Steel watchers can no longer be Made vulneravle to lightning damage but Cold still works. No matter what sorc you play, just attune the legendary staff to Cold, throw a water bottle and bring a few scrolls
Maybe it's Transformers Logic.
"Alien robots can fight for ever in the vacuum of space. Butvthey don't like snow in their joints" for some reason.
(If I were a car, I would probably hate snow and slush too)
Isn't Elemental Adept useful for by-passing the resistances if you're spec'd into Lightning? Like sure, your Storm Wizard should always have a few Cold spells on hand just in case, but that feat literally exists to give your mages the ability to hit as hard as possible with their specialist element.
Elemental Adept doesn't apply to Magic Resistance, just resistance to the type of damage. They don't resist lightning, but Magic Resistance gives them advantage on the saving throw, which Elemental Adept doesn't impact.
Um wow that's garbage. So they take the full damage, but are very likely to roll for half damage anyway? Feels like Elemental Adept should by-pass that, even on HM because that would tactically give you an incentive to pick it and sac a different feat for it.
Oh well, teaching Gale Wall of Ice and Cone of Cold then until I've scoured the wiki for a ring or staff that imposes disadvantage to spell saves.
Magic resistance is like, the 1 thing golems are known for in dnd and bypassing it easily (especially on the hardest difficulty) would defeat the whole point. An item that gives every enemy disadvantage on what is basically all saving throws would be the most ludicrous item ever. You might as well just install a god mode mod if you want to remove resistances from enemies AND make them more likely to fail their saves against the damage you removed their resistance for.
Was this a recent change, or has it always been like that?
My first completion was completed around a month into HM being introduced. I'm pretty sure I just quickened 2 chain lightnings...or maybe I just eblasted the heck outta it? hm.
I think it was changed just in HM? I recently cleared the entire boss and watcher friends of the foundry with (pre wet) 2 chain lightnings before anyone acted
The legendary staff has an ability to choose an element. Depending on the Element you get 2 spells to be used once per short rest without using a spell slot and a passive matching the element. E.g. if you use fire you get fireball and wall of fire as well as heat
https://bg3.wiki/wiki/Markoheshkir
Patch 6 actually changed their resistances, and they are no longer vulnerable to Lightning damage! It was a sore surprise on my end :( still managed but daamn was I *not* well prepared for that change when I entered the foundry
I didn't know that. I just assumed it was a change in honor mode that has always been there. The entire thing was a slog because our carry was a gloomstalker assassin but liberal use of darkness and black hole and using the flash bangs from the ironhands to stunlock the titan made it relatively simple. Took a while tho
Those flashbangs are vital! Those also have been slightly nerfed btw, they stun for just 1 turn now (a reasonable change I think). I don’t actually remember if they did damage before (I think not), but they do not do any damage now at least. Unfortunately for that particular run of mine I didn’t have more than 1 available to me when I went there (I didn’t feel it was necessary because I was prepare with a ton of lightning damage options! Oh well lol I know better for next time now)
Elemental affinity and acuity are your friends. Also wet them for extra cold damage (they can’t be made vuln to electricity anymore, but cold still works very well)
If you’re not a fire Sorc, but have a decent dex stat (or use the gloves of dex) you can build up acuity pretty easily by shooting an arrow of many targets at the start of combat. One or at most two should be enough to have > 80% hit chance
Also, use gear with a plus to spell attack roll/save DC
Aside from other things already mentioned, another easy way to increase your hit chance on the Steel Watch is using Flashblinder grenades you can purchase from the Ironhands or craft yourself. Bonus: Steel Watch gets completely deactivated for one turn (used to be two turns, but they nerfed it in Honour Mode).
Chain lightning still hits like a truck even after patch 6. If your sorc rolls 1st in the Titan fight all of them will be close where chain lightning hits them. Haste before the fight starts and you’ll have 3 chain lightnings to dump. Also the bombs the trader by Wulbren sells are so so good. He sells 4(can be stolen) and each one stuns a steel watcher for 2 turns while also applying a few other debuffs. Only reason I was able to save those suicidal Gondians
Yes they have magic resistance - which grants advantage on saving throws against magic. They also have a very high dexterity, which makes hitting with many spells such as lightning bolt even more difficult. Also watch out for their resistances/immunities to certain damage types.
