Extensive Militia/Paladin 230 Dex Bow-based Skilling and Equipment Guide

This is an extensive skill and equipment guide for a Bow-based Militia/Paladin ONLY. It requires the Night of the Raven Addon with Patch 2.6 and ScriptPatch 1.8. By following the guide, you will end up with a whopping 230 Dexterity, 94% Bow skill and some other talents by Level 36. (Chapter 4 or start of Chapter 5) If you don’t want to make any mistakes while skilling, read the complete guide before playing this build. A mistake could seriously mess up the desired goal of 230 Dexterity.

Warning: Contains minor spoilers.

Introduction

This is an extensive skill and equipment guide for a Bow-based Militia/Paladin ONLY. It requires the Night of the Raven Addon with Patch 2.6 and ScriptPatch 1.8. By following the guide, you will end up with a whopping 230 Dexterity, 94% Bow skill and some other talents by Level 36. (Chapter 4 or start of Chapter 5) If you don’t want to make any mistakes while skilling, read the complete guide before playing this build. A mistake could seriously mess up the desired goal of 230 Dexterity.

I've seen many guides here, but all of them tell you the same story. By level ~45 you are very strong and have all sorts of cool spells and sh!t, yo!!!! But by that time you are 95%+ done with the game and they require hardcore grinding too. I have chosen to write a guide with a build that is at it's peak way sooner so you actually can enjoy it for a longer period of time.

Warning: Minor spoilers ahead.

First and foremost: This guide is written for the average player. I am fully aware that some tricks (especially those which were not intended by the developers) would allow you to use some gear earlier, increase dexterity even more, or being able to defeat strong NPCs with sufficient fighting skills early in the game while being heavily undergeared. It also makes no use of non-RPG style experience gain methods such as bashing NPCs for no reason aside giving experience. (Example: Most NPCs in the harbor can be beat without consequences.) However, it makes use of maps, which show locations of important herbs and stone tablets which are required for the following guide. With that being said, let’s continue.

Why exactly 230 „Dex“terity?
With that amount and the best bow you will deal 390 damage per shot before subtracting the enemy’s armor value. While 225 Dex would allow you to kill Orc Elites with exactly 2 shots, a Lizard Man would survive with only 5 HP, with you having to shoot a second time. With that 5 Dex more, you will be able to kill Lizard Men with only one shot. As these two enemies will be the primary threats in the late-game, you will go through the rest of he game with ease after reaching Level 36. You could get more Dex, but having more than 230 Dex does not make any difference, you will kill everything with the same amount of shots. Well, at least not till reaching 260 - which would require level 49. (Not to mention that you will kill almost anything with one or two shots anyway.)

The (neglectable) importance of the bow skill
As bow damage gets calculated different to melee damage, you don’t have to focus on bow skill as heavily as melee builds do with one- or two-handed skills. Bow skill only affects the likeliness to hit an enemy at a certain range; the shot itself will always be a „critical“ strike. Melee weapons‘ critical strike chance on the other hand is the exact same amount as their weapon skill percentage. The raw critical strike damage gets calculated by Primary Stat + Weapon Damage for bows; melee weapons will deal significantly less damage if they fail to land a critical strike. (Note: You can go higher than 100% Bow skill with certain boosts, and it will continue to affect the range.) A lower bow skill doesn’t make a huge difference in the early chapters, as a successful hit staggers an enemy, stopping them from attacking you for a short period of time. This means you can „melee“ kill NPCs with using the bow and don’t get hit very often as this guide also focuses on a high amount of dexterity for a larger period of time, although you will switch back to improving your bow skill when certain points of the game are reached and it’s value will be temporarily higher than that of having more dexterity.

