Advice wanted for first time solo player
RVNS
Member Posts: 285
I always play with a full party but I am looking for something new and thinking about a solo round of insane in baldurs gate 2 with no reload and taking first set of stats given. I am looking at running either a fighter/mage or fighter/mage/thief. Any suggestions or advice?
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Comments
I think for first solo I would suggest FMT - thanks to this you will have everything covered and it will provide you will most options of tackling problems. Experience is not an issue, since you will be running alone and all of it will go to you =D
In fact, I am on my first solo run currently and I went with FMT, but I am only doing Core =]
BG1 is easy. I suggest to have a watch at this
This run is done with a single class mage an relies mainly on items and spells to overcome the problems you'll have to face in the main story. Based on this, you can find your own methods to overcome these in your own run.
If you know that 1-2 invisibility spells + a wand of frost are good enough to finish the Nashkel mines. Then something like sanctuary + wand of fire (scorcher) will also work, or hide in shadows + poison + backstab, ...
I keep my own list for myself with problems, how I want to face them and in which order I do them.
The order I do the quests is very important. Quick leveling gives you less chance to be instantly killed by an arrow by a "you have been waylaid by ..." bandit. So I start doing the Candlekeep quests, which give 400-900 experience, depending on the mods and character class. Then I get the ring of protection and ring of wizardry. Depening if I 100% solo or not I get the potion of invisibilty from Jaheira or buy a scroll of invisibility from the High Hedge. I avoid the hobgoblins, go straight to the fishermen. Accept their quest. go to Tenya and shoot 1 magic missile at her, so she starts to talk again. Return to the fishermen to get the bowl, turn invisible upon entering the ankheg cave to get the body, then use a potion of speed to outrun the Ankhegs; After returing the body and donating 100gp, i finish the bowl quest. This gives me an early 4000 experience with allmost no risk, a wand of fire, a flail +1 and dagger +1, a cloak of protection and a chain mail +1. I also know strength isn't a problem to carry the loot, because there is a potion of strength in the cave. Then upon visiting Beregost there is the easy 900 exp from Marl, 300 exp from the book, with BGEET 500 exp from the necklace quest, then in Nashkel 300 exp from noober (and a free cure wound or minor drain spell). This way I know I can easy collect 6000-7000 exp without any risk. Learning spells or opening locks/traps also gives exp in BGEET.
So my advice:
make sure you have a plan to overcome every challenge;
make sure you don't take any risks that are not needed;
make sure you have a route in which you want to do the challenges.
One last advice: I wouldn't do no reload insane solo as a first solo. A normal insane solo, where you learn to play solo and take notes is a better start.
A lot depends on how you like to play the game here. Fireballs, cloudkill, … into the darkness in combination with traps where you know enemies will summon and a lot of sleep under invisibility is one way to play the game and finish a lot of quests very easy. But that’s not the way I like to play the game. I like to finish dungeons without resting inside.
The same advice counts here, know the problems you can face in every quest and try to find elegant solutions that suit your gaming style.
Bridge District if you have a high find traps;
Copper Coronet if you have some kind of mass kill spell for the beast master;
Nalia's Keep after you have a weapon that deals fire damage (buy yourself a Sword of Flame)
Trademeet gives belm and a lot of combat can be skipped with invisibility;
Some parts of Umar Hills are easy;
buried alive in combination with spider hunting at the graveyard with fireballs and invisibility;
…
If you know what to expect, as a mage thief you can always take the right scrolls, potions, wands and spells with you. The biggest problem you can face are creature immune to spells. Or if you want to melee them, that you don’t have a weapon with enough magical bonus to hit them. If you know that, then you should be fine.