Since many encounters are changed/added in IA it can be hard to work out the best order to try to do things - there are some very difficult battles which can be accessed early on which are not beatable until much later. So this is a fairly detailed order in which I did things at the beginning of the game while I was testing v5.

It is far from the only way to do things but I found it worked quite well. Hopefully it'll help a little.

1) Irenicus' Dungeon
2) Circus
3) Leave Athkatla via this route: Promenade -> Slums (get Windspear Hills map location from Firkraag) -> Government District (get Hunt for Valygar and Umar Hills Quest) -> Gates District (get Trademeet Quest)
4) Travel from Gates to Umar Hills. Complete the Juggernaut golem quest (reward Ilbratha +1, very useful). Talk to the mayor and the ogres for xp and Shield of the Lost +2. Travel to the Ranger Cabin to find map to Temple.
5) Travel from Umar Hills to Trademeet, go to the Druid Grove and defeat the druids and Faldorn (not Troll Mound or Ogre Tower)*.
6) Go back to Trademeet and talk to Genies, defeat Ihtafeer. Be proclaimed Heroes of Trademeet (= lots of gold and access to some good items)
7) Windspear Hills - start Firkraag quest and clear first level of dungeon; return acorns.

At this point you could visit Watcher's Keep and do most of the first floor if you wanted. It gives you a fair amount of xp and items.

8) Return to Athkatla Bridge District - skinner murders.
9) All unmodded Athkatla content e.g. Graveyard quests, Mae'var, intrigue with Xzar/harpers. Also the core parts of the Unseeing Eye quest (not the ghoul town or Ashideena guardians).

NB also will have Suna Seni/slavers encounters here but by this time they're not so bad - this is the reason for the order of areas followed in leaving Athkatla, to guarantee the encounter is avoided. It's possible to take the encounters on at the beginning of the game but probably not advised if you're new to the mod.

10) Pay Gaelan Bayle
11) Aran's first quest (Mook)

At this point which quests are easier will depend on your party composition. Here is a list of the encounters/quests I tend to do at this point (no definite order):

- Lilarcor
- Pai'Na
- Copper Coronet slavery
- Slaver ship
- Aran's second quest (guild defectors)
- De'Arnise Keep
- Rest of Windspear Dungeon (not Samia or Firkraag)

Before heading to Spellhold I would suggest doing at least one or both of the following quests:

- Planar Sphere
- Shade Lord

Both these quests involve some difficult battles. Overall I'd say the Shade Lord quests is harder though. I usually leave the Planar Prison for Chapter 6 (remember that in IA you don't want to delay too long before going to Spellhold).


*If you have Multiple Strongholds from EoU installed and your protagonist is not a spellcaster (i.e. not mage/cleric/druid/sorcerer) the duel with Faldorn will be very difficult. You may have to postpone it until later - possibly much later if your protagonist is a thief or fighter.


Incidentally my party for testing IA v5 was:

PC Vagrant (flails, axes)
Sorcerer
Berserker (longsword, quarterstaff)
Fighter/Cleric multiclass (mace, hammer)
Auramaster

The sixth character slot changed depending on what I was testing (usually Keldorn or Imoen)

Thanks Raven! This will at least give me a good clue to what to do now

What happened to RP? Hmmm. "I have found the likely spot that is the source of troubles for Umar, the city I've come to rescue. But I'm not feeling up to the task today, maybe later." ...."I am disgraced here in Windspear Hills having slain knights. I've been disgraced twice over even, because thieves managed to kidnap my helper's daughter right from under my nose. You know I promised to get her back and straighten out this mess. Make things right, you know. But I'm not feeling up to the task today, maybe later."

OK. I know the answer. My cleric will cast an Augury. (I know it is not in BG2, but it is in DnD.) "Is it will or woe for me to rescue the daughter." ---"Woaahhh. You're not really that good yet." Pun on alignment intended.

I don't think you can beat Ihtafeer that early in the game. Rakshasas are really tough monsters considering their spell output and immunities to common early game spells/spell effects.

In 4.2 you could take them out with a fairly low level party by running in, starting the fight and rushing out straight after they all cast Absolute immunity. It was one of the few locations you could do this in, so it may have been fixed...in which case I agree with you Iroumen - 3 Raksashas that early would be pretty tough.

Very nice work Raven - I think one of the main troubles I had in my 1st (as yet uncompleted) run was trying to take out tough enemies too early.

