In order to successfully pull off this strategy I had to use the Mongols hunting bonuses to age up quickly and to keep up the pace even more I had to press the hot-keys like mad.
Enjoy
Wednesday 10 December 2014
AOFE 1v1 Barbarian AI On Hardest Difficulty
In order to successfully pull off this strategy I had to use the Mongols hunting bonuses to age up quickly and to keep up the pace even more I had to press the hot-keys like mad.
Enjoy
Monday 8 December 2014
The New Pokemon Team Building Guide for Balanced Teams
This is basically an improved version of the old team building guide that will help you build a team that will allow you to get on the top player ladder of battle simulator sites such as http://pokemonshowdown.com/Team building can be a pain at times but this guide should hopefully make it easier.
- Think of a combination of Pokemon that can be used effectively, I will use the combination of Garchomp and Magnezone. they work well together because they can take out Pokemon that threaten either of them. This is the offensive core. It helps if at least one of your offensive Pokemon has a move to increase damage or even an item.
- Think of a decent defensive core, preferably one that can handle what threatens the Pokemon that this team Focuses on. I will choose Chansey and Skarmory because I believe they handle a decent number of threats in today's meta-game. It would help your defensive core is able to recover easily, otherwise your team will be worn down too quickly.
- Now you should probably have a Pokemon that can handle what your defensive core can't. I will choose Heatran because it can wall Talonflame which would normally defeat my other Pokemon.
- Lastly you should pick a Pokemon that can deal serious damage and has a priority move or is really fast. I will pick Azumarill because it can handle the fighting types that could defeat most of my team and it has the move Aqua Jet.
Here is what the team looks like
Garchomp @ Rocky Helmet
Ability: Rough Skin
Shiny: Yes
EVs: 252 HP / 4 Atk / 252 Def
Impish Nature
- Dragon Claw
- Earthquake
- Stealth Rock
- Swords Dance
I wanted a Pokemon that can set up stealth rocks and has the potential to set up and become strong.
Magnezone @ Choice Specs
Ability: Magnet Pull
Shiny: Yes
EVs: 172 HP / 252 SpA / 84 Spe
Modest Nature
IVs: 2 Atk / 30 SpA / 30 Spe
- Volt Switch
- Hidden Power [Fire]
- Flash Cannon
- Thunderbolt
This is here to help my lead/sweeper.
Chansey @ Eviolite
Ability: Natural Cure
Shiny: Yes
EVs: 248 HP / 252 Def / 8 Spe
Bold Nature
IVs: 0 Atk
- Seismic Toss
- Heal Bell
- Wish
- Soft-Boiled
This sponges all special attacks. It can also heal itself, other Pokemon and can heal status porblems.
Skarmory @ Rocky Helmet
Ability: Sturdy
Shiny: Yes
EVs: 248 HP / 172 Def / 80 SpD / 8 Spe
Bold Nature
- Whirlwind
- Spikes
- Defog
- Roost
This sponges most physical attacks. It can also set spikes, get rid of entry hazards and whirlwind away set up sweepers.
Azumarill @ Choice Band
Ability: Huge Power
Shiny: Yes
EVs: 168 HP / 252 Atk / 88 Spe
Adamant Nature
- Play Rough
- Waterfall
- Aqua Jet
- Knock Off
This Pokemon has a lot of synergy with Magnezone because Magnezone can deal with the steel types that bother Azumarill. Azumarill can also get rid of fighting types.
Heatran @ Leftovers
Ability: Flash Fire
Shiny: Yes
EVs: 252 HP / 216 SpD / 40 Spe
Gentle Nature
IVs: 0 Atk
- Lava Plume
- Taunt
- Toxic
- Protect
This counters fairy types and Talonflame. It may also toxic stall.
This team has alot of synergy just by including: A 2 Pokemon offensive core, A 2 Pokemon defensive core, An additional bulky Pokemon and a Powerful revenge killer. You may want to use a different ratio of Pokemon in each core but this ratio is generally the most versatile.
This team isn't without weakness but it is the basic idea that matters. You may also choose to base your team around a defensive core instead of an offensive core, what ever you find easier. To help you could use http://sweepercalc.com/swc/ to help see what is good at countering today's meta-game.
There is also http://paragonpokedex.blogspot.co.uk/ which isn't complete yet but may still be useful.
Hope you found this useful.
Thursday 20 November 2014
11 Blue Dragon Tips
Blue dragon is role playing game for the xbox 360 and like most role playing games it has quite a bit of strategy involved and here is just some tips about having a successful game and winning all the boss fights.
- Level up in barrier magic early on, this is important because at lv 50 barrier magic enables you to level up all your classes fast using field barrier 3 which kills weak opponents and for just 1 magic point, when using this I recommend going to the laser field because the moles spawn the whole time this makes levelling up insanely fast and you don't even need to be there to level up.
- Early on do not avoid fights because the more you do the higher level you can get which makes all the early boss fights very easy.
- Look in all the chests so you can find spells and accessories, this way you will not need to buy them and you may find unique items.
- Level up all magic users in support magic due to being able to get double cast at lv 36 which allows you to cast twice per turn.
- Try and use your cursor to get multiple opponents in the same fight this way you will earn more sp to level up your shadow faster.
- Make sure everyone can use white magic, this is important because if you need to heal yourself anyone can do it, also later on at lv 33 you can get resurrection so when your people are knocked out they will be revived one time only.
- Make everyone learn the skills of all the classes later on, this will help in all the late game boss fights.
- To attract enemies if you want to level up fast give someone the stink status using an item such as dog's collar.
- Make sure you use accessories as they enable you to become significantly more powerful.
- In boss fights use support magic and barrier magic to power up your team and later on you should get the spell previve which allows you to resurrect your people and it is located in the mecha base in the snow fields.
- Use stat boosting skills to give your people the stats of different classes to make them more powerful.
