Baldur's Gate High Level Ability Guide

Thanks to yopimarus for his tireless work
Intro 0:00
Shaman 1:53
S Tier
Implosion 11:38
Favored of the Spirits 20:30
Mass Raise Dead 13:24
A Tier
Ethereal Retribution 7:55
Spirit Form 18:39
B Tier
Energy Blades 2:07
Storm of Vengeance 4:06
Elemental Summoning 6:10
C Tier
Globe of Blades 10:11
X Tier
Aura of Flaming Death 14:44 X Tier
Shadowdancer 22:37
S Tier
Shadow Twin 22:57
Shadow Maze 24:00
Shadow Form 25:02
Use Any Item 29:06
Assassination 31:38
Greater Evasion 27:28
C Tier
Evasion 27:04
Avoid Death 33:29
Alchemy (Rogue) 35:18
Scribe Scrolls (Rogue) 36:32
Mage 37:43
S Tier
Extra Level 6 Spell 37:50
Extra Level 8 Spell 39:03
Improved Alacrity 40:12
Summon Planetar/Dark Planetar 46:48
A Tier
Extra Level 7 Spell 38:23
Comet 45:03
B Tier
Energy Blades 39:47
Dragon's Breath 43:40
C Tier
Scribe Scrolls (Mage) 48:26
Alchemy (Mage) 49:55
Fighter 50:55
S Tier
Hardiness 1:04:18
Power Attack 57:45
Critical Strike 59:18
A Tier
Smite 1:01:04
C Tier
Whirlwind Attack 51:02
Greater Whirlwind Attack 51:41
Deathblow/Greater Deathblow 54:22
Resist Magic 55:44
RP Tier
War Cry 1:02:55
Druid
S Tier
Earth Elemental Token 1:09:20
A Tier
Greater Elemental Summoning 1:05:51
Fire Elemental Token 1:08:19
B Tier
Energy Blades 1:05:41
C Tier
Globe of Blades 1:06:48
Summon Deva/Summon Fallen Deva 1:06:50
Ranger 1:11:18
RP Tier
Tracking 1:11:26
Bard 1:15:29
S Tier
Set Spike Trap 1:15:50
Set Time Trap 1:16:18
Enhanced Bard Song 1:18:10
B Tier
Set Exploding Trap 1:15:21
C Tier
Magic Flute 1:21:26

[@balthorpayne]

I upvote any person who brings up this classic. Thank you, sir.

[@Davaeornlol]

Hell yeah, thanks for watching and commenting buddy!

[@gregtuff4020]

I've been playing this game fur 20 years and I've learned a lot of new shit. Thanks for the vid. Gonna watch the rest of the content when time allows

[@Davaeornlol]

Thanks for watching and commenting buddy!

[@TheTdroid]

I was waiting for the Divine spell guide, but this is good too. Didn't know I wanted it.

[@Davaeornlol]

Divine soon I hope!

[@TheTdroid]

@@Davaeornlol Are you going to upload more of your Blade run?

[@Davaeornlol]

@@TheTdroid It's a lot of editing, the character is george michael and we played a lot of his music during the run. I dont care if i get demonetized, but youtube is actually preventing them from being uploaded. So I have to go in and edit it all out.

[@kmvoss]

Popping in to say I really appreciate your series on all of these spells. This has been a very nice listen while getting my own SCS run underway for the first time in over a decade.

[@Davaeornlol]

Glad you enjoy it!

[@AmityvilleFan]

You missed a very hugh difference between Comet and Dragon Breath: DB breaches MR. Abazigail's dragon form can be delt with DB, and that's very good.

[@DamianusNT]

These overviews are always a pleasure to watch. Such harcore, in-depth BG content is quite a rare treat. I do appreciate the knowledge, time and effort you put into these videos. Keep up the fantastic work, my friend. Another S-tier material.

[@Davaeornlol]

Thanks for watching and commenting buddy!

[@carlrom1321]

@@Davaeornlol Very nice guide it will help me alot for sure ! Also, are u planning on making a guide on what are the best multiclass combos assuming u are using EE Keeper so u can use kits (for exemple : assassin / mage ?).

[@SignOfTheTimes008]

@@Davaeornlol Do you do a good video on ultimate ToB dream party? Will have to take a lot l8r

[@aaronlee9651]

I disagree with the two handers I prefer them

[@bowlock9901]

Only just recently discovered you. What an abundance of valuable information. If you can be bothered im sure a lot would appreciate some structure to playlists as you complete guides etc. Thanks for your work though, its greatly appreciated. The gaming world needs gamers like you right now.

[@Davaeornlol]

Yeah tmr i'm going to be reorganizing all my youtube stuff. Thx for watching!

[@overtrist]

What the heck? I started replaying Baldur's Gate 2 after 15 years and here's a video made on the 19th of March 2020 showing off all the ToB abilities. Cool.

[@Davaeornlol]

I got your back buddy. Thanks for watching and commenting!

[@BuzzKirill3D]

Awwww yisss, a new Davaeorn guide. In one of the other videos, somebody suggested a video on companions. I second that.

[@Davaeornlol]

Soon.tm thanks for watching!

[@kubko87]

Love your content. Currently playing IWD1 w/ friends and recommendem them your videos. You also inspired me to replay the BG saga. Keep it up!

[@Davaeornlol]

Awesome friend glad you're enjoying it. God bless!

[@vfeitosa86]

God bless, my dude! Keep up the good work, love your content, so much nostalgia, you made me take on a brand new run of bg2, thanks my friend!

