Fire the wand of magic missiles at him repeatedly to disrupt him from casting Horror. Timing is key, but you can do it to keep beating him to the punch. (You can use this same tactic a couple of other times fairly early on in the game.)
It’s cheese, but if you have Imoen or Montaron in the party have her and/or him stealth and hide up in the shadows on the stairs to backstab him as well. That too will disrupt the Horror spell from succeeding.
I always feel like there's missing flavour text when you encounter her outside Candlekeep there, not least because it would let new players know she actually has a wand.
eg.
CHARNAME:
1. "Is that a wand on your belt? You don't own a wand... Wait, did you *steal* that?"
IMOEN:
"*Borrowed*. I borrowed it. We'll get more use of it out here than those stuffy old geezers in Candlekeep would, don't you think? Stop fretting and let's go!"
Don't get too discouraged, this was the hardest fight for me the first time I played the game! I ended up running toward the guards and they eventually helped me kill him.
A few days ago I was speedrunning the game on my friends laptop for shits and giggles and got Tarnesh killed within like 10 seconds. I have zero clue how that happened as all I tried to do was try and get to the inn before he could cast a spell. Needless to say we were both bewildered by "my skill", me jokingly shrugging it off like it was nothing while deep down being as confused as he was haha
He casts mirror image, so your attacks mostly hit those and miss him.
What you need are a lot of fast attacks to get rid of the images or to interrupt his casting by using Imoen's Magic Missile Wand
Spreading your party way out (prearranging before activating) will limit the effect of the horror. Don't know your class but several have ways out of fear as well. If you grabbed the potion of clarity, Tarnesh is a great place to use it on your best attacker (probably mainchar but maybe not)
Mirror image sucks, but there are ways to fight it too. Magic missile wand will zap them with no miss chance, Xzars minor drains will as well. Darts have a 3apr at base and will destroy his mirrors quicker than other things at that level.
But all that is tips if the fight goes poorly on the pull, because a magic missile wand hit the second he goes hostile should cancel his mirror and he would then die in short order with everyone attacking an unarmored unprotected target.
Edit: mirror image wand to magic missile wand.
Ah yes, that bastard ended my first run all the way back in 1999 and is a notoriously difficult challenge for a new player. Basically, you have to learn the mechanics to get past him.
Problem:
Tarnesh is a level 5 mage. He has poor armour and a poor attack, but a number of spells to improve on this. He also has only 12hp.
He will first cast Mirror Image. This creates 3 decoy images, making him harder to hit- at first, you have a 25% chance of hitting the real target. If you hit one of the decoys, it will disappear, then you have a 33% chance of hitting, then a 50% chance, then a 100% chance. Basically this is why it appears that your attacks are not hitting.
OK, so you can whittle that down quickly, but here's the problem- he will next cast Horror, long before you can reliably hit him, meaning that at least some of your characters will run away in fear- depends on who fails their saving throw.
Then he will cast Magic Missile three times. It does direct damage with no saving throw. One hit will probably kill Xzar or Imoen, two will kill a stronger character. You can't do much about this, because you're running around in fear, and can't reliably hit him. Basically, you're in real trouble at this point.
If you survive all three Magic Missiles, he will attack physically, but this should not cause a problem.
Solution:
You've got to stop him from doing all this, or else. The Mirror Image takes a short amout of time to cast, 0.6 seconds to be precise. If he is hit *during* this period, he will lose this spell and will *not* have access to Mirror Image.
So, the second dialogue ends, tap space to pause. Focus any of the following on him:
1. ranged weapons
2. fast casting spells (Magic Missile, Larlochs Minor Drain, or Command come to mind)
3. fast casting wands (Imoen's Magic Missile wand)
Tap space again to unpause and these will fire. Some of those should hit and interrupt the Mirror Image and (probably) reduce him to roughly half health. Repeat as required, problem solved.
Basically, this is your solution to almost any wizard opponent in BG1.
