Black Dragon

Remove all ads!

I'm struggling against the black dragon in Suldanesselar - I'm not sure what's going on, but he must have a protection I'm not removing because none of my summons nor my characters deal any damage to him - and he walks up, breaths Imoen and Aerie to kill them almost instantly, as well as clawing my fighters to death.

When they're alive, Imoen and Aerie toss Breaches and Remove magics as much as possible - but am I not covering something that I can't see? (I guess protections don't show up on the dragon).

 

Try using any of the higher level protections removers - Pierce Magic, Khelban's Warding Whip, etc. Also, Lower Resistance should help get the magic resistence down to where magic will affect her. I like having Jaheira (or whoever my druid is) cast Insect Plague or Creeping Doom first thing to keep the dragon's casting null. Hope this helps.

 

Timestop, Kelben's warding whip, Pierce Shield, Pierce Magic, 2 Breaches and greater Malison did it for me

 

One tip.

When I battled the cursed black dragon first time, in my very very first run, unmodded game.

The battle started, I was caught un-aware, I said, I am going to load anyway, so why not try something crazy?

Ordered Nalia to hurl a desperate Finger of Death.

Whoop!

Dragon fell! In the first round! Welly well done, Nalia! Extra cookie for you tonight!

See, he does not have great MR, and a lousy save vs spells, so try your chances!

 

You need: Spell Inmunity: Conjuration, for the spell insect plague; Lower Resistence (2-3), a lot of Magic Missiles, 3 mages.

 

Protection from Acid scrolls. I had two and gave them to Aerie and Imoen while the rest just bashed away (PC with Carsomyr, Minsc with FoA/Crom, Jaheira with Impaler Spear). Aerie used the invisibility from the SotM, while I think Imoen was able to use stealth (with boots/cloak of elvenkind) -- it helps not being targetted. Having one of the frontliners in the Shadow Dragon Armor is good, too (as does any other acid reduction). The rod of ressurection can totally healing a hurt character from across the screen (keep it in Aerie's quick slot).

You could always start with the chromatic doom of Aerie's. Use sequencers and contingencies for this battle.

[ April 04, 2006, 19:57: Message edited by: T2Bruno ]

 

If I have two mages, I usually have both of them cast lower resistance, which basically brings the resistance down to 0. After taht most of your spells should get through, even if your frontliners aren't hitting. spell sequencers filled with flame arrows takes him down really quick.

 

My F/C and his simulacrum just cast Chaotic Commands + Remove Fear + death ward + hardiness. Then they GWW'ed him to death while He was kept busy with a deva and some skeleton warriors.

Casting Offensive Spells is such a waste of time!

 

Watch dragons and mages initial spell triggers. pause right after they go off. I'm not sure but I think the black dragon might use Spell Trap as well as protection from magic weapons. If he does Pierce Shield him or Ruby Ray him before you cast the breach.

Pierce shield has the added bonus that you don't need to cast Lower Resistance as well. Dragon's only have like 60%.

 

In an unmodded game, the Black Dragon only protects himself with a Stoneskin. I think he recasts it on regular intervals, though. To my knowledge, only the Shadow Dragon uses Protection from Magical Weapons (if you let him live that long, that is). Nizidramanii'yt (the black dragon) only has 45 MR, so two Lower Resistances/Pierce Magic should take care of that. I usually just bash him to death, but if you're inclined to use magic (and have got access to epic spells), I'd use a time stop, improved alacrity, 2x lower resistance, greater malison, and bomb him with Abi Dalzims (or throw in a Finger of Death if you're feeling lucky, his saving throw vs spells is 6).

 

I think Henkie is right.I don't remember the Black Dragon casting other defensive spells than stoneskins.

Anyway IMHO, the easiest way to dispel a Dragon's protections are the Arrows of Dispelling.You can buy 80 of them at the Waukeen's Promenade and they are enough for all the difficult battles in the game.

Just wait for an eventual PfMW to run out

 

Once you Time Stop, the poor dragon is at your mercy. Rip his defenses, lower his resistance, and bombard with ABDHWs, skull traps and FoDs. He will fall in no time when time starts flowing again.

Black Dragon is tricky, its abilities to growth plants hurt. SI:Conjuration stops it cold. Acid breath can do loads of damage and can even kill a NPC irreversibly if the NPC is caught unaware and fails a save vs breath weapon. Though I don't think the black dragon's breath had a huge area of effect. Protection from Acid (level 5 mage spell) or green scrolls (those sold in temples) can help. Even a simple mirror image can help ya!

 

Buffed fighters and summons go in to take punishment while 2 mages cast lower magic resistance several times. After that, just higher level spells like pierce magic and khelben's warding whip. Then magic missiles til it falls. Even with all those chars and summons whaling on it, it's the magic missiles that always do it for me. Also, the magic missile range exceeds that of the wing buffet so you can keep it constant.

 

Thanks for the advice everyone - I am now in ToB. The dragon fell fairly easily to a combination of techniques described. I failed to protect myself against the insect swarm so I was running hurt for a bit, but eventually I managed to nail the dragon with a crazy barrage of Magic Missiles (Imoen had memorized 5, my blade 6, and Aerie 6 as well).

However, in ToB there is a minor issue that is starting to really bug me. My reputation is currently 20, and Sarevok, Viconia, and Jaheira keep talking (nonstop, about 20, 30 seconds apart) where their characters speak about the party's do-good-ing (not actual dialogue, just a voice clip). because of this, (I think), the circles under Sarevok, Jaheira, and Viconia are all "split into 4 quarters" like if you moved a character or are highlighting (hovering over them). The rest of the party is normal, but their circles are permanently split in four - and their voice clips wont stop playing. Can I stop this in any way?

 

A very cheap and cheesy way to beat the black dragon is to actually stand just out of site. Never bother to trigger his words. then cast things like fire storm and Incindiary cloud on him several times from two or three casters right in a row. He'll drop dead and you'll have to wait around for them to stop. I know it's not fair but it works.

 

I find when this happens in my game, whoever has the pie wedges for their circles was targeted by a party member. It will go away after a day of game time (or so).