The Black Pits - LOB group?
Wisterias
Member Posts: 108
Hello! I just finished 2 runs of the Black Pits on Insane, with no big problems, tbh... I never played this and finally had to try. Not so fun, but not so boring xD
Now I tried LOB and all fine, but I can't win the Battle 12
My group: 3 Sorcerers (DD), 2 Archers, 1 Shaman.
Main problem is I can't find how to damage those golems fast enough with this group. They follow my sorcerers like mad, and It's ok because I tank them with stoneskins, mirror image, etc. But then my archers are not good enough with melee weapons, only 1 pip in maces/flails, and this is a Game Over or I Give Up. My sorcerers can drop some melf missiles and use their breath weapon, but they do not enough damage to win this way. Shaman does nothing here, and was very bad in all the Battles tbh xD I wanted to try it but I would rather use a figther/druid or something...
I'm thinking about starting it again with another group. Maybe somethign like this:
4 fighter/mage all with bows and different melee weapons to cover all damage types, 1 fighter/druid (mostly because of the insects spells), and 1 sorcerer.
What you think about this group? I will replay the Pits on Insane with them, and then will use those characters in the LOB mode.
(I don't like to dual class, so they will be multis).
Now I tried LOB and all fine, but I can't win the Battle 12
My group: 3 Sorcerers (DD), 2 Archers, 1 Shaman.
Main problem is I can't find how to damage those golems fast enough with this group. They follow my sorcerers like mad, and It's ok because I tank them with stoneskins, mirror image, etc. But then my archers are not good enough with melee weapons, only 1 pip in maces/flails, and this is a Game Over or I Give Up. My sorcerers can drop some melf missiles and use their breath weapon, but they do not enough damage to win this way. Shaman does nothing here, and was very bad in all the Battles tbh xD I wanted to try it but I would rather use a figther/druid or something...
I'm thinking about starting it again with another group. Maybe somethign like this:
4 fighter/mage all with bows and different melee weapons to cover all damage types, 1 fighter/druid (mostly because of the insects spells), and 1 sorcerer.
What you think about this group? I will replay the Pits on Insane with them, and then will use those characters in the LOB mode.
(I don't like to dual class, so they will be multis).
0
Comments
Well, it's done! Without reloads and quite well, my group:
4 dragon disciples, 2 fighters/mages for Insane, then I decided to use 3 sorcerers and 3 fighters/mages for LOB. I just cloned 1 of my fighter/mages. I wanted more bow/melee power, because just magic at these levels isn't enough, and that rakshasa in the last battle is a nightmare for casters.
Wow... what can I say? It was tedious, to be honest. I mean, Insane was ok but LoB was... tedious. I felt like doing Icewind Dale 2 Battle Squares but even more tedious. Maybe more 'diverse', but... well.
I had no problems with the clay golems this time: my 3 fighters/mages with maces/hammers, my sorcerers shooting melf's minute meteors... Everyone with stone skins, mirror image, etc. The rest of the battles were pretty easy.
But the last battle O_o I mean, it's easy, but very boring. Baeloth goes down fast with aggro, then I go for the dwarf, all good... But that raksasha is stupid. It took over 300 arrows and melf's to kill him xD And he just stands there, casting some spells from time to time, but to be honest, it's pointless. How many hp does it have in LOB?
I think this will be my last race in BP1, it's not that good.
I completed BP2 on Insane and well, it's a little better. Maybe too long, too many fights. All combat seems manageable with the high level spells you have then. But damn... the last battle is crazy. Luckily, good old TimeStop, Shapechange and Mindflayer work great. So I guess it will be the same in LoB. Atm I only played this with the pre-made group that the game offers, but this time I will make my own group.
The solo BP2 at LoB is extremely difficult. I haven't finished it. My best result is the completion of Tiers I-III (15 fights) with a solo dual-classed Berserker/Mage (imported from BP1). 😎
U can simply import all your group from any of BP1 saves. 👈
Well if you have timestop, shapechange... You know already how to make things easy xD
Yeah, thanks, I will try it in the near future. 😉
I tried with my old save and my Berserker9/Mage26 was able to kill 2 Fallen Devas (Tier IV-1, 6 Fallen Devas) with this tactic. However, 4 remaining Devas don't allow me to cast the second Time Stop. They use Dispel Magic, True Sight and Instant Teleportation. I need some additional trick to gain few seconds. 🤔
Nevertheless, it shows that a group with 3+ mages/sorcerers could win this fight relatively easily. 😎
N.B. A shapeshifted Mindflayer eats brains of a Fallen Deva in 4 hits, Enchanted Weapon spell is not necessary in this case. 👈
Yeah, a little distraction so you have time to cast Time Stop. I'm an abusive man with 6 sorcerers so they can stop time forever and carelessly eat brains 😆
I completed a full run of BP2 tonight with those 6 sorcerers (Insane), all good, but for the last battle I thought... "I'm going in without my buffs" and of course I failed. So I started again: Spell Immunities: Everything, stone skins, contingencies with Magic Swords just in case... and Enchanted Weapon (a must, or you can't kill The Winged as a Mindflayer); Go in, cast Time Stop on everyone, then everyone loses their brains.
Tomorrow I will do another test to try different things, for example, contingencies don't always work 100%, sometimes they activate too late, things to consider...
I'll try LOB next, I guess it will be interesting... I'm not worried about those whose brains I can eat, but I'm worried about golems and maybe drow because of their magic resistance. But it's no big deal, I guess I can BboD them. Golems however are always a nuisance for a group of casters...
