Ideas for The Ultimate

[baldurs_gate_2]

I want to try the ultimate challenge, so all bounties, dragons, expert mode, trial of iron solo.

I thought of wizard, because the only fight in the game where i had problems was against the alpine dragon and those stunning spectres.

So, have you any ideas how to approach it the best way?

[Boeroer]

Wizard can do it. One of the best picks for the challenge. There are vids on Youtube of wizards doing the Ultimate. There's also a forum user here who did it with a Wizard. Forgot the name... 

Edited March 27, 2020 by Boeroer

[baldurs_gate_2]

5 hours ago, Boeroer said:

Wizard can do it. One of the best picks for the challenge. There are vids on Youtube of wizards doing the Ultimate. There's also a forum user here who did it with a Wizard. Forgot the name... 

Yeah, pull of eora and shadowflame is just so strong. By the way is this rapier + dagger with the 20% speed enchantment good as weapons for wizard?

[Boeroer]

Not so much because he has no particular dmg bonuses which would help to overcome DR (the enemy of light weapons) and also already has Alacrity which makes it easier to reach 0 recovery without speed weapons. Summoned weapons are best for a wizard. Concelhaut's Staff early one (enormous base dmg and comes exceptional) and later Spirit Lance (same big base damage, superb and has speed - and the AoE effect).

Freezing Rake is a pretty strong spell, too. 

[baldurs_gate_2]

2 hours ago, Boeroer said:

Not so much because he has no particular dmg bonuses which would help to overcome DR (the enemy of light weapons) and also already has Alacrity which makes it easier to reach 0 recovery without speed weapons. Summoned weapons are best for a wizard. Concelhaut's Staff early one (enormous base dmg and comes exceptional) and later Spirit Lance (same big base damage, superb and has speed - and the AoE effect).

Freezing Rake is a pretty strong spell, too. 

So it's better to use weapon + shield when you are not using spirit lance? Because of the deflection bonus and the spells have their own acc anyway or?

[Boeroer]

Don't even know if you need a shield. Remember that medium and large shields will have an impact on your accuracy - including spells. And Wizards are not the masters of Accuracy to begin with. Small shield would be ok I guess. Especially once you have Little Savior (that's a difficult task to begin with though ;)). 

Also Alia Braccia is a very good shield for you if you use is against Lagufaeth. They can end your run pretty easily with those paralysing blowdarts. Bit equipped with Alia Braccia all grazes turn into misses (that itself is incredible) and then reflect them back and paralyzes them instead - which makes Lagufaeth encounters a ton easier. 

[baldurs_gate_2]

7 hours ago, Boeroer said:

Don't even know if you need a shield. Remember that medium and large shields will have an impact on your accuracy - including spells. And Wizards are not the masters of Accuracy to begin with. Small shield would be ok I guess. Especially once you have Little Savior (that's a difficult task to begin with though ;)). 

Also Alia Braccia is a very good shield for you if you use is against Lagufaeth. They can end your run pretty easily with those paralysing blowdarts. Bit equipped with Alia Braccia all grazes turn into misses (that itself is incredible) and then reflect them back and paralyzes them instead - which makes Lagufaeth encounters a ton easier. 

Ok, thought that only lowers the weapon acc. Does steadfast's champions boon only activate, if you kill an enemy with the sword or with spells as well?

[baldurs_gate_2]

I'm in A3 now after i took a break. Do you have to kill the radiant spore as well for the ultimate? Or only the dragons, llengrath, concelhaut, all bounties and thaos?

[Boeroer]

Complete the White March and Pillars of Eternity, defeat all dragons, all bounties, and both archmages on Expert, Trial of Iron, and Path of the Damned modes without taking any companions after Cilant Lîs.

Radiant Spore is not on the list.

[baldurs_gate_2]

Do you maybe know, how much stealth you need to scout savely against adragan and adra beetles? 10 is not enough, what i learned the hard way xd

[Boeroer]

Sorry, no idea.

[baldurs_gate_2]

Damn, this true flame bounty had 2 adragans and i did not know that xd 8 hours down the drain =( I really have to slow down combat speed.

Have you not posted somewhere, that you did such a run with a barbarian boeroer?

btw, when you enter WM1, you get asked to upscale or not. Do you have to upscale to get the achievement?

Edited April 18, 2020 by baldurs_gate_2

[Boeroer]

No, that's just an option. If you enter WM very late it's way too easy and thus Obsidian gave the option to scale it up a bit to make it interesting again. 

I did that bounty with a Barbarian, yes. But that main part is over in seconds if you time it right (Combusting Wounds + Drago Leap + HoF) - if you don't you're screwed.
Kaylon made a video with a similar barb vs. that bounty once (edit: was Magran's Faithful, but still nice example) :

 

Edited April 18, 2020 by Boeroer

[mr_raider]

The bounty that have me the most trouble was brynlod. The back line casters wreak havoc. Brynlod is a level 21 cipher with backlash so mind control spells would backfire. Us they all use firearms that hit like trucks.

[Boeroer]

Brynlod is the toughest bounty in my opinion.

[baldurs_gate_2]

16 hours ago, mr_raider said:

The bounty that have me the most trouble was brynlod. The back line casters wreak havoc. Brynlod is a level 21 cipher with backlash so mind control spells would backfire. Us they all use firearms that hit like trucks.

