Serafina, image and Deva, with 3 Mace of Distruptions quickly swept Master Wraith aside. Then pressed onwards, but skeleton mage surprised me with Time Stop, Fallen Deva etc. so I made quick decision to back up, and use PfU. Waited the Deva out, summoned backup and safely killed the skeleton mage and cleric. First level of Yaga-Shura stronghold passed with single Sanctuary. First two Fire Giants killed with Deva and couple Aerial Servants. Brimstone was stuck between a pillar and Fire Giant so I couldn't lure it away. Luckily the first hit from WoW petrified it. Fell Cats lured away for summons to kill. Then just picked up the two hearts, and escaped.
Activated Nyalee and escaped. Nyalee and my mirror summoned no less than 15 times, which I waited out. Then lured Nyalee away, and summons quickly wasted her. Said hello for Yaga-Shura and scared him with Energy Blades. After he lost his immortality, I charmed him with SoC and he was killed by his own army. Easy enough.
Passed Oasis because there was nothing there for me. Did the mundane stuff in Amkethran. Second Pocket Plance challenge. Learned from the last time, and used summon door trick to allow me to escape from the room. Only Tamoko followed and was quickly killed by skelis, then my double faced the same fate, then Angelo. Semaj was able to kill my summons and call Fallen Planetar, so I had to retreat and wait it out. Another batch of summons, and Semaj too was killed. Got Regeneration.
The easy part is over, and harder stuff starts. Going to tackle the dragons first I think, as I don't have mage or thief levels to easily handle the Sendai battle. Although I'm quite wary of Abazigal too. Between Sim and me I've 4 Critical Strike Harms, but Abazigal's MR is 65, which my double could lower to 32. Still not quaranteed easy way out. And I can't use str drain either because the guest would get stuck I think.
@histamiini: Yes, the right cutscene won't trigger if Abazigal dies to stat drain. Same goes with Sendai's final form. You may have to kite Abazigal (his regeneration is bugged not to work) or tank him if you can achieve high enough damage resistance.
What are your Archer HLAs again? If you have a Hardiness spell, you could tank him for a little over 10 rounds using Armor of Faith and the Defender of Easthaven. Otherwise you might need to do a lot of running and burn a bunch of Rod of Resurrection charges.
Do you have the Scorcher Ammunition? If so, kiting him would be eminently doable after his Improved Haste wore off, since the hitstun would slow him down.
You could also install the Better Stat Drain mod, which brings critters like Abazigal down to 1 HP if they suffer stat drain, and therefore prevents stat drain from breaking quests. If you do, though, bear in mind that the mod doesn't work completely on Melissan, since she's not supposed to die before the Five are gone and will heal herself automatically. The Better Stat Drain mod doesn't perfectly replicate the instant death effect Melissan would otherwise suffer.
@semiticgod I've Power Attack, 2x Critical Strikes, and Hardiness. I'll complete BMU as soon as possible, so Scorchers are available.
I'll try without the mod I think, there's still 80% chance Harm will go through if I can get his Magic Resistance down. Although a lot can go wrong doing that. Do you know if Tamah needs to be killed before Abazigal? In the newest SCS version Tamah reveals herself only after Abazigal transforms.
@histamiini: I always kill Tamah first, but I see no reason that would be mandatory. Tamah is definitely easier to kill than Abazigal, and she's vulnerable to petrification. STR drain will work perfectly fine against her as well.
Doesn't spell disruption pose a significant threat to your Archer/Cleric? Harm and Magic Resistance both have casting times of 9, and LoB ToB enemies are going to land hits very easily.
@semiticgod Yeah it does, but I could try distracting it with summons. Also I've the Rift Device, which dispels and gets him to 40% health, if I eventually need to use damage approach.
@histamiini: I thought you were saving that for Melissan. But come to think of it, you can always obliterate her with STR drain if you use Called Shot with the Scorcher Ammunition and use Yaga-Shura as your target, and the Ravager could also fall to STR drain if you used Energy Blades. Abazigal might be the best candidate for the Rift Device, if your install prevents your clones from using it.
Still, it's probably best to save the Rift Device for the final battle if you can, since it could be a critical game-changer there.
@Grond0: By the way, I wasn't able to get the gnolls to kill Drizzt in LoB mode. Even if he was outside my field of vision, the gnolls only got a few moments of free attacks before he fought back.
@semiticgod my guess is you were continuing to take actions with your character (even just moving around will partially activate Drizzt and make him defend against the current attacker(s)). If you just want to kill him then once you've activated a few gnolls on one side try just stopping out of sight and letting them attack.
Night of the Long Fangs. Draconis Silenced, then hacked enough with the skelis, that when the Silence ended, he turned straight to the Dragon form. Sent skelis in fog of war to deplete his triggers, but after I cast Farsight to see what was happening, Draconis went invisible and sneaked on to me. Note for the next run, don't do that. Had to kite him some time to take his Haste off, then summoned Deva to keep him company. My plan was to Harm him, but soon figured that I didn't have enough Harms learned for the Sim to cast it, so I tried to Harm him myself. Draconis interrupted first and the second was stopped by Magic Resistance, nice one. Had to use rest of my summons, 7 skelis, 6 servants and 2 devas, and 2 Energy Blades, but with Draconis many Stoneskins and Heal it wasn't enough. Luckily during the last deva, I was able to melee enough damage to kill him. Damn that was a lot tougher fight than expected, have to focus more.
Lizard Men with gww's absolutely exploded my summons. Had to escape the level and rest, before I was able to charm the Greater Werewyvern. But it didn't work, because it somehow dispelled itself soon after. Then I tried AoF, DoEH, Hardiness, DUHM, Improved Haste, 2x Critical Strike and Power Attack, but somehow it only got him to 11 hp. Then I figured that it has an insane regen, 6 hpps, with Haste 72 hppr. So I rested again outside, same buffs, but with Sim and doubled damage was able to finally kill it. Didn't bother with the Lizard men.
Got lucky with Anadramatis, and I was able to back up before the dialogue hit. Summoned 5 skelis, which casually hacked her. At some point she activated the dialogue, surrendered soon after, and then was killed as skelis continued the assault, and I did nothing. Got the Wing Buffet amulet, and Yellow Dragon Scales. Kuo-Toa part was a tad improved, Priest are able now to hit you. Other than that it's easily done. Fetched the rope.
Quadruble Dragon attack, managed to petrify Zirimanat'ryl with first strike, but Olinissimous took 15 strikes. Ithy'nassendra again just 2 strikes. Then switched to FR gear.
The fight is somewhat different than before, as when the last two dragons spawn, you're teleported to them and have dialogue. But I could still make a quick escape and buff, as they didn't follow immediatelly. Summoned 4 skelis and Deva and sent them to trigger Carnifex triggers, especially the Spell Deflection. But after the summons were dead, Carnifex found me. Started running away from him, soon there was four entities chasing me, Carnifex, Lower Resistance and double Remove Magics. Then I deviated somewhat from the working path, and the spells hit me. Immediatelly took Oil of Speed, and started buffing again. Luckily his Haste ended soon after. He cast Greater Malison to me, and soon after managed to Blind me, but it didn't last long. Then he got me with Breach, then another. I was getting annoyed with this, so I summoned one Deva and other summons to fight back. This bought me time, and after 12 strikes from WoW, Carnifex finally succumbed.