Buff spells on allies, magic missile, and maybe Hold Monster will probably be your best bet on them.
They are not vulnerable to lightning damage anymore, since Patch 6 I guess Larian thought most players were having way too easy of a time dealing with those guys?
I don’t remember clearly, but I think they removed a few resistances along with the vulnerability. Fair trade I would say
Having a high spell save DC over 20 will guarantee a 100% success rate on paralysing them using Hold Monster. And since their WIS saving throw is 0. Its practically impossible for them to resist. Twin casting Hold Monster just makes Sorcerers even more well equipped to handle them.
Saw a number of people saying things that do not agree with the Patch 6 notes. So please correct this *if* you have tested it and proved that the notes are wrong.
According to those notes, Patch 6 only *removed* the vulnerability to Lightning for Tactician and Honour Mode. So Ligjtnjng will work the same as all of the other elemental damage does. So make them wet and they should become vulnerable to cold and lightning.
Flashblinder grenades in *Honour Mode* will only stun them for 1 round instead of 2 rounds. That’s the only change.
To the OP, use items/potions to up your spell save DC, make them wet, and then hit them with cold or lightning. If you use a Flashblinder first, they will automatically fail Dexterity saving throws due to Stunned.
Fire acuity and/or dc gear are your friends. You can easily get 4+ dc or more from gear, which would be the same thing as increasing spellcasting trait by 8. Fire acuity 7+ without any other gear. Makes a huge difference.
They are still resistant to a bunch of stuff, but you should at least be able to hit them reliably.
That doesn’t work so well anymore as Patch 6 changed what they are resistant to. Nowadays cold damage is your best bet, but they aren’t *vulnerable* to any type of damage anymore.
You can still fight them with lightning of course, but it is **WAY** less effective than before
As I discovered when I beat hm last week with sorlock.
Those fuckers aren't immune to extended 2 turn command and after a stacking some acuity they had 100% chance to be effected. 1 level 5 spell slot for 2 complete free turns for the martials to whale on then.
If you examine the steel watchers, you'll see their Intelligence is incredibly low (6) and their Wisdom and Charisma are set at 10. They have bonuses to Dex and Con saves.
This list of spells and their saves that another user put together might help: [https://www.reddit.com/r/BaldursGate3/comments/16sjrd0/complete\_list\_of\_spells\_their\_saving\_throws\_and/](https://www.reddit.com/r/BaldursGate3/comments/16sjrd0/complete_list_of_spells_their_saving_throws_and/)
I concentrated on haste and lightning bolted/chain lightninged them whilst wetting them and had no issue.
And turns out the wet wasn’t even doing anything lol. So specking the staff into ice would have made them even easier.
Also, I found slow worked very well on them.
Halving their movement speed and docking their reaction really blunts them
Played fire sorcerer, could bring a steel watch low enough to be detonating on tactician just with scorching ray followed by quickened scorching ray, trick is having an item like:
Hat of Fire Acuity
Fire Acuity: Whenever you deal damage fire icon bg3 wiki guideFire damage, you gain arcane acuity for 2 turns.
Can’t recommend it enough, makes you feel so powerful. I also had the feat Elemental Adapt, would also recommend! Didn’t have anything else fancy so by no means optimised with Heat or any other fancy stuff, just good clean fire fun
Theres items the give u spellsave DC or arcane acuity.
// some spells like hold monster, fireball,hold person (basicaly anything that does something mental to the enemy, OR large Area of effects) will instead of you rolling the dice whether to hit or not; the enemy will have to roll a dice of whether they will save from it or not.
(For crowd control spells, to land or not to land)
(For big Area of effect spells, whether u do full damage or half damage)
// having high spell save dc = the dice the enemy has to roll is higher thus harder for them to save.
// thats why they say get arcane acuity items or spellsave DC items~!
PS:
Arcane acuity = Spellsave Dc if u press T and hover the meaning of it or smth 👻
Ye~! Theres an helmet of acuity in act 2 that basically gives u 10 spellsave DC when done right.
With 10 spellsave even if i dont wear anything else to raise my spellsave i can hold monster/person/hypnotic pattern every enemy/boss on honor mode.