AOE 2: Ultimate Strategy
The main strategy in aoe2 is to create as much villagers as possible to have economic advantage over your opponent, a better economy means it is easier to have huge armies. My main strategy is the feudal age rush but this start up is very versatile and can lead to a variety of strategies.
The Start
The start is often the most important part of the game, it may determine whether you win or lose and you will find yourself practising this part of the game the most. Remember to get a villager to start building a house when your population is 2 less than your pop cap. You should build your houses next to each other to create a wall.
- The first thing you should do to begin with is to start spawning villagers at the town centre, at the same time you should also get 2 villagers to build a house near them and the other villager to do the same. You also need to use your scout to explore the area and find your sheep. If you are playing forgotten empires and use the incas get all 3 to build one house due to houses increasing the pop cap by more.
- Once you find the sheep send them to your town centre, then uses your villagers to get the food from them. If you don't find your sheep then you may have to use berry bushes. If you do find your sheep and they still aren't at your town centre yet get your villagers to chop wood while waiting, never have an idle villager. If you have lots of sheep you can use some to scout around your own base, but if you do this make sure that they don't go near the opponents base and they can make it back to your town centre when needed.
- When your population number is 8 you should get the next 3 villagers who spawn to chop wood, build a lumber camp next to the wood to speed up how much wood you gain. After these villagers have spawned get the next one to start a boar lure( this is performed by getting one villager to attack a boar and lure it to your town centre for your other villagers to kill, if you have not got enough experience performing the boar lure or your signal is lagging get the loom upgrade).
- All villagers you spawn should be gathering food from foraging bushes ( Building a mill near the bushes is a good idea), boars and sheep until your population is 20. When the pop is 21, 1 villager should build a gold mine and start mining gold. The next load of villagers to spawn should be chopping wood until you can age up to the feudal age.
- In between going to the feudal age build a barracks. You should also get alot of your villagers who were gathering food to start gathering wood. Also get 1 villager to start building lots of houses.
- As soon as you get to the feudal age you should get 1-2 villagers to build a couple of archery ranges, tables or even another barracks. Personally I use archery ranges. You should also spawn lots of villagers to get gold, although if you aren't using units that cost gold you don't need so much. I use archers to I get alot of gold.
- When you build the military buildings immediately start spawning units from them and send them near the enemy base. Make sure you have already used the scout to scout the enemy base.
- When foraging bushes are finished start building farms, 8 is a decent number but if you use military units that cost food you may want more. When you create military units use the resources that you can afford to spend, often I use a mixture of archers and skirmishers to save gold.
- The military units you use should attack and distract enemy villagers, but keep them away from the enemy town centre at all costs. You may want to build a blacksmith to upgrade your units, also if you're in a team you should get a market to get the cartography upgrade.
- You may want to start gathering stone now so you can build town centres and castles when you get to the castle age.
- Basically keep up the pressure with your military and keep creating villagers until you can go up to the castle age.
The Castle age
- As soon as you get to the castle age build a second town centre, build more later on and keep spawning villagers from each of them.
- Start using siege weapons and knights/eagle warriors, these are great units to use as they are very powerful.
- Now all you need to do is build a few castles to defend yourself or to attack the enemy, you also may want to use your unique unit.
From here on it is up to you to decide what to do, trebuchets in the imperial age are useful to take on castles, other than that there is nothing more you need to know.
Here is a video to help
Here is a video to help
Hope you found this useful, please comment
Icewind Dale EE: Warrior
Warriors are some of the most powerful forms of character in Icewind Dale, they are generally the most effective at dealing damage especially when mixed with other classes. They are also able to take more damage than any other class making them the most effective upfront attackers. Here is a compilation of all the Warrior based classes from Icewind Dale Enhanced Editon and what classes you should use and why.
The main warrior classes included in this post are: Fighter, Ranger, Paladin and Barbarian.
Above all things warriors need to have a high Strength, Dexterity and Constitution to be successful because these stats are physical based and Warriors mostly do physical attacks so be sure to make these stats as high as possible.
Berserker are fairly straight forward to use, you basically use rage to become immune to threatening moves and you attack attack attack.
Basically the Wizard Slayer can completely render spellcasters useless, so if you hate spellcasters Wizard Slayer is an obvious solution.
In some ways a Ranger is like a Fighter/Druid because of the ability to control animals and later on the ability to use some druid spells. In other ways they are similar to a Thief because they can hide in shadows and the Stalker kit is even able to backstab.
It is because of their ability to be versatile that makes the Ranger a strong class to pick and a fun class to play as.
May wear any armour
May use any weapon
May wear helmets
May not exceed 2 points in a weapon, but may have up to 3 points in two weapon fighting style and automatically starts with 2 points
May pick a racial enemy to deal +4 damage against a creature type of your choosing
May use tracking to find out who has been walking in the area
May hide in shadows while wearing studded leather or less
May use charm animal once per day +1 more every 2 levels
May use druid spells starting at level 6
Must be good alignment
Hit die; D10
Can only dual class into cleric meaning they need at least 15 Strength, 15 Dexterity and 17 Wisdom
Ranger make a good dual class combo with cleric, dual at 9 or 12. If you play as a half-elf you can multi class into a ranger/cleric which are really powerful.
+1 to hit and damage rolls every 3 levels for ranged weapons
May get 5 points in all bows and crossbows
May use called shot once per day +1 more every 4 levels (grants effects while using ranged weapons that are cumulative, called shot lasts for 10 seconds)
May not wear metal armour
May not exceed 1 point in melee weapons
May not use charm animal
Archer is probably the best ranged weapon class there is, if playing as one you should consider being an elf because they get a dexterity bonus which helps ranged weaponry. They can also dual class into cleric but then the only weapon worth using would be the sling so it may not be an effective dual class combo, if dual classing dual at level 12
+20% move silently and hide in shadows
May backstab to get a maximum of x4 damage
At level 12 may cast: Haste, protection from normal missiles and Minor spell deflection
May not wear armour greater than studded leather
Stalker works well when dual classing to cleric because you get to back stab (use dual wielded club for maximum effectiveness), good hiding ability and the ability to cast a few spells (most importantly haste). If dual classing dual at level 12 for all the skills needed.
