The Ring of Gaxx is indeed flagged as critical, so it would always make it through. Kangaxx also carries some random treasure, which would be destroyed.
I can confirm, just redid it as a test, gore will keep the ring of gaxx. For the shadow dragon, you're left with the crom faer scroll and gold. Firkraag only gold so you lose not only the scales but also Carsomyr. I really didn't know about the gore thing, might as well leave it off now as i'm definitely planning to use some BBoD disintegration (not sure if devour brain will have the effect but i'm going to use that too). Those exploding corpses were always a bit ridiculous to me anyway, like when i totally exploded Caelar but she still manage to talk with her uncle a few seconds after.
Miscounted death last post, i'm actually at 3 + 16 from the twisted rune for 19 SoA deaths.
Sirus F/I BG2
Preparing for spellhold.
Getting the magic license the right way
Level up to 12F/13I
Decided that it was a very good time, now that i had the staff of cheese, to deal with the cowled mages. Waited their buffs out before hacking them in mislead+web. Got surprised as i waited for too long, and got another death when i casted web as a second pack of wizard came in, used time stop and summoned a planetar at me. This was really unexpected (Soa death 20). Died a second time to fallen planetar (21) so i decided to use cloudkill (so much for a wand i didn't plan to use... didn't need it at all on my non-scs run)
This was incredibly effective, being able to clear mage waves with 5-6 charges (30 for the twisted rune...). Really had to turn invisible as soon as i used the wand to avoid being hit by the Hakeashar, who can cost me a ton of additionnal charges if im not careful. Managed to kill 4 waves with my remaining charges, then recharged for the 2 last waves. Had to reload one time due to a peasant walking into the cloud so i changed spot for the top right instead (not sure if there is a way to pacify hostile innocents?). Seems like Bel Dalemark recharge it for even cheaper at 6030 gold.
Rechanged spot to the top left for the 2 last waves as a dog decided to stay on my spot. Zallanora wave needed 7 cloudkill. A job well done! I'm now free to cast spells anywhere.
Unseeing eye and smuggling the ultimate weapon
Started the unseeing eye quests and killed everything with mislead. Leveled up to 13/13 (extra half attack!) after killing the Empathic Manifestation with Cure light wound bhaalspawn abilitie. Next level are HLAs!
I decided to try charming Roger the fence to make him pickpocket the Rift machine from me, so he can take it out of the sewer and test how useful it can be during a playthrough.
Tanked the abi dalzim from the lich going into the belholder's lair, which reminded me to use spell trap. Melf acid arrows got tanked invincible while the lich went in timestop, dispelled it's protection with SotM then 1 shot killed with MoD+2 still on mislead. First legit lich without PFM or PFU!
Mislead the blind priests then looted the area. Didn't want to use my rift device for the unseeing eye and it seemed immune to all my weapons even once breached, so i killed him with WoCK. He spawned some death tyrant once injured but they couldn't do much either. He died in 12 charges. Mislead the 2 death tyrant.
Killed the shade lich on the way out with SotM dispel + MoD+2. I'm really going to need energy resistance for those abi-dalzim... 118 damage. Buffed with shield, protection from fire/cold, stoneskin, mislead far away, improved haste and spell immunity: abjuration. With immunity to magic damage, they won't be able to touch me at all at least for a few rounds.
Did a small test and i confirm, you can take out the rift device from the sewers using Roger the fence so no need for a Ferret. The thing is, now that he's dead, there is no way for me to finish the quest as i just can't bring the device back into the sewers. I reloaded and did an AMAZING discovery allowing me to finish the quest AND keep the rift device, which i did exploit.
Killed the whole cult, finished the quest, leveled up to 14/14 (HLA * power attack * critical strike for assured hits, mordy swords!) and enjoyed my free ranged harm tool! I don't plan to abuse it but it can definitely be useful.
Smooth Lich hunting before the storm:
Wanted to do some lich hunting but not before making me immune to all elements, so i went to trademeet to buy protection from magical energy+truesight and did another scribing session of 15 new scrolls. Bought the belt of inertial barrier at the same time for 8625 gold.
Did the city gate lich and now i had my lich killing setup. Even the Fallen Planetar couldn't do anything. The only thing that could damage me was Cloudkill, which wouldn't be a problem anymore once i obtain the ring of Gaxx.
Buffs: Spell trap (SotM), stoneskin, shield, PfE, Protection from fire/cold/lightning/acid/magical energy, improved invisibility, spell turning (got it from the cowled wizard as a drop, not necessary at all), mirror image, haste (improved next level), true sight, spell immunity abjuration and divination, PFMW when entering the room then SotM to dispel effect and MoD+2 for the kill. Can't touch this! (for now at least).
I'm keeping Daystar as it could be useful against Kangaxx first form for some guaranteed Sunray and critical strikes, assisted by Simulacrum.
Kangaxx... powerful without SCS, now even more ridiculous. I wanted to quit and wait until chapter 7 here.
Started the fight against Kangaxx. Had to use critical strike to hit him with the SotM, but he eventually recasted PfMW and a fallen planetar, so i ended up just kiting the planetar until it disappeared. All of his spells were useless at the moment anyway. So i waited invisible until he didn't cast anything anymore. Eventually his spellbook was ''empty'' and i was completely untouched... or at least as i though. He waited my immunity then casted remove magic on me. Another planetar spawned and i was totally done.
If this try fails, i'm going to use a PfM scroll on him (lol i was so optimistic).
Second try also failed, i can't seem to find a way to prevent him from constantly being under PFMW, making all my attacks useless. He also seems to be able to wish rest, giving him unlimited casts. He would eventually wait my immunity, then dispel my effects, then force me to go back to rest outside.
So i used a PfM from simulacrum, and daystar mopped the flood with him.
Sim got feared and became useless right after but Daystar could hit him very well under PfM. He was still able to cast abi-dalzim and other spells however, but at least his defenses were useless (or i though, i later on learned that i was just interrupting him constantly) so i could hurt him. Eventually Sim came out of power word:Fear and gave the final blow with critical strike.
For the demilich part, looks like he can actually cast spells... and a ton of them. This is bad. Went back outside to rest and rebuffed, then equiped MoD+2, hoping for the kill with critical strike. Right when i came out, the demilich actually followed me and glitched through my character, preventing movements... eventually my protection expired and i got killed as i couldn't target him at all as he was totally over me.
Had to redo the fight completely as i tried 10 times and couldn't run away or do anything to the demilich form. It would also stay indefinitely protected, making MoD+2 useless.
Tried it again and casted PfU both on myself and the demilich and notice that he wouldn't do anything. It even interrupted his casts! To my surprise... it seems that the undead destroyed doesn't work at all, which is a huge problem and the whole reason why i chose MoD+2 (i was so wrong... it's still great however). I turned back to my ''only hope'' of defeating Kangaxx before getting mage HLAs... the victor.
Did a try against Kangaxx the lich again and noticed that the flail elemental damage actually interrupt his casts even if he's immune to it, which is even better and that i wouldn't need PfM as i could interrupt most of his casts and eventually kill him. I got stuck again against an unbeatable lich however.
Restarted the whole fight again (13 tries total at this point). Removed true sight and went with improved haste this time and 3x spell immunity to be able to refresh it. I learned something during my first try doing this: I'm going to need spell shield as he spell strike me.
Baited his spells again until he stop attacking for a moment and had to go back to rest due to the planetar. I decided to use the PfM as it reduced the amount of spell he could cast, while really not all of them. Managed to get a window with only a sword spider summoner who couldn't do much against my multiple stoneskin, and stunlocked him to death with FoA+3, + critical strike from Daystar for a damage burst.
Well the victor doesn't work either due to magic resistance... i'm out of ideas... except if some fire elementals could be summoned due to their attack at enchantement +4 to kill him like i did before. (15 tries for 34 deaths)
I really don't know what PfM does to him as he still summon and cast with no problem, so i decided to not use it. I waited his summons out upstairs, went downstairs, casted sim from helmet and just went mindlessly hacking at him and it worked very well. He dispeled me and i didn't stop as he couldn't cast anything slowed with sim hacking at the same time.
Waited the demilich summons out as he still casted them on PfU and saved at the bottom of the screen. Casted 2 fire elementals and had a few backup scrolls just in case (needed 2 tries to get a strong fire elemental so i reloaded in a ''safe area'' at the bottom of the screen before the casts). Hasted them and helped with daystar. At near death, i remembered that i didn't need critical strike so far, so the lich was done. FINALLY!
Did a few more tests and saw that i actually needed a higher HD fire elemental from the summon spell, asit has a -4 thac0 and the ''lesser'' one had 2, so very inefficient. At -4, he was hitting pretty well at 16 and above. 1 level higher for more critical strike would have made everything easier in the end but still, after 21 tries i finally managed to beat him. I'm very surprised that the MoD+2 was ineffective. I can't imagine how hard the watcher's keep demi-lich will be but at least i'm going to be much more powerful.
Shadow temple
Back to business, rescued Haer'Dalis and went to clear the tanner shop in bridge district. Went to Umar Hills and did the mimic quest, killed the golem, made an alliance between the creatures and the village and got the map for the shadow temple and headed there.
Went to the shadow temple and cleared it with MoD+2 and PFU. Now after a talk with histamiini, i really wished that i putted a pip in axes instead of maces... I'm going to have more than enough anyway. Still, cleared the whole temple without issue and destroyed the lich.
Leveled to 15/14 after giving the bones to the ghosts. ** in maces to finish what i started for that half attack, HLA in level 6 slot. Lich got 1 shotted, improved haste was too fast for him to cast anything.
Shadow altar PfU + improved haste for easy kill. Didn't care about the dragon at the moment, no doubt that even feebleminded i would need crits to be able to touch him.
Planar sphere
Went to kill Valygar and his rangers, 4x level 6 slots is much better, also with 2x level 7 but i didn't use mordy swords yet as i am not supposed to have it (will remove this scroll change from SCS after this playthrough).
Entered the planar sphere and cleared it with mislead. Leveled to 15/15 killing the clay golem inside, got a 2nd critical strike. 9 APR cleared everything very quickly. Power attack is very useful to prevent mage casting until they die. I usually see an adamantium golem there but not now... which is actually better at the moment.
Defeated the elementals, built the golem and went downstairs. Super buffed myself into oblivion for Lavok, who died to 2 hasted critical strikes. Found a simulacrum scroll from the lizard men and a legit mordenkainen sword. Now that i naturally found them, i'm allowing myself to use them. Used power attack against the Tanar'ri so they couldn't do anything against me even if they could see me invisible and kill all 3 of them. Leveled up again to 16/15, took level 7 slots now that i had legit mordy swords, if not it would have been critical strike again.
It went well so i clear the whole hell area for xp. Prepared like crazy for Tolgerias and he just ended up hacked during mislead. Putted the demon heart into the golem core and cleared the room for some nice xp.
Firkraag dungeon and Illithid lair
Finished the quest and went to do Firkraag dungeon after freeing the captive dryads.
Clearing the dungeon was a cakewalk with mislead, mordy swords and MoD+2. got to level 17/16, level 8 spell and critical strike again.
Found an adamantium golem, who really didn't last long with 4 mordy sword, power attack and 9 apr FoA. Rescued the child and decided to come back with the wand of wonder for Firkrag to do some tests.
Went to the Illithid lair in the sewers, found an improved mantle scroll earlier on that i learned and decided to memorize it to protect myself from the mind flayers.
Got jumped by 6 mind flayers and survived due to it. When 3 were left, i was out of mantle and almost died at 5 intelligence.
Had a sudden death on the last room even protected by mantle.
Died a second time (36 SOA deaths) and saw that it was insane crushing damage from a mind flayer, at 85 damage for a hit.
Also buffed with mirror image and stoneskin for the next time and it was a success.
Died twice to Alhoon (38) which i cannot seem to properly dispel while he removed my buff. Used spell immunity the second time so i could stay buffed, then waited his PFMW, dispelled his illusions with true sight, tanked the fire damage with protection (after being reminded by a fireball) then power attacked him to stun him, then he was done.
Got the hammer of thunderbolt and the amazing wand of wonder. Those mind flayers were very brutal, i'm not sure how to defeat them with a class that can't have good summons or immunity to their attacks.
Dropped the hammer and the honestly useless shield of balduran (why did i buy this... they won't even use their death ray anymore. Mislead it is and timestop later on).
Made my way back to the shadow dragon and killed some undeads on the way, level up to 18/16, * in two-handed swords for soul reaver as i'm planning to try soul reaver and the silver sword this time, which could be amazing mixed with simulacrum, second HLA into power attack.
Abusing the wand of wonder for some petrification (thank you histamiini !!! )
Shadow dragon died stoned with only 5 charges in jelly form, which he couldn't touch at all (forgot the wardstone at Cernd's house...). Reloaded and tested gore settings, it seems that only the gold and crom faer scroll appear if gore is turned on. Made my way to Firkraag to test my new toy. I've always found the gore setting a bit ridiculous anyway!
Firkraag stoned with 4 charges (running away to prevent offensive spells as they take longer to cast than buffs). Tested with gore, you only get gold and lose all loot... No more gore setting for me!
Planar prison
Went to rescue Haer'Dalis, got the paws of the cheetah, again everything fell to mislead. Leveled to 18/17 went power attack again for 3/3 with critical strikes. Got 2 deaths at the warden (40) as he could see me invisible and improved mantle wouldn't work against him. Notice that he uses black blade of disaster, so i decided to wait it out next try. Waited his buffs, dragged him near the entrance and he got stuck into his own web, which is where i power attacked him to death so he couldn't move at all.
Master of thrall fell the same way, power attacked to death unable to move as it could see me through invisibility. Very underrated HLA.
Finished clearing the dungeon and didn't notice a Nishruu who drained my wands by half. Looks like those can see me invisible... Having 5 mordy sword was also ridiculous, a breached power attacked mage would die instantly. Got done with the prison, i'm 48k short from unlocking Planetars. I'm right now debating if i should clear the first level of WK or go straight to spellhold, as i did almost everything i could for now.
