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[Saint of Sinners]

This was originally a query from fellow board user kenng over at the No Reload Challenge thread, but to keep the spirit of the posts there intact, I decided (out of sheer boredom, I might add) to take up on his request even though he originally asked Alesia.

The opening dungeon is pretty easy for most classes to run solo, but intending to completely dominate it (ie. kill everything, finish whatever quest is in there, etc.) is a bit of a difficulty for some, especially for a thief. Add in some mods that allow only one rest and improves the enemies slightly (ie. SCSII, et al) and it becomes fairly easy to see why most would just prefer to stealth it out or to use Dungeon-Be-Gone.

Seriously, though, it's not difficult to go solo, that much most players know, but sometimes it's hard to find a starting point. So I offer gameplay videos for the first part of the starting dungeon. Note, however, that my game crashed towards the portal and I wasn't able to show how to deal with the second part but it matters not. The spirit of the attempt, as well as the strategy, is completely shown in the first part.

That strategy is what I call SSDD. It's simply: Seek, Scout, Divide, Destroy. This is a real life war strategy, and though a rogue is pretty much a loner, he benefits from the wisdom of this strategy.

Some notes on my attempt:

- kenng plays a halfling assassin. I created the same to emulate the feel of how to run with said character (I am pretty much a human or elf user).
- I use a couple of mods thrown together. Suffice to say that I was playing with urgency in mind, which means no resting as much as possible, or just rest once as is mandatorily applied by the SCSII mod, which I applied to maximum effect.
- And, yes, the starting dungeon is improved (duergars instead of goblins) and all creatures have maximum HP (care of SCSII).
- All enemies must be killed, all quests as much as possible completed.
- This is not a perfect strategy. As Alesia told kenng, it is just one approach among many. This is pretty much to show the way an assassin is meant to be played. Most rogue-users would approach encounters using traps and whatnot, but the assassin is master of poison and backstab (because of Rogue Rebalancing, an assassin can go up to x8 and even to x9 with the Short Sword of Backstabbing, but I digress...). If I had to show traps, I would have used a bounty hunter and if I had to fight head-on, I would have gone swashy. As it stands, this is the way I would have done it, and since I'm no expert, there will be moments of sheer stupidity or flawed thinking. I will note them, if ever.

As for the character involved:

Meejee
Halfling Assassin
Lawful Neutral
17 / 19 / 18 / 10 / 10 / 10
* Long Sword
* Short Sword
* Short Bow
* Two Weapon Style
Bhaalpowers: 1 of each: DUHM, Slow Poison, Larloch's, Vampiric Touch, Horror, Cure Light Wounds
Basic strategy: Go for the Long Sword +1, Quarterstaff +1, and the Short Bow. Since I have armor mods installed, some of the armors reduce damage taken. The mileage, for some, may greatly vary.

Now, on to the run. I hope you enjoy it. Constructive criticism is very much welcome, and suggestions for areas of improvement are greatly appreciated and encouraged from everyone. Take note, though, that I try to go for no cheese. It is, after all, a roleplaying game. And pardon me if I suck at some areas. I'm no rogue-user. I'm a hardcore arcanist user, so this is just basically just what I said: just a show of strategy, never of skill.

On to the run!

[Saint of Sinners]

Segment 1 of the Solo Halfling Assassin Irenicus Dungeon Run

youtu.be/LWaN236MxKw

Notes:

- I skipped the character creation by creating, rolling, exporting, then importing. This is to save time as rolling takes an unbelievable amount of hard drive space. I can only record so much with my resolution at 1600x900. Anyway...

- You need all the experience points you need. Release the NPCs, let them join, then kick them out.

- Flicking the switch will not break invisibility. Also, lure the mephit from a distance. This will make it difficult for it to hit you with the lightning and you can go for the backstab, too.

- A short sword means faster response when backstabbing, but a long sword deals more damage.

- Force spawn all parties as much as possible. Try to lure them out by going in and out of shadows or backstabbing one and giving chase. Make sure there's a fallback position (ie. lightning room, crystal room, prison room portal room, etc.) where there's a bend or a big amount of shadow.

- The moment fog of war envelopes an enemy, count a half-second and go hide. At 100 points, this will be successful almost all of the time.

- When the enemies are scattered, go for the extremes. This will make running a wee bit easier. You don't want to go for the nearest one when the fallback is behind the farthest enemy.

