Lasci

Not yet no i felt like the difficulty was too easy and at this point im just starting to get bored Jesus Christ. Stop trying to solo the game and beat the damn thing first.

Ceranai, have you even finished the game? <.<

I don't think I ever used my priest as a DPS. Just a buffer, debuffer, and a support type thing. I would say to make your rogue ranged. That's not to necessarily say that a ranged rogue does more damage or is better, but it's certainly easier. You're going to have a lot of things to worry about and even more distracting you while you're playing a PotD run; it's best to minimize the noise and just let a rogue auto attack and do its thing without having to worry about "OH GOD HE RAN INTO THREE PEOPLE" etc etc. Barbarian should be fine. Use a two-hander for the same reason you'd use a bow on a rogue -- it's less to micromanage. With a two-hander, you don't have to pay attention to whether or not your barbarian is doing damage with his current weapon type. In general, a barbarian with a two hander is going to do enough damage that you don't have to worry about using certain weapon types. You have to be careful with him for similar reasons that you have to be careful with a melee rogue, but he should be much more resilient than a rogue would be up close. In terms of a Cipher? Max might and have high dexterity and intelligence. It's hard to pick a bad spell with them, so just choose what you find most appealing.

If you can hit the dragon with Gaze of Adragan, it should be dead or you have much larger problems to tackle.

I know priests have a level 6 spell that speeds up the timer of buffs on enemies. I'm too lazy to check through spell lists to see if there's anything else for getting rid of enemy buffs.

I think there could've been more to the Watcher's madness as well, but did any of you wear headphones while playing? The whispers threw me for a loop. Sometimes I'd forget about them, and hear them, and go towards something I'd already explored on the map thinking there was an encounter there. It was a nice touch.

Paralyzing or petrifying Thaos himself is hard. Doing it to the golems is fairly simple. Maelstrom is also a very good scroll to create for your high-lore folks.

Oops -- I was for animancy. My bad. I'm curious what affects the outcome of Eder, Sagani, and Aloth's stories. I followed Eder's quest to its conclusion, but I can't for the life of me remember specific options in the dialogue that would make him live a less prosperous life, other than perhaps being an absolute ass to him. It could have something to do with the Skaen cultist quest, too? The quest log doesn't give much in the way of hints. I consoled Aloth about his Awakening and told him that Iselmyr was likely brought about because of protective purposes. "After hearing about how Iselmyr stood up to Aloth's father, I suggested that she may be more helpful than Aloth realizes. He acted skeptical, but I believe he's giving the matter some thought." To be fair, I didn't have Aloth in my party for long and it came as a surprise that he was a part of the Leaden Key in the first place. I don't know what I did about Sagani. I did the whole of her quest towards the very end, and I could have just been too inattentive when I chose dialogue options. My log says "We finally found Persoq. he was a stag, and he'd ben wounded by hunters. Sagani seemed to realize that this was merely a ritual for the comfort of her people back in Massuk. She recited the names of her fellow villagers, but I think she found the entire act rather meaningless." I can probably go back and do the quest over and see what specific choices have to be made to get the 'good' ending. Interesting! I wonder if going with Hylea was what affected people's perceptions of animancy? Or perhaps not giving credit to the Crucible Knights? Did you encourage them to keep creating the golems or whatever they're calling them? Interesting to see how much variance people are getting in Eder's ending. I assume you didn't finish Sagani's quest, then?

Paladins can do a lot more than just take damage.

Oidreacht, an excellent stiletto, is in the first level of Od Nua. Also: http://forums.obsidian.net/topic/74340-named-weapon-locations/

Grieving Mother is great on PotD as well. Kana functions very well, too. I never tried to use Sagani and Hiravias has awful intelligence, but the druid petrification spell is quite nice nonetheless.

Whatchu talkin' about? Monks are sword-and-shield fighters. Monks can fight with their fists, but unarmed falls behind pretty rapidly, and even if you want to dual-wield, it's generally better to use weapons. Call me a purist. I dislike the idea of using a shield on my monks.

It depends -- which probably isn't the answer you're hoping for. In general, however, getting through DR (or avoiding it entirely by using the right damage type) is more important than being hyper accurate. This might be a different conversation if we were talking about a game based on D&D where every roll is a d20 and that +6 from weapon focus is large compared to the variance in the dice, but PoE uses a d100, and you can only miss 15% of the time if your accuracy is even with your target's deflection -- which is never the case (your accuracy is almost always higher) unless you're on PotD. To put that into perspective, that would be like saying that if your attack bonus in D&D is equal than the enemy's AC bonus, you only miss on a 1, 2, 3. Of course, you don't always hit -- you can graze as well. But that puts a larger emphasis on how much damage you do and not necessarily how often you hit. tl;dr you need accuracy but in most cases getting through DR is almost always better because this game is so lenient on how easy it is to hit enemies, but not so much on how easy it is to do damage to them. There are exceptions, namely the final boss and a couple before him, but they're few and far inbetween.