I didn't really have any troubles beating them. I parked Nalia and Xan outside and just pounded at them with Keldorn, my PC vagrant a custom NPC T->C and Jaheira. I came from the beastmaster quest before that.

Hmmm, depending on party composition you could be correct. Personally I did not have too much trouble, even without running away in the middle of the fight. It's a case of seeing what spells they cast and then preparing the necessary countermeasures.

I still stand by the order though because the rewards for killing Ihtafeer are great - Shield of Harmony, loads of gold, can buy from the Trademeet merchants...

Rakshasa require +2 weapons to hit and they are immune to spell levels 1-7, hold and confuse, correct? Hmmm.... I certainly don't have that yet.

Yeah Rakshasa is doable at that time, Valygar can do the job with his katana and Minsc can also do some damage with the Sword of Chaos. It's just a matter of waiting for the Absolute Immunity to wear off and surviving the cloudkill/ice storm while doing it. You can try to position your party to the norther part of the room before attacking and kill the 2 weaker rakshasas first. Cloudkill will then also be aimed at that part of the room so you'll be able to get out of it's nasty reach once you go for Ihtafeer.

Keldorn's weapon is +2, I had Jaheiras +3 club from the Beastmaster, my pc had +2 longsword from the graveyards. I simply walked away from the cloudkill BTW

I'll give it a shot when I get to him/her/it. Maybe the D'Arnise Keep will give me some rewards that I can use, or I'm going to have to get myself an NPC that has the required items which is a bit of an unfavourable option.

EDIT: (Unfavourable since that's not my playstyle. I'm going to wait for some items before I head out to get them. After all, Rakshasa are known to be tough so for a roleplaying decision it's a valid choice to wait.
My party currently consists of Vagrant Protagonist, Avenger Jaheira, F/C Anomen, Auramaster Cernd, T/M Nalia).

Updated original post with my party composition.

I recall that being a fairly tough fight in 4.2, but not insurmountable. My biggest problem was damaging the Rakshasas due to lack of powerful magical weapons (some of my party members still had non magical weapons).

I'm coming up on that fight shortly in 5.0. My only +2 weapon at the moment is Valygar's Katana. The rest are using +1 weapons or mundane weapons. I do have sword of chaos +2 in my (apparently quite large) backpack, so maybe I'll let another party member use that, even though none of them have the approriate training. I'm expecting this to be my first challenging battle of IA 5.0.

Good progression scheme

I prefer a slightly harder initial route , one where i max my rep as step one , so right out of the gate i sell almost everything i looted from the initial dungeon , then off to the temple to "donate" ( till 14 rep )

After clearing the circus / promenade my favourite trick is to go to the government district , pay off the cowled wizards then hoof it to the Graveyard district (after picking up Anomen ) clear out the nasties in the crypts , rest , buff and proceed to the ambush - its a tough fight , but between your early looting and the equipment you salvage , your in considerably better shape equipment and spell scroll wise , then off to the bridge district to solve the skinner and kidnapper quests , then its off to the docks, the harper quest and thief stronghold , then off to the temple district + the fallen paladins + illithium quests , then hi ho - off to the umbar hills and the minor quests

by now you should have about 18 rep , then its off to trademeet , the druids + genies ( all characters in my current run have at least +2 weapons + plenty of decent buffing spells ) , then the help tris quest = 20 rep + trademeet stores are open for biz ! if you've been thorough in your looting and pick pocketing , you should have quite a good start in terms of must have spells and gold , buy any vital spells you may have missed , then id say - off to the temple sewers again , you should be more than capable of handeling beholders + assorted nasties that await ( i like taking on the sewer cloak holder rather early )

I try most city quests before leaving. I think De'Arnise Keep is pretty easy, and has great rewards to set you up for a long time (a +3 Flail and +3 Axe is REALLY helpful).

I don't do those Rashakas until much later.


FYI, I play no reloads, so I try to take a few chances as possible.

My quest order took into account the fact that the De'Arnise Keep is harder in v5 than previously for several reasons. It is far, far more difficult than the Druid Grove Rakshasas.

I'd be interested to hear how far you made it in this mod without reloading .

@Klorox

This thread is about suggested quest orders for those who play the game with IA. Are you playing the game with IA installed?

