Torm51

Extra stats in this game will not make you a dpser. You must spend talent points to make yourself into a competitive dpser. If a tank invests into dps talents he will not be a very good tank. Maybe on offtank with ok damage.

First I'll point you to this thread, where I make a request to improve Hold the Line, and also ask a very similar question. To (sort of) answer yours, technically there is no aggro system in PoE in the sense it is implemented in, say, WoW. In other words, an enemy's decision to attack a given party member, AFAIK, has nothing to do with how much healing or damage they have caused. I vaguely remember reading that some enemies will tend to prefer attacking the member with the lowest DR, but I have long since forgotten where I read this or whether the source was reliable. I would like to better understand what goes into an enemy AI's decision about who to attack, or whether it's just random. Now, as I relate in a subsequent comment to my thread, I've found that most enemies will stay on the tanks equally well regardless of the tank's engagement limit, as long as the tanks start the fight some distance ahead of the other party members. I like custom formations for this. It seems to be only a minority of enemies who will choose, for whatever reason, to break free and hit on a ranged member. It seems to be more common for an enemy to switch targets to a melee DPS than to a ranged. So, to answer your question the best I can (or anyone but a dev can AFAIK), Hold the Line and the Guarding bonus on certain weapons both seem to be of little or no defensive use, currently. In practice, if you are building for the current build of the game, I would not take Hold the Line or consider Guarding when choosing weapons. But, if you want to help me get a dev's attention for an answer and/or improvement, that'd be cool :D. Cheers for the info. So would i get more benefit from putting my talent point in the one that boosts deflection +5? yes. Definitely.

I think that's sensible advice. Personally, I tend to take all the other good talents first before I take these DPS ones with a tradeoff. I have no melee DPS in my party, just two tanks and four ranged. I don't plan to take Savage Attack with any of them, and I only plan to take Vulnerable Attack with my cipher when she gets access to a good blunderbuss. People might not consider blunderbusses such clear winners any more for ciphers, but Colan Garow (or whatever the drug is called) still gives a flat focus gain per hit. Out of all weapon types, blunderbusses are the most extreme in that each hit does very little damage (each shot is actually 6 separate pellet hits). Therefore, Vulnerable Attack is a clear winner for a blunderbuss user. Savage attack only applies to melee damage. Not ranged weapons. If you are taking a blunderbuss Cipher I would recommend Penetrating Shot. On to the topic at hand. I only play PoTD now and enemies that MATTER have such high DR that a melee dpser without Vulnerable attack is crap (imho). If you cant penetrate some bosses and enemies (like Animats) who have a 32 DR its irrelevant how much damage your character can do as it will be pitiful against high DR. He/she will be useless against hard targets. Or have to rely to much on minus DR abilities from other classes such as Wizards. Vulnerable attack over Savage attack every time. If you have a high accuracy class I would take BOTH. Like a rogue for instance. On a DPS Paladin I would not take Savage Attack as Paladin accuracy is bad (although ok if you go the dps route) and every point counts.

Currently running Duel Paladin on my PoTD run for tank and off tank and so far am having the same results. I however have not gotten rid of my priest. Maybe I should.

Couldn't agree more Nobear. and I hear you on the therapeutic talks I do them all the time here lmao.

Why lower your per for might and con...? Isn't per the one that's changing for accuracy? It won't give Deflection then? It's the only reason I would think a tank would not take it anymore. After 2.0

You got any links Nobear? Cant seem to get any details just general stuff.

Seems to be 1 PER = 1 Acc in the video. Definitely what I'd consider a must have for all DPSers, especially casters. Ya I am not sure. Really I am not a complainer at all and I know these guys are pros and know what they are doing. Just seems like everyone wants +8accuracy so a lot of builds will look the same.

Hopefully it takes a massive commitment to really increase it a lot. It's just going to be the go to Stat for every spec except tanks. Maybe even tanks.

1. From my experience (beat the game once on hard and am about a quarter of the way through on PoTD. Both Trial of Iron runs) rods and scepters do very poor damage. You are going to get better damage out of a Warbow. What I will tell you is that if you want to hit TOUGH enemies hard like bosses and dudes in plate you need to grab penetrating shot if not high DR is going to make you do ineffective damage. Have the correct type of damage isn't enough as some DR still stops it. 2. I agree, those extra spell talents are nice in the early game but not as needed late game when you have the first 2 level spells per encounter. Grab other talents. Like weapon focus/Marksman/Penetrating shot. This is of course if you care about your auto attack damage. Which IMO you should. I know you have spells but especially in the early game as a druid auto attack damage will be important. 3. If you are experienced with ANY type of RPG that is party based like this (Dragon age series etc) start on Hard. Normal just doesn't make you play tactically. You can do what you want. PS My favorite class is Paladin BUT man I love druids in this game. The flavor is great and they are great spell casters. If they buff transforming animal forms a bit they would be not really good but freakin awesome.

