Baldur's Gate Level 2 Arcane / Mage Magic Spell Guide
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- Опубліковано 9 лип 2024
- This is the second installment of my arcane magic spell guide for the classic PC game, Baldur's Gate. I've finally created it, months after the first video!
This video covers Level 2 mage spells.
The Level 1 spells video is here: • Baldur's Gate Level 1 ...
An audio only version of this Level 2 guide is here: / arcane-magic-level-2-g...
This series will take an analytical / rule / power game oriented approach to discussing the strengths and weaknesses, and use cases, for each spell in Baldur's Gate, BG2:SOA, and TOB. The spells are assessed across the entire saga and mainly using the unmodded Enhanced Edition releases (so no SCS, although I do touch on SCS frequently)
Thanks to:
BG Reddit - / baldursgate
Davaeorn - / @davaeornlol
BG Wiki - baldursgate.fandom.com/wiki/B...
NearInfinity - github.com/Argent77/NearInfinity
0:00 - Intro
3:23 - Agannazar's Scorcher
12:20 - Blur
18:24 - Deafness
22:40 - Detect Evil
25:40 - Detect Invisibility
30:13 - Ghoul Touch
34:26 - Glitterdust
39:57 - Horror
42:38 - Invisibility
47:36 - Knock
53:18 - Know Alignment
56:00 - Luck
1:07:14 - Melf's Acid Arrow
1:13:53 - Mirror Image
1:24:23 - Power Word, Sleep
1:27:15 - Ray of Enfeeblement
1:31:50 - Resist Fear
1:35:22 - Stinking Cloud
1:42:49 - Strength
1:53:29 - Vocalize
1:57:13 - Web
2:02:56 - Conclusion and summary of all spell ratings - Ігри
Awesome that the UA-cam algorithm actually served me up this video from a smaller channel on my front page. Excellent video.
Thank you!🎉
This will be a good journey to 9
Thanks man hope you follow along!
I''m really enjoying this series since I'm revisiting IWD and the BG series after so many years. Well done! I see that Level 9 arcane not yet done? But hoping that is still something you will do in future. Thanks for all the hard work you did in putting this together!
Thanks dude! Glad you are enjoying! Yes, level 9 is not done yet… it’s on a slow burn… I’m doing the research still. One day it will come!! Comments like this are helpful motivation!
Happy gaming !
Very interesting to learn about Melfs Acid Arrow! I never thought about using it ToB but you make a strong case. Keep up the good work!
Thanks man! Good to hear what piqued your interest.
Stinking Cloud synergizes lots with Cloudkill & Animate Dead! I know that Web has more general use, but there's purpose to know and cast each.
Resist Fear is mandatory for a support mage. If your main source of damage is some Fighter, you want to make them immune to everything, give them Improved Haste, then sit and watch them kill everything. Resist Fear is one of the mandatory spells in such setups. It's definitely better than 3/10.
Love the content. Can’t wait for more
thanks !! I really appreciate it!
I'm learnding!
Thanks for the vids man, I’m enjoying listening to these at work. I’m glad you popped up on my recommended and I really enjoy the long form format
Dude! Thanks!! Glad you are enjoying it and high praise bc a lot of my favorite stuff like this I also listen to while doing work or chores..
There is a combo for ghoul touch. Command from cleric then hit with ghoul touch with my necromancer. Prone creatures are automatically hit. I used it in BG1 for example for ankhegs early.
Another Banger!
Thank you! Merry Christmas!
I'm not sure I really agree on Knock. I mean, you're basically proposing either A) Keeping Knock memorized at all times instead of Web, Mirror Image, Invisibility (which BTW, is far better than Hide In Shadows) or B) Every time you come across a lock that can't be bashed, go back to an inn, memorize knock, rest, come back to the lock and cast knock, then go back to the inn and re-memorize a useful spell again.
Why not just invest points in lockpicking rather than Move Silently and Hide in Shadows, saving tons of points, and just cast Invisibility/Use Invis pots on your thief? You can also use thief potions to give them extra 20/40% lockpicking so not even necessary to invest super heavily into lockpicking.
Re: Strength 1:42:52
You can use it to allow weak members to carry more. Useful for body missions when soloing. If soloing stunned enemies while dual wielding daggers as a mage, it allows you to save some time in dispatching them (potentially allowing you to finish the battle inside a tight stun duration).
*cheese*. You can cast it, then equip items prohibited by your previously low strength (eg. comp bow).
Ray of enfeeblement is meant, i think, to be cast on fighters with very high strenght. A cast on an ogre berserker will drop his strength from 18/00 to 5, which means his THACO is reduced by 5, and each of his damage rolls by 7. Basically it makes any hits pretty much insignificant. Try casting this on Giants, Ogre mages, Dragons, Mummies, or any other opponent with 20+ Strenght : it makes their melee attacks so pathetic you don't have to worry about it anymore. Pretty powerful in my view. Actually, i don't think you can find a more powerful stat debuff in any other spell in the game.
I tested with the Enchanter Xan, Ray of Enfeeblement and has his uses. Not an 100% usefull spell (because they are better all around spells) but, works well agaisnt some monsters. Bears with 16 strenght becomes less dangerous with ray, wyvern with 14 strength, becomes puppies with 5S, and I want to check if Greater Wyverns, with 25 Strenght becomes also harmless with Ray. If this is posible, then gonna make that place a lot less dangerous. 15 damage and 9 thaco less dangerous
Its not something that I always gonna use, because paralize humanoid, web, blind, are better in my eyes for all the types of combats you gonna fight whyle Ray, are "usefull" for some counted fights.
What I would love is an open world Baldur's Gate style but similar to Daggerfall sized world. It would be so fun to adventure in random places
Not sure how you found out about Luck + Mirror image making images always hit first ! It's amazing how many details you can provide about these mechanics. Thanks again !