So I did the Rakshasa encounter last night, and found it relatively tame. I strongly recommend going this route before De'Arnise Keep (especially if the keep has been made more difficult since IA4.2-- as it was no cakewalk in 4.2).

D'Arnise ground floor is doable, but you'd better check your party before opening those gates!

Ahh crap. My bad.

Topic pinned.

Raven knows about IA probably even more than I do ; so, don't hesitate to ask for his advice whenever you need a hint or two.

Also, keep in mind that as Raven mentioned in his initial post, his suggested quest order is not a mandatory rout to take or the only way in which the game can be played. It's rather one (among others) suggested quest order for players who find the early stages of the game a bit hard for their low level parties.

Very good recommendation and the route I'm following in my current IA v.5 game (although I did Trademeet before touching anything in Umar Hills and took on Suna Seni straight on. Go emotion and hold person ).
I'll 2nd the statement that the Rakshaasas can be taken on straight out of Irenicus' dungeon. If you're having difficulties you can simply just exit the room, wait out the clouds and storms and re-enter. You can even rest and re-buff, so it shouldn't be too much of a problem and the rewards are well worth it.
I'd recommend you take on the druids in front of the entrance to the groove to get the Flame Tongue; it acts as a +4 weapon.

It shouldn't do in Improved Anvil...

I stand corrected, I just had the Baldrudash game text update. Might be worth mentioning in the installation doc that some weapon descriptions will be inconsistent if you have that installed? I think a lot of players are just used to installing that along with the fixpack... at least I am .

You have to start a new game after installing v5, olimikirg!

In general, starting a new game after installing v5 is a must. You will face countless bugs if you don't start a new game.

I have started a new game, dunno where you get the idea that I haven't from .

Glad to hear.

(I had just guessed. )

Just made a very small edit to the initial post; added Aran's second quest before the De'Arnise Keep.

Hello, I just registered to this site to ask something and hopefully to enjoy all the good stuff from Black Isle's oldies. First of all, I would like to congratulate about all the awesome job and your huge contributions to the game. That being said, I want to know how to beat #5; my druid keeps dying because the enemy has like x3 hit points, and his spells does x5 more damage than mine. I also tried to simply attack but Faldorn seems to be immortal (I mean to attack Faldorn outside the arena) . Any particular methods to beat her? Thanks in advance.

I got some help from Sikret and Raven about different tactics for a druid and a protaganist ranger against Faldorn. For the druid, memorize a lot of burning hands, flame arrows, and ironskins (ironskins first). Use the Flame arrows to disrupt her animal summons (and insects!!). If your flame arrows run out, use burning hands and her flame sword will not hurt you a lot.

Welcome aboard, thisisnotme!

As far as I remember, Faldorn is unkillable outside the arena unless you have poisoned the water which is the evil path. It's the same in the vanilla game and I have not touched it. So, if you don't want to take the evil path (which you can't anyway, because you have a druid protagonist), you should duel with Faldorn inside the arena.

The duel with Faldorn is difficult for warrior type characters (though still doable even by low level rangers). The duel is far easier for spellcasters. Hoppy's recommendations were mostly for Auramasters, but even other druids can beat her without much difficulty. Try different combinations of spells and the order of casting. You may even try to follow Faldorn's own general tactics during the duel. She is not very high level and plays quite fairly with you.

In general, it should be a lot of fun to find the optimum and best tactics to beat Faldorn with a normal (non-kitted) druid. Why don't you enjoy finding that optimum tactics by yourself?

I was simply desperate because I saw no other way to progress the game; I just toned down the difficulty from insane to normal, and the fight became manageable; I am ashamed of this (since I never did this in a normal game) but I saw no other way in order to progress.

That's fine. Lowering the difficulty slider is actually a very good and legitimate thing to do for players who are new to IA and find some of the battles a bit too hard. Starting the game on "insane" was probably not a good idea for you (as a new IA-player) in the first place.

I have a suggestion:

What if I allow the non-spellcaster (and non-ranger*) protagonists to ask Cernd to do the duel for them if they wish? They will still have the option to do the duel themselves, but I can also add the option to ask Cernd to do it. Of course, in this case, Cernd will not be under the player's control and will do the version of the battle I have designed for him. This version of Cernd's duel already exists and is also revised to match Cernd's Auramaster kit in IA v5 (as Raven knows and has tested it without multiple stronghold installed), but since most players have the multiple stronghold, most of them have not seen it in the game while playing v5 (it's when Cernd is not in the party and you tell him that you will just observe his duel. This option is disabled by the multiple stronghold component of EoU, but I can revive it.)