Ya man that's my biggest issue with LoH the range is awful. So its either a self heal/front line heal or you have to move. Thing is at level one with a tank build FoD is so damn lack luster I rather have a self heal/heal my front liner over it. You just aren't going to hit hard with it unless you specifically spec for damage no matter how good your Might is. Armor Penetration and high might with dex is a must. Meaning you cant spec as a tank. If you are going full tank mode you don't spec armor pen. I guess you could have a firearm as your back up weapon and open every fight with a FoD Arquebus/Pistol shot. And ya Exhortations don't give me this issue either.

Yep that too. I didn't take Hold the Line this time like I did last time. People were saying its a waste of a talent. But I know I was not having this issue on my last run. Granted it was on Hard not PoTD so less enemies. Hold the line doesn't work if you don't attack. If you're prone, heal or similar it doesn't work. It truly is a waste of talent because you will always engage more enemies than you can. Enemies are mostly stupid and will engage your tanks if you place yourself well. With the bad pathing as it is right now you will find a safe spot for your squishies in almost any fight, you don't need doors. Yep this fight was specifically the quest you do for the Valian Emissary. And I could have retreated a bit before the gates and there are smaller fences below the gate in which you can funnel them into. Use of terrain is always there you are correct. I was tired and got complacent and it almost cost me lol.

Yep that too. I didn't take Hold the Line this time like I did last time. People were saying its a waste of a talent. But I know I was not having this issue on my last run. Granted it was on Hard not PoTD so less enemies.

Yep and I have these at my disposal. I was blowing the CC on enemy mages to try and gib them. So my Cipher didn't have the focus when my enemies got through my front line. I need to readjust. Especially on PoTD where there is more enemies. I can just keep my back line out of enemy mage range. They can toss all the spells they want at my tanks as my Paladin has such great saves it makes mages look like Larpers throwing hackey sacks. It will force the mages to try and get within range if they want to throw spells at my back line. and then I can gib them if necessary. Have to save my CC more.

Ya I don't ALWAYS have this problem and ya I usually don't have it when my backline is 15m out. I have a blunderbuss/pistol rogue so he is only 8m out. Probably the issue. Maybe my formation is to close together.

Very good idea. I do have a Cipher and have been using echo to clear rooms. Don't know why I didn't think of it.

Hey guys! So I play my Paladin as of one of 2 main tanks. Most of the time If I cast a Lay on Hands or an Exhortation the enemy will disengage and run to my back line This will leave me in situations where there are A LOT of enemies (PoTD Trial of Iron) and I could use a Lay on Hands on an ally but don't for fear of disengagement. Some decent enemy AI (I know people say its dumb in PoE but its better then other games for sure). How do you guys who play Paladin tanks handle this? I guess you could not take any Exhortations on the build or LoH. but that leaves with taking a few passives, Flames of Devotion which is terrible for tank builds as you do low damage anyway and all 3 auras.

On my PoTD Trial of Iron I have been running 2 tanks. Eder/Pallegina and Me (PC Paladin). If there is a fight in an open area with no doorway/terrain to funnel the enemy many of them will disengage my tanks and take on my backline (Awesome!). Neither Pallegina nor I have Hold the Line (I have been told that this really makes no difference) How do you guys handle this? I end up using my Wizard who has his per rest deflection shield and the 3rd level spell that gives high deflection and reflex as a final protective fires type defender but usually if the enemy gets this deep in my ranks it becomes a sloppy win. Any advice on keeping stuff glued to my tanks in OPEN areas.

What do they mean? Is it the race of the character? or the class? For example in the game it will say the characters name Ibram : "The Leaden Key is very secretive". Why is my name in blue and what does it represent.

Ya that's what I meant. I said recovery sorry for the confusion. Ok cool. So if I have a rogue with 4 Blunderbusses he will still have a haste effect for recovery just not on his reload times but his recovery. That's my main damage dealer so I am debating what to pick up. That or Reinforcing Exhortation for Eder. I will have (If I survive this long on PoTD Iron man run) Reviving Exhortation and Righteous Soul for levels 7 and 9 so I am debating level 11.

I understand it effects melee, ranged speed and casting times (so recovery) but does it speed up a Gunner type characters RELOAD time. When he is reloading the musket?

Thanks for the Info bear. I figured just wanted to make sure. Either way it was only a minor dialogue option. And my faith and Conviction didn't lower. I don't even have a rank of it yet.

Hey I was just wondering how long it actually takes for you to start losing Faith and Conviction bonuses? As a Goldpact Knight in my current playthrough I by mistake chose aggressive in a convo with Aloth. I didn't notice a change in my Faith and Conviction and it was still the same. Not negative as I have a number 2 rank with Rational and Stoic. I am guessing that when you start seeing those numbers pop up in your dispositions (like a 1 in Aggressive for Goldpact Knights) that's when you start losing it? Or when its a big decision in the game? What does those numbers in your dispositions actually mean?

Nah my con is a 12...but once I got plate armor with pierce DT they were no longer an issue.

Appropriate stats as well max per and res