Solo Pure Monk

Yeltsu · Post by **Yeltsu** » Mon Dec 06, 2004 1:53 pm

[QUOTE=Brynn]Is that different form the ones you meet outside?[/QUOTE]

@ Brynn: Obviously, since both neocool and myself didn't have much problems with them, but I got my ass whooped at the battlesquare.

I also believe there are Crystal Golems in the Ice Temple

@ Silver:

I know, I just wanted a small moment of triumph since I was right about the Remorhaz fights.

Heidrek · Post by **Heidrek** » Mon Dec 06, 2004 8:23 pm

I'd like to stack up my solo Fighter/Bard against one of the Solo Monks listed here. He's currently Fighter2/Bard11 and pretty hard to kill. I'm still in the Horde Fortress at this stage but I've found that having him dual weild Static Star+1 and emma's Moonblade in his offhand he's pretty decent, especially with Blur, Blink, Haste and Improved Invis. on top of his Mirror Images. Time I took some more Fighter Levels though I think, kick his comabt ability up a notch with specialisation.

I strugled until I got to 4th level spells and then things became easier. On my next level up I will be able to get 5 attacks per round if I dual wield and have Haste on, and 4 attacks with Wandering Sky, my greatsword of choice at the moment.

silverdragon72 · Post by **silverdragon72** » Tue Dec 07, 2004 4:31 am

[QUOTE=Heidrek]I'd like to stack up my solo Fighter/Bard against one of the Solo Monks listed here. He's currently Fighter2/Bard11 and pretty hard to kill. I'm still in the Horde Fortress at this stage but I've found that having him dual weild Static Star+1 and emma's Moonblade in his offhand he's pretty decent, especially with Blur, Blink, Haste and Improved Invis. on top of his Mirror Images. Time I took some more Fighter Levels though I think, kick his comabt ability up a notch with specialisation.

I strugled until I got to 4th level spells and then things became easier. On my next level up I will be able to get 5 attacks per round if I dual wield and have Haste on, and 4 attacks with Wandering Sky, my greatsword of choice at the moment.[/QUOTE]

...absolutely right - as stated already in diverse other threads well-thought MC-builds are almost ever superior to SC-builds...

...allthough your fighter2/bard11 isn't at the top of the food-chain, he should be more powerfull then the monk...

...the main problem of the bard is that he don't have M-sword and tensers for some reasons I don't understand (would be two very good spells for this more melee focussed class)

..and don't has evasion nor access to the rogue special feats!

...and can't take any paladin levels (allignement) to benefit from his high CHA

...so from my point of view a build like:

- fighter: 2 or 4
- wizard: 17-20
- rogue: 3, 10 or 11
- barb: 0, 2 or 3
- ranger: 0, 2 or 3

...should be better then a fighter/bard - but this has been discussed a zillion times already

.

neocool00 · Post by **neocool00** » Tue Dec 07, 2004 6:53 am

@Byrnn,
Yes, Crystal Golems have a weakness against Bludgeoning, which makes hitting them with your fist extremely nice.

@SilverDragon & Asriel,
I have only completed the first two levels of BS. I'm thinking I'm going to do the first five ranks, then compelete chapter 2 and come back later. I know that beating BS with a level 9 monk is probably going to be impossible. I'm planning on taking a level or 2 at the start of chapter 3. The problem is that even though you get mirror image and blur as deep gnome bonuses, you can only cast them once a day and you can't during BS unless you complete a rank.

@Heidrek,
I'd say he'd stack up very well. Having additional low level bluffs would help alot more than you'd think. I started out Horde Fortress map on level 7 and then took two levels before leaving the caves. It made for some intense battles.

Heidrek · Post by **Heidrek** » Tue Dec 07, 2004 5:14 pm

I think the comments made by everyone else about multiclass characters are pretty much right. A min/maxed build of various classes can provide some devastating combinations. Lacking Tensers and Mord. Sword is a shame for the Bard, would step him up a notch in the magic department.

I'd like to see how good a pure bard would be. I'm guessing the low levels would be very tough, but once you have about 7 or 8 levels under your belt, things would start getting easier. shame a bards 7th level spells all suck, Summon Efreet? Thanks but Shades is probably better every time. Prismatic Spray? I'd cast Great Shout instead almost everytime. By the time you get through a casting time of 7 everyone will be in melee range and you'll get 1 target - wow.

Biggest problem as always would be a lack of mass damage spells that are so effective against the Shaengarne Ford orcs. Oswald only sells so many Oil of Fiery Burning and Potion of Explosions.

