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Creature Feature #14: The fearsome balron

E

Elyssar

Guest
Creature Feature #14 was unfortunately delayed for so long due to real life. =P

It is a creature of many names...the Slayer, The Collector of Souls, and the Lord of the Abyss. Each name means the same thing for an unprepared or laggy soul...death.



This daemon lord lives in the two lowest levels of Hythloth, as well as in the bowels of Terathan keep and in Ilshenar. He has a massive mana supply and hit points and armor to match...making him a very worthy opponent. Melee attacks rang from 40-70 points of damage per hit, and with high eval int his magic attacks are something terrible!



Balrons give massive fame, even to those at the highest fame levels. They give 800-2000 gold, level 5 treasure maps, scrolls, magic items, reagents, and 1 raw rib (carved). For a mage, energy vortexes and blade spirits are usually the weapon of choice against these foes, though now that is somewhat more difficult. Tamers and bards can use their weapons of choice against the balron. Warriors have been fabled to fight the balrons and win, but very few likely succeed at such a momentous task.


<font color=blue>Help a damsel in distress! Buying all tattered treasure maps on Baja!
99.6 cartography...39 maps since last gain...OH NO NOT AGAIN!
</font color=blue>
 
S

Switch

Guest
The First time I saw a Balron die was in Ilshenar, when a tamer took two dragons and two white wyrms. The Balron died, only taking one of the drags down to half life. What happened next should serve as a warning. Both wyrms mass cursed, and the wyrms and drags started fighting. Then the Balron respawned, and started beating on everybody. The two drags defeated the two wyrms, and then got destroyed by the Balron. The Balron is maybe the most powerful creature in the Britannia, and if a tamer is going to kill it, bring only Dragons.

The early bird catches the worm,
but the second mouse gets the cheese.
 
B

BJohn83

Guest
Lol or don't be guilded. Sorry to say I have never seen a balron :(.
 
F

flow

Guest
sorry to say? be happy... them's some scary son's a waffles /php-bin/shared/images/icons/wink.gif
 
T

thunderbirde

Guest
i once got a balron alone in the room by the stairs leading to lv 2 and then i teleported in mirage, my best-trained WW who is now 8 months old. i have 90 vet and gm magery and i was healing and vetting constantly but i took a balron down with one WW. mirage was pretty beat up though as he lost about half health. i think a well-trained dragon would probably fare a bit better with the firebreath.

"i will make weapons out of my imperfections."

thunderbirde
 
S

Soul Walker

Guest
To a bard they ain;t so scary. In Ils just sic the balron on the blood eles. E-bolt it as well. When the blood is about to die invis. When the next blood spawns, rinse and repeat. After a few bloods the balron can be e-bolted to death. Died a couple of times until I got the sequence right.
 
W

WolfZbane

Guest
A bard with enough luck and regs can kill one in the Keep (Avengers kick ass!).

I have once been in a party of 7 adventurers who beat the balron in a fight to the death. 2 people died and got ressed. The fight took long, around the 4 minutes. But eventually, we killed it.

People have always wondered who of the two was stronger: the Balron or the Ancient Wyrm. With the introduction of Ilsenhar we found out: most of the times, an Ancient Wyrm will win, with a sliver of health left.

I heard of people who killed the balron with one very well trained dragon and 2 vets.

Balrons have the sick habbit of switching target every couple of seconds; this makes fighting one a very risky task: before you notice he attacked you, it performs his 'double hit attack' and you're OoooOOOoooOOOoo'ing the night away.

 
A

Arathin

Guest
I have taken a Balron down with a single (well trained) dragon. However, this was mainly due to the fact there where about 8 of us there vetting him *grins* Also, before i was a tamer, i took one down through a wall with meteor strikes, along with a friend. Seemed a little pointless, but we did it anyway. For the amount of effort, the reward isn't really all that good....but i suppose it's worth it for the sense of achivement :)

Arathin Terrel-Fighter Thief, and Hired sword-Knights of Aldemier
Eldarn Terrel- Tamer Mage, and Tiro of the Custodes Fati
 
G

Guest

Guest
My bard loves to play with them in Blood Dungeon or Terra Keep. I don't like Hythloth too much because the room is so restricted. I never tried it with my tamers yet - but I can feel the temptation growing... /php-bin/shared/images/icons/tongue.gif

Concerning the balron's loot - I don't care to remember how many times I got a "substantial broadsword" from one - blah! /php-bin/shared/images/icons/mad.gif

And it is corect that if you lag only a bit with the bugger too close or don't watch out while he is fighting - two hits - uhm - hhmm - 1.5 hits are enough to make you go oooOOOooo very fast...


