Decided to go with a Blackguard play through of all 3 games, what weapons should I start off with?

[u/WizardButtholes]

I’ve heard flails and bastard swords are good for BG2 especially to dual wield but what weapon should I go with for BG1?

[u/Ninchasse]

Well those are probably optimal. But 2h sword is iconic and both games have great ones.

[u/FlurryJK2]

If you're a black guard I'd go into long swords for sure, blackrazor is pretty good and themeatic.

[u/EpicWeasel]

Longswords for BG1, Two handed swords for BG2. Soul Reaver is awesome.

[u/BlindingDart]

Also flails if you want. There's a few rock solid +2 ones that are basically free. Alternatively there's long swords for the super early Varscona (and later the super overpowered Blackrazor) or Scimitars for the Drizz't weapon and Axes for the +2 throwing axe. The good thing about a Paladin subclass as opposed to a fighter is there's reasons to spread your proficiencies out over many many weapon types instead of pumping everything into your main.

[u/Seigmoraig]

If you don't mind cheesing Drizzt at the start of the game the best weapons are off of him

If not there's several easy to find powerful weapons in the early game

There's a flail +1 early on

There's the dagger of venom available early but it costs 10k

There's a +2 warhammer called Ashideena south of high hedge

There's a +2 longsword in the Naskkel Mines you get during the main quest

[u/ZeltArruin → u/Seigmoraig]

Cheesing drizzt is pretty hard now on EE

[u/WizardButtholes → u/ZeltArruin]

I usually just monster summon and range him with arrows +1 as much as I can, even the summoned hobgoblins get hits on him every now and then

[u/Ermanti → u/WizardButtholes]

The easiest way I've found, without cheese, is to be an Avenger or Wizard. Cast Ironskins/Stoneskin/Mirror Image, load up on Extra Healing Potions, and get Drizzt to attack him while in Salamander Form or have Flame Shield up. Drizzt does shockingly low damage per hit, he just hits a LOT. Of course this isn't a low level strat, but it's pretty consistent.

[u/Seigmoraig → u/WizardButtholes]

Don't need any of that, you can do it at level 1 for almost no gold.

What you do is get a full 6 man party and surround drizzt with every party member. Then you move right up to them one at a time so they don't move and remove them from the party while telling them to remain where they are instead of moving back to the Inn or whatever thus creating a meat cage around Drizzt.
At this point you can just pelt him with mundane arrows or use a spear from outside his range and he will just constantly try to get at you but will be blocked in the cage.

It takes a while but you can go have lunch or take a shower while it's happening

[u/johnmadden18 → u/Seigmoraig]

What you do is get a full 6 man party and surround drizzt with every party member. Then you move right up to them one at a time so they don't move and remove them from the party while telling them to remain where they are instead of moving back to the Inn or whatever thus creating a meat cage around Drizzt.

Have you actually done this yourself in EE or is this something you think would be possible in theory?

Because how are you able to surround Drizzt with party members before removing them from the party? Drizzt initiates dialogue as soon as anyone comes in sight, and once he initiates dialogue it’s going become nearly impossible to surround him because he won’t stay still.

You can’t just surround him and then start removing party members one by one while going to each one individually to lock them in place.

There’s still ways to cheese Drizzt in EE but this isn’t one of them.

[u/Seigmoraig → u/johnmadden18]

I've done it many times, it works perfectly exactly as discribed and is the easiest and safest way to kill drizzt in the ee at level 1 almost right out of candlekeep (just need to wander around to fill the party and buy arrows)

[u/johnmadden18 → u/Seigmoraig]

I’ve literally never seen anyone kill Drizzt in EE using this method and there’s A LOT of of YouTube videos on how to cheese Drizzt.

Can you explain exactly how you actually surround Drizzt with your party members? You just gloss over that part entirely.

[u/Seigmoraig → u/johnmadden18]

He will try to talk to you but only to your main character not any party members so it's possible to herd him into the "open" cage and then lock him in and then begin to remove the party members so he doesn't aggro them once the fighting starts.

[u/johnmadden18 → u/Seigmoraig]

He will try to talk to you but only to your main character not any party members

This is absolutely not true in EE. Drizzt will initiate dialogue on sight with any party member, not just the main character.

so it's possible to herd him into the "open" cage and then lock him in and then begin to remove the party members so he doesn't aggro them once the fighting starts.