With Sanctuary fetched the Bronze shorts, and went in and completed the Big Metal Unit. Finally some good armor. Fll'Yissetat petrified with first strike before her triggers hit, which saved a lot of kiting I think. Got the 12h Improved Invisibility ring. Buffed some more, and pressed on.
With BMU and -2 from Hell I could easily hit the AC cap but now I could pass it a long way too. With 6 piercing modifier, 6 from dex, 2 from PfE and 4 from Improved Invisibility to -38 vs piercing, the fast hitting wyverns were now reduced to hit only 19's and up. It took freaking long time to kill Quenash, counted about 6 Stoneskins before I managed to hack her. But as they only hit with 19's and up, I was managing pretty well. Shellig died after 5 stoneskins. After taking about 12 stoneskins out, I finally could press on and remove the Frost Salamanders from the map. After that I could escape to Pocket Plane and rest, and plan. Interestingly Sim only casts first 3 spells from 6th level, alphabetically, which is annoying. I could only take 1 Aerial Servant so Sim could cast 2 Harms.
Battle against Abazigal. My plan was to use summons from Farsight to transform him, which worked, except it took all my spell summons to do it. From afar I cast Simulacrum for some Harm business, but then Tamah found us, and stunned Sim. So I started tanking it. Sim recovered and managed to Harm Tamah, and I soon killed her. At this point Abazigal was still fighting a skeli somewhere. Waited his 3 PfMW's out, cast Harm. Except somehow Abazigal interrupted my casting even though I didn't see him. Skeli died, but Aba didn't find me, so I waited some time to see if there was some triggers. I cast Harm again, then Critical Strike and attacked. And with 35% success, it worked, Abazigal died immediatelly, and I was saved from a lot of kiting I think. In the end that went very well. After this the third Pocket Plane challenge and the Slayer was a pushover, got Dark Taint.
Now the part that I've thought most since starting the run, Sendai Enclave.
For mage the Kanaglym lich which nets Spell Sequencer robe, but other than that the Tiefling in Dead Mans Pass which nets the summon Mephits ring. Others only for xp.
@histamiini: Excellent work! I'm guessing the reason why your Harm spell got disrupted offscreen is because Abazigal's shockwave spell has a spell failure effect, I think for 12 seconds after it hits. I'm not sure if there's a saving throw, but unfortunately the spell failure is not accompanied by a portrait icon that lets you know when it's active.
@histamiini@semiticgod did u guys made any new video's ? if my cleric dual is gonna fail again at coalition camp i am considering making a berserker mage 13 beserker ofcourse but 13 beserker means i have to be going tru coalition camp with a pure fighter is this gonna be easier then cleric tips welcome haha!
Sendai Enclave outside. Petrifying the Woodcutter is another zero risk method to spawn the door. Entered the Enclave and passed with invisibility to Thelynn's room. She didn't survive from two Critical Strike Energy Blades. Passed spiders to the next area. This area only the Glabrezus see through invisibility, so I tried luring them away. They sent two dispels to chase me as I backed up. Once the dispels hit, only Yochol teleported onto me. Immediatelly drank invisibility and left him there. Baited the two Glabresuz to follow again, they again sent dispels after me and started chasing me. This time I went around the building and just escaped inside from the dispels. PfU and hacked the lich in few seconds. Again escaped the chasing dispels in Glabrezu area and entered Diaytha's room.
Control Circlet guaranteed charming of Ogremoch. He quickly grinded the other elementals, 4 skelis to block him, Simulacrum, Energy Blades and Called Shot. Best way is actually wait the first round of Called Shot and cast another. That way you can start with 2 str drain. Ogremoch was dead soon after. Diaytha killed easily without agroing others with Energy Blades and double Critical Strikes from the corridor. Egeissag first stunned with Energy Blades and Power Strike, and easily meleed. That's a nice trifecta for Energy Blades, Called Shot, Critical Strike and Power Strike.
Time to do some last int buffing for the Mind Flayers. 30 Mind Focus just because to over 100 int, Potion of Absorbtion, Blunt Belt and others sent my AC vs Crushing to over -40. The mindies didn't really have a chance. Lastly summoned 5 skelis and sent one to trigger the wizards. It was able to absorb incredible amount of spells, then I sent the rest of the skelis in and wizards got killed soon after.
Sendai battle. With Energy Blades and double Called Shot I managed to kill the cleric Sendai. This is always the priority because it can cast Fallen Deva which sees through invisibility. Then quickly drank invisibility potion and escaped to Pocket Plane to rest. Then I repeated the next procedure many times: rest, Chaotic Commands, Death Ward, AoF, Improved Haste, DUHM and Hardiness. Returned to the enclave and with Critical Strike and wielding FoA and DoEH with 85 DR, I could always kill a single drow, and then drink invisibility potion and escape. Mages always stayed at the middle, and casted PfMW first which meant they didn't really have time to bother me, before I was gone. Few times they got me with dispel, and I had to drink double potions to escape. After 10 trips, the reqular drow seemed all dead. Well not that regular when they cast gww's with over -30 Thac0.
Thinking how to kill the mages, because they have PfMW trigger I thought I had figured amazing tactic. I could cast Globe of Blades and Blade Barrier without breaking invisibility, and with Improved Haste doubling their hits, they could do amazing amount of damage. Except the mage drows were staying uninjured, although the text showed them getting hard damage. How's that possible? Turned on one of the Sendai's and it got quickly killed from the blades. I could trap all the Sendai's in their pits, blocking the way with invisibility, and eventually the blades sliced them up. Next I found that Sendai7 was also immune to damage, although text showed it getting slashing damage?
I remember with my last playthrough with Cavalier, how the mages broke the game with bugged Spell Deflections. I wonder if they're still broken differently, and one of the Sendai's got the same disease? Anyone have any ideas what's happening?
@Mr_Salty Yeah Berseker should pass BG1 and SoD, it can use Arrow's of Detonation in Crusader Attacks, which is the easiest tactic. Although Belhifet will still give a fight at the end I think with -24 AC. Cleric just is the worst class at Crusader Attacks, well maybe Druid is worse I don't know.
I managed to kill the other mage with the blades, don't know how, but I noticed that once in a while their injury state changed for a short duration before returning to uninjured. Also noticed that Belt of Skillful Blade actually applies to the Globe of Blades, and Blade Barrier. So with it I tried maxing the damage output. Simulacrum, Improved Haste, Globe of Blade, Blade Barrier and I was getting 8 apr with them. What a crowd control weapon. Still haven't killed the other mage though.
EDIT: Nevermind it too got killed. That's how you kill bugs.
@Mr_Salty Yeah Berseker should pass BG1 and SoD, it can use Arrow's of Detonation in Crusader Attacks, which is the easiest tactic. Although Belhifet will still give a fight at the end I think with -24 AC. Cleric just is the worst class at Crusader Attacks, well maybe Druid is worse I don't know.
ok for the arrow tactic what bow is the best to use ? shortbox/xbow/longbow etc ? haha and should i need points into them aswell ? (i am thinking of the crossbow for the skull thing then what u guys think ?
