Coronation area in a solo run - need advice

Skatan

Hello friends,

So after many times playing BG1 I finally tried a solo run, intended for the saga but let's see what happens. Playing a FMT (cliché, I know) I have managed to deal with everything and playing minimal reload as well. I've never been great at memorizing where every enemy is or what specific spells certain mages use, but so far so good and I only really died once against the group in the beregost temple area who took me by surprise and twice against davaeorn (the bastard charmed me).

But now to the question; how do you, as a solo FMT, deal enough damage or disable enough greater doppelgangers in the coronation of Sarevok area? I've tried multiple times now but never can save the two dukes who run straight in and getting slaughtered by the great doppels.

So far I've tried:
* Multiple webs, even casting the first one before spawning the conversation, didn't work since doppels have to good saves compaired to the dukes and my solo can't kill them quick enough
* Multiple horrors, same as above. I can scare off 2-4 doppels but that's not enough to save the dukes.
* Otilukes sphere on Belt (Liia has too good saves and I always fail on her)
* buffing myself into oblivion and trying to just overkill them, drawing aggro
* a little bit of everything, meaning some buffs, some disablers, some melee, some magic missile etc..

I'd don't mind meta-cheese and have killed of Elminster a couple of times etc by trapping and I guess I could perhaps trap cheese in the doorway as well? But anyways, of to bed now so won't have time to try more tonight and would love to read your experiences and guidance tomorrow at work.

Edit: Btw, tomorrow is friday so remember that friday is tieday!

Cheers,
BR//Skat.

Zaghoul

I always summon good creatures to help, haste and whatever protections I have for them. I send them early and surround the dukes with them(as I have already seen Saervok in there). Buff myself and focus on protecting belt as he is the toughest of the to to help. Emotion spell is a good one. If you have the alternate Bhaalspawn powers Divine Wrath is effective as well. Then just focus all attacks on the dopp's next to Belt all the time. Basically cast one spell at the get go and if a good fighter PC keep yourself and summons focused on dopp's approachin belt. Well, works for me always.
Hasted summons always the key for me, never tried the other things.

JuliusBorisov

Use Wands of Summoning. Keep summons around the dukes all the time. For me this has always been the key.

As for improving your own performace, Potion of Heroism, Potion of Frost Giant Strength, Potion of Speed.

The Wand of Paralisys can help. Also darts of stunning (especially with Potion of Speed or Haste).

Skatan

Thanks. I have a wand of summoning so gonna try that! Thanks @zaghoul and @JuliusBorisov.

Emotion is to high level for my mage levels, it's level 4 IIRC and I have three level 3 slots. I have one horror as bhaalspawn power and one DUHM, other than that I have most mage spells for levels 1 to 3 to choose from, except summoning spells since I never really use them. I will continue to focus on protecting Belt, as you say. Liia is just too weak (isn't she a mage, why doesn't she cast protections?)

Damn, have the nevening already planned but I wanna run home and try some new tactics!

malachi151

It seemed like casting Otilukes on Belt caused him to aggro. I think I cast Improved Invis on him, as well as using Wand of Summoning. And I think I used Melf's Meteors (precast), then archery (I think I used Longbows and Quarterstaff when I ran one in BG1).

Skatan

Not entirely sure, but you may be right @malachi151. I think maybe the flaming fist guys aggroed on me when I protected Belt with a Otiluke sphere. I don't mind killing them all though if I win the encounter, I can purchase back rep at the nearest temple on the way to the maze.

And I have bumped my fire res vs the damned flame strikes from Wi.. P.. forgot his name, Sarevok's protector in that battle.

Don't have imp.invis since I can't cast level 4 spells, otherwise that would indeed have been a good idea for F/M or T/M.

Btw, I also tried casting glitterdust to blind the Doppels but with a greater mal too few fail their saves. I have a greater mal scroll I could use, but then it takes two rounds and during those 12 seconds, Liia will have died and Belt will be half-dead as well, so leaving little room for saving him afterwards.

I think the summoning of a wall of meat in between the dukes and the doppels will be my next try! That and haste + slow. So summon first, before triggering the convo, then slowing the doppels then hasting my own guys. Or maybe the other way around.

UnderstandMouseMagic

Don't kill the FF, use them. I find even after the fight and you have at least one Duke alive, without any FF Sarevok causes problems.

