Wiping Out the Shadow Curse Horde! No damage. Baldur's Gate 3, Nine Hells Challenge

[@konferansjer]

Congratulations, another great display of preparation, strategy and general game knowledge. Amazing series, by far my favorite gaming content currently available on YT.

[@Melth]

@@konferansjer thank you very much, I'm glad to hear you like it so well!

[@josher-ch6sf]

I've been looking forward to this episode for the whole run. Nice job!

[@Melth]

@@josher-ch6sf thank you! It's one of my favorite fights of the run!

[@zamelie9399]

okay that was really a funny portal fight strategy! also enjoyed the whole episode a lot, the first fight was very satisfying to watch with the fireball

[@Melth]

@@zamelie9399 thanks, glad you liked it! And yeah, I love a good fireball!

[@jampk24]

You got it, Halsin. I'll stay here and pray to my pixie that the portal remains open.

[@Melth]

@@jampk24 and the pixie delivers once again!

[@jayrobitaille2402]

4:20 I have s story about this that is about one of the few times this game really angered me. Astarion went out of my control (he is AI controlled during this encounter) during a fight with some vampires sent to the camp by Cazador in Act III and he seemed to deliberately waste rare consumables on this easily winnable fight and Karabasan's Gift was one of them.

[@Melth]

Ugh, yeah, the AI is horribly wasteful about spells and items! One time when I failed the dark urge saving throw to resist murdering a lover, and the rest of the party attacked me, I decided to see what would happen if I just passed my turns. They took 8 turns to kill me, constantly breaking concentration on expensive spells to cast worthless or redundant spells, chugging haste potions and then using their extra action to cast an expensive and useless scroll, etc.

[@petewilcock]

That battle was insane!

[@Melth]

Thank you!

[@DiabeticNecromancer]

For the shadow curse horde fight I made the great wall of barrels and boxes around the portal so things couldn't get in lol

[@Melth]

@@DiabeticNecromancer I've heard people do something like that, but don't a lot of them fly or have ranged attacks?

[@Melth]

@HQbaracuda I used a stone wall when attacking Gortash during his coronation. I used it to trap Duke Ravenguard so I could leave him alive while I fought everything else. Sadly, the game bugged and Mizora kept talking like he was dead even though I could see him standing right there!

[@DutchyNeon]

@@Melth oh really.. thats sad, they had so many things considerd and that one seems rather obvious to do, wanted to try it in my next run, well... now im not doing it xd

[@wekashipo7507]

16:45 You don't hate Shar enough. You might think you do, but I assure you, no matter how much you hate her, it's never enough. I do agree that the rings are really neat. Warding bond is one of the few ways in the game for "tanks" to actually soak damage for allies. Singlehandedly bumps Barbarians up a tier in my eyes. 19:26 I like Halsin, too. I find it very funny that the companion with the best head on his shoulders was the one who became a companion because Early Access players were horny for him. 30:12 I've also noticed that the hardest fights tend to be the easiest ones on repeat playthroughs. Mainly because BG3 rewards preparation a lot.

[@Melth]

Barbarians are definitely one of the best users of warding bond! But they're so terrible without their few rages per day that just being an HP battery for a better class isn't worth all that much imo. It's true also that preparation makes fights waaaay easier in this game. Which I think is mostly a very good thing, that shows how much strategy matters

[@wekashipo7507]

@Melth Yeah, I really want to like Barbarians and make them work because I think the archetype is cool, but I can't get over how they're just worse Fighters when they're not raging. I have the same issue with Sorcerers compared to Wizards, but I can at least respect that Sorcs are unmatched powerhouses if you only do 1 combat per long rest. Barbarian rage isn't obscenely strong, and it feels like a ton of it goes to waste. 10 turns of rage is excessive when combat rarely lasts even half that long. Maybe rage is balanced around the idea that you'll get 20-50 turns of it, and that's why it's underwhelming.