+15% to hide in shadows and move silently
May summon a familiar
May cast animal summoning: 1 at level 8, 2 at level 10 and 3 at level 12
May not use metal weapons
May not wear armour greater than studded leather
Once again this makes a good dual class with cleric, you should use dual wielded clubs or quarter staff. Dual at level 12.
Overall the ranger kits are great, my favourite is the stalker cleric because they have a wide variety of options but the overall most powerful would probably be the elf archer because of all the added effects with called shot and the ability to get 5 points in ranged weapons.
Paladins are basically people who follow the lines of honour even if it hinders them. They are the sort of person who would take off their armour when fighting the poor man with no armour. Luckily Icewind dale doesn't make you follow the rules of honour otherwise you would probably get yourself killed and in enhanced edition not all Paladins have to be good because there is a kit class called Black guard that has to be evil. With any Paladin class you can become a fallen Paladin by doing the wrong thing.
Paladins are quite an interesting form of class, they have several abilities including: Lay on hands (heals a certain amount depending on your level and charisma score), detect evil and protection from evil. Later on they even get the ability to use cleric spells, they need wisdom to use these. They also get access to the all powerful holy avenger weapons.
Despite these extra things the Paladin is quite linear to play with and only the kit classes determine how effective they will be because regular Paladin is outclassed by them.
May wear helmets
May wear any armour
May get 2 points in any weapon and 3 in two weapon style
May use lay on hands
May use cure disease once per day
May use detect evil
May use a form of protection of evil that lasts for 24 turns
May use smite evil once per day (deals 1d6+ 1d6 for every 3 levels of Paladin)
At level 3 gains turn undead, treated as 2 levels lower than cleric
May use cleric spells at level 6
At 3rd level become immune to fear
+2 bonus to all saving throws
Immune to disease
Must be lawful good
Hit Die; D10
May not dual class or multi class
Must be human
+3 to hit against demon and draconic beings
May cast remove fear once per day +1 more every level
Immune to charm, fear, moral failure and poison
+20% resistance to fire and acid
May not use ranged weapons
Cavalier are absolute tanks, due to their immunities combined with already great Paladin saving throws and Hp the cavalier is very powerful. Unfortunately they can't use ranged weapons but that won't stop them from being excellent up front attackers.
May cast dispel magic once per day +1 more every 4 levels, is cast at a speed factor of 2x the level of the caster.
May cast true sight once per day +1 more every 4 levels (can see invisible foes)
Immune to charm and hold
May not use lay on hands
May not use cleric spells
May not turn undead
May not use remove disease
Inquisitors have an easy time against mages, they can remove all their buffs with dispel magic and proceed to kill. Their loss of a lot of Paladin bonuses is not that severe, later on lay on hands isn't that useful, Paladins rarely need their cleric spells and remove disease isn't needed because they already have their own immunity so the only total loss is turn undead which is great during later levels. Inquisitor is a great class to play as and is sometimes considered the best Paladin kit because of how easy it is to beat magic users.
+3 damage to undead
Immune to hold and level drain
May not use Lay on hands
May not cure disease
Have you ever felt like undead are just a pain to go against, if so this class although linear is very good to use. There isn't much to say about it other than it can destroy undead.
Immune to level drain and fear
May use absorb health (deals 2 damage x level of user then heals the same amount, doesn't work against undead, constructs or extraplanar creatures)
At level 5 gains poison weapons ability +1 more every 5 levels
At 3rd level may use Aura of despair (depending on your level has negative effects on enemies)
Must be evil
May not use detect evil
May not use protection from evil
May not use Lay on hands
May not use cure disease
Well this class really shoves chivalry right down the toilet and even resorts to poisoning weapons. I don't like this class much although it is actually ok because its absorb health can replace Lay on hands and is better, It has immunity to level drain and fear and 2 great abilities. If you like taking the dark side but also like Paladin this is the class for you.
Paladins are a fun class to play as and they have decent kit classes available to them, basically the kits all play very similarly so just choose the one you find useful or like best.
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Barbarians are people who live in the wild, they are very resilient because they have adapted to the tough environment of Icewind Dale.
May not wear armour greater than splint mail
May not exceed 2 points in any weapon and 3 points in two weapon fighting style
Moves 2 points faster than the normal character
Immune to backstab
May use rage once per day +1 more every 4 levels (+4 Strength and Constitution, -2 penaly to AC, +2 to saving throws and immunity to: fear, charm, hold, maze, stun, sleep, confusion and level drain
At level 11 gains 10% physical resistance
At level 15 and 19 gains 5% physical resistance
Hit Die: D10
May not dual class or multi class
Overall I think barbarians are very good, they move quickly and get access to rage making them very powerful. Unfortunately they don't get grand mastery and they are also very brute force and generally run into battle. They are fun to play as which is the main thing and if you like just running into battle no matter the risk then Barbarian is the class for you.
So that's all the Warrior based classes, hope you found this useful, please comment
The main warrior classes included in this post are: Fighter, Ranger, Paladin and Barbarian.
Above all things warriors need to have a high Strength, Dexterity and Constitution to be successful because these stats are physical based and Warriors mostly do physical attacks so be sure to make these stats as high as possible.
Fighters are very powerful due to their ability to specialise in any weapon and take a huge number of hits. They are also very simple to use which makes them ideal for new players and they are also great at dual classing and multi classing which makes power gaming with them easily possible.
- Fighter
May wear helmet
May wear all types of armour
May specialise in any weapon
Hit Die; D10 (the amount of HP per level not including Constitution Modifier)
Needs at least 15 Strength to dual class.