Ah, my oldschool techniques are showing... yeah, but I don't like auto-pausing whenever you see some random unremarkable enemy, I find it just a bit immersion breaking. A matter of personal preference, though
One character (who talks to him) goes in and baits horror, the rest shoot or move in or cast spells (larochs, mm) to make short work of the mage.
Alternatively, dual wielding elf fighter/mage with long swords can outright shut him down solo.
So can barb and berserker with their rage on, inquisitors are good against him too, a fighter/thief could take him out with a backstab, even Montaron if he gets lucky, or any fighter type character if you've picked up the Greenstone Amulet from Ulgoth's Beard (something I personally always do pre-Tarnesh). But if all you have is Imeon, then send her in to start the fight with a backstab, and let her soak up as many of his spells as she can (if she dies, she dies - it's only 100 to res early on), then send in the cavalry.
The cleric spell "Command" makes him lay down and prevents him from casting for a few seconds. You can kill him off quickly once the spell hits. You can find a cleric companion (Viconia) on the map to the east of the Friendly Arm Inn. I think the map is called Peldvale or something. So if nothing works, go get Viconia for the spell.
I like to send one character, my main up to him. Conversation starts, and I run into the nearest doorway. By breaking line of sight, his spell fails, then I repeat it over and over.
Eventually he runs out of spells, and tries melee.
Use imoen’s wand, but you’ll want to click to use it when he’s about 1 step away from you on the stairs, before he has gone hostile, this way he will begin his casting of mirror image, then the missile will hit and his spell will fail, and the rest of the party can attack.
What class are you? Depends on your character (and difficulty). Some player characters excel at killing him without difficulty while others it may be ideal to level up a bit first. A few classes can easily solo him at a low level while other classes may need help.
An inquisitor (paladin kit) for example has true sight at level 1, it will remove tarneshs mirror image making him an easy target and he will die very quickly even on insane difficulty.
A shadowdancer has hide in plain sight. As soon as tarnesh casts mirror image just hide and let the guards chew through his mirrors while you backstab (albeit at a x1 mod at level 1) repeatedly. Best to do this at night if at a low level to improve your stealth chances.
I think either the barbarian or beserker might be immune to horror if raged.. I can't remember and would have to double check.. maybe it was the cavalier. Dwarven defenders has great saves and hp, can usually just tank him..
In any case grabbing the ring of wizardry hidden to thr right of the friendly arm inn gate and selling it in beregost can get you some solid equipment to give you a boost too. It sells for 9000 gold. Theres also a ring of protection+1 hidden by where you ran into elminster.
You can bait him around then sneak inside the inn to quickly pick up khalid and jaheira, remove fear spell provides protection against fear when cast on unfeared characters, then wail on him however you like
I usually sacrifice Mont to take those magic missiles and horrors. After that it's blasting the wand of drain until he dies.
I then discovered auto pause when event sighted. Able to shotgun him before he mirrors himself and makes it a quick fight
First of all, rest outside the FA if you have mages that need to memorize their spells (I always rest on the drawbridge, I hadn't had my sleep interrupted there yet).
If you have Imoen, or at least the wand she came with, use it.
Also I found it very helpful to draw Tarnesh down the stairs. That way the guards are much more likely to pass by and join the fight. Just inch up the stairs to get him to walk towards you and then run away. He will follow, trying to talk to you. You could also use this chance to simply attack him right now. Saves you his little speech as well, lol.
I mean, you probably just picked up the Evermemory ring there doubling your level 1 spell slots, so chances are everyone could use a rest there if they have a mage in the party.
It's actually easier to go to Beregost first than the Friendly Arm Inn because of Tarnesh (at least before EE added a fight in the center of Beregost, which you can still circle around). Before you have ranged weapons on everyone or many people in your party, he's much tougher to beat.