And are you using SCS?
I found the mage doppleganger a nightmare but arrows of dispelling work really well in that fight. They get through and hurt so he/she/it gets scared and runs to the other rooms.

Grond0

@skatan here are a few things you can do.
1) Summons. Summon 5 monsters (including one from animate dead scroll). Haste them as your last action prior to the fight (that only lasts a few rounds anyway, so definitely better to do haste before the fight starts).
2) Buff yourself. I normally save a potion of power for this fight (from amazons or shop in thieves guild), along with mind focusing x 2, speed, cloud/storm giant strength and DUHM.
3) Straight melee or debuff? I'm undecided whether you're better to just melee with your best weapons to kill things quickly, or use arrows of dispelling to get rid of the haste on the dopplegangers attacking the dukes.
4) Don't try saving Liia as she's so vulnerable anyway it's a waste of time - target the attackers on Belt. Spirit armor or improved invisibility on Belt can be useful, though I think area effects are more so.
5) For area effects I always aim to get horror as a Bhaal power for characters that can't use magic. For a mage I think chaos is the best option to take advantage of the -4 save. Using malison beforehand is possible (scrolls for both are on sale in Sorcerous Sundries), but I think just trying chaos immediately is better - if you're unlucky both Belt and Liia can die in less than 2 rounds if you start with malison.
6) Depending on your installation Otilukes is a possibility, but you may find that this turns targets hostile if they fail to save against it (which leads to a scripted death).
7) Using various combinations of the above suggestions should push your chance of success well above 90%, but won't give you certainty. If you want to go the whole hog then:
(i) charm the Flaming Fist guards with the nymph cloak.
(ii) also charm the 2 nobles farthest from Sarevok with the nymph cloak.
(iii) charm another noble with Algernon's cloak (you can rest if you fail and try again).
Before starting the combat rest so that you don't have so long to wait until the charm wears off (and the nobles transform to dopplegangers). You can set autopause: enemy sighted if you want to do something else while you're waiting. I suspect that doing all that would put chances of success very close to 100%.

gunman

I've done it with a solo cavalier in a no-reload run. Since I wasn't able to use spells and wands, I had to use the brute force method: drank potions of storm giant strength, heroism, power, haste etc in order to kill each doppelganger in two-three hits and never miss. Also probably had to use heal or lay on hands on one of the dukes to keep him alive (one of them died IIRC)

I think casting spells or using items is a waste of time, because even hasted you can only do this once per round. Attacking and positioning is the key, move next to the dukes to prevent them being surrounded and to be able to heal them if necessary.

Skatan

@UnderstandMouseMagic, no SCS, just plain vanilla with the latest patch.

@grond0 that's some pro tips! Do you mean I can charm the enemy nobles before the fight begins and then trigger the scene? That sounds really interresting. I only have Algernon's since I sold the nymph cloak in preparation for SoD (I've sold everything and kept scroll and gems to sell and use in SoD opening scene, I have 0 gold coins right now).

Skatan

Ok, just cleared it and oddly enough it was very easy on my first try today. I didn't even do anything special, even though I tried once to charm Belt and move him into another room just to test, but then I couldn't trigger the cut-scene so that was a no-go. I popped a cloud giant STR potion and just positioned myself in between as much as possible. I was lucky with the hits probably and did heal Belt once with my bhaal spawn power. Apparently I had sold my wand of summoning as well, heh.. I did clean out most of my inventory before this scene and had forgot I sold that one.

So, thank you all for your tips and tricks! Now I am of to the maze. Looking forward to finish this and move into SoD!

Grond0

Skatan said:

Do you mean I can charm the enemy nobles before the fight begins and then trigger the scene?

You can indeed . They don't transform to dopplegangers until the charm wears off, thus allowing you to divide and conquer them.

Incidentally, I don't remember trying it, but I suspect that charming Belt would result in him going hostile when the charm wears off, so I wouldn't recommend that.

Also incidentally, the palace fight is one where the influence of luck really shows up. As you've seen you can have a very easy fight if the dopplegangers are unlucky or mainly target things other than the dukes. On the other hand I have seen them kill both dukes in just over a round - which would tend to leave the no-reloader rub his eyes and go "what the f... just happened" .