[@elderofblack]

@Davaeorn Thank you for posting these helpful spell and skill tutorials. Like you I played this game when it was new when I was 12 just barely beating the game with pure luck using spells that "sound good on paper". I finally found my way back to this game and was STILL overwhelmed with spell combo possibilities. Swear to god its like getting a fucking PHD to learn everything in this game. So I watched all your tutorial videos for hours on end and now I'm finally capable of breaching a high lvl enemy mage on harder difficulties. I run into combat prepared for battles and win the first time rather then saving and reloading until I learned the right combination. I use summons that don't suck. And I can carry a couple extra characters in my party for RP purposes and not because i need them. I feel all this further adds to the overall experience of the game. SO if anyone else is reading this, spend a few hours at least to review all the highlights in the spell videos Davaeorn offers and this game opens up its true potential.

[@Davaeornlol]

I'm glad you enjoyed them friend thanks for watching and commenting!

[@Scizyr]

This is excellent, thanks Dav!

[@Davaeornlol]

Thx buddy!

[@amrv8395]

Your videos have changed the way I play the game. The best ever. Well done.

[@Davaeornlol]

Thanks for saying that buddy and thanks for watching!

[@Gnoll-1337]

Been waiting for this for 10 months! Ty!

[@Davaeornlol]

Thanks for watching friend sorry it took so long!

[@Xaverious23]

love your work, i consider myself a bg veteran, and still learned so much from your videos. thank you very much and thumb up :)

[@Davaeornlol]

Thanks for watching and commenting friend!

[@philwendisch4894]

I thought that aswell. But i've found out, that compared to him, i am basicly Noober.

[@hassiebassie19]

Been going through the videos since I started BG EE again and playing dragonspear for the first time. The game is a walk in the park since I have a much greater understanding of spells and it's all thanks to you! Played on normal with a good party, will probably play it again with an evil party next time. Would love a video about npc's, which ones are the best in BG1 and BG2. Which equipment to give them etc.

[@Davaeornlol]

Soon.tm

[@hassiebassie19]

@@Davaeornlol awesome.

[@Not_that_Brian_Jones]

Love these! I'm a modder, and I'll be incorporating many of your suggestions in this video into a mod I'm creating (and likely others--this is the first video I've seen so far).

[@Davaeornlol]

Nice! Best of luck with it and thanks for commenting!

[@Not_that_Brian_Jones]

@@Davaeornlol My pleasure! I'll also direct users to your videos where I can (so they can get a sense of the reasoning behind the changes)

[@squashedeyeball]

This is epic Dava. The amount of time this probably took to make with all the testing. And all the knowledge you spill, these are priceless. Bless you man! 17:53 X tier, I like it :) I have an x' tier for albums I like or dislike, depending on the mood. Honestly I have never played with the Shaman. My versions for both BGee are 1.3, (It's SCS 29 or 30 if I'm not mistaken). I just don't like how they changed the look of the charts/spell books and all that :) But once I get a new computer (Mind is 11 years old), I'll have to get used to the newer versions. But man, "Favored of the Spirits" is really tempting to try out... 36:10 Yeah man. I never used Alchemy more than once. In ToB after Watcher's Keep, I stuck up to 80 potions of invs... 1:10:29 Poor Duke... F/D Duke was departed from this glory... His time will come again. 1:17:28 I used the time trap on my assassin solo, for the Tahazzar fight. I lured some of the demons to me (When I saved vs their spells, thankfully). Then ran to a corner where I was out of sight, placed as many time traps as I could. Killed the ones who were near me and repeated this process, while running around like crazy. And bard song, yeah, it used to stuck in the original :) But you could also use it from a Mislead spell... So you could cast several Mislead, have all of them to the bard song, and the bonuses would all stack.

[@Davaeornlol]

Crazy shit man, keep on keeping on buddy thanks as always for watching and commenting my friend!

[@squashedeyeball]

@@Davaeornlol Bless you Dav! I have you in my prayers man. And I hope that only good news will come in your way!

[@safertobeanonymous2224]

I love your spell review (even though I play game not on hardcore). You refer a lot to class and race references, I’d love to see you do a full class review on character creation.

[@Davaeornlol]

I plan on doing that soon atm my illness is making things really difficult.

[@Gargantupimp]

I freaking love this videos. Watch em twice sometimes lol.

[@Davaeornlol]

Glad you enjoy them buddy thanks for watching!

[@RoyBrush]

Thanks for posting this, I'll check back tomorrow for the timestamps. ^_^

[@Davaeornlol]

Won't be up till saturday probably XD thanks for watching buddy!

[@meluckycharms321]

just wanted to remind you that your videos are awesome! That is all.

[@ricardogeerkens4289]

Just wanted to say I absolute love these guides of yours. When I go outside for a run I put my headphones on with on of ur vids, so I heard each one at least 5 times already lol. Pls also make the divine guides!

[@Davaeornlol]

Soon my friend I hope thanks for watching and commenting!

[@OLee82]

You're the only guy they would let enter Candlekeep without donating a "tome of great value" :-) I'm "struggling" through Baldur's Gate 2 at the moment. It's a lot of fun though and it's something interesting to do with everything beind under lock-down around here. Thanks for all these great videos. Stay safe!

[@Davaeornlol]

You too buddy thanks for watching and commenting!

[@richardnorton7297]

Great vids bud!!

[@Davaeornlol]

Thanks for watching!

[@oleksii-kozak]

I don't quite understand why I watched this till the end, but no regrets. Good analysis, I always admired people who pushed BG to the limits with creative builds, whereas I just did a casual playthrough of the trilogy. I guess the only 'challenge' run I did was solo run on Icewind Dale 2 on extreme difficulty, but that's easy to do as long as you've played a game once before.

[@Davaeornlol]

No reload makes every game different and fun imo. Thanks for watching and commenting friend!

[@kayn2222]

man ur vids took me from being a really good player to Bhaalspawn. much love, i will go back and comment vids on what ive experienced haha

[@Davaeornlol]

Thanks for watching and commenting friend!

[@SkarneZ]

Wow very interesting stuff thank you! One day I'll start modding and trying stuff out.