<font color=191970>Carpe diem!</font color=191970>
 
F

Fluffy_Duck

Guest
Used to fight them when hythloth's elder gazer room was split up and just used the teleporter to retreat when the dragons were taking a beating. I killed probably 20 and while there were quiet a few substantial broadswords, I think that the two silver vanq broadswords I got were worth it.
 
V

VeraAmadus

Guest
I once went to the terra keep before I was a tamer...or a good mage for that matter /php-bin/shared/images/icons/biggrin.gif I used to sit on the edge of the large pit in the keep where ther entrance to the star room is. Then my friend would lure the Balron into the pit infront of me and teleport up to the place above the pit next to me. We'd then mana drain it and cast blade spirits and engery vortexes until it died. We killed 8/10 and got a vanq broadsword each.


<font color=000080> Also: Dimitri Amadus (Archer/Axer), Vlad Amadus (Fencer/Bard) and others!</font color=000080>
 
E

Eloquin

Guest
I have started taking my bard/tamer to blood and nw dungeon in Illsh to take on the balrons. Who would guess that a young slip of a girl with only GM music could take on 2 balrons at once and win???? hehe what a wonderful skill provo is /php-bin/shared/images/icons/wink.gif as soon as I am able to tame a WW I think I will try peace fighting one against a Balron on my own and see how well I get on.

<center>

Eloquin Grand Master Tamer of Europa</center>
 
S

Switch

Guest
reactive armor is a must.

The early bird catches the worm,
but the second mouse gets the cheese.
 
C

Clive

Guest
When I was young...

We used to kill several balrons a day in Hythloth, where the rock-trap was. Balrons were stupid back then and couldnt even walk around a pile of rocks, but they still packed quite a punch!

No single warrior can fight and win over a balron in a fair fight(no healers, no running away to heal).

<center>

<font color=blue>^LONEGAMER OWNS^</font color=blue></center>
 
D

Dagoboz

Guest
Where does a Balron and Ancient Wrym hangout together in Ilshenar?

I have soloed a Barlon with a fresh tamed dragon in the blood dungeon. It was hard but alot of fun.
 
I

Ihatedumbpeople

Guest
can't wait
/php-bin/shared/images/icons/lick1.gif /php-bin/shared/images/icons/lick2.gif /php-bin/shared/images/icons/lick3.gif /php-bin/shared/images/icons/lick4.gif i'm ready /php-bin/shared/images/icons/army.gif lol /php-bin/shared/images/icons/takethat.gif
 
F

FenixDuran

Guest
Actually, I have seen archers take down balrons with no problem. one of my archer fisher friends stacks his blesssing items from MiB's and gets to about 150-160 dex, that with a heavy vanq x bow, he just rips through the balron. He never gets hit while being on a horse.
 
E

Elyssar

Guest
<blockquote><hr>


Where does a Balron and Ancient Wrym hangout together in Ilshenar?


<hr></blockquote>

Sounds like the start of a great joke! /php-bin/shared/images/icons/wink.gif A balron and an ancient wyrm walk into a bar...

I had always wondered which would win, the bally for the AW. At least someone has finally "researched" this (bet it was some profitable research too...)


<font color=blue>Help a damsel in distress! Buying all tattered treasure maps on Baja!
99.6 cartography...55 maps since last gain...OH NO NOT AGAIN!
</font color=blue>
 
W

whitesnake

Guest
the ancient and balron arent together but are outside so you can bring them together, the balron is outside chaos shrine and ancient down from there. 2 bards can bring them together, killing lessers as they go. and sic them on each other. havent done it but desperatly want to.
 
G

Guest

Guest
I would rather face a room full of balrons, than face the wrath of "the wife"!!