With that in mind, playing the first chapter almost ignores investing Learning Points („LP“) into the bow skill, and will rely solely on melee combat. Yet, you will not waste one single LP into skilling strength either. You will also train one-handed to only 18%. Sounds like a tough start, but don’t worry, it doesn’t take long and you will wield one of the most powerful one handed weapons available in Chapter 1. And right at the start of Chapter 2, assuming you have already reached Level 8 (which should be easy), you will get the best sword available to you for the rest of the game. Not damage wise, but combined with a bonus and this guide. (Aswell as my own opinion about the two options.)

Part 1: How to skill, How to gear, (How to play - not really)

The following chart shows from left to right which Level you are, what you have to learn after reaching that level, how much LP you have left over after investing into said skills and talents. The section further to the right shows the new amount of stats you should have after following the instructions given, without active bonusses from gear. Numbers in brackets are potential values with bonusses you can (should) have at that level.

Sometimes there are seemingly weird instructions, such as those at Level 5. The reason for that is that learning skills gets more expensive at certain points. In this case, you wouldn’t be able to reach the desired 36 Dex otherwise, because after hitting 30 Dex, the cost of learning 1 point of a skill increases by 1, totalling 2 LP for 1 Dex. However, if you go to 29 Dex and then learn +5 Dex, you will get those 4 extra Dex for the previous cost of 1 Dex per 1 LP. Basically you save 4 LP. This also applies to all thresholds at skill level 30, 60, 90 and 120, adding 1 LP at every step. 3 LP from 60 onwards, 4 from 90...

You will also notice that there are yellowish colored cells, these refer to some tips which you should follow, if you want to use the best possible weapons at that point of the game. These tips are shown below the following chart, with additional info for required items.
The green colored cells show the final skill level which you have to achieve through spending LPs. After reaching one, you can use any permanent bonus you have at hand for that skill, except eating Goblin Berry. More on that later.
The red cells are just references to the level you have to reach to have the final desired stat value. (You can still use remaining LPs to increase the bow skill to 100% after Level 36, or use them for paladin runes, or whatever you want.)

Part 2: How to skill, How to gear, (How to play - not really)

The previous chart mentions also rings, belts and amulets. („C1, C2“ = Chapter 1, Chapter 2) Where to get them, and when you SHOULD get them, we will talk about right after the next chart about the important weapons for this guide. Of course you can equip other bows which are better than the current one you have equipped if you have them at hand, but in my opinion they aren’t worth mentioning for this guide as you will skip some dex requirements for a better bow anyway.

Some of the bows and swords can be found or bought otherwise, sometimes later or very heavily guarded. As I said earlier, I write this guide for the average player and therefore won’t go into detail here. The information about the places which I provide, in which they are found or who sells them, are based on the accessibility at the estimated point of the game.



Our melee weapons are unique: They need dexterity instead of strength. These weapons even give each a 5%, 8% and 10% skill bonus to one handed. Meaning with the Master Sword you reach 30% one handed, allowing faster strikes and a longer combo attack.
I suggest getting the first weapon „Sword“ as soon as possible. For this you buy the magic scroll „Storm“(250 Damage AoE) from Zuris at the market. The 200 Gold for the scroll is a very good investment, exp and loot wise. At Akil’s Farm after the bridge there is group of bandits. You can use the scroll on the bridge, before the bandits start to attack, and walk towards them. Keep moving around, the storm will follow the hero for a few seconds. Save beforehand, sometimes one stays alive or you get killed by arrows.
For the Rapier, which you will use from Level 8 on, you have two choices: You run in, grab it, and run away, or you kill the two trolls. Killing a troll is even possible with your bare fists, as they are very slow. Just run around and always be behind them and slap their ass till they are dead. They give a huge amount of experience too. (+600 Gold for the 2 troll furs if you are Bosper’s apprentice, which I recommend)
Not too long after that you will be able to wield the Master Sword and many fights to come should be a cakewalk.

