Solo barbarian BG2 and Tactics

[Shrietkar]

Ok so I got bored with a mage/thief in BG2 Tactics so gave up just before Brynlaw. My solo barbarian has completed BG1 and is now ready to take on BG2. I love solo games. Can anyone give me any advice for the barbarian in BG2? Tactics is gonna be tricky with just the one Melee guy.

Gryshak - Half-Orc Barbarian - True Neutral

Str:20
Dex:19
Con:20
Int:6
Wis:8
Cha:19

175 hp in BG2. Nice.

Hes specialized in axes, proficient with long swords and has 3 in two weapon style.

So my journey begins in irenicus' dungeon with nothing. Took imoen to get the dagger, sent her away and was on my merry way. Equipped an axe, a long sword, splint mail and a helmet. Killed the mephit and the ogre mage. Took out the two duergar proleriats with relative ease, rage and combat... enough said. Unfortunately I unwisely used both the rages here, and had to tank the spells from the mages before I could run in and kill them. Naturally, it took fifty-six days to recover from the fight. :S. I'm now just past rielev, took out the golems and the duergar from here and now I'm going for ilyich. Eeek. I'll update.

[thetruth]

First of all it is doable.

I have soloed a plain Fighter with Tactics,Imp.Battles,Ascension and some other mods (Core Rules).Some battles,especially in the ToB part of the game, were extremely hard but patience ( reloads ) and the use of some unconventional tactics and items made it possible.


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Some tips :


1) Weapons:

- Specialize in Flails as soon as possible.Flail of the Ages is the most powerful weapon in the game IMHO and the best in the fights against ''Bosses''.His Elemental dmg is ideal against mages (spell casting failure) and his Slow effect excellent against Dragons and tough melee enemies.

- Use dual-wielding as your main weapon style.The best off-hand weapon for the Barbarian (and not only) is the Defender of Eastheaven.Combine it with Hardiness and you will have 80% resistance to physical dmg.And if you do not upgrade the Staff of the Ram you will be immune to crushing wearing Gromnir's Helmet (50% res. to crushing).


- Shields:

a) Buy as soon as possible the shield of Reflection.It reflects almost everything back.From arrows,missile weapons to flame arrows and some traps (snares etc.).Invaluable in the fights of the Tactics' random encounters

b) Shield of Harmony along with the Barbarian's Rage will protect you from everything except from Imprisonment (but for this you can use some other items).

- Arrows of Dispelling :

Dispel everything that hit,ignore SI: Abjuration and can be stopped only from PfMW and Mantles.Excellent against Dragons and Mages.
When you will be in higher levels you can fight every night the group of the W.Slayer etc. and you can take his arrows (if you kill him quickly).

- Ibratha short sword (from the Umar Hills).Take it as soon as possible.Mirror Image will be extremely useful.

- Vorpal Sword : Don't return it to the Giths.It will be extremely useful later.

- Vhailor's Helm for the Simulacrum.

- Staff of Command (from the Illithid's lair in the Underdark). It's special ability Domination,unlike the mage spell, does NOT allow a saving throw and has a MUCH longer duration.It still can be stopped by MR and protections to Domination,Spell Trap etc.
Though it is quite cheesy (unfortunately I discovered it after my fighter's solo).

- Gargoyle's Boots (in ToB): 2 stoneskins/day.Invaluable.


2) Items :

- Rings of Air Control :

You can buy unlimited rings from Ribald (Adventurer's Mart). Improved Invisibility for 10 rounds is extremely useful against Mages (they can't target you with spells) and tough melee-enemies that can't see the invisible.In my game I ended up with more than 20 rings.Invisibility is extremely useful in a solo game.

- Rods of Resurrection : For the insta-heal.There are 3 of them in the game.Be careful to recharge them when they have only 1 charge left.Extremely useful in the difficult fights.

3) Potions :

- Potions of Magic Protection: 50% MR/potion, there 6 of them in the game.Use them only in the very difficult battles.

- Potions of Magic Shielding: 50% resistance to Magic dmg, BUT most importantly with a potion every Saving Throw is made automatically.

