The Nashkel Mine was easy for Daemon. Kobolds are a tough challenge for many characters, but not really a match for giant insects. They led the way to Mulahey's cave where the cleric found his HPs disappearing while being blinded by sunscorch.
I had tried using farsight there to initiate an attack on Mulahey, but the spell did nothing.
Beetles wore down Nimbul and Tranzig. One of the nice things about them is their 8 hour duration - handy given the length of time it can take to get through mage buffs in LoB. There was a near death against Tranzig though when the text reported he had been acid stunned. Going to investigate, Daemon found the mage had pulled a fast one, but luckily he saved against a dire charm.
On the way to the Bandit Camp, the amazons tried an ambush. Daemon was silenced there, but he had managed to just complete summoning some beetles first and they did all the hard work in the encounter.
Even without double damage I thought the Bandit Camp could be tricky, but decided to have a go at it. I got lucky on the initial encounter when Venkt was stunned by beetles and took the risk of doubling back to finish him off before he could recover - only just surviving Britik's attacks after that to make the few steps to the map edge.
Coming back again, Taurgosz was charmed and switched to a fist attack to take quick heavy damage - before being electrocuted.
A number more trips were made, picking off the odd enemy each time. Once most of the missiles were gone though, more significant damage could be done - see here for instance with a game of round and round the prickly bushes in the process of finishing the last of the bandits off.
The Camp was easier than I expected - mainly because Venkt went down so quickly, so I didn't have to worry about avoiding spells while running round.
The only incident of note in the Cloakwood was an ambush by Molkar's gang. They killed a number of beetles, but not quite enough.
At the mine there was a bit of role reversal - with Drasus chasing slowly after taking a potion of freedom and Genthore much faster after using an oil of speed. That meant I failed to get Drasus on his own and the mages piled in afterwards - resulting in a strategic retreat. They all appeared to have follow-me scripts though that I couldn't shake without using invisibility. I had several attempts at killing Drasus, but didn't have quite enough time. However, when I switched the attempt to Genthore I did just manage him. With the odds improved, on the next trip I invested a potion of magic blocking, a potion of absorption and a potion of regeneration - and that proved enough to get Drasus.
I had the same problem with Kysus and Rezdan of them constantly renewing their spells. As they could always see my summons before I could see them that meant sneak attacks to stun them were difficult and they regularly used chaos on the summons before producing a horde of their own. Eventually though I got lucky with a stunning attack and was able to finish Kysus off. Without his partner in crime, Rezdan then fell in the next assault.
In the Cloakwood Mine calls for help alerted Hareishan. Rather than fight there, Daemon left some beetles as a distraction for her and ran on downstairs. Unfortunately it seems that Hareishan must have totally ignored those (and in fact probably teleported downstairs given how far she was from the exit point). I was caught by surprise when she arrived and Daemon succumbed to chaos.
Rather than sensibly trying to run round he just stayed where he was while the guards beat him up.
Looks like I shouldn't have left an enemy in the rear.
Hey does anyone know What this stupid genie flask is for ?
Hi @Mr_Salty
Nice going with the Kensai.
About the flask
I vaguely remember that you have to go to the top floor of the crooked crane in the gate district.
As I recall you will be directed to a place outside the city - the area is small? And you do get blasted with fireballs? So remember protection from fire?
Did the quest some ten years ago, so my memory is kind of vague...
thnx i will check it out soon and let ya know what i find!
Had some time again for Triss. Watcher's Keep second floor consisted mostly Triss tanking with Magical Swords. Chromatic Demon was petrified, got another level up and finally a Planetar. Before doing the maze level of Watchers Keep, I still wanted to change to evil and have Time Stop to allow a lot less risky approach. So I left that alone for now.
Mage Stronghold. Hasted Fire Elementals and 8 apr Improved Haste Planetar leveled the Shaguain, Tieflings and the Elder Orb. The Improved Haste Planetar with Silver Sword, Globe of Blades, Instect Plague was a fantastic sight. Then Planetar tanked Lavok's own Planetar, Time Stop and bunch of other spells, before back up Fire Elementals and Swords ganged on him. Level up to 21/19 and got Improved Alacrity. Tanarri killed from Farsight. Planetar managed to vorpal the other mage until Tolgerias Imprisoned him. Then Tolgerias wasted an impressive amount of spells as I waited out of sight. Soon he was out of spells and my Fire Elementals swarmed him. Helped the Solemnian Knights and got the Golden Girdle. Only way of getting it is with Mage Stronghold guest, or the Neera guestline at ToB. Also got the Ring of Wizardy.
Umar Hills, seldom does anyone see such massacre as 9 apr MoD and 8 apr Planetar put in Umar Hills, damn impressive, no PfU needed before the Lich. Lastly Thaxll was stoned. Raided temples for Intelligence, Mind Focus potions and PfU's. And I was completely broke again. With MoD and PfU, Triss cleared Bodhis lair, and waited her to leave rather than fighting her. Made to second last level.
Triss the grandmaster easily handled Perth the adept, Improved Alacrity allowed me to cast Improved Haste Planetar under his nose without being seen. It then wasted Perth after his PfMW ended.
Next up Irenicus laboratory, and Triss isn't really scared.
Btw here's the general tactic for the maze level of Watcher Keep (non random), if anyone considers doing it no-reload.
It's advicable to be an evil for Tahazzar because he can only be reached from dead magic rooms, destroying your buffs. Being evil Tahazzar will give you free pass if you agree to kill Ka'rashur. Before leaving you can casually buff up and waste him the way you like. Ka'rashur can be reached from rooms which don't dispel you buffs. After killing both you can reach Aesgareth easily, and then kill him. There's no need to fight anyone else in the maze level.
The Archer is about to fight Irenicus at the Tree of Life. STR drain killed Firkraag with ease, earning us a few thousands gold, and we avoided most of the fights at Suldanessellar, only fighting the Clay Golem and Stone Golems in the southeast house, the rakshasas attacking Demin, and the Nabassu and Raamilat.
