Icewind Dale: Yxunomei Difficulty Spike

[Wayward Son]

In my quest to purge myself of the Decline influence I received in my youth, I have finally found the gall to attempt to play Icewind Dale again. However, I have found that there was a massive difficulty spike at Yxunomei. Is it just the Decline manifesting itself within me again, or is this true? And please, I would like some advice on handling it (potions to get, equipment I may have missed, etc.)

My party for reference:
Level 8 Dwarven Fighter with 98 HP set up as my tank.
Level 7(almost 8) Ranger set up as a massive damage dealer
Level 9 Thief
Level 9 Bard

 

[the_shadow]

The trick is *not* to melee her, especially on Insane difficulty where she hits multiple times per round for 20+ damage. Take her down with an archer who has Arrows +2.

 

[agris]

First of all, you have to stop sucking. After you stop sucking, you have to begin to get good. Getting good can take a while, depending on your intelligence and experience with the source material. I suggest you avoid things that are closely associated with your previous life, sucking, and are more closely aligned with your aspirational goals of being good. As others have mentioned, finding ways to mitigate melee damage, such as by avoiding melee or casting % melee damage reduction spells, coupled with spells that restrict mobilization and the dealing of ranged damage, seem a good start. Spells that impart magical missiles of +2 or greater, sacrificial summons that are immune to physical damage or highly resistant to it, coupled with anti-melee spells such as stoneskin and slow, will all provide respite for you.

Good luck, you're going to need it.

 

[pippin]

Replace the bard with a druid, use AOE spells and also give your ranger the rapid fire bow and the +2 weapons. She will be dead in a short while. In fact if you hit her with +2 stuff she dies very very fast.

Unfortunately, Yxu is probably the most exciting/challenging fight of the game imo

 

[Barnabas]

The shadow knows

1. Lure her to archway choke point
2. Place web, cloud kill on ground
3. Haste yourself and rain down the +2 arrows.

The arrows are easy to miss, they are in sacks in a room off the corridor on your way to her lair.

 

[Tigranes]

Yxunomei is difficult, but that's the peak of the 'spike'; if you have the resources and ability to get past Yxunomei, you'll probably also be fine for most of what remains.

You have a ranger, get Messenger of Sseth on that level, ranger would kill her in like nine seconds. All you need is to buy enough time that her + her minions don't rape you in eight seconds - where the primary problem is your lack of magic. I did it with a 4-man party few weeks ago on Insane, but I had a cleric and a mage. Still, web in particular should be enough - you could try and set it up so that the weaker enemies get caught in web, stopping Yxunomei and the Yuan-ti mages from getting into view due to traffic, then sniping Yxu down.

 

[Roguey]

Why are you playing a D&D game without a spellcaster?

No, the bard doesn't count.

 

[pippin]

A no spellcasters run sounds fun, but I'd argue clerics and/or druids are way more helpful than mages. Your spell selection in this game is kinda limited.

 

[ShadowSpectre]

Yxunomei is probably the hardest part in the game, at least that's what I found. What I did was back into the archway on the left-ish. I noticed the game will close the doors behind you, so you can't go any further. There's a room in the upper-left as well that tends to stay open (but it's cramped with tables and stuff). Web in front of that area and before that area, make sure everyone has haste cast on them. Your ranger can probably take out some before they get into that top area. Then you cast teleportation field in there and the whole area chokes up like mad, so the melee guys can hack away and the ranger will just keep doing their thing.

Also, the ranger is broken in IWD with boots of speed. You can solo the final boss with a ranger, the rest of the party will probably be useless. The rest of the game requires a proper spell-caster IMO. I found the bard to be no good at anything really. Sorcerer class is sick because you can spam spells all day at later levels and web is your best friend for setting up fights.

 

[pippin]

Sorcerer class

uh oh

 

[oldmanpaco]

Sorcerer class

uh oh

Let us now debate the quality and necessity of IWD:EE.

It has been a few days after all.

 

[ShadowSpectre]

Sorcerer class

uh oh

I assume he's playing IWD: EE. If not, then the point still stands, get a Mage class.

