taking on Demogorgon

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I am looking for suggestions for the fight with Demogorgon with a twist.

I noticed that the main character is often overshadowed by the other NPCs (in terms of kills, usefullness, etc.) So I am trying to roleplay the main char taking by himself on the most difficult enemies (the Bhaalspawns, other bosses). Note that this is not soloing, since I have a party, so the main char doesn't have a lot of experience points. However, the members of the party are not allowed to attack direcly the other boss in the battle; they can tie up his minions, or use buffing spells on the main char, or even use breach like spells on the boss (not damaging spells though). So the biggest part of the job has to be done by the main char himself.

So far I have encountered Gromnir and Yaga Shura, and it was not too difficult. However, now I am looking to confront the Demogorgon shortly, and I think this might prove tricky. So I am looking for suggestions for a strategy!

My char is a dual classed fighter(lev7)/mage(lev22) with profficiency points in long swords (2) bastard swords(2) and long bow(2). Party consist of Imoen, Minsc,Jaheira, Viconia, Aerie. range of xp ~ 4,500,000 per member. What do you think?

 

I think taking on Demogorgon will be near impossible that way. Strategies that "might" help: Have a mage cast Pierce magic, and Warding whip, not breach at demogorgon. Also, have your char. use greater whirlwind on permanent. I.E every time it stops, use another. Use beach on the Mariliths, so your perty can chew them up. That's all i have.

 

It will probably be a challenge, but not quite impossible

Whirlwind won't work, since I am dual-classed, mage being higher (fighter level is 7). I figure improved haste, will give 4 attacks per round. Also, with prot. from magical weapons, I should be immune from physical attacks (for some time, anyhow). I am not sure how to get around his implosion spell, though. would some sort of spell immunity work?

 

You might want to check the spell description in Shadowkeeper's spell browser. If it shows any particular school for the the Implosion spell in the spell description, then that Spell Immunity would work. If not, you're stuffed mate.

To kill Demogorgon...you might want to try certain specialised battle tactics...

This combination is from my other thread,

Stoneskin-->Mislead-->Invisibility on Clone-->Project Image-->Mislead-->Invisibility on Clone-->Spell Immunityivination

That should guarantee you some extra spell slots.

After you get that bit of work done, you should cast all your lvl 5 spells at Demogorgon as Lower Magic Resistances. If you find that you tend to die before you can do that, I would recommend firing an Improved Alacrity off first. Don't bother with Time Stop...Demogorgon is immune to it.

After you've taken care of his MR, you might want to chuck a Power Word:Blind his way.

Once that is taken care of...keep your distance from him, have your tanks engage the demons, (if you have any Clerics, Bolts of Glory would be handy here).

After that, you should probably cast another Improved Alacrity, then spam Demogorgon with as many Abi Dalzim's Horrid Wiltings and Delayed Blast Fireballs, Comets (as many as you can spare, after memorising two Improved Alacrities), etc. I think he is immune to spells at or below 6th level. If he isnt, then chuck some Skull Traps at him as well.

He SHOULD hopefully go down soon.

Its no use trying to melee him with only 4 attacks per round. He manages to regenerate health, (dunno how....not sure about this bit) and the other demons tend to come at you and hurt you....BAD while you are hacking away at him. You're more of a mage by profession mate...USE IT EFFECTIVELY!!

Hope it helped. Let me know if it worked. Coz if it does, I will probably add this bit of info to my FAQ as well.

 

If you had Jan in your party, you could lay a ton of spike traps in the area where Demogorgon appears, killing him instantly. Is that cheesy? Absolutely. But I feel justified since you get NO items for killing quite possibly the toughest enemy in the game, which, for me, takes the fun out of the battle. Not enough reward in it for me.

But that's if you had Jan, or another thief, and I guess you don't.

 

Faraaz: IIRC, the mariliths start with true sight, so I am afraid illusion spells won't work. (The project image I cast will probably be dispelled before I can cast spell immunity:divination).

I never hurt the Demogorgon using damaging spells(even after I cast lower resistance on him several times) so this is why I thought melee is the way to go. My char hits for 20+ hp a pop, so if I can get in 2 hits per round, is good (my THACO is 2, Demogorgon's AC is -5, I think, so I should be able to hit him - provided I am not held or otherwise incapacitated ). I don't remember him regenerating very fast, but will see.

I am confident I can keep the mariliths at bay (by using summons if nothing else). I don't know if I should try to kill them, or just keep them occupied. If I kill them, the next summons will be 5 glabrezu, I think, which will be more difficult to deal with.

There must be people have soloed this fight, soI have hope! Also, note that I am playing on core rules, with no mods installed.

 

Isn't Demogorgon immune to spells up to a certain level - including Lower Resistance? Which would certainly explain why it's never worked on him.