The Demin fight was trouble: we lost our Improved Invisibility saving throw bonuses to a divination spell, and then got hit by Greater Malison, putting our save vs. spell at 4. Since the only way to get immunities to disablers without burning a Potion of Magic Shielding was to equip the Shield of Harmony (which means low APR) and also Peridan if I wanted immunity to fear spells (which meant no darts), I decided to simply flee and come back later. A rakshasa followed me out, allowing me to kill it with Smite separately from the others. When I went back in, we pinned down the named rakshasa with another Smite spell, and that broke the fight.
The Nabassu failed saves against Power Attack early on, and while Raamilat survived Smite and got Absolute Immunity off the ground, our clone's Arrow of Dispelling was still in midair when Absolute Immunity came out, so the arrow dispelled it and left him completely vulnerable anyway.
Since SCS dragons in v32 apparently have a chance of being able to use their breath weapon just a single round after using it before on higher difficulties, it's entirely possible that Nizidramanii'yt could have blasted us with multiple consecutive breath weapons, and judging by his script, he's perfectly willing to use Remove Magic on the player (instead of on himself, as Firkraag did via a sequencer or something). To get undispellable acid resistance, we went to kill Thaxll'ssillyia and forge the Shadow Dragon Scale.
Thaxll'ssillyia's breath weapon blinds the target for 6 seconds even on a successful save, so even the Amulet of Power and Belt of Inertial Barrier couldn't completely keep us safe. The dragon blinded us multiple times in just a few rounds, ruining our chance to kill it with STR drain (our clone didn't get blinded, but its THAC0 wasn't good enough to get reliable hits with Called Shot). However, our clone had excellent damage output as the rounds went by and eventually we killed the dragon through damage alone.
Nizidramanii'yt disabled our clone at the very start of combat using Dragon Fear (which has a -4 save penalty!), but failed to dispel our Improved Haste, and since we had a Protection from Acid scroll on top of the Shadow Dragon scale, we were immune to his breath weapon and also made our first save against Plant Growth (which has a -10 save penalty!). By periodically summoning Lesser Fire Elementals from the Staff of Fire (since our disabled clone couldn't summon any more), we bought ourselves enough time to kill the dragon strictly through damage. Once we had the Golden Goblet of Life, we hurried over to the temple to place the goblet, Moonblade, and Talisman of Rillifane on the table and let Rillifane instantly kill Suneer and his goons.
We recharged some of our stuff with Reirra, the elven merchant who teleports in after you summon Rillifane, since she offers very excellent prices, second only to the Sahuagin Priestess at the City of Caverns. It's probably a good idea to save some loot to sell off to her, since it will give you a little extra spending money to grab some endgame items.
I think the only thing left is to purchase the Sling of Everard, kill Irenicus, and then use a Protection from Magic scroll on the Slayer in Hell to enter ToB.
@histamiini: You think it might be a good idea to charm Cespenar with a Control Circlet and have him help against Irenicus, Bodhi, and Sarevok in the first Pocket Plane fight? I think a lot of enemies might just ignore Cespenar since he has 100% damage resistance, and some critters are coded to ignore targets with 75% or more.
@semiticgod Well he would be a perfect tank but can't really say for sure. I seem to remember, that if you used the Control Circlet on Cespenar, after the duration ended he turned red circle. And then you needed to use it again to get him to speak and do the stuff for you. Or was it with the Staff of Command, can't really remember for sure...
@histamiini: According to Near Infinity, both leave the target hostile. You must have used the Control Circlets, though, since the Staff of Command wouldn't break Cespenar's 100% MR or his spell level immunities. So, Cespenar is not a good option for that fight unless you're willing to spend more on him later on.
Turns out we already purchased the Sling of Everard, so I just bought a bunch of last-minute potions instead. We got surprised by a mind flayer when visiting Roger the Fence, but a Potion of Stone Form kept us safe from any Psionic Maze spells. After finally killing the rakshasa and grabbing the Cloak of the Sewers, I decided to go ahead and smuggle the Rift Device out of the sewer using Roger the Fence, and it turns out that it is still possible in the most recent update (I've noticed there are some area transitions that charmed critters don't seem willing to travel through).
However, I smuggled out the Rift Devices pieces individually because I was afraid of summoning the Unseeing Eye. What I failed to consider was that the Rift Device pieces won't fuse together unless you're in the Unseeing Eye's lair, and by the time I realized I couldn't fuse them without going back, I had already killed Roger the Fence, which left me with no means of smuggling the two pieces safely through the Temple sewers. This meant the Unseeing Eye quest was impossible to complete unless I attempted an item drop the moment we entered the Temple Sewers, then used the quick loot feature to drag the two pieces across the map. However, that might not be possible, and even if it is, it would be extremely risky to gamble the entire run on a fraction of a second of inputs, particularly since I'd have to do it twice to enter and then exit the sewers.
So, we'll headcanon that we finish that quest after Melissan.
At the Tree of Life, we kited the elementals, summoned a clone, and then had the clone quickly fire Arrows of Dispelling at Irenicus at 8 APR. That wasn't enough to remove all of his defenses when he cast Improved Mantle (he had at least a Stoneskin spell active, maybe via a contingency), but we did have plenty of Darts +5 and the APR to break through 10 Stoneskins in less than a round thanks to Greater Whirlwind Attack, and Irenicus' base HP was low enough that we could kill him before we ran out of Darts +5 (we only had 18, since Reirra was still surrounded by hostile rakshasas and I didn't want to bother recharging the Cloak of Stars) by amplifying the damage with Critical Strike.
The Staff of Fire and Vhailor's Helm got us past Wraith Sarevok, and Peridan kept us safe during the Fear trial. We are now right before Irenicus in Hell.
However, I don't think I'll tackle him today. I've played a lot already and as much as I want to get this over with, I also want to approach him fresh and well-rested. Plus, I thought I'd reach out to you guys for advice, since the fight will be rather sticky now that invisibility won't help against the Slayer.