<center><font color=red>*your pet looks confused*</font color=red></center>
<center>
</center>
<center><font color=green>Courage is not the absence of fear, but action in the face of it!</font color=green></center>
 
V

Vasago

Guest
I've been to the Hythloth spawn, and I believe we were around 6 mage chars (before my first tamer). We took down the balron in around 10-15 minutes, and while the others stormed in for the loot (selfish looters...hmphf /php-bin/shared/images/icons/biggrin.gif), I decided to explore the area instead...

Unfortunatly I decided to go down the narrow passage to the south, and while investigating this dark place, the next balron spawned behind me, blocking my way back to the others! I got targetted and was killed in two melee hits...no magic needed...after that I died approximatly 10 times trying to loot my corpse, and in the end it decayed and I went home, accepting the defeat from one of the ultimate evils of Sossaria!!!


 
B

Boogie

Guest
Well, one of these buggers are responsable for my quickest dead ever on UO

exactly 1 (ONE) hit and I had 1OOstr and wasn't damaged.

Boom and grey screen. Never saw it coming.

after that day I started training to kill him on his younger winged brothers, The feared and dangerous Mongbats. I managed to stay alive here so this was more fun for me then the big one/php-bin/shared/images/icons/smile.gif

<center>
</center>
<center>Signature created by Baldor of Europa</center>
 
J

JackofChessy

Guest
only place i have taken downa balron with out shooting through a wall is in terra keep
 
K

Krysma Doomspeak

Guest
They can be taken, In hyloth if you lead them to the right place :).I have never tried it with my tamer alone. But Kry my bard has taken them solo. Here is a link to the story about my adventure.

<a target="_blank" href=http://boards.stratics.com/php-bin/uo/showflat.php?Cat=&Board=uobard&Number=2137020&page=0&view=collapsed&sb=5&o=7&part=>Kry's Bally story</a>


Selinar/warrior, Breeze windsong/smith, Woody/Alchemist
<a target="_blank" href=http://uoda.salmandesigns.com/>Feel Free to Visit the Jester home page here</a>
<a target="_blank" href=http://uoda.salmandesigns.com/hellaforums/>Message Board Here</a>
 
V

Vasago

Guest
Very nice story Kry!!!

If you want your screenshots to look better though (without the annoying stamp), I'd try UO Screenshot Utility. Its freeware, and its REALLY great. You just press escape, and your screenshot is saved to your desired destination and automaticly named!

<a target="_blank" href=http://www.mwc.ne.jp/katuyuki/UOSoft/Archive/uosu160.zip>UOSU160.ZIP (356KB)</a>

Well, just in case you are interested /php-bin/shared/images/icons/wink.gif


 
F

Falcon225

Guest
Yea i remember them days /php-bin/shared/images/icons/smile.gif
and my old m8 Obscure Ranger with his little "tricks* hehe

What goin on in the world today,,
People fighting, fueding, looting its ok,
Let it go,
Let it flow,
Let the good times roll.
 
G

Guest

Guest
I used to love hunting them about 2 years ago. They were so fun and dumb ;) However they still moved very very fast ^_^.

And actually - at that time you could kill them with an a fighter char -- with archery though. This was at the time that you could shoot through walls -- Gained a nice amount of resist -- took a while - but it was utterly worth it!

Now it's a bit tricky /php-bin/shared/images/icons/wink.gif.
 
G

Guest

Guest
It takes 6 full mana dumps if I dont provo anything (trap them in the hallway in tera keep) (GM mage and EI)
It takes 8 full mana dumps to kill the Ancient Wyrm. (No provokes)
Its better of course to lure them into the green in Tera and provo the Avengers and Ophe KE onto them.

<center> Riders of the Wind
<a target="_blank" href=http://members.home.net/daemonbone/>http://members.home.net/daemonbone/</a> </center>
 
S

sfbuck

Guest
The best thing you can use for screenshots is a little freeware image viewer/editor called IrfanView. You can get it at <a target="_blank" href=http://www.irfanview.com>www.irfanview.com</a>.

You can set it to capture when you hit a hot key, or to do screenshots at timed intervals, and save it to a directory. You can also crop images, resize, adjust colors and contrast and apply some filter effects. The best thing about it is that it uses up almost no system resources so you barely notice it running. And it's free!
 