Going well... 21 deaths for this segment for 40 total in SoA so far (i died so many times, i might has miscounted somewhere but it should be pretty close). Believe it or not but i'm actually trying to be careful here Progress so far is a whole dungeon of easy trash mobs hacked through mislead and a strong over buffed mage boss that destroy me a few times, best dispelling tactic so far is running away and waiting the buffs and summons out. I'm not only rediscovering the game, but i'm learning at every step so far. Next step, Spellhold and Underdark! Had an option for removing party items in spellhold, i wonder how hard this will make the dungeon... or if it changes everything for a solo character.
@XDarkStrikerX Yeah SCS-Mind Flayers are pretty tough and need a lot of prebuffing, but with correct preparation they're doable with most classes. Also they can quickly disable summons which is why I usually don't bother with them. This is the SCS-Mind Flayer preparation kit:
-Psionic Attacks, Maze, Charm and Stun can end the run. Needs -4 saves vs. spell.
-Intelligence drain from melee attacks. AC vs. crushing helps, +2 weapon immunity protects. Also Intelligence can be overbuffed beyond 25 with Intelligence and Mind Focus potions, there's no upper limit.
-Magic damage from Detonation. Magic Damage Resistance or Cloak of Mirroring.
-Crushing damage from Ballistic attack. I think Crushing Damage Resistance is the only way to block this.
@XDarkStrikerX Yeah SCS-Mind Flayers are pretty tough and need a lot of prebuffing, but with correct preparation they're doable with most classes. Also they can quickly disable summons which is why I usually don't bother with them. This is the SCS-Mind Flayer preparation kit:
-Psionic Attacks, Maze, Charm and Stun can end the run. Needs -4 saves vs. spell.
-Intelligence drain from melee attacks. AC vs. crushing helps, +2 weapon immunity protects. Also Intelligence can be overbuffed beyond 25 with Intelligence and Mind Focus potions, there's no upper limit.
-Magic damage from Detonation. Magic Damage Resistance or Cloak of Mirroring.
-Crushing damage from Ballistic attack. I think Crushing Damage Resistance is the only way to block this.
Also Alhoon is Undead, so PfU helps to deal him.
Stoneskin blocks Ballistic Attack. If you're not averse to cheese, abusing the slayer timer (change into the slayer with 100% magic immunity to block the 1,500 damage burst) is an excellent way of tanking them. Alternately, traps and vorpal weapons can bypass their impressive physical resistances, but you might encounter them too early for this.
A little update on Bel and Fractal-Blade. This comes from a non-LoB run but I can see it being more of a problem with an LoB Bel.
Basically the 50% chance to dispel Bel's Improved Invisibility on hit is quite annoying since he will refresh it fully almost the moment it dispels, meaning he spends more time invisible so less time for you to hit him. And that was with it in the offhand. In main hand it would cause him to go full invisible so many times that it might actually be really problematic for LoB. It looks, though I might be wrong, that the disadvantages outweigh the advantages?
Lot of amazing tips again! Alhoon undead also mean a potential Azuredge/MoD 1 shot
@AvidGamerFan Interesting. Do you have any idea if mirror image from Ilbratha could make you avoid a Balistic Attack? I used both mirror image and stoneskin to survive against the mind flayers so i really don't know if it bypassed the image to hit stoneskin or not. It could be a good additional protection for some classes as that thing deal some insane damage. Very good to know about the vorpal hit, as i'm going to underdark tonight.
@alice_ashpool Definitely something i didn't think about. You're right, dispelling him seems to be more problematic than the -4 AC from invisibility, especially if you're looking for quick DPS which you should. However, if you stay in a corner, meaning that only him and 2-3 summons will be able to hit you at a time not counting Erinyes, you'll end up being hit less due to mirror image and Bel becomes visible on the first strike he gives so you recieve less damage over time. You have to re-target him everytime he disappears however, which can be really painful. Making the fight last longer is potentially more dangerous than simply going straight for damage and ending the fight sooner, especially with champion strength potion buffs.
As 2.6 will fix Drizzt AI, making the early game exploit for his scimitars impossible, it will be pretty hard to find a decent monk weapon against Bel... Not sure if Root of the Problem would work, not sure if the -3 bonus thac0 and damage to unnatural creature would apply either, which is the deciding factor. I might test this later on. It could be pretty good with Tongue of Acid in the off hand. Unless someone manage to find a way to break Drizzt again, i don't think that we'll see his scimitars in 2.6 for monks, which means really not many weapon choices. If not using the ST mod, the slow effect and acid damage should bypass MR. At 10% chance to slow vs a 5 spell save, the -4 AC, Thac0 and half APR debuff could be very good and shared to RotP and it last for a whole turn, which possibly means a perma-slowed Bel, if it is even possible.
Edit: Well i'm having a sad bug right now... seems like Bhaal don't want to follow me into Candlekeep no matter what i do. This didn't happen on my previous runs without SCS... Not sure what is causing this.
Edit2: Found a 4 years old Harpagornis post saying to create him with the console aside Imoen with C:CreateCreature("ppbhaal") command. You just saved my run without knowing it!
Leaving to Brynnlaw Lord already had 230k gold so there was no point to loot anything for money. However there was a list of items we wanted from the trip, so we needed to have enough room on us.
1. Book of Infinite Spells
2. Cloak of Reflection
3. Wave component
4. Cloak +2
5. Cloak of Mirroring
6. Soul Reaver +4
7. Staff of Earth +2
8. Elven Holy Water
9. 4xStakes
28450xp Brynnlaw Undead and Pirates easily wiped.
12100xp Ginia
20000xp Perth the Adept was Smited and he didn't recover. Got Book of Infinite Spells. Also we bought the 2 PfU's from the priest.
48500xp We gave one point of Wisdom in the dream and beat Sarevok with couple Extra Healings.
8700xp Beat the Imp's and Kobold's for the Crystal Shard, no need for Healing.
52500xp Used PfU to pass the Undead and killed Dave with Azuredge. Lured the Bone Golems out to room and shut the door. Ranged the Lich with Azuredge after its initial PfMW was out and killed couple Skeleton Warriors.
25000xp Did the couple riddles. lv30 *Halberd
59000xp Used our first Sanctuary pass the Yuan-tis to third level, and got double xp from the Statue clicking it fast.
12000xp 4xMinotaurs, used couple Extra Healings.
2800xp 2xTrolls
12000xp 4xMinotaurs, used couple Extra Healings.
29500xp Opened the door with couple Minotaur Horns.
58250xp Kobolds in the Test was ranged with Azuredge. Sponge Colonny easily hacked. Got Cloak of Reflection. Hadn't used any spells or abilities to this point so I went with full Death Squad against the Trolls, and then rested.
Used Farsight on Irenicus, then sent in 3xSkelis, and waited Efreetis out. Then 3xFire Elementals, waited multisummons. 3x Fire Elementals, Dark Planetar more summons. Continued sending two sets of 3x Fire Elementals, and Irenicus was out of spells and at 1hp. Bought Lonk of with 2k gold and we released the prisoners, and Irenicus escaped soon after. 86300xp
6000xp Escaped Brynnlaw killing few Pirates, and hid invisible from the Githyanki attack. Haverian died, but that's ok because he doesn't really die.
5000xp Ettin took few Extra Healings.
23300xp Cleared my way to the riddle with 5 Extra Healings. lv31
18500xp Riddle, used outer perimeter to avoid traps and got Cloak +2.
15000xp Tooth
8000xp Used my last Fire Elementals from the Staff of Fire for the Priestess and got Cloak of Mirroring. Then used Sanctuary to reach the Prince. For the Final battle in City of Caverns we had all our abilities and spells left. Death Squad and wiped all, both the King and Prince. Got the Wave Blade and left to Underdark. 93000xp
Not much to do in Underdark tbh, no point of visiting Mindies as Sune has banned using Control Circlet and Staff of Command. But we did want the Soul Reaver +4, so we used Sanctuary to reach Svirneblins and rested for the battle. Tried switching pages from the Book of Infinite spells, but got Burning Hands immediately. Yikes that will make things harder.
Anyway we got to the Demon Knight room and summoned Clone, Deva and 2 Skelis. PfE 10' and started the battle. Lord and Clone concentrated on the Demon Knight with the stuff and first hit it with Smite. I was Power Word Blinded immediately, but it didn't matter as we were hitting with Criticals. We killed it and Lord picked up Soul Reaver +4 and escaped. Had to use one refresh from RoR. 18000xp
3850xp With some choiced words Blackenrock attacked us and we had to kill them. Got Light Gem.
Passed all enemies with Sanctuary to Adalon who turned us to Drow, and after buying Staff of Earth +2 and 3xMagic Shieldings from Ust Natha, we used the disquise to escape the Underdark.
We used our one time recharge on Staff of Fire, and one time item upgrade for Wave Blade +4 with Cromnir. Got the help from Drizzt, Thieves guild and Paladins against Bodhi. Used PfU and Speed to hack the upstairs with Azuredge. We used the Holy Water and attacked Bodhi, Smiting her to the top room. With Clone and his Deva we hacked her twice to death with all our abilities, but she still recovered from it. She didn't recover third time though after getting stoned with WoW. Hacked few vampires with PfU on and then escaped. The Crypt King was still alive so we killed him. lv33 *Halberd. Some small things still before the Final.
Btw I was testing some stuff and found something interesting about Ravager form, which isn't that useful because of the giant circle. If you turn to Ravager after Adalon has turned you to a Drow, you maintain the Drow circle. And after you escape the Magic Damage with single Magic Shielding you can beat the Underdark being Drow Ravager. Not only that, but you can also escape Underdark, beating the proximity trap in the Underdark Exit area with GWW speed, and beat the rest of the SoA as Drow Ravager. You'll be forced to change back after you've beaten the Slayer though. Also beating the proximity trap is a gamble, working about half the time.
Going early to Underdark and then using the Drow Ravager for most of SoA could be interesting. If you have shield equipped before transforming, it stays on. Meaning you can have Reflection Shield on and immunity to missiles. Disabled spell casting is one downside, but Clone can still cast them, and if you have weapons on before transforming, it can wield those too.
Ravager form
+250hp
-4 AC base (-17 AC with Helm of Balduran, Ring of Gaxx, Cloak +2, Reflection Shield, 25 DEX)
0 Thac0 base (-9 with Helm of Balduran, Legacy of Masters, 25 STR)
5apr +5 weapon, 3d8 crushing +8 Cold, Dispel (20%)
25 STR/DEX
50 AR/CR/ER/FR (100ER with Talos Gift or 100CR with Frost Embrace, 100FR with Fire Control Ring)
75 MR (95 with Ring of Gaxx and Kaligun's Amulet)
50 DR (90 with Hardiness)
50 MDR (0 after resting, 50 with Inertial Belt)
2 Save base (-3 with Helm of Balduran, Ring of Gaxx and Cloak +2)
5hpps regen (10hpps with Whirlwind)
Immunity: Hold, Grease, Web, Entangle, Paralyze, Slow, Haste, Disease, Poison, Sleep
Level Drain, Confusion, Stun, Panic, Charm, Fear, Imprisonment, Morale Break
The Cavalier run came to an end, second time in a row in the Hell Trials. We lost our Cavalier abilities getting the STR tear, which is much harder without a Control Circlet. We used Farsight and lured Sarevok to the exit with Skelis, and used WW-speed to escape after we made him agro, but we just weren't fast enough. And I really have no desire to continue as a weak Fighter. Oh well, back to the drawing board. I think Beast Master again...
The Cavalier run came to an end, second time in a row in the freaking Hell Trials. We lost our Cavalier abilities getting the STR tear, which is much harder without a Control Circlet. We used Farsight and lured Sarevok to the exit with Skelis, and used WW-speed to escape after we made him agro, but we just weren't fast enough.
After testing the Slayer-transformation I want to try a run based on it. Slayer form is pretty good for completing high level duals, as the power of it is based on overall xp, not on level. Slayer gets 15DR at 2M xp, 30DR at 4M xp, and Ravager form 50DR at 6M xp, and it stacks with character base DR. Thac0, AC and Saves stay the same throughout. Going with Human Barbarian, because I've never tried one, and I like the speed boost which applies even with Slayer's Free-Action. Speed advantage should also help in Irenicus dungeon. Also installed the component from Tweaks Anthology that allows Barbarian dual, and I'm probably going to dual to Thief at some point. Not doing Cataclysm, just normal nR.
@histamiini This seems totally broken and i love it, i did some tests with the Ravager form too on my current character as it seems ridiculous. You could also reach acid immunity with Shadow Dragon Scale and both cold and electrical at the same time if you want with the cloak of reflection, or with just another dragon scale. Planetar will still be able to vorpal hit you without cloak +2 so switching armor might be the better choice. Also, you won't need any potions with the belt of inertial barrier as you will be at 100% MR until you take all the magical damage, then it will go down to 50. As Barbarian bonus stack, you'll be immune to all damage as long as you're on Hardiness, which is insane! I tried using the Defender of Easthaven on my character on the shield slot, but it seems that it ignore the DR upon transforming and simply set it to a flat 50 DR. Same with all resistances, so i have to unequip/reequip all of them to achieve immunity.
I don't remember the effect of the proximity trap at the end of Underdark, but could it be avoided using a PFM scroll? Quickslots are still usable which is even better. Can't wait to see that build in action!
@XDarkStrikerX I'm sure there's some hidden stuff to be discovered that could make the Slayer worse than what it seems, but we'll see. Yeah they're flat buffs, AC from Shield will still apply though which is nice. I first thought using Reflection Shield, but that's pretty much only needed against Illasera, Ravager and Solars in ToB. If all goes planned, I could have constant 98 DR against Melissan from Ravager 50, Barbarian 20, Ascension reward 25, and Helmet of Dumathoin 3...
The proximity trigger is in the last room when you're trying to leave Underdark. It's supposed to remove Adalon's Drow illusion spell if you don't get rid of it by other means. PfM doesn't stop it, and if I remember correctly, the only way to pass proximity triggers reliably is Time Stop, which why I'm dualing to Thief.
