draego

Ye i remember somewhere Josh said they would be restricted to a few classes even in multiclass i think it may be more than two like eder but its not many

Hi Draego, not heard from you for a while... I'm also thinking about ranger. Do you think it's gonna be tanky enough? Must it be Orlan or you have other suggestions? Does it only work with Tidefall? I ask all of this because this character is almost identical to my former orlan fighter, but with less intelligence and higher per and res...which I like, but otherwise identical.. Can it play rogue like trapspringing and sneaking? No you can change almost everything like Boeroer has demonstrated. Race: Good defensive races to look at Coastal Aumaua has really nice defensive talent (stuns and prone are nasty), Moon Goodlike (if you getting hit will heal you and close by animal), wild orlan (extra defense when hit with will attack) even mountain dwarf has a defensive ability if you want more defense. Stats: Boeroer finds his build good enough with 3 Res and Shod-in-Faith so you good enough. It would be perfectly fine to move all that Per to Con or event take it from Dex if you like perc for role playing but accuracy is easy to come by with buff, talents, equipment so: M-15 C-15 D-15 P-9 I-9 R-15 And what is good with con is that it stack with fortitude def and if you take Coastal Aumaua you will have lots of defense against fortitude attacks like stun and prone. Also with these stats for ranger you start with 29 accuracy with this build which i one lower than the best you get with any class of 30. And if you flank (or other debuffs) with animal you drop enemy defl. by 10 right off and later flank plus stunning enemies and casting thorny Roots for stuck gets nasty. Also maybe go dual wield (+50% attack speed right off and dual wield talent and Potion of Deleterious Alacrity of Motion, i mean you could use that potion with two handed weapon) for faster stuns and even maybe drop dex and pump might and res or con so M-18 C-15 D-9 P-9 I-9 R-18 or M-18 C-15 D-9 P-9 I-12 R-15 like boeroer mentioned for longer duration affects (the few you will have) Also with more con and res enemies target you less so they less likely to go out of way to attack you. At least it seemed to me With droped Dex and Peception you could try one handed weapon with small shield and shield talent to buff deflection and reflex you lost with lower dex and perception. You will be pretty sturdy. I mean i play on hard and i dont use shield and go either dual or two handed but if you dont want to move alot shield is fine. Maybe even do soemthing gamy and take 14 Perception and take medium shield -4 acc. later in game there is Badgradr's Barricade that hits enemies on crit with nice spell so you can 'dual wield' with shield and get deflection. To me you would pretty much be a tank at least a tank in the Pillars of enternity since and still do decent damage with the debuff you can muster with flanked (animal), stunned (stunning shots), stuck (thorny roots) or prone (animal ability), You will attack slower if you drop dex since even with bash shield. the game does not count as dual wield so you dont get +50% speed like you do with dual wield. Durgan steel later on would help the speed but also speed potion I mean the thing to remember outside maybe Might almost none of the other stats matter and even my all around build number only have 15 might which is not that much Weapons: There are plenty of good weapons out there outside tidefall or persistance that tie in with your animal/ranger combo. For ranger look for: Wounding (for animal predators sense) (drawn in spring (later in game), Acuan Giamas (real late in game)) Coordinating (+4 acc/+25%damage when attacking same enemy as ally, ie animal comp) (Ravenwing, Blesca's Labor, Cladhalíath) Vicious (+20% Damage against Flanked, Prone, Stunned target, ie my ranger/animal will stun/flank enemies