Now I'm going to take a try at this challenge, since this thread has been practically a monologue by @histamiini for quite a while now. But I will be playing a different game.
I am going to play through Icewind Dale: Enhanced Edition with my mod Improved Heart of Fury Mode. The mod greatly powers up enemies as well as their AI (smarter spellcasters, better attack AI, pre-buffing, calls for help, etc.), and I think it is a good Icewind Dale equivalent of this challenge. I'm not playing no-reload (since the mod is ridiculously hard even for its creator, especially when soloing), but I will keep a death count.
I am playing a very overpowered character, but not one overpowered enough to make the mod a cakewalk.
Character:
Linnasa, Elf Fighter/Invoker/Cleric
Difficulty: Insane (Improved Heart of Fury Mode can be played on any difficulty, though Insane is the closest equivalent to the regular Heart of Fury mode).
Item categories allowed: All except wands, which there won't be many of anyway. However, I'm placing additional restrictions of my own.
Linnasa can cast spells while wearing any armor without penalty, and her spellcasting cannot be disabled. However, she can only wear armor - no mage robes. In this mod, that's a considerable drawback because there are some really good mage robes, including ones that decrease casting time, grant Aura Cleansing, or boost the character's elemental damage significantly.
I am also using a lot of tweaks that will make the character more powerful:
~CDTWEAKS/SETUP-CDTWEAKS.TP2~ #0 #2090 // Change Experience Point Cap -> Remove Experience Cap: v8
~CDTWEAKS/SETUP-CDTWEAKS.TP2~ #0 #2152 // Wear Multiple Protection Items -> Allow Armor Plus One Protection Item (Angel): v8
~CDTWEAKS/SETUP-CDTWEAKS.TP2~ #0 #2200 // Multi-Class Grandmastery (Weimer): v8
~CDTWEAKS/SETUP-CDTWEAKS.TP2~ #0 #2260 // Alter Mage Spell Progression Table -> Un-Nerfed Table (Blucher): v8
~CDTWEAKS/SETUP-CDTWEAKS.TP2~ #0 #2280 // Alter Cleric Spell Progression Table -> Un-Nerfed Table (Blucher): v8
~CDTWEAKS/SETUP-CDTWEAKS.TP2~ #0 #3040 // Make Bags of Holding Bottomless: v8
~CDTWEAKS/SETUP-CDTWEAKS.TP2~ #0 #3080 // Increase Ammo Stack Size -> Unlimited Ammo Stacking: v8
~CDTWEAKS/SETUP-CDTWEAKS.TP2~ #0 #3090 // Increase Gem and Jewelry Stacking -> Unlimited Gem and Jewelry Stacking: v8
~CDTWEAKS/SETUP-CDTWEAKS.TP2~ #0 #3100 // Increase Potion Stacking -> Unlimited Potion Stacking: v8
~CDTWEAKS/SETUP-CDTWEAKS.TP2~ #0 #3110 // Increase Scroll Stacking -> Unlimited Scroll Stacking: v8
~CDTWEAKS/SETUP-CDTWEAKS.TP2~ #0 #3280 // Give Every Class/Kit Four Weapon Slots: v8
~BETTERHOF/BETTERHOF.TP2~ #0 #1 // Enable Throne of Bhaal-style High Level Abilities
~BETTERHOF/BETTERHOF.TP2~ #0 #2 // Change the summoning limit -> Remove it
~LOWLEVELABILITIES/LOWLEVELABILITIES.TP2~ #0 #0 // Low Level Abilities
~MESPELLS/MESPELLS.TP2~ #0 #804 // Restore instant casting time for Contingency and Chain Contingency
~MESPELLS/MESPELLS.TP2~ #0 #805 // Instant casting time for Farsight
~MESPELLS/MESPELLS.TP2~ #0 #1200 // Add special spells that allow high-level spellcasters to cast low-level spells with essentially permanent durations
~CDTWEAKS/SETUP-CDTWEAKS.TP2~ #0 #2240 // Un-Nerfed THAC0 Table: v8
~CDTWEAKS/SETUP-CDTWEAKS.TP2~ #0 #2420 // Loosen Equipment Restrictions for Cleric Multi-Classes: v8
~CDTWEAKS/SETUP-CDTWEAKS.TP2~ #0 #3031 // Easy Spell Learning -> 100% Learn Spells and No Maximum Cap: v8
~CDTWEAKS/SETUP-CDTWEAKS.TP2~ #0 #3050 // Remove fatigue from restoration spells: v8
~CDTWEAKS/SETUP-CDTWEAKS.TP2~ #0 #3205 // Stores Purchase All Item Types: v8
~CDTWEAKS/SETUP-CDTWEAKS.TP2~ #0 #3320 // No Depreciation in Stores: v8
~MORESCROLLSFORIWD/MORESCROLLSFORIWD.TP2~ #0 #0 // More Scrolls For IWD: 1.0
(LowLevelAbilities and MESpells are mods I haven't released yet. LowLevelAbilities currently just adds some new High Level Abilities to the game.)
Here's the character:
In Improved Heart of Fury Mode, new characters roll 8-20 for stats rather than 3-18. I decided to max out Linnasa's stats (20, 21, 19, 20, 20, 20) with EEKeeper. This mod is very tough even for a full party, and Linnasa needs all the help she can get as a solo character. In the long run, it won't make a huge difference because the mod includes a lot of stat-increasing tomes that let even a normal character get to 25 in all stats eventually.
So to start off, Linnasa did the quests in Easthaven. The wolf in Apsel's shop almost killed her in melee combat, so I had her kite the wolf to death.
Enemies in Improved Heart of Fury Mode tend to have additional abilities. The fire beetles in Grisella's cellar breathe fire. Linnasa cast Resist Fire/Cold and Protection from Fire and exterminated them.
To deal with the rest of the prologue, Linnasa used Animate Dead. Summoned creatures aren't powered up in Improved Heart of Fury Mode, though this is still early on in the game, so basic skeletons and zombies are still useful.
The orc encounter in the center of the cave was too tough, featuring many orc archers with flaming arrows, as well as an elite orc archer who could use Whirlwind Attack. So Linnasa led the orcs outside the cave, where they could not come back in. I wasn't sure how I'd finish them off. Since I had noticed that Animate Dead does not break Sanctuary, I figured I might be able to summon some undead to pick off a orc or two in safety. The plan didn't work that well.
But then things got worse. While still in Sanctuary, Linnasa got cornered by orcs!
Here was my plan: Linnasa needed to escape back into the cave, where she could rest and the orcs wouldn't follow her, but there was an orc in the way. She could cast an AoE spell like Sleep or Stinking Cloud, kill one orc, and make a run for it. I waited until the orc shaman's Recitation spell wore off, and I had Linnasa cast Stinking Cloud on the orcs. The problem was I had not considered that, unlike the skeletons, Linnasa was not immune to Stinking Cloud herself! She got knocked unconscious, and although some of the orcs did as well, some of them stayed up. They killed Linnasa in moments.
Death Count: 1
Linnasa beat the orcs by picking them off a couple at a time. She would come into the area, throw down a Stinking Cloud (preferably not on top of herself) or a Fireball, possibly finish off one of them with a throwing dagger, run away when she was in danger, rest, and repeat. This went fine for both of the big encounters in the cave.