Little miscalculation.. i was actually more around 400k xp short for planetar HLA, as 48k xp was for a fighter level.
Watcher's Keep level 1 and 2
Decided to do the 1st level of watcher's keep before underdark. Level cleared with mislead, guardian could see me invisible so i summonned 5 mordy swords, hasted them and they finished the fight before i could join. Level up to 19/17, another HLA into critical strike
As it was going well, i figured out that i could do the second level, assuming that i was going to get planetar before the chromatic demon for a vorpal hit. Casually cleared the level in mislead again and with mordy sword, got planetar and alacrity just before the fire room 20f/18i. I won't be using alacrity before getting a project image.
Second hit of the planetar the chromatic demon was killed by a vorpal hit, easy kill. I didn't feel ready for the maze yet, not before having timestop and chain contingency so it was now time for spellhold.
Recharged my wand before leaving as the Nishruu surprised me, then left for spellhold. Bernard officially has the cheapest prices by far, something that i've just discovered. WoW was 4500 and WoCK 4050 for a complete 50 charges. Counting that i've sold the WoCK for 810 and the WoW for 1800, it costed me less than 7k to recharge both wands. Considering this, i think that i'm going to carry a wand of spellstriking from WK with me. Just learned at the same time that the wand of cursing can be used by anybody. I'll have no use for it as a F/I but it could be useful for non-spellcaster or a pure mage that want to silence a spellcaster.
6.3M xp before leaving for spellhold.
Brynnlaw/Spellhold
Got to the pirate island and killed Perth right away. Did a scribing session of 17 scrolls, all from level 6 to 8.
Rolled the book of infinite spells for True Seeing, went to spellhold. Lost a point of wisdom, which i will gain back with the Machine of Lum the Mad.
Small problem... Bhaal doesn't want to follow me inside. He wouldn't turn to stone either so i had to reload. Well after 4 reloads he still won't follow...
Had to C:CreateCreature("ppbhaal") to spawn Bhaal . First try i was stuck after speaking with Bodhi and couldn't move, like if i was perma-stunned. Even resting couldn't do anything. Reloaded, redefeated Bhaal, now i'm finally ok.
No gear... this is going to be harder. Cleared the lower left room with planetar and got PI + Delayed blast fire, that can both be very useful. Went to the portal room and planetar soloed Ruhk and his summons, the improved AI makes him even more powerful than before. Level up ** in two handed swords, 4 power attack, 4 critical strike.
Hasted mordy swords and planetar cleared everything on the first 2 levels without issues. Vorpal hit is just insane. Not only that, but he would cast globe of blades and insect swarm by himself. It also seems that the casting time is improved, it seems instant compared to vanilla.
Got totally surprised by a lich (thx auto-pause on enemy sighted), so i ran away and it managed to cast time stop while i was way to far already, spawned 4 hasted mordy swords and a planetar and send them do the job while i waited safely in the room north. Planetar got hit by a vorpal hit from a fallen planetar, so i waited the summon out before casting a second one with improved haste. Planetar cleared the room and left the lich at near death, so i had to rest for a second try. Improved haste him and he again managed to damage the lich a lot this time. Second planetar finished the lich off. Next time i'll have to think about using remove fear first, as the planetar lost a bit of time feared.
Dace got vorpal hit and i didn't have the wooden stake yet, so i went to the next level. Went back to kill the portal monsters. Pit fiend vortal, greater wolfwere died in 2 seconds, got doomplate. Planetar cleared the kobold for the stake, killed Dace, went to 3rd level. Level up: Debatted using Hardiness but i don't think that it will by that useful in the end due to all the great mage protections, it could stack with wish hardiness for 80% DR or 100% if i bother using Defender of Easthaven, i decided to wait and take it at my last level, so * into smite to be able to take specific foes away from the main fight, possibly stunning them. Also a good Stun/Crit HLA.
Saw a noble djinni going invisible, so i decided to do the whole level invisible with planetar summmoned just in case, as he can attack invisible creatures. Mind flayer fleed before i could kill him, he stunned planetar at badly injured and fled.
Got flame of the north, which i had -6 thac0 with if i ever need to inflict more damage or power attacks (7 IH APR). Planetar + Dart of wounding cleared the Kobolds, forgot the slot machine.
Killed the spore colony with Planetar as always and finished the riddles. Got to the fight against Irenicus and planetar + mordy swords killed him as i summoned the 4th sword. I was casting true sight as the fight ended and planetar can see through invisibility so i didn't get ambushed by the murderers and they died right away, barely passing the door. Rested and got slayer form.
Reentered the Asylum as i still didn't get my stuff back, and found it on the table in the right room next to a stone golem that i had to slay with mordy swords as i got level drained by some wraiths outside.
Not sure why but it seems that i got an insane amount of extra potion and scrolls (1 in quantity, just many kind).
Got Horn of Silence, never used that item before but silence 3 times a day with save vs breath could be useful.
Spellhold without gear done! And without dying! (99% by planetar to be fair)
Shark City/Underdark entrance
Came back to Brynlaw and used restoration to regain my levels and learned my 4 new scrolls. Level up: critical strike.
Pirate and boat ambushes done with mordy swords and planetar.
Cleared the shark city with improved haste planetar and hasted mordy swords again, got cloak of mirroring. Helped with mislead for dealing with the King so speed things up a bit.
Sold my loot to the priestest there as she has the highest value for selling, then got into Underdark.
Planetar managed to clear the elementals near the portal very fast for some nice XP. Then he vorpal striked Balor. Level up, * in power attack for 5 and 5 crit total and 1 into hardiness... just in case. I don't really get hit but 40% DR for 20 rounds isn't bad.
Got skullcrusher, which i might as well keep as i have 2 pips in mace.
Freed Vithal and killed him with planetar + mordy swords at the end for time stop. Learned timestop and incendiary cloud.
Got to the mind flayer lair. Clearing was much easier with power attack and planetar. Got 4 control circlet that i don't plan to use so far, at least not until ToB.
Got jumped by many Illithid but they were no match for my death team. Had a ton of Improved Mantle if needed (5). Got the Brine potion, i never had to use it but it could not be useful. Got Staff of Command.
Master Brain had no chance against my mislead + improved haste character, use stoneskin as i took a bit of damage not sure by what as my feedback was in total chaos.
Opening the mind doors was extremely easy with SCS as mind flayers keep teleporting to you every time you open a door. Talked to the slave leader and got my last level up. Last pip into 2 weapon style, last HLA into hardiness again in case i would use the Ravager Form. I was fine with 5 power attack and crit.
Cleared the beholder lair with mislead, planetar and swords. Planetar Vorpal hit the hive mother and i mislead killed the Elder Orb. Looks like the hive mother ate my cloak of mirroring... good thing i killed her. Saw some mind flayers perma-stunning my planetar, so i decided to call this area a success and leave them peacefully.
Became a drow and went into Ust Natha. Did the tavern's arena which was very easy, just noticed that being changed into a Drow seems to have reduce my wand charges from 50 to 20... not sure why.
Ust Natha
Had to reload 1 time as Solaufein got Mazed and got be discovered. Improved mantle is very effective again (saves all my level 6 slots for improved haste, mislead and True sight), with 3x hasted swords and IH planetar. Next time Phaere got killed... they're really useless. 3rd time was the charm, the mind flayers didn't even last the 4 rounds of my improved mantle.
Cleared the drow party with the Dragon Breath halberd, improved alacrity is insane as i can summon everything and fully buff myself, then help with mislead in less than a round.
Hacked Simyaz part on the way to my other quest, which is to tell the dwarf to give me his helmet so i can lie about him being dead.
Decided to clear the western tunnel at the same time. Power attack kept me safe from the Kuo-Toan that could see through invisibility, planetar vorpal hit the prince. Had to cast a second wave of Planetar and mordy swords for the 4 demon knights, then i assisted them with hasted power attacks for the kills. Got Soul Reaver, the ultimate debuffer that i'm going to use for ToB as i need to be evil. Also got Girdle of Frost Giant Strength for Crom Faer, to achieve my final form of BBoD + Crom Faer at 9 APR which should kill almost everything in dual timestop (351 AVG damage per round against enemies immune to crit).
Killed the drow at the gate (took 2 tries, as the first one the wizard summoned a fallen planetar who killed me for 41 deaths), summoned my team and power attacked the wizard right away for a quick kill, then we killed the priestess. Rest fell one after the other. Returned the dwarf helmet after.
Decided to kill Deirex, who didn't last long at all with MoD+2 and improved haste while fully buffed under spell immunity.
Did the double-double cross and left the city and gave back the eggs to Avalon. Tested a few ways to kill her. WoW still work very well without aggroing her, Pierce shield + Feeblemind doesn't turn her hostile either, I was lacking a bit of damage to be able to kill her with triple timestop, and 5x critical strike with FoA but she ended a near death easy to finish. Might have been better if i kept the anti-dragon sword. Decided to keep the feeblemind kill, as the dragon manipulated Sirus into doing her dirty work.
Preparing for Watcher's Keep and upgrading gear
Killed the drow at the exit and left underdark, got the stakes and the holy water from the elves. Went to buy the level 9 scrolls from the adventurer mart and convincer Drizzt to help me on the way. Got ambushed by Kruin, who followed me alone inside my home so i disposed of him so i could build the silver sword. Dealt with his friends outside with mislead. Had to finish the warlok with the Dragon Breath halberd as he was stuck behind the storekeep.
Bought 7 scrolls and learned all of them except timestop that i already learned. Also bought Reflection shield, rod of resurrection and the Victor and recharged it, also went to buy Sling of Everard. Still had over 130k after all purchase. Went to build Crom Faer and silver sword.
Went into north wood and BBoD+Timestop the mage for an additionnal scroll. Also kept the wand of paralysation. Cleared the whole crew with mislead. Tested Silver sword. It was very effective even without the APR bracers and pairs very well with GM. I will probably use it against future mindflayers. Time to finish Watcher's Keep, then Irenicus for my first Ascension ToB.
1 death in this whole segment for 41, all due to how powerful Planetars are. Chose to get my gear removed in spellhold and it was still pretty easy with mordy swords, planetar and invisibility. Next challenges are the WK maze level, the Demilich (kept daystar just for it), the final seal and Demogorgon. I didn't remove quickslot for clones but didn't need it at all so far (only used 1 unnecessary PFM on the twisted rune lich). Did all challenging fights for SoA so far and i feel that it's going very well. More shapechange and BBoD fun to come.
@histamiini I'm at Demogorgon right now, if you've got any tips they're welcome. Can't do much unless using rift device and i don't want to... for now. Timestop every 2 rounds, gate demons that never despawn every few rounds, PFM doesn't work on him, eventually i get stunned out of my PFMW. 1.8k HP and even the Ravager form died in less than half a turn with 90 DR. I'm pretty sure that i'm also getting dispelled at some point so i have to keep a spell shield up. Also tried incendiary cloud but it doesn't do much. Got it max to injured so far.
Edit: Also tried Mind flayer intelligence drain but after validating with CTRL+Q, his intelligence stay at 1 so no stat drain possible I'm thinking maybe Ravager +6 can insta-kill it?
Edit2: Tried it as a test with the console, not working either. Took the rift device kill for the moment. Ridiculous, still took 4x PFMW using BBoD for the last 10% HP. Died first time as i got surrounded by demons, second time worked. Hardest fight by a mile so far. Mordy swords, planetar and my sim barely last 2 rounds it's insane.
Sirus F/I
Watcher's Keep (should have waited until mid-end ToB... i really should have) An adventure of struggle and perseverance.
Level 3 Compass:
Got 2 Death at the Balor (i know i didn't have to, but i wanted to kill him) in the death magic room (43). Managed to kill him with power attack and 3x mordy sword contingency, stunning him with power attack and using 2x rod of resurection charge to heal and redied after to a demon knight who spawned after rest and had to refight it (44)
Managed to easily kill him with 3x mordy sword contingency + power attack again but wearing ring of fire control and balista's passport for 90% fire resistance. I was hitting him easily with FoA+Crom Faer.
Went into the room with Tahazzar. After 5 tries (49), managed to kill the succubus that kept charming me. Used a 3x mordy sword contingency, improved haste contingency, Timestop, BBoD. I'm thinking killing them one at a time with this combo until it becomes manageable. The dead magic room just before is the killer here.
Attempted dual timestop and only 2 sword + protection from fire for the next try. Spotted a second succubus and killed her with hasted BBoD. Took 3 tries (52) but got the other succubus and Yochlol. Did the same combo but 1 mordy, PFMW and PFF instead. He just seem to respawn the succubus, so i went for Tahazzar directly this time, smited him in timestop, gave the last hits just when it ended (worked 2nd try as i got dispelled before i could cast immunity 53). Next time, i'm bringing extra potions of clarity and a helmet to protect from charm. Didn't think about immunity: Enchantment. I'll try that first.
Went back to clear the room and took 1 timestop off for planetar, they all agroed to the single mordy sword so i managed to summon him and 3 other swords. I really have no clue on what is spawning so many skeleton warriors, spider and Maurezi, but i decided that i wasn't worth the trouble especially with the dead magic. Everything i kill seem to respawn the next time i enter.
Cleared the Alu Fiend room in 1 try, enchantement immunity does work.
Continued south and killed Ka'Rashur 1st try with planetar, PFMW, Improved mantle, smite and power attack. Killed everybody in the room for fun, then left to the end of the maze. Got another wand of spellstriking, which will be handy.
Went to the last room and killed the demon wraith for the challenge using power attack and smite. It was by far the easiest fight of the level so far... I had a lot of trouble my first time trying it on my previous run.
Aesgareth
Played against Aesgareth, loss the first draw for spectral blade and won the wish scroll after. Killed him after for the deck of many things (mostly for the ring +3). 1 BBoD timestop was enough. Had to way 2x fallen planetar, then finished the 2 surviving tiefling using mislead and power attack.