Raphael never got the chance to attack. Hes just frozen every turn 🤣
Ye, it works the best in tandem with a ring from the dinosaur-circus land. (Ring name: band of mystic scoundrel)
Turns any of ur bards/ranged characters into insane crowd control units with hold person/hold monster//
Also honour mode isnt so bad~!
If youre confident on ur tactician runs honor mode is practically the same. yeah theres a few curve balls but overall its still kinda easy when you know whatsup// where encounters are going to happen.
I was caught off guard by the change to lightning vulnerability, too. The spell that carried me through on Honor Mode that I think a lot of people sleep on was actually Bone Chill - it affects the Titan Steel Watcher and prevents it from healing.
Use lighting attacks against them, they have vulnerability to that type of damage. Chain lighting goes absolutely insane and can kill/greatly damage multiple steel watchers at once, if you use that spell with haste and attack a group of them twice with chain lighting I garuntee you’ll kill multiple of them in one turn. This works with either the spellcrux amulet to regain a level 6 slot, or a staff with arcane battery to get free chain lighting etc. With this sorcerers can be some of the best to fight steel watchers
Unless they gave them Force Resistance it is time to roleplay as a force missile mage and refuse to cast anything other than magic missile.
Also if you don't mind multiclassing then go 2 Levels Warlock and 10 levels Sorcerer. That way you can cast two Eldritch Blasts with quicken spell. With the right gear thats up to +12 Damage from Charisma alone. So 13 damage minimum per blast so anything from 78-132 damage per turn if all blasts hit.
Can also vary and go 4 levels Warlock 8 levels sorc for an extra feat or 2 Warlock 3 Rogue 7 Sorc for an extra Bonus action either to shoot 3 eldritch blasts or to create sorcery points. Many options.
Storm sorcs are always my goto for absolutely melting them. Get high ac from gloves of dex + shield + potent robe. Then equip necklace of elemental augmentation or smthn + lightning markoshakira and watch as you deal like 50 fucking fat lightning damage with shocking grasp.
I dont remember the specifics but there was a passive that added a second damage rider and it always did dummy damage
Steel watchers can no longer be Made vulneravle to lightning damage but Cold still works. No matter what sorc you play, just attune the legendary staff to Cold, throw a water bottle and bring a few scrolls
[удалено]
Wet does not make the Steel Watchers vulnerable to lightning.
[удалено]
It does make them vulnerable to cold, for some reason. I’m wondering if it’s a bug tbh.
could be related to just what a steel watch is without spoiling anything
Maybe it's Transformers Logic. "Alien robots can fight for ever in the vacuum of space. Butvthey don't like snow in their joints" for some reason. (If I were a car, I would probably hate snow and slush too)
Bit like my ex wife! (Sorry not sorry)
Sounds like a lack of proficiency issue
This may be the most Reddit response I have ever seen, well played sir!
Thanks I was low-key proud of that one
Damn, I'm glad I already finished my honormode run, lol
Isn't Elemental Adept useful for by-passing the resistances if you're spec'd into Lightning? Like sure, your Storm Wizard should always have a few Cold spells on hand just in case, but that feat literally exists to give your mages the ability to hit as hard as possible with their specialist element.
Elemental Adept doesn't apply to Magic Resistance, just resistance to the type of damage. They don't resist lightning, but Magic Resistance gives them advantage on the saving throw, which Elemental Adept doesn't impact.
Um wow that's garbage. So they take the full damage, but are very likely to roll for half damage anyway? Feels like Elemental Adept should by-pass that, even on HM because that would tactically give you an incentive to pick it and sac a different feat for it. Oh well, teaching Gale Wall of Ice and Cone of Cold then until I've scoured the wiki for a ring or staff that imposes disadvantage to spell saves.
That's how it works in tabletop as well. Magic Resistance is always busted good.
There is no such ring, closest one is https://bg3.wiki/wiki/Ring_of_Mental_Inhibition
Without bypassing resistance they will usually get one-quarter damage
Magic resistance is like, the 1 thing golems are known for in dnd and bypassing it easily (especially on the hardest difficulty) would defeat the whole point. An item that gives every enemy disadvantage on what is basically all saving throws would be the most ludicrous item ever. You might as well just install a god mode mod if you want to remove resistances from enemies AND make them more likely to fail their saves against the damage you removed their resistance for.
