V7 run, after loooong break Options

[critto]

Locations for Blackblood:
SPOILER!

Gaal, Torgal, Priest of Cyric, Slaver Ship

[Shadan]

You could do fighter stronhold before spellhold if you havent done it yet.

I did few quests there, but stopped one quest before Roenall. I remember, I had a problems with that when that was the next before Spellhold. and some timer ran out when I came back in Ch6.

SPOILER!

Gaal, Torgal, Priest of Cyric, Slaver Ship

Well I hope it is at Gaal, because I've killed Torgal and cleared Slaver Ship. I don't know where is Priest of Cyric. It he is et Theshal, I haven't killed him also.

I did Brynnlaw and most of the Spellhold. Brynnlaw is nothing special.

Spellhold:

Spiders: Easy.
Elemental golem: Suprised first, reload, rest, buff, forgot elemental damage. Reload, medium hard fight, killed all golems with 2 Fire Giant Str potion used.
SPOILER!

Later I've found out, I could farm a little XP and loot, I I wait EG summons all 6 minor golems. Maybe at next EG's I will do that.

Shade Lich: This was hard, mostly because party was tired out of buffs and I Didn't want rest. Sibel tanked the lich until he was out of PfMW.
Kobolds: Easy on my level and with my strong party.
Tome: Easy also.
Cat: Was easy, but Librarian surprised me. I was not prepared for her, but I killed him as I did with shade lich: Sibel tanked him for a looong time.
Vampire lord: Easy, killed him very fast. Breach helped.

Then Mithril golem: well this was hard....

SPOILER!

I don't have any good high level summon. So I summoned clan hunter + 4 mountain bears. Buffed to max. death ward on summons. 3 Cloud Giant Str. and 2 Invu potions used.
4 bears were the first who engaged with golem, then Sibel. Bears soaked the first 2 rounds of MG. Avanger engaged next. RB and kensai summoned Joloon and spider as a bit more distraction.
Spell trigger 3 Lower Res, Nalia casted the 4th. Then I've tried the following spells:
Sequencer: Gr. Malison + 2 Slow. Gr. Mallison was applied, but I am unsure of Slow. I've casted 2 more Slow, and sometimes there was a save message sometimes there wasn't. But apr of MG seemingly didn't changed.
Minor Seq: 2 Ray of Enf. One save message, other applied I think, but damage of MG wasn't lowered.
Doom: I am unsure.
Polymorph: No effect.
Web: No effect.

After this it was only a hack and slash. I have great melee power, Nalia with Rod of Smiting.
I wanted to tank with Sibel: AC-20 + belt-4 vs. crushing, -4 Shield of Archon (too pity a level 7 spell, not so long duration and easily can be dispelled), -4 Impr. Invis, -2 Def. Harmony. She was able to avoid few hits, but soon 1 hit landed, and whole buffs went to the hell... Well, Impr. Inv. stayed on, so I was not able to cast Heal with avanger on Sibel. And bleed prevented her to cast Gr. Resto. Also MG changed target frequently, targeted even those who stood a little bit behind, like kensai and avanger. So I am unsure, how was able others to tank him perfectly. But, my party's great melee power killed him reasonable fast. All melees were under bleed effect, so I was not able to heal from spells, I had to drink some Extrahealing portions after the fight. Golden Cat Figurine saved my kensai in the fight.

I am a bit clueless about Spellhold. My next party will be weaker I think than the current one. I have 3 options regarding Spellhold:
1. I go to Spellhold before the XP limit of improved version. I Don't like this, because I have to skip few fights which are challenge and enjoying in CH3, but easy and a bit boring in Ch6.
2. I go to improved Spellhold, which will be a bit hard to a weaker party, and I will suffer there.
3. Apply IE Tweaks no improved Spellhold, but in this case, maybe Spellhold will be a bit too easy as it was now with this party.

I have to consider this.


This post has been edited by Shadan: Jan 14 2025, 02:21 AM

[critto]

Priest of Cyric is the one in the Slaver Ship.