Kits
- Kensai
+1 extra damage every 3 levels
- 1 bonus to speed factor ( makes them faster at attacking)
May use the Kai ability once per day, every 4 levels gains another Kai ability to use (deal maximum damage for 10 seconds)
May not wear any armour or gauntlets
May not use ranged weapons
Kensai make a great dual class combo with Mage dual at level 9 or 13, Kensai are great at dual classing with Mage because like Mages they can't wear armour and they give Mages more offence and defence.
In Icewind dale it would be a good idea to specialize in long swords and get 3 points in 2 weapon fighting style.
- Berserker
May not specialise in ranged weapons
-2 to hit rolls and AC when rage ends
Berserker are fairly straight forward to use, you basically use rage to become immune to threatening moves and you attack attack attack.
Makes a good dual class combo with Cleric, Druid, Mage and Thief level 9, 10 or 13 are good levels for dual classing.
- Wizard Slayer
Each successful hit decreases foes chance to successfully cast a spell by 10% and is cumulative
1 % magic resistance per level
Cannot use magical items, excluding armour, boots, gauntlets, helmets, healing potions and weapons
Basically the Wizard Slayer can completely render spellcasters useless, so if you hate spellcasters Wizard Slayer is an obvious solution.
Makes a good dual class combo with Mage, Druid, Cleric and Thief level 9, or 13 are good
- Dwarven Defender
May use defensive stats once per day and one more every 4 levels (gains 50% resistance to physical damage, +2 bonus to saving throws and -50% movement speed).
Gains 5% resistance to physical damage every 5 levels max 20%
Can only be dwarf
Cannot get a maximum of 4 points in war hammers and axes
Cannot get more than 2 points in other weapons
Overall Dwarven Defenders are excellent physical tanks and can take alot of hit while dealing alot of damage.
Fighters are offensively more powerful than any other class, they are good with multi classing and dual classing because of this. The best fighter combos are Kensai/Mage, Berserker/Cleric and the gnome fighter/Illusionist.
It is because of their ability to be versatile that makes the Ranger a strong class to pick and a fun class to play as.
- Ranger
May wear any armour
May use any weapon
May wear helmets
May not exceed 2 points in a weapon, but may have up to 3 points in two weapon fighting style and automatically starts with 2 points
May pick a racial enemy to deal +4 damage against a creature type of your choosing
May use tracking to find out who has been walking in the area
May hide in shadows while wearing studded leather or less
May use charm animal once per day +1 more every 2 levels
May use druid spells starting at level 6
Must be good alignment
Hit die; D10
Can only dual class into cleric meaning they need at least 15 Strength, 15 Dexterity and 17 Wisdom
Ranger make a good dual class combo with cleric, dual at 9 or 12. If you play as a half-elf you can multi class into a ranger/cleric which are really powerful.
- Archer
+1 to hit and damage rolls every 3 levels for ranged weapons
May get 5 points in all bows and crossbows
May use called shot once per day +1 more every 4 levels (grants effects while using ranged weapons that are cumulative, called shot lasts for 10 seconds)
May not wear metal armour
May not exceed 1 point in melee weapons
May not use charm animal
Archer is probably the best ranged weapon class there is, if playing as one you should consider being an elf because they get a dexterity bonus which helps ranged weaponry. They can also dual class into cleric but then the only weapon worth using would be the sling so it may not be an effective dual class combo, if dual classing dual at level 12
- Stalker
+20% move silently and hide in shadows
May backstab to get a maximum of x4 damage
At level 12 may cast: Haste, protection from normal missiles and Minor spell deflection
May not wear armour greater than studded leather
Stalker works well when dual classing to cleric because you get to back stab (use dual wielded club for maximum effectiveness), good hiding ability and the ability to cast a few spells (most importantly haste). If dual classing dual at level 12 for all the skills needed.
- Beast Master
+15% to hide in shadows and move silently
May summon a familiar
May cast animal summoning: 1 at level 8, 2 at level 10 and 3 at level 12
May not use metal weapons
May not wear armour greater than studded leather
Once again this makes a good dual class with cleric, you should use dual wielded clubs or quarter staff. Dual at level 12.
Overall the ranger kits are great, my favourite is the stalker cleric because they have a wide variety of options but the overall most powerful would probably be the elf archer because of all the added effects with called shot and the ability to get 5 points in ranged weapons.
Paladins are quite an interesting form of class, they have several abilities including: Lay on hands (heals a certain amount depending on your level and charisma score), detect evil and protection from evil. Later on they even get the ability to use cleric spells, they need wisdom to use these. They also get access to the all powerful holy avenger weapons.
Despite these extra things the Paladin is quite linear to play with and only the kit classes determine how effective they will be because regular Paladin is outclassed by them.
- Paladin
May wear helmets
May wear any armour
May get 2 points in any weapon and 3 in two weapon style
May use lay on hands
May use cure disease once per day
May use detect evil
May use a form of protection of evil that lasts for 24 turns
May use smite evil once per day (deals 1d6+ 1d6 for every 3 levels of Paladin)
At level 3 gains turn undead, treated as 2 levels lower than cleric
May use cleric spells at level 6
At 3rd level become immune to fear
+2 bonus to all saving throws
Immune to disease
Must be lawful good
Hit Die; D10
May not dual class or multi class
Must be human
- Cavalier
+3 to hit against demon and draconic beings
May cast remove fear once per day +1 more every level
Immune to charm, fear, moral failure and poison
+20% resistance to fire and acid
May not use ranged weapons
Cavalier are absolute tanks, due to their immunities combined with already great Paladin saving throws and Hp the cavalier is very powerful. Unfortunately they can't use ranged weapons but that won't stop them from being excellent up front attackers.
- Inquisitor
May cast dispel magic once per day +1 more every 4 levels, is cast at a speed factor of 2x the level of the caster.