My Berserker/Mage was able to win those fights alone, so U are obliged to do it with your squad. 😉
My quick exploit (inspired by Demilich's tactics) vs Greater Clay Golem (Tier III-2): Timestop+Imprisonment, victory! ✌️
It ignores Magic Resistance and such?
Yes! The official description: "There is no Saving Throw and the target's Magic Resistance is ignored." 😸
My tip for your quick win in Tier III-3 (lich + bone golems): "Use Time Stop+Imprisonment to eliminate the lich and summon Earth Elementals vs Bone Golems." 😉
Seems that Imprisonament is like CTRL+Supr enemies 🙃 But it's fine. At the end of the day, Black Pits is an aberration in terms of wtf 😆. It's fun anyway.
I did a new run and all went 'ok', no problems during the fights; but had to fight the last battle with 5 toons because one of them got petrified in the combat just before the end... and there was no way to Flesh to Stone him because there was no body to do so. He had the Vecna robe, Gaxx ring 😒... Anyway the last battle was fine without him. RIP Nekazu.
Mizz'Reena became the leader then 😆 She stole all the merit... (She Newtral Evil btw, so it's appropiate).
Now I will try LoB, tbh with the strategies in mind, I only find some things that will be hard. The demiliches, maybe... Will tale time to kill them with Energy Blades and stuff..
I don't know if I will go with the 5 survivors or if I will add someone new, or a copy of someone else... 🙃
Forgot to mention... BUGS. In the Bhaalspawn combat, 1 of them enemies got invisible, and 'disappeared', and I was stuck there, no dialog to exit the arena... so had to re-do it.
Another bug: During the rebellion, I got stuck because that halfling that opens certain door, was there invisible but never opened the door... Reload and done.
No big deal but those things feel not satisfactory 😆
My Berserker/Mage has eliminated efreeti Dormamus in his chamber and liberated djinni Najim. 🧞♂️
I'm now trying to find good strategy vs those demi-liches Dogar and Kazon (Tier IV-2). 💀💀 Imprisonment doesn't work. Energy Blades inflict only 1 hp damage. All my summons, including Planetars, are quickly Imprisoned.
On the other hand, when my character casts "Spell Immunity: Abjuration", demiliches don't represent any real danger (at distance). I should find the way to inflict sufficient damage. My self-reloaded crossbow+4 inflicts 1 (ranged) + 2 (fire) damage at each hit. I will try 4 Timestops + crossbow attacks.
I searched and other players say that "Power Word: Kill" works on demi-liches, inflicting 25 hp damage (at normal difficulty). I will now try it in LoB too. 😎
Quick win in Tier IV-2: Spell Immunity: Abjuration + Simulacrum + double hits by "The Winner" ring! 😎
Remark 1. The Ram ring works as well, but has only 1 charge per day.
Remark 2. Dogar and Kazon have 100+ XP on LoB difficulty, so "Power Word: Kill" should work only on heavily wounded demi-liches.
The ring of energy? Interesting. Yes I was thinking about the Ram ring and Simulacrum, but this one seems better 🙃
Well I completed BP2 LOB tonight 🙃
As I expected, all easy but I had a hard time with those floating heads in LOB, had to drop a lot of Energy Blades with timestop and melf minute meteors, plus ram ring and energy ring shots with various Simulacrums, not difficult, just looong.
Hehe... great achievement! 👍
I think I'm gonna play Siege of Drangonspear because tbh I only did tests there and never played it in a serious way. It means, recruiting NPC's and such. Playing the game. But I'm lazy to start a BG1EE game so I think I will play it as a standalone thing.
Sequenzer for Misslead + Protections. then timestop + shapechange.
You can easy make urself immune to true sight etc.
Black Pits 2 on LoB are more difficult than U imagine. "Timestop + Imprisonment" and "Timestop + Shapechange" don't work vs Demiliches, for example. 👈
After completing BP2 in LOB with a full group of dragon disciples, I can say that it is not easy even this way with such a powerful group xD
But I guess it's all just a matter of trial and error, or documenting and trying things, then it becomes 'easy'; but yeah, it's not like "ok, I'm going to go in there with my usual characters with my usual tactics and that's it..."
I currently make a break with my solo LoB Berserker9/Mage after completing Tier IV-2 (demiliches). 😎
My previous break lasted 1+ year, I was unable to complete Tier IV-1 (6 Fallen Devas) and progressed thanks to your awesome "Timestop+Shapechange:Mindflayer" tactics! 👍
Normally, your squad of 6 sorcerers was not even admitted to start BP1 by 3 Tasloi examinators:
https://forums.beamdog.com/discussion/88817/admission-to-bp1-for-level-1-solo-characters-3-awesome-lob-taslois-lol
and U bypassed it by XP farming on Insane difficulty. 🤣
I was not using 6 sorcerers for BP1, it was 4 dragon disciples, 2 fighters/mages for Insane, then 3 of those sorcerers and 3 fighters/mages (I made a clone of one of the f/m to substitute 1 sorcerer) for LOB xD
It was 6 sorcerers for BP2 for both Insane and LOB. Since 1 of them died in Insane (he got petrified and disappeared), and for me this means he's lost forever... I made a new one for LOB, mixed with the other 5 higher level sorcs; no big deal, after few battles, he was up for the task.
But yes, I made LOB mostly with the chars used in Insane, so they had enough levels.
Maybe I will try starting LOB BP1 from level 1 chars, and maybe LOB BP2 with low level chars
Devas are devastated.