[DequNew]

You could do fighter stronhold before spellhold if you havent done it yet.

I did few quests there, but stopped one quest before Roenall. I remember, I had a problems with that when that was the next before Spellhold. and some timer ran out when I came back in Ch6.

There might be still timers, I remember something like it is timer safe to do one quest before flood but not flood.

[Shadan]

I've finished Spellhold. Irenicus was not so hard as it seemed at first glance.

SPOILER!

Clones were handled with the usual Spell Sequencer (Gr. Mali + 2 Emotion)
Then they were mostly killed with Spell Trigger (3 Ch. L.) + Creeping Doom.
I think the Creeping Doom was the key, because I targeted the clone next to Irenicus, so the Big Bad Guy was doomed also. Doom prevented his spellcasting for several rounds which was enough to kill Asylum Scouts and clones. I thought scouts are golems, because of graphic and immunities were similar to gem golems. So Nalia tried to use Rod of Smithing. But apparently theye were not golems since Neera's RoF didn't effect them.
After the scouts and golems it was the usual thing: keep the mage busy until his SI:Div wears out. Then easy kill.

I was a bit dissappointed because I haven't found any loot after this "not so simple" fight. I left Spellhold with portal, then I relized, that I missed the druid quest. So reloaded, and left with the pirate through Brynnlaw. Amber golem ambush and Balduran isle was not hard, so I am in sahuagin area now.

[Shadan]

Does it worth to kill Vithal? Inc. Clod, Spellstrike, W. of Banshee scrolls, +3 staff for 2 reputation?

[DequNew]

Does it worth to kill Vithal? Inc. Clod, Spellstrike, W. of Banshee scrolls, +3 staff for 2 reputation?

Not really, but I usually kill for the experience. Reputation and loot does not matter much (bit sellable for caps)

This post has been edited by DequNew: Jan 17 2025, 02:05 AM

[DequNew]

-

This post has been edited by DequNew: Jan 17 2025, 02:05 AM

[Shadan]

Finished sahuagin city: Too bad I cannot choose Prince, since only Prince fight is upgraded in IA, as far as I've seen. Killed 3-4 waves of snakes, then I was bored, so killed the Prince.

Underark 1st area done also:
Drow ambush was an easy despite of purge magic. I did full rebuff berfore, but all buffs went to the nihil.
Drow+spider grp: I remember formerly I pulled them out of improved web. Now I did a fair fight and did whole fight within the web. Prebuuffed FAs before, and renewed them during the fight when it was needed.
N'ashtar and Party suprised me first when my party was exhausted. So rest, rebuff and easy win.

I am in Ust Natha now.

[DequNew]

Finished sahuagin city: Too bad I cannot choose Prince, since only Prince fight is upgraded in IA, as far as I've seen. Killed 3-4 waves of snakes, then I was bored, so killed the Prince.

You can kill both sides. Prince can be killed only after all snakes waves are dealth, so you killed them all.
For Ust Natha dont miss easily missable quest "Mystery of Third color quest".

[Shadan]

SPOILER!

For Ust Natha dont miss easily missable quest "Mystery of Third color quest".

Thanks, I will search for that. Now I am stucked. I did almost everything in the drow city, so I started the "3 noble blood" with beholders. Killed Elder orb at entrance, but Ancient Golem seems impossible.
I don't have HLA's yet, nor lvl 9 spells. I tried the following:
Avanger PC aggroed golem. Nalia Spell Seq. Gr. Malison + 2 Emotion on beholders. These 2 chars ate purge magic.
My other 4 chars + clan hunter full buffed run in and kills beholder very fast before 1st golem is summoned. Then I kill 1st coin and gem.
But Ancient golem is too hard. He dispels elemental protection, dispels IH, even giant str potions also. He hits hard, knock out chars.
Shall I leave the beholder cave and ancient golem? Can I come back here in CH6? Or if I do the other 2 noble blood (kuo-tua and mind flayer) and come back here after those, will I have enough power to beat him in this chapter?
PC is lvl 16 (only 1 lvl 7 spell, so max. 1 anaconda)
Sibel, RB, Kensai is lvl 19
Nalia and Neera is lvl 17.

