Solo-Levelling Tips

[Omega07]

Hi Guys,

Thank you all for the input for the previous thread for Soul & I to get started on builds.

Out of curiousity. Is there any builds that can solo stuff or duo comfortably?

Also, Wizards are renowned for becoming more power as levels come but notorious for being a bit lack luster early levels, Also in the addition there is TONS of new spells and content for wizards its slightly intimidating to pick the spells (Albeit exhilarating!) Can anyone advise a bit on wizards levelling?

Thank you all in advance for the feedback and also the warm welcome as demonstrated by you guys on our prior post.

Omega and Soul.

EDIT: Thanks Akroma666 for the suggestion of a Zen Cleric & something mage to be mage hunters too! Kudos.

[Tsidkenu]

Epic Divine Might or Strength based bard can solo pretty much everything; Favoured Soul 26/ Pal 4 is in a similar camp. Karond's Dwarven Defender is right up there for a non-spellcasting melee solo build too.

Feel free to check out my guide for new wizards on BG in my Sig below for some tips to make your wizarding life easier.

[Omega07]

Thanks Tsid!

Will definately check out that guide. Not to sound like a newbie but strength based bard.. Im guessing they obtain AC through their song,armour and shield im guessing?

Crossing it between cleric or paladin for divine shield?

[Tsidkenu]

30 Bard with all stat points into Str; EDM you go for a 21/21 Str/Cha split and build of 26 Bard/ 4 (Blackguard or Cleric) to qualify for EDM/ Divine Shield. I've one of those for my drow and its really, really solid. You have Mirror Image/Displacement/Improved Invis/ Mislead for AC and Curse song for AB (-5 to enemy AC is the same as having +5 AB, really...)

Once you have Song (Hymn) of Requiem you can pretty much go anywhere the bosses haven't been tweaked to have sonic damage immunity EDM itself is just icing on the cake to help you kill everything else faster.

[Akroma666]

Bear warrior solos well ever since the last patch. Just make sure you remember the save bug and be conscious of your rage timer.

Another suggestion is a druid.. ez mode.

Wizard/rogue and a bear warrior or druid could duo most of the server. Kaarond has an out of date wizard spell guide i think? Your spell list depends heavily on what type of wizard you're running. If you're doing my Gish, i suggest lots of buffs and the occasional blast.

Also, be mindful of the spells in shops so you don't waste wizard levels learning spells you can buy.

[Omega07]

Thanks for the feedback guys, Hopefully other new players will see this too and hopefully make it easier to guide their way around.

Will hop onto the DB and have a mess around with the builds too for the giggles.

Keep it coming if anybody else has their bit to put in!

[Nyeleni]

Monk, Divine Champion 20/10 does very well too. Everything into wisdom and intuitive attack.

[chad878262]

Just about any class can solo the majority of Server content, the major issue you will have as new players is a lack of gear and a lack of knowledge as to the various mobs and bosses, where traps tend to pop up, what you need to protect against, etc. With regard to PvE only you definitely have the easiest time as a Favored Soul or a STR Bard. In both cases you can go either R4 to gain evasion/expose weakness, Cleric/Blackguard/Paladin(FS only) 4 for Saves or domains and EDM, or you can go some other route that you'd like because frankly, if your build includes 26 levels of FvS or Bard you will do just fine against anything you face.

Some other classes that are pretty easy in PvE which have not been previously mentioned:

Monk 25/SD5 or Monk 30 or Monk 26/F4

Warlock 27/DragonSlayer 3 (CON based w/ ~16 DEX)

Wlck7/R10/DSM10/SD3 (this is a bit slow getting started, but will become fantastic at mid levels and remains so throughout Epics)

Barbarian 20 / X10 (X can be Anointed Knight/WoD, Divine Champion, Fighter, Battlerager(dwarf only), Bear Warrior, Dervish, whatever you want really).

Paladin 30 or Ranger 30 (With the expanded spell list and Full caster progression these are probably the most balanced classes on the server - decently powerful and can handle most of PvE).

Cleric 30, Cleric/Hierophant, Cleric/Morning Lord/Hierophant or any other Cleric with CL30

C8/M6/SF10/Hierophant 6 (CL29, decent fist damage, solid AB and great AC).

Honesty the only thing you will find quite difficult is rogue type builds. Until you get HiPS it is definitely the most difficult to solo and even after HiPS it is fairly slow going and you won't be able to take on bosses as easily as other classes.

