Kiel's Morning Star +3
JDow
Member Posts: 71
Hi,
Does anyone make use of Kiel's Morning Star +3 (from Durlag's Tower).
I'm just taking a party through the game, and having some fun with it. I have a Kensai skilled in this weapon category.
Previously, with the beserk aspect of it, I thought it wasn't worth the trouble. But, two things:
(1) The best Flail or Morning Star you can find otherwise is +1. This is +3. A big jump.
(2) If I'm not mistaken, when you go beserk you get an additional +2 THACO and +2 damage. Need to check this, but it seemed to be the case.
That's +4 damage and +4 THAO on the next best weapon in that category you can find.
My cleric has remove curse loaded, and I'm now just trying to work out how to use the flail tactically.
Early stages at the moment. Basically, I think when you loose control of him, when he kills someone, he then moves onto the next nearest opponent. This can be tricky because if you're attacking in close formation it often means he'll attack one of your own next. But, there are things you can do I suppose. e.g., take an invisibility potion, put him on the other side of a group of enemies, and let him attack them from the other side.
Either way, this might be great for attacking bosses.
Any thoughts?
Heck, thinking about it, if you have only one tank wield it, and the rest of your party uses ranged weapons, he can run into battle and cut people down and you don't have to worry about him turning on your own side - as they'll be at a distance. Then, I think, when the enemy are all cut down he comes out of beserk.
Does anyone make use of Kiel's Morning Star +3 (from Durlag's Tower).
I'm just taking a party through the game, and having some fun with it. I have a Kensai skilled in this weapon category.
Previously, with the beserk aspect of it, I thought it wasn't worth the trouble. But, two things:
(1) The best Flail or Morning Star you can find otherwise is +1. This is +3. A big jump.
(2) If I'm not mistaken, when you go beserk you get an additional +2 THACO and +2 damage. Need to check this, but it seemed to be the case.
That's +4 damage and +4 THAO on the next best weapon in that category you can find.
My cleric has remove curse loaded, and I'm now just trying to work out how to use the flail tactically.
Early stages at the moment. Basically, I think when you loose control of him, when he kills someone, he then moves onto the next nearest opponent. This can be tricky because if you're attacking in close formation it often means he'll attack one of your own next. But, there are things you can do I suppose. e.g., take an invisibility potion, put him on the other side of a group of enemies, and let him attack them from the other side.
Either way, this might be great for attacking bosses.
Any thoughts?
Heck, thinking about it, if you have only one tank wield it, and the rest of your party uses ranged weapons, he can run into battle and cut people down and you don't have to worry about him turning on your own side - as they'll be at a distance. Then, I think, when the enemy are all cut down he comes out of beserk.
3
Comments
Basically I approach invisible with the character who wields the weapon and let him/her start the fight.
After that I start to provide cover with an archer, making sure that enemies wizards are under pressure (and firing an Arrow of Dispelling sometimes).
When the fight finishes I send a priest under Sanctuary to cast Remove Curse or Exaltation.
Usually it is a lot of work, but it is a nice approach when you're out of protective spells and want to be protected against disablers.
P.S. for extra fun, try one of my favorite builds; a level 5 swashbuckler dualed over to a fighter. You can end up with 3 stars each in flail, scimitar, and two weapon style. This thing in the main with Defender in the offhand will end worlds
- +3 weapon, that confers an additional +2 THACO / +2 Damage in Berserk Mode. Berserk also makes you immune to certain status ailments, such as fear.
- The Berserk affect doesn't last that long once enemies are gone. Usually just a few seconds. If your guy starts chasing you just walk away and it'll be gone soon enough.
- If you can get a spell off before Berserk engages, you'll finish casting it. So for example, my Fighter/Cleric sees enemies coming, starts to cast a glyph of warding - it'll finish even if base turns yellow.
- Have a mage memorize one Remove Curse. That way if you ever decide to drop it for an extra hard battle and switch back to a Morning Star +1 (or what have you), you can. Then throw it back on later.
- From a role-playing perspective, it makes sense on a bloodthirsty, evil fighter. That's for sure. If you are good aligned, maybe not so much.
I personally think its a lot of fun and can be pretty effective. I suppose having it on a multi-class cleric could a bit of a disadvantage, but really I rarely heal during battles anyway... and with two mages, my offensive magic is just fine. I can use my cleric for buffs and healing in between battles and kick butt as a fighter in the scrum. And if you stack Draw Upon Holy Might on a Berserked 19 Strength Half-Orc Dual-Wielding magic morning stars of death, well its pretty gnarly.
Just my two cents!