You really like running on the knifes edge @Grond0 but at least Shagrat´s death was quite - well - unusual.
If you wanna take a break and come back with fresh mind and new motivation - why not?
I can see dark times for the Shadow Dancer lurking in late SoD @Blackraven. Or with other words: Avernus will be a neverending nightmare - if one gets this far. Lemures can see through stealth and will attack - and can also constantly dispel stealth so Whispers of Silence is a must. The Erinyes Archer will be another pain in the ass that can hurt for up to 60 damage with one of their special arrows on a crit even though anti-missile-equip will force them to roll a 19 or 20. Not to mention Big B himself. Theoretically its all possible - even on a no reload run - so why not force luck to be on your side?
P.S. The Totemic Druid also should have no big probs to beat SoD @Victor_Creed_SFV - at least on a "normal" run. Killing Big B with Magic Resistance + Harm + Hit might be tricky as you need perfect timing and rolling at least one 20. But once you have done it and watch how Big B drops from 1130 HP down to 1 in one big hit - everlasting moment!
@Blackraven Yeah, I think I remember the Swashbuckler you lost. Wasn't it because of Hide in Shadow ? Because you were revealed too quick after failing a hide check or something like that ?
I can see dark times for the Shadow Dancer lurking in late SoD @Blackraven. Or with other words: Avernus will be a neverending nightmare - if one gets this far. Lemures can see through stealth and will attack - and can also constantly dispel stealth so Whispers of Silence is a must. The Erinyes Archer will be another pain in the ass that can hurt for up to 60 damage with one of their special arrows on a crit even though anti-missile-equip will force them to roll a 19 or 20. Not to mention Big B himself. Theoretically its all possible - even on a no reload run - so why not force luck to be on your side?
@Harpagornis, do you think it would be better to dual to Mage at level 9, so that Verity will have completed the dualing process by the time she should reach Avernus?
Exactly @Blackraven! Dualing at 9 would make things easier in Avernus. The big question is: How painful will it be to level up the Mage in SoD? Maybe you should use EE-Keeper and Console and jump to Avernus just to test the Shadow Dancer. With Wispers of Silence, full buffs it should be possible to stab the Lemures down first (they are not that dangerous) while abusing the exit. Throw in some summons (Myconids!) for further distraction!
P.S. As you lack decent saves Greenstone Amulet is the only choice for the Shadow Dancer. You can get at least three of them but the battles will take a long time - one missing recast and it might be Game Over. Korgath only survived thanks to the Dwarfen Bonus...
I think BWS will be the end of me and I will quit BG one of these days. After having to reinstall because of the EET business, my BG1 doesn't have SCS anymore. I don't play BG1 via EET but rather via BG1, but this worked before so this is very disappointing. I'm sure at this point I have spent more time un-/installing BG than playing. I hope manually installing SCS in the BG1 folder will fix this even tho I'm not exactly stoked about having to go thru the same steps again I just went thru.
Nice to see that your installations are working again @Victor_Creed_SFV!
Too bad i lack time for Eklun so no real progress from my side. I think good old Mulahey will be next and the Sandthief Ring will used for the first time! Well - no: The second time cause for some reason Eklun went back to Kirian and charmed her on the second try out of invisibility and used quick retreat before the AI could react. Once she was taken down by her old friends Baerin and Peter he grabbed her items using the quick-loot function!
BtW: Its quite interesting that stealth or invisibility is not broken if you use the quick loot bar - which makes thing much easier!
@Victor_Creed_SFV Sorry about your problems, mate. Maybe you could make manual mods install without BWS like I do ? I'm on a mac, so no BWS for me. It's more tedious, but I don't run in these kinds of problems.
Guys, I'm depressed. I was toying around with the console by creating Mel (with the FINMEL01 code) in front of me to start to devise a strat against her, and things look grim. Only the Smite HLA can stun her, but it can only be chosen once. Theoretically, Power Attacks could stunlock her, but her saving throws in LoB are way too good to achieve this (only 5% chance). Do I miss something ? Can she be stunlocked by a pure fighter ? Do I have any way to lower her saving throws ?
