Another reason why I love Melf's MY-Nyute Meteors is that you can cast it before you rest. And after the rest you can still keep them, which basically nets you +1 spell slot. ( I dunno if it is same in the mods)
I'm a bigger fan of Minor Spell Deflection for the solo mage/sorceror. It's great in BG1 to have an answer to spells like Hold Person and Dire Charm without having to burn through the few/rare potions of clarity. I often take this as my first 3rd-level solo sorc spec pick. It's still useful much later in the game because it will block single-target attacks including very high level spells. It could block a flame arrow and with the 1 remaining level of protection block an incoming single target attach of even very high level like finger of death or something. It's also great for opening trapped stuff... if you put on shield, mirror images, protection from fire and minor spell deflection you can open most traps and be fine... the deflection will block attacks that will charm you, turn you to stone, hold you or whatever. All game ending problems for the solo playthrough. Another way to look at it is that it's the same as the level 6 or 7 spell that does the same thing but just deflects like 10 instead of 4 spell levels. Very useful IMO.
Interesting! I'll have to experiment with it more, in my games it doesn't work on higher level spells like deflection and turning do. Thanks for watching and commenting!
I fully agree, for solo no-reload without the berserker-kit, this becomes s-tier and almost required if you don't want Hold Person to cut your runs short. This and resist fear become the bread&butter buffs at lower levels. Not sure if it works in SCS, though.
Listening to this while playing, good info. I always wanted the REAL details on the spells. So many nuances and in-game things that make a spell useful/totally useless lol. Here it is!! Thank you!
As a perfectionist who clear every area, I need clairvoyance to fully explore certain maps. I also play SCS No-Reload, but I always make room for one Clairvoyance to take care of those areas.
They're not that good until BG2 like Dav pointed out. Better off with the tried and true skull trap. You'll get comparable damage out of 2 skull traps than 2 melf's in general at that point in the game against one target. And then skull trap isn't limited to 1 target. IMO also Dav kinda undersold the chance to hit issue with Melfs, at least in BG1.
As a 20+ year BG enthusiast re-playing EE in anticipating of BG3 coming out soon, these guides have been so great. I still have my original box, manual and giant sleeve of CDs for BG1 and 2. Thanks a ton for this content, I'm only 4 years late with this comment but thought I'd leave a note to say this is all still totally relevant today. I'm doing a solo Sorcerer run on insane un-modded and I have to say the game is immensely more fun when playing without a party and as a pure mage using your guides for spell selection.
Yo dude I'm so glad that I found your videos on spells. I'm currently on lvl 3 spells and you have made me rethink how to use spells now. Feels like going to school again watching these long videos lol. Thanks a lot!
And this video taught me a new word "minute". I always thought about time, when i read "minute", but now the spell name finally makes sense to me. (I'm not a native speaker)
I'm currently playing a solo mage on Icewind dale and lightning bolt is actually one of my favorite spells early on. I have found that if I am careful with the casting angle I can get way more value out of it than fireball. Besides lightning bolt is imo one of the most fun evocation spells to use due to the sheer unpredictability of it, even when it makes me reload I usually have a chuckle. I once had it bounce off a door frame and me 4 times killing me instantly. Definitely a C tier, but a fun C tier.
Wraithform was technically in bg1, but almost no one saw it cuz it was a super rare random drop that only spawned if you didn't have ToSC installed. I used it on a bard I played in one of my first playthroughs as a kid.
probably the biggest game changer is invisinility radius 10 feet. from roaming Baldurs Gate freely while hunted by Flaming Fist to surrounding Sarevok by invisible party members, then stunning him with another person using full charges wand of stun (hey, he's bound to fail save eventually...) haste is "I win" button for when sleep is no longer viable while fireball is relatively low powered, Dynaheir makes it shine with her evoker save penalty for foes.
Awesome video man, very interesting. I will always love fireball for the first time I cast it in BG 1 and completely obliterated a group of black talons and half my party. Similarly I will always love lightning bolt for all the suicidal mages who cast it in narrow corridors and nuke everything around including themselves.
As always, great content. I'm a huge fan of both BG series and Daveorn as a streamer, so in the downtime I'll go through your guides. They are great to listen to at work!
Just found your videos and have been binging the hell out of them. Your delivery is entertaining and the content is crazy comprehensive. You clearly know your shit. This has reignited a passion for a game I haven't played in ten years. Kudos, brother!
Hi man. Thank you so much for this. Good information on BG is not so easy to find online, and this is really helpful. Just a thought. I play BG2 on Core rules, and i am kinda new to the tactics of this game. I found that monster summoning tended to be useful to escape some fights. By example after taking a big pounding on the lower tombs, i got waylaid by spiders, with mostly all my party at 10 hp except for Hexxat who regenerates very quickly. I had Edwin summoning beasties and led them to deal with the spiders, allowing me to flee out of the dungeon safely to the sunlight. This has proven to be a viable tactic on some occasions.
These videos are an interesting look into how your views have changed. Like how you said Transmuters are the worst next to Wild Mages, but then when the class tier list came out both were in the various S tiers while Abjurer sits at A+. Also once you played the EE stuff and saw how valuable the silver dragon scale armor is from Dorn's quest with its 15% MR that lends a little more (not much but a little) usefulness to Protection from Cold.
Maybe because Fireball has always been a cornerstone spell of D&D, I've got a soft spot for it and can see its uses. Its greater blast radius allows you to potentially take out more off-screen enemies, and there are some creatures in the game that are especially vulnerable to fire (it's a must have for me in the Sahaguin City, for example). Plus, it's your go blast radius spell if you're playing a Gnome Illusionist or its multi class variants. Still liked the video as always, though.
I also really like you mention the opposite specialist schools except for one minor albeit important detail, it's the additional saving throws penalties those specialist spells impose which makes great spells such as web god tier when cast by invokers and glitterdust on par or maybe even better when cast by a conjurer all things considered.
It's the best. Sorry I didn't respond to your comment I'm only just now going down the list. At the time youtubes algorithm wasn't working properly for me so I didn't even see it. Sorry about that. Wherever you are friend I hope you're doing well. God bless!
At the time I wasn't sure if that was actually coded properly and it's really difficult to prove through testing because BG2 calculations ignores the laws of D&D (which bg1 followed, but the EE uses the Bg2 engine so it doesn't).
33:00 I totally agree with you... There should be a way to buff yourself more easily. ( I mean you can probably set a key combo software etc. for all them spells maybe but ...
A note about remove magic for my fellow SCS noobs if you are confused like I was when I first used it (I know you know Davaeorn) : it only removes "combat protections", not "spell protections". It will remove stoneskins, protection from magical weapons etc... but not spells turning/deflections/trap, globes of invulnerabilities etc... So you can totally whack that mage in melee if you can see the "Dispelled Effects" (means it succeded) in the log after you cast it. Basically it makes it so you don't have to play the debuff mini-game for mages (removing their spell protections first so that you can breach them off their combat protections), assuming they don't have spell immunity abjuration up.
Amazing Davaeorn; it is really helpful to know, in depth, all spells we can use with our mages. I hope you release the cleric/druid spells lvl2 soon. Keep up with the good work 👍
Lightning bolt is best used if you scout ahead. So Imoen or Kivan reveals the location of enemies. If you absorb their spawn location and launch a lightning bolt at max range so it passes through enemies, it can be pretty good. But this is a ton of effort just to make it be powerful. I find that if the bolt goes through things as it attempts to make it's way towards a target, you're going to get a lot of bang for your buck. It's like scorcher but you may die.
