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Your suggestions for a Blackguard

YigorYigor Member Posts: 811
in Icewind Dale: Enhanced Edition
What fighting style and weapons do you suggest for a Blackguard‽ Difficulty = HoF. ❤️‍?

Comments

  • YigorYigor Member Posts: 811
    Dual-wielding, 2-handed weapons or sword+shield ‽

    Elementalist preferences to acid, ice, electricity, fire weapons ‽ Maybe some vampiric or purely evil weaponry available in the game ‽

    Well, Blackguard can already poison his weapons. ☠️
  • ThoriumThorium Member Posts: 36
    edited August 2021
    I am not very familiar with HoF, but in normal mode I would go for dual-wielding to maximize damage output. It just feels very powerful and gives also a lot of options for different weapon combinations. :)

    The first evil-themed weapons that come to my mind are 1) Presio's dagger (additional poison damage), 2) the flail Misery's Herald (has a chance to cast Horror on hit), 3) the mace The Love of Black Bess (has a chance to cast Misfortune on hit) and 4) the short sword Blood Iron (heals you a bit). And yeah, there are definitely some poisonous/diseased weapons, but most of them are random drops? Also, maybe HoF has some additional items that I am not aware of?

    So... I would maybe pick morningstars/flails since they are generally really strong and seem to fit the theme. Then maybe daggers (or short swords) for more assassin-like fighting style?

  • YigorYigor Member Posts: 811
    edited August 2021
    Thorium wrote: »
    I am not very familiar with HoF, but in normal mode I would go for dual-wielding to maximize damage output. It just feels very powerful and gives also a lot of options for different weapon combinations. :)

    The first evil-themed weapons that come to my mind are 1) Presio's dagger (additional poison damage), 2) the flail Misery's Herald (has a chance to cast Horror on hit), 3) the mace The Love of Black Bess (has a chance to cast Misfortune on hit) and 4) the short sword Blood Iron (heals you a bit). And yeah, there are definitely some poisonous/diseased weapons, but most of them are random drops? Also, maybe HoF has some additional items that I am not aware of?

    So... I would maybe pick morningstars/flails since they are generally really strong and seem to fit the theme. Then maybe daggers (or short swords) for more assassin-like fighting style?

    Thanks! ? I followed your advice and created a Blackguard with dual-wielding and 2 pips in maces. I'll buy him the Love of Black Bess in Kuldahar. My Blackguard will be based on

    acid / despair / disease / horror / misfortune / poison

    thematics waiting for appropriate item drops ? (HoF has indeed some additional items, IIRC it was precised by Black Isle 20 years ago ?).

    Now he's accompanied by my previously played chars (necromantic F/M/C and an evil Wild Mage). However, I'm planning to modify my group, leaving his companions in the Kuldahar's Tavern (for later adventures), and playing solo for quick level progression. ?
  • AerichAerich Member Posts: 276
    I’m late to this discussion, but here goes. I presume early jump to HoW and HoF mode, I’d not the order in which I’d take certain weapons would change. A blackguard is mostly just like any non-fighter warrior, or fighter mc, in that it has no massive damage/apr bonus from weapon mastery in return for wide choice. However, it does get some damage-dealing bonuses a few times per day that you want to maximize - based on poison and strength. I like a broad range of weapon types to keep the blackguard’s damage potential steady, and Apr is important. My blackguard will be in melee a lot, but not exclusively.

    Ranged: darts is best early for best base Apr, but lags later if you give the bg a +apr bow. Consider competition for ammo/bows within the party, and if it is high, you can just take darts. Sling is also viable for high str damage (and access to unlimited +2 ammo), but the trade off is less apr for poison. Crossbow is clearly inferior until late in the game. There are two returning axes also, but I would take a non-crossbow ranged weapon for the very early game too even if you eventually want axe to be your primary ranged weapon.

    Bludgeoning: Mace is ok for Black Bess and Giving Star, but there are no +apr maces. If you go mace instead of flail, you almost have to take long sword. Flail is also superior for stunning and defender weapons.

    Two handed: I like to have a two handed weapon available for the extra range- good in tight corridors, with summons, or if you don’t want to be targeted. If you don’t want to burn two pp just for this, axe covers it.

    The single handed non- bludgeoning: honestly anything will be good. Consider special effects - stun, poison, elemental damage, +apr. Also consider best damage (higher av max damage is better) I think short sword is a must for Blood Iron. Your blackguard is hurt? +3 dmg healed per hit will help, as well as being rp-appropriate.

    In sum, 1 ranged (I prefer longbow) 1 melee to start. Ensure bludgeoning weapon for VoS. Get shortsword, two weapon style, and axe in some order asap, and ensure you have flail or longsword for a +apr offhand.
  • alex750alex750 Member Posts: 6
    edited October 2021
    a very good weapon weapon for a blackguard;

    two-handed sword+3 Bane: 25% chance of causing 1 point of poison damage per second indefinitely (the most destructive poison weapon of the game), also gives 10% of magic resistance, only usable for non-good characters. But it's a random drop from the Auril priestess in the frost giant cavern

    Against undead and demons immune to disease/poison, switch to another weapon
  • AerichAerich Member Posts: 276
    Nice! I don't think I've gotten that yet. On the topic of two-handed swords, the hammering one (random drop Severed Hand lvl 1, +2, 20% chance to stun) is also nice - the problem with two-handed swords in general is that there are no fixed drops for them between Kresselack and Krilag, and both of those are a bit underwhelming.

    On a general level, speaking of "best" weaponry choices, dual wielding > two handed. But everlasting poison goes some way to evening that out. Does it stack with itself? I'm assuming it would stack with the blackguard's poison weapon feature for even more poisony goodness (evilness?).
  • alex750alex750 Member Posts: 6
    Yes it stacks with the blackguard's poison weapon ability

  • YigorYigor Member Posts: 811
    alex750 wrote: »
    a very good weapon weapon for a blackguard;

    two-handed sword+3 Bane: 25% chance of causing 1 point of poison damage per second indefinitely (the most destructive poison weapon of the game), also gives 10% of magic resistance, only usable for non-good characters. But it's a random drop from the Auril priestess in the frost giant cavern

    Thanks! ? An idea for the next gameplay, in this one my Blackguard uses dual-wielding. ?

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