- For the choice of duergar, go for the crossbow ones. They will be forced to use their melee weapons because of your proximity, which means one less bolt to your direction when you're going for the shadows (Improved Dungeon mod only).

- Pickpocket the golem until you succeed. Beware the mineral mephit in the golem room. It can knock you down indefinitely. Weapon of choice: Long Sword +1. Make sure to get the Quarterstaff +1, too. This is the answer later on for the Lesser Golems.

- Why pickpocket the key? So that you can open all doors. As pointed out, the more doors and passages, the easier for you to hide, run, and destroy. Also, remove as much fog of war as possible (around 9:00). I recommend going for the southeast door (the lone mephit in the beginning) as it has no enemies and the fallback is pretty big (you've got the Jailkeep Golem room, the prison room, the portal room, the lightning room, and the crystal room).

Modifié par Saint of Sinners, 22 juin 2011 - 09:44 .

[Saint of Sinners]

Segment 2 of the Solo Halfling Assassin Irenicus Dungeon Run

youtu.be/PDQ4pnZ-4mA

Notes:

- Kill Jailkeep Golem with the QS +1. More experience points means faster levelling up. You need every improvement that you can get, no matter how small.

- Despite what I did in the video, remember not to run *along* an otyugh. Run *away* from it. Once you backstab it, run directly opposite of the backstab (at 1:20). Any other direction will result to a bad hit if you have low AC. And you don't want to be hit twice in a row by it at all. The damage will stack up fast. Also, use shadows around the room and along the south-eastern passage. This room is very important! This is the hub of all the killing that is about to happen!

- Make sure to get the short bow here. There are plenty of arrows in the Jailkeep Golem room, by the way. Again, short bows are faster, long bows are more powerful. I prefer speed with this one, though, as you need to be able to use the bow for luring the enemies. Use the bow and while the animation is being carried out, pause the game. If it hits, run and hide. This is pretty much a guaranteed lure-and-hide (2:12 and 2:30).

- Yes, there is a *lot* of running involved. Mighty glad you opened all those doors now, eh?

- Check 4:50. This is an integral part of playing a thief. If you're fallback is unsafe, you will be hard-pressed to maintain ground. I had to make sure that the guardian's room is clear before going for the duergar who followed me in the prison room.

- Bad move at 9:35, I had to force the Dust Mephit to a confrontation. Do not let it come to this. I should have gone for the bow and lured it instead before backstabbing it.

Modifié par Saint of Sinners, 22 juin 2011 - 09:56 .

[Saint of Sinners]

Segment 3 of the Solo Halfling Assassin Irenicus Dungeon Run

youtu.be/v2_T_ljLnnA

Notes:

- More of the same. Don't panic when they're pouring in (0:40). They cannot follow from closed doors so they'll either find a way around to you or they'll stay still. If they do find a way around you, use all the passageways from the hub to get back into the shadows. At this point, you've cleared a lot of rooms to be able to hide and move about freely.

- Should any enemy go into Morale Failure, go for the kill. Sometimes, one arrow is enough.

- Notice that we explore the 'usual' path for the first time. This is a dangerous spot, especially for most soloists who can't pickpocket, as they have to run a gauntlet of monsters just to get to the library, where they'll face more monsters. A thief has the advantage here simply because he's the one who's going to control the gauntlet once the guardian is down.

Modifié par Saint of Sinners, 22 juin 2011 - 10:05 .

[Saint of Sinners]

Segment 4 of the Solo Halfling Assassin Irenicus Dungeon Run

youtu.be/jPoLT5JfoQs

Notes:

- Do not be stingy with your potions. There's a load of it out there. Still, use them wisely. I personally will not use the Oils of Speed until the next part.

- More of the same yet again. Utilize the guardian's room as a hub for the backstabs.

- Notice how easy it is to hide in the library. You just have to find an area where no one can see you (ie. via fog of war, etc.) then go hide (at 7:16).

- Anyway, once the 'eight' path (because it seems like a big eight to me) is explored, you have the option of adding this to your fallback. Be warned, though, as this is not as safe as most fallbacks. There are always two paths to the junctions where they end, and this can seriously affect your run-and-hide-at-the-bend tactic. See 9:34, where I almost got cornered by two of them. A good example of a bad gameplay.

Modifié par Saint of Sinners, 22 juin 2011 - 10:10 .