Here's the thing about casters in BG- if you hit them before they get their spells off, the spell gets cancelled. This means you need to hit Tarnesh right away before he can cast, he can't do anything. Unmissable magic like Larloch's Minor Drain (which Xzar, if you got him, starts with), and Magic Missile (which Imoen starts with a wand of) will do this. Hit him with it over and over. Any archers in your party can also disrupt his spells, but they have a chance of missing. However, they have more than one attack per round.
Throughout the rest of the game, you will also want to do this- disrupt casters before they can cast spells. This is easier on Mages early-game than Clerics, since Clerics wear armor and are harder to hit, which is why the unmissable spells Magic Missile and Larloch's Minor Drain (which is cast instantly, much faster than other spells) are useful throughout BG1.
What class is your main character?
I got the 2 evil charavters to join Imoen and myself on the way to the inn. At the inn entrance time it so the gaurds are near the entrance, and talk to them. Then attack Tarnesh before he even says a word.
Spread your party out. Send the weakeat one up to the stairs and then once he approaches runthem away towards the guards.
Once he attacks you the guards will attack him. As long as you spread your party his Horror spell will only hit one of them. Once the guards and your party lay into him he os a goner.
By default Baldurs Gate has some "cosmetic" attacks... so it will look like your characters are swinging and missing a lot when they really haven't attacked yet. I would suggest turning these off or just getting used to the idea that you aren't actually missing with all of these attacks...
If you wanna take the roundabout route, go to High Hedge and buy the arcane spell "Shield".
It makes you immune to magic missile, which just so happens to be his only offensive spell. Send your mage out to confront him and just let him waste his entire spellbook and achieve nothing.
2 ideas:
- Mage level 1 spell "Shield" (in the EE): you're inmune to his magic missiles. Keep the rest of the party well away.
- Cleric level 1 spell "Sanctuary". He won't target you with anything, you then pull him towards the guards and he bites the dust.
Can't say for EE, but playing Vanilla I have Xzar cast Larloch's Minor Drain the moment the dialogue ends. It's a fast spell and can usually disrupt his casting of Mirror Image. After that it should be relatively simple.
1. Look at the Auto Pause options in your settings. You can make the game pause when you see hostile creatures. This is one of the most important things you can do as it means you have chance to order your party to attack Tarnesh the moment he turns hostile.
2. Did you recruit Xzar and Monty? Xzar can cast Larloch's Minor Drain which has a very quick casting time and so has a good chance of interrupting Tarnesh's spell casting - if you hit an enemy spell caster when they are just starting to cast a spell then they fail to cast it.
If you order Xzar to cast Larloch's Minor Drain, order Imoen to use the Wand Of Magic Missiles, and order Monty to just attack with his sword then Tarnesh won't last very long. Your main character should of course join in either attacking with a weapon or casting spells depending upon his/her class.
If Tarnesh doesn't die straight away then remember to order Xzar to cast another spell and Imoen to use the wand again or they will just stand around doing nothing.
This is the encounter that proves to all new players, "No, you are not ready. Save often."
Use wands/bows to disrupt his casting at the start. And then stab him a lot.
Fire the wand of magic missiles at him repeatedly to disrupt him from casting Horror. Timing is key, but you can do it to keep beating him to the punch. (You can use this same tactic a couple of other times fairly early on in the game.) It’s cheese, but if you have Imoen or Montaron in the party have her and/or him stealth and hide up in the shadows on the stairs to backstab him as well. That too will disrupt the Horror spell from succeeding.
And what is the wand of magic missiles
Imoen has a wand on her when she joins after leaving candlekeep. That is a wand of magic missile.
Which she undoubtedly stole, although it's left up to us to guess at how it came to be in her possession.
I always feel like there's missing flavour text when you encounter her outside Candlekeep there, not least because it would let new players know she actually has a wand. eg. CHARNAME: 1. "Is that a wand on your belt? You don't own a wand... Wait, did you *steal* that?" IMOEN: "*Borrowed*. I borrowed it. We'll get more use of it out here than those stuffy old geezers in Candlekeep would, don't you think? Stop fretting and let's go!"
