@semiticgod Last time I used Sarevok as a tank when Melissan arrived, mean time I finished all of the other Big 5. Sarevok also kept the Fallen Solars occupied and I could go as far away as possible hiding, which is top right corner. Once Sarevok died, Melissan teleported onto me, but the Fallen Solars never found me. So if you have Yaga top right corner when Sarevok dies and Melissan teleports onto you, Fallen Solars maybe wont find you.
Hm. I'm not sure I can count on the Fallen Solars focusing on Sarevok, and if one of them decides to target me instead and I can't shake it off, I would be faced with the prospect of beating Melissan while a Fallen Solar is applying pressure on top of us. I'm probably going to have to kill them myself. But if I can remove the rest of the Five from the equation by running around and using a Potion of Invisibility, Yaga-Shura will let me kill them safely.
I notice that Sarevok's weapon has a bug. It casts a spell with the file REAVER.spl, which ostensibly imposes a -1 THAC0 penalty on hit like the Soul Reaver sword. But it actually targets Sarevok himself according to the item file, and it's also flagged as a nonmagical item, which means that its +5 enchantment level is meaningless... which would explain why he was unable to hit Melissan in previous runs. If the intended behavior is for Sarevok to impose -1 THAC0 per hit for 20 rounds, that would actually be a really, really great tool for us to use. Sarevok has 5 APR and -21 THAC0 in LoB mode, so he could easily cripple individual enemies for many rounds on end!
Mulahey: 2x Spirit Wolves (paralyze!) + 3 Beetles were enough to clear the house
Tranzig: 2x Spirit Lions + 3 Beetles and the poor Mage dropped without resistance
Bandit Camp: Sneaked in with Pixie Dust and called three Nymphs who easily dominated Raemon to break his talk script. With Protection from Lightning Eklun looted the chest and moved out again
Cloakwood Mines: Pixie Dust to sneak down, four Nymphs to cast Mental Domination on Davaeorn after getting vision on him for the fraction of a second without triggering the talking. After failing his saving throw Davaeorn used Dimension Door several times but the Battle Horrors continued hunting him down – shortly after the Mage was history.
Baldurs Gate: The Dopplegangers were crushed by summons while Pixie Dust was used to get in and out of the Iron Throne.
Candlekeep: The Mage Ambush can bring a lot of pain be it instadeath from Chromatic Orb, getting feared from Horror, being paralyzed from Hold Person or running into a charm spell. While Charm gets countered by our elven heritage, Horror was countered with a quick cast of Remove Fear thanks to hitting pause once the cutscene ends. After that its crucial to immediately (!) start running to the eastern map border even before the talking triggers so you can travel right before spells like Chromatic Orb or Hold Person can hit you. The time frame for errors is really small as we have lost several Druids right here. This time however our reactions were on the spot and Eklun escaped to the east right before a Chromatic Orb reached him. With Pixie Dust he traveled back carefully moving forward as the Ogre Mages are also able to dispel his invisibility. Only after realizing that no one was reacting he quickly talked to the Gate Warden moving back into his old home. The rest of Candlekeep was quick business. Get into the catacombs and sneak through with Pixie Dust – back to the city.
Slythe: For this one Eklun protected himself with Iron Skin in case Slythe would try to land some backstabs on him. He then placed his two Spirit Lions and three Beetles so they would block the passage in the Undercellar while enabling Eklun to get quickly out of Slythes reach. Right before talking to the Assassin he casted True Seeing to get rid of his invisbility - very helpful. Once moving behind his summons all started attacking the revealed Slythe while a single beetle was moved right into the direction of Kristin so she would waste her spells only on this one – otherwise there is always the danger that she casts Death Fog into the middle of the pack which would instantly kill all of our summons. Anyway: Poor Slythe got punched really hard while Eklun was casting Alicorn Lances and Sunscorch taking him down before Kristin could do anything. With four summons still alive they quickly turned on the raging Mage who did not last long...
Only the Palace Ambush and Sarevok left - this should get funny!
Regarding the Reaver spell: it targeting the wielder is intentional. Sarevok is immune to that spell; it’s a crude way to make the weapon effectively Sarevok-only.
@Harpagornis: Two questions. First, how did you summon nymphs inside the bandit tent without breaking invisibility and triggering Raemon's script? Do summoning spells not break invisibility anymore, or is there just a spot where Raemon can't see you?
Second, how can your Totemic Druid cast Remove Fear? In my SCS v32 install, it's still exclusive to clerics.
@semiticgod: Summoning Nymphs in the Bandit Tent is easy as you can use the wooden pile to break vision when moving somewhere around the position of Hakt. After that its Summon Nymphs -> Protection from Lightning -> Pixie Dust again -> Mental Domination -> Loot the chest -> Wave a short good bye.
The Remove Fear is something @Vynn mentioned a long time ago as he is used to create and import characters from IWD into BG. With this "small little trick" we can use Elven Druids who not only are nearly immune to charm but also get Remove Fear which raises the chances of beating Avernus significantly. The downside of the import is that you lose three level 1 spell slots even though i dont know if this is related to 2.5 or SCS v32.
@DavidW: There seem to be some problems with at least two Druid spell right now. Farsight does not work as you can no longer select any area on the map - thats not nice. Also the Nymph script looks a bit broken as they are more or less constantly trying to move to the caster sometimes even aborting spells. Thats really annoying. Or is this caused by 2.5 alone and we can put the blame on Beamdog?
Its a real pity that using Charm Person or Mental Domination does not work on the Nobles – unlike Nymph Cloak – as they wont transform once the spell expires. However there are other options:
1. Iron Skin to make sure a potential backstab from the Assassin wont instakill us
2. Placing two Beetles and two Spirit Lions around the Shaman (or Assassin)
3. Moving the third Beetle as far away as possible (somewhere near Belt or Sarevok)
4. Cast Insect Plague on this third Beetle and immediately trigger the talking
5. Retreat when the transformation starts and let the third Beetle circle so the Insect Swarm will hit it right after all Nobles have transformed into Dopplegangers. This will completly shut down the Shaman and the Mage
6. Wait until all Dopplegangers have picked their targets and carefully cast Alicorn Lances and Sunscorch from the backline
7. Throw in the second Insect Plague and let the summons focus on wounded Dopplegangers to finish them off quickly
Taking out the two Casters with Insect Plague while also making sure that the Assassin will target a summon instead of the Main Character really takes the sting out of this fight. Eklun never had any problems as he always could break vision instantly hiding in the southwestern room. With Liia now casting Invisibility there was also no real danger that she and Belt would die both. The Beetles however proved once more that they are tough combatants as at the end all of them were still alive. Even Belt survived the onslaught porting Eklun right to the Thieves Guild once the summons blocked Sarevok long enough before he escaped once more. This was easier than expected - now what about Sarevok? Wil have to do some tests first...
The final battle against Sarevok will be a walk on the knifes edge as first tests with old Eklun saves have shown:
1. Semaj + Tazok can be easily brought to "near death" with the Beetles after their invisibility got removed by Dispel Magic while Spike Stones or Spike Growth will take them down after the talking
2. Angelo still gets owned by one Spirit Animal - we just have to be careful to pull only him while also staying out of his vision (Chromatic Orb, Charm, Feeblemind...)
