~B
-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-
The Elven Sorceress
-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-
BALDUR'S GATE: DARK ALLIANCE - SORCERESS GUIDE
SONY PLAYSTATION 2
WRITTEN BY: kErosion
VERSION 0.1 12/31/01
COPYRIGHT 2001 BY kErosion
-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-
Introduction
-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-
This guide is dedicated to the absolute hottest thong-clad spell slinging elven
vixen to ever grace the pixels of a videogame. Not only does she capture the
satisfaction of bringing endless hordes of monsters to a messy end through
blasts of lightning, searing flames, and bone numbing cold, but she's more than
willing to get in up close and personal from time to time. All this in a skirt
and without breaking a nail. It's about time a video game captured all the fire
and tenacity that my girlfriends have long possessed. You've got to applaud
Snow Blind studios for unleashing this devilish thing on us all.
I feel guide is extremely spoiler-intensive. Half of the fun of Baldurs Gate
is through the exploring the skills. I would not wish to rob that from anyone
playing BG:DA for the first time. Instead this guide is meant for players who
have had their hands on the game a while and are interested in seeing what other
options available from skills they might not have chosen their first time
through. Whether you choose to continue or not is at your discretion, but I
strongly advise against spoiling your first trip through the game.
So without using any further space on pleasantries,
I bring you my Sorceress Guide. :)
Accuracy: Cheap and useful if you want to make use of a bow.
Targeting: Cheap, I've found that you really don't need the targeting line to
shoot though. Just follow where the arrows go.
Meditation: Most useful early in the game. Even with 5 points you will find
that eventually you still use way more energy than it regenerates. Potion
popping will always be the main source of rejeuvination.
Intestinal Fortitude: Same story as Meditation. Useful, but after a while you
won't even notice it.
Willpower: It doesn't hurt but I would find a good spell before investing any
here.
Now that the 'less interesting' feats are over with...
A quick note on terms found through the rest of this.
X = Skill already available at creation.
Level = The level of the skill obtained. Or how many of the dots filled.
Points Spent = How many points must be spent to obtain each level of a skill.
Energy Cost = The amount of energy spent for every casting of the spell.
Damage = If you need clarification don't read any further, you'll save yourself
a headache. :)
Some of the tables only have the energy cost or damage filled in
only for the first level of the spell and --- in the spaces from
then on. This represents a spell which the energy cost or damage
does not increase from further levels obtained in the spell.
(not that I ran out of ink for those of you wondering)
As the saying goes, you get what you pay for. Magic Missile may see some use
early on in Easy and Normal difficulties, but even with the extra missiles you
can obtain as you level up this spell is quickly overshadowed by stronger
options. A good bow is almost always the better option.
Burning Hands is the first spell a Sorceress will obtain, considering she starts
with it. Not surprisingly it's also THE worst spell available, Magic Missile
being the only possible contender for the title. The only thing worse than the
damage output of Burning Hands is the amount of energy that needs to be provided
per second of use.
Snowblind is basicly a slightly upgraded version of Burning Hands. Like Burning
Hands it causes damage per second to anything standing in the area of effect,
while sucking a TON of energy every second along with it. The damage isn't very
impressive, energy consumption horrendous. The slight damage boost of Snowblind
over Burning Hands really isn't worth it, neither are wise choices for Extreme.
The Damage-Energy ratio is probably the absolute worst in the game.
Melf's Acid Arrow is the acid version of projectile type spells. The spell isn't
very strong, but as far as I know there isn't a single enemy in the game immune
to this spell, and if there is they're enemies that die quickly to stronger
spells. The low end damage is also higher than any of the other spells of this
type making Melf's Acid Arrow a great spell to fall-back on when all else fails.
A magnificently average spell. The fire version of the projectile line of
spells is also very inconsistent. Fireball causes things to be knocked back
slightly with every hit, which can be used to force Eldritch into a position
where throwing her sword will hit an object, but because the low end damage
never increases you may want to skip this one altogether, or only take 1 point
at the most.
