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Assassin kit and Poison Weapon

cbarchukcbarchuk Member Posts: 322
Due to the nerf are darts still the best weapon for an assassin to use? Starting a new game of SoD with a custom party and trying to decide if my poor elven assassin should stick with darts or go with shortbows. Or maybe I should just drop the assassin entirely and go with a stalker or something to fill the scout role. Thoughts?
Aerakar

Comments

  • AerakarAerakar Member Posts: 1,016
    @cbarchuk check out this post where I posed the same assassin and darts quandary. General consensus seemed to be still yes for all thieves in BG2 due to the high rate of fire and easy +2/+3 availability.

    https://forums.beamdog.com/discussion/63930/assassins-using-darts-after-2-3-still-worthwhile#latest

    Personally, I think it makes sense to go for both short bows and darts for an assassin for maximum flexibility. If you carry Biter with you at the end of SoD it carries into BG2 and is available right at the start.
    JuliusBorisovOrlonKronsteen
  • cbarchukcbarchuk Member Posts: 322
    Hey Aerakar,

    Thanks for the feedback. I have him primarily using a shortbow with acid arrows. Anyways I went ahead and started two games simultaneously one with an assassin and one with a dual wielding stalker. I just finished the dungeon where you defeat Coldhearth the lich. Both groups did a good job and I'm playing on hard difficulty. But I did something interesting with the assassin during the Coldhearth fight. I'm using RR mod so my assassin gets the higher backstab multipler sooner plus the improved shadowblade you get from Slythe. So his backstab is sitting at x6 as an 11th level assassin. I have a 5 man group consisting of a Human Cavalier, Dwarven fighter/cleric, Elven assassin, Halfling fighter/thief, and a Half-elf sorceress. I sent everyone but my assassin to the broken portal where you have to destroy the phylactery. Had my assassin use an oil of speed potion combined with his boots of speed. From there I walked in the room with Coldhearth and agreed to help him. I turned around and backstabbed for 100 damage and dropped him immediately. Grabbed his key and flew up into the phylactery room and grab Coldhearth's phylactery. I then raced back to the broken portal room where the rest of my part was stationed. Right before my assassin arrived I had my other party members move into the room and engage the fire elementals that spawned. My assassin arrived shortly after and destroyed the phylactery. Done. Quick and easy. So having the ability to take out higher priority targets immediately has proven to be quite nice. I haven't used poison all the much. I've mainly have been using the assassin as a scout and backstabber. So he fared quite well in this dungeon. We'll see how it goes from here. Stalker has been rock solid as well being able to go toe to toe while dual wielding.
    AerakarOrlonKronsteen
  • AerakarAerakar Member Posts: 1,016
    @cbarchuk , I do like stalkers, but I personally prefer the full thief skill-set if playing a backstabber/scout character, so I would probably go with an elven F/T instead if I wanted a forest commando, or a dwarf/gnome F/T for a shady, back-stabby mercenary type. But that's just me and stalkers are fun and flavorful so enjoy!

    On the elven assassin, as you know I enjoy this class. I like the melee focus of your assassin and the liberal backstabbing and scouting. I have also found that approach to work well in SoD, same as in BG1. The RR SSoB is great and ensures smooth backstabbing.

    If you are thinking more melee instead of more ranged, there is nothing wrong with using either short bow or dart instead of both. Short bow is just fine as an assassin's main ranged weapon. This would then leave you extra pips for TWF in case you plan to take advantage of RR's 3 TWF pips for later dual-wielding short swords already in early SoA.
    OrlonKronsteen
  • OrlonKronsteenOrlonKronsteen Member Posts: 905
    Tresset said:

    In case you are interested, you can mod the old poison weapon back into the game if you want.

    https://forums.beamdog.com/discussion/48441/original-poison-weapon-ability-for-bg1-ee-and-bg2-ee

    Does the BG1 file work for SOD?
  • cbarchukcbarchuk Member Posts: 322
    @Aerakar, great to hear your feedback again as always. I think you and I are quite similar in our love for thieves and how we roleplay them. I go back and forth on whether I prefer an assassin vs the classic fighter/thief for my backstabber/scout character. I really dig single class kits simply for flavor but the F/T seems to always be the superior choice. Right now in my party my assassin is completely focused on Hide in Shadows and Move Silently while my Fighter/Thief is focused on traps and locks. Feels sort of weird having 2 thieves but cool at the same time. Maybe I should just go with the Fighter/Thief and open up the last slot to some other class like a blade or something. Decisions, decisions...
    Aerakar
  • TressetTresset Member, Moderator Posts: 8,262
    edited September 2017
    @OrlonKronsteen Yes. The BG1:EE file was meant for all of BG1:EE including SoD. It should work regardless of whether SoD is installed. Sorry about the late response, I had lost my internet for a while.
    AerakarJuliusBorisovOrlonKronsteen
  • OrlonKronsteenOrlonKronsteen Member Posts: 905
    Tresset said:

    @OrlonKronsteen Yes. The BG1:EE file was meant for all of BG1:EE including SoD. It should work regardless of whether SoD is installed. Sorry about the late response, I had lost my internet for a while.

    No worries about response time. Thanks for the info, and thanks again for making those poison files available. I can never thank you enough for that.
    Aerakar
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