3. Now comes the first tricky part as Diarmid is still around. Once PfM expires he can be dominated by Nymphs - at least in theory. But first tests have shown that the weird Nymph script sometimes let them abort Mental Domination for no reason - which is bad news. Cause without Diarmid taking on Sarevok we lack the damage/resources to take out both of them afterwards.
4. Sarevok - his Haste hopefully dispelled - will be a beast but softened up from Spike Growth/ Spike Stones and Diarmid. So at the end its all about the Spirit Lion(s) plus Beetles. The old trick of letting his target run around while the other summons punch on him should still work even though hitting him will not that easy. Except - and thats another things the tests have shown - except if the Bombardier Beetles can stun him. This so far happened more or less regularly which opens up a window for lot of damage thanks to auto-hits. Static Charge is also an option even though we would lose a slot for Beetles/Nymphs. Alicorn Lance and Sunscorch are other small little damage options that could maybe turn the tides into our favour.
To make it short: If the dice luck is on our side we should win this one even with the 2.5 changes. If luck quits our cause - well - then we are doomed. We will see...
EDIT: Its even worse. The Nymphs are randomly casting spells ignoring commands most of the time. This is no fun. And it also means that dominating Diarmid will fail in most cases. Sometimes these crazy girls even abort casting to get into melee range for some punching...
EDIT2: Something has changed with 2.5 and SCS v32. This means: As long as at least one ally is alive Sarevok will constantly regenerate HP so the old strategy of softening him up with spells and Diarmid no longer works. That another bad news...
1. 4x Dispel Magic on Tazok, Semaj and Sarevok. Three Beetles then punched Tazok and Semaj down to "near death" even though they needed to roll 20s against the Mage.
2. Casted Insect Plague and while mid air talked to Sarevok. The Insects easily feeded Tazok and Semaj. Only three left.
3. Managed to pull Angelo who wasted his spells on a Spirit Lion. Thanks to his AC and lots of defensive spells this took several minutes while the Lion went down to injured. Two left.
4. Called in two Nymphs and put all of us invisible with Pixie Dust. Mental Domination instantly turned Diarmid friendly so victory is only a footstep away - isnt it?
5. Then i took another look on Sarevok who was moving fast as lightning. What? No! Even four Dispel Magic were not enough to get rid of his Haste this time. The result: He quickly crushed the Nymphs, Diarmid, the Spirit Lions and the Beetles while Eklun was running out of resources with no option to retreat and rest. GG!
Maybe its time to test something else... hmmmm... what about Clerics?
I am more worried about Melissan than ever. Her script indicates she will summon not just two Fallen Solars, but also a bunch of other demons, first. Those demons are 5 castings of the GATE5.spl spell, every one of which amounts to:
1. A 33% chance of summoning 2 cambions, a succubus, and an alu-fiend
2. A 33% chance of summoning a Nabassu and a babau
3. An 11% chance of summoning a Marilith
4. An 11% chance of summoning a Glabrezu
5. An 11% chance of summoning a Balor
That means we have roughly a 50% chance of having at least 1 Balor who can cast Implosion on us--which means we have to hold onto the Ring of Free Action and cannot benefit from the Boots of Speed.
The upside is that we have a nearly guaranteed chance of having LOTS of targets for the Scorcher Ammunition. With a lesser demon as a target, we only need 2 Called Shot spells and roughly 10 seconds to kill Melissan instantly, as long as the rest of the Five are dead. This means I will not want to keep Yaga-Shura alive for long after Melissan arrives to use him as a target to kill the Fallen Solars. We can ignore the Fallen Solars entirely and just land an instant kill on Melissan, as long as we don't get boxed in due to not having the Boots of Speed (unless there are no Balors, which is a coin flip).
If we do get boxed in, we might be screwed depending on positioning and if we have a Smite spell on hand. The only way to ensure that we could land a kill on Melissan in a chaotic environment is to have our clone already on the map and buffed with Armor of Faith and Hardiness, with the Ring of Free Action on hand. The enemies can't box both of us in, and two streams of the Scorcher Ammunition could kill Melissan via STR drain in less than a single round.
That means we need to summon our clone before Melissan arrives, which further means we have to use the conventional strategy from @Alesia_BH: get the Five to Near Death so we can knock them down sequentially and keep Melissan stun-locked. Problem is, the clone only lasts 16 rounds, and if things get complicated, we could run out the duration before Melissan falls. We'd have far more trouble tackling Melissan on our own, especially if she brings out both her various demons and the Fallen Solars.
Problem is, our clone doesn't get any saving throw bonuses, which means its save vs. spell will be a flat 6... which amounts to a 50% chance of failing a save against a succubus' charm spell. That means we need the Greenstone Amulet or the Shield of Harmony, but the former is dispellable and requires an aura use, and the latter can't be used in tandem with the Scorcher Ammunition. I'm thinking the clone will need both, but its helm is already occupied by Vhailor's Helm, which means our only remaining method of improving its fire resistance (which it needs to be a valid target for the Scorcher Ammunition if we need it to be) is the Ring of Fire Control, for only 50%.
But none of our solutions or attack methods are clean. All of them require precision and are dependent upon chance and positioning because those demon summoning spells are largely random and determine our available targets for the Scorcher Ammunition. Every move and every decision imposes a distinctive drawback.
I mean, the final fight could easily end with victory in just a few seconds. That's how it worked in my Archer/Mage run. But given all the factors at hand, I'm not sure it will work out the same way. Plus, I want a clean kill, which means wiping out the Five first--the shortcomings of the Better Stat Drain mod meant my Archer/Mage needed the console to trigger the ending cutscene due to killing Melissan while the Five were still alive.
I don't like the idea of summoning a clone before Melissan, since it means we'll have less clone time for Melissan herself. It does mean quicker deaths for the Five, though, and if we have Called Shot active when Melissan shows up, we might be able to use them on those summoned demons via the Scorcher Ammunition.
Alternatively, I could go full-blown blitzkrieg, and slay the Five as quickly as possible with STR drain from the Scorcher Ammunition. With 20 APR and 2 STR drain per hit, we could wipe out each one in less than a single round. By the time Melissan showed up, we'd have a clone from the last energy pool still around, while Vhailor's Helm still had a charge! If the clone doesn't have enough rounds left in its duration, though, we might have to summon a new clone, and I don't want to have to spend precious time preparing for the kill when Melissan is up and about.
Still... with a 16-round duration, that doesn't leave a lot of wiggle room for a Called Shot-based, blitzkrieg-style strategy. If we're too slow, we're left lagging at a key point. If we're fast, we get to skip past some pretty nasty obstacles.
The root question is whether the Archer is better suited to a low-pressure approach with a high-intensity finish, since we have solid kiting abilities and the ability to shred enemies at range as long as they're vulnerable to +1 weapons, or whether the Archer is better suited to a high-pressure strategy focused on killing the enemy as quickly as possible, before any complicating factors come into play. My problem is that both strategies have genuine merits and undeniable drawbacks, which means I can't rule out either one.
If you want a clean kill - as you stated - there is only one way: Kite down the Five one by one and then finish them off quickly before taking on Mel herself. The other way which requires the console to trigger the final cutscene always has the smack of being wrong to me - but at the end its up to you @semiticgod
Technically the use of the console was fitting in with developer intent: since I intended for the Better Stat Drain mod to allow any fight to be won via stat drain, an instant kill on Melissan while the Five were still alive would have been intended behavior. The only reason it didn't work is because the mod was fairly simple, and the Ascension Melissan fight involves some complex variable stuffs.