The multiple stronghold does something else which I will change for the next release. It allows the second duel (= the duel for the title) to be taken place immediately after defeating Faldorn regardless of the player's level and xp. This doesn't look very nice, because without the multiple stronghold the duel is only offered to a 14th level druid; I will change it so that the protagonist's xp will be checked and the option for the second duel will be offered only to the protagonists who have the minimum amount of xp of a 14th level druid (even if the protagonist is not actually a druid).

Any comments?

-----
* I still believe that the duel with Faldorn has the optimum difficulty if done with a low level ranger protagonist. It is very doable and has the intended difficulty level I was looking for; so I won't give the option to rangers to ask Cernd to do the duel for them.

I think both changes are great.

I've just updated the initial post with a little more detail about the harder Ch 3 encounters/quests. As with the rest of the order it is only one of many possible ways to do things. For instance, in my latest game I obtained Lilarcor right at the start of the game (after entering the slums for the first time).

I know it's been a while since anyone mentioned the Suna Seni battle, but just in case anyone is interested I found a new way to safely leave Athkatla without triggering the encounter. Sikret had previously recommended

Waukeen's Promenade -> Slums -> Government -> Gates -> Umar Hills

In fact you can also use

Waukeen's Promenade -> Slums -> Temple -> Government -> Gates -> Umar Hills

This lets you pick up Keldorn before leaving Athkatla, for instance.

I believe you can also finish Bridge District murderer before Suna Seni, but you must fight those two goons in front of Copper Coronet, and then go to Bridge. I think they also count for "I had my share of attacks as well" line.
In the Temple, you can also steal that Talos amulet (before getting quest from Mae'var) and finish thieves quest for party exp before Suna.

I have noticed one strange thing. As I have read here earlier, the Suna Seni fight appeared before you first go to the Bridge District. But in my case with my current party I was able to enter to the bridge without fighting with Suna Seni!

Kerkes: We posted these two posts in the same time. You won.

Yes, you can go to other districts in Athkatla without the encounter triggering (although if you go to the Docks or Graveyard, the encounter always triggers when you leave). The reason I listed those paths was because they get you out of the city without meeting Suna. I'm not aware of a path that takes you through (say) the Bridge District and then safely out of the city, but that doesn't mean one doesn't exist.

As far as I know Corhvale and Bregg have no effect on when the encounter occurs.


Yes, but I dislike doing this because you have no reason to take the amulet before Mae'var tells you to.

@Raven: Wow, I'm impressed even though I know it's doable. Just a question: was this done on v5 or v6? An important level 4 spell you would have to use would not be spammable in v6.

In my game (v.5) i didn't get Lilarcor right from start but i guess its doable (i'm not expert and didn't play far in mod yet). I did it probably 1 level later after doing some easy quests in Athakla (no +3 weapon on anyone). The spell you are talking about was used by me once only (for protagonist) - though right at start it would be harder (worse thaco, AC) and i would have to use potions i think. I found nice way to deal with rats and hardest was getting blood of true friend (description of my play if coming)

Funnily enough it was after managing the Lilarcor quest that I suggested the spell in question should be nerfed .

Oh, I see. After the nerfing of this spell, this encounter would be much tougher to accomplish at the start.

Lowbie quests first for all the help you can get, especially if you have any multiclasses or riskbreaker.

1. Circus
2. kill 2 CC thugs +pick up stuffed bear + duel amalas
3. Maevar (exremely easy, gold generator cooldowns initiated) + Ama
4. Anarg + Skinner
5. rescue/kick viconia, rescue/kick jan
Talky talk quests in Umar with exception of killing one weak mimic and golem
6. Clear first floor of keep, forge dogmeat stew
7. Clear knights + turn in acorns + clear the archer rooms. (don't open the door, golems are too hard)
8. Faldorn + Genies quest
Buy emotion+malison scrolls before going to graveyard district
9. Wellyn's ghost, Paladin and Risa
10. Suna Seni will attack you on your way out (100% I think?) use malison-emotion combo
11. Ryllock + master thievery buffed docks stealing spree
12. Jaheira quests +harper quests
13. beastmaster spell disruptfest

With the exception of suna, this will let you get a decent level without much opposition.