Act-II side quest battle harder than boss battle? ***SPOILER WARNING***

[bunkerking]

I’m about done with Act II on tactician. I’m almost lvl 8 and I found the side quest where you…

***** SPOILER WARNING ******

… are given the option to release the pods in the Mind Flayer Colony actually harder than the main battle against General Ketheric and his undead. Not that is was easy, I found it challenging — but frankly, that sidequest battle versus 4 mindflayers in close proximity is insurmountable at my current level. I tried it around 10 times and each time I only manage to kill two and hurt the rest. Each attack does massive damage to my whole party and I always lose turns from Mind Blast stuns. Which frankly I never realized just how powerful that attack is. It’s listed as being able to inflict 9-37 damage — but I always get the higher end of the spectrum. I mean I attempted the battle at least 10 times and each time without failing a single attack does 25+ damage to each party member.

I don’t normally opt out of combat but I did so in this instance, especially given that you get 1000+ xp by “Purging”, Did I miss any rewards? I feel like I should be higher level for that fight? Should I have been?

[bunkerking]

Originally posted by michael199310:

Originally posted by vagabundo:

Yes, I did the morgue fight and the dungeon that connects it from the fish house. Frankly, I’m not sure how people are reporting being level 10 by the time they battle General Ketheric in the second encounter in the Colony. Unless theyre save scumming for max approvals and best dialogue outcomes — cause I am taking my time and doing all the side quests and exploring the world. I mean it took me 100 hours to finish Act-II on tactician.

I honestly don't see how it is possible to reach 10 before Thorm on normal playthrough. I had difficulty reaching 8 before Moonrise and I hope I can get to 9 in the Gauntlet. Yet people are claiming it should be a breeze. Maybe if I would kill everyone in the inn, grove and underdark, then I could make it, but I don't think that's the point of the game...

Yeah, I didn’t kill the plant beings in the Underdark, considering those folks, (plus they mentioned having a shop in BG.) I mean inless they’re genuinely doing an evil play through, I think it defeats the purpose of playing a CRPG.

….but now that you mention it, regarding the Inn, Shadowheart automatically killed Nightsong in my game after I killed Belthazar. So technically I couldve gone back to the Inn and killed everyone before continuing into the Moonrise Towers. That is probably the only meaningful XP I Ieft on the table buy I’m not sure if its enough to level me up to 8. I still need around 2.5k XP.

[wei270]

i think it is just that your initiative is ♥♥♥♥, never dump dex, if all else fails give your figthers alert trait they can kill 1 mindflayer in one go.
if all 4 mindflayer start mind blasting you of course you are going to get stuned to death.

[bunkerking]

Originally posted by DACNINJA:

Originally posted by vagabundo:

Actually, you’re not wrong. And also ability, I feel like I should re class and make some tweaks. I didn’t really know each spell and canter well enough when I picked. Moteover, I shouldve gotten higher HP on most of the characters via the “strength” ability. I only have strength to my support: Shadowheart. At level 7 she has 85 HP, Lae-zel has around 70 I think.

But Astarion my custom druid are around 60. So yeah a Mind Blast that
Is doing max dmg hits at 33 ♥♥♥♥♥♥♥ points is basically decimating me.

Now that being said, my party has gotten along just fine, they only real test was the Belthazar fight in the Shadowlands. And of course, now this. The only reason I never re-classed or tweaked is because I succeeded and the only battle where I had to revive members afterwards was the battle versus Belthazar. Otherwise, its been challenging at times but definitely doable.

Im curious what are you running btw? Its impressive that you were able to beat Act 2 at level 7.

Its possible to oneshot bosses in the game. Ive just 2 turned all of phase 1 and 2 of act 2 fight at level 9 but thats because its my 3rd playthrough already.

I’m running Shadowheart, Astarion, Lae-zel, and a custom half wood elf druid that’s 70% caster, 30% support.

I do have to re-try a lot of the boss battles a handful of times, however. So it’s not the smoothest play through but I like it this way because it pushes me to get better — to approach things smarter — and I find it more rewarding this way. I very much subscribe to the Japanese way of gaming. Hard, difficult, & unforgiving — but also rewarding.

[bunkerking]

Also the ability I was referencing earlier is not called “strength”. I forgot the name but its the one that ups your HP by 2 points per level. I got that for Shadowheart but in retrospect, I feel like Astarion needs it too given his light armour.