God I love the whole line of level 3 spells, and I have to say either Slow or Haste are my favorite. Hitting an enemy with Slow is basically a fucking death sentence - and with that penalty + Malison, it works pretty goddamn well. I actually get a decent bit of use out of Protection from Cold for one reason - Ice Storm. Ice Storm isn't great, but since doing No Reloads I've found quite a few more uses for it, mainly in BG1 and SoD. Ice Storm being a level 4 spell bypasses Minor Globe of Invulnerability, which is the go-to protection spell for dangerous Mages in both those games. By dropping Ice Storm on them, using Skeleton Warriors, or a Cold Immune magic tank, that's the quickest and dirtiest way to keep disrupting their spells and keeping them out of the fight entirely. That's how I beat Angelo and Semaj, by having Baeloth learn Ice Storm and somebody going in there being a giant pain in the ass to both of them in the area of effect. Haven't found too many uses in BG2 because you tend to just get better options, and Cloudkill is harder to become resistant to and uses a higher level slot. I get a little benefit out of Wraithform as a Fighter/Mage while escaping SCS Irenicus' Dungeon, due to Duergars, but that's about it.
I think SCS actually randomizes spells on installation so it really depends on your mod itself for what spells you run into, sequencers are typically the same way so you may end up finding protection from acid as S tier. Sorry I didn't respond to your comment I'm only just now going down the list. At the time youtubes algorithm wasn't working properly for me so I didn't even see it. Sorry about that. Wherever you are friend I hope you're doing well. God bless!
Thanks for the video, great guide series ! One use I can think of for Minor Spell Deflection is that it will actually protect you against a Breach with SCS. But there are so many mandatory spells at this level that it's hard to justify taking it...
How strange! It definitely didn't use to, only actual spell deflection worked on breach in the past along with spell turning. Minor was too low level, I'll test it out again, thanks for watching and commenting!
@@Davaeornlol Yeah you have an older version of SCS I think from watching your stream, in newer versions there has been quite a lot of changes regarding spell protection / removal. In latest version these are the main behaviors: - SI: Abjuration (new, but Secret word, Spelltrike and the likes still work), minor spell deflection (but not minor spell turning), spell delection, spell turning, spell shield, spell trap protects against Breach - Enemies that were immune to lvl 5 such as Liches / Rakshasa now can be Breached - And a bit out of context but you can now also target enemies under the effect of improved invisibility with Secret Word, etc... to make the combo with SI:Div less overpowered (enemies will also use that against you)
@@fredericdaviaud4306 Hmm my SCS Shouldn''t be outdated, I'm familiar with the changes you mentioned. Though keep in mind this video is also from a long time ago an we were 100% using an outdated version of SCS then XD I'll be remaking the arcane series at somepoint soon to talk about the IWD spells added as well. I'll make sure I test MSD as well. Thanks for commenting and watching friend!
9:28 when one has enaught spells one dos not take this :D but its GRATE spell, i still love Time stop, Shapechange Ilithad and Simular crom more :D but i get you on low leves this is huge 13:41 in the base game yes you are absolutely right (in the arena i don't rely on it) but YES best spell up to Lv5 spells, but for combo spider with web, are good contested :D
I remember the first time I used Melf's Minute Meteors in the vanilla game way back when and just thinking, "Holy shit, I'm going to use this spell ALL THE TIME NOW!" And then getting Energy Blades on my clerics and just fucking wailing on dudes (even if it wasn't as good as other options).
@@Davaeornlol A radius is a straight line from the centre of the circle to the circumference. Assuming the caster is the center , the spell will cover 10' around him. So 10' on his left and 10' on his right for a total of 20'
Wraithform definitely wasn't available in the initial release of BG2, but it was around waaay before not only BG2EE, but also the BG2 Steam release. I recall it being one of the few lower level spells introduced in ToB. The reason most people never knew about it was because it wasn't available in stores, nor could it be selected at level up or in character creation. The only way to gain Wraithform was as the result of a (very) rare random drop, or by creating an Illusionist, Single or Multi, and selecting "Pick For Me" during spell selection. Deliberately or otherwise, the spell became an Easter Egg. Even the A.I. barely touches Wraithform; in all my playtime I think I've seen just one mage cast it, and even then just one time. I was starting to think it might be a unique or at least rare special ability, not unlike Tattoo of Power. Wasn't until my crippling restartitis saw me bombing around in the character creator that I realized the game had a hidden spell. As for utility, it's functionally limited to early game Illusionist/Fighters and Illusionist/Thieves. If you're planning on creating a Gnomish Spellsword though, there's definite appeal to just rolling most of Chateau Irenicus and the Slums District Slavers with multiple castings and near impunity.
Onto part 3 now. Just a quick thing I've noticed, it's the first time that I use SCS so I don't know if it's due to a more recent SCS version since the time those videos have been made (as they were made a bit more than a year ago) but my installation also added the IWD EE spells which was nice. Since I only played IWD EE once and my only arcane caster in my party was a Sorcerer, there are several spells that I didn't really get to play with or try out. I see that you've only gotten through the Divine spells lvl 1 video 2 months ago and I'm sure that those videos are very time consuming. However, if you do find time for it in the future, an extra video about these added arcane spells or just a quick tier list could be nice. Great work and looking forward to seeing how you play this game with your playthroughs once I get through all of these spell guides! As for the part about Melf's Minute Meteors, you say in the video that you think SCS nerfs them to being +4 but looking back into the Readme document to make sure I wasn't wrong, it's actually down to a +2 weapon (not sure if this also means only +2 THAC0). Finally, the current version of SCS has Skull Trap capped at 12D6 so I don't know if it makes it that great anymore (still good, still more damage than a Fireball but fireball easier to use with a party that has fire resistance to be immuned or healed by it makes me hesitate a bit).
You can get Wraith Form in the "old" BG2 from Lady Yuth in the Adventurer's Mart. As I recall though it disappears from your spell book(s) once you hit ToB. Great videos!
I found Wraithform marginally useful in the Irenicus' starting dungeon when I was soloing a Fighter-Mage-Thief. It made situations which probably wouldn't have posed a serious threat anyway a bit more convenient. But why do we play mages? To cast spells. So for a while my gish became a moderately protected fighter who couldn't wear armour. Against enemies who were shite. Fun times. The best spell on 3rd level is Slow. I know I should delve more into Skull Trap but for me mages are about crowd control and debuffing. For damage we have other classes. Melf's Minute Meteors I usually only use for enemies that require a highly magical weapon to connect. I know they are both powerful spells but every time I choose one or the other I have room for one less Slow and Slow is sooooo good.
Slow is great! I take it as my first level 3 spell on my sorc 99% of the time, but if you haven't had multiple mages with melfs up and improved haste, you haven't lived. Thanks for watching and commenting friend.
Slow is what I fill my level 3 with more than anything else in BG2. Along with a couple of Hastes. Make own party fast -> make enemies slow -> win. I believe Nalia and Jan both come with Slow by default, too. I don't remember for sure, but I usually have it the two even in fresh starts.
About Spell Thrust. You say that a Spell Trap will stop a Spell Thrust, but this isn't the behavior I see. I just tried on SCS, and Edwin had Spell Trap and Spell Immunity up, then I hit him with a Spell Thrust, and it dispelled his Spell Immunity. The same happens with Spell Deflection and Spell Turning. Spell Thrust ignores these, neither removing them nor being blocked by them, and will strip away anything it can. Of course, a Spell Shield will still block it. This makes it incredibly useful IMO. You can strip away a Spell Immunity Abjuration/Divination without first having to worry about a Spell Trap or Spell Turning. Very useful if combined with an Inquisitor or Bard flinging out remove/dispel magic. However, Globe of Invulnerability does not share this behavior with Deflection/Turning/Trap. Globe of invulnerability will protect any lower level protections, such as Spell Immunity, from Spell Thrust. GoI will not, however, stop a Spell Thrust from taking down a Spell Shield. I just tried this with SCS installed, along with Icewind Dale spells, but without Spell Revisions installed. I'm pretty sure this applies to all spell attacks. So for example, if an enemy mage has up a Spell Trap, a Globe of Invulnerability, and a Spell Immunity Abjuration. Then you can use Secret Word to take down the Globe, ignoring the Spell Trap, followed by Spell Thrust to take down the Spell Immunity, again ignoring the Spell Trap, and now your Remove Magic will get through (which also ignores Spell Trap, for some reason).
