MadDemiurg

Classes that start with bonus to stealth: +1: Rogue, Cipher, Monk, Ranger Classes that start with bonus to mechanics: +2: Rogue +1: Wizard, Cipher, Chanter Classes that start with bonus to Lore: +2: Wizard, Chanter, Priest +1: Fighter, Paladin, Cipher, Druid Looks like Rogue and Cipher are the most suitable skill wise. But I'd give some other classes in the list a go too. Ranger has extra hassle of needing to stealth his companion, even though companion's stealth skill seems to be humongous.

I wonder if this is doable with a priest (figurines + withdraw self). I mean, 23 kills . 175 I'm sure is doable by anyone using proper path, although some starting points in either stealth, mechanics or lore would help. Never tried pacifist myself really.

Post any cool ideas for spells you'd like to see in the expansion(s). These can be higher level spells (7-10) as there are 10 levels in the spellbook UI, thus more powerful than anything that exists currently, or new spells of existing levels. My ideas: Cipher Shadow assassin. Single foe target. Attacks will. Summons a shadow double of the target, that has the same stats, but only 1/2 endurance and can not use any abilities. The target is Terrified until the double is alive. Harvest essence. Deals raw damage to an ally, granting some focus. Costs 0 focus. Touch range. Mind meld. Target an ally. All stat scores for the cipher and the ally are changed to the greater score of the two for x seconds. Misdirection. Target an ally. Targeted ally gains +2 engagement slots and the cipher becomes invisible for x sec or until he attacks or the targeted ally is knocked out. Telekinetic blade. Requires a melee weapon equipped. Target an enemy (long range). Attacks deflection. The enemy takes damage from the primary attack +x%. Emphatic curse. Target an enemy. Attacks will. Targeted enemy takes x% of damage taken by anyone in x meters radius around him as raw damage for a short duration. Wizard Prismatic wall. Creates an energy barrier. Anyone passing through takes x-y random element damage and is blinded and dazed (vs will). Freezing grasp - Summons magical fist weapons. They do x-y frost damage and have +z accuracy and paralyze on crit. Mental projection - Creates a duplicate of the wizard that is capable of casting all his spells (uses per rest or per encounter are shared) Orb of annihilation - Deals x1-y1 frost damage and paralyzes vs fortitude, Deals x2-y2 shock damage and weakens vs reflex, Deals x3-y3 fire damage and blinds vs will (singe target). Targets with low endurance are destroyed instantly. Effects are applied in random order. Mental unshackling - contingency that activates on any disabling effect. The wizard is still unable to move or use weapons but can cast spells for x seconds. Telekinetic pull - targets are pulled x meters towards the center of the effect (vs fortitude) and are knocked prone (vs reflex). Pyrokinesis - targets in large aoe take x-y immediate fire damage and z fire damage over time (vs reflex). Druid Font of elemental power. Hazard aoe that increases all elemental damage of allies standing in it by x%. Swarm of biights - summon 3 random blights Cyclone - summon a gigantic tornado that slowly moves from the druid, pushing everything away and dealing crush + freeze damage (vs fortitude) Poison weapon - druid's weapon attacks weaken targets on hit for x secons Sandstorm - deals piercing damage and blinds in large aoe vs reflex, lasts x seconds Take roots - Druid immobilizes himself, while gaining a large bonus to DT, max endurance, regeneration and all saves Rooting vines - stuck vs reflex in aoe. Dehydrate - target receives -x constitution penalty and takes raw damage over time vs fortitude

There's a vendor in the keep that sells some scrolls if you've built him.

Good to know, thanks. Disorient stacking seems to be a powerful tool for dealing with low (or lowered) deflection enemies. Weakened + Devotions of the faithful + disorient * 3 + shining beacon = -59 fortitude. Not that priest needs to debuff fort that much, but if you have someone with disintegrate/petrify in the party... There's a bunderbuss with disorienting... I wonder how much it would apply per shot.

