Noobers Revenge: A Level 1 Solo Challenge [PotD]

PILLARS OF ETERNITY MEETS NOOBERS REVENGE: A LEVEL 1 SOLO CHALLENGE

Everyone in town used to throw rocks at me and tell me I was annoying. I once knew this guy named Dilby. He threw rocks at me too. Are you gonna throw rocks at me? What about now? After countless deaths caused by impatient adventures Noobers soul vanished from the realms of Baldurs Gate only to appear in Pillars of Eternity. How this could happen is still a mystery but Noobers current aims are clear and simple: He wants to be an adventurer too!

THE RULES OF THIS CHALLENGE
Noober – as the name already indicates – is a noob in its truest form. This means:
1. He is stuck at Level 1 forever and will never go up.
2. All monsters he faces will get furious so PotD only.
3. Because of his nerve-racking personality he has to play solo.

MY PERSONAL ADVENTURE WITH NOOBER

Class: Ranger
Race: Wood Elf

MIGHT 18
CON 15
DEX 19
PER 20
INT 3
RES 3

Noobers main focus is clear: Hit hard, hit fast and strike with maximum precision.

As later on all enemies will hit you anyway so Res can be skipped. Low Int doesnt hurt too.

Stealth: 2 (enough for some early game scouting)
Survival: 3 (+1 movement speed is very, very good)

EQUIPMENT:
Weapons: If you want burst the Arbalest is a good choice. If you want faster kiting a Hunting Bow is very nice. At the end Noober used an Exceptional Arbalest plus Lenar Er Hunting Bow (+25 % Corrode Damage).

Armor: Faster attack speed is most of the time much better so plain Cloth is a good choice. Only against specific enemies a Plate Armor will migitate enough damage to go through.

Head: Anything that pushes your stats.

Neck: The +15 Endurance Amulet will be a lifesaver more than one time. Otherwise any stat increasing amulet or cape will do the job.

Hands: Gloves of Accuray +5 will ensure later on that you keep on hitting

Rings:Pensiavi mes Rè / Ring of Searing / Copperlane Ring for the final fight

Waist: Blunting Belt / Girdle of Maegfolc Might / Girdle of Eotun Constitution

Boots: Boots of Stealth / Boots of Speed (!)


TIPS & TRICKS (in progress)

Kiting all day long
Without good kiting skills your level-1-run will fail. So if kiting is something you dont like: Move on to other challenges! Thanks to your suboptimal accuracy you will miss often later on. This means: Kiting your enemies to death will take a lot of time. If patience is not your biggest strength: Play another challenge!

If you are still willing to do it – great. Normal kiting works best when you are faster than your enemy or you can use summons or your pet as decoys. But even without there is a small little trick to kite most enemies to death without any help. The reason for this is simple: Most enemies have something i call „the maximum engagement range“. If they hit this maximum range they will turn around moving back to their starting position. Use this to your advantage and dance around this border: Shoot them → run back and wait for the moment they turn away → follow them and shoot them again. With this cheesy tactic almost any melee opponent will have no chance to hit you. Against spellcaster you have to be more careful. If they cast AoE spells only you can dance around them while shooting them. If they cast autotarget spells you have to be more careful and should maybe use the help of your summons and pet. Once you mastered this tactic most areas will get much easier. Just make sure that you are faster (+1 movement resting bonus, sugar, boots of speed etc.). Good hunting!

Using your pet
The ranger has a huge bonus right from the start: He can use his pet as a scout, damage absorber, decoy or as a life insurance. As the stealth level of your pet is higher at the beginning it works great as a scout if you dont know what is coming at you. There will also be some situations where your pet will tank to minimize the incoming damage for you. It also works great if enemies mindlessly try to catch your pet so you can shoot them down easily. This works best in small areas where normal kiting and cheesing wont work. One of the best aspects of your pet is: Even if a trap will bring you down its not game over. Thanks to your pet you will stand up again and you can loot as if nothing had happened.

Summons are your best friend
Summons work nearly in the same way like your pet but are only for combat purposes. They work great as decoys that will soak enemy engagement. Once the enemies start hitting your summons you can either use the time to start shooting or run by to safe territory. You will have to use them a lot later on so mastering timing and positioning will be key for your success.


CROSSROADS: THE PATH TO THAOS

VALEWOOD
Killed the bandits and freed the cook
Thanks to the +1 movement speed resting bonus you can easily splitpull and kite the melee bandits. Once the Bower is left engage together with your pet and bring him down with Wounding Shots.

