I am Catharsis

Thank you guys! :D Unfortunately not! But if you do a lot of side quests, you can gather enough XP to reach level 12 before the last chapter and if you wanna try to achieve PotD, you will probably need those levels before finishing the game as monsters are really strong in the game mode.

Hi adventurers! I am very happy to share with you my new victory: After finishing the game Solo in normal mode 1 week ago (remember HERE), I finally achieved the Game in Solo and Path of the Damned! http://i.imgur.com/wkUDqTgh.jpg http://i.imgur.com/88bFM8yh.jpg http://i.imgur.com/bvGFuiKh.jpg I achieved this with a Rogue once again, with a Retribution / Tank build. I you guys are intrested, I will make a post to explain the detail of my full build and the strat I used to defeat this last boss! Triple Crown solo, here I come Did some of you manage to finish the game in PotD solo too? Cheers !

Tested and approved for Rogue. By maxing the Deviation and getting enough Endurance to handle a long fight, this is currently one of the best build and especially of you're solo. You have to know that Retaliation also procs when your character is cc'ed (on the ground to exaple). Extremely good skill (probably one of the best).

Hi guys. I was really happy when I saw the patchnote yesterday 'cause a lot of small bugs have been corrected. Unfortunately, I have the feeling that the way the game has been rebalanced killed the early game for Solo players trying to achieve the game in PotD. - Arbalest damages have been reduced. Not the biggest problem but still the Good Quality Arbalest we could get at the compass is now not that intresting and useful anymore. - The Deception (First hidden gun that we can have during the tutorial) is now sold at the npc's for 40pc instead of 210: Impossible to afford the belt of DR anymore early game - The Anima trinket costs now 6000 pc instead of 600 pc. Nothing more to add. It was already extremely hard to manage to gather enough exp and try to resolve the quests before going to Baldur's gate.. I mean Defiance Bay even with those tiny advantages, now I don't even see how in the world it is possible. If some of you tried the PotD in solo and actually could manage to compensate those nerfs in a way or another, please explain. I'm a bit confused.

You can chose to play your hero roleplay if you wish. It will depends on your objectives and what you wanna achieve in the game. The point is, if you have a full party with tanks, you don't need to add a lot of defensive stats for your Rogue. On the other hand, if you want to achieve some challenges like soloing the game, you can't really ignore damages because the longer the fights are, the more you'll lose health and will need to rest between each fight. It is really important to find a good balance between not taking too much damages, but being able to kill fast enough. Keep also in mind that some monsters regenerate health, so you might get stuck on some packs.

If by "evade" you mean "resetting the aggro", then yes. For the final fight, the 3 bosses are not linked to each other, that means that if you can evade quick enough and engage one of the 3 bosses at a goood enough range, you can fight them 1 by 1. From what i understood from those game mecanics: - Basic DR is the amount of damages a monster will be prevented of from the base damage of your weapon (slash, pierce, blunt..) - "elemental" DR is the amount of damage a monster we be prevented from the additional damage granted by the enchant on your weapon. > Let's admit that your sword hits at 20 dmg in average, and is enchanted for a +50% fire damage. It will inflict 20 Basic damages +10 Fire damages (20+(0.5x20)) > In your example, the enemy has 10 Basic DR + 5 Fire reduction : He will take then (20-10) basic damages + (10-5) damages, so a total of 15 damages (10+5) For the last bosses, after a few tries, i realized that the 2 big statues have a low resistance to Slash damages. I chose to use then a saber (enchanted with life leach as explained in my GUIDE) for a better sustain and optimal damages. Playing a rogue, i had a good attack speed thanks to the Dexterity allowing me to hit the Judge between each CC's, and ALWAYS a shield as it grants one of the best protection of the game.

