Ranged weapons and ToB

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In BG1, the ultimate cheese was to equip your six party members with ranged weapons and no enemy would ever touch you (well, most of the time).

In SoA, the tactic is still somewhat effective, as there are lots of great lauchers (bows, slings, xbows, etc.) and good ammo. You don't insta-kill everyting like in BG1, but it's still a decent approach even though the effectiveness is decreasing.

But how about ToB? Are ranged weapons any good when facing the toughest monsters in the game? There are many great ranged weapons late in the game but they pale in comparison to the best melee weapons.

So, do ranged weapons still cut it at the endgame? I'm fairly certain some ennemies (especially bosses) would be pretty much impossible to kill using only arrows, bolts and bullets, even the best ones available. What do you guys think?

 

I've found that ranged weapons to work well in ToB -- especially against giants. Of course against enemy archers, they are also effective.

Against bosses, they may not be as effective as melee but if you're toting around a thief, it's the best way to keep them out of harms way.

[ March 30, 2004, 20:05: Message edited by: Spelladonna ]

 

It depends on the fight. For the most part, the only character in straight melee are my fighters, paladins and rangers. Clerics, thieves and mages (unless also part fighter) are always relelgated to missile weapons throughout.

However, the main reason that missile weapons are less effective in ToB is because of the sheer number of enemies you need to fight in many areas of the game that it isn't practical to have most or all of your characters using missile weapons. If enemies are going to close in to melee range anyway, then it certainly is a hinderance to be firing arrows or whatnot at point blank range when the melee weapons do more damage (not to mention that an enemy gets +4 to hit you when in melee range if you are still using a missile weapon).

For bosses, it also depends. It might be possible to take down Gromnir for example using only missile weapons, but go in with just missile weapons with Abazigal and see how far that gets you.

 

*nodnod@Aldeth's post*

I find a lot of enemies, especially bosses, close in too quickly for everyone to be using ranged weapons to be as effective as in SoA.

 

Its not just they close in too quickly, but I found that the HP of a lot of the new badguys are a lot higher than in SOA, and especially from BG1.

 

While there are certainly some decent bows in TOB, I seldom use them in the big fights because of the reasons stated above: the enemies close too quickly, they have too many HPs, etc, etc. Gesen's Bow is one of my main weapons for the later parts of SOA but it soon gets put aside in favour of a melee weapon once I move into TOB.

[ April 05, 2004, 20:36: Message edited by: david w ]

 

Well, to be honest, ranged weapons just dont have the offensive punch by the time you get to ToB to take down most of the bad guys. This is because as someone already said, they have way too much HP.

Also, its not worth taking an Archer by the time you get into ToB...Clerics end up healing and buffing, Thieves end up backstabbing and Mages...heheheh, Mages end up SMITING!!

 

I find the only ones I keep on missile are the dual or multiclass mages like Imoen and Aerie. It allows for spell disruption from a distance (always nice), and keeps them out of trouble is case I need to cast something without worrying about getting my own spell busted. But other than that...

CHARGE!

 

I find Dragon Slaying easiest with missles. Just cast haste on your weakest missle user and have the rest of the party shoot the dragon while the sole character gets chased around

 

I find arrows almost useless due to low damage.

Bolts are better, particularly lightning bolts (+4d4 damage) or kuo-toa bolts (stun opponents, especially effective against giants).

However the best long-range damage weapon in ToB is the sling. Always have Jaheira equip the Sling of Seeking! With the bonuses from a belt of giant strength: 20+ damage for one hit! With 2 points in slings (she starts with one) you get 2 + 1/2 attacks per round (at quite a good THACO, too). With Improved Haste, it is 5 attacks per round - that is, 100+ damage (assuming all get through).
It might be hard to believe, but this is how I destroyed the Demogorgon.

Also, bullets are especially effective because they do blunt damage. I am not sure of this, but I think AC of most enemies is lower against blunt damage than against piercing or slashing.

 

Hmm, sometimes an archer kit equipped with the Tuigan bow and maxed out in his short bow proficiency can be pretty good. You can still do okay in melee, but for ranged attacks, you can really deal out a lot of damage pretty quickly, as well as put a solid halt to most enemy spell casting.

 

I must admit that I never tried to equip my party with range weapons... I didn't know about the BG1 thing... never played that game. I've done BG2 a couple of times or so, but... I tried, when I was a beginer, to equip Imoen and Yoshimo with short bows, but the damage was far to low for my taste. Beside that, the enemy comes close pretty fast, so I found out that bows are not too efficient. Maybe if you have party of six... I do love bows. And I think that it should do more damage. It would be more realistic. It's same as sniping in AD&D way. Consider this: a person wears full plate and is engaging the enemy in melee. So it should take quite a few hits with a two handed sword before slaying it. But, if you take a shot with a long bow... BANG! He's out of the fight. Anyway... what I want to say is that piercing damage should be more powerful in any RPG. I still hope to find one that treats bows as they should be treated: deadly! Anyway, is an interesting point of view what you are saying, guys. Maybe I should take my chances with an Archer and see what comes out. Thanks for sharing knowledge.