Inspired by Dundee Slaytern, I decided to share my battle story about how I defeated Improved Irenicus.

I was one of the first BG2 players who fought (and won [img]graemlins/showoff.gif[/img] ) this battle - so i had the honor of putting my battle story in the FAQ section of the Sola Mod.
Read on. [img]graemlins/cool.gif[/img]

The first time i tried it, i opened the door, had the conversation with Jonnie, and he summoned all his Fragments. Needless to say, I was VERY surprised to see that i ought to fight them all at once! Well, i paused the game, targeted 'em, and unpaused. Hey, wait a minute, where are you going?!?! :(
Damn, they're splitting my party... Not good. Once each member of the party was isolated with a Fragment, it was a matter of seconds until i fell.
I reloaded.
This time i knew where each Fragment will teleport. I've set a trap on the entrance to each of the stairways, and a spike trap in the place where the Sarevok will teleport to. I don't pre-buff at all, except Stone/Ironskins, so i also set many defensive Triggers and Sequencers. I opened the door, chit-chatted with Jonnie again, and paused when the dialogue was done. I told Tashia to target the sword, my cavalier to target the Dragon, Sola to target the Beholder (because of his MR), my Ranger/Cleric to target Jonnie (Those lovely Insects... [img]smile.gif[/img] ), Mazzy to target Seravok (she had the lowest THACO), and the Swashbuckler helped the Cavalier.
I unpaused.
Each fragment was hurt by the traps, but none died. Mp party charged.
The sword died first from triple ADHWs (thanks to the ever-useful Chain Contingency).
Mazzy sniped SarEvok, and everytime he got too close, she ran away and sniped him again. After the sword died, Tashia was free to help my Cavalier, so
she kept breaching the dragon. Both my cavalier and the swashy Whirlwinded, and the Dragon fell, too. My Swashy is armed with the Throwing Imapler from the Item Upgrade Mod... OUCH!!! [img]graemlins/hehe.gif[/img]
Meanwhile, Sarevok died from a GWW Mazzy. Sola had alot of troubles with the Orb, but Tashia summoned a Planetar which helped alot, and the Orb died. Sola had about 2 CON left (The Orb has CON-draining beams)... Everybody tageted Irenicus. His "Shatter Magic" ability is mean... It really hurt me. Tashia kept trying to dispel his protections, but with no luck. He fell after a long time. i'm noy so sure, but i think it was the Planetar vorpal weapon which killed him eventually.
Then came the Slayer. pathetic. He did blew my equipment - TO MY FEET!
Well, i picked it all up, Whirlwinded, and killed him. :rolleyes:
And then came the last Irenicus...
*shivers*...
He was TOUGH!! But i did all i could not to lose it, didn't wanted to do it all over again. Tashia's PI casted Wish, and i got nothing good. Everybody tageted Irenicus, and he was kicking their @$$ with his magic.
His double fireshields really hurt me, but meanwhile, the Image casted another Wish, and i got the Rest option. Yay! more Insects and Planetars! my Cavalier kept pounding him with his non-magical bastard sword, but never seemed to hurt. Irenicus' constant casting of PfMW almost killed me. Are his defences
un-dispellable, i pondered? I kept trying, with no luck. It seemed like he was immune to EVERYTHING i had - melee, ranged, even ADHWs and Dragon Breathes!!!! Tashia summoned all the Planetars she had, which really helped becuase they can see through his Invisibility. All the planetars and my Ranger/Cleric casted Insect plague on him, but it took them (the Insects) SEVERAL MINUTES (!) to get to him due to his constant Teleporting.
They were the key to the victory, however.
When they got to him eventually, he could do no more then teleport and heal. The Insects ate his Stoneskins really fast, and when i saw that my Cavalier can finally hit him, i drove everybody except him back.
Now, it's personal. :D
I GWW, and hit him like crazy. Everytime he teleported, i chased him, GWW again, and pounded him.
It was a matter of a minute or two before he kissed by Boots of Speed. [img]graemlins/showoff.gif[/img]

It's a truly fitting end to SoA. The original (BioWare's) Irenicus should have been something like this. Kodus to Weimer, then. [img]graemlins/thumbsup.gif[/img]

No screenshots, unfortunately. Next time. :(

[ 11-09-2002, 09:30 AM: Message edited by: Alson ]

Nice, and man... you got lucky with round 2. [img]tongue.gif[/img] I ended up in the south, while my equipment was in the north. Thank goodness I do not rely on weapons or it would have been bye-bye. :eek:

Round 3 is deceptively easy. At first glance, it seems that this guy is unbeatable what with his seemingly unlimited Time Stops, Abi-Dalzim's Horrid Wiltings, Stoneskins, Mordenkainen's Swords, Improved Mantles, PfMagical Weapons, Spell Turnings, Fireshields Red/Blue and Improved Invisibilities.

