ErlKing
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Posts posted by ErlKing
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While Cipher wreaking havoc at regular fights Alloth is backup, heavy artillery for tough fight, boss battle or something like that. Cipher can throw stun or mass damage spell, but have to recharge by attacking afterwards while Alloth at later stages can hurl pack of fireballs, place prolonged aoe debuff zones, blind, sicken, confuse and burn every enemy on field without catching a break.
But yeah, most of time he is just one more fragile crappy gun/bow shooter. Wizards still viable in game, but more useful later.
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So here is feature/abuse - if you switch weapon right after shot it does not trigger weapon recovery time. Usually that talent used to switch arbalests/firearms to avoid long reload time, but...
Ranger, 2 bows, Quick Switch talent - twice as fast shooting, just switch bow after each shot... Penetrating shot, vicious aim, heavy armor - nothing can slow down that bows joggling master.
I guess that wasn't intended?
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Cipher not that hard, essentially his main power is Mental Binding, you cast it on target, make it paralyzed (huge debuff to defenses) and party quickly kill (lot of hits and crits due debuff), cast Mental Binding on next target and so on.
Mind Blades handy to clean lot of weak trash enemies.
As you ll get new powers there ll be some variations and possibilities, but Cipher mostly paralyze targets, occasionally throw mass debuff and hit hard with blunderbuss.
Level 1: Mind Wave, Eyestruck, Tenuous Grasp
Level 2: Mental Binding (must-have), Mind Blades, Recall Agony/Psychovampiric Shield
Level 3: Puppet Master, Secret Horrors, Soul Ignition/Ectopsychic Echo
Level 4: Pain Block, Body Attunement, Mind Lance/Silent ScreamTalents:
Biting Whip
Draining WhipPenetrating shot
Weapon Focus: Ruffian
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Con is dump stat anyway. 10 -> 3 con = -20% endurance and health, and even 10->17 per (another dump stat) give you +7% deflect, and stacking deflect mean less hits, less crits, more hit -> graze so overall less damage taken.
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So, heavy armor + extra low dextery + Penetrating Shot = no recover ever? or there is some cap to not get recovery time / 0
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You sure it is not that way?
Attack: 53/1.3=40,77
Recovery: 76/1.3*1.2/1.2*2=116
Reload: 101/1.3/2=38Though numbers even further from test results
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6 Chanters for 18 summoned skeletons... rpg -> rts
6 Ciphers for mass paralyzes and mass domination... syndicate nostalgia
6 Paladins for Holy Crusade
6 Rogues for backstab sneak arbalest firing squad
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Ectopsychic Echo not so bad situational power either, for a change it target Reflex and its 10 tics for 25-40 Crush each on foes between target and Cipher. Just target your tank (or animal companion if you have ranger) and make him flank enemy.
Any feedback on Pain Link? 25% not much, but I suppose it bypass armor, so... does it worth using on suicidal damage sponge?
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From tested stuff:
Character have Accuracy stat, that is used for everything - swords, guns, spells, talents. Each Class have its own starting Accuracy.
Weapon attribute (fine, accurate) and Weapon Focus talent applies only for regular attacks with that weapon, not for spells. Marksman - only for ranged weapons, not for spells.
Shield equipped decrease all accuracy (attacks, spells, talents) - count it as overall debuff.
Wood Elf racial Distant Advantage add Acc to everything (attacks, spells, talents) if target far enough (yeah, really good for casters).
Each Spell/Power/Talent have its own Acc mod (for spells usually +10) and target defense its used for. If spell target Will, then Acc compared to Will, if target Deflect - compared with Deflect. Also it seems that spells go with additional +10 besided mod mentioned at description (maybe as one-handed attack or something).
Correct me if Iam wrong.
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It wasnt there on my second game, not sure why. Either its random or IE mod changed some things.
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First, Cipher is not wizard, so can throw powers as much as he want if capable of regaining Focus, so I suggest you to stick to fast powers if possible.
As been said Mental Binding and Puppet Master are best.
Mind Wave good because it cheap and fast.
Also there is one that often counted as bugged. Recall Agony - description wrong, it deal extra damage after each hit for spell duration, but does not appear in log (30% damage buff versus target - tested, it works). Not as good as Mental Binding, but it also have fast cast and nice duration (12sec base, 17sec high int).
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Per is also a defensive skill, putting it to 3 and not being able to wear any big armour can be pretty bad in the advanced stages of the game.
Per deflect boost not so good to be worried about, you get it back by rising Res. High Dex allow to cast/shoot faster, or wear heavier armor without gimping yourself too much.
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Oh wait, Recall Agony *does* work? I thought it did nothing. If what you're saying is true, it's awesome against bosses. +30% damage for > 17 seconds? Yes please!
Glad I didn't waste the point then.
Yep, you can try it yourself - cast Recall Agony and hit for ~50-70% of mob health, with slight delay enemy health will drop further.
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My Cipher
Race : Wood Elf - distant advantage work for spells too, so extra 5 Acc for spells, also reflex bonus versus distant attacks.
