Black Pit 2 Questions
Jidokwon
Member Posts: 395
I'm trying to run through the Black Pits 2 with the default party: cavalier, berserker, sorcerer, archer, fighter/cleric, and blade. I've played through the Trilogy twice (preEE), so know some of the basics, but will likely need a lot of help with my current run on insane difficulty.
What are some must have spells that the sorcerer and blade should get? I'm lucky to get two buffs off before the enemy is upon me, so what would be a critical arcane and divine buff order? The AI seems to be different in Black Pits 2 than the regular game, as the enemy goes straight for casters.
I ran through the orc encounter three times, hoping to get all of the magic items I could from wins. I've only won Gnasher (a club) and Orc Leather, though. It no longer gave the option to plead for extra gear after the second run. Do any of the fights give more than two loots? Is begging for gear the only way to win it? What is the chance of getting any?
I'm posting this after three attempts on the second encounter. The minotaurs tear down my tanks in three hits (40+ per). The archers go straight for my casters, normally poisoning them. The thieves oneshot half of the party, never missing with their backstabs. I've lost at least one member in all three runs. It doesn't really matter if a character dies in Black Pits 2, as they still get the win experience and are resurrected after. I'd still like to do a run of no party deaths for all of the encounters, though, if it's possible. I'm not looking for a full blown walkthrough of each encounter, but what are some basic defensive strategies that every newbie should learn?
Will I miss out on anything critical by not having the thief in my party? Do the NPCs that you can hire restock after each encounter? Without spoiling the outcome, is there any "reward" for taunting the arena master or crowd or others than begging? Again, without telling the outcome, is there any point to killing more than the wyvern in the animal arena? I'm sure that I'll think of other questions as they come, but this is a good start. Any tips and suggestions are appreciated.
What are some must have spells that the sorcerer and blade should get? I'm lucky to get two buffs off before the enemy is upon me, so what would be a critical arcane and divine buff order? The AI seems to be different in Black Pits 2 than the regular game, as the enemy goes straight for casters.
I ran through the orc encounter three times, hoping to get all of the magic items I could from wins. I've only won Gnasher (a club) and Orc Leather, though. It no longer gave the option to plead for extra gear after the second run. Do any of the fights give more than two loots? Is begging for gear the only way to win it? What is the chance of getting any?
I'm posting this after three attempts on the second encounter. The minotaurs tear down my tanks in three hits (40+ per). The archers go straight for my casters, normally poisoning them. The thieves oneshot half of the party, never missing with their backstabs. I've lost at least one member in all three runs. It doesn't really matter if a character dies in Black Pits 2, as they still get the win experience and are resurrected after. I'd still like to do a run of no party deaths for all of the encounters, though, if it's possible. I'm not looking for a full blown walkthrough of each encounter, but what are some basic defensive strategies that every newbie should learn?
Will I miss out on anything critical by not having the thief in my party? Do the NPCs that you can hire restock after each encounter? Without spoiling the outcome, is there any "reward" for taunting the arena master or crowd or others than begging? Again, without telling the outcome, is there any point to killing more than the wyvern in the animal arena? I'm sure that I'll think of other questions as they come, but this is a good start. Any tips and suggestions are appreciated.
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Comments
Regarding spell choices and tactics.
- For all the early fights, Skull Trap (and Sequencers of Skull Trap) allowed me to breeze through. There's one fight I consider different:
- Sequencers and Triggers were really valuable before level 9 spells for their ability to either nuke the enemy or throw up three buffs at the start.
- Once I had level 9 spells it became really easy. Nearly every fight was effectively ended with either Timestop and nuking with ADHW and Dragon's Breath or Timestop, Improved Haste and Shapechange: Mindflayer.
- I found the best defence was a good offence. I went for Stoneskin Contingencies sometimes but otherwise I just nuked the enemy before they could do any serious harm to me.
- You don't need a thief. There are some traps and locks to disarm in the main compound which can impact on the game later on but I honestly didn't really do much in the way of exploring and sidequests. Tactically you can often set a Spike or Time Trap at the start (and in the course of the battle if no enemies are near).