So yeah, i read your post twice before being sure I understood everything. So, for the final boss, i managed to kill him with a level 11 rogue in Normal mode so far. It is hard, it requires a lot of potions / endgame food, a good gear, a good optimisation and a lot of patience. I used some tricks with the Vanish spells to reset the fight and fight the 3 bosses 1 by 1. I will make a tutorial about it (and a video if you need a proof). In PotD, the boss is probably the same except that his stats are higher. So it probably requires to have the best possible gear to do it. For now, it's a bit early to discover if it's possible or not. But i'll give it a try. Don't give up

Yay congrats. Solo players are the best Very well done!

@sad0 : That's an awesome weapon too, especially if you have to fight squelettons @Osama87: Thank you very much ^^ So for the stats distribution : As i answered to your private message, Perception is a really good investment too as it brings you chances to interrupt (really awesome if you attack fast and need to break mages spells) and Deviation (the best devensive stat imo). I started a new solo Rogue to try other strats and I put something like 18 Power, 16 Dexterity and 14 Perception and 10 in the other stats (not 100% accurate but it's something like this) For the secondary stats, I forgot to mention that 2 points in Atletics are a must have as they reduce by 80% the fatigue after each fight. But there are no real needs beyond that. Mecanics is THE stat on which you should focus as it really brings you a lot of good advantages, and Stealth is quite nice to put some great critical strikes. (You can actually hit over 100 dmg with the Arbalest you find in the Anslog's Compass if you hit in Stealth and at less than 2m from the target). + Stealth allows you to steal more things in cities way more easily. So yeah, a distribution like 8 Mec / 5 Stealth is nice. No need at all to use the rest of the stats.

Hi, You can't leave when you entered act 4. This is probably why the game is creating a new save right before you enter the pit There's no real tips for the drakes. Eventually, you can trigger the fight with a rogue, then use your vanish to reset the fight so you can start it properly. Good luck

To be honest, The game as it is right now is hard for those who wish to achieve the hardest challenges, and I feel like raising the max level would make them quite trivial: Path of the damned, Solo, Expert.. With a level 12+ level would probably be not that hard, so not really intresting. In addition to this, even after completing a lot of side quests, I didn't reach the 12th level before finishing the game on my main character (The last levels requires much more experience than the first6 - 7 ones). So yeah.. Even with more levels allowed, i don't really see how you could reach them as the XP is really really limited (almost nothing from monsters). So yeah, I don't really see the point in all of this.

Hi guys @willdunz: Thank you @sad0: Here is the enchant i'm talking about : There are some weapons that benefits this enchant (you can't do it yourself unfortunately). I don't remember where i found the dagger, but I am currently doing the game again to improve my guide, so i will let you know when I get the dagger again. You will find a weapon with the same effect when you reach the armorer of Dryford. @Kysse: That's a good suggestion. I will edit the guide and add the skills and abilities tonight. Cheers

Thank you guys ! I don't think that Triple Crown solo is really possible to be honest... The normal mode is already quite tricky, but sure i'll try when i'll know the game better ^^ Aquinas: You can stealth some encounters, but not all of them, plus you need to fight a minimum for the xp and the loot. No gold, no stuff. For the last boss, I may write a guide about it. There are some tricks that permitted me to do it, but it was still a hard fight.

Hey guys! I'm glad to share with you my victory of the day :') It has been a long way before i finally manage to kill the boss. I spent 3 days finding a strategy to kill it... You have no idea how happy I am right now. It has been achieved in Normal mode and with a Rogue level 11. I wrote a guide that you will find HERE if you're intrested ! Nothing more to add, I just wanted to share this. Good night everyone!

Here you go!

