Best classes for Legacy of Bhaal and SOD final boss

Myrag

So, the question for Today is.

What are your best character choices for Belhifet in patch 2.5 on LOB?

I played many and many playthrough with SCS/LOB and Ascension I usually like this feeling of running custom party through entire trilogy. But I always have dilemmas whenever should I have party that performs in entire series of some party members should help in the earlier stages and get a bit carried in later stages.

Two good examples of being super strong in BG1 and BG2 but fall behind in TOB are Archer and Totemic Druid. And an instance of being weak in BG1 and early BG2 is Priest of Lathander dualled to Fighter, but this class is strongest ranged damage dealer and overall one of the strongest damage dealers in the game in late TOB. 10APR with Vhailor helmet for 2x10APR at 40-45 damage per hit sling with critical strikes is just mad.

When it comes to belhifet. He has massive -20AC and even more if not dispelled from Improved invisibility. The best I came to reliably hit him was my archer (forever love of mine) with -12 Thac0. I've seen some people using multiple Potions of Heroism, but they don't stack in my installation so I'm not sure what's up with this.

While archer is fantastic here it’s basically weaker in the endgame than compared to PoL>Fighter dual which on the other hand is pretty bad at the end of SOD in comparison.

So again, what are your most powerful choices for Belhifet?

Please note that I'm not looking for help, just a bit of inspiration for my next playthrough as well I'd like to hear some experiences from different players.

semiticgoddess

If Potions of Heroism do stack in your install, some of the best choices are rangers and paladins, especially Cavalier, due to their ability to crank their HP into the hundreds and use Durlag's Goblet and Greater Restoration scrolls to heal themselves to full. They can also stack multiple Champion's Strength scrolls to boost their THAC0 by 3 points per scroll, enough to guarantee hits on Belhifet for many rounds. Rangers who pick Demonic as their racial enemy get +4 to hit and damage against Belhifet, and Cavaliers get +3. Fighter/Clerics also get Champion's Strength scrolls and Potions of Heroism, but they don't get those bonuses to hit and damage, which really add up over time. Single-classed fighters get better APR and damage if they have Grandmastery in a given weapon, but their THAC0 is far weaker without Champion's Strength on hand.

If Potions of Heroism do not stack in your install, Fighter/Mages and Fighter/Mage/Clerics still have excellent potential, since they have access to Mirror Image, Stoneskin, and Teleport Field to block attacks and reduce enemy pressure. While only the latter can use Champion's Strength scrolls, both of them can use Enchanted Weapon to be able to strike Belhifet with the Martyr's Morningstar, which takes out 15% of the target's maximum HP on a critical hit, and a single point in Single Weapon Style increases the odds of a critical hit to 10%. Both classes can also use Fire Shield Blue scrolls to deal 3.25 average damage to Belhifet every time he lands a hit on the player, which amounts to about 13 damage per round. With Lower Resistance and Greater Malison, they also have a small chance of Webbing him and getting automatic hits, though that prevents you from landing critical hits with the Martyr's Morningstar. A Blade under Defensive Spin can also do very well against Belhifet, losing 1 APR compared to a Fighter/Mage but gaining a major AC bonus that will keep the other devils off your back, if not Belhifet himself.

Totemic Druids can also hold off Belhifet with their excellent summons, and Avengers can manage to Web Belhifet if they cast Magic Resistance on him first to let them land a Harm spell on him, but that's much dicier.

histamiini

Did you mean Thac0 stacking from Heroism/Power potions? I've never seen that work, but hp stacking does work currently. About the two tactics explained above.

For Champion Strength stacking Cavalier and Ranger with Demonic racial enemy are the best. Ranger is slightly better in SoD able to burn Crusader Attacks with Arrows of Detonation. Against Bel they're pretty much equal as both will blow him out of the water in 20 rounds or so. Late game Cavalier will become much stronger. Monks can use this tactic too, but they will suffer a lot more.

Martyr's Morningstar with Enhanced Weapon: F/M and F/M/C are the top choices because they get 3 apr with Single-Weapon style. And ecause this tactic doesn't rely on Thac0 to hit, other classes like Bards and C/M can pass Bel too. Later game F/M and F/M/C are one of the strongest choices.

Myrag

Alright interesting. I thought they supposed to stack Thac0 too as I've seen your YT but I guess now it was just for HP .

I didn't know about champions scrolls though. Should have read more solo/scs challenges but what you desribed mostly outlined what I already read in solo challenges. I was wondering if I missed anything since there are 160+ pages of glory in there.

I also completely forgot about racial bonus so this means archer gets around -16Thac0 with bonus which is very good that means most hits will land and with haste ar 4APR he might top dog too in party environment. Condering how much HP does belhifet have hitting reliably might still be worse than hitting random crits with MM.

Stromael

Following the Fighter/Mage line of thought, 500k XP is exactly the right number to complete a Kensai/Mage 9/10 dual, which nabs essentially all the benefits of the F/M, along with grand-mastery (extra 1/2 APR and +1 damage) and class-based Thac0/damage bonuses of 4.

Doesn't quite compete with the bonuses achieved by the Archer, but it's probably the closest of the non-divine-casters.