After embarking on the expedition and getting avalanched into the Kuldahar Pass, Linnasa simply put on Sanctuary and made a run for Kuldahar. Since there's no other safe haven to backtrack to in the pass, I didn't want Linnasa to rest after barely surviving a goblin encounter without many hit points or spells left, only to get killed by a goblin. The enemies in the pass don't give much experience anyway.
Corinth's Bow, a longbow, is the best in the game, with +4 damage. Berserkers cannot specialize in ranged weapons, so you'll be limited to 1 proficiency point regardless. With an Oil of Speed, your max APR with Arrows of Detonation will be 2 instead of 3, a significant disadvantage but not something that can't be overcome; even 2 APR will be sufficient, I think, and the damage per hit will be fairly similar. Before you get Corinth's Bow, you can find the Bow of the Banshee in a cave somewhere and also buy a +2 composite longbow from Belegarm, I think, albeit at huge expense. But you can get Corinth's Bow before the Coalition Camp invasion by talking your way into Dragonspear Castle early and convincing Corinth's boss that he's a traitor (check a walkthrough for details).
You'll only be able to put 1 pip in crossbows as well, so the Frag Grenades (which I wouldn't recommend using because they are not party-friendly) and Scorcher Ammunition won't get any damage bonuses from that 1 pip; just a slight THAC0 boost. But that THAC0 boost might be worth the single proficiency point since you'll be dealing with plenty of enemies with -20 AC or better, and even a max-level Berserker can't quite hit -20 crossbow THAC0 without the right gear or buffs.
If you're not averse to XP loops, you might try dual-classing at a higher level than 13 for better THAC0 and more proficiency points, though I don't think the maximum dual-class at level 21 will be worth it, since you'd only get 2 HLAs.
Corinth's Bow, a longbow, is the best in the game, with +4 damage. Berserkers cannot specialize in ranged weapons, so you'll be limited to 1 proficiency point regardless. With an Oil of Speed, your max APR with Arrows of Detonation will be 2 instead of 3, a significant disadvantage but not something that can't be overcome; even 2 APR will be sufficient, I think, and the damage per hit will be fairly similar. Before you get Corinth's Bow, you can find the Bow of the Banshee in a cave somewhere and also buy a +2 composite longbow from Belegarm, I think, albeit at huge expense. But you can get Corinth's Bow before the Coalition Camp invasion by talking your way into Dragonspear Castle early and convincing Corinth's boss that he's a traitor (check a walkthrough for details).
You'll only be able to put 1 pip in crossbows as well, so the Frag Grenades (which I wouldn't recommend using because they are not party-friendly) and Scorcher Ammunition won't get any damage bonuses from that 1 pip; just a slight THAC0 boost. But that THAC0 boost might be worth the single proficiency point since you'll be dealing with plenty of enemies with -20 AC or better, and even a max-level Berserker can't quite hit -20 crossbow THAC0 without the right gear or buffs.
If you're not averse to XP loops, you might try dual-classing at a higher level than 13 for better THAC0 and more proficiency points, though I don't think the maximum dual-class at level 21 will be worth it, since you'd only get 2 HLAs.
@semiticgod i assume u replied to my post^^
i would like to max mage 28 for max spells (dont they get better rolls the more levels u have in mage ? (higher succes on held sleep silence etc etc) or is the level just the amount of spells u get and that it ?
@Mr_Salty: For the purposes of Dispel Magic, all spells scale infinitely regardless of mods. Mages in LoB mode will have caster levels above 30, so having 28 levels as a mage will give you a decent chance of avoiding a Dispel Magic, but you should probably have SI: Abjuration on hand at all times anyway. Your own Dispel Magic spells will never affect anyone even at level 28, though. Otherwise, spells don't scale past level 20, so Skull Trap won't deal any more damage than 20d6, unless you have a mod that extends them. There's actually a level 50 spell mod that lets all spells that do scale, scale to level 50.
So, basically you'll just want higher levels for the extra spell slots.
Corinth's Bow, a longbow, is the best in the game, with +4 damage. Berserkers cannot specialize in ranged weapons, so you'll be limited to 1 proficiency point regardless. With an Oil of Speed, your max APR with Arrows of Detonation will be 2 instead of 3,
@semiticgod this confused me at first, but I think I know what you're getting at (I might be wrong of course ).
- a fighter-type at this stage would be expected to benefit from 0.5 APR from level 7 and another 0.5 APR from specialist proficiency, i.e. 3 APR. An oil of speed would boost that to 4 APR.
- the berserker can't get the proficiency benefit so are limited to 2.5 APR normally. An oil of speed only boosts existing half APRs by 0.5 rather than 1, so takes that to 3 APR.
- a berserker would thus be limited to a maximum of 3 APR with exploding arrows, rather than the 4 APR other fighters could get.
Now I'm going to take a try at this challenge, since this thread has been practically a monologue by @histamiini for quite a while now. But I will be playing a different game.
@OlvynChuru always nice to see superpowers in the hands of orcs!
Is there any chance of posting screenshots as jpgs rather than pngs - the latter result in significantly longer page loading times if screenshots are not in spoilers?
Continuing the fight Sendai7 statue truly is invulnerable before it sees you. Tried four Fire Storms and it was the same deal, she took damage a lot, but didn't get hurt. Definitely a bug in the script. Anyway I put BMU on knowing it would probably cast Fallen Planetar, I did also have natural -6 vs death so I wasn't afraid of its Vorpals. Blocked way for Sendai7 and started hacking. Soon it started casting amazing amount of enemies, apparently 5 summon limit doesn't concern enemies. Anyway I just took everything it got, Fallen Planetar got eventually unsummoned, and then I hacked the rest of the enemies, before turning my eye on the Sendai7. Just before it was killed I did put couple buffs on for the real Sendai.
Real Sendai arrived, and I started kiting around the map, to a point when Sendai moved to one of the pits. Then I went out of its sight and started tanking the Fallen Planetar. Soon it was unsummoned and I could buff again and start hacking Sendai. She dried Dimension Door couple times, but I found her quickly with great speed from Haste and BMU. She tried Sanctuary but I used True Sight, and soon she was dead. That wasn't that bad. The three bugged enemies made this fight annoying, but eventually it didn't matter. Next time I should try using the Globe of Blades + Blade Barrier method right from the beginning, as it should slice the drow up quickly with no risk because it doesn't break invisibility.
Fourth Pocket Plane challenge and the Cyric's Favored were pushovers with BMU, got Hand of Murder. Even evil can convince Balty to join the fight with 2-2-3-2-1-1-1-3-3-1-1-2-1-1 dialogue options, if 20 for charm, wisdom or reputation. I don't remember which, I've all maxed. For the Ravager I used summon door trick to get the Bone Blades out of the way. Simulacrum, Energy Blades and starting from double Called Shot the Ravager was quickly killed. Got 25 damage resistance.
Good luck, @histamiini! Does the Pocket Plane trick still work at the Throne of Bhaal? I was wondering if you planned on using it to carpet the map with lots of Glyphs of Warding, like you did with Skull Traps in a previous run.
