Savevok

Detrius · Post by **Detrius** » Mon Aug 27, 2001 6:08 am

Ok so I've read some peoples opinions about savevok being one of the best tanks in the game and was really looking forward to playing with him when I made it to ToB. However when I got there I was severely dissapointed. A straight fighter who specialises in two handed swords, woooow! What is the big deal, he's not as good as any of my party, a paltry level 18 on 2700000xp when the rest of my 6 member party has got around 4500000xp by the time u reach him. His only saving grace is his high strength but that becomes all but useless considering how many girdles of giant strength there are about. I had Minsc with Crom Faeyr STR25, my paladin with natural STR20, Valygar with Stone Giant STR20 and Jahiera with Hill Giant STR19, all better than sarevok's. I must be missing something, anyone care to shed some light?

nael · Post by **nael** » Mon Aug 27, 2001 6:26 am

he has the deathbringer assault which does about 200 damage. it is not a special ability, rather just something that happens X% of the time.
plus, there are some great two handed swords for him to use if no one in your party has them...like the silver sword, which combined with greater whirlwind will almost gaurantee an instant kill. the sword of grief, the soul reaver is very good.

Izgoth · Post by **Izgoth** » Mon Aug 27, 2001 7:00 am

He can also petrify or stun his opponent.
So he is a special character with some special abilities unique to him only.

Meerlight · Post by **Meerlight** » Mon Aug 27, 2001 7:17 am

Also you are playing a good party. Sarevok can be for a good party but is also there to round out the 3 truly evil characters from SoA.
Another strategy some have used is to dual him to thief. It may take until near the end of the game to get his thief class up but when he does, he becomes unstoppable. He can set time traps then hack every enemy up with Carsomyr for example. Or he can backstab for 1,000 damage with deathbringer assault + quintuple damage.

Raven Avenger · Post by **Raven Avenger** » Mon Aug 27, 2001 7:50 am

I think it was Sojourner who said that Sarevok has 5% possibility to do deathbringer assault and 3% to petrificate the target.

Nightmare · Post by **Nightmare** » Mon Aug 27, 2001 8:51 am

@Detrius, one question. How did you get that high in exp in shadows of amn with a six person party?

Izgoth · Post by **Izgoth** » Mon Aug 27, 2001 10:01 am

Perhaps he used resting tacticue or played a party of 5 and added Sarevok so it became 6.

Detrius · Post by **Detrius** » Mon Aug 27, 2001 11:18 am

Nope, no special tricks I just went all the way through BG1, ToSC, BG2 and Watchers Keep doing absolutely everything and by the time I reached sarevok that was my experience level. Why how much did u have when u reached him? Good to know about sarevok, does it mention it anywhere in his script or was this through trial and error? and I thought only good alligned characters can use Carsomyr? Also does the Vorpal sword effect every monster or only humanoids or what, ie. would it work on a dragon? Because u don't really have to worry about insta kills with many of the things in ToB

Obsidian · Post by **Obsidian** » Mon Aug 27, 2001 11:23 am

I think your overlooking the fact that sarevok is a very cool addition to your party as he has many great interactions with people. He can use carysomer if he duals toa thief and gains use any item ability. So all in all hes very cool expecially if your sick of Imoen and Jan in the group. Personaly, i think Sarevok is a great addition to any party just because he is NEW. Also, when playing an evil character, hes great to have around. Now you have PC, sarevok, Korgan, Edwin(a) and Viconia. If you PC is a theif, well, thats all you need to have an insanely powerful party. Or, you could just dual Sarevok to a theif.

Sojourner · Post by **Sojourner** » Mon Aug 27, 2001 12:13 pm

Originally posted by Raven Avenger:
<STRONG>I think it was Sojourner who said that Sarevok has 5% possibility to do deathbringer assault and 3% to petrificate the target.</STRONG>

Actually, that was Sabre:

Originally posted by Sabre:
<STRONG>The ability have only a 3% chance of happening - roll between 97% and 100%, there's also a 10% chance of stunning the opponent - roll between 0% and 10%</STRONG>

Read more [url="http://www.gamebanshee.com/cgi-bin/ubb/ultimatebb.cgi?ubb=get_topic&f=2&t=006489"]here[/url].

Nightmare · Post by **Nightmare** » Mon Aug 27, 2001 12:19 pm

I when from the start of SoA (I don't have BG1

), did all quests (except Watcher's Keep), and was a little over 3 million when I met Sarevok.

Detrius · Post by **Detrius** » Mon Aug 27, 2001 3:30 pm

ok, so mabye if your playing through an evil party sarevok would be nice to have around and I'm sure he has some nice interactions, but these aren't reasons which make him "the best tank" as some people have said. And about the silver sword and greater whirlwind guaranteeing insta kill thats true of any character, as is the fact that pretty much any level 18 fighter dualed to a level 18+ theif is going to be pretty unstoppable. Its just that seems like an awful lot of work that has to be done on the character before u get any great results. By that time surely the game is nearly over? Anyway with my Cavalier already wielding Carsomyr at much higher strength with with a few whirlwinds already attained by the time u reach sarevok he just doesn't seem, from a pure power perspective, to live up to the hype is all I'm saying. Anyway I'm playing through from the begining of BG1 again, this time with evil mage/theif, so I'll try him out when I eventually get there, mabye I'll change my mind!?

