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The LoB + SCS Solo Challenge vs Bhaal´s Cataclysm

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  • histamiinihistamiini Member Posts: 1,428
    edited January 2018
    @Harpagornis Nice work! Yeah I think everything in the long run gets tedious repeating the same tactic over and over again. I'm quite enjoying my F/M/C playthrough because I pretty much have every trick in the book, so I can alter tactics as I go. Even though this makes SoA pretty easy going so far, which takes the umph out some.
    HarpagornisGrond0ArctodusStummvonBordwehr
  • histamiinihistamiini Member Posts: 1,428
    edited January 2018
    Six said goodbye to Brynnlaw,


    and apparently also to Saemon Havarian. He was actually first mazed and then killed, well evil got its share. Skelis conquered City of Caverns, nothing interesting there. Skelis then conquered the Underdark where as I handled all three boss battles, the Balor, Diagot and Vithal were all PfM'd, and then meleed down. Got Time Stop. Simbja mob was MoaF'd (Mother of all Fogs, 4xCloudkill/Death Fog trigger), such nice feeling watching attack rolls going absolutely berserk. Skelis, Deva and Simulacrum helped rescue Phaere from the Flayers.

    Mind Flayer Dungeon. Chaotic Commands, pumped Int to 35+ and with Drow Full Plate, Sentinel, FoA and RoR I was able to tank Flayers, although they still hit crazy hard. Cleared the whole dungeon, but had to spend all 18 hits from the Resurrection Rods before Master brain. But it was easily Cloudkilled (15x) from the distance. Got the blood, couple Control Circlets and the Staff of Command. Didn't bother with the Beholder dungeon. Simayaz and his gangsters was then MoaF'd. Deirex PfU + PfM. Double-crossed Phaere and got the real dragon eggs for Adalon.


    Except it was a triple-cross, and I exhanged the eggs for her blood. Made 3x Lower Resistance trigger and Greater Malison + Doom sequencer just in case, but the trusty WoW did its work cleanly without hassle. 5 Demon Knights were handled by hasted party of me, 3x Skeli, Deva and Sim.

    And I was already doing my victory lap, when I stumbled on the Kuo Toa Monitors on way out, and as they see through everything, they started to chase me. Tried to run out, but there was a massive war party blocking the way, released one Death Fog trigger and turned back and ran like hell and out to the other way. And so started a hidiously long grind through the dungeon. Sent 4x Skeli + Deva mobs in, but all were dispelled by the Glabrezu, and Skelis were then killed by the Drow death spells. So Deva had to do most of the heavy lifting. Had to rest and repeat that about ten times before most of the way was clear. But it still wasn't completely clear, but I was just had enough and ran through, and with Sanctuary quickly skipped the exit area. Next to Umar Hills to seek the last of the components for Crom Faeyr.
    ArctodusHarpagornisStummvonBordwehrGrond0
  • HarpagornisHarpagornis Member Posts: 1,658
    edited January 2018
    As i cant see Druids anymore i started playing around with another class for a potential poverty run: The Cleric!

    With his Skeletons he will have an easy time for most parts so the first question was: Can he beat Sarevok?

    The answer: Yes he can!

    1. Use 1x Dispel Magic to get rid of haste and invisibility. As the Cleric is only level 8 and will have to save his level 3 spell slots for Skels he is in some kind of dilemma here. To make it short: It will take several reloads to dispel all three of them.
    2. Summon one Skeleton to get Semaj and Tazok close to 0 (CTRL+M). Retreat the Skel afterwards.
    3. Doom + Mental Domination on Semaj so he will cast Skull Trap instakilling him and Tazok.
    4. Before the killing cast Sanctuary and trigger the talking right after Semaj and Tazok went down to make sure Diarmid and Angelo will port in. This makes sure nobody willl follow you!
    5. Wait until protections expire (or use CTRL+T)
    6. Use your Skel to lure Angelo to your Cleric and cast Mental Domination on him.
    7. Send in Angelo to soak up damage and immediately cast Mental Domination on Diarmid.
    8. Once both are dominated (may also take several reloads!) let them focus on Sarevok. Always take a close look on Diarmid as he likes to change his target and make sure he fires Acid Arrows for max damage. Recast Angelos Stone Skin and/or Mirror Image.
    9. Park Angelo and Diarmid near Sarevoks spawning point or in one corner to get enough room for kiting while watching the whole scene undetected thanks to Sanctuary.
    10. Let Sarevok take down Angelo and Diarmid - hope that they dealt a lot of damage. If they brought your evil brother to 5XX HP they did a good job.
    11. Call in two more Skels (three now) and use Sanctuary to lure only Sarevok to your undead friends. Pray that you have dispelled his haste earlier and let the main character play the decoy while the Skels hack him down. This may take a while...