My current plan is to enter the fight with the Ring of Free Action to block the Balors' Implosion and Telekinesis attacks, nail the Slayer with a Protection from Magic scroll, run away, activate the Greenstone Amulet, and then alternate between relying on the Greenstone Amulet and the Ring of Free Action to avoid getting disabled until we kill both Balors via kiting. Since we'll have a 95% hit rate at 4 base APR and about 25 damage per hit, it shouldn't take too long to kill the Balors, and then it'll probably be safe to bring in a Vhailor's Helm clone to speed things up. Once the Glabrezus are gone, too, we can safely erect dispellable buffs to make sure we kill the Slayer before the Protection from Magic scroll's 100-round duration runs out.
Also, we're going to use the Tear of Bhaal trick to get better saving throws than would otherwise be possible. I haven't decided how many tears to spend on saving throw bonuses, though. For a single tear, I can buy:
1. +2 to saving throws
2. +10% magic resistance
3. +20% resistance to fire, cold, and electricity
4. Immunity to +1 weapons and below
5. +1 Wisdom and Charisma
Number 5 is useless, number 4 is marginal, number 3 is pretty easy to replicate with items, and number 2 isn't reliable unless I combine it with multiple other options. But, spending 3 tears on number 1 would already give me a -5 save vs. spell if I keep the Ring of Gaxx, the Amulet of the Seldarine/Helm of Balduran, and the Ring of Protection +2/Improved Cloak of Protection +2 on at all times. What would be the ideal purchase?
Sounds like that should work, so long as you don't mind burning a PfM scroll. Is it not possible to leave your clone away from you at the start of the contest so that you don't lose a scroll?
@Grond0: You mean, have the clone use the scroll? That's not possible in SCS v32 by default. I think you'd actually have to use a console command or tweak an .ini setting to make it possible again; it's not a discrete component you can opt not to install in v32.
If clones could use the scrolls, I see no reason why the clone wouldn't be able to do it right off the bat even if it were right in front of the demons, as long as it had a Ring of Free Action to block any Implosion spells.
@Grond0: Yup. Weapons and non-quickslot items like Arrows of Dispelling and the Ring of Air Control are still usable by clones. Frankly, it's one of the only reasons Vhailor's Helm is worth buying in the first place.
@semiticgod That sounds ok, although I don't know if you need to use PfM on him. If you use all your summons to start the battle, they should buy enough time to your quick escape to bottom of the map, and that Slayer wastes some spells like Planetar, Time Stop etc. Also in my last playthrough with SCS v32 the Balor's attacked everybody, and actually killed the Glabrezus and Irenicus himself. Although I don't remember if I was using rc 9 or rc 10, so that could be still a thing.
Also, we're going to use the Tear of Bhaal trick to get better saving throws than would otherwise be possible. I haven't decided how many tears to spend on saving throw bonuses, though. For a single tear, I can buy:
1. +2 to saving throws
2. +10% magic resistance
3. +20% resistance to fire, cold, and electricity
4. Immunity to +1 weapons and below
5. +1 Wisdom and Charisma
Number 5 is useless, number 4 is marginal, number 3 is pretty easy to replicate with items, and number 2 isn't reliable unless I combine it with multiple other options. But, spending 3 tears on number 1 would already give me a -5 save vs. spell if I keep the Ring of Gaxx, the Amulet of the Seldarine/Helm of Balduran, and the Ring of Protection +2/Improved Cloak of Protection +2 on at all times. What would be the ideal purchase?
Tear of Bhaal trick ? care to explain this in detail ? lol
so u can use the 1 tear for all 5 but after that the other tears dont work ? so u have to throw away the other tear bonuses ? @semiticgod 50% magic resistance not bad idea haha or +10 saving throws mmm or 100% fire cold and electricity
I thought about starting another Berserker/Druid following @Grond0 but after rolling for more than three hours without getting anthing better than 91 i switched back to a class that a long time ago i called "OP": The Fighter/Thief. For some diversity i went Elf again. However: With patch 2.5 and no charming from Nymph/Algernons Cloak or any XP loops this should get much more challenging. But at least - unlike the Swashbuckler - this one should be able to survive some close combat action and - even better - will give me the opportunity to stab the hell out of (nearly) any opposition.
Candlekeep was quick business – except for the rats where Caleth broke four Long Swords. Thanks to 60 points in Open Locks (and 18 CHA) she was able to loot the Star Saphire for an early gold boost. With 208 XP in the bag she shot down Imoen before traveling right to Shoal for some kiting action. This time it took „only“ 97 arrows even though the Sirene managed to trigger her talking but Caleth only dropped unconscious instead of dying.
Heading north she killed Sonner and took the bowl back to Tenya reaching level 3/3. We can confirm that attacking Dushai now does not turn the villagers hostile so charming him is no longer needed. But without proper armor the little Gnome was hitting quite often so Caleth switched to her good old stabbing routine using a nearby house for quick vision breaking and restealthing.
Some more reputation quests followed in Beregost and Nashkel before going for an early visit at the Basilisk. This time Caleth relied on Korax alone saving a precious PfP scroll for later. Things worked perfectly fine: Korax paralzyed the Basiliks while Caleth was stealthing and shooting arrows from safe distance. Even Mutamin got paralyzed right away so the second Greater Basilisk got killed shortly after. Too bad that a Gnoll Slasher distracted them a bit too long so Korax turned hostile right when attacking the last Basilisk. With level 5/5 Caleth traveled back to the temple near Beregost where she realized that one Basilisk had dropped a PfU scroll – nice!
Greywolf was the next target even though kiting him took some time shooting 127 Arrows at him. Some more reputation followed kiting down Krumm and Meilum, retrieving the cat for Drienne, while Samuel was put back safely to the FAI and Joias Ring returned after some more stabbing. In the Ankheg Cave Caleth quickly stealthed through thanks to the Worn Whispers Boots returning the body of his dead son to Brun and finally reaching 20 Reputation. Too bad that my beloved Ankheg farming is not a very viable option now as the beasts have a whopping AC of -9.
Before buying the Potion Bag fro Thalantyr Caleth used stealth-attacks to take down both Flesh Golems for another 4k XP – too bad they are immune to backstabs. The spared PfP scroll was now used against the three Greater Basilisks on top of Durlags Tower. Beefed with a Potion of Fire Giant Strength Caleth lured them to the stairs using one backstab after another to take them down. Finishing the last one with a mighty 100 damage attack she reached Fighter level 6. Protected from Greenstone Amulet she quickly grabbed the Tome of Wisdom before moving out of the tower again. Checking the Battle Horrors we quickly decided that stabbing them down would be really painful thanks to their insane AC of -16. Maybe later...
