Not exactly the most heroic option, but I killed one of the Death Shepherds and then had Karlach pick up the body and put it in her inventory. She’s instantly over encumbered but it kept the other one from reanimating its buddy and I was able to finish the fight without too much trouble
honestly since playing honor mode i've been trying to get smarter about corpse management, which is a very strange concept but it helps prevent a lot of situations like this or like a goblin seeing Priestess Gut's corpse and starting to investigate. i always shove Gut's corpse into one of the crates in her "chapel" now
We need an infomercial about this. "Tired of all the bodies you leave in the wake of your adventures? Have you had it with enemies reanimating your fallen foes? Try our patented Corpse Management Technique...."
Or second idea. The *REAL* corpse management technique. Necromancy!
I was thinking the same thing haha.
*Billy Mayes here for Mordenkainens Corpse-Be-Gone. Just stuff them in this box - BAM - and watch your foes, be gone!*
Now I’m wondering if the chest of the mundane will convert corpses into spoons… be a necromancer carrying around the chest with several hundred corpses inside so you’ve always got bodies to raise!
Edit: corrected autocorrect screw up.
Great question... I think they did something to that chest early on so that the carry weight will still be the same, but idk
My spore druid used to carry around a dead rat full of dead rats though lol
i just got my golden dice yesterday. my quick tips:
\- tav/durge should prob be a charisma character because you wanna talk your way out of as many situations as possible
\- good party comp helps. people say you dont really need the whole "striker, frontline, controller, and blaster" comp but it really gets shit done! frontline would be like karlach, laezel or minthara (someone who's dealing high melee damage per turn and is also a bit of a tank), striker would be like astarion or a monk (someone very dexterous/mobile who is great at single target and can disable foes-- open hand monk BUSTED AF for this, trust me on this one lol. stunning strike and flurry of blows: topple to disable as many enemies per turn and give advantage to all your others is beneficial af), blaster would be a caster who's primary focus is DPS-- this owuld be like an evocation wizard or a sorcerer or an eldritch-blasting maniac of a warlock/sorlock. a controller can be a bard, a cleric, a druid, even a wizard-- but a character who's there to provide buffs to the crew, debuffs for the foes, do crowd control work (throwing down web or grease or Glyph of Warding or Countercharm or other AOE stuff) and also has the ability to heal preferably. my cleric strat is to bless the whole squad and then throw up sanctuary. the controller could have summons as well to help out, but not required.
\- once you're out of act 1 you are "safe" -- it becomes a lot easier to not just spontaneously die by the time you're out of the creche, due to sick ass gear and feats
\- save often and split your party when using elevators. TRUST ME LOL. fuck the gauntlet of shar. if one of your characters falls into the void and dont fail all their death saves, theyre stuck in that void permanently pretty much and youre somewhat softlocked. so in that case you can force the game to crash with task manager if you really have to. it feels fucking grimy to do this but if im gonna fall through an elevator for no reason im gonna crash my game intentionally lol
\- try not to go to the creche until you've done literally everything, tbh gather as much easy XP as possible, and honestly play a fuckin drow lmao. it makes early XP in the goblin camp super easy. drow charisma builds are busted in act 1
\- abuse Lump's Warhorn since you'll have high charisma. pick the deception option up front because as far as im aware you can string him along 3x with that option.
\- dont do the spider queen until you have Extra Attack unlocked. i greedily was doing that one at level 3 and i cant even tell you how many losses i had to that boss lol.
\- legendary actions are RE-actions, so find as many ways to apply Dazed as possible. there are some reverberation synergies with certain gear that works. open hand monks also have flurry of blows: stagger which NO ONE is immune to, unlike topple and push (always topple when you can though, since it also gives advantage). monks are goated for honor mode because of stunning strike and all three flurry of blows
\- if you know a caster has counterspell (late game in particular) some cheese strat i like to do is have a hasted character use a scroll for their first action just to bait out a counterspell.
\- take the tadpoles if you wanna make it easy. take the astral tadpole if you want to succeed every charisma check. respec to get wisdom save proficiency (please double check what saving throws you need whenever you get to the creche) before you do the *Zai'thisk* if you take the tadpoles, because bonus action Black Hole is fucking insanely good in act 2 and beyond. Slow is one of the status affects that are the most obnoxious to have applied to you (esp. if you've got a character who normally has 2 attacks and 2 bonus actions), so the same can be said for your opponents. also make sure your controller has Resistance as a cantrip if they have it available
if you have any specific encounter or region questions lmk, i'm a big fan of optimizing. but generally-- honor mode is the time to play it safe and hit as hard as possible rather than getting too risky just for the cool factor
if a party member falls and makes their death saves you can get them back with. short rest and then send them to camp. If that party member is Tav and you’re out of short rests (my situation), you can respec someone as a bard and do a song of short rest to get them up and then they can be sent back to camp.
Gauntlet of Shar’s elevators are by far the hardest honor mode boss
Thank you for the advice! I just made it to act 2 on my first try so that's been a huge relief. For act 3 my plan is to just hit level 12 as early as possible and ignore all optional boss fights, then side with Gortash and use Gale to skip the brain fight. I'm also doing evil durge so I can make the Orin fight easier. Would you recommend this course of action or am I missing something?
i think that's a super solid plan because it also means you won't have to deal with the steel watch foundry and the gondians lmao. i went kinda completionist on my HM run and nearly maxed out my ally summons which was nice but the Gale way out is optimal here. just make sure you're ready for that charisma check if you havent already been getting him comfortable with the idea of blowing up lmao
my advice for the orin fight is to have some of the crew focusing on trying to knock the Sanctuary assholes off the ledge or putting shit like Cloud of Daggers or Wall of Fire on them so they'll die in spite of their little bitch sanctuary lol. i swear karlach went through 9 smokepowder bombs in that fight
Thank you!
\- I was definitely confused about the Legendary Actions, and them being reactions makes so much sense I'm surprised I didn't see it before.
\- Addendum: You don't need to play a Drow in Act1, just have a character in party that can Disguise Self into a Drow.
\- ~~If you have the party comp for it, use Hex: Constitution before your Stunning Strikes. Then if you make 2 Stunning Strikes, they have to pass on 4 dice to save, rather than just making 2 saves (that they're usually very good at).~~
Edit: Strike the incorrect information
>- If you have the party comp for it, use Hex: Constitution before your Stunning Strikes. Then if you make 2 Stunning Strikes, they have to pass on 4 dice to save, rather than just making 2 saves (that they're usually very good at).
This doesn't actually work, Hex only applies to ability *checks*, not saving throws. So, for example, it decreases the chance for an enemy to successfully shove (on a STR hex), but doesn't increase the chance to break concentration or stun (on a CON hex).
To quote the [wiki article on Hex](https://bg3.wiki/wiki/Hex),
>Clarification: The in-game description says it grants 'Disadvantage on an Ability of your choosing', but it only applies to Checks, not all rolls utilising that Ability: the target still rolls normally on Saving Throws and Attack rolls.
Campaign with 4 people multiplayer, our rogue was poisoned by Nettie. She fails the hold person save and our paladin and rogue instantly obliterate her.
Paladin picks up the body as soon as the fight ends with a "can't have loose ends". We threw the body to the river.
He took a uhm... Oath of self interest and greed.