@semiticgod Thanks I'll need it. Doesn't work in the newest SCS versions, when you try to use it says Pocket Plane is destroyed or something like that. So the trapping method has taken quite a hit. Although you can still trap the place with spells three times, because you get spells back after completing every pool. So with careful management you could get some nice traps going on.
Started Throne of Bhaal the usual way, Balty attacked Bodhi where as I ran to top of the map hiding. Well that didn't work very long because a Fallen Solar revealed me with True Sight. Something that hasn't happened to me before. Balty died before I could save him with RoR. Except my RoR hit him after he was dead, which resurrected and made him neutral. Neutral that started hitting Irenicus, who wasn't fighting back. Now this was a nice surprise.
I kited the double Solars and Magical Swords until Imoen left. It took some time but Balty casually killed Irenicus, then I kited until the Magical Swords got unsummoned. Solars got True Sight upgrade, but they didn't get the memo that don't go ranged against Reflection Shield.
And soon the poor sucker vorpalled itself. The other one didn't and we were having the longest combat of all time. It only attacked with arrows hurting itself, but it didn't allow me to have Energy Blades or anything else and dispelled me like a clockwork. And of course it had infinite Heals. I took BMU actually off when the Solar buggered off, so the arrows reflected more frequently. I checked its bow and it had 15% chance of vorpal with Death -2. So about every 1/25 reflected arrows, it was going to die. But it didn't happen.
Finally after long time I did enough damage with a sling and reflected arrows, and managed to interrupt one Heal which seemed to broke the cycle. Now I could buff for Bodhi, who was the last one left. No infinite PfMW Marilith spawns in this run it seems. I tried charming Balty again with the Control Circlet, but he remained true neutral. Bodhi didn't survive double Called Shot from the Energy Blades.
Always quite risky doing this with new installations, this time something was harder than before, Fallen Solar True Sight, but other things made it easier, Solar attacking Reflection Shield and no Mariliths etc.
i have given up on the cleric mage @ belhifet i had so much prep before the boss and he simply debuffs me.... making me a helpless sack of **** i have soon the video up so u guys can watch it and tell me what i should do..... for now i am at a loss removing all my buffs in a single spell the game has no shame....
@Mr_Salty: Hard luck. Are you having Caelar join your party at the start? That's considered legal in solo challenges as long as you have her rely exclusively on her AI to act. You can let her absorb Belhifet's opening Remove Magic spell, and have your cleric/mage retreat to the southwest to stay out of the Remove Magic spell's area of effect.
Otherwise, you'd need to use a Spell Immunity spell (or just the scroll, which you can find in a chest in Hephernaan's chamber) to get SI: Abjuration and therefore immunity to that Remove Magic spell. Belhifet only casts it once, so if you can block it or run away from it while Caelar takes the hit, your buffs will be safe for the remainder of the fight.
@Mr_Salty: Hard luck. Are you having Caelar join your party at the start? That's considered legal in solo challenges as long as you have her rely exclusively on her AI to act. You can let her absorb Belhifet's opening Remove Magic spell, and have your cleric/mage retreat to the southwest to stay out of the Remove Magic spell's area of effect.
Otherwise, you'd need to use a Spell Immunity spell (or just the scroll, which you can find in a chest in Hephernaan's chamber) to get SI: Abjuration and therefore immunity to that Remove Magic spell. Belhifet only casts it once, so if you can block it or run away from it while Caelar takes the hit, your buffs will be safe for the remainder of the fight.
i got 5 scrolls of protection from magic .... but when i use that it removes all my own magic aswell thus not helpfull at all ^^ the room with the crown of lies ? i did not touch that chest cause it maze/imprisoned me so i left that and i could not open the other chest if i have Caelar in my party will the game still see this as beating it solo ??
and after some thinking and seeing the video, i had 0% to do it in any way cause belhifet needs +3 weapon to dmg him the only thing i had +3 was the staff from strix guy
@Mr_Salty: Sorry; I shouldn't have brought up Spell Immunity when you're playing a single-classed cleric. A Protection from Magic scroll will not protect you from Remove Magic (though you can use potion buffs after using that scroll, which means there are other fights where you could combine the scroll with other defenses).
Historically, we've allowed Caelar to join the party on the grounds that, if you don't give her direct orders and let her act just on her own AI, it replicates the effect of her fighting alongside you as a non-party member, which is how she normally operates if you ask her to join you when you already have a full party. So, she's in your party, but in terms of the difficulty of the challenge, it's the same as if she was an uncontrolled ally, like Drizzt can be in BG2. I've toyed with the idea of creating a small mod that would let her fight alongside you as a non-party member even if you didn't have a full party, but that currently does not exist.
If you can summon an ally before Belhifet casts Remove Magic (possibly through an item), and hopefully cause him to cast Remove Magic on your summoned critters instead of you, then you might be able to avoid it. But I kinda doubt that's possible. Otherwise, your only method of dodging that Remove Magic is to have Caelar join the team, so the Remove Magic spell hits her instead.
The Hammer of Darkness is the only other available +3 weapon for a solo cleric (not counting the Martial Staff, but that's just another +3 staff like the one you already have), but you get that way, way back in Bridgefort, so going back to get that one item would be a huge setback--and I'm not sure it's worth it, since that hammer won't get STR bonuses, and your staff will. The staff is probably your best bet anyway, since a cleric's inability to force open the chest that contains the other +3 hammer in the game, Sundermaul, means that you can't dual wield two hammers regardless.
@histamiini has been able to essentially kite Belhifet by constantly drinking Potions of Invisibility after every attack roll. You need a LOT of Potions of Invisibility to do that, but theoretically, a single-classed cleric could take down Belhifet using hit and run tactics while using Potions of Invisibility to avoid getting swarmed by the other demons. But he would be better able to advise you than me.
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Activated Nyalee and escaped. Nyalee and my mirror summoned no less than 15 times, which I waited out. Then lured Nyalee away, and summons quickly wasted her. Said hello for Yaga-Shura and scared him with Energy Blades. After he lost his immortality, I charmed him with SoC and he was killed by his own army. Easy enough.
Passed Oasis because there was nothing there for me. Did the mundane stuff in Amkethran. Second Pocket Plance challenge. Learned from the last time, and used summon door trick to allow me to escape from the room. Only Tamoko followed and was quickly killed by skelis, then my double faced the same fate, then Angelo. Semaj was able to kill my summons and call Fallen Planetar, so I had to retreat and wait it out. Another batch of summons, and Semaj too was killed. Got Regeneration.
The easy part is over, and harder stuff starts. Going to tackle the dragons first I think, as I don't have mage or thief levels to easily handle the Sendai battle. Although I'm quite wary of Abazigal too. Between Sim and me I've 4 Critical Strike Harms, but Abazigal's MR is 65, which my double could lower to 32. Still not quaranteed easy way out. And I can't use str drain either because the guest would get stuck I think.
What are your Archer HLAs again? If you have a Hardiness spell, you could tank him for a little over 10 rounds using Armor of Faith and the Defender of Easthaven. Otherwise you might need to do a lot of running and burn a bunch of Rod of Resurrection charges.
Do you have the Scorcher Ammunition? If so, kiting him would be eminently doable after his Improved Haste wore off, since the hitstun would slow him down.