Meilum soaked up seven traps, 80 Arrows +1 and ten charges of the Magic Missiles before going down. Grabbing the Legacy of the Masters Gloves from the Bandit Camp later on what have been much easier...
Killing the big bad Ogre for his precious Elve´s Bane Girdle was easy going but before heading down into the Nashkel Mines Caleth bought the Displacer Cloak, the Necklace of Missiles and the Sandthief Ring – could be lifesavers too.
Getting to Mulahey was no big deal thanks to stealth and as resting is safe she trapped the area around the evil Cleric before starting the battle with a 28 damage backstab. As restealthing failed Caleth quickly used one charge from the Sandthief Ring waiting for the Kobolds and Skeletons to swarm around Mulahey. Eight Fireballs from the Necklace of Missiles were enough to burn everyone into the ground without giving the enemies any chance for retalation.
Nimbul got wasted to the guards but after using his last invsibility Caleth was too slow getting into the building of the weapon merchant before a Charm Person trigger reached her. Her elven heritage smiled upon this try leading to the infamous message that she is unaffected by the effects of Charm Person. Losing his last trump the Guards hacked away his defenses...
Tranzig was a walk on the knifes edge as he very smartly used the area transition so the spell animation finished right after walking downstairs making it impossible for Caleth to dodge the spell. Only by rolling a 26 she managed to avoid instadeath which instead hit Tranzig himself after walking into the seven traps.
Using Teven to get peacefully into the Bandit Camp Caleth looted the whole place getting another Potion of Heroism as well as a Medium Shield +1. Buffed up with a Potion of Absorbtion she stealthed into the tent but using the pausing button too late she could not restealth before everyone went hostile which forced her to use another charge of the Sandthief Ring avoiding any arrow or horror spell. Trying to lure out Hakt for his nice Bow did not work this time as only two Blacktalon Elites followed outside. Without any summons or charms Caleth did not waste any time and moved out again unseen.
Lots of small missteps but so far fate smiled upon Caleth. Cloakwood will - hopefully- follow soon!
P.S. Cant help you with the 2.5/SCS v32 Slayer @semiticgod as i never tested the changes until now. In the old days i used summons as a decoy for the Demons while luring Slayer Irenicus to the south so i could fight him 1vs1. Does does still work? Maybe! Looks like SoA will be much more "fun" now - if i ever get there.
@histamiini@semiticgod btw guys i specced into the daggers for the firetooth but the firetooth is REALY REALY late game........ is there no other returning dagger that u can get early on in Amn ???
@histamiini: I doubt my summons would be worth much. The best summons an Archer can get more than once per day are the Lesser Fire Elementals from the Staff of Fire, and they are not that strong at this point in the game:
148 or 168 HP
-9 AC
5 save vs. death
8 save vs. spell
4 THAC0
3d8 crushing damage plus 1d6 fire damage per hit
2 attacks per round
The Lesser Earth Elementals are basically the same.
I've removed the summoning cap, but I still prefer to obey it, and I do need to save some charges for the Pocket Plane fight. A pack of 5 elementals will die in less than 3 rounds and fail to kill a single demon, and the Slayer can wipe out all of them in a single Time Stop. I cannot summon elementals faster than the demons can kill them, and the pack of 5 elementals will only buy me enough time to kill a single demons. The elementals won't be able to absorb many spells before crumpling.
@Mr_Salty: For no-reload purposes, the Tear of Bhaal trick is primarily useful for the magic resistance and saving throw bonuses, since an elven Archer has terrible saving throws (base 6 save vs. spell at best) and the Succubi at the Throne of Bhaal have a charm spell with a -5 save penalty, one of many high-penalty disablers that could end the run. High MR can also block fatal Maze spells from Abazigal, but generally won't be sufficient to guarantee safety unless you use at least two tears, the Amulet of the Seldarine, the Ring of Gaxx, and another 10% MR item or items like the Robe of Vecna or Sword of Balduran, plus a Potion of Magic Protection. I normally prefer 3 tears for saving throw bonuses to guarantee successful saves and 2 tears for MR for slightly better protection against Maze.
Triss with summons stormed through the Asylum, took Boots of Speed with tokens because I didn't bother risking Planar Prison yet. Farsight trick against Irenicus, and bought Lonk the Sane out because it was cheap, and faster that way. Irenicus surrendered in couple seconds, and then the crazy Planetar soloed Murderers. Got the last level and final form:
Summons leveled City of Caverns, selling loot for Priestess got me 70k gold. The 8 apr Planetar pretty much soloed the Drow parties in Underdark. Wasted one PfU to kill the lich, I've plenty of them still. Balor Smited and Vorpalled in few seconds. Vithal managed to cast 3 Time Stops to pawn my summons including the Planetar, had to use Smite to pawn him. Got Time Stop which F/I can cast 3 times. Buying everything from Ust Natha I was left 10k gold.
Mind Flayer ambush. 2x Mind Focus and 12x Intelligence, Blunt Belt, and Potion of Absorbtion, Smite and the fight was end in probably less than a minute and didn't even get hit. Not so slight over buff. Also natural -4 vs Spell is nice against Mindies. Used one PfU on Deirex, still 9 left.
Buffed up and used Time Stop to hack the Elder Orb, but it triggered PfMW even with stopped time. So I waited invisible it to end, and the next two Time Stops got him. Tricked the Drow and escaped with the real dragon eggs.
Mind Flayer Dungeon. Pit fights and the Jailor were done without wasting any other resources other than WoMS and Extra Healing Potions. Used the one Mind Flayer to open the door. First Mind Flayer party, 2x Mind Focus, 12x Intelligence, and with 9 apr FoA wasted them pretty easily. For the next two big parties I used one Potion of Absorbtion, and it wasn't even close, I still had like all my resources left. Master Brain was smoked out of sight with WoCK. Didn't bother fighting rest of them, but just picked the Staff of Command and left. Also got the Fire Control Ring and all four Control Circlets.