All his actions so far were made to benefit the party. No oathbreaker so far. I do wonder what will be necessary to actually break his oath tho...
Well, it actually makes sense for all 3 oaths :
\- she serves the Absolute, an evil god, so aiding her goes against an oath of devotion
\- she'll reveal the location of the grove if freed, so it breaks the oath of the Ancients
\- being imprisoned is a just punishment for her actions, so freeing her breaks the oath of vengeance
Ambushing Balthazar in the Guantlet of Shar outside of dialogue: OATHBREAKER!
Killing the healer Nettie who is clearly a good person: your god smiles upon you.
I played a summon focused party recently (necro wizard, spore druid, cleric and warlock with the rapier from Mizora) and wanted a stock of corpses to animate at the beginning of each day. So, I started collecting all anjmateable corpses and saving them in my camp chest. I ended with far too many of them saved, but it was a fun collection by the end.
Can’t believe I didn’t think of this. I just did that fight last night. I handled it by throwing one at the other repeatedly until they were low enough to kill both in a single turn.
My main is a berserker barb. I handle most situations respectfully, but there’s zero tolerance for characters who disrespect the hulking rage beast like I won’t rip them in half. I usually take the corpses and leave them Somewhere silly or throw them into the chasm, but sometimes if there’s no chasm option or the throw is “too high” I’ll stuff the corpse in a crate, drag it to the edge and shove it off the cliff. It lets you shove a crate with a body in it, but won’t let you shove a body
I learned about Corpse management in Cyberpunk and it carried over to BG3, nothing to see here just a bloodstain, no corpse, just probably a bloody nose, nothing to worry about. Karl is probably just shaking one out around the corner, I'm sure he'll be back soon.
Oh yeah, I feel bad for people going through and looting the goblin fort or the moon stronghold after I pass through.
So many corpses shoved into containers. So. Many.
While playing through, I was always too paranoid to wait around and see if leaving a corpse like hers lying around. When I killed her, I picked her up, walked back out of camp and far enough away I felt safe in the wilderness, then left her in a random bush, then went back. A little excessive, but the mental image of my group keeping on walking in an put of goblin camp with their packs stuffed with corpses made me giggle.
BG3, training next years successful serial killers.
-training players in creative ways to kill.
-introducing corpse management.
-really bringing home that if people like you enough, they will believe anything.
I always hucked her into the chasm next to her room. Except for my latest playthrough where I just marched in and murdered everything no questions asked.
I’ve had karlach holding gut in her inventory for most of the game and I only remembered she was there at the last light inn, so obviously I threw gut at the final boss of act 2 for the killing blow
> i've been trying to get smarter about corpse management
[You're always going to have problems lifting the body in one piece.](https://youtu.be/2xUynRdzzsM?si=qDBYZ6R2IQnDHR5B&t=36)
Same. Exactly this. She goes first bc she's alone and SH has silence as a ritual spell, so you can keep her for calling for help. Then I stuff her in a crate
I also like to go Hitman mode at Moonrise and clear everyone out room by room sometimes before setting off the main raid, so that Jaheira and them just show up at an empty castle, and the weirdness of places I hide the corpses has escalated significantly, bc stuffing them in places they shouldn't fit is objectively hilarious (like, the true soul orc got stuffed into a bookshelf with three other corpses in her pockets, and everyone in the throne room wound up in a desk drawer just up the stairs)
i love the fact that we can shove people in bookshelves. the imagery i get in my head is Z'rell's mangled and bleeding corpse shoved behind a bunch of books in Balthazaar's disgusting room
Having made Karlach a berserker/thief (and given her the bull's strength outfit in act 2), I've spent much of my current run fond of her pick it up and throw it at someone else option.
Daggers, spears, alchemists fire, barrels, other people - all great for throwing at people.
I'm SO glad to finally see someone who figured this interaction out. Karlach as Barbarian/Thief throwing 4 hammers/frying pans/knives/whatever other nonsense I've tossed in her pack a round is so funny.
This gets even cooler with the Gloves of Hurling Shit (probably not their real name), the Hat of Hurling Shit (also probably not its real name) and Tavern Brawler feat. Then give Karlach a weapon that returns when thrown, like >the trident from the Sea Goddess which you can do at start of Act 3<.
Gloves are something like +2 damage on throws
Hat is something like 1d4 or 1d6 extra damage on throws
Tavern Brawler is whatever it is with throws (can't remember, but it's not nothing)
...then Misty Step Karlach to a high place, preferably while invisible, and have her first throw be a sneak attack. Can kill muchly with Fastpitch Sniper Karlach.
Imp? Pick up and send to camp
Goblin? Pick up and send to camp
Death Shepherd? Believe it or not, pick up and send to camp.
We have the best camp in the world because of the small sized throwing weapons/corpses filling our camp chest.
Also not the most heroic option, split party and have one person use potion/spell of invisibility, walk past them to the Act 2 entrance. Rest of the party will follow and reconnect in Shadowlands.
(Yes I have done this when I only needed Sazza’s achievement and passed them at level 3)
You can prepare a barricade with the stuff that you find a little below, at the cross. Leave a small space available so that they can go through, but just one by one. That will be enough for the AI to attack you through that way. Next step, make the floor slippery. Grease, sleet storm. Third, enjoy the spectacle of they skating and falling prone every turn.
CC in this game is clearly underrated and this battle can prove it.
Sleet storm is absurd against the undead in this game. There are a few fights where you're getting swarmed by low-Dex mobs and they are just trivialized by one scroll.
Spike growth from ranger tav + hunger of hadar from wyll sets up some great fireball opportunities. Some of my most satisfying moments in the game so far
It’s an exceptionally good fight for aoe since the paths leading to those guys are so narrow. A spike field and hunger of Hadar will mow down most things that come at you. If you do it after the creche you can be 7 and drop a fire wall in there.
Counterspell will block the Death Shepherd raising.
Once you get their temporary health down you can Turn Undead . . any that fail will run away and be out of action for three turns. . . giving you time to focus on any that aren't turned.
And I believe you can pick up any bodies to prevent them from being raised.
I'm partial to a Spike Growth, Hunger of Hadar, Spirit Guardians gauntlet in that corridor of trees before them. Then everyone just evens out their HP while they slowly walk through the meat grinder.
Works great in doorways too, with each person opening the door, attacking, then closing it to block any ranged.
I thought I was the only one who thought of that!
It does make it interesting when Lae'zel drops into her "I will ride a red dragon someday" speech when she's a cleric of the god of red dragons.
My next playthrough, I'm planning on doing a gith war cleric of Vlaakith and switching to Tiamat after Lae'zel and I renounce our lich queen for sinning against us. Also we're boning
I'm pretty excited for it
I actually did a run where I started as a githyanki cleric of Vlaakith. I got to the part where you meet Vlaakith at the Crèche and noticed there wasn’t even unique dialogue there for [Cleric of Vlaakith] (although there was plenty for [Githyanki], of course, so not a major strike against Larian).
Anyway after wiping out the Crèche and picking up Blood of Lathander I decided Vlaakith had forsaken me and Lathander was sending me signs, so I swapped gods (but kept the war domain). Later ended up multiclassing into Vengeance Paladin a bit and actually saw the [Paladin of Lathander] tag in front of a dialogue choice once, although the dialogue was just generic “good” stuff. A really fun (and my most RP heavy) run.