But... ...

He can do jack nothing against an invisible character, as he does not have any anti-invisibility counters. A Thief/Stalker with Invisibility Potions and a trusty weapon can backstab him into obvilion, a Mage/Bard/Sorcerer can cast Mislead and pelt him to death with Melf's Minute Meteors( after his protections are gone of course).

Meh, the slayer was pretty tough for me-he seemed to do elemental dmg which bypasses my stoneskin (DUH) and made me unable to cast any spells such as absolute immunity (a couple o' scrolls) and resist elements [img]graemlins/1pissed.gif[/img] he also seemed to be immune to pretty much everything I lobbed at him-dragon's breath's, ADHW, even (in desperation) poking him with the SOTM :D

[ 11-09-2002, 09:52 AM: Message edited by: Kaltia ]

I didnt have much trouble with the slayer it was the pit fiends and balors. I couldnt control all my power on irenicus i had to wrry about the stupid fiends. But just wondering, since i know dundee and alson are veterians in this game did u play with a party your first time u played, if so who were they?

Unless I'm mistaken you're talking about normal Irenicus not the improved one the Solaufein mod gives you?

If you are unable to cast in time, cast a Contingency and store PfMagical Weapons in it. I used Feeblemind against him, a Spell Trigger worth of them. :D After casting Time Stop, then Improved Alacrity, then Lower Resistance, then Greater Malison, then finally the Spell Trigger.

He was deadmeat. :D

*jaw drops* *buggers off to kill Improved Slayer*
So simple...WHY do i overlook these things? :D Pity the fool girl and let her pretend she's not the only one making such mistakes [img]tongue.gif[/img]

But where's the fun? [img]tongue.gif[/img] ;)

About the 3rd stage VS. Invisibility - if only i knew...
But then again, if i knew ALL the possible tactics for ALL the possible situations, i would have stopped playing BG2 a long time ago... ;)

[ 11-09-2002, 10:04 AM: Message edited by: Alson ]

We be talking about the Improved Irenicus Mod. [img]smile.gif[/img] The first round alone comprises of a Lich, 4 Beholders, a Dragon, a boosted Mordenkainen's Sword and Sarevock( who has a permanent PfMagic sphere). Oh, and JI as well of course. ;) Plus several Shadows and Wraiths.

The second round strips you of all your equipment and you must fight JI the Slayer alone. Have fun trying to get your equipment back. ;)

The third round, I have already described above in my first post.

My first party? Woah... that be more than a year ago... er... ...

Sorcerer
Minsc
Aerie
Jaheira
Imoen
?? Keldorn?

LOL, i can still remember my first BG party, from when I got the game the day after it's release ^ ^
Me: fighter
Minsc
Jaheira
Nalia
Aerie
Imoen

You mean aside from the fact that I can casually walk over to the other side and pick up all my equipment, then take a break as my Skeleton Warriors wail away on him?

I say there be a lot of fun. :D
I did not know it too, until I actually fought him. I was like worried, because the darned guy kept following me! I thought he was going to cast Imprisonment on me. [img]tongue.gif[/img] Finally, after 2 minutes or so, I gave up running in circles around the pillar in the middle of the room and gripped my Staff of Magi yelling mentally in my head, "Alright! That's it! Bring it on! I'll fight you in melee!"

And he stop dead in his tracks... right in front of my Sorcerer. I waited, and nothing happened. http://www.plauder-smilies.de/eek7.gif The next thought was of course, "All rightttt... this is... interesting... ..."

I whacked him with the Staff of Magi and re-equipped( +10 THACO bonus for striking from invisibility). JI stands there oblivious to what had just happened... I whacked him again, and the same thing happens. At this point, my jaw dropped metaphorically to the floor because dangggg... his scare factor just dropped to that of a diseased gibberling. [img]tongue.gif[/img]

I stood around and waited for his Spell Turning to expire, then a Lower Resistance, a Greater Malison, a Feeblemind, and I managed to box JI into submission( with assistance from a Horn Berserker to bring down his life faster, but I sent the Berserker away when JI was near-death) before poking him to death with a +1 enchanted dagger. [img]tongue.gif[/img] [img]tongue.gif[/img] [img]tongue.gif[/img] [img]tongue.gif[/img]

i see in that case you would have o be in credible to do this so i have to salute you.

me(ranger)
minsc
jaheria
yoshimo\imoen
arie
nalia

i ws obvoiusly clueless and i got stuck in thdrow city!! so i went back with a ranger cleric and beat it!

Hmmm, I usually have my rangers dual-weilding katanas (Sanchuudako from the Sola mod+CF+5) but this should be a new topic, Dar'tanian.

