Order of chapter 2 quests with SCS

tedmann12

Hi all,

Curious what order you all do the main chapter 2 quests in? Given some of the boss fights are really damn hard, it kind of changes things up for me. Back in the day I always did D'Arnise Hold first, but Torgal fight is really hard with SCS.

My current run I think I'm gonna do the graveyard quests (Korgan and Edwin) first. The "lesser" lich is still really fricken hard, but I think I can cheese him somehow.

What order do you all like to do quests in with SCS installed in a way that actually works.

Also, does anyone know the best way to kill planar prison warden? I believe I saw on a stream once someone pummel him with a million arrows of dispelling and somehow that did the job???

jmerry

It varies depending on the party. I'll go for any "loyalty quests" first, then look toward critical equipment upgrades, and often leave some of the main quests to chapter 6.

Of course, I also like to cheese things with a party of one or two to 1.25 million XP in Athkatla before recruiting the full party. Having those extra levels substantially eases matters.

Now, the Warden in the Planar Prison. He's a level 18/18 fighter/mage with innate normal weapon immunity, and SCS upgrades him to fully take advantage of those mage spell slots. He absolutely will slaughter the thralls you can free in his area - especially with the support of the multiple yuan-ti mages that spawn as the highest-level version of the random monster group there.

One of my favorite tricks against him is to bleed off his spells using the trap rooms. After killing off the demon with the orb, don't break it immediately. Instead, advance forward and deliberately fall down the pits. Slaughter the werewolves and efreets in those two rooms, then come back up. Now, one person advances forward to get the Warden's attention, and retreats back to the pit trigger. Slurp, spell wasted. And when you come back up, you're farther back than the pit entrance, out of sight and ready to do it again. Repeat until the Warden is sufficiently drained of spells, then break the orb (disabling the pits) and engage.

xiaoleiwen

The reason I love vanilla is the different orders of doing side quests in every new playthrough have different fun. Sometime trying to beat a difficult battle at low level will encourage you to try different things that you have not tried before.

The reason I install scs is for extra challenge. However, I do not want to loss the main fun I like for this game. So I will still play it naturally, doing the quests in any order on a whim...and surprisingly, I still can do this with SCS installed, and I have to think more tactically.

So I suggest, just follow your heart, and don't worry if it looks hopeless. Most BG veterans may end up with certain strategy when you are actually facing that battle.

Aerakar

I try and complete the slaver, circus quests first since these are close-by and logical. I then tend to hit the bridge district and clear the graveyard above ground. Then I do the docks and temple area except for the Unseeing Eye.

I play with SCS so usually don't attempt the Planar Prison or Unseeing Eye until much later and I have set up a party and gained some power, so after most of the lower level city quests and some of the companion quests depending upon party composition.

Outside the city, the druid grove is not so difficult if you have troll fighting weapons and bait/scout them out.

jmerry

In one of my recent runs (the one with no spellcasting), I actually did the Planar Prison first among the major quests. I had to reload at one point, but it wasn't the Warden that got me; it was yuan-ti mages surprising me. The Warden himself went down without too much trouble once I waited out most of his combat buffs.
I did that first because I was running with Haer'Dalis, of course.

The run after that was my fire theme; with both Nalia and Cernd in the long-term party, I hit the keep and the druid grove first. Trolls were not a big deal with all the fireballs and a paladin with a flaming sword. Except for TorGal and crew, because that fight is kind of ridiculous.

Aerakar

Agree with @jmerry , those yuan-ti mages are what make it difficult. The warden is also hard, but if by himself and you use hit and run tactics he is manageable.

ithildurnew

SCS Planar prison Warden is indeed very nasty. Imp Haste and Black Blade of Disaster along with the usual SCS defensive mage buffs... it's almost like fighting a ToB level PC fighter/mage. This (and the Beholders if I've got Item Randomizer installed, i.e. no guarantee of even a couple rounds of Shield of Balduran) is probably the one quest I tend to intentionally delay until I have enough resources and options to engage more or less fair and square.

I guess I can see why some folks would completely cheese it, though it sort of defeats the point of installing SCS in the first place.

After a couple of initial failures a long, long time ago, I haven't found SCS Torgal all that overwhelming. Plus D'arnese Keep is nearby (and the stronghold events take the longest to unfold) so he's always the first stronghold boss to go down. At the end of the day he's still almost completely melee; once you deal with the support yuanti mages and his flunkies he's not that tough to take down, if I've set things up properly.

This is making me want to start up another run, lol.

jmerry

Sure, Tor'Gal is mostly melee. He's also (with SCS) a barbarian with troll immunities. He's hard to debuff, he gets on you fast, and his hits debuff you so he's very hard to melee.
And of course, you're trying to stop multiple mages capable of level 7 spells and multiple melee bruisers from wrecking your party at the same time. You can't just gang up on him first without serious defenses. The fight is a serious difficulty spike over the rest of the quest, even with the spirit trolls that SCS sprinkles through all the random groups. Unless you're overleveled for the whole thing, you'll need to bring as many buffs as you can.

For my fire-themed party (no level 7 spells on my side yet), I brought strength potions for the warriors, four summons, and a bunch of spell buffs. And I still needed a reload.

Aerakar

@ithildurnew start the new run!