I think (could be wrong) that Wraithform works on Aecletec for some reason. Meaning you can cast it and tank him. I'll have to test it again but I could have sworn in a recent run that it actually worked. That might make it worth it if only for that.
Possibly indeed, I typically just run him around the room so he can't hit anyone at all. His fight needs some love tbh considering how dangerous the cultists outside are.
Lightning Bolt's path is sort of completely predictable. In the EE you have to go to the map view and turn on "Area Map Background" to see the actual map borders, because the graphics on your screen are just a .jpg and don't reflect what the game sees. The problem becomes that area borders can only be in 45 degree increments, so any kind of non-45 degree surface is instead a bunch of back and forth 45 degree lines to approximate the correct angle, and because those lines are so small trying to predict which one you bounce off becomes nigh impossible. But if you look on the area map and see a surface that is a straight, flat 0/45/90/etc angle then you can 100% abuse a predictable lightning path.
I think its nice to see the map artwork with clarvoyence. there are a number of maps you can't fully reveal just by walking around. Has nothing to do with gameplay its just for appreciation of the map. Fireball on core rules probably is probably at least b tier. If you mod it so it doesn't work then ya, it doesn't work.
Slowly going through these videos over the last few days. I'm in the middle of my first (and probably only) casual run of the game on Normal, about to go to the Bandit Camp. The main advice I'll take from this one is not to bother with Lightning Bolt. I'll still probably go against your advice and have Neera put at least 1 Fireball in her spellbook, since I'm an OCD RPG item hoarder and don't like to use wands with limited charges if I can avoid it.
I hope you are carrying on with BG1. I am also a fellow hoarder, but thankfully, w.r.t Wands, they are practically unlimited with charges. All you have to do is sell it with atleast 1 charge to a vendor and buy it back (albeit at a much higher price). This essentially recharges the wands/any charge item basically. With this, I can have a 50 charge wand of fire, 100 charge wand of paralyze and 100 charge wand of monster summons. And you can do this recharging anytime you have spare gold (and you WILL have tons of gold by the time you reach BG city) Some of the hardest fights can be absolutely cheesed with an entire 6 man party spamming Fireball/Necklace of missiles outside the enemy FOV (eg. The Chess fight in Durlag's tower)
@@sreeravi25 Hey. I beat BG1 last October, but since it took me 70-ish hours, I'm taking my sweet time before moving on to 2. I think ultimately, I just wound up selling most of the wands to vendors. I'd probably be more inclined to use them if they didn't all have class or Intelligence requirements.
@@BotmanR Good to know you are still interested in this series! I myself started this game 2 months ago, just finished BG1+SoD BTW, you can find atleast 4 "fireball" necklaces in the game and anyone can use it except Wiz Slayer class. That should help with any and all enemy party fights if you want in the first game and SoD!
Wraith Form exists in vanilla BG1 IIRC. It’s an exceedingly rare random drop, I’ve gotten it all of once despite being a big fan of vanilla BG1. I believe it was a TotSC addition.
48:05 The Belt of Antipode on Gorion gives 100% cold resistance while doubling fire damage. With greater than 100% fire resistance the doubling could make the healing through fire strat very strong for one character.
I tried it sir, and it doesn't work like that unfortuantely. Although it says " double the fire damage" what it really does is lowering your resistance by a certain amount that would equal to doubling the fire damage If you have zero resistance to begin with. (I am not sure it is something like 100 cold resist / -50 fire resist.
Non detection protect you from being revealed by true sight and such when you are sneaking. At least that is what the cloak of non detection at inn at promenade used to do in SoA.
I've been playing the game a lot. No mods, core difficulty, no reload, no party member deaths. I've completed the arcane spell guide. I knew most things (20 years does this) except for melf's minute meteors. "darn", I thought, "if he is so obsessed with them, Dav must know something". I'm soloing BG1 as sorcerer and most things are being eradicated!!
@@Davaeornlol Honestly , really good job on the spell guide. I actually learned quite a bit from watching this. And ive played baldur's gate for more then 10 years now
Equip a weapon on your mage’s offhand. Use melf minute meteors with improved haste. Once every 5 hits your offhand weapon will hit AT RANGE. If the weapon has good abilities, you’ve hit at range.😛
I love Lightning Bolt combined with Globe of invulnerability in dungeons. Although admittedly I reload. Skull trap, Melfs meteors, lightning bolt. These spells are great! I find that I hardly cast Slow with a Sorcerer, I'd take it on a mage with 1 slot, but for a sorcerer I want to have other spells. It's a great spell, but I just have Edwin or Jan use it
Its interesting looking at hold person, how i always thought it was garbage spell in BG1-2. But in BG3 it was one of the, if the not the best spell, in the game.
I have a screenshot of Xzar (a wild mage in my game) one shotting a wyvern because he got a disgusting Flame Arrow magic surge that like double or tripled his caster level
Dispel magic wasn't so bad back in the days of original Baldur's gate. I remember using it to extinguish the fires of the Battle Horrors on the way to Durlag's Tower. Then I started playing versions that used the BG 2 engine, and to my surprise that no longer worked. Oh well. I haven't tried it myself, but I've heard that Yeslick's dispel magic works like the original BG 1 version.
Hey Davaeorn, years after this videos are still classics. Thx so much buddy hope you go well. Question : i'm playing with SCS, seems skull trap is cap at 12d6. It's super low compare to 20d6. Same in your SCS version ?
Hi there ! Just a quick commentary on the Skull-trap/Fireball area of effect : you're right, they ARE different. On my version it says 4,5 meters radius for the Fireball and 3,6 meters for Skull-trap. Dunno why with the foot system it says otherwise.
It's weird indeed! Skull traps activation radius is also smaller than its explosion radius. You can set them up near shandalar without them going off, pop them with a summon, and they will hit him. It's the weirdest shit. Thanks for commenting friend!
Archer's best shit is shortbow of Gesen and the improved cloak of protection +2. The cloak allows them to cast improved haste with a duration of 23 rounds once per day. That will put them at 10 attacks doing about 20 a hit.
Honestly clairvoyance is a spell I would always pick up as a scroll and use it on areas I know where enemy spell casters are and send a few low level summons from monster summoning wand or even the summoning scrolls you pick up and use them to waste the enemy's spell slots be for the real fight even begins
The difference between mage's lvl 3 Hold Person and cleric's lvl 2 Hold Person is that mage's has -1 penalty to save. Hold Person is almost a guaranteed death sentence to anything that's not immune in BGEE so the spell has its uses (even the mage's version).
Hold is amazing, but I don't find myself ever using it after bg1, and in bg1 you're gonna want aoe for clearing packs of garbage on your mages imo. Thanks for watching and commenting friend!
You probably heard this before but I think your assessment of Fireball is not entirely fair. It's not really until half of SoA that Fireball starts to become useless. Also, in BG1 fire resistance is not as common as in BG2. Basically in 1, Fireball and Skull Trap are for all intents and purposes equivalent because it's not until level 12 or 13 until you see Skull Trap's scaling really kick in. Fireball is just aim & fire, it goes off instantly, it's more predictable. With Skull Trap, the trigger just behaves wonky sometimes, not going off until a round later, so your frontline gets hit even if you did your best to avoid it. You can do crazy stuff with Skull Trap like elaborate death traps but damage-wise, it's basically the same thing as Fireball in BG1 and for a good part of BG2. Also, it's super easy to make your frontline resistant or immune to fire but it's hard to protect them from magical damage (in BG1 that is). Fireball is one of those spells that really falls off as you play through the entire saga but it's useful for the first half I would say.