Lots of damage, by combining Critical Strikes and Imp. Haste from Darkfire bow or Improved Cloak of Protection in conjonction with my simmy is not really an option, because, with her insane DR, she'll still roam free to gate in demons, cast time stop, etc.
I'm mainly searching for a way to stun her, but can't find any. Maybe there's another approach to this. I'll try anyway, because that'll be cool to do, but I'm not too optimistic...
Edit because ninja'd while typing my comment : nice for you @Victor_Creed_SFV !! We don't want to lose quality players like yourself !!
@Arctodus I wish I could install SCS manually but ever since SoD came out that isn't possible for me on Windows, Initialise doesn't seem to work without BWS.
As to stunning Mel I'm not sure if there's a +4 weapon with stun, but have you tried FoA's slow? It is pretty broken in my opinion.
@Arctodus Just remembered Staff of the Ram should prove pretty powerful for stunning.
Among other minor quests Droolit finally took on the sirens. At the start the summons get stunned but prove useful for keeping the aggro of all but 1 siren of her. Once the stun wears off they tore into the remaining sirens and the stun did not get rapplied. Level 8 is very close and flesh golems + Drizzt are next. I also haven't gone to Durlag's yet.
@Victor_Creed_SFV If you bought the games from GOG or STEAM, you need to install modmerge for mods to work. Maybe that's why you can't install SCS. But that's a moot point anyway, because your install works fine now.
Yep, Mel can be slowed. It's good, but I fear not enough. I can't really test the full fight because when I create her, she stay passive even if I attack her, so I don't know how good applying slow to her would be. I don't know if her casting can be interrupted too (which I doubt, can't remember). So, my testing is rather incomplete.
Plus, there's something weird : the creature FINMEL01 can't be harmed by +4 weapons. Maybe I don't use the right creature. I just hope it won't be the same in the Throne, because I don't need my options to be even more limited than they already are...
Anyway, the best weapon the deal damage to her seems to be the FoA, which can do a whooping 7 damage per hit, even with 25 strength (maybe 1 point more with GM in the weapon). With my simmy with Imp Haste from items and me going GWW all the way, I'd need about 20 rounds to take her down. So, I fear slow won't be enough to stop her.
Edit : Staff of the Ram doesn't work either for some reason, I tried.
Yeah, Staff of Ram might be an option - if you can get it!
But plz remember that Mel is not the only problem. Abazigal also can use Time Stop while Sendai not only Heals everyone but can cast Implosion which will stun and kill easily. Not to mention the multi demon gating - oh dear. Or the several Time Stops from Mel - one alone is most likely enoug to kill you. And the worst: You have to kill EVERYONE else before going for Mel. I hate this fight for Warriors but maybe you can find a way @Arctodus!
@Victor_Creed_SFV If you bought the games from GOG or STEAM, you need to install modmerge for mods to work. Maybe that's why you can't install SCS. But that's a moot point anyway, because your install works fine now.
Yep, Mel can be slowed. It's good, but I fear not enough. I can't really test the full fight because when I create her, she stay passive even if I attack her, so I don't know how good applying slow to her would be. I don't know if her casting can be interrupted too (which I doubt, can't remember). So, my testing is rather incomplete.
Plus, there's something weird : the creature FINMEL01 can't be harmed by +4 weapons. Maybe I don't use the right creature. I just hope it won't be the same in the Throne, because I don't need my options to be even more limited than they already are...
Anyway, the best weapon the deal damage to her seems to be the FoA, which can do a whooping 7 damage per hit, even with 25 strength (maybe 1 point more with GM in the weapon). With my simmy with Imp Haste from items and me going GWW all the way, I'd need about 20 rounds to take her down. So, I fear slow won't be enough to stop her.
Edit : Staff of the Ram doesn't work either for some reason, I tried.
Are you sure you're fighting Amelyssan?
edit: just checked it you used the correct code, maybe she doesn't work as intended if you are not in the final area, did you port there?
Droolit can actually tank the Flesh Golems with Potion of Absorption, Belt of Bluntness and Oil of Speed for killing faster. This is necessary as the spirit animals cannot damage the golems at least not before level 10. The Golems roll negative attack rolls and can only hit with crits, which are strangely displayed as a roll of 9.
