What is the best elemental resistance for your party?

Nerva

I'm choosing between the various boots and other equipment that have resistance to Fire, Cold, and Electricity, and so of course I'm wondering which one provides the most benefit in the overall campaign. I would guess Fire, just because it seems to be the most common type I encounter, but I could be wrong.

Enuhal

Fire is certainly the best in SoD, SoA and ToB, but for BG1, there are a lot of situations where lightning is super dangerous, such as encounters with the Cloakwood Mine mages, Lendarn in the Firewine Dungeon, several traps, the Chessboard at Durlag's etc. I always make sure to equip boots of grounding on my most vulnerable character for that reason (enemy lightning bolts are very unpredictable). Fire is still nice (used by a few spellcasters later in the game, both clerics and some select mages, and there are, of course, fire arrows), but I'd say that lightning might be slightly more important. Things turn around quickly in SoD, though. Since some of the best strategies involve throwing fireballs via necklaces/wands/potions at groups of enemies, having a frontliner with item-based fire immunity or high resistance is very, very useful, and enemy mages will throw fireballs back at you, plus there are some fire based enemies such as mephits, salamanders and elementals in the game. Add to that the burning skeletons and enemies using fire arrows and burning oil (hobgoblin captains do love to throw that), and you have a good reason to incrase fire resistance.

Cold is really only useful against winter wolves in BG1 early on (where the belt of the antipode negates all difficulties) and at the very end of ToB (for the final boss and some encounters in Watcher's Keep, for example), but that can be easily solved with potions, scrolls and/or spells - but keeping the Boots of the North around for that is still nice.

ThacoBell

I'd go fire, as its incredibly common, and some very dangerous enemies use it. Electricity might be the best if focusing only on BG1.

drdave

By the end of BG I had a few fully recharged "One Gift Lost" and a couple of wands of fire. I'd start any big battle with a few salvos of fireballs. Fire resistance was pretty useful if I misjudged the range.

Skatan

Silke has killed me more times than I can count, but other than that I agree with the above and say fire is most common.

Torgrimmer

Fire, Fire, Fire, OH Fire

StummvonBordwehr

Fire is nasty, and spitting fireball is fun. But electricity kills you...

I have seldomly died to fire, but a bouncing lightning bolt from a trap has done me in more times than I am willing to acknowledge.

DreadKhan

Lightning is generally the most annoying, but there are lots of sources of fire damage you can use, and if your tank is very resistant to it, you've got a winning situation. 

Pull Aggro + 3 or 4 Fireballs = Almost any fight is over. Then again, One Gift Lost trivializes almost all of BG1 (and for almost any class/kit), but its still a nasty trick to have in SoD. Or BG2 for that matter. 

OlvynChuru

This thread is for Siege of Dragonspear, so I'd go with fire. In SOD, there seem to be far more enemies that use fire than there are in BG1.

If this was for just the regular Baldur's Gate 1, I would go with electricity. In Baldur's Gate 1, almost no mages cast Fireball. Instead, most mages cast Lightning Bolt.

StummvonBordwehr

OlvynChuru said:

This thread is for Siege of Dragonspear, so I'd go with fire. In SOD, there seem to be far more enemies that use fire than there are in BG1.

If this was for just the regular Baldur's Gate 1, I would go with electricity. In Baldur's Gate 1, almost no mages cast Fireball. Instead, most mages cast Lightning Bolt.

@OlvynChuru has an excellent point. For SoD only, fire is a clear winner.

My preference for electricity is for BG1 and BG2 - in SoD fire will rule supreme.

Hafir

Agree electricty is deadly but fire more common.