You could also install the Better Stat Drain mod, which brings critters like Abazigal down to 1 HP if they suffer stat drain, and therefore prevents stat drain from breaking quests. If you do, though, bear in mind that the mod doesn't work completely on Melissan, since she's not supposed to die before the Five are gone and will heal herself automatically. The Better Stat Drain mod doesn't perfectly replicate the instant death effect Melissan would otherwise suffer.
I'll try without the mod I think, there's still 80% chance Harm will go through if I can get his Magic Resistance down. Although a lot can go wrong doing that. Do you know if Tamah needs to be killed before Abazigal? In the newest SCS version Tamah reveals herself only after Abazigal transforms.
Doesn't spell disruption pose a significant threat to your Archer/Cleric? Harm and Magic Resistance both have casting times of 9, and LoB ToB enemies are going to land hits very easily.
Still, it's probably best to save the Rift Device for the final battle if you can, since it could be a critical game-changer there.
Lizard Men with gww's absolutely exploded my summons. Had to escape the level and rest, before I was able to charm the Greater Werewyvern. But it didn't work, because it somehow dispelled itself soon after. Then I tried AoF, DoEH, Hardiness, DUHM, Improved Haste, 2x Critical Strike and Power Attack, but somehow it only got him to 11 hp. Then I figured that it has an insane regen, 6 hpps, with Haste 72 hppr. So I rested again outside, same buffs, but with Sim and doubled damage was able to finally kill it. Didn't bother with the Lizard men.
Got lucky with Anadramatis, and I was able to back up before the dialogue hit. Summoned 5 skelis, which casually hacked her. At some point she activated the dialogue, surrendered soon after, and then was killed as skelis continued the assault, and I did nothing. Got the Wing Buffet amulet, and Yellow Dragon Scales. Kuo-Toa part was a tad improved, Priest are able now to hit you. Other than that it's easily done. Fetched the rope.
Quadruble Dragon attack, managed to petrify Zirimanat'ryl with first strike, but Olinissimous took 15 strikes. Ithy'nassendra again just 2 strikes. Then switched to FR gear.
The fight is somewhat different than before, as when the last two dragons spawn, you're teleported to them and have dialogue. But I could still make a quick escape and buff, as they didn't follow immediatelly. Summoned 4 skelis and Deva and sent them to trigger Carnifex triggers, especially the Spell Deflection. But after the summons were dead, Carnifex found me. Started running away from him, soon there was four entities chasing me, Carnifex, Lower Resistance and double Remove Magics. Then I deviated somewhat from the working path, and the spells hit me. Immediatelly took Oil of Speed, and started buffing again. Luckily his Haste ended soon after. He cast Greater Malison to me, and soon after managed to Blind me, but it didn't last long. Then he got me with Breach, then another. I was getting annoyed with this, so I summoned one Deva and other summons to fight back. This bought me time, and after 12 strikes from WoW, Carnifex finally succumbed.
With Sanctuary fetched the Bronze shorts, and went in and completed the Big Metal Unit. Finally some good armor. Fll'Yissetat petrified with first strike before her triggers hit, which saved a lot of kiting I think. Got the 12h Improved Invisibility ring. Buffed some more, and pressed on.
With BMU and -2 from Hell I could easily hit the AC cap but now I could pass it a long way too. With 6 piercing modifier, 6 from dex, 2 from PfE and 4 from Improved Invisibility to -38 vs piercing, the fast hitting wyverns were now reduced to hit only 19's and up. It took freaking long time to kill Quenash, counted about 6 Stoneskins before I managed to hack her. But as they only hit with 19's and up, I was managing pretty well. Shellig died after 5 stoneskins. After taking about 12 stoneskins out, I finally could press on and remove the Frost Salamanders from the map. After that I could escape to Pocket Plane and rest, and plan. Interestingly Sim only casts first 3 spells from 6th level, alphabetically, which is annoying. I could only take 1 Aerial Servant so Sim could cast 2 Harms.
Battle against Abazigal. My plan was to use summons from Farsight to transform him, which worked, except it took all my spell summons to do it. From afar I cast Simulacrum for some Harm business, but then Tamah found us, and stunned Sim. So I started tanking it. Sim recovered and managed to Harm Tamah, and I soon killed her. At this point Abazigal was still fighting a skeli somewhere. Waited his 3 PfMW's out, cast Harm. Except somehow Abazigal interrupted my casting even though I didn't see him. Skeli died, but Aba didn't find me, so I waited some time to see if there was some triggers. I cast Harm again, then Critical Strike and attacked. And with 35% success, it worked, Abazigal died immediatelly, and I was saved from a lot of kiting I think. In the end that went very well. After this the third Pocket Plane challenge and the Slayer was a pushover, got Dark Taint.
Now the part that I've thought most since starting the run, Sendai Enclave.
Control Circlet guaranteed charming of Ogremoch. He quickly grinded the other elementals, 4 skelis to block him, Simulacrum, Energy Blades and Called Shot. Best way is actually wait the first round of Called Shot and cast another. That way you can start with 2 str drain. Ogremoch was dead soon after. Diaytha killed easily without agroing others with Energy Blades and double Critical Strikes from the corridor. Egeissag first stunned with Energy Blades and Power Strike, and easily meleed. That's a nice trifecta for Energy Blades, Called Shot, Critical Strike and Power Strike.
Time to do some last int buffing for the Mind Flayers. 30 Mind Focus just because to over 100 int, Potion of Absorbtion, Blunt Belt and others sent my AC vs Crushing to over -40. The mindies didn't really have a chance. Lastly summoned 5 skelis and sent one to trigger the wizards. It was able to absorb incredible amount of spells, then I sent the rest of the skelis in and wizards got killed soon after.
Sendai battle. With Energy Blades and double Called Shot I managed to kill the cleric Sendai. This is always the priority because it can cast Fallen Deva which sees through invisibility. Then quickly drank invisibility potion and escaped to Pocket Plane to rest. Then I repeated the next procedure many times: rest, Chaotic Commands, Death Ward, AoF, Improved Haste, DUHM and Hardiness. Returned to the enclave and with Critical Strike and wielding FoA and DoEH with 85 DR, I could always kill a single drow, and then drink invisibility potion and escape. Mages always stayed at the middle, and casted PfMW first which meant they didn't really have time to bother me, before I was gone. Few times they got me with dispel, and I had to drink double potions to escape. After 10 trips, the reqular drow seemed all dead. Well not that regular when they cast gww's with over -30 Thac0.
Thinking how to kill the mages, because they have PfMW trigger I thought I had figured amazing tactic. I could cast Globe of Blades and Blade Barrier without breaking invisibility, and with Improved Haste doubling their hits, they could do amazing amount of damage. Except the mage drows were staying uninjured, although the text showed them getting hard damage. How's that possible? Turned on one of the Sendai's and it got quickly killed from the blades. I could trap all the Sendai's in their pits, blocking the way with invisibility, and eventually the blades sliced them up. Next I found that Sendai7 was also immune to damage, although text showed it getting slashing damage?
I remember with my last playthrough with Cavalier, how the mages broke the game with bugged Spell Deflections. I wonder if they're still broken differently, and one of the Sendai's got the same disease? Anyone have any ideas what's happening?