Drizzt also died and I managed to gain the xp, his fire res scimitar can actually be used by Droolit and together with the fire resistance ring from the Samuel map I have 90% fire resistance now, if I need it over the poison from the dagger.
I also killed the battle horrors in front of Durlags and realized how I sometimes underutilize my nymphs. 3 nymphs casting lightning instantly do 150+ damage to the horrors, something I didn't realize until the second horror was almost dead.
Droolit is level 9 now and looking at the basilisks and maybe even cheesing some xp in lower Durlags.
Tanking the Flesh Golems? Maybe Eklun should give them a try soon - if he survives until then. Cause after burning down Mulahey and his guards the game could have been over thanks to poor refexes when fighting Tranzig. Everything started smootly as Eklun managed to get in his Insect Swarm while protected by Shield Necklace and Greenstone Amulet. But while Eklun started to hack Tranzig down the evil Mage immediately casted a Chromatic Orb once the Insects expired - which could have been devastating. Eklun somehow managed to save and shortly after the battle was over - phew!
The Bandit Camp also did not work really well this time. Even with charmed Taurgosz plus one Bandit Eklun only managed to kill Raemon - after grabbing the documents first. On his second visit in the tent Venkt and two Black Talon Elites followed - which should have been manageable even though Eklun quickly went invisible to avoid another Chromatic Orb (looks like he has learned his lesson!). And - like pretended - Venkt nearly immediately fired his Chromatic Orb at Taurgosz who failed his save and instadied. Eklun decided to grab the precious loot only and moved out unseen. No need for risks this time!
@Arctodus I wish I could install SCS manually but ever since SoD came out that isn't possible for me on Windows, Initialise doesn't seem to work without BWS.
@Victor_Creed_SFV, seems you have your install in order again, which is nice. Just in case, you can also use @subtledoctor's SCS Hotfix. Just drop the files in the respective SCS folders. I'm playing BG1/SoD wih these fixes, and without BWS. Nice work with the Nymphs btw!
@Arctodus, I've been thinking a bit about your options. I did a quick search in NI, because my memory of all the weapons in BG2 isn't too fresh. The only weapon with a special on-hit effect that (1) doesn't allow a save and that (2) Mel isn't immune to, seems to be the FoA you already mentioned. Since Mel's immune to casting failure and enjoys increased casting speed factors (as well as APR), FoA Slow will probably not stop her from being a threat. All the other weapons either impose effects that Mel's immune to (such as the Ravager Halberd's 10% decapitation chance, or the Life Stealer +4's 15% level drain chance), or allow a save that original Mel may fail but not LoB Mel. Mel's original saves are 2/3/4/4/0. In LoB mode they are -3/-2/-1/-1/-5. There is one other option, at least in my setup: a weapon from the Rogue Rebalancing mod. I never play without it because I love the changes it makes to Bards, but if you're a purist you may not like it. Anyway, the mod's Chosen of Cyric encounter (a very hard encounter thanks to very well-written enemy AI) rewards you with the Stormcharged Axe +3, which may be upgraded to a +5 version with a 15% chance of stunning a target for one round on each hit. This is would be the only weapon in my install that could seriously debilitate Mel. Without it, a warrior in my install would have no choice but to try and kill Mel with pure damage.
After I realized a druid only needs 125k xp for level 10 - and after doing the basilisks in Durlag's Droolit was only 10k short of this - I started the main quest. Mulahey got obliterated, three hold persons by the nymphs meant the chance for a save by him before he truns hostile was slim and he failed one of 3 saves first try and couldn't call his guards.
Nimbul was immune to all the fancy nymphs spells due to his globe of invul, but I have never seen him so helpless as against the onslaught of 2 dogees, 3 nymphs and myself wielding drizzts scimitar (I totally forgot that poison dagger might have been a smart idea).
Tranzig met a similar fate, but it was actually possible to doom - insect him, even tho his saving throws are pretty good -6 seems to guarantee a failed save at least I got the 2 insects I memorized of 1st try.
