How can I use Silence more effectively?

[Orion Invictus]

It feels like whenever I use Silence, it's in the wrong situation. The enemy just moves out of the bubble and still has enough range to hit me. Am I doing something wrong?

PS: Will whomever keeps giving my comments jester awards please stop? It's really upsetting, and I am not at all enjoying all the free points for doing literally nothing.

[yaerav]

Combine with web or plant growth, or hunger of hadar. or even grease or an ice surface, or try to cause your target to get the frightened condition. Or any combination of the aforementioned!

[Orion Invictus]

Originally posted by yaerav:

Combine with web or plant growth, or hunger of hadar. or even grease or an ice surface, or try to cause your target to get the frightened condition. Or any combination of the aforementioned!

Oh, good tips, thank you.

Now if only the person leaving jesters would stop. I really hate getting free points. :(

[Orion Invictus]

No, not more jesters! I hate free points!

[Narky]

[Orion Invictus]

Originally posted by Black Magic:

:buzzed:

Careful, I don't want to attract their attention any more than I already have. This is very triggering to me, I'm basically in tears over all the free points I'm being given by this unknown stalker.

[[TG] zac]

Ensaring strike from ancients paladin or ranger also works wonders (especially on bounty hunter ranger as the foe has disadvantage on the saves).

Locks them in place, they are restrained so your melee have advantage on attacks & the silence makes them unable to cast.

[hermit0wl]

A melee character with Sentinel also works wonders. I accidentally bullied Raphael with that combo on my first playthrough :)

[Orion Invictus]

Originally posted by hermit0wl:

A melee character with Sentinel also works wonders. I accidentally bullied Raphael with that combo on my first playthrough :)

How will that help with Silence?

[hermit0wl]

Originally posted by Orion Invictus:

Originally posted by hermit0wl:

A melee character with Sentinel also works wonders. I accidentally bullied Raphael with that combo on my first playthrough :)

How will that help with Silence?

By not letting them move out of it.

[KaraPenguin]

Originally posted by Orion Invictus:

Originally posted by hermit0wl:

A melee character with Sentinel also works wonders. I accidentally bullied Raphael with that combo on my first playthrough :)

How will that help with Silence?

One of the features of Sentinel makes it so that anything you hit with an opportunity attack is unable to move, so planting a Sentinel fighter next to something can functionally root them in place (so long as you actually hit the attack).

[Meewec]

most of the game for me i've just had lae'zel running around with a sussur greatsword and the mage slayer feat

[anachoret]

Originally posted by Meewec:

most of the game for me i've just had lae'zel running around with a sussur greatsword and the mage slayer feat

Ah, a person of distinction and class I see :)

[jonnin]

the best way to silence a caster is to kill it. The gutted stationary bubble silence is a joke -- you can get them stuck in it with 2 spells, but if you are going to do that, you would be better off making them stuck in cloud of knives than silence, with a very few exceptions of a handful of casters who actually cast a dangerous spell.

[Metallicus]

I always use Silence to take out Priestess Gut in case she survives the first round of combat and since I have her surrounded to begin the combat if she did happen to move out of the silence she would need to survive 3-4 attacks of opportunity.

[LordNibbler]

A late addition, if anyone cares...

I used silence quite extensively in Acts 1 and 2 on HM as a precaution, mostly in the Goblin Sanctum and Tower as "opener" on the "friendly" enemies to make sure that enemies can't call for help (well, unless they are linked); plus get an advantage and often a surprise round.

Hide and unlink the own group outside the enemy views, cast silence with Shadowheart (or whomever, I just had her with silence...) on a group of enemies (i.e. the Goblins like to be in small groups) which gets the Narrator in that little scene to inform you that you made an act of aggression (etc.), then switch to the others (before choosing any responding dialogue option) and sneak-attack the one in quarrel with Shart. That often (not always, but often enough to be a useful strategy, for me at least) triggered the surprise round. Then come in with the rest of the team and whack 'em real good...

The extra round alone gave a nice advantage plus sneak-attacking the surprised enemies for the attack roll with advantage and the extra crit damage from the Assassin. It is however a somewhat slow approach, so not suited for the ADHD player.

Bonus: casting silence outside of combat counts as ritual spell and doesn't even use/waste a spell slot.

By Act 3 it wasn't necessary anymore as the group was considerably stronger, but I found that quite nice on the lower levels.