GILDED VALE
The Temple of Eothas
The only reason going in is to get the +15 Endurance Amulet. With Stealth 2 you can sneak past the spiders and the Skuldr group. Let your pet tank the young Skuldr and avoid their stun while shooting them down with Wounding Shots. Thanks to your pet you will get revived immediately after the trap „killed“ you. Loot the amulet and get out again.

ANSLOGS COMPASS
Can be done later with your summons and the usual kiting but Noober skipped it.

BLACK MEADOW
Stolen supplies
This can be very hard or quite easy. The easy way is: Sneak with your pet to the north-west-entrance of the bandit camp. Wait till the guard begins his walk -> run west into the group of trolls → make sure that the bandits will engage the trolls → laugh and retreat. Now you can sneak back to the camp. Loot the supplies and say hello to your new Animat Summon (once you get enough gold).

ESTERNWOOD
Passage to Raedrics Hold. Cleared the graveyard thanks to classic kiting and collected all magical items → more gold!

RAEDRICS HOLD
Noober skipped this for a while because he faced a big problem. He just could not get to Nedmar as you need at least Mechanic 2 to spot the hidden switch. This meant: Heading to Caed Nua first and building it up again so you can get the +2 Mechanic Rest Bonus!

CAED NUA
Clearing the Castle Courtyard
The Phantoms and Shadows can be killed easily if you cheese around the maximum engagement range and kite them to death one after another.

Killing the Phantoms and Shadows
This battle is not that hard - its a matter of patience.
1. Summon the Animat as far away from the stairs as possible
2. Let it soak all engagement so you have time for shooting
3. Kill one Phantom with one or two Arbalest shots
4. Retreat out of vision and wait for combat to end
5. Rest and repeat until all enemies are dead

Killing the spiders in the prison
The spiders in the jail are tough.
To survive the waves Noober used Food Buffs, 5x Endurance Potions, 5x Potions of Eldrich Aim. To survive the damage he weared Plate Armor + Blunting Belt.
First Wave: Tanked by the bear while the ranger one shotted the spiders with Wounding Shot thanks to the good Arbalest. The bear has to survive at all costs.
Second Wave: Tanked by the Animat that used Heal on the Bear to max his Endurance again. Killed the Spiders with Arbalest + Wounding Shots.
Third Wave: Tanked by the bear again while the ranger killed the spiders with Arbalest + Wounding Shot. Up to this point no healing potion should be required.
Fourth Wave: This is the most dangerous part because your bear is dead. Used a door so the Ranger only has to tank one small spider. Killed the big one first
with Potion of Eldrich Aim. After using Wounding Shot with the Arbalest he switched to Hunting Bow as the interrupts of the spider attacks are very annoying.
Once the big one falls it will get a race of who dies faster. Even with Endurance Potions your Health Bar will get critical at some point. Its just a matter of dice luck.

Meeting Maerwald
Maerwald himself should be no challenge. But before meeting him Noober cleared the spider room first using the "Summon Animat Trick" while killing one or two spiders with Wounding Shot. The retreat and rest game took some while.
After the spider room is cleared you have enough room for running out of Maerwalds Engegament Range (+Movement Resting Bonus works great here). Killed Maerwald thanks to the engagement cheese. Once he was dead Noober switched to a magic wand (damn piercing immunity) and killed one Blight after another.

RAEDRIC KEEP AGAIN
Thanks to the +2 Mechanic Rest Bonus Noober was able to sneak through to the hidden switch using his pet as a scout (the patrols wont bother about a bear running through the halls). Noober killed Nedmar quickly, took his key and stealthed back to finally meet Raedric. Even more important: Noober now was able to loot several chests. The reward: +2 Mechanic Gloves and +5 Accuracy Gloves. Both of them are quite essential later on!

DEFIANCE BAY
Main Goal: Solving the main quests if possible while getting more gold thanks to the side quests.

COPPERLANE
Something secret
Helped Gordy getting his dagger and collected the "Oaken Scarab“.

FIRST FIRE
Its a real pity that there is no way getting the "Obsidian Lamp Figurine" in the Vailian Embassy. Move on!

BRACKENBURY
Hard Feelings
Help Bricanta Doemenel finding Kolfecg in Ondras Gift. Spare his life and return for reward. Bonus: You can now trade with Bricanta.

ONDRAS GIFT
At all costs
Not many words needed here. This quest is all about running. Just make sure not to anger the Doemenels and you are fine. Fast and easy xp. Also opens the questline to get the "Sanguine Plate".