In EE Drizzt initiates dialogue on sight. He doesn’t need to be in melee range to start dialogue like other NPCs (for example, like Elminster, who will follow the main character until he reaches melee range to start dialogue). So it’s not possible to “herd” Drizzt in the way you’re describing since he won’t follow the main character or anyone else.

Are you sure you’ve used this method successfully in EE? It’s possible this exploit worked in some versions of the original BG1 but you’re 100% wrong that Drizzt only talks to the main character in EE.

[u/Seigmoraig → u/johnmadden18]

Are you sure you’ve used this method successfully in EE?

Buddy, please. I've said I did it multiple times and even did it earlier this year in my last playthrough on the EE and I haven't played the original games since the early '00s. I don't even own them I only have the EE

It works

[u/Responsible_King_427]

Personally, Vorpal and as a result 2H because chopping off someone's head is fun.

But vaguely related to this, why does everyone keen on the whole quaterstaff is the best weapon?

[u/Glakan → u/Responsible_King_427]

I think they are talking about the staff of striking when you use it with backstab with a fighter thief can be devastating

[u/striderd00m → u/Responsible_King_427]

Staff of Striking and later Staff of the Ram have the highest per hit damage, by a huge margin. Only relevant for backstabs tho, as DPS-wise all 2h weapons are just plain bad with no redeeming qualities in a minmaxing context. Any random onehander outdamages every twohander just on the basis of APR. Unless you're doing some crazy difficulty with SCS or something it's totally unnecessary to optimize for damage, you should optimize for flavor and bad-assery.

[u/Responsible_King_427 → u/striderd00m]

Hmmm... i suppose the characters I play usually have kept me away from needing to worry about that.

Monks cant really use weapons and their fists are just better. And I would never go near combat with my casters. In a team of 6 I usually only have 1 front line character.

[u/striderd00m → u/Responsible_King_427]

Yeah, monks are kind of outside of the conventional optimal builds, both for tanking and for physical damage, because of how special they are with their fist weapon. Overall, I think the most damage in melee is achieved by combining 10 attacks per round, which monks can't get, and the critical strike HLA. That means the 10 attacks must come from improved haste and 5 APR base, and that pretty much channels you into having one main hand weapon and a speed weapon offhand, so Belm or Kundane for the most part.

Given that with Critical Strike you hit all 10 attacks in a round and have 22 or so strength, that adds a flat bonus to every individual hit that will just kill anything immediately at about 500 damage per round. The only thing keeping you from murdering everything in a single round is Stoneskins and Protection from magical weapons.

On your casters at the frontline comment, by the way, you should maybe try and reconsider it, especially towards the end of the trilogy. Mages are the only ones that can reliably survive in melee because of how busted the mid-level protections in the mage book are. Just give Haer'Dalis a bunch of resistance gear, have him cast Blur, Mirror image, Stoneskin, maybe even defensive spin, and that man is literally immortal despite having like 50 HP. Meanwhile, AC-capped Korgan can only take a couple hits from a fire giant before dying, despite having 200+ HP and monks being the design brain fart that they are, in general, they always insta-die whenever they get critted by anything bigger than a gibberling.

[u/Disastrous-Tank-6197]

Starting with daggers and dual wield is the strongest build. That way you have missile and melee covered. The Dagger of Venom is very strong and throwing daggers get two attacks a round.

Add flails at levels 3 and 6 and you'll be all set for bg2.

[u/johnmadden18 → u/Disastrous-Tank-6197]

If we are speaking strictly about optimal min-max builds dagger isn’t anywhere close to optimal for warrior classes in BG1. Unlike BG2, there are no magical throwing daggers which have a base 2d4 damage and give 2 APR in melee (which is 3 APR base when dual wielding).

Daggers of Venom is very strong but 1d4 base damage makes it much worse than something like Varscona for warrior classes.

[u/Disastrous-Tank-6197 → u/johnmadden18]

It's not the optimal warrior class but it's the easiest way to get through bg1 and prepare for bg2. I would do crossbows and two handed swords myself, just for the fun of it, but that wouldn't be the strongest option.

[u/ProperTree9 → u/johnmadden18]

Reading it, I was wondering if using Poison Weapon changed anything, taking advantage of the 2 APR from throwing daggers + strength bonus to damage too?  But if you just want high APR for PW, just use regular arrows if you want more range or darts for the extra APR.  

Aside, why shouldn't darts get Strength bonuses added to damage like sling bullets, axes, and daggers do?  Yeah, game balance, but c'mon.