May cast true sight once per day +1 more every 4 levels (can see invisible foes)
Immune to charm and hold
May not use lay on hands
May not use cleric spells
May not turn undead
May not use remove disease
Inquisitors have an easy time against mages, they can remove all their buffs with dispel magic and proceed to kill. Their loss of a lot of Paladin bonuses is not that severe, later on lay on hands isn't that useful, Paladins rarely need their cleric spells and remove disease isn't needed because they already have their own immunity so the only total loss is turn undead which is great during later levels. Inquisitor is a great class to play as and is sometimes considered the best Paladin kit because of how easy it is to beat magic users.
- Undead Hunter
+3 damage to undead
Immune to hold and level drain
May not use Lay on hands
May not cure disease
Have you ever felt like undead are just a pain to go against, if so this class although linear is very good to use. There isn't much to say about it other than it can destroy undead.
- Black Guard
Immune to level drain and fear
May use absorb health (deals 2 damage x level of user then heals the same amount, doesn't work against undead, constructs or extraplanar creatures)
At level 5 gains poison weapons ability +1 more every 5 levels
At 3rd level may use Aura of despair (depending on your level has negative effects on enemies)
Must be evil
May not use detect evil
May not use protection from evil
May not use Lay on hands
May not use cure disease
Well this class really shoves chivalry right down the toilet and even resorts to poisoning weapons. I don't like this class much although it is actually ok because its absorb health can replace Lay on hands and is better, It has immunity to level drain and fear and 2 great abilities. If you like taking the dark side but also like Paladin this is the class for you.
Paladins are a fun class to play as and they have decent kit classes available to them, basically the kits all play very similarly so just choose the one you find useful or like best.
Barbarians are people who live in the wild, they are very resilient because they have adapted to the tough environment of Icewind Dale.
- Barbarian
May not wear armour greater than splint mail
May not exceed 2 points in any weapon and 3 points in two weapon fighting style
Moves 2 points faster than the normal character
Immune to backstab
May use rage once per day +1 more every 4 levels (+4 Strength and Constitution, -2 penaly to AC, +2 to saving throws and immunity to: fear, charm, hold, maze, stun, sleep, confusion and level drain
At level 11 gains 10% physical resistance
At level 15 and 19 gains 5% physical resistance
Hit Die: D10
May not dual class or multi class
Overall I think barbarians are very good, they move quickly and get access to rage making them very powerful. Unfortunately they don't get grand mastery and they are also very brute force and generally run into battle. They are fun to play as which is the main thing and if you like just running into battle no matter the risk then Barbarian is the class for you.
So that's all the Warrior based classes, hope you found this useful, please comment
Icewind Dale EE: Arcane Spellcasters
Arcane spellcasting is perhaps the most powerful form of spell casting in Icewind Dale. From summoning monsters to creating invinsible barriers Arcane spell casters can do pretty much anything. Unfortunately early on a mere Goblin can become a threat but later on they can become unmatched, so be prepared to suffer a huge power penalty early on.
Here is a compilation of the Arcane spellcasting classes available to Icewind Dale
Mages are the most common form of Arcane spell casters. They have to find scrolls to learn the magic that allows them to become both offensively and defensively powerful. But it takes a lot of time to be able to use the high level spells and early on it is difficult to survive Icewind dale because Mages are very frail and they are terrible at using weapons. It is because of how frail they are that I suggest players either dual class into Mage or play a Mage multi class.
May not wear armour
May only use: Dagger, Sling, Dart or Quarter staff
May not exceed 1 slot in a weapon skill
May not use any fighting styles
May use arcane magic
Hit Die: D4
Needs intelligence to be at least 15 to dual class, and needs high intelligence to learn and cast spells effectively
There are also specialist mages, they are mages that get one extra spell slot but can't use a certain type of magic school. They may not multi class but they can dual class
Abjurers use defensive magic
May not use Illusion or Alteration magic
Conjurers use magic that can summon things
May not use Invocation magic
Diviners use magic that allows them to see thing that others can't
May not use Conjuration magic
Enchanters focus on manipulating the mind
May not use Invocation magic
Illusionists use magic to fool the foes into thinking something is real
May not use Abjuration or Necromancy magic
May multi class if you play as a gnome
Invokers mainly focus on manipulating energy
May not use Divination or Conjuration magic
Necromancers use death based magic
May not use Enchantment or Illusion magic
Transmuters focus on altering physical reality
May not use Abjuration or Necromancy magic
Wild Mages focus on the randomness of their own magic
Gets access to wild mage spells and whenever a spell is cast a wild surge may produce a random effect, it may be bad or good.
As I've already said on as a single class mages start off too weak to bother using so here are some good combos: Kensai/Mage (dual class as level 9 or 13), Berserker/Mage (dual class at level 10), Swashbuckler/Mage (dual class at level 10), Fighter/Mage multi class and Fighter/Illusionist Gnome multiclass. I playing as one of these classes I strongly recommend becoming good at using long swords because they are common and you can get a +1 early on in the game.
Sorcerers are almost the same as Mages except instead of learning spells and relying on Intelligence, they learn spells as the level up (less spells in total), they can use more spells per day and they use the Charisma ability score.
Like Mages Sorcerers are incredibly weak to begin with but later on they are very powerful. Sorcerers become much more powerful than pure Mages because of the sheer number of spells they can cast per day.
May not wear armour
Here is a compilation of the Arcane spellcasting classes available to Icewind Dale
Mages are the most common form of Arcane spell casters. They have to find scrolls to learn the magic that allows them to become both offensively and defensively powerful. But it takes a lot of time to be able to use the high level spells and early on it is difficult to survive Icewind dale because Mages are very frail and they are terrible at using weapons. It is because of how frail they are that I suggest players either dual class into Mage or play a Mage multi class.