I could actually update the Better Stat Drain mod so that it will trigger the cutscene when it hits Melissan (I could patch her script or make the spell set the right variable or even just have it instantly kill the Five as well as reduce Melissan to 1 HP), but I've held off on that because I've already been playing the game with the original version of the mod for so long that it seems reasonable not to update this mod until after this run is over.
If we do die to Melissan, I may or may not make that change to the Better Stat Drain mod, but I'd rather take her down with the existing version. After all, we've overcome every other obstacle without resorting to the console or mod updates.
@semiticgod If you get boxed in you could use Dimension Door, which you get as a reward from one of the pools. In my Cavalier 2.5 run I used that to teleport until I was surrounded mostly by Skeleton Warriors, who couldn't touch me with my +1 weapon immunity, and they acted as a shield against Gambions and Fallen Solars etc. Killed Melissan with Crom Fayer and Reflection Shield. I would recommend the tactic of putting everybody to near death first, as you don't really lose anything in it, nor is it terribly risky as Big 5 can be separated and fought 1on1. But it's up to you really, and incidently, good luck!
Triss had gathered pretty much all the nice scrolls except couple, although I don't see much use for other than BBD, Time Stop and Project Image in this fight.
Started the battle with 10 apr Black Blade Disaster from a scroll. Used triple Time Stops plus one additional from a scroll to hack the Fallen Solars off the battlefield. Although short duration BBD ended before the other Solar was dead FoA +5 did just fine. Bodhi was killed soon after, and I let Irenicus kill Balty after he was out of his spells, because Balty was acting weirdly, and I don't want any weirdness in my plans. Simulacrum clone then easily hacked Irenicus. That was very easy and fast.
The first pool was basic smacking, 10 apr FoA +5 for others, and 5 apr sling for Gambions. Also Staff of Magi dispelled Glabrezus Mirror Image easily. Before refreshing the pool, it was time for some trapping in the top right corner. Also found something interesting. F/I Simulacrum can't cast above fifth level spells, Delayed Fireballs nor Project Image, but F/I Project Image can cast Simulacrum that can cast all level spells. Confusing? Basically it's 100% version of the Project Image, or me and essentially it allowed me to trap twice the numbers of DBF's per refresh. If only I knew this beforehand. Triss laid 48 DBF's after the first pit, which already should be enough for the Rift Deviced Melissan.
Second pool. Hacked two Nabassus, Marilith and Glabrezu during triple Time Stop. Then sweeped the rest. After 2nd refresh it was time for third and final trapping session, got total of 100 DBF's and left one Project Image scroll if I needed even more Time Stops, although I had plenty. Third pool. Balor, Glabrezu and Marilith hacked during triple Time Stop, Gambions slinged and the rest easily swept away.
Time to end this. Started the last battle invisible and ran to bottom left corner, Sarevok followed me and then I charmed him with the Control Circlet and left him there. Lured Gromnir then to bottom right corner and hacked him to near death. Potion of Absorbtion and Blunt belt forced him to hit with high rolls. Waited Abazigals Magical Swords out, then baited his Time Stop and used Focus, but he didn't do anything because I hid in the fog of war. Then baited his PfMW, Absolute Immunity and Improved Mantle all out. Finally allowed him to follow me to the bottom pit, put Gromnir started wandering after seeing me so I lured him in the top right pool. Then I had Abazigal alone in the bottom right pool. Used PfM on him not because I feared his spells, but to dispel his Improved Haste etc. Again 10 apr FoA +5 did its job quickly. Then Yaga was lured away from Sendai and hacked to near death, PfM on Sendai and hacked to near death, and lastly Illasera was hacked to near death.
Positioned Sarevok where Melissan spawns and started wiping the Big 5 off with the 10 apr FoA +5, and soon all were dead. Switched to DoEH and Reflection Shield, watched Sarevok die and Melissan get the last Heal before hitting her with the Rift Device. In the next round I hit Focus against Melissan Time Stop. Melissan woke up and teleported on me summoning some help, and I used this to hit her with 3x Pierce Magic trigger, before she cast Time Stop which suited Triss just fine as she had Focus still on. Then I lured her to the 100 Delayed Blast Fireball trap, and after time started flowing again, Melissan's time ended in a glorious fashion.
So after about 10 runs in 2.5 I finally succeeded. I've to say this was probably my easiest run, which is interesting because I always say that after every character. But maybe it just feels like that when you get better and used on the enemies and their behaviour. 2.5 doesn't really change the end fight much, F/I was hitting everybody with ease. Charming Sarevok on bottom left corner and using dividing tactic against Big 5 is the way to go I think, because there's no time pressure and it's easiest to deal them separately. Only risk here is if you accidentaly kill one of them, which probably will end the run. When Sarevok is charmed only Abazigal and Gromnir see through invisibility, but they also can be left in the fog of war. Trapping method is the best tactic against Melissan I think, although hacking works just fine for fighters. Some important items in this fight, Control Circlet for Sarevok, 2x PfM for Abazigal and Sendai, Rift Device for Melissan, and Reflection Shield against Illasera and Fallen Solars. Onto the next one, I'm thinking Sorcerer, not poverty yet because I want to see if Belhifet can kill himself first.
Congratz to @histamiini for this masterpiece. When reading through the posts everything looks so - well - easy!
Not to forget: I updated the "Hall of Fame". So - whats next? Bane + nR? Poverty? Oh, i think one should not underestimate the Sarevok battle. Even for the Totemic Druid nearly everything has to work perfectly otherwise its Game Over. Sorcerer might have an easier time against Big B as the chances to land Harm are 3% only. I cant say exactly how many Druids me and @Vynn have lost to him - hundreds!?
@Harpagornis Never tried Sorcerer yet, so nR first, to get feel of the mechanics. Although I'll switch to reload if I die because I want to try the Fireshield Blue, Otiluke's Resilient Sphere combo against Bel. And I actually don't see how poverty sorcerer could beat Sarevok, so there's that too.
I think its the time to test some more poverty builds in 2.5 + SCS v32. After seeing that the Totemic Druid still has "some potential" i switched back to an old idea: Cleric/Thief. First i wanted to pick Bounty Hunter for better traps but after @Vynn convinced me to try a Shadowdancer some nice things have happened. To make it short: Say hello to Ziad the Human Shadowdancer!
First step: Reach level 5 as Shadowdancer
Candlekeep 300 XP
Mad Arcand 300 XP
Marl 900 XP
Hobgoblin near Drizzt 200 XP
Firebead Elvenhair 200 XP
Brage 1000 XP
Noober 400 XP
Drienne 200 XP
Albert 1000 XP
Revenant 900 XP
Samuel 500 XP
Farmer Brun 1500 XP
Tenya 2500 XP
Thats exactly 10.000 XP to reach Level 5 Shadowdancer which also opens up Shadowstep as an emergeny button. Only Tenya involved some stealth punching but by abusing the door she quickly turned into talking mode. Time for some Cleric Levels!
Not to forget: Move Silently + Hide in Shadows = 165. Thats - theoretically - enough to remain in stealth permanently.