And what is the condition mentioned here:

New conditional encounter in Deirex's Cave in Ust Natha

I've killed Deirex the lich for Jarlaxle, and I haven't seen any special there.

This post has been edited by Shadan: Jan 18 2025, 05:22 AM

[critto]

Killed Elder orb at entrance, but Ancient Golem seems impossible.

Strange that you've seen him. It is "hidden" chapter 6 content (at least, difficulty-wise). But anyhow, it's okay to come back for him in CH6.

New conditional encounter in Deirex's Cave in Ust Natha

When you pick up the efreeti bottle from his treasure trove, you'll will fight said Efreeti.

[Shadan]

Strange that you've seen him. It is "hidden" chapter 6 content (at least, difficulty-wise). But anyhow, it's okay to come back for him in CH6.

I figured this out from content page on this site. Will I loose something if I skip beholder cave except elder orb? Because ancient golem is in the way and I cannot avoid him if I move inner to the cave.

When you pick up the efreeti bottle from his treasure trove, you'll will fight said Efreeti.

Hmm, maybe I missed treasure trove there... I will check it soon. Thanks.

This post has been edited by Shadan: Jan 19 2025, 01:08 AM

[SparrowJacek]

I figured this out from content page on this site. Will I loose something if I skip beholder cave except elder orb? Because ancient golem is in the way and I cannot avoid him if I move inner to the cave.

There's the "Deeper than the Underdark" quest/area there. In v6.0 it was only available before chapter 6, but I think in v7.0 you can postpone it, but you'll lose some part of the loot, but critto would have to confirm that.

Btw can't you just avoid the golem? Use Ctrl+J to teleport or something similar.

This post has been edited by SparrowJacek: Jan 19 2025, 01:50 AM

[critto]

Hmm, maybe I missed treasure trove there... I will check it soon. Thanks.

Yes, there are two levels in the tower.

There's the "Deeper than the Underdark" quest/area there. In v6.0 it was only available before chapter 6, but I think in v7.0 you can postpone it, but you'll lose some part of the loot, but critto would have to confirm that.

That's correct, it should be available but with less loot. The challenge itself is perfectly doable in ch5 though.

Btw can't you just avoid the golem? Use Ctrl+J to teleport or something similar.

Worst case scenario, this can be used, yes. But we ran into this very issue during testing of v7 and that's why we specifically set it to spawn only in CH6 onwards (unless the "hard mode" component of IA Tweaks is installed). That's why I find it strange that the golem spawns in Chapter 5.

[DequNew]

There is enough space to go around ancient golem. Just hug left wall, go under.

If you postpone Dracolich fight to later chapter you miss these loot drops:
SPOILER!

5000 gold
Potion of Barbarian Essence
Scroll of Limited Wish
Scroll of Hand of Undoing
Scroll of Bless
Scroll of Protection from Level Drain

This post has been edited by DequNew: Jan 19 2025, 01:29 PM

[Shadan]

Nowadays I have a little less time to play, and I have to admit I am stucked at dracolich...

But first my progression:

- The whole drow city: Was easy, but I've enjoyed House Jae'llat. It was refreshing when main concern was not a mage/lich etc. Just lof of fighters and clerics. I have to replay the whole city, first I've missed the 3rd colour quest, because I roleplayed in a certain situation.
- Kou-toan caverns: Not too difficult, however Prince fight was enjoying. Not too easy, but not too hard. Skipped Demon Knights, I wanted 1 HLAs before I try this fight. I thought I will do after I finish noble blood quest, dracolich and leave drow city.
- Mind Flayer caverns: Well, Elder Brain was a bit pain. I wanted to farm out 6 golems from Elemental golem, but I was not successfull. Mindflayers died very fast, also brain golems. But somehow the elemental golem always killed one of my character. Either because I was out of Ironskins and bad timed heal, or because of failed save against Elder's brain stun. At end I abandoned this concept, and killed EG after 2 golems. At very end kensai died (1st death in my current play), but I didn't want to replay the whole fight again. I had 10+ tries on this already. I am sure, I can do it without a death, but I had no patience to do it again. 1 Raise Dead scroll, loot and I left those filthy tunnels.
- Beholder Tunnels: Elder orb was easy. The only concern to avoid or survive that nasty 3 ADHW Chaint Cont. Ancient golem was there again, but I was able to skip him. Beholders near the AG saw me, and came after me, but golem didn't, luckily... So I was able to reach the stairs to...

