Best melee party

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Hey y'all,

I was thinking about what the best melee-oriented party would be and what weapons to use. Rules: no mods, no multiplayer-switched-to-single-player-game, and still use as many class abilities as possible (i.e. find a way to stick a thief, a mage, a cleric, etc. in there somewhere).

Here goes:

- PC = Half-Orc Barbarian -- Halberd
- Keldorn -- 2-H sword
- Korgan -- Axe + warhammer
- Jaheira -- 2 scimitars or spear
- Anomen -- Flail + shield
- Jan -- staff/crossbow

This party has 5 great frontliners (6 if you REALLY want to!) and great variety, with access to thief skills, mage spells, cleric spells and druid spells. And all HLAs too (except tracking, but who cares).

Some will argue that a bard or a fighter-mage is better than an barbarian melee-wise, but micromanagement is not really my thing, so that's out for me.

What do you guys think?

 

It may be worth it to replace the Half-Orc Barbarian by a Half-Orc Berserker. The Berserkers rage is better IMHO and they can put on better armor and get Grand Mastery. You lose the damage reduction but since that only applies to weapons the better AC of the Berserker will make up for it. And you lose nothing in regards to HLAs.

Concerning the NPCs I have no remarks, although I'd never play with Keldorn but that is because of personal roleplayig reasons. Concerning power (and the limits you've imposed) this is a very solid party. I would replace Jan with Imoen but I don't know if you're ready to lose the thief HLAs. But since you don't like micro-managment I think they are pretty useless except for UAI. Imoen has enough thieving skills and is a better mage.

 

Quite true, Meatdog. A berserker is more powerful than a barbarian, but since the party already has one in Korgan, I went for diversity over power.

As for Imoen over Jan, I totally agree that Imoen is a better mage, but Jan is a better thief. And I love thieves Plus there's no waiting forever to get Imoen. All in all, either Jan, Imoen or even Nalia could take the sixth spot. Given that choice, I go for the better thief. But that's a matter of taste.

 

Then I rest my case and congratulate you on your party. It would be nice to be able to include Sarevok but frankly I don't see how you would do that.

 

Yeah, the only one I'd switch for Sarevok would be the PC!

 

Ah, nothing better than melee parties. A few suggestions:

Swap Nalia, Edwin, or Imoen for Jan. You're going to need a mage that can get high level disabling spells (breach, ruby ray, pierce shield, etc.) quickly and be able to cast multiple times. A single-classed mage will level up quicker than Jan. Alternatively you could try Haer'Dalis, but then you lose the higher level disabling spells.

If you swap out Jan, try a multi-classed half-orc F/T. They make for great tanks, can open fights with a backstab and will handle your thieving needs without items.

Swap Minsc for Anomen or Jaheira. Either with buffs are good tanks, but limited attacks per round is a big drawback. Either one can handle all of your healing needs. You'll lose either cleric or druid spells, but IMO it's not a big deal.

 

I'm still sticking with Jan: with him and Keldorn, mages should not be too much of a problem. And anyway, mages *should* be a challenge for a melee-heavy party, IMO.

I actually thought about replacing Anomen with Minsc. Jaheira is far superior melee-wise than Anomen with her spells and the fact that she still gains fighter levels, whereas Ano is stuck at lv7. I agree that Jaheira can handle all the healing duties by herself.

Minsc dual-wielding longswords/bastard swords/katanas would pack a lot more punch than Anomen, all things considered. So we get this:

- PC = Half-Orc Barbarian -- Halberd
- Keldorn -- 2-H sword
- Korgan -- axe + warhammer
- Minsc -- dual-wielding swords
- Jaheira -- 2 scimitars or spear
- Jan -- staff/crossbow

Geez, that party kicks an unbelievable amount of ass.

 

Ah, but if this is the new party, there is indeed room for Sarevok. Just have Minsc use Two-handed Swords and Halberds, there are alot of good ones of both in the game and Keldorn should be using Carsomyr anyways. This prevents all those nice two-handed swords and halberds going to waste. This means you really use Minsc as a place holder for Sarevok. And once you meet Sarevok, just replace Minsc with him and transfer Minsc's equipment to Sarevok. Also, if you are going to do this, switch your Barbarian to dual-wielding Flails, Katanas and Longswords. This way you get optimal use of the melee weapons in the game IMHO.

 

Definately go fo Imoen over Jan. Why? She's better in melee. How? She gets Mislead much earlier. Just cast it and backstab, backstab, backstab!

 

Ah yeah, forgot about Keldorn's anti-mage abilities. Given the choice of Sarevok or Minsc, Sarevok is definitely the choice in terms of pure melee damage.

I prefer Minsc personally, but that's just because I like his personality. Besides, this is as close to a Minsc-esque party (swords, not words) as you can get. If you do go with Minsc, even if just as a placeholder for Sarevok, consider a mace as a dual-wield weapon. I've found Minsc using MoD/IMoD to be particularly effective.

 

I'd pick Haerdalis over Jan, and find some room for Sarevok (probably for Minsc) if you want a true *melee* heavy party. Otherwise that line-up is pretty impressive on the frontline. Seriously, add Haerdalis and Sarevok and you'd have the most feared front row in the history of BG2.

 

Aye, add Haer Dalis to any party and you'll get the best melee party instantly later on.
Summon images, make them sing, and even Edwin or Aerie can make decent tanks. As long as you're not soloing, you don't really have to do too much with a Bard.
Thief-Mages also have to prepare longer and need more micromanagement than Blades in general.

EDIT

 

Well, the whole Haer'Dalis thing kind of contradicts my "micromanagement is not really my thing" statement. I do agree that a Blade can be very useful, but I just can't replace Jan in good conscience: I lose my mage HLAs, but more importantly, I lose my thief. And for me, a thief-less party is just not gonna happen!

And Minsc would probably be a placeholder for Sarevok, if I make it to the end of SoA this time (I have a severe case of "restarteritis"!).

Thanks for all the input!

 

i think Barbarians are more powerfull than Beserkers. If you use the Flail of East Haven (20%), HLA Hardiness (40%) his natural resistance (20%), The Barbarian will have 80% resistance vs 60% resistance for Beserker.This is a huge advantage since If the Barbarian doles out 100 hp in damage it will cause 40 Hp on the opponent, while the Beserker will only do 20Hp damage in return

 

PC - Barbarian with 2H sword
Korgan with Axe
Mazzy with War Hamma
Keldorn with 2H sword
Sarevok with 2H sword
Valygar with 2 Katana

For best melee ownage!

 

Sarevok, in my original post I said:

So while the party you're suggesting would easily cleave an ungodly path of destruction, it goes against my rules.

 

Best melee party imo is:

You a Fighter/Theif with: Hindos doom for backstab, black razor and scarlet to ninja/belm for everything else.

Keldorn: Use Caromsyr or Purifier Answerer combo, though foebane is better.

Korgan: Axe of Unyielding over Avangurvadal

Sarevok: With the Ravager Halbred

Mazzy: Foebane over Kundane

Since this is melee Ill have to say edwin for the most powerful tensers transformation, give him Staff of magi and cheese your way to victory by reequipping.

You lack a cleric, but this can be remedied with the many regeneration things around the game. Two rings of Gaax, two rings of regeneration and axe of unyielding and ioun stone should take care of your healing needs, not forcing you to rest for weeks.

 

I'm not sure what you mean by Sarevok not being fit for your party.
Anyways, you really need a sword dual-wielder, since there are some very good ones out there and you might regret not being able to use some.

Valygar could be a good replacement for either Anomen or Jaheira, if you can stand being a little less of healing spells until a bit later.