Heart of Fury Mode, Icewind Dale 2

Heart of Fury IWD2

This is a guide for soloing Icewind Dale 2's Heart of Fury mode starting as a first level Sorcerer IWD2. For basics, read Icewind Dale 2 Walkthrough.

For IWD2 Heart of Fury mode, you should definitely roll with Drow IWD2 Race for the innate Spell Resistance because the ECL penalty is barely felt in HoF mode due to the massive experience point gain from kills. Even as Drow, we reach the level cap of 30 at the Battle for Shaengarne Bridge.

To see how Heart of Fury mode scales the stats of enemies, see IWD2 Enemies. Good examples are given in Isair IWD2 and Madae IWD2.

IWD2 Sorcerer Spell Selection in Heart of Fury Mode

Spell selections are different when starting off in HoF mode. In Normal mode, we go for a few low-to-mid circle direct damage spells, but in HoF those spells are useless to us because they don't scale in power enough.

As a rule, capped direct damage spells should be eshewed in favor of summon, immobilization and divide & conquer aka crowd control spells as well as uncapped damage and insta-kill spells (death magic).

Summon Monster I: This is a spell that we would never, ever take in Normal mode, but it becomes our ace card at the very beginning of HoF mode because the summons scale to HoF stats. 

Initially, just to stand a chance of killing ONE goblin (3,600 XP ea), we need to call forth FOUR (4) summons, which requires four castings of SMI. Note that there are 74 goblins to kill in the Targos docks alone, each with 150 HPs. They also hit like trucks, and we have only 3 HPs.

I'd take Summon Monster II and III as well, along with Mirror Image. And then Invisibility and Skull Trap. Invisibility should be taken as soon as it becomes available. It is absolutely vital.

The hardest part of the Prologue is the warehouse because we are mobbed by no fewer than one dozen goblins upon entering. 

We need Mirror Image, SMIII and good positioning to beat them. We get Elite Neo Orogs and Elite Lizardmen, so it's possible to survive. Don't go in here until you're level 8.

Take Haste & Otiluke's Resilient Sphere at level 9. We have aggro whale away on the ORS summons while we unleash hell from safe distance.

We MUST take Animate Dead at 10th level and we MUST take Invisibility, too. Otherwise, fail.

The main thing is to reach 13th level in order to gain even beefier summons + Improved Haste. Clear the Docks of goblins to reach 13th.

We should be able to take down orc-land at 13th level, delaying our level-ups until we can jump straight to 30th or Godhood.

The first map in orc-land is guarded by no fewer than 77 orcs. And while they are tough and hit hard, at the end of the day they are mundane foes that should present no problems to Sorcerers.

We reach 30th level after clearing Shaengarne Bridge. Thus, we reach 30th level or Godhood at the end of Chapter 1.

Six Improved Hasted Gelugon IWD2 wrecking house:

The Importance of the Invisibility Spell

In HoF mode, the single most valuable spells for survivability are invisibility spells (Invisibility, Invisibility Sphere, Improved Invisibility and Mass Invisibility). There are two main reasons for this:

• Invisibility allows for optimal positioning. For example, cutscene fires, mob rages on us, we cast invisibility, move away from the mob, find an advantageous position, and then summon, buff and ward. Thus do the summons engage the aggro on our terms, and under conditions suitable to us.
• Invisibility allows us to redirect aggro that is trained on us back onto the summons. For example, the aggro catches sight of us, rages hard, and charges in to rip us apart. We cast invisibility so that the aggro turns its baleful gaze back onto our summons, freeing us up again to cast death magic.

Remember that, in many situations, Mirror Image and Stoneskin just don't cut it. Our images and skins are torn through in no time under the collective attack rate of hordes. Invisibility is key.

IWD2 Summon Spells

• Summon Monster I: Beetle, Goblin, Dog
• Summon Monster II: Spider, Orc, Wolf
• Summon Monster III: Elite Neo Orog, Elite Lizardman, Werewolf
• Summon Monster IV: Minotaur, Red Myconid, Mummy
• Spider Spawn: Sword Spider
• Shadow Conjuration: Cyclops, Scrag, Cornugon, Glabrezu (Shadows only)
• Animate Dead: Greater Boneguard, Zombie Lord
• Greater Shadow Conjuration: Cyclops, Scrag, Cornugon, Glabrezu (Shadows only)
• Shades: Umber Hulk, Scrag,Cornugon, Glabrezu (Shadows only)
• Summon Monster V: Frost Salamander, Fire Salamander, Yeti (fire has aura, not frost)
• Summon Monster VI: Otyugh, Umber Hulk
• Summon Monster VII: Scrag, Greater Mummy
• Summon Monster VIII: Drowned Dead, Bone Scavenger (piercing and slashing), Cyclops, Red Abishai
• Summon Monster IX: Frost Giant, Greater Werewolf, Greater Feyr, Remorhaz
• Gate: Gelugon IWD2

Icewind Dale 2 (Index)	Stats IWD2	Skills IWD2	Weapons IWD2
Best Builds Icewind Dale 2	Races IWD2	Feats IWD2	Best Weapon IWD2
Icewind Dale 2 Walkthrough	Classes IWD2	Best Party IWD2	Wizard Spells IWD2
Icewind Dale 2 Enemies	Heart of Fury IWD2	Icewind Dale 2 Review	Cleric Spells IWD2