[bunkerking]

Originally posted by wei270:

i think it is just that your initiative is ♥♥♥♥, never dump dex, if all else fails give your figthers alert trait they can kill 1 mindflayer in one go.
if all 4 mindflayer start mind blasting you of course you are going to get stuned to death.

Alert trait? I have to look into it. I definitely remember seeing it when I was picking

I don’t think it’s initiative. I get first-strikes on the flayers. I kill one, almost two in the first turn, then they decimate me during their turn, (in part due to the stuns as mentioned.)

[bunkerking]

Also, given the close proximity of the battle, I feel like this battle doesn’t leave much room for tactics. It’s all a spec battle. That said, I don’t understand how I’m failing the psionic spell saves so badly that every single Blast, is inflicting 25-35 dmg on every single party member. I feel like there’s a difficulty curve in this battle that’s meant for lvl 8+

[michael199310]

Originally posted by vagabundo:

Originally posted by michael199310:

I honestly don't see how it is possible to reach 10 before Thorm on normal playthrough. I had difficulty reaching 8 before Moonrise and I hope I can get to 9 in the Gauntlet. Yet people are claiming it should be a breeze. Maybe if I would kill everyone in the inn, grove and underdark, then I could make it, but I don't think that's the point of the game...

Yeah, I didn’t kill the plant beings in the Underdark, considering those folks, (plus they mentioned having a shop in BG.) I mean inless they’re genuinely doing an evil play through, I think it defeats the purpose of playing a CRPG.

….but now that you mention it, regarding the Inn, Shadowheart automatically killed Nightsong in my game after I killed Belthazar. So technically I couldve gone back to the Inn and killed everyone before continuing into the Moonrise Towers. That is probably the only meaningful XP I Ieft on the table buy I’m not sure if its enough to level me up to 8. I still need around 2.5k XP.

I didn't kill the Myconid people and I let Nere die without the fight. I didn't kill the constructs in the Arcane Tower, Bulette and I also didn't kill Auntie Ethel when she escaped. I don't know what choices you did on the way to this point, but if you did everything fair and square without skipping, you should be able to squeeze enough XP to get to 8,5 level. Definitely not 10th though. I did return to the Mountain Pass when I learned I can do it even if I went through Underdark. There was quite a bit of fighting there.

[wendigo211]

I made it to 10 by the end of Act 2. A couple of choices might make a difference though. Did you side with the Druids and get Halsin's quest to break the curse? I got a lot of XP from the defend the portal mission. Did you explore both the mountain pass and the underdark? Did you kill all the enemies in Moonrise Towers before freeing the Nightsong? Did you successfully defend Isobel at the Last Light Inn?

Anyway, Freedom of Movement is your friend in the Mind Flayer fights. Also, if you picked up the resonance stone, drop it somewhere or send it camp before fighting them.

[AssassinZX]

Yeah I found it a bit harder than the main Act 2 boss battles (both bosses actually). But still quite doable on tactician.

[Greenegg]

can't say I had much issue during that fight on tactician, zevlor was kinda the MVP, turn one he just bodied one of the mindflayers with divine smite.

A tip is to kill all the intellect devourers before opening the pods if you haven't done that.
There's also one of the full rest machines you can use by the elevator going deeper, use that to heal up before releasing the mindflayers.

[bunkerking]

Originally posted by michael199310:

I didn't kill the Myconid people and I let Nere die without the fight. I didn't kill the constructs in the Arcane Tower, Bulette and I also didn't kill Auntie Ethel when she escaped. I don't know what choices you did on the way to this point, but if you did everything fair and square without skipping, you should be able to squeeze enough XP to get to 8,5 level. Definitely not 10th though. I did return to the Mountain Pass when I learned I can do it even if I went through Underdark. There was quite a bit of fighting there.

I did the Nere battle by siding with him and fighting the rest of the Gnome Slaves but now that you mention it I never concluded that quest. I never saw Nere again. And I did kill the Hag in her dungeon and her minions in The Tea House, and saved the girl in that last battle. But I’m sure I didn’t finish every single side quest. And I didn’t take the Mountain Pass at all, I went straight into the Underdark from the witch’s house, and then to Grymforge, then Shadowlands. So lol yeah, I guess I didn’t finish as many side quests as I thought. But regardless I do feel like im probably at around 85-90 completion rate for side missions / encounters. But that difference would mean I’d probably be one whole level higher, maybe?