    Problems still to solve: Crusader Attacks and Big B himself. At the moment i fear that there is absolutely no way for Clerics to beat the big one. Damn it.

    Possible Dual-Class Combos i was thinking of: Bounty Hunter 6 or Enchanter 2. Traps vs Familiar and better charming/holding. Still not enough. Or better just go with Priest of Thalos for some lightning action...

    Any ideas for SoD late game? There must be a way... there must!!! :D

    P.S. I like your idea @semiticgod - looks like a big fun bag! It his would work for poverty runs - imagine the options. damn it! :D
    Post edited by Harpagornis on
    semiticgoddesshistamiiniStummvonBordwehr
  • semiticgoddesssemiticgoddess Member Posts: 14,903
    It looks like BG1 is almost broken for every class except for single-classed thieves, who would struggle to slay the Battle Horrors in the Cloakwood Mines and the doppelgangers at the Ducal Palace. SoD also looks very rough for single-classed thieves and single-classed clerics.

    @Harpagornis: You've mentioned having great difficulty tackling the Coalition Camp invasion's first wave with a single-classed cleric. Is it not possible to stack enough Glyphs of Warding to make a difference?

    Would it also be at all possible to keep the trolls away from the barrels by tanking them on your own? Stacking Potions of Heroism and Durlag's Goblet (I'm talking about a non-poverty run here) could keep a cleric alive for many rounds, and if the trolls will attack you instead of wandering over to the barrels, that could solve our problem.
  • HarpagornisHarpagornis Member Posts: 1,658
    edited January 2018
    @semiticgod: Can you let the Cleric summon his Skel and move him out of the temple again before he turns hostile once Mental Domination or Charm Person expires? If this works...

    EDIT: Looks like it works - big Skeleton incoming! :D

    With reloads the Crusader Attacks are possible even for Clerics. No-Reload or Poverty is another story. :D

    Thieves can easily beat Davaeorn. Just use invisibility to park the Battle Horrors far away from their Mage and use the Guard to kill him (if this works in your installation). Or charm Davaeorn himself (even though this is riskier in no-reload). If everything fails: Necklace of Missile burning and some kiting/backstabbing. Dopplegangers are also easy for Thieves: Arrows of Dispelling and after that a combination of Acid Arrows and backstabs. If you have charmed and parked at least the Mage this one should be easy going! Not to forget: Placing seven traps before the fight... :D
    semiticgoddessGrond0histamiini
  • semiticgoddesssemiticgoddess Member Posts: 14,903
    So, does anyone know if it's possible to skip the whole fight at Dragonspear Castle and just run straight to Ashatiel?
  • MyragMyrag Member Posts: 328
    edited January 2018
    Do you guys go for early push of ch3 in BG2EE when you reach 15k just to get Amulet of Power and Ring of Protection +2? Since this isn't timed you start the quests to destroy Bodhi lair and do rest of what you would usually do in ch2. Seems like cheap investment for such strong items with literally no downside.

    Unless there is a downside, in which case please tell me as I plan to do it on my next run.
    StummvonBordwehr
  • histamiinihistamiini Member Posts: 1,428
    edited January 2018
    Damn, Project Image, or Simulacrum can't cast Chain Contingency so that it transfers to the main character. So this doesn't help against Tahazzar nor Ka'rashur, nor similar battles where it starts immidiatelly after loading screen. This puts slight dent on my plans, and it's the point where I start to think F/I is probably a lot better than F/M/C. Although there's 4 Chain Contingency scrolls in the game, so maybe I'll use couple of them.