Machine of Lum the Mad
Die to being circled by 6-7 mind flayers on the Machine of lum the mad level (54). Silver sword doesn't seem to work as they constantly save VS death. Ravager will probably be better but mind flayers won't be an issue anymore then... (55)
Destroyed them under mantle and hasted BBoD + Critical strike. 1 round would kill a mind flayer not counting summon damage, should have stayed to that combo like i did before. 5 Improved mantle and 1x PFMW is enough for any mindflayer wave.
Spell trap tanked the maze trap no problem and can be used to replenish some improved haste and improved mantle without resting.
Improved haste Planetar killed the magic golems by making them unconscious with his fists, then finished them with insect plague. I did get hit once and lost 2 overall charges but the rift device inside the loot bag didn't seem affected as i still have my 1 charge.
Killed the anti-paladin with mislead and BBoD. Those 80+ damage criticals are satisfying to see. Captain pack was killed with planetar and swords, his deva had the time to despawn as i cleared the other rooms, and i had to finish him myself at near death.
Demilich was much easier than expected, but also much more resistant. It was resistant to all of daystar extra damage but it was dead after 3x hasted time stop. Casted PFU on it as soon as i entered the room and it didn't cast anything that could harm me, only dispelled me once with spellstrike. I also just notice that the Wild Surge room in the maze level removed all my gold... so after defeating the demilich i now only have 40k instead of 150k. I really hate that compass level. *sight* i'm not going to need much gold anyway...
Not sure what the demon binding books does but i got both of them. Did another test using BBoD and it dealt double damage, so 2x time stop managed to get him near death and only 2 additionnal hit with MoD +2 managed to finish it.
Looks like Saladex can also be WoW and feebleminded without turning hostile, so that's what i did. The only dragon that i feel bad to slay.
Got enough wands of spellstriking for the rest of the game for sure now.
Went back to kill the 2 vampire illithid as i forgot the red oil, then opened the door. Cleaned the room with BBoD+Mislead. Did all the positive outcome of the machine (MR, attributes, next level and storm star)
Final level!
Did the mind key first so i could fight the bane of my last run, the aurulmach almani. This time they're all immune to timestop... (death 56-57-58-59)
Figured out that i would drag the Rilmani one by one with summons while staying away, then hope to finish the Aurulmach 1 vs 1. Honestly i don't get why nobody talk about this guy. He dies immediatly on Insane due to his low HP but on LoB, he's the bane of my existence.
Planetar has no problem with the Ferrumach Rilmani. 1 could kill 3-4 of them as i stayed safe in the top left room. Vorpal hit were working so it was devastating. Rested and launched another hasted death team to weaken them even more. He died before getting a kill this time, but i could summon 4 of them using PI before resting. One ferrumach came to my safe room and got killed by planetar right away.
Aurumach just seems to have infinite timestops. Like when i did it without SCS, he could cast nearly unlimited spells on improved alacrity which was ridiculous and went to melee after a few rounds, but now i don't even dare to approach him at the moment. Sent my 3rd team. They didn't even damage him a little this time... this is going to be rough. Did a quick sneaky look and notice that he was at badly injured and i had 1 planetar left. Tried to help planetar, died twice (61) Tried 2 more time to inflict any damage and didn't succeed to damage him a single hp (63)
Rested and tried something else. I knew that many defensive spells won't trigger until the timestop effect ends, so i tried BBoD + Improved Mantle + Timestop after resting, well didn't work (64)
Tried BBoD + Mantle + Spellstrike. Almost killed him and he went Regenerating, back to full HP. REALLYYYY ??!!!
Tried 2x Absorption potion + True sight + spell immunity + Protection from all element + Stoneskin + Mirror image so he could just hit me with crits outside of timestop, buffed constantly with stoneskin and mirror image to avoid damage. GOT IT! Reloaded to see if it is a consistent method, IT IS! His low APR couldn't bring my image down before i could recast them. Constantly getting smited around is pretty irritating to be honest.
He was immune to FoA so i also guess that he require a +5 weapon to be damaged. True sight is also a must or he will just constantly recast mirror image and you won't be able to damage him. I'm really curious about finding a way to cheese him that doesn't require traps. Reloaded to try Delayed Blast Fire, as he has 100 magic resistance but no fire res. Success! He has 780 hp however and 5x only dealt 38 damage... he also has 65 magic res. Well, good luck to anybody reaching him. There must be a way to cheese him, possibly with polymorph other, Ravager, blind or something like that but i'm going to worry about that later or for my next run.
Did the 3 challenge room, used time stop against the dragon, then improved alacrity+ 3x pierce shield + 2x GM + 4x Feeblemind, it didn't work due to timestop priorities (didn't remember) so i had to go back up the stairs and rest, tried the 3x pierce shield during the timestop, then alacrity + GM + 6x Feeblemind. Now that worked. Waited the orc wave invisible, did the imp coin puzzle.
For some reason my spirit warrior died despite doing the right combo. (64) Skipped the bracers with the poison this time and it worked.
Got my wand drained during the lich seal due to Hakeashar. Putted everything into the loot bag to avoid further wand drain. Got Erynne sling and Serpent shaft.
Attemped 2x Timestop + 10 apr Mindflayer for the final seal. 3 Death as it seem that no matter what, no matter the immunity, i get completely dispelled upon activation and didn't have time to cast anything before death (67)
Decided to try my previous 4x planetar tactic to have less to deal with by myself. Managed to make the hive mother move away with wand of cloudkill. It wasn't doing damage but it made them split up, for hopefully easier kills. So i waited the summons out before my next wave. I though that maybe i could BBoD + dual timestop them one by one, so i rested and tried that first as none of them seemed immune to timestop as i saw from my failed attempts. Managed to kill the huntress and almost another one, but i couldn't rest anymore on the level so i used the portal to the previous level to rest and rebuff.
Can't use WoCK anymore due to wand drain. Tried a second time and failed against the hive mother (65). This i brutal. Redid it on a weaker one, almost killed 2 but timestop ended and my second victim used Sanctuary.
Putted auto-pause on end of round and went safe for the next tries. Got a 3rd one. 4th victim, got my APR gauntlets!
The try after i managed to kill the Hive mother due to increased APR. It actually ate my Balduran shield from inside my bag! Looks like this was the last of them.
Demogorgon. I've read that people simply GWW him to death without issues... well not me. Hardest foe by a mile so far.
Let see if SCS Demogorgon can survive -17 thac0, 9APR 28-50 DMG BBoD. 2 Death later (67) i noticed that i would get breached over my immunities again. Not sure what is breaching me this time but i used spell shield and was fine for my next tries.
Well he does survive it no problem. To the point where i can't even touch him before dying in timestop, unable to move. My summons last about 10 seconds too...
I watched his stats and figured that stacking about 100 Delayed fireball should do the trick after a 3x pierce shield contingency. (i CTRL-Q him before he could buff... what a mistake, his FR goes from 50 to 90)
So the contingency trigger way too slowly to work and i get stuck in timestop.. (69) Not only that, but he get through my Fireballs in timestop and don't trigger them while i can't do anything.
After a few debug mode experimentation, i saw that 5x incendiary cloud could damage him to death. So i'm going to try pre-casting 10-20x Cloud, keep my pierce shield contengency and otiluke myself until he's dead. 1 sphere should be enough for me to kill him.
So he seems to dispel otiluke, so the best way now is to stack PFMW, which i should also have enough. (70) Quick way would be to stack around 15 cloud and Rift Machine his **s, but i'm determine to try everything to not use it first. Looks like he get a secondary buff that buff his HP to 1.8k and fire resist to 90... so that again can't work.
I'm heavily thinking about the rift machine now, so i'll give it a try but make a save before it.
Tried a few more times (78) before, i tried to cause his buffs and summons to end but they seem to be infinite or recastable after a few rounds, same with the summons. Even resting wouldn't remove them.
Even the 90% DR ravager form die in less than a turn... PFM doesn't prevent his casting either.
Well for now, rift device kill it is (used on Sim). Still took a whole 4x PFMW with auto-pause on round end. Took 6 tries total to come to this approach (84), 2 successful Demogorgon death but got stuck the first time and stunned to death again. Fled the arena the second time. Retried with FoA, had a very similar outcome but 3x PFMW instead so i'd say that FoA+5 should be the ultimate weapon against him (should have waited for that free action...), the elemental damage seemed to interrupt him very well as i didn't get held by implosion at all that time. I'm guessing a Belhifet Tactic (super buff with potions and max AC to counter his -23 Thac0, heal with rod of resurrection) would work. Got it first try with it too but it's still a rift device kill... which i dislike. Only time i really had to use Sim quickslot so far.
Anyway, done for the moment with Demogorgon and Watcher's Keep. I'm thinking that i should have put ** into halberds intead of two-handed swords... well we'll see in ToB!
I might actually continue my save that didn't kill him to attempt it again with Roronach's Horn, a ton of AC and FOA+5 instead. I really want to be able to beat him without using the rift device and i think the key is in some ToB items. I might try this soon using debug mode.
From 42 to 84 deaths... litterally doubled! I think that next time using SCS on max settings like this i'm going to wait for ToB items and i'm going to make a better plan on an excel sheet. Well in my defense i had no clue what to expect... I also regret a bit my ** into two-handed sword choice... Silver sword is just useless (BBoD clean the trash mobs just fine) and i won't be able to use Soul Reaver until i defeat Irenicus. Ravager +6 with the 10% chance to slay with no saves would have been a better choice i think.. Soul reaver is great for 1 vs 1, but all 1 vs 1 is filled with gated demons and summons now. Well this is how we learn! Having a few less power attack and critical strike HLA would have been a good choice too to get a greater whirlwind HLA, mostly for Ravager +6 against foes like Fallen Planetars.
Anyway i'm really thinking about continuing my save with Demogorgon alive to try different tactics using ToB arsenal. I think most demons there do crushing damage and i could be immune to it for 40 rounds, which should be enough to do a ton of damage if not ending the fight especially with FoA +5. Not sure if ascension also add things that can help me there. Super buffing with potions Belhifet style comes to mind but i don't think it's that necessary. Well back into learning! Time for Irenicus.
Demilich was much easier than expected, but also much more resistant. It was resistant to all of daystar extra damage but it was dead after 3x hasted time stop.
A spellcasting demilich will cast Protection from Magic Energy. You need to dispel or breach that for the bonus magic damage from Daystar to work.
...so i tried BBoD + Improved Mantle + Timestop after resting, well didn't work
Why were you using Time Stop when you already knew they were immune? That's an SCS feature, by the way; immunity to Time Stop regardless of difficulty.
Let see if SCS Demogorgon can survive -17 thac0, 9APR 28-50 DMG BBoD. 2 Death later (67) i noticed that i would get breached over my immunities again. Not sure what is breaching me this time but i used spell shield and was fine for my next tries.
SCS/Ascension Demogorgon casts various spells, which are all on timers rather than taking spell slots. Breach and Spellstrike are both on that list, each with three-round timers.
Looks like he get a secondary buff that buff his HP to 1.8k and fire resist to 90... so that again can't work.
Two buffs; the standard +50% fiend HP buff for high-difficulty SCS, and the priest HLA Aura of Flaming Death. The latter sets fire resistance to 90%, grants a 4-point AC bonus, and retaliates against close-range attacks with 2d10+2 fire damage. It also only lasts one turn, can be Breached or dispelled, and can't be recast unless the battle goes on for about three in-game hours.
I'm guessing a Belhifet Tactic (super buff with potions and max AC to counter his -23 Thac0, heal with rod of resurrection) would work.
As long as he doesn't dispel you, that could help. And he has Remove Magic, castable once every three rounds.
Demogorgon was the one ToB fight that stumped my no-spellcasting party; in the end, I went with avoiding the fight entirely by laying seven spike traps. (Insane difficulty, not LoB)
@XDarkStrikerX Can't really help with Demogorgon as it seems to have evolved since I last beat it with Dwarven Defender. There's variation between SCS-versions, so something that might work with other versions might not work in other. And one thing I hate in SCS is script based evercasting spells, as it doesn't really feel fair, like what seems to be Time Stop with Demogorgon, Stoneskins with Ogremoch and Dragonis, PfMW with Mariliths etc. and of course Melissan who spams spells like no tomorrow. Only enemy that really needs +5 weapon is Melissan if I recall, as she spams her Divine Mantle.
The demon lord that appears in the drow summoning ritual requires +5 weapons - but there's no great benefit from killing it anyway. I have a feeling the demi-lich that can be summoned by the Deck of Many Things needs +5 as well, but that's another niche encounter ...
@jmerry Hey thanks for the explanations! Would have made things much easier if i knew all that. Eventually i'll get this kind of knowledge if i continue making all these mistakes
Why were you using Time Stop when you already knew they were immune? That's an SCS feature, by the way; immunity to Time Stop regardless of difficulty.
I though that maybe he would have been affected like timestop like my character is, which means having spell effects, like his buffs, only take place at the end of the timestop. For example, if you start a timestop and use improved haste, the haste effect won't trigger until timestop end. I though that this would prevent him from buffing so i could kill him during the timestop period so i gave it a try but he totally ignore the timestop effect like if there was none at all. Previous tries i just died too quickly to notice that.
@alice_ashpool I'm guessing they could have some use. I tried 3x Fiend contingency one time against the Balor that kept killing me at the start of the compass puzzle and they couldn't do much against it and all got killed but i didn't try it after reading the book however as i totally ignore it's effects (didn't seem to do much when i tried). They seem less useful than planetar (ridiculously strong) and mordenkainen swords in the end just for the fact that you can't control them at all but they might have some use, i just lack the knowledge to know how and in which situation.
@histamiini I'm at Demogorgon right now, if you've got any tips they're welcome. Can't do much unless using rift device and i don't want to... for now. Timestop every 2 rounds, gate demons that never despawn every few rounds, PFM doesn't work on him, eventually i get stunned out of my PFMW. 1.8k HP and even the Ravager form died in less than half a turn with 90 DR. I'm pretty sure that i'm also getting dispelled at some point so i have to keep a spell shield up. Also tried incendiary cloud but it doesn't do much. Got it max to injured so far.
Edit: Also tried Mind flayer intelligence drain but after validating with CTRL+Q, his intelligence stay at 1 so no stat drain possible I'm thinking maybe Ravager +6 can insta-kill it?