I always found skull trap to be far more managable than fireball when it comes to avoiding party damage tbh, the smaller radius makes it much easier to control. I do agree it's useful for the first half, if you don't have skull trap fireball is just fine, if you have both though I would always use skull trap over fireball, unless I was killing slimes in durlags or something that requires actual fire damage. A lot of spells are rated C tier not because they're bad, but because there is a spell in the exact same or lower tier that does the exact same thing but is better. Thanks for watching and commenting friend!
I like clairvoyance cause I havent memorized the game, and rather than spending 20 minutes walking around exploring, I just load up clairvoyance cast up the map and it's instantly explored. saves tonnes of time. rest with the new spells I need based off what I see, get out there and kick some butt. I suppose sure u could check out the map guides online and found out all the stuff that way too, but seems less immersive imo
D, I just realized...to maximize the HP steal by your mages, when you're using Vampiric Touch to buff your squishy mages, especially in Insane, double damage, have your "donors" drink. 😮 The game will maximize the damage rolls if the target is intoxicated. So if you want to buff up your sorcerer, or Edwin, have your fighter drink about 3 beers. Once they're intoxicated, each of the d6 rolls will roll a 6. 😮 Afterwards, use mass cure. 😛
I didn't expect Vampiric Touch to be S tier, but then I got to BG2 and saw how bollocks the HP rolls for some characters in that game is. Haer'Dalis had 44 HP or so at level 10, so another ~20 is pretty damn good early on. And I didn't even realize I could use it on a companion before combat, which makes it even better.
Yeah the fact that it lasts for a full hour and will give you such a massive boost of hp makes it pretty dang great tbh. If you're playing on insane difficulty you can literally double the hp of your mages with it.
I've just been trying to make of use of Protection from Normal Missiles (unmodded Beamdog edition of BG2) and I've found that the spell is bugged and doesn't protect against everything it should. Specifically, it doesn't work against normal darts and throwing knives. Well, at least I know what to throw at Davaeorn next time I meet him :)
Interesting I don't think I ever tried. I know in the original his pfnm is set up as a special script ( like most mages on mage island etc) I don't think I ever tried throwing darts at him then either. Thanks for commenting friend God bless!
Great work here! When starting to play BG, I would rather choose Fireball over Skull Trap just because of the explosion sketch the area of effect for me. With Skull Trap, the AoE is smaller but the AoE of the trap detection is even smaller (I am using it by now anyways because of the sheer damage).
And there is always the risk of your skulltrap not going off because there was nothing there due to RNG and now you will need to summon a shitty summon to get rid of it lol
1- Skull trap is a TRAP you can stack 'em . 2- Fire is a very common element that enemies resist (more so in the mods and difficulty he is mentioning) 3- You can trap people walking on to it instead of aiming at that time you can cast another spell. So many different and powerful uses for it. Just the difference in damage type makes it much better, but you can always use fireball and do your own thing of course.
This man has made me a better mage by 100x. Thank you so much, sir. Gorion would be proud of your actions.
Thx buddy!
Gorion could have used these guides.
@@HammerheadStarcraft He originally did.. Developers had to twist his wrist cause he was constantly killing Sarevok.
@@HammerheadStarcraft LOL :p
I'm playing a dragon disciple in BG1EE. I can't decide between slow or spell thrust. How often will mages use spell protections in BG1 and sod?
This is the new definitive guide to BG spells. Looking forward to the rest of the series.
Thanks for watching friend!
S Tier:
Haste 2:30
Invis 10' radius 6:56
Melf's Minute Meteors 9:22
Protection from Fire 16:15
Remove Magic 20:10
Skull Trap 25:30
Slow 28:40
Vampiric Touch 30:40
A Tier:
Flame Arrow 34:50
Spell Thrust 37:30
these guides changed my view of this fantastic game
Thanks for watching and commenting friend!
Another reason why I love Melf's MY-Nyute Meteors is that you can cast it before you rest. And after the rest you can still keep them, which basically nets you +1 spell slot. ( I dunno if it is same in the mods)
I'm a bigger fan of Minor Spell Deflection for the solo mage/sorceror. It's great in BG1 to have an answer to spells like Hold Person and Dire Charm without having to burn through the few/rare potions of clarity. I often take this as my first 3rd-level solo sorc spec pick. It's still useful much later in the game because it will block single-target attacks including very high level spells. It could block a flame arrow and with the 1 remaining level of protection block an incoming single target attach of even very high level like finger of death or something. It's also great for opening trapped stuff... if you put on shield, mirror images, protection from fire and minor spell deflection you can open most traps and be fine... the deflection will block attacks that will charm you, turn you to stone, hold you or whatever. All game ending problems for the solo playthrough. Another way to look at it is that it's the same as the level 6 or 7 spell that does the same thing but just deflects like 10 instead of 4 spell levels. Very useful IMO.
Interesting! I'll have to experiment with it more, in my games it doesn't work on higher level spells like deflection and turning do. Thanks for watching and commenting!
I fully agree, for solo no-reload without the berserker-kit, this becomes s-tier and almost required if you don't want Hold Person to cut your runs short. This and resist fear become the bread&butter buffs at lower levels. Not sure if it works in SCS, though.
Yeah minor is better than the higher lvl one
Listening to this while playing, good info. I always wanted the REAL details on the spells. So many nuances and in-game things that make a spell useful/totally useless lol. Here it is!! Thank you!
Glad you enjoyed it friend thanks for watching and commenting!
As a perfectionist who clear every area, I need clairvoyance to fully explore certain maps. I also play SCS No-Reload, but I always make room for one Clairvoyance to take care of those areas.
I feel that way too in a lot of games. Thanks for watching friend!
Melf's Minute Meteors is a spell I have always ignored and now can't wait to try them after hearing your experience with the spell.
It did not exist on BG I that's why people don't know it much.
Ohhh it is awesome !
@@Archonch What do you mean ? Yes it exists in BG1.
They're not that good until BG2 like Dav pointed out. Better off with the tried and true skull trap. You'll get comparable damage out of 2 skull traps than 2 melf's in general at that point in the game against one target. And then skull trap isn't limited to 1 target. IMO also Dav kinda undersold the chance to hit issue with Melfs, at least in BG1.
As a 20+ year BG enthusiast re-playing EE in anticipating of BG3 coming out soon, these guides have been so great. I still have my original box, manual and giant sleeve of CDs for BG1 and 2. Thanks a ton for this content, I'm only 4 years late with this comment but thought I'd leave a note to say this is all still totally relevant today. I'm doing a solo Sorcerer run on insane un-modded and I have to say the game is immensely more fun when playing without a party and as a pure mage using your guides for spell selection.
This man's videos have been essential for my SCS hardcore run.
And the level 3 spells? Sweet. In regards to level 3 spells as Anakin from star wars would say ''This is where the fun begins.''
Aww yiss. Level 3 is where it gets fun
The word you were looking for when talking about the post Haste debuff is "Fatigued". :)
Haha yeah, thanks for watching friend!
Yo dude I'm so glad that I found your videos on spells. I'm currently on lvl 3 spells and you have made me rethink how to use spells now. Feels like going to school again watching these long videos lol. Thanks a lot!
Thanks for watching!
And this video taught me a new word "minute". I always thought about time, when i read "minute", but now the spell name finally makes sense to me. (I'm not a native speaker)
i thought it was min ut for ages myself XD
@@Davaeornlol me too xD
I didn't know Skull Trap caused magic damage, not fire damage. Great stuff.