- Mage
May not wear armour
May only use: Dagger, Sling, Dart or Quarter staff
May not exceed 1 slot in a weapon skill
May not use any fighting styles
May use arcane magic
Hit Die: D4
Needs intelligence to be at least 15 to dual class, and needs high intelligence to learn and cast spells effectively
There are also specialist mages, they are mages that get one extra spell slot but can't use a certain type of magic school. They may not multi class but they can dual class
- Abjurer
Abjurers use defensive magic
May not use Illusion or Alteration magic
- Conjurer
Conjurers use magic that can summon things
May not use Invocation magic
- Diviner
Diviners use magic that allows them to see thing that others can't
May not use Conjuration magic
- Enchanter
Enchanters focus on manipulating the mind
May not use Invocation magic
- Illusionist
Illusionists use magic to fool the foes into thinking something is real
May not use Abjuration or Necromancy magic
May multi class if you play as a gnome
- Invoker
Invokers mainly focus on manipulating energy
May not use Divination or Conjuration magic
- Necromancer
Necromancers use death based magic
May not use Enchantment or Illusion magic
- Transmuter
Transmuters focus on altering physical reality
May not use Abjuration or Necromancy magic
- Wild Mage
Wild Mages focus on the randomness of their own magic
Gets access to wild mage spells and whenever a spell is cast a wild surge may produce a random effect, it may be bad or good.
As I've already said on as a single class mages start off too weak to bother using so here are some good combos: Kensai/Mage (dual class as level 9 or 13), Berserker/Mage (dual class at level 10), Swashbuckler/Mage (dual class at level 10), Fighter/Mage multi class and Fighter/Illusionist Gnome multiclass. I playing as one of these classes I strongly recommend becoming good at using long swords because they are common and you can get a +1 early on in the game.
Sorcerers are almost the same as Mages except instead of learning spells and relying on Intelligence, they learn spells as the level up (less spells in total), they can use more spells per day and they use the Charisma ability score.
Like Mages Sorcerers are incredibly weak to begin with but later on they are very powerful. Sorcerers become much more powerful than pure Mages because of the sheer number of spells they can cast per day.
- Sorcerer
May not wear armour
May only use: Dagger, Sling, Dart or Quarter staff
May not exceed 1 slot in a weapon skill
May not use any fighting styles
May use arcane magic
Hit Die: D4
May not dual class
Needs high Charisma
Later on Sorcerer is probably the most powerful class in the game, by picking the right spells when you level up you will have an easy time slaughtering enemies with your huge toolbox of spells. I tried soloing with a sorcerer and it didn't go well to begin with, basically I tried the small quests at the beginning of the game but I found that I had no way to beat the wolf in that small house, nor could I take down all the Goblins.
Overall not a safe class to play unless you are using a team, or if you start with the Heart of Winter storyline.
+1 bonus to AC
3rd level may use Breath weapon once per day (deals 3d8 damage)
4th level gains 25% fire resistance
5th level +1 AC and Constitution
6th level Breath weapon increases to 4d8 power
8th level fire resistances raises to 50%
9th level Breath weapon increases to 5d8 power
10th level +1 AC
12th level Breath weapon increases to 6d8 power and fire resistance raises to 75%
15th level Breath weapon increases to 7d8 and +1 bonus to AC and Constitution
16th level fire resistance increases to 100%
18th level Breath weapon increases to 8d8 power
20th level +1 AC
Hit Die; D6
May cast one fewer spells per day per level
At first glance this class looks very promising but when you look at it realistically it isn't great. The Constitution bonus that you get a total of 2 times is useless if your Constitution is already 16 or above, this is because Sorcerers can only gain a +2 bonus to their HP, so if playing as a Dragon Disciple have a Constitution of 14 to make full use of the bonuses (this will make you weaker early on) The fire resistance is nice but with all the defensive spells available you can survive fire hits anyway. The AC also looks nice and is actually useful early on but with all the defensive spells it becomes redundant. The Breath weapon is good but can only be used once per day.
Then we look at the disadvantage of casting fewer spells, which may seem like it isn't much but imagine if you needed to cast one more fireball, maze or stoneskin. These spells are too powerful to give up as are many other spells and are not worth replacing with redundant bonuses.
This doesn't mean this kit is bad, it just means it is outclassed by Sorcerer.
Hope you found this useful, please comment
May not exceed 1 slot in a weapon skill
May not use any fighting styles
May use arcane magic
Hit Die: D4
May not dual class
Needs high Charisma
Later on Sorcerer is probably the most powerful class in the game, by picking the right spells when you level up you will have an easy time slaughtering enemies with your huge toolbox of spells. I tried soloing with a sorcerer and it didn't go well to begin with, basically I tried the small quests at the beginning of the game but I found that I had no way to beat the wolf in that small house, nor could I take down all the Goblins.
Overall not a safe class to play unless you are using a team, or if you start with the Heart of Winter storyline.
- Dragon Disciple
+1 bonus to AC
3rd level may use Breath weapon once per day (deals 3d8 damage)
4th level gains 25% fire resistance
5th level +1 AC and Constitution
6th level Breath weapon increases to 4d8 power
8th level fire resistances raises to 50%
9th level Breath weapon increases to 5d8 power
10th level +1 AC
12th level Breath weapon increases to 6d8 power and fire resistance raises to 75%
15th level Breath weapon increases to 7d8 and +1 bonus to AC and Constitution
16th level fire resistance increases to 100%
18th level Breath weapon increases to 8d8 power
20th level +1 AC
Hit Die; D6
May cast one fewer spells per day per level
At first glance this class looks very promising but when you look at it realistically it isn't great. The Constitution bonus that you get a total of 2 times is useless if your Constitution is already 16 or above, this is because Sorcerers can only gain a +2 bonus to their HP, so if playing as a Dragon Disciple have a Constitution of 14 to make full use of the bonuses (this will make you weaker early on) The fire resistance is nice but with all the defensive spells available you can survive fire hits anyway. The AC also looks nice and is actually useful early on but with all the defensive spells it becomes redundant. The Breath weapon is good but can only be used once per day.