[@platon82]

For whatever reason, in 2.5 some spells work differently. Sanctuary allows to cast "blue" spells, like Heal, without breaking invisibilty, for instance. Mass raise dead, instead of healing for 3D10 + 1/level, works like this: you cast it, it heals after a delay, and then it heals again for 5 or so times, bringing everyone to full. So it's basicly a mass heal. Might have been changed by scs, but it works in the unmoded.

[@Davaeornlol]

I'm not sure if it still does that in my version but yeah it's busted as hell. Thanks for commenting!

[@old_scaly]

@@Davaeornlol Mass Raise Dead was updated in 2022 by Beamdog to not apply a heal effect at all unless the targets were dead before the spell was cast, and the most recent version of SCS goes along with this logic. No longer a really clutch party-healing spell.

[@nathannolen7377]

I lost it when you started in on Alchemy and Scribe Scroll! 🤣 Another informative and entertaining guide sir! I did have a question on Shadow Maze as to if it does or does not bypass MR? Keep the awesome guides coming! 😁

[@Davaeornlol]

Honestly I'm not sure if it skips MR. I'll have to play around with it. Thanks for commenting friend!

[@lefthook2397]

For anybody playing the base game, earth elemental transformation does NOT have 50 percent physical dmg reduction. Just got Jaheira transformed for the first time and instantly smashed by some golems to find out.

[@mark6360]

Bit of a story here, I stopped playing Baldur's Gate (and video games) in 2001. October 2019 picked up Siege of Dragonspear to play occasionally and finished it last weekend (July 2020). I still have BG1 and BG2 save games from 2001 and loaded my last BG2 save which was a 4 character party on Normal difficulty, Minsc, Anomen, Imoen, and a pure mage Charname that wasn't an imported character. I stopped a bit past the beginning of Chapter 5 in the Underdark and managed to get a HLA for Anomen and went with Aura of Flaming Death. Now I'm seeing that might not have been the best choice. My Charname mage was lvl 17 and about 200k from his HLA and I remember I was going to with a Planatar. Anyway this video is gold and your channel is incredible, I watched some of your game play videos and you're a beast. I'm starting a new BG2 competitionist game this weekend and will start with (edit) SCS and bump it up the difficulty if it gets too easy. 4 character party again, Minsc, Anomen, maybe Jan instead of Imoen, and a pure mage Charname. Going to play through to ToB and beat it this time around. I'll definitely be checking out your videos, excellent content.

[@Davaeornlol]

Hell yeah man thanks for sharing and thanks for watching and commenting, I hope you enjoy your run!

[@bartek_ewertowski]

Thanks for all your awesome videos! Would you consider doing a level-by-level sorcerer build guide? I know that you've already told us which spells are S-tier, but it can be tricky to figure out what order to take them to maximize utility through BG1 and BG2.

[@alcel24]

Just wanted to thank u for the great video. I do not agree with everything u say, but u always have a point in what u are saying....

[@terrance7220]

I just finished my first ever BG trilogy play through as a sorcerer. (I did play neverwinter nights no death solo sorcerer run about 250 times so I have some dnd mage experience) it’s so much fun the fights are just epic ! I think my next play through might choose pierce magic for a few that are immune to lower resistance but then I would have to give up mislead or true sight (probably give up mislead ..) I also picked imprisonment but never actually used it.. level 8 is kind of hard too between power word blind and simulacrum 😑 also I really like “COMET” like you can blast Irenicus off the screen with it.

[@johanlassen6448]

IIRC Dragon's Breath also does not give a shit about magic resistance, so if you are fighting Drow, who typically have a Constitution score of 9, you will be dropping them rather fast. Comet, by contrast, is affected by magic resistance.

[@Davaeornlol]

Yeah I'm pulling up the engine to check, I thought it was the opposite but that might have been a patch or some other crap I was playing with at the time. Prismatic spray I know for a fact was NOT party friendly, but last time I used it, it turns out to be. It's been so long. Thanks for watching and commenting friend!

[@thoronirgros188]

SCS on highest difficulty with no reload? DAMN now we're talking.

[@Davaeornlol]

We only go hard here buddy.

[@MadPutz]

Davaeorn streams his runs - he plays very quickly it’s a good watch

[@WetBoy]

@@Davaeornlol try easy mode

[@sixofnine9407]

your knowledge is astounding. gonna restart BG.

[@Davaeornlol]

Do it friend est game in the world, get SCS in there for some extra fun! Hope you have a kickass run. Thanks for watching and commenting friend!

[@Gnoll-1337]

I remember reading the original TOB strategy guide which spoke about hardiness being not great. Instead they recommended getting more whirlwinds. I was about 14ish at the time but I never found that to be the case. I am feeling a small degree of vindication hearing your analysis. :) I suspect the guide writers were playing on easy/normal.

[@Davaeornlol]

That's definitely the case, you will still see people parrot that monks are a late game power house despite the fact they can be one shot even on normal difficulty via crit. Hardiness is 100% mandatory for insane scs if you're a pure fighter that wants to melee. Thanks for watching and commenting friend!

[@fredrichardson9761]

So sad that Mass Raise Dead no longer function as a super mass heal spell... Smack that one down several tiers...

[@toasterdudel1977]

Not even at HLA level yet but I've watched this multiple times! Imma be ready when I get the XP to get there lol

[@Davaeornlol]

XD hell yeah thanks for watching and commenting friend!

[@TheParappa]

Hmmm... Favored of the Spirits does sound pretty good. But does it protect from Imprisonment? Because some higher beholders like to put you in a cage from time to time.

[@ewok40k]

Improved Alacrity is key for my Machinegun Mage Robe of Vecna and Amulet of Poer together reduce cast time by 5 by eliminating mandatory pause with every spell, this makes timestop almost redundant waltz into a dragon, drop down some lower resistances first, then empty every magic missile, melfs acid arrow, flame arrow, finger of death in the spellbook into him/her.

