Surviving with a Solo Druid.
darkydoof
Member Posts: 16
Hello everyone!
I've been playing a fighter/druid solo on Core Rules. At the beginning it was a blast, extremely satisfactory, but when i've started BG2, things started to became a problem.
We all know Mages are way OP in this game, thanks to things like Imprisonment, Death Spells and near immunity state with Mirror Image and Spell Turning (thank Talos i'm not running with SCS installed).
I've tried everything to survive high solo encounters with Mages, but they always manage to insta-kill me. Mustard Jelly form from the Cloak of the Sewers didn't protect me against Imprisonment, Spell Turning from the Book of Inifinite Spells and True Sight gets easily dispelled by enemies, and lastly Insect Plague and Creeping Doom are useless against Spell Turning and Trap.
My summons are not that worthy though, Elementals and even Devas get Imprisoned/killed outright at the beginning of the battle. Can't dispel either enemies protection with a low level Dispel Magic (the only anti-mage spell i can count with).
Any tips to survive mage battles with a multi or pure druid without cheesing? (PFM Scroll does the trick, but it's cheesy as hell, as so PFU).
Thanks for reading in advance.
I've been playing a fighter/druid solo on Core Rules. At the beginning it was a blast, extremely satisfactory, but when i've started BG2, things started to became a problem.
We all know Mages are way OP in this game, thanks to things like Imprisonment, Death Spells and near immunity state with Mirror Image and Spell Turning (thank Talos i'm not running with SCS installed).
I've tried everything to survive high solo encounters with Mages, but they always manage to insta-kill me. Mustard Jelly form from the Cloak of the Sewers didn't protect me against Imprisonment, Spell Turning from the Book of Inifinite Spells and True Sight gets easily dispelled by enemies, and lastly Insect Plague and Creeping Doom are useless against Spell Turning and Trap.
My summons are not that worthy though, Elementals and even Devas get Imprisoned/killed outright at the beginning of the battle. Can't dispel either enemies protection with a low level Dispel Magic (the only anti-mage spell i can count with).
Any tips to survive mage battles with a multi or pure druid without cheesing? (PFM Scroll does the trick, but it's cheesy as hell, as so PFU).
Thanks for reading in advance.
2
Comments
If you're not fully familiar with where all enemies are you can do something like the following:
- scout ahead using invisibility.
- if mages sense you and start casting true sight, retreat out of sight range before the spell triggers.
- summon up an army.
- cast insects from a little way away, targeted at one of your summons.
- before the insects get there, order only that particular summon to move next to the mage (insects are slow moving, so it's possible that a mage could complete casting death spell or similar before they arrive)
- once the insects hit their target and spread to the mage, you can move in the other summons and show yourself for the kill.
That sort of tactic would be pretty infallible in the unmodded game against any sort of mage that can be affected by insects (not demi-liches for instance). If you have mods like SCS or tactics installed things become more complex (as the insect spells might be nerfed, mages may move fast enough to get out of the area of effect and mages will still be able to use some spell-like abilities even if their normal casting is shut down) - the spells will still potentially be very helpful even against those enemies though.
Rasaad quest has a couple of useful items that may help you: Gem that casts true sight (frees up a spell slot for you) and a cloak that improves your offhand thac0 if you’re dual wielding.
Dorns quest gives you that one helmet for many immunities.
Druid’s do have the Death ward spell vs insta kills
In situational fights, the simulacrum helm has been helpful too
Those have been helpful against mages.
It kinda sucks cuz i was doing a solo no-reload run with a F/D, but my character died stupidly in the Planar Sphere thanks to a death trap. After that my other characters (also druids) got ganked by mages.
Currently running a solo Avenger, but in the end i think this one is going to die soon or later
Yeah, i've already read that story-guide and tried to follow the strategies implemented. Thing is, the Totemic Druid summons have this cool immunities and that is a supreme advantage. Avengers don't have that upper hand, just a couple of useful mage spells xD.
Thanks for the comment!
Since it was a no-reload run i've started fresh with an Avenger, let's see what happens in BG2!
You don't even need to have powerful summoned creatures; even basic animal summons will suck up enemy mages' spells if you send them in one at a time. The mage casts Cone of Cold on your wolf, it dies, then you send in another wolf, until the mage is out of dangerous spells and their Protection from Magical Weapons has worn off.