I'm currently playing a solo mage on Icewind dale and lightning bolt is actually one of my favorite spells early on. I have found that if I am careful with the casting angle I can get way more value out of it than fireball. Besides lightning bolt is imo one of the most fun evocation spells to use due to the sheer unpredictability of it, even when it makes me reload I usually have a chuckle. I once had it bounce off a door frame and me 4 times killing me instantly. Definitely a C tier, but a fun C tier.
I feel the same way tbh. I have a palpatine soundboard and portrait and i use it all the time on him but it's definitely still terrible XD
Wraithform was technically in bg1, but almost no one saw it cuz it was a super rare random drop that only spawned if you didn't have ToSC installed. I used it on a bard I played in one of my first playthroughs as a kid.
Your guides for Baldur's Gate 1 and 2 are a blessing, man. Very helpful
I'M LEARNING SO MUCH.
Also.
THATS A LOT OF DAMAGE
Thanks for watching friend!
probably the biggest game changer is invisinility radius 10 feet.
from roaming Baldurs Gate freely while hunted by Flaming Fist to surrounding Sarevok by invisible party members, then stunning him with another person using full charges wand of stun (hey, he's bound to fail save eventually...)
haste is "I win" button for when sleep is no longer viable
while fireball is relatively low powered, Dynaheir makes it shine with her evoker save penalty for foes.
These videos have been the most helpful things of all time, I always struggled to pick spells for my sorc before watching these.
thanks for watching and commenting friend
Awesome video man, very interesting. I will always love fireball for the first time I cast it in BG 1 and completely obliterated a group of black talons and half my party. Similarly I will always love lightning bolt for all the suicidal mages who cast it in narrow corridors and nuke everything around including themselves.
Man, these videos are amazing! In-depth and to-the-point information. Thank you for making them! :-)
Thanks for watching and commenting!
This channel is an encyclopedia.
Thanks for watching and commenting buddy!
As always, great content. I'm a huge fan of both BG series and Daveorn as a streamer, so in the downtime I'll go through your guides. They are great to listen to at work!
Glad to hear it friend thanks for watching and commenting!
I used to love using lightning bolt when I was playing as a kid.it was always so chaotic and hilarious party member would often die
This is Awesome! keep up the good work, i am new to BG so this is a great help
Thanks for watching!
Just found your videos and have been binging the hell out of them.
Your delivery is entertaining and the content is crazy comprehensive. You clearly know your shit. This has reignited a passion for a game I haven't played in ten years. Kudos, brother!
Hi man. Thank you so much for this. Good information on BG is not so easy to find online, and this is really helpful. Just a thought. I play BG2 on Core rules, and i am kinda new to the tactics of this game. I found that monster summoning tended to be useful to escape some fights. By example after taking a big pounding on the lower tombs, i got waylaid by spiders, with mostly all my party at 10 hp except for Hexxat who regenerates very quickly. I had Edwin summoning beasties and led them to deal with the spiders, allowing me to flee out of the dungeon safely to the sunlight. This has proven to be a viable tactic on some occasions.
Nice! thanks for watching and commenting friend!
These videos are an interesting look into how your views have changed. Like how you said Transmuters are the worst next to Wild Mages, but then when the class tier list came out both were in the various S tiers while Abjurer sits at A+. Also once you played the EE stuff and saw how valuable the silver dragon scale armor is from Dorn's quest with its 15% MR that lends a little more (not much but a little) usefulness to Protection from Cold.
I absolutely fucked up if i said transmuters, abjurers are the worst, basically whatever doesn't give you stoneskin was my logic XD
Wow, I didn't know about minute meteors. Thanks, man, I'm going to test them sometimes.
>only legit way to kill Shandalar.
I once killed him on cores, just with 6 or so mages, just spamming magic missle at him.
Thanks for watching!
I wasn’t sold on Melf’s Minute Meteors, but I’m a buyer now! 👍
Maybe because Fireball has always been a cornerstone spell of D&D, I've got a soft spot for it and can see its uses. Its greater blast radius allows you to potentially take out more off-screen enemies, and there are some creatures in the game that are especially vulnerable to fire (it's a must have for me in the Sahaguin City, for example). Plus, it's your go blast radius spell if you're playing a Gnome Illusionist or its multi class variants. Still liked the video as always, though.
You may be right, thanks for watching buddy!
Fireball has always been a cornerstone for ANY rpg . Since the time I saw it in Diablo1 I can never not cast a fireball :D
@@NerdGlassGamingPAdiablo's spells came from d&d
Invisibility was good to surprise a beholder ;)
" Don't touch me, I'm super important" beregost mayor temple guy background 🎶 right? Love that relaxing 🎶
I also really like you mention the opposite specialist schools except for one minor albeit important detail, it's the additional saving throws penalties those specialist spells impose which makes great spells such as web god tier when cast by invokers and glitterdust on par or maybe even better when cast by a conjurer all things considered.
It's the best. Sorry I didn't respond to your comment I'm only just now going down the list. At the time youtubes algorithm wasn't working properly for me so I didn't even see it. Sorry about that. Wherever you are friend I hope you're doing well. God bless!
At the time I wasn't sure if that was actually coded properly and it's really difficult to prove through testing because BG2 calculations ignores the laws of D&D (which bg1 followed, but the EE uses the Bg2 engine so it doesn't).
ah finally, someone who appreciates the beauty of Skull Trap abuse! perfect for putting outside a Cloudkill!
Exactly!
33:00 I totally agree with you... There should be a way to buff yourself more easily. ( I mean you can probably set a key combo software etc. for all them spells maybe but ...
A note about remove magic for my fellow SCS noobs if you are confused like I was when I first used it (I know you know Davaeorn) : it only removes "combat protections", not "spell protections". It will remove stoneskins, protection from magical weapons etc... but not spells turning/deflections/trap, globes of invulnerabilities etc... So you can totally whack that mage in melee if you can see the "Dispelled Effects" (means it succeded) in the log after you cast it.
Basically it makes it so you don't have to play the debuff mini-game for mages (removing their spell protections first so that you can breach them off their combat protections), assuming they don't have spell immunity abjuration up.
Amazing Davaeorn; it is really helpful to know, in depth, all spells we can use with our mages.
I hope you release the cleric/druid spells lvl2 soon.
Keep up with the good work 👍
Soon I hope friend, I have just returned from a long hiatus of being sick, I'm still sick, but I'll be streaming and uploading again. God bless!
Amazing rundown. Kudos.
Thanks for watching and commenting friend
Melf's Minute Meteors gives mages something great to do while their auras aren't cleansed. Cast a spell, throw a few meteors, cast another spell.
Lightning bolt is best used if you scout ahead. So Imoen or Kivan reveals the location of enemies. If you absorb their spawn location and launch a lightning bolt at max range so it passes through enemies, it can be pretty good. But this is a ton of effort just to make it be powerful. I find that if the bolt goes through things as it attempts to make it's way towards a target, you're going to get a lot of bang for your buck. It's like scorcher but you may die.
Super fun indeed.
God I love the whole line of level 3 spells, and I have to say either Slow or Haste are my favorite. Hitting an enemy with Slow is basically a fucking death sentence - and with that penalty + Malison, it works pretty goddamn well.
I actually get a decent bit of use out of Protection from Cold for one reason - Ice Storm. Ice Storm isn't great, but since doing No Reloads I've found quite a few more uses for it, mainly in BG1 and SoD. Ice Storm being a level 4 spell bypasses Minor Globe of Invulnerability, which is the go-to protection spell for dangerous Mages in both those games. By dropping Ice Storm on them, using Skeleton Warriors, or a Cold Immune magic tank, that's the quickest and dirtiest way to keep disrupting their spells and keeping them out of the fight entirely. That's how I beat Angelo and Semaj, by having Baeloth learn Ice Storm and somebody going in there being a giant pain in the ass to both of them in the area of effect. Haven't found too many uses in BG2 because you tend to just get better options, and Cloudkill is harder to become resistant to and uses a higher level slot.