Brynn · Post by **Brynn** » Wed Dec 08, 2004 7:35 am

[QUOTE=neocool00]@Byrnn,
Yes, Crystal Golems have a weakness against Bludgeoning, which makes hitting them with your fist extremely nice.
[/QUOTE]

Well, I was just wondering whgy you didn't take the easier path

There's a pretty easy trick to finish them off without actually touching them. You can lure them under the pile of rocks (have another party memeber stand next to the piles), and drop the rocks on them, they'll die instantly.

Wrath-Of-Egg · Post by **Wrath-Of-Egg** » Wed Dec 08, 2004 7:46 am

Well.. Brynn.. i thought that they were playing solo that part of game..

That thing works..

Yeltsu · Post by **Yeltsu** » Wed Dec 08, 2004 8:12 am

[QUOTE=Brynn]Well, I was just wondering whgy you didn't take the easier path

There's a pretty easy trick to finish them off without actually touching them. You can lure them under the pile of rocks (have another party memeber stand next to the piles), and drop the rocks on them, they'll die instantly.[/QUOTE]

I knew those rocks had some use!

neocool00 · Post by **neocool00** » Wed Dec 08, 2004 11:16 am

I read somewhere that if use the rocks to kill monsters, you don't get xp from 'em. That's why I went toe-to-toe.

Completed level 3 rank of BS last night. Had some issues with Mummy Kings in that I couldn't kill them fast enough. Bad thing was on two occasions I killed them right after the Golem said time's up.

Yeltsu · Post by **Yeltsu** » Wed Dec 08, 2004 11:42 am

[QUOTE=neocool00]
Completed level 3 rank of BS last night. Had some issues with Mummy Kings in that I couldn't kill them fast enough. Bad thing was on two occasions I killed them right after the Golem said time's up.[/QUOTE]

I found those to be the easiest (actually the ONLY ones I was able to defeat on rank 5) I just used slashing weapons on them (my axe for instance) 'cause then I got 10 dmg bonus

neocool00 · Post by **neocool00** » Mon Dec 13, 2004 6:49 am

Well I ran into issues w/ BS level 4. The Frost Giants seemed to love beating the heck out of me. So I advanced 3 levels bringing me up to level 12 now and finished off BS level 4. I've now moved on to Chapter 3. I'll have to come back to BS later as I want to continue on.

silverdragon72 · Post by **silverdragon72** » Tue Dec 14, 2004 4:24 am

.

btw. does anyone ever managed to:

- beat the game in normal
- beat the game in insane
- mastered the battle square
- or even beat the game in HOF-mode

with a solo monk without cheating ?

.

neocool00 · Post by **neocool00** » Tue Dec 14, 2004 8:31 am

[QUOTE=silverdragon72].

btw. does anyone ever managed to:

- beat the game in normal
- beat the game in insane
- mastered the battle square
- or even beat the game in HOF-mode

with a solo monk without cheating ?

.[/QUOTE]
I think that begs the question of what you define as cheating. Is squatting considered cheating? I've heard some say yes and some say no. Is using DaleKeeper to take a few of your squatted levels and not all of them cheating? What about Wiedu's mods, especially the Deep Gnome xp fix? I also am using Wiedu's mod for bottomless bags/containers and infinite stacking only because I have one character to carry around all this stuff I'm finding. What about if I were in the start of Chapter two standing outside the beetle nest and slay beetles until I reached enough xp to jump all the way to level 30? Although in the case of my solo Monk, I did end up killing like 25+ beetles before I was able to take out the nest. This was not my intention as it just turned out that about the time I killed a beetle another one appeared. But it did get me thinking. As a level 9 Monk I think I was getting like 169 xp for each beetle (you'd get 300 xp if your average party level is 6 or below). There are several ways to exploit the game, the question is which ones are considered cheating and I doubt you'd get a consenus on that. Maybe it's more of how much cheating you do. I guess ideally, a perfect non-cheating game would consist of base install + patch, only reload when you character dies off and no level squatting. I think I'll start another thread on cheating to see what others think.

neocool00 · Post by **neocool00** » Tue Jan 18, 2005 6:51 am

Well I finally got around to loading my game back up over the weekend. I finished out the Fell Woods and move on to the cave. Before battling the Dragons, I took all of my squatted levels and now I'm level 24. I went back to the Battle Squares and finished off ranks 5-10 without any reloads. I only rested between ranks masteries. The only problem I did have was occasionaly the monster I was fighting teleported to the locked room which meant I lost the square. I am now making my way to the UnderDark. I have slain all of the Druegars and Monks but not before milking as much xp as I could seeing how I don't get any from fighting. It was funny watching my little Monk get surrounded by all of Druegars and not losing any hit points. Anytime they would hit me, it would come up as me being immune. Also, thanks to the book of experience, I'm now level 25. I'll try to copy down my stats and post them later.