How to beat Lavok with a low-level party?

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Hello everyone. I am playing BG2 (with ToB installed) for the first time and I am having a blast. However, I fear I may have bitten of more than I can chew by entering the Planar Sphere while still in Chapter 2. So my question is: is it possible to beat Lavok with a low-level party, and if so: how?

The moment Lavok's dialogue finishes he whips up a series of defensive spells that seem to negate everything I throw at him. Keldorn's dispel magic removed some of these, but it did not make Lavok vulnerable to missiles. I have some defence-negating scrolls, but I am not sure which one to apply (and I was hoping to save them for when I could add them to my spellbook).

My party consists of my fighter/mage, Jaheira, Anomen, Keldorn, Mincs and Yoshimo. I've already finished the Unseeing Eye quests and some minor jobs, and all my characters have levelled once or twice. However, I did have some trouble with the halfling casters inside the sphere, so maybe I am not approaching enemy mages in the right way. My usual tactic of a missile barrage followed by insect swarm is no option here as the casters set up instant defences.

Google provided me with some cheesy tactics to win this fight, but I'd rather do it properly. Or, if that is not possible, go back to an earlier save and do this fight when I have a more experienced party, so any advice would be appreciated!

 

I've never had issues with the fight after using a dispell from Keldorn...if thats not helping try Using the defense removals from your various casters(breach, secret word, etc.). If his horrid wilting is hurting you, have one of your melee people charge in and then have everyone else hang back....preferably somebody with high saves...don't neglect potions and scrolls...they can often save your ass....if you happen to have any protection from magic scrolls they can be very helpful in this fight.

To answer your first question, yes it is possible to beat the Planar Sphere while low level...any time I have a mage protagonist the Sphere is the first place I go, and usually I breeze through Lavok with the use of a breach or two and dispell magic.

 

Breach and Pierce Magic work the best. Breach is a level 5 spell, so your casters should be able to cast it pretty early in the game. That dispels the combat protections, so you should be able to hit him easily after casting it.

Also, perhaps try Hold Person. Not sure if he can be affected by it, but if he can then it will give your heavy hitters some good time.

 

About Hold Person:

Spoiler

I doubt Hold Person will work on him because he doesn't actually die. He turns neutral and engages in dialogue after you beat him up pretty badly.

Did you check which protections he has up and whether he got new ones after Keldorns dispel? Most mages have contingencies or spell triggers that allows them to insta-cast new protections if they get hit or injured. I can't remember what Lavok is like in the normal game because I only play modded BG2. There's an option to display those actions in the dialog box, probably under options->gameplay. If he gets new protections you'll have to dispel them again, or breach them with your mage.

Also, if I'm not mistaken, dispel magic can only dispel up to a certain level higher than the casters. So if Keldorn is low level and Lavok has high level protections, they might not be dispelled at all.

 

Well the main reason Hold Person is unlikely to work is that Lavok is a mage, which means he has a good save vs spells, the save that Hold Person works off of.

Breach and Dispel are the two main spells that can help you out. IIRC, spell protections don't stop a Breach in the vanilla game, so you should always be able to hit him with it. Dispel Magic works as a percentage chance of success. The more levels a dispeller has than the caster, the more chance of working and vice versa. There's always a small chance of success even with a large level difference, but it gets to the point of being an option of last resort if the gap is too big. Bear in mind, however, that Inquisitor's cast Dispel at twice character level, so you ought to have a reasonable shot of taking any protections down. Unfortunately, I can't remember Lavok's level at this point in time.

iLLusioN' and merlac gave some good advice for these kind of fights: always check what protections they are pulling up and consider using a sacrificial lamb. An unimportant character can run ahead of most of the party and absorb the first wave of nasty spells, allowing the rest of your party some time to negate Lavok's protections. A thief with the Cloak of Non-detection can invisibly position themself behind a mage and open the battle with a backstab. At this level you would be unlikely to drop a mage in a single hit, but in later levels it is possible to even the odds very easily using this tactic.

 

There are several ways. You can use Yoshimo's traps and have Jaheira and Anomen prepare and cast Call Woodland Beings, Summon Insects, Insect Plague and Miscast Magic on him.

You can flee from him as soon as the battle starts and summon random fodder for him to waste his spells on.

Finally, Lavok is human. If he casts Protection from Magic Weapons just hit him with normal weapons and even your fists (after Keldorn removes his Stoneskin) and you should be able to overpower him.

 

Thank you for the advice. I haven't been able to try it out yet (my computer suddenly developed a mysterious recurrent crash problem), but I am glad to know it is possible.

BTW: happy new year!