Now considering whether I should go back to Durlags or maybe even hunt some Ankhegs for the remaining 8k towards lvl 10 as almost unkillable dogees would be nice at Band Camp.
@Arctodus I wish I could install SCS manually but ever since SoD came out that isn't possible for me on Windows, Initialise doesn't seem to work without BWS.
@Victor_Creed_SFV, seems you have your install in order again, which is nice. Just in case, you can also use @subtledoctor's SCS Hotfix. Just drop the files in the respective SCS folders. I'm playing BG1/SoD wih these fixes, and without BWS. Nice work with the Nymphs btw!
@Arctodus, I've been thinking a bit about your options. I did a quick search in NI, because my memory of all the weapons in BG2 isn't too fresh. The only weapon with a special on-hit effect that (1) doesn't allow a save and that (2) Mel isn't immune to, seems to be the FoA you already mentioned. Since Mel's immune to casting failure and enjoys increased casting speed factors (as well as APR), FoA Slow will probably not stop her from being a threat. All the other weapons either impose effects that Mel's immune to (such as the Ravager Halberd's 10% decapitation chance, or the Life Stealer +4's 15% level drain chance), or allow a save that original Mel may fail but not LoB Mel. Mel's original saves are 2/3/4/4/0. In LoB mode they are -3/-2/-1/-1/-5. There is one other option, at least in my setup: a weapon from the Rogue Rebalancing mod. I never play without it because I love the changes it makes to Bards, but if you're a purist you may not like it. Anyway, the mod's Chosen of Cyric encounter (a very hard encounter thanks to very well-written enemy AI) rewards you with the Stormcharged Axe +3, which may be upgraded to a +5 version with a 15% chance of stunning a target for one round on each hit. This is would be the only weapon in my install that could seriously debilitate Mel. Without it, a warrior in my install would have no choice but to try and kill Mel with pure damage.
I've been looking for something lake that @Blackraven thx a lot if I have trouble wih BWS again I will use it without ever looking back to BWS.
I have decided to get the 10 missing k xp thru Durlags since I will have to go here anyway and the Ankhegs would be wasted time.
@Harpagornis as our specialist for Durlag's do you know of a way my druid can open the chest for love's grapes? I don't have Duhm yet and I can't use strength potions. :d
Either way I reached level 10 and Band(it) Camp will be next.
@Blackraven Yep, I love myself some Rogue Rebalance ! I love what it does to bards, and thieves also : it might be an heresy for you (and to @Harpagornis' Korgath ), but I prefer RR bounty hunters to vanilla one !!
I think I will install RR in my setup. It's pretty much my only chance of beating the game, in my opinion. Even Westley Weimer Item Upgrade can't help me much. It's not like it will make the Throne fight easy or anything !! It will only give me a fighting chance...
Do you think I can install RR over my actual setup without breaking everything ? I pretty much only have SCSII and Ascension installed right now. I kinda don't want to reinstall SCSII, because it takes lots time that I'd rather spend playing...
Edit : I installed RR, but only with the item changes and the cyricists encounter. I don't think it will break anything.
At the bandit camp I tested the dogees and all the chill including the named ones and the regular bandits can't hurt them. The blacktalons can hurt them, but not with their frostdamage, if one would take the time for splitpull and using nymphs and spells I'm certain a totemic druid can clear the whole camp pretty effortlessly. Once my dogees died I just went into the tent which now was empty due to the alarm, grabbed the loot and went invis again and made my way to the cloakwood.
Sorry for another post I will stop for today after this. Drasus party got slaughtered so hard it's not even funny and I'm actualy gonna reload and make a vid of that tomorrow. The lightning from 3 nymphs at the same time does so much damage the fact that it would be op in 1 hit but is actually over a couple of rounds repeating itself in a huge AoE. Only Drasus can hurt the dogees but he doesn't have enough time.
Nice to see the Totemic Druid rolling through BG1 like there is no tomorrow @Victor_Creed_SFV. Will be interesting if there are any challenges waiting for him before switching to SoD! If all things fail to open the grape chest: Violet Potion!
Yeah, you are right @Arctodus - i dont like the RR Mod for one big reason: No Time Stop Trap! Korgath would have been doomed without it so everyone using it will be the aim of his bhaalpowered wrath! Or with other words: Run @Blackraven - run!!!
