The Guardian (spoiler)

Ravager · Post by **Ravager** » Sat Sep 10, 2005 4:16 am

That does sound good.

I think elementals may be vulnerable to fear effects though. As for the invisible character, a duergar with natural ability to cast Invisibility could be handy. Just don't attack, spoiling the spell.

Magical traps are good. Any of your delayed spells such as Skull Trap, DBF and cloud spells- Stinking Cloud, Cloudkill, Incendiary Cloud (if you have the scroll or are playing HoF).

liorde · Post by **liorde** » Mon Sep 12, 2005 8:17 am

That is a bit of cowardness from my side...

I mean, to trully enjoy the game=> face the monsters, stand toe to toe with them, get poisoned and take care of it in time or die, get diseased, stunned, etc... That's the way to play...

...But since this is my first run through the game, I am doing the fights with "tweasers"... meaning a lot of micro management. Fight the least possible. If the fight is a tough one, like this case, and also the fight in the Fell Wood where I was fighting the ghost-lights, then summon all you can, use of damage enhancing spells and such.
You know what I mean.
This is a simple approach I took from my IWD1 days.

Hope it helps.

Aerich · Post by **Aerich** » Mon Sep 12, 2005 7:38 pm

Good tactics are only "cowardly" to big ugly fighter-types with their brains in their weapons.

jeremiah · Post by **jeremiah** » Thu Oct 20, 2005 10:19 am

Disintegrate worked even on HoF but by then I had really high level characters. I would leave the party at the jungle portal platform (you warp here from Kuldahar) where the Guardian can't get you. Just one hasted character to act as decoy/insert last pillar and make sure the Guardian doesn't prevent him from getting to the rest of your party have some summons along the way to distract the guardian. An item to resist fear or Cast Remove fear on the decoy.

When he arrived, paladin, wizard and pal/sorc cast lower resistance (one of them should stick). Then cleric casts prayer/recitation/doom/bane and wizard casts malison, bard casts emotion:despair. Then have wizard casting disintegrate until it stuck. Didn't take too long. The barb just kept using the big, bad Flying Death Axe I believe.

On the other hand, you can lure him to the portal and have your arcane casters just Cone of Cold him to death with a few castings as I believe it ignores magic resistance (just make sure your other party members are not in the way).

Crucis · Post by **Crucis** » Fri Dec 16, 2005 10:28 am

My Dragon-Slaying Strategy

While it's been a while since I've played IWD2, here's my dragon-slaying strategy.

First off, note that I almost always have a paladin in my party, but not always.

When I've had a pally in the party, I'd use my pally's Aura of Courage mercilessly to keep any members of my party in melee free of fear. That said, I think that Bard singing the anti-Fear spell would be just as effective.

Anyways, it should go without saying (but I'll say it anyways) that you should be fully buffed before summoning the dragon. And have perhaps 3 Remove Fear spells memorized.

Secondly, I would only send in 2 tanks into melee. I'd keep everone else at fairly extreme missile/magic combat range and spread out. And I wouldn't have my main healer in melee range. Next, if one of my tanks was getting seriously injured, I'd withdraw him from melee and run him back to the cleric. Do not do the reverse (i.e. run the cleric to the wounded tank). While you're getting the cleric to the wounded tank, your tank could take a death blow. Get him out of there and let the other tank take the slack for a while.

Summons can be useful, particularly ones with lots of HP. Your summons may get Fear'd by the dragon if you don't have a Pally or a Bard providing constant anti-fear protection, but that's not too big a deal. The primary purpose of your summons is to (hopefully) serve as cannon fodder to suck up damage, if (hopefully) the dragon will focus on them.

Have your spell casters cast the useful electrical spells, like Chain Lightning, Call Lightning, etc., since the dragon is vulnerable to electrical attacks. If your mage has Mordenkainen's Sword in his spellbook, use it. Other than Chain Lightning, it's the best consistent damage producing spell available.

BTW, you can always go for the Lower Resistance/Malison and Disintigrate route. it's not guaranteed to work every time, but if it fails you can always just reload if you must. It will work eventually. Still, I rarely memorize Disintegrate, so it's not a tactic that I use, but I thought I'd mention it.

This dragon is very tough. One of the toughest battles in the entire game. But with clear, focused combat tactics, you can take him down with surprising ease... even in HOF.

Lazigothi · Post by **Lazigothi** » Sat Apr 22, 2006 1:17 pm

The disintegration spell helps. My wizard destroyed the guardian without using a lower resistance spell, but I'm sure such a spell will help gaurantee success for a relatively instant kill. I made sure to keep everyone far enough away and summoned a few monsters to keep the guardian busy while casting it.