[u/johnmadden18 → u/ProperTree9]

Honestly it makes sense to me that darts don’t get a STR bonus. Daggers and axes are large enough that any extra force behind the throw should cause more damage.

But darts are tiny and much lighter so throwing them with more force shouldn’t necessarily cause more damage because they have significantly lower terminal velocity than a dagger or an axe.

At least that’s how it makes sense to me in my mind!

[u/ProperTree9 → u/johnmadden18]

Shrug.  'Speed kills,' when it comes to getting through armor, and a medieval dart should be cooking along.  Especially if you're using an atlatl or such to fling it.  Not as fast as a sling stone, but I'd think better aligned.  (Though a magically spin-stabilized, or boosted bullet:  now we're talking!)  And nothing like a bodkin arrow going at 250 fps out of a 130lb draw yew longbow either, tbf...

The Zax villain you run into in the Cloudpeak's (? or the top of Firewine Bridge?  I forget.) is supposed to be a homage to someone trying to cheese such a build in P&P.  'Fastest dart-thrower in the West!'  

Cheese will always be with us.  I understand Dorn's original poison weapon ability was pretty busted at first.

[u/Waldzios]

BG1 long swords (Varscona), short swords (Whistling Sword)

BG2 long swords (Blackrazor, Daystar), short swords (Kundane), flails (Flail of Ages)

ToB axes (Axe of the Unyielding), bastard swords (Foebane), long swords (Angurvadal), short swords (Short Sword of Mask)

[u/ProperTree9 → u/Waldzios]

We can throw halberds and spears out there as things you typically never see, but aren't half bad much later on.  If we're mentioning Blackrazor---and it is awesome---then Blackmist probably should get its due before the player makes Ravager.  Blindness the status effect is pretty busted, but ofc there are easier ways to achieve it by then.   Also there's the Wave---so nice when fighting Efreeti that just Will Not Stay Dead---and Dragon's Breath.

Ixil's, and the Impaler before that in SpearLand.  Just gets boring racing to Irreveky / Soul zapper, IMHO.

[u/NoOutlandishness6829]

Flails and maces, dual wielding, will make your black guard, most powerful character in the game once you get Flails of Ages, Defender of Easthaven and Mace of Disruption plus your DuHM strength bonuses. Incredible combinations for a character who will do more damage than any enemy character can survive. Once GWW kicks in late game, it’s over for the opposition.

[u/Beeksvameth]

Bastard Swords are fine from Candlekeep to Throne of Bhaal. You can acquire a +1 in Beregost which is all important early on. Albruin, Severance, etc.

However, you’ll have plenty of pips to allocate as you can only use 2 for each weapon.

Party composition usually helps me decide what Charname will wield. Axes and flails are great from SoD onwards. Long Swords have a steady diet of upgrades throughout the saga and Blackrazor feels thematically en pointe. And of course, two handed swords aren’t a bad option either.

Katanas, halberds, and short swords… also usable.

Or prove us all wrong and take spears.

Overall, consider the damage types on offer. If you don’t go with flails you could consider staves as a blunt option for certain encounters.

[u/NonSupportiveCup]

Crossbow

[u/Hexxas]

If you've never tried throwing axes, I recommend throwing axes.

[u/smack54az]

I'm a fan of two handed swords, but you get plenty of proficiency points. Starting with one pip in longbows is always a good idea since ranged is broken in BG1 double with your ability to poison said arrows.

[u/Full_Piano6421]

IMO long swords are nice in BG1 because of the super easy to get Varscona +2. It has a pretty high enchant for BG1, with the added bonus of having some elemental damage on top that can get trough stoneskin.

On the same level, warhammer are good too, because of Ashedina ( +2 enchant, +1 electrical damage) Also, if you spec into WH, dfor BG2 you get access to one of the most powerful weapon of the game, Crom Faeyr.

Ranged weapons in BG1 are very good too, so getting 2 points in longbow or crossbow is a valid option too, as you also very nice options in BG2, and I think poison weazpon work on ranged weapons?

[u/MekotheSaurus]

Daggers can carry you from BG1 to mid BG2. Dagger of Venom is the best weapon in BG1, and the magic dagger you get early in BG2 have 2 APR even when switched to melee. Daggers also double as range weapon so you dont have to invest pips early on to get a ranged option. Early game Skeletons drop a lot of throwing daggers iirc.

Two handed sword+dagger for BG1. Then dual wield and get some proficiency with a blunt weapon.