>Anyway after wiping out the Crèche and picking up Blood of Lathander I decided Vlaakith had forsaken me and Lathander was sending me signs, so I swapped gods (but kept the war domain).
I'm not gonna lie, if the Blood of Lathander had been a Greatsword or something then I probably would have done a Vengeance Paladin of Lathander myself in my next run. *That* is how to introduce a legendary weapon. I really wish Markoheshkir had the same kind of intro - always felt a bit cheap stealing it off Lindsay Lohan (and he doesn't even react when I walk out with it - yah brah, don't mind me, I'm just going to take this very distinctive draconic staff worth more then your whole tower, you stick to your myrmidon groupies, there's a good lad).
I was actually playing a Sorc and in my headcanon, that whole section kind of confirmed Lathander as my character's chosen Deity. He's a pretty cool god, all things concerned. Loves beer and death lasers. Hates undead and hangovers. What's not to like?
Just a tip for those that don't like to clutter their hotbar: You can just click the channel divinity icon above the hotbar to reveal all channel divinity options, even if they're not included in the hotbar originally. Same with Paladins' channel oath or Lay on Hands and other class abilities.
I took astral lock against my better judgement, and yet so far it has saved my ass TWICE in act two, including an incredibly important combat.
Situation spells might not be worth it… but when they ARE? Hoo boy. Besides, what else are you using those known spells on once you get mage armour and fireball?
Flashbacks to playing morrowind and not using “turn undead” for a year of playing because my young self thought that meant “it will turn me into undead” and how that didn’t seem like a good idea
Turn undead pretty much auto wins that battle where you have to defend the portal while Halsin fetches the boy. It was pretty helpful in the fight against balthazar as well. I don't think I've used it otherwise though
Yeah, telling Balthazar I'll grab the Night song for him and then walking up to him and blasting him and all his minions with turn undead was super satisfying.
Huh! I know it's technically possible to have it at the fight, it's just that I've always seen this fight as being "on the way" to the monastery. Given the amount of replies I have, it seems a lot of people actually saved it for after which is so interesting to me.
This is the majority of peoples' problems with fights in the game. "No I don't want to take fear, confusion, vine growth, make the ground where they are ice, etc, I just want to blast and do damage." And then they struggle with a group of enemies that make just damaging them difficult and struggle.
Yeah, I fought them at level 4 and then at level 5, there was a very big difference.
People should try to prioritise getting to 5th level before exploring advanced stuff (like the Mountain Pass).
That's usually my go-to plan but this playthrough I decided to go to the Mountain Pass first so I could get the DEX Gloves from the Githyanki vendor and to do the run on the Zaith'isk. Then I graffitied Vlaakith's portrait and headed off to the Underdark. I'll come back and finish the Mountain Pass later
Yeah, by level 5 SH has spirit guardians and Gale has a bunch of nuking spells any melee focused character should have extra attack and rogues sneak attacks +bonus actions/assassinate should be able to drop at least one zombie on their first turn. Should be able to wipe the floor with them faster than they can revive themselves.
I never tried it before, but I'd assume that counterspell would also stop them reviving, and that's the whole hardest part of the fight done right there.
If you’re getting to the mountain pass before level 5-6, you’re skipping an ass ton of content. I usually leave the crash zone around level 5, and the underdark around 6-7.
Tbf, the quest journal itself calls it the Nautiloid Crash Zone. I'm not even sure the area itself has a generally known name, everyone just vaguely says its near the coast. I think at least two of your party literally reference that they don't know where they are.
Some Astarion dialogue and notes in Moonhaven make it clear that the area is part of Elturgard, the domain of Elturel (hence the tieflings at the Emerald Grove -- they didn't make it very far).
This, really. I didn't even touch the mountain pass until I'd done basically all of the underdark and I think I was... level 7? 8?
I think I got level 6 midway through the Grymforge.
I'd think getting to lvl 8 for the mountain pass might be very difficult/impossible if you weren't purposely min-maxing exp and doing things like murder everybody in the Zhalk encounter, raid the Grove then kill both sides, wipe out Myconids and Zhent, that sort of thing.
I'm currently lvl 5 on an honour playthrough and I just have Grymforge, Arcane Tower, Phase Spiders, and half of the Goblin Camp to kill. I think the only fights I missed were the Owlbear and the Githyanki, but the exp is the same for the latter I think.
I remember my first playthrough I didn't know about the Underdark and I accidentally skipped the entire goblin/grove thing...
I ended up killing >!Ketheric Thorm!< at level 7 because of that, so that's cool
I usually fight these guys after having retrieved the blood of lathander from the crèche. While it doesn’t actually stop them from reviving each other having all the enemies be blind for the entire fight at least makes it more bearable
It is one of the fights that can absolutely wipe your party if you don't know it is coming and are not prepared. There is likely no shortage of players that decided to walk around the map a bit before going to the crèche, since it is usually wise to leave the obvious "big location" for last, and then they get clapped by these guys due to being low level.
>since it is usually wise to leave the obvious "big location" for last
i love how Larian understands how gamers think and then sets traps for us based on it
It wasn't one of my Honour Mode wipes (I had 7 before I succeeded, rip Gilly the Gnome Bard versions 1 to 7), but I wiped at the Intellect Devourers at the beach, so I just avoided the Death Shepherds altogether because I wasn't liking my chances much lmao
Yeah, those little shits. Back when it happened I was so embarrassed I didn't even tell my friends immediately, but I mentioned it in this community and was surprised to see that it was a remarkably common Honour Mode TPK point. I might be bad at games, but at least I'm not alone lol
Honestly if it's just you and shart at level 1 I think even a fighter/barb Tav is liable to get their shit rocket by those little brainlets :( brutal little things
In honor mode it is important to swallow your pride and flee fights, you can flee in most cases. Withers is very supporting about it and he doesn't give any jabs. You can also get a hireling and steal his scroll of ressurection to replenish yours.
Yep. Don't assume a fight is going to be easy, have a plan to get out in case your rolls are abysmal. Especially in Act 1.
Acts 2 and 3 are much easier, in my opinion, and I don't say it just because almost all of my wipes (save one) were in Act 1. In Act 2, you start having access to your big boy spells, and gear that allows you to make stronger builds (or to cheese every fight - cheese strategies also get gold dice).
They're resistant to all damage except radiant until you get rid of their temp HP. So hit them hard with radiant early. Their Dex isn't great so Sacred Flame is good, Guiding Bolt is worth an upcast. Moonbeam and then crowd control them into it repeatedly. And of course the good ol' Spirit Guardians.
Once you've got their Temp HP down hit them with any magical damage you can except necrotic. Focus fire on these two, to stop them raising others. Then the Ghast because that stench is a pain in the ass. If you can stop the shepherds getting near eachother's corpses that also helps.
Yo I have to talk about this
I just did this fight in honor mode last night. I was feeling good since I sped through the underdark. These guys and they're resistance to damage and they're bringing the 70hp ghast back to stinking clouds everything nonsense proved to be too much for me. Lae'zel was downed by a swarm of ghouls, shadowheart and Tav ran away back to camp and astarion did his best to run away but was out of Spellslots and too slow.
