It'd been about 5 years since I played the final battle for this game and I it seems that EE has tweaked the AI scripts from the vanilla game. It's still not as hard as SCS's version, but it does seem more challenging than I remember it from vanilla. Sarevok and company come at you hard, and it took me a while to figure out how to divide and conquer.
I'm not sure how this can be won without a little cheese. I'm curious how others did it, and whether anyone was able to beat this in a no-cheese tactical approach.
Here is the strategy I used:
Half-elven F/M
Imoen (Thief)
Viconia
Rasaad
Neera
Dorn
I kept the party back by the entrance, and slowly and carefully sent my multi F/M to the dais protected with a scroll of Protection from Magic. I inched up on the right side and drew the first barrage of spells from Semaj, without revealing any of the other enemies from the fog of war. Semaj casts a Contingency that is of course to no effect. And then the character gets hit with Web and Stinking Cloud, which also do nothing. I just waited for the spell effects to run out.
At this stage Semaj is still neutral (blue circle under him) I guess in order to initiate dialog. From a RP vantage, he's obviously behaving hostilely though.
Next I had the PC head back to the rest of the party near the entrance. I positioned Immy, Neera, and Rasaad to the far left, back by the wall. And I positioned the PC and Dorn to the middle right side in the rear. I had the PC consume a potion of clarity, and Dorn used the Greenstone amulet to protect against Semaj casting Chaos. I also had the PC and Dorn consume a number of buffing potions.
Then I had Viconia cast Sanctuary. (It's best if she has a couple castings of this spell memorized.) She approached the dais and initiated the conversation with Sarevok (responding 'you're nuts for trying to resurrect a dead god', etc.). Thereupon the enemies officially turn hostile. I kept Viconia parked there near the dias, safe within Sanctuary.
Semaj then dimension doors to the party back at the entrance. It might just be him alone, or sometimes Tazok will walk to the back from the dais as well and join the fight.
Just the two of them aren't that difficult to defeat. Spellthrust a few times versus Semaj. Blind versus Tazok. After they were defeated I brought Viconia back from near the dais to join the rest of the party.
At this point you can have a character return to the dais from the right side and draw Sarevok back to the party, where he can be beaten down. This of course with a relatively strong melee capability in your party. (Did they reduce Sarevok's MR from the vanilla game? Because I noticed that he was at least taking damage from Neera's Magic Missiles. Edit: for that matter Spellthrust works against him too.)
You can also have the PC return to the dais on the lefthand side, and, approaching carefully, draw just Angelo back to the party. I had Angelo use up a Dispel on the PC, that gets through the Protection from Magic. Angelo casts Tatoo of Power several times. But it's usually not enough to kill everyone. Also, if you have some fire resistance potions/cleric scrolls it's good to use them beforehand. I had my PC drink a potion of fire resistance right after the Dispel, and he drew Angelo all the way to the back right. The explosions didn't harm him much, and he kept the rest of the away from the blasts. Neera cast her last Spellthrust on him.
Then after dispatching Angelo you can approach Sarevok and bring him back to the party to finish him off.
But anyway, I'm curious as to how others go about this. Looking forward to reading your strategies.
I'm not sure how this can be won without a little cheese. I'm curious how others did it, and whether anyone was able to beat this in a no-cheese tactical approach.
Here is the strategy I used:
Half-elven F/M
Imoen (Thief)
Viconia
Rasaad
Neera
Dorn
I kept the party back by the entrance, and slowly and carefully sent my multi F/M to the dais protected with a scroll of Protection from Magic. I inched up on the right side and drew the first barrage of spells from Semaj, without revealing any of the other enemies from the fog of war. Semaj casts a Contingency that is of course to no effect. And then the character gets hit with Web and Stinking Cloud, which also do nothing. I just waited for the spell effects to run out.
At this stage Semaj is still neutral (blue circle under him) I guess in order to initiate dialog. From a RP vantage, he's obviously behaving hostilely though.
Next I had the PC head back to the rest of the party near the entrance. I positioned Immy, Neera, and Rasaad to the far left, back by the wall. And I positioned the PC and Dorn to the middle right side in the rear. I had the PC consume a potion of clarity, and Dorn used the Greenstone amulet to protect against Semaj casting Chaos. I also had the PC and Dorn consume a number of buffing potions.
Then I had Viconia cast Sanctuary. (It's best if she has a couple castings of this spell memorized.) She approached the dais and initiated the conversation with Sarevok (responding 'you're nuts for trying to resurrect a dead god', etc.). Thereupon the enemies officially turn hostile. I kept Viconia parked there near the dias, safe within Sanctuary.
Semaj then dimension doors to the party back at the entrance. It might just be him alone, or sometimes Tazok will walk to the back from the dais as well and join the fight.
Just the two of them aren't that difficult to defeat. Spellthrust a few times versus Semaj. Blind versus Tazok. After they were defeated I brought Viconia back from near the dais to join the rest of the party.
At this point you can have a character return to the dais from the right side and draw Sarevok back to the party, where he can be beaten down. This of course with a relatively strong melee capability in your party. (Did they reduce Sarevok's MR from the vanilla game? Because I noticed that he was at least taking damage from Neera's Magic Missiles. Edit: for that matter Spellthrust works against him too.)
You can also have the PC return to the dais on the lefthand side, and, approaching carefully, draw just Angelo back to the party. I had Angelo use up a Dispel on the PC, that gets through the Protection from Magic. Angelo casts Tatoo of Power several times. But it's usually not enough to kill everyone. Also, if you have some fire resistance potions/cleric scrolls it's good to use them beforehand. I had my PC drink a potion of fire resistance right after the Dispel, and he drew Angelo all the way to the back right. The explosions didn't harm him much, and he kept the rest of the away from the blasts. Neera cast her last Spellthrust on him.
Then after dispatching Angelo you can approach Sarevok and bring him back to the party to finish him off.
But anyway, I'm curious as to how others go about this. Looking forward to reading your strategies.