I gotta stop playing sbs in BG1 because for some reason i always go mental when i do. Happened with Honed and now i can see it occuring again. But i want to put down the stuff i have learned to help up and coming sbs. Stuff that i have never seen posted elsewhere.
How do it know stuff about sbs?
I have a level 50 full crit SB - Certifiable and a level 50 full la SB - MKJ. PKJ is a culmination of them both with something from playing a caster as well.
Lets consider an SB in BG1. We can ignore who or wot they are with regard to race etc for now. I shall put down 3 attack methods. Beginner - Advanced. Then i gonna show you PKJ's attack methods.
Beginner - someone new to the game and more or less trying out an SB. Crit of 21 for perf. We can ignore the rest of the stats for now. Decides to go 2 handed because lets face it everyone wants to kill a caster in one hit. Ok - the attack:
The Attack: creeps up and perfs with the 2 hander and then just stands there. Nice damage from first hit and could well have killed the target but now is extremely vulnerable for upto 6 secs. After the nasty delay he will garote again. Nothing else. No moving and no weapon swapping just a garote every 6 secs or so.
Advanced - someone been playing sb for quite some time and learned a few things - such as weapon swapping.
The Attack - perfs with the 2 hander and then swaps to 2 weapons to melee. 3 poisons brought into play and has the option of swapping back to the 2 hander should he or she want to. Will also be able to run through and use stick to try and confuse the enemy.
PKJ's attack now.
First of all spec - 25 stealth (should have only been 24 but made a mistake) - 25 axe, 25 poison and 8 la (higher if not made stealth mistake).
Attack - pillager with 2 weapons - lethal 25 on one - 22 str/con debuff on other. Swaps to the 2 handed njessi axe (speed of 4.3) for plunderer follow up (very high damage because you are now hitting for your full amount and no la effect - also it is a follow up to pillager and hits hard). Swapping during the combo utilizes the la haste effect so the 2 hits are extremely close together. Run through and turns using FACE and not STICK. Use stick after using face.
Using FACE and not STICK causes me to turn instantly and not swing around fairly slowly. I can infact hit the keyboard for the plunderer follow up and run through to turn using face and will hit from behind as the opponent appears in my vision again. FACE is that fast.
Should the opponent never use stick well he is now dead meat because i will more or less kill him from behind in the time he takes to swing around. After using the 2 handed follow up i have now swapped back to the 2 weapons for the pillager hit and then to swap back again to the Njessi for the plunderer. I do this all the time.
Should the opponent be experienced and is very dangerous and also uses stick then you really have a fight on your hands and it is all down to damage. But i have a few more tricks to cause my damage to excalate.
Weapon swapping and poison.
A slash inf is all about debuff and damage. He first of all takes your str away and then annihilates you with high damage. How do you fight back? Well do back to him as he has done to you but do it faster. Ok how to excalate damage:
Weapon swapping. Keep a bag of ready poison weapons. If i engage someone like Catrine - nasty slash inf - then i watch damage. Should my debuff fail then i go mental with weapon swapping. I know she uses stick so running through is not gonna be effective, though i will throw one or 2 in to confuse. Only thing now is to out damage her. How? Well for one thing i know that even if my str has dropped i am still gonna hurt badly using the Njessi so the plunderer follow up is still useable. But the 2 weapon hits are now rubbish and need boosting. Eh? Each time i use pillager i have a fresh 3.1 speed poison weapon in my main hand. I swap after every 2 handed plunderer. Pillager - swap to 2 handed plunderer - swap a fresh weapon from bag to main hand and hit with pillager and so on. I use the fresh pulse of the poison to boost the mainhand damage. Instead of hitting for 40 mainhand i am now hitting for 80 along with 15-25 offhand for a total of 100 for pillager and probably the same for plunderer. Nothing can stand up to that really. Even if she evades the poison still ticks away. Should you kill the opponent only to be attacked by another then swap to a fresh poison weapon and fight again.
Potions. These are ofcourse life savers so get used to using them. You can use them during the fight or when running away.
The above take a hell offa lot of practise but can be done. Being able to do them all at the same time gives you options. You have infact about 3-4 damage gears that you can use. Should a fight that is going well suddenly turn sour you can alter your fighting tactics to suit. This makes playing an SB a very rewarding experience. But if you are just gonna stand there infront of you opponent and think you are going to outdamage someone like Catrine then you are gonna lose all the time.
