Is archery any good in this game?

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Meh ... archery ... in IWD2 ...

is my point made clear enough!

If not - 3 Fully loaded archers or how about 3 sorcerers pumping the room full of Fireballs, Chain Lightenings and Wail of the Banshees ... What do you think is better ... !!!

 

3 archers could probably disrupt your spell with a little luck and criticals(expecially if you were casting a high level spell like wail of the banshee) and thus kill your sorcs

 

Oh yes ... 3 archers would REALLY take down my 3 sorcerers (sensing any sarcasm here?)

Considering they CAN cast Wail of the Banshee don't think they'd be protected by Stoneskin and Mirror Image (among the many protective spells) and just be able to blast the sh!t out of your pathetic archers ...

Sorry Goon ... I don't like when people bag Sorcerers!!! Oh, and I'm having a bad day! But do you really think 3 archers could take on 3 arcane users ... or did you mean if they just meant and no spells (protective included) had been cast? If that's the case then I'm sorry!

 

yea i meant before casting buffs cause thats kind of cheap in this case cause it would cause me to be wrong and since . i OBVIOUSLY realise with stoneskin and especially mirror image the sorcs would win even without those buffs precast since they could cast mirror image all but isntantly at the start of the "dual".

But i was mainly talking bout them just meeting and likely just casting attack spells since you didnt earlier mention any protections.

But i really really like arcane casters as well particularly the sorc mainly cause they dont need to pre memorise which makes them more versatile IMO. And i hate archers(i just give my arcane characters bows) i was just arguing for the sake of it sorry.

 

Ah OK! Sorry my bad! OMG that's what I do with my arcane users as well! We all know that during the start they run out of spells soooo quickly eh, and when that happens that's really the only time i use archers!!!

Sorry about the misunderding Goon!!! If we had 3 level 30 archers fully equiped and 3 fully loaded sorcerers and wizards (no spells cast yet) do you think the archers would be able to take them straight away ...

 

Well if the archers are really well equipped, still not.
First the sorc casts Mirror Image (elemental missiles will punch through stoneskin, perhaps disrupting them.) Next they cast Improved Invisibility on themselves. Finally while one casts animate dead, the others cast Horrid Wilting and Wail of Banshee. At the end of round 3, the arechers are dead.

A dedicated archer is probably less useful than even a full thief in IWD II. Better to stick a bow or xbow in the hands of your sorcs so they have something to do while not casting spells.

By the way Glass Darts +1 & Darts of Flame +5 probably do the maximum damage of all missiles in the game.

 

OOOHHHH! I have just fallen in love with your statment Shrikant! Anyone agree with that!

 

I've never played a "dedicated" archer. But also I'd say it's a bit silly to neglect ranged weapons completely. You'll get the best results by combining several strategies.

If a wizard is protected by Globe of Invulnerability and you don't have 5+ level spells at hand, archers will naturally do better in taking the mage down. If a wizard is protected by Protection From Arrows/Stoneskin, and has a high Concentration skill, of course spells work better.

Of course, the *best* way to take wizards down would be to cast Cloudkill etc. type of area effect spells *and* bombarding them with missiles so you don't have to walk your warriors into your own Cloudkill.

As for ranged weapons in HOF, if there aren't many enemies around, just a couple of strong ones, you can exploit the stubborn enemy AI and have one of your characters run around as a decoy while the others turn the enemy into a pincushion.

 

Well, I've decided to go forth without a dedicated archer, but all of my characters use missile weapons to soften up the enemies before they get into melee.

This also gives me time to get my tanks into proper position, which has helped a ton with my tactics.

 

Amen Klorox ... Amen !

 

btw i agree with what shrikant said about the sorcs winning cause of mirror image as i said in my previous post the almost instant casting time gives them an advantage. But with a LOT of luck theres always a chance that the archers could disrupt each sorc while they tried casting mirror image and then finish them off from there but thats VERY unlikely

 

Yes i did as well! I'm just agreeing with his view that archers should be used as a back up ... or in my case, a last resort when spells run out

 

Oh i aint referring to your last post its just when you asked the queston you said my name in the same paragraph so i wasnt sure if you were directing it at me.

 

My bad again!!! Nah archery is ok, i just hardly ever use it. If someone creates a mod so it because how it was back in BG ... !!!

 

Everyone keeps talking bout how it was so great in BG1 what was soo good about it then? (i started my RPG gaming with BG2

 

The damage was insane ... EXTREMELY INSANE!!!

I think your strength determined how much damage you did (unlike IWD2) and so if you had a fighter with a composite long bow with 20 strength with 3 attacks per round ... hehe !!!

Then add things like magical bows and arrows and then WOW!!! Massive damage every round, and that was something i really enjoyed, but now IWD2 doesn't offer that

 

Nah, STR was added to Slings, not Bows. What made ranged attacks so great was:

A) Most baddies didn't use them, and with Fog of War you killed most of them before they reached you.

B) Slings added STR damage.

C) Bows had 2 attacks per round, so you really peppered those guys before they got close.

Since BG1 is a relatively "low level" game, the relatively lower damage from missile weapons really didn't matter much.

 

Yeah but i remember my character and then others like Coran and Kivan doing sh!tloads of damage from each shot ... lik around 15+ and then later on they were doing around 20

 

You must have been using enchanted composite longbows (I don't have BG so I don't know if there are any enchanted composite longbows in BG I). These add base damage to arrow, so if you get a crit-hit ...

@Goon66
Start a BG II game with two identical fighters, one with GM in greatswords and the other in longbows. Who gets more attacks with less risk?
This only works with a low levels game like BG I.

This is no longer the case with IWD II. Using a bow no longer automatically nets you a +1 attack. Also using a two-handed weapon adds 1.5Str bonus damage. All in all ranged weapons have no advantage now.

 

Just as little trivia, in BG2 slings did get bonus damage from strength. There was a "special" sling that had that listed as a special feature, but it in fact affected all slings. Just try the difference between using a sling with a STR 10 and then with a Girdle of Giant Strength. The logic is that STR affectes thrown weapons.

I'm not sure if this is the case in IWD2.