Skip to content

Jaheira weapon ambivalence

I keep flipping on the direction I want to go with Jah's weapons in BG2. It's always either weapon and shield or 2H weapon (I'm not interested in DW with her). I decided to keep her with my C/T, which creates some competition for weapons as they both want the same thing. Right now, my C/T has staves, slings, 2HF, and maces and jah has clubs**, dagger**, and scimitar** (SK'd). If I really want to, I can start building her towards 2h weapons (spears or staves, then 2h style) though the best weapon in this line (staff of the ram) is definitely going to my C/T. Still the Impaler is great when you get it, and Ixil's spike isn't terrible. Plus there are still a lot of great staves that my C/T wouldn't use (Woodlands, Thunder and Lightning, etc.)

Thematically, I really like her for staves/spears, but functionally, she's my main tank and the more AC the better (for combat casting). Any input to push me to one side of the fence or the other? Thanks!
gorgonzola

Comments

  • MichelleMichelle Member Posts: 549
    I am not sure if it is still true because I have not used spears in a while but Impaler does ridiculous damage for an SoA weapon. I think that it is the third most damaging weapon in the entire game behind. Something like;
    FoA +5 - 22
    SoR +6 - 22
    Impaler - 19, 14 points at least.
    Not bad for a weapon that you get before the underdark.
    BBoD does 24 potentially.
    gorgonzola
  • Permidion_StarkPermidion_Stark Member Posts: 4,861
    I'd go clubs with Jaheira. Somehow they seem to suit her. Mind you if I was in a party where Jaheira was the main tank I would start looking for another party to go to.
    Mortianna
  • ThacoBellThacoBell Member Posts: 12,235
    I have often used her in the past as my main tank, she is pretty darn good at it. I'd go either club or scimitar with a shield.
    BelgarathMTHAedanMortiannaleeux
  • KnellerKneller Member Posts: 438

    I'd go clubs with Jaheira. Somehow they seem to suit her. Mind you if I was in a party where Jaheira was the main tank I would start looking for another party to go to.

    So the party is just Jah, Minsc, Yoshi, and myself (C/T). I was tempted to make Minsc a tank, but with DW and his strength, he's much better at a DPS role, whereas Jah has a lot more defensive capability. Actually, I think with her buffs, she might even make the best general use tank in the game.
    ThacoBellMortianna
  • ThacoBellThacoBell Member Posts: 12,235
    Aerie is probably the best tank, followed by Korgan. But Jaheira is VERY good at the role.
    gorgonzolaDreadKhan
  • gorgonzolagorgonzola Member Posts: 3,864
    Kneller said:

    (I'm not interested in DW with her

    your choice, i would never under estimate what she can do and how many apr she can have while dw, but i don't want to impose my choice.

    she is a multi so can put only 2 pips in each weapon.
    and sword and shield style is a joke, use the shield of reflection or the fortress one instead, in soa the ranged enemies are not a problem. so she really needs pips in 2h weapon style to double the chance to get crits. a lot of pips left.
    she can use a shield and firetooth, that having the damage roll of a bastard sword, elemental damage, +3 enchantment and +1 apr is superior to both blackblood and belm. before she gets it your charname can steal for her the other returning dagger right at the beginning, and afaik it does not break the limited wish quest.
    and as you have 2 pips dagger and at least 1 in 2h sword style you can begin to invest in spear pips so she has 2 when you find the impaler.
    make her flexible, she can tank better with firetooth and shield or she can do more damage with impaler according to the situation, and she can do also a awesome ranged work when needed.
    having as main weapon a weapon that can be used mlee or ranged is a great plus as at the beginning the pips arrive really slow as she is a multi.
    Kneller said:

    I was tempted to make Minsc a tank, but with DW and his strength

    minsk can be the dps dealer of the party, nothing wrong, but as he is strong jaheira benefits more than each other of a str enhancing item, the belt you can buy from ribald or the ogre gloves.
    minsk is set with his str until you find more str enhancing items, charname should have good natural str i guess and can boost it with spells. my jaheira has in EVERY run i take her with me at least 19 STR. this make her more effective than choosing a weapon type instead of an other (unless she dw a returning dagger and belm, thing that gives her 5 apr very early, but it is a route you don't want to follow...).

