Let me first say that I probably should've waited until I had higher levels to make the attempt, but after a few trys and a bit o' luck, I was successful in vanquishing the foul red dragon!

My party:
Blackthorne - L12 Archer
Jaheira - L10/12 Fighter/Druid
Minsc - L12 Ranger
Valygar - L12 Stalker
Yoshimo - L16 Bounty Hunter
Aerie - L10/11 Cleric/Mage

I think the key to the successful attempt was to have the party well spaced out surrounding the dragon so his area effect spells only catch 1 or 2 people. And the bit o' luck I mentioned was that Valygar (my man!) made every one of his saving throws!

I had Minsc attack from behind with the dragon slayer halberd, Valygar attack from the front with all the dragon slaying/ fire resisting stuff out of the Windspear dungeon (sword, shield, ring, helmet), Blackthorne attack from one flank with called shot/ice arrows, Yoshimo firing invisible arrows from behind Valygar, Jaheira summoned some cave bears then fired +2 bullets on the other flank, and Aerie threw spells from behind Minsc.

The spells Aerie used were (in order): lower resistance, feeblemind (which didn't work), a spell trigger with 2 magic missiles in it, 2 more magic missiles, then when he was almost dead, 6 charges from a lightning wand to finish him off!

Valygar took the most significant damage, but only from the direct attacks of the dragon, and had to quickly gulp a couple of extra healing potions to remain alive. Firkraag tried to lower his fire resistance, charm him and a few other things, but he managed his save against all of them! Then the firebreath did no damage since he was still protected, and only the cave bears besides Valygar were within the blast radius.

Everyone else took damage only due to the wing buffets... I must say that dragon has a very low armor class; everyone missed more often than not, and Jaheira was missing on rolls as high as 18 I think (over twenty with the plusses added in)...

Oh! And Sylvus you'll be happy to hear that on one of my unsuccessful attempts, I let Yoshi lay down the 8 snares he now has, and Firkraag was completely resistant to all the damage from them...

The "talk the dragon to death" scheme does work, but was way too unsatifying to let stand, so I immediately reloaded after trying it out...

Loot:
1 potion of strength
1 bloodstone ring
1500 gold
1 cloak of the shield
1 Carsomyr +5
red dragon scales
64000 experience points

That's about it! Whew that was fun! :)

I did it with 3 lower resistance spells and my main, minsc and vaylgar on differnt sides... barely ever hit, but when i did, I did 20 damage a shot.

I just bought a finger of death scroll, used greater malsion and got lucky.

Great Job! My first time through BG2 I laid traps and only one did any damage. But you hit on something that saved my party that time through, Lightning wands.

I had Nalia and Aerie equipped with them and after a few scrolls of Breach and the like I let go a couple of streaks each by them and that was all that was needed. Great strategy used by your party!

Thanks! I had a lot of fun on that one. :)

The most usefull weapon against dragons I can think of is that magical sword that can attack on its own. (the one the mage can cast) If the dragon attacks it it won't be able to kill it so it will only waste its anergy. In the meanwhile your other characters can attack it the way you want them too. Although I must say I only foud that spell once

good job and all but whatever you do dont call yoshimo "yoshi"

BTA, you still play this game???? :toofar:;)

Good job!

[Wow. Coming up on a year since I wrote that! :) - BTA]

[This message has been edited by Blackthorne TA (edited October 15, 2001).]

I havent played Baldurs gate in a long time but i just started a new game with an elf archer ( is it true i cant have a romance with Vicona). On my old game i beat firkagg when my party was around ll 10 without any cheats. It took a couple of days to devolp the right strategy. Sorry i cant remeber alot it was along time ago.

My new game i have an elf archer and i changed his alignment to neutral evil with shadow keeper. I have an evil party. I have Vicona, Jan, and that dwarf with the high hp. Once i got out of the dungeon in the beginning i went too the circus and got the charisma ring and arie. Then we kill that group in waukeen promade. the key is to charm one of the group members with the ring. I went to kill denis and his friends around lvl 9 i had my evil pary by this time. I charmed the cleric with the ring than i had the cleric charm another person that is how i won. I di not cheat at all except for changing my alignment.

I got alot of nice arows and item from jan drinking a couple of thieving potions then we go on a stealen spree. Does an archer do high dmge at higher lvls because now he is doing 13 dmg at lvl 9. Is it true that elves cant have romances with Vicona

[Yes, Elves and Drow hate eachother - BTA]

[This message has been edited by Blackthorne TA (edited October 15, 2001).]

yes, firkraag's AC must be ridiculously low - the only hits i got in were criticals, and after what seemed like eons, my party of PC (fighter/thief), jaheira, haer'dalis, cernd and aerie only got him down to "injured"

how he died: after multiple doom spams (i didn't have greater malison), aerie let just one chromatic orb fly and petrified the big red beast

needless to say, all his items turned to stone and all that was left was a pile of gold

since i wasnt planning on using carsomyr, i guess it didnt matter, but i was nevertheless quite pleased with the effort of my party (no one had over 90 HP, and no one was a true fighter)

Yeah, I trounced him at around level 10/12 too (after beating on the shadow dragon ;)). Nalia cast Chaos on him and he ran into the corner. Keldorn, Mazzy and Sebastian the ranger proceeded to slap him about until he went down.

