Anyone tried to kill the beholders without the shield?

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Chaos + Spider Spawn

or just any summon

Edit: chaos is lvl 5 mage, and spiders is lvl 4 mage spell

I used this when EE came out so im not sure if it still works. I tested out a lot of things on them to see what works.
EE made holders a lot stronger, they have saving trows so high they never fail them(or they are scripted to never fail?).

Beholders a super mages, instant cast tons of spells at multiple targets, epic saves, immunity's, they attack if u stun them, every time they get a hit...and they deadspell all summons instantly.

The only spells that work are ones that are not affected by saves, or the ones that have like +4 difficulty or what.



here is where Chaos works:
-its is the higher lvl version of confusion, its a -4 vs their saves, so it actually works
-it interrupts the script to cast deadspell and makes them run around, they still attack but a lot more random
-after that u summon sword spiders(or just any summon)
-make then run up to them, and poke them to death with their front legs (makes for a very fast takedown)


First scout out the holders with ur thief in stealth, cast confusion from outside their sight range, send the spiders.

if u use chaos on Elder Orbs they actually get stunned, dont know wy...
think their script makes them use their spell defenses first thing in the fight, and confusion blocks the scrip for it?

 

3 simplest ways to kill gauths/beholders without the shield:

1- Keldorn + Carsomyr (or Viconia for evil parties) + 1 pot of magic protection (or you could stack 2 but I cant remember how many roger sells in the sewer).

2- Any character with free action and the cloak of "your magic does nothing" er mirroring (obviously you would have to do the unseeing eye quest after returning from the underdark).

And finally the way I cleared almost every tough fight in the entire game with a swashbuckler protagonist...

3- Traps

Yoshi can throw his special traps by the way (its the only good thing about bounty hunters) so the baddies wont gaze him to death while placing and no tricky kiting required.

Some other ways would be a really precise cloudkill and an invisible/hidden person blocking a choke point, or boots of speed ranged kiting with a stealth character (minsc, valgyr or fighter/thief protagonist). Those can be pretty dicey though.

 

I just finished the Underdark section of BG2, chapter 5 I believe. Slaughtered everything there without the shield, including the den of Beholders and Elder Orbs. I would use every buff spell I had, protection from energy, evil, haste, Bless, etc. A lot of quick saving was involved. It was easier than the Mind Flayer den by far.

It was satisfying clearing out the entire Underdark, even though I later found out that I could have simply skipped most of it.

 

Don't the buffs get dispelled all the time?

The main reason to clear out both mind flayer and beholder lairs in the underdark is for the extra xp.

 

I recall there being an optional quest requiring you to venture into both areas as well, though i'm a little hazy on the details.

 

One might be if you're trying to build "The Equalizer" longsword. That ogre jailkeeper has part of it IIRC.

Perhaps the other is if you're trying to build the Silver Sword?

Not sure if both areas are required, though.

Also, there is the matter of getting at least one of the items for the Drow if doing their quest. In that case, I like to first do the one that gets me a belt of 20(?) strength and that badass "Soul Reaver" 2-handed sword from the demonknights in the kuo-toa area.

 

The equalizer you can get one part from the mind flayer lair, and one part in the beholder area. The silver sword you get part from Saemon and one part from the gith that comes to ask for it in Athkatla.

For fighting the demon knights, it's not necessary to go to the kuo-toan prince as well, but then again, the fight there is not that hard, either.

 

Thanks for the correction on the Silver Sword. Been a while and my memory isn't always reliable.

I know the kua-toa area isn't necessary, but those two items are too much for me to resist.

 

To be fair, I had to look it up as well.

The belt and, to a lesser the degree, the soul reaver as well are indeed good to get. I just meant that you needn't actually go afterwards to the prince (to get the offering for the ritual for the drow), though it is probably one of the easier options.

 

I defeated all the beholder pretty easily with evocated monsters! That was my main strategy VS mindflayers too, it requires a bit of time, but your characters are safe. If there isn't enough space, you can use defensive spells and nuke them asap (in chapter 5 for example).