Hardest game for soloing?

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i already beat the baldur'series and icewind dale 1 in solo with various classes but i just can't manage to get through with my warrior in IWD 2

have some of you manage to complete this game in solo ? and if so, which class do you recommend to accomplish this feat ? (because obviously the warrior rapidely becomes overwhelmed by his foes after leaving targos)

 

Cleric. Learn to use the buffs properly, and its power will be unmatched. Sorcerer is second choice, and offers a different style of gameplay. Maybe a mage could cut it too. I wouldn't advise anything else for a solo run, though. Spellcasting is important in this game, and if you don't have the spells and knowledge to use them, you won't get very far. Good luck

 

thx for your answer

by buffs you mean spells that enhance the target character ?

what advantage has the sorcerer (i'm not too familiar with this class) over the wizard regarding soloing ?

 

The sorcerer can cast many more spells before resting, and if you pick the ones most useful to your gameplay, then you have a great source of power. You have more spell slots, and your castings are interchangeable, so you don't need to pick(=guess) what spells you'll need before resting. Once a sorcerer gets access to a new spell level, it will get 3 + CHA-modifier spell slots, so 4 castings straight away. A wizard will get 1 + INT-modifier (+1 if specialist), meaning 2 or 3 spells. But these spells aren't immediately available; you must learn spells from scrolls (hope to find the right ones), pick spells, and rest, before you can cast them. All in all, a longer road than the sorcerer. But a wizard is compensated in other ways: Spell progression happens one level sooner than a sorcerer, wizards get extra feats to choose from, and have an abundance of skillpoints to use in their many class skills.

Buff spells are the most useful in IWD2; they don't require that you must overcome enemy saving throws or resistances, so they are effective against even the most powerful monsters and bosses. Properly buffed, a cleric exceeds any warrior in terms of attack and damage bonus. Clerics can also summon well, and subsequently buff their minions, greatly enhancing them. But mages can do this too, in principal. What makes clerics special, is their healing: Raise Dead will be pointless for a solo character, but the Heal spell will allow you to completely heal in mid-battle. Even before you get access to it, your other healing will reduce your dependance on potions and regenerating items. Take a good or neutral cleric, and you won't even need to memorize healing spells (except Heal): You can just shift-click on any spell to convert it to a corresponding Cure ____ Wounds spell!

I'm not a fan of solo-ing, but this advise is sound. Come to think of it, a druid won't have an easy time, but will probably manage too.

 

alright that sounds great, i'll try with a priest of Bane

thanks again

 

Excellent choice, get Greater Spell Focus: Enchantment. I promise you'll enjoy the Greater Command spell! And make it lawful neutral for the shift-click to heal, remember? Good luck

 

I never finished the solo game, got side-tracked with marriage, but I did reach The Severed Hand with a NG Male Human Paladin(7)/Cleric(Ilmater))X solo character. It took a LONG time to get there. Lots of potions and buffs. But well worth it. IWDII is a great game, just for the fact that you can play just about anything and complete it the 1st time thru.(Not necessarily true for HoF though). My 1st time in this game, I played 6 single class characters and beat it with no major issues. Multi-classing just gives more game options and makes the game easier, replayable and alot more fun.

 

I didn't finish the game with my solo Bard but (unexpectedly) it was quite a sweet run.

Actually I did a solo run with a Druid once but got bored before the end. It wasn't too hard either. IMO any spellcaster will have an easier time especially as higher level spells become available (Sorcerers, Bards, Clerics and Druids won't have to bother about not being able to cast these spells because they haven't found the right scrolls yet so in that respect they are superior to Wizards).

My first game was with a solo multiclassed Rogue/Cleric of Tempus based on a pnp character of mine and I got stuck in the mindflayer's citadel (I wasn't powergaming and I spread my abilities and levels so my build wasn't that good in the end).

Although I didn't finish the game with him, my Drow Bard was the most fun I had soloing the game.

 

I always take a Druid. You get some decent offensive spells and the healing ones. Saying that, a Wizard isn't too bad either. At the higher levels Banshees Wail comes in handy

 

The Druid will be quite inferior to a Cleric for healing spells but will have some nice offensive ability.

Regarding Wizards, I have to disagree and point out that they are actually quite bad for a soloer. A high level Sorcerer will be able to spam those spells like there's no tomorrow and he won't go through the hassle of finding scrolls (which can be a real pain, take my word for it). Not to mention the fact that nothing in this game is worse than being able to cast a higher level spell and not knowing any spell of that level (or knowing the worst spell there is and thus being obliged to use it). Skill points and feats are all nice but they don't make up for this issue (not to mention the fact that once you get the good feats you'll be running out of options).

If you're looking for an easy run try Improved Invisibility as it is too cheesy for words (even fixed II).

 

Aww, don't dismiss the wizard too easily. A rogue1/wizardX is a great challenge, and adds a new dimension to the gameplay, namely finding those scrolls. Naturally you can purchase the essential scrolls if you really can't wait, but the search is a challenge in itself. As is making use of the poor spell selection you have. The spells Mirror Image, Fireball and Stoneskin should probably be purchased, since they can't be found anytime soon, and you'll need them badly for difficult battles. But the rogue skills allow you to open many more containers than other solo characters, not to mention you can scout to prepare your strategy. Taking a specialist wizard will give you more spells, but yet more restrictions. It all depends on whether you want an all-inclusive game, or a unique challenge. Seeing as you're willing to go solo, I'm guessing you might like the challenge more than the inclusiveness.