Edit2: Tried it as a test with the console, not working either. Took the rift device kill for the moment. Ridiculous, still took 4x PFMW using BBoD for the last 10% HP. Died first time as i got surrounded by demons, second time worked. Hardest fight by a mile so far. Mordy swords, planetar and my sim barely last 2 rounds it's insane.
The safest way to kill him is with Skull traps, it just takes forever.
You can use Spell trap to reset your spells without resting, let sim hit you with bbod (which will also reset sim and spell trap)
Demogorgon being my new Belhifet, i tried another approach based on Jmerry statement saying that Aura of Flaming Death can be dispelled with breach to set his Fire Resistance to 50 instead of 90, making him take a ton of damage by incendiary cloud.
-Precast 10-15 Incendiary clouds (20d4 fire damage per round each so i'm assuming 10-40 dmg per cloud per round) using PI with Improved Alacrity
-3x spell shield contingency at 30% MR each to reduce his MR to 0
-Breach the aura of flaming death to set his FR to 50
-Tank using PFMW and casting additionnal clouds (can cast 5 more) during the ''invincibility'' period, i have 5x PFMW which should be enough if i don't get held by Implosion, still spelltrap should tank a few, hopefully until death, i might also be able to do 100-200 melee damage on top but i think it wouldn't be as safe as running around as i don't want to get cornered... going to test this a few times today.
If i'm getting that kill, i'm going to take it over the rift device one for sure. Tested the crushing damage immunity but being immune to crushing damage wasn't enough and i couldn't do enough damage for my 2x hardiness to tank it to death. Marilith are also a huge threat so PFMW is still needed... so the immunity is useless in the end.
I DID IT! However incendiary cloud was just enough for near death. So i though about a mix of tactics:
Same as before but placing 125 delayed blast fireball on the lower right of the platform.
-3x pierce shield chain contingency on ''see enemy'' ''nearest enemy''
-Prebuff with improved alacrity (improved haste, PFMW, spell immunity, spell shield, spell trap from staff before that, whatever else you feel necessary) and start the fight right after, wait for the pierce shield to show 3x -30% magic resistance and breach him while still on alacrity.
-Use timestop right after and lure him inside your 125 Delayed fireball trap
-Timestop end, Demogorgon die a few seconds after. I also use a PI to setup 5x incendiary cloud before buffing up just in case.
Counting the incendiary cloud try, it worked in only 2 tries so i'd say that it's a pretty safe strat if you don't get stuck in demons escaping.
@Victor_Creed_SFV I though about it but sadly i'm an illusionnist but Delayed Blast Fireball did the trick! (isn't he immune to spell lower than 5 however? GM and lower resistance doesn't seem to affect him at all but Breach does however) Tested it a few time and 125 seems to leave it very close to death if not killing it, so stacked with incendiary cloud or a couple of FoA hits and he's done.
Edit: Oh and i'm a multi-class and tried to avoid using sim quickslots so sadly a level 20 illusionnist mage cannot get a BBoD simulacrum. Still an awesome tip for pure mages however!
Demogorgon's immunities (with SCS): Electricity, stun, sleep, instant death, petrification, polymorph, poison, disease, charm, fear, hold, level drain, confusion, time stop, feeblemind, imprisonment, maze, teleport field, wing buffet, death from HP loss, death from zero stats, silence, berserk, Deathbringer Assault. Also level 1 and 2 spells and a few specific spells: Polymorph Other, Sphere of Chaos, Lower Resistance. Other resistance-lowering spells are still good, as is Greater Malison if you can get through the magic resistance.
He does put up a Spell Turning in his initial buffs, but that's the only additional spell defense. No globe of invulnerability, so no reason for level 3-4 spells to fail except MR.
Oddly enough, the wand of polymorphing should still do him in. It's not on the specific immunity list, and the effect that sets maximum HP isn't tied to the polymorph effect. That gets his HP low enough for his scripted death to kick in.
Does a PfM scroll protect you against dispel and remove magic?
No. In the standard spell system, PfM blocks spells of levels 1-9. Dispel Magic and Remove Magic act as level 0 effects, and go right through that. They won't dispel the PfM, but they will take out any dispellable buffs under it.
To protect against dispels, Spell Immunity: Abjuration is the only option. And that can be taken down by everything from Spell Thrust to Spellstrike. Those spell-breaking effects all work through PfM, too. Then SCS allows Spellstrike to take down PfM ... which is something Demogorgon can do.
Took my latest Demogorgon kill involving the 3x pierce shield, breach and stacked Delayed blast fireball strat as i prefer it over my rift device on simulacrum kill. Took 2 tries so added 2 deaths (86). Time for Irenicus. Still got more than enough gold than i should need after selling despite the wild magic area destroying all my gold.
Spent 12k to recharge rod of res, WoCK and WoW. Now keeping them in the loot bag at all time to prevent wand charge drain.
Got the Warder signet and +10 HP from the deck of many things. Not sure if i'm going to use it but +3 ST is great. Reloaded for PRISON - KEY - MOON. Unnecessary but i'll take all small advantage i can for ToB.
Died to Bodhi once being careless (87), i didn't think she would be that strong... at this point i should have known really. Second try i killed her in timestop with BBoD. Died charmed right after (88)... well this is new. Immunity for the next try and also forgot PFU on my previous tries so i used it. I could poison the pools before the fight with PFU so it was much easier, after that i killed her using Mislead so i was sure that nothing else would see me, had to kill her twice as she regained all her HP back, then killed her for good and rested near her coffin to despawn the monsters fighting Drizzt. Left invisible with improved haste.
Did a buying run and bought all PFU and potions of heroism that i could (5/7).
Suldanwhateverthenameis and Irenicus 1
Went to Suldansellar or whatever the name of that place is, killed everything with Mislead + Mindflayer form + Enchanted weapon + Improved haste. Now that was a quick golem/demon killer.
Got another timestop scroll, now have 3 which can be good for ToB final battle that i've read a bit about but know nothing about yet... will get informed more soon so i don't get stuck there for weeks.
Had to debuff Rajah, Secret word + Pierce shield + Breach while using true sight made him die easily to planetar.
Dragon feebleminded with 3x pierce shield contingency, then entered the fight under improved alacrity and PFMW, GM+5x feeblemind did the trick as he barely managed to land an inefficient hit, then he was done. Saving WoW for ToB.
Irenicus lasted about 1 seconds once debuffed.
Started the fight with 3x mordy sword and planetar all hasted and true sight, he wasted his timestop on death spell on 2 swords. Improved alacrity, buffed instantly, summonned 3 more swords, then debuffed him: Secret word, 3x pierce shield, breach, attacked him under PFMW. Very quick kill.
I will turn my alignment to evil in hell, taking the +2 strength and i will be able to finally use Soul Reaver.
Hell and Irenicus 2
Wraith Sarevok got vorpal hit by planetar. Alignment changed to neutral Evil. Soul reaver still get a decent -11 thac0 and i have 5 critical strikes.
Needed 4 Tries for Irenicus (91, 4th was a success). I figured out that he had another contingency rebuffing him so i wasn't able to stop him after 1 timestop + BBoD as he was still under stoneskin during the first round. Also noticed that the demons won't follow if i'm out of sight, so i dragged them away from him. As there is a permanent Farsight to his fighting spot, i baited his summons and waited out hit buffs out using planetar from PI until he was out of spells and summons, also broke his stoneskin with insects. After that, i summoned 3x Mordy sword, completely buffed with alacrity and killed him with 10 APR Crom Faer. He wasn't immune to critical strike so he died extremely fast, barely lasting 1 PFMW.
SoA done (+Watcher's Keep, finally can say without rift device now!) 91 deaths so 113 from the start. I trust Ascension to increase that by a lot. Not only 1st time trying SCS but also 1st time on Ascension... ''Almost'' done! Hopefully i didn't forget any essential items for my success... Can't wait to see how ridiculous chapter 10 will be.
Comments
Sirus F/I BG2
Preparing for spellhold.
Getting the magic license the right way
Decided that it was a very good time, now that i had the staff of cheese, to deal with the cowled mages. Waited their buffs out before hacking them in mislead+web. Got surprised as i waited for too long, and got another death when i casted web as a second pack of wizard came in, used time stop and summoned a planetar at me. This was really unexpected (Soa death 20). Died a second time to fallen planetar (21) so i decided to use cloudkill (so much for a wand i didn't plan to use... didn't need it at all on my non-scs run)
This was incredibly effective, being able to clear mage waves with 5-6 charges (30 for the twisted rune...). Really had to turn invisible as soon as i used the wand to avoid being hit by the Hakeashar, who can cost me a ton of additionnal charges if im not careful. Managed to kill 4 waves with my remaining charges, then recharged for the 2 last waves. Had to reload one time due to a peasant walking into the cloud so i changed spot for the top right instead (not sure if there is a way to pacify hostile innocents?). Seems like Bel Dalemark recharge it for even cheaper at 6030 gold.
Rechanged spot to the top left for the 2 last waves as a dog decided to stay on my spot. Zallanora wave needed 7 cloudkill. A job well done! I'm now free to cast spells anywhere.
Unseeing eye and smuggling the ultimate weapon
I decided to try charming Roger the fence to make him pickpocket the Rift machine from me, so he can take it out of the sewer and test how useful it can be during a playthrough.
Tanked the abi dalzim from the lich going into the belholder's lair, which reminded me to use spell trap. Melf acid arrows got tanked invincible while the lich went in timestop, dispelled it's protection with SotM then 1 shot killed with MoD+2 still on mislead. First legit lich without PFM or PFU!
Mislead the blind priests then looted the area. Didn't want to use my rift device for the unseeing eye and it seemed immune to all my weapons even once breached, so i killed him with WoCK. He spawned some death tyrant once injured but they couldn't do much either. He died in 12 charges. Mislead the 2 death tyrant.
Killed the shade lich on the way out with SotM dispel + MoD+2. I'm really going to need energy resistance for those abi-dalzim... 118 damage. Buffed with shield, protection from fire/cold, stoneskin, mislead far away, improved haste and spell immunity: abjuration. With immunity to magic damage, they won't be able to touch me at all at least for a few rounds.
Did a small test and i confirm, you can take out the rift device from the sewers using Roger the fence so no need for a Ferret. The thing is, now that he's dead, there is no way for me to finish the quest as i just can't bring the device back into the sewers. I reloaded and did an AMAZING discovery allowing me to finish the quest AND keep the rift device, which i did exploit.
Killed the whole cult, finished the quest, leveled up to 14/14 (HLA * power attack * critical strike for assured hits, mordy swords!) and enjoyed my free ranged harm tool! I don't plan to abuse it but it can definitely be useful.
Smooth Lich hunting before the storm:
Did the city gate lich and now i had my lich killing setup. Even the Fallen Planetar couldn't do anything. The only thing that could damage me was Cloudkill, which wouldn't be a problem anymore once i obtain the ring of Gaxx.
Buffs: Spell trap (SotM), stoneskin, shield, PfE, Protection from fire/cold/lightning/acid/magical energy, improved invisibility, spell turning (got it from the cowled wizard as a drop, not necessary at all), mirror image, haste (improved next level), true sight, spell immunity abjuration and divination, PFMW when entering the room then SotM to dispel effect and MoD+2 for the kill. Can't touch this! (for now at least).
I'm keeping Daystar as it could be useful against Kangaxx first form for some guaranteed Sunray and critical strikes, assisted by Simulacrum.
Kangaxx... powerful without SCS, now even more ridiculous. I wanted to quit and wait until chapter 7 here.
If this try fails, i'm going to use a PfM scroll on him (lol i was so optimistic).
Second try also failed, i can't seem to find a way to prevent him from constantly being under PFMW, making all my attacks useless. He also seems to be able to wish rest, giving him unlimited casts. He would eventually wait my immunity, then dispel my effects, then force me to go back to rest outside.
So i used a PfM from simulacrum, and daystar mopped the flood with him.
Sim got feared and became useless right after but Daystar could hit him very well under PfM. He was still able to cast abi-dalzim and other spells however, but at least his defenses were useless (or i though, i later on learned that i was just interrupting him constantly) so i could hurt him. Eventually Sim came out of power word:Fear and gave the final blow with critical strike.
For the demilich part, looks like he can actually cast spells... and a ton of them. This is bad. Went back outside to rest and rebuffed, then equiped MoD+2, hoping for the kill with critical strike. Right when i came out, the demilich actually followed me and glitched through my character, preventing movements... eventually my protection expired and i got killed as i couldn't target him at all as he was totally over me.
Had to redo the fight completely as i tried 10 times and couldn't run away or do anything to the demilich form. It would also stay indefinitely protected, making MoD+2 useless.
Tried it again and casted PfU both on myself and the demilich and notice that he wouldn't do anything. It even interrupted his casts! To my surprise... it seems that the undead destroyed doesn't work at all, which is a huge problem and the whole reason why i chose MoD+2 (i was so wrong... it's still great however). I turned back to my ''only hope'' of defeating Kangaxx before getting mage HLAs... the victor.
Did a try against Kangaxx the lich again and noticed that the flail elemental damage actually interrupt his casts even if he's immune to it, which is even better and that i wouldn't need PfM as i could interrupt most of his casts and eventually kill him. I got stuck again against an unbeatable lich however.
Restarted the whole fight again (13 tries total at this point). Removed true sight and went with improved haste this time and 3x spell immunity to be able to refresh it. I learned something during my first try doing this: I'm going to need spell shield as he spell strike me.
Baited his spells again until he stop attacking for a moment and had to go back to rest due to the planetar. I decided to use the PfM as it reduced the amount of spell he could cast, while really not all of them. Managed to get a window with only a sword spider summoner who couldn't do much against my multiple stoneskin, and stunlocked him to death with FoA+3, + critical strike from Daystar for a damage burst.