    Anyway Shadow Temple, PfU and Skelis quickly cleared the whole place. Thaxll'ssillyia was WoW'd with 10th strike, I'm 3 for 3 now with it, although still balanced if you factor in how the Deck of Many things went.


    Shadow Lord was then simply meleed down with PfU. Contracted the Human Flesh +5 armor job, had 5 Skelis and 3x Silence trigger, but it was too slow against the three mages, and only one got silenced. Mayhem ensued, where they battled the Skelis, and one started following me through Sanctuary. I retreated and fed more Skelis, then Madulf and fellows joined the battle. After all Skelis and Madulf were dead, I presented a hasted Deva, who then swept the three mages out. And now I remembered Human Flesh +5 is only for the evil aligned, well that may still happen...
    Grond0HarpagornisStummvonBordwehr
  • Grond0Grond0 Member Posts: 7,305
    Myrag said:

    Do you guys go for early push of ch3 in BG2EE when you reach 15k just to get Amulet of Power and Ring of Protection +2? Since this isn't timed you start the quests to destroy Bodhi lair and do rest of what you would usually do in ch2. Seems like cheap investment for such strong items with literally no downside.

    Unless there is a downside, in which case please tell me as I plan to do it on my next run.

    I tend not to do it just because of the possibility of running into a vampire ambush when not paying attention and getting dominated. It's not difficult to avoid that of course - just don't move around at night or keep invisibility up - but I've got into the habit of pushing reputation up and paying for all equipment before coughing up the 15k.
    histamiiniMyragHarpagornisStummvonBordwehr
  • MyragMyrag Member Posts: 328
    @Grond0 True. Although vampire ambushes happen anyway at night, but few has talk away from options. I assume there is more of them in ch3 then since you chose alignment with thiefs. As for paying for gear before playing 15k fe, I was also thinking that for 15k you get one good item where as here you get 2 items and 45k XP so not a bad trade. Not saying that should be first choice but after 1/2 items it might be worth.

    Thanks for your input on this.

    I might check how many more ambushes I will get then and report back.
    StummvonBordwehr
  • histamiinihistamiini Member Posts: 1,428
    edited January 2018
    Any tips for doing the Druid Grove, more precisely safe way for Cernd winning the battle? I've always used Insects, put that's really unreliable way. What happens if Cernd dies?
  • HarpagornisHarpagornis Member Posts: 1,658
    edited January 2018
    Buff up Cernd and put him invisible - this will prevent Faldorns prebuffs. Now its up to you: Insect Swarm, Miscast Magic or Harm! :D

    If Cernd dies its game over! Well - not really. "Only" the quest failed... ;)

    Eklun turned into Mustard Jelly to negate all magic and then used his summons (innate abilities can still be used!) - easy going! :D
    histamiiniStummvonBordwehr
  • histamiinihistamiini Member Posts: 1,428
    edited January 2018
    Or I could drop Staff of Command on the ground, and Cernd could then charm Faldron, as he doesn't seem to have any kind of immunities or Magic Resistance...
    Harpagornis
  • HarpagornisHarpagornis Member Posts: 1,658
    edited January 2018
    If i get some time in the next days (real life soaks a lot of energy at the moment) i will most probably continue with Krells Poverty Run in SoA. I need something relaxing and as the Totemic Druid seems to be my second nature this should be like a walk in the park. Well. Nearly! :D

    If anyone else wants join our challenge - you are welcome! ;)
    StummvonBordwehrhistamiini
  • histamiinihistamiini Member Posts: 1,428
    edited January 2018
    The Travels of Staff of Command... I mean Six. Cleared the path to the bridge with Skelis and Crom Faeyr + FoA combo, where I dominated the Spore Colonnies with the staff.


    And after internal stuggle who to serve, I used my new army to clear the way to the Faldorn's Cave.


    Where I made Cernd invisible, thanks @Harpagornis and he borrowed my precious staff and charmed Faldorn.


