Hints
General Hints
My Party
How to Defeat Certain Enemies
General Hints Save Often Take out enemies one at a time Ranged Attacks Rock! Collect Fire Weapons Run in Circles My Party Human Male Paladin - A paladin makes a great leader for any party because of
their high charisma and fighting ability. Since the leader gets attacked
the most, I give him the best armor so that most of enemy attacks are
ineffective. Dwarf Male Fighter - The constitution bonus dwarves get give me a few more
hit points in the front row. Human Female Fighter - An extra sword comes in mighty handy in any battle.
Using two-handed weapons, this character does not need to be in the front
row to attack enemeis. Human Female Cleric - A single cleric gives my party all the healing I
need. By not dualing or multi-classing her, she raises her level faster
and can cast more cure spells. Halfling Male Fighter/Thief - The dexterity bonus halflings get improves
his thieving skills and ranged attacks. Although his thieving levels
increase a little slower than a full thief, I have never encountered a
trap he could not disarm, nor a lock he could not pick. Because he is
also a fighter he can equip with powerful crossbows and attack enemies
from the back row. He takes out more than his share of enemies. Elf Male Fighter/Mage - Elves also recieve a dexterity bonus which gives
this character a bonus to his ranged attacks. Because his is only a half
mage, his mage level goes up a little slower and he has fewer spells.
Like the halfling, though, the ability to carry powerful ranged weapons
more than makes up for this. He can take out many enemies safely from
the back row and so contributes more than just spells to the party. How to Defeat Certain Enemies Trolls Magic Users Bombadier Beetle Blast Skeleton
Not only should you save your game after every battle or major dialogue,
I also recommend keeping several saved game files for each of your games. This
will allow to backtrack several saves if you, for instance, find
yourself in an area that is too dificult. I usually have one save game from the
beginning of the current chapter, one save game from the beginning of the current
area I'm working on, and then one or more in the current area. I often make
temporary saves if I want to experiment somewhere but don't want my experiments
as part of my main game.
A strategy I use for nearly all difficult battles I encounter is to take
out the enemies one at a time. As you approach the area where the enemies
are, take one step at a time. When a single enemy appears, stop and
retreat a little ways. As the enemy approaches, have all your archers
fire at it. If it isn't dead by the time it reaches your front character,
your front row fighters can finish it off pretty quickly. Once the enemy is dead,
take another step forward until the next enemy appears. This way you will take
out each of the enemies in the group six-on-one instead of being outnumbered.
You can even save between enemies.
I usually find ranged attacks useless in most RPGs, but in Icewind Dale
they are quite powerful. I recommend that you have several characters
with some sort of ranged attack available. You can usually take out quite
a few of the enemy before they come into melee range. Ranged attacks are
also good for disrupting enemy spells. I find some
of the more difficult enemies use ranged attacks.
Some enemies in the game can only be killed by fire or acid, so it is a
good idea to keep any fire weapons that you find and equip them to finish
off these enemies.
Many of the enemies in Icewind Dale are quite persistent. Once they have
chosen a target, they usually keep after that person. You can use this to
your advantage. Have all your characters attack the enemy except for the
person who it is attacking. Have that person run in circles around your
party. The enemy will keep trying to attack that character but the rest
of your party is in the way, so it will have to circle around to catch
that person. While the enemy is chasing the character, it isn't attacking
but all but one of your characters are. This stategy is particularly
useful against enemies with excellent THACO scores.
Statistics:
Strength - 18/60
Dexterity - 16
Constitution - 18
Intelligence - 11
Wisdom - 16
Charisma - 18
Favorite Weapon: Long Sword
Statistics:
Strength - 18/95
Dexterity - 16
Constitution - 19
Intelligence - 11
Wisdom - 11
Charisma - 8
Favorite Weapon: Battle Axe
Statistics:
Strength - 17
Dexterity - 18
Constitution - 18
Intelligence - 12
Wisdom - 10
Charisma - 12
Favorite Weapons: Two-Handed Sword
Statistics:
Strength - 14
Dexterity - 17
Constitution - 18
Intelligence - 10
Wisdom - 18
Charisma - 12
Favorite Weapons: Mace
Statistics:
Strength - 16
Dexterity - 19
Constitution - 17
Intelligence - 14
Wisdom - 9
Charisma - 13
Favorite Weapons: Heavy Crossbow
Statistics:
Strength - 14
Dexterity - 19
Constitution - 17
Intelligence - 18
Wisdom - 9
Charisma - 9
Favorite Weapons: Long Bow
Trolls and Snow Trolls
can only be defeated by fire or acid. Attack the troll until it falls
over unconsious and then finish it off with a fire spell or weapon. I
suggest using mostly fire melee weapons or fire arrows and save your spells
for other enemies since trolls do not attack your party when they are
unconsious and you have a fair bit of time to finish him off before he
wakes up.
Attack magic users immediatly with ranged weapons and attack spells to
prevent them from casting spells. I'm not sure if this is a bug, but
sometimes the enemy can still cast their spell, even though they've been
hit.
Bombadier Beetles release
a vapour cloud which damages and paralyses all your party members standing
nearby. To prevent this annoying attack, Defeat them from a distance with
two or more characters using ranged weapons.
As soon as they are hit once, Blast Skeletons
explode, damaging all creatures around them. As soon as they come
into range, fire at them with ranged weapons and your party should
be out of range of the explosion.