Final battle in IWD help... minor spoiler

Curt · 09-15-2003, 12:22 PM

OK, I've reached the final battle, defeated the two iron golems easily but can't seem to have much of an effect on the main enemy (whatever brother Poquielen was posessed by).

I actually got to the point where it's just my paladin and the enemy left and he basically ignores me for some reason. I keep hitting him, scoring damage and he's always "almost dead" in status but won't go down. I've put hundreds of hits on him in the "almost dead" state but no joy.

Any suggestions on how to proceed with this battle? Why does he ignore my character (not that that's a bad thing! His hits pack a big wallop!)

Thanks for any insight.

NobleNick · 09-15-2003, 02:46 PM

Curt,

Your problem is that Belhifet has amazing HP regeneration rate: Evidently he was regenerating as fast as your Pally could dish out the damage. You need more firepower when you finally turn your attention to Big B: more melee fighters and/or use Haste.

Here is a reprint from how I did it....

For Belhifet, after two unsuccessful attempts, I took him down in a 45 minute fight by:
1.) Using Haste, Recitation, Improved Invisibility, AND Remembering where the dispell traps were! (I searched for them in the previous lost attempt; and the locations of these six [6] traps are easy to remember, since they are a symmetrical part of the floor design.)
2.) Ganging up 3 to 4 of my best fighters on one iron golem, then the next, then Belhifet.
3.) Using whomever Belhifet attacked to run him around in circles. Ditto for the second iron golem, before we took the first one down.
4.) Watching/Timing very carefully for Big B's spell casting (he was fairly predictable), and running my melee guys out of harm's way just before Infernal Conveyance (IC) (or his other "Flame-Strike-like" fire spell) hit.

This fight was the most challenging and satisfying of the game. It was fun orchestrating my party in a ballet of "attack, buff and avoidance:" attacking the designated target while avoiding all other monsters, buffing the party without getting them all toasted with a flame spell AND avoiding the disspell traps with my buffed characters. I used the whole floor, almost as effortlessly as Big B. ... and never set off a trap!

I started the fight by spreading my party to roughly evenly spaced points on the outer circle (adjusted somewhat to avoid traps along the way), to avoid an expected fire spell (that didn't come); and had the Bard cast stoneskin and mirror image on herself before starting up on the War Chant. As soon as B. started one of his early IC spells, I started a Recitation and danced the other members to within range of the spell just as it finished. Both golems (one at a time) fell amazingly easily to the team effort of 3-4 well equipped bashers under the influence of recitation and war chant. And with one guy at about 90% HP, and everyone else at 100%, it was time for the main event...

Re-using the tactic from when I had cast Recitation (which spell was still active at the end of the fight), my mage Hasted the entire party; and I sent the front-line four after B. My mage cast Improved Invisibility on each of the four melee guys as they danced by (giving them an additional 4 point bonus to AC and 2(?) point bonus to saving throws, even though they were still attacking). Meanwhile, the Bard continued singing the War Chant. And...

Big B. started taking Big-Time damage: to the tune of 50-70 points/round (for those rounds that we were in full melee contact)! By watching closely, I could dance the melee guys away from Big B's IC, and only got scorched once or twice. I never needed to use a healing spell (though I had 3 TOTAL healing spells and other lesser ones available). When Big B. went down, one of my melee guys was at about 40% HP, another was about 60% and the rest were 100%. It felt so good to be chasing his sorry butt around instead of vice versa. After getting so outrageously crushed in the first two fights, this victory was exquisitely delightful.

What's a party,
without a song?
Bards ROCK!
Party on!!

Xen · 09-15-2003, 02:50 PM

About the "Near Death" thing... do you have the patch?

Curt · 09-15-2003, 02:56 PM

Thanks guys, no I don't have a patch installed, hmmm... I bought it fairly recently (part of the double pack with HOW) how do you tell which version you have?

If there is a bug that would explain the "near death" thing. Might also explain why he ignores me after a while.

And thanks to Nick for the detailed account of how he handled it. Yeah, I dispatch the iron golem's quickly enough and then get pounded by B. He's got a -12 armor class so it's very tough to score damage on him but I was able to do so.

Where can you get the patch? I'll check Interplay's site, some game magazines have patches as well.

Curt · 09-15-2003, 03:34 PM

OK, really dumb question... how do I tell if I have HOW installed. Like I said I got the combo pack and I thought I installed HOW to get the benefits from HOW in the original IWD as well but I don't know how to verify that.

Problem is that I saw on the Interplay website that those IWD patches should not be installed if you've installed HOW.

Any insight appreciated.