... Deeper than Underdark: Well, it is remarkable quest, because as soon as I entered I remembered from my former plays 15 years ago. But I have to admit my tactical skill is not same as it was before... I was not able to kill dracolich from appr. 20 tries. My tactic is below:

SPOILER!

- Avanger PC went down the stairs and summoned smilodon. Others stayed at entrance to avoid Gr. Silence, and started to buff.
- RB moved to Dracolich after 1st silence and helped PC in tank duty.
- PC was near to dracolich all time, summoned a clan hunter, but he was useless otherwise because of silence. He just poked the PfMW with staff.
- Mages (Nalia and Neera) casted Remove Fear and Limited Wisd (prot. from leveldrain which was dispelled by dragon from 2-3 chars) then they buffed themselves with spell protections (SI:A, GoI, Spell Turning). My idea was to keep dracolich busy for short time to remove these, while they are renewing them as needed. Nalia always was silenced very fast, but Neera was able to avoid silence and recast several spell protections.
- Kensai stayed away, she doesn't have any type of protection exc. 1 Hardiness. So she just summoned from items (lion, spider, efreeti, berzerker).
- Sibel Prot. from Evil 10', then Death Ward on Nalia and Neera. She moved nearer occasionally to cast ZoSA (remove Death Fog), but mainly summoned bears and Gr. Resto from far.
- Beside durable summons (Clan hunter and smilodon), I've tried to keep other summons (item summons, bears etc.) 1 or max. 2 at the same time, to keep dracolich casting Death Spells.

But Gr. Silence + leveldrain + Gr. Doom + wail always killed 1-2 characters, sometimes my PC. I've tried to use Potion of Magic Shielding, to avoid this, but I didn't want to use up too much, because I remember it is very useful in later game also. And if I didn't time it precisely just before the wail, dracolich always dispelled it.
And it seems dracolich is never out ot PfMW... So I am a stucked and a bit clueless.

My first HLA's:
PC: smilodon
Sibel: She haven't got HLA yet.
RB and Kensai: Hardiness
Nalia: 6th level slot
Neera: Alacrity (However she was not able to use this, because any notable enemy are immune to everything, so there was not a chance to use it offensively. As a defensive use I wanted to use it in dracolich fight, to buff up IHs very fast when dracolich is out of PfMW or near out of it, but seemingly he has plentiful of that nasty defensive spell.)

This post has been edited by Shadan: Jan 27 2025, 03:48 PM

[SparrowJacek]

Well, the Dracolich is much easier before you get HLAs (before PC has 3.4M exp to be precise). From what I remember Skeleton Warriors are pretty good at tanking him, as they're immune to most status effects, to cold and somewhat resistant to his attacks. You should also have some Scrolls of Protection From Level Drain, there's like only 1 other place where those scrolls are very useful, if you're not planning to forge that anti-undead sword. And potions should be used in those situations, where other means fail to grant you victory, so I recomment chugging as many of them as necessary to grant you victory you can always resupply later.

[Shadan]

Thanks. Sadly I am planning to do that sword. I have 2 Prot. from Level Drain scrolls, I try to use one. But skelly spam is a great idea.

[DequNew]

Thanks. Sadly I am planning to do that sword. I have 2 Prot. from Level Drain scrolls, I try to use one. But skelly spam is a great idea.

You need all scrolls for sword I believe