SCS Irenicus (Part V)

Part V of the Sword Coast Stratagems Guide for SCS BG2.

Back to Part IV: SCS Beholders.

SCS Irenicus

SCS Irenicus BG2 is a combat encounter in SCS BG2. SCS Irenicus is staged at the Tree of Life in Suldanessellar.

This post kicks off the resumption of my commentary pertaining to Best Party BG2.

I did not cover Spellhold or the Underdark; such segments of the campaign bore me to tears. So I'm just going to cover the final combat encounters in Shadows of Amn, and those in Throne of Bhaal.

Laying aside the triggers, sequencers and contingencies (all of which vary in spell selection), the prime problems presented by SCS Irenicus are as follows:

Irenicus immediately employs Wish BG2 to summon forth a djinni which either:

Removes our magical defences:

Or gifts Irenicus a double-duration Time Stop along with Improved Alacrity that allows him to unleash a barrage that often results in insta-TPK:

These spells include the gating in of a Fallen Planetar aka Dark Planetar whose repertoire is extensive in itself. Fallen Planetars surround themselves with Globe of Blades and move like the wind under Improved Invisibility, inflicting on-hit Vorpal and on-hit Dispel at ApR 5. They also have innate True Sight. 

Below: Nalia is vorpaled and Jan is next on the hit-list. Aerie succumbs to fear.

For good measure, Irenicus gates in a Death Gaze: Paralysis Nabassu and a mirror-imaged Glabrezu that is capable of casting Power Word: Stun. Both of these are capable of gating in others of their kind. He may summon a Bone Fiend as well. Also, even if the first Fallen Planetar has not been vanquished by Aerie, even if it's already chunked half of the party from the portrait bar, Irenicus may decide to bring in another. Merciless.

Without access to HLAs this combat encounter can veer towards "impossible" for a party of six mid-level mages.

However, before slaying the third and final parasite on the Tree of Life, we have Aerie cast Protection From Evil 15' radius on the party before Edwin and Charname gate in yugoloths (gelugons), and then Improved Haste them. This will draw out a cold-aura yugoloth demon called an arcanaloth, which will Teleport Without Error into the party's ranks, invisibilize itself, and then spam devastating icesheet AoEs. Since our demons sport innate True Seeing, they will find the arcanoloth, paralyze it, and rip it to pieces with their collective ApR (20,000 XP).

We then slay the final parasite in order to face off against the Exile. Once combat starts and Irenicus fires his contingencies and sequencers, RUN. Get the hell out of there. There is no way the party can survive Abi Dalzim's Horrid Wilting fired from a Chain Contingency. Those yugoloths we gated in earlier? Well, they're still getting about. They will Teleport Without Error on top of Irenicus and their collective ApR will rip through his hit-point pool and inflict spellcasting failure and cumulative on-hit Slow that basically ends up freezing him on the spot, akin to Best weapon BG2. Thus, Irenicus doesn't get off Time Stop or Wish. This is the easiest way to take him out.

And yes, those yugoloths (blue salamander sprite) can hit over his obnoxious Improved Mantle which means their spear enchantments are equal to or greater than 4.

Below: My Wild Mage, wielding the legendary Staff of the Magi for its on-equip Protection From Evil and Spell Trap, looks on as the yugoloths, having teleported on-stage, impale the otherwise elusive Irenicus with spear-thrusts.

That's right: We identified a major weakness of Irenicus: no PfMW.

Note that Irenicus will waste precious time on the yuguloths. He may even employ an entire Spell Trigger: Lower Resistance x3 just to lower one yugoloth's MR by 30%. If he does this, it buys us even more time. Dumb AI, right there.

Below left: When Irenicus gates in his own fiends, a mini-Blood War results.

Above right: Irenicus vanquished by a pack of yugoloths; the fear-affected Imoen survives.

Don't be too concerned if companions die. Just keep yourself alive and make sure your companions don't get chunked from the portrait bar. Upon reaching Hell the party will have been resurrected (unless they were chunked), and all of their items will be found as a pile on the ground.

The Staff of the Magi is your ace-card. Make sure Spell Trap is activated before Irenicus begins casting because Charname is going to be his prime target. This ST cannot be dispelled even by Wish. Also, SotM confers perma-Protection From Evil. Thus, you are protected from baaetzu and tanar'ri with a single click (and it can't be dispelled).

The greatest threat of the battle is the Fallen Planetar. You will need PfMW if it gets gated in or the party will be wiped out in a few rounds. Only Aerie can go toe-to-toe with it, but it's just not worth it: focus on taking out Irenicus so that it doesn't appear in the first place.

Fiend gating is everything. Lesser summons such as Mordenkainen Swords are a joke to Irenicus. He will just cast the Death Spell to vanquish mord-hordes.

Wish Impreviousness:

It gives the allies of Irenicus the DR HLA, Hardiness.

Next up: SCS Slayer Irenicus -- Sword Coast Stratagems Guide -- SCS BG2.

SCS Irenicus	SCS Slayer Irenicus	SCS Illasera
SCS Gromnir	SCS Yaga-Shura	SCS Sendai
Baldur's Gate 2 (Index)	Best BG2 Mods	No Reload Run Baldur's Gate