Class : Cipher - damage dealer (guns/bows) and controller (spells)
MIG : 18 (19 with culture) - for max damage
CON : 3 (20% of health will not make Cipher any tankier)
DEX : 19 - you want to cast and shoot as quickly as possible
PER : 4 - have to sacrifice something, also interruptions does not matter for Cipher
INT : 18 (19 with culture)
RES : 15 - for Will resists, stubborn dialogue options and some extra deflectPer and Res could be swapped for roleplay reasons (dialogue option) if you want observant Cipher
Talents:
Biting whip - more damge, MORE DAMAGE
+
Draining whip - great with blunderbuss, but no good with other slow weapons - you may skip that one if you stick to arbalest/arqebus
Penetrating shot - only for blunderbuss or bows - skip if going for different weapon
+
Quick Switch - 0.5sec to switch to other gun instead of 2-4sec gun recovery and reload time - skip if you dont want to manage weapon switching
Arms Bearer - for extra gun slot - not sure that its good, but viable for quick switch combo
or +
Marksman / Ruffian Spec - for ranged accuracy buff, pretty good,
Gunner - for quicker reload, good for arbalest/arqebus/blunderbuss if you not going for switch combo
Cipher goes in second row, behind tanks, cast stun/paralyze/charm on toughest enemy or two, shoot (regain Focus) - switch guns, cast again, shoot other gun, repeat.
Powers, my favorite:
Eyestrike - good aoe debuff.
Whisper of treason - good, but slow and debuff target. 3rd level Puppet Master much better, though there are no any better powers at 1st lvl.
Mind Wave - damage bit weak, but fast and aoe knockdown really good, also visuals...
Mental Binding - best Cipher power ever, fast cast + paralyze + aoe root... –40 Deflection debuff to target mean that most attacks hit and lot of crits
Mind Blades - multi target damage power with insane range, good versus lot of weak targets.
Recall Agony - description wrong, it deal extra damage after each hit for spell duration, but does not appear in log (30% damage buff versus target - tested, it works)
Puppet Master - one of best CC next to Mental Binding.
I haven't explored class further, but these for start.
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It is hidden, if you check raw damage you dealing, you ll see that it more than damage range of gun. Also it should be x1.2 instead of x2.4 cumulative with original x1,2 from soul whip, so x1.2x1.2=x1.44
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I noticed that you can change weapon right after arbalest attack without triggering recovery time, not sure if it was intended. With Quick Switch talent switch recovery time is 0.5 sec that is considerably lower than arbalest recovery time, now I wonder if melee 2 great swords switcher is possible
(obvious game bug if it is). -
I picked Aloth because I was not sure that I ll stick with Durance in long run.
Mathematically its pretty close:
Aloth
Lvl - cost (stacking with previous ones)
1 - 0 (have 1 from background)
2 - 1
3 - 3 (2+1)
4 - 6 (3+2+1)
5 - 10
6 - 15
7 - 21
8 - 28
9 - 36
10-45
Durance
1 - 0
2 - 0
3 - 0
4 - 4
5 - 9 (5+4)
6 - 15 (6+5+4)
7 - 22
8 - 30
9 - 39
10-49
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First - best choice for Cipher is blunderbuss (shotgun) with Draining whip talent (6-8 pellets, each give extra 2 Focus).
Second - Quick Switch is priceless, though kinda buggy.
Thing is when you shoot with slow firearm/arbalest there is two recharge phases - action recharge and gun reload.
Bow have small action recharge and no reload.
Crossbow have average action recharge and small reload time.
Pistol, Blunderbuss, Arquebus have long action recharge and long reload time.
Arbalest have long action recharge and longest reload time.
My guess is that Quick Switch should let you skip reload phase by switching weapon, BUT if you switch weapons right after shot you skip action recharge phase too (instead of 3-4 seconds its 0.5 sec of switch action recharge). Yep, you can triple shot arbalests almost without pause, not sure that was intended though.
Personally I went with Moon Godlike Cipher just for looks (no armor, glowing Mystic style), start combat with few fast casts, shoot my blunderbuss - switch to pistol (almost no cooldown), cast again and finish with pistol shot if anything still standing.
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Wow, I haven't thought about that approach to Paladin. Ninja dodging buffing tank with low health, thats interesting idea.
What do you think about min Might min Con Cipher? Stick to debuff-control and Draining whip+blunderbuss for focus gain.
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Blunderbuss have same range as pistol I think. As I understand each pellet chance to hit calculated separately so its hard to miss with it completely. It have accuracy penalty, but its Cipher holding it, so usually target either stunned or paralyzed (huge deflect decrease).
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I started game with Death Godlike Cipher Aristocrat, cause damage buff and scary background, visual side kinda meh, especially when characters so small. After some fumbling with badly autoleveled companions and bad leveling choices I decided to start new game.
Death Godlike buff is no good, damage buff versus enemy that already almost dead is not worth it, other Godlike racial buffs even worse, also no helmet, that can give me extra stat so...
To hell with stats, I started new game with Moon Godlike Cipher Actor, took off clothes and went glowing-alien-like glass cannon. Racial stats no good, no helmet, but its kinda cool to run Mystic style character, at least she noticeable on screen.
(obvious game bug if it is).
noob Cipher build
in Pillars of Eternity: Characters Builds, Strategies & the Unity Engine (Spoiler Warning!)
Posted · Edited by ErlKing
Wood Elves are best for Cipher because their racial trait apply to Spells as well +5 Accuracy is considerable advantage if you looking for optimal build.
Max you Might, Dex and Int, dump Con, other attributes for you preference, personally I dumped Per in favor of Res.
I dont like min maxing much myself, but in this case low Con + high Dex + heavy armor is much more survivable than average Con + average Dex + average armor.