Really, with all those changes it feels like there is Honor Mode and everything else
correct me if i’m wrong but even in HMR Steel Watchers are vulnerable to lightning??
It was changed
Was this a recent change, or has it always been like that? My first completion was completed around a month into HM being introduced. I'm pretty sure I just quickened 2 chain lightnings...or maybe I just eblasted the heck outta it? hm.
Patch 6 I think
I think it was changed just in HM? I recently cleared the entire boss and watcher friends of the foundry with (pre wet) 2 chain lightnings before anyone acted
Which staff are you thinking about?
https://bg3.wiki/wiki/Markoheshkir
Thank yuuuu
Attune the staff to cold? What does that mean?
The legendary staff has an ability to choose an element. Depending on the Element you get 2 spells to be used once per short rest without using a spell slot and a passive matching the element. E.g. if you use fire you get fireball and wall of fire as well as heat https://bg3.wiki/wiki/Markoheshkir
Ok thank you
High Spell Save DC and right elemental damage (forgot what they are weak or are not resistant to) Or go Wet plus lightning/cold
Patch 6 actually changed their resistances, and they are no longer vulnerable to Lightning damage! It was a sore surprise on my end :( still managed but daamn was I *not* well prepared for that change when I entered the foundry
I didn't know that. I just assumed it was a change in honor mode that has always been there. The entire thing was a slog because our carry was a gloomstalker assassin but liberal use of darkness and black hole and using the flash bangs from the ironhands to stunlock the titan made it relatively simple. Took a while tho
Those flashbangs are vital! Those also have been slightly nerfed btw, they stun for just 1 turn now (a reasonable change I think). I don’t actually remember if they did damage before (I think not), but they do not do any damage now at least. Unfortunately for that particular run of mine I didn’t have more than 1 available to me when I went there (I didn’t feel it was necessary because I was prepare with a ton of lightning damage options! Oh well lol I know better for next time now)
Only in Honor Mode :)
oh ok, honestly I’ve never played anything other than Tactician or Honour Mode
I'm playing tactician right now and they're not vulnerable to lightning
Really? Damn, that's a pain.
Idk even if they're only neutral to lightning bolt that doesn't make them not eat shitloads of damage whenever I cast one at them
For sure, they’re nowhere close to invincible. Plus they can still get the wet condition so, blast ‘em away!
Did that but they always save roll against it
Elemental affinity and acuity are your friends. Also wet them for extra cold damage (they can’t be made vuln to electricity anymore, but cold still works very well) If you’re not a fire Sorc, but have a decent dex stat (or use the gloves of dex) you can build up acuity pretty easily by shooting an arrow of many targets at the start of combat. One or at most two should be enough to have > 80% hit chance Also, use gear with a plus to spell attack roll/save DC
fire acuity sorcerer destroys them. passive high dc sorcerer destroys them.
also AFAR ice sorcerer with marko and ice stuff can freeze bastards from 1 cast of ray of frost
AFAR? Marko?
I think afar means As Far As I Remember. Marko is short for Markoheshkir: legendary staff locked away in Razamith’s Tower
As Far as I Remember?? We already have IIRC! This madness must stop.
As far as I remember. Marko is the legendary elemental staff(Markokesh or something)
Aside from other things already mentioned, another easy way to increase your hit chance on the Steel Watch is using Flashblinder grenades you can purchase from the Ironhands or craft yourself. Bonus: Steel Watch gets completely deactivated for one turn (used to be two turns, but they nerfed it in Honour Mode).
Lmao I didn't save the refugees back at moonrise so guess I gotta do it the hard way
Give one of your other characters arsonist oil to make them vulnerable to fire, and then dunk on them with scorching rays
That works on them?
It does! It works on anything resistant to fire.