Lymond · 09-15-2003, 05:04 PM

Last things first. If you don't have HOW installed, the opening movie you get will have the candles and be the Jerod story. If you do have HOW installed, when you are at the screen where you select "load game" it will say Heart of Winter (on the left).

Regarding Belhifet, I had a similar thing happen. Without a lot of forethought, I jumped in to start fighting him, which turned out to be a bad strategy for me at that time. I couldn't kill him fast enough to not take a beating from the Iron Golems. By the time I switched strategies and defeated the Golems, my party was in rough shape. Then I was surprised to find that Belhifet isn't very aggressive, and that he's kind of a one trick pony. I had one character with a lot of fire resistance and a healing sword attack and all that would happen is that he would attack B, who would take damage, do that fire thing, then teleport away. My character would chase after him. Out of curiosity, I left and watched TV for a while. After 20 minutes, there was pretty much no change. At some point, however, B got in a good hit, because my character died.

The next time around, the result was much better. I used as many of those group spells (courage, prayer, haste, invisibility) as I could. Then I distracted B with a tank and finished off the Golems. Once they were gone, B wasn't a problem. The entire time, my bard was in the center of the room singing that war chant.

Lymond

Curt · 09-15-2003, 05:15 PM

Thanks Lymond, duh, yes I've got HOW installed so even though I downloaded a patch from Interplay I'm wary of installing it.

I think I just need to change my approach a bit. Buffing up before you start the battle doesn't work due to the immediate dispel magic that hits you... and after you're hasted your THACO goes down by one due to being fatigued. That's one problem I had, when my last character was fighting B he was at a -6 THACO penalty, ouch! Rats, I love haste spells!

I can take out the golems fairly quicly but for me B is a problem at that point, but I'm not using everything I can! Time to get more organized and really pull out all the stops!

Curt · 09-15-2003, 08:27 PM

OK, done! Finished IWD!

The battle was actually pretty easy, not sure what the problem was last night. Had everyone hasted with their best weapon, mage used Tensor's Transformation to become a good fighter and we whooped up on B!

Thanks for the help folks, now on tho HOW!

NobleNick · 09-16-2003, 08:41 AM

Curt,

Congrats! Oh, and a very belated, "Welcome to the forums!"

One way to make sure you have IWD/HoW patched up correctly is to download and install Trials of the Lure Master (TotLM, TotL). TotLM is a free 6-7MB download from BIS. In addition to the extra gaming that TotLM provides, it is a most excellent and complete patch for IWD/HoW (no other patches needed).

If you were having a wonder at whether or not HoW was installed, then you might not be aware of a very nifty feature it adds: Pressing the "Alt" key highlights all treasure locations and other areas of interest (e.g., levers, doors, dropped items, and discovered traps) in whatever area your party is in.

Though you didn't ask: I just finished HoW, and finished IWD a few weeks ago. I "wasted" about 30 hours of gameplay over this period (some of it on purpose, most of it not) by not starting HoW and TotLM at the right time.
~
(slight spoilers coming, concerning HoW game flow, and when to start HoW and TotLM)
~
~
~
~
~
~
~
~
~
~

For a combined IWD/HoW/TotLM game, the latest that you can start HoW is just before you meet RBP. The latest that you can start TotLM is just before you leave (location name omitted) for the Sea of Moving Ice. Also, if you choose to immediately leave from (location name omitted) for the Sea of Moving Ice without first going back to Lonelywood, you will miss at least two expo events, both of which are quite interesting. One event is necessary to fully explain some of the events in Lonelywood. The other is just plain fun and gives you a big truck load of experience (if you play it correctly).

What's a party,
without a song?
Bards ROCK!
Party on!!

[ 09-16-2003, 09:04 AM: Message edited by: NobleNick ]

Curt · 09-16-2003, 11:58 AM

Thanks Nick! Who's RBP? Since I've completed IWD I think I just start a new game with HOW installed and they let me import my party, is that how it works?

Can TOLM be played after completing HOW? Or is it more fun to have them "integrated"? Just wondering. I tried not to read too much of your spoiler message!

Edit: Oh, Rev Bro Poqelien, "RBP"! Sorry, little slow on the uptake this morning.