Even more inconsistent (and weaker) than Fireball, the Ice Sphere has one thing
going for it. It chills monsters slowing them down for a second or two when
it hits which can come in useful from time to time. It may be a better option
to sling a stronger spell and just kill with that extra second slowing down a
target will buy, but that's just my thought on the matter. Now may be a good
time to point out that Otiluke's Icy Sphere does NOT effect many of the bosses,
especially late in the game where the chilling effect would be of most use.
I just want to say I love the graphics on this spell. :) If it weren't for
stronger options around the same time you can afford this spell I'd love to make
use of Lightning Bolt some time. Lightning Bolt is like a high powered, more
mana efficient Burning Hands or Snowblind but with a long, LONG range. The
first point in Lightning Bolt is only single target, the second point placed in
the spell causes the lightning blasts to hop from critter to critter doing very
intense damage for the amount of points placed in it. Also note that this
spell is continuous, doing damage every second the button is held down.
Lightning Bolts look amazing late at night with all the lights turned off. :)
Fire Shield is another of my favorite spells. Each point added to it increases
the time the flames created by the spell to last another second, up to a maximum
of 5 seconds. Unfortunately the damage doesn't scale up with it and the area of
effect isn't very big, Fire Shield is more of a luxury right now as due to the
low damage instead of being an incredibly useful spell. Fire Shield does its
damage very fast causing everything to walk over one to get stunned over and
over again very quick, and I mean everything. The flames of this spell are
probably the safest way to kill particularly fast, hard hitting creatures on
Extreme, including some bosses, it just takes a while. The only things that
seem to be partially immune to the stun effect from Fire Shield are some of the
metal knights at the very end of the game.
Large area of effect, cheap to train, and incredibly deadly. If not for a couple
draw backs Meteor Swarm would be the best spell in the Elves potent arsenal. If
Meteor Swarm were capable of being chain-cast this would be the absolute fastest
way to kill in the game, unfortunately every time the spell is used there is a
particularly long 'recovery' time in which no spells may be cast. Even in
extreme many monsters will die in 2 or 3 hits of the spell, unfortunately for
the Sorceress she is usually being beat on before she can cast the second. The
other draw back is that to make best use of this spell you need to get VERY
close for most of the meteors to hit, this can be a very bad idea for some
bosses. ESPECIALLY on Extreme where this spell would be a very useful thing.
With any luck future sequels of BG:DA will have multiple levels of Meteor Swarm,
starting with lower damage and ending with around the same power or slightly
higher. With half the recovery time.
When it absolutely positively MUST be destroyed NOW, Ball Lightning is probably
the most suited choice for the job. 180 damage per second is a very scary thing.
What makes it even scarier is that the 180 damage per second is done to
EVERYTHING near the ball of lightning. That Ball Lightning has a very short
recast time, only needs a VERY low amount of energy, and will travel until it
hits a solid object like a wall makes Ball Lightning something to truly be
feared. It's not uncommon that I send 2 or 3 of these flying down a hall on
Extreme then finding the hallway littered with the bodies of dead critters.
Ball Lightning is so strong maxed out it's probably unbalanced for the lower
difficulties, one blast is all you need for almost everything but bosses unless
playing Extreme. The only draw back is that there are a few enemies scattered
throughout the game that are immune to lightning. Unfortunately this includes
the last boss of the game so you'll need a back-up spell for these things if
you plan on going with Ball Lightning.
I just recently discovered this spell and I like it. I like it a lot. For just
a little mana you get your very own portable mini-warrior to follow you around
for a while doing damage. Well, mini-warrior is an over-statement as it can't
tank for you and the damage is inconsistent, but it's impressive to say the
least. I really prefer this spell over the arrow line of spells to deal with
things immune to my lightning. But then again this spell could be used at the
same time as an arrow spell. I have a couple complaints with this spell though.
First the cost is through the roof at the higher points, especially with the low
end damage only being 1 for every level. This is just rediculous. It looks
like this spell was very cheap, and did something like 60-100 during balance
testing and they did a double-nerf reducing damage and upping cost effectively
breaking the usefulness and never made it truly useful again. If you have some
spare points at higher levels, this is a great place to put them.
Copyright: Please note this Document is (c) Copyright 2001 by author,
David S. Graham, and nothing herein may be reproduced in any
way, shape, or form without authors consent.
If you want to use this Document for any reason,
make sure to get in touch and ask.