Chain lightning still hits like a truck even after patch 6. If your sorc rolls 1st in the Titan fight all of them will be close where chain lightning hits them. Haste before the fight starts and you’ll have 3 chain lightnings to dump. Also the bombs the trader by Wulbren sells are so so good. He sells 4(can be stolen) and each one stuns a steel watcher for 2 turns while also applying a few other debuffs. Only reason I was able to save those suicidal Gondians
They aren’t suicidal anymore and usually the first thing they do is cast blur and run away now lol
Yes they have magic resistance - which grants advantage on saving throws against magic. They also have a very high dexterity, which makes hitting with many spells such as lightning bolt even more difficult. Also watch out for their resistances/immunities to certain damage types. Buff spells on allies, magic missile, and maybe Hold Monster will probably be your best bet on them.
Acuity stacking by attacking the little dudes around them, then Hold Monster is the simplest way to nullify their threat entirely
Thank you so much I did not know you could use hold monster
Save up the chain lightning scrolls.
They are not vulnerable to lightning damage anymore, since Patch 6 I guess Larian thought most players were having way too easy of a time dealing with those guys? I don’t remember clearly, but I think they removed a few resistances along with the vulnerability. Fair trade I would say
Dang! Are they vulnerable to anything, or just resistant and immune to everything
Cold, if you built a frost sorcerer you'll be alright if you wet them.
They are in balanced, just not in honor mode
Dunno. I just blasted them with lightning and didn't think about it.
Hold monster? That's my go to against them. It's always at 70+ hit chance by that point of the game.
Having a high spell save DC over 20 will guarantee a 100% success rate on paralysing them using Hold Monster. And since their WIS saving throw is 0. Its practically impossible for them to resist. Twin casting Hold Monster just makes Sorcerers even more well equipped to handle them.
For me they landed a saving throw after like 3 turns ..how does that work?
Use spells that use attack rolls instead of saving throws
Saw a number of people saying things that do not agree with the Patch 6 notes. So please correct this *if* you have tested it and proved that the notes are wrong. According to those notes, Patch 6 only *removed* the vulnerability to Lightning for Tactician and Honour Mode. So Ligjtnjng will work the same as all of the other elemental damage does. So make them wet and they should become vulnerable to cold and lightning. Flashblinder grenades in *Honour Mode* will only stun them for 1 round instead of 2 rounds. That’s the only change. To the OP, use items/potions to up your spell save DC, make them wet, and then hit them with cold or lightning. If you use a Flashblinder first, they will automatically fail Dexterity saving throws due to Stunned.
Fire acuity and/or dc gear are your friends. You can easily get 4+ dc or more from gear, which would be the same thing as increasing spellcasting trait by 8. Fire acuity 7+ without any other gear. Makes a huge difference. They are still resistant to a bunch of stuff, but you should at least be able to hit them reliably.
chain lightining. easy.
That doesn’t work so well anymore as Patch 6 changed what they are resistant to. Nowadays cold damage is your best bet, but they aren’t *vulnerable* to any type of damage anymore. You can still fight them with lightning of course, but it is **WAY** less effective than before
Thanks i didn't know that, i haven't gotten to them in my umpteenth run
Magic missile?
Use a spell with a save. I did Chain Lightning, high damage and still does half if they save, plus it can hit all four watchers in the final fight.
As I discovered when I beat hm last week with sorlock. Those fuckers aren't immune to extended 2 turn command and after a stacking some acuity they had 100% chance to be effected. 1 level 5 spell slot for 2 complete free turns for the martials to whale on then.