easily and almost always have flanked status so this will always be applied) (Dîal Ewn Dibita, Misery's End, Vierina's Leaves, Cladhalíath ) Marking (+10 Accuracy granted to an ally attacking the same target, ie i want to help my animal crit more and more) (Blade of the Endless Paths, Cladhalíath, Shame or Glory, Spectacular Spetum) You can go dual wield and use like Cladhalíath (if you not roleplaying super super nice person . They way you get it is a little sad) and get both (marking and coordinating) on one weapon and then in the off hand you can go with another weapon like hatchet for +5 def if you worried about defense over dps like Hearth Harvest +3 bypass with Vulnerable Attack for another +5 bypass. Ravenwing nice for Coordinating because its mace with +3 bypass and start with +45% damage (later on upgrades will override the damage). You can always go for more damage weapons with Annihilation (+0.5 to Crit damage multiplier) like the two Sabres or all Axe or there is one Warhammer. Since you will be debuffing your target with your abilities you will get more and more crits later on. Other good enchant for more damage would be speed enchant. There is several weapons with speed. or Bittercut for just straight corode damage that is a nasty damage weapon. S Also with weapons if you plan on taking focus you can look for groups of weapons to dual wield to give you ideas. You can also use the Helwax Mold to double up on buff up weapon you like. Noble Focus: Ravenwing/Drawn in spring Sword of Daenysis/drawn in spring Vierina's Leaves/drawn in spring or any combos and with vulnerable attack if small/small combos not cutting it. Peasant Focus Cladhalíath/Hearth Harvest Cladhalíath/Rêghar Konnek Ruffian Bittercut/Misery's End Bittercut/Blesca's Labor Bittercut/Dîal Ewn Dibita or Any good Saber with annihilation or Sabre/Sabre for lots of damage You can do this with other focus type also and keep going. I dont even take focus that much any more with my runs so its not a huge concern but it can focus you in on certain weapons if you want to be focused and get some ideas I would stay away from weapons that stun or prone on crit. They are good early on until you get your stunning ability then other weapons would just be better. I am sure none of this is uber optimal but i dont actually care sometimes its fun to just mess with other weapons because maybe you like the look of it or style. I did a pretty far run with ranger with Spectacular Spetum a marking (not a very exiting ability) Pollaxe because i just like the style of pollaxe and it has nice slash/crush damage types not to optimize the build. Skills: Yes you can be the trap guy. The optimal route for ranger is survival since you get bonus in it and you can get even more bonus against flanked enemies something like 30% more damage by end of game i think. but even 10 or 20% damage helps (the first and second tier version in survival) . but.. you can be the trap guy. You can find background with at least one mechanics and then try to get up to 10 or 11 i think and also save mechanics scrolls to buff +3 when needed and save scrum/rest alot for gloves of manipulations for +2 mechanics in a random loot locaiton (you already need to try this to find Stalker's Torc in random loot tables) and wear when needed and also you can get resting bonus from your strong hold for any really hard traps. So like drifter for stealth/mechanic bonus. And if you are going this route some stealth would be fine there are a few quests where both stealth and mechanics on someone helps like maybe 2 or so and some stealth is nice for start of battle to keep you hidden for maybe one sec longer so enemies will target someone else first. If you want more active abilities, lore is also a nice choice. You will have spells to cast beside fighting and get some roleplaying choices for it. in that case go for more dex than perc or something else