I can only repeat with all your testing around Mel @Arctodus that you should never underestimate the Big Five! They are always good for a kill and taking all of them down before even touching Mel will be neverending pain! Still i am eager to see if you can find a way through these horrors!
Nice to see the Totemic Druid rolling through BG1 like there is no tomorrow @Victor_Creed_SFV. Will be interesting if there are any challenges waiting for him before switching to SoD! If all things fail to open the grape chest: Violet Potion!
That would mean no strength tome though, so why not just wait until DUHM is available?
@Blackraven I assume this just refers to the casting failure spell effect? Unless Ascension changes it she is subject to spell disruption - the Big Metal Gun is the best choice for that because of high APR and ability to do damage through stoneskins.
Yeah Droolit looked at the potion in her potion case with murder in her eyes, but quickly restrained herself, because of DuHm. The 2k xp each you get from completing the other wardens riddles brought her 2k away from level 10 and for the final 2k Greywolf had to die, the lightning didn't get to a 2nd tick he dropped before.
Cant remember if i ever disrupted Mel´s spellcasting.... hmmmm... maybe. The reason is simple: Melissan can instantly use Spell Trap, Absolute Immunity and Blade Barrier. You only have only two or three rounds before the next immunity will come so getting a +6 weapon will be nearly essential. The only spell that takes longer is Time Stop but what she mostly did in my fights was: Teleport on the other side of the energy pool and immediately start casting it. Very smart move no? Getting there in time is (nearly) impossible. Last but not least: Demon Gating is also instant and if this happens with some of the Big Five still alive it really gets tricky!
EDIT: Tested it again! Sometimes big bad Mel is able to immediately trigger a new Absolute Immunity once the old one expires. This is insane! Without constant stuns i cant see any way to get her down. She also summoned Demons & Fallen Solars very often - in each fight up to now. It nearly looks like Mel is learning. Or she wants to take revenge for loosing against Korgath - who knows?
On the way from the mines to a store, minding her own business and just wanting to create some pocket space, Droolit got waylaid by strange amazon warriors. Deciding them to be an affront of nature Droolit used her newly acquired boots of speed to run to the edge of the map and summon her dogees. Note that the casting of the dogees is different in BG1 than SoA, you can't instantly cast all of them without pause in BG1, so this is a slightly weaker version than the BG2 one where you instantly summon 3 dogees and are allowed to cast another spell straight after. By the time the dogees were out the amazon warriors caught up, one of them invisible looking for bs. They all have weapons of +1 or greater and can damage the dogees, so Droolit ran to the other side of the map and summoned her nymphs. One amazon who was focused on Droolit went back to attacking the dogees a behaviour most SCS AIs share if you are hasted and run out of sight while there is other allies to attack even if the enemies can't harm them. Once Droolit and her nymphs cast lightning the battle was almost over, all but one amazon died instantly, the other to the second tick of the lightning.
Now it was time for Davaeorn, since Droolit didn't need any item from the mine she stealthed all the way thru to Dav(t).
Once having triggered the Battle Horrors she snuck behind Dav and summoned her helpers. Turns out we didn't need them this time, since charming Dav aggroed the battle horrors onto him and he got slaughtered, while the battle horrors got attacked by the spirit wolves, getting xp for one of them before Dav died, never triggering his guards.
Thanks @Harpagornis , good info you gave there !! To answer your earlier concerns : I'm not forgetting about the Big Five, I was simply trying to find a way to deal with Mel, because, if you can't, tackling the Five is just a waste of time !! It's also why I was bringing the Everard's morningstar in the conversation : I wonder if it's a good weapon to strip Sendai and Abazigal of their bigger spells. It's something I will try.
The more I think about it, the more I feel its legitimate to use the RR Stormcharge axe to take her down. Not only that's the only real weakness she has, but that's also assuming I beat the Cyricist encounter, which seem quite hard by itself !!
Comments
If you wanna take a break and come back with fresh mind and new motivation - why not?