Thank you for your support

Sure I will do it tonight as soon as I'm back home. It will be in French though, but i'll get to change the language for you Cheers

Hello adventurers! 0. Introduction Let me first introduce myself : I have been playing Baldur's gate the day it was released. I was young and innocent, and I never could finish it as a kid as it looked impossible to me. Since they re-released it last year, I totally jumped on the opportunity to avenge myself and I managed to solo it. I absolutely wanted to accomplish the same challenge for this awesome game that is Pillars of Eternity. So far, I managed to reach the final boss in normal mode with absolutely no companion, and with a Rogue, and as it seems to be a challenge that a lot of you want to realize, I decided to share my experience with you all so you could try on your side. Don't expect me to detail every fight of the game or on how to get each item, 'cause they are numerous and because the behavior of monsters are random. I will try to explain you all the tips, tricks and ideas i used to get this far. 1. Why chosing a Rogue? I always loved the Rogue of 4 mains reasons : - If you have the initiative of the fight, you can quickly 1 shot a mob (Especially with Crossbows) - Mecanics and Stealth allow you to gather a lot of treasures fast and overstuff your character - Mecanics that allows you to remove Traps and use them before starting a fight - The Vanish in combat that allows you to run out of a fight (extremely useful late game when you have scripted fight and you need your placement to be perfect before starting the fight again) 2. What stats to take during the creation? - Main stats: I maxed out the STR and the DEX. But to be honest, if I had to do it again, I would probably balance them a bit more with some more defensive stats - Secondary stats: As explained above: Mecanics above all > Stealth secondary 3. Cap'tain Obvious tips and tricks before starting your adventure This is common sense, but still a small remider to think all along the adventure: - Buy food at the tavern. This is not expensive at all and gives you great bonuses for each fight (I personally prefer the Chicken as it lasts 5 minutes and gives you Resistance and Endurance bonuses) - Sleep at the tavern. Small bonuses make the difference - Gather potions, love them. They will save you and allow you to win fights more than anything else - Don't forget to get tents - Try to do as many side quests as possible. They are your main source of XP and Magical items, and you know how much it matters 4. Your adventure has just started! What gear should I take? Hi fellows, now that your rogue is created and ready to fight! I will try to detail here the different gears I used all along my way. - First rule: Even though it's tempting to sell all those shining armors for coins, I would hardly recommend you to keep 1 Copy of each specific amor / weapon / necklace and such in your storage, and expecially the magical onces as they will be usefull in a situation soon or late (trust me on this). - Second rule: ALWAYS use a shield. I know this can be frustrating not to use 2 handed weapons, or Dual weapons. Unfortunately, you are playing solo, and this means that you will have to tank a minimum. The Shield offers ones of the best protection for a few drawbacks: You will lose a tiny bit of accuracy which should be compensated if you have a high DEX. > I used the Round Shield for the most part of my adventure as it offers a good protection for a minimal accuracy loss. - What main weapon to use? For here, you have the freedom to use the 1h weapon of your choice. I would highly recommand swords that benefits for the Life Leech enchant (20% of your damages restored as Endurance) as they greatly increase your survivability. I used the Oidhreacht until the end of the game : Life Leech + Reduction Damage + High attack speed (more interruptions, more possible actions) are one of the best combo for a weapon in solo. - Secondary weapon? For the first part of the game, I highly recommand you to get an Arbalest as soon as possible. You will find one of good quality in Anslög's Compass that I kept for a long time. Why that? Because for engaging groups of monsters, this is simply the best early game: get into stealth mode, initiate the fight with your Arbalest, one shot a monster (you can hit up to 70 dmg if you crit, perfect initiation), then swap to your shield / dagger stance before the mobs get at your contact. (it will be all detailed later) - Armor / Rings / amulet ? The rest of the gear is totally up to you, but here are some suggestions of items i used all along my adventure: * I prefered the Leather armor as it is protects you enough against physical attacks and doesn't slow you down too much. * Belt: I highly recommand the classic Blunting Belt, especially early game to compensate the lack of defense * Ring: Contextual: I mainly use the Ring of Protection in addition to the Ring of Deflection for an optimal defense, but also use the Bartender's Ring when having to face hard CC's packs * Coat: Contextual. Try to get the Amulet of Summer Solstice as soon as you reach Dryford as it will greatly increase your AoE cleaning capability early / mid game You have to keep in mind that those items are contextual: the 1h weapon can be swapped with a blunt weapons if you fight skeletons, you can use the cloak of Cold Protection if you have to face shadows (sorry i forgot the exact name) and so on. Be smart, if you play solo you need to have a huge gear arsenal and use it wisely. 