 

When I tried to solo a Wizard, I added 4 Fighter levels and 3 Rogue levels. This helped me slow down the Wizard advancement a little bit, to keep up with the scroll availability. Plus you do get to pick spells, so that helps some as well.

 

If you muticlass you are ruining your spellcaster's efficiency in the long run (I wouldn't consider more than one level for versatility).

Solo Rogues are'nt that good (I know, I tried). A solo Rogue can hide but foes will follow your character around so that's pretty inefficient. You'll have to kill your enemies anyway so you can't avoid that many fights in the game. As far as stealth is concerned any arcane spellcaster with Invisibility will be superior to the Rogue in that respect (no skill check).

If you can't live without opening containers you can still cast knock on them. The Rogue class doesn't bring much to the build except perhaps Evasion but that is IWD2 and Rogues are not powerful in that game.

If you waste 7 levels on Rogue and Fighter classes, the Wizard's spellcasting is going to be pretty bad in comparison to a fulltime Sorcerer or even Bard who will be able to cast uber spells at that point.

Last but not least, your Wizard is going to have to buy and scribe all these scrolls whereas the Sorcerer (or the Bard) can just hoard scrolls to use them when the chips are down. That may not seem like much but it still makes a difference as some spells are highly situational and you won't need to cast them all the time.

All in all it depends whether or not you're willing to make do with a poor spell selection.

 

You could be right Caradhras, but IMO, at least 2 levels of Rogue and 1 level of Fighter for the Weapon Selections is necessary for the Wizard. It makes him a more "Complete" character.

 

If you start as a rogue, you get a huge amount of skillpoints to assign to rogue skills, meaning you'll have 4 + DEX/INT modifier in all the rogue skills from the start. You can then take the 2nd rogue level later on, the longer you wait, the more skillpoints you can assign to rogue skills again. Whether you choose to hoard unused skillpoints until then, depends on the mods you use and your play style.
I'd advise against 4 fighter levels, all it brings to the equation is 3 feats, and some more hitpoints. But the delay you suffer in spellcasting will not be worth it. Maybe take 1 or 2 levels very late in the game, if you're certain you prefer that.
As for combat, try the feats Expertise (up to +5 Armour Class, -5 Attack Bonus), 1 point in Armoured Arcana (can safely use bucklers, so you potentially get +4AC), and Weapon Finesse (Attack Bonus is determined by the DEX modifier instead of by STR). This is how I designed my deep gnome rogue/illusionist; it's hard to hit, so it will rarely be disrupted while casting. Spellcasting will be your main offense anyway, so you should design combat around it. I bet this build will be an excellent solo-er.

 

I never thought about the buckler, hmmm... that's a great idea Coin! Looks like I won't be watching a movie with the wife tonight, time to restart a solo game!

 

I'd rather take a Pally level with a Sorcerer than take a Fighter level with a Wizard.

Don't get me wrong, thieves and Rogues are my favourite (with Bards) but Rogues are underpowered in IWD2. Starting as a Rogue is tempting but I'd rather start as a spellcaster so I could use my first level feats to get some spell focus rather than Weapon Finesse or Armored Arcana.

Expertise is a very important feat as you can turn it on when casting spells but Weapon Finesse... You're not going to dish enough damage in melee with it anyway.

Isn't there a buckler without casting penalty? It seems to me there is one but it's been a while since I've played the game (maybe a random drop).

I still stand by my previous statement that a Sorcerer is going to be much more powerful than a Rogue/Wizard (even if you only take a few Rogue levels) in fact if you want a versatile build I believe a Bard would be even better since traps and locks aren't such a big deal anyway. Maxed CHA means you won't have to spend much points on dialogue skills to get the few important dialogue checks and besides apart from concentration and spellcraft, how many skills are you going to max out? I remember having enough points with my Bard to put some in Use Magic Device. Traps can be avoided or triggered without too much trouble so I don't see the necessity of maxing Rogue skills.

Of course what you're trying to achieve is a Jack of all trades and that's a different build altogether but in the end a Sorcerer (preferably with Magic Resistance) will be a much more powerful option.

Using big weapons can be fun but who cares about that when you can summon powerful monsters, shower your enemies with fiery death and use instant kill spells?

 

Blades, if you're going solo tonight, don't neglect your wife

I wouldn't recommend Weapon Finesse either; my own party's Deep Gnome Rogue2/IllusionistX didn't take it until after Rapid Shot, Expertise, GSF: Evocation, and 1x Armoured Arcana. So it wasn't earlier than level 9 before her ability in Small Blades became decent. It proved handy against enemies which were highly spell & missile resistant, which only start to appear around that time in the game.

You may be right about the damage: It's all a balance of dealing and taking damage, so maybe a solo character can't deal out enough. In my party of six though, it was handy for her to pitch in with melee, when spells and missiles didn't cut it.
As for bucklers, the best one is Sad Giant's Cap. It has a 5% spell failure, and -0 penalty for non-proficiency. So although rogues and mages aren't proficient in shields, they can use this one safely with one point in Armoured Arcana.

 

A solo Cleric with a good STR, fully buffed and with a two hander can be quite good in that respect (especially with Great Cleave which really shines for a soloer).

 

Yeah, the second Cleave feat might actually be of some use for a melee solo-er, in a long, protracted battle. I guess it's no good to just drop a member of any party into a solo game and expect it to do well, the character must be thoroughly thought through. Since I love thinking of character builds, it might be something fun to do for me, in the distant future. But right now I'm taking my Icewind Gate 2 party through Watcher's Keep, to gather items for Cespenar... Watcher's Keep also adapts to party numbers and level, and my 6-member, level 21-ish party is having some epic battles!