Fellow Gothic II enthusiasts,

I am playing this game for the first time and have reached the fourth chapter within 40+ hours of game-play.

There is an image attached that will show you my current statistics.

I do want to mention, that I love this game and are only, very reluctantly, seeking out help like this.

I am a Paladin with the Knights armor and wielding a one-handed weapon (90/90 Axe). I let Saturas destroy the Claw (Being a Knight/Paladin this seemed to be the "right" decision). Now I feel I might have made the game very hard for myself. I find myself not being able to beat Orc Warlords in a 1v1 melee at all. 20+ tries on killing the Warlord on Lobart's farm in chapter 4. I Holy Missile/Meleed/ran from his other Warriors and finished them all off but my magic is ineffective against this Orc Warlord. Summoned Skeletons get oneshot from him and I am just unable to think of anything but "wasting" a demon or golem on him.
I believe that I might have picked up some bad skills... like all the language skills and hunting skills also 20 points for making the +Strength potions etc. (no mana luckily).
Up until now the game has been a fun challenge and I have read some guides to help me along the way only to see if i was missing something. I am getting very frustraded with chapter 4. Very, very frustrated. Is there anything that I am missing short of "hacking" the game to easy-mode or restarting?

Thank you for all your hints/tricks/tips in advance. I really love this game, but chapter 4 is killing me... :_(

<3

First off, looking at your stats your 1H proficiency is a bit low (if you're focusing on 1H weapons). Definitely try to boost it up a bit more, as it has a very large effect on how much damage you deal (the proficiency % corresponds to your chance to inflict critical damage, which is 10x more damage than a regular melee hit). Also, while your strength is good if you've just been boosting it by putting in skill points, try to boost it up further with permanent potions (as strength directly affects how much damage you do). Now, as for that nasty orc, Orc Elites (or custom versions like the Orc Warlord) can be difficult opponents even for a well-built melee character if you just try to go toe to toe with them. However, they are yet another example of an enemy in Gothic 2 where tactics mean everything.

The best way to fight any kind of orcs (aside from shamans) 1 on 1 is to stand facing the orc then wait for it to charge at you. Interrupt it's charge attack with a quick sideways slash (and follow up with a second one just to be safe), and the orc should back off a bit. Wait for it to charge again and repeat the process until the orc is dead. The orc will probably try to circle-strafe during the fight, but just make sure you're always facing it so you can quickly interrupt it's charge attack. It can take a few tries to get the timing down, but once you do 1 on 1 orc fights become incredibly easy. Just make sure the orc doesn't get too close, otherwise it will launch into a flurry of side-to-side attacks that can be quite painful (if the orc gets a bit too close just take a few hops backwards). Fighting multiple orcs becomes quite a bit more complicated, but to an extent the same tactic can be applied, you just have to manage to positioning of the orcs and make sure you don't get flanked.

Thank you for your input Dark Phoenix.

I knew about the charge interruption. But they seem rather random, as sometimes the Orc will just walk up to me and try to slas-attack me. I am playing Night of the Raven btw.

I have never attempted to try and kill multiple orcs. But i guess my movement skills are inferior by far to yours. I have been trying to block a lot, i guess i should rather back-hop or the like to gain some distance.

I will try this right now :D.

Edi: no... i sadly used most of my Strength potions and consumables... I know this was likely an error. I have no clue why my skills are so low... I guess I used too many points in hunting skills and the like... I did not think that specializing is really THAT important in a game like this (aside from pumping mana ofc). I think I might just start over being a bit smarter now and having more fun with a well built character :). Should go faster too, now that I know where everything is etc for the most part :D.

Melee characters can be quite difficult to play in Gothic 2 if you don't build them for maximum power. Typically they should target >130 strength and 80%+ proficiency in their weapon type of choice. And even with that they still need to make use of good tactics against strong opponents (Trolls, Dragon Snappers, Orc Elites). As for fighting against multiple orcs, getting down the right moves is pretty damn tricky, and I ended up on my face many, many times. And even once you get good at it you still need to be able to end the fight quickly (which means being able to take out at orc in 2-3 hits), otherwise you'll still end up slipping up and getting pounded on. It's particularly challenging in the last chapter when the game throws groups of 4+ orc elites at you at once in close quarters.

And as you've found blocking against orcs isn't particularly effective, as if they launch into their slash attacks they'll quickly overwhelm your ability to block. As for specialization, Gothic 2 gives you enough learning points to pick up most of the support skills (hunting skills, smithing, alchemy, etc), but then you really need to focus on one offensive area. That means for melee picking either 1H or 2H and leaving the rest of the combat skills alone (including bows). One curve-ball the game also throws at you is the explanation that you'll need to boost 1H if you're boosting 2H and vice versa, as this was a mechanic that was in the original Gothic 2 but was changed in NOTR (in NOTR proficiencies instead just cost more LP as you get to higher levels).

you can look at my attachment in the Opening Post.