[@Melth]

@wekashipo7507 I don't think I love the archetype to begin with. It just kind of has to exist because Conan is a fantasy icon, but it doesn't necessarily make any sense in-universe and a lot of its class features in various editions have just been a grab bag of "well Conan did this or had this trait" regardless of being cohesive as a design choice Fundamentally, I just don't think that "primitive person is defined by their fits of violent anger, and ONLY primitive people have notable anger" makes any sense narratively or mechanically

[@wekashipo7507]

@@Melth Barbarians tickle the part of my brain that watched Dragonball Z when I was 12 and thought Broly was the coolest thing ever put to screen. It's not the primitive aspect that appeals to me, but moreso the archetype of a character who's so freakishly strong that skill and wits unnecessary. Which is very un-Conan. Conan was smart and skilled, and was a barbarian in the Greek sense of an unsettled tribesman, rather than the D&D sense of a mindless, feral mountain of muscle and adrenaline.

[@chryzos3091]

​@@wekashipo7507 @Melth just wanted to chime in and say that I really enjoyed this exchange

[@Rhakimdar]

Yes melph Video Day! I've been having a lot of fun doing honor mode with some mods. Your tactics have made me so much better as I even took no damage on my party in the spectator fight (just some spiders died xD). Tho I am using some crazy mods like Mystic class lol. Just having a nice chill time with it while I continue to learn strats. I actually plan to do a challenge of my own soonish. A no merchant run (and taking fights similar to yours)! Should be pretty fun, didn't fight the thorms on tactician and now they get legendary actions, and add a bit of challenge while also letting me still rock a full party for those super fun tactics. Solo runs are neat but I enjoy the combos and positioning. Your videos have certainly helped me plan some things out and appreciate the combat much more! Can't wait to see act 3 as its my favorite! My playthrough with my gf finally got to it and its been some chaotic fun (I stole some armor and they started blaming her xD)

[@Melth]

Nice, sounds like you're making a lot of progress and getting better too. Good luck with your challenge run!

[@maelstrrom2824]

Nice job killing them all without taking damage! I used sleet storm for the left side; since most of the enemies only dash they fall prone and can be taken out with impunity (also very funny to watch.) The shadows on the right are easily dispatched with spirit guardians like you showed here, and I positioned my cleric back on the edge of the ice at the end of her turn to get anyone who made it past the ice. Your way is definitely faster and more efficient; the timer ran out and I missed a couple enemies so lost a little bit of exp.

[@Melth]

Sounds like a good strategy, perhaps just needing a little more damage from the rest of the party to make it work completely. On my first run, I used spike growth on the left side and that worked pretty well

[@rodrigolopezdato5761]

This challenge run is great! Finally up to date to this episode, can't wait until you're in act 3 I wonder how the run would be different if you couldn't reroll vendor inventories as often, would your party composition change much if you couldn't buy all the items that vendors can offer? For example, if you had to level up your whole party at once and couldn't use vendors until everyone levels up. Maybe throw in not being able to "bribe" vendors to reduce their prices as well?

[@Melth]

Hm. I don't think no bribes would change very much. I have more money than I could ever use as it is, and if I couldn't reset merchant inventories, that would just mean that there's even less stuff to buy. Not reroll merchant inventories would make things a bit harder (though it's not like I'm using anywhere NEAR all my scrolls) but also more luck based I think. If there's a scroll I really want 1-2 of (for example, getting lightning bolt early on to have wizard Karlach learn it), it would become a single roll of the dice whether a merchant randomly has it or whether I'm stuck for another entire level. Whereas with resets, I can pretty much guarantee something close to average results, with every spell coming up in small quantities

[@zzickos]

For Portal fight my preferred tactic for some time is to equip Helm of Arcane Acuity, stack it up to 10 before the fight starts by breaking stuff around the portal and then casting Evard's Black Tentacles(there is an amulet in House of Healing for it) on the left side. Everyone just gets stuck as soon as they enter it and they can't get close to the portal. For extra security cast Darkness on portal with other companion not to break the concentration on EBT, arrow of darkness is fine as well. Also, Wall of Fire with 3rd companion in the middle for birds and tentacles. I thought this was one of the hardest fights on my first playthrough 'cause I didn't know what to expect.