With Time Stop killed the single Demon Knight holding Soul Reaver and Crom Fayer component. Didn't bother with the rest of the Kuo-Toa, but Adalon just made the way for me to escape. Kruin was hacked with Time Stop before he could talk to me. Bought Defender of Easthaven, Black Blade Disaster and Shapechange and was broke again. Time to make some moneys.
Twisted Rune, PfU, Improved Haste and ranged Shangalar from afar with Tuigan Bow and Piercing Arrows. Two Time Stops and Layene was killed, and that was also the end of others as I got Staff of Magi, and could smoke others without being seen with WoCK. Vaxal and Revanek fell, after which I casually hacked Shyressa as I still had PfU on. Also got a thing called Lesser Grimoire of Demon Binding which I don't recall seeing. Quick look to NearInfinity reveals that it's SCS added item, and there's also a Greater Grimoir of Demon Binding, which is with the Demi-Lich in Watchers Keep. Although I'm not really sure what they really do?
Guarded Compound got the same fate. 33k gold. Time Stop and killed Ruhk the Transmuter for the Fire Resistance Ring. Firkraag stoned the last time. Black Blade Distaster Time Stop surprised Samia. Kaol and Akae died in the same Time Stop. Planetar then sweeped the rest. 56k gold. 30k on Red Dragon Scale, Crom Fayer, Silver Sword and Gesen Bow. Spare Time Stop scroll plus two others, and again completely broke.
@histamiini how does this farsight trick work ? u just use farsight and walked the planetar there manualy and attacked irenicus with it thats it ? or is there something else
@Mr_Salty That's pretty much it. And after Irenicus is at near death, releasing the prisoners and activating the battle, he surrenders pretty much immediatelly.
@histamiini: Well done in the Underdark! I notice you had no trouble with the mind flayer ambush--what do you think made the difference for you? My Archer didn't have quite the damage output to kill the enemies before they brought down Solaufein and broke the Ust Natha questline.
@semiticgod Don't know for sure, but mostly better damage output and summons? I started the fight with Fire Elementals and Planetar, and although they got stunned they bought some time. For me to Smite all, and then use the 9 apr FoA with Critical Strike to wipe them out. Rod of Resurrection could have saved it for you?
@histamiini: Maybe level 29 or something? Top APR was 8 because I lost access to the Crimson Dart and our damage output was stronger with the Strong Arm than with normal darts, and more sustainable than Darts +5. If I hadn't lost the Crimson Dart, we'd have had 9 APR with Improved Haste active.
I think our low-quality summons were part of the problem. All or nearly all of them failed saves against Psionic Blast on the first round, so we basically had no summons beyond our clone. I probably could have succeeded if I had used a Rod of Resurrection charge on Solaufein, because I had made a point of keeping the mind flayers focused on us, and it was the umber hulks that brought him down.
@semiticgod Hmm, probably the FoA Slow effect had an impact? As with 9 apr it slows target in few seconds on average. I usually alternate target between Mindies when surrounded because of this.
Comments
Beetles wore down Nimbul and Tranzig. One of the nice things about them is their 8 hour duration - handy given the length of time it can take to get through mage buffs in LoB. There was a near death against Tranzig though when the text reported he had been acid stunned. Going to investigate, Daemon found the mage had pulled a fast one, but luckily he saved against a dire charm.
On the way to the Bandit Camp, the amazons tried an ambush. Daemon was silenced there, but he had managed to just complete summoning some beetles first and they did all the hard work in the encounter.
Even without double damage I thought the Bandit Camp could be tricky, but decided to have a go at it. I got lucky on the initial encounter when Venkt was stunned by beetles and took the risk of doubling back to finish him off before he could recover - only just surviving Britik's attacks after that to make the few steps to the map edge.
A number more trips were made, picking off the odd enemy each time. Once most of the missiles were gone though, more significant damage could be done - see here for instance with a game of round and round the prickly bushes in the process of finishing the last of the bandits off.
The Camp was easier than I expected - mainly because Venkt went down so quickly, so I didn't have to worry about avoiding spells while running round.
The only incident of note in the Cloakwood was an ambush by Molkar's gang. They killed a number of beetles, but not quite enough.
At the mine there was a bit of role reversal - with Drasus chasing slowly after taking a potion of freedom and Genthore much faster after using an oil of speed. That meant I failed to get Drasus on his own and the mages piled in afterwards - resulting in a strategic retreat. They all appeared to have follow-me scripts though that I couldn't shake without using invisibility. I had several attempts at killing Drasus, but didn't have quite enough time. However, when I switched the attempt to Genthore I did just manage him. With the odds improved, on the next trip I invested a potion of magic blocking, a potion of absorption and a potion of regeneration - and that proved enough to get Drasus.
I had the same problem with Kysus and Rezdan of them constantly renewing their spells. As they could always see my summons before I could see them that meant sneak attacks to stun them were difficult and they regularly used chaos on the summons before producing a horde of their own. Eventually though I got lucky with a stunning attack and was able to finish Kysus off. Without his partner in crime, Rezdan then fell in the next assault.
Looks like I shouldn't have left an enemy in the rear.
thnx i will check it out soon and let ya know what i find!
Mage Stronghold. Hasted Fire Elementals and 8 apr Improved Haste Planetar leveled the Shaguain, Tieflings and the Elder Orb. The Improved Haste Planetar with Silver Sword, Globe of Blades, Instect Plague was a fantastic sight. Then Planetar tanked Lavok's own Planetar, Time Stop and bunch of other spells, before back up Fire Elementals and Swords ganged on him. Level up to 21/19 and got Improved Alacrity. Tanarri killed from Farsight. Planetar managed to vorpal the other mage until Tolgerias Imprisoned him. Then Tolgerias wasted an impressive amount of spells as I waited out of sight. Soon he was out of spells and my Fire Elementals swarmed him. Helped the Solemnian Knights and got the Golden Girdle. Only way of getting it is with Mage Stronghold guest, or the Neera guestline at ToB. Also got the Ring of Wizardy.