You’re welcome!
My God, I play this game since 2002 and right now instead of learning to my proffesional certification that costs shitload of money I update my knowledge about "Luck" spell as I never though about actually using it.
Yes! This is the proper priorities for you. Thanks!
@@WJ_24 Did not expect any other answer than this.
Good luck man!
Pieniądze szczęścia nie dają, a szczęście daje szczęście... dobry wybór! :D
The spell descriptions in BG are taken directly from the DnD manual
1:00:49 Luck does impact outgoing damage rolls. If you get your enemies drunk. Wish spell everyone on map gets intoxicated will drop everyone's luck to lowest possible value. You will do MAX damage on your significant AOE spells, like Incendiary Cloud, Dragon's Breath, and Abi Dahzims. Use Mass Cure on your party so you're not hoisted on your own petard. 😈😈😈. You still need to cast Greater Malison, before attacking with spells, because I think the saving throw mechanic is independent of Luck...😮
I think this video doesn't do justice to Detect Invisibility. Whenever you need to counter illusions specifically, sure, go for True Sight. But remember that it's a level 6 spell with cast time 8. This means it competes with Imp Haste and some great protections for a spell slot. It also means that it's never instant. This also means that it wastes precious time during Improved Alacrity. DI is a level 2 spell with cast time 2. This means it competes with nothing late game. It also means it's instant with Vecna, which means it wastes no time during Improved Alacrity. I'm not saying True Sight is bad, it's a great spell, but it comes at a rather high cost, while DI is dirt cheap.
Great video, by the way. I'm watching through the entire series. Loving it so far. 👍
I bet the devs mixed up -2 and +2 on stinking cloud and web due to the confusing nature of negative bonuses. The two spells would be much more balanced.
Every spell in the game: "This is gonna be a 3.. it's not as good as skull trap"
Love the magic guides!
In your opinion how does Arcane magic stack up against divine magic overall?
I think priest spells seem a bit weaker overall, but I’m not a late game magic expert.
Great Q. Arcane magic is definitely stronger, by a wide margin. Arcane magic is stronger at all levels in my opinion, but especially at higher levels when Arcane magic scales into level 8 and 9 spells that are devastating and you have maybe 5-10 Arcane spells that are stronger than the 3rd best Divine spell. Also, the way the game is set up, Arcane magic is set up to be the primary way to deal damage through magic -- the Divine damage-dealing spells are few and far between and are usually much weaker or geared towards undead. Plus, all of the truly game breaking spells IMO (Improved Alacrity, Wish, Improved Haste) are all Arcane spells.
The one way in which Divine is superior is that Divine does get some quality spells at lower levels where it is hard to give up an Arcane slot. Like Animate Dead, Remove Fear, True Sight. Getting Animate Dead at level 3, in particular, is extremely powerful in BG1, versus the mage that has to wait until level 5 and has the quality of skeleton summoned scale more slowly since clerics level faster. Also, Divine does have a handful of super powerful spells that there is no equivalent for on the Arcane side. Sanctuary is great to grab super powerful items as a level 1 cleric, chaotic commands and death ward are powerful buffs that the mage has to put up a ton of high level spell protections to get equivalent protection. Heal is the only way to instantly get back 200+HP on a tanky fighter or yourself (great in a contingency for cleric/mages). Insect Plague is really strong (although Druids are a weak class overall and only Druids get it). And the biggest Divine spell that I miss at high levels on the Arcane side is Implosion, which is the best single target damage spell in the game by far. It does a no-save stun and lots of crushing damage. If you are a cleric-mage then Implosion gets truly busted since you can instant cast it with Vecna + Amulet of Power and it will actually hit during a time stop, before the time stop wears off. It is one of the few damage spells in the entire game that will do that, and makes Cleric-Mage very busted with the XP cap removed -- in a fun way!
Even at low levels, it is hard to say that Divine is superior considering there are no good damage dealing spells in Divine level 1-2, and also the best combat buff in BG1 is Haste, which is an Arcane spell!
@@WJ_24 Thanks for the great explanation. I played a good amount of BG1 as a kid, but I was only 7 through 12 years old so my knowledge of the mechanics was pretty limited until I bought the enhanced editions couple years ago.
I was stocking quite a bit of animate dead and insect plague in my (core rules) BG1 playthrough several months ago. I felt like I was using my cleric spells, heals and tanks decently well.
Looking back, I was definitely underutilizing my arcane casters. Started to run into some little hiccups around mid-BG2, but eventually abandoned the playthrough because I got busy and distracted. Gonna start a fresh trilogy playthrough soon and try it again.
Luck would be incredibly powerful if not the very short duration. It forces enemies to always hit Mirror Images. There are some items that grant it, but are either character locked (Alora) or are in SoD (yeah, I'm not playing that mess unless forced).
Lol. Agree re SoD but the luck belt and charm ring are both very powerful so feels almost worth it. The wizzard hat for +1 spell casting speed is also huge. Until I’m watching the cutscene that’s literally the villain writing a letter and I’m like fuuuuu… could they make this any more tedious.
@@WJ_24 The writing is utter garbage. And they have the audacity to ask money for it.
At least they didn't mess around with PsT when they "Enchanced" it.
do blur and mirror image not stack?
They do as in you can cast both at same time. But they do totally different things. Mirror image gives you images that tank hits, but has no AC or saves effect, whereas Blur improves your AC and saves.
Wait, whaaaaaat .... There's more level 2 spells than just Mirror Image???? TIL.
Lol. Honestly if you only knew about mirror image you would be just fine…
I find the concept of powergaming without scs weird. The game is extremely easy without the mod…