GameBanshee Forums

Long post.. you're warned! Spoilers too...

Maybe someone could be interested in how I did it at last...
I mean the Final Ascension Battle...
Here it is!
(Allow me to praise the value of the best spell in the game:
Black Blade of Disaster!!!
Don't tell me it's an evil weapon! A level drained enemy should
surrender more easily...)

PARTY:
-Duriella Neutral-SuperGood Kensai/Mage
-Imoen
-Sarevok
(Balthazar as an ally, so they added Gronmir as an enemy...
Balthi did absolutely NOTHING.. no more than 10 points of damage
to Yaga, and in the end he keep occupied one of the demons..
laughable help...)

PREPARATIONS:
Simulacrum for each of the three party members.
That's all!

Battle starts.
Sarevok stays IDLE, close to the casters, to defend (just in case...)
Sarevok's CLONE immediatly uses SMITE to Abazigal, to throw him
towards me (I needed that all of my enemies were close, you'll see why, ehehe)
The other two (Gronmir and Illasera) followed as I wanted.
At the same time:
Duriella casts Project Image.
Imoen too.
Duriella's IMAGE casts immediatly True Sight to reveal Sendai.
Duriella's CLONE casts Time Stop, Immie's IMAGE too.
Duriella's CLONE (with Vecna) halts time. Then Improved Alacrity,
all the protections, then Cone of Cold, Power Word:Blind, and the 8th level Bigby
to YAGA.
Ruby Ray, Breach to Sendai. Then Imp. Haste, Black Blade of Disaster,
Focus (immunity to Time Stop) and KAI!!! Yes, I said KAI!!!!!!!
Time flows again, while Immie's IMAGE completes Time Stop, Sendai is being hit so
hard that she's already badly injured! Yaga Held and Blind.
Imoen's CLONE starts Dragon Breath (again, you'll see why... )
Imoen's IMAGE completes Time Stop, Duriella's Clone (IMMUNE TO TIME STOP!)
gives the last blow to Sendai and leaves her to near death: I DIDN'T WANT TO KILL HER,
as Melissan's arrival would have broken Time Stop!!!!!!!!
So headed towards Abazigal and did the same to him, removing his stonekin
thanx to the sheer number of attacks...
a pair of blows to Gronmir too..
Time flows again.
And here I realize my biggest ERROR!!! Completely forgot Immie's Image, remained
IDLE in Time Stop, her OWN time stop!!
She had Alacrity, multiple Dragon's Breaths!!
What an idiot!!!!
BUT, Imoen's CLONE completed her own Dragon Breath, and fineshed the two near
death enemies!!! (My smartest plan!!! )
So now I awaited for Melissan...
But I was so FAST and KILLER (Black Blade...praise to you!) that in that shred of
time I finished Gronmir and almost Illasera too with Sarevok's Clone (who died here)
Melissan appeared... I could cast freely now...
Duriella's CLONE killed Illasera (basically she killed 4 of the Five, in
a round or so of "real" flowing time...), then she headed vs Mel.
And started the real battle.
Duriella's IMAGE casted Imp. Alacrity but NOT time stop (my previuos mistake...
NO MORE time stops at this stage!!!).
Imoen's CLONE, and Imoen's IMAGE do the same...
So I CIRCLE through them (3 "alacred" chars!! ) and I'm able to summon Planetars,
remove Melissan's protections, cast a pair of cone of cold to Yaga, held and blind
him again, remove Mel protections again, summon Swords..
REAL Sarevok leaves his guard at last and attacks Yaga (held) with the HALBERD
Dragon Breath, so he can do 5 points per hit....
The Swords, Balthazar, the Planetar can do a single point of damage per hit..
This goes on for a while, Melissan is BADLY INJURED by Duriella's CLONE,
and level drained too... Black Blade, praise again...

At last.
Yaga dies.
Duriella's CLONE and IMAGE expire. (Having done an INCREDIBLE work)
Melissan flee away (scripted) and HEALS FULLY!! And summons some demons.
You can't escape my wrath!
Duriella casts another IMAGE (SECOND mistake, I had to melee, now...)
So she's inactive again....
Immie too casts IMAGE...