You mean aside from the fact that I can casually walk over to the other side and pick up all my equipment, then take a break as my Skeleton Warriors wail away on him?

I say there be a lot of fun. :D </font>[/QUOTE]

Nah... [img]tongue.gif[/img]
For me, the fun is in the challenge.
The more tactical the battle is, the more i enjoy it.
Thus my fondness to the Tactics Mod, Sola Mod, and Ascension.

In some of these fights, when i'm in an Arcane mood, i feel like i'm playing chess on a 100x100 board instead of 8x8. [img]smile.gif[/img]

Then, when i decide that it's time for me to unleash the Cheese(TM), the board suddenly becomes a puny 2x2 board, and one word screams in my head: CHECKMATE! [img]graemlins/hehe.gif[/img]

Pfft, there is no honour in war. Do whatever it takes to win the battle. Why should I give the enemy a chance, when I can end the battle right there and now? Of course... this excludes tactics that rely on illogic, such as the Cloudkill vs Dragons.

In all the tactics that I dispense out, I always go for the simplest and the easiest one.

Of course... there are times when I feel mischievous and do silly things, like only using a Sling and Spell Immunity to defeat Kangaxx( using Spell Trap to refresh the Spell Immunities :D ). ;) And occasionally a Death Spell for his summons of course.

Fun? Diversity? Creativity? ;)

I like to win every battle with a different tactic.
If i would've used Teleport Field + AoE spells or Time Stop + Improved Alacrity all the time, the game wouldn't be as fun.

Amen to that! :D

When was the last time you heard of somebody punching Dragons and Jon Irenicus unconsicious before proceeding to poke them to death with a dagger? ;) [img]tongue.gif[/img] Has anybody done this before me?

If that is not a creative way to finish them off, I don't know what is. [img]tongue.gif[/img]

[ 11-09-2002, 11:40 AM: Message edited by: Dundee Slaytern ]

Actually, Feebleminding Dragons is quite a common tactic. [img]tongue.gif[/img]

I'll give you credit for doing this for Improved Jonnie, though. [img]smile.gif[/img]

What i meant was, that while, for example, soloing a Sorcerer, your tactics eventually becomes the same for each tough battle - summon this, summon that, Project Image, Time Stop, Improved Alacrity, end of battle.
IMO, it's kinda boring and the reason that i always play party games.
The variety of optional tactics is tremendously bigger. [img]smile.gif[/img]

Call it refining the PRATI tactic if you will, and I do come up with gems now and then, like the "Nuke" them all tactic. Ha! Bet not many people can clear the Ritual Glades in less than a turn! [img]tongue.gif[/img] [img]tongue.gif[/img] [img]tongue.gif[/img] [img]tongue.gif[/img]

<font color="lime">"Eh? Seven hours only? I just need seven minutes bucko, then I'm coming back for you."</font>

The reason why I recently went on a Feeblemind rampage though, is to disprove your Spell Reference's loathing of certain save or else spells. [img]smile.gif[/img] Used properly, they are among the cheesiest, and the most powerful spells ever. I plan to try and Feeblemind all the bosses in ToB. I have already done so with Abazigal, so I might skip him.

Hmmm.

Just a quick question:

Is the improved Irenicus "immune" to things he shouldn't be? Aka dispel magic?

If so, I'm not going to bother with downloading the improvement.

I've no problem with upping the difficulty, but it seems all the mods go, "OK, so we lose everytime the enemy is fair. Lets make the enemy cheap!"

Improved Irenicus is immuned to level 1-2 spells, so a Spell Sequencer with 3 Flame Arrows will still impale him to the high heavens, http://www.plauder-smilies.de/evillaugh2.gif as you can see in my screenshots in the other thread.

Other than that, he has no other new immunities from the original version.

Alright, sounds like my kensai/inquisitor/inquisitor combo is good to go, then. =D

Alson: "But where's the fun?"

[img]graemlins/firedevil.gif[/img] Fun Alson ?
"For me, the fun is in the challenge.
The more tactical the battle is, the more i enjoy it."

....really ? [img]graemlins/hehe.gif[/img] ....

Scrolls to first post .... copy/pastes :

__________________________________________________ _____________________________
I've set a trap on the entrance to each of the stairways, and a spike trap in the place where the Sarevok will teleport to.
[...]
Each fragment was hurt by the traps, but none died
__________________________________________________ _____________________________

Tssss...

Getting personal, are we? [img]tongue.gif[/img]

Like we said many times before, and we'll keep saying in the future - a matter of playing style, i guess. [img]smile.gif[/img]
I just prefer spells that always work.
Failure annoys me. Call me perfectionist. :D

That is, i would rather throw a Teleport Field that would actually do something now than a Greater Malison that might help another spell later.
On the same logic, i would memorize Project Image, or even Power Word : Stun (yes, i know that Pw:S is HP dependent) instead of Finger of Death anyday. Pw:S means death anyway, becuase Stun causes Auto-Hits(TM).
And we both know the merits of Project Image... Right? ;)

Ohhh... My 600 post! New avatar! How fitting (ironic? ;) ) that my new promotion is due to a spell debate with Dundee...