[ 09-16-2003, 12:12 PM: Message edited by: Curt ]

09-15-2003, 05:04 PM	#6
Lymond Manshoon Join Date: February 6, 2003 Location: Boston, MA Age: 56 Posts: 175	Last things first. If you don't have HOW installed, the opening movie you get will have the candles and be the Jerod story. If you do have HOW installed, when you are at the screen where you select "load game" it will say Heart of Winter (on the left). Regarding Belhifet, I had a similar thing happen. Without a lot of forethought, I jumped in to start fighting him, which turned out to be a bad strategy for me at that time. I couldn't kill him fast enough to not take a beating from the Iron Golems. By the time I switched strategies and defeated the Golems, my party was in rough shape. Then I was surprised to find that Belhifet isn't very aggressive, and that he's kind of a one trick pony. I had one character with a lot of fire resistance and a healing sword attack and all that would happen is that he would attack B, who would take damage, do that fire thing, then teleport away. My character would chase after him. Out of curiosity, I left and watched TV for a while. After 20 minutes, there was pretty much no change. At some point, however, B got in a good hit, because my character died. The next time around, the result was much better. I used as many of those group spells (courage, prayer, haste, invisibility) as I could. Then I distracted B with a tank and finished off the Golems. Once they were gone, B wasn't a problem. The entire time, my bard was in the center of the room singing that war chant. Lymond __________________ Hard work pays off in the long run. Laziness pays off right now.

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09-15-2003, 12:22 PM	#1
Curt Elite Waterdeep Guard Join Date: June 27, 2003 Location: San Diego Age: 62 Posts: 18	OK, I've reached the final battle, defeated the two iron golems easily but can't seem to have much of an effect on the main enemy (whatever brother Poquielen was posessed by). I actually got to the point where it's just my paladin and the enemy left and he basically ignores me for some reason. I keep hitting him, scoring damage and he's always "almost dead" in status but won't go down. I've put hundreds of hits on him in the "almost dead" state but no joy. Any suggestions on how to proceed with this battle? Why does he ignore my character (not that that's a bad thing! His hits pack a big wallop!) Thanks for any insight.

09-15-2003, 02:46 PM	#2
NobleNick Quintesson Join Date: February 5, 2002 Location: Huntsville, AL, USA Age: 65 Posts: 1,045	Curt, Your problem is that Belhifet has amazing HP regeneration rate: Evidently he was regenerating as fast as your Pally could dish out the damage. You need more firepower when you finally turn your attention to Big B: more melee fighters and/or use Haste. Here is a reprint from how I did it.... For Belhifet, after two unsuccessful attempts, I took him down in a 45 minute fight by: 1.) Using Haste, Recitation, Improved Invisibility, AND Remembering where the dispell traps were! (I searched for them in the previous lost attempt; and the locations of these six [6] traps are easy to remember, since they are a symmetrical part of the floor design.) 2.) Ganging up 3 to 4 of my best fighters on one iron golem, then the next, then Belhifet. 3.) Using whomever Belhifet attacked to run him around in circles. Ditto for the second iron golem, before we took the first one down. 4.) Watching/Timing very carefully for Big B's spell casting (he was fairly predictable), and running my melee guys out of harm's way just before Infernal Conveyance (IC) (or his other "Flame-Strike-like" fire spell) hit. This fight was the most challenging and satisfying of the game. It was fun orchestrating my party in a ballet of "attack, buff and avoidance:" attacking the designated target while avoiding all other monsters, buffing the party without getting them all toasted with a flame spell AND avoiding the disspell traps with my buffed characters. I used the whole floor, almost as effortlessly as Big B. ... and never set off a trap! I started the fight by spreading my party to roughly evenly spaced points on the outer circle (adjusted somewhat to avoid traps along the way), to avoid an expected fire spell (that didn't come); and had the Bard cast stoneskin and mirror image on herself before starting up on the War Chant. As soon as B. started one of his early IC spells, I started a Recitation and danced the other members to within range of the spell just as it finished. Both golems (one at a time) fell amazingly easily to the team effort of 3-4 well equipped bashers under the influence of recitation and war chant. And with one guy at about 90% HP, and everyone else at 100%, it was time for the main event... Re-using the tactic from when I had cast Recitation (which spell was still active at the end of the fight), my mage Hasted the entire party; and I sent the front-line four after B. My mage cast Improved Invisibility on each of the four melee guys as they danced by (giving them an additional 4 point bonus to AC and 2(?) point bonus to saving throws, even though they were still attacking). Meanwhile, the Bard continued singing the War Chant. And... Big B. started taking Big-Time damage: to the tune of 50-70 points/round (for those rounds that we were in full melee contact)! By watching closely, I could dance the melee guys away from Big B's IC, and only got scorched once or twice. I never needed to use a healing spell (though I had 3 TOTAL healing spells and other lesser ones available). When Big B. went down, one of my melee guys was at about 40% HP, another was about 60% and the rest were 100%. It felt so good to be chasing his sorry butt around instead of vice versa. After getting so outrageously crushed in the first two fights, this victory was exquisitely delightful. What's a party, without a song? Bards ROCK! Party on!!

09-15-2003, 02:50 PM	#3
Xen Symbol of Moradin Join Date: June 5, 2002 Location: Slovenia,Ljubljana Age: 37 Posts: 8,554	About the "Near Death" thing... do you have the patch?