[Saint of Sinners]

Segment 5 of the Solo Halfling Assassin Irenicus Dungeon Run (last, game crashes here)

youtu.be/XR88QFcviLc

- This is where the game crashes, but this will show how Ilyich can be dealt with without much fuss. Of course, this will not work with Improved Ilyich of the Tactics mod. Check 2:00, where Ilyich suffers one arrow after another unopposed. Ilyich will only run away if you cross a certain boundary or you are seen by his lackeys. But since all his lackeys have gone ahead and offered themselves to the end of your blade, you can go pester him with your bow and arrows.

- Hiding right after the attack will prompt him not to follow, unlike the other duergar who actually run after you if you do.

- At 3:00, we crossed the boundary, prompting him to see us and prepare his buffs. He will now move. Of course, 3:31 is not recommended, but I forgot that there was a mage. :innocent:

- On other days, I would have used Poison Weapon on my bow. This is to stop the mage from casting his spells. But seeing how this duergar mage isn't much of a threat, I just let his protections expire and kill him.

- The game crashes near the portal room while dealing with the last duergar part in this section. The following still hasn't been done: the cambion, the two golems (they will respond to the alarm), and the pocket plane of air. Still, it's more of the same.

- The cambion is too slow, but he's immune to normal weapons I think and can detect invisible. I will use one Oil of Speed here if things get hairy, but otherwise you will be able to tank him with your healing potions and some running.

- The two golems are another problem altogether. With my sorcerer, I just tank them at the bookcase area (where you get the air elemental statue). However, the thief needs all the spells he has for the next level. DUHM is a good choice for this fight, but I prefer another method: blocking the doorway using myself. See, if done correctly, the two golems will never be able to reach you. Only one of them will pass through, while the other one will be doing nothing behind his back. This is difficult but doable. Use the Quarterstaff +1 here and maybe an Oil of Speed.

- Pocket plane of air falls to backstab and area transition. Note that luring enemies across areas must be done with care, as you have only so little time to go into the shadows before they appear in the doorway.

- The next area is doable, but you have to use spells and a lot of hiding. I prefer backstabbing the initial portal to down one mephit, run as fast as you can to the inner room, go hide. If you fail the hide, go use a Bhaalpower (I use Horror) to make them run around then go back to the mephit portal room and close the door. This will trap them on the other side, giving you a free kill on the mephit portals as they won't summon more mephits while the others are alive.

- Ulvaryl is not doable at this point. She could have been dispatched with the Wand of Cloudkill (8000 xp, sigh), but just let her destroy all of them. The assassins are worth a forgettable amount anyway, though if you are able to kill Ulvaryl and the mage is left, use Poison Weapon and shoot her down with the bow immediately. A protected mage is not a great sight at this point in time.

- Frennedan takes his time to be angry. Shoot at him, hide, backstab, whatever. He's easy.

- The monsters in the furnace room are easy pickings if you use the Ulvaryl room and the wand area as fallbacks. Big space = big fog of war = free kills.

- The last challenge would be the assassins. They're darn hard with SCSII active, but not totally. Hide before you reach them, buff yourself with all you've got left, and backstab the visible assassin before he even gets to talk. Done correctly, this guy should fall in one hit. If you haven't used any spell up to this point (which is also possible) or if you're wary, go set up traps and poison your weapon. If the assassins hide, either you go cast Horror to reveal their position or you just go on ahead and exit. I prefer to kill them, though, but it's very hard if you both are hidden in shadows and there's no way you can detect each other.

Modifié par Saint of Sinners, 22 juin 2011 - 10:31 .

[Saint of Sinners]

There, I've done it. Again, any criticism or suggestions are welcome. I hope this sheds some light to others who want to get a grasp on how to start soloing with a thief, or with any class in general (though some of the strategies will definitely change). This was a refreshing change of pace, as I don't usually play with non-arcanists.

Cheers.

[kenng]

So I managed to make it out of the dungeon in 1 piece. Now I remember why I didn't use hit-and-run, I completely forgot about the short bow in the beginning!

The 2 most significant pieces of advice were the use of stealth+fog of war+hit and run, and using DUHM prior to backstabbing the golems. Luring them out 1 by 1 was very useful in cutting down fairly tough encounters into more manageable chunks, and the 19 str let me 1-shot the golems.

Lv11 now and just completed the circus. Think I will have to give mencar and his group a miss for now. Probably head to docks and graveyard next for the more important gear.

I skipped the cambion because I was missing too often and my oil of speed ran out halfway (had used it earlier).

Thanks again for your help, it has been most invaluable. Seems so obvious now that I have tried it out.