LOL! :D

I meant a challenge for the mind, as in, what cheese should i employ know. :D
You tell me - isn't placing the traps in the right place a tactical achievement? :D [img]tongue.gif[/img]

On a more serious note - the traps didn't really do much... I would have done it without them...

Nah, that's only when I start using only Chromatic Orbs to kill Dragons, Illithids and Beholders. [img]tongue.gif[/img]
As I mentioned before in the other thread, my style consists of bombarding the enemy with so many spells that one way or another, the enemy will die. The stoning metaphor if you recall. ;)

Call it success on a broader scale.
Greater Malison and Feeblemind are level 4 and 5 spells respectively. Project Image and Power Word:Stun are both level 7 spells. You have to wait until the enemy is of sufficiently low HP to use PW:S. I on the other hand, can render the enemy impotent PERMANENTLY( compared to a few measly rounds with PW:S) much earlier, leading to much fun as you plot ways to exercise your sadism. [img]tongue.gif[/img] ;) :D

ADD] Although if I cast FoD instead, it is game over for the target anyway... pity most of the bosses are immuned to instant-death effects, or those fights would quickly degenerate into 3 rounds battle, [img]tongue.gif[/img] although when I think about it, they are still 3 rounds battle affairs. [img]graemlins/hehe.gif[/img]

[ 11-10-2002, 11:31 AM: Message edited by: Dundee Slaytern ]

Nah, that's only when I start using only Chromatic Orbs to kill Dragons, Illithids and Beholders. [img]tongue.gif[/img] </font>[/QUOTE]Good luck.
I will sit here and laugh while my spook does a different kind of Insta-kill, but with a -12 penalty in comparision to your Orb. [img]tongue.gif[/img]
Frightened enemies have a tendency of ending up dead. ;)

As I mentioned before in the other thread, my style consists of bombarding the enemy with so many spells that one way or another, the enemy will die. The stoning metaphor if you recall. ;)

Call it success on a broader scale.</font>[/QUOTE]I'll call it unnecessary-use-of-blah-spells, if you don't mind. [img]tongue.gif[/img] :D

Greater Malison and Feeblemind are level 4 and 5 spells respectively. Project Image and Power Word:Stun are both level 7 spells.</font>[/QUOTE]I was comparing my Teleport Field AND (Project Image OR Pw:S) to your Greater Malison AND Finger of Death.

Actually, 90HP is quite above the HP of your average BG2 SoA-ToB monster.

Feeblemind is for perverts. [img]tongue.gif[/img]

And these "few measly rounds" are all i need, you know... :D

Pfft... you know I use Spook as well. ;)

Blah spells, wah spells, who cares? They are all dead anyway. ;)

Feeblemind is for sadists, not perverts. [img]tongue.gif[/img]

Personally i prefer to cast greater malison, then when they are all in a big pack around me, go with either PW:S to stun the strongest of them, or holdperson/monster to stun the rest of em (greater malison helps here) [img]smile.gif[/img] Then we crank out the FoD/chromatic Orb.

Just a random thought--I think it was Improved Jon#2 that knocked all your equipment to the ground at the beginning of the fight, and I was just wondering: What if you're a Monk? Does the MOD detect that, and do something different?

Nothing different.
If you're a Monk your just luckier. [img]smile.gif[/img]

If you're a Thief, on the other hand... :eek:

[ 11-13-2002, 11:03 AM: Message edited by: Alson ]

Why Thief? Set a Spike Trap on the ground immediately and laugh as you sprint across to get your loot.

Now an Archer... ...

Try setting a trap when enemies are nearby. ;)

As I distinctly recall, this tactic was actually mentioned by Weimer himself. The thing is, you get teleported to the opposite side of Jon Irenicus, so Jon Irenicus is under a fog of war.

Proceed to abuse the cheesiest weapon in the game. :D

Huh?!

I was not teleported to nowhere in my fight.
I was right infront of him, almost melee range.
We're talking about the PC VS. Slayer part, right?

Yes. I got pulled to the gate, JI the Slayer talked to Odin, blabbed about how it was unfair he was as naked as Bhaal the day Bhaal was born( yeah right, I see that Robe of Vecna you are wearing, JI!) while I had all sorts of equipment.

After he finishes yapping, he removes all my equipment and moves me to the very bottom of the area, near the entrance of the third test.

A version issue, then.
I was playing with the very first "edition" of Improved Jonnie.
Weimer probably added the teleportation part a few versions later.