Mae'Var + Improved Thief Stronghold mod

Remove all ads!

I having trouble beating this guy, as he got extremely tough with the mod. I've done a search on this topic, but I haven't found anything. My party is:

PC- Assassin
Viccy
Korgan
Edwin

Maybe I should go and get Haer'Dalis first, or go do Korgan's quest?

 

What level are you?

You have a very weak party to be taking on an improved Mae'Var. You should have another fighter type. Haer'Dalis will work, but he's not meant to be a tank (well, not a low levels).

Since you have an evil party, you might also want to consider Anomen (LN) or Jaheira (TN) to help out with the front line. Minsc would work, but with him being chaotic good, it could rub the party the wrong way

 

Forget completimg the quest for now as this mod is far too hard for a low level party. I presume you went and did the quest early to get Edwin and now you can do both Edwin and Korgans quest together (watch for the vampire and wraiths in the lower crypts - a real pain at low level because of level drain).

Depending on how good you are at the game (you probably are if your using tactics mod ) the four person party you have is perfect but Haer Dalis or Anomen are good secondary fighters (though i don't like either )

 

Level up. Seriously.

Then, make sure at least one of your guys has true sight on or you will be backstabbed.

Use high level summons if you can, fire elementals and skeleton warriors are great. Send them in first, and if you have web, now is the time to use it along with any hold spells you have, don't send anyone in yet except your summons.

Use this time to cast area spells; emotion: hopelessness is great here. Keep your assassin away from the frontline, Mae'var's cronies will impale him with melf's meteors and throwing daggers, and if spotted, rune assassins will try to backstab him - keep some potions of invis yourself if you see one of them coming. Until your summons are all dead, keep Korgan at the back with Viccy and Edwin, as the odd stray assassin will hassle your spellflingers (very bad when hiding and backstabbing).

Concentrate on taking out one assassin at a time, then Mae'var. I did not find his magic support to be too powerful so leave them last.

Don't skimp out on potions or spells - this is a very difficult, but not impossible fight and will require you to make full use of all your resources. Good luck.

 

As Tassadar said, use True Sight. Should it end, have another ready. That's *two* True Sights. It's essential. Not only does it make the thieves' Potions of Invisibility useless, but also MaeVar's invisibility spells and his Project Image.

Remove Magic is also very useful, because the hostile cleric casts quite a few aiding spells on the other thieves, as I recall, and you'll want to be rid of them without losing party buffs.

It's best not to use area damaging spells, as the area is very confined. Best not to frag your own party.

Your other tactics depend on from wich side you enter. From the Guildhall makes this battle easier, but first you have to fight your way through a lot of thieves. If you go by this way, your mages are safe (mostly) in the battle, and can let off spells without entering the main combat area. However, if you enter directly from the dock, keep the mages in the small coridoor until there's a break in the fighting, then nip out and go somewhere safe. The slave cages are ideal, as the enemies won't open the doors.

Hold spells are very useful too, although the thieves don't tend to fail their saves to it much.

 

You can solo this with theif. Check the readme. To avoid your other chars getting chunked memorize as many improved invisiblities and non detections as possible. Also if Edwin can cast level 5 spells use spell immune divination on him. The theif is used in the normal fashion for soloing mae'var as a theif. Im assuming this a tactics fight, because im unsure as to what the improved theif stronghold actually does.

 

Its a hard fight to be sure. Heres how I did it... (You may want to get Jahiera and Minsc btw... if only just for this fight):

Go in through the back door, so that you can protect yourself a little with the bottleneck near the door. Make sure you have loaded up with entangles, webs and other such spells and also a wand of fire is handy. As soon as you enter, loose those entangle and web spells off. Hopefully the vast majority of the assassins will get held. Block the doorway with your frontliners and send fireball after fireball after fireball in, with Edwin safely behind your fighters - remembering to keep sending in more entangles and webs. True Sight is essential once you feel your ready to enter the room and mop up. It may take a few attempts (as did mine) to get more favourable saving throws and such, but you should do it.

Heres a link of when I got stuck on this bit

Improved Mae'Var

GL HF!

 

Well, in preparation for this fight you should have done a few things to make the kill easier, such as setting traps in the room while you were still on good terms with Mae'var, and pickpocketing everyone in the guild for all they're worth. Each of those assassins/thieves with Mae'var has 5 potions of invisibility, and you will fare much better if those are in your possession before the fight begins.