Then we look at the disadvantage of casting fewer spells, which may seem like it isn't much but imagine if you needed to cast one more fireball, maze or stoneskin. These spells are too powerful to give up as are many other spells and are not worth replacing with redundant bonuses.
This doesn't mean this kit is bad, it just means it is outclassed by Sorcerer.
Hope you found this useful, please comment
Icewind Dale EE: Rogue
In Icewind Dale Rogues are usually very useful characters, they usually give the team advantages by using their skills rather than their strength. They are great on teams but they may be difficult to solo with unless you multi class or dual class because they are neither offensive enough or defensive enough to survive early on.
I will include Monk class in the Rogue section because they get to hide in shadows.
This compilation includes: Thief, Bard and Monk
Thieves are useful characters to have in any d&d based game, this is because of the skills they are able to use give them advantage in battle and outside of battle.
The thief skills are:
Outside of battle Open Locks and Find Traps are the most useful because there is a lot of doors and chests that have good items inside but are locked and Find Traps is useful because there are many traps in the game that will deal a lot of damage if you set them off.
Setting traps can be effective but you can't be in the enemy line of sight to set them.
Detect Illusion can also be useful but isn't all that important.
Here is the information about the thief classes
May not wear armour greater than studded leather
May not use shields larger than buckler
May use blades except two handed sword, club, quarter staff, shortbow, sling, dart and crossbow
May not exceed 1 point in a weapon skill or fighting style skill
May distribute 25 thief skills per level, 40 at level 1
7th level gains evasion to avoid certain effects
Backstab damage maximum of x5 damage
May not be lawful good
Hit Die: D6
Needs at least 15 Dexterity to dual class
+1 to damage and attack rolls
Can reach x7 backstab damage
May poison their weapons once per day + 1 more every 4 levels (for 5 rounds may poison a foe)
May only distribute 15 skill points per level instead of 25
Assassins are very powerful at backstabbing, this makes them optimum for dual classing as a mage so they can use the combo of hiding in shadows/going invisible and using the spell Mislead to keep back stabbing the enemy for lots of damage.
15% bonus to set traps
May set special snare once per day +1 more every 5 levels ( deals huge amounts of damage and gains additional effects every few levels e.g level 21 maze trap)
May only distribute 20 skill points per level instead of 25
Bounty Hunters make full use of the thief skill set traps, their traps are good to use but this means you have to get very high level (21) to make full use of them, this makes dual classing quite hard, if you were to dual class go for either fighter or mage.
+1 bonus to AC, +1 more every 5 levels
+1 bonus to hit and damage rolls every 5 levels
May get 2 points in melee weapons and 3 in 2 weapon fighting style
May not backstab
Swashbuckler is one of my favourite classes, it is almost like a fighter but has thief skills aswell. If dual classing go to mage, dual class at level 10, this way you can reach 30 mage and you play almost like a fighter/thief/mage but it is easy to level up.
+10% to Hide in Shadows and Move Silently
Hide in plain sight
May use Shadowstep once per day after level 5 the +1 more every 5 levels ( stop time for 7 seconds but you can't attack)
+1 saving throws
May not be lawful
May not set snare
May not exceed x4 backstab and gains at a slower rate
needs Strength, Charisma and Dexterity to be at least 15 to dual class.
Shadow Dancer are great if you like to constantly use the backstab ability, apart from that the aren't very strong. They do however make a good dual class combo with fighter and mage, dual class at level 13 for optimum backstab.
I will include Monk class in the Rogue section because they get to hide in shadows.
This compilation includes: Thief, Bard and Monk
Thieves are useful characters to have in any d&d based game, this is because of the skills they are able to use give them advantage in battle and outside of battle.
The thief skills are:
- Pick Pockets
- Open Locks
- Find Traps
- Move Silently
- Hide in Shadows
- Detect Illusion
- Set Traps
Outside of battle Open Locks and Find Traps are the most useful because there is a lot of doors and chests that have good items inside but are locked and Find Traps is useful because there are many traps in the game that will deal a lot of damage if you set them off.
Setting traps can be effective but you can't be in the enemy line of sight to set them.
Detect Illusion can also be useful but isn't all that important.
Here is the information about the thief classes
- Thief
May not wear armour greater than studded leather
May not use shields larger than buckler
May use blades except two handed sword, club, quarter staff, shortbow, sling, dart and crossbow
May not exceed 1 point in a weapon skill or fighting style skill
May distribute 25 thief skills per level, 40 at level 1
7th level gains evasion to avoid certain effects
Backstab damage maximum of x5 damage
May not be lawful good
Hit Die: D6
Needs at least 15 Dexterity to dual class
- Assassin
+1 to damage and attack rolls
Can reach x7 backstab damage
May poison their weapons once per day + 1 more every 4 levels (for 5 rounds may poison a foe)
May only distribute 15 skill points per level instead of 25
Assassins are very powerful at backstabbing, this makes them optimum for dual classing as a mage so they can use the combo of hiding in shadows/going invisible and using the spell Mislead to keep back stabbing the enemy for lots of damage.
- Bounty Hunter
15% bonus to set traps
May set special snare once per day +1 more every 5 levels ( deals huge amounts of damage and gains additional effects every few levels e.g level 21 maze trap)
May only distribute 20 skill points per level instead of 25
Bounty Hunters make full use of the thief skill set traps, their traps are good to use but this means you have to get very high level (21) to make full use of them, this makes dual classing quite hard, if you were to dual class go for either fighter or mage.
- Swashbuckler
+1 bonus to AC, +1 more every 5 levels
+1 bonus to hit and damage rolls every 5 levels
May get 2 points in melee weapons and 3 in 2 weapon fighting style
May not backstab
Swashbuckler is one of my favourite classes, it is almost like a fighter but has thief skills aswell. If dual classing go to mage, dual class at level 10, this way you can reach 30 mage and you play almost like a fighter/thief/mage but it is easy to level up.