Second step: Push Cleric to Level 7
Mutamins Garden was a feeding festival for Korax who killed one Greater and five Lesser Basilisks pushing Ziad right to Level 5 which opened up Skeleton Warriors. Two of these easily killed a silenced Mutamin as well as one Greater Basilisk and three Lesser ones for 26400 XP total. On his travel back to Beregost Ziad got ambushed by another Lesser Basilisk and after a quick retreat and Sanctuary this one was also feeded to the Skeletons. Thanks to 27800 XP Ziad reached Level 6 which reactivated his Shadowdancer skills – now the real fun can start.
In Durlags Tower Ziad realized how powerful Shadow Step is as it easily can negate any traps who will activate but not touch him as long as time is frozen. He used this feature to easily negate the stun trap sneaking through to the Greater Basilisks. Thanks to three Skeletons the Basilisks did not last long (even though they needed to roll a 20) and Ziad left the tower with 50200 XP in the pocket so the next target – Shoal – pushed him right up to Level 7 for even better Skeletons. Time for Blood Rage and Mulahey!
Third Step: Crush everything - until meeting Sarevok
With the Skels and Shadowstep Ziad should be untouchable until meeting big bad Sarevok himself. Well - hopefully.
Only Tenya involved some stealth punching but by abusing the door she quickly turned into talking mode.
Sounds like a good plan. I was a bit confused by the reference to Tenya though - in the EE the initial conversation with her offers the opportunity to return the bowl without turning her hostile at all.
@histamiini: Brilliant work once again. Congratulations! We finally have a v2.5 solo no-reload LoB saga run, and that's a hugestep up in difficulty in this already-incredibly difficult challenge. Well done!
Post the text for your entry in the Hall of Heroes and I'll add it to the no-reload thread. I hope I have the same success with Melissan, but things will probably not be so clean for my Archer.
The Poverty Run with Ziad the Human Shadowdancer5/Cleric continues...
Mulahey:
Clerics have an easy instawin button for him cause once Mulahey is silenced he wont trigger the talking and – even better – he will remain neutral until dropping dead to the ground.
Nimbul & Neira:
Silenced and confronted with Blood Raging Skeletons they went down surprisingly fast
Tranzig:
The poor Mage could do absolutely nothing against the Skels...
Bandit Camp:
Stealthed into the main tent with Protection from Lightning, grabbed the documents and immediately activated Shadow Step. This gave Ziad enough time to get out again before Time Stop ended.
Davaeorn:
Stealthed through the Cloakwood skipping all content until facing Davaeorn. Too bad the dominated Guard got attacked by his Battle Horrors so Ziad had to rely on his Skeletons. Buffed up with Blood Rage and Ziad casting Hold Persons from safe distance they cleared the whole field with six rests. Davaeorn made things easier as he burned his own army while also teleporting away after some casts. The only thing Ziad really had to worry about was his Lightning Bolt so he always made sure to wait until this one bounced away. However: With Davaeorns position resetted after every rest and his Battle Horrors parked near the stairs it was only a matter of time until he was left alone and the final onslaught could start. As his teleporting is really annoying Ziad had to rest another time before Silence finally effected him and the raging Skels could hack him to pieces without resistance. Victory? Nope. Cause the game crashed over and over again. Even without Silence: Crash! After getting really frustrated i took another look at the loot on the floor and – surprise, suprise – all letters of Davaeorn plus his key – were lying on the ground. What? He somehow must have dropped them during one of the attacks even though i have no clue what triggered this action. Has someone also faced this funny drop? However: Even without Davaeorn dead the cutcence played like normal – lets hope the Mage got drowned like the others...
I thought I would test out the idea of a shadowdancer / cleric and rolled up Will as a starting character. However, I wanted to be a bit more ambitious and get at least to level 6 before dualling - ideally I'll push on to level 7, though that may require a formidable amount of work.
I'd started with a neutral character to reduce the danger from clerical smites / blights, which meant reputation was 10 initially. However, a bit of thievery in Beregost reduced that to 9 before going down to Nashkel to learn LMD. At the Carnival I annoyed Vitiare with LMD before going to rest. I then found a location to be able to hit him without him trying to hit back - and quite a while later the criticals had added up enough for LMD to finish him off. Other small bits of XP not included on Harpagornis' list were from unlocking everything possible and handing Mr Colquetle back his amulet.
On getting to level 5, rather than dual to cleric Will went to find some basilisks. With a tiny bit of punching help, Korax finished off the greater and 2 of the southern lesser basilisks to allow Will to achieve level 6. With Korax on a roll though, Will didn't dual but watched as another two lesser ones went down, before Korax targeted the second greater basilisk near Mutamin. Despite being slowed and hit by numerous spells his charm lasted long enough to pick up the XP from that as well.
That hit my target for the area, but, to my surprise, Korax also managed to kill Mutamin's pet lesser basilisk before the charm finally ran out (he was relatively lucky in the extent to which the greater basilisks were paralyzed - I've seen him fail to paralyze one at all before).
That put Will onto 31,600 XP. The next level at 40,000 still looks an awfully long way off though ...
Not to forget: Move Silently + Hide in Shadows = 165. Thats - theoretically - enough to remain in stealth permanently.
I didn't understand this by the way. Quite apart from the possibility of critical stealth failures, 165 shouldn't be enough to even hide reliably in dark areas - let alone lighted ones. What am I missing?
Candlekeep:
Hitting pause right after the cutscene allowed activation of Shadowstep so once the Ogre Mages appeared time was already frozen and Ziad could walk without any problems to the Warden slipping into the Keep after the ability expired. In the Catacombs he just stealthed through enemy lines only stopping to kill the two Greater Basilisks for another 2x 7000 XP with his Skels. Oh, not to forget: I tried to test the raged up Skels (2 raged, 1 normal) against the Ogre Mages without any further help. Even though they could not clear all four without resting and summoning them again the result was pretty satisfaying. Maybe we should...
Kahrk:
After killing 11 Ankhegs Ziad reached level 8 which opens up 4x Skels and 3x Blood Rage. Searching for some fresh Ogre meat they relentlessly attacked Kahrk and after one minute the result was quite obvious: The Skels got owned. Without even touching him they got crushed one by one while a Sunfire toasted them badly right at the start. Maybe Ziads army isnt as strong as he thought it would be...
Slythe:
This one however was a walk in the park once Kristin and Slythe got silenced as the Skels could just walk up to the Assassin and start the punching on their own terms. With other words: Slythe dropped down so fast that he wasnt even able to use all of his invsiblity potions – nice!
Palace Ambush:
This one was complete crazyness. Buffed up the Skels with Blood Rage and immediately restealthed after the Dopplegangers had transformed. But unlike the fight with a Totemic Druid who can shut down the Mage and the Shaman with Insect Plague all trys to silence them failed. Too bad that silencing the Nobles wont help as the effect gets cleared with the transfomation. This meant a whole world of trouble as Air & Water Elementals were suddenly appearing, followed by Sword Spiders and – even worse – Liias invisbility got removed and she casted Teleport Field. Once this spell was out the battle field got completly out of control with Dopplegangers and Elementals even being teleported into the side room where Ziad was hiding. Somehow the Skeletons managed to take out three Dopplegangers – including the Shaman – with Belt already nearly dead. Two of the beasts tried to melee down Liia so the Skels immediately tried to help her – and succeeded. The Mage however had managed to kill Belt in the meanwhile so the remaining three Skeletons – also wounded – tried to hunt down this last Doppleganger while Ziad was left without options as he did not wanted to risk running into something like a Chromatic Orb. However: The Skels punched quite hard on the Mage and it seemed there was still a chance of winning but then – damn it – i realized that Liia was missing. She somehow managed to teleport back into the main room – right into the swarm of Elementals who hacked her to pieces before any help could reach her. Both Dukes dead – GG again.
