Shadow Dragon (SPOILERS!)

Kevka · Post by **Kevka** » Tue Nov 18, 2003 5:56 am

Shadow Dragon

I'm investigating the deaths at umar hills and i've got up the dragon.

The black bastard has beat me twise already. I'll use the spell "negative plane protection" next time (to stop his sodding level draining)

I've got something called a shadow dragon ward stone. How does that work?

boo's daddy · Post by **boo's daddy** » Tue Nov 18, 2003 6:00 am

It allows you to get past it without having to fight it! You can always come back later when you're higher leve.

I never managed to kill the Shadow Dragon without cheese. I think I used a feeblemind or something and got lucky.

Kevka · Post by **Kevka** » Tue Nov 18, 2003 6:26 am

I'll use my "Full Monty" tactic.

Summon everything you have,
cast every protection spell you have (including Negative plane protection),
and CHARGE!

fable · Post by **fable** » Tue Nov 18, 2003 8:24 am

@Kevka, please note the site owner's sticky thread in this forum. It asks members to indicate in a thread's title if the contents contain spoilers--and this one certainly does. I've changed the title here to reflect that; please indicate this yourself, in the future. Thanks.

Kevka · Post by **Kevka** » Tue Nov 18, 2003 8:46 am

*Mumbles something under his breath*

Anyway:

Spoiler

Does the Shadow Dragon drop any scales to make c'zool armour out of. I know some of the other dragons do.

End Spoiler

fable · Post by **fable** » Tue Nov 18, 2003 9:40 am

Kevka, if you've got a problem with Buck's policy, I suggest you consider that most of the complaints we've received via PMs come from your fellow posters, here. If you still don't like it, send a PM to Buck, and keep the matter off the boards, or posts will be pulled.

SPOILER...
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The Shadow Dragon drops, as you might expect, Shadow Dragon scales. These can be used to make Shadow Dragon scale armor, which has a 50% acid resistance. Not exactly the best stuff around, but it's handy to keep off stains whey you're eating curry. That tumeric seems positively magnetized to clothing.

Kevka · Post by **Kevka** » Tue Nov 18, 2003 9:50 am

The Shadow Dragon drops, as you might expect, Shadow Dragon scales. These can be used to make Shadow Dragon scale armor, which has a 50% acid resistance. Not exactly the best stuff around, but it's handy to keep off stains whey you're eating curry. That tumeric seems positively magnetized to clothing.

Execlent. Cheers m8

I suggest you consider that most of the complaints we've received via PMs come from your fellow posters

Are you saying that people have been complaining about me, or was that just about about the forum in General?

I'm not trying to cause any sorrow, but if I am, tell me.

fable · Post by **fable** » Tue Nov 18, 2003 9:52 am

Like I said, use PMs, please, if you need to discuss this.

And yes, we receive complaints regularly from new players (quite a few are still going through BG2 for the first time) about topics, here, that don't warn for spoilers.

fable · Post by **fable** » Tue Nov 18, 2003 10:27 am

On a similar point, there are several neat items that can be created in the game. Talk to Cespenar. He runs a smithy/shop on the eastern side of the dock area, upstairs. Tell him GameBanshee sent ya.

Oh, and one other thing: there is a fine mod out there that adds new ingredients and new items for Cespenar to make. You can find it here. Enjoy.

Armycardinal · Post by **Armycardinal** » Tue Nov 18, 2003 11:32 am

SPOILER

I had problems with the Shadow Dragon too. I read this http://www.gamebanshee.com/baldursgatei ... ragons.php
and came up with a couple of ideas that seemed to work. I would use a couple of summoned cannon fodder right in front of the dragon. It is real easy to get set up and buffed b'cause he stays blue. Lots of lower resistance spells and sequenced MM and if his resistance goes low enuf - have Jah cast the insect cloud on him. Then he's nothing but a very large melee fighter.

' Luck

AC

Sytze · Post by **Sytze** » Tue Nov 18, 2003 11:53 am

Originally posted by fable
On a similar point, there are several neat items that can be created in the game. Talk to Cespenar. He runs a smithy/shop on the eastern side of the dock area, upstairs. Tell him GameBanshee sent ya.

Oh, and one other thing: there is a fine mod out there that adds new ingredients and new items for Cespenar to make. You can find it here. Enjoy.

Thats not Cespenar, thats Cromwell, Cespenar is the little imp in ToB fable

fable · Post by **fable** » Tue Nov 18, 2003 1:15 pm

Originally posted by Sytze
Thats not Cespenar, thats Cromwell, Cespenar is the little imp in ToB fable

Stop pickin' on me, you whippersnapper, or I'll throw my teeth at ya!

And yeah, it's Cromwell; same job as Cespenar, though, so who cares along as he does good work?

Sytze · Post by **Sytze** » Tue Nov 18, 2003 1:24 pm

Originally posted by fable
Stop pickin' on me, you whippersnapper, or I'll throw my teeth at ya! And yeah, it's Cromwell; same job as Cespenar, though, so who cares along as he does good work?

Busy with work at a late hour again??

JackOfClubs · Post by **JackOfClubs** » Tue Nov 18, 2003 4:58 pm

Originally posted by Armycardinal
SPOILER

I would use a couple of summoned cannon fodder right in front of the dragon.