You could always do a reach weapon which for the most part will keep you out of range of direct hits. but keep you close to front line. Maybe park behind animal to attack stuff. There are no reach weapons with wounding though. Nothing to special for ranger with reach. maybe Llawran's Stick for speed or Tall Grass for hit to crit stuff but prones is sort of wasted if you stun enemies with animal tag team but good weapon in general. You could also take both superior deflection and caution attack with a bow i suppose +13 defl and then maybe some Res and Deflec items . Then stick up front. I mean that would cost you two talents and i am not sure if the model would stack with swift aim to counter the lose of attack speed. I dont know just thinking of weird combos.

Aramintai, wow thanks so much.

You can always change the attributes. Most of my builds are inspired by Boeroer but then i go back and un min max and they work just fine. Attributes aren't everything to class.

Its not mine i found these online. But ye i love it. To bad pale elf dont have black or dark hair in POE . Have to pretend she dyed it. From what i could find it this artist

Hey Aramintai, could you watercolor version these, love the work? original sizes This is artist for this one. From what i could find it this artist

I just sent another person to that build for some reason i had it in my head that that build was a sword and board tank type. I guess i was mis-remembering and not reading

Barb are sturdy especially past the mid game (early game they are a little squishy but i still used my build as main tank) they have lots of health and neat debuffs. I mean the build is am using with barb is my main frontline tank. (get shield ability, superior deflection/ constitution and resolve gear). Monks have interesting abilities and are also sturdy. Another concept maybe would be chanter but going for invocations and not high level chants. The chanter now has swift recitation so as the game goes on their chants finish faster and faster meaning you can cast your invocations faster and more often. They have decent def 25 to start and you can buff their con. So a melee chanter is viable and can be played like a fighter with abilities. Just stick with lower level chants to build up to cast invocations and they have some nice invocations. However on lower difficulties they dont shine as much because fights can be over before casting to much. Cipher also has nice abilities with melee since you have to attack to get to abilities and there are some nice buff/debuff/cc to help you in melee fighting. i mean the truth is you can turn any class into melee fighter basically. This is the fun of POE to play a little against class traditional type. Getting the right build can be tough i get it though.

To get the most out of this ranger you have to move around alot to help stay alive and to get your optimal synergy's with animal unlike ranged ranger. Like a melee rogue but more sturdy and better in my a opinion. You can do more of tank ranger (although i dont min mix like boeroer). So very similar except you would do weapon and shield (and get the shield talent) and be more of front line off tank and not move all over the battle field but in that case i would use barb ye. I mean even with tank ranger that doesnt go all over you would still want your animal to move around to help position. but this is why i like the melee ranger the lack of active abilities to me is made up for by positioning/ movement/ micro in the since that you pause to figure out your next target and then to reposition either yourself or animal to get the optimal attacks going. I dont like monks but you should check out boeroer's monk builds. He swears by them. So that would be another spin on melee. Get hit alot to dish out the punishment.

I take wolf, they have higher base damage than other animals. Stag has carnage if you like that ability. One word about this build i like micro/positioning with this build. I know some people find this build boring/tedious but that is why i like it fyi. It does seem like ranger abilities are ranged only but here is list of ranger talents/ abilities that 'work' in melee. some just work because they are general. I am listing all so you can see all the variety you can pick from Talents Marked Prey Wounding Shot Predetor's Sense Swift Aim - the +20% attack speed works. I general dont take but i know some do for melee because attack speed is king. arrow sense defensive bond stalkers link stunning shots driving flight - sort of I think the stun effect transfers even in melee. I dont take this with melee so i didnt try but i think ive seen post about it. heal companion takedown binding roots revive companion masters call vengeful grief play dead Abilities vicious companion swift and steady - may consider taking if taking swift aim accurate wounding shot brutal takedown thorny roots faithful companion resilient companion merciless companion strengthened bond The only talents abilities that dont work in melee are: vicious aim swift aim - just the parts about reloading. driving flight twinned arrows powder burns So you have lots of choices for a melee tank/dps or ranged build. They are sturdy enough. Rangers have high health/low endurance so even if they get hurt alot they can go further than say a priest or wizard who have low health and low endurance. if you play on easy then its no problem. I play on hard and i bet i could do this POTD. the +5 Res bring starting def to 25 which is good and right below fighter 30. There is superior defense if you need more. Also you can change the attributes around so say drop Perception to 9 and buff Con for more endurance/health. Rangers start with 30 acc so going down to 29 is no prob. The flanked debuff from tag teaming with animal companion alone drops enemy deflection 10 not to mention stuck or prone with other abilities. Also you can use abilities like snake reflexes to help make up for lower reflex in that case. On harder fights i also hide for a sec longer then fight starts so the enemies can be distracted by more tanky characters then i go in to find their squishies or help tanks characters. Boeroer has a tank ranger that drops res low to get hit alot to proc Shod-in-Faith boots so the ranger and pet can stay healed. but it works because the health is high and can take lots of hits over the long term even though the endurance cant