[Astegard]

Wizard leveling is easy once you know where to buy the right scrolls.
Polymorph for low lvls to punch stuff as troll, cant die because of regen 5.
Planar binding or greater planar binding scrolls last quite long and stomp a lot of stuff.

Generally you should make a profit with what you find in chests.

(note this is from UD experience, you can buy the mentioned scrolls in Sshamath)

[aaron22]

nearly anything can be successful on this server. some builds will be better than others and some builds just dont work. Cleric15/Mage15 is not a very good build.

as long as you consider 3 things you can be at least somewhat successful. can you kill the mobs fast enough. can you keep the mobs from killing you in that time. do you have a reliable method of getting out of trouble when it occurs. it will occur. being duo will increase your survivability 10 fold too.

great duo would have one tank. and one dps. if one of those is also a healer then winning is gonna be easy.

[Deathgrowl]

Wizard leveling gets far worse when approach epic levels (as far as soloing goes, I mean). Yeah, they get more powerful, but there's a reason the IC dogma of Mystra says to use magic conservatively because "the threat or promise of its use outstrips its actual performance". It's easy to say "wizards are most powerful when they don't use spells". It sounds ridiculous, right? But it's true. Every time you use a spell, you drain your power.

And then you'll have a rest timer.

Anyways, no wizards can really compete with damage per round of well built (not necessarily powerbuilt) archers and meleers, except in large aoe situations.

Of builds that can be fairly easy to solo with:

• Clerics based on strength or EDM.
• FS based on strength or EDM.
• Pure druids. It get stupidly simple, if a bit slow, in epic levels.
• Warlocks, with the right invocations. Warlock/shadowdancer blasters are pretty good.
• Hipsing sneak attackers, if you know how to play them.
• A lot of melee fighter builds - either defensive focus or offensive focus. Trying to find a middle ground is hard. Glass cannon or steel wall is probably going to be most satisfying.
• Hipsing archers. Hips just is great for soloing in general. Archers also have huge damage, even if their defenses are a bit low. The main defense is distance and hiding.
• Pure bards. Or mostly pure with some kind of dip. Bard26/fighter4. Bard 27/dread pirate3. Bard 26/blackguard4 with EDM.

But it all depends on what you mean by

Out of curiousity. Is there any builds that can solo stuff or duo comfortably?

How comfortable do you want it to be? Just click-and-win? Ability to semi-afk while grinding? Some of these powerful builds are more active than that. Particularly the hipsers.

If you are two people, though, and expect to duo most of the time, i'd suggest some kind of heavy-hitting fighter meleer and a buffer. I think a Fighter/wm/fb teamed up with some strength or EDM based cleric or FS would feel almost boringly comfortable.

[Maverick 40]

Just about any class can solo the majority of Server content

Lol, I can contest that I have in fact built plenty of characters that in fact could not solo the majority of the server! I once had the Head DM ask, "what are you trying to do with that build?" because I couldn't kill anything around level 20

[Valefort]

It had to be the void !

[chad878262]

Just about any class can solo the majority of Server content

Lol, I can contest that I have in fact built plenty of characters that in fact could not solo the majority of the server! I once had the Head DM ask, "what are you trying to do with that build?" because I couldn't kill anything around level 20

I purposely said any class, not any build... You can solo most content with any base class, but only if you have a well thought out, competent build. Does not necessarily need to be a power build, but if you have 5 'fluff' feats that serve no or minimal mechanical purpose you will likely struggle.

[Hawke]

I have to agree with Deathgrowl.

I play wizards (and different variations) almost exclusively (almost being druid). You can do pretty good all the way up to 20... then it feels like a wall when you start trying to take out the 'epic' things solo. In a team, it's great.

Wizards can buff yes, but clerics can buff better. Wizards have some nice spells, absolutely, and some pretty cool class combinations, but honestly, when I tried a Cleric out, it was way easier and more forgiving than a wizard.

Why play a wizard? I like skill points. I like languages. And while wizard only gets 2 skill points/ level, the +10 skill points from intelligence makes things more interesting.

I am by no means discouraging wizard, but solo, it's hard. A bit harder than most of the base classes, but slightly more than other casters.

Duoing you can act as a buff bot, conjure a summons or two and doing pretty well. LOTS of combinations of classes to choose from. Not to mention racial selections...


Now that I think of it... none of my current wizards, or past, were any kind of powerbuild. So maybe it is my fault. My drizard is a great example of a non powerbuild, but interesting character build.