with good timing and positioning. I still do not agree with you that this is not working after 50+ rounds. There was a time were i could win this battle nearly sleeping cause i just knew when Big B was jumping to me to hit him once in close combat and getting immediately invisible again. This worked nearly like an automatism. At least as long invisbility potions were available!
P.S. Familiars are okay @canadianchris!
I've heard that the THAC0 bonus from invisibility does not apply if the target can see through invisibility, just like the +4 AC and saving throw bonus from Improved Invisibility does not apply to liches and demons and such. That's the whole reason I never bothered using the potions offensively. If Potions of Invisibility do grant +4 to hit even against critters that can see through invisibility like Belhifet, then hit-and-fade would indeed work for the Archer/Mage.
Have I been working with faulty information this whole time?
Maybe @semiticgod!
Except Angelo agroed and started hunting me, which was fine as I used PfM on him, dispelled him and then smacked him down.
Then smacked the Skeleton Warrior, and resumed hitting with Necklace of Missiles, which hit all three.
After 24 strikes, Semaj was dead, and I smacked the Skeli. 43 and 48 for Diarmid and Tazok, then smacked their Skelis. Continued spamming all 96 hits from the Necklaces, but Sarevok was still only injured state. Buffed, tried to dispel him, which didn't work, so I tanked him. Which wasn't hard and after four zips from Durlag's Goblet he was dead.
Didn't need any Invisibility Potions, actually gained two, and didn't use PfU but just smacked the Skelis down, so I should've plenty for some xp hunting in SoD.
This was now what, fifth time I've played this fight with LoB SCS, and never died, not even close. And Seven rocks on.
They can't even wear the Boots of Speed.
Two Potions of Magic Shielding could block the Absorb Health spells entirely, but the Hamatulas remain a problem. Having to drink from Durlag's Goblet two or three times as often really slows down the process, even if the process is still productive.
Tanking with Arrows of Detonation is still optimal. Under bad circumstances, it deals less damage than a scimitar does before Durlag's Goblet runs out, but its ability to thin the enemy herd means that kiting without Potions of Invisibility can go on much longer, allowing me to deal 700 damage instead of 380.
Without more Potions of Invisibility, Arrows of Detonation remain necessary.
@histamiini they can wear magical boots so the boots of speed are definitely a target
I checked the enemy's HP using CTRL-M and made sure that while I was firing Arrows of Detonation at the wall of demons, I made sure that I never accidentally killed one of the enemies boxing out Belhifet, which meant that Belhifet could never slip in and land some lucky hits when I was low on HP. Instead, I went invisible after healing myself to full, which broke up the herd and let me escape and start kiting again. I then picked off the enemies at Near Death from afar with Acid Arrows and Arrows of Detonation, giving me extra room and extra time to kite Belhifet.
I got Belhifet to 4 HP without using any Potions of Invisibility and with maybe 10 enemies on the map, plus about 40 Arrows of Detonation left. So, as long as I remember to drink all the right potions and switch around the right pieces of equipment, I can kill Belhifet safely.
No more test runs. The next one is the real one.