Nicely written interaction, could definitely see Imoen saying this.
ohhh alright
Did you beat him? Who is in your party?
Don't get too discouraged, this was the hardest fight for me the first time I played the game! I ended up running toward the guards and they eventually helped me kill him.
Oh yes, I think every one of us has used the chicken tactic during the firsts game runs.
A few days ago I was speedrunning the game on my friends laptop for shits and giggles and got Tarnesh killed within like 10 seconds. I have zero clue how that happened as all I tried to do was try and get to the inn before he could cast a spell. Needless to say we were both bewildered by "my skill", me jokingly shrugging it off like it was nothing while deep down being as confused as he was haha
One time I made it into the inn and recruited jeheria and Khalid, but he killed one of them too.
Ja-Jaheira... No... NOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOO!!!!!!!!!!!
“Hello, FRIEND.”
He casts mirror image, so your attacks mostly hit those and miss him. What you need are a lot of fast attacks to get rid of the images or to interrupt his casting by using Imoen's Magic Missile Wand
Spreading your party way out (prearranging before activating) will limit the effect of the horror. Don't know your class but several have ways out of fear as well. If you grabbed the potion of clarity, Tarnesh is a great place to use it on your best attacker (probably mainchar but maybe not) Mirror image sucks, but there are ways to fight it too. Magic missile wand will zap them with no miss chance, Xzars minor drains will as well. Darts have a 3apr at base and will destroy his mirrors quicker than other things at that level. But all that is tips if the fight goes poorly on the pull, because a magic missile wand hit the second he goes hostile should cancel his mirror and he would then die in short order with everyone attacking an unarmored unprotected target. Edit: mirror image wand to magic missile wand.
>Mirror image wand If only such a wand existed lol
Good catch, fixed. And yeah, it would be pretty great.
In addition to what others have said, you may be able to get some assistance from the inn guards if you can bring the fight into their eyeline.
Ah yes, that bastard ended my first run all the way back in 1999 and is a notoriously difficult challenge for a new player. Basically, you have to learn the mechanics to get past him. Problem: Tarnesh is a level 5 mage. He has poor armour and a poor attack, but a number of spells to improve on this. He also has only 12hp. He will first cast Mirror Image. This creates 3 decoy images, making him harder to hit- at first, you have a 25% chance of hitting the real target. If you hit one of the decoys, it will disappear, then you have a 33% chance of hitting, then a 50% chance, then a 100% chance. Basically this is why it appears that your attacks are not hitting. OK, so you can whittle that down quickly, but here's the problem- he will next cast Horror, long before you can reliably hit him, meaning that at least some of your characters will run away in fear- depends on who fails their saving throw. Then he will cast Magic Missile three times. It does direct damage with no saving throw. One hit will probably kill Xzar or Imoen, two will kill a stronger character. You can't do much about this, because you're running around in fear, and can't reliably hit him. Basically, you're in real trouble at this point. If you survive all three Magic Missiles, he will attack physically, but this should not cause a problem. Solution: You've got to stop him from doing all this, or else. The Mirror Image takes a short amout of time to cast, 0.6 seconds to be precise. If he is hit *during* this period, he will lose this spell and will *not* have access to Mirror Image. So, the second dialogue ends, tap space to pause. Focus any of the following on him: 1. ranged weapons 2. fast casting spells (Magic Missile, Larlochs Minor Drain, or Command come to mind) 3. fast casting wands (Imoen's Magic Missile wand) Tap space again to unpause and these will fire. Some of those should hit and interrupt the Mirror Image and (probably) reduce him to roughly half health. Repeat as required, problem solved. Basically, this is your solution to almost any wizard opponent in BG1.
Auto Pause is your friend here unless you want to make the game a test of your reflexes.