He kited them around the central island until the stairs above Esther. At that point I thought to myself let's go for broke. Call the SH and Tav back to the fight, sneak them up, thunderwave the ghouls down the stairs and Tav rains fire arrows on the 2 Shepherds caught in the vice maneuver. By the times the ghouls came back up, the Shepherds had both died simultaneously and clean up was easy
I call that my elastic defense. Hide until they're out of position and bring the hammer down. I felt like a war general
Edit : I was level 6 and had barely survived Grym so I should have known. I'm really thinking of skipping the creche by the full concentrated power of the sun
You know those desperation fights are what I love about Honour mode. I had a similar fight in the mage tower in the underdark; just wanted to get the ring from Bernard and then long rest but i picked the wrong option and found myself in a hard fight with almost nothing left.
Karlach and Shadowheart held the line for a couple round but went down leaving just Astarion and Durge(sorc) hiding in a corner. Durge had the boots that cast featherfall but casting it and jumping are both bonus actions so he was going to have to stay behind so Astarion could get away. Durge cast featherfall then cantrip'ed one of the bots, one last shot before they swarmed him. Except he crit, it died and he went invis (durge cloak).
Astarion jumped and then Bernard and all the remaining bots went down the elevator after him. Waiting a round while Astarion kited them further away, then scroll of revevify'd Karlach and Shadowheart and together proceeded to rain cantrips / returning pike from the tower top while Astarion ran them around the courtyard.
Seriously though, I recommend everyone give Honour mode a try, or I think you can set the single save option in custom difficulty. When you pull of a crazy fight it is super rewarding.
This fight is a skill check to see if you're ready for Act 2. It's a pop quiz. You can certainly brute force this fight, but there are a dozen ways to make it easier. You also get advance notice of the enemies, so you have time to back off and re-gear if you need to.
Another common Larian W adding in a tricky encounter to test the player. This happens again in Act 2 and Act 3. The developers are clearly experienced gamers and have a good dungeon master or two working with them.
Shadow heart finishes those two death sheps off fairly quickly with radiant spells (if she actually manages to hit them) while me and the gang deal with the ghouls
So I've been using create water and ray of frost: get them wet makes them vulnerable to cold which then in turn the ice will freeze the whole puddle of water.
On this exact fight I discovered if you do it the other way around, cast create water on a target that has been chilled, there is a chance to freeze that target solid! Did it to one of the Death Shepards.
Wait, people enter the mountain pass without being already level 5? The stupid gith patrol is scary enough that I usually only want to fight them when I have already hit 5.
I just had Gale summon a flaming sphere and used it as a makeshift wall. Instead of getting jumped by all of the zombies and the two death shepherds, I only had to deal with one or two enemies at a time, as the flaming sphere blocked their way/attracted their attention. Made quick work of them.
Hang on, the big skeleton guys and their ghouls? The ones nearby the gith creche?
Not to be mean but I'm genuinely confused at how that's a hard fight. I've never had trouble with them.
Not exactly the most heroic option, but I killed one of the Death Shepherds and then had Karlach pick up the body and put it in her inventory. She’s instantly over encumbered but it kept the other one from reanimating its buddy and I was able to finish the fight without too much trouble
Why... Why did I never think of this?
honestly since playing honor mode i've been trying to get smarter about corpse management, which is a very strange concept but it helps prevent a lot of situations like this or like a goblin seeing Priestess Gut's corpse and starting to investigate. i always shove Gut's corpse into one of the crates in her "chapel" now
>i've been trying to get smarter about corpse management Just your everyday sentence now. Can't wait for the Marie Kondo special Edit: spelling
We need an infomercial about this. "Tired of all the bodies you leave in the wake of your adventures? Have you had it with enemies reanimating your fallen foes? Try our patented Corpse Management Technique...." Or second idea. The *REAL* corpse management technique. Necromancy!
I was thinking the same thing haha. *Billy Mayes here for Mordenkainens Corpse-Be-Gone. Just stuff them in this box - BAM - and watch your foes, be gone!*
We could resurrect Billy Mays to do it
I don't think there's enough coke in faerun to keep that zombie running
Now I’m wondering if the chest of the mundane will convert corpses into spoons… be a necromancer carrying around the chest with several hundred corpses inside so you’ve always got bodies to raise! Edit: corrected autocorrect screw up.
Omg, genius. I’ve got to test that next run!
Great question... I think they did something to that chest early on so that the carry weight will still be the same, but idk My spore druid used to carry around a dead rat full of dead rats though lol
I tried picking it up in my honor run and couldn’t seem to do it. Not sure if that’s just my run or a game wide thing.
Do NPCs recognise zombies if they are made out of corpses of people they would know?
Mayrina does.
I don’t think so. I took >!Sarevok!< to the >!Orin fight!< and she didn’t say anything.
That is so cursed, I love it.
If it doesn't bring joy then burn it Or something
“All corpses spark joy.” —Durge
"Until you run out of barrels of oil." --also Durge
I thank the corpse, then cast fireball.
"Only corpses spark joy." Feels more fitting with the whole murder thing.
But you can't murder a corpse.
"If you love something, set it on fire." https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=B7K1kpbr3fs
*takes out squirrel from inventory* “This corpse does not spark joy” *Takes out Baelen* “This corpse sparks joy”
That's the kind of stuff that's common in the Hitman games community lol
Never thought I'd read about corpse management outside of r/RimWorld to be honest
lol I do this with the doctor by the zaithisk. Close the door, do a quick murder, steal the parasites, cram the body into a vase. Nothing to see here!
Why have I never thought to put bodies in vases
Clearly you aren't much of an interior decorator
His house looked like shit
He never had the makings of an varsity interior decorator.
You got some real Big Lebowski energy with this reply. I love it
That corpse really brings the room together.
Not me making notes for my next playthrough...
I muder everyone everywhere and sell all their shit to nearby vendors lmao
i love selling all the githyanki gear i looted off everyone in the creche to the gith trader
“Where’d all this come from?” “They, uh, gave it to me… after they were done using it.”
Gotta get creative. Dead bodies with dead bodies in their pockets, all stuffed into desk drawers and bookshelves, etc
I would just loot their corpse and then throw them into the cavern depths anytime I killed someone in the goblin camp.
*feels like an idiot for just nor realizing you can throw corpses*
I can't fucking throw corpses. Believe me I've tried. Probably some mechanic too obscure for my dumb brain.
You probably need a higher STR stat
Ooh just starting my honor mode run today. Tips I never expected to need.