I think the real hit box is just after her neck or "collarbone." I do agree that the Adra Dragon seems unnaturally difficult versus anything but cheese, but I haven't given it much effort. What kind of attack is her breath weapon? Honestly, other than avoiding getting charmed, that's gotta be the biggest issue people have with her.

There's lots of combinations. Anything with a Cipher should work wonders, though. A PC paladin and Grieving Mother should be able to "solo" the game.

Estocs if you want DR on your weapon or a pike something like Tall Grass will give you both reach and DR. 2h weapon style + vulnerable attack Just starting with PoE and I'm going with 2h carnage barbarian as my PC should I take Weapon Focus talents?(Since pike and estoc are in 2 different groups and I may want to change weapons on different places/enemies is going to be hard to get the benefits of picking one all the time) I don't love taking weapon focus if I'm going to take a weapon style. It's a bit limiting and your best weapon might not always in the weapon group you choose. +6 accuracy is pretty nice, but you can easily get away without it.

I'm 99% sure 20 is the highest it will go. Intelligence, Resolve, and Perception all get used the most. 14-16 in each will get you through the earliest parts of the game. You can get a +2-3 bonus from items, another +2-3 from consumables, and then you have the capacity of resting in an inn. Typically, in most situations where it matters, you'll have the option to duck out of the conversation and come back after you've prepared for the requirement.

I mean- It's a Cipher. That's kinda a given. <.<

Use the Cipher's knockdown ability that targets an ally at the beginning of the fight. Follow it up by using paralyze scrolls on the giants, and Thaos too if you can avoid hitting your own party. You should be able to craft a lot fairly easily. I don't know how you've built your paladins, but Pallegina didn't really do much for me here. Drink eldricht aim and other accuracy boosting potions like crazy with your front line damage dealers. Have your priest do the same. Or, if you're level 11, just have your wizard cast Gaze of Adragan and win.

As someone who plays these games for the story, a huge dungeon crawl has never appealed to me. But damn did I get wrapped up in the Endless Path.

I agree that Act 3 was anticlimactic, but only because the whole of Twin Elms felt a bit rushed because of the fact that there was this hub of gods and their domains and very short quests related to their favor. But other than how hilariously clustered the gods' quests were, I didn't mind this for one specific reason: progression. You've embraced the role of Watcher for such a long time, struggled to face an incredibly powerful cult as your raced against time to solve your impending insanity. You've destroyed religious sects, unseated a despot, taken a stance on a worldwide controversy, affected the course of a capital city, gained enough prestige to pierce through the xenophobic and territorial Glanfathan. You have proven your worth, walked effortlessly into the domain of the gods, and they need you. They need the power you've accrued to aid them in their struggle. You are their Thaos -- even if temporarily. You are the person they bargain with. You are the one they test their strict ideals against. You are their only hope in the mortal world to help consolidate their power and fight the reign of Woedica. Act 4 was fine as it is. It didn't need to be a dungeon crawl. The game was rushing towards an end. There was no point for an overwrought maze of encounters before the final boss. You're level twelve. It's time to confront your enemy. In regards to pace and content, you have to remember that one of this game's major themes is that of rebirth, recycling, and the connection we have to our past lives. I thought it all brilliantly came together. The open-ended questions, the ambiguity, the lack of a firm resolution -- it all appealed to me greatly. The game wasn't tied up with a neat bow. It lingers, just as the next cycle of souls -- your character's included -- will continue onward.

Thaos has been alive for centuries. Generations. Lifetimes. He began as man that saw a resolution to the world's chaos, embroiled in a conflict of false gods that did not exist. And he took it. What's not believable about the fact that over such a long time, these aspirations corrupted him? That he could only see a world that needed to be controlled, ordered, lest they fall into the depravity and lawlessness that Thaos saw so many years ago? I don't know. From what I've read, all the issues that people have with the plot are reasons that I love it.

No. It really can't. The most flavor you get is an attribute bonus early or a bonus for a certain type of enemy or damage type.

Using crowd control on the giants is important. Knockdowns, stuns, paralyze, etc. You can make scrolls of paralyze en masse if need be. Petrify effects are overpowered. With a druid, it's fairly easy to petrify the two giants and kill them quickly.

There's really not enough variety in enchantments for this to matter. Enchanting isn't really 'good' in this game. +2-6 DR on armor is nothing late game, and there's so many exceptional/superb named items throughout the game that it's better to just pick them up. You can get +3 to an attribute from items instead of the maximum of +2 from enchants. Corrode, I think, is the least resisted damage bonus, though.