Ye other weapons enchants good with ranger/animal melee coordinating, marking, vicious and disorienting. Lots of weapons you can use to take advantage of tag team. Holy radiance can still kill vessels by waiting to use until they are in range. Also there is souldbound greatsword St. Ydwen's Redeemer that plays into killing vessels. I generally cast way less spells than typical back line priest. So its hard to judge. I may cast on buff or cc at beginning of fight then go into fight for a while then maybe cast anther 'self' buff or cc. It is hard to balance and can slip into just casting spells so i feel your pain with it.

I just posted this for someone. I dont min max. This build is heavy on micro and positioning and staying alive. So if you are into more active skills this aint it. But its my funnest build because i like that stuff in the game. Ranger

Ye barb has good role playing stats also that is why i like the tank barb since i invest in P/I/R which helps with dialogue. Ye i feel you on the priest stuff like i said i dont like Spell casting MC either so that is why i say bring another priest so they can do the support heal stuff but you cant get away from spells completely. The barb was really fun since it was a melee character focused on debuffing enemies and not damage first. this is my image or image. Kinda a female viking warrior type. I am going to bring all 3 to deadfire but i have some special going to happen to priest. Dont know if you know the ending of game so i dont want to say. For me my fav in terms of fun was 1. Ranger 2. Barb 3. Priest - more for roleplaying choices and ending and not so much mechanics and fighting but not bad for caster

Priest - Pale Elf - (this is my picture i am using. I didnt make just found but agh pales elvs dont have dark hair , besides that it works) M-15 C-10 D-10 P-14 I-14 R-15 This can be changed up alot though. So instead of Per do more Dex for faster casting. Instead of Res do more Int or Might. Priest have really good accuracy and deflection spells. Some of these choices were for role playing purposes but can be changed. Ranger - Hearth Orlan ( used stock photo) wolf for extra damage and pretend its my dog with me on the adventure M-15 C-9 D-15 P-15 I-9 R-15 I focused on Animal melee talents/abilities like vicious, merciless, resilient, predetor's sense. For Raner - stalkers link (also stalkers torc amulet this is random look so loot at table to find its easy to miss) binding roots or take down for cc, Stunning shots (important because this works in melee and really make ranger shine later in game basically stun enemies on hit without needing that enchantment like prone on crit). Even stuff like defensive bond become useful for this build since your are always together with animal. Ranger i gave great sword because wounding is best ranger weapon enchantment and Tidefall is great sword. Can be done with dual wield with drawn in spring (although you find this weapon much later in game) but you can have two weapons worth of enchantments and faster attack and faster stuns (basically stun lock enemy with fast weapons). For dual wield i would drop dex and pump M/P/R. The way i played this ranger is by keeping my ranger and animal together and then picking off backline/weak or available targets by setting up a flanking position between my animal and ranger on either side of target so right off you get a flanked status on enemy which trigger merciless companion since it the animals sneak attack. Later on your animal will crit over 100 damage makes you look like a wimp. Then with stalkers link, stunning shots, binding roots, and predetors sense they drop like flies. I also generally hid at beginning of fight for a tick or hid behind enemies for a tic when fight starts so they dont auto targert you right off. Ive seen Boeroer do more of a tank version with shield. My concept for this build was deadfire slave looking for his people. So he really hates the ruling authorities here because of what he finds out about the wars and general racism but does good toward the glanfathans who he come to find out are his people. So i generally work against the interest of dyrwood but for the interest of the glanfathan. So my spin on typical evil character since its a matter of perspective whether character is evil or not. I generally dont love straight good/evil stuff.