[@Melth]

Sounds like a fun strategy! On my first playthrough I used a spike growth on the left and spirit guardians for the shadows + weak birds that spawn in the middle

[@jayrobitaille2402]

1:49 To be fair, Shar does not really approve of eating, breathing or survival in general.

[@jayrobitaille2402]

Rather than going back to edit my comment, I am just going to add an addendum. A Shar worshipper itself is almost an oxymoron in itself considering you are worshipping a goddess that wants complete entropy, ie everything including you gone.

[@Melth]

@@jayrobitaille2402 they may or may not be an oxymoron, but they are definitely regular morons!

[@jayrobitaille2402]

@@Melth At the same time, it may be the dumbest trope ever, but in fiction, the most evil gods with the most self-destructive doctrines almost always seem to not only have followers, but "ride or die" faithful ones. The closest thing I can think of in real life is the denizens of the far left that unironically support communism.

[@man_apologist]

the shadow cursed lands are super dangerous! unless you simply avoid the buildings where all the shadow cursed people live regarding the thorms, i think garengoth or however its spelt and thisobald were changed to be that way by the shadow curse (not that they were model citizens beforehand) while malus was convinced to be a sharran earlier by ketheric or whoever around or when he converted. i think since the release of the shadow curse theyve had very little to do with ketheric and murkyl and the absolute, just content to hang around in the curse

[@Melth]

A statue of gerringothe suggests Gerringothe always looked weird though. Thisobald must have been mutated by the curse I guess, but that's weird because the curse doesn't mutate most people. Most of the shadow cursed undead are just either shadows or normal looking Zombies with a green aura

[@samuelpetrunyak4989]

Shadow creature time!

[@Melth]

Aaaand shadow creature time is over!

[@eduhardi5411]

Once you hit lvl 10 you really should go over your builds 🙏🏄

[@Melth]

@@eduhardi5411 yep, I did that already in the (already made, and will be released in a few weeks) video when I reach level 10!

[@Gameman5252-e2r]

Looking forward to your Strat with mykrul

[@rayblitz3896]

4 fire walls go Brrrrrrrr

[@Melth]

That'd be a lot of fire walls! I think one spirit guardians is a more economical choice, fun though fire walls are

[@jakobandersen3210]

A spike growth + firewall take out the whole left side, i just kick back and listen to the screems (while killing shadows) xD

[@Melth]

@@jakobandersen3210 definitely very strong, I did something like that on my first run of this battle! I seem to recall though that there were some ranged guys on the left side, so it didn't work perfectly for me

[@exantiuse497]

It isn't a difficult fight but it is very satisfying, especially in a normal playthrough when you have the excuse to use all the big flashy AOEs you've got

[@samgeller8201]

Are you going to fight Dame Aylin and the Moonlight Slivers in act 3? That fight looks like the hardest in the game honestly

[@Melth]

@@samgeller8201 yeah, I'm going to see if I can find a way to fight against them AND Lorroakan at once

[@samgeller8201]

Awesome 😎

[@Melth]

@@HQbaracuda goodness knows there are lots of angry things he WANTS to say to that idiot

[@rayblitz3896]

No better place to use Fire wall, other than the sharan rats

[@Melth]

It's certainly great here! I think it's even better if you fight the whole group of 30 dark justiciars at once in that one room near Balthazar though

[@rayblitz3896]

@@Melth ya, done that. The big guy can really whack you if you give it the chance.

[@DutchyNeon]

The one sad thing about your aom run is.......... we get les BG3 content, the good thing is, it is aom content!

[@Melth]

@@DutchyNeon I'm glad you enjoy both! I wouldn't say there's less BG3 content as a result though. I was doing just 1 BG3 video per week for a while, and then I added 1 age of Mythology videos while keeping the same pace for BG3. True, at some times in the past I'd been doing 2 BG3 videos per week, but that hasn't been the case recently