I never skilled any Dexterity, +Mana or Bows/Crossbows. The points there come from potions i found and the tablets. I did however distribute some points in one-hand then decided to put some in two-hand. I am not sure how I am supposed to get 130 STR. I am lvl 26 and am only hitting 90 with a Strength amulet and I have already used all tablets i found and drank all dragonroot potions etc... I think I will cut out some hunting skills on my next play threw. Just took me a good 10 sweat-inducing-minutes to beat this warlord (without reloads). I just never hit him very hard or hard enough to damage him... ugh...

Orc Elites/Orc Warlords have high armor, so you really need to be able to dish out the damage to hurt them them much. This is where critical hits (and thus weapon proficiency) become very important. The damage formula are as follows:

Critical Hits
Weapon Damage + Strength - Opponent Armor (minimum damage 5)

Regular Hits
(Weapon Damage + Strength - Opponent Armor)/10 (minimum damage 5)

Thus if you're not scoring many critical hits you'll barely be doing any damage to heavily armored opponents. With a 1H proficiency of 34% only about a third of your hits will do any kind of meaningful damage. As for getting high strength, remember that that is a end-of-game target; the typical tactic is to save all your permanent potions (or potion supplies) until chapter 5, by which point you should have been able to level up your strength to around 90 or so with just LP (using strength rings/amulets to boost your damage in the meantime), then use all your permanent potions to boost your strength into the 130+ range.

And congratulations on taking out the warlord.

The question is, does this Warlord charge at all? Because not every melee humanoid does. If the answer is yes then strafe when he charges, so you can swing at his exposed flank. Back off after two fast hits to avoid retaliation and to lure him into charging again. If you end up directly at his back you can afford to stay longer and maybe even score a kill with a single attack chain (depends on your stats and gear).
I could actually kill the orc in the cave outside Khorinis at level 1 by using this tactic. It took me more than two very intense minutes of sparring, but the satisfaction... :)

Then I met a wolf and died in two bites.


Edit: nevermind, didn't read you're done with it. Strange that you could barely scratch him, have you considered using a two-hander with better top end damage?

The charging attack is unique to orcs, and all of them except for shamans will use it if they're not very close to you. For most other humanoids (1 on 1) the more effective tactic is a block/swing/block/swing pattern, unless they have higher level sword skill in which case things can get a bit hairy. Also, while side-stepping then quickly turning and attacking is also a workable tactic against orcs, it is much easier to make mistakes with than simply interrupting their charge attack.

With the stats you have now > you are pretty much doomed in 4 th chapter.
In g2 night of the raven you need to invest in str before you take any str potions or tablets. Do not waste points. But you need sneak and lockpick. Also use the trick from the 5 point step trick. If you have 29 str then invest 5 into str and you have 34 afterwards, instead of going to 30 and then to 35 that would cost 10 points now it did only cost 5 points. In G2 Night of the raven i can manage it to be a perfect one hand fighter 160 str and a perfect bow master 160 dex and both best weapons ( level 50). Do not waste points on take trophies except for the beginning quest. Also work with the 5 step trick in one hand skill and take tablets/book to learn them later on. You need at least 60% 1 h skill now and way more str. The dragons will laugh at you later on.....

I found it's the opposite, in my experience. The time window to counter the charge is very small (one second? less than that?) and messing up results in getting hit. Dodging doesn't require particularly good reflexes, you just have to hold the strafe button while keeping the target locked. It hardly fails (you and your opponent need to be at a very specific distance and angle for this to happen) and it has the advance of putting you in a very favorable position.

I've had an hard time playing as melee especially at the start of a new game, until I realised I could literally dance around my opponent as he charged. Any other tactic such as parry/attack/parry results in taking a few hits, but dodging allows to completely avoid the damage.

I guess our reflexes are each suited to a different tactic. I found trying to sidestep enemies rather difficult, while I had a near 100% success rate with interrupting an orc's charge. I guess it's just a matter of preference and what works best for each person.

Thank you , all of you, for your valuable and interesting insight.

I am having a really... really hard time with this character. So I decided to Archive this save and start up a new run (again as Paladin).

I will not minmax to the point of bending over, but I will be a bit more thoughtful of how to spend my points.

Don't forget to pray (not a joke - I will say no more :) ) and donate to Inos a few times.