Umar Hills, seldom does anyone see such massacre as 9 apr MoD and 8 apr Planetar put in Umar Hills, damn impressive, no PfU needed before the Lich. Lastly Thaxll was stoned. Raided temples for Intelligence, Mind Focus potions and PfU's. And I was completely broke again. With MoD and PfU, Triss cleared Bodhis lair, and waited her to leave rather than fighting her. Made to second last level.
Triss the grandmaster easily handled Perth the adept, Improved Alacrity allowed me to cast Improved Haste Planetar under his nose without being seen. It then wasted Perth after his PfMW ended.
Next up Irenicus laboratory, and Triss isn't really scared.
Btw here's the general tactic for the maze level of Watcher Keep (non random), if anyone considers doing it no-reload.
It's advicable to be an evil for Tahazzar because he can only be reached from dead magic rooms, destroying your buffs. Being evil Tahazzar will give you free pass if you agree to kill Ka'rashur. Before leaving you can casually buff up and waste him the way you like. Ka'rashur can be reached from rooms which don't dispel you buffs. After killing both you can reach Aesgareth easily, and then kill him. There's no need to fight anyone else in the maze level.
Tahazzar (free pass if evil): Start - DM Balor - Tahazzar - DM Balor - Start
Ka'rashur: Start - WM Quasit - Succubus - Ka'rashur - Mayhem - Start
Level 4: Start - WM Quasit - WM Tiefling - Demon Knights - Demon Wraith - Aesgareth - Level 4
Level 4 (first time only): Start - WM Quasit - Succubus - Aesgareth - Level 4
Start: Aesgareth - Demon Wraith - Demon Knights - WM Tiefling - Start
The Demin fight was trouble: we lost our Improved Invisibility saving throw bonuses to a divination spell, and then got hit by Greater Malison, putting our save vs. spell at 4. Since the only way to get immunities to disablers without burning a Potion of Magic Shielding was to equip the Shield of Harmony (which means low APR) and also Peridan if I wanted immunity to fear spells (which meant no darts), I decided to simply flee and come back later. A rakshasa followed me out, allowing me to kill it with Smite separately from the others. When I went back in, we pinned down the named rakshasa with another Smite spell, and that broke the fight.
The Nabassu failed saves against Power Attack early on, and while Raamilat survived Smite and got Absolute Immunity off the ground, our clone's Arrow of Dispelling was still in midair when Absolute Immunity came out, so the arrow dispelled it and left him completely vulnerable anyway.
Since SCS dragons in v32 apparently have a chance of being able to use their breath weapon just a single round after using it before on higher difficulties, it's entirely possible that Nizidramanii'yt could have blasted us with multiple consecutive breath weapons, and judging by his script, he's perfectly willing to use Remove Magic on the player (instead of on himself, as Firkraag did via a sequencer or something). To get undispellable acid resistance, we went to kill Thaxll'ssillyia and forge the Shadow Dragon Scale.
Thaxll'ssillyia's breath weapon blinds the target for 6 seconds even on a successful save, so even the Amulet of Power and Belt of Inertial Barrier couldn't completely keep us safe. The dragon blinded us multiple times in just a few rounds, ruining our chance to kill it with STR drain (our clone didn't get blinded, but its THAC0 wasn't good enough to get reliable hits with Called Shot). However, our clone had excellent damage output as the rounds went by and eventually we killed the dragon through damage alone.
Nizidramanii'yt disabled our clone at the very start of combat using Dragon Fear (which has a -4 save penalty!), but failed to dispel our Improved Haste, and since we had a Protection from Acid scroll on top of the Shadow Dragon scale, we were immune to his breath weapon and also made our first save against Plant Growth (which has a -10 save penalty!). By periodically summoning Lesser Fire Elementals from the Staff of Fire (since our disabled clone couldn't summon any more), we bought ourselves enough time to kill the dragon strictly through damage. Once we had the Golden Goblet of Life, we hurried over to the temple to place the goblet, Moonblade, and Talisman of Rillifane on the table and let Rillifane instantly kill Suneer and his goons.
We recharged some of our stuff with Reirra, the elven merchant who teleports in after you summon Rillifane, since she offers very excellent prices, second only to the Sahuagin Priestess at the City of Caverns. It's probably a good idea to save some loot to sell off to her, since it will give you a little extra spending money to grab some endgame items.
I think the only thing left is to purchase the Sling of Everard, kill Irenicus, and then use a Protection from Magic scroll on the Slayer in Hell to enter ToB.
Turns out we already purchased the Sling of Everard, so I just bought a bunch of last-minute potions instead. We got surprised by a mind flayer when visiting Roger the Fence, but a Potion of Stone Form kept us safe from any Psionic Maze spells. After finally killing the rakshasa and grabbing the Cloak of the Sewers, I decided to go ahead and smuggle the Rift Device out of the sewer using Roger the Fence, and it turns out that it is still possible in the most recent update (I've noticed there are some area transitions that charmed critters don't seem willing to travel through).
However, I smuggled out the Rift Devices pieces individually because I was afraid of summoning the Unseeing Eye. What I failed to consider was that the Rift Device pieces won't fuse together unless you're in the Unseeing Eye's lair, and by the time I realized I couldn't fuse them without going back, I had already killed Roger the Fence, which left me with no means of smuggling the two pieces safely through the Temple sewers. This meant the Unseeing Eye quest was impossible to complete unless I attempted an item drop the moment we entered the Temple Sewers, then used the quick loot feature to drag the two pieces across the map. However, that might not be possible, and even if it is, it would be extremely risky to gamble the entire run on a fraction of a second of inputs, particularly since I'd have to do it twice to enter and then exit the sewers.
So, we'll headcanon that we finish that quest after Melissan.
At the Tree of Life, we kited the elementals, summoned a clone, and then had the clone quickly fire Arrows of Dispelling at Irenicus at 8 APR. That wasn't enough to remove all of his defenses when he cast Improved Mantle (he had at least a Stoneskin spell active, maybe via a contingency), but we did have plenty of Darts +5 and the APR to break through 10 Stoneskins in less than a round thanks to Greater Whirlwind Attack, and Irenicus' base HP was low enough that we could kill him before we ran out of Darts +5 (we only had 18, since Reirra was still surrounded by hostile rakshasas and I didn't want to bother recharging the Cloak of Stars) by amplifying the damage with Critical Strike.