 

[Tigranes]

Ranger & Any Spellcaster will suffice for Yxu, and honestly for most of the game. I expect Trials would be a bit of a drag, though, without robust spellcasting options. Actually, the more I play IWD+HOW, the more TL feels like a drag, although originally it was a pretty celebrated addition. Just seems like one high level fight after another when your party's already hit peak, and a lot of hard hitting dudes relentlessly coming at you.

 

[laclongquan]

Still, why would he play a combatcentric game like IWD with a 4-man party with two being thief and bard, no magic user...

You a masochist?

 

[the_shadow]

First of all, you have to stop sucking. After you stop sucking, you have to begin to get good. Getting good can take a while, depending on your intelligence and experience with the source material. I suggest you avoid things that are closely associated with your previous life, sucking, and are more closely aligned with your aspirational goals of being good. As others have mentioned, finding ways to mitigate melee damage, such as by avoiding melee or casting % melee damage reduction spells, coupled with spells that restrict mobilization and the dealing of ranged damage, seem a good start. Spells that impart magical missiles of +2 or greater, sacrificial summons that are immune to physical damage or highly resistant to it, coupled with anti-melee spells such as stoneskin and slow, will all provide respite for you.

Good luck, you're going to need it.

It's rather ironic you condemn him for sucking at the game, and then offer advice that demonstrates you aren't familiar with said game.

Why are you playing a D&D game without a spellcaster?

No, the bard doesn't count

Yeah, he's made a rod for his own back by not having a pure class wizard and/or cleric. Thief and bard are perhaps the most useless classes in IWD I.

 

[octavius]

It's rather ironic you condemn him for sucking at the game, and then offer advice that demonstrates you aren't familiar with said game.

Yeah, he's made a rod for his own back by not having a pure class wizard and/or cleric. Thief and bard are perhaps the most useless classes in IWD

Sounds like you are not very familiar with the game either. The Bard's War Chant of the Sith makes the Bard more like overpowered than useless.

 

[VentilatorOfDoom]

In my quest to purge myself of the Decline influence I received in my youth, I have finally found the gall to attempt to play Icewind Dale again. However, I have found that there was a massive difficulty spike at Yxunomei. Is it just the Decline manifesting itself within me again, or is this true? And please, I would like some advice on handling it (potions to get, equipment I may have missed, etc.)

My party for reference:
Level 8 Dwarven Fighter with 98 HP set up as my tank.
Level 7(almost 8) Ranger set up as a massive damage dealer
Level 9 Thief
Level 9 Bard

I can tell you how I would beat Yxunomei on the hardest difficulty, but it's questionable if you can replicate that with this party.
Make a different party.

This is the party I've played last time, on insane (so twice the XP) with 5 PCs, the Paladin and the fighter/druid maxed out (lvl30) anyway, so taking only 3 characters into the party seems like a waste.

- Paladin; for the Paladin-only sword, however the longsword of action+4 (?) with AC and Dex bonus plus another full atack is better, so take a dual class fighter 12 or 13/cleric for more power instead. However, as soon as he exceeds lvl 20 and gets access to 5th and 6th level spells (chaos shield, heal, righteous magic etc) he becomes a pretty serious threat. Has good saves.
- gnome fighter/cleric multiclass; for the helm of the Trusted defender and for healing early on you'll need a cleric otherwise you're going to have to rest for months or even years
- human fighter (12)/druid, good character, who reactivates quickly as soon as you dualed because druids gain levels faster than even thieves I think
- fighter (13)/ mage; it's a fighter/mage, he kicks ass obv
- elf fighter/thief/mage multi (19DEX,>=15 STR for composite bows, 16 con) ; surprisingly great character, with excellent ranged THAC0, enable 3e sneak dice in the settings, get her a bow with +attacks eventually (like messenger of seth or the bow from the werewolf ranger dude), she dishes out obscene amounts of damage, can do all the thieving stuff, can lay down that sleep or web early on, has good defense with mirror image, stone skin, improved invis and can serve as a serious arcane backup if necessary. Of course she misses out on the "awesomeness" of summon monster 9 and pw kill

That party still has place for a bard if you want the War Chant, and you could replace the paladin with a dwarven fighter since the long sword of action is better than the paladin sword anyway (an attack per round is more valuable than +7 against evil or whatever the paladin sword has). Though no pure fighter is better than fighter/cleric imo. Likewise a pure thief is a waste as well. If you want a "pure" thief because magic is teh hard, at least make a fighter/thief multiclass ffs.

