I still don't get how to fight mages

[SerWind]

My go to has been summoning skeletons and letting the mage fight that until their protections wear off. I'm tried breach, I've tried dispel magic, I've tried remove magic. But it seems like if an enemy mage wants to be immune to magic missile or any of my other magics they will be. What am I doing wrong?

[Gustuv Wynd]

Scouting and a back stab will work very well some times. I also keep a non-magical weapon on my fighters for the mages that cast protection from magic weapons. They will chop through their stone skins in a round or two.

[red255]

I generally use breach, if that doesn't work its probably because they used something bigger, or they recast it, so i use kelben's warding whip to remove protections every round to keep them from recasting it. and later on spellstrike.

dispel magic does very little unless you have a level advantage on your opponent. remove magic is the same thing.

you want breach (level 5) or something else better that doesn't do a level check.

[bad_fur_day1]

I believe their magic protections are removed with Pierce Magic or similar, Breach removes their combat protections like Stoneskin. Mages are also usually humanoid which means they are wide open to status effects like Fear & Confusion, and are generally weak to being engaged in melee combat which interrupts their casting.

Unless you're dealing with really high level mages can be another problem altogether.

[Wicket W. Warrick]

tactic1. crush them before they can cast anything. Stealth and haste help.
tactic2. Sacrifice summoned creature, deal with other enemies and then crush them

[D'amarr from Darshiva]

There are guides about spell protections and what spells counter protections. It's a rather complex and somewhat obscure spell system in this game - particularly, if you're facing undead spell casters like a Lich with inherent spell immunities.

[RACHMANOVSKI]

Options:

1. Minsc
2. Magic Missile (even better when it hits the mage mid-casting, they will likely fail).
3. If you play Fighter char, then just hit it, most of the mage will get hit 1 out of 5 hits attempt.

IF the Mage you meant was the higher level Mage:

Yes, you gotta cast breach or dispels. Most of the mages you meet should be die quickly if you just make your fighter stand in front of them.

I mean even against high level mage, the *ONLY* challenges against mage is literally breaching their protection, when it's done, they're 2-3 hits away from death against your Fighter.

[red255]

yeah, its also generally easier if you cast something to summon to eat up his spells, after a mage spends all his spells he's easy pickings.

like for the fights at the bottom of watchers keep I summoned some animate deads and a planetar, had mazzy with improved haste and boots of speed trigger the fight then cheese it behind a locked door while they get off their opening spells against my summons.

plantars are immune to death spell so they stick around for a while and eat up a ton of spells even if they can't kill it. if it goes down, you summon more stuff, buff your guys and go you v them but they've already wasted their best spells.

[Hell-met]

a melee weapon that inflicts elemental damage can bypass stoneskin

hammers are generally great at this

[Hamish]

There are many tactics against mages, breach followed by melee is one. A thief can dispel their illusions like mirror image/mislead/invisible if invested in the skill and "searching for trap/detecting illusions". if you want to use magic, you could try a greater malaison followed by hold monster to make the mage immobile and vulnerable to any weapons (if the hold hits) you can almost punch him to death more or less when held. Pierce magic followed by damage spells if you wish. A favourite of mine is getting a certain NPC Inquisitor to use his Dispel Magic, that acts at double his level, to get rid of everything. You can also try remove magic as this only dispels enemy magic.

[Shodan2072]

I dont know if they've fixed this, but in the original BG2:ToB I used to cast spell immunity:divination upon myself followed by shadow door or improved invisibility.

They can't target you because of the invisibility, and can't dispel it because the spell immunity.

[philos3]

Another effective tactic I have used when Jaheira is in the party, (or my character is a druid), is to cast insect plague on a nearby companion. It automatically spreads to the mage (no save). I have yet to see it fail. It causes 100% spell failure as they are constantly being bitten. I do that rather than directly at the mage. Wands are another useful mage killer as they fire faster than the mage can cast the same spell. Cloudkill is my favorite.

[ybnorml1]

so early in the game i was using silence and then pummel the daylights out of them. but now i have one Mage/Cleric one Mage/Thief and one fighter/druid. so they take turns with miscast dispel and remove and they are also equipped with ranged weapons . while my paladin ranger and myself/fighter pound. has even worked well against 2 dragons so far ( and yes i used haste on all party members against the dragons)

[V4.Skunk]

Originally posted by SerWind:

My go to has been summoning skeletons and letting the mage fight that until their protections wear off. I'm tried breach, I've tried dispel magic, I've tried remove magic. But it seems like if an enemy mage wants to be immune to magic missile or any of my other magics they will be. What am I doing wrong?

You need to use lots of debuffs like pierce magic, dispel magic, pierce shield etc..

[Explodium]

Pay attention to whatever spells they have up.

Dispel is generally useless, since most enemy mages are a higher level than you.

Lower leveled spells like minor turning, minor globe can get nuked by spell thrust.

If they have any immunity/reflection/absorption spells up to level 8 like spell turning, globe of invulnerability, spell immunity, or spell shield, they can be taken down with the 4th level spell secret word, or the 8th level spell warding whip. Anything beefier like spell trap will need ruby ray, pierce shield, or spellstrike.

When protections that reflect/absorb spells are down, spells that absorb physical damage can be taken down with breach, and then beat up the nerds. Without protections, mages are mincemeat.

[Zugrok]

Originally posted by SerWind:

My go to has been summoning skeletons and letting the mage fight that until their protections wear off. I'm tried breach, I've tried dispel magic, I've tried remove magic. But it seems like if an enemy mage wants to be immune to magic missile or any of my other magics they will be. What am I doing wrong?

1. Rush them before they can fire off anything nasty
2. Bomb them with summoned creatures till they run out of spells
3. Break their invisibility with spells like true seeing or remove invisibility
4. Once invisibility is removed target them with spells like breach, khelbens whip and other spells that remove buffs/protection spells Dispel magic often isnt enough there are specfici spells designed to remove buffs, lower magic resistance a level 5 spell may also be required with the likes of drow or mythical creatures with innate magic res