I get a little benefit out of Wraithform as a Fighter/Mage while escaping SCS Irenicus' Dungeon, due to Duergars, but that's about it.
I think SCS actually randomizes spells on installation so it really depends on your mod itself for what spells you run into, sequencers are typically the same way so you may end up finding protection from acid as S tier. Sorry I didn't respond to your comment I'm only just now going down the list. At the time youtubes algorithm wasn't working properly for me so I didn't even see it. Sorry about that. Wherever you are friend I hope you're doing well. God bless!
My most used faw spelss Skull trap, Fire ball, and dispel magic :D the last one because its a must:D
Thanks for the video, great guide series ! One use I can think of for Minor Spell Deflection is that it will actually protect you against a Breach with SCS. But there are so many mandatory spells at this level that it's hard to justify taking it...
How strange! It definitely didn't use to, only actual spell deflection worked on breach in the past along with spell turning. Minor was too low level, I'll test it out again, thanks for watching and commenting!
@@Davaeornlol Yeah you have an older version of SCS I think from watching your stream, in newer versions there has been quite a lot of changes regarding spell protection / removal. In latest version these are the main behaviors:
- SI: Abjuration (new, but Secret word, Spelltrike and the likes still work), minor spell deflection (but not minor spell turning), spell delection, spell turning, spell shield, spell trap protects against Breach
- Enemies that were immune to lvl 5 such as Liches / Rakshasa now can be Breached
- And a bit out of context but you can now also target enemies under the effect of improved invisibility with Secret Word, etc... to make the combo with SI:Div less overpowered (enemies will also use that against you)
@@fredericdaviaud4306 Hmm my SCS Shouldn''t be outdated, I'm familiar with the changes you mentioned. Though keep in mind this video is also from a long time ago an we were 100% using an outdated version of SCS then XD I'll be remaking the arcane series at somepoint soon to talk about the IWD spells added as well. I'll make sure I test MSD as well. Thanks for commenting and watching friend!
9:28 when one has enaught spells one dos not take this :D but its GRATE spell, i still love Time stop, Shapechange Ilithad and Simular crom more :D but i get you on low leves this is huge
13:41 in the base game yes you are absolutely right (in the arena i don't rely on it) but YES best spell up to Lv5 spells, but for combo spider with web, are good contested :D
I remember the first time I used Melf's Minute Meteors in the vanilla game way back when and just thinking, "Holy shit, I'm going to use this spell ALL THE TIME NOW!" And then getting Energy Blades on my clerics and just fucking wailing on dudes (even if it wasn't as good as other options).
Great fucking video, cant say enough good things about it.
>Invisibility, 10' radius
>Area of Effect: 20-ft. radius
kk game
Math is hard.
@@Davaeornlol A radius is a straight line from the centre of the circle to the circumference. Assuming the caster is the center , the spell will cover 10' around him. So 10' on his left and 10' on his right for a total of 20'
@@mihai000000 Yep. 10' is the radius and the 20-ft in the desc. is the diameter. All is well :D
Unerring Sling +1
+2 to THAC0
@@mihai000000 so it's still 10 foot radius. Thanks for clarification
Wraithform definitely wasn't available in the initial release of BG2, but it was around waaay before not only BG2EE, but also the BG2 Steam release. I recall it being one of the few lower level spells introduced in ToB.
The reason most people never knew about it was because it wasn't available in stores, nor could it be selected at level up or in character creation. The only way to gain Wraithform was as the result of a (very) rare random drop, or by creating an Illusionist, Single or Multi, and selecting "Pick For Me" during spell selection. Deliberately or otherwise, the spell became an Easter Egg.
Even the A.I. barely touches Wraithform; in all my playtime I think I've seen just one mage cast it, and even then just one time. I was starting to think it might be a unique or at least rare special ability, not unlike Tattoo of Power. Wasn't until my crippling restartitis saw me bombing around in the character creator that I realized the game had a hidden spell.
As for utility, it's functionally limited to early game Illusionist/Fighters and Illusionist/Thieves. If you're planning on creating a Gnomish Spellsword though, there's definite appeal to just rolling most of Chateau Irenicus and the Slums District Slavers with multiple castings and near impunity.
Interesting, thanks for watching friend, God bless
Wraithform was in the original BG, unavailable in game unless you add a scroll through console command or used an editor.
Love these, lots of help
Thanks for watching!
Awesome videos man, thanks! As someone playing BGEE for the first time, I love clairvoyance. I just wish it worked in dungeons.
B-BUT U NEED TO EXPLORE URSELF
It supposedly works in dungeons when cast from a scroll
Onto part 3 now. Just a quick thing I've noticed, it's the first time that I use SCS so I don't know if it's due to a more recent SCS version since the time those videos have been made (as they were made a bit more than a year ago) but my installation also added the IWD EE spells which was nice. Since I only played IWD EE once and my only arcane caster in my party was a Sorcerer, there are several spells that I didn't really get to play with or try out. I see that you've only gotten through the Divine spells lvl 1 video 2 months ago and I'm sure that those videos are very time consuming. However, if you do find time for it in the future, an extra video about these added arcane spells or just a quick tier list could be nice. Great work and looking forward to seeing how you play this game with your playthroughs once I get through all of these spell guides! As for the part about Melf's Minute Meteors, you say in the video that you think SCS nerfs them to being +4 but looking back into the Readme document to make sure I wasn't wrong, it's actually down to a +2 weapon (not sure if this also means only +2 THAC0). Finally, the current version of SCS has Skull Trap capped at 12D6 so I don't know if it makes it that great anymore (still good, still more damage than a Fireball but fireball easier to use with a party that has fire resistance to be immuned or healed by it makes me hesitate a bit).
Yes I plan to redo them all at some point after finishing divine spell guide. Thanks for commenting friend and sorry it took me so long to respond!
You can get Wraith Form in the "old" BG2 from Lady Yuth in the Adventurer's Mart. As I recall though it disappears from your spell book(s) once you hit ToB.
Great videos!
Nice! Thanks for watching and commenting friend!
I found Wraithform marginally useful in the Irenicus' starting dungeon when I was soloing a Fighter-Mage-Thief. It made situations which probably wouldn't have posed a serious threat anyway a bit more convenient. But why do we play mages? To cast spells. So for a while my gish became a moderately protected fighter who couldn't wear armour. Against enemies who were shite. Fun times.
The best spell on 3rd level is Slow. I know I should delve more into Skull Trap but for me mages are about crowd control and debuffing. For damage we have other classes. Melf's Minute Meteors I usually only use for enemies that require a highly magical weapon to connect. I know they are both powerful spells but every time I choose one or the other I have room for one less Slow and Slow is sooooo good.
Slow is great! I take it as my first level 3 spell on my sorc 99% of the time, but if you haven't had multiple mages with melfs up and improved haste, you haven't lived. Thanks for watching and commenting friend.
Slow is what I fill my level 3 with more than anything else in BG2. Along with a couple of Hastes. Make own party fast -> make enemies slow -> win. I believe Nalia and Jan both come with Slow by default, too. I don't remember for sure, but I usually have it the two even in fresh starts.
You don't use mages correctly
@@WetBoy lol
About Spell Thrust.
You say that a Spell Trap will stop a Spell Thrust, but this isn't the behavior I see. I just tried on SCS, and Edwin had Spell Trap and Spell Immunity up, then I hit him with a Spell Thrust, and it dispelled his Spell Immunity. The same happens with Spell Deflection and Spell Turning. Spell Thrust ignores these, neither removing them nor being blocked by them, and will strip away anything it can. Of course, a Spell Shield will still block it.