Hopefully i have given you a few tips.
PKJ
How do it know stuff about sbs?
I have a level 50 full crit SB - Certifiable and a level 50 full la SB - MKJ. PKJ is a culmination of them both with something from playing a caster as well.
Lets consider an SB in BG1. We can ignore who or wot they are with regard to race etc for now. I shall put down 3 attack methods. Beginner - Advanced. Then i gonna show you PKJ's attack methods.
Beginner - someone new to the game and more or less trying out an SB. Crit of 21 for perf. We can ignore the rest of the stats for now. Decides to go 2 handed because lets face it everyone wants to kill a caster in one hit. Ok - the attack:
The Attack: creeps up and perfs with the 2 hander and then just stands there. Nice damage from first hit and could well have killed the target but now is extremely vulnerable for upto 6 secs. After the nasty delay he will garote again. Nothing else. No moving and no weapon swapping just a garote every 6 secs or so.
Advanced - someone been playing sb for quite some time and learned a few things - such as weapon swapping.
The Attack - perfs with the 2 hander and then swaps to 2 weapons to melee. 3 poisons brought into play and has the option of swapping back to the 2 hander should he or she want to. Will also be able to run through and use stick to try and confuse the enemy.
PKJ's attack now.
First of all spec - 25 stealth (should have only been 24 but made a mistake) - 25 axe, 25 poison and 8 la (higher if not made stealth mistake).
Attack - pillager with 2 weapons - lethal 25 on one - 22 str/con debuff on other. Swaps to the 2 handed njessi axe (speed of 4.3) for plunderer follow up (very high damage because you are now hitting for your full amount and no la effect - also it is a follow up to pillager and hits hard). Swapping during the combo utilizes the la haste effect so the 2 hits are extremely close together. Run through and turns using FACE and not STICK. Use stick after using face.
Using FACE and not STICK causes me to turn instantly and not swing around fairly slowly. I can infact hit the keyboard for the plunderer follow up and run through to turn using face and will hit from behind as the opponent appears in my vision again. FACE is that fast.
Should the opponent never use stick well he is now dead meat because i will more or less kill him from behind in the time he takes to swing around. After using the 2 handed follow up i have now swapped back to the 2 weapons for the pillager hit and then to swap back again to the Njessi for the plunderer. I do this all the time.
Should the opponent be experienced and is very dangerous and also uses stick then you really have a fight on your hands and it is all down to damage. But i have a few more tricks to cause my damage to excalate.
Weapon swapping and poison.
A slash inf is all about debuff and damage. He first of all takes your str away and then annihilates you with high damage. How do you fight back? Well do back to him as he has done to you but do it faster. Ok how to excalate damage:
Weapon swapping. Keep a bag of ready poison weapons. If i engage someone like Catrine - nasty slash inf - then i watch damage. Should my debuff fail then i go mental with weapon swapping. I know she uses stick so running through is not gonna be effective, though i will throw one or 2 in to confuse. Only thing now is to out damage her. How? Well for one thing i know that even if my str has dropped i am still gonna hurt badly using the Njessi so the plunderer follow up is still useable. But the 2 weapon hits are now rubbish and need boosting. Eh? Each time i use pillager i have a fresh 3.1 speed poison weapon in my main hand. I swap after every 2 handed plunderer. Pillager - swap to 2 handed plunderer - swap a fresh weapon from bag to main hand and hit with pillager and so on. I use the fresh pulse of the poison to boost the mainhand damage. Instead of hitting for 40 mainhand i am now hitting for 80 along with 15-25 offhand for a total of 100 for pillager and probably the same for plunderer. Nothing can stand up to that really. Even if she evades the poison still ticks away. Should you kill the opponent only to be attacked by another then swap to a fresh poison weapon and fight again.
Potions. These are ofcourse life savers so get used to using them. You can use them during the fight or when running away.
The above take a hell offa lot of practise but can be done. Being able to do them all at the same time gives you options. You have infact about 3-4 damage gears that you can use. Should a fight that is going well suddenly turn sour you can alter your fighting tactics to suit. This makes playing an SB a very rewarding experience. But if you are just gonna stand there infront of you opponent and think you are going to outdamage someone like Catrine then you are gonna lose all the time.
Hopefully i have given you a few tips.
PKJ
thanks for mentioning me though, btw play some more on bg1, was kinda boring today :\