The Staff of Fire and Vhailor's Helm got us past Wraith Sarevok, and Peridan kept us safe during the Fear trial. We are now right before Irenicus in Hell.
However, I don't think I'll tackle him today. I've played a lot already and as much as I want to get this over with, I also want to approach him fresh and well-rested. Plus, I thought I'd reach out to you guys for advice, since the fight will be rather sticky now that invisibility won't help against the Slayer.
My current plan is to enter the fight with the Ring of Free Action to block the Balors' Implosion and Telekinesis attacks, nail the Slayer with a Protection from Magic scroll, run away, activate the Greenstone Amulet, and then alternate between relying on the Greenstone Amulet and the Ring of Free Action to avoid getting disabled until we kill both Balors via kiting. Since we'll have a 95% hit rate at 4 base APR and about 25 damage per hit, it shouldn't take too long to kill the Balors, and then it'll probably be safe to bring in a Vhailor's Helm clone to speed things up. Once the Glabrezus are gone, too, we can safely erect dispellable buffs to make sure we kill the Slayer before the Protection from Magic scroll's 100-round duration runs out.
What do you guys think? @histamiini, @Harpagornis, @Grond0?
1. +2 to saving throws
2. +10% magic resistance
3. +20% resistance to fire, cold, and electricity
4. Immunity to +1 weapons and below
5. +1 Wisdom and Charisma
Number 5 is useless, number 4 is marginal, number 3 is pretty easy to replicate with items, and number 2 isn't reliable unless I combine it with multiple other options. But, spending 3 tears on number 1 would already give me a -5 save vs. spell if I keep the Ring of Gaxx, the Amulet of the Seldarine/Helm of Balduran, and the Ring of Protection +2/Improved Cloak of Protection +2 on at all times. What would be the ideal purchase?
Sounds like that should work, so long as you don't mind burning a PfM scroll. Is it not possible to leave your clone away from you at the start of the contest so that you don't lose a scroll?
If clones could use the scrolls, I see no reason why the clone wouldn't be able to do it right off the bat even if it were right in front of the demons, as long as it had a Ring of Free Action to block any Implosion spells.
Tear of Bhaal trick ? care to explain this in detail ? lol
Something new to try this run.
Candlekeep was quick business – except for the rats where Caleth broke four Long Swords. Thanks to 60 points in Open Locks (and 18 CHA) she was able to loot the Star Saphire for an early gold boost. With 208 XP in the bag she shot down Imoen before traveling right to Shoal for some kiting action. This time it took „only“ 97 arrows even though the Sirene managed to trigger her talking but Caleth only dropped unconscious instead of dying.
Heading north she killed Sonner and took the bowl back to Tenya reaching level 3/3. We can confirm that attacking Dushai now does not turn the villagers hostile so charming him is no longer needed. But without proper armor the little Gnome was hitting quite often so Caleth switched to her good old stabbing routine using a nearby house for quick vision breaking and restealthing.
Some more reputation quests followed in Beregost and Nashkel before going for an early visit at the Basilisk. This time Caleth relied on Korax alone saving a precious PfP scroll for later. Things worked perfectly fine: Korax paralzyed the Basiliks while Caleth was stealthing and shooting arrows from safe distance. Even Mutamin got paralyzed right away so the second Greater Basilisk got killed shortly after. Too bad that a Gnoll Slasher distracted them a bit too long so Korax turned hostile right when attacking the last Basilisk. With level 5/5 Caleth traveled back to the temple near Beregost where she realized that one Basilisk had dropped a PfU scroll – nice!
Greywolf was the next target even though kiting him took some time shooting 127 Arrows at him. Some more reputation followed kiting down Krumm and Meilum, retrieving the cat for Drienne, while Samuel was put back safely to the FAI and Joias Ring returned after some more stabbing. In the Ankheg Cave Caleth quickly stealthed through thanks to the Worn Whispers Boots returning the body of his dead son to Brun and finally reaching 20 Reputation. Too bad that my beloved Ankheg farming is not a very viable option now as the beasts have a whopping AC of -9.
Before buying the Potion Bag fro Thalantyr Caleth used stealth-attacks to take down both Flesh Golems for another 4k XP – too bad they are immune to backstabs. The spared PfP scroll was now used against the three Greater Basilisks on top of Durlags Tower. Beefed with a Potion of Fire Giant Strength Caleth lured them to the stairs using one backstab after another to take them down. Finishing the last one with a mighty 100 damage attack she reached Fighter level 6. Protected from Greenstone Amulet she quickly grabbed the Tome of Wisdom before moving out of the tower again. Checking the Battle Horrors we quickly decided that stabbing them down would be really painful thanks to their insane AC of -16. Maybe later...
Meilum soaked up seven traps, 80 Arrows +1 and ten charges of the Magic Missiles before going down. Grabbing the Legacy of the Masters Gloves from the Bandit Camp later on what have been much easier...
Killing the big bad Ogre for his precious Elve´s Bane Girdle was easy going but before heading down into the Nashkel Mines Caleth bought the Displacer Cloak, the Necklace of Missiles and the Sandthief Ring – could be lifesavers too.
Getting to Mulahey was no big deal thanks to stealth and as resting is safe she trapped the area around the evil Cleric before starting the battle with a 28 damage backstab. As restealthing failed Caleth quickly used one charge from the Sandthief Ring waiting for the Kobolds and Skeletons to swarm around Mulahey. Eight Fireballs from the Necklace of Missiles were enough to burn everyone into the ground without giving the enemies any chance for retalation.
Nimbul got wasted to the guards but after using his last invsibility Caleth was too slow getting into the building of the weapon merchant before a Charm Person trigger reached her. Her elven heritage smiled upon this try leading to the infamous message that she is unaffected by the effects of Charm Person. Losing his last trump the Guards hacked away his defenses...
Tranzig was a walk on the knifes edge as he very smartly used the area transition so the spell animation finished right after walking downstairs making it impossible for Caleth to dodge the spell. Only by rolling a 26 she managed to avoid instadeath which instead hit Tranzig himself after walking into the seven traps.