C

Crimson Bolt

Guest
Well after much pep talk from one of my friends, and the promise of being able to kill a balron with out much trouble, i silently agreed (with out much excitement) to come with my friend to try to take on a balron. heres how it went down:
I will use Friend when talking about my friend (who shall remain unkown) and me when refering to....me.

Friend: 'hey crimson, would you like to try to kill a balron with me?'
me: 'ummm...arent they like one of the hardest things to kill in this game?'
Friend: 'not really, i kill them with just my drag all the time, its easy'
me: 'really? i dont see how you do it'
Friend: 'i just keep it healed and it kills the balron easily'
me: 'well then you dont need me to help you kill the balron then'
Friend: 'well come with me and ill split the loot with you'
me: 'hmmmm, i heard they give good loot'
Friend: 'they do, you wont have to do anything, just sit back and watch the show'
me: 'alright ill go, you gating?'
Friend: 'yeah, ok lets get ready'
me: 'im stocked on regs and ready to go'
Friend: 'arent you going to bring one of your dragons?'
me: 'you said your drag kills them solo all the time and that i wont have to do anything'
Friend: 'well ok ill bring my drag, all i ask you to do is vet him'
me: 'but you said i wouldnt have to do anything'
Friend: 'well if we both vet then were gauranteed to win'
me: 'hmmmmm....'
Friend: 'you dont want to see a dragon die do you?'
me: 'but you just said he can take a balron solo with just you vetting'
Friend: 'this isnt the dragon i was talking about, that one died'
me: 'how did he die?'
Friend: 'a balron killed him'
me: 'dude, you told me it could take them solo'
Friend: 'i did, but i never said he could keep doing it continuasly'
me: '..............'
Friend: 'look, balrons give vanq weapons, if we kill one ill let you have the vanq weapon'
me: 'fine ill go, but if I die, im gonna kill you'
Friend: 'alright, you wont die, just keep my drag healed'
My friend then gates us to the area outside the room with the balron, when i go thru the gate i see 2 mages killing one. when it falls, my friend tells me to come with him. A balron then spawns and my friend orders his dragon to kill, my friend then tells me to keep the dragon healed, i walk up to heal the dragon but then suddenly, 'OOOooOOOoOoOoO' im dead, he killed me in one hit. A king mage then rezzes me and i quickly go loot my body, 2 seconds later the dragon is dead, the balron has only been knocked down to 4/5 of his healt, and my friend is running like a little school girl at the sight of an n'sync member, i quickly finish looting and recall outta there and the last thing i see is a balron with 2 dead dragons beside him and him with 3/5 of his health bar left. That was my first encounter with a balron and i wont go back unless im with a large party.

PS-I did kill my friend for my death, hehe
 
S

sfbuck

Guest
I did go fight a balron with a large party a year ago. We all died a couple times but the balron wasn't even scratched.
 
K

Krysma Doomspeak

Guest
hehe yea those are acually pretty old before I got uoscreenshot, and photoshop 6.0. :) Now I don't have that annoying stamp anymore :) lol


Selinar/warrior, Breeze windsong/smith, Woody/Alchemist
<a target="_blank" href=http://uoda.salmandesigns.com/>Feel Free to Visit the Jester home page here</a>
<a target="_blank" href=http://uoda.salmandesigns.com/hellaforums/>Message Board Here</a>
 
N

Norrin_the_Hun

Guest
The first time I fought a balron was in Hyoloth. I gated in my mage/tamer and a 4-5 month old White Wyrm.......well the fight was short and sweat. The Wyrm and I both were dead before my gate there had closed. The balron hit the wyrm twice for half health....turned to me and double flamestriked me(maybe triple) and I was dead.....and it finished the wyrm before I realized what had happened. So fast that I ran back thru my own gate as a ghost to where I had gated into from and went and got rezzed. Did not even bother with getting my loot....

http://www.andreasen.org/bartle/test.cgi
Achiever 66%
Killer 60%
Explorer 53%
Socializer 20%
 
S

Spibey

Guest
Well, I reached my first lord title back b4 I made Spibey a tamer simply by buying lots of BS scrolls, used them to drain it's mana then once mana gone use summore to kill :)

<center><font color=00008B>Lord Spibey, Grandmaster Mage</font color=00008B></center>
<center><font color=8B008B>NaMeK, Grandmaster Warrior </font color=8B008B> </center>
 
F

Falcon225

Guest
my m8 used to solo it alot with a single drag,, i went with him once at it was pretty easy, just remember to arch prot 1st.......
then again yesterday i took the aw with a drag+ww and took it easy aswell

What goin on in the world today,,
People fighting, fueding, looting its ok,
Let it go,
Let it flow,
Let the good times roll.
 
