Larian Banner: Baldur's Gate Patch 9
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Alright, let's get this started!(in no particular order)

1. The Barrel Bomber
To win any fight, actually carry in barrels from other locations and detonate them. Multi-chain explosions make quick work of anyone.

2. Choice Vendors
Every time your character levels, the vendors change their inventory. This means you treat them like treasure chests that charge you money. Just reload before checking their inventory. Each level over 12 or so, you should tour the entire world of vendors to buy and sell.

3.Orange you Lucky Equipment
You can get orange level items early by traveling to other zones and accessing their vendors. Remember, level restrictions don't apply to a lot of equipment. You can use a level 20 ring at level 1.

4. Stairmaster Stats!
It works like this: you want something that has high STR requirement, say +3. But you can't equip it. So you equip a ring that gives you +2 and a necklace that gives you +1---then you can equip it, and REMOVE the ring/necklace. This is how you turn your mage into a tank mage. Mine went from Str 7 with a robe, to STR 15 with a sword, shield, plate armor, and over 100% resist on everything.

5. Skullified Weapons
Those glowing little skulls give you +2 str +2 dex when applied to a weapon. If your weapon, say, is level 10 and has +3 STR--guess what? What. Well, you have a +5 STR weapon now, which you can use to Stairmaster your stats (#4).

6. GPS Pyramids
When you dismiss a companion, give them a pyramid. Then recall to them--it's a quick way in and out of the Hall of Heroes.

7. That Crafty Sales Guy
Keep one character that ONLY has +3 to crafting, blacksmithing, and bartering (and charisma). Keep him in the hall of heroes. Use that person to make everything, including selling/buying. Use the GPS pyramid technique to move back and forth quickly.

8. The Indian Giver
Ok, I feel a little guilty with this one. Just a little.
So, any item you ever sell--will be available for re-purchase from that vendor. The other way to re-purchase is to give the vendor a discount on life! That's right: kill the vendor, and they will drop everything you ever sold them. Then you can re-sell all those things. You can use this throughout the game. Here is the best technique: put a bunch of expensive things in a box. Find a vendor with tons of cash. Take the cash, exchange the box, kill the vendor. Take the box. Walk away like a boss.

9. They're all Witches!
Have all characters put 1 point into Witchcraft for Oath of destruction. 50% damage increase (yes, spells too).

10. Boxes are Just Ugly Backpacks.
To help organize, (this may be a no-brainer), use all kinds of containers, not just backpacks. Boxes, bags, baskets, even hay bales.

11. Resist the Man!
Add elemental essences to almost all your armor. Don't use them for anything else really. Fire resistance is most important. Rubies? Best loot ever, if you see one, buy it, steal it, sell your children for it.

12. Combo Mambo
Considering that spells interact to create explosions etc---let's say you have a weapon that inflicts burning on contact. Oh--and did you just make it deal poison too?! You just created a grenade sword. That's right. Werk it.

13. Respect The Respec
When you get to the point where you can respec: remember that it's sort of a one way street. 1 talent gives you 10 skill points, or 1 stat point. But you can't reverse this--once you've drained your talents, you can't get them back. That being said, keep about 2-3. Put the rest into skill points.

14. The love affair: Constitution + Speed.
These are the most important stats. Constitution gives you your maximum action points. Speed gives you how many you can recover per turn. Well, if your max is 10 and you can recover 18--that's what we call 'not so smart' in my neck of the woods. Equally, if your max action points is 20, but you're only recovering 5. Well, again, no so smart. Keep these two stats nearly equal. Yes, these stats are more important than any other stats. If you play it smart, you're looking at well above 20 action points per turn. And that's when you start asking bosses 'whas'mah name fool!'

15. Glass Canon Epidemic!
Everyone needs glass cannon. Add speed--and this makes you like Macho Man Randy Savage from way back in the day--all crazy frizzy hair and wild eyed. That's how I am now, as I write this.

16. Republican Tanks
That's right, let's do it the traditional way. Sword and shield. (or any 1h and shield)--is better than 2h. 2h will do maybe 30% more damage--but loses so much potential defense, that it's not worth it. You can have a shield with 50%+ resistances for *everything* (plus additional stats). In total, while a 2h tank does alright--it's just not as good as the 1h tank.