Pure melee with him is never likely to work as he's a better fighter than you are (5 attacks a round and a THACO so good he hardly ever misses) and he's got Protection from Magic Weapons and Stoneskin spells as well.

 

Khaavern...try substituting Lower Magic Resistance with Pierce Shield. (thanks david w, I'd forgotten that bit of info! )

You should get his MR down then. Also...like david said, its no use melee-ing Demogorgon.

Try setting up a Chain Contingency at Enemy sighted for Project Image, Mislead, Spell Immunity : Divination...that should definitely work. Also...don't bother with any other spell than Abi Dalzim's Horrid Wilting, Dragon's Breath and Comet to damage Demogorgon. Also...you MIGHT want to try bombing him with Incendiary Clouds...but that is a very tricky bit of spell casting you will have to do to get it off effectively.

To recap, substitute Lower MR with Pierce Shield, substitute all damaging spells with Abi Dalzim's Horrid Wilting and other higher level direct damage spells. Keep all your other characters occupied with the Mariliths. Time stopping might work as well...since you are effectively going one on one with Demogorgon...Time Stop would keep the Mariliths away from you...allowing you to get your spells off!

Let me know how THAT works...I really need a solo (effectively) method for a Sorcerer to get Demogorgon down for my FAQ.

 

Well, thanks for the advice, guys

I did a little bit of research on the implosion spell (by having Viccy cast at the main char) and there are ways to get around it. Spell immunity doesn't work (although in the description it says it belongs to Evocation school) However, the 6th level spell deflection, 7th level spell turning, and 9th level spell trap all work. Spell turning has a nice effect, since it rebounds the spell on the caster, and it looks like implosion bypasses magic resistance (at least, Viconia got hurt by it three times, although she has 80% MR) so hopefully Demogorgon will get hurt by its own spell.

So, I am planning to go in with Prot. from magical weapons, spell deflection and improved haste in a trigger. After I get this off, i'll cast spell turning, and when it runs out, spell trap. This means I'll be pretty much invulnerable for a good amount of time (of course, i'll have to be careful to renew the Prot. from magical weapons when it runs off). I'll stock on Pierce Shield and Abu Dazims (maybe 3 of them in a chain contingency, set to go off when i get hit), just in case melee doesn't work. Demogorgon won't know what hit him

I'll let you know how it works out!

 

Aren't Abi Dalzim's a bit risky in a spell trigger designed to go off when you get hit? Unless you've got some kind of protection from them, they'll probably kill you as well.

 

dmc, Abi Dalzim's do affect party members.

 

I'm sure I've accidentally killed party members with Abi Dalzim's. I know I've killed scores of harmless bystanders with them. During a fight with the cowled enforcers in the docks district, I must have killed a couple dozen bystanders who just stood by in the wrong place.

 

Abi-Dalzim's will kill innocents, but not your party. I've thrown it out dozens of times in the middle of my group and there has been no effect whatsoever.

 

So has anybody ever succeeded in besting the Demogorgon in single combat? (Without using cheesy tactics like laying traps on his spawning point) I've got a F/M/C who's rapidly approaching Watcher's Keep, and I want to know if it's even worth a shot

 

Still haven't heard from Khaavern whether my tips worked or not.

If you're playing a sorcerer:

Time Stop (to keep those annoying demons at bay) + Improved Alacrity + Pierce Shield x3+Abi Dalzim's Horrid Wilting xX(how many ever you can spare) + Dragon's Breath (again, how many ever you can spare but save 2 lvl 9 spells) + Improved Alacrity, should you run out....

THEN...in your second Improved Alacrity, Protection from Magic Weapons + Protection from Petrification + Spell Immunity Enchantment + Spell Immunity Evocation + Improved Haste + Shape Change (Illithid) ... then hack away at Demogorgon...

Those buffs SHOULD keep you alive while you wail away at Demogorgon...and hopefully, suck all his brains out and spit them out on his corpse.

@Khaavern: Lemme know if THAT one works.
@Faragon: It's a bit much...but it SHOULD work...it DID work with my solo Sorc...that's for sure Best of Luck

 

Well, I tried and it dont work

On the other hand, I did not use the spell-intensive tactic suggested by Faraaz. I went more for a combat-oriented approach, but that's very tough. It is not impossible, though, since I was able to bring him to near-death status, so I am thinking with a couple of lucky rolls I would have been able to pull it of.

So, here's how it went. Started with Prot from magical weapons, spell deflection and improv. haste in a trigger when DG appears (no special previous buffs, except stoneskin and prot. from evil). Then I close to DG, while Immie throws a breach at him (to take care of his aura of flaming death). No point in attacking now, since DG still has some protection (maybe stoneskin) which makes impossible to hit him. So I cast the next spell, which is spell turning. A nice effect is that now DG will get hurt by the next two of its own implosions spells (yes, it happens!)