SPOILERS:

Watch out for Death Spells that instantly kill all summoed creatures. If I remember correctly the Shadow Dragon is particularly fond of this spell.

What I usually do is cast a low-level summoning spell and send a single creature close to the dragon. He will automatically cast a Death Spell without goind hostile, for some reason. Then buff up and summon the rest of your force. When everyone is ready, have someone cast a Lower Resistance or 3 as the first attack. This will make the dragon go hostile, but the dialogue will allow your spell-casters to regain the initiative, so they can immediately attack when the dialogue ends.

Ekental · Post by **Ekental** » Wed Nov 19, 2003 12:07 am

SPOILER

This seems silly with all these complicated tactic...
I beat the dragon with the mage @ lvl 12

You need to:

cast "Raise magic resistance" on the dragon (Raises it from 90% -Over 100%... this actually lowers it down to about 20% cause it sets it to 0% when you go over 100%)
Dragon does not Aggro @ this point

cast "Greater Malison" on the dragon to lower saving throws by 4

cast "Doom" on the dragon to lower saving throws by 2

cast "Chromatic Orb" (Mage must be lvl 12 or higher)
This gives you the INstant kill if the target does not save with a +6 saving throw... if it doesnt work keep casting till it does.
OR
cast "finger of death" its a much higher level spell, but if you have it use it

I killed every dragon with this technique in less than 1 minute, usually takes about 3 chromatic orbs before they fail their save

VonDondu · Post by **VonDondu** » Wed Nov 19, 2003 2:33 am

Originally posted by JackOfClubs
SPOILERS:

Watch out for Death Spells that instantly kill all summoned creatures. If I remember correctly the Shadow Dragon is particularly fond of this spell...

I was thinking the same thing.

Here's a question, though. I know that the Shadow Dragon casts the Death Spell when Throne of Bhaal is installed, but does anyone know if the Shadow Dragon uses that spell if Throne of Bhaal is not installed?

It seems like a quite a few of the monsters use the Death Spell to counteract summoning spells when you have Throne of Bhaal installed.

Kevka · Post by **Kevka** » Wed Nov 19, 2003 3:29 am

SPOILER (Probably)

I noticed my people droping like flies. I thought it was it's level draining (droping my levels under lv1). With "Negative Plane Protection" I can get around that. So it has death spells too?

What level spell is "Raise Magic Risistance", because I havn't got a 12 level mage.

JackOfClubs · Post by **JackOfClubs** » Wed Nov 19, 2003 7:59 pm

Originally posted by VonDondu
Here's a question, though. I know that the Shadow Dragon casts the Death Spell when Throne of Bhaal is installed, but does anyone know if the Shadow Dragon uses that spell if Throne of Bhaal is not installed?

Yes, it happens in SoA-only installations, as well. I only recently acquired ToB so most of my accumulated wisdom (such as it is) is based on SoA only. The Shadow Dragon is one of the few monsters that use the Death Spell intelligently. Beholders are another class of creature that comes to mind because they have an innate Death Ray that mirrors the effects of the Death Spell. But you are right in suggesting that most SoA monsters do not take out summons the easy way.

@Ekental: Your tactic is a good one, but you might be interested to know that your explanation of how it works is slightly innacurate. The Magic Resistance spell you are referring to is actually a 5th level Cleric spell. It does not raise MR, it sets it to twice the Cleric's level. So a 9th level Cleric casting the spell would grant the recipient 18% MR, even if the recipient's MR was previously higher. This effect is noted in the spell's description, but the fact that you can cast it on an enemy without turning them hostile is a bug.

This distinction has three important consequences: 1) It is indeed possible to increase MR past the 100% mark using magic items. I have done it with Viconia (who has a high natural MR to start with). This is useful if you suspect that a monster will try to cast a Lower Resistance (5th lvl Mage) spell at you. 2) Your tactic will work on creatures that have a high MR but are not close to 100%. For instance, a creature with 50% MR will still be lowered to 18% by a low-level Cleric, even though your theory would predict it being raised to 68%. 3) By the same token, however, this tactic becomes increasingly less useful as your Cleric progresses. A level 21 Cleric would set the MR to 42% which is fairly substantial (even though it might still be a reduction from the original).

trollkarlsgubbe · Post by **trollkarlsgubbe** » Thu Nov 20, 2003 3:00 am

Here's a question, though. I know that the Shadow Dragon casts the Death Spell when Throne of Bhaal is installed, but does anyone know if the Shadow Dragon uses that spell if Throne of Bhaal is not installed?

It does but it is a bit sluggish with it. I summoned up two earth elementals with my mage and he only death spelled the first one.

Also I would like to add that the greater malison then doom then cromatic orbs is an insanely easy way to kill almost anything as long as you get around their magic resistance.

silent_assassin · Post by **silent_assassin** » Thu Nov 20, 2003 4:32 am

Well met all Baldur's Gate fans! This is my first post so please correct me fi this is a cheesy tactic:

I had Yoshimo to place 3 specialtraps and 3 regular traps. Then Anomen cast Magic Resistance on the Dragon, and therefore lowering his MR. Someone explained this earlier. Then I simply had Aerie and Edwina cast Magic Missile on him, he got mad and attacked, ran on Yoshis traps......and died. I don't now if it works on ALL dragons in the game but i've bested Shadow Dragon and Firkraag with it.

Take care!