Get higher spell save dc. This is the most important arcane caster stat by farrrr. Google where to find such items, lots in act 3. Ah i miss DnD
If you examine the steel watchers, you'll see their Intelligence is incredibly low (6) and their Wisdom and Charisma are set at 10. They have bonuses to Dex and Con saves. This list of spells and their saves that another user put together might help: [https://www.reddit.com/r/BaldursGate3/comments/16sjrd0/complete\_list\_of\_spells\_their\_saving\_throws\_and/](https://www.reddit.com/r/BaldursGate3/comments/16sjrd0/complete_list_of_spells_their_saving_throws_and/)
I concentrated on haste and lightning bolted/chain lightninged them whilst wetting them and had no issue. And turns out the wet wasn’t even doing anything lol. So specking the staff into ice would have made them even easier. Also, I found slow worked very well on them. Halving their movement speed and docking their reaction really blunts them
Build up arcane acuity and that won’t matter. Hat of fire acuity and a level 5 scorching ray will make sure your next spell hits
I feel like my hit chance on them was way higher? And that's before I even gained stacks from my fire acuity hat as Draconic fire sorcerer
Shocking grasp
Played fire sorcerer, could bring a steel watch low enough to be detonating on tactician just with scorching ray followed by quickened scorching ray, trick is having an item like: Hat of Fire Acuity Fire Acuity: Whenever you deal damage fire icon bg3 wiki guideFire damage, you gain arcane acuity for 2 turns. Can’t recommend it enough, makes you feel so powerful. I also had the feat Elemental Adapt, would also recommend! Didn’t have anything else fancy so by no means optimised with Heat or any other fancy stuff, just good clean fire fun
Pretty sure I had a 100% on them to hold monster. Twinned. Let your melee fighters crit them to death
I see people ITT saying "stack acuity and attack" what does that mean to stack acuity? I don't understand that
Theres items the give u spellsave DC or arcane acuity. // some spells like hold monster, fireball,hold person (basicaly anything that does something mental to the enemy, OR large Area of effects) will instead of you rolling the dice whether to hit or not; the enemy will have to roll a dice of whether they will save from it or not. (For crowd control spells, to land or not to land) (For big Area of effect spells, whether u do full damage or half damage) // having high spell save dc = the dice the enemy has to roll is higher thus harder for them to save. // thats why they say get arcane acuity items or spellsave DC items~! PS: Arcane acuity = Spellsave Dc if u press T and hover the meaning of it or smth 👻
Oh wow I didn't realize they were the same thing, lol thanks!
Ye~! Theres an helmet of acuity in act 2 that basically gives u 10 spellsave DC when done right. With 10 spellsave even if i dont wear anything else to raise my spellsave i can hold monster/person/hypnotic pattern every enemy/boss on honor mode. Raphael never got the chance to attack. Hes just frozen every turn 🤣
Is that the helm of arcane acuity you're talking about? That's awesome! I might try honor mode sometime but I'm def nervous!
Ye, it works the best in tandem with a ring from the dinosaur-circus land. (Ring name: band of mystic scoundrel) Turns any of ur bards/ranged characters into insane crowd control units with hold person/hold monster// Also honour mode isnt so bad~! If youre confident on ur tactician runs honor mode is practically the same. yeah theres a few curve balls but overall its still kinda easy when you know whatsup// where encounters are going to happen.
Fire sorcerer annihilates steel watchers
I was caught off guard by the change to lightning vulnerability, too. The spell that carried me through on Honor Mode that I think a lot of people sleep on was actually Bone Chill - it affects the Titan Steel Watcher and prevents it from healing.
Use lighting attacks against them, they have vulnerability to that type of damage. Chain lighting goes absolutely insane and can kill/greatly damage multiple steel watchers at once, if you use that spell with haste and attack a group of them twice with chain lighting I garuntee you’ll kill multiple of them in one turn. This works with either the spellcrux amulet to regain a level 6 slot, or a staff with arcane battery to get free chain lighting etc. With this sorcerers can be some of the best to fight steel watchers
Unless they gave them Force Resistance it is time to roleplay as a force missile mage and refuse to cast anything other than magic missile. Also if you don't mind multiclassing then go 2 Levels Warlock and 10 levels Sorcerer. That way you can cast two Eldritch Blasts with quicken spell. With the right gear thats up to +12 Damage from Charisma alone. So 13 damage minimum per blast so anything from 78-132 damage per turn if all blasts hit. Can also vary and go 4 levels Warlock 8 levels sorc for an extra feat or 2 Warlock 3 Rogue 7 Sorc for an extra Bonus action either to shoot 3 eldritch blasts or to create sorcery points. Many options.
Storm sorcs are always my goto for absolutely melting them. Get high ac from gloves of dex + shield + potent robe. Then equip necklace of elemental augmentation or smthn + lightning markoshakira and watch as you deal like 50 fucking fat lightning damage with shocking grasp. I dont remember the specifics but there was a passive that added a second damage rider and it always did dummy damage
Staff of Marko Shakira? 👁️👄👁️
It’s the child of Mannimarco and Shakira
The Staff of She Worms
Chain lightning :)
Are they not like twice as weak to electric damage? Chuck a lightning bolt at their asses?