EDIT: Nevermind it too got killed. That's how you kill bugs.
ok for the arrow tactic what bow is the best to use ? shortbox/xbow/longbow etc ? haha and should i need points into them aswell ? (i am thinking of the crossbow for the skull thing then what u guys think ?
I am going to play through Icewind Dale: Enhanced Edition with my mod Improved Heart of Fury Mode. The mod greatly powers up enemies as well as their AI (smarter spellcasters, better attack AI, pre-buffing, calls for help, etc.), and I think it is a good Icewind Dale equivalent of this challenge. I'm not playing no-reload (since the mod is ridiculously hard even for its creator, especially when soloing), but I will keep a death count.
I am playing a very overpowered character, but not one overpowered enough to make the mod a cakewalk.
Character:
Linnasa, Elf Fighter/Invoker/Cleric
Difficulty: Insane (Improved Heart of Fury Mode can be played on any difficulty, though Insane is the closest equivalent to the regular Heart of Fury mode).
Item categories allowed: All except wands, which there won't be many of anyway. However, I'm placing additional restrictions of my own.
Linnasa can cast spells while wearing any armor without penalty, and her spellcasting cannot be disabled. However, she can only wear armor - no mage robes. In this mod, that's a considerable drawback because there are some really good mage robes, including ones that decrease casting time, grant Aura Cleansing, or boost the character's elemental damage significantly.
I am also using a lot of tweaks that will make the character more powerful:
~CDTWEAKS/SETUP-CDTWEAKS.TP2~ #0 #2152 // Wear Multiple Protection Items -> Allow Armor Plus One Protection Item (Angel): v8
~CDTWEAKS/SETUP-CDTWEAKS.TP2~ #0 #2200 // Multi-Class Grandmastery (Weimer): v8
~CDTWEAKS/SETUP-CDTWEAKS.TP2~ #0 #2260 // Alter Mage Spell Progression Table -> Un-Nerfed Table (Blucher): v8
~CDTWEAKS/SETUP-CDTWEAKS.TP2~ #0 #2280 // Alter Cleric Spell Progression Table -> Un-Nerfed Table (Blucher): v8
~CDTWEAKS/SETUP-CDTWEAKS.TP2~ #0 #3040 // Make Bags of Holding Bottomless: v8
~CDTWEAKS/SETUP-CDTWEAKS.TP2~ #0 #3080 // Increase Ammo Stack Size -> Unlimited Ammo Stacking: v8
~CDTWEAKS/SETUP-CDTWEAKS.TP2~ #0 #3090 // Increase Gem and Jewelry Stacking -> Unlimited Gem and Jewelry Stacking: v8
~CDTWEAKS/SETUP-CDTWEAKS.TP2~ #0 #3100 // Increase Potion Stacking -> Unlimited Potion Stacking: v8
~CDTWEAKS/SETUP-CDTWEAKS.TP2~ #0 #3110 // Increase Scroll Stacking -> Unlimited Scroll Stacking: v8
~CDTWEAKS/SETUP-CDTWEAKS.TP2~ #0 #3280 // Give Every Class/Kit Four Weapon Slots: v8
~BETTERHOF/BETTERHOF.TP2~ #0 #1 // Enable Throne of Bhaal-style High Level Abilities
~BETTERHOF/BETTERHOF.TP2~ #0 #2 // Change the summoning limit -> Remove it
~LOWLEVELABILITIES/LOWLEVELABILITIES.TP2~ #0 #0 // Low Level Abilities
~MESPELLS/MESPELLS.TP2~ #0 #804 // Restore instant casting time for Contingency and Chain Contingency
~MESPELLS/MESPELLS.TP2~ #0 #805 // Instant casting time for Farsight
~MESPELLS/MESPELLS.TP2~ #0 #1200 // Add special spells that allow high-level spellcasters to cast low-level spells with essentially permanent durations
~CDTWEAKS/SETUP-CDTWEAKS.TP2~ #0 #2240 // Un-Nerfed THAC0 Table: v8
~CDTWEAKS/SETUP-CDTWEAKS.TP2~ #0 #2420 // Loosen Equipment Restrictions for Cleric Multi-Classes: v8
~CDTWEAKS/SETUP-CDTWEAKS.TP2~ #0 #3031 // Easy Spell Learning -> 100% Learn Spells and No Maximum Cap: v8
~CDTWEAKS/SETUP-CDTWEAKS.TP2~ #0 #3050 // Remove fatigue from restoration spells: v8
~CDTWEAKS/SETUP-CDTWEAKS.TP2~ #0 #3205 // Stores Purchase All Item Types: v8
~CDTWEAKS/SETUP-CDTWEAKS.TP2~ #0 #3320 // No Depreciation in Stores: v8
~MORESCROLLSFORIWD/MORESCROLLSFORIWD.TP2~ #0 #0 // More Scrolls For IWD: 1.0
(LowLevelAbilities and MESpells are mods I haven't released yet. LowLevelAbilities currently just adds some new High Level Abilities to the game.)
Here's the character:
In Improved Heart of Fury Mode, new characters roll 8-20 for stats rather than 3-18. I decided to max out Linnasa's stats (20, 21, 19, 20, 20, 20) with EEKeeper. This mod is very tough even for a full party, and Linnasa needs all the help she can get as a solo character. In the long run, it won't make a huge difference because the mod includes a lot of stat-increasing tomes that let even a normal character get to 25 in all stats eventually.
So to start off, Linnasa did the quests in Easthaven. The wolf in Apsel's shop almost killed her in melee combat, so I had her kite the wolf to death.
Enemies in Improved Heart of Fury Mode tend to have additional abilities. The fire beetles in Grisella's cellar breathe fire. Linnasa cast Resist Fire/Cold and Protection from Fire and exterminated them.
To deal with the rest of the prologue, Linnasa used Animate Dead. Summoned creatures aren't powered up in Improved Heart of Fury Mode, though this is still early on in the game, so basic skeletons and zombies are still useful.
The orc encounter in the center of the cave was too tough, featuring many orc archers with flaming arrows, as well as an elite orc archer who could use Whirlwind Attack. So Linnasa led the orcs outside the cave, where they could not come back in. I wasn't sure how I'd finish them off. Since I had noticed that Animate Dead does not break Sanctuary, I figured I might be able to summon some undead to pick off a orc or two in safety. The plan didn't work that well.
But then things got worse. While still in Sanctuary, Linnasa got cornered by orcs!
Here was my plan: Linnasa needed to escape back into the cave, where she could rest and the orcs wouldn't follow her, but there was an orc in the way. She could cast an AoE spell like Sleep or Stinking Cloud, kill one orc, and make a run for it. I waited until the orc shaman's Recitation spell wore off, and I had Linnasa cast Stinking Cloud on the orcs. The problem was I had not considered that, unlike the skeletons, Linnasa was not immune to Stinking Cloud herself! She got knocked unconscious, and although some of the orcs did as well, some of them stayed up. They killed Linnasa in moments.
Death Count: 1
Linnasa beat the orcs by picking them off a couple at a time. She would come into the area, throw down a Stinking Cloud (preferably not on top of herself) or a Fireball, possibly finish off one of them with a throwing dagger, run away when she was in danger, rest, and repeat. This went fine for both of the big encounters in the cave.
