Pontifix

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Hi everyone, i am nearing the end of the the SoA part of the game, i have tactics installed and a few other mods. I have a seriously over powered group and kicked Demigorgans arse at the end of watchers keep.
i have some mod installed that had a new section to complete before you enter the keep. A mage called Pontifix wants you to go off and stop some ritual.
As it happened i had to give up on this scenario as the game kept crashing when ever i left the area.
Anyways, as i was feeling a bit uber powerful i thought i'd take out Pontifix (i am playing an evil character after all). This turned out to be a big mistake as a green dragon (with an unpronouncable name) appeared.
the dragon seems to have an endless supply of spell protections, time stops and other high level spells.
All my summons are destroyed straight away and my (hugely overpower group) was destroyed time after time.
Has any one got any tactics for taking out this seemingly invulnerable foe?

 

There are some side stairs beside the keep. Retreat to the stairs and use ranged weapons to shoot at him at will. His body is so big that he will be stuck by the stairs and can not touch you. If you don't have any ranged weapon, your melee warriors can still retreat there when he is casting timestop.

Another way:
1> Equip your mage with Staff of magi and Robe of Vecna. Prepare your mage with chain contigency(see enemy, 3 pierce magic shield to enemy), spell trigger(3 lower resistance) and spell sequence(3 skull trap).
2> Rest.
3> Retreat your other PCs to the top of the keep and let your uber mage to deal with him.
4> Buff your mage to maximum(spell immunity:abjuration is a must), cast pfmw and hit him.
5> The yellow dragon will blast you now, but you are safe.
6> after his TS, your chain contigency should have removed his spell protections and lowered his MR. Now, cast IA and follow by your spell trigger(3 lower resistance). If he still has pfmw on, you need to breach him(If he hasn't, just strike him with your staff of magi after you cast a TS). Then cast TS, chain contigency(3 horrid wilting), chain contigency(3 horrid wilting) again, spell sequence(3 skull trap) and anything you would like.
7> He should be dead.

 

Wow, what a great strategy, cant wait to give it a go, might also throw my monk in when TS is cast as he has lunar stance available to him.

 

Hmm...I kinda keep forgetting that you can actually take party characters along with you...its been so long since I HAVENT solo'd...

I beat him last time with a Mage/Cleric...

Robe of Vecna + Amulet of Power + Staff of the Magi...

Buff with:

SI Divination SI Abjuration Prot. frm Energy Prot. frm Magic Weapons Stoneskin Mirror Image Mislead Blur etc etc ...

Debuff with:

IMPROVED ALACRITY!! (have like 2 of these memorized)

Time Stop (to not let his annoying minions hit you)

Magic Missile (to take care of the Spell Shield he casts) then hit him with Ruby Ray of Reversal x3 (spell school alteration, bypasses the SI : Abjuration) THEN cast Lower Magic Resistance x3...now go nuts with Horrid Wilting, Skull Trap, Magic Missile...basically magic damage...

You will not be able to do this with one Imp. Alacrity...hence keep two memorized. Also, remember to keep your gameplay options set to AutoPause -> Spell Cast, to get the most out of your Imp. Alacrity...

 

^That advice is sound, but you may also need a Breach or two before going nuke with ABDHWs and all, IIRC Pontifiex should have protection from magic energy.

One hit from your SoM when he is not protected from magical weapons (strike in time stop so you can not miss) and you will dispel all of his combat protections.

Powerword:kill is also nice to finish him up when he is near death. It is cool.

 

@Silverstar: Yeah..but Powerword Kill takes up a level 9 slot man...not worth it, when you can have an extra Time Stop or Imp. Alacrity in the same slot.

The Breach is a good idea though...forgot about Prot. From Magic Energy.

Also, you might want to be careful about hitting him with a Staff of the Magi...that has to be the first in the sequence, because along with his protections, it will also remove all the hard work you do to lower his Magic Resistance, and Ruby Ray of Reversal etc is just a waste if you rely on SotM anyways...

AND finally, IIRC the dragon is actually immune to Time Stop. Now, I dunno exactly how this works, but it IS probable that the auto-hit rule will not apply to the Dragon...

PS: A planetar can help keep the golems away from you while you duke it out...