Well the victor doesn't work either due to magic resistance... i'm out of ideas... except if some fire elementals could be summoned due to their attack at enchantement +4 to kill him like i did before. (15 tries for 34 deaths)
I really don't know what PfM does to him as he still summon and cast with no problem, so i decided to not use it. I waited his summons out upstairs, went downstairs, casted sim from helmet and just went mindlessly hacking at him and it worked very well. He dispeled me and i didn't stop as he couldn't cast anything slowed with sim hacking at the same time.
Waited the demilich summons out as he still casted them on PfU and saved at the bottom of the screen. Casted 2 fire elementals and had a few backup scrolls just in case (needed 2 tries to get a strong fire elemental so i reloaded in a ''safe area'' at the bottom of the screen before the casts). Hasted them and helped with daystar. At near death, i remembered that i didn't need critical strike so far, so the lich was done. FINALLY!
Did a few more tests and saw that i actually needed a higher HD fire elemental from the summon spell, asit has a -4 thac0 and the ''lesser'' one had 2, so very inefficient. At -4, he was hitting pretty well at 16 and above. 1 level higher for more critical strike would have made everything easier in the end but still, after 21 tries i finally managed to beat him. I'm very surprised that the MoD+2 was ineffective. I can't imagine how hard the watcher's keep demi-lich will be but at least i'm going to be much more powerful.
Shadow temple
Went to the shadow temple and cleared it with MoD+2 and PFU. Now after a talk with histamiini, i really wished that i putted a pip in axes instead of maces... I'm going to have more than enough anyway. Still, cleared the whole temple without issue and destroyed the lich.
Leveled to 15/14 after giving the bones to the ghosts. ** in maces to finish what i started for that half attack, HLA in level 6 slot. Lich got 1 shotted, improved haste was too fast for him to cast anything.
Shadow altar PfU + improved haste for easy kill. Didn't care about the dragon at the moment, no doubt that even feebleminded i would need crits to be able to touch him.
Planar sphere
Entered the planar sphere and cleared it with mislead. Leveled to 15/15 killing the clay golem inside, got a 2nd critical strike. 9 APR cleared everything very quickly. Power attack is very useful to prevent mage casting until they die. I usually see an adamantium golem there but not now... which is actually better at the moment.
Defeated the elementals, built the golem and went downstairs. Super buffed myself into oblivion for Lavok, who died to 2 hasted critical strikes. Found a simulacrum scroll from the lizard men and a legit mordenkainen sword. Now that i naturally found them, i'm allowing myself to use them. Used power attack against the Tanar'ri so they couldn't do anything against me even if they could see me invisible and kill all 3 of them. Leveled up again to 16/15, took level 7 slots now that i had legit mordy swords, if not it would have been critical strike again.
It went well so i clear the whole hell area for xp. Prepared like crazy for Tolgerias and he just ended up hacked during mislead. Putted the demon heart into the golem core and cleared the room for some nice xp.
Firkraag dungeon and Illithid lair
Clearing the dungeon was a cakewalk with mislead, mordy swords and MoD+2. got to level 17/16, level 8 spell and critical strike again.
Found an adamantium golem, who really didn't last long with 4 mordy sword, power attack and 9 apr FoA. Rescued the child and decided to come back with the wand of wonder for Firkrag to do some tests.
Went to the Illithid lair in the sewers, found an improved mantle scroll earlier on that i learned and decided to memorize it to protect myself from the mind flayers.
Got jumped by 6 mind flayers and survived due to it. When 3 were left, i was out of mantle and almost died at 5 intelligence.
Had a sudden death on the last room even protected by mantle.
Died a second time (36 SOA deaths) and saw that it was insane crushing damage from a mind flayer, at 85 damage for a hit.
Also buffed with mirror image and stoneskin for the next time and it was a success.
Died twice to Alhoon (38) which i cannot seem to properly dispel while he removed my buff. Used spell immunity the second time so i could stay buffed, then waited his PFMW, dispelled his illusions with true sight, tanked the fire damage with protection (after being reminded by a fireball) then power attacked him to stun him, then he was done.
Got the hammer of thunderbolt and the amazing wand of wonder. Those mind flayers were very brutal, i'm not sure how to defeat them with a class that can't have good summons or immunity to their attacks.
Dropped the hammer and the honestly useless shield of balduran (why did i buy this... they won't even use their death ray anymore. Mislead it is and timestop later on).
Made my way back to the shadow dragon and killed some undeads on the way, level up to 18/16, * in two-handed swords for soul reaver as i'm planning to try soul reaver and the silver sword this time, which could be amazing mixed with simulacrum, second HLA into power attack.
Abusing the wand of wonder for some petrification (thank you histamiini !!!
Firkraag stoned with 4 charges (running away to prevent offensive spells as they take longer to cast than buffs). Tested with gore, you only get gold and lose all loot... No more gore setting for me!
Planar prison
Master of thrall fell the same way, power attacked to death unable to move as it could see me through invisibility. Very underrated HLA.
Finished clearing the dungeon and didn't notice a Nishruu who drained my wands by half. Looks like those can see me invisible... Having 5 mordy sword was also ridiculous, a breached power attacked mage would die instantly. Got done with the prison, i'm 48k short from unlocking Planetars. I'm right now debating if i should clear the first level of WK or go straight to spellhold, as i did almost everything i could for now.
Going well... 21 deaths for this segment for 40 total in SoA so far (i died so many times, i might has miscounted somewhere but it should be pretty close). Believe it or not but i'm actually trying to be careful here
-Psionic Attacks, Maze, Charm and Stun can end the run. Needs -4 saves vs. spell.
-Intelligence drain from melee attacks. AC vs. crushing helps, +2 weapon immunity protects. Also Intelligence can be overbuffed beyond 25 with Intelligence and Mind Focus potions, there's no upper limit.
-Magic damage from Detonation. Magic Damage Resistance or Cloak of Mirroring.
-Crushing damage from Ballistic attack. I think Crushing Damage Resistance is the only way to block this.
Also Alhoon is Undead, so PfU helps to deal him.
Stoneskin blocks Ballistic Attack. If you're not averse to cheese, abusing the slayer timer (change into the slayer with 100% magic immunity to block the 1,500 damage burst) is an excellent way of tanking them. Alternately, traps and vorpal weapons can bypass their impressive physical resistances, but you might encounter them too early for this.
Basically the 50% chance to dispel Bel's Improved Invisibility on hit is quite annoying since he will refresh it fully almost the moment it dispels, meaning he spends more time invisible so less time for you to hit him. And that was with it in the offhand. In main hand it would cause him to go full invisible so many times that it might actually be really problematic for LoB. It looks, though I might be wrong, that the disadvantages outweigh the advantages?
@AvidGamerFan Interesting. Do you have any idea if mirror image from Ilbratha could make you avoid a Balistic Attack? I used both mirror image and stoneskin to survive against the mind flayers so i really don't know if it bypassed the image to hit stoneskin or not. It could be a good additional protection for some classes as that thing deal some insane damage. Very good to know about the vorpal hit, as i'm going to underdark tonight.
@alice_ashpool Definitely something i didn't think about. You're right, dispelling him seems to be more problematic than the -4 AC from invisibility, especially if you're looking for quick DPS which you should. However, if you stay in a corner, meaning that only him and 2-3 summons will be able to hit you at a time not counting Erinyes, you'll end up being hit less due to mirror image and Bel becomes visible on the first strike he gives so you recieve less damage over time. You have to re-target him everytime he disappears however, which can be really painful. Making the fight last longer is potentially more dangerous than simply going straight for damage and ending the fight sooner, especially with champion strength potion buffs.
As 2.6 will fix Drizzt AI, making the early game exploit for his scimitars impossible, it will be pretty hard to find a decent monk weapon against Bel... Not sure if Root of the Problem would work, not sure if the -3 bonus thac0 and damage to unnatural creature would apply either, which is the deciding factor. I might test this later on. It could be pretty good with Tongue of Acid in the off hand. Unless someone manage to find a way to break Drizzt again, i don't think that we'll see his scimitars in 2.6 for monks, which means really not many weapon choices. If not using the ST mod, the slow effect and acid damage should bypass MR. At 10% chance to slow vs a 5 spell save, the -4 AC, Thac0 and half APR debuff could be very good and shared to RotP and it last for a whole turn, which possibly means a perma-slowed Bel, if it is even possible.
Edit: Well i'm having a sad bug right now... seems like Bhaal don't want to follow me into Candlekeep no matter what i do. This didn't happen on my previous runs without SCS... Not sure what is causing this.
Edit2: Found a 4 years old Harpagornis post saying to create him with the console aside Imoen with C:CreateCreature("ppbhaal") command. You just saved my run without knowing it!
1. Book of Infinite Spells
2. Cloak of Reflection
3. Wave component
4. Cloak +2
5. Cloak of Mirroring
6. Soul Reaver +4
7. Staff of Earth +2
8. Elven Holy Water
9. 4xStakes
28450xp Brynnlaw Undead and Pirates easily wiped.
12100xp Ginia
20000xp Perth the Adept was Smited and he didn't recover. Got Book of Infinite Spells. Also we bought the 2 PfU's from the priest.
48500xp We gave one point of Wisdom in the dream and beat Sarevok with couple Extra Healings.
8700xp Beat the Imp's and Kobold's for the Crystal Shard, no need for Healing.
52500xp Used PfU to pass the Undead and killed Dave with Azuredge. Lured the Bone Golems out to room and shut the door. Ranged the Lich with Azuredge after its initial PfMW was out and killed couple Skeleton Warriors.
25000xp Did the couple riddles. lv30 *Halberd
59000xp Used our first Sanctuary pass the Yuan-tis to third level, and got double xp from the Statue clicking it fast.
12000xp 4xMinotaurs, used couple Extra Healings.
2800xp 2xTrolls
12000xp 4xMinotaurs, used couple Extra Healings.
29500xp Opened the door with couple Minotaur Horns.
58250xp Kobolds in the Test was ranged with Azuredge. Sponge Colonny easily hacked. Got Cloak of Reflection. Hadn't used any spells or abilities to this point so I went with full Death Squad against the Trolls, and then rested.
Used Farsight on Irenicus, then sent in 3xSkelis, and waited Efreetis out. Then 3xFire Elementals, waited multisummons. 3x Fire Elementals, Dark Planetar more summons. Continued sending two sets of 3x Fire Elementals, and Irenicus was out of spells and at 1hp. Bought Lonk of with 2k gold and we released the prisoners, and Irenicus escaped soon after. 86300xp
6000xp Escaped Brynnlaw killing few Pirates, and hid invisible from the Githyanki attack. Haverian died, but that's ok because he doesn't really die.
5000xp Ettin took few Extra Healings.
23300xp Cleared my way to the riddle with 5 Extra Healings. lv31
18500xp Riddle, used outer perimeter to avoid traps and got Cloak +2.
15000xp Tooth
8000xp Used my last Fire Elementals from the Staff of Fire for the Priestess and got Cloak of Mirroring. Then used Sanctuary to reach the Prince. For the Final battle in City of Caverns we had all our abilities and spells left. Death Squad and wiped all, both the King and Prince. Got the Wave Blade and left to Underdark. 93000xp
Not much to do in Underdark tbh, no point of visiting Mindies as Sune has banned using Control Circlet and Staff of Command. But we did want the Soul Reaver +4, so we used Sanctuary to reach Svirneblins and rested for the battle. Tried switching pages from the Book of Infinite spells, but got Burning Hands immediately. Yikes that will make things harder.
Anyway we got to the Demon Knight room and summoned Clone, Deva and 2 Skelis. PfE 10' and started the battle. Lord and Clone concentrated on the Demon Knight with the stuff and first hit it with Smite. I was Power Word Blinded immediately, but it didn't matter as we were hitting with Criticals. We killed it and Lord picked up Soul Reaver +4 and escaped. Had to use one refresh from RoR. 18000xp
3850xp With some choiced words Blackenrock attacked us and we had to kill them. Got Light Gem.
Passed all enemies with Sanctuary to Adalon who turned us to Drow, and after buying Staff of Earth +2 and 3xMagic Shieldings from Ust Natha, we used the disquise to escape the Underdark.
We used our one time recharge on Staff of Fire, and one time item upgrade for Wave Blade +4 with Cromnir. Got the help from Drizzt, Thieves guild and Paladins against Bodhi. Used PfU and Speed to hack the upstairs with Azuredge. We used the Holy Water and attacked Bodhi, Smiting her to the top room. With Clone and his Deva we hacked her twice to death with all our abilities, but she still recovered from it. She didn't recover third time though after getting stoned with WoW. Hacked few vampires with PfU on and then escaped. The Crypt King was still alive so we killed him. lv33 *Halberd. Some small things still before the Final.
Btw I was testing some stuff and found something interesting about Ravager form, which isn't that useful because of the giant circle. If you turn to Ravager after Adalon has turned you to a Drow, you maintain the Drow circle. And after you escape the Magic Damage with single Magic Shielding you can beat the Underdark being Drow Ravager. Not only that, but you can also escape Underdark, beating the proximity trap in the Underdark Exit area with GWW speed, and beat the rest of the SoA as Drow Ravager. You'll be forced to change back after you've beaten the Slayer though. Also beating the proximity trap is a gamble, working about half the time.
+250hp
-4 AC base (-17 AC with Helm of Balduran, Ring of Gaxx, Cloak +2, Reflection Shield, 25 DEX)
0 Thac0 base (-9 with Helm of Balduran, Legacy of Masters, 25 STR)
5apr +5 weapon, 3d8 crushing +8 Cold, Dispel (20%)
25 STR/DEX
50 AR/CR/ER/FR (100ER with Talos Gift or 100CR with Frost Embrace, 100FR with Fire Control Ring)
75 MR (95 with Ring of Gaxx and Kaligun's Amulet)
50 DR (90 with Hardiness)
50 MDR (0 after resting, 50 with Inertial Belt)
2 Save base (-3 with Helm of Balduran, Ring of Gaxx and Cloak +2)
5hpps regen (10hpps with Whirlwind)
Immunity: Hold, Grease, Web, Entangle, Paralyze, Slow, Haste, Disease, Poison, Sleep
Level Drain, Confusion, Stun, Panic, Charm, Fear, Imprisonment, Morale Break
I don't remember the effect of the proximity trap at the end of Underdark, but could it be avoided using a PFM scroll? Quickslots are still usable which is even better. Can't wait to see that build in action!