When I tried again with a different party composition, intending to avoid an instant kill of the Guardian, the above suggestion of M. Sword with simple spells of Exaltation and Chaotic Commands to protect everyone from panic/fear helped. As the Guardian was kept busy by summoned creatures, (undead/ elementals seemed more useful), haste and strength of one also helped.

luz · Post by **luz** » Tue May 09, 2006 3:29 am

After having read this thread- twice- and tried almost everything on here, here is my situation: my party consists of
Level 15 ranger
level 14 paladin
level 15 fighter
level 13 rogue/cleric
level 14 monk
level 15 sorceror/ranger
That said, the guardian is wiping the floor with my party. So far, the Arrows of Piercing have never once hit him, the Mon(can't spell it,, the sword spell that creates the green swords) does hurt him, but very little. The skull trap idea doesn't work because he teleports OVER the traps and even when he does hit them, he has resistance to any damage. Electricity barely touches him, all other spells seem to bounce right off of him. To make matters worse, my game is on very, very easy right now, and the guardian is still taking them out in less than 2 minutes. Somebody please help!

kmonster · Post by **kmonster** » Tue May 09, 2006 5:20 am

If you cannot defeat an opponent, then go somewhere else to gather more experience and better equipment. This rule is important, especially in traditional crpgs.

The wisest choice is not to summon the guardian. Just go back to Kuldahar after clearing the temple where the story should go on.
Once you've gained about 2 levels and a few nice items and spells you can go back to fight it and will have an easier time.

If you really want to fight the guardian now, then you should provide more concrete information:

- how are the levels of your multiclasses distributed ?
- which spells are available to your sorcerer ?
- what weaopons do your characters use, are they specialized in and what is their strength ?
- what do you summon before the fight and which buffing spells do you cast on whom ?

Philos · Post by **Philos** » Tue May 09, 2006 11:13 am

Killing the Guardian **Spoiler**

Your party "should" be capable of handling the Guardian. My first party had no problem and they were lower level than yours (not much). This was my first party and run through of the game. I would have to pull up the autosave to check them but I "believe" my party was as follows:

Paladin 13th (Assimar)
Ranger 13th (Assimar, don't know why I did that)
Fighter 10th (Sverfneblin)
Cleric 14th (human and of Lathander, might make a difference)
Fighter/ Mage 5th/9th (elf)
Barbarian/Rogue 6th/7th (Tiefling)

First, Don't use Arrows of Piercing! They aren't what they say they are. Yes they do cause extra damage if no save, BUT, the description says they have +4 enchantment (IIRC). My experience in the game says they do NOT. They act as standard arrows with a special ability of causing extra damage. But they do not act as if they are enchanted, especially as +4. I tried some on Iron Golems and other creatures requiring enchanted weapons (nothing!!, did not work). Instead use "Sureshot" (which are enchanted as +5 although do not give +5 to hit) or +2 or +3 arrows and bolts. The bolts of sparking "I think" also worked on it.

I suspected that the Guardian was some type of Dragon since we were dealing with Yuan-Ti.

My Paladin was immune to the fear as was my Ranger who was wearing the spiked dog collar from early on in the game (great little item for as early as you get it). So I set my Paladin & Ranger on the steps, weapons in hand. I "think" the Paladin had +3 sword and the Ranger had the "Sure strike" short sword, not sure though. The others stood back in the grassy area with a variety of missle weapons at the ready. Summoned the Guardian with my Paladin and quickly moved back to the steps to block it off with the Ranger.
**Spoiler**
Clerics of Lathander get one great kick butt domain spell (as a 6th level spell) much earlier than other clerics do as a regular cleric spell, Firestorm. It seems to bypass magic resistence, (because it is a divine spell vice arcane perhaps?). Once it appeared my cleric cast Firestorm and my mage cast Lower Resistence at the same time. Lower Resistence has shorted casting time and goes off first. The Firestorm hurt it pretty good. The missle troops started firing away. After the second round of the Firestorm, it took a step backwards. I then sent my Paladin in on one side and my Ranger in from the other. They seemed to box it in and it never moved from that position the rest of the fight. It kept turning back and forth to face one or the other but never moved away. My fighter/mage using a bow moved himself closer to get a better shot and ended up running in panic, but other than that others were far enough back that they could shoot at it and not get panicked. A couple of rounds and down it went, no deaths. So I am thinking that if you can pin it in one spot it might not have the freedom of movement or the desire to teleport around. I may have been lucky, but it worked

Crucis · Post by **Crucis** » Tue May 09, 2006 12:32 pm

Luz, the Guardian is vulnerable to electrical attacks. Chain Lightning, Call Lightning, and Static Charge are among the best magical attacks against the guardian.

