Is Beserker needed for SoD

billbisco

Dear all, No spoilers please.

I am planning on doing a SoD run for the first time and have not played it before. I usually like ranged weapons and prefer that but I understand that Beserker is a very good melee option.

So my planned custom party is

Fighter 7 / Cleric Dual
Fighter 7 / Mage Dual
Fighter / Mage / Thief

Should I change my 2 fighter duals to beserker for a SoD run? Are there enough enemies that will really screw me over that I would really want to use a Beserker for?

Thanks,

Bill

Note: I am not planning to continue onto BG2EE so I want to optimize for SoD purely. No spoilers please.

TheArtisan

The resistances help, but in my experience the expansion is not very melee-friendly at all. Even a tank with as much AC as you can stack can get worn down pretty fast especially if you up the difficulty so more enemies spawn. It still helps to have at least one aggro magnet in melee but don't expect them to be invincible.

ThacoBell

Because of the freedom of tactics these games offer, I would hesitate to label any class as necessary. Beserker is a strong kit that is always helpful though.

billbisco

Will I be able to beat SoD as I do BG1? That is for me, ranged pelting behind summons nearly 100% of the time. Or will I find during the game (like I do often enough in IWD) that my summons will die early / large immunity to weapons abounds and I will be forced to melee a large portion of the time.

ThacoBell

Hmmm, thats a good question. I feel that the encounters in SOD are closer in design to IWD, so it may be beneficial to plan along that line.

Gallowglass

If you had some tough summons, then they might stand up long enough for your party members to shelter behind them and do most of their fighting from range. You'd almost inevitably still find yourself forced to melee sometimes, though.

If your plan is to run with those three characters only (i.e. no NPC recruits), then I'm not convinced that you'll be able to summon a sufficient number of sufficiently tough allies. If you have NPCs along as well, then I guess it might be possible to do what you want, although I haven't tried such a run.

In answer to the original question ... no, you don't specifically need a Berserker, except in the general sense that it's a good kit with useful immunities which always make some things easier.

Fardragon

Take a shaman if you want to hide behind summons.

A lot depends on what difficulty setting you use. On normal, it's not so difficult that you can't do it with any party.

I would rate a dwarven defender ahead of a berserker for SoD tanking.

UnderstandMouseMagic

I missed having a good tank playing SOD.

There is actually a thread discussing "lack of aa good tank", that should be enough to give you an inkling of the type of gameplay.

jsaving

Berserkers are my favorite fighter kit and would recommend them without hesitation over vanilla fighters in BG2. But no, you do not need to worry about this in SoD. There are a few fights where being a berserker would come in handy, but not many.

ThacoBell

Note that in that particular thread, the OP for some reason refuses to treat Minsc as a potential tank. You have all the tools you need for an effective party out of the gate.

billbisco

This thread is about a custom party. Minsc is not custom and is not competitive with a custom char.