The proximity trigger is in the last room when you're trying to leave Underdark. It's supposed to remove Adalon's Drow illusion spell if you don't get rid of it by other means. PfM doesn't stop it, and if I remember correctly, the only way to pass proximity triggers reliably is Time Stop, which why I'm dualing to Thief.
Little miscalculation.. i was actually more around 400k xp short for planetar HLA, as 48k xp was for a fighter level.
Watcher's Keep level 1 and 2
As it was going well, i figured out that i could do the second level, assuming that i was going to get planetar before the chromatic demon for a vorpal hit. Casually cleared the level in mislead again and with mordy sword, got planetar and alacrity just before the fire room 20f/18i. I won't be using alacrity before getting a project image.
Second hit of the planetar the chromatic demon was killed by a vorpal hit, easy kill. I didn't feel ready for the maze yet, not before having timestop and chain contingency so it was now time for spellhold.
Recharged my wand before leaving as the Nishruu surprised me, then left for spellhold. Bernard officially has the cheapest prices by far, something that i've just discovered. WoW was 4500 and WoCK 4050 for a complete 50 charges. Counting that i've sold the WoCK for 810 and the WoW for 1800, it costed me less than 7k to recharge both wands. Considering this, i think that i'm going to carry a wand of spellstriking from WK with me. Just learned at the same time that the wand of cursing can be used by anybody. I'll have no use for it as a F/I but it could be useful for non-spellcaster or a pure mage that want to silence a spellcaster.
6.3M xp before leaving for spellhold.
Brynnlaw/Spellhold
Rolled the book of infinite spells for True Seeing, went to spellhold. Lost a point of wisdom, which i will gain back with the Machine of Lum the Mad.
Small problem... Bhaal doesn't want to follow me inside. He wouldn't turn to stone either so i had to reload. Well after 4 reloads he still won't follow...
Had to C:CreateCreature("ppbhaal") to spawn Bhaal . First try i was stuck after speaking with Bodhi and couldn't move, like if i was perma-stunned. Even resting couldn't do anything. Reloaded, redefeated Bhaal, now i'm finally ok.
No gear... this is going to be harder. Cleared the lower left room with planetar and got PI + Delayed blast fire, that can both be very useful. Went to the portal room and planetar soloed Ruhk and his summons, the improved AI makes him even more powerful than before. Level up ** in two handed swords, 4 power attack, 4 critical strike.
Hasted mordy swords and planetar cleared everything on the first 2 levels without issues. Vorpal hit is just insane. Not only that, but he would cast globe of blades and insect swarm by himself. It also seems that the casting time is improved, it seems instant compared to vanilla.
Got totally surprised by a lich (thx auto-pause on enemy sighted), so i ran away and it managed to cast time stop while i was way to far already, spawned 4 hasted mordy swords and a planetar and send them do the job while i waited safely in the room north. Planetar got hit by a vorpal hit from a fallen planetar, so i waited the summon out before casting a second one with improved haste. Planetar cleared the room and left the lich at near death, so i had to rest for a second try. Improved haste him and he again managed to damage the lich a lot this time. Second planetar finished the lich off. Next time i'll have to think about using remove fear first, as the planetar lost a bit of time feared.
Dace got vorpal hit and i didn't have the wooden stake yet, so i went to the next level. Went back to kill the portal monsters. Pit fiend vortal, greater wolfwere died in 2 seconds, got doomplate. Planetar cleared the kobold for the stake, killed Dace, went to 3rd level. Level up: Debatted using Hardiness but i don't think that it will by that useful in the end due to all the great mage protections, it could stack with wish hardiness for 80% DR or 100% if i bother using Defender of Easthaven, i decided to wait and take it at my last level, so * into smite to be able to take specific foes away from the main fight, possibly stunning them. Also a good Stun/Crit HLA.
Saw a noble djinni going invisible, so i decided to do the whole level invisible with planetar summmoned just in case, as he can attack invisible creatures. Mind flayer fleed before i could kill him, he stunned planetar at badly injured and fled.
Got flame of the north, which i had -6 thac0 with if i ever need to inflict more damage or power attacks (7 IH APR). Planetar + Dart of wounding cleared the Kobolds, forgot the slot machine.
Killed the spore colony with Planetar as always and finished the riddles. Got to the fight against Irenicus and planetar + mordy swords killed him as i summoned the 4th sword. I was casting true sight as the fight ended and planetar can see through invisibility so i didn't get ambushed by the murderers and they died right away, barely passing the door. Rested and got slayer form.
Reentered the Asylum as i still didn't get my stuff back, and found it on the table in the right room next to a stone golem that i had to slay with mordy swords as i got level drained by some wraiths outside.
Not sure why but it seems that i got an insane amount of extra potion and scrolls (1 in quantity, just many kind).
Got Horn of Silence, never used that item before but silence 3 times a day with save vs breath could be useful.
Spellhold without gear done! And without dying! (99% by planetar to be fair)
Shark City/Underdark entrance
Pirate and boat ambushes done with mordy swords and planetar.
Cleared the shark city with improved haste planetar and hasted mordy swords again, got cloak of mirroring. Helped with mislead for dealing with the King so speed things up a bit.
Sold my loot to the priestest there as she has the highest value for selling, then got into Underdark.
Planetar managed to clear the elementals near the portal very fast for some nice XP. Then he vorpal striked Balor. Level up, * in power attack for 5 and 5 crit total and 1 into hardiness... just in case. I don't really get hit but 40% DR for 20 rounds isn't bad.
Got skullcrusher, which i might as well keep as i have 2 pips in mace.
Freed Vithal and killed him with planetar + mordy swords at the end for time stop. Learned timestop and incendiary cloud.
Got to the mind flayer lair. Clearing was much easier with power attack and planetar. Got 4 control circlet that i don't plan to use so far, at least not until ToB.
Got jumped by many Illithid but they were no match for my death team. Had a ton of Improved Mantle if needed (5). Got the Brine potion, i never had to use it but it could not be useful. Got Staff of Command.
Master Brain had no chance against my mislead + improved haste character, use stoneskin as i took a bit of damage not sure by what as my feedback was in total chaos.
Opening the mind doors was extremely easy with SCS as mind flayers keep teleporting to you every time you open a door. Talked to the slave leader and got my last level up. Last pip into 2 weapon style, last HLA into hardiness again in case i would use the Ravager Form. I was fine with 5 power attack and crit.
Cleared the beholder lair with mislead, planetar and swords. Planetar Vorpal hit the hive mother and i mislead killed the Elder Orb. Looks like the hive mother ate my cloak of mirroring... good thing i killed her. Saw some mind flayers perma-stunning my planetar, so i decided to call this area a success and leave them peacefully.
Became a drow and went into Ust Natha. Did the tavern's arena which was very easy, just noticed that being changed into a Drow seems to have reduce my wand charges from 50 to 20... not sure why.
Ust Natha
Cleared the drow party with the Dragon Breath halberd, improved alacrity is insane as i can summon everything and fully buff myself, then help with mislead in less than a round.
Hacked Simyaz part on the way to my other quest, which is to tell the dwarf to give me his helmet so i can lie about him being dead.
Decided to clear the western tunnel at the same time. Power attack kept me safe from the Kuo-Toan that could see through invisibility, planetar vorpal hit the prince. Had to cast a second wave of Planetar and mordy swords for the 4 demon knights, then i assisted them with hasted power attacks for the kills. Got Soul Reaver, the ultimate debuffer that i'm going to use for ToB as i need to be evil. Also got Girdle of Frost Giant Strength for Crom Faer, to achieve my final form of BBoD + Crom Faer at 9 APR which should kill almost everything in dual timestop (351 AVG damage per round against enemies immune to crit).
Killed the drow at the gate (took 2 tries, as the first one the wizard summoned a fallen planetar who killed me for 41 deaths), summoned my team and power attacked the wizard right away for a quick kill, then we killed the priestess. Rest fell one after the other. Returned the dwarf helmet after.
Decided to kill Deirex, who didn't last long at all with MoD+2 and improved haste while fully buffed under spell immunity.
Did the double-double cross and left the city and gave back the eggs to Avalon. Tested a few ways to kill her. WoW still work very well without aggroing her, Pierce shield + Feeblemind doesn't turn her hostile either, I was lacking a bit of damage to be able to kill her with triple timestop, and 5x critical strike with FoA but she ended a near death easy to finish. Might have been better if i kept the anti-dragon sword. Decided to keep the feeblemind kill, as the dragon manipulated Sirus into doing her dirty work.
Preparing for Watcher's Keep and upgrading gear
Bought 7 scrolls and learned all of them except timestop that i already learned. Also bought Reflection shield, rod of resurrection and the Victor and recharged it, also went to buy Sling of Everard. Still had over 130k after all purchase. Went to build Crom Faer and silver sword.
Went into north wood and BBoD+Timestop the mage for an additionnal scroll. Also kept the wand of paralysation. Cleared the whole crew with mislead. Tested Silver sword. It was very effective even without the APR bracers and pairs very well with GM. I will probably use it against future mindflayers. Time to finish Watcher's Keep, then Irenicus for my first Ascension ToB.
1 death in this whole segment for 41, all due to how powerful Planetars are. Chose to get my gear removed in spellhold and it was still pretty easy with mordy swords, planetar and invisibility. Next challenges are the WK maze level, the Demilich (kept daystar just for it), the final seal and Demogorgon. I didn't remove quickslot for clones but didn't need it at all so far (only used 1 unnecessary PFM on the twisted rune lich). Did all challenging fights for SoA so far and i feel that it's going very well. More shapechange and BBoD fun to come.
Edit: Also tried Mind flayer intelligence drain but after validating with CTRL+Q, his intelligence stay at 1 so no stat drain possible
Edit2: Tried it as a test with the console, not working either. Took the rift device kill for the moment. Ridiculous, still took 4x PFMW using BBoD for the last 10% HP. Died first time as i got surrounded by demons, second time worked. Hardest fight by a mile so far. Mordy swords, planetar and my sim barely last 2 rounds it's insane.
Watcher's Keep (should have waited until mid-end ToB... i really should have) An adventure of struggle and perseverance.
Level 3 Compass:
Managed to easily kill him with 3x mordy sword contingency + power attack again but wearing ring of fire control and balista's passport for 90% fire resistance. I was hitting him easily with FoA+Crom Faer.
Went into the room with Tahazzar. After 5 tries (49), managed to kill the succubus that kept charming me. Used a 3x mordy sword contingency, improved haste contingency, Timestop, BBoD. I'm thinking killing them one at a time with this combo until it becomes manageable. The dead magic room just before is the killer here.
Attempted dual timestop and only 2 sword + protection from fire for the next try. Spotted a second succubus and killed her with hasted BBoD. Took 3 tries (52) but got the other succubus and Yochlol. Did the same combo but 1 mordy, PFMW and PFF instead. He just seem to respawn the succubus, so i went for Tahazzar directly this time, smited him in timestop, gave the last hits just when it ended (worked 2nd try as i got dispelled before i could cast immunity 53). Next time, i'm bringing extra potions of clarity and a helmet to protect from charm. Didn't think about immunity: Enchantment. I'll try that first.
Went back to clear the room and took 1 timestop off for planetar, they all agroed to the single mordy sword so i managed to summon him and 3 other swords. I really have no clue on what is spawning so many skeleton warriors, spider and Maurezi, but i decided that i wasn't worth the trouble especially with the dead magic. Everything i kill seem to respawn the next time i enter.
Cleared the Alu Fiend room in 1 try, enchantement immunity does work.
Continued south and killed Ka'Rashur 1st try with planetar, PFMW, Improved mantle, smite and power attack. Killed everybody in the room for fun, then left to the end of the maze. Got another wand of spellstriking, which will be handy.
Went to the last room and killed the demon wraith for the challenge using power attack and smite. It was by far the easiest fight of the level so far... I had a lot of trouble my first time trying it on my previous run.
Aesgareth
Machine of Lum the Mad
Destroyed them under mantle and hasted BBoD + Critical strike. 1 round would kill a mind flayer not counting summon damage, should have stayed to that combo like i did before. 5 Improved mantle and 1x PFMW is enough for any mindflayer wave.
Spell trap tanked the maze trap no problem and can be used to replenish some improved haste and improved mantle without resting.
Improved haste Planetar killed the magic golems by making them unconscious with his fists, then finished them with insect plague. I did get hit once and lost 2 overall charges but the rift device inside the loot bag didn't seem affected as i still have my 1 charge.
Killed the anti-paladin with mislead and BBoD. Those 80+ damage criticals are satisfying to see. Captain pack was killed with planetar and swords, his deva had the time to despawn as i cleared the other rooms, and i had to finish him myself at near death.
Demilich was much easier than expected, but also much more resistant. It was resistant to all of daystar extra damage but it was dead after 3x hasted time stop. Casted PFU on it as soon as i entered the room and it didn't cast anything that could harm me, only dispelled me once with spellstrike. I also just notice that the Wild Surge room in the maze level removed all my gold... so after defeating the demilich i now only have 40k instead of 150k. I really hate that compass level. *sight* i'm not going to need much gold anyway...
Not sure what the demon binding books does but i got both of them. Did another test using BBoD and it dealt double damage, so 2x time stop managed to get him near death and only 2 additionnal hit with MoD +2 managed to finish it.
Looks like Saladex can also be WoW and feebleminded without turning hostile, so that's what i did. The only dragon that i feel bad to slay.
Got enough wands of spellstriking for the rest of the game for sure now.
Went back to kill the 2 vampire illithid as i forgot the red oil, then opened the door. Cleaned the room with BBoD+Mislead. Did all the positive outcome of the machine (MR, attributes, next level and storm star)
Final level!
Figured out that i would drag the Rilmani one by one with summons while staying away, then hope to finish the Aurulmach 1 vs 1. Honestly i don't get why nobody talk about this guy. He dies immediatly on Insane due to his low HP but on LoB, he's the bane of my existence.