The question is, can you de-aggro them? Such as, pulling the enemies and kill em in small groups. I know that you can do that with a rogue against magran. But if the fight never ends, it could be problem.

[mr_raider]

3 hours ago, baldurs_gate_2 said:

The question is, can you de-aggro them? Such as, pulling the enemies and kill em in small groups. I know that you can do that with a rogue against magran. But if the fight never ends, it could be problem.

Actually it changes if you approach the fight from the West or East. From the East you may get lucky and have the two illusionists in the arc of the ruin not appear on screen and handle them later. Those two are hard to target with spells due to distance and angle. But of you can land a wall of many colors on them, it's game over for Brynlod.

 

It's a fairly scattered group and it pays to stand still instead of rushing in. 

[baldurs_gate_2]

13 hours ago, mr_raider said:

Actually it changes if you approach the fight from the West or East. From the East you may get lucky and have the two illusionists in the arc of the ruin not appear on screen and handle them later. Those two are hard to target with spells due to distance and angle. But of you can land a wall of many colors on them, it's game over for Brynlod.

 

It's a fairly scattered group and it pays to stand still instead of rushing in. 

Paralyze + Mino's Piercing Burst seems good for it. It has an 10 DR bypass and you will most likely crit when they are paralyzed.

[mr_raider]

13 hours ago, baldurs_gate_2 said:

Paralyze + Mino's Piercing Burst seems good for it. It has an 10 DR bypass and you will most likely crit when they are paralyzed.

Yep. The problem is getting an AoE paralyze. You can't cast shafowflame on your own head, and arkemeyrs capricious is only 1 in 3 chance. 

 

Best bet is relentless storm from a druid and hope the stun holds long enough. Then you stack all your DOTs like Ninagauths pillar, plague of insects, and the like. 

 

I'm gonna try this fight with a high levels cipher at some point and see if defensive mindweb helps tank the whole mob.

Too much spare time on my hands. Maybe I need to move on to Tyranny or POE2

[baldurs_gate_2]

On 4/20/2020 at 8:29 PM, mr_raider said:

Yep. The problem is getting an AoE paralyze. You can't cast shafowflame on your own head, and arkemeyrs capricious is only 1 in 3 chance. 

 

Best bet is relentless storm from a druid and hope the stun holds long enough. Then you stack all your DOTs like Ninagauths pillar, plague of insects, and the like. 

 

I'm gonna try this fight with a high levels cipher at some point and see if defensive mindweb helps tank the whole mob.

Too much spare time on my hands. Maybe I need to move on to Tyranny or POE2

But you can cast scrolls of paralyze.

[baldurs_gate_2]

Does second chance work when playing solo? And which armor is pretty good? I use mostly heldrik's mantle, because of the prone deflection, but it's high recovery.

Edited April 25, 2020 by baldurs_gate_2

[Boeroer]

Yes, Second Chance works. You'll get back up after knockout without  triggering game over.

You'll have to switch armor according to the situation when going solo. I like Wayfarer's Hide against Laegufaeth and such, Blaidh Golan against Ogres, Hand and Key against Spores and so on...
As non-wizard and without other speedups Angio's Gameson can also make a huge difference.

Besides that and depending on your class armor like Ryona's Breastplate and Hunter's Mail is always pretty good. 

[baldurs_gate_2]

I play with this green armor i took from the vithrak bounty, it saved my life 2 times. This damn eyeless with their fire ray beam. First he knocked me prone and after he used the beam, without second chance it would have been game over again. This damage is so high, you can not even outheal it. =(

WM Bounties, Concelhaut and Dragons left. I am only concerned about alpine dragon, because kalakoth does not work and magrans / brynlod.

 

/E I did all bounties. Lafda is optional or? Because i solved the quest peacefull "regrets worth trading" (i did not even know that it was the bounty).

Edited April 25, 2020 by baldurs_gate_2

[Boeroer]

Lafda is no bounty when in Stalwart. You don't need to kill her. You can collect her bounty later in Ondra's Gift. In fact you need to let her live in "Regrets worth trading" or you can't get her bounty. Afaik she's not a mandatory bounty for the Ultimate because of that reason. But I'm not 100% sure. You can just take the bounty later and be on the safe side.  

Edit: wow, I used the word "bounty" a lot...

Edited April 26, 2020 by Boeroer

[baldurs_gate_2]

15 hours ago, Boeroer said:

Lafda is no bounty when in Stalwart. You don't need to kill her. You can collect her bounty later in Ondra's Gift. In fact you need to let her live in "Regrets worth trading" or you can't get her bounty. Afaik she's not a mondatory bounty for the Ultimate because of that reason. But I'm not 100% sure. You can just take the bounty later and be on the safe side.  

Edit: wow, I used the word "bounty" a lot...

Yeah that is the problem, asca won't give it to me. I read in another topic, that it is not mandatory for the ultimate, i hope this is right.

 

/Edit: Is it doable with a monk btw? I know that you can do the llengrath fight because i did it, but it is pretty close tbh. The other dragons are pretty easy with monk, eyeless with the hammer and scrolls of paralyze shouldn't be a big problem either. Can't say anything about concelhaut or magrans // brynlod.

Edited April 26, 2020 by baldurs_gate_2