GameBanshee Forums

I don't know about you but I get a rush killing a dozen enemies in one move. What are your favorite tactics for clearing out a whole group of nasties in one fell swoop?

Here's mine:

I have a sorcerer and a wizard in my group. Favorite tactic is to stoneskin and mirror image them for protection. Then send them into an area where there is a huge group of monsters. I get them right into the middle, wait until all the nasties are surrounding them, and then both cast the 5th level spell "sunfire" which does 1d6 dmg per level of the caster (up to 15d6 max). So that's 30d6 damage being done to everything within a 30 foot radius. If that doesn't do the job, I just do it again...another 30d6 dmg...that usually clears out the room nicely. And it's tons of fun to watch!

I'm not sure why the spellcasters usually don't damage each other with their spells. 9 times out of 10 they don't suffer any damage. Neither stoneskin nor mirror image is supposed to protect against fire attacks, but...I aint complaining!

The only problem with this mass kill tactic is that becomes more limited in HoF mode when baddies have way more hp and your damage ceiling stops at 15d6.

Anyone else have favorite tactics?

I believe it may be the same little aspect of the spell that User originally discovered with his cheese-testing tatics in BGII. When your mage casts Sunfire, it grants him/her temporary immunity to fire damage. So, if you've got two casters throwing that spell at the same time, that's why they're not getting hurt.

Ah, of course...that would make sense. That would also explain why sometimes one or both the mages get scorched pretty badly. Those were probably times they didn't cast the spell at the same moment.

Question is, is this considered a cheese tactic or simply good strategy?

Who cares? Play the game!

Actually I think it has more to do with mirror image than anything else. It protects against everything, even Horrid Wilting in IWD2. I never bother to cast elemental protection on my arcane casters since I found that out.

My Monk as a decoy. Making him invisible and send into the enemy group. He has an improved evasion abilitiy. When he attacks and becomes visible my wizard send a fireball among them. Ofcourse i make some protectional spells upon him. like stone skin, champions strength, emotion: hope etc...

no i got one even better....

i made a monk cleric and put every bonus stat point on wisdom
gave him the spell tremor, it makes and earthquake like thing.
go to the warehouse in the docks part of targos under ground by where they are digging in.
with a high AC from the high wisdom, i can sit in the middle and wait for them all to suround me.
the whole screen shakes and you see bits and pieces of goblins fly everywhere

i think you are playing with same character in HoF mode after done in normal mode.
But it is logical.
Hmmm.. I can use it.

Hey jeremiah,
Whats that about Mirror image? How does it give you imunity other than physical damage evation?

I like Horrid wilting,
I heard the one with the resilient sphere cast on a member, then just bombs away, all around him. Have not tried it though.

Mirror image protects against any damage spells/attacks i think there may be a few that get through like death spells that do damage if they fail.

horrid & banshee

i generally use my sorc/necro to send out some skeleton goons and then chain cast horrid wilting - undead are immune. if they get too close, i use wail of the banshee - which i've seen take out 10 people at a time on HoF mode.

One of my favorites is casting summon shadow a few times to get a few nasty cyclopses to stomp on our enemies...plus prismatic spray which can do nasty damage. Chain lightning is quite a meanie when you have a large group ambushing you. Meanwhile, hubbie casts a druid spell that makes all these cones pop up and down (forgot the name of it) for standing mages while his halfling throws returning poison darts at everyone. Chromatic orb is good because it can stun for several rounds...Holy Word is too but then party members get stunned too if they are near. Hubby's druid morphs into a big bear and bashes everyone down.

Juliet

my fafourite ''mass killing tactic'' is that in my party there is 6 sorcererss all those cast symbol of stun then horrid or delayed fireball...

and then there is this cheating method... in party there are 5 fighter and one bard...
bard cast improved haste and then uses lingerine song glitch... 20 times ballad of 3 heros 10-15 times luck song and 20-45 times sith song...
kicks hell out of HoF... but it is cheating in sort of way... and you dont need to use it... but if you get bored in hardcore playing and want to try something easy then try this...

Outiluke's Mass Kill

Here's a fun cheese tactic - sneak your rogue right up next to a group of baddies, and as soon as he pops out of the shadows to backstab, cast a Resilient Sphere on him. The game AI keeps the enemies focused on attacking him, and your spellcasters are free to wreak havoc upon them with Horrid, Firestorm, Fireball, etc from a safe distance while your thief watches from inside the bubble!

Decoy

^ I think I read somewhere that the party member inside the Resilient Sphere doesn't get any XP.

I'm using a deep gnome fighter(1)/thief(1) as a decoy. He always goes in hiding in shadows to backstab the most dangerous character. Then all the enemies target him and my other characters come in. The deep gnome's AC is 33 when fully buffed and he can cast Blur and Mirror Image. This way enemies in the first part of the game will virtually never hit him. In the mean time, my cleric starts bashing on them and they die.
I even beat Sherincal this way with my level 3 party. (although she could hit the deep gnome)

My parties usually consist of a Sorcerer and a Druid as they make a brilliant combination for a two character party. My mass-kill tactics involve my Sorcerer casting 'mage armour' and 'mirror image' (the most useful arcane spell in the game). Then I stand my Sorcerer just infront of my Druid. As all the creatures approach, my Sorcerer launches a 'fireball' into the middle of them and my Druid does a 'thorn spray'. The Sorcerer loses one image but is otherwise unscathed and the enemies rarely keep on coming. If they do then they get picked off by my Druid, who usually is a ridiculously dextrous Wild Elf with a longbow with the 'Rapid Shot' feat.