Planetar has no problem with the Ferrumach Rilmani. 1 could kill 3-4 of them as i stayed safe in the top left room. Vorpal hit were working so it was devastating. Rested and launched another hasted death team to weaken them even more. He died before getting a kill this time, but i could summon 4 of them using PI before resting. One ferrumach came to my safe room and got killed by planetar right away.
Aurumach just seems to have infinite timestops. Like when i did it without SCS, he could cast nearly unlimited spells on improved alacrity which was ridiculous and went to melee after a few rounds, but now i don't even dare to approach him at the moment. Sent my 3rd team. They didn't even damage him a little this time... this is going to be rough. Did a quick sneaky look and notice that he was at badly injured and i had 1 planetar left. Tried to help planetar, died twice (61) Tried 2 more time to inflict any damage and didn't succeed to damage him a single hp (63)
Rested and tried something else. I knew that many defensive spells won't trigger until the timestop effect ends, so i tried BBoD + Improved Mantle + Timestop after resting, well didn't work (64)
Tried BBoD + Mantle + Spellstrike. Almost killed him and he went Regenerating, back to full HP. REALLYYYY ??!!!
Tried 2x Absorption potion + True sight + spell immunity + Protection from all element + Stoneskin + Mirror image so he could just hit me with crits outside of timestop, buffed constantly with stoneskin and mirror image to avoid damage. GOT IT! Reloaded to see if it is a consistent method, IT IS!
He was immune to FoA so i also guess that he require a +5 weapon to be damaged. True sight is also a must or he will just constantly recast mirror image and you won't be able to damage him. I'm really curious about finding a way to cheese him that doesn't require traps. Reloaded to try Delayed Blast Fire, as he has 100 magic resistance but no fire res. Success! He has 780 hp however and 5x only dealt 38 damage... he also has 65 magic res. Well, good luck to anybody reaching him. There must be a way to cheese him, possibly with polymorph other, Ravager, blind or something like that but i'm going to worry about that later or for my next run.
Did the 3 challenge room, used time stop against the dragon, then improved alacrity+ 3x pierce shield + 2x GM + 4x Feeblemind, it didn't work due to timestop priorities (didn't remember) so i had to go back up the stairs and rest, tried the 3x pierce shield during the timestop, then alacrity + GM + 6x Feeblemind. Now that worked. Waited the orc wave invisible, did the imp coin puzzle.
For some reason my spirit warrior died despite doing the right combo. (64) Skipped the bracers with the poison this time and it worked.
Got my wand drained during the lich seal due to Hakeashar. Putted everything into the loot bag to avoid further wand drain. Got Erynne sling and Serpent shaft.
Attemped 2x Timestop + 10 apr Mindflayer for the final seal. 3 Death as it seem that no matter what, no matter the immunity, i get completely dispelled upon activation and didn't have time to cast anything before death (67)
Decided to try my previous 4x planetar tactic to have less to deal with by myself. Managed to make the hive mother move away with wand of cloudkill. It wasn't doing damage but it made them split up, for hopefully easier kills. So i waited the summons out before my next wave. I though that maybe i could BBoD + dual timestop them one by one, so i rested and tried that first as none of them seemed immune to timestop as i saw from my failed attempts. Managed to kill the huntress and almost another one, but i couldn't rest anymore on the level so i used the portal to the previous level to rest and rebuff.
Can't use WoCK anymore due to wand drain. Tried a second time and failed against the hive mother (65). This i brutal. Redid it on a weaker one, almost killed 2 but timestop ended and my second victim used Sanctuary.
Putted auto-pause on end of round and went safe for the next tries. Got a 3rd one. 4th victim, got my APR gauntlets!
The try after i managed to kill the Hive mother due to increased APR. It actually ate my Balduran shield from inside my bag! Looks like this was the last of them.
Demogorgon. I've read that people simply GWW him to death without issues... well not me. Hardest foe by a mile so far.
Well he does survive it no problem. To the point where i can't even touch him before dying in timestop, unable to move. My summons last about 10 seconds too...
I watched his stats and figured that stacking about 100 Delayed fireball should do the trick after a 3x pierce shield contingency. (i CTRL-Q him before he could buff... what a mistake, his FR goes from 50 to 90)
So the contingency trigger way too slowly to work and i get stuck in timestop.. (69) Not only that, but he get through my Fireballs in timestop and don't trigger them while i can't do anything.
After a few debug mode experimentation, i saw that 5x incendiary cloud could damage him to death. So i'm going to try pre-casting 10-20x Cloud, keep my pierce shield contengency and otiluke myself until he's dead. 1 sphere should be enough for me to kill him.
So he seems to dispel otiluke, so the best way now is to stack PFMW, which i should also have enough. (70) Quick way would be to stack around 15 cloud and Rift Machine his **s, but i'm determine to try everything to not use it first. Looks like he get a secondary buff that buff his HP to 1.8k and fire resist to 90... so that again can't work.
I'm heavily thinking about the rift machine now, so i'll give it a try but make a save before it.
Tried a few more times (78) before, i tried to cause his buffs and summons to end but they seem to be infinite or recastable after a few rounds, same with the summons. Even resting wouldn't remove them.
Even the 90% DR ravager form die in less than a turn... PFM doesn't prevent his casting either.
Well for now, rift device kill it is (used on Sim). Still took a whole 4x PFMW with auto-pause on round end. Took 6 tries total to come to this approach (84), 2 successful Demogorgon death but got stuck the first time and stunned to death again. Fled the arena the second time. Retried with FoA, had a very similar outcome but 3x PFMW instead so i'd say that FoA+5 should be the ultimate weapon against him (should have waited for that free action...), the elemental damage seemed to interrupt him very well as i didn't get held by implosion at all that time. I'm guessing a Belhifet Tactic (super buff with potions and max AC to counter his -23 Thac0, heal with rod of resurrection) would work. Got it first try with it too but it's still a rift device kill... which i dislike. Only time i really had to use Sim quickslot so far.
Anyway, done for the moment with Demogorgon and Watcher's Keep. I'm thinking that i should have put ** into halberds intead of two-handed swords... well we'll see in ToB!
I might actually continue my save that didn't kill him to attempt it again with Roronach's Horn, a ton of AC and FOA+5 instead. I really want to be able to beat him without using the rift device and i think the key is in some ToB items. I might try this soon using debug mode.
From 42 to 84 deaths... litterally doubled! I think that next time using SCS on max settings like this i'm going to wait for ToB items and i'm going to make a better plan on an excel sheet. Well in my defense i had no clue what to expect...
Anyway i'm really thinking about continuing my save with Demogorgon alive to try different tactics using ToB arsenal. I think most demons there do crushing damage and i could be immune to it for 40 rounds, which should be enough to do a ton of damage if not ending the fight especially with FoA +5. Not sure if ascension also add things that can help me there. Super buffing with potions Belhifet style comes to mind but i don't think it's that necessary. Well back into learning! Time for Irenicus.
A spellcasting demilich will cast Protection from Magic Energy. You need to dispel or breach that for the bonus magic damage from Daystar to work.
+4. There are no enemies in the entire game that require +5 weapons to hit, only a few that need +4.
Why were you using Time Stop when you already knew they were immune? That's an SCS feature, by the way; immunity to Time Stop regardless of difficulty.
SCS/Ascension Demogorgon casts various spells, which are all on timers rather than taking spell slots. Breach and Spellstrike are both on that list, each with three-round timers.
Two buffs; the standard +50% fiend HP buff for high-difficulty SCS, and the priest HLA Aura of Flaming Death. The latter sets fire resistance to 90%, grants a 4-point AC bonus, and retaliates against close-range attacks with 2d10+2 fire damage. It also only lasts one turn, can be Breached or dispelled, and can't be recast unless the battle goes on for about three in-game hours.
As long as he doesn't dispel you, that could help. And he has Remove Magic, castable once every three rounds.
Demogorgon was the one ToB fight that stumped my no-spellcasting party; in the end, I went with avoiding the fight entirely by laying seven spike traps. (Insane difficulty, not LoB)
With the SCS fiend revisions, the LoB HP, and the immunity to insta-death spells could they be useful?
I though that maybe he would have been affected like timestop like my character is, which means having spell effects, like his buffs, only take place at the end of the timestop. For example, if you start a timestop and use improved haste, the haste effect won't trigger until timestop end. I though that this would prevent him from buffing so i could kill him during the timestop period so i gave it a try but he totally ignore the timestop effect like if there was none at all. Previous tries i just died too quickly to notice that.
The safest way to kill him is with Skull traps, it just takes forever.
You can use Spell trap to reset your spells without resting, let sim hit you with bbod (which will also reset sim and spell trap)
-Precast 10-15 Incendiary clouds (20d4 fire damage per round each so i'm assuming 10-40 dmg per cloud per round) using PI with Improved Alacrity
-3x spell shield contingency at 30% MR each to reduce his MR to 0
-Breach the aura of flaming death to set his FR to 50
-Tank using PFMW and casting additionnal clouds (can cast 5 more) during the ''invincibility'' period, i have 5x PFMW which should be enough if i don't get held by Implosion, still spelltrap should tank a few, hopefully until death, i might also be able to do 100-200 melee damage on top but i think it wouldn't be as safe as running around as i don't want to get cornered... going to test this a few times today.
If i'm getting that kill, i'm going to take it over the rift device one for sure. Tested the crushing damage immunity but being immune to crushing damage wasn't enough and i couldn't do enough damage for my 2x hardiness to tank it to death. Marilith are also a huge threat so PFMW is still needed... so the immunity is useless in the end.
Same as before but placing 125 delayed blast fireball on the lower right of the platform.
-3x pierce shield chain contingency on ''see enemy'' ''nearest enemy''
-Prebuff with improved alacrity (improved haste, PFMW, spell immunity, spell shield, spell trap from staff before that, whatever else you feel necessary) and start the fight right after, wait for the pierce shield to show 3x -30% magic resistance and breach him while still on alacrity.
-Use timestop right after and lure him inside your 125 Delayed fireball trap
-Timestop end, Demogorgon die a few seconds after. I also use a PI to setup 5x incendiary cloud before buffing up just in case.
Counting the incendiary cloud try, it worked in only 2 tries so i'd say that it's a pretty safe strat if you don't get stuck in demons escaping.
Edit: Oh and i'm a multi-class and tried to avoid using sim quickslots so sadly a level 20 illusionnist mage cannot get a BBoD simulacrum. Still an awesome tip for pure mages however!
He does put up a Spell Turning in his initial buffs, but that's the only additional spell defense. No globe of invulnerability, so no reason for level 3-4 spells to fail except MR.
Oddly enough, the wand of polymorphing should still do him in. It's not on the specific immunity list, and the effect that sets maximum HP isn't tied to the polymorph effect. That gets his HP low enough for his scripted death to kick in.
No. In the standard spell system, PfM blocks spells of levels 1-9. Dispel Magic and Remove Magic act as level 0 effects, and go right through that. They won't dispel the PfM, but they will take out any dispellable buffs under it.
To protect against dispels, Spell Immunity: Abjuration is the only option. And that can be taken down by everything from Spell Thrust to Spellstrike. Those spell-breaking effects all work through PfM, too. Then SCS allows Spellstrike to take down PfM ... which is something Demogorgon can do.
Bodhi
Spent 12k to recharge rod of res, WoCK and WoW. Now keeping them in the loot bag at all time to prevent wand charge drain.
Got the Warder signet and +10 HP from the deck of many things. Not sure if i'm going to use it but +3 ST is great. Reloaded for PRISON - KEY - MOON. Unnecessary but i'll take all small advantage i can for ToB.
Died to Bodhi once being careless (87), i didn't think she would be that strong... at this point i should have known really. Second try i killed her in timestop with BBoD. Died charmed right after (88)... well this is new. Immunity for the next try and also forgot PFU on my previous tries so i used it. I could poison the pools before the fight with PFU so it was much easier, after that i killed her using Mislead so i was sure that nothing else would see me, had to kill her twice as she regained all her HP back, then killed her for good and rested near her coffin to despawn the monsters fighting Drizzt. Left invisible with improved haste.
Did a buying run and bought all PFU and potions of heroism that i could (5/7).
Suldanwhateverthenameis and Irenicus 1
Got another timestop scroll, now have 3 which can be good for ToB final battle that i've read a bit about but know nothing about yet... will get informed more soon so i don't get stuck there for weeks.
Had to debuff Rajah, Secret word + Pierce shield + Breach while using true sight made him die easily to planetar.
Dragon feebleminded with 3x pierce shield contingency, then entered the fight under improved alacrity and PFMW, GM+5x feeblemind did the trick as he barely managed to land an inefficient hit, then he was done. Saving WoW for ToB.
Irenicus lasted about 1 seconds once debuffed.
Started the fight with 3x mordy sword and planetar all hasted and true sight, he wasted his timestop on death spell on 2 swords. Improved alacrity, buffed instantly, summonned 3 more swords, then debuffed him: Secret word, 3x pierce shield, breach, attacked him under PFMW. Very quick kill.
I will turn my alignment to evil in hell, taking the +2 strength and i will be able to finally use Soul Reaver.
Hell and Irenicus 2
Needed 4 Tries for Irenicus (91, 4th was a success). I figured out that he had another contingency rebuffing him so i wasn't able to stop him after 1 timestop + BBoD as he was still under stoneskin during the first round. Also noticed that the demons won't follow if i'm out of sight, so i dragged them away from him. As there is a permanent Farsight to his fighting spot, i baited his summons and waited out hit buffs out using planetar from PI until he was out of spells and summons, also broke his stoneskin with insects. After that, i summoned 3x Mordy sword, completely buffed with alacrity and killed him with 10 APR Crom Faer. He wasn't immune to critical strike so he died extremely fast, barely lasting 1 PFMW.
SoA done (+Watcher's Keep, finally can say without rift device now!) 91 deaths so 113 from the start. I trust Ascension to increase that by a lot. Not only 1st time trying SCS but also 1st time on Ascension... ''Almost'' done! Hopefully i didn't forget any essential items for my success... Can't wait to see how ridiculous chapter 10 will be.