N

Namor

Guest
I do balrons solo with my bard quite often...I do it in terathen keep....get it out into the swamp(the hard part) and then provoke anything and everything onto it...got a vanq broad not too long ago from it...as well as when you kill it...it usually has about 6k in loot on it from all the stuff you provoked onto it...heh

<center>
<center>
 
S

Switch

Guest
I had a strange encounter with a Balron today. I was hunting him with my mage(normal), and he killed me(normal) when I got a little laggy(normal). He looted my corpse, (normal) and then he opened my trapped pouch(NOT normal) and it exploded. I have never seen that before. I got ressed, got some more regs, came back and killed him. Sure enough, the item he took was my pouch, no longer trapped.

The early bird catches the worm,
but the second mouse gets the cheese.
 
J

JoranTowers

Guest
I haven't fought the Balron in a long time (since the creation of Trammel to be exact) and had a question. There used to be 2 Balrons that spawned in the bottom of Terra Keep at the same time. Is this still the case or not? I hear of bards luring this great beast into the field to fight avengers and such but no mention of provoking the two of them on each other. I had been considering working my way back down there recently but if only one spawns I am not sure I want to take the risk!

"If I am in the impossible business, and I am, then I want to go beyond the impossible." David Copperfield
 
S

solmyr

Guest
if anyone has ever wondered which is stronger hte balron or ancient wyrm, i decided one day to try and find out. in montor a balron spawns and not to far outside of montor an ancient wyrm spawns. i lured the balron out (died twice in the process, but i was determined) it killed pretty much everything, including two dragons, lots of daemons, ellys, efreets, lesser stuff like lava lizards, a pheonix, i finally got it out, ran away from it, found the ancient wyrm, which it also killed me, and got it to the balron. the balron won hte battle, they battled each other until both were almost dead, but the balron was yet to run out of mana and killed the wyrm. i finished it with a few ebolts. it was great fun, getting it out the dungeon, and well worth the loot, it just takes forever to get it out the dungeon. i was surprised the balron won, especially after whiping out a dungeon.
 
P

Phantom_Magic

Guest
i've killed a balron in terra keep fel, on my warrior/bard. no invising, no peacing just running. 8 avengers and 3 mares later it died =].

Outcast-bard of catskills
Phantom Magic-gm tamer of catskills
 
T

Trooper1

Guest
Man, I remember my first encounter with a balron. Two buddies and myself were going to hythloth for the first time to find the balron, and after getting through the "magic hallway"(took us a while to figure it out before we knew about teleporting through the thing, and it was the hallway on lvl 2 that you have to move through it a certain way, or it bumps you back to the beginning). When we finally got through to the third level, we ran into a "Lord of the Abyss". Thinking it was just another daemon, my two buddies ran to it, but I was kind of lagged, so I barely got to the door when I see one of my buddies die in one hit, then my other buddy tries to run away, and he too falls in one hit(man they pack a mean punch). I barely escape to the second floor(I was near the stairs), and almost die to an orc lord that's beating on me, interupting my recall attempts(this was way back before UO:R and trammel came about, and this was like my 2nd month of playing UO.) Had fun even though I had to escape.

On another note, a warrior buddy of mine was attacked by a balron, and wearing full plate with a metal kite and GM parry, he lasted 4 hits against it(this was tera keep). Interestingly enough, I lost conn trying to run from it, but because all my other buddies were running from it, somehow the balron seemed more interested in chasing them than killing me.