[bunkerking]

Originally posted by wendigo211:

I made it to 10 by the end of Act 2. A couple of choices might make a difference though. Did you side with the Druids and get Halsin's quest to break the curse? I got a lot of XP from the defend the portal mission. Did you explore both the mountain pass and the underdark? Did you kill all the enemies in Moonrise Towers before freeing the Nightsong? Did you successfully defend Isobel at the Last Light Inn?

Anyway, Freedom of Movement is your friend in the Mind Flayer fights. Also, if you picked up the resonance stone, drop it somewhere or send it camp before fighting them.

That’s a no on the mountain pass, I went into the Underdark after defeating the hag and thats a no on Halsin. Unless Im misunderstanding which quest you’re talking about. I sided with the druids in the grove and prevented Minthara from raiding but I never lifted the curse from anything ? (Thinking) Also, please understand, I dont look at walkthroughs or guides online so thats also why I sound a little clueless. But given that I’m done with act 2, I decided to ask because I genuinely felt like I was doing almost everything. So wow. Theres my answer. I understand missing the second route because Im playing an immersive play through and plan to do the second route in a different play through but I missed the Halsin quest.

…but now Im thinking tactician on lvl 9-10 must be a joke. As it is i feel like it’s too easy which is why i was surprised by the difficulty curve against the Mind Flayers in the side quest. So no regrets. Also on an RPG perspective why would i take one route to the Underdark, and then grind the second route. I would rather leave the second route for a second play through — its not necessary unless you plan on doing one play through and be done with it? But yeah, it explains why people are lvl 9-10 by the end of act 2.

[shogunsmurf]

Beat commander in toturial ship part, get his 2d6+1d4 2h weapon, make a paladin. Give sword paladin, make sure paladin has 16 cha. Wear plate. Get lvl 5.

You will now have a 2h wield that can do 40ish damage per swing if you do it right, and with speed potion, twice a turn, at lvl 5, which has 23 AC and can barely get hit, while also having a minium of +2 on all saves (and wis and cha and str saves on above +5). While having a good 55 hp too if you go golden dwarf (and I took heavy armor expert as fear, so all physical damage reduced with 3 too).

I'm pretty sure I broke combat until last act xD

[bunkerking]

Originally posted by shogunsmurf:

Beat commander in toturial ship part, get his 2d6+1d4 2h weapon, make a paladin. Give sword paladin, make sure paladin has 16 cha. Wear plate. Get lvl 5.

You will now have a 2h wield that can do 40ish damage per swing if you do it right, and with speed potion, twice a turn, at lvl 5, which has 23 AC and can barely get hit, while also having a minium of +2 on all saves (and wis and cha and str saves on above +5). While having a good 55 hp too if you go golden dwarf (and I took heavy armor expert as fear, so all physical damage reduced with 3 too).

I'm pretty sure I broke combat until last act xD

I was thinking of a reclassification for Astarion to Paladin actually. He’s the weakest link in my party even after giving him assassin and cross bow buffs. He does like 12-15 dmg hits at lvl 7. One-two attacks per turn. I ♥♥♥♥♥♥ up his build, I think. They give you that sword in the beginning ? I missed that too. He does 20 hit points once in a while if I get a critical using a ‘very rare’ sword but he mostly does 12-15 hits 95% of the time. But now I feel like this whole thread has been an act of mental masturbation becaue I don’t want the battles to be easy. That’s the fun part for me.

[Incantus]

Originally posted by vagabundo:

Originally posted by michael199310:

Aren't there some items preventing getting stunned condition?

I would not enter Moonrise Towers below level 8 at all. You should be able to reach that level before or in the prison. There are few locations which I missed in Act 2, like Kuo-Toa fishery or House of Healing Morgue. Also, not sure if you did the Art/House of Healing quest, but the portal fight can give some xp as well.

Yes, I did the morgue fight and the dungeon that connects it from the fish house. Frankly, I’m not sure how people are reporting being level 10 by the time they battle General Ketheric in the second encounter in the Colony. Unless theyre save scumming for max approvals and best dialogue outcomes — cause I am taking my time and doing all the side quests and exploring the world. I mean it took me 100 hours to finish Act-II on tactician.

If you actually explore everything in Act 1 and Act 2 you will be level 10 when you wrap up Moonrise. Not sure what to tell you, it has nothing to do with approvals etc. There just is enough quests and combat to get you there.