Mordenkainen's Sword (just say Mord's Sword, to shorten it

)also usually works. IIRC, the Guardian has strong fire and acid resistances. Also, you probably need +2 or +3 weapons to get thru whatever damage resistances he has. Also, use your very highest enchantment ammo.

Bug nasty summons can be useful, particularly if you have a pally and his/her aura of courage. The summons may not cause any real damage, but they can make for useful cannon fodder. Any damage they take is damage you aren't taking.

Have plenty of Remove Fear spells memorized by your cleric.

If you have a heavily wounded melee tank, have the wounded tank run BACK to your cleric, not the reverse. If you have your cleric run up to the wounded tank to cast a Heal spell, the tank may take that last killing blow before you can heal him. It's safer to run away from the dragon, back to your cleric, and let your other tanks hold the line for a round or 2.

If all else fails, cast a Lower Resistance spell then some Disintegrate spells, and hope that you get lucky and the dragon fails its saving roll.

luz · Post by **luz** » Wed May 10, 2006 12:50 am

My paladin, as far as I know, doesn't have the spell you were talking about, The Aura of Courage. I actually remember looking for it and not finding it. As for leaving and coming back, I've already done that- and leveled 3 levels past the first time I faced the guardian. I've tried lightning spells and they seem to have EXTREMELY low effect on the dragon, in fact, the only thing that I've found really works yet is Mord's sword... that is, until the dragon turns around and takes out my sorc/ranger completely. I've tried boxing the dragon before, it just teleports away. The only reason I even came back to this fight was because my characters had plowed through Dragon's Eye completely and then come out onto the Fields of Slaughter.... to be slaughtered. Again and again and again and again. I figured I could level up now that I was at level 14 and 15 and then return to the Fields and try to beat it. But no, I'm left to reloading constantly and never endingly. I don't know WHAT is wrong with my team- they plow through most monsters effortlessly. As for the +3 and +4 weapons- those are the weapons I'm using on the dragon. And they're not hitting it, not even once. This game is getting frustrating and I am ready to quit and never return to it. I love these kinds of game, but this one is just too hard. When you have to fight again and again and again the same thing, just to HURT it, I really don't consider that to be a fair fight. (I would actually almost say the same for the Luremaster in TOTL, except that he's the only one you need to kill to stop the other attacks and he's not THAT invulnerable.)
As for my group:
Human Ranger- Level 15 Str. 16 Dex. 13 Con. 13 Int. 12 Wis. 11 Cha. 14
Aasimar Paladin- Level 14 Str. 16 Dex. 14 Con. 14 Int. 11 Wis. 12 Cha. 16
Half-Elf Fighter- level 15 Str. 19 Dex. 16 Con. 17 Int. 10 Wis. 10 Cha. 10
Drow Cleric/Rogue- level 13 (Rogue-7, cleric-6) Str. 14 Dex. 18 Con. 13 Int. 12 Wis. 14 Cha. 12
Aasimar Monk- Level 14 Str. 15 Dex. 13 Con. 13 Int. 15 Wis. 15 Cha. 12
Half-Elf Sorceress/Ranger- Level 15 (Ranger-7 Sorceress-8) Str. 13 Dex. 13 Con. 13 Int. 16 Wis. 15 Cha. 18

kmonster · Post by **kmonster** » Wed May 10, 2006 8:24 am

Your paladin has the "Aura of Courage", he gained it automatically at level 2. It makes him immune to fear and gives allies near him a +4 bonus save vs. fear.

I don't consider the game as unfair difficult, my party killed the guardian at the first attempt with only one dead party member and that's mainly because I didn't buff my party up properly before the fight since the fights before were easy.
The fields weren't too hard for me, only my paladin died once because of a failed save.

Your problem is that you have nearly a fighter-only party, you should have a level 14 mage and level 14 cleric now, you should be able to summon an army of greater boneguards, to increase everyone's strength by 8 with the champion's strength spell, cast mass haste, chain lightning, heal, many stoneskins and improved invisibilities on nearly everyone, ...

But you have only a level 8 sorcerer and a level 6 cleric.