Early on all characters should use ranged weapons (ie mostly composite longbows) to kill most mooks with ranged volleys before they even reach the party. Acid arrows (2d6 acid damage per hit is kind of a big deal in this game) go a long way of eradicating a major threat quickly.
So, summon monsters, buff up, trigger the fight with Yxunomei, lay down as many webs/entangles on her as you have available and kill the yuan-ti mages that spawn around/behind you asap, then put her down with ranged weapons.

 

[FeelTheRads]

trap character building

 

[VentilatorOfDoom]

just drive up that mountain men

 

[Lonely Vazdru]

Arrows +2.

/Thread.

 

[Sarmatian]

I do remember having issues with Yxunomei with a solo Fighter 12-> Druid x,

I think I've reloaded like 15 times and had to rely on exploits eventually.

 

[the_shadow]

It's rather ironic you condemn him for sucking at the game, and then offer advice that demonstrates you aren't familiar with said game.

Yeah, he's made a rod for his own back by not having a pure class wizard and/or cleric. Thief and bard are perhaps the most useless classes in IWD

Sounds like you are not very familiar with the game either. The Bard's War Chant of the Sith makes the Bard more like overpowered than useless.

I've completed it a few times. I will admit I've always swapped out my Bard whenever I've tried to use one, because they are only contributing to a tiny proportion of the kills, which can be viewed under character stats). I was aware of War Chant of Sith, and on paper it didn't impress me enough to keep a Bard up until the point they gained that chant.

 

[ghostdog]

Yxunomei is maybe the best fight in the game and one of the best fights in IE games (the final fight is pretty intense too). And yeah it's very difficult especially since it's too early in the game to find weapons that can hurt her.

Fortunately there's one easy to get weapon from early on, but you need either very good lockpicking or a knock scroll/spell. Thankfully you have a bard so he can probably use it. So, just open the locked chest in the smith's shop in Kuldahar and you'll find a nice +1 hammer to steal, that has the special ability to bypass magical weapon requirements in order to hit. You can get this weapon later by finishing a quest, but this is where it's the most useful.

It was with this weapon, and spells and some arrows, that I managed to beat her in Insane, but it was VERY close.

But yeah, your party sucks for this fight. A mage would be useful to deal some spell damage and also a cleric in order to constantly heal your fighter that would tank Yxunomei with the hammer.

 

[Wayward Son]

Fortunately there's one easy to get weapon from early on, but you need either very good lockpicking or a knock scroll/spell. Thankfully you have a bard so he can probably use it. So, just open the locked chest in the smith's shop in Kuldahar and you'll find a nice +1 hammer to steal, that has the special ability to bypass magical weapon requirements in order to hit. You can get this weapon later by finishing a quest, but this is where it's the most useful.

Uh, I have everyone decked out with magical weapons already. My Bard is using Presio's Dagger, my Fighter is using the +2 Defender Axe(he has Mastery in this), Ranger is using a +2 Longsword with 25% chance to proc confusion, and my thief has a club that has +1 that has a low chance to stun. My fighter actually got a +1 warhammer that I only keep as a backup weapon.

 

[ghostdog]

Fortunately there's one easy to get weapon from early on, but you need either very good lockpicking or a knock scroll/spell. Thankfully you have a bard so he can probably use it. So, just open the locked chest in the smith's shop in Kuldahar and you'll find a nice +1 hammer to steal, that has the special ability to bypass magical weapon requirements in order to hit. You can get this weapon later by finishing a quest, but this is where it's the most useful.

Uh, I have everyone decked out with magical weapons already. My Bard is using Presio's Dagger, my Fighter is using the +2 Defender Axe(he has Mastery in this), Ranger is using a +2 Longsword with 25% chance to proc confusion, and my thief has a club that has +1 that has a low chance to stun. My fighter actually got a +1 warhammer that I only keep as a backup weapon.

Dude, Yxunomei needs +3 weapons to be hit, at least that's the deal in the original game, I don't know if you're playing EE and they changed that. That's why I'm telling you about this hammer that bypasses this.