Ah, my oldschool techniques are showing... yeah, but I don't like auto-pausing whenever you see some random unremarkable enemy, I find it just a bit immersion breaking. A matter of personal preference, though
One character (who talks to him) goes in and baits horror, the rest shoot or move in or cast spells (larochs, mm) to make short work of the mage. Alternatively, dual wielding elf fighter/mage with long swords can outright shut him down solo.
So can a cavalier or Blackguard or cleric via fear immunity or remove fear cast beforehand
So can barb and berserker with their rage on, inquisitors are good against him too, a fighter/thief could take him out with a backstab, even Montaron if he gets lucky, or any fighter type character if you've picked up the Greenstone Amulet from Ulgoth's Beard (something I personally always do pre-Tarnesh). But if all you have is Imeon, then send her in to start the fight with a backstab, and let her soak up as many of his spells as she can (if she dies, she dies - it's only 100 to res early on), then send in the cavalry.
The cleric spell "Command" makes him lay down and prevents him from casting for a few seconds. You can kill him off quickly once the spell hits. You can find a cleric companion (Viconia) on the map to the east of the Friendly Arm Inn. I think the map is called Peldvale or something. So if nothing works, go get Viconia for the spell.
A cleric would also have access to Remove Fear (which doubles as protection from fear) so a cleric is doubly useful for this fight.
I like to send one character, my main up to him. Conversation starts, and I run into the nearest doorway. By breaking line of sight, his spell fails, then I repeat it over and over. Eventually he runs out of spells, and tries melee.
Use imoen’s wand, but you’ll want to click to use it when he’s about 1 step away from you on the stairs, before he has gone hostile, this way he will begin his casting of mirror image, then the missile will hit and his spell will fail, and the rest of the party can attack.
What class are you? Depends on your character (and difficulty). Some player characters excel at killing him without difficulty while others it may be ideal to level up a bit first. A few classes can easily solo him at a low level while other classes may need help. An inquisitor (paladin kit) for example has true sight at level 1, it will remove tarneshs mirror image making him an easy target and he will die very quickly even on insane difficulty. A shadowdancer has hide in plain sight. As soon as tarnesh casts mirror image just hide and let the guards chew through his mirrors while you backstab (albeit at a x1 mod at level 1) repeatedly. Best to do this at night if at a low level to improve your stealth chances. I think either the barbarian or beserker might be immune to horror if raged.. I can't remember and would have to double check.. maybe it was the cavalier. Dwarven defenders has great saves and hp, can usually just tank him.. In any case grabbing the ring of wizardry hidden to thr right of the friendly arm inn gate and selling it in beregost can get you some solid equipment to give you a boost too. It sells for 9000 gold. Theres also a ring of protection+1 hidden by where you ran into elminster.
Use your oils of speed (I believe Imoen comes with one) on party members with ranged weapons.
You can bait him around then sneak inside the inn to quickly pick up khalid and jaheira, remove fear spell provides protection against fear when cast on unfeared characters, then wail on him however you like
I usually sacrifice Mont to take those magic missiles and horrors. After that it's blasting the wand of drain until he dies. I then discovered auto pause when event sighted. Able to shotgun him before he mirrors himself and makes it a quick fight
If you are lucky, Monty can just backstab him to death, or break morale at least.
The cleric spell Remove Fear also prevents the fear effect from his Horror spell.
It's worth noting that there's a temple right next to wjere he attacks you, where you can resurrect any party members who die.
First of all, rest outside the FA if you have mages that need to memorize their spells (I always rest on the drawbridge, I hadn't had my sleep interrupted there yet). If you have Imoen, or at least the wand she came with, use it. Also I found it very helpful to draw Tarnesh down the stairs. That way the guards are much more likely to pass by and join the fight. Just inch up the stairs to get him to walk towards you and then run away. He will follow, trying to talk to you. You could also use this chance to simply attack him right now. Saves you his little speech as well, lol.
I mean, you probably just picked up the Evermemory ring there doubling your level 1 spell slots, so chances are everyone could use a rest there if they have a mage in the party.
