Icewind Dale: Yxunomei Difficulty Spike

[Wayward Son]

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.

I'm playing the original, have damaged and killed her with +2 weapons(then promptly party wiped against her compadres). Also, if that's the case, how's a +1 war hammer supposed to help?

 

[octavius]

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.

In practical play it's so OP that I found the game too easy. Even if the Bard doesn't have much kills the free healing is extremely useful.

 

[ghostdog]

It was +3 weapons with me. it was IWD original+HOW. I'm pretty sure Yxunomei as a creature in D&D needs +3 weapons and over. Maybe I installed a tweak.

 

[pippin]

I think there was this magic throwing axe that would return to you when you throw it which could damage her too. I +think+ you can damage Yxu with +2 weapons, and I played the original+how vanilla.

 

[hilfazer]

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.

Bards get awesome Tymora's Song at lvl 5 or something and level up very fast, making them great for casting spells that scale their damage up to lvl 30 like Exploding Skull or Mordenkainen's Force Missiles.
Single class thieves are pretty bad, dual/multi are superior. I had a gnomish fighter/thief with 18/00 STR and he was raping faces backs with Sword of Days. He could even hide in plain sight! o_O Not sure why, maybe you can do this with enough stealth/hide in shadows. I had both HoW and TotL.

 

[Wayward Son]

I think there was this magic throwing axe that would return to you when you throw it which could damage her too. I +think+ you can damage Yxu with +2 weapons, and I played the original+how vanilla.

Yeah, I got that axe for my fighter because he has mastery in axes.
On the topic of the Bard, I've definitely found it useful to have someone who can cast in armor. I haven't used any songs besides the starting one. Is Tymora's song really that useful? Does the luck increase make crits more likely to happen? I thought it only worked for the thief skills.

 

[VentilatorOfDoom]

As far as I remember Luck directly affects your die rolls. For instance assume you have a character with +1 Luck. If you roll a 19, your Luck of 1 will turn that roll into a 20, effectively doubling your crit chance with a weapon that would only crit on a 20. If you roll a 1 it will turn out to be a 2, removing the occurrence of critical misses entirely.
If you stack lots of Luck from items/ spells (Luck spell lvl2 arcane iirc) and bard song and your character has like 7 luck, that means even rolling a 13 will be like rolling a 20 resulting in a critical hit. Likewise your damage die are affected. If you wield a 1d6 weapon and have a luck of 5 even rolling a 1 for damage results in you dealing the maximum damage of 6, tho you can't get beyond the max value. So yes, very useful stat.

 

[Tigranes]

Ranger with longsword....?

Messenger of Sseth and +2 Arrows, I keep telling you.

 

[Wayward Son]

Ranger with longsword....?

Messenger of Sseth and +2 Arrows, I keep telling you.

I mean, he has a Comp. Longbow but no enchanted arrows.

 

[pippin]

You have to use the arrows you get in that room before fighting her. Those are some of the first arrows better than +1 you get in the game. Don't use them in other creatures though.

 

[Melcar]

Ranged is for fags. But yeah, Ranger or Fighter with a bow + a Druid is all you need for the game. Add in a Thief as your comedy relief character. Still, nothing is more satisfying than killing that bitch in good old fashioned melee (it can be done).
Mei needs +2 or better to hit in an unmodded game. In the EE I think she casts some extra protections like Stoneskin or PfMW.

 

[haraw]

The Story mode is there for a reason!

 

[Wayward Son]

The Story mode is there for a reason!

?? Not pre-EE. Also, I'm not a faggot who plays a combat game on a "story" difficult.

 

[FeelTheRads]

Then get gud.

Why did you even start with a 4-man party?
Seems to me like you did it wrong from the start trying to powergame but ending up like a scrub. You probably read some guides or shit before even playing that said you advance faster in levels with a small party, but really, if you're playing on normal it's better to play with a full party. Starting with a smaller party and possibly adding more as you go is for advanced difficulties and/or advanced players not for newfags fresh off the latest Skyrim.
If you fucked it up it's on you. Add some more party members and farm random encounters by resting in the wilderness to level them up. ¯\_(ツ)_/¯

 

[Wayward Son]

You probably read some guides or shit before even playing that said you advance faster in levels with a small party, but really, if you're playing on normal it's better to play with a full party.

Actually no. I hate doing that.
Edit: I only did it because I knew from Baldur's Gate that you gain exp faster and I get annoyed at each person getting 1/6 the XP gotten.

 

[valcik]

A mage would be useful to deal some spell damage ..

I find the stun effect to be much more handy in this fight than spell damage. Icelance spell worked wonders here, dealing decent damage AND stunning her for couple of turns on top of it.

 

[FeelTheRads]

Edit: I only did it because I knew from Baldur's Gate that you gain exp faster and I get annoyed at each person getting 1/6 the XP gotten.

Yeah, well, then start with 1 guy. Full XP.
Actually that's how I started my Heart of Fury run from level 1.

But, the point is that you should know what you're doing and what builds to choose if you do this. More xp won't automatically make it better than more people.

Edit: also keep pushing that reload button if you don't to restart. Eventually you'll get some extra lucky rolls.

 

[Tigranes]

Fucked up parties can be fun, nothing wrong with them.

There are magic arrows on that level. You only need a dozen or so.

 

[kmonster]

Reduce the difficulty to easiest. You face less enemies, they do only half damage and you get even double XP.

Oswald sells quite some powerful potions, you can use up all one-use items in this battle. Also check if Orrick has new items for sale. You can also get interrupted resting so your ranger gains another level for +1 to hit and a few extra HP.

 

[Gauldur's Bait]

Messenger of Sseth Bow and the +2 Arrows is the way to go. In my first playthrough of the game I still remember that fight because I did not have anyone capable with a bow and the fight became unnecessarily hard.

 

[Jazz_]

If only the other bosses in IWD were as compelling and challenging as Yxunomei, sadly they are a walk in the park in comparison.
My advice is to take out the 3 mages who spawn behind you as fast as possible, and of course to cast spells like stinking clouds, web, etc on the door to slow her and her minions down.

 

[Wayward Son]

Messenger of Sseth Bow

Where is this? Is it supposed to be in the section where you fight Presio?

 

[VentilatorOfDoom]

dropped by high archer (5th level dragons eye)
http://mikesrpgcenter.com/icewind/maps/ar4005.html

 

[DemonKing]

I remember having to reload a couple of times during my run-throughs but this should be "challenging" rather than hard. As others have said use web, stinking cloud, entangle, cloud kill etc to slow her and her minions down. Haste your guys and pepper her with magic arrows/magic missiles and fireball the heck out of everyone else. If she locks on to one guy you can outrun her while hasted while the rest of the party pile on the pain.

 

[Tigranes]

If she locks on to one guy you can outrun her while hasted while the rest of the party pile on the pain.