So the Palace Ambush looks much harder now and without a safe way to shut down both casters there is a whole world of pain waiting. The Skels even buffed up with Blood Rage did not hit hard enough to take the Dopplegangers fast enough but the worst thing was Liia after unleashing chaos with her teleport field. Further tests have shown that the chances of silencing both casters with a perfect timed Silence (to avoid the Minor Globe) is very, very low. Either at least one saves or – if you do not start the casting fast enough (you have to start it right before the talking triggers) the Mage will be immune. And even if both are silenced the Skels do not hit hard enough and one ally after another will fall while the Mage remains untouched till the end. This does not look good for Clerics but – maybe – there is another way...
@Grond0: You wont believe it but - at least for Ziad - 165 points were often times enough to hide even with enemies around. The only thing he had to avoid was bright sunlight but in that case he had Sanctuary or - in worst case - Shadow Step. Good luck with your character - you will need it!
Comments
I notice that Sarevok's weapon has a bug. It casts a spell with the file REAVER.spl, which ostensibly imposes a -1 THAC0 penalty on hit like the Soul Reaver sword. But it actually targets Sarevok himself according to the item file, and it's also flagged as a nonmagical item, which means that its +5 enchantment level is meaningless... which would explain why he was unable to hit Melissan in previous runs. If the intended behavior is for Sarevok to impose -1 THAC0 per hit for 20 rounds, that would actually be a really, really great tool for us to use. Sarevok has 5 APR and -21 THAC0 in LoB mode, so he could easily cripple individual enemies for many rounds on end!
Mulahey: 2x Spirit Wolves (paralyze!) + 3 Beetles were enough to clear the house
Tranzig: 2x Spirit Lions + 3 Beetles and the poor Mage dropped without resistance
Bandit Camp: Sneaked in with Pixie Dust and called three Nymphs who easily dominated Raemon to break his talk script. With Protection from Lightning Eklun looted the chest and moved out again
Cloakwood Mines: Pixie Dust to sneak down, four Nymphs to cast Mental Domination on Davaeorn after getting vision on him for the fraction of a second without triggering the talking. After failing his saving throw Davaeorn used Dimension Door several times but the Battle Horrors continued hunting him down – shortly after the Mage was history.
Baldurs Gate: The Dopplegangers were crushed by summons while Pixie Dust was used to get in and out of the Iron Throne.
Candlekeep: The Mage Ambush can bring a lot of pain be it instadeath from Chromatic Orb, getting feared from Horror, being paralyzed from Hold Person or running into a charm spell. While Charm gets countered by our elven heritage, Horror was countered with a quick cast of Remove Fear thanks to hitting pause once the cutscene ends. After that its crucial to immediately (!) start running to the eastern map border even before the talking triggers so you can travel right before spells like Chromatic Orb or Hold Person can hit you. The time frame for errors is really small as we have lost several Druids right here. This time however our reactions were on the spot and Eklun escaped to the east right before a Chromatic Orb reached him. With Pixie Dust he traveled back carefully moving forward as the Ogre Mages are also able to dispel his invisibility. Only after realizing that no one was reacting he quickly talked to the Gate Warden moving back into his old home. The rest of Candlekeep was quick business. Get into the catacombs and sneak through with Pixie Dust – back to the city.
Slythe: For this one Eklun protected himself with Iron Skin in case Slythe would try to land some backstabs on him. He then placed his two Spirit Lions and three Beetles so they would block the passage in the Undercellar while enabling Eklun to get quickly out of Slythes reach. Right before talking to the Assassin he casted True Seeing to get rid of his invisbility - very helpful. Once moving behind his summons all started attacking the revealed Slythe while a single beetle was moved right into the direction of Kristin so she would waste her spells only on this one – otherwise there is always the danger that she casts Death Fog into the middle of the pack which would instantly kill all of our summons. Anyway: Poor Slythe got punched really hard while Eklun was casting Alicorn Lances and Sunscorch taking him down before Kristin could do anything. With four summons still alive they quickly turned on the raging Mage who did not last long...
Only the Palace Ambush and Sarevok left - this should get funny!
Second, how can your Totemic Druid cast Remove Fear? In my SCS v32 install, it's still exclusive to clerics.
The Remove Fear is something @Vynn mentioned a long time ago as he is used to create and import characters from IWD into BG. With this "small little trick" we can use Elven Druids who not only are nearly immune to charm but also get Remove Fear which raises the chances of beating Avernus significantly. The downside of the import is that you lose three level 1 spell slots even though i dont know if this is related to 2.5 or SCS v32.
@DavidW: There seem to be some problems with at least two Druid spell right now. Farsight does not work as you can no longer select any area on the map - thats not nice. Also the Nymph script looks a bit broken as they are more or less constantly trying to move to the caster sometimes even aborting spells. Thats really annoying. Or is this caused by 2.5 alone and we can put the blame on Beamdog?
If you could fix this annoying Nymph behaviour: Would be awesome!
Its a real pity that using Charm Person or Mental Domination does not work on the Nobles – unlike Nymph Cloak – as they wont transform once the spell expires. However there are other options:
1. Iron Skin to make sure a potential backstab from the Assassin wont instakill us
2. Placing two Beetles and two Spirit Lions around the Shaman (or Assassin)
3. Moving the third Beetle as far away as possible (somewhere near Belt or Sarevok)
4. Cast Insect Plague on this third Beetle and immediately trigger the talking
5. Retreat when the transformation starts and let the third Beetle circle so the Insect Swarm will hit it right after all Nobles have transformed into Dopplegangers. This will completly shut down the Shaman and the Mage
6. Wait until all Dopplegangers have picked their targets and carefully cast Alicorn Lances and Sunscorch from the backline
7. Throw in the second Insect Plague and let the summons focus on wounded Dopplegangers to finish them off quickly
Taking out the two Casters with Insect Plague while also making sure that the Assassin will target a summon instead of the Main Character really takes the sting out of this fight. Eklun never had any problems as he always could break vision instantly hiding in the southwestern room. With Liia now casting Invisibility there was also no real danger that she and Belt would die both. The Beetles however proved once more that they are tough combatants as at the end all of them were still alive. Even Belt survived the onslaught porting Eklun right to the Thieves Guild once the summons blocked Sarevok long enough before he escaped once more. This was easier than expected - now what about Sarevok? Wil have to do some tests first...
1. Semaj + Tazok can be easily brought to "near death" with the Beetles after their invisibility got removed by Dispel Magic while Spike Stones or Spike Growth will take them down after the talking
2. Angelo still gets owned by one Spirit Animal - we just have to be careful to pull only him while also staying out of his vision (Chromatic Orb, Charm, Feeblemind...)
3. Now comes the first tricky part as Diarmid is still around. Once PfM expires he can be dominated by Nymphs - at least in theory. But first tests have shown that the weird Nymph script sometimes let them abort Mental Domination for no reason - which is bad news. Cause without Diarmid taking on Sarevok we lack the damage/resources to take out both of them afterwards.
