Ankheg hunting...
QueenQuinzel
Member Posts: 44
On my first playthrough, I stumbled upon an ankheg in the Area Southeast of Durlag's Tower. Now, on my second playthrough, I'm trying to find it, and I can't seem to. Do they spawn randomly? Is there only one you can kill in this area? Is there a chance of it interrupting you while you rest? And, above all, any tips on finding it?
Thanks. x3
P.S.: Pending the answers to the above questions, is there any place I can farm ankhegs? I'd like to get plenty of ankheg shells to sell, and then make another ankheg platemail.
Thanks. x3
P.S.: Pending the answers to the above questions, is there any place I can farm ankhegs? I'd like to get plenty of ankheg shells to sell, and then make another ankheg platemail.
1
Comments
But as Ravenslight already mentioned the area directly north of the Friendly Arm Inn has a ton of them. It even has an Ankheg lair/ cave that you can rest in (and where they will ambush you).
Please enjoy responsibly!
@dunbar, I meant that I wanted to get my first set of platemail made. I currently only have the piece lying on the ground in Nashkel.
for a low-level party, 975 xp is a lot!
i had a party with two sets of ankheg plate, but i'm not going to reveal my source
There's also a single, non-randomly spawning ankheg that you will meet,
According to my old notes (from last year) the Ankheg's northeast of Gerde appear at different times of the day. If you were to pass through the area at different times in the day it would be possible to run into as many as 6 but of these 6 the most you'll run into at any one time is 3.
- White coloured text on the map signifies the names of buildings. Yellow coloured text on the map is for important (or at least notable) NPC's and for quests. Orange text shows respawning monster locations. Any monster spawns (orange text) you see mentioned may have more than just one creature spawned at them (it depends on your level and party size). So if it says "Ankheg" on a map in orange there may actually be a number of Ankhegs and not just one. Blue text shows fixed (non-respawning) monster locations.
Anhkeg spawns will be in groups of up to 3 in a clutch in the open, depending on your party numbers and level.
You can get random spawns of anhkeg in the relatively small green area in front of the renvant's tomb (the middle tomb) on the Tombs/Amazons map. The frequency is sparse compared to Brun's field, however.
You can also get clutches of anhkeg in the upper canyon area of the Gullykin map. Also infrequently compared to Brun's farm.
The one set piece anhkeg encounter north of Wyrm's Crossing is mentioned above. Does not respawn.
Note that the best price for anhkeg shells is at the Thunderhammer Smithy, and it NEVER DEPRECIATES. This, combined with the frequency of repawns if you keep hanging around/camping out at Brun's, makes anhkeg hunting the best unlimited money-maker in the game. You can also sell anhkeg shell to the dwarf trader Fenten in BG, but his house is a little hard to get to (as in, requires you to cross certain city area borders in a particular way, to reach an odd cul-de-sac, AND...he will only pay 250 GP per shell. Haul the stuff to Beregost instead.
Winter Wolf pelt hunting is equally rewarding to anhkeg hunting, but it takes more (game clock elapsed) time patrolling back and forth, and camping, in the Cloudpeaks, in the extreme South. The compelling, no depreciation, market for the pelts is 500 GP from the Nashkel Store. Hunting Winter wolves if you have a good archer and the Belt of the Antipodes, as the wolves will always stop and use their cold blast on the lead hunter. The Belt protects 100% from cold attacks, so just have him stand there and pick them off. Make sure to keep everyone else behind the protected hunter, but they can still shoot if in range.
You will also encounter a lot of Winter Wolves in one of the sub-quests from Ulgoth's Beard, but that is a one-pass quest; I don't think you can do any repeat hunting there.
Hunting wyverns is the third big wilderness money maker, with the biggest up front reward of 2000 GP for the first (adult) wyvern head from the Song of the Morning temple (if you have talked to Coran). Subsequent wyvern heads can be sold for 500 GP apiece to Feldepost's Inn or to Thalantyr, and their may be some buyers in BG (Sorcerous Sundries? the guy upstairs at the Elfsong Tavern?), BUT THEY DO DEPRECIATE based on how many you have already sold to each vendor. They will ultimately drop to only 200 GP apiece. So it is best to save up all your wyvern heads after the first until you do not expect to go into the Cloakwood any more, or until you don't think you want to hunt them any more, and sell up to 16 of them at once (one character's full inventory load, even if you have to transfer some to him in the store before the sale) to the same vendor, for 500 GP apiece.
I believe wyverns yield the best XP of the three money quarry creatures (1400? apiece), but they are the most difficult to find in numbers. You have to keep going in-between areas of the Cloakwood, hoping for a transit encounter with adult wyverns, and fending off the more numerous encounters with ettercaps (ick!) and spiders in the meantime. Anhkeg are next best in XP yield. If you are just hunting mainly for XP later in the game, patrol or camp in the NW portion of the Temple map, or in the NE portion of the map north of Nashkel, and kill Vampiric Wolves for 2000 XP apiece. Be sure to have the right tools/spells.
Oh, I think someone said it up above, but you can only get two sets of Anhkeg Armor in the game. You can find one, in someone's forgotten (?) cache near Nashkel (where would be telling - but its easy enough to find on-line if you wish), and you can get Taerun the Smith to make one for you for 4000 GP. Even if you sell him 40 more sets of shells, he will never offer to sell you another set of Anhkeg Armor at any price, so plan carefully which characters need it most.
Is it safe to store items a) on the ground, b) on the ground in someone's house, and c) in a container in someone's house? I'd like to store these ankheg shells in one of the southwestern houses in the Brun's field map so I can port them one-by-one (or multiple at a time if I get Dorn) to Beregost.
Edit:
Just happened to have a save outside Taerom Fuiruim’s shop with a shell in my pocket so I checked the dialogue. If you tell him you don’t have the coin to have the armor made he will say “That shell will rot in a tenday if not cured.”
Nothing like saving up shells somewhere untill you get around to selling them only to have them go bad. Don’t ask how I know…
I'm pretty sure that I had some leftovers stashed in Farmer Brun's "mysteriously empty" footlocker for a month or more before selling them. So, perhaps storing them in a dark, dry, quiet place IS part of the curing process.
I SUSPECT that the "going bad" mechanic is ONLY pertinent to any shells that you are setting aside AFTER talking to Taerom the about Anhkeg Armor, and BEFORE actually contracting with him for a set of AA.
dreamrider
Also...what the heck kind of muscleman party are you running, that you can afford to just carry around 2-300lbs of anhkeg shell for 10+ days??
I have popped one into my game more than once. It allows me to feed my packrat addiction.
Nothing like having EVERYONE in the party being loaded down with tiny bundles of arrows, and knowing you will probably run out during cloakwoods.
I usually sell them all too. Regular full plate had better defense bonuses and it looks better. Green? What am I, a goblin? No.
Also - regarding anhkeg vs full plate - ignoring the excess weight issues, in the first half of the game there is exactly one set of accessible full plate mail - which is much more expensive than the anhkeg deal. Later, a whole two sets! There are typically 3-4 party characters that need/can use hard armor protection. THAT's why you always take Taerun's deal.