Again, swords, spell removers (a CONSTANT FLOW of them..), ONLY the REAL Sarevok
and a Sword battling Melissan..
A Skeleton Warrior, Balthazar and a Sword are against the demons, but not
Sarevok, as they have vorpal abilities..
Sarevok shines now! His strenght is lowered to 5 (!), he cannot leave
the spot (!!!!!), but Mel is still there so he starts using all of his
whirlinds and Critical Attacks!!!! He's even level drained, but he's too
strong, Mel is weak... when she's near death he scores a Deathbringer's
Assault!!!! 50 damage!! I didn't need it, but....fitting!
Two more hits and

Dead Melissan. Dead. Dead.
Dead!!!!!!!!

Now, see the incredible..
My char used THREE spells... Simulacrum, Project Image (twice).
Nothing else, not even a melee attack was needed...
The victory was built in the first round by her... mind!!!!
Literally!!!!!

I have to mention that I really loved the new ending...
Sarevok's dialogs (he was good now) almost moved me! (well, almost!!!)
My Neutral-SuperGood Kensai/Mage remained mortal, of course, as she
loves living beings!
If only I had the chance to save Melissan's soul, too!!!
(the Five were already puppets, nothing could be done... )

CONCLUSIONS:
-Kensai/Mages rule.
-Sarevok is the best NPC.
-I will always play this game. Who needs NWN?!?!?
-a new quote from MANOWAR....

Now my advice is: play Ascension!

WOW!!! I'll definitely play Ascension if it's possible to do it with a melee based pc (who can backstab and cast from scrolls) and Immie... it's possible, isn't it?

EDIT: btw, do you have any screenshots from the last battle, I'd be really interested to see some

Well done Littiz!
I can see that Black Blade of disaster is a good spell for a kensai/mage because of kai. What level did you dual at?
I might try the Ascension again then.
Did you remove the cap?

...I needed a pause....

This time things were smooth, but the previous times...
It's true that I've made some mistakes and won nonetheless,
so maybe with a PERFECT execution the number of casters and/or
NPC could be reduced...
Of course I think you can always find a strategy with patience!

But:
1)The battle is damn HARD. And LONG (for the "living" player I mean..)
Expect ALWAYS to make errors!
And everytime something happens that surprises you, so you need
more firepower...
2)In my previous times through: I got slaughtered, had to use all
the images, triggers and contingencies just to reach Melissan, once
I was killed by the Demon's Vorpal effect, sometimes one of the Five
eluded me, or Maybe Melissan managed to cast more spells...
3)Don't forget the Near Death Bug.... Hope they'll REALLY fix it!

@Xan: hm, I was not thinking about screenshots... but I'll try to reproduce
the beginning (I've done it MANY times.. )

@Bruce: Yes, I removed the cap.
Kensai/Mage level: 12/38
You gain very little anyway, a few hit points and another 9th level
slot (but this one is VERY useful!)
I dualled at 12, as I have the GrandMastery Patch, the attacks were
already enough (4/round dualwielding)
You know, I customize my game! Cannot play if my chars stop advancing..
And with 5 stars in katana, having used ONLY katanas through the game,
I want the edge of GrandMastery!
The enemies have it too, anyway...

P.S.: the Simulacra before battle, aren't a cheesy pre-buffing...
After clicking the last pool, you get a message telling you that
Melissan is coming... I used only that free round..

what is the grand mastery patch and where can I get it from?

Ah but you do gain a lot from removing the cap actually. You become the caster with the highest level in the game, meaning that dispel wont work on you and remove magic is awesome at higher levels.

@Xan: the GrandMastery patch (search here ) sets the rule as it was in BG1, or more precisely, as it was in PnP.
In BG2 was altered for "balancing issues". I don't care. I want it as it should be. I repeat though, even your enemies will use the same rule, you discover that already when you meet Glaicas (Nalia's Keep...)
Here's a screenshot! I've simulated the beginning of the battle, though it went a little different (especially for Sarevok!)

Real Imoen has the cloak of electrical resistance, her IMAGE is casting Time Stop... Imoen's CLONE is out of the screen...
Duriella's IMAGE is above Imoen's....
Duriella's CLONE (the upper ball), free to move, is hitting Sendai...
Abazigal (the lower ball) is freezed hitting Sarevok, he would be not enough close this time, anyway...

