You should be walking out of the tower with the best loot in the game though.
I dunno, its got some phat loot, but as good as the Helm and Cloak? They're good into ToB imho. Staffspear backstabs nicely, same w/staff of striking, but what do you think are the best few items from Durlag's treasurey?
Durlag's Goblet and Kiel's Helmet and the +3 Twohander, the plate mail is nice too. Staffspear is a great weapon too for clerics since it doesn't go away.
...none of which is likely known to a first-timer, who likely hasn't hit 3rd level spells, let alone has a haste scroll. *ahem* my real point was thats its chock-full of VERY nasty traps, kobold commandos able to deal nasty critical hits, and essentially nothing of value you can't just get from the Gullykin entrance more safely and easily.
...none of which is likely known to a first-timer, who likely hasn't hit 3rd level spells, let alone has a haste scroll. *ahem* my real point was thats its chock-full of VERY nasty traps, kobold commandos able to deal nasty critical hits, and essentially nothing of value you can't just get from the Gullykin entrance more safely and easily.
I usually finish the tower before entering the Nashkel Mines, however, I do clean all the available maps and finish all the available quests (including the one from the Ice island) before venturing to the tower so I will have almost all the good equipment available.
I remember the first time when I came into the tower and finished the upper levels and the first underground level, I believed that was OK. However below that level things started to get a bit scary.
If you have 4 member party you can get to max level after the chess game if you play a bit of risky chess.
There is a hint in the chess underground level about promoting a pawn to a queen, let's just say that a pawn may be better protected in a close fight that a newcomer queen especially if the promotion to queen happens in the middle of the of a group of FEARLESS fighters.
And if you have the patience, there are 8 potential promotions on that chess table.
The Demon Knight is indeed a pain but there is a green stone amulet that can protect against Power Word Stun and a Fire protection ring in one of the of the lowest right side maps.
If you are lucky enough to find a fortitude potion during the maps cleaning session (you cannot purchase such potions until you enter Baldurs Gate) and add a Agility potion, you can use the Violet potion without penalties.
A 25 strength + a heroic potion+ an oil of speed may give a headache even to a Demon Knight.
As mentioned previously, the two animated armors that protect the road to the tower can be used to assess your battle readiness for the tower.
As for the "bad air" issue, the cleric "zone of sweet air" will solve it.
A constant annoyance is the ghoul/ghast paralyzing touch, you can ignore it if you have the free movement ring and or/the free movement cleric spell.
If you play BGEE 1.3 or bellow a good weapon against the demon Knight is the Stupefier, a good payback for his Power Word Stun/Fireball combo.
Hmm, I never seem to have problems with the right fights, maybe as I play a party of 6 all the time?
The Demon Knight has always been a surprisingly easy walkover for me, as has the final fight with Sarevok. OTOH, I /hate/ that chess game, and find the wyverns in Durlag's surprisingly hard. It took me a long time to master the 4 guardians for the lower levels too, but I think they are commonly a hurdle without a certain amount of practice.
The chess game is pretty rough on me usually, but Demon Knight hasn't really forced reloads, even without much prep. The werewolves can be pretty nasty, and killing Karoug can be a nightmare for some parties.
I find myself usually kiting Sarevok, so he's not too rough vs solos. Dispel is your friend there!
You should be walking out of the tower with the best loot in the game though.
I dunno, its got some phat loot, but as good as the Helm and Cloak? They're good into ToB imho. Staffspear backstabs nicely, same w/staff of striking, but what do you think are the best few items from Durlag's treasurey?
I have always considered Arlas Dragonbane (sling +3), Kiels helmet (and buckler as well), the tome of understanding and Durlags goblet as essential finds in my playthroughs.
You should be walking out of the tower with the best loot in the game though.
I dunno, its got some phat loot, but as good as the Helm and Cloak? They're good into ToB imho. Staffspear backstabs nicely, same w/staff of striking, but what do you think are the best few items from Durlag's treasurey?
I have always considered Arlas Dragonbane (sling +3), Kiels helmet (and buckler as well), the tome of understanding and Durlags goblet as essential finds in my playthroughs.
I used to play without TotSC on Tutu, and honestly most of the Durlag swag is still 'meh'. Vs the helm and cloak those items are kmho lackluster but potentially handy. Heck, I put more weight on the Candlekeep catacomb treasure.
You should be walking out of the tower with the best loot in the game though.
I dunno, its got some phat loot, but as good as the Helm and Cloak? They're good into ToB imho. Staffspear backstabs nicely, same w/staff of striking, but what do you think are the best few items from Durlag's treasurey?
I have always considered Arlas Dragonbane (sling +3), Kiels helmet (and buckler as well), the tome of understanding and Durlags goblet as essential finds in my playthroughs.
