I'm giving Valygar a try for the first serious time. Any and all tips are welcome!

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Cheers.

[ 10-08-2006, 11:41 PM: Message edited by: Dundee Slaytern ]

Valygar is a killing machine. Fear him. When ever I take him along he always beats everyone in total kills, usually by a significant margin.
He is also a great scout. (just make sure you have the party AI off when you have him scouting) He becomes very deadly when backstabbing, particularly when using Celestial Fury.
He is many things but he is not a tank. His limited armor makes him vulnerable so always keep him well supplied with healing potions

He has some interesting conversations about magic with you. And some interesting banter with Mazzy.


Weapons:
Main hand weapon: nothing beats Celestial Fury here. Valygar already has proficiencies in Katanas so it makes sense to give this uber-weapon to him. The stunning of opponents really makes this a great weapon especially when backstabbing. CF generally stays in his main hand through ToB.

His off hand weapon can change depending on need and how you assign his proficiencies as he levels up Long Swords are good, but Axes and Bastard swords are also good choices.

Off hand weapon SoA:
Corthala Family Blade is a decent of hand weapon to start with, it can kill downed trolls. Then I generally put Daystar in his off hand as soon as I get it and keep it there for the rest of SoA

SoA off hand alternatives
Flame Tongue
Frostweaver
Stonefire
Belm +2 grants +1 attack per round making Celestial Fury that much deadlier


ToB off hand weapons options:
Axe of the Unyielding: +5 THACO, +1 AC bonus, +3 HP/round, +1 constitution, 10% change of instantly killing target
Upgraded Hindo’s Doom: immune to death spells, 10% magic resistance
Angurvadal: +2-5 fire damage, 22 strength, Immune to level drain
Usuno's blade
Foebane +5 THACO, +6 damage vs undead, shapeshifters, and extra-planar beings


Armor:
Corthala Family Armor is great armor to start with. Good AC and good resistances, including charm. Eventually you will want to switch to Shadow Dragon Scale and later White Dragon Scale.


Basic Accessories:

Cloak of Non-Detection: For scouting and for backstabbing
Boots of speed: you want Valygar to get to the front of the battle fast and to get away fast if he gets to injured. They are also good fir hit and run backstabbing
Gauntlets of Weapons Skill: anything to get that THACO down
Any of the strength enhancing girdles…given your party you might want Jaheira to have the Gauntlets of Ogre Power and Valygar to have the Girdle of Hill Giant Strength
Ring of Protection +2
Healing potions…lots of healing potions

[ 10-08-2006, 01:04 PM: Message edited by: IronDragon ]

I was thinking of giving him the Equalizer as an offhand weapon. Since he'll be ahead of the rest of the party and "revealed" after 1 backstab, the immunities will help.

The bonuses from the Equalizer also add to the primary weapon, which is nice.

What weapons are good as main hand weapons after Celestial Fury loses it's effectiveness (I've noticed that most creatures have such great saving throws in ToB that I'm better off switching to a better weapon)?

[ 10-08-2006, 11:32 PM: Message edited by: Dundee Slaytern ]

Really, by the time Celestial Fury becomes "innefective," as it were, you'd most liekly have some points put into another weapon, like Bastard sword, or Long Sword.

Now, some people may disagree, but I think Foebane is a beautiful sword. Upgraded, that is. It casts Larloch's Minor Drain per hit. Combine that with Whirlwind/Greater Whirlwind, and Valygar doesn't need as many potions.

Oh, Foebane is awesome, but isn't it a Bastard Sword? (You can't backstab with those)

Damn. Good point.

Otherwise it's a great sword ;)

You can backstab, but your backstab multiplier is forfeit.

I'm sure lots of people will disagree, but what about short swords?

Kundane in the off hand with Celestial Fury in the main hand is very effective. The cutthroat short sword that you get before you go to Spellhold has the enchantment needed to hit over mages annoying improved mantles that stop CF. And the Sword of the Mask is one of the premier weapons in ToB and is available very early. Level drain really hurts spell casters, entangle (with no save!) cripples melee enemies. If no-one else is using short sword I think they are great for Valygar.

That's definitely a possibility, ister. I can just head over to Watcher's Keep and buy that sucker, right?

Yes you can get the unimproved +4 version. This has a pretty low chance to entangle and won't level drain, but is still an excellent weapon for SoA.