Skip to content

Karoug Immune To Slow?

Okay, this is getting a bit frustrating...

I am trying to solo Karoug with mage/thief. While I can pretty reliably paralyse him with a combination of greater malision, wand of paralisation and good old kiting, I cannot beat his insane regeneration. He is regenerating at the rate of 30 HP/round and has 50% elemental damage immunity, so I cannot find a combination of spells and attacks to beat that even while he is paralised. So, I thought I could cast Slow on him because, as far as I remember, greater wolveres are not immune to it. But when I cast it on him - nothing happens. There is no feedback, no saving throw, nothing, it just doesn't work. Does this mean he is immune to it and...why is he immune to it? I am playing with SCS and improved Balduran Isle, if it helps.

Comments

  • VanDerBergVanDerBerg Member Posts: 217
    Nevermind this, the dog-boy is dead. I managed to buff myself with the IWD spells like Emotions so that he dies immediately of triple damage backstab and a minor sequencer with two magic missiles.
  • jmerryjmerry Member Posts: 3,822
    That SCS component gives all the lycanthrope bosses free action. Slow won't help if you're using it.

    Damage potential against a stunned Karoug ...
    Haste + werebane dagger + wolfsbane amulet + Legacy of the Masters: 2d4+16+2xStr. That's at least 23 average damage per round, 27 with a potion for 18 strength. Not quite a match for Karoug's 30/round regeneration, but close.
    The Burning Earth longsword is slightly more damage, but also more variable.

    That's your attacks. Now add in some magic. For sustained damage ... wand of fire scorchers. 6d6+6, save for half (Karoug saves on a 6), and he's 50% fire resistance. But since it hits twice, it's worth it. Another 17 average damage per wand shot; added to your melee attacks, that's around 40 damage per round. Easily enough to overwhelm that regeneration.

    Then there's another way to do it. Polymorph Other, whether as a spell or a wand. Sets his maximum HP to 11, permanently. Then you kill him in one hit. His saves are good, but he doesn't have MR.
    Aerakar
  • Grond0Grond0 Member Posts: 7,305
    If he's paralyzed you can dual-wield to get 3 APR. The mage strength spell also increases damage slightly over 18 from a potion (though by that stage of the game you might have already used the tome anyway to get to 19 strength). That would allow physical attacks to easily kill him even before factoring in use of wand of fire.
    Aerakar
  • VanDerBergVanDerBerg Member Posts: 217
    edited June 2021
    That SCS component gives all the lycanthrope bosses free action. Slow won't help if you're using it.

    So, that was it. And there was me, cackling upfront about him being slowed and halving his regeneration rate.
    Damage potential against a stunned Karoug ...
    Haste + werebane dagger + wolfsbane amulet + Legacy of the Masters: 2d4+16+2xStr. That's at least 23 average damage per round, 27 with a potion for 18 strength. Not quite a match for Karoug's 30/round regeneration, but close.

    I had all of these, except that I used the burning earth. In the end, I also used two Emotion (Courage and Hope) spells, which add +2 and +3 damage (no idea if these are factored in for the backstab multiplier). I think the final damage output with burning earth was 11-19 or so, +2 of which came from strength. With backstab multiplier, it was around 30-60. I guess I got a good roll and did 50something damage from that, which made him killable with 2 magic missiles.
    If he's paralyzed you can dual-wield to get 3 APR.

    I am ashamed to admit that I totally forgot about dual wielding :( Dual wielding the dagger and burning earth with all the buffs would have probably been enough. But I was too focused on increasing the damage from a backstabbing (for which, admittedly, I didn't need paralysation in the first place) and on the idea that I have to buff to kill him in one shot.

    I didn't think of polymorph other either. His saves aren't terribly good for a boss and with greater malision it is probably very doable. Oh well, all things to consider for the final Sarevok fight, which is hard as hell...
    Grond0Aerakar
  • YoEgoYoEgo Member Posts: 3
    I did manage to slow him, immobilize him and until he is affected by the spell of cleric commando, what is more, I have even managed to get him to flee like a girl with a wand of terror (better not to do it, run a lot and it is a nuisance to be chasing it). And there are people who have turned it into chicken. No matter how hard it is, it always has 5% of failure to throw.

    Killing Karoug is hard if you don't have anyone with the bastard sword against dopplegangers, because, look where, I don't know who came up with the other golden bastard sword in Karoug's back drawer, behind a trap and in a closed chest. But if you have that weapon, you kill it almost by looking at it. Ajantis with a potion of strength destroys him if you cover him from the other werewolves.
  • jmerryjmerry Member Posts: 3,822
    Actually, not just that one weapon. Here are the silver weapons you can use to hurt Karoug:

    - Kondar (bastard sword, from Aldeth Sashenstar. Either kill him in the Cloakwood or help him out in the big city.)
    - Albruin (bastard sword, from Simmeon in Dorn's quest.)
    - The Burning Earth (long sword, from deep in Durlag's Tower.)
    - Werebane (dagger, from lower down in the ship.)
    - Sword of Balduran (bastard sword, in a container beyond Karoug.)