After embarking on the expedition and getting avalanched into the Kuldahar Pass, Linnasa simply put on Sanctuary and made a run for Kuldahar. Since there's no other safe haven to backtrack to in the pass, I didn't want Linnasa to rest after barely surviving a goblin encounter without many hit points or spells left, only to get killed by a goblin. The enemies in the pass don't give much experience anyway.
Safe in Kuldahar! That'll be it for now.
You'll only be able to put 1 pip in crossbows as well, so the Frag Grenades (which I wouldn't recommend using because they are not party-friendly) and Scorcher Ammunition won't get any damage bonuses from that 1 pip; just a slight THAC0 boost. But that THAC0 boost might be worth the single proficiency point since you'll be dealing with plenty of enemies with -20 AC or better, and even a max-level Berserker can't quite hit -20 crossbow THAC0 without the right gear or buffs.
If you're not averse to XP loops, you might try dual-classing at a higher level than 13 for better THAC0 and more proficiency points, though I don't think the maximum dual-class at level 21 will be worth it, since you'd only get 2 HLAs.
@semiticgod i assume u replied to my post^^
i would like to max mage 28 for max spells (dont they get better rolls the more levels u have in mage ? (higher succes on held sleep silence etc etc) or is the level just the amount of spells u get and that it ?
So, basically you'll just want higher levels for the extra spell slots.
@semiticgod this confused me at first, but I think I know what you're getting at (I might be wrong of course
- a fighter-type at this stage would be expected to benefit from 0.5 APR from level 7 and another 0.5 APR from specialist proficiency, i.e. 3 APR. An oil of speed would boost that to 4 APR.
- the berserker can't get the proficiency benefit so are limited to 2.5 APR normally. An oil of speed only boosts existing half APRs by 0.5 rather than 1, so takes that to 3 APR.
- a berserker would thus be limited to a maximum of 3 APR with exploding arrows, rather than the 4 APR other fighters could get.
@OlvynChuru always nice to see superpowers in the hands of orcs!
Is there any chance of posting screenshots as jpgs rather than pngs - the latter result in significantly longer page loading times if screenshots are not in spoilers?
Real Sendai arrived, and I started kiting around the map, to a point when Sendai moved to one of the pits. Then I went out of its sight and started tanking the Fallen Planetar. Soon it was unsummoned and I could buff again and start hacking Sendai. She dried Dimension Door couple times, but I found her quickly with great speed from Haste and BMU. She tried Sanctuary but I used True Sight, and soon she was dead. That wasn't that bad. The three bugged enemies made this fight annoying, but eventually it didn't matter. Next time I should try using the Globe of Blades + Blade Barrier method right from the beginning, as it should slice the drow up quickly with no risk because it doesn't break invisibility.
Fourth Pocket Plane challenge and the Cyric's Favored were pushovers with BMU, got Hand of Murder. Even evil can convince Balty to join the fight with 2-2-3-2-1-1-1-3-3-1-1-2-1-1 dialogue options, if 20 for charm, wisdom or reputation. I don't remember which, I've all maxed. For the Ravager I used summon door trick to get the Bone Blades out of the way. Simulacrum, Energy Blades and starting from double Called Shot the Ravager was quickly killed. Got 25 damage resistance.
ToB awaits.
Started Throne of Bhaal the usual way, Balty attacked Bodhi where as I ran to top of the map hiding. Well that didn't work very long because a Fallen Solar revealed me with True Sight. Something that hasn't happened to me before. Balty died before I could save him with RoR. Except my RoR hit him after he was dead, which resurrected and made him neutral. Neutral that started hitting Irenicus, who wasn't fighting back. Now this was a nice surprise.
I kited the double Solars and Magical Swords until Imoen left. It took some time but Balty casually killed Irenicus, then I kited until the Magical Swords got unsummoned. Solars got True Sight upgrade, but they didn't get the memo that don't go ranged against Reflection Shield.
And soon the poor sucker vorpalled itself. The other one didn't and we were having the longest combat of all time. It only attacked with arrows hurting itself, but it didn't allow me to have Energy Blades or anything else and dispelled me like a clockwork. And of course it had infinite Heals. I took BMU actually off when the Solar buggered off, so the arrows reflected more frequently. I checked its bow and it had 15% chance of vorpal with Death -2. So about every 1/25 reflected arrows, it was going to die. But it didn't happen.
Finally after long time I did enough damage with a sling and reflected arrows, and managed to interrupt one Heal which seemed to broke the cycle. Now I could buff for Bodhi, who was the last one left. No infinite PfMW Marilith spawns in this run it seems. I tried charming Balty again with the Control Circlet, but he remained true neutral. Bodhi didn't survive double Called Shot from the Energy Blades.
Always quite risky doing this with new installations, this time something was harder than before, Fallen Solar True Sight, but other things made it easier, Solar attacking Reflection Shield and no Mariliths etc.
Otherwise, you'd need to use a Spell Immunity spell (or just the scroll, which you can find in a chest in Hephernaan's chamber) to get SI: Abjuration and therefore immunity to that Remove Magic spell. Belhifet only casts it once, so if you can block it or run away from it while Caelar takes the hit, your buffs will be safe for the remainder of the fight.
i got 5 scrolls of protection from magic .... but when i use that it removes all my own magic aswell thus not helpfull at all ^^ the room with the crown of lies ? i did not touch that chest cause it maze/imprisoned me so i left that and i could not open the other chest if i have Caelar in my party will the game still see this as beating it solo ??
Edit : upload is done here is the link
and after some thinking and seeing the video, i had 0% to do it in any way cause belhifet needs +3 weapon to dmg him the only thing i had +3 was the staff from strix guy
Historically, we've allowed Caelar to join the party on the grounds that, if you don't give her direct orders and let her act just on her own AI, it replicates the effect of her fighting alongside you as a non-party member, which is how she normally operates if you ask her to join you when you already have a full party. So, she's in your party, but in terms of the difficulty of the challenge, it's the same as if she was an uncontrolled ally, like Drizzt can be in BG2. I've toyed with the idea of creating a small mod that would let her fight alongside you as a non-party member even if you didn't have a full party, but that currently does not exist.
If you can summon an ally before Belhifet casts Remove Magic (possibly through an item), and hopefully cause him to cast Remove Magic on your summoned critters instead of you, then you might be able to avoid it. But I kinda doubt that's possible. Otherwise, your only method of dodging that Remove Magic is to have Caelar join the team, so the Remove Magic spell hits her instead.
The Hammer of Darkness is the only other available +3 weapon for a solo cleric (not counting the Martial Staff, but that's just another +3 staff like the one you already have), but you get that way, way back in Bridgefort, so going back to get that one item would be a huge setback--and I'm not sure it's worth it, since that hammer won't get STR bonuses, and your staff will. The staff is probably your best bet anyway, since a cleric's inability to force open the chest that contains the other +3 hammer in the game, Sundermaul, means that you can't dual wield two hammers regardless.
@histamiini has been able to essentially kite Belhifet by constantly drinking Potions of Invisibility after every attack roll. You need a LOT of Potions of Invisibility to do that, but theoretically, a single-classed cleric could take down Belhifet using hit and run tactics while using Potions of Invisibility to avoid getting swarmed by the other demons. But he would be better able to advise you than me.