09-15-2003, 02:56 PM	#4
Curt Elite Waterdeep Guard Join Date: June 27, 2003 Location: San Diego Age: 62 Posts: 18	Thanks guys, no I don't have a patch installed, hmmm... I bought it fairly recently (part of the double pack with HOW) how do you tell which version you have? If there is a bug that would explain the "near death" thing. Might also explain why he ignores me after a while. And thanks to Nick for the detailed account of how he handled it. Yeah, I dispatch the iron golem's quickly enough and then get pounded by B. He's got a -12 armor class so it's very tough to score damage on him but I was able to do so. Where can you get the patch? I'll check Interplay's site, some game magazines have patches as well.

09-15-2003, 03:34 PM	#5
Curt Elite Waterdeep Guard Join Date: June 27, 2003 Location: San Diego Age: 62 Posts: 18	OK, really dumb question... how do I tell if I have HOW installed. Like I said I got the combo pack and I thought I installed HOW to get the benefits from HOW in the original IWD as well but I don't know how to verify that. Problem is that I saw on the Interplay website that those IWD patches should not be installed if you've installed HOW. Any insight appreciated.

09-15-2003, 05:15 PM	#7
Curt Elite Waterdeep Guard Join Date: June 27, 2003 Location: San Diego Age: 62 Posts: 18	Thanks Lymond, duh, yes I've got HOW installed so even though I downloaded a patch from Interplay I'm wary of installing it. I think I just need to change my approach a bit. Buffing up before you start the battle doesn't work due to the immediate dispel magic that hits you... and after you're hasted your THACO goes down by one due to being fatigued. That's one problem I had, when my last character was fighting B he was at a -6 THACO penalty, ouch! Rats, I love haste spells! I can take out the golems fairly quicly but for me B is a problem at that point, but I'm not using everything I can! Time to get more organized and really pull out all the stops!

09-15-2003, 08:27 PM	#8
Curt Elite Waterdeep Guard Join Date: June 27, 2003 Location: San Diego Age: 62 Posts: 18	OK, done! Finished IWD! The battle was actually pretty easy, not sure what the problem was last night. Had everyone hasted with their best weapon, mage used Tensor's Transformation to become a good fighter and we whooped up on B! Thanks for the help folks, now on tho HOW!

09-16-2003, 08:41 AM	#9
NobleNick Quintesson Join Date: February 5, 2002 Location: Huntsville, AL, USA Age: 65 Posts: 1,045	Curt, Congrats! Oh, and a very belated, "Welcome to the forums!" One way to make sure you have IWD/HoW patched up correctly is to download and install Trials of the Lure Master (TotLM, TotL). TotLM is a free 6-7MB download from BIS. In addition to the extra gaming that TotLM provides, it is a most excellent and complete patch for IWD/HoW (no other patches needed). If you were having a wonder at whether or not HoW was installed, then you might not be aware of a very nifty feature it adds: Pressing the "Alt" key highlights all treasure locations and other areas of interest (e.g., levers, doors, dropped items, and discovered traps) in whatever area your party is in. Though you didn't ask: I just finished HoW, and finished IWD a few weeks ago. I "wasted" about 30 hours of gameplay over this period (some of it on purpose, most of it not) by not starting HoW and TotLM at the right time. ~ (slight spoilers coming, concerning HoW game flow, and when to start HoW and TotLM) ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ For a combined IWD/HoW/TotLM game, the latest that you can start HoW is just before you meet RBP. The latest that you can start TotLM is just before you leave (location name omitted) for the Sea of Moving Ice. Also, if you choose to immediately leave from (location name omitted) for the Sea of Moving Ice without first going back to Lonelywood, you will miss at least two expo events, both of which are quite interesting. One event is necessary to fully explain some of the events in Lonelywood. The other is just plain fun and gives you a big truck load of experience (if you play it correctly). What's a party, without a song? Bards ROCK! Party on!! [ 09-16-2003, 09:04 AM: Message edited by: NobleNick ]

09-16-2003, 11:58 AM	#10
Curt Elite Waterdeep Guard Join Date: June 27, 2003 Location: San Diego Age: 62 Posts: 18	Thanks Nick! Who's RBP? Since I've completed IWD I think I just start a new game with HOW installed and they let me import my party, is that how it works? Can TOLM be played after completing HOW? Or is it more fun to have them "integrated"? Just wondering. I tried not to read too much of your spoiler message! Edit: Oh, Rev Bro Poqelien, "RBP"! Sorry, little slow on the uptake this morning. [ 09-16-2003, 12:12 PM: Message edited by: Curt ]

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