I used to play without TotSC on Tutu, and honestly most of the Durlag swag is still 'meh'. Vs the helm and cloak those items are kmho lackluster but potentially handy. Heck, I put more weight on the Candlekeep catacomb treasure.
The Candlekeep catacombs have some very sweet finds indeed. Perhaps the best in the game. Just saying that Durlags tower has its own merit and finds.
If you only consider the loot I would prefer skipping Baludurans Isle in TotSC and the firewine dungeon instead.
Well, Firewine does have a bit of goodies at the end, especially iirc if you backstab the wizard to death. And outside, but yes, navigating it is tedious/unpleasant and imho contradictory to what I want in a game.
I often feel grudgingly compelled to finish Werewolf Island as a pseudo-completionist, rush through it as fast as possible, and count the minutes until it is done.
But I enjoy immensely and look forward to the other TOTSC content, i.e. Ice Island and Durlag's Tower.
I also find that Durlag's and the Ice Island are reasonable interludes from a RP perspective. But at least for me it really requires a suspension of belief to head off for months on an ocean journey to Werewolf Island in the midst of chasing Sarevok and company.
I did the Werewolves after the Candlekeep catacombs in a recent run and it felt a little bit better.
Durlags Tower is one of the coolest places in the game. There is a certain story buildup attached to it if you are coming from Ulgoths Beard. Which is pretty cool, you kinda understand that there are some people missing, rune-stones, equipment lost etc. I especially like how there is a completely different story going on about it once you are in - talking with dwarf spirits, trying to understand what the heck is going on there. But the cool part about that is that the whole dungeon is not story heavy (apart from certain riddle puzzles) and the narrative fits almost seamlessly with the good ol' dungeon crawling.
The only thing I didn't find that attractive about the place were the traps. I mean of course you have to be careful where to set your foot, but after couple of completions I am still often moving in turtle speed just searching for traps everywhere. Traps kind of slows down the whole experience.
But apart from that, kudos to the designers/developers for this little side-track of BG story.
No, I won't go into the details but depending on whether you are going into SOD or BG2 you will lose all of it either way.
In SOD you lose it after the first dungeon In BG2 you have no gold to begin with
Lok,the two previous guys went through the trouble of doing The Right Thing. And then you go and spoil it anyhow! Please wrap up spilers in spoiler tags, like this: [ spoiler ] secret [/ spoiler ]
I always found the chessboard a piece of cake. Web far left and far right, grease far left and far right, and fireball until nothing moves. Voila.
If you have SCS installed, they rush at you.....very fast. Plus doing all sorts of nasty things with spells and missiles. It's a hard fight, especially with the rule that if you go forwards, you get lightening bolts raining down on your head.
+3 greatsword (for Dorn or Minsc) Goblet of full healing with helm that let's it work (the best healing in the game) Staff-spear (great for thieves or Jaheira) Practical defense (always give that to Yeslick)
And finally the helm from the demonknjght. Makes Dorn, Kagain or Viconia good. All are great characters are really powerful but are hard to use for a good aligned party.
Also a third unenchanted suit of full plate armor! The stuff is pretty heavy but if you have 3 characters who can wear it it's nice finding the third one seing as it's pretty much the best you can get in bg1.
I always found the chessboard a piece of cake. Web far left and far right, grease far left and far right, and fireball until nothing moves. Voila.
If you have SCS installed, they rush at you.....very fast. Plus doing all sorts of nasty things with spells and missiles. It's a hard fight, especially with the rule that if you go forwards, you get lightening bolts raining down on your head.
That sounds nasty. So at that point you chug a potion for 100% lightning resistance, put on the boots of speed, and just play tag with them, right?
@Grum Not so easy because all the Pawns rush to the other side of the table and become Queens. So you just get overwhelmed by spellcasters and being attacked by the Towers.
@Grum Not so easy because all the Pawns rush to the other side of the table and become Queens. So you just get overwhelmed by spellcasters and being attacked by the Towers.
Nasty indeed. I always skip this component.
Is that what the spellcasters are?
TBH, it's such a blind panic I never know WTF is going on. Before now I've stood there waiting for an attack after dealing with the initial onslaught because I didn't realise in the mayhem the king had actually been killed. Admittedly partly because the amount of web/grease/cloudkill smothering the board, staying put and chugging potions seemed like a more sensible option.
The only reason I can manage the fight at all is that my install of SCS doesn't transport you there automatically (it's a well known bug) so have time to prepare. I can't imagine coping if you were transported straight away.
The chessboard is indeed a tough fight with SCS. It is a brutal slog every time, sort of like the Durlag's version of the GoT 'Battle of the Bastards' episode battle scene.