[@bentosan]

Not sure why this in my feed but I’ll take it, this game is fantastic

[@Davaeornlol]

Hell yeah buddy. Thanks for watching and commenting!

[@gel87Kjetil]

You could set up 100 spike traps. Clones do not have a traplimit. So you could use shadow twin, sircumlation etc and then pop as many as u have availeble on all. A clone can also cast shadow twin/sircumlation, and use scrolls with sircumlation which will not be drained from ur main char upon use.

[@Phi1500]

Hey man, great videos as usual, can't wait for your companion and class guides! Out of interest, what would be your top picks for HLAs for a fighter/mage? I'm thinking specifically at lower levels before you get access to timestop, planetars, etc..

[@Davaeornlol]

Multiclass I would take the extra mage spells right out the gate and then go for critical strikes since there's nothing really else useful, maybe a whirlwind for when I want to use staff of the magi for dispelling during a timestop should that situation ever come up. Generally speaking the fighter HLAS are superfluous for a multi mage since you cant cast a spell AND use an HLA in the same round so you gotta pick one or the other, and for the most part, it's better to cast a spell, and once you run out of spells, it's better to just rest and get em back than rely on hlas so they're kinda moot tbh. Really depends on what you're doing and who you're with, but as i said in my games, extra 6 7 8 slots will come first.

[@alexanderoakland2607]

Great guide! Would you ever consider doing a video on weapon proficiency? I always spend an absolute ton of time trying to decide where to spend my proficiency points when leveling up

[@Davaeornlol]

Yes the class guide is next and ill do weapons after.

[@FatherMulk]

Thanks for these guides. The arcane guides made my BG1 playthrough much easier. I had no idea how good web was. Will we be seeing more divine spell guides?

[@Davaeornlol]

Soon.tm thanks for watching!

[@MrBottlecapBill]

I used web, entangle and grease in almost every battle lol. It's like a defensive wall. Then you can go to town with AOE spells as well or just have fun with missile weapons. Insect swarm is fun to watch at later levels. :)

[@Davaeornlol]

@@MrBottlecapBill Yeah it's nasty as hell for sure!

[@mrc3885]

Globe of blades gets placed before triggering an encounter.. Example, stealther spots a group of enemies, party moves into a room or through a choke point, globe is placed where the enemy will need to pass through before reaching you for combat. It's like putting a blender in a doorway.

[@Davaeornlol]

Nice! thanks for commenting friend!

[@furryfloofer8742]

Aren't there tons of enemies that are immune to critical strikes in ToB? Could GWW+two handed weapons have more DPR than critical strike+dual wield for ToB for all the major bosses that you would want to use it on because of that?

[@filipzo]

I've played this game so many times I can't count. And still, today, I find out that missed something. I've NEVER seen HLA such as the tokens or mazes. I am almost triggered to play another time. In my version ( I use EE, but I've used original edition for years) Critical hit for some reason misses the target (or it does nothing, maybe stoneskin or whatever). For this reason, I pick Greater Whirlwind. I know, with improved haste I can easily reach 7/9 apr BUT, in my experience, I had to rely on GW to do the job. Time to try Critical hit again! :-) Thank you for the video!

[@Davaeornlol]

You need mods for the tokens (scs) but i wouldn't play this game without it tbh. Good luck out there buddy

[@luugius5569]

Holy shit, 5 videos dropped in one day!!?! you legend, god bless man!

[@Davaeornlol]

UP LATE totally worth God bless you friend!

[@Merknilash]

I don't understand the token stuff - is that a mod to fix issues with shapeshifting?

[@sie6391]

Earth Elemental Token 1:09:20 You won't be hitted more often if you unequip and equip the dex gloves after shapeshifting. In fact, your AC will improve significantly since now you have a natural -5 plus18 dex bonus. You can also use the boots of speed to overcome your mobility loss. I just made a post on the gibberlings forum asking if the possibility to just equip and unequip items to get bonuses while shapeshifted was intentional or a bug, so let's see. And both fire and earth tokens are dealing slashing damage, a thing that the dev is aware of, but unfortunately didn't have time to fix.

[@Davaeornlol]

I don't really think it matters unfortunately by that point as enemy thac0 is going to reliably hit anything that's not at -15 ac or more, even with dex gloves and base AC you're looking at -9, I suppose if you threw on a beastly shield and some other equip you can get up there but then of course you don't benefit from belm, if you're looking to make a full tank tank tho and you're a pure druid that's not a bad idea at all! Thanks for commenting friend!

[@TheTdroid]

I might've commented about this before, but I do want to offer a bit of a defense for Magic Flute. It isn't nearly as powerful as UAI, Enhanced Song or Set Spike/Time Trap, but getting 5 "free" spells /rest is pretty nice. Having an extra use of Resist Fear always helps and temporary immunity to lvl 1-4 spells from Globe can be useful, especially when reapplying buffs. Delayed Fireball is 15d6 fire damage as opposed to 10d6 for the Exploding Trap and you get 3/rest that can be cast in combat without any workarounds and at range. Delayed Fireball can also be pre-cast as a trap, letting you potentially set up a 45d6 fire trap if you absolutely want to, all for a single HLA. Just seems to me that Set Exploding Trap and Magic Flute should swap ratings or Magic Flute should be put in A-tier if the Exploding Trap rank is also determined by other rogues having access to it. Magic Flute not only do more, but also do the one thing Exploding Trap does better. Magic Flute being usable by any non-Bard with UAI also makes it more versatile.

[@Davaeornlol]

I should have talked more about it (and I will do so thanks for reminding me) when I redo the series. The knockaway is pretty useful at times because it ignores mr and has no saves, and the knockdown effect requires a titanic save so it's still useful for interrupting fights and screwing with positioning. I have used exploding trap more than magic flute in my playthroughs and it's just been my experience.