This makes it incredibly useful IMO. You can strip away a Spell Immunity Abjuration/Divination without first having to worry about a Spell Trap or Spell Turning. Very useful if combined with an Inquisitor or Bard flinging out remove/dispel magic.
However, Globe of Invulnerability does not share this behavior with Deflection/Turning/Trap. Globe of invulnerability will protect any lower level protections, such as Spell Immunity, from Spell Thrust. GoI will not, however, stop a Spell Thrust from taking down a Spell Shield.
I just tried this with SCS installed, along with Icewind Dale spells, but without Spell Revisions installed.
I'm pretty sure this applies to all spell attacks. So for example, if an enemy mage has up a Spell Trap, a Globe of Invulnerability, and a Spell Immunity Abjuration. Then you can use Secret Word to take down the Globe, ignoring the Spell Trap, followed by Spell Thrust to take down the Spell Immunity, again ignoring the Spell Trap, and now your Remove Magic will get through (which also ignores Spell Trap, for some reason).
I think (could be wrong) that Wraithform works on Aecletec for some reason. Meaning you can cast it and tank him. I'll have to test it again but I could have sworn in a recent run that it actually worked. That might make it worth it if only for that.
Possibly indeed, I typically just run him around the room so he can't hit anyone at all. His fight needs some love tbh considering how dangerous the cultists outside are.
Lightning Bolt's path is sort of completely predictable. In the EE you have to go to the map view and turn on "Area Map Background" to see the actual map borders, because the graphics on your screen are just a .jpg and don't reflect what the game sees. The problem becomes that area borders can only be in 45 degree increments, so any kind of non-45 degree surface is instead a bunch of back and forth 45 degree lines to approximate the correct angle, and because those lines are so small trying to predict which one you bounce off becomes nigh impossible. But if you look on the area map and see a surface that is a straight, flat 0/45/90/etc angle then you can 100% abuse a predictable lightning path.
I think its nice to see the map artwork with clarvoyence. there are a number of maps you can't fully reveal just by walking around. Has nothing to do with gameplay its just for appreciation of the map.
Fireball on core rules probably is probably at least b tier. If you mod it so it doesn't work then ya, it doesn't work.
Slowly going through these videos over the last few days. I'm in the middle of my first (and probably only) casual run of the game on Normal, about to go to the Bandit Camp. The main advice I'll take from this one is not to bother with Lightning Bolt. I'll still probably go against your advice and have Neera put at least 1 Fireball in her spellbook, since I'm an OCD RPG item hoarder and don't like to use wands with limited charges if I can avoid it.
What's the use of magic if you don't have a chance to kill your whole party anyway. Good luck in your run friend thanks for watching and commenting!
I hope you are carrying on with BG1. I am also a fellow hoarder, but thankfully, w.r.t Wands, they are practically unlimited with charges. All you have to do is sell it with atleast 1 charge to a vendor and buy it back (albeit at a much higher price). This essentially recharges the wands/any charge item basically.
With this, I can have a 50 charge wand of fire, 100 charge wand of paralyze and 100 charge wand of monster summons. And you can do this recharging anytime you have spare gold (and you WILL have tons of gold by the time you reach BG city)
Some of the hardest fights can be absolutely cheesed with an entire 6 man party spamming Fireball/Necklace of missiles outside the enemy FOV (eg. The Chess fight in Durlag's tower)
@@sreeravi25 Hey. I beat BG1 last October, but since it took me 70-ish hours, I'm taking my sweet time before moving on to 2. I think ultimately, I just wound up selling most of the wands to vendors. I'd probably be more inclined to use them if they didn't all have class or Intelligence requirements.
@@BotmanR Good to know you are still interested in this series! I myself started this game 2 months ago, just finished BG1+SoD
BTW, you can find atleast 4 "fireball" necklaces in the game and anyone can use it except Wiz Slayer class. That should help with any and all enemy party fights if you want in the first game and SoD!
Wraith Form exists in vanilla BG1 IIRC. It’s an exceedingly rare random drop, I’ve gotten it all of once despite being a big fan of vanilla BG1. I believe it was a TotSC addition.
48:05 The Belt of Antipode on Gorion gives 100% cold resistance while doubling fire damage. With greater than 100% fire resistance the doubling could make the healing through fire strat very strong for one character.
I should try it for sure, pretty sure the way its calculated wont work like we want it to though XD
I tried it sir, and it doesn't work like that unfortuantely. Although it says " double the fire damage" what it really does is lowering your resistance by a certain amount that would equal to doubling the fire damage If you have zero resistance to begin with. (I am not sure it is something like 100 cold resist / -50 fire resist.
@@NerdGlassGamingPA what a shame.
Non detection protect you from being revealed by true sight and such when you are sneaking. At least that is what the cloak of non detection at inn at promenade used to do in SoA.
Fatigue is what happens after haste, I believe
That's the word!
I've been playing the game a lot. No mods, core difficulty, no reload, no party member deaths. I've completed the arcane spell guide. I knew most things (20 years does this) except for melf's minute meteors. "darn", I thought, "if he is so obsessed with them, Dav must know something". I'm soloing BG1 as sorcerer and most things are being eradicated!!
Yeah they're insanely strong, thanks for watching and commenting friend!
Also, I'm an idiot too! I also like to call them "minute" like the temporal interval thingy :D
i also love melf's minute meteors. I literally use just haste and meteors on mages. If i want fireball or lightning , i use rods
Patrician taste. Thanks for watching and commenting buddy!
@@Davaeornlol Honestly , really good job on the spell guide. I actually learned quite a bit from watching this. And ive played baldur's gate for more then 10 years now
@@mihai000000 Glad you enjoyed it friend! Thanks for watching and commenting!
Golem Busters!
Haste is so good, that everyone knows it without needing to be told.
Fireball is holy!
Thanks, Man!
I feel like I used clairvoyance a lot back in the day to open certain fights. Get off a fireball through the fog of war etc.
Nice one! Thanks for watching and commenting friend!
Equip a weapon on your mage’s offhand. Use melf minute meteors with improved haste. Once every 5 hits your offhand weapon will hit AT RANGE. If the weapon has good abilities, you’ve hit at range.😛
Interesting! Thanks for commenting friend.
Clairvoyance SCROLL works INDOORS!!! Has been used in speed runs. Would be awesome in Watcher’s Keep’s annoying mazes. 🙂
BIG
I love Lightning Bolt combined with Globe of invulnerability in dungeons. Although admittedly I reload. Skull trap, Melfs meteors, lightning bolt. These spells are great! I find that I hardly cast Slow with a Sorcerer, I'd take it on a mage with 1 slot, but for a sorcerer I want to have other spells. It's a great spell, but I just have Edwin or Jan use it
Lol that would be fun indeed.
Monster summoning 1 can allow imoen to target a lightning bolt against offscreen opponents in irenicus dungeon. thats the only use for sm1
Its interesting looking at hold person, how i always thought it was garbage spell in BG1-2. But in BG3 it was one of the, if the not the best spell, in the game.
I have a screenshot of Xzar (a wild mage in my game) one shotting a wyvern because he got a disgusting Flame Arrow magic surge that like double or tripled his caster level
LOL nearly fell over laughing dude 'sh*% if only i had 'ghost armour' here!' said no one! hahaha
XD thanks for watching and commenting friend!
Watching your videos makes me think that I seriously underutilize my mages
Arcane magic is pretty broken tbh.