    After which they went eeny, meeny, miny, moe, Faldorn doomed, Cern summoned, Faldorn summoned, Cernd Insect Swarmed, and Faldorn was no more.

    Ended the troubles in the Trademeet the same way, making Djinnies battle themselves


    And Skelis then did the rest.


    Needless to point that Staff of Command is ridiculously powerful, and all but Monks can use it.
    HarpagornisStummvonBordwehrArctodusAerakar
  • semiticgoddesssemiticgoddess Member Posts: 14,903
    I am so unhappy with this.

    I just died in Durlag's Tower to the Wardens. Apparently one of them paralyzes you with a ranged attack. I caught it in time and equipped the Ring of Free Action, but then I had to take it off to equip Boots of Speed so I could escape before the enemy killed me with pure damage. But Fear chased me all the way out of the area and up the stairs, and right before I got out, I failed a save vs. spell against the odds.

    I've never even heard of that paralysis attack.

    I was already in SoD on a great run, having just completed a lot of tedious chores, and I was only stopping by Durlag's Tower to pick up Durlag's Goblet and escape. Does anyone have a low-risk strategy for dealing with the Wardens?
    StummvonBordwehrhistamiiniHarpagornis
  • HarpagornisHarpagornis Member Posts: 1,658
    edited January 2018
    Focus down Love and - if possible - split him from Fear to grab the Wardstone and move on. For some reason the splitting does not work in my installation (even not with invisibility) but as long as you got protection against the stun Fear is helpless and no danger. Summons will do the job or good old hit & run as Love has a good punch. With careful movement you can completly avoid Avarice and Pride. Cant remember when i have died the last time here... ^^
    StummvonBordwehrhistamiini
  • histamiinihistamiini Member Posts: 1,428
    edited January 2018
    Yeah, I always make them move with WoF and follow them invisible, and wait a chance to lure Love away with ranged attack. Then just WoMS him for the Wardstone.
    Harpagornis
  • semiticgoddesssemiticgoddess Member Posts: 14,903
    That's the weird thing. I was invisible when this happened. I went invisible specifically to get away from him. Is Fear not supposed to see through invisibility?
  • HarpagornisHarpagornis Member Posts: 1,658
    edited January 2018
    In my installation he can not see through invisbility @semiticgod - maybe one of your mods changed that.

    In the end that should not matter! ;)
  • semiticgoddesssemiticgoddess Member Posts: 14,903
    @Harpagornis: Uh... apparently not. Fear has no opcode and no items that grant the ability to see through invisibility. And after checking the screenshots, I not only drank a Potion of Invisibility after he started attacking me, I was already invisible before he first attacked me. And I don't see what in his script would change that.

    This is the only reference to Durlag's Tower in my WeiDu log:

    ~STRATAGEMS/SETUP-STRATAGEMS.TP2~ #0 #7070 // Improved Durlag's Tower: v30 BWP fix + K4thos' EET compatibility

    @Harpagornis @Grond0: Are you guys running SCS v30? If so, then the only explanation I have for this behavior is that EET or the "BWP fix" somehow rigged Fear to be able to see through invisibility--which doesn't seem like intended behavior even if I could find out what caused it.

    I've already restarted the game in BG1, but if I can't find a proper explanation for Fear's behavior, I'm going to chalk this up to a bug and grant myself a reload.
  • semiticgoddesssemiticgoddess Member Posts: 14,903
    By the way: it should be entirely possible to hit Belhifet with the level 2 Strength spell, giving him -3 THAC0 and -7 damage.
    Grond0HarpagornisStummvonBordwehr
  • semiticgoddesssemiticgoddess Member Posts: 14,903
    Also, charmed critters like Tiax and Ithtyl do not get their spells back when you rest. So if you use Tiax's ghast against the Beregost spiders, you won't be able to use them against Tranzig later unless you bring him into the party. Likewise, if you have Ithtyl cast Invisibility on Liia Jannath, she'll lose that level 2 spell slot even if you rest.
    HarpagornisStummvonBordwehr
  • semiticgoddesssemiticgoddess Member Posts: 14,903
    On further review, it seems I wasn't invisible... the Blur effect made it look like I was. Looking over my previous screenshots and looking at wand charges, potion counts, and spell slots, it seems I broke invisibility by casting Animate Dead and got ambushed at some point. I'm afraid the death wasn't due to a bug.