[@ToTheNines87368]

I know you don’t like the ability, but does greater whirlwind work with missile weapons? I’m considering picking it for Mazzy.

[@mikesmith6838]

I play Big World version, so I don't know if "Lingering Song" was an original Bard HLA or Big World. But, it allowed you to do the bard song until the effects were on your party, then you could switch off for several rounds to do other things. Making your bard much more functional than just singing.

[@steakdriven]

It's probably because finger of death isn't forcing a death save it's forcing a save versus spell which it's not supposed to do

[@chrishendry1031]

Something I started doing for my No Reloads runs was utilizing other characters for stand-ins, and realized I could have some spare Alchemy monkeys hanging in my Pocket Plane (Or earlier in BG2) who just make potions for me on rest. Possibly too cheesy, but I enjoy the longplays of the game, and take my time, so giving other characters some levels for Alchemy is not at all out of my style of play.

[@Davaeornlol]

Not at all, thanks for commenting friend!

[@limitedassurance]

There was a glitch with energy blades in BG2EE where if you had, say, a quarterstaff equipped when you cast energy blades, and then you used up all the blades, you would now have permanent (until reload) 10 APR with your quarterstaff. This was ridiculously fun at first because you could just beat the hell out of everything with staff of rynn, but trying to play in solo runs and having to reload every time because it was cheesy got old. Not sure if they fixed that.

[@Phi1500]

Quick question: have you ever used the Bard Hat (SoD import) with Enhanced Bard song? You pick it up in the Planar Prison if it's in your inventory when you import from SoD. It causes effects of regular Bard Song to linger for 2 rounds after the bard stops singing, so could be a good addition/alternative to the Vhailor's Helm approach if it works.

[@Davaeornlol]

It definitely is and If I ever play another bard we'll probably pick it up!

[@kmg9763]

My kind of Podcast!

[@Davaeornlol]

Hell yeah thanks for watching and commenting buddy!

[@McZakke]

Hey! I have watched all your spell guides and some streams. Inspired me very much to experiment more with this so dear game for me from the day zero. have you tried to play with spell revision mod too? It's cool to actually have more than 4-5 useful spells per level :D

[@Davaeornlol]

I thought about it several times but I try not to install anything that confuses people too much. Too many mods and people won't recognize the game anymore you know? Thanks for watching and commenting friend!

[@NoNamesWereAvail]

Wow, that's some serious dedication! Found out about your videos a few months ago as I was trying to get back into BG1/SoD/BG2 series and then starting with SCS for the first time and now I see you keep on making more :) . I was surprised to learn that 2h weapons are always weaker than DW and that Critical Strikes is stronger than GWW. I messed around both on my last BG2 run and I thought that people said GWW was stronger because Critical Strikes wouldn't work on most enemies in ToB (maybe I misunderstood?). What kind of class and weapons would you suggest are some of the strongest for physical damage output in this case? There are many good weapons and still a few I couldn't really fit or didn't play that much around with so I wasn't sure last time around. As for Monk being awful, I'm guessing it's because at the difficulty you play, having an insane amount of armor and a bunch of hardiness isn't enough? I guess I'm glad I did one playthrough with one as a main on regular (non-SCS) core rules then because he was awful through BG1 but basically turned into a god by mid or end of BG2 on the difficulty I was playing (now that I play with SCS, I may not play with one again if they're as bad as you say but I only cleared BG1 and about 1/3rd of SoD and then took a long break again, I'd have to get back into it).

[@Davaeornlol]

Monk has low hp and no crit immunity, on insane it dies in seconds. It's just terrible. There are many monsters immune to crits but critical strike is still better. It's totally worth playing again max the difficulty and play away. Thanks for commenting buddy!

[@Scorpius165]

Very informative as always! Could you, please, share where the mod for separate HLAs can be downloaded (for BG2EE)?

[@Davaeornlol]

Gibberlings3 tweak pack

[@MouseDestruction]

Does storm of vengance have something where it doesn't agro enemies if you cast it outside their line of sight? Pretty sure there was some cheese strat with it, maybe just could target the fog without vision, cant remember now. Perhaps because its not a spell but an ability?

[@Davaeornlol]

Pretty sure it was always a spell but mods can make it an ability, you can always cast it off screen with a vision aid like the others. Not sure if it was unique in some way there.

[@loaflegion4825]

I've been playing around with a bunch of different mods and I don't know if it's entirely due to some weird interaction of the mods in my game, but the SCS Elemental Tokens can be given to another character and used with the thief's Use Any Item ability. I found out that I can have Jan go from a tiny gnome to a massive earth elemental by giving him a token, which is just hilarious to me. His physical damage resistance from his armor also weirdly interacts with the elemental transformation, showing a 75% physical damage reduction on his character sheet. The tokens also use the two-handed weapon proficiency, allowing for extra damage and crit chance. He got backstabbed once, transformed, and immediately crit the rogue that attacked him for 60 damage. I had to get up and walk away because I was laughing too hard to continue. Not sure if it's like that with just SCS, but it's beyond busted.

[@Davaeornlol]

Yeah it is I don't do it for that reason but it is hilarious XD

[@subMJM]

Makes Jan's stories almost believable when he can pull off stuff like that. Really fits his character.

[@DeathsOrigin]

Bro, you should do a top 10 class guide or something. Or gear it towards insane difficulty. Not necessarily a solo class guide, because I understand that can be very limited. I'd love to hear your thoughts on some of the more interesting duel class combos and multiclasses out there

[@Davaeornlol]

Class guide is something im working on.