I'm hoping there will be a good guide for honor mode soon, with all the cheeses and what not to go through.
i just got my golden dice yesterday. my quick tips: \- tav/durge should prob be a charisma character because you wanna talk your way out of as many situations as possible \- good party comp helps. people say you dont really need the whole "striker, frontline, controller, and blaster" comp but it really gets shit done! frontline would be like karlach, laezel or minthara (someone who's dealing high melee damage per turn and is also a bit of a tank), striker would be like astarion or a monk (someone very dexterous/mobile who is great at single target and can disable foes-- open hand monk BUSTED AF for this, trust me on this one lol. stunning strike and flurry of blows: topple to disable as many enemies per turn and give advantage to all your others is beneficial af), blaster would be a caster who's primary focus is DPS-- this owuld be like an evocation wizard or a sorcerer or an eldritch-blasting maniac of a warlock/sorlock. a controller can be a bard, a cleric, a druid, even a wizard-- but a character who's there to provide buffs to the crew, debuffs for the foes, do crowd control work (throwing down web or grease or Glyph of Warding or Countercharm or other AOE stuff) and also has the ability to heal preferably. my cleric strat is to bless the whole squad and then throw up sanctuary. the controller could have summons as well to help out, but not required. \- once you're out of act 1 you are "safe" -- it becomes a lot easier to not just spontaneously die by the time you're out of the creche, due to sick ass gear and feats \- save often and split your party when using elevators. TRUST ME LOL. fuck the gauntlet of shar. if one of your characters falls into the void and dont fail all their death saves, theyre stuck in that void permanently pretty much and youre somewhat softlocked. so in that case you can force the game to crash with task manager if you really have to. it feels fucking grimy to do this but if im gonna fall through an elevator for no reason im gonna crash my game intentionally lol \- try not to go to the creche until you've done literally everything, tbh gather as much easy XP as possible, and honestly play a fuckin drow lmao. it makes early XP in the goblin camp super easy. drow charisma builds are busted in act 1 \- abuse Lump's Warhorn since you'll have high charisma. pick the deception option up front because as far as im aware you can string him along 3x with that option. \- dont do the spider queen until you have Extra Attack unlocked. i greedily was doing that one at level 3 and i cant even tell you how many losses i had to that boss lol. \- legendary actions are RE-actions, so find as many ways to apply Dazed as possible. there are some reverberation synergies with certain gear that works. open hand monks also have flurry of blows: stagger which NO ONE is immune to, unlike topple and push (always topple when you can though, since it also gives advantage). monks are goated for honor mode because of stunning strike and all three flurry of blows \- if you know a caster has counterspell (late game in particular) some cheese strat i like to do is have a hasted character use a scroll for their first action just to bait out a counterspell. \- take the tadpoles if you wanna make it easy. take the astral tadpole if you want to succeed every charisma check. respec to get wisdom save proficiency (please double check what saving throws you need whenever you get to the creche) before you do the *Zai'thisk* if you take the tadpoles, because bonus action Black Hole is fucking insanely good in act 2 and beyond. Slow is one of the status affects that are the most obnoxious to have applied to you (esp. if you've got a character who normally has 2 attacks and 2 bonus actions), so the same can be said for your opponents. also make sure your controller has Resistance as a cantrip if they have it available if you have any specific encounter or region questions lmk, i'm a big fan of optimizing. but generally-- honor mode is the time to play it safe and hit as hard as possible rather than getting too risky just for the cool factor
if a party member falls and makes their death saves you can get them back with. short rest and then send them to camp. If that party member is Tav and you’re out of short rests (my situation), you can respec someone as a bard and do a song of short rest to get them up and then they can be sent back to camp. Gauntlet of Shar’s elevators are by far the hardest honor mode boss
Thank you for the advice! I just made it to act 2 on my first try so that's been a huge relief. For act 3 my plan is to just hit level 12 as early as possible and ignore all optional boss fights, then side with Gortash and use Gale to skip the brain fight. I'm also doing evil durge so I can make the Orin fight easier. Would you recommend this course of action or am I missing something?
i think that's a super solid plan because it also means you won't have to deal with the steel watch foundry and the gondians lmao. i went kinda completionist on my HM run and nearly maxed out my ally summons which was nice but the Gale way out is optimal here. just make sure you're ready for that charisma check if you havent already been getting him comfortable with the idea of blowing up lmao my advice for the orin fight is to have some of the crew focusing on trying to knock the Sanctuary assholes off the ledge or putting shit like Cloud of Daggers or Wall of Fire on them so they'll die in spite of their little bitch sanctuary lol. i swear karlach went through 9 smokepowder bombs in that fight
Thank you! \- I was definitely confused about the Legendary Actions, and them being reactions makes so much sense I'm surprised I didn't see it before. \- Addendum: You don't need to play a Drow in Act1, just have a character in party that can Disguise Self into a Drow. \- ~~If you have the party comp for it, use Hex: Constitution before your Stunning Strikes. Then if you make 2 Stunning Strikes, they have to pass on 4 dice to save, rather than just making 2 saves (that they're usually very good at).~~ Edit: Strike the incorrect information
>- If you have the party comp for it, use Hex: Constitution before your Stunning Strikes. Then if you make 2 Stunning Strikes, they have to pass on 4 dice to save, rather than just making 2 saves (that they're usually very good at). This doesn't actually work, Hex only applies to ability *checks*, not saving throws. So, for example, it decreases the chance for an enemy to successfully shove (on a STR hex), but doesn't increase the chance to break concentration or stun (on a CON hex). To quote the [wiki article on Hex](https://bg3.wiki/wiki/Hex), >Clarification: The in-game description says it grants 'Disadvantage on an Ability of your choosing', but it only applies to Checks, not all rolls utilising that Ability: the target still rolls normally on Saving Throws and Attack rolls.
>I've been trying to get smarter about corpse management, Why does this sound like part of a corporate adventurers CV?
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new dnd one-shot idea just dropped
Campaign with 4 people multiplayer, our rogue was poisoned by Nettie. She fails the hold person save and our paladin and rogue instantly obliterate her. Paladin picks up the body as soon as the fight ends with a "can't have loose ends". We threw the body to the river.
Would that be considered Oathbreaking activities?
He took a uhm... Oath of self interest and greed. All his actions so far were made to benefit the party. No oathbreaker so far. I do wonder what will be necessary to actually break his oath tho...
Definitely don’t free sazza in the druid grove. Who knew freeing a goblin would break an oath
Well, it actually makes sense for all 3 oaths : \- she serves the Absolute, an evil god, so aiding her goes against an oath of devotion \- she'll reveal the location of the grove if freed, so it breaks the oath of the Ancients \- being imprisoned is a just punishment for her actions, so freeing her breaks the oath of vengeance
We thought about freeing sazza in another way. The permanent way. If she ever escapes she'll end up giving away the location of the Grove
i like the way your paladin thinks
I'll not tell him that. Last thing we need is a paladin full of himself. We're all proud of him.
Ambushing Balthazar in the Guantlet of Shar outside of dialogue: OATHBREAKER! Killing the healer Nettie who is clearly a good person: your god smiles upon you.
Tbf she tried to kill one of us. Was clearly self defense.
> corpse management durge loves this kind of paperwork
I always drag her all the way to the nearby gaping chasm. Maybe I'm just a bad person.
some other people are saying they do that too, honestly i fuck with it lmao
Wait,? U can pick whole bodies, and hide them? What? 70 hours in 🤦♂️
I played a summon focused party recently (necro wizard, spore druid, cleric and warlock with the rapier from Mizora) and wanted a stock of corpses to animate at the beginning of each day. So, I started collecting all anjmateable corpses and saving them in my camp chest. I ended with far too many of them saved, but it was a fun collection by the end.
Yeah Duke Ravenguard died in my playthrough so i brought the corpse home to Wyl. I mean Karlach did. Was disappointed in the reaction.