Don't think my PC is prebuffed, she has only the permanent effects, plus a partial stoneskin remained after the last pool!


@Bruce:
Hmm, I see. But it makes no sense (for me) to stop gaining XPs..
You already progress very little...
About the remove magic: well, I tried it more than once on Abazigal in this battle, with Imoen, she's 37... didn't work...
Melissan may try to use it on me, of course, but, in the battle I won, she never had the chance (I broke several times her spells)
In the previous ones, she didn't need it, as the horde of demons she summoned did all the work...
I was hit by multiple Pierce Magic, Breaches and the like , and the effect was the same

Anyway, without the remover, I would have been at 32th level....
And if you take the incredible advantages (and CHEESE) that the enemies benefit from, I really don't feel like removing from my char 6 -honestly earned- levels!

I agree I remove the cap also. It is not as a big a deal as it was in SoA anyway. But remove magic is good when several opponents throw up prot from magical weapons at the same time.
Cool screenshot by the way.

I think you'd be 28th level at 8 million exp due to your kensai levels (unless the cap is bugged with dual classed characters). Makes a world of difference from 28 in dispels, but not that much in spells or hps.

I prefer to avoid the GM hack since the BG designers did specifically change it due to it being overpowering. Most of your opponents won't benefit from GM and your GM meleers will be improved by 30-40 percent.

Anyway, sounds like a great final fight and congrats =).

Actually, I forgot the MAJOR benefit from high level.
The level of your clones!!!
While about the GrandMastery Patch, I do not agree with you.
First of all, I dualled at 12, to limit the advantage, while
your enemies in ToB will be GranMasters BEYOND 13th level!!!!!
see here ...
It improves the gap from you and many lesser enemies, of course,
not a big deal, you win easily anyway.
But towards certain opponents, it really gives the feel of a
"Clash of Titans"!
Take my screenshot: Abazigal is GRANDMASTER! Sarevok has about 200
Hps.. that damage was delivered by Abazigal ALONE in the gap
between two TimeStops the normal time to cast a 5th level spell
(9 casting time - 4 casting time with Vecna)....
Abazigal in many of my previous times, slaugthered both Imoen and
Sarevok in a blink...

The game is not easier, it's just DIFFERENT, as I have another
game WITHOUT pure fighters, so ONLY the enemies will benefit
from GrandMastery!!!
But I really like it this way. As in PnP! GrandMasters HAVE the edge.
Plus, if dualwielding, you are more restricted in the choice of
weapons!
(I used to keep a third weapon in the quick slot, then I admitted
it was non-sense... So now I keep that empty, just a weapon per hand)

While removing the XP-cap, I DO gain some advantages.
But, again, if I have a higher party those XPs are not wasted,
they're used by the whole party, and every member can aid in the battles!
With the XP-cap, I would have stopped at the BEGINNING of ToB...
Not only it would have been boring, but, what, I have the most
difficult and heroic battles in the world, I do them with 3 party
memebers, and I gain NO experience???!?!?!?!
I beat Demo, Sendai, Abazigal, Yaga-Shura, (ALL improved version too..),
almost alone sometimes, and I learn NOTHING from that battles???

As I said, I do not look for an easy game, I just customize mine.
I gain some advantages from this, but I use all the Improved Battles,
Ascension, ALL the tougher enemies in the Sola mod (mindflyers, beholders..
had to beat a Hive Mother with a 11th level party....),
AND I like to play WITHOUT prebuffing..

AND I choose normal stats in the beginning, so at the start the battles
are A LOT tougher! Then of course with the powerful items you won't notice
anymore, but still...

Two congratulations:
One, for you completing Ascension;
Two, for your perfect musical taste; Virgin Steele and Manowar simply rock.
Looking forward for new album Warriors of the World...

@Leonardo: congrats to YOU, who've beaten Ascension
way before me!
Nice to see another Brother, here!
(There are many in Brazil, I know..)

I love those bands, who maybe have no exceptional playing skills,
but play with their heart... truly..you tell it by the look in their eyes!

-When LOSERS say it's over with
you KNOW that it's a lie
the Gods made Heavy Metal
and it's never gonna die!

-Bury me beside the endless see...
Raise my ashes to the wind...

ok, ok, I'll stop!! But don't forget Iron Maiden!!