[@DeathsOrigin]

@@Davaeornlol just reinstalled the games and watched your class guide. Learned a lot

[@mbalazs3544]

99% on what you say i agree :D very good video

[@gel87Kjetil]

A lot of those fighter spells you dont like is really good as forexample a solo fmt. I prefer using unerfed hla table though. Anyway, use all items will make you able to use casomyr. Re-equipping casomyr after getting 50% magic res from resist magic hla will put it at 100%. Now greater wirlwind has a huge effect as well, since ur using a twohander. You will also dispell enemy mage protection super quick with casomyr. So ur basicly put urself up for a easy fight vs every single spellcaster in the game. You can pop them all at once with Improved alacricity(not part of fmt orginal hla) and be total immune to all spells, while dispelling protection and have high enought enhancedment to hit everything 10times per round.

[@saytr4]

Storm of Vengeance - Looking at the BG wiki and it says the poison damage is 4/ second for 18 seconds. So thats 72 damage and no spellcasting for 3 rounds However.. Save vs Death negates and it is Poison damage If you can get the poison damage to work it sounds pretty good.

[@djdenton]

One fun thing to do with critical strike is the harm cs combo for fighter druids and clerics.

[@Davaeornlol]

Big brain plays here, I forgot harm lasts two rounds not 1, so what you're saying is indeed possible. Thanks for commenting friend!

[@luciusnetheril]

Shadow Twin is ludicrously broken - you can shadow twin the shadow twin...

[@Usumgallu]

At least in the orginal BG2 the time trap occasionally triggers twice.

[@Davaeornlol]

That would explain why it seems to last so long. Thanks for commenting friend!

[@AmityvilleFan]

Energy Blades is very good for solo. Storm of Vengence is only good if you play Solo Poverty, and have to destroy Desert Trolls for good. That's the only source of acid (or cold) damage for Medic. Still, I'd just skip them with Sanctuary, and close the door on them.

[@Davaeornlol]

Yeah if you're solo some spells change for sure. Thanks for watching and commenting friend!

[@dragunovmain4142]

You talked about best armor being drow armor and not being able to upgrade AC much in ToB but that armor you get by combining pantaloons is -10. Do you see it as way too cheesy/cheat and not use it?

[@Davaeornlol]

I typically don't mostly because it changes your model to something massive which is annoying as hell in the tight corners and spaces you find yourself in ToB. So you can use it to your advantage if you wish but I really think of it as just a meme. Thanks for commenting friend!

[@OgGSUS]

i like greater whirlwind easy way to get to 10 APR without the need of equipping specific gear or activating to many spells and still be able to use another amazing 1h weapon in your off hand that might give you some great passives and will be higher than +2/+3 which will be resisted by stronger enemies in ToB. especially when they are immune to crits and crits strike loses a lot of its potential. F/M with black blade of disaster time stop and greater whirlwind and another great 1h that might also kill on hit or debuff, is a lot fun to use and might decimate enemy groups. yes you have to be careful with disintegrate but at this point most enemies will not have to much useful equipment and gold also should not be a problem. great video by the way lots of useful informations

[@Davaeornlol]

Yeah to each their own. I think dual wield is just too strong in this game tbh, and it ends up making GWW pretty bad because of it. A butt naked fighter (no apr boosting equipment) is gonna have 8 APR with just imp haste. 8 apr with critical strike is ALWAYS gonna outperform 10 apr. Don't forget that the often unnoticed effect of CS is it removes critical misses from the roll table completely (obviously since you're only rolling 20s with it up). How often do you pop GWW and miss once, twice, or even more in a round? In my eyes critical strike just sweeps the floor with GWW. The only time I take it is if I'm playing a monk or fighter multiclass (GWW with earth elemental transformation is very strong). I think 2h need to be buffed a bit tbh. Encourage people to use dif weapons XD Yeah black blade is fun to play with, especially as a thief. Thanks for watching and commenting friend!

[@riddlesworth852]

@@Davaeornlol i've seen the argument that the fighter THACO, with all the bonuses from strength, weapons and gauntlets that a fighter is only missing only a natural 1 anyway, so over 2 casts of GWW, you're missing 1 attack (19 hits) and so unless your base APR is 5 with belm/kundane, the improved haste and crit strike build is hitting a max of 16, so the GWW outdamages the crit strike. Without knowing the math, the only argument I have is that IH lasts longer, so if the fight keeps going, the curve for IH takes over. Do you know the math on this?

[@Xavier-es4gi]

SCS in insane? Ok you got my attention. (maybe you should add it in the title of the video)

[@Davaeornlol]

My titles are too long as is :( and most of what I say applies to core rules no mods as well. Thanks for watching and commenting friend!

[@DeathsOrigin]

You're insane. I could barely beat both Baldurs Gate games on core difficulty with no mods. I did it! But it took me probably 100+ tries to get my character, my party and my gear just right

[@Davaeornlol]

The original game was much much harder I never once was able to go toe to toe with sarevok like you can in the EE. You'll be the next one to claim the title I believe in you!

[@DeathsOrigin]

@@Davaeornlol Thanks man! I've beaten the 1st game like 6 times now. With fighter, archer, shadow dancer, mage/fighter, F/M/T, and cleric/fighter. Beat the 2nd game ONCE, as a duel wielding fighter. I didn't have half the good equipment you were talking about though. I'm gonna keep grinding until I beat ToB

[@Davaeornlol]

@@DeathsOrigin I have faith buddy, good luck in your run!

[@DeathsOrigin]

@@Davaeornlol 1 year later, I am doing another playthrough! I am about to enter Seldensallar. My character is a duel class, 10 Swashbuckler and 20 Fighter, using Geshen Bow. For an archer, would you recommend Greater Whirlwind, on Hard difficulty? I'm trying to decide if 5 shots with Haste and Critical Strike, or 10 shots with greater whirlwind is a better idea

[@DeathsOrigin]

@@Davaeornlol So I took power attack just now and answered my own question! Even power attack is more of a game changer than 10 attacks

[@Kipa2]

Just for information, in unmoded game, there are no abilities like "Earth Elemental Token" and "Fire Elemental Token". Instead it is only "Earth and Fire elemental transformations" which kind of suck, because they do not provide damage reduction.