I can see dark times for the Shadow Dancer lurking in late SoD @Blackraven. Or with other words: Avernus will be a neverending nightmare - if one gets this far. Lemures can see through stealth and will attack - and can also constantly dispel stealth so Whispers of Silence is a must. The Erinyes Archer will be another pain in the ass that can hurt for up to 60 damage with one of their special arrows on a crit even though anti-missile-equip will force them to roll a 19 or 20. Not to mention Big B himself. Theoretically its all possible - even on a no reload run - so why not force luck to be on your side?
P.S. The Totemic Druid also should have no big probs to beat SoD @Victor_Creed_SFV - at least on a "normal" run. Killing Big B with Magic Resistance + Harm + Hit might be tricky as you need perfect timing and rolling at least one 20. But once you have done it and watch how Big B drops from 1130 HP down to 1 in one big hit - everlasting moment!
P.S. As you lack decent saves Greenstone Amulet is the only choice for the Shadow Dancer. You can get at least three of them but the battles will take a long time - one missing recast and it might be Game Over. Korgath only survived thanks to the Dwarfen Bonus...
How did you manage to uninstall EET?
I had to reinstall BWS and could find no option to install without EET.
After having to reinstall because of the EET business, my BG1 doesn't have SCS anymore.
I don't play BG1 via EET but rather via BG1, but this worked before so this is very disappointing.
I'm sure at this point I have spent more time un-/installing BG than playing.
I hope manually installing SCS in the BG1 folder will fix this even tho I'm not exactly stoked about having to go thru the same steps again I just went thru.
On the bright side I have my SoA save back.
Too bad i lack time for Eklun so no real progress from my side. I think good old Mulahey will be next and the Sandthief Ring will used for the first time! Well - no: The second time cause for some reason Eklun went back to Kirian and charmed her on the second try out of invisibility and used quick retreat before the AI could react. Once she was taken down by her old friends Baerin and Peter he grabbed her items using the quick-loot function!
BtW: Its quite interesting that stealth or invisibility is not broken if you use the quick loot bar - which makes thing much easier!
Guys, I'm depressed. I was toying around with the console by creating Mel (with the FINMEL01 code) in front of me to start to devise a strat against her, and things look grim. Only the Smite HLA can stun her, but it can only be chosen once. Theoretically, Power Attacks could stunlock her, but her saving throws in LoB are way too good to achieve this (only 5% chance). Do I miss something ? Can she be stunlocked by a pure fighter ? Do I have any way to lower her saving throws ?
Lots of damage, by combining Critical Strikes and Imp. Haste from Darkfire bow or Improved Cloak of Protection in conjonction with my simmy is not really an option, because, with her insane DR, she'll still roam free to gate in demons, cast time stop, etc.
I'm mainly searching for a way to stun her, but can't find any. Maybe there's another approach to this. I'll try anyway, because that'll be cool to do, but I'm not too optimistic...
Edit because ninja'd while typing my comment : nice for you @Victor_Creed_SFV !! We don't want to lose quality players like yourself !!
I wish I could install SCS manually but ever since SoD came out that isn't possible for me on Windows, Initialise doesn't seem to work without BWS.
As to stunning Mel I'm not sure if there's a +4 weapon with stun, but have you tried FoA's slow? It is pretty broken in my opinion.
Just remembered Staff of the Ram should prove pretty powerful for stunning.
Among other minor quests Droolit finally took on the sirens.
At the start the summons get stunned but prove useful for keeping the aggro of all but 1 siren of her.
Once the stun wears off they tore into the remaining sirens and the stun did not get rapplied.
Level 8 is very close and flesh golems + Drizzt are next.
I also haven't gone to Durlag's yet.
Yep, Mel can be slowed. It's good, but I fear not enough. I can't really test the full fight because when I create her, she stay passive even if I attack her, so I don't know how good applying slow to her would be. I don't know if her casting can be interrupted too (which I doubt, can't remember). So, my testing is rather incomplete.
Plus, there's something weird : the creature FINMEL01 can't be harmed by +4 weapons. Maybe I don't use the right creature. I just hope it won't be the same in the Throne, because I don't need my options to be even more limited than they already are...