- Potions of Invulnerability: For excellent saving throws - their effect is cumulative.

Potions of STR : And especially those of the Storm Giant STR.It will be your only option (since you don't have DUHM) for opening some locks,doors before Ch. 6 (and the Crom Fayer).


Generally take every special item,weapon,potion,scroll with you.You can never know when you will need them

As for Improved Ilyich use your high speed,oils of speed,special abilities and all the ranged weapons you can find.It will be a tough fight.

[ 06-06-2006, 05:24 PM: Message edited by: thetruth ]

[Shrietkar]

Thanks very much. Those tips will be very helpful.

Quick update on the game.

Dealt with ilyich and his cronies appropriately. Managed to lure them out one by one(took a few reloads), the jailkeep golem can be ripped to pieces by the handy quarterstaff+1 whilst everything else was slaughtered with ilyich's weapons. I'm enjoying barbarian rage as its providing excellent defense against those pesky duergar mages and their spells. Dispatched of the cambion and the goblins easily enough. After ilyich it all seems like falling off a log.

Will update.

[Shrietkar]

Right, finished dungeon and I've done circus, tanner and copper coronet. level 11 and I need to make some money and some exp for my flails and proficiencies.

[Assassin]

Mind telling me, theTruth, how you managed to solo with Improved Battles?! Every single mage that it buffs seems to have Horrid Wilting, along with Time Stop. Every Fighter seems to have Crom Faeyr and Flail of Ages. In other words, it's hard enough with a party. Care to share your secret?

[ 06-08-2006, 06:43 PM: Message edited by: Assassin ]

[thetruth]

Originally posted by Assassin: Mind telling me, theTruth, how you managed to solo with Improved Battles?! Every single mage that it buffs seems to have Horrid Wilting, along with Time Stop. Every Fighter seems to have Crom Faeyr and Flail of Ages. In other words, it's hard enough with a party. Care to share your secret?

- Mages : Rings of Air Control.Even in the modded game not many of them use True Sight fortunately.

And anyway a Fighter with his excellent Saving Throws,Belt of Inertial Barrier and with weapons like the FoA or the Arrows of Dispelling will not have any problems against Mages (Imp. Irenicus,Improved Sendai excluded )

- Crom Fayer and FoA... you are talking about Improved Mencar here I think.No problems if you face them in high level and with good equipment (but Pooky's parents were tricky )

- 3 are the fights from the Imp.Battles mod that made me reload many times:


1) The final Battle for the fighter's stronghold. Almost impossible for a solo fighter to kill all of them in just 1 hour ! Arrows of detonation + GWW attacks + > 15-20 reloads was my tactic here

2) Knights of the Dark Renown :

I found it almost impossible to win the battle at level 15 (when the quest triggers) ,mainly because my fighter's solo was my first modded game and without foreknowledge I was not prepared for such a difficult fight (no weapons,equipment). Anyway I found a way to face them in a higher level and abusing the invisibility I defeated them.

3) Improved Firkraag :

My tactic was to use the map to my advantage (fortunately Dragons are big ).And arrows made the rest...

[Assassin]

Hrm... In my experience, Improved Invisibility does sod-all when it comes to preventing spells from enemies (after breaking the initial invisibility), even though it says in the description that it should. Unless you're talking about popping in and out of invisibility with about ten or so Rings...

[Dundee Slaytern]

Improved Invisibility will protect you from spells, unless,

..) The spell was from a Chain Contingency
..) The spell was area-of-effect
..) The caster can see through invisibility

[Assassin]

I'm talking about a spellcaster like Sorcerous Amon, sans invisibility revealing spells, targetting the character that has revealed itself but not fully visible (should not be able to target him with spells). Maybe my memory's hazy, as ever since I experimented with it and was disappointed by enemies casting 'through' the invisibility, I've never used it. Maybe it's time to actually fire up the old thing and give it a shot...

[ 06-08-2006, 11:27 PM: Message edited by: Assassin ]

[Dundee Slaytern]

Well, I'm playing right now, and IInvi does prevent them from casting on you. I do not know of Amon specifically, since that fight was over too fast, but for normal run-of-the-mill fights, IInvi does protect you.