[@Davaeornlol]

Sadly true.

[@debrickashaw9387]

Just bought Baldurs gate 1&2 after Baldurs gate 3 was announced. Played through the first one knowing nothing but enjoyed it a lot. Still know very little about most spells though (as DND is completely foreign to me so all these rolls had me confused). Will you continue your divine spell list? the arcane one helped me a lot these past few days

[@Davaeornlol]

Yes more to come soon I hope thanks for watching!

[@mbalazs3544]

Love energy blades

[@julian_arness1320]

Is power attack the only worthwhile fighter hla for a solo F/I? Do you think that pointing pips in scimitars or the full 3 pips in two weapon style is pointless if you're wielding belm as an offhand, CF main hand?

[@Davaeornlol]

I don't think the 2 thac0 oh is worth a point nah, up to you though. Critical strike is not a BAD HLA you just don't really benefit from it much, you're gonna have extra points to put into HLAs and crit strike is arguably the best, you just wont use it much cause spell chucking is almost always better

[@julian_arness1320]

@@Davaeornlol I finished my playthrough recently. The final fight is by far the toughest. My pfmw didn't seem to last that long and I needed many of them, my spell immunity seemed to last forever. Also seemed like I got dispelled by death tyrants at times even with spell shield, maybe I was just mistaken. This was a great resource tho, thanks.

[@chadproductions9566]

Behead all those who insult magic flute.

[@Davaeornlol]

At least you got resist fear. Thanks for watching buddy!

[@Cornholers]

You should really explain how powerful hide in plain sight is for rogues and rangers omfg 😂

[@zakwert8916]

You started me playing bg2, should I scs after I at least beat core difficulty?

[@Davaeornlol]

I like my games to be too hard and tune it down than the other way around, if that works for you go for it! It makes the game a lot more fun imo.

[@alchemygal3285]

What’s the best way to spec sarevok if you grind/dual him to a mage? He seems to have too many points in two handed sword. Do I have no choice but to give him greater whirlwind or is there a better way to use him? Same with Keldorn... he also seems to be specked towards two handed swords.. but you gain him earlier so master it’s not too late?

[@Davaeornlol]

I wouldn't make him a mage unless I desperately needed a mage in ToB. Same with the other classes, just too damn far behind. As for keldorn i usually just give him firetooth and let him backline and weave in melee if possible.

[@alchemygal3285]

@@Davaeornlol I have one more question, what’s your personal opinion. Jaheira or Haer Dalis?

[@Davaeornlol]

@@alchemygal3285 HD is better by quite a bit.

[@alchemygal3285]

@@Davaeornlol it’s what I was thinking too... I still like sarevok cus he’s the only npc that can become a fighter/mage... so I’m just gonna hunker down and grind him in mage before continuing the story. It’ll probably suck but I think it’s cool. My party thoughts for a good team that can have 20 rep are: 1. Berserker/mage 2. Sarevok-fighter/mage(with work) 3. Haer-Dalis 4. Jan Jansen 5. Aerie 6. Keldorn or Jaheira Thanx for the help. And your videos. I find your thinking optimal compared to other BG gamers.

[@brandonstrife9738]

I finally watched the end of this. The monk and ranger are the classes wizards of the coast has fucked over the most in every iteration of D&D.

[@Davaeornlol]

Yeah it's pretty sad

[@es-ed5ug]

where do you get the HLA abilities mod that makes them daily use instead of taking up spell slots?

[@Davaeornlol]

I think that's SCS or tweaks, not sure which.

[@es-ed5ug]

@@Davaeornlol thanks, I found it in SCS.

[@rockstar450]

Hot take id love to hear your response on, Dav. Regular ranger is on par with archer. Both are inferior Paladins but the called shot ability, while good rarely makes up for the trade offs for armour etc. regular ranger can still get 2 pips in bows but also can transition to dual wielding and actually be good at it once arrows start becoming useless. For an entire playthrough I’d call the regular ranger a more useful class on balance. I also think archers are incredibly overrated. Look forward to your response and am hoping to learn something! Cheers bro :)

[@Davaeornlol]

Mages have the best defenses and great aoe, but their single target damage is non existent without blowing big spells. Raw single target damage especially SAFE damage is not easy to come by on insane difficulty because you simply take way too much damage. The highest single target dps ethos in the game is fighter ethos, the problem is it's not uncommon to be tanking 2 or 3 fire giants at once, one fire giant can literally do 500 damage in a single round, 3 is 1500, before mitigation. Fighter mage is the safest and requires little investment of gear, barb and dwarven defender are both very strong but defender of easthaven and a healing main hand (blackrazor, foebane) are musts in ToB, and even with these items you still need a cleric whose only job is to keep them alive. Fighters will be less tanky, but still have the ability to put out some serious numbers. Paladins and rangers will do less damage than a pure fighter, but gain damage reduction through armor of the faith on par with DD and barb, but here's the problem. The way spell casting works for paladin and ranger, is they don't cast at their level, they cast at the level they first GET these spells + additional levels. What I mean by that is, if you're a level 10 paladin, and cast armor of the faith, you're not casting as a level 10 cleric, you're not going to get 15% damage reduction, you're going to get 5, because you only JUST got your cleric spells. So basically, as a ranger / pally, you're 9 spell levels behind. This means when you're in ToB and get hit with a dispel (or soa for that matter) your magical defenses are 100% gone. So now you got a class that does less damage (no grand mastery), the same defenses, and one dual class option (if available at all). This is the reason I prefer fighters over pallies / rangers, and why the ranger class is so bad. The paladin at least gets some powerful items to play with, ranger doesn't get shit. The archer is the exception to the rule, it's one of the safest high single target dps classes in the game because you're doing everything not from melee, but from range. For some reason, you can use ammunition with firetooth which, when you combine with the raw thac0 and raw damage bonus they get from their kit, archers can hit, literally hit, for 40 damage per shot, without worrying about getting their faces smashed in. This isn't as strong as a 25 str fighter swinging a +5 wep, but it's damn close. We like to joke about thac0 being useless late, and it definitely is less important as time goes on, but it's still nice to have, and an archer has it in spades. Getting negative double digit thac0 is pretty damn easy, and you don't need books or strength boosting equipment to do it. They also get armor of the faith, can still take hardiness etc, and can focus on resistance gear right out the gate since they're not tanking. If you want to play with korgan as a fighter ethos, that man is going to be in serious trouble, since you need all the gear listed above for yourself, if you're an archer though, you can put all the good shit on one guy, and still pump out the same (sometimes more) damage because of your kit. Generally speaking, a fighter is better than a paladin, a paladin is better than a ranger, a ranger is better than a monk, when you add kits though, they can change the game completely. Archers got nothing on a berserker dual, but they're one of the best pure classes in the game.