4. Sarevok - his Haste hopefully dispelled - will be a beast but softened up from Spike Growth/ Spike Stones and Diarmid. So at the end its all about the Spirit Lion(s) plus Beetles. The old trick of letting his target run around while the other summons punch on him should still work even though hitting him will not that easy. Except - and thats another things the tests have shown - except if the Bombardier Beetles can stun him. This so far happened more or less regularly which opens up a window for lot of damage thanks to auto-hits. Static Charge is also an option even though we would lose a slot for Beetles/Nymphs. Alicorn Lance and Sunscorch are other small little damage options that could maybe turn the tides into our favour.
To make it short: If the dice luck is on our side we should win this one even with the 2.5 changes. If luck quits our cause - well - then we are doomed. We will see...
EDIT: Its even worse. The Nymphs are randomly casting spells ignoring commands most of the time. This is no fun. And it also means that dominating Diarmid will fail in most cases. Sometimes these crazy girls even abort casting to get into melee range for some punching...
EDIT2: Something has changed with 2.5 and SCS v32. This means: As long as at least one ally is alive Sarevok will constantly regenerate HP so the old strategy of softening him up with spells and Diarmid no longer works. That another bad news...
1. 4x Dispel Magic on Tazok, Semaj and Sarevok. Three Beetles then punched Tazok and Semaj down to "near death" even though they needed to roll 20s against the Mage.
2. Casted Insect Plague and while mid air talked to Sarevok. The Insects easily feeded Tazok and Semaj. Only three left.
3. Managed to pull Angelo who wasted his spells on a Spirit Lion. Thanks to his AC and lots of defensive spells this took several minutes while the Lion went down to injured. Two left.
4. Called in two Nymphs and put all of us invisible with Pixie Dust. Mental Domination instantly turned Diarmid friendly so victory is only a footstep away - isnt it?
5. Then i took another look on Sarevok who was moving fast as lightning. What? No! Even four Dispel Magic were not enough to get rid of his Haste this time. The result: He quickly crushed the Nymphs, Diarmid, the Spirit Lions and the Beetles while Eklun was running out of resources with no option to retreat and rest. GG!
Maybe its time to test something else... hmmmm... what about Clerics?
I was concerned about acid annoying Belt or the Flaming Fist in this fight. Did you waste that beforehand or did it just not annoy them?
1. A 33% chance of summoning 2 cambions, a succubus, and an alu-fiend
2. A 33% chance of summoning a Nabassu and a babau
3. An 11% chance of summoning a Marilith
4. An 11% chance of summoning a Glabrezu
5. An 11% chance of summoning a Balor
That means we have roughly a 50% chance of having at least 1 Balor who can cast Implosion on us--which means we have to hold onto the Ring of Free Action and cannot benefit from the Boots of Speed.
The upside is that we have a nearly guaranteed chance of having LOTS of targets for the Scorcher Ammunition. With a lesser demon as a target, we only need 2 Called Shot spells and roughly 10 seconds to kill Melissan instantly, as long as the rest of the Five are dead. This means I will not want to keep Yaga-Shura alive for long after Melissan arrives to use him as a target to kill the Fallen Solars. We can ignore the Fallen Solars entirely and just land an instant kill on Melissan, as long as we don't get boxed in due to not having the Boots of Speed (unless there are no Balors, which is a coin flip).
If we do get boxed in, we might be screwed depending on positioning and if we have a Smite spell on hand. The only way to ensure that we could land a kill on Melissan in a chaotic environment is to have our clone already on the map and buffed with Armor of Faith and Hardiness, with the Ring of Free Action on hand. The enemies can't box both of us in, and two streams of the Scorcher Ammunition could kill Melissan via STR drain in less than a single round.
That means we need to summon our clone before Melissan arrives, which further means we have to use the conventional strategy from @Alesia_BH: get the Five to Near Death so we can knock them down sequentially and keep Melissan stun-locked. Problem is, the clone only lasts 16 rounds, and if things get complicated, we could run out the duration before Melissan falls. We'd have far more trouble tackling Melissan on our own, especially if she brings out both her various demons and the Fallen Solars.
Problem is, our clone doesn't get any saving throw bonuses, which means its save vs. spell will be a flat 6... which amounts to a 50% chance of failing a save against a succubus' charm spell. That means we need the Greenstone Amulet or the Shield of Harmony, but the former is dispellable and requires an aura use, and the latter can't be used in tandem with the Scorcher Ammunition. I'm thinking the clone will need both, but its helm is already occupied by Vhailor's Helm, which means our only remaining method of improving its fire resistance (which it needs to be a valid target for the Scorcher Ammunition if we need it to be) is the Ring of Fire Control, for only 50%.
But none of our solutions or attack methods are clean. All of them require precision and are dependent upon chance and positioning because those demon summoning spells are largely random and determine our available targets for the Scorcher Ammunition. Every move and every decision imposes a distinctive drawback.
I mean, the final fight could easily end with victory in just a few seconds. That's how it worked in my Archer/Mage run. But given all the factors at hand, I'm not sure it will work out the same way. Plus, I want a clean kill, which means wiping out the Five first--the shortcomings of the Better Stat Drain mod meant my Archer/Mage needed the console to trigger the ending cutscene due to killing Melissan while the Five were still alive.
I don't like the idea of summoning a clone before Melissan, since it means we'll have less clone time for Melissan herself. It does mean quicker deaths for the Five, though, and if we have Called Shot active when Melissan shows up, we might be able to use them on those summoned demons via the Scorcher Ammunition.
Alternatively, I could go full-blown blitzkrieg, and slay the Five as quickly as possible with STR drain from the Scorcher Ammunition. With 20 APR and 2 STR drain per hit, we could wipe out each one in less than a single round. By the time Melissan showed up, we'd have a clone from the last energy pool still around, while Vhailor's Helm still had a charge! If the clone doesn't have enough rounds left in its duration, though, we might have to summon a new clone, and I don't want to have to spend precious time preparing for the kill when Melissan is up and about.
Still... with a 16-round duration, that doesn't leave a lot of wiggle room for a Called Shot-based, blitzkrieg-style strategy. If we're too slow, we're left lagging at a key point. If we're fast, we get to skip past some pretty nasty obstacles.
The root question is whether the Archer is better suited to a low-pressure approach with a high-intensity finish, since we have solid kiting abilities and the ability to shred enemies at range as long as they're vulnerable to +1 weapons, or whether the Archer is better suited to a high-pressure strategy focused on killing the enemy as quickly as possible, before any complicating factors come into play. My problem is that both strategies have genuine merits and undeniable drawbacks, which means I can't rule out either one.
What do you guys think?
I could actually update the Better Stat Drain mod so that it will trigger the cutscene when it hits Melissan (I could patch her script or make the spell set the right variable or even just have it instantly kill the Five as well as reduce Melissan to 1 HP), but I've held off on that because I've already been playing the game with the original version of the mod for so long that it seems reasonable not to update this mod until after this run is over.
If we do die to Melissan, I may or may not make that change to the Better Stat Drain mod, but I'd rather take her down with the existing version. After all, we've overcome every other obstacle without resorting to the console or mod updates.
Triss had gathered pretty much all the nice scrolls except couple, although I don't see much use for other than BBD, Time Stop and Project Image in this fight.