The game would be far easier if you hadn't multiclassed them.

I wouldn't bother with the guardian for now, the fields of slaughter are far easier. I think you can even avoid fighting there if you use invisibility and haste to pick up a liquid and place it in in a pool, but you can probably even fight your way through using the right tactics.

I guess you should better open a topic how to beat the fields of slaughter and describe exactly where you are facing problems there, copy and paste your party description and I'm sure you'll receive many helping posts then. (You should also tell which spells your sorcerer can cast.)

Crucis · Post by **Crucis** » Wed May 10, 2006 10:14 pm

Luv, I agree with Kmonster. Your party is way too oriented towards physical combat for this late in the game.

Only 8 levels of Sorceror and 6 of cleric. It's no wonder that you're having a hard time. Your sorceror can only cast level 4 arcane spells and your cleric can only cast level 3 divine spells, and not all that many of each.

This isn't that hard a game for a decently balanced party, but your party is sooooooo unbalanced towards the physical and away from the magical that you have very few magical spells to use against tougher opponents.

BTW, your sorc almost certainly does not have "Mord's Sword", since it is a level 7 arcane spell that would require your sorc to have 14 levels of sorc to attain.

Not to say that physical combat is useless, because it isn't. But even the most committed melee party needs some SOLID magical backup. At least 1 pure mage (either wizard or sorceror) and 1 pure priest (either cleric or druid) really, REALLY helps make the game less difficult. Don't look at the spellcasting of a ranger or a paladin as important to yoru party. They can be pleasant little suppliments to your primary divine spellcaster, but that's really all they are, secondary spellcasters. And only after they've collected a LOT of levels in their class.

silverdragon72 · Post by **silverdragon72** » Thu May 11, 2006 2:05 am

.

sorry to say that - but your party build nothing else then a pure desaster!

...cause IWD2 is really *very* easy on the easy level that you get so far without problems with this...

...if you like the game much so far: read some of the powergaming guides. maybe ask some question if you're unsure and then start the game with a new and especially much better party on a higher difficulty level - if not just avoid the guardian (you don't need to kill him to finish the game) and try to finish the game with your "party"!

.

TRODTROD · Post by **TRODTROD** » Mon Jul 09, 2007 2:16 pm

Ok guys. At about the eleventh time of asking i finally managed to defeat the guardian. I did it with two of my five party remaining, then at the end of the battle it told me that everyone had been healed but, clearly doing it the CHEAP way, IceWind Dale had actually just progressed the game 24 days.

That in itself is annoying, but that, given the fact that everything on the ground (apart from a key from the Ice Palace, a regeneration ring and a letter) had disappeared makes the game now impossible to continue.

What an absolutely suicidal game flaw, pathetic.

Klorox · Post by **Klorox** » Mon Jul 09, 2007 3:47 pm

Why is all your stuff on the ground?

agc28 · Post by **agc28** » Mon Jul 09, 2007 5:29 pm

lOl thats so funny......why *are* all of them on the ground!?

my guess is that some of his characters died during the battle and immediately after the battle they were healed and rested 24 hours, so the stuff on the ground disappeared..

anyhow..this is sooo funny.

just kill the dragon with finger of death/disintegrate

kmonster · Post by **kmonster** » Mon Jul 09, 2007 5:45 pm

The only really useful thing you get for defeating the guardian is permanent poison resistance and I don't think dead party members get it (I'm not sure however). So you have to retry until you manage to defeat it without any losses if you are powergaming (like 11 reloads for an unneccessary battle seems to imply).
If you haven't reached the "point of no return" in the severed hand yet it's wiser to skip the battle for now and to return later.

Aerich · Post by **Aerich** » Mon Jul 09, 2007 7:55 pm

When you beat the guardian, the game rests until you are fully healed. The automatic "heal & rememorize" of characters with healing spells is critical to healing up your party, and I am entirely sure that if your party contained such characters, they were among the dead. Hence, your party rested for a looong time and non-quest-related items disappeared. I'd fight the Guardian again and hope that a) more party members survive and b) a cleric or a druid is among them.

It's normally 16-24 hours at the automatic rest period, which is not usually long enough for items to disappear.

You get permanent acid resistance, which can be well worth it; also some HP, if I'm not mistaken.

TRODTROD · Post by **TRODTROD** » Tue Jul 10, 2007 3:31 am

Thanks guys, probably gonna give it another go anyway! Sorry to explain, i didnt think this was an optional battle, thought i had to do it!!

Thanks again, i'll just leave it if i can't do it.