COPERLANE
Catacombs below Defiance Bay
The enemies here are no great challenge if you are careful. With summons & kiting you can kill the Oozes easily to make the path clear to the Woedica Temple.

Woedica Temple
Convince the guards to let you in (Int 13+ or Res 13+ or some gold). Get the Woedica Cape from Hafmacg (Might 14+ or Res 14+) and let him recitate the right answers for the ceremony. Use them to get all needed information from the veiled women. Move out of the temple.

Rogue Knight
Help Osric getting his old armor. Talk peacefully to Penhelm and you can avoid a tough fight. Bring the Armor to Osric – job done!


BRAKENBURY
The Man who waits
The sanatorium is all about talking and walking. Well nearly. The main challenge is the battle after talking to Uscgrim in the North Section. This fight is not easy but you can choose a safe path around it. The +1 Movement Speed Resting Bonus is a big help here.. Once the battle starts -> Summon the 3 Beetles, let them soak the engagemens and run. Thanks to your improved speed this should be quite easy. Just make sure to avoid the Fleshbeasts if you see the "Knockdown" symbol above them. Run through the enemy lines right to the exit so everything will loose engagement. After combats ends you can return to Head Warden Ethelmoer – quest solved.

Final Act
Talk and walk - and get some nice xp and gold reward: Helping Kurren to get information about the lost persons is easy and without any risks as long as you do not fight Lumdala. Noober took the safe route and earned some gold in under five minutes. Great!

CLIABAN RILAG
There is no special super mega tactic needed here. Just cautious play in combination with kiting and cheesing around with the enemies maximum engagement range. The most interersting battles are the Druid and Pwgra because you can have fun by dodging all of their spells while poking them down with your bow. Noober saved the summons for the Trolls, the Slimes and the Animats. If you run out of camping options feel free to return to Dyrford Village and restock your supplies. It took nearly forever to take down the regenerating Ghost on level 2 while the Phantoms were usually one shotted thanks to Noobers new Exceptional Arbalest (+25% Corrode Dmg!!). For the water blights he switched to his magic wand and shot them down one after another - nothing special. Used the key and read the soul beside the machine – finished.

LHE A RHEMEN
Here is a short summary how Noober managed to win the favour of the Dozens.
1. Cleared the Pwgra guards by pulling them one after another and kiting them to death while dancing around their spells.
2. Accepted the quest and pecaefully talked to the Giant Killer Party so Noober got the Adra Disc.
3. Sneaked around the Knights Patrol to get into the ruins.
4. The first spiders are the most difficult. The easiest way was: Splitpull the spiders and let good old Bear run around the entrance stairs while Noober waited in the corridor to fire of one bolt each round they passed. This will take some time but finally the first spider groups will be gone.
5. The big room with nearly endless spiders was relatively easy as you now have enough room to play the classic shoot & run game cheesing around the maximum engegament range. Even if some spiders will relentlessly follow Noober just played the Circling-Bear-Game again while shooting them down from the corridor. Killing all spiders took some hours but thanks to his patience he never got hit. He just had to make sure that the big Crystal Spiders couldnt land their AoE-spell. Once it expires the rest was normal kiting.
6. Noober creeped through to tunnel where he met more spiders attacking him. This was maybe the most tricky part. He immediately summoned the beetles and waited for the spiders triggering the traps. With bad positioning the AoE-effect of the traps will wipe the whole party so everyone stepped back a little bit. Once the beetles soaked the engagement Noober could run directly to Nridek. He talked to him peacefully so even the hostile spiders will turn friendly afterwards. Noober looted the weapons and walked out of the ruins.
7. Before getting out he rested so that he could summon the beetles again when facing the Knights ambush outside. Noober let them soak all engagement and run. Once he got out of vision the combat ended and the way to Defiance Bay was open. Quest completed!