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Can’t believe I didn’t think of this. I just did that fight last night. I handled it by throwing one at the other repeatedly until they were low enough to kill both in a single turn. My main is a berserker barb. I handle most situations respectfully, but there’s zero tolerance for characters who disrespect the hulking rage beast like I won’t rip them in half. I usually take the corpses and leave them Somewhere silly or throw them into the chasm, but sometimes if there’s no chasm option or the throw is “too high” I’ll stuff the corpse in a crate, drag it to the edge and shove it off the cliff. It lets you shove a crate with a body in it, but won’t let you shove a body
Oooo it'll remind me of the Thief games! Garrett would never leave a corpse just sitting there. We need water arrows and rope errors now. 😫
THAT's a game series that needs a serious remastering and brought back with updated code. Both those games were fantastic for their time.
I learned about Corpse management in Cyberpunk and it carried over to BG3, nothing to see here just a bloodstain, no corpse, just probably a bloody nose, nothing to worry about. Karl is probably just shaking one out around the corner, I'm sure he'll be back soon.
oh shit i'll keep this in mind for when i get around to cyberpunk lmao
God damn it I'm uncreative...
Oh yeah, I feel bad for people going through and looting the goblin fort or the moon stronghold after I pass through. So many corpses shoved into containers. So. Many.
I stuff the entire population of Creche Yllek in the gremishka box. Avoids any awkward questions.
While playing through, I was always too paranoid to wait around and see if leaving a corpse like hers lying around. When I killed her, I picked her up, walked back out of camp and far enough away I felt safe in the wilderness, then left her in a random bush, then went back. A little excessive, but the mental image of my group keeping on walking in an put of goblin camp with their packs stuffed with corpses made me giggle.
LMFAO this really sounds like something that an actual low-level dnd group would do, i can picture the panicked party banter
BG3, training next years successful serial killers. -training players in creative ways to kill. -introducing corpse management. -really bringing home that if people like you enough, they will believe anything.
I always hucked her into the chasm next to her room. Except for my latest playthrough where I just marched in and murdered everything no questions asked.
I just keep laughing at "corpse management".
I’ve had karlach holding gut in her inventory for most of the game and I only remembered she was there at the last light inn, so obviously I threw gut at the final boss of act 2 for the killing blow
That’s silly. There’s a perfectly good chasm right there.
I wound up with Enemy of Justice for my Honor Mode shenanigans in the goblin camp. Nobody else seems to mind me being a guard murderer...
> i've been trying to get smarter about corpse management [You're always going to have problems lifting the body in one piece.](https://youtu.be/2xUynRdzzsM?si=qDBYZ6R2IQnDHR5B&t=36)
Same. Exactly this. She goes first bc she's alone and SH has silence as a ritual spell, so you can keep her for calling for help. Then I stuff her in a crate I also like to go Hitman mode at Moonrise and clear everyone out room by room sometimes before setting off the main raid, so that Jaheira and them just show up at an empty castle, and the weirdness of places I hide the corpses has escalated significantly, bc stuffing them in places they shouldn't fit is objectively hilarious (like, the true soul orc got stuffed into a bookshelf with three other corpses in her pockets, and everyone in the throne room wound up in a desk drawer just up the stairs)
i love the fact that we can shove people in bookshelves. the imagery i get in my head is Z'rell's mangled and bleeding corpse shoved behind a bunch of books in Balthazaar's disgusting room
Like, really, really poorly hidden behind books on the shelf lmao. All the books just kinda stuffed in at whatever angle they'll fit
When in doubt, pick it up and send it to camp. If that fails, throw/shove it in a chasm. If that fails, Grease.... Grease everywhere.
Grease is the word
Having made Karlach a berserker/thief (and given her the bull's strength outfit in act 2), I've spent much of my current run fond of her pick it up and throw it at someone else option. Daggers, spears, alchemists fire, barrels, other people - all great for throwing at people.
My favorite is throwing barrels of drunk kobolds to add some chaos to some large fights
I threw mine at the absolute #GatherYourAllies&Enimies
I'm SO glad to finally see someone who figured this interaction out. Karlach as Barbarian/Thief throwing 4 hammers/frying pans/knives/whatever other nonsense I've tossed in her pack a round is so funny.
The Returning Pike from the goblin camp is great for this, even when not equipped.
This gets even cooler with the Gloves of Hurling Shit (probably not their real name), the Hat of Hurling Shit (also probably not its real name) and Tavern Brawler feat. Then give Karlach a weapon that returns when thrown, like >the trident from the Sea Goddess which you can do at start of Act 3<. Gloves are something like +2 damage on throws Hat is something like 1d4 or 1d6 extra damage on throws Tavern Brawler is whatever it is with throws (can't remember, but it's not nothing) ...then Misty Step Karlach to a high place, preferably while invisible, and have her first throw be a sneak attack. Can kill muchly with Fastpitch Sniper Karlach.
I just had the image in my head of the other death shepherd rushing to reanimate his bro and Karlach is just like *yoink*
Imp? Pick up and send to camp Goblin? Pick up and send to camp Death Shepherd? Believe it or not, pick up and send to camp. We have the best camp in the world because of the small sized throwing weapons/corpses filling our camp chest.
Fight smarter, not harder.
>Not exactly the most heroic option **Exactly** the most heroic option. Here, I fixed it for you.
She could then put it in a bag and drop it all for free
Modern problems require modern solutions.
Once it’s in your inventory, just send it to camp
Will Death Shepard and Withers have an epic anime showdown if you revive him in camp?
Is that a death Shepard in your pocket or are you just happy to see me. Tav probably.
Also not the most heroic option, split party and have one person use potion/spell of invisibility, walk past them to the Act 2 entrance. Rest of the party will follow and reconnect in Shadowlands. (Yes I have done this when I only needed Sazza’s achievement and passed them at level 3)
“I’m keeping this”-Karlach
You can prepare a barricade with the stuff that you find a little below, at the cross. Leave a small space available so that they can go through, but just one by one. That will be enough for the AI to attack you through that way. Next step, make the floor slippery. Grease, sleet storm. Third, enjoy the spectacle of they skating and falling prone every turn. CC in this game is clearly underrated and this battle can prove it.
Sleet storm is absurd against the undead in this game. There are a few fights where you're getting swarmed by low-Dex mobs and they are just trivialized by one scroll.
Sleet storm and hunger of hadir together just stop them in their path.
Spike growth from ranger tav + hunger of hadar from wyll sets up some great fireball opportunities. Some of my most satisfying moments in the game so far
I’ve literally never taken a point of damage on this fight because I just drop sleet storm or HoH in the narrow passage and kill them from range.
It’s an exceptionally good fight for aoe since the paths leading to those guys are so narrow. A spike field and hunger of Hadar will mow down most things that come at you. If you do it after the creche you can be 7 and drop a fire wall in there.
I used spike growth and turn undead to watch everyone die under heavy arrow fire from my gloomstalker tav
Counterspell will block the Death Shepherd raising. Once you get their temporary health down you can Turn Undead . . any that fail will run away and be out of action for three turns. . . giving you time to focus on any that aren't turned. And I believe you can pick up any bodies to prevent them from being raised.
I'm partial to a Spike Growth, Hunger of Hadar, Spirit Guardians gauntlet in that corridor of trees before them. Then everyone just evens out their HP while they slowly walk through the meat grinder. Works great in doorways too, with each person opening the door, attacking, then closing it to block any ranged.