Imprisonment 1
Limited Wish 4
Project Image 4
Simulacrum 8
Shapechange 2
Time Stop 6
Wish 1
Started the battle with 10 apr Black Blade Disaster from a scroll. Used triple Time Stops plus one additional from a scroll to hack the Fallen Solars off the battlefield. Although short duration BBD ended before the other Solar was dead FoA +5 did just fine. Bodhi was killed soon after, and I let Irenicus kill Balty after he was out of his spells, because Balty was acting weirdly, and I don't want any weirdness in my plans. Simulacrum clone then easily hacked Irenicus. That was very easy and fast.
The first pool was basic smacking, 10 apr FoA +5 for others, and 5 apr sling for Gambions. Also Staff of Magi dispelled Glabrezus Mirror Image easily. Before refreshing the pool, it was time for some trapping in the top right corner. Also found something interesting. F/I Simulacrum can't cast above fifth level spells, Delayed Fireballs nor Project Image, but F/I Project Image can cast Simulacrum that can cast all level spells. Confusing? Basically it's 100% version of the Project Image, or me and essentially it allowed me to trap twice the numbers of DBF's per refresh. If only I knew this beforehand. Triss laid 48 DBF's after the first pit, which already should be enough for the Rift Deviced Melissan.
Second pool. Hacked two Nabassus, Marilith and Glabrezu during triple Time Stop. Then sweeped the rest. After 2nd refresh it was time for third and final trapping session, got total of 100 DBF's and left one Project Image scroll if I needed even more Time Stops, although I had plenty. Third pool. Balor, Glabrezu and Marilith hacked during triple Time Stop, Gambions slinged and the rest easily swept away.
Time to end this. Started the last battle invisible and ran to bottom left corner, Sarevok followed me and then I charmed him with the Control Circlet and left him there. Lured Gromnir then to bottom right corner and hacked him to near death. Potion of Absorbtion and Blunt belt forced him to hit with high rolls. Waited Abazigals Magical Swords out, then baited his Time Stop and used Focus, but he didn't do anything because I hid in the fog of war. Then baited his PfMW, Absolute Immunity and Improved Mantle all out. Finally allowed him to follow me to the bottom pit, put Gromnir started wandering after seeing me so I lured him in the top right pool. Then I had Abazigal alone in the bottom right pool. Used PfM on him not because I feared his spells, but to dispel his Improved Haste etc. Again 10 apr FoA +5 did its job quickly. Then Yaga was lured away from Sendai and hacked to near death, PfM on Sendai and hacked to near death, and lastly Illasera was hacked to near death.
Positioned Sarevok where Melissan spawns and started wiping the Big 5 off with the 10 apr FoA +5, and soon all were dead. Switched to DoEH and Reflection Shield, watched Sarevok die and Melissan get the last Heal before hitting her with the Rift Device. In the next round I hit Focus against Melissan Time Stop. Melissan woke up and teleported on me summoning some help, and I used this to hit her with 3x Pierce Magic trigger, before she cast Time Stop which suited Triss just fine as she had Focus still on. Then I lured her to the 100 Delayed Blast Fireball trap, and after time started flowing again, Melissan's time ended in a glorious fashion.
So after about 10 runs in 2.5 I finally succeeded. I've to say this was probably my easiest run, which is interesting because I always say that after every character. But maybe it just feels like that when you get better and used on the enemies and their behaviour. 2.5 doesn't really change the end fight much, F/I was hitting everybody with ease. Charming Sarevok on bottom left corner and using dividing tactic against Big 5 is the way to go I think, because there's no time pressure and it's easiest to deal them separately. Only risk here is if you accidentaly kill one of them, which probably will end the run. When Sarevok is charmed only Abazigal and Gromnir see through invisibility, but they also can be left in the fog of war. Trapping method is the best tactic against Melissan I think, although hacking works just fine for fighters. Some important items in this fight, Control Circlet for Sarevok, 2x PfM for Abazigal and Sendai, Rift Device for Melissan, and Reflection Shield against Illasera and Fallen Solars. Onto the next one, I'm thinking Sorcerer, not poverty yet because I want to see if Belhifet can kill himself first.
Not to forget: I updated the "Hall of Fame". So - whats next? Bane + nR? Poverty? Oh, i think one should not underestimate the Sarevok battle. Even for the Totemic Druid nearly everything has to work perfectly otherwise its Game Over. Sorcerer might have an easier time against Big B as the chances to land Harm are 3% only. I cant say exactly how many Druids me and @Vynn have lost to him - hundreds!?
First step: Reach level 5 as Shadowdancer
Candlekeep 300 XP
Mad Arcand 300 XP
Marl 900 XP
Hobgoblin near Drizzt 200 XP
Firebead Elvenhair 200 XP
Brage 1000 XP
Noober 400 XP
Drienne 200 XP
Albert 1000 XP
Revenant 900 XP
Samuel 500 XP
Farmer Brun 1500 XP
Tenya 2500 XP
Thats exactly 10.000 XP to reach Level 5 Shadowdancer which also opens up Shadowstep as an emergeny button. Only Tenya involved some stealth punching but by abusing the door she quickly turned into talking mode. Time for some Cleric Levels!
Not to forget: Move Silently + Hide in Shadows = 165. Thats - theoretically - enough to remain in stealth permanently.
Second step: Push Cleric to Level 7
Mutamins Garden was a feeding festival for Korax who killed one Greater and five Lesser Basilisks pushing Ziad right to Level 5 which opened up Skeleton Warriors. Two of these easily killed a silenced Mutamin as well as one Greater Basilisk and three Lesser ones for 26400 XP total. On his travel back to Beregost Ziad got ambushed by another Lesser Basilisk and after a quick retreat and Sanctuary this one was also feeded to the Skeletons. Thanks to 27800 XP Ziad reached Level 6 which reactivated his Shadowdancer skills – now the real fun can start.
In Durlags Tower Ziad realized how powerful Shadow Step is as it easily can negate any traps who will activate but not touch him as long as time is frozen. He used this feature to easily negate the stun trap sneaking through to the Greater Basilisks. Thanks to three Skeletons the Basilisks did not last long (even though they needed to roll a 20) and Ziad left the tower with 50200 XP in the pocket so the next target – Shoal – pushed him right up to Level 7 for even better Skeletons. Time for Blood Rage and Mulahey!
Third Step: Crush everything - until meeting Sarevok
With the Skels and Shadowstep Ziad should be untouchable until meeting big bad Sarevok himself. Well - hopefully.
Sounds like a good plan. I was a bit confused by the reference to Tenya though - in the EE the initial conversation with her offers the opportunity to return the bowl without turning her hostile at all.
Post the text for your entry in the Hall of Heroes and I'll add it to the no-reload thread. I hope I have the same success with Melissan, but things will probably not be so clean for my Archer.