- Shadow Dancer
+10% to Hide in Shadows and Move Silently
Hide in plain sight
May use Shadowstep once per day after level 5 the +1 more every 5 levels ( stop time for 7 seconds but you can't attack)
+1 saving throws
May not be lawful
May not set snare
May not exceed x4 backstab and gains at a slower rate
needs Strength, Charisma and Dexterity to be at least 15 to dual class.
Shadow Dancer are great if you like to constantly use the backstab ability, apart from that the aren't very strong. They do however make a good dual class combo with fighter and mage, dual class at level 13 for optimum backstab.
Overall thieves are great characters to play as except early on when soloing, they are best used when dual classing or multi classing to make up for the defence and offence they lack.
Bards are very interesting characters to play as, they get a little bit of almost everything including Mage spells, Pick Pockets and they can play musical instruments.
- Bard
May not wear greater shields than bucklers
May not exceed 1 point in weapons and fighting styles
May Pick Pockets
Increased Lore
May cast Arcane spells starting from 2nd level
May use bard song that powers up allies and improves every few levels by gaining extra effects
Alignment must be neutral
Hit Die; D6
May not dual class or multi class
- Blade
May place 3 points in 2 weapon fighting style
May use the abilities offensive spin and defensive spin once per day +1 more every 4 levels
Defensive spin makes the user gain +1 AC per level of user (Maximum 10 AC)
Offensive spin makes user gain +2 to attack, deals maximum damage, gains an extra attack per round and may not be used alongside haste/improved haste.
Cannot play many bard songs (doesn't get powerful ones)
Half Pick Pockets value
Half Lore value
The blade takes a different approach to the bard, it is a lot more offensive than a regular bard and doesn't focus on supporting the team with bard songs. Out of all the bard classes this one is probably the best for soloing and it is very fun to play.
- Jester
Bard songs have changed so instead of supporting allies they instead decrease the power of enemies.
The jester is a very simple class that just changes what the bard songs do, it is fun to play but it is probably outclassed by the other bard classes.
- Skald
+1 to attack and damage rolls
Has bard songs that greatly improves allies ability to fight and later on gives immunities
May not play many of the bard songs normally available
Has 1/4 Pick Pockets value
The Skald is a very good class for a team, it has great bard songs that give great bonuses later on meaning it doesn't need the other bard songs. The +1 attack bonus is also quite useful even though it may not seem like much. Good class and I recommend it for a team.
Overall bards are decent but not overwhelming, I like how quickly they level up and if I were to recommend any of them I would say Blade is the best due to how powerful those spin abilities are. If only bards could dual class because a fighter with offensive spin would be pretty amazing but unfortunately it's not possible.
Monks are very interesting characters, they use no armour and nor weapons but later on they can be very powerful. Early on it is another story, they are almost useless and have to hit and run using darts as there only weapons because they are not powerful enough, they are quick at levelling up which makes it slightly easier but they are still a pain to play as early on.
- Monk
May not wear armour
May not exceed 1 point in weapons, may only use single weapon style and may only use non two handed weapons available to thief class
May move 2 points faster than other characters, this is increased every 5 levels
May make an extra 1/2 unarmed attack every 3 levels
The dice used for fist increases every few levels to a maximum of d12
In later weapons the fist is treated as a magical weapon and improves in power every few levels after to a maximum of +4
+2 saving throws against spells
+1 AC vs missiles every 3 levels
+1 AC, +1 more every 2 levels
May use stunning blow once per day +1 more every 4 levels (may stun foe)
5th level, immune to haste, slow and disease
7th level, may use lay on hands to heal 2 hp per level
8th level, -1 to speed factor
9th level +1 to saving throws and immune to charm
11th level, Immune to poison
12th level -1 to speed factor
13th level may use quivering palm once per day (may instantly kill opponent)
14th level gains 42% magic resistance, gains 3% more every 3 levels
20th level, immune to non magical weapons
Must be lawful
Hit Die; D8
May not dual class or multi class
The monk is probably unmatched later on but as I've already said they are incredibly weak early on and you will probably have to load your game a lot of times if soloing until they are high level.
- Dark Moon Monk
May use detect illusion starting at 10%
May use frozen fist once per day +1 more every 4 levels (each hit deals +2 cold damage)
May cast blindness once per day
3rd level, may cast blur once per day
7th level, may cast vampiric touch once per day
11th level may cast mirror image once per day
Must be lawful evil
May not use lay on hands
May not use stunning blow
Overall this is my favourite monk kit because it can use several spells including blur and mirror image. The loss of lay on hands isn't that big a deal and the loss of stunning blow is mitigated by the spells this kit gets. Unfortunately this class is still weak to begin with but if you manage to make it through the weak stage it will be worth it.
Sun Soul Monk
2nd level, may cast Sun soulray once per day (deals 1d8 damage +1d8 more every to levels, maximum 5d8 and also does +6 against undead)
5th level, may use Flaming fists once per day (adds 2d6 fire damage to each hit for one round, the number of rounds increase later on)
6th level, may cast one more Sun soulray per day
8th level may cast greater sun once per day (acts as fire shield red)
10th level. may cast one more Sun soulray per day
13th level, may cast Sun soulbeam once per day (deals 9d6 damage, all creatures except the user may be blinded for 2 hours and +3 vs undead)
15th level, may cast one more Sun soulray per day
Must be lawful good
May not use stunning blow
May not use quivering palm
This class is actually quite good, it is equally as powerful as the dark moon one but instead of using defensive spells it uses offensive flame abilities. The loss of quivering palm is a bit annoying but later on you will be so powerful you won't really need it.
Overall monks are a good class to play as despite being weak early on because once you're past the weak stage you will be so powerful nothing will stand in your way.
Rogues are a good style of class to play as and if you choose to play as one choose which one you play as wisely because they can either be completely overpowered or completely useless depending on the class and build you choose.
Hope you found this useful, please comment
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