I'm no longer able to edit so posting a summary on Priest here: TL;DR Priest tactics summary Use crowns of the faithful as a potent defensive buff that extends duration of other buffs Most powerful buff combo is probably Crowns of the Faithful + Champion's Boon + Devotions of the faithful (core). Add other buffs if necessary As with all classes buff your accuracy. With Devotions and accuracy scrolls/potions priest's accuracy is top notch. Use blessing if you don't want to use scrolls. Use prayer spells vs afflictions (protection against imprisonment/fear are the most useful in AD fight) Priest doesn't have very good cast speed on many spells, use alacrity potions/armor Land debuffs (blind/prone) with seals, it is very reliable Use shining beacon + cleansing flame for top single target damage Use shining beacon, iconic projection, pillar of faith/fire for aoe Also possible to cheese with blocking path using summon + withdraw if you want to Given all these the fight is pretty straightforward: Make some space Use buffs mentioned Stop the dragon with searing seal by blinding her Use Shining beacon + Cleansing flame Drop a couple of additional damage spells if needed Finish the ads with aoe spells Build considerations: As usual, W+S is good for survivability Don't bother with cautious attack, it won't stack with shields for the faithful As most damage spells are fire, scion of flame is a must bonus 4th level spell is great as many of the best priest spells are level 4 (devotions, beacon, searing seal)

Ok, did the ranger. Think I'm getting better at this . Managed to actually kill the dragon without using any damage scrolls, only bow. Most ads were dead from 1 confusion scroll. They are pretty much impossible to deal with using weapons. It also looks easier than it is since you're dead from 1 sneeze. Dat scroll accuracy though. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=--bIhpvy1zE Some notes; Binding roots accuracy seems much lower than it should be (like 10 less). It's still pretty high with buffs though. Not sure if some of the modifiers do not work with it or its accuracy is lower than listed. Stalker's torc doesn't seem to do anything I've taken the liberty to use beast slayer talent as a bow build has talents to spare anyway.

Description says: +100% damage from all sources. However, a wide array of abilities does not seem to be affected. Examples: Blast of Frost, Minoletta's Piercing Burst are not affected. Stag's horn, Sunlance are affected, weapon attacks. I would generalize that it works with abilities that attack deflection, but some other abilities like Mind Lance seem to be affected, even though they attack different defenses.

The difference is that you get the statues to tank it for you . It also gives a more "legit" feeling to me as you're sort of fighting them simultaneously, but that's personal preference. It was possible to brute force the fight in 1.04 with some lucky petrify rolls, but I don't think it's gonna work in 1.05. And it wasn't a TC worthy strategy anyway, since it worked like maybe in 70% cases. Start is actually always the same, so it's easy to reproduce. I'll post some general tips later. Oh, well done! Before I only have seen split-to-win type of strategy which is a bit strange that it works because for example Adra Dragon boss would kept chasing you through that big ass map non-stop but here Thaos and his guys are unable to do that in that small room. Thanks. Yeah, splitting them up and fighting 1 by 1 feels too unrealistic to me . Their aggro range is way too short. Well, with a rogue you can just shadowing beyond = initial rounds survived? Anyway, with speed buffs and or/items you can run from them pretty well as I demonstrated. Anyway some general tips: Thaos always starts the fight with shields for the faithful. He has some cheater version of the spell, that improves not only his deflection, but also other saves. His reflex is still not that great even with it though. Fort is also beatable, but not low enough to guarantee any consistent hits. It also has much greater duration than normal. However, this version only works on himself. He can also cast it on statues, but they seem to be getting deflection only from this buff. 2nd spell Thaos casts is always dominate. He can be convinced to change his priorities by summoning smth, as he'll refocus the squishier targets. Dominate will only last a couple of seconds if all your party is dominated. So either do not summon anything if you expect to be hit by it or try to group all your summons together (his dominate is AoE, so he'll dominate everyone most likely and it will fade in a couple of seconds) If in melee with statues keep attention to what they're casting. It's better to eat a disengagement attack than get hit by a shining beacon. Most of the spells that both Thaos and statues are casting are aoe and thus dodgeable. This includes confusion, devotions of the faithful, sining beacon, pillar of fire, confusion etc. Dominate and Cleansing flame are impossible to dodge once Thaos starts casting them. Cleansing flame is by far the most dangerous Thaos spell. It has lower accuracy than other stuff (only 85 vs 100 on most other spells) and attacks deflection, but if it hits you're most likely dead and being tanky doesn't help much. You need 135 deflection to only get grazed by it and 170+ for immuntiy. As a wizard, pop up your veil/wiz double/displaced image if you see you can't avoid it. it also jumps to 2 additional targets from the original one so if thaos casts it on confused statues or our summons make sure to stay far away (or pop up your defences if you can't). Also, it's a nice idea to not let judge buff Thaos with devotions as his accuracy will go up to 105 which you don't