    All right, bastard swords have the most options. But it's not just them. In one of my runs, I had Shar-Teel dual-classed to thief and specced for super-powerful backstabs. She took him down in a single round, without any help. One backstab with The Burning Earth, followed by a normal hit later in the round.

    Most of those silver weapons are also flagged as cold iron, so they work against Selaad as well at the very end of the quest. Albruin is an exception, but you probably don't have three bastard sword users in your party. Of course, Selaad is much less of a problem, since he doesn't have that fast regeneration.
    YoEgo wrote: »
    No matter how hard it is, it always has 5% of failure to throw.
    There are no critical failures on saving throws in these games. You can throw all the Chromatic Orbs you want at Karoug, and he'll never fail the save - he saves versus spell on a 5, so that +6 modifier gives him at least a 7 and he saves even on a natural 1. No petrifying him with your level 10 Avenger. Unless you debuff him with a Greater Malison first.

    Also, on the question of the thread's title ... as answered in my first post, that was a mod change. You slowed the standard version of Karoug, VanDerBerg couldn't slow the SCS version.
    AerakarGrond0
  • VanDerBergVanDerBerg Member Posts: 217
    Yes, mine was SCS version. What confused me was that the README for SCS said that Karoug was left as it is, so I assumed he can still be slowed. But I didn't read that all greater wolveres got a free action effect in SCS.

    Speaking of avengers, I wonder if there is actually a way for avenger to solo Karoug, since they can use only one of the weapons that can hurt Karoug. Though, I guess if an avenger dooms him, then somehow manages to summon a bunch of woodland beings in that confined space while being chased by Karoug and one of them manages to land Hold Monster and if the avenger spams wand of heavens and takes oil of speed, maybe they can beat his regeneration somehow...Cause Serious Wounds should count as Cold Iron, but it takes a whole round to cast it for 27 damage, so that's a no no.

    Though, maybe better question is whether a cleric can solo Karoug, since none of the weapons from the list are usable by cleric.
    Katzerchen
  • YoEgoYoEgo Member Posts: 3
    That's a good point. Those who do it solo and can't use edged weapons are really done for.

    You can use Kiel's morning star. It's a +3 weapon, and it's +5 when you get the murderous madness, even if it's cursed, you could finish him off.

    Or the hammer spell, which I think also hurts him.
  • jmerryjmerry Member Posts: 3,822
    No. The BG1 lycanthrope bosses don't require a specific enchantment level to hit. It has to be magic and silver/cold iron to work. Kiel's morning star is a hard-hitting +3 weapon, but it's not silver.

    There are a few melee attacks a cleric can hit them with; spells like the Cause Wounds line and Slay Living create a "weapon" that counts as silver and cold iron. But you're limited to level 4 spells so it's Cause Serious Wounds only, and a casting time of 7 for 17 damage isn't going to get you ahead against that regeneration.

    None of Shillelagh, Flame Blade, or Spiritual Hammer count as silver or cold iron.
  • Grond0Grond0 Member Posts: 7,305
    Clerics can stack glyphs and then run Karoug through those.
    JuliusBorisov
  • VanDerBergVanDerBerg Member Posts: 217
    Clerics can stack glyphs and then run Karoug through those.

    This seems like the only way to beat him. Of course, with his saving throws and 50% electrical resistance, you will need maaaaany of these. Not sure how it would work in a confined space such as is there, but I guess you could kite him around, use sanctuary, move away, place glyph in the corner of the room, do this a few times, leave the room, go outside the ship, rest and repeat. Then take a potion of absorption and lure him to the corner somehow that the glyph doesn't activate with just you in its AoE area. Sounds hard, but doable theoretically.
  • Grond0Grond0 Member Posts: 7,305
    VanDerBerg wrote: »
    Clerics can stack glyphs and then run Karoug through those.

    This seems like the only way to beat him. Of course, with his saving throws and 50% electrical resistance, you will need maaaaany of these. Not sure how it would work in a confined space such as is there, but I guess you could kite him around, use sanctuary, move away, place glyph in the corner of the room, do this a few times, leave the room, go outside the ship, rest and repeat. Then take a potion of absorption and lure him to the corner somehow that the glyph doesn't activate with just you in its AoE area. Sounds hard, but doable theoretically.

    Clerics can cast protection from lightning, so there's no need to use any resources. As you say, you can use sanctuary to set up glyphs - but you can also move Karoug between levels and do it like that. As the glyphs have an area of effect there's no problem getting them to affect him.

    It is also possible to kill him just with firebreath potions, but that's resource intensive and not guaranteed if you only have a limited supply.
  • VanDerBergVanDerBerg Member Posts: 217
    He doesn't follow in my installation, so moving between levels isn't an option. Though, his real thac0 is only 3, so with full plate mail and all the cleric buffs, you can probably easily just ignore him and get to setting glyphs - he will only hit you on a critical and if you get close to dying, you just use sanctuary and heal yourself. Damn, clerics are good.

    Maybe the question is if a druid can solo him...
Sign In or Register to comment.