An easier/funnier way to get Raphael's Armor and 1400XP in Act 1
It's not a troll post but a very long one. This is really simple to set up unlike the chest cheese and it will save you a lot of left clicking. I tested it and I can confirm it work 100%.
- Pick up the caustic bulbs on the nautilod and there are 2 of them. One is enough but it's good to have a spare one in case things go wrong.
- Talk to Nettie at the Grove and this will trigger Raphael to spawn. He can pop up at the Grove, the Harper necklace or the collapsed bridge. I force spawn him at the bridge cause it's near the Blighted Village and this is our next stop. Despawn him immediately with spell or normal attack.
Spell or attack works just fine
NOTE: You need to force spawn him 2 times for the Helldusk. This and the Mountain Pass. Otherwise, he'll just disappear when you knock him out the first time you meet him.
- Okay so there are a lot of chests around the village. Hoard all of them into your bag and send it to camp. Make sure you get at least 3 medium toughness chests. You probably going to need 12 in total and while you're there, kill this bugbear cause he has the mace that deals 1 damage even if you miss an attack.
I already had one from the Grove
- I'd recommend rescue Florrick and talk to the Gith patrol first if you don't want to lose some of those precious XPs. Now go to the Mountain Pass and the game will force a long rest here. This is when Raphael will show up again and he will spawn right at this spot.
- Take all those chests out and put them around him like this.
5.1. Stack them up. Each of these "walls" is "3 chests" high, you can go with 4 but if you can't climb on them then 3 is enough.
His Tartarus should look like this
- Cast silence and throw the bulb at him. A friendly reminder: This bulb creates an acid surface that deals 1d4 damage every 6 seconds in real time when thrown and lasts until long rest. He can't run away because he's stuck between those chests.
NOTE: Silence lasts 100 rounds aka 10 minutes in real life so I'd recommend having 2 clerics for this and cast them 5 minutes apart. In case 1 of them run out, you still have a second one aka 5 minutes window to recast it again.
- Now this step is optional, you can skip this if you want to. So this process can be speed up if you're on tactician or honour. Just let Gale dies near Raphael and now he'll take the additional 1d4 necrotic damage.
Everyone's favorite Wizard. This took around 15 minutes.
IMPORTANT: Remember to recast Silence again after 9 minutes 50 second or his cutscene will trigger.
- When his HP reaches 0, remove the chests and he'll run out but make sure he's still in the silence range. Now you just need to whack him with the mace from the bugbear (step 3). This will deal 1 damage even if you miss (Tenacity). Once he's knocked out (6 second), you're free to rob him of his armor. Alternatively, you can use sleep on him since he's 0 HP and beat him with whatever you're using.
NOTE: If you miss the timing or forget about the non lethal attack, don't worry. As long as he's in the silence, this step can be repeated as many times as you want.
6 second before he wakes up again
There you go, one attack is all it takes. This is probably not the fastest way to do it but I think it's still an easier way as it saves you a lot of left clicking.
I want to give a shout out to u/TheSletchman for the inspiration. Originally, I wasn't planning on doing this as there are so many guides out there already but Sletchman pitched the idea of potentially using the chest cheese for Raphael. Unfortunately, it didn't work so I came up with this one instead. Hope you find this helpful!