which are the best weapons in the game? my character is specialised in great swords and maces and bows with one star in large swords. i'm soloing and now had the cash to buy 'the love of black bess' (mace+4) and the black bow (large bow+3) and i'm yet to face yxunomei.

am i carrying the right weapons? what are the better weapons in these and other categories? are some suited for specific purposes/quests?

You've got pretty good ones so far. I look at three things when assessing weapon strength: magical '+', special bonuses (like the Bow of Sseth's extra attack per round and tiny initiative modifier) and secondary effects (poison, chance to stun, chance to petrify, elemental damage or other extra damage).

Generally, I use the weapon with the best + and/or damage potential, unless I figure that the special or secondary effects give a greater advantage (as they often do, especially when using a high level warrior that can hit just about anything without the addition to Thac0 of a high + weapon). I am fond of stunning weapons.

You are carrying good weapons, probably the best you could be for that stage of the game, although I might be inclined to use the Bow of Sseth instead of the Black Bow. It's kind of like using a machine gun over a sniper rifle - less chance to hit with an individual round, but a superior rate of fire.

And yes, some weapons are suited for specific purposes - look to their descriptions, and consider the monsters you will be fighting. Don't forget to factor in possible monster resistances to slashing, piercing, bludgeoning and missile weapons. For obvious reasons, I prefer flaming weapons when fighting trolls (you can buy the greatsword Trollslayer from Conlan, which is simply awesome against trolls). You will also enjoy the Three White Doves (anti-undead mace) when you get to HoW.

It is not how good the weapon is, it is how good you use the weapon.

<font color = lightgreen>I enjoy giving my high-level fighters the combination of the Long Sword of Action +4 and the Ring of Reckless Action, since both items give an extra attack per round. I think the fighter in my last game had 4.5 attacks per round, which worked quite well with various potions of giant strength and the occassional potion of speed. [img]graemlins/beigesmilewinkgrin.gif[/img]

One of my personal favorites is still Spinesheath. It has a +5 enchantment level and a +5 to hit, making it wonderful to use to disrupt enemy spellcasters. *poke* *poke* *poke*

I still haven't found (at random) the Long Bow +4, Hammer, which grants 4 attacks per round. That bow is wonderful when loaded with Arrows of Piercing.</font>

@aerich

yes even i prefer sseth's bow due to its ability to fire faster but the balck bow has a higher enchantment. when do you think i should switch from to the black bow? with yxunomei its definitely the black bow for a few shots and then melee. my strategy since i'm soloing is to buff to the max (with mirror image, blur, armour, luck, resist fear, protection from evil, and haste) and then attack the only drawback is that i can't fight long drawn out battles due to the post-haste fatigue and hence have to break up battles(the eldathyn level was complated in 5 installments). so'm eagerly looking for something to overcome that.

another thing is that my ac is high(-1) now and i'm wearing presios's robe. something to lower my ac would be appreciated. i declined from buying the trollslayer since it is only a +1 weapon and is particularly useful only against trolls. i'd prefer a much more all-round weapon.

there are some weapons that are level dependant. as in they appear only on insane or HoF modes. i'm currently on insane.

also what is the deal with sleeping for so many days? i could finish BG2 in 130-odd days but here i've crossed 1000! hell thats close to 3 years!

I'd use the Sseth's bow with normal arrow. And use the black bow with hard to get magic arrows.

@ darkmage,

yes. i'll agree with you. towards the latter parts you get so many enchanted arrows. guess i'll save the black bow till then.

thanks!

You sleep for a long time in this game because you didn't check the "Heal upon rest" button in Config. Your characters are sleeping for 8 hours per damage point.

[ 05-15-2005, 09:00 AM: Message edited by: Marty4 ]

Would the heal upon rest button do any good? IIRC, Serak is soloing with a F/M/T; note the absence of a cleric. He might just have to tough it out and take 10 years to defeat the evil.

sheesh seems like awfully long!

anyways now i'm finding yxunomei quite a handful. i don't want to reduce my level from insane.

key moves include buffing to the max and taking out the yuan-ti mages behind yxunomei before they cast dispel. but that allows yxunomei to cast cloudkill
(or is it stinking cloud?). the mages that come up from behind are held back by web and grease. my weapon is the love of black bess and the bitch queen's shield.