Cheesy ways to kill tough foes without cheating?

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I should put this under "Kangaxx the wimp", but this new subject more fits the thread I'd like to turn it into. Inspired by my experience with "Kangaxx the wimp", I'm interested in tactics to turn the hardest fights in the game into easier ones without cheating. Here's my brand new tactic I used against Firkraag

Well, loaded my saved game from right after I killed Tazok, freed the kid, then went back to challange "Mr. F". I buffed up, then cast the second level "buff" spell "strength" ON FIRKRAAG. Afterwards, I opened my scroll case and pulled out a protection from magic scroll, and cast that protection on him. I then challanged him. His stoneskin failed, and with his strength "increased" to 18/100 his hits weren't as often or as devestating. I had Valgar charge him with the dragonslayer spear while Mazzy, Amoen, and Jaheria following. Yoshimo loaded Arrows of Ice into his bow while my sorceror drew upon the power of Bhaal and tossed darts of wounding. Unfortunetly, I quickly learned that magic resistance is effective against arrows of ice, so I switched to arrows +2.

The red lamb was slaughtered without too much difficulity. Valgar needed some healing, but it was the easiest time I've had with Firkraag.


So, are there any such tactics to make the fight for the Staff of the Magi easier? I'd like to get it before rescuing Imoen.

 

Traps, prot. from undead of course, prot. from magic the same way you used against big F (nice tip by the by ), Azuredge gives a special edge against all undead, confusion works against beholders and remember: divida et impera!

 

Only equipment cheese here: Shield of Balduran, Azuredge (requires a good-aligned character), Improved Mace of Disruption, and Amulet of Power are all you need. A good bow helps as well (Tuigan works great).

Haste the fighters that are using Azuredge and IMoD (Imp Haste is even better) -- a critical hit destroys all undead and blows right through magical defenses. You can set traps at the point Shangalar will teleport to, but it's not really necessary. Just wail on him with the undead killing weapons until you get a crit. Do the same to the vampire when you see him. Whoever has the Shield of Balduran needs to edge out to draw the beholder (it generally kills itself). The fighter, without the support of Shangalar and the beholder is taken out rather quickly using conventional tactics. That only leaves Layene -- she summons a pit fiend which should pose no real problem (my paladin single-hit-killed the beast). Typical mage killing tactics are good enough. The Tuigan bow can help with this.

An interesting tactic I like is to cast Insect Plague on the fighter while he's still far enough away (Jaheira using the Shield of Balduran gets both the fighter and the beholder in her sights) -- it is possible the Insect Plague will affect Layene (and she dies quickly, unable to cast spells).

You can use various protection scrolls if you don't think you'll kill Shangalar fast enough.

 

Ok, I half agree with you. Casting strength and using the scroll BEFORE initiating the battle is as much cheeting as setting traps under the dragon's nose. However, once the battle is joined, I see nothing wrong with leading off with Strength, and following it with the scroll.

In reguards to exploiting mechanics, I think using strength in the maner I did should be allowed, but there should be a saving throw against it. Since Ray of Enfeeblement is of the same level, and does a better job, then Strength should bypass magic resistance. You can say that the magic resistance is fooled into thinking the magic is beneficial and allows it past. Especially since for anything with less than 18/00 strength, it is.

Oh, as for the traps thing, the only time I can justify doing that is with the Shadow Dragon. Having the ward stone in my possession should make the dragon ignore me as long as I don't attack it or speak to it. Threfore, I see no reason why I can't set traps around its lair, as it is not paying attention to me. With Firkraag, who IS watching me, I can't justify him letting me do that.

 

Here's a method I used for fighting the Rune.

I crept out far enough to get Shangalar's attention so he'd shadow door in close. Then I cast two Sunray spells simultaneously (I used Daystar and one cleric spell). His protection from magic didn't help and he died instantly. About this time the fighter came in. I unleashed a barrage of missiles and magic at him and he dropped. Balduran's shield took care of the beholder, the vampire I took out with ranged weapons while my character with the Amulet of Power stood up front. And the mage? She got killed by her own pit fiend while I waited in the background.

I have used traps before, but I think the above method is more fun. Sometimes I don't use Balduran's shield or sunray when I want a bit more of a challenge.

 

Pause, click on them to talk, don't unpause yet but force attack the baddy, then unpause, it will never hit you back. That's about as cheesy as you can get.

 

use long range cloudkills to kill enemy mages. works like a charm

 

I've just come back to BG2 after years away and am replaying with fighter dualled to mage at the start of SoA. Now on 12th lvl I have found that my mage can take out pretty much any boss on their own.

