I’ve personally found great effectiveness using cloud of daggers maybe more than any other spell. Funnelling enemies through a passageway with multiple cloud of daggers cast on the spot is probably my current meta. Then I utilize thunder wave/ black hole to keep the enemies on the other side of the daggers once they make it through.
Another thing if found amazing success with is getting a party to strength 20 as fast as I can, which then I find 90% of enemies can be thrown off cliffs for instant kills. Throwing enemies off cliffs also only requires stealth checks where the body hits the ground and dies.
Lastly there is a fun little cheese strategy I’ve picked up that I don’t see anyone talking about. If you cancel an improvised weapon attack with an NPC before you deal damage, you can move NPC’s without angering anyone.
That depends on the boss. The boss at the end of Astarions quest line can be trivialized by pushing him off, then he responsible a coffin for the second “phase”. The phase is trivial so you’ll get to loot him.
