Shadow Dragon

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I keep getting the floor mopped with my party by this Shadow Dragon. Also by Firkraag. How do you beat these nasties? Forgot to say, I don't have any mods installed.

 

With dragons you usually use surround it with a horde of summoned creatures.

I find that Skeleton warriors are best as undead resist dragon's fear and can take some damage. But an elemental to resist their breath damage also works.

By encricing the dragon he cannot reach your party with melee attacks or the breath weapon. Likewise the summoned monsters absorb his wing buffets.

All this allows you time to hit him with mid distance melee weapons (2 handed) or missile weapons and use what little magic the mage in your party has left.

EDIT: also alot of good team buffing before hand protection from evil "10 & invisibilty "10 help improve longevity.
You need to bring down his defense: a disabling mage or 'arrows of dispelling' should do the trick.

 

Thanks, I'll try it and see how it goes.

 

Actually, the Dragons aren't too hard, depending on a) who is in your party, b) level of your party, and c) how much you suck at this game. (I mention c only because that's where I usually fall short )

So basically, we need more info.

 

If you have any thief in your party, you can spam the place with traps and it will even be legit.

 

@koki- yes, that will work but it is so boring.

The tried and tested methods, as I see it....

1) Get lots of fodder, summons/expendable party members. (i'm thinking aerie). Take all your mages, have them cast lower resistance. This varies, IIRC firkraag has 90% magic resist, the shadow dragon only about 20. From there, you have two options- either magic missile the critter to death, employing sequencers to speed the process. Or you could use greater malison followed by finger of death to finish him in one.

2) Buff a lot. Resist fear is critical, along with standard stuff like haste, stoneskins etc. Anything to protect from breath weapons is also nice (prot from fire vs firkraag). With that, it is possible to take them out with melee, although you require some tasty thac0 to make it work.

If you are lower level, you just need one good archer, with some certain arrows. Arrows of biting are the ones, as they do 30% of the critter's hp as poison damage. Given how high draconic hp is, that's enough to do painful damage in a few shots. Just don't forget to use breach.

 

My PC-Paladin-Undead Hunter-Lvl 12. 19/12/12/11/13/18. Weapon Prof.:Bastard Sword+,Long Sword++,Axe+,Flail++,Sword&Shield Style++. Carry Shield of the Lost+2,Flail of Ages,Bastard Sword+1+3 vs Shapeshifters,Azuredge Axe+3,Blade of Roses+3. Party members are: Minsc Lvl 12,Jaheira Lvl 9/12,Aerie Lvl 9/11,Nalia Lvl 11/4,Yoshimo Lvl 13. I'll have to reorganize all my spells to see if I can defeat these Dragons. Thanks for all the help. I'll let you know if it works for me. Edit: Thanks for all the help.Tried what everyone said and it worked like a charm.

[ July 10, 2005, 07:42: Message edited by: Drago ]

 

Yeah, just spam the dragon with summons, and make sure they are well spread around the dragon (so that he cannot wingbuffet your entire army at once)

Also remember not to use any fire based weapon/spells/summons/arrows etc.

 

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With a name like Drago, perhaps you are too much on the Dragon's side !

If there is one thing that will help you, in combination with what has already been suggested, it is the 'rod of resurrection'.

There are at least two in the game. One is sold at Ribalds, and a wizard has one stashed (find him off one of the secret passages in the sewers).

The thing to remember about the rod of resurrection is that you do not have to wait until someone is dead to use it on them. It works over a considerable distance, restores all hit points, is quick to use, and most classes can use it. A couple of zaps on a fighter that has lots of hit points each time the Shadow Dragon gets him low, will give you the crucial extra time to do the job.

Also remember the Shadow Dragon likes to cast protection from magic weapons, so until you have removed that protection, you are not dishing out damage in melee (use 'breach' to get rid of that).

After a 'lower magic resistance' spell, try casting 'doom' (cleric spell, no save) and 'greater malaison' (M/U spell, no save) if you want to use other spells on the Dragon that require saving throws, like slow. If your wizard has minor sequencer load it with two magic missiles.