SCS chess fight is one of those few SCS fights I allow myself to use any kind of cheese I want. I never get what figures my party members represent anyway nor how it's chosen who gets to be king, or if that matters anyway. It think it *could* be done with potions of lightning resistance, but I always end up with explosion potions & fireball bombardment and sweep any survivors.
Comments
Ehem, uh... no.
Thats regarding BG2 quedtion btw!
No.
But still you can never have too much gold.
Are you going to play SOD?
(I wouldn't...oops, did I just say that out loud?)
There a hint for the transition BGEE-SoD in the spoiler.
Trust me, just do it. Diamond, Star Sapphire, Rogue Stone, Emerald, King's Tears, Beljuril.
And special effects arrows (especially Arrows of Dispelling and Arrows of Explosion).
You're welcome.
Do you get to keep the gold?
No, I won't go into the details but depending on whether you are going into SOD or BG2 you will lose all of it either way.
In SOD you lose it after the first dungeon
In BG2 you have no gold to begin with
In either case you must start from square one, going into BG2 you don't even get to keep your equipment.
I remember the first time when I came into the tower and finished the upper levels and the first underground level, I believed that was OK. However below that level things started to get a bit scary.
If you have 4 member party you can get to max level after the chess game if you play a bit of risky chess.
There is a hint in the chess underground level about promoting a pawn to a queen, let's just say that a pawn may be better protected in a close fight that a newcomer queen especially if the promotion to queen happens in the middle of the of a group of FEARLESS fighters.
And if you have the patience, there are 8 potential promotions on that chess table.
The Demon Knight is indeed a pain but there is a green stone amulet that can protect against Power Word Stun and a Fire protection ring in one of the of the lowest right side maps.
If you are lucky enough to find a fortitude potion during the maps cleaning session (you cannot purchase such potions until you enter Baldurs Gate) and add a Agility potion, you can use the Violet potion without penalties.
A 25 strength + a heroic potion+ an oil of speed may give a headache even to a Demon Knight.
As mentioned previously, the two animated armors that protect the road to the tower can be used to assess your battle readiness for the tower.
As for the "bad air" issue, the cleric "zone of sweet air" will solve it.
A constant annoyance is the ghoul/ghast paralyzing touch, you can ignore it if you have the free movement ring and or/the free movement cleric spell.
If you play BGEE 1.3 or bellow a good weapon against the demon Knight is the Stupefier, a good payback for his Power Word Stun/Fireball combo.
The Demon Knight has always been a surprisingly easy walkover for me, as has the final fight with Sarevok. OTOH, I /hate/ that chess game, and find the wyverns in Durlag's surprisingly hard. It took me a long time to master the 4 guardians for the lower levels too, but I think they are commonly a hurdle without a certain amount of practice.
And the less said about werewolves, the better!
I find myself usually kiting Sarevok, so he's not too rough vs solos. Dispel is your friend there!
If you only consider the loot I would prefer skipping Baludurans Isle in TotSC and the firewine dungeon instead.
Werewolf Isle is all story I agree.
But I enjoy immensely and look forward to the other TOTSC content, i.e. Ice Island and Durlag's Tower.
I also find that Durlag's and the Ice Island are reasonable interludes from a RP perspective. But at least for me it really requires a suspension of belief to head off for months on an ocean journey to Werewolf Island in the midst of chasing Sarevok and company.
I did the Werewolves after the Candlekeep catacombs in a recent run and it felt a little bit better.
The only thing I didn't find that attractive about the place were the traps. I mean of course you have to be careful where to set your foot, but after couple of completions I am still often moving in turtle speed just searching for traps everywhere. Traps kind of slows down the whole experience.
But apart from that, kudos to the designers/developers for this little side-track of BG story.
And if a dwarven thief, then the whole history, backstory, etc. is such a great RP opportunity.
[ spoiler ]
secret
[/ spoiler ]
(remove the spacing inside the square brackets)
+3 greatsword (for Dorn or Minsc)
Goblet of full healing with helm that let's it work (the best healing in the game)
Staff-spear (great for thieves or Jaheira)
Practical defense (always give that to Yeslick)
And finally the helm from the demonknjght. Makes Dorn, Kagain or Viconia good. All are great characters are really powerful but are hard to use for a good aligned party.
Nasty indeed. I always skip this component.
Is that what the spellcasters are?
TBH, it's such a blind panic I never know WTF is going on. Before now I've stood there waiting for an attack after dealing with the initial onslaught because I didn't realise in the mayhem the king had actually been killed. Admittedly partly because the amount of web/grease/cloudkill smothering the board, staying put and chugging potions seemed like a more sensible option.
The only reason I can manage the fight at all is that my install of SCS doesn't transport you there automatically (it's a well known bug) so have time to prepare.
I can't imagine coping if you were transported straight away.