What is tablet? Priest: For me i dont like spell casters for MC so i tried hard to twist the berath priest into more melee oriented. I focused on spells that help my characters melee fighting or cc enemy to help fight. I tried not to use this priest as healing/prayer/support party members caster. That is also why i brought another priest or had other characters cast prayers to do the support role while i did more of the fighter or tank role. And berath has mace/greatsword so i like mace/shield but dual mace or greatsword for more dps focused would work. I also got inspiring radiance and aggrandizing radiance to help holy radiance benefit me fighting. Kinda a gimpy build but i dont like just straight backline casters for MC although priest has some big buff spells later on that make you hit very hard

I had fun with this barbarian build concept although i didnt min max so i just put con and dex at 9 or 8. I also didnt follow the exact equipment and talents but ye fun upfront tank barbarian. For instance i used CC/debuff instead of DPS oriented weapons to keep the theme of Barb Tank CC/debuff build. Actually works nice for CC/debuff with weapons, skills, and equipment that are oriented to CC/debuff. My favorite melee is ranger/wolf but that isnt for everyone used to flank skirmisher type play style. I also played an off tank berath priest pale elf (Pallid Knight) mace/shield build. I know others do the greatsword version for more dps instead of tanking support i did, i mean you can always switch between the two. This was fun roleplay because i played her as Judge Dredd all law no mercy type but dispassionate with the rational stoic dispositions of berath.

I mean if it makes you feel any better no one gets their power from gods in this game not even priest. The gods dont bestow anything well because you know . All power in POE comes from ones soul and how you focus your soul or particular specialty. According to the above definition there are no holy warriors in POE at all so its just not even possible in POE.

You can make low micro versions of a lot of classes if that is what you mean. I wonder how many active abilities you want. Rangers are my fav in all forms (ranged, melee, tank) but you can definitely make a ranger and stick with a hunting bow (the best bow for ranger is hunting - Persistance) / and predator's sense. My main mc going to deadfire is a melee two handed weapon ranger M-15, C-9, D-15, P-15, I-9, R-15. I dont min max much and this give you high res and perc for dialogue stuff. They have very good single target damage especially with their animal companion. You can focus more on positioning and target priority more then abilities although there are some active abilities. And dont be fooled by the damage stats in the character card the animals damage is not recorded which is maybe half the damage the overall character produces. With that in mind you need to give the animal several abilities/talents to beef it up and not just give everything to your ranger. Also if you are wanting more abilities with this character you can give them lore which gives you access to spells and conversion options Also one you may do already is turn off 'Show unqualified interactions' under difficulty settings. The game was not designed to let you get all conversion options and i find the game is more enjoyable if just dont know what you missed. There are plenty of convo options for res, int, per to give you good mix and there are definitely some for might, con, dex. There is for the most part no 'win' attributes so i wouldn't sweat it.

It would be even better if core abilities also scaled with power level like carnage and sneak attack, etc.

Has anyone seen sea of thieves. I think that is what people envision with pirate battles

They been putting that stuff in the recent creature info tweets also.

Cant wait.

Same applies for quality enchantments. At least from what we know so far. Maybe it will change. So you wont be able to evolve quality enchantment beyond one upgrade. Low level weapons will not be able to become legendary. If your flaming sword is has a fine you will not be able to become better than exceptional and since there maybe no other flaming sword you will have to settle for other weapons if your character expected you use that one for aesthetics, build, or role playing swords. I really hope this wont be the case with quality enchantments. At least thats what was said in Q&A sessions. Things could be different now. The more unique property itemization it all good just let the quality stuff keep up.

Completely agree, actually you could not control the fight (CC spells are too long to cast and/or afflictions changes) You couldn't even buff you correctly before being engaged. If Obs want to keep these casting times, perhaps they could authorize some spelling (at least buffs) outside of fight. And with the casting noise, we could have a new element of game play (how far from my target could i cast my weapon invocation etc...) any new system in deadfire (longer casting times) that would end up bringing back out of combat buffing back is not working. I hope they just fix the casting times instead of this route but i get why this route would be more attractive now. I loved that POE1 did not have prebuffing and wouldnt want in POE2