Now let’s wrap this up with the mentioned relevant accessories

Thieves Guild and the importance of Pickpocketing

Thieves Guild and the importance of Pickpocketing
You can either choose to join the thieves guild violently, or peacefully. Violently joining them happens if you turn in one the thieves. Choose Halvor or Nagur only, Rengaru is required for later. Kardif then lets you know about some guy looking for you. After killing this guy, he drops a key to the Thieves Guild. Peacefully: They invite you to join them after having done three favors for thieves guild members. After doing these favors, enter the tavern in the harbor and speak to Kardif. (For RP purpose I always choose the peaceful option) The entrance to the guild are the sewers, which are accessible if you jump into the sea where the crane is and swim to the right alongside the wall. There should be two lit torches at the entrance.
The Thieves Guild not only offers several quests throughout the game, but also one very important skill: Pickpocketing. Not only gives Pickpocketing an insane amount of gold and other benefits (Keys for example), but also experience. At first it gives a relatively low amount of exp, but the more people you pickpocket, the more exp you get. Starting at 50 exp, it ramps up as follows: The second pickpocket gives 60 exp, then the next two give 70 exp each, the next three 80 exp, the next four 90 exp and so on. You can pickpocket every NPC with an unique name and should do so, to the point where you will be returning to people you have already met and probably won’t speak to anymore as they are no longer relevant to quests.
There is a dialogue option when trying to pickpocket an NPC, indicating the difficulty level – basically a Dex requirement for successful pickpocket.

The difficulties are as follows:
10-20 Dex (It would be a piece of cake)
Exceptions: Paul (22)
21-40 Dex (It would be easy)
Exceptions: Erol, Malak (43) – Senyan (45) – Sancho (50)
41-65 Dex (It would be daring)
Exceptions: Crimson, Garaz (66) – Carlos (71)
65-80 Dex (It would be difficult)
Exceptions: Pardos, Huno (85)
81-100 Dex (It would be damn difficult)
101-120 Dex (It would be almost impossible)


After having talked about gear, skilling and pickpocketing, we move on to the last, most important part of the guide, which starts to come into play after reaching Level 32:

Permanent Stat Bonusses

Permanent stat bonusses are applied at the very end of skilling, because as I explained earlier, there are certain thresholds at which spending LPs on stats becomes very, very expensive. Using permanent stat increasing items early because it makes things easier may seem like a good idea at first glance, but could be gamebreaking several levels later. The LP cost for stat increases skyrocket, the hero will become weak in the relation to the story progress after a while. This happened and still happens to many players, which then will struggle around Chapters 3-4 and start to complain about the difficulty spike because it slowly becomes almost unplayable, proof of that is the Steam Discussion Forum. ;)

Let’s move on.
First off, by that level, you will have already done a quest involving a guy named Rengaru in Khorinis. Jora wants you to get his stolen gold back from Rengaru. After confronting him about the gold, he will run away. After catching him, ask him to hand over the gold, but let him go and don’t tell Lord Andre about him. If you are member of the thieves guild, he will then have a new dialogue option, it’s about giving him the thieves sign. He will thank you with a stat boost of +1 Dex. Remember to NOT do this till after you have reached the desired 99 Dexterity.

Secondly, Dexterity potions you will find all over the world. There are five of them, netting a +15 increase. You can start jugging them after reaching 99 Dex.
1. Right before Onar’s Farm, there is very small cave with Field Raiders which a mercenary who practices his fighting skills just outside on the road wants to clean out with you. At the end of the cave is the elixir.
2. From Chapter 3 onwards, Salandril in the Upper Quarter in Khorinis sells you one.
3. In Chapter 4, Oric in the Castle in Mine Valley wants you to kill the leader of the orcs, Hosh-Pak. You can ask him about a reward beforehand and choose the elixir.
4. In Finger’s Chest. At some point in the game, Jesper, a thieves guild member in the sewers gives you a quest to pick Fingers Chest. He gives you a key to the room in which the chest is. The lock is pretty complicated and in case you are lazy, here is the solution: RRRLRRRLRLRLRRLLLRRL
5. From Sekob’s Farm, go north. There is, or was, a small bandit camp which is connected to the Arms dealer of the Bandits quest. At the camp there is a tent on which you can climb and from the roof of the tent lies a wooden log which connects to a narrow path alongside a small cliff. Go over that log onto the cliff, then follow it. At the end you will find some valuable things including the last elixir.