HERITAGE HILL
Undying Heritage
This area can be quite dangerous if you run in unprepared. To make things easier you just have to play cautious. The challenge here are the hordes of undeads you will face nearly everywhere. Here is how Noober managed to find a way through this tricky area.
1. Cleared the outer region by using summons and kiting. This alone took several hours. The Darguls were harmless as they are too slow. The main thread were the fast moving Ghuls and especially the hard hitting mages. One shotting them with Wounding Shot was the easiest way dealing with them.
2. The first try getting through the tower failed. Why? Because you have to fight the skeleton groups in one go – no resting and retreating allowed. The second group near the stairs with two mages, thiefes and the fighters was too hard. It was impossible for Noober killing the very tough Fighters at the end. This meant: Retreating and getting the Adra Figurine first.
3. Cleared the Dargul infested villa using the hit & run game. Thanks to Mechanic 4 Noober was able to pick the lock at the door making the way free for the mausoleum. Several fights and one instadeath later (Sunlance trap hitting him for 476 (!) damage) he finally managed to take the Adra Figurine from the coffin.
4. Back to the tower Noober used all food buffs available and met the skeleton group again. Instakilled the two mages with well aimed Wounding Shots while the summons (3 Beetles → Animat → Adra Beetle) tanked the rest. At the end only the fighters and the Adra Beetle with good old bear were fighting for victory. A lucky crit with Cloudpiercer that triggered Jolting Touch took the Fighters down just mere seconds before the Adra Beetle vanished.
5. Tower Level 2 was easier than expected. Noober stealthed to the Southerrn part of the room where he summoned the 3 beetles to soak all engagement. Once this was done he moved with his bear to the western stairs while the beetles lured the enemies farer away to the eastern side. This gave Noober enough time to restealth after the battle ended so he could use the stairs into safety.
6. The rest was easy. Talking to Adhelm, getting the words, tricking the prisoners, recieving the „Gift of the Machine“  (+1 Might, +5% max. Health) and getting out of this cursed place again. Job done!
BRAKENBURY
After informing Lady Webb about your discovery in Cliaban Rilag its time to get into the Ducs palace!

The Duc´s Hearing
This will finish Act 2. Choose whichever answers you like. After the Duc is killed by Thaos hunt him into Lady Webbs House and get the essential information about "Twin Elms". Time for some traveling!

NOTE: The skipped quests in "Defiance Bay" can still be done later once you reached "Twin Elms".

TRAVELING TO TWIN ELMS
Fighting Naelde and her party is funny but very challenging. The easiest - and maybe the only - way was to lure the enemies into a group of lions and elder lions. Without the help of the lions Noober missed the needed firepower to bring the assassins down. Retreat and repeat did not work here as you cannot leave combat until all of them are dead. After the slaughter of the lions Noober picked up a nice +3 Might Girdle that boosted his Arbalest Damage to 37-53 - great

ELMSHORE
The Sealed Missive
The Elder Stelgaer should not trouble you much as long as you make sure that: 1.) they cannot surround you and 2.) you constantly use summons as decoys. The bridge is perfect for minimizing the number of engagements. Shoot them down and take the letter from the dying monk. Move on to "Twin Elms".

TWIN ELMS
The Sealed Missive - Sequel
Bring the sealed letter to the Head-Monk and get the "Aila Braccia"-Shield.

HearthSong - Passage of the Six
Talk your way through to get passage to the other areas of Twin Elms. Many cool quests are waiting!

Elms´ Reach - Council of Stars
Gaia decided praying to Hylea with "Live every note of life's song."
---> The Nest Above the Clouds
The mission of Hylea lead Gaia to the wilderness north of "Twin Elms". Before getting into the temple she had to fight some "Adragans" and a pack of "beetles". The best way to deal with them is: Splitpull them so you only have to fight one enemy and kite them to death cheesing around their maximum engagement range.

For the Adragans you should use your pet as a petrify dummy. If they do not cast but follow you –> use your summons + bear + maximum fire power to kill the Adragan quickly. Killing them all will take some time so feel free to restock your supplies if needed.

With DEX 13 Noober managed to bypass the rocks and finally faced the "Sky Dragon". He decided that fighting this beast is far too dangerous and talked peacefully mentioning how proud Hylea would be if the dragon stays with her baby. With "Sneak" you will still be able to loot the "Pensiavi mes Rei"-Ring (+3 MIGHT). Return to Hylea and convince her that you made the right choice. To do this, simply avoid the dialogue options that involve "might" or "death," and Hylea will see the wisdom of your reasoning. Get her blessing (+1 PER, +1 LORE) and move on!

Hearthsong
Hunter, Brother
Ridai will tell you that his brother Fiorm went with Arthwn on a "blood-hunt" to kill a giant stelgaer in the Northweald, but that only Arthwn returned. To complete you resarch in the Northern Wilderness you will have to fight some Stelgaer. Summons are your best friend here. Let the soak the damage while you use the time to kill one Stelgear. Retreat and repeat this until all of them are dead so you can with the soul. The Lurkers should be no problem with normal kitiing. Just make sure switching to a wand when fighting the Water Blights After interacting with both souls you can return to Ridai and reveal your findings. Gaia decided to lie for Arthwn because the reward is the  unique and very powerful hunting bow "Lenas Er" (which you should enchant for +25% lash damage).