Level 1 - ua-cam.com/video/jxUBLrWzK30/v-deo.html
Level 2 - ua-cam.com/video/rb49jQYeI1s/v-deo.html
Level 3 - ua-cam.com/video/hLzI4HMsqLU/v-deo.html
Level 4 - ua-cam.com/video/9CTBDXn3LEA/v-deo.html
Level 5 - ua-cam.com/video/mRLqZGjJGqc/v-deo.html
Level 6 - ua-cam.com/video/XoiFvfLspYk/v-deo.html
Level 7 - ua-cam.com/video/_C4yhD6EdUQ/v-deo.html
Level 8 - ua-cam.com/video/rv1F0H52eGA/v-deo.html
Thank you for the guides !!!
Dude, I just found out something about your fav spell. MMM Ignores Magic Resistance. 🤩
God bless
Dispel magic wasn't so bad back in the days of original Baldur's gate. I remember using it to extinguish the fires of the Battle Horrors on the way to Durlag's Tower. Then I started playing versions that used the BG 2 engine, and to my surprise that no longer worked. Oh well.
I haven't tried it myself, but I've heard that Yeslick's dispel magic works like the original BG 1 version.
It does not with my mods, might be SCS that nerfs it but I picked him the other day just to see. Yeah bg 2 engine changes really everything tbh.
@@Davaeornlol Sadly I don't have much time to play these days, but if I get the chance I'll try recruiting Yeslick to test that.
Hey Davaeorn, years after this videos are still classics. Thx so much buddy hope you go well.
Question : i'm playing with SCS, seems skull trap is cap at 12d6. It's super low compare to 20d6. Same in your SCS version ?
Hi there !
Just a quick commentary on the Skull-trap/Fireball area of effect : you're right, they ARE different.
On my version it says 4,5 meters radius for the Fireball and 3,6 meters for Skull-trap.
Dunno why with the foot system it says otherwise.
It's weird indeed! Skull traps activation radius is also smaller than its explosion radius. You can set them up near shandalar without them going off, pop them with a summon, and they will hit him. It's the weirdest shit. Thanks for commenting friend!
Archer's best shit is shortbow of Gesen and the improved cloak of protection +2. The cloak allows them to cast improved haste with a duration of 23 rounds once per day. That will put them at 10 attacks doing about 20 a hit.
Kuotuan bolts and firetooth outpace gesen because of critical strike but gesen is def beast for sure. Thanks for commenting friend!
Honestly clairvoyance is a spell I would always pick up as a scroll and use it on areas I know where enemy spell casters are and send a few low level summons from monster summoning wand or even the summoning scrolls you pick up and use them to waste the enemy's spell slots be for the real fight even begins
Nice! Thanks for watching and commenting friend!
The difference between mage's lvl 3 Hold Person and cleric's lvl 2 Hold Person is that mage's has -1 penalty to save. Hold Person is almost a guaranteed death sentence to anything that's not immune in BGEE so the spell has its uses (even the mage's version).
Hold is amazing, but I don't find myself ever using it after bg1, and in bg1 you're gonna want aoe for clearing packs of garbage on your mages imo. Thanks for watching and commenting friend!
Lightning bolt is actually hard to use. Best success is in a sequencer with protection from lightning on.
Nice! thanks for commenting friend!
Hallow be thy name Amen. My favorite level 3 spell is Skulltrap
You probably heard this before but I think your assessment of Fireball is not entirely fair. It's not really until half of SoA that Fireball starts to become useless. Also, in BG1 fire resistance is not as common as in BG2. Basically in 1, Fireball and Skull Trap are for all intents and purposes equivalent because it's not until level 12 or 13 until you see Skull Trap's scaling really kick in. Fireball is just aim & fire, it goes off instantly, it's more predictable. With Skull Trap, the trigger just behaves wonky sometimes, not going off until a round later, so your frontline gets hit even if you did your best to avoid it. You can do crazy stuff with Skull Trap like elaborate death traps but damage-wise, it's basically the same thing as Fireball in BG1 and for a good part of BG2. Also, it's super easy to make your frontline resistant or immune to fire but it's hard to protect them from magical damage (in BG1 that is). Fireball is one of those spells that really falls off as you play through the entire saga but it's useful for the first half I would say.
I always found skull trap to be far more managable than fireball when it comes to avoiding party damage tbh, the smaller radius makes it much easier to control. I do agree it's useful for the first half, if you don't have skull trap fireball is just fine, if you have both though I would always use skull trap over fireball, unless I was killing slimes in durlags or something that requires actual fire damage. A lot of spells are rated C tier not because they're bad, but because there is a spell in the exact same or lower tier that does the exact same thing but is better. Thanks for watching and commenting friend!
I like clairvoyance cause I havent memorized the game, and rather than spending 20 minutes walking around exploring, I just load up clairvoyance cast up the map and it's instantly explored. saves tonnes of time. rest with the new spells I need based off what I see, get out there and kick some butt. I suppose sure u could check out the map guides online and found out all the stuff that way too, but seems less immersive imo
Using a spell instead of exploring is less immersive! I get your point tho I certainly did my share of corner to corner exploration as a kid.
D, I just realized...to maximize the HP steal by your mages, when you're using Vampiric Touch to buff your squishy mages, especially in Insane, double damage, have your "donors" drink. 😮 The game will maximize the damage rolls if the target is intoxicated. So if you want to buff up your sorcerer, or Edwin, have your fighter drink about 3 beers. Once they're intoxicated, each of the d6 rolls will roll a 6. 😮
Afterwards, use mass cure. 😛
You are a lifesaver friend
Thanks for watching friend!
I didn't expect Vampiric Touch to be S tier, but then I got to BG2 and saw how bollocks the HP rolls for some characters in that game is. Haer'Dalis had 44 HP or so at level 10, so another ~20 is pretty damn good early on. And I didn't even realize I could use it on a companion before combat, which makes it even better.
Yeah the fact that it lasts for a full hour and will give you such a massive boost of hp makes it pretty dang great tbh. If you're playing on insane difficulty you can literally double the hp of your mages with it.
@@Davaeornlol I'm definitely going to use it on both my own Blade and Haer'Dalis when that time comes, to increase their tankiness!
@@TheTdroid Good luck in your runs friend!
I've just been trying to make of use of Protection from Normal Missiles (unmodded Beamdog edition of BG2) and I've found that the spell is bugged and doesn't protect against everything it should. Specifically, it doesn't work against normal darts and throwing knives. Well, at least I know what to throw at Davaeorn next time I meet him :)
Interesting I don't think I ever tried. I know in the original his pfnm is set up as a special script ( like most mages on mage island etc) I don't think I ever tried throwing darts at him then either. Thanks for commenting friend God bless!
Dav: talking shit about Fireball
Also Dav: casting Fireball all the time during his playthroughs ;] at least in BG1
It's not my fault baeloth comes with fireball and not skull trap :(
@@Davaeornlol True ;) but that bigger radius on the fireball also comes in handy.
48:08 There are some more items that give cold resistance. Some helmets, some mage cloaks, and a few dragon-related items.
Belt of antipode in BG 1 100% cold resist but doubles fire damage. Gift of peace helm 20%
Good shit
Thanks for watching friend
Great work here!
When starting to play BG, I would rather choose Fireball over Skull Trap just because of the explosion sketch the area of effect for me. With Skull Trap, the AoE is smaller but the AoE of the trap detection is even smaller (I am using it by now anyways because of the sheer damage).
And there is always the risk of your skulltrap not going off because there was nothing there due to RNG and now you will need to summon a shitty summon to get rid of it lol
1- Skull trap is a TRAP you can stack 'em . 2- Fire is a very common element that enemies resist (more so in the mods and difficulty he is mentioning) 3- You can trap people walking on to it instead of aiming at that time you can cast another spell. So many different and powerful uses for it. Just the difference in damage type makes it much better, but you can always use fireball and do your own thing of course.
@@NerdGlassGamingPA I know all of that. Just addressing that I play Fireball a lot just for the bigger AoE
Clairvoyance is Speedrun tier. It's used in the maze before Sarevok.
That's even worse than RP