How?

Tenser's Transformation, a spell usually reserved for emergencies. But in the case of fighter \ mage dual it is awesome.
AC -6 (spell bonus of 4 plus additional beserk of 2 alongside decent bracers, a good shield and dex).
HP: 260 (It doubles HP, max 7th lvl HP for fighter, + 12 maxed lvls for mage and con bonus).
THAC0: 2 (bonus of spell is 4 with beserk, plus weapon and strength and proficiency)
Finally and importantly it gives Bezerker ability which gives protection from maze, lvl drain, imprisonment and mind spells, not to mention the extra +2 to attack and AC. The 15 hp hit is absorbed in the magical HP.

I just make sure I have haste, death ward, mirror image, stoneskin and improved invisibility in place and send in the mage. Completely protected from all the major offensive magics, enemies are reduced to removing my defences as I smack away. With 3 attacks per round, I hit them before they can cast anything useful anyway.

It can get tricky against a group of fighters and dragons are a problem as they wing buffet. But I've had no hassle from the liches, flayers or beholders in Athkatla. Bring on Irenicus I want to solo that fight!
p-s

 

I got lucky with Firkraag in my latest playthrough (this was with SCS II improved dragons with triple hitpoints).

I did the usual lower resit, greater malison, doom, then cast Horror on him. he he, poor scaredy cat, he couldnt take it. He freaked out and got hacked to death.

For the Twisted Rune, by that point my fighter/thief had the time trap HLA. I was able to kill the fighter, the vampire and the beholder with improved haste cast on him before it ended. Shangalar fell to false dawn and antimagic spells, cant remember what happened to layene.

 

The only cheese I've used for Twisted Rune is, prior to the fight starting, set a few traps where Shangalar (I think that's his name) teleports to. He dies quickly, and the rest of the fight is fairly easy.

 

Feeblemind's one cheesy way to de-script opponents. Works against dragons, works against The Five if they fail their saves, and they do, often enough. Against liches and mages? Haven't bothered to try since they're heavy on spell protections...

 

Simplest kind of cheese.
Summon monsters near the entrance then send them off one by one for the Rune members to use up their spells on. Layenne will summon a Pit Fiend which should liven things up a bit.

With a little luck and proper use of "blind spots" (corners where members of the Rune can't see your party while they unleash hell on your summons) once things die down you'll only have the Vampire and the Beholder to worry about. Both will go down quickly with Hasted party members + Daystar.

 

i find that for any enemy using magic just cast improved invisibility and use a preist scroll of protection from magic and no magic whatsoever will hurt you. when you get the staff of the magi it works extremely well as to restore invisiblity just unequip then reequip it and poof invisible. just be careful that your protection from magic doesn't wear off

 

Cheesy Firkraag kill without cheating within couple of seconds at ANY level:

Use 2x wand of cloudkill 4-5 charges each. Should kill him before his "heal" spell kicks in.

cheesy Lich kill at ANY level:

Activate Lich and move out of area of effect until 4 rounds have past and his protectionspells have worn off. Using weapons with special magic damage bonus (ie. +1 acid damage etc.) circumvent stoneskin to improve chances of spelldisruption.

 

I found the Rune fight annoying when i first tried it, with a party. later on i disposed of a party and came back as a solo thief/mage, and done much better. Provided you have boots of speed and keep casting cloudkill (preferably from a wand). Just kept running away trying to keep the beholder on the opposite side of the circular platform. after a while both female mage and beholder were dead. i picked up staff of magi, which seems crucial for a solo mage, bashed the hell out of thief, going invisible any time he spotted me, and... run away. so, i haven't actually killed neither the vampire nor the lich. as an excuse i got to say i was a wimpy lvl 11/12 (or sth) mage/thief. being much stroneger now, and not having any problems with kangaxx, i purchased yet another rogue stone and plan to return there (hopefully game does allow that). good luck!

 

I killed Kangaxx with Haer'Dalis single handedly. That was funny. No other partymember could have pulled that off.

Important equipment:

Two short swords: Sword of Mask+4, cutthroat+4
Cloak of mirroring
Girdle of Frost Giant Strength

Spells:
Spell Immunity: Abjuration
Chaotic Commands

Took a while, but Haer'Dalis did it without getting damaged.

I read somewhere you could kill Kangaxx with your main character transformed into the Slayer. I tried that, but the damage I get each round from the slayerform doubles, killing my main character long before Kangaxx dies.

Also, easy Dragonslaying:

4-5x spiketrap kills any of them.