17. Featherfall In Love!
Alright, this one is kinda fun. If you take all the vendors in an area, and feather fall them all near the same portal--they stay there! That's right. Featherfall the ENTIRE town of useful people into one spot. An additional bonus, is you can steal their stuff while they're wondering why they're all standing around the portal.

UPDATE!

18. Magical Keys to Success!
I can't believe I almost forgot to put this one! It's fantastic!

Magical unlock scrolls--a rare find right? Not true boogaloo.

Here's the skinny: You can make them.
You might have already known that--but there's more. When you make a blank witchcraft scroll, put a magical pen to it--you'll get your spell. So let's say you have a stack of 10. You'll get approximately 3% to become Magical Unlock. Not that good right?

Make SURE the crafter has 0 points into witchcraft, this will increase the results to up 20% magical unlock scrolls. Of a stack of 20 blank scrolls, I was regularly getting 5-6 magical unlock scrolls.

And why? Because you get a much greater pool of 'random' spells that result from having more skill in Witchcraft (up to 12) and with no skill, you get around 4 types.

Venture forth!

-------------------------------

And that's all I've got for you now. I'll update as I think of them smile Enjoy!

Last edited by ekidhardt; 15/08/14 12:50 AM.
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I don't understand No.5. What glowing skulls are you talking about ?

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witty yet sparkling with great advices.

Cheers Randy Savag

your fan teh Ultimate Warrior


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Thanks for this ekidhardt.....some very nice little gems in there.

and bump...glowing skulls?

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glowing skulls --> torment soul

though I tend to think that, before a BG2 style Tactics mod arrive, advanced players should stop doing things to make the game easier...

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Originally Posted by teardropmina
glowing skulls --> torment soul

though I tend to think that, before a BG2 style Tactics mod arrive, advanced players should stop doing things to make the game easier...


Ah, I see, thanks for clarifying.


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It isn't currently working after the most recent patch because companion's aren't levelling when added to the party anymore, but if they fix/revert it:

-Hire three level 1 companions. 1 is your blacksmith/crafter, 1 is your barterer/bargainer, 1 is your burglar/pickpocket. Ignore combat abilities entirely on these 3 companions, and ignore the non-combat abilities entirely on you your main party.

This obviously doesn't work as well if companions don't level up with you.

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Win every charisma check 100% of the time, no points in charisma, no annoying rock paper scissors (probably a bug/exploit)

-As soon as the R/P/S screen comes up, switch to another party member then switch back to the person in dialogue. The R/P/S contest will be considered won, every time.

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smile

Glowing skulls, yeah tormented souls.

So, what I noted about the companions leveling, was that Madora and Jahan still 'auto-leveled' when they rejoined the party. Madora was my crafter.

Added #17. "Does anyone else wonder why we're all standing around this portal?"


-e

Last edited by ekidhardt; 13/08/14 06:52 PM.
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The best combat heal spells are not the direct water heal variants, but the elemental shield spells. Earth/ Water/ Fire/ Air Elemental Shield each have an effect that is not included in the description of the spell, namely that they will absorb damage equal to the max health of the target.

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Hey is there a max cap for max AP? 20?
Also is there max attribute like can you get 25 str? (is that even useful?)
Also does Oath of Desecration increase spell damage? like fire ball or flurry?

Last edited by Spiker; 13/08/14 09:24 PM.
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hmm..I never ran into a max AP cap. I I think I got to 24-26. I believe stats stop at 24. smile

-e

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according to this http://divinity.gamepedia.com/Action_Points
there's such thing as "max" AP

Attribute cap is base 15; of course you can go over with gears.
high STR and DEX helps chance to hit (not damage) and boost the effectiveness of STR and DEX based skills.
that is, high STR and DEX won't let your melee and range characters do more damage.
high INT boosts all arcane skills and lower cooldown times

and yes, OoD boosts both spells and weapon damage.

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Originally Posted by teardropmina
according to this http://divinity.gamepedia.com/Action_Points
there's such thing as "max" AP

Attribute cap is base 15; of course you can go over with gears.
high STR and DEX helps chance to hit (not damage) and boost the effectiveness of STR and DEX based skills.
that is, high STR and DEX won't let your melee and range characters do more damage.
high INT boosts all arcane skills and lower cooldown times

and yes, OoD boosts both spells and weapon damage.


I understand that it str and dex help boost chance to hit but how much? like 18 dex vs 20 dex. for a rogue. Does the chance go from 85% to 90%? or from 85% to 87%?

