Balor

So, I managed to beat the Balor last night for the first time.

I defeated him on my second attempt (on the first attempt I got slaughtered).

It's amazing what a little luck and a single spell (well, actually the same spell cast five times can make).

The luck part came in because, the first time I fought him, he summoned another damn Balor to fight. :twitch: The second time I fought him, he just summoned a bunch of quasits, half of which got slaughtered by attacks of opportunity when they tried to approach my PCs, and the other half got slaughtered as soon as my PCs had a chance to attack.

The spell which made a huge difference was the 1st-level Protection from Evil spell. The first time I tried to fight the Balor, I was using both Magic Circle Against Evil and Remove Fear, both of which did jack against the Balor's fear ability, so half my party went running around like scared schoolgirls and were quite ineffectual (I did have Greater Heroism running on two characters, though, and they seemed to be immune to the fear). With Protection from Evil cast on all five PCs on the second attempt, though, they seemed to be completely immune to the fear, which made a MASSIVE difference.

A couple of other things which seemed to help are:

(1) I used Charm Monster on one of the Efreets that the Balor summoned. The Balor spent about three rounds casting Slay Living on the Efreet (who always saved), giving my party a good chance to pound on the demon.

(2) I had three or four Spiritual Weapons running. After the Balor got tired of casting Slay Living at the Efreet, he proceeded to attack the Spiritual Weapons instead of my party members.


Also, in other threads, people have talked about the Balor exploding upon his death and doing, like, 100 points of damage to everyone. He did not do that when I defeated him. Was that changed in the latest release, or is it a (lucky) bug I encountered?

Oh, my party, BTW, were all human and 13th level, and consisted of a fighter, two clerics, a rogue, and wizard. The fighter and the two clerics all had +3 Glaives with Holy and Frost enchantments.

 

Congratulations!

Never thought of 2 clerics.

 

I dunno, it's fun when there's two Balors to fight =) Plus, I wonder, does the summon affect the amount of XP you get after the fight?

 

Sadly, it doesn't. I tested this out and got the same exp for fighting Balor Guardian + Balor, and Balor Guardian + 7 quasits.

 

Damn! I just fought two balors. Actually, I was very surprised by their AI strategy. The Fear removed most of my warriors, but the one remaining with Frost Brand smashed him because the only thing the balor did was try to dispel the buffs I had on him. The combat took at least 15 rounds and it didn't do a single devastating melee attack. The only time it did hit was when my other warriors provoked Aopps.

 

Maybe the action happened too fast for my eyes to catch, but does the Balor cast Suggestion/Dominate Monster on party members? If so, what happens?

I ask because I'm very surprised that I didn't see my own men turn against the party.

 

When I fought the Balor, sometimes my fighter would turn against the party...depended on how far he ran and who was in the vicinity where he ran to. I think once, he stayed right where he was, and took on the other characters. Can't remember who. The Paladin was never affected by the Balor one way or the other.

The other members just ran.