Thats why his "scales" are the best armor in the game! Very low AC.

Truely enough a party around level 10-12 can beat Firkraag eventually without even taking a scratch by using lower resistance spells, lightning bolt staffs and magic missiles while summoned creatures protected with Otiluke's Resilient Sphere keep him busy. Or you can try and do the dirty job yourself counting on your good luck and the "load" button. Personally I consider both ways non fair. Normally a well-developed party should be able to dispose Firkraag with the first try having used all the best -at that time- spells,abilities and items and being severely wounded, which happens about at level 15. Besides, thats the point in battling with a Dragon or a lich: to have a really tough battle and a proper reward. Of course since there are "cheesy" ways of wining it is supposingly "right" for the players to use them, but I still believe Black Isle should have been more predictable in this part.


[This message has been edited by nske (edited October 17, 2001).]

Eh traps do the trick just fine =)

Except for the fact that in real life, a dragon would be seeing a thief set snares around him, sleep, set snares, sleep, etc. :rolleyes:

yup yup =)

god bless AI :)

The date :toofar:

Yes, this one is a spam too. So?

[This message has been edited by Extremist (edited March 08, 2002).]

All right, all right, quit polluting my topic!

Why should we stop?this topic as been resserected twice!and it gives me a chance to say how I was very lucky and changed the shadow dragon to a squirrel with polymorph other.....he was much easier as a squirel.....now to look up how to spell ressurection.

You'll stop because it's his topic and because he's an admin around here. Or you can make another stupid and meaningless post and see what happens to your sorry ass. Just some friendly advice, sage to munchkin.

With highest regards to the Sages, but after reading through I cannot help but to chip in my experiences. Good times. . .

I LOVE the dragon fights. This is, to me the best 2 fights in the game. I buff up with protections, save, deep breath, wipe my palms and dive in.

Hehe after the first couple go arounds I learned to be very careful and not have my mages stand in line of fighters when those wing flaps hit. Still remember the first time, everyone KO'ed except Ariel (sp?) who had to run in wide circles, with Dragon in tow, till everyone got back to thier feet. Great battles!

I also learned to spread out my summoned creatures; That Shadow Dragon likes to cast Finger of Death, even before the battle, while you 'build up your forces.' Grrrr :mad:

Good story BA even 18 months old.

I'm just glad you don't get crushed when the dragon finally falls, whew.

And finally it seems to me that the dragons have an invisiable stoneskin. I get nothing but a string of whiffs till about the final 1/3 or 1/4 of the battle, then the blows start to roll in. Just a head-scratcher. :hmm: (sorry if this waters-down your post BA)

[Not at all; I welcome this kind of post. But please, it's BTA :) ]

[This message has been edited by Blackthorne TA (edited March 10, 2002).]

Hi all. Well, this is my first time on this site. And I also just cfinished beating the dragons. Hardest battles I had, until the very last. I had an elven Assassin, Valygar (dual wielding Dragonslayer and the Celestial Fury), Minsc with the Vorpol Sword, and Vicky with the flail of ages hitting Firkragg, with Natlya and Imoen Simulacrium and all four hitting repeatedly with Magic missle. Even with all that, it took a few reloads, and he finally fell, but killed Valygar before he did. And they were all maxed out on levels. The shadow dragon was by far easier.

The Dragons in BG2 are WAY to simple to defeat! When I'm fighting my way in to Firkraags dungeon it can be very hard sometimes, but when I'm finally fighting the "master", Firkraag, I kill him like a fly. I always take the first 2 dragons when I'm lvl 9-11 (depending on wich class, race) and I usally take them on the first try. The only one that dies now and then is Haer' Dalis, and that's coz of his 9 Con. I once waited to kill Firkraag til after Underdark and all that, my skald(!) and Haer' Dalis could rape him. Tried first with my Skald alone, but I only got him to Badly Injured. They Golems that "guards" the Heartseeker is FAR, FAR more difficult to kill than Firkraag. And give Minsc the Silver Sword and he can take him alone without beeing hurt more than half of his HP.

They are fun to kill, but they are to easy I belive... Kangaxx is the toughest hostile encounter in BG2. Other than him, it's the golems, NOT the dragons...

Firkraag's armor class is -12, very low...but with his original script he is no real challenge! All of you should try the Solaufein Romance MoD, the modified AI Firkraag and the Shadow dragon are really tough enemies!

I have a Mage that killed Frikraag that is level 12. When i first encounter the dragon, I thought it will take me time killing it.
But its exciting killing a dragon using a lightning bolt...

Just one? Despite the power of the "bouncing lightning" technique, I don't think a single bolt is enough to kill Firkraag before he kills you...

I killed him bit by bit through the whole game. I'd run in and run out again.

rofl, i've never tried that, but, one question: doesnt he heal himself?