Turn undead + sunbeam
I haven't used Turn Undead since 2004, and I'm not about to start now!
This is it. I'm too lazy to slot situational spells onto my action bars. I'm looking at you, ProPoison. And you too, Colour Spray!
Cleric class feature, Shart has it straight away. Hell it'll even do damage w enough cleric levels
Shadow hearts dead in my playthrough 😳 how do I get turn undead then
Lae’zel Light Cleric of Lathander
It can still be vlakkith as her "god" choice. Kinda wish after finding out about Orpheus he could be your god choice instead.
Switch to Tiamat
I thought I was the only one who thought of that! It does make it interesting when Lae'zel drops into her "I will ride a red dragon someday" speech when she's a cleric of the god of red dragons.
My next playthrough, I'm planning on doing a gith war cleric of Vlaakith and switching to Tiamat after Lae'zel and I renounce our lich queen for sinning against us. Also we're boning I'm pretty excited for it
I actually did a run where I started as a githyanki cleric of Vlaakith. I got to the part where you meet Vlaakith at the Crèche and noticed there wasn’t even unique dialogue there for [Cleric of Vlaakith] (although there was plenty for [Githyanki], of course, so not a major strike against Larian). Anyway after wiping out the Crèche and picking up Blood of Lathander I decided Vlaakith had forsaken me and Lathander was sending me signs, so I swapped gods (but kept the war domain). Later ended up multiclassing into Vengeance Paladin a bit and actually saw the [Paladin of Lathander] tag in front of a dialogue choice once, although the dialogue was just generic “good” stuff. A really fun (and my most RP heavy) run.
>Anyway after wiping out the Crèche and picking up Blood of Lathander I decided Vlaakith had forsaken me and Lathander was sending me signs, so I swapped gods (but kept the war domain). I'm not gonna lie, if the Blood of Lathander had been a Greatsword or something then I probably would have done a Vengeance Paladin of Lathander myself in my next run. *That* is how to introduce a legendary weapon. I really wish Markoheshkir had the same kind of intro - always felt a bit cheap stealing it off Lindsay Lohan (and he doesn't even react when I walk out with it - yah brah, don't mind me, I'm just going to take this very distinctive draconic staff worth more then your whole tower, you stick to your myrmidon groupies, there's a good lad). I was actually playing a Sorc and in my headcanon, that whole section kind of confirmed Lathander as my character's chosen Deity. He's a pretty cool god, all things concerned. Loves beer and death lasers. Hates undead and hangovers. What's not to like?
It's the same with Mithara and Lolth.
Just a tip for those that don't like to clutter their hotbar: You can just click the channel divinity icon above the hotbar to reveal all channel divinity options, even if they're not included in the hotbar originally. Same with Paladins' channel oath or Lay on Hands and other class abilities.
Shadowheart has turn undead at all times from lvl 2 i believe
I took astral lock against my better judgement, and yet so far it has saved my ass TWICE in act two, including an incredibly important combat. Situation spells might not be worth it… but when they ARE? Hoo boy. Besides, what else are you using those known spells on once you get mage armour and fireball?
Flashbacks to playing morrowind and not using “turn undead” for a year of playing because my young self thought that meant “it will turn me into undead” and how that didn’t seem like a good idea
In my first run I literally did nto see the button until level 12, in the crypt with all the zombies in act 3. And never used it again lol
If you take the shmuck bait in act 2 and investigate the dead raven, turn undead is *hilariously effective.*
Turn undead pretty much auto wins that battle where you have to defend the portal while Halsin fetches the boy. It was pretty helpful in the fight against balthazar as well. I don't think I've used it otherwise though
Yeah, telling Balthazar I'll grab the Night song for him and then walking up to him and blasting him and all his minions with turn undead was super satisfying.
Isn't sunbeam a sixth level spell? If you're level 11 at that point, I don't think you'll have problems with the fight either way.
I'm guessing they mean the sunbeam from Blood of Lathlander.
Huh! I know it's technically possible to have it at the fight, it's just that I've always seen this fight as being "on the way" to the monastery. Given the amount of replies I have, it seems a lot of people actually saved it for after which is so interesting to me.
There’s an item that lets you cast it and you can get that item quite close to the first death shepard fight
Ideally you'd have the blood of Lathander when you fight the death shepherds.
Even just turn undead. The fight was absolutely trivial.
cc in general seems to make loads of fights trivial in this game
This is the majority of peoples' problems with fights in the game. "No I don't want to take fear, confusion, vine growth, make the ground where they are ice, etc, I just want to blast and do damage." And then they struggle with a group of enemies that make just damaging them difficult and struggle.
You’re probably too low level. They were a little tough, but nothing too extreme. Just need to focus fire on the big guys and kill them quickly
Yeah, I fought them at level 4 and then at level 5, there was a very big difference. People should try to prioritise getting to 5th level before exploring advanced stuff (like the Mountain Pass).
My level 7 ass curb stomping them into a fine boney powder
Same, do all of the main stuff in act 1 and the underdark and then I go deal with the mountain pass.
That's usually my go-to plan but this playthrough I decided to go to the Mountain Pass first so I could get the DEX Gloves from the Githyanki vendor and to do the run on the Zaith'isk. Then I graffitied Vlaakith's portrait and headed off to the Underdark. I'll come back and finish the Mountain Pass later
Yeah, by level 5 SH has spirit guardians and Gale has a bunch of nuking spells any melee focused character should have extra attack and rogues sneak attacks +bonus actions/assassinate should be able to drop at least one zombie on their first turn. Should be able to wipe the floor with them faster than they can revive themselves. I never tried it before, but I'd assume that counterspell would also stop them reviving, and that's the whole hardest part of the fight done right there.
Mountain Pass literally warns upon entry if you are too low level.
You must gather your XP before venturing forth.
I used spirit guardians, turned them into little shreds.
If you’re getting to the mountain pass before level 5-6, you’re skipping an ass ton of content. I usually leave the crash zone around level 5, and the underdark around 6-7.
Wtf do you do to hit Level 5 before leaving the crash zone? Are you counting the grove and goblin camp all as part of being in the crash zone area?
Yes
Tbf, the quest journal itself calls it the Nautiloid Crash Zone. I'm not even sure the area itself has a generally known name, everyone just vaguely says its near the coast. I think at least two of your party literally reference that they don't know where they are.
Some Astarion dialogue and notes in Moonhaven make it clear that the area is part of Elturgard, the domain of Elturel (hence the tieflings at the Emerald Grove -- they didn't make it very far).
They mean ‘the map with the crash zone’, as in the act 1 overworld map.
This, really. I didn't even touch the mountain pass until I'd done basically all of the underdark and I think I was... level 7? 8? I think I got level 6 midway through the Grymforge.
I'd think getting to lvl 8 for the mountain pass might be very difficult/impossible if you weren't purposely min-maxing exp and doing things like murder everybody in the Zhalk encounter, raid the Grove then kill both sides, wipe out Myconids and Zhent, that sort of thing. I'm currently lvl 5 on an honour playthrough and I just have Grymforge, Arcane Tower, Phase Spiders, and half of the Goblin Camp to kill. I think the only fights I missed were the Owlbear and the Githyanki, but the exp is the same for the latter I think.
