Balthazar power chronology on LS3/POF

[ugrakarma.9416]

The evolution of Balthazar's power is still not very clear for some players. I'll list what I can remember.

I think the rogue Balthazar's is one of the most interesting villains, especially why he demonstrates that "knowledge is power". In LS3, his deeds resemble something more like a powerful wizard style than the some sort of "former god of war". In Pof, more powered, he mounted a army and lead assaults, then resembling more a "god of war" pattern. Although in the dialogues in various parts of the balthazar lore is mentioned as strategist, then his mastery of tricks and magic may perhaps be seen as part of his "strategy" mastery as god of war.

Lets go, the starting point is him chained state in the mists.:

On LS3/before

• Able to reignite to Sohotin with some sort of "fire magic".(plot revealed on Pof)
• Open portal from the mists; in/out.(plot revealed on Pof)
• Easy handle/access to other gods relics.
• Teleportation,(even when disguised as Lazarus).
• Some sort of "partial omniscience" (he knew Taimi had a machine, though he asked to show where the machine was and get fooled into the trap), also he knew about primordus atack on Tarir egg chamber, and all White Mantle trickery history.
• Various forms of fire atack.
• Its absorbed all the magic of the bloodstone, without showing any kind of bad side effect, unlike humans or creatures thats become "crazed".
• In "Heart of Volcano" history instance he demonstrated ease in manipulating magic, to the point of leaving Taimi perplexed.

  Scanner: No—life—detected. Only—magic—energy—present.Taimi: Nooooo...! Is the coast clear? Can I come down?

  : There's a god and an Elder Dragon down here, but you're welcome to join.Taimi: Whoa. Hotter down here. Is that...? That's Primordus! Right there! I've never been this close to an Elder Dragon!: Should we be worried about it...I don't know, moving and killing us all?Taimi: I theorized the machine would put it in a state of paralysis... Looks like I was right.: So what's going on with Balthazar?Taimi: He's somehow inserted himself into the system... **And he's so magically adept... So in order to absorb...**Taimi: Okay, I'll admit it. I don't really know exactly what's happening. But...here we are. Clock's ticking. What do you think?

• Still capable of summom Temar and Tegon.

On POF(to be continued/edited, i get out of time atm)

• Tricked Joko and locked him up on Domain of Lost; (edit and seemingly he did it easyly, since there are no signs of hard fighting between the two)

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What do you guys think, I forgot something?

[ThatOddOne.4387]

Balthazar being pretty damn knowledgeable and skilled at magic comes with being a God/former God and by all accounts an ancient being. Patron of warriors and martial combat he might have been, but in Tyria we've often seen the two blended with magic more often than not. It's no surprise then that Balthazar knew what he was doing with magic.

It's also pretty clear to my mind that the Gods merely removed his "divinity" aka the God magic, not all his powers. Without the divine magic that makes him a God, he is still a monstrously powerful magical being that is beyond anything on Tyria except for the Dragons.

He needed the power of the Bloodstone to get to the point he could start to work towards claiming powers from the Dragons so he could thus challenge the five remaining Gods + potentially his replacement. This to me is also a pretty clear indicator as to where Gods stand power-wise to Dragons - Equal or greater.

The Lazarus disguise was purely to avoid people noticing that he was Balthazar, rather than out of any fear he wouldn't be able to deal with complications. He could have brute forced his way to what he wanted, or indeed appeared in Divinity's Reach and rallied an entire kingdom to his cause as a returned God, but he chose not to. I figure this is because at that time Kormir was still present and could have intervened.