Lag........the #1 cause of death in UO, #2, the lost conn screen and stupidity
 
S

Sovietspi

Guest
The tera keep is my favorite spot to kill them. Sometimes you can even kill them in that little hallway if there are enough ophidians there. Avengers are the only things that even scratch them though, everything else they kill in 2-3 hits. It seems to take forever until they run out of mana but even then they are wicked nasty

Remember, if the women don't find you handsome, they should at least find you handy.
 
S

Sir Hannibal

Guest
Im planning on taking my 4 Drags. (2 of them have a 2 week training with Blood Eles and the other 2 have a 3 week training with Daemons) for a sparring match with a Balron.
My Veterinary is in the mid 70s.
Anyone here think this will be safe or completely insane???
 
J

jymi

Guest
well in the good old days anyone could kill a balron. just go to hyloth lure the punk behind the wall teleport over and let it dump on u. one EV always equaled a magic sword and about 1500 gold. back then the games monsters were vicious but not horrible. not with the AI, and dispelling. killing some of the higher level monsters has become pointless. too much time and effort for little loot. also the ancient wyrm in destard used to be a fun target of mine to hunt three years ago when i was first gming my magery on my mage.
those were the days
Daniel Johns
 
R

RVD

Guest
balrons and avengers are funding my sacrifice virtue gains. they arent so bad if you have a good connection and are mounted. 6 or 8 avengers and a few mana dumps usually does it.

fame/karma question here: is it better to provoke the avengers onto the bally, or the bally onto the avengers? i know the bally gives TONS of fame, but is it as much as 6 to 8 avengers? usually i go with weaker onto stronger (hehe, like either of them is *weak*), and sometimes ill get lucky and get the avengers fame although with the way provo is supposed to work, i shouldnt.

either way, killing balrons is one of the few pvm activities i still relatively enjoy. nothing besides pvp gets the heart pumping like him running at you after hes just para'ed you.
 
E

evilyaga

Guest
A friend of mine told me once he saw a balron walking through walls.
is this true?
i think he had a little too much to smoke....
 

Xel The Wanderer

Lore Keeper
Stratics Veteran
Stratics Legend
I remember a GM controlled Balron, Pre-Trammel, of course. If it were to target you, you might as well kiss your pixellated arse goodbye.

I saw it cast a fireball, A FIREBALL on someone at full health, and the next thing I know, he's eating dirt. Someone tried to melee it. Dead.

So. What came to my mind at this point?

1) Tactical retreat
2) Why not take a shot at the big bugger?
3) Be careful for the looters
4) "OoooOOOOoOO"

I deferred to selection "4" because in the midst of making my decision this bizarre, black balron decided to target me and have me for a snack. My ONLY qualm about this outcome is:

1) Did I taste good?
2) Did I gave the balron indigestion?
3) Did I gave the balron Montezuma's Revenge?
4) Damn, I KNEW I shouldn't have worn my light shadow archer suit...(Hey! I was a tank mage back then!)

Ah well. Nowadays, it takes me, sans Tames, approximately 5-10 minutes to take out a balron. I usually do this near the Chaos shrine in Ilshenar where the balron spawns continuously. Is it still fun, even after all this time??? YES!!! Great loot. Great karma. Random magical sword-type weapon. Did I mention a damn good time???

Your Humble Servant,

Xel The Wanderer
 
O

oogieB

Guest
Once a good bard friend of mine lured the bally in the Keep down to the swamp with the teleporter to the star room. I got my archer down there and managed to kill it. (No help besides pots). I think the scariest part is when he gets low on health and starts to flee - then you gotta go after him making him retarget you - talk about dancing with death...
 
G

Guest

Guest
<font color=blue>Ahhh - the almighty <font color=red>Balron</font color=red> - a creature not to be considered lightly.

I remember my second day as a mage, I joined a new guild and they took me on a hunt to the depths of Hythloth. Twas so hot and dank down there I thought we were residing in the very bowels of Hell itself!

My memory of that day is vivid as I first beheld the mighty Lord of the Abyss. I left such a pretty corpse at his feet.....
 
Y

Yellow Snowman

Guest
I fought a balron with a fairly well traned dragon once i hade about 80 vet but the balron killed it after a little while so i e-bolted it to death from half life. i hear that phoenixes are harder so im gona try to kill one of those next.
 
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