Scary things like Imprisonment (4th time mentioned here, ruined my no reload run) or Time Stop tend to be difficult for a non mage character. The best thing i can think is to run the hell out of the mage sight and then send all available summons, is that correct?
even if all that i wrote before is true i agree that druids are very strong anti mages.
the fact that with the trick of having the insect spreading from a minor enemy or from a summon of you it can hit almost any enemy is what make them so strong at it.
i don't play SoD, but in bg2 i would say that in vanilla there are not so many mages casting imprisonment, and not only a mage has to touch you to do it (and as long as in a solo you have a single pair of speed boots no one can reach you unless you intentionally let him do it), but imprisonment is a spell with casting time of 9, almost a full round, many ways to disrupt it or to run away from the mage's sight as he is still and casting. demiliches imprisonment is different, but the 2 demiliches you find in the game are completely optional and there are special scrolls that make them very easy to beat by the way.
more or less the same is true for time stop, long casting time, few vanilla mages that use it. if a solo character that is not a powerful mage that has ways to make himself completely resilient get freezed by a time stop while on sight of the enemy mage it is his own fault, druid, fighter or whatever is very likely that he will not survive.
in general when with a toon you lack of ways to counter something an ai driven caster does to use summons to suck it or mobility in and out of his sight range make the things much more easy. and it is almost possible in every vanilla situation but against those 2 demiliches.
solo is tricky, it can be sometimes difficult but to be way over leveled, and to have only a toon to protect and buff, so rare scrolls and potions can be used more often, is a good compensation of the lacking of the capabilities and apr of a larger party. at least until late tob where even in a large party the characters reach high levels.
no reload is much more difficult, you really need to perfectly know how to deal with every battle, trap, enemy and situation you can find as a single error means game over.
i would not suggest to a player to try to solo with a class that he still don't know how to use solo and to run no reload at the same time. it is asking for trouble.
after having some solo solid experience with a class and also some general no reload one the solo no reload can be done with some chance of reaching the throne of baal, doing it before is simply setting the conditions for a failure.
to try it, but instead trying to reload as less as is possible, while you are still learning to solo with that class is a completely different thing that i strongly suggest.
h
how do u deal with traps?. I've died in planar sphere and the imps riddle in the city of the caverns thanks to instakill traps xD.
As for mages, I'm running an SCS game right now and, as others have noted, the easiest way to solve that problem is summons. I don't believe druids can summon skeleton warriors, which are the best due to their innate MR, but anything that forces them to blow a high-level spell is better than nothing. Once they are down to magic missile, it's usually safe to step in and take them out.
Obviously, there are some encounters that your F/D should probably just skip, though. Kangaxx, for instance. (shoot, most liches)
Well, my summons got killed thanks to a lich death spell and then it was game. Perhaps i expect a lot from this class, Druids in this game are not as op as others RPG's II. I'll stick to other class one more time.
Thanks everyone for the tips and stay safe at home!
I am not sure that I am understanding the issues that you are having. Four spells will bypass almost every trap in the game. Death Ward, Chaotic Commands, Ironskin and Shield of the Archons. They also get past many mage spells in the game. Deva can cast Resist fear or something like that, Amulet of Power negates level draining effects. Not a master of the game or anything but the Druids spell selection has always made mage-litch encounters possible in my runs. There are times when those encounters are almost easy. No reload litches can always be tricky but my last no reload run with a Beserker>Druid I don’t think I died once to a litch. If I remember right Abizagal made me want to quit that one. Stupid dragon, GRR! That is a looong time to play and have to start over... four times.
It is a solid class and there are many encounters that you can run through where a mage class just seems to bog down time wise. Don’t get me wrong mage classes can do it all, there are times when a Druid does it better. I have solo no reloaded every Druid subclass to the Mel fight. Okay, I have never beaten Mel with a straight Druid so I can’t give you that but solo no reload a F/D can be done. In many ways it is the easiest character to run now that Ranger/Cleric stinks.
while creeping doom creates insects that move in a straight line and affect everything not protected in their path insect plague has to target someone and then, if it connects it spread to the near by enemies with almost no save allowed.
it is possible to cast insect plague on a minor helper of a powerful enemy and have the plague extend to the boss that if directly targeted would have been immune and, at least in EE, is even possible to target one of your summons and have the plague spread to the near by enemies.
this, more then the damage done, make them very different and make each one better suited for different tactical situations.
If you dual from berserker to druid you can beat Kangaxx no problemo.