How the heck do you battle Mind Flayers?

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A spin-off of the Beholder thread, I ask because I've never been very good at killing the dread Illithid.

Is there any way to prevent the brain eating thing? It seems to work even at range and I'm unaware of any spell that makes you immune. Even mages will get killed in 2 rounds from the brain eating thing, and village idiots like Minsc die in the blink of an eye. Heck, even brainless summoned skeleton warriors get pretty much insta-killed by the brain eating. Summons are almost completely useless as even high-level demons get stunned almost instantly. Argh!

 

Chaotic Commands protects you from Psionic Blast.

I think the best way is to have one character with Protection From Magical Weapons (you might need more than one) act as a bait while everyone else fires at the flayers with missile weapons while hasted.

 

Chaotic Commands doesn't protect you from the brain eathing attack, though. That's what tends to kill me.

 

PfMW blocks the intelligence drain. For fighter-types, I guess you could pump your INT with potions to absorb one additional brain eating attack, but that's about it.

 

The brain eating thing shouldn't happen at range. It happens when a mind flayer hits you in melee, then you lose 5 points of INT. The problem is that being stunned, all hit rolls are automatically successful. Chaotic commands and brine potions prevent the stunning. Didn't know the drain could be stopped by PfMW.

I simply cast some death spells (Although I'm surprised it even works on such a powerful monster.) Their magic resistance could negate the effects though, so you need a few.

Or backstab them one at a time with a thief using hit and run (and close doors if necessary).

Or if you want to be cheap, cloud kill.

 

Best things against Illithid:

1. Mages and Clerics have no problem. Summoning Mordenkainen's swords or Skeleton Warriors solves any illithid problem. Just make sure your party stays out of sight. Guide your summons best via Farsight or Wizard Eye. Buff your summons as well as you can. A scroll of Mordenkainen's sword is sold by the Duergar, but - Note - only to a drow.

2. A Bard of any kind has an excellent match vs Illithid, because in the addition of the normal buffs, his Song might help summons - Skeleton Warriors(Skald), or weaken/slow/confuse enemies(Jester) while standing invisible amidst the fight. The Blade is simply an additional fighter but has to use either Brine Potions or Greenstone Amulet, or simply to rely on Skeleton Warriors.

3. A solo Druid will have to use his full power in order to survive - sending ahead fire/earth elementals, buffed with Chaotic Commands should do the trick. Don't know, haven't tried actually.

4. A solo warrior of any kind should be at disadvantage. Yet, he has first to acquire the Greenstone amulet in the beholder area in Underdark in order to protect himself from Psionic Blast and Psionic Domination. Another option is sneaking invisible using the Rings of Invisibility and of Air Control in the room with Brine Potions, collect as many as he can(there are total 8), and use them again to protect himself from Blasts. After that...mm...the best ally here is Ras...but Ras lasts only 4 rounds. The second best option is installing the bonus merchants in order to get the Vhailor's helm. With the helm - simulacrum, adequate psionic protection, enough potions of Genius and 2 Ras to help(one from the Simulacrum) the things are quite even. The Ring of Gaxx should be used for its Improved Haste in order to quickly kill the Illithid. The other best thing to do is summon 15 Fire Elementals using the Staff of Fire and again - simulacrum from Vhailor's helm. Use these as a distraction while shooting Illithid from a distance best with the Sling of Seeking with maximum strength(potions of Cloud and Storm Giant Strength). Unfortunately Mirror Image from Ilbratha doesn't help much, I've tested.

A cheesy way of providing your solo warrior with a permanent protection from Psionics(and any spell lvl 1-9) is using a Simulacrum from Vhailor's helm + Scrolls of Prot from Magic cast by the Simulacrum.

When the summons and everything ends(is killed or unsummoned), the best tactic for the warrior is immediately to use a Ring of Invisibility and retreat. The Flayers' greatest weakness is their inability to detect illusions.

In short, I don't wanna play with a solo warrior vs Illithid. There is still a good chance of dying.

Thieves can deal with Illithid again with adequate protection and best - backstabbing. Hit-and-run tactic with maximum speed and some psionic protection. A halfling thief solo should have no problems at all, since he can equip himself with Adjatha and the Sword of Arvoreen, thus needing no protection from Psionic attacks.

Mind Flayer attacks are considered +2 weapons. So Mantle and Improved Mantle also provide protection from their attacks, and thus - from Int Drain. Can't hit you - can't drain you.