Oldsong
Songs of the Wild
Delem will tell you that people are ignoring his songs. Bring him the three songbirds: 1.) Cloudsinger Songbird. You'll find it in a nest in the Temple of Hylea. 2.) Shardwing Songbird. You'll find it in a bush by the adra arch in Elmshore. 3.) Tiam Songbird. You'll find it in a crate in Llensi's dwelling in Hearthsong. Just killl Llensi to to get it.

The hardest one is the Shardwing Songbird because you have to fight Adragans again, two Adra Beetle and a pack of Forest Lurker. Use the same tactic you used earlier getting to the Sky Temple to get the last bird. Return to Delem. Regardless of what you do with the birds - give them to Delem, save them, or some combination of the two - at the end you'll earn the "Song of the Heavens" (+1 Perception, +2 Shock DR).

Burial Isle
The main goals here are: Make the path clear to Thaos and get the Boots of Speed! This area will involve some heavy kiting and a lot of patience. The hardest part is the entrance as the room for kiting and cheesing is very limited. The easiest way was: Use your summons to soak the engagemen while you shoot the enemies down from far away. Just make sure to retreat before the summons go down and repeat the tactic so the first enemy group is down. Now things are a lot easier as you can cheese around the maximum engagement range easily. With this tactic even the dreaded Cean Gwla are no problem as long as you make sure that they do not get close enough for their teleport. Kite the ghosts down one after another so the path to the pit – and the body with the Boots of Speed – is clear.

SUN IN SHADOWS
Fully buffed Noober was sometimes able to oneshot the paralyzing Ghosts with his exceptional Arbalest. The rest was usual kiting with Lenas Er & summon decoy in combination with splitpulling. He tricked the remaining Adra Animats with the 3 spiders - after they soaked all engagement he just walked past with good old bear and waited for the end of combat - job done.
On the second level he again pulled off the summon-decoy-tactic for the shadow dragon and his adds. Only downside: Good old bear died to the shadows while Noober barely escaped the ambush. To move on he used another trick: Whenever a cutscene triggers the pet will reappear beside the ranger - even when dead. He again lured the shadow dragon away with his summons so he could easily kite and kill the slow moving shadows one after another - easy!

FINAL FIGHT VS THAOS
The final encounter with Thaos is the hell of a fight. Expect 60+ minutes of pure running and kiting where any error can result in game over. As tanking was no option the only chance for Noober was kiting like a god. The main threat were not only the fast moving statues but especially Thaos „Cleansing Flame“. If he casted this on Noober it was unavoidable instadeath. The only way to avoid this was the help of summons. But - what a pity - this alone was not enough. The main goal was: Get Thaos out of his spell cycle. This happens randomly (?) for instance when the summons are dying. So once Noober saw Thaos approaching him without any spell symbol above his head THIS was the right time to start the running and kiting.

Thanks to the Boots of Speed + the movement resting bonus it was possible to kite the two statues and Thaos alltogether by just running in circles using the whole battleground as kiting territory. Thanks to this running pattern Noober was able to fire one arrow when reaching the eastern side and one arrow on the western side. If you are really good you can even fight three arrows per cycle but minimizing any risk should be your main priority. To avoid any melee engagement he had to fire Lenas Er from maximum distance exactly when the statues moved out of the fog of war. Everything else can lead to troubel if you are not careful.With this "simple" method he circled and circled and circled... firing his bow again and again and again. After the spell buffs expired the deflection of the statues (and Thaos) was low enough to hit them quite regularly. Only Thaos deflection of 88 was troublesome and lead to many grazes.
It took nearly an hour before the first statue went down. At this point it was very important getting distance as fast as possible because of the death explosion. I forgot about that so Noober got critically hit for 50 fire damage which brought him down to 13 endurance only.

Ten minutes later Noober killed the second statue and avoided the explosion completly. Now only Noober and Thaos were left. A classical 1vs1 with Noober getting tired and nearly moving into engagement range of Thaos. After this shocking moment Noobers instincts awakend again and he kited for his life like never before. Thaos - once he is out of his spell cycle will not cast any spells again unless you get into melee engagement again - something Noober avoided at all costs. Hit after hit Thaos life bar went to injured – heavy injured – nearly dead. After reaching over 80 minutes of exhausting kiting Noober finally landed the killing blow and brought it to an end. The end of the game. The end of this project. Thanks for reading!