5. Combat mecanics : How to face huge packs of mobs This is the most tricky part of the solo game. You will have to face packs of mobs, and some of them won't give you a single second of rest because of their CC's. But you are a thief! You are smart, and you need to use your brain. There are currently multiple ways I fought packs of mobs, and it all depends on the environment you're fighting on. Initiation This is the most important part of the fight. It will probably define the success or failure of the rest of your battle. You absolutely need to initiate your fight to get a significant advantage on your opponent! How to pefectly initiate: - Analyse your environment and chose the right place to fight before starting the battle (Explanations about this point right after) - Set up traps that you gather all along your adventure thanks to your mecanism. Set them where there is most likely the chance that mobs will walk on it when they'll be packed - Use stealth mode and your Arbalest at max range on the mob that you wanna see dead first (i recommand mages if there are some) - Pray for a crit - Swap weapons, run to the spot you prepared with the trap - (Optionnal) Drink buff potions if needed before the mobs touch you - Fight to death The right spots to fight : * In dungeons / houses / Caves The first thing to do before starting a fight is to study your environment and looking for the narrows corridors: Example : the places circled in green are the good places to fight. Those are the pefect places to fight because all the monsters won't be able to be at your contact in the same time, they will stack and eventually allow you to hit them thanks to some spells like Sunbeam graned by the Amulet of Summer Solstice. *Outside The outside fights are the tricky ones. You can't really cheat because there aren't usually many narrow places to fight. But this is where your Vanish skill will be the most useful. You will notice that the mobs in a pack are not totally linked to each other. Which means that if you can attack a mob that is far enough of the rest of the pack, you have a good chance that the other ones won't come to his help. Here are the steps to make some isolated victims before fighting the rest of the pack: - Set up a trap where the monster is most likely to walk on it - Use stealth mode - Use your arbalest to pull a mob at max range - Pray for a crit > There is a good chance that at this point for the monster you pulled to be dead. A arbalest shot + a trap are most of the time enough to kill any common monster of this game. If not, I advice you to reload the game and to try again. - See how many mobs are running to you. If you pull from far enough, only a part of the pack may come to fight. - If the monsters are too numerous, use Vanish, run away, and start again from the first step. Conclusion And it's over for my tiny guide (for now!) I hope you liked it and I hope that it will give you inspiration to handle this game in Solo which is a super huge challenge. As explained, for now i'm stuck on the final boss so I can't really give you advices on him, but if some of you like it and comment it, I will probably edit this guide and add more details about other bosses or quests ! Good luck :D ( And sorry if my english is not perfect, i'm French )

Hi BrokoenMask. Thanks for your answer (and your compliment ^^), I didn't know it was possible to kill him before he possesses one of the 2 statues. I'll try this way. If anyone knows if there's a weapon or item somewhere in the game that allows some kind of immune to CC's, or that allows to paralyze, i would gladly appreciate it.

Hello adventurers, I always loved challenges and hated having companions even in those kind of games. For this reason, I tried to finish the game with only 1 hero. Everything went (almost) fine until now : I am stuck on the last boss, and I don't see how in the world he would be killable in solo. For more informations : I am playing a Rogue, spéciality 1h weapons, I reached level 11 on this last map, playing on Normal mode. I have some traps, I have a collection of various enchanted weapons and other necklace, capes, armors. I tried for 2hours, and so far the best result I got was to kill 1 of the 2 statue (the one that doesn't move at first), but after that i'm getting stun locked by the judge while Thaos shots me down with spells. If some of you tried and achieved it, any help is welcome. Maybe I missed some super good items that make the fight easier, maybe the 12th level is extremely important? Thanks in advance!