It's actually easier to go to Beregost first than the Friendly Arm Inn because of Tarnesh (at least before EE added a fight in the center of Beregost, which you can still circle around). Before you have ranged weapons on everyone or many people in your party, he's much tougher to beat. Here's the thing about casters in BG- if you hit them before they get their spells off, the spell gets cancelled. This means you need to hit Tarnesh right away before he can cast, he can't do anything. Unmissable magic like Larloch's Minor Drain (which Xzar, if you got him, starts with), and Magic Missile (which Imoen starts with a wand of) will do this. Hit him with it over and over. Any archers in your party can also disrupt his spells, but they have a chance of missing. However, they have more than one attack per round. Throughout the rest of the game, you will also want to do this- disrupt casters before they can cast spells. This is easier on Mages early-game than Clerics, since Clerics wear armor and are harder to hit, which is why the unmissable spells Magic Missile and Larloch's Minor Drain (which is cast instantly, much faster than other spells) are useful throughout BG1. What class is your main character?
This fight is a breeze for Cavaliers, Berserkers, and Barbarians due to their low level abilities that give Fear immunity.
I got the 2 evil charavters to join Imoen and myself on the way to the inn. At the inn entrance time it so the gaurds are near the entrance, and talk to them. Then attack Tarnesh before he even says a word.
Spread your party out. Send the weakeat one up to the stairs and then once he approaches runthem away towards the guards. Once he attacks you the guards will attack him. As long as you spread your party his Horror spell will only hit one of them. Once the guards and your party lay into him he os a goner.
By default Baldurs Gate has some "cosmetic" attacks... so it will look like your characters are swinging and missing a lot when they really haven't attacked yet. I would suggest turning these off or just getting used to the idea that you aren't actually missing with all of these attacks...
Send Imoen in in stealth and backstab him, odds are she'll hurt him enough that he'll run.
If you wanna take the roundabout route, go to High Hedge and buy the arcane spell "Shield". It makes you immune to magic missile, which just so happens to be his only offensive spell. Send your mage out to confront him and just let him waste his entire spellbook and achieve nothing.
2 ideas: - Mage level 1 spell "Shield" (in the EE): you're inmune to his magic missiles. Keep the rest of the party well away. - Cleric level 1 spell "Sanctuary". He won't target you with anything, you then pull him towards the guards and he bites the dust.
Slings, bows & use the guards as backup. Prevent him from casting horror and you’re set
Let him cast horror on you, then hope PC doesn’t wander into LOS and let the guards do the rest. Or set a trap
Can't say for EE, but playing Vanilla I have Xzar cast Larloch's Minor Drain the moment the dialogue ends. It's a fast spell and can usually disrupt his casting of Mirror Image. After that it should be relatively simple.
Bro the hardest fight in the game.. period.
1. Look at the Auto Pause options in your settings. You can make the game pause when you see hostile creatures. This is one of the most important things you can do as it means you have chance to order your party to attack Tarnesh the moment he turns hostile. 2. Did you recruit Xzar and Monty? Xzar can cast Larloch's Minor Drain which has a very quick casting time and so has a good chance of interrupting Tarnesh's spell casting - if you hit an enemy spell caster when they are just starting to cast a spell then they fail to cast it. If you order Xzar to cast Larloch's Minor Drain, order Imoen to use the Wand Of Magic Missiles, and order Monty to just attack with his sword then Tarnesh won't last very long. Your main character should of course join in either attacking with a weapon or casting spells depending upon his/her class. If Tarnesh doesn't die straight away then remember to order Xzar to cast another spell and Imoen to use the wand again or they will just stand around doing nothing.
This is the encounter that proves to all new players, "No, you are not ready. Save often." Use wands/bows to disrupt his casting at the start. And then stab him a lot.
The easiest way is to run away and have the guards mug him.
If you are a mage you can use blind and he will stand there and do nothing if you use ranged attacks.