Basically I am getting at is how much difference does it make compare to spending points into say Speed with glass cannon, so you actually get 1 more hit?

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your offense rating indicates your raw hit chance %; minus enemy defense rating is your actual hit chance.
STR and DEX just increase offense rating. (DEX also increases defense rating)

throughout the game there is really one enemy that's extremely difficult to hit (no matter how high your STR or DEX is it seems), and so, yes, getting more APs would be much more beneficial in combat.

Last edited by teardropmina; 14/08/14 12:33 AM.
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So what kind of offensive rating do I need to get about 90% hit rate? AKA what are the defense rating of level 20 mobs? Plus I plan to bless everyone in my party.

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I feel like you spent a lot of time on the names :P

I'm not sure tormented soul stacks with already-present STR/DEX buffs, though.

Featherfalling merchants is a really good idea.

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Originally Posted by Spiker
So what kind of offensive rating do I need to get about 90% hit rate? AKA what are the defense rating of level 20 mobs? Plus I plan to bless everyone in my party.


well, as I said, the true hit chance is relative to enemy's defense rating. not all level 20 enemies are difficult to hit. also, in addition to bless, there's all sorts of disabling and hindering spells and skills. stun and blind mean 100% hit chance, slow and chilled will decrease enemy defense.

personally, my fighter will have around 19-20 STR, but rouge and archer would be better with more than 20 DEX, great for defense and DEX base skill boost.

at any event, it'll be up to your own play style~

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Originally Posted by ekidhardt
4. Stairmaster Stats!
It works like this: you want something that has high STR requirement, say +3. But you can't equip it. So you equip a ring that gives you +2 and a necklace that gives you +1---then you can equip it, and REMOVE the ring/necklace. This is how you turn your mage into a tank mage. Mine went from Str 7 with a robe, to STR 15 with a sword, shield, plate armor, and over 100% resist on everything.
When you no longer have the stats to wear the item, the item is automatically removed. The only way that Stairmaster strategy works is putting on a piece of equipment that has stat modifiers as well (putting on +3 strength items, to put on a piece of armor that grants +3 strength for example).
Originally Posted by ekidhardt
16. Republican Tanks
That's right, let's do it the traditional way. Sword and shield. (or any 1h and shield)--is better than 2h. 2h will do maybe 30% more damage--but loses so much potential defense, that it's not worth it. You can have a shield with 50%+ resistances for *everything* (plus additional stats). In total, while a 2h tank does alright--it's just not as good as the 1h tank.
While you can justify shields early on to hit those important elemental resistances, by the middle of the game you no longer need a shield and should swap to 2 handed for the additional killing speed.

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Eskuche,

I'm a creative person, random things don't take work smile

Incendax,

#4 Stairmaster: Right. You just repeated what I said smile

#16 Republican Tanks
Shields aren't primarily about elemental resistance. Any good shield will block over 50%--and with a few points--it goes up to bock 80% of every hit. Even my mage shield block rate is 70%-- my tank having 24ap max, and 24 recovery points per turn. AP cost per swing 1h is 2, or 3. Additionally the shield provides a separate item for main stat improvement, AND skill improvement.

One I use regularly is 54% block rate, +3con, +3 lucky charm, all resists at 25% or above.

So, shield provide the following that 2h does not.
1. Stat increases. This increases damage, and equipment you can wear. +3 constitution added 3 AP. That's a whole extra attack.
2. Skills increases, this increases offense rating (chance to hit--up to 10% even), action points (yet more dps), and hit points.
3. Additional elemental resistance. (minumum 25% for each one)
4. Up to 80% chance to block every single attack.
5. With high resistance, mages will heal you with every attack, the higher the resistance, the more healing.

All combined, the 1h+ shield, is the very obvious winner.

Regarding first and second half importance of resistances:

The resistances provided per essence scales with level. So the first half, the resistance percentages are negligible. Say, 5-12% per element. The second half, it goes up to 25%. Which means on a good shield, you're looking at about 25-40% resistance per element.

And in terms of DPS--mages annhiliate with AOE capacity; those are primary DPS. The greatest 2h tank is 10% the offensive power of a mage. (say...casting meteor shower, and doing an easy 16000 damage, or more, with 8ap.)

So..yes, Republican Tanks is the way to go. smile


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