 

I must be the worst player in history!!!
My chain contingencies always seem to hit the sand gollums and the dragon keeps wing buffeting me when ever i try and cast spells. Even with loads of summons it keeps targetting my mages.
I have never met a baddie i couldnt kill within a few restarts. im gonna try again tonight but the way things are going im probably gonna punch the screen in!
How the hell do you guys do this solo?!?

 

@Toker: Simple...use tactical summons...

For example, have you considered using a Planetar and summoned Project Images?

If you are having a lot of trouble, I have an alternate strategy. Its REALLY micro-management intensive, but it is the most powerful strategy there is in the game, period. But it also exploits a game bug/feature and if you don't like taking advantage of the game mechanics, you can just avoid this...

Here's what you do:

Memorize one copy of Wizard Eye, and cast it BEFORE anything else...

Memorize ATLEAST 4 Project Image spells.
Cast Chain Contingency targeted on Self, to trigger when Helpless...and the 3 spells are Project Image x3!!!

You still have them memorize all the spells I mentioned earlier...but you cast them slightly differently.

Once the enemies spawn, you will have 4 Project Images, ALL of whom have the full repertoire of spells as CHARNAME. You can summon 15 Planetars and be done with it, but if you want to actually WIN through tactics (relatively speaking) you do this:

Cast Imp. Alacrity with all 4 Project Images, then cast Time Stop with all of them...but give like a 0.2 second delay between the 4 Images. When the TS goes off...use the first Image to just cast Debuffing spells like MM to get rid of Spell Shield, RRoR, Lower MR, Pierce Shield, Breach, whatever...

If you timed it right, the first TS will wear off, but the next one should trigger almost instantaneously. In THIS one, you start throwing out ABDHW spells, and maybe Mrodenkainen's Sword/Gate etc summoning spells to keep the Golems away from you.

The third and fourth TS's also can be used to nuke him further into oblivion...but its really unnecessary.

If the dragon buffet is getting annoying, make sure to use the Time Stops to move your Images around. Or maybe do this BEFORE you cast Improved Alacrity.

Remember, this tactic is completely useless unless you are protected by SI: Abjuration AND SI: Divination at the same time...

Its cheesy, and a lot of folks dont like this strategy, but the feeling of ridiculous power you get by doing this is something everyone should experience atleast once in BG2!

 

Finally bagged that dirty great lizard!!!
Cheers for all the help guys, learnt some great new stratergies, maybe one day i'll have a go at soloing.

 

@Congrats Toker! See, it was not that difficult once you know how to deal with the problem at hand. This is true for many harder fights offered by mods. Experiments, a different approach, and a bit of advice usually work fine!

I never noticed that the dragon was immune to Time Stop though. I don't think it was in my game. (unless ofcourse I have an older version of the mod.)

And I whole heartidly agree that everyone should experience such a power show once in a while...arch-mages are indeed the supreme powers in BG2!

 

@Toker: Hey man, tell us how you did it exactly...I'm very interested.

 

I tried a few of the tactics above but had very little success, contingencies always locked on the wrong target and my spell sequencers always failed.
i summoned project image but found the micro management a hassle.
in the end i summoned lots of minor creaturs and sent my whole squad in from different angles.
imoen and edwin cast IA and TS out of the dragons range and i hit it with 10 lower resistance and a few breaches, warding whips and ruby rays. When the second TS activated (By imoen) his resistances were gone. My monk activated his lunar stance and flip resistance to smash into him.
By this time he was badly damaged and began wiping the floor with me.
I was out of all high level spells when Edwin let of a magic missle, only i hit the wrong key and accidently spooked him. He turned yellow and panicked. It was then just a matter of finishing him off and collecting a healthy 80000 XP for my trouble.
Sometimes the gods really are smiling down!

 

He he...that was a bit chaotic!

Ah well, glad you worked it out man...

 

Spook on a fearsome dragon who is supposed to scare you? Oh, the irony. I give you 10/10 for style!

 

Yes Spook is a nice spell, Silverstar learned me that a while ago.

 

Did I now? Can't really remember, but with huge -6 penalty to save, spook indeed packs a powerful punch which is hard to resist. It lasts for a very short time, however. Anyway, I thought Pontifiex was immune to it so never tried that.

With IA installed I noticed some dragons are immune to a few more things, such as slaying effects and all.