Basics/Secrets
I don't mean for this section to be a second instruction manual, but merely a place for me to place any tricks or other things that I feel like saying about the game. Anything that I feel like saying will be listing over the next several pages. Often in the walkthrough I will say to pull the creatures to you or something like that. I will explain such techniques here, as well as other things.
Terminology
Difficulty, Saving, and Resting
Save your game after every battle. The game has an easy to use quicksave system, as well as autosaves, but you still have to make multiple saves in case something bad happens. Not saving can lead to having to redo a hard battle or rough puzzle. Save often!
The average difficulty of any battle in Icewind Dale 2 is very hard. You are likely going to be beaten within an inch of death during most battles. This is because the game is less quest-oriented and more hack and slash! Don't expect a billion side quests like in Baldur's Gate 2, there are few complex quests here. The emphasis is on trial by combat! That said, you will have to rest a lot, even if you use all your healing spells and potions. Resting is a big part of the game, and you don't ever have to worry about how much time has passed. Remember to save before resting, as you can be attacked while sleeping. If you want to, you can exploit these wandering monsters to get more experience out of an area.
Another rule of thumb is to make sure that you rest before zoning (the process of changing zones). Most areas will start you off in battle against a tough set of foes, so being prepared for the fight is necessary.
Basics of Adventuring
Search everything. Use the ALT key to display any objects that you can interact with. Use to learn containers to sort your gear - doing so will raise your carrying capacity. Look in every nook and cranny to collect as much as you can. Take time between adventures to sort through your bags - cleaning up your inventories gets you much needed cash and space for more stuff! Take a look at everything you find, as well as the stuff in every store. You'll never know what kind of gems you'll find!
Equip your characters with everything that you find. Magical accessories are rare in this game, so use the ones that you find to your advantage. Make sure that you items with characters that can best use them, and be mindful of the character's level of proficiency with them.
Prepare spells as soon as you level up. Don't forget to assign the new spell slots! Also, try to build a wizard's repertoire at all times. Buy any needed scrolls and write them into their spellbook as soon as you get them. Don't have clerics prepare Cure/Cause spells, as they can cast them without needing to prepare them.
Learn how to use the different feats and skills early on. Some are passive and don't have to be used, but most have to be activated to be used. Learning how to use them early on will allow you to use any new ones that you get much faster.
If you choose to multi-class a character, it is very probable that you will have to recreate your character's hotbar. Do so by right clicking on empty slots and filling them in with the desired abilities. This is especially true when melee classes get spells.
Getting into Fights
Sometimes you can prepare the battlefield by using the pull technique. Set your characters up in a battle formation and send one character up to pull them in. This is more easily done, if you have already been in the battle before and know that the enemies are there. At higher levels there is an alternate technique that I call 'Fireball fishing'. If you think that there is a bunch of enemies somewhere, throw a Fireball at the edge of the fog of war, and it will pull anything out, if there is anything there! Also, you can pull things out using summoned monsters, but this method doesn't work as well as it did in previous games.
Surviving Fights
The decoy technique can be very valuable. Simply send out a summoned monster, or high level rogue/monk to fetch an entire group of monsters. When they surround the hapless character, swarm them with large area effect spells like Fireballs. Improved Evasion will allow the decoys a chance at survival. By using this techniques you can drop the health of many foes at once. Also, fireballing your entire party is necessary at times, especially when you multiple wounded enemies in the area - sure you will hit your own party members, but you will also likely kill the enemies!
Keep on one creature at a time. An opponent that is near death still hits as hard as an uninjured one. Sometimes it is necessary to spread your attacks, but not always. Try to drop one foe before taking on the other ten. It will help you survive! The only usual exception involves enemy spellcasters. These foes require you to split your attention between them. Take on these enemies at the same time as the enemy tanks. Use your long range characters to take them down while your tanks deal with the close threats.
There are plenty of other things that will aid you over the course of the game - I will leave it up to you to create your own tactics.
Crowd Control
The whole purpose of using these spells is to save you from having to deal with all the enemies that charge at you. Even more important, you can take spellcasters out of the fight completely! Ottiluke's Resilient Sphere is great for this purpose - it stops you from harming the creature it contains, but that creature is also helpless to harm you. Encase a wizard in it and you don't have to worry about him right away (the sphere is better than a hold spell, since it requires a reflex save and not a will save to resist). Of course, once it wears off there is an angry wizard after you, but you should be able to handle it, if you don't have any other enemies to deal with!
Successfully incorporating crowd control techniques will give your clerics another use than healing, and a greater chance of surviving increasingly difficult battles! Just use your imagination to discover even more techniques!
The Bonus Adventure Pack
The only other bonus is a rare item merchant in Kuldahar is chapter 5. You'll be able to buy special items from the air elemental merchant¿