One part I don’t like that much but you have to do is praying to Innos, also, again, only after you have reached 99 Dex through learning. As you are a Paladin, you also have a mana option, which only gives you a 33% chance of a Dex roll. Offering 100 gold at an Innos statue gives us a bonus of +1 Dex, +1 Strength or +1 Mana each day. Limited to 10 for Dex and Strength, 20 for Mana. You can pray whenever you want though to get Strength or Mana before reaching 99 Dex. Just remember to save, so you don’t accidentally receive Dex. If you want to get just +10 Dex after that point, you have to save, pray, hope for Dex, sleep or load.. Rinse and repeat.

Next, stone tablets. These require you to be able to read the old languages and gain huge bonusses for all kinds of stuff. You will have to pick up a total of 8 tablets each for Dex(+24) and Bow(+30).


And finally, herbs. Starting with one VERY important thing you have to do early in the game, just like with the thief Rengaru. Before becoming an apprentice in Khorinis, you talk to Constantino and say to him you want to be his apprentice. He will ultimately give you a list for several herbs you have to gather for him. After accepting the Quest, go to Zuris at the market. He sells potions and magic scrolls. Ask him about his potions, and a dialogue option about where Constantino gathers his herbs should appear. After asking, one of the required goblin berries will spawn in the small forest area to the left after leaving the gate at the market. If you choose to give Constantino the herbs, he will have them in his trade inventory. Expensive, but you shouldn’t have any problems with gold. You can still choose if you want to be his apprentice afterwards or not, nor do you need his approval to become an apprentice of another master.

At level 36 you will be able to learn how to brew the Elixir of Dexterity from Sagitta. After having gathered all 17 goblin berries and at least 17 King’s Sorrel, brew them into potions and you will gain the final +51 Bonus and reach 230 Dex.
Here are the maps for the required herbs. The markers show the exact location, if you don’t find them, they are sometimes either beneath in a crypt for example, or above, like that King’s Sorrel at the cave in which a Shadowbeast is at Jack’s Lighthouse. (Most white arrows can be ignored.)

Additional Info

I tested this guide by myself before posting it and took some notes. The guide tells you to learn the first language for 5 LP at level 22. The sole reason for that is that it is required for being able to talk to Quarhodron in order to progress the Jharkendar storyline. By the time I left Jharkendar, I was Level 25 and didn’t do quests or kill NPCs in Mine Valley, so I assumed it’s quite doable.

Some reference points for what I achieved during testing with medium grinding:
Level 17 before entering both Jharkendar and Mine Valley,
Level 25 after Jharkendar,
Level 28 after Mine Valley (C2),
Level 30 at the very start of C4.
Level 36 in Chapter 4, about half in.
Level 39 at the beginning of C5.

Teachers for Dexterity from 89-99 are Diego and Cassia (Thieves Guild)

One last thing about exp issues: Don’t rush the main story, do side quests and exploring too! Especially in Gothic exploring can be extremely rewarding. And use the damn magic scrolls for difficult encounters early, you won’t need them later anyway.

And that’s about it. I didn’t think this guide would be as long, but here I am.

Hope this helps some people or encourages them to start a run with this build!

(All image sources are from https://mondgesaenge.de/G2ADB/EN/, except charts.)

[Nefarius420]

I have played and replayed gothic and gothic 2 about 100 times. There was a point when I was younger when I was able to memorize every single possible conversation with every possible npc to the letter and pretty much knew the placement of every single item in the game... at least in gothic 1. And yet I was able to learn two things from this guide especially the trick with Wulfgar at 5-7 am is crazy... really amazing guide!