[@rockstar450]

Davaeorn one hell of a response! Appreciate the time. Do you not find the arrow immunity shuts down the usefulness against challenging enemies in BG2 onward?

[@TheMelnTeam]

I think fighters can justify taking 1 resist magic, since you can then stack it up to 100% with items or especially potion. There are some fights where you don't need that many rounds for a few guys who are immune to magic and buffed up to end the problem. Edit: alchemy in this video is modded. In base game, you can roll regen potions, and those stack. If you are willing to waste time making potions for the chance at regen, you can spam those + haste to get stupid stuff like 30-60 hp/round regen. There are much less tedious ways to cheese the game, though solo runs involving thief should probably pick this up.

[@GintamaEnjoyer_1]

Хаюшки! Davaeorn Вижу, что у тебя отличный контент на канале. Не раздумывая жмякнул кнопку 'подписаться' )) Желаю всем хорошего настроения

[@notalefty999]

Rangers get the moon dog token with a healing lick. Its totally OP. I havent tested it, but I am pretty sure the Moondog can solo SCS ascension Mellisan.

[@TheTdroid]

Going back to this after playing a Dark Moon Monk and I have to say that Greater Whirlwind Attack is very useful for Monks. While they do get the same 2 base attack per rounds at level 13 like Fighters and can wield Belm+Scarlet for a base 5 APR, they can't be hasted. Unarmed attacks also go to 5 APR (4 base +1 from level 13). GWA is a great way to boost yourself to 10 APR with either weapons or fists. Critical Strike is still very useful though, possibly stronger than GWA. Of course, Monks aren't traditional frontline characters. Not even the DMM with their Blur and Mirror Image inate abilities. They are highly mobile skirmishers specializing in taking out priority targets like mages and archers, then coming in on the flank to aid the frontline.

[@Davaeornlol]

Yeah I would take it on a monk at times but then again, monks are a a really awful class :(

[@TheTdroid]

@@Davaeornlol They work fine on Normal or Core Rules, but that doesn't really excuse them being bad warriors and bad thieves at the same time though. A Swashbuckler or an actual Fighter/Thief will do just about everything they do better.

[@Davaeornlol]

@@TheTdroid I don't think any class is unplayable, even on the settings I play right now, I do believe that monk is the worst class in the game though. It's just awful.

[@brandonstrife9738]

@@Davaeornlol I don't know the Ranger is tryin to take that spot.

[@Karlsson1976]

I was wondering if you could make a video of the spells that get imported to bg from id with scs.

[@Davaeornlol]

I''m gonna redo the whole arcane series when I get my new computer and the IWD spells will be there.

[@Karlsson1976]

@@Davaeornlol Thank you I appreciate it as your suggestions have opened my eyes somewhat when it come to some spells I failed to use to max effect.

[@shadowdance4666]

I just love the game play of Temple of Elemental Evil so much. I wish that they would incorporate it in to Baldur’s Gate

[@Davaeornlol]

Maybe someday :)

[@safertobeanonymous2224]

Alacrity. How do you play it without the ability to que spells?

[@Davaeornlol]

keybind spells or use pause repeatedly to maximize its duration

[@ktaikamatika1397]

Dayum, just created a SHD human with 99 stats (used the hotkey autoreroller program :S ) yesterday, thinking I would dualclass it into fighter, but seeing these HLAs, should have gone elf or halfling for the saves. Always imagined a SHD more like a super-duper elf assassin with some dark/shady powers (ran an elf assassin long ago, but HIPS is a must have, otherwise you have to just resort to using staff of magi, but that still requires high lvl + HLA).

[@Davaeornlol]

Yeah I think they're pretty interesting. HiPS is probably the best thing beamdog added tbh EVERYBODY wanted their thieves to play with that ability. It is what it is though.

[@mister4721]

Awesome video Dude, you know yr stuff i'll give ya that. Most of yr advice you give in this video i agree on, BUT only if you play like you say on hard core....i however do not. I don't believe in Hard core or any insane levels at all in any game. I just don't see the point of these levels, and i play for my enjoyment only I play or Core level or mid level, where nobody gets ANY bonuses. I have tried before, i did complete the whole BG series with a solo FMT type char on Hard level, but it was like going two steps forward and one step back all the way through, i just couldn't wait to finish it TBH. If any player who likes this hard core type then go ahead, if you enjoy it, great ! ....no problem, but its not for me though. :)

[@Davaeornlol]

That's fair bro. At the end of the day I think how you enjoy the game is what matters. I can't play games without having it on the hardest setting because it's the most fun for me. A lot of what I say still applies to no mods core rules but the easier the game difficulty, the less your choices really matter. I like being punished for being lazy or poor choices, when my choices don't matter I feel like nothing matters. In the immortal words of the great philosopher carl, none of dis matters. The only thing that matters tho is having fun. I hope you're having fun in your playthroughs buddy, thanks for commenting and watching!

[@mister4721]

@@Davaeornlol No problem Dude, keep up the great work. :)