Known "Ultimator" - Runs

[baldurs_gate_2]

I know from Wodjee, that he did it with a rogue in one go. I did it with a monk and a wizard seems very possible (but you need a resting supply mod, or you have to tediously travel back and forth of cities).

Have you done an ultimator run and if yes, with which class?

 

[Boeroer]

I think @grausch and somebody else did complete Wizard ultimate runs (without any mods). 

Getting camping supplies isn't that difficult and there are enough of them on the way if you know where to look. If you use summoned weapons a lot until you get spell mastery (which turns some spells up to tier 4 into per-encounter abilities) you can do without too much resting. Especially Concelhaut's Parasitic Staff is extremely good in the early game since it has enormous base damage and comes exceptional which helps a lot with the Wizard's poor starting ACC but also deals a whole lot of damage per hit.

It helps a lot if your go-to buffs can be cast per encounter instead of per-rest.

---

I tried an ultimate run with a Fire Godlike Barbarian (focused on maxed out Retaliation & Heart of Fury damage + Combusting Wounds) and failed like 1 meter before the finishing line: I got killed in Noonfrost on the way to Sun in Shadow from a bug. Second Wind triggers Battle Forged burn damage and applies it to yourelf, killing you at high levels because the retaliation damage is so high). I knew about this - but in the heat of battle simply forgot.  

[baldurs_gate_2]

45 minutes ago, Boeroer said:

I think @grausch and somebody else did complete Wizard ultimate runs (without any mods). 

Getting camping supplies isn't that difficult and there are enough of them on the way if you know where to look. If you use summoned weapons a lot until you get spell mastery (which turns some spells up to tier 4 into per-encounter abilities) you can do without too much resting. Especially Concelhaut's Parasitic Staff is extremely good in the early game since it has enormous base damage and comes exceptional which helps a lot with the Wizard's poor starting ACC but also deals a whole lot of damage per hit.

It helps a lot if your go-to buffs can be cast per encounter instead of per-rest.

---

I tried an ultimate run with a Fire Godlike Barbarian (focused on maxed out Retaliation & Heart of Fury damage + Combusting Wounds) and failed like 1 meter before the finishing line: I got killed in Noonfrost on the way to Sun in Shadow from a bug. Second Wind triggers Battle Forged burn damage and applies it to yourelf, killing you at high levels because the retaliation damage is so high). I knew about this - but in the heat of battle simply forgot.  

Oh that must have hurt. I can not even imagine how you could do the Llengrath fight.

[Boeroer]

The last two bounties were a lot harder afair. You have to get all those guys into a tight space to pull off the instakilling Heart of Fury + Combusting Wounds combo (see Kaylon's vid). And while doing so things can get horribly wrong. So I had to test those fights with a similar build in a separate non-ultimate savegame and the console - until I knew what to do.

Everybody can charm dragons (except one of the Bog Dragons) with Munacra Arret or Spirit Spiral (they both do 3 Whisper of Treason with +10 ACC per rest) - which means that the charmed dragon leaves you alone and kills his/her ads first. Makes a big difference for me. 

[baldurs_gate_2]

Hmm yeah, but the charm duration is not very high or? At least i remember so.

Cipher is the only character besides Wizard i would try on an second ultimate, just because with psychic backlash he can easily stun the dragons.

[grausch]

Thanks for the shoutout @Boeroer, but I am sorry to report that I did not yet have the courage to attempt a Ultimate run with a wizard...

My first POTD solo run was with a wizard, namely the Frozen Lance. Using the spells and strategies at the time, it would NOT be suitable for a Ultimate run - there were too many late-game fights that required luck to win. However, in the thread I linked below, there was a YouTube video where someone got the achievement with a wizard. Essentially if you build a wizard that focuses on Combusting Wounds using Chillfog, beam spells and wall spells you have the essence of his build. Not having any targeting circles though makes this very, very difficult when doing tougher encounters.

 

My Ultimate run was with a cipher. Prepare to run two saves and do several practice runs for more difficult fights. Also, be prepared for the fact that you could underestimate certain fights due to the practice fight(s) being easy and then having things go very wrong in the Ultimate save - therefore you should always go into most encounters fully prepared, i.e. food buffs active and quick items slots filled. Here is a link to the character I used for this run.

 

All my runs are based on @Wodjee's YouTube videos (Frozen Crown Solo and Ultimate). I would suggest you spend some time reviewing them as there a useful hints that make Act I and Act II a lot easier. Here is a link to the thread and the video is embedded there. He also has a Frozen Crown Solo Run which I completed with a rogue.

 

Lastly, here is a run with a monk that I found on YouTube. Still need to watch it, but it may also be of use if you want to play as one of the warrior classes.

 

[baldurs_gate_2]

That's my monk run xd

I haven't found any others besides Wodjee's that recorded a full run. I can understand it, because it takes a long time and just not enough people play the game.

[grausch]

Haha...No idea that it was your run. I have viewed it all the way to Heritage Hill. With a wizard a more stealthy approach means less time resting. My first run with the Frozen Lance did not use much stealth and it was pretty frustrating grinding. Using a wodjee-like approach makes Act 2 much less frustrating. 

I have now done a second run and am currently clearing up Od Nua so that I can take on the dragons which is all that is remaining. I was not that keen on playing on Ultimate, so this is just a POTD run. Using the same Frozen Lance strategies, but have now incorporated some of the strategies I saw in TheTodWilkinson’s run. Still need to clear out the last levels of Od Nua and then do the dragons. Will post an update once I have completed this run.

[baldurs_gate_2]

11 hours ago, grausch said:

Haha...No idea that it was your run. I have viewed it all the way to Heritage Hill. With a wizard a more stealthy approach means less time resting. My first run with the Frozen Lance did not use much stealth and it was pretty frustrating grinding. Using a wodjee-like approach makes Act 2 much less frustrating. 

I have now done a second run and am currently clearing up Od Nua so that I can take on the dragons which is all that is remaining. I was not that keen on playing on Ultimate, so this is just a POTD run. Using the same Frozen Lance strategies, but have now incorporated some of the strategies I saw in TheTodWilkinson’s run. Still need to clear out the last levels of Od Nua and then do the dragons. Will post an update once I have completed this run.

Wizard is pretty straightforward. The hardest fight in the beginning is that one against the templar for the doemel mainquest (10.000 coins). He has pretty high damage spells and sometimes refuses to die. I died there two or three times. It's just important to not get too ****y, especially against the eyeless. One fire-ray and you are basically dead if you don't act wisely or the paralyze does not proc.

Alpine dragon is most likely the hardest fight, because ice-beam / shadowflame / freezing rake does not work. Those pesky spectre tend to graze stun you and the dragon is immune to paralzye, so you have to petrify or confuse him. That's most likely the only fight where things can really get wrong.

[MT.tachi]

Here is my run with wizard.

https://youtu.be/j12uVVk0Xog

I missed to give it a wrong title, so you couldn’t found it (´・ω・｀)

I’m sorry that I can’t explain or reply, because I’m very bad at English.

Edited September 21, 2020 by MT.tachi

[baldurs_gate_2]

On 9/21/2020 at 11:01 AM, MT.tachi said:

Here is my run with wizard.

https://youtu.be/j12uVVk0Xog

I missed to give it a wrong title, so you couldn’t found it (´・ω・｀)

I’m sorry that I can’t explain or reply, because I’m very bad at English.

Nice. I am not really surprised that a wizard is faster than a monk. I should have skipped more fights with my monk but on the other hand, then i had to plan my resting better and it would be more risky.

I think, wizard and monk are the easiest ones to pull it off. I hope there are more people that try these runs with other classes and recorded it.

[baldurs_gate_2]

At the moment i try a ranger run.

There are just two problems. In Eothas Temple, when you talk to the spirit, your pet will be teleported to you. But it gets spotted so easily by the oozes, that you have to kill the whole enemies in the room. But it's not difficulty with the one-eye ara.

Second one, what is a bit too RNG for me is, the throne room in od nua. The pet is unable to sneak past the first ones. So you have to trigger the statue, cast your minion and rush with your pet inside the door and hope, that max two enemies follow you. But as i said, that is RNG and at that point, you allready played 1+ hours and it would be a shame to **** that up. Any ideas for a better solution?

[baldurs_gate_2]

Ok i did it with my ranger. It took me 3 hours more than with a monk (14:30 to 17:30). The llengrath fight was way easier than i thought with spirit spiral and the headgear for charming. The dragon even killed llengrath for me

It could be more optimized for timesaving. A mod with more supplies for pearls and other ressources would be cool, without you have to basically travel around to get a good amount of crafting material.

Hardest fight in my opinion is Alpine dragon without the concelhaut skull. Those nasty spectres with their stun projectiles. I had to try this fight with my other ranger several times until i got a good strategy. Monk just wrecks him.

[Boeroer]

Yeah - it's also such a tight space which absolutely doesn't help. 

Congratulations!

[baldurs_gate_2]

Thanks

Do you know if "disorienting" per hit increases or is that a flat -5 max?

[Boeroer]

It used to stack the debuff effect but was made unstackable (only duration stacks iirc) after I posted this:





Nowadays it stays at -5 afaik.

[baldurs_gate_2]

Damn, that would be really good =( So dual sabres will most likely the better option with heart of fury.

[Boeroer]

2 Bittercuts + max MIG + Spirit of Decay + Vulnerable Attack + Ring of Searing Flames and the usual +dmg stuff is the best setup for HoF-damage afaik.

  

[baldurs_gate_2]

15 hours ago, Boeroer said:

2 Bittercuts + max MIG + Spirit of Decay + Vulnerable Attack + Ring of Searing Flames and the usual +dmg stuff is the best setup for HoF-damage afaik.

  

OK, but you can't get the duplicate in a solo run =(

[baldurs_gate_2]

Hmm, i really wonder how you are be able to beat the alpine dragon with barb. Any ideas?

[baldurs_gate_2]

Ok i did the alpine dragon, was much easier with my ultimate than with the regular potd barb.

The bounties were pretty easy, only vs. magran i had to reinitiate. And i still don't know, why they put the most difficult main game bounty (nalrend) in first tier, where you want more lvls beforehand.

Only od nua, llengrath and thaos left. Only llengrath bothers me, but i think you can just use persistence if things go wrong.