  • ReliantReliant Member Posts: 30
    Blackblood suit Jaheira well.  It does +3 acid damage, so it's a good anti-troll weapon.  You buy it from a merchant in Trademeet after the Genie and Druid crises are solved.  The Spectral brand, +4 scimitar)  is awesome.  You have to win it from the tieflings at the exit from the portal maze level in the Watcher's Tower. 
    gorgonzolaThacoBell
  • gorgonzolagorgonzola Member Posts: 3,864
    @Reliant
    yep, blackblood suits jaheira well, still as main hand weapon the returning daggers are usually better as they deal same damage but give +1 apr. 

    blackblood 1D6 +3, +3 acid damage= 6.5+ 3 acid on average 
    firetooth dagger 2d4 +3, 1d2 fire damage= 8 + 1.5 fire on average, the one you can get in chap 2 misses the fire damage, but there is no way jaheira can max her apr at that stage of the game without using 2 apr weapons so in the end the dagger is the most effective way to go, if some other party member does not need it. 

    blackblood is a very good weapon, the best club in the game if you don't like to have random fireballs, is my usual choice for jaheira in the original game where firetooth does not get str bonus and can not be DW,  and spectral brand is really useful for the few enemies immune to +3 weapons. 
  • Oswald81Oswald81 Member Posts: 63
    I tend to give her that dart.  Five attacts per round rules.  She is my plumbinari with clubs/scimitars and those darts.  I give firetooth normally to Jan.
    gorgonzola
  • ThacoBellThacoBell Member Posts: 12,235
    Jaheira works great as a second line fighter with staves as well. Keeps her in melee and behind the tanks so she can cast safely.
    gorgonzola
  • gorgonzolagorgonzola Member Posts: 3,864
    edited February 2019
    jaheira works great in almost every way you want to use her. if you give her a good str enhancer, also the cheap and long lasting str spell from a mage is a good way to go until you have enough str enhancing items.

    ranged she has high apr with dart, but little damage/shot, with a returning dagger or a sling (enchanted bullets) she hits for high damage even if with less apr, with the sling she can have also a super thac0 if enchanted sling and bullets are sued as their thac0 bonuses stack.

    mlee she can be a second line with staves or impaler, she can also be first liner with shield if ac is needed, dw if high apr and output is needed, and she has ironskins to tank. with few other npcs is easy to get 5 apr mlee quite early like it is with her, but this does not cause any problem any time you want to use her in a different way. 

    and her casting is quite useful, the insect spells, the summons and some good utility spells.

    imo her role in the party is not to be set in stone, can change for each battle and change as the single battle evolves. ie she can start far from the enemy at the beginning to use her insect spells to neutralize the mages and summon, then she can go dw protected by the skin to deal the maximum damage and then she can equip a shield to tank better cause at that point if there are still enemies alive your tanks will be quite low health and in need of someone that relieves them from the task. this is only one of the many possible examples of how her flexibility can be used to make her one of the most useful npcs.
    Oswald81ThacoBell
  • BATJACBATJAC Member Posts: 3
    edited February 2019
    I'm fairly new to BG and new to Beamdog Forum; where does one find a scimitar in BG [early chapter] for Jaheira ? Thanks for any help.
  • DreadKhanDreadKhan Member Posts: 3,857
    Doesn't DWing help elemental forms gain more apr? If so, that could be worth considering, using Belm off-hand? 
  • TraumaDramaTraumaDrama Member Posts: 56
    Blackblood and belm + ironskins, and she's a beast. 
    Reliant
  • KuronaKurona Member Posts: 881
    DreadKhan said:
    Doesn't DWing help elemental forms gain more apr? If so, that could be worth considering, using Belm off-hand? 

    It used to but I think it has been fixed.
  • DhariusDharius Member Posts: 654
    @BATJAC the best scimitars to find in Athkatla are Scimitars +1 which can be bought/stolen from several stores. However they’re useless against vampires. If you want fancier scimitars for your party you’ll need to look outside the town. Similarly for clubs.

    The best weapons early on for Jaheira in Athkatla are probably daggers and staves. I would say spears too (there are a couple of decent ones hidden away) but she usually doesn’t have points in these at lower levels.
  • SkatanSkatan Member, Moderator Posts: 5,352
    I tend to get her the staffmace +2 directly after Chateu Irenicus, then go for Belm and Blackblood. I prefer to keep her on S&S since there are many great shields to use and it fits her. Belm for trash for the extra APR, or as state above, the boomerang dagger. If you keep her on swords there's no overlap with your C/T and your charname can focus on the crushing damage weapons. Regarding staffs, buy the staff of Rynn+4 for your charname and then there's still a crapload of great staffs left for Jaheira with +3 and being warrior means her THAC0 will be good enough while your C/T might need some more aid in that area.

    When you reach a point in the game where APR start to become crucial, you will also reach the point where you get HLA's and with GWW anyone have the same APR not matter the weapon, so 1-handed, 2-handed or dualwield doesn't matter so much in the long term. I used to be obsessed with maximizing APR on all chars, but nowadays it doesn't bother me as much anymore.
Sign In or Register to comment.