    At least I'm already back at the Ducal Palace in the run I restarted. BG1 is lightning fast when you skip half the game and use CTRL-J to jump around.
    Grond0HarpagornisStummvonBordwehr
  • histamiinihistamiini Member Posts: 1,428
    edited January 2018
    Did some finishing touches on the quests. As TorGal can see through Sanctuary I lured him to a killing zone where Skelis, Deva and Six hacked him down. Apparently SCS has made this battle easier, because I remember TorGal having twice the DR with my Cavalier.


    Then I MoaF'd the rest of the mob.



    Using Mace of Distruption, Bodhi and her minions were simply hacked down second time with one PfU.


    Time to take a real challenge, at Twisted Rune. Kind of...


    Using 14 scrolls, laid 70 Skull Traps from 4 Project Images, and one Simulacrum.


    Had Simulacrum cast PfU on me, and then PfM on Shangalar.


    And then I slinged Shangalar down.


    As soon as Vaxall and Revenak appeared, they dissappeared. Made another Simulacrum who cast PfU on herself, both casted Sanctuary.


    Then I casted Truth Seeing and Simulacrum put PfM on Layene. After which both Layene and Shyressa were simply hunted down, and Six collected the Staff of Magi.



    That went like a clockwork, only Layene attacked me a little.
    HarpagornisStummvonBordwehrGrond0semiticgoddess
  • HarpagornisHarpagornis Member Posts: 1,658
    edited January 2018
    That looked really easy @histamiini - will there be any real challenge waiting for Six? :D

    Krell continued his poverty run in SoA and one has to point out that this is really like walking through a park with the sun shining and the birds singing. But to get to the point: The Spirit Summons and Fire Elementals destroyed absolutely everything in this dungeon. Same for Mencar and party. Same for the Circus Tent after which Krell reached level 13. Time for a little break as the summons want to eat something "real". ;)
    histamiiniStummvonBordwehrGrond0semiticgoddess
  • histamiinihistamiini Member Posts: 1,428
    edited January 2018
    @Harpagornis Well there's the two bastards in Maze level of Watchers Keep. I went there already second time, but both rooms before them are either dead magic or wild magic, so I couldn't buff and backed out again. Soon as I go through about 10 spells are hurled at me including dispels, and the rooms are packed with enemies and all see through invisibility. So I don't know what I'm going to do with it... I wish I were a F/M so I didn't need the Staff of freaking Ram, or at least had natural Time Stop and Chain Contingency. Maybe I need to map the place out some more, to see if there's more rooms that leads to them.

    EDIT: Hmm, there's 6 Time Stop scrolls in the game, and as they are insta cast, using couple would give 3 rounds against them, which could be enough. Need to calculate this out.

    EDIT: It should be doable, if they don't have PfMW or something else.

    Tahazzar needs 455 hp / 0.75 = 606,666... damage, 3xGww Crom Faeyr = 720 average damage
    Ka'rashur needs 500 hp / 0.75 = 666,666... damage, 3xGww Crom Faeyr = 870 average damage as he doesn't have ER

    EDIT: Except using scrolls isn't insta cast and I can't Gww the first round anyway, damn...

    Tahazzar needs 455 hp / 0.75 = 606,666... damage, 3.5 apr + 2xGww Crom Faeyr = 564 average damage
    Ka'rashur needs 500 hp / 0.75 = 666,666... damage, 3.5 apr + 2xGww Crom Faeyr = 682 average damage as he doesn't have ER

    EDIT: Hmm, neither is immune to harm, which should be easily done during the Time Stop.
    Post edited by histamiini on
    HarpagornisStummvonBordwehr
  • histamiinihistamiini Member Posts: 1,428
    edited January 2018
    @semiticgod Do you know how Simulacrum spell levels are calculated? Because I've only 4lv mage/ 5lv cleric, although with 60% caster level I should've 5lv / 6lv?
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