Triss the Fighter/Illusionist: @histamiini
Notable mods: SCS v32 rc10, Ascension, LoB Saving Throw Fix
Difficulty: Legacy of Bhaal 2.5
Special: Solo Run
BG1
Chapter 1-3 https://forums.beamdog.com/discussion/comment/1062164/#Comment_1062164
Chapter 4-7 https://forums.beamdog.com/discussion/comment/1063114/#Comment_1063114
Chapter 7-12 https://forums.beamdog.com/discussion/comment/1063448/#Comment_1063448
BG2
Prologue https://forums.beamdog.com/discussion/comment/1064165/#Comment_1064165
Chapter 1-3 https://forums.beamdog.com/discussion/comment/1064491/#Comment_1064491
https://forums.beamdog.com/discussion/comment/1065200/#Comment_1065200
Chapter 4 https://forums.beamdog.com/discussion/comment/1065835/#Comment_1065835
Chapter 5 https://forums.beamdog.com/discussion/comment/1066132/#Comment_1066132
Chapter 6 https://forums.beamdog.com/discussion/comment/1066319/#Comment_1066319
Chapter 7-8 https://forums.beamdog.com/discussion/comment/1066442/#Comment_1066442
https://forums.beamdog.com/discussion/comment/1066550/#Comment_1066550
https://forums.beamdog.com/discussion/comment/1066638/#Comment_1066638
https://forums.beamdog.com/discussion/comment/1066683/#Comment_1066683
Chapter 8-9 https://forums.beamdog.com/discussion/comment/1066838/#Comment_1066838
https://forums.beamdog.com/discussion/comment/1066925/#Comment_1066925
Final Battle https://forums.beamdog.com/discussion/comment/1067789/#Comment_1067789
Mulahey:
Clerics have an easy instawin button for him cause once Mulahey is silenced he wont trigger the talking and – even better – he will remain neutral until dropping dead to the ground.
Nimbul & Neira:
Silenced and confronted with Blood Raging Skeletons they went down surprisingly fast
Tranzig:
The poor Mage could do absolutely nothing against the Skels...
Bandit Camp:
Stealthed into the main tent with Protection from Lightning, grabbed the documents and immediately activated Shadow Step. This gave Ziad enough time to get out again before Time Stop ended.
Davaeorn:
Stealthed through the Cloakwood skipping all content until facing Davaeorn. Too bad the dominated Guard got attacked by his Battle Horrors so Ziad had to rely on his Skeletons. Buffed up with Blood Rage and Ziad casting Hold Persons from safe distance they cleared the whole field with six rests. Davaeorn made things easier as he burned his own army while also teleporting away after some casts. The only thing Ziad really had to worry about was his Lightning Bolt so he always made sure to wait until this one bounced away. However: With Davaeorns position resetted after every rest and his Battle Horrors parked near the stairs it was only a matter of time until he was left alone and the final onslaught could start. As his teleporting is really annoying Ziad had to rest another time before Silence finally effected him and the raging Skels could hack him to pieces without resistance. Victory? Nope. Cause the game crashed over and over again. Even without Silence: Crash! After getting really frustrated i took another look at the loot on the floor and – surprise, suprise – all letters of Davaeorn plus his key – were lying on the ground. What? He somehow must have dropped them during one of the attacks even though i have no clue what triggered this action. Has someone also faced this funny drop? However: Even without Davaeorn dead the cutcence played like normal – lets hope the Mage got drowned like the others...
Baldurs Gate next!
I'd started with a neutral character to reduce the danger from clerical smites / blights, which meant reputation was 10 initially. However, a bit of thievery in Beregost reduced that to 9 before going down to Nashkel to learn LMD. At the Carnival I annoyed Vitiare with LMD before going to rest. I then found a location to be able to hit him without him trying to hit back - and quite a while later the criticals had added up enough for LMD to finish him off. Other small bits of XP not included on Harpagornis' list were from unlocking everything possible and handing Mr Colquetle back his amulet.
On getting to level 5, rather than dual to cleric Will went to find some basilisks. With a tiny bit of punching help, Korax finished off the greater and 2 of the southern lesser basilisks to allow Will to achieve level 6. With Korax on a roll though, Will didn't dual but watched as another two lesser ones went down, before Korax targeted the second greater basilisk near Mutamin. Despite being slowed and hit by numerous spells his charm lasted long enough to pick up the XP from that as well.
That put Will onto 31,600 XP. The next level at 40,000 still looks an awfully long way off though ...
I didn't understand this by the way. Quite apart from the possibility of critical stealth failures, 165 shouldn't be enough to even hide reliably in dark areas - let alone lighted ones. What am I missing?
Seven Suns:
Skels vs Dopplegangers 5:0
Iron Throne:
Stealth to win
Candlekeep:
Hitting pause right after the cutscene allowed activation of Shadowstep so once the Ogre Mages appeared time was already frozen and Ziad could walk without any problems to the Warden slipping into the Keep after the ability expired. In the Catacombs he just stealthed through enemy lines only stopping to kill the two Greater Basilisks for another 2x 7000 XP with his Skels. Oh, not to forget: I tried to test the raged up Skels (2 raged, 1 normal) against the Ogre Mages without any further help. Even though they could not clear all four without resting and summoning them again the result was pretty satisfaying. Maybe we should...
Kahrk:
After killing 11 Ankhegs Ziad reached level 8 which opens up 4x Skels and 3x Blood Rage. Searching for some fresh Ogre meat they relentlessly attacked Kahrk and after one minute the result was quite obvious: The Skels got owned. Without even touching him they got crushed one by one while a Sunfire toasted them badly right at the start. Maybe Ziads army isnt as strong as he thought it would be...
Slythe:
This one however was a walk in the park once Kristin and Slythe got silenced as the Skels could just walk up to the Assassin and start the punching on their own terms. With other words: Slythe dropped down so fast that he wasnt even able to use all of his invsiblity potions – nice!
Palace Ambush:
This one was complete crazyness. Buffed up the Skels with Blood Rage and immediately restealthed after the Dopplegangers had transformed. But unlike the fight with a Totemic Druid who can shut down the Mage and the Shaman with Insect Plague all trys to silence them failed. Too bad that silencing the Nobles wont help as the effect gets cleared with the transfomation. This meant a whole world of trouble as Air & Water Elementals were suddenly appearing, followed by Sword Spiders and – even worse – Liias invisbility got removed and she casted Teleport Field. Once this spell was out the battle field got completly out of control with Dopplegangers and Elementals even being teleported into the side room where Ziad was hiding. Somehow the Skeletons managed to take out three Dopplegangers – including the Shaman – with Belt already nearly dead. Two of the beasts tried to melee down Liia so the Skels immediately tried to help her – and succeeded. The Mage however had managed to kill Belt in the meanwhile so the remaining three Skeletons – also wounded – tried to hunt down this last Doppleganger while Ziad was left without options as he did not wanted to risk running into something like a Chromatic Orb. However: The Skels punched quite hard on the Mage and it seemed there was still a chance of winning but then – damn it – i realized that Liia was missing. She somehow managed to teleport back into the main room – right into the swarm of Elementals who hacked her to pieces before any help could reach her. Both Dukes dead – GG again.
So the Palace Ambush looks much harder now and without a safe way to shut down both casters there is a whole world of pain waiting. The Skels even buffed up with Blood Rage did not hit hard enough to take the Dopplegangers fast enough but the worst thing was Liia after unleashing chaos with her teleport field. Further tests have shown that the chances of silencing both casters with a perfect timed Silence (to avoid the Minor Globe) is very, very low. Either at least one saves or – if you do not start the casting fast enough (you have to start it right before the talking triggers) the Mage will be immune. And even if both are silenced the Skels do not hit hard enough and one ally after another will fall while the Mage remains untouched till the end. This does not look good for Clerics but – maybe – there is another way...
@Grond0: You wont believe it but - at least for Ziad - 165 points were often times enough to hide even with enemies around. The only thing he had to avoid was bright sunlight but in that case he had Sanctuary or - in worst case - Shadow Step. Good luck with your character - you will need it!