- I haven't used one but I imagine the Blade being a bit unsuited to this format without the ability to prebuff outside of Sequencers and Contingencies. Unless you really want the default party then I'd maybe go with a second Sorcerer. My party was Cav, F/C, F/T, Inquisitor, Sorcerer*2.
But if you're up for a challenge... It's definitely not that hard to run if you know the basics. And you do have a sorcerer, which can potentially solo the entire pits. The classic low level go-to buffs are: Stone Skin, Mirror Image and Fire Shield. You shouldn't focus on the defensive abilities though unless you're being purchased. Focus on AoE CC in the early fights - Fear, Hold Person, those kind of spells.
Later on there are a lot of really good spells - but since you're so lacking in the casting department, the only one who'll be able to really make good use of them is your sorceress. Not wanting to shound harsh, but why are you putting so many unecessary restrictions on yourself? Playing the staring party, on insane, without any deaths is quite a challenge and going to take you a looooooong time if you're not that familiar with the combat system. I guess it's a really good way to learn, but anyway... I'd recommend doing a normal run first and this one afterwards if you don't want to give up due to feeling like you're hitting your head in a brick wall.
I mean... there are a lot of encounters you'll have nearly no chance to beat without asking other people, and then what's the point? Demiliches comes to mind...
Anyway.
Some basic tips I could give is to pause often, and dont be afraid to walk around a lot. The AI is quite stupid and will sometimes follow a specific character despite being riddled with arrows and spells from all other characters.
Offensive is the best defensive. Focus your damage output and use a lot of Fear, Hold Person and other CC-ing abilities. A lucky Hold Person can lock down the entire enemy side, making the fight very easy. (In the early rounds anyway).
Get potions. Especially against the rogues, since you'll likely get poisoned and wont have time to cure it by spell. Chug a lot of health pots, they're instant and wont take away from your damage output. If you need money, just replay older challenges, they give 500-10000g depending on difficulty and you can do them as much as you like.
Get the Haste spell on your blade. Great for having 5 physical damage dealers.
This is for the lower levels. There's tons and tons of really useful tricks and spells for higher levels (Spell Immunity, Improved Haste, Protection from Magical Weapons, Mordenkainen's Sword, Abi'Dhalzims Horrid Wilting, Chain Contingency, etc etc etc) but it'd take a loooong time to go through all of that.
Biggest tip I can give you is drop the no-death-restriction though. It's completely arbitrary and will only slow you down a lot. No. Most (if not all) of the sidequests have multiple solutions, and they're ridiculously easy to find, and thieves are horrible in straight-up, non-prepared fight. That's the only good thing with the pre-made setup.
I've never really used spell triggers, as I hated having to rememorize and recast them each rest, but I can see, that for a more advanced game, this is something I'll have to get used to. I've also never really taken advantage of spells that can harm the party.
I'll probably lose the idea of playing through with no deaths (though, a lot of reloads). I have a feeling I'll be reloading a lot anyhow. If I remember well, I played through the trilogy, years past, on normal and core difficulties and there wasn't really any need to take full advantage of the combat or spell systems. Other than summons, for instance, I never used HLAs, timestop, and, as mentioned ae spells or triggers.
My party is still terribly geared, plate wearers wearing basic plate mail and only two magic weapons, so far. Bard has purchased one 5th level spell: Hold Monster. I should mention that both of the arcane casters start with a decent spell book (haste x2, horror, chaos, hold person, fire arrow x2, stone skin x2, mirror image x2, remove magic, to name a few). I'm trying to limit my use of requesting older encounters to gain the two magic items from each, though this might change when the gains are worthwhile.
Again, thank you, and I'm looking forward to trying some new techniques.
Then again, your party is terrible, but your playthrough sounds kind of fun. Might try it myself as well.
Just cast invis 10 radius, and use that time there to buff up, then go ham. I can reccomend emotion has your CC spell, it's rly effective at these low lvl fights.