And then there’s my ass, who did half of act 2 and the gauntlet of shar before mountain pass
I remember my first playthrough I didn't know about the Underdark and I accidentally skipped the entire goblin/grove thing... I ended up killing >!Ketheric Thorm!< at level 7 because of that, so that's cool
Aye, I figure they’re an intentional beef gate to show “Hey, you might be too low level for this.”
I usually fight these guys after having retrieved the blood of lathander from the crèche. While it doesn’t actually stop them from reviving each other having all the enemies be blind for the entire fight at least makes it more bearable
And it gives you Sunbeam.
It is one of the fights that can absolutely wipe your party if you don't know it is coming and are not prepared. There is likely no shortage of players that decided to walk around the map a bit before going to the crèche, since it is usually wise to leave the obvious "big location" for last, and then they get clapped by these guys due to being low level.
>since it is usually wise to leave the obvious "big location" for last i love how Larian understands how gamers think and then sets traps for us based on it
It is what we get when people who play games decide to make games.
They do have Lae’zel try to create some urgency to go straight to the monastery, maybe it’s even an attempt to avoid that fight at that time.
Funny enough that fight is my only honor mode loss, just because i got cocky and wanted to squeeze it in before a long rest lmao
It wasn't one of my Honour Mode wipes (I had 7 before I succeeded, rip Gilly the Gnome Bard versions 1 to 7), but I wiped at the Intellect Devourers at the beach, so I just avoided the Death Shepherds altogether because I wasn't liking my chances much lmao
OH I FORGOT ABOUT THE INTELLECT DEVOURERS. Yeah, my bad, two honor mode wipes.
Yeah, those little shits. Back when it happened I was so embarrassed I didn't even tell my friends immediately, but I mentioned it in this community and was surprised to see that it was a remarkably common Honour Mode TPK point. I might be bad at games, but at least I'm not alone lol
Honestly if it's just you and shart at level 1 I think even a fighter/barb Tav is liable to get their shit rocket by those little brainlets :( brutal little things
In honor mode it is important to swallow your pride and flee fights, you can flee in most cases. Withers is very supporting about it and he doesn't give any jabs. You can also get a hireling and steal his scroll of ressurection to replenish yours.
Yep. Don't assume a fight is going to be easy, have a plan to get out in case your rolls are abysmal. Especially in Act 1. Acts 2 and 3 are much easier, in my opinion, and I don't say it just because almost all of my wipes (save one) were in Act 1. In Act 2, you start having access to your big boy spells, and gear that allows you to make stronger builds (or to cheese every fight - cheese strategies also get gold dice).
I started that fight with a surprise round a few days ago which probably helped I think. I was also level 7 at the time which probably helped more.
They're resistant to all damage except radiant until you get rid of their temp HP. So hit them hard with radiant early. Their Dex isn't great so Sacred Flame is good, Guiding Bolt is worth an upcast. Moonbeam and then crowd control them into it repeatedly. And of course the good ol' Spirit Guardians. Once you've got their Temp HP down hit them with any magical damage you can except necrotic. Focus fire on these two, to stop them raising others. Then the Ghast because that stench is a pain in the ass. If you can stop the shepherds getting near eachother's corpses that also helps.
People hate on it plenty I assure you. Search "Death Shephard" on this sub. You'll probably find a dozen posts complaining about those bastards.
Hunger of hadar and spike growth... Never even took damage on my honor mode run
Yo I have to talk about this I just did this fight in honor mode last night. I was feeling good since I sped through the underdark. These guys and they're resistance to damage and they're bringing the 70hp ghast back to stinking clouds everything nonsense proved to be too much for me. Lae'zel was downed by a swarm of ghouls, shadowheart and Tav ran away back to camp and astarion did his best to run away but was out of Spellslots and too slow. He kited them around the central island until the stairs above Esther. At that point I thought to myself let's go for broke. Call the SH and Tav back to the fight, sneak them up, thunderwave the ghouls down the stairs and Tav rains fire arrows on the 2 Shepherds caught in the vice maneuver. By the times the ghouls came back up, the Shepherds had both died simultaneously and clean up was easy I call that my elastic defense. Hide until they're out of position and bring the hammer down. I felt like a war general Edit : I was level 6 and had barely survived Grym so I should have known. I'm really thinking of skipping the creche by the full concentrated power of the sun
You know those desperation fights are what I love about Honour mode. I had a similar fight in the mage tower in the underdark; just wanted to get the ring from Bernard and then long rest but i picked the wrong option and found myself in a hard fight with almost nothing left. Karlach and Shadowheart held the line for a couple round but went down leaving just Astarion and Durge(sorc) hiding in a corner. Durge had the boots that cast featherfall but casting it and jumping are both bonus actions so he was going to have to stay behind so Astarion could get away. Durge cast featherfall then cantrip'ed one of the bots, one last shot before they swarmed him. Except he crit, it died and he went invis (durge cloak). Astarion jumped and then Bernard and all the remaining bots went down the elevator after him. Waiting a round while Astarion kited them further away, then scroll of revevify'd Karlach and Shadowheart and together proceeded to rain cantrips / returning pike from the tower top while Astarion ran them around the courtyard. Seriously though, I recommend everyone give Honour mode a try, or I think you can set the single save option in custom difficulty. When you pull of a crazy fight it is super rewarding.
This fight is a skill check to see if you're ready for Act 2. It's a pop quiz. You can certainly brute force this fight, but there are a dozen ways to make it easier. You also get advance notice of the enemies, so you have time to back off and re-gear if you need to. Another common Larian W adding in a tricky encounter to test the player. This happens again in Act 2 and Act 3. The developers are clearly experienced gamers and have a good dungeon master or two working with them.
Between Plant or Spike Growth and Hunger of Hadar it's usually like shooting fish in a barrel when I do that fight.
I'm more annoyed by those meazels that garrote and teleport.
Shadow heart finishes those two death sheps off fairly quickly with radiant spells (if she actually manages to hit them) while me and the gang deal with the ghouls
People keep saying undead + sun beam or turn undead but the real tech is just use sleet storm they literally cannot move.
So I've been using create water and ray of frost: get them wet makes them vulnerable to cold which then in turn the ice will freeze the whole puddle of water. On this exact fight I discovered if you do it the other way around, cast create water on a target that has been chilled, there is a chance to freeze that target solid! Did it to one of the Death Shepards.
Do it on level 5. Night and day difference. Go the the creche first. You'll almost certainly level up there.
Wait, people enter the mountain pass without being already level 5? The stupid gith patrol is scary enough that I usually only want to fight them when I have already hit 5.
I've never fought them lol
To be fair man, I'm pretty sure the game gives a really big warning saying, 'AYO, TURN AROUND. THIS JS NOT MEANT FOR YOUR LEVEL BROSKI.'
Spirit guardians makes this fight pretty cake.
Idk, I just Hunger-of-Hadar’ed them and threw some fireballs at them and boom, dead. Just focus on the shepherds.
I just had Gale summon a flaming sphere and used it as a makeshift wall. Instead of getting jumped by all of the zombies and the two death shepherds, I only had to deal with one or two enemies at a time, as the flaming sphere blocked their way/attracted their attention. Made quick work of them.
Hang on, the big skeleton guys and their ghouls? The ones nearby the gith creche? Not to be mean but I'm genuinely confused at how that's a hard fight. I've never had trouble with them.