Using Teven to get peacefully into the Bandit Camp Caleth looted the whole place getting another Potion of Heroism as well as a Medium Shield +1. Buffed up with a Potion of Absorbtion she stealthed into the tent but using the pausing button too late she could not restealth before everyone went hostile which forced her to use another charge of the Sandthief Ring avoiding any arrow or horror spell. Trying to lure out Hakt for his nice Bow did not work this time as only two Blacktalon Elites followed outside. Without any summons or charms Caleth did not waste any time and moved out again unseen.
Lots of small missteps but so far fate smiled upon Caleth. Cloakwood will - hopefully- follow soon!
P.S. Cant help you with the 2.5/SCS v32 Slayer @semiticgod as i never tested the changes until now. In the old days i used summons as a decoy for the Demons while luring Slayer Irenicus to the south so i could fight him 1vs1. Does does still work? Maybe! Looks like SoA will be much more "fun" now - if i ever get there.
ooo that -AC is i think the best imho !! haha
148 or 168 HP
-9 AC
5 save vs. death
8 save vs. spell
4 THAC0
3d8 crushing damage plus 1d6 fire damage per hit
2 attacks per round
The Lesser Earth Elementals are basically the same.
I've removed the summoning cap, but I still prefer to obey it, and I do need to save some charges for the Pocket Plane fight. A pack of 5 elementals will die in less than 3 rounds and fail to kill a single demon, and the Slayer can wipe out all of them in a single Time Stop. I cannot summon elementals faster than the demons can kill them, and the pack of 5 elementals will only buy me enough time to kill a single demons. The elementals won't be able to absorb many spells before crumpling.
@Mr_Salty: For no-reload purposes, the Tear of Bhaal trick is primarily useful for the magic resistance and saving throw bonuses, since an elven Archer has terrible saving throws (base 6 save vs. spell at best) and the Succubi at the Throne of Bhaal have a charm spell with a -5 save penalty, one of many high-penalty disablers that could end the run. High MR can also block fatal Maze spells from Abazigal, but generally won't be sufficient to guarantee safety unless you use at least two tears, the Amulet of the Seldarine, the Ring of Gaxx, and another 10% MR item or items like the Robe of Vecna or Sword of Balduran, plus a Potion of Magic Protection. I normally prefer 3 tears for saving throw bonuses to guarantee successful saves and 2 tears for MR for slightly better protection against Maze.
HLA's
* Whirlwind
* Greater Whirlwind
* Power Attack
****** Critical Strike
* Smite
*** Hardiness (12r)
* Level 6 Spell
* Level 7 Spell
* Level 8 Spell
* Improved Alacrity
* Planetar
Weapon Proficiencies
** Flails
** Scimitars
** Quarterstaff
* Two-Handed Sword
* War Hammer
* Single-Weapon Style
*** Two-Weapon Style
Summons leveled City of Caverns, selling loot for Priestess got me 70k gold. The 8 apr Planetar pretty much soloed the Drow parties in Underdark. Wasted one PfU to kill the lich, I've plenty of them still. Balor Smited and Vorpalled in few seconds. Vithal managed to cast 3 Time Stops to pawn my summons including the Planetar, had to use Smite to pawn him. Got Time Stop which F/I can cast 3 times. Buying everything from Ust Natha I was left 10k gold.
Mind Flayer ambush. 2x Mind Focus and 12x Intelligence, Blunt Belt, and Potion of Absorbtion, Smite and the fight was end in probably less than a minute and didn't even get hit. Not so slight over buff. Also natural -4 vs Spell is nice against Mindies. Used one PfU on Deirex, still 9 left.
Buffed up and used Time Stop to hack the Elder Orb, but it triggered PfMW even with stopped time. So I waited invisible it to end, and the next two Time Stops got him. Tricked the Drow and escaped with the real dragon eggs.
Mind Flayer Dungeon. Pit fights and the Jailor were done without wasting any other resources other than WoMS and Extra Healing Potions. Used the one Mind Flayer to open the door. First Mind Flayer party, 2x Mind Focus, 12x Intelligence, and with 9 apr FoA wasted them pretty easily. For the next two big parties I used one Potion of Absorbtion, and it wasn't even close, I still had like all my resources left. Master Brain was smoked out of sight with WoCK. Didn't bother fighting rest of them, but just picked the Staff of Command and left. Also got the Fire Control Ring and all four Control Circlets.
With Time Stop killed the single Demon Knight holding Soul Reaver and Crom Fayer component. Didn't bother with the rest of the Kuo-Toa, but Adalon just made the way for me to escape. Kruin was hacked with Time Stop before he could talk to me. Bought Defender of Easthaven, Black Blade Disaster and Shapechange and was broke again. Time to make some moneys.
Twisted Rune, PfU, Improved Haste and ranged Shangalar from afar with Tuigan Bow and Piercing Arrows. Two Time Stops and Layene was killed, and that was also the end of others as I got Staff of Magi, and could smoke others without being seen with WoCK. Vaxal and Revanek fell, after which I casually hacked Shyressa as I still had PfU on. Also got a thing called Lesser Grimoire of Demon Binding which I don't recall seeing. Quick look to NearInfinity reveals that it's SCS added item, and there's also a Greater Grimoir of Demon Binding, which is with the Demi-Lich in Watchers Keep. Although I'm not really sure what they really do?
Guarded Compound got the same fate. 33k gold. Time Stop and killed Ruhk the Transmuter for the Fire Resistance Ring. Firkraag stoned the last time. Black Blade Distaster Time Stop surprised Samia. Kaol and Akae died in the same Time Stop. Planetar then sweeped the rest. 56k gold. 30k on Red Dragon Scale, Crom Fayer, Silver Sword and Gesen Bow. Spare Time Stop scroll plus two others, and again completely broke.
Mooar money!
I think our low-quality summons were part of the problem. All or nearly all of them failed saves against Psionic Blast on the first round, so we basically had no summons beyond our clone. I probably could have succeeded if I had used a Rod of Resurrection charge on Solaufein, because I had made a point of keeping the mind flayers focused on us, and it was the umber hulks that brought him down.