THE JAKER · Post by **THE JAKER** » Mon Aug 27, 2001 4:14 pm

I think it mainly has to do with WHEN you do watcher's keep...if you wait til TOB starts to do it, then your characters will not have much more exp than Saravok starts with...If you do WK in SOA, then they'll be too far ahead.

It's just like getting Imoen - if you do every quest before you go to the Asylum, she'll be so far behind that she's no good to you, but if you go early, she'll be right in line with everyone else.

Detrius · Post by **Detrius** » Mon Aug 27, 2001 4:44 pm

I think JAKER has hit the nail on the noggin, I'll have to make sure I do WK after finishing BG2 this time round then, btw any suggestions as to who to take with my evil party I'm a mage/theif multiclass, Edwin, Viccy, Korgan, Sarevok + ??Jaheira??

incandescent one · Post by **incandescent one** » Mon Aug 27, 2001 6:42 pm

The way you did it, you put Sarevok at a severe disadvantage. You basically gave him nothing and compared him to your suped up team. If you had put as much effort into him, as you did the rest of your team, he would be by far the best tank.

He has the 2nd highest hps of all the NPC's, with only Korgan bettering him. However, if you use the Machine of Lum to increase his con by 1, he has the same hp as Korgan. If you give the con bonus to Korgan, he gains no additional hp.

Sarevok on the merit of his special abilities is better than any tank if you think offensively.

He's the only char you can dual to a thief. If you do so, he misses out on maybe a dozen hps at most but gains the use of Carsomyr +6 , so he just becomes ridiculously powerful, with the ability to get near 100% mr. He is the only NPC besides Jan and Harry that can access the high level traps. Very useful. He also has hps and melee-ability over Harry and Jan.

As a mage (you can dual him to that also), he can cast any spell, and well, Edwin is better, and you really have no good reason to dual him to a mage, but he'd make an above average fighter/mage, though there's really no one to compare him to in this category.

There are three charachters that have the possibility to grandmaster in a weapon. Mazzy, Korgan and Sarevok.

Korgan has grandmastery in axes and the vorpal axe out there is basically Korgan-made. So giving him the ravager is just a dumb idea. No excuses.

Sarevok however is primed for it, with proficiency in it, and maxed out two-handed weapon style. Mazzy's meant to use short swords, though she could use halberds at the expense of her greatest strength, bows.

Sarevok IS the best tank.

Detrius · Post by **Detrius** » Tue Aug 28, 2001 11:10 am

transcendent two, not entirely true, I gave sarevok nothing and compared him to my other characters with nothing. Seemed fair and the things he beat them on namely strength I had items to increase str beyond both characters. I already have my PC cavalier wielding Carsomyr +6 so no luck there and about dualing him to a theif IMHO thats just making him something he's not, sarevok is a straight fighter. At the time of my original post I wasn't aware of his special abilities which undoubtedly make him a lot harder than I thought he was. Does it tell u about this anywhere in the game or did someone find it out by trial and error? As I've already said the main reason I think I thought the way I did was that I assumed everyone had done Watchers Keep before meeting him, as it wasn't exactly a very hard dungeon. And by that time he's so far behind it's just not worth it.

sigurd · Post by **sigurd** » Tue Aug 28, 2001 2:00 pm

Sarevo the best tank? thats laughable!
Korgan is the far best tank, assuming you give him the gauntlets of dexterity. He gets much better saving throws, and he got berzerker enrage which makes him immune to most effects.

And let him dualwield the best axe and crom faeyr and he wont be beaten by much..'

You say giving him an extra con gives nothing, but then he would regenerate

fable · Post by **fable** » Tue Aug 28, 2001 2:18 pm

Why argue? Saverok's a great tank, and so is Korgan, by the time you reach Saverok. Both have the prime statistics of a tank (strength and hit points) up the wazoo, and each has specialities there are very good. My evil party that first entered ToB dropped Korgan for Saverok, but it was largely because the interactions for Korgan had been played out--I wanted something new, personality-wise, in the mix. Just think of a team with both of 'em as your leads, however, or a team that fronts Saverok and Keldorn.

Stoner Cold · Post by **Stoner Cold** » Tue Aug 28, 2001 2:59 pm

sarevok is very good, no doubt. slightly better than korgan. but i dont care, because i use them both.
i think it is better to have more fighters than mages and theifs.
i have me (half-orc fighter), korgan and sarevok rush the enemy, with my swashbuckler providing ranged backup, vicci healing and my sorc spellcasting. that will win most battles.