I'm looking for some tips for knocking over Sherincal. Usually I have a sorcerer or two to get her with spells but this time all I have is a Fighter 10 and a Monk 6 / Painbearer 6. Sherincal has such high resistance to melee damage that we are having trouble even scratching her. Meanwhile her electricity damage and big sword are cutting us to pieces.

Any ideas how to defeat her without access to offensive arcane spells?

What's the AC of your characters? Have you trouble surviving a few rounds? Can you take out her minions?

The minions are easy but having trouble finishing off Sherincal at the end.

Their ACs are:

Monk / Painbearer 26
Fighter 20

Plus that electricity damage takes its toll as well.

Well, if you don't have any offensive spells, the damage is going to have to come from melee. I think the only thing you can do is boost your fighter so that he can hit and damage Sherincal.

And maybe cast some protective spells, but I don't really know what spells are available at that level. Probably not Protection from Electricity?

Anyway, I don't really know, but it should be possible, since people are also soloing the game and I don't imagine every soloer takes an arcane spellcaster.

Exactly my thoughts. I don't seem to have any Protection from Electricty available. Any ideas what sort of damage is most effective against her? She seems to have 20 slashing and piercing resistance which cuts out almost everything except critical hits. She doesn't seem to have fire or magic resistance so Moonblade of Selune does more damage than Masterwork Greatsword and even those firey bottles help a wee bit. Casting Faerie Fire on is OK but that doesn't affect her damage resistance or her damage output (which are our two main problems - actually hitting her is not the issue)

Well, if she's resistant to slashing and piercing weapons then you should probably use blunt weapons.
And maybe you can find or buy a scroll of protection from electricty.

Aha! I did it. There is a reason why Zack Boosebury has such an odd array of things for sale. He sells two things that can turn the tide for the arcane-light party:

- Protection from Electricity (no more shocking damage)
- Fire Shield Red! (every time she hits you she takes extra fire damage!)

Excellent stuff. I enjoyed trying to solve that little puzzle. That is actually a well set-up encounter. Zack must have been given those items for sale specifically to help you defeat Sherincal. Clever.

Thanks for the tip Harbourboy.

Alternatively, you can buy a lot of Lamp Oil from Oswald and use it on Sherical for a flawless victory ;)

Congratulations! That's the great thing about these games: Different party-sizes, different characters, different strategies!

Agreed! I love the choices BI games give you, and IWD2 is one of their best. BG2 was good but to many quests got in the way, on one save right now I have to complete 32 quests. IWD2 is much more straightforward but overall the harder battles and better planning needed (you don't just have to go look for a different NPC) are much more fun. You can also go solo without being harrased by wagon jumpers, and miss out their quests for ditching them.