If you have a fighter with two-weapon specialisation, and have found the short sword Ilbratha, don't forget to have it in the off-hand and use it's ability to create mirror images until they run out. After that it would be better to have a weapon in the off hand that gives an extra attack, like the scimitar Belm.

ps. Don't forget strength potions for the fighters, and 'stoneskin', 'iron skins', 'mirror image', etc for the spellcasters, and 'haste' for everyone.

[ July 10, 2005, 10:43: Message edited by: Gilden ]

 

If you want to use weapon abilities, but not the weapon itself, just put the thing in your normal weapon slot. Use a different weapon from your weapon slots as normal, but the special abilities are still available.

I love to duel one-on-one against dragons, with a party watching. Much harder than solo because you have shared all that XP... but nice and epic when you manage it.

 

Good point angryguy about not needing Ilbratha to be the equipped weapon to use it. I've used it non-equipped myself in the past, but I forgot that when I posted.....thanks for the reminder.

 

Just remember -- if you are trying the archer method -- they dragon will realize who is hitting him for the most damage and try to go after him so make sure you are paying close attention with your healers.

-- I just wanted to edit this response because I accidentally put a first name in my display name.

[ July 12, 2005, 15:46: Message edited by: St. James ]

 

Against the Shadow Dragon, one must have the spell that protects oneself from Negative Energy in order to steel oneself from its breath.

 

Beated both dragons with lv.10 party, after only a few quests elsewhere. It's not very difficult, since the only important aspect is to remove his magic resistance and send the magic missiles on the way. If you have 3 mages (Aerie, protagonist, SK'ed Viconia), you can lower their magic resistance near zero in about 3 turns, then deal about 15x3 points of damage per turn. That's over 100 points of no-save, no-changes damage in 4 turns.

This means that you can beat any dragon in about 8 turns without even using any high-level tricks. Of course, you need to give that dragon a bit of target practise with summons, but hey; you know he is there, so summon them beforehand. One 'Mordenkainen's sword' scroll should be enough.

 

It has been a while, I have no idea. Probably summoning lots of creatures will help. If you have Throne of Ball installed, I am sure those discs - that high level spell - will deal a lot of damage. The ability that makes your warriors hitting faster is also crucial.
Do not forget to dispell the Dragon with Holy Avenger - most powerful dispell I have heard.
But if you want a cheap method, I was told if you cast a cloud without being sighted he will just stay there getting killed.

 

@wirhe- That works, true, but you'll burn a fair few lower resist scrolls. I prefer not to waste them.

 

First, cast Resist Fear or Remove Fear to party BEFORE the battle, make sure you are protected from the breath weapons via spells and items.

Cast two (or three, just to be sure) Lower Resistance then bombard the monstrotie with MAGIC MISSILES and HOLY SMITES, it will die FAST. Lightning Bolt is nice against Shadowy Dragon too!

To tell you the truth, only my spellcasters kill dragons whereas fighters and summonings are cannon fodders and damage-absorbers. Oh it is me, but it is a very easy strategy!

Watch out dragons! Here comes Aerie and her most deadly arsenal of magic missiles!

 

@ angryguy

That's what they are for and if you don't use them against the top-tier enemies of BG2, then when? Besides, level 10 sorcerers can already have that spell, IIRC.

@ Silverstar

That is what I said only two replies before. No need to repeat me, thank you.

 

Sorry, I was just a little bit excited.

Beat Shadow Dragon with a level 10 party, Aerie and Nalia lowered resistance, Jaheira with Iron Skins and summons absorbed damage, continous Holy Smites, MMisiles, Flame Arrows hurted him badly, then my very own Cleric PC TOASTED the monstrositie via a final FlameStrike. The Shadow Dragon was burned VERY blackly.

THE major problem was, ofcourse, his dreadful breathattack, it drained 10 levels from Minsc in a single hit, (as he failed a save vs breath, as usual) and he was reduced into NOTHINGNESS, gone forever! OUCH! Get Improved Azureedge OR Negative Plane Protection Spell, careful, it has a 5 rounds duration. Timing is most important here. The dragon usually starts with his breath and then uses it when he has the chance, so keep him busy! Wing Buffet is also MOST annoying to spellcasters, so do not put all casters close, spread them well so at least some has the chance to cast a single thing.

 

The way I defeat the shadow dragon is to lower it's resistance and then cast 'Polymorph Other'. Fighting a squirrel is easier then fighting a dragon.