In the meantime, the rest of the party takes care of the mariliths. When they appear, Jaheira draws them off (both, or only one), Aerie casts a breach on one, Jaheira goes into whirlwind and takes that one down (he might succed to cast another stoneskin, then use another whirlwind, or Viccy with energy blades). Now, i want to keep the last Marilith around, su I usually sumon a deva or a greater elemental to keep him occupied). Then the my party stops and watches the fight (with the exception of mages, which are needed in a support role).

The second round of engagement, Imoen casts Khelben at DG, Next round, a breach (for some reason, it looks like breach only does not work on the stoneskin DG start with; you have to cast 3 or 4 to dispell it; but if you precede it with a Khelben, it will do the job).

So now DG is vulnerable to weapons. Well ,unfortunatelly about this time, my PMW (protect. from magical weapons) runs out, which is a serious business I found this out the hard way - I assumed that since I have stoneskin in place, I have some time before I start getting seriously hurt; however, a DG hit cames with a nasty disease-poison which does 2 dmg per second. So even if the physical damage does not get through, the poison will, and then you can forget about spell casting (and curing potions do not seem to work). Also, the poison effects are cummulative, meaning that if you get another hit, you get another 2 dmg per sec, and then it's time to reload.

So this is why is essential to be all the time protected from MW. I don't know if you get a saving throw against this poison (my f/m had very good saving throws, I even drank a potion of invulnerability, but to no effect I could see). So this makes it tricky.

After the second PMW, I cast spell trap, which pretty much makes me invulnerable to imposion (for some reason, I don't seem to get spells back, though). Then it's hack'n slash time. 5 attacks per round, with a THACO of -1 (a casting of chant and bless from Aerie helps), while DG has an AC of -15, means I need to roll 14 to hit. Then maybe 2 out of five will get through (note that would immensely help if I'd had whirlwind, and a better thaco, which a multiclassed f/m has). But DG also cast stoneskin like each round, so I have to dispell that, which is Aerie's and Imoen's task. However, dispelling takes some time, so I cannot hit this time, so I don't get 2 hits per round (more like 1).

So, to cut it short, in my best try (out of four ) I am at the end of the second turn, one PMW left, DG close to death, I go: please give me a high dice roll, no such luck, of course, I get hit, i get poisoned, I have to take time to drink some potions, cast PMW, DG regenerates health, somehow the last marilith gets killed, there are now 6 glabrezu around, have Jaheira and Minsc kill them, another 6 appear, I go down.

Next try, I am angry, I have Jaheira and Minsc hit DG with whirlwinds on after I sucessfully dispel his first stoneskin. He goes down in round 4. Son of a gun!

I tried to put the following in a new post, but apparently I can't.

Some replies to previous posts:

Faraaz: at some point I cast a couple of pierce magic at DG, but without any obvious results (there was no message :"DG magic resistance reduced by x%"). Then I cast an Abu Dazim, to no effect. Either the Demogorgon's MR was not affected at all, or it was not affected enough. I guess I could try with 3 PM' in a trigger carried by Imoen, but otherwise...

I am not so fond of high level spells; it seems to me they take forever to cast. So you spend a round to cast Improved Alacrity, and then in the next two rounds maybe you can squezee 3 AbuDazims, instead of 2. So, no gain I can see. (well, maybe would be different with the Robe of Vecna, but I don't have it). OTOH, I am not really an expert magic user; I tend to rely on simple spells ( stoneskin, chaos, PMW) so maybe somebody else could pull it off.

I might try again in a couple of days in a magic-heavy way, but now I need some rest!

Faragorn: I think you have a good chance of suceeding, if you use the same spell trigger I start with, and are able to dispell DG protection spells in a timely manner. Just hit him with a GW as soon as you see "combat protection dispelled".
You should be able to get 5-6 hits in before he casts stoneskin again, then cast breach (using the wand of spell striking) and hit him with another GW.

Also, before the spell deflection runs off, you might want to cast a spell trap (from the Staff of Magi, preferably). dmc, in my party Imoen uses the Staff (come on, you know she needs it )

[ May 16, 2004, 23:51: Message edited by: khaavern ]

 

Khaavern: Demogorgon is immune to certain spells of a level, forget which exactly, but he is immune to lvl 6 spells cast at him.

That is why I edited my tips, saying use Pierce SHIELD instead of Pierce Magic. Try it. I did it just yesterday, and it worked perfectly for me. Plus, I didn't have any NPCs to help out either...so maybe you want to adjust it to suit your party.