Anyway, the best weapon the deal damage to her seems to be the FoA, which can do a whooping 7 damage per hit, even with 25 strength (maybe 1 point more with GM in the weapon). With my simmy with Imp Haste from items and me going GWW all the way, I'd need about 20 rounds to take her down. So, I fear slow won't be enough to stop her.
Edit : Staff of the Ram doesn't work either for some reason, I tried.
Yeah, Staff of Ram might be an option - if you can get it!But plz remember that Mel is not the only problem. Abazigal also can use Time Stop while Sendai not only Heals everyone but can cast Implosion which will stun and kill easily. Not to mention the multi demon gating - oh dear. Or the several Time Stops from Mel - one alone is most likely enoug to kill you. And the worst: You have to kill EVERYONE else before going for Mel. I hate this fight for Warriors but maybe you can find a way @Arctodus!
edit: just checked it you used the correct code, maybe she doesn't work as intended if you are not in the final area, did you port there?
This is necessary as the spirit animals cannot damage the golems at least not before level 10.
The Golems roll negative attack rolls and can only hit with crits, which are strangely displayed as a roll of 9.
Drizzt also died and I managed to gain the xp, his fire res scimitar can actually be used by Droolit and together with the fire resistance ring from the Samuel map I have 90% fire resistance now, if I need it over the poison from the dagger.
I also killed the battle horrors in front of Durlags and realized how I sometimes underutilize my nymphs.
3 nymphs casting lightning instantly do 150+ damage to the horrors, something I didn't realize until the second horror was almost dead.
Droolit is level 9 now and looking at the basilisks and maybe even cheesing some xp in lower Durlags.
The Bandit Camp also did not work really well this time. Even with charmed Taurgosz plus one Bandit Eklun only managed to kill Raemon - after grabbing the documents first. On his second visit in the tent Venkt and two Black Talon Elites followed - which should have been manageable even though Eklun quickly went invisible to avoid another Chromatic Orb (looks like he has learned his lesson!). And - like pretended - Venkt nearly immediately fired his Chromatic Orb at Taurgosz who failed his save and instadied. Eklun decided to grab the precious loot only and moved out unseen. No need for risks this time!
Nice work with the Nymphs btw!
@Arctodus, I've been thinking a bit about your options. I did a quick search in NI, because my memory of all the weapons in BG2 isn't too fresh. The only weapon with a special on-hit effect that (1) doesn't allow a save and that (2) Mel isn't immune to, seems to be the FoA you already mentioned. Since Mel's immune to casting failure and enjoys increased casting speed factors (as well as APR), FoA Slow will probably not stop her from being a threat. All the other weapons either impose effects that Mel's immune to (such as the Ravager Halberd's 10% decapitation chance, or the Life Stealer +4's 15% level drain chance), or allow a save that original Mel may fail but not LoB Mel. Mel's original saves are 2/3/4/4/0. In LoB mode they are -3/-2/-1/-1/-5.
There is one other option, at least in my setup: a weapon from the Rogue Rebalancing mod. I never play without it because I love the changes it makes to Bards, but if you're a purist you may not like it. Anyway, the mod's Chosen of Cyric encounter (a very hard encounter thanks to very well-written enemy AI) rewards you with the Stormcharged Axe +3, which may be upgraded to a +5 version with a 15% chance of stunning a target for one round on each hit. This is would be the only weapon in my install that could seriously debilitate Mel. Without it, a warrior in my install would have no choice but to try and kill Mel with pure damage.
Mulahey got obliterated, three hold persons by the nymphs meant the chance for a save by him before he truns hostile was slim and he failed one of 3 saves first try and couldn't call his guards.
Nimbul was immune to all the fancy nymphs spells due to his globe of invul, but I have never seen him so helpless as against the onslaught of 2 dogees, 3 nymphs and myself wielding drizzts scimitar (I totally forgot that poison dagger might have been a smart idea).
Tranzig met a similar fate, but it was actually possible to doom - insect him, even tho his saving throws are pretty good -6 seems to guarantee a failed save at least I got the 2 insects I memorized of 1st try.
Now considering whether I should go back to Durlags or maybe even hunt some Ankhegs for the remaining 8k towards lvl 10 as almost unkillable dogees would be nice at Band Camp.
edit: I've been looking for something lake that @Blackraven thx a lot if I have trouble wih BWS again I will use it without ever looking back to BWS.
@Harpagornis as our specialist for Durlag's do you know of a way my druid can open the chest for love's grapes?
I don't have Duhm yet and I can't use strength potions. :d
Either way I reached level 10 and Band(it) Camp will be next.
I think I will install RR in my setup. It's pretty much my only chance of beating the game, in my opinion. Even Westley Weimer Item Upgrade can't help me much. It's not like it will make the Throne fight easy or anything !! It will only give me a fighting chance...
Do you think I can install RR over my actual setup without breaking everything ? I pretty much only have SCSII and Ascension installed right now. I kinda don't want to reinstall SCSII, because it takes lots time that I'd rather spend playing...
Edit : I installed RR, but only with the item changes and the cyricists encounter. I don't think it will break anything.
The blacktalons can hurt them, but not with their frostdamage, if one would take the time for splitpull and using nymphs and spells I'm certain a totemic druid can clear the whole camp pretty effortlessly.
Once my dogees died I just went into the tent which now was empty due to the alarm, grabbed the loot and went invis again and made my way to the cloakwood.
Drasus party got slaughtered so hard it's not even funny and I'm actualy gonna reload and make a vid of that tomorrow.
The lightning from 3 nymphs at the same time does so much damage the fact that it would be op in 1 hit but is actually over a couple of rounds repeating itself in a huge AoE.
Only Drasus can hurt the dogees but he doesn't have enough time.
Yeah, you are right @Arctodus - i dont like the RR Mod for one big reason: No Time Stop Trap! Korgath would have been doomed without it so everyone using it will be the aim of his bhaalpowered wrath! Or with other words: Run @Blackraven - run!!!
I can only repeat with all your testing around Mel @Arctodus that you should never underestimate the Big Five! They are always good for a kill and taking all of them down before even touching Mel will be neverending pain! Still i am eager to see if you can find a way through these horrors!
Yeah Droolit looked at the potion in her potion case with murder in her eyes, but quickly restrained herself, because of DuHm.
The 2k xp each you get from completing the other wardens riddles brought her 2k away from level 10 and for the final 2k Greywolf had to die, the lightning didn't get to a 2nd tick he dropped before.
EDIT: Tested it again! Sometimes big bad Mel is able to immediately trigger a new Absolute Immunity once the old one expires. This is insane! Without constant stuns i cant see any way to get her down. She also summoned Demons & Fallen Solars very often - in each fight up to now. It nearly looks like Mel is learning. Or she wants to take revenge for loosing against Korgath - who knows?
Deciding them to be an affront of nature Droolit used her newly acquired boots of speed to run to the edge of the map and summon her dogees.
Note that the casting of the dogees is different in BG1 than SoA, you can't instantly cast all of them without pause in BG1, so this is a slightly weaker version than the BG2 one where you instantly summon 3 dogees and are allowed to cast another spell straight after.
By the time the dogees were out the amazon warriors caught up, one of them invisible looking for bs.
They all have weapons of +1 or greater and can damage the dogees, so Droolit ran to the other side of the map and summoned her nymphs.
One amazon who was focused on Droolit went back to attacking the dogees a behaviour most SCS AIs share if you are hasted and run out of sight while there is other allies to attack even if the enemies can't harm them.
Once Droolit and her nymphs cast lightning the battle was almost over, all but one amazon died instantly, the other to the second tick of the lightning.
Now it was time for Davaeorn, since Droolit didn't need any item from the mine she stealthed all the way thru to Dav(t).
Once having triggered the Battle Horrors she snuck behind Dav and summoned her helpers.
Turns out we didn't need them this time, since charming Dav aggroed the battle horrors onto him and he got slaughtered, while the battle horrors got attacked by the spirit wolves, getting xp for one of them before Dav died, never triggering his guards.
The more I think about it, the more I feel its legitimate to use the RR Stormcharge axe to take her down. Not only that's the only real weakness she has, but that's also assuming I beat the Cyricist encounter, which seem quite hard by itself !!