A solo Monk should have almost no trouble dealing with Flayers, if he keeps his intelligence on high level and retreats when needed. The Quivering Palm and Stunning Blow should do one hell of a good job. And a monk is well protected vs Psionic Blasts, being highly Magic resistant(with appropriate items nearly 100%)

The most problematic, indeed, is the question of a solo Wizard Slayer. In SoA these don't have great MR score, and their inability to use items like Rings or Potions of Invisibility puts them in a great disadvantage.

 

Since we're cheesing, it might be a better option to use the 'guard' option on the summons and close the door. Your arrows/bullets will pass right the door and you'll be out of harms way. Mirror Image is definetly worth the use imho, as it prevents hits, which in turn prevents Int drain.

But yeah -the easiest way to slice through em either to lock em in a room with a few of Mordy's swords/Skeleton Warriors or just use slayer change and be done with it.

 

Good old bashing is useful as well.

I send one character to draw the illithid out to where all of the others are waiting - then pounce with everyone bashing like crazy. Works every time.

The simpist ways are often just that - simple.

 

with all the reputation you already have int he game ou can just turn to slayer and kill them all!
that's how I passed trough all of them! easy and simple

 

saros:

So couldn't you just get your priest to gate in a pit fiend?

 

Actually, no. Even though they are immune to the damage from their attacks, the intelligence drain still applies. Similar to weapons with extra elemental damage, for example.

 

I'm not so sure about that.

If you're immune from a particular attack, I think you're immune to all the effects that are bestowed by that particular attack

 

Oh no, I believe the Illithid's INT drain works on almost everything in SoA.

 

If you get the "Weapon ineffective" message, it means just that. If the Mind Flayers' weapons are +2 and you're immune to +2 weapons, via Mantle or PfMW, you don't get drained.

Damage resistances and Stoneskin are a whole different matter. They let the intelligence drain through.

 

thats if you ve rolled low stats only; my actual solo berserker is a bg1 imported solo fighter for which i had managed to roll very high stats (with all the tomes i had 19 in all stats except charisma where i have 4)

with 19 int illithid lair is a cakewalk

as for the greenstone amulet its got very few charges and the berserk ability is way more efficient

 

Well, without the tactics mode, my cheezy way was to use cloudkill wands as much as possible. The wands, iirc, bypass spell resistance, and I would send a character with stealth to use them and hide back. Cheezy, sure, but hey, my PCs don't eat brains.

Chaotic commands is nice. IIRC there was another spell that protected against mind-influencing effects on the cleric lvl 5 and 7, but it could have been something from all the mods. The brine potions, of course, are a must. Apart from those, I try to use bottleneck with summons, some ranged weapons (spread your party out), and using web, confusion etc to separate the illithid and their umber hulk lapdogs. It is not the easiest part of the game, but it is feasible.

 

Because of them, I try to have an "intelligent" (INT 11+) berserker a la Korgan. The berserk ability protects against psionic blast, it lasts long enough for a melee. When Illthids are around, gulp 2 potions of Genius, it's expensive but rather efficient, and non-cheesy.

 

A good, short tip is this: Saving throws.

That's right, the saving throw for their various brain attacks is relatively low, so if you pump up your saving throws a bit you're practically immune. Just the +2 saving throw amulet you get in the illithid cave in Underdark helps out a ton (there is a reason why you get it there).

 

If your save vs spell is at -1 or you wear a ring of free action then you character is immune to all psionic attacks. As for INT drain as suggested previously use a INT 11+ character and drink potions of mind focusing for both dex and int increase so killing mind flayers is easy. Be careful of umber hulks however as they cast confusion so best keep your save vs spell at -1 (possible with permanent items) or cast chaotic commands. Also watch out for mind flayer charm spells so again keep save vs spells low, cast chaotic commands or use an item that protects from charm.

 

I think their psionic attacks are rather hard to resist IIRC they should incur a penalty to saving throw roll due to their power, so unless you have all negative saving throws, you still run the risk of failing a save often. And once you fail a save and become stunned you are easy pickings. Ofcourse improved mind flayers use many more nasty psychic powers, disintegrate (their version requires a save vs death so it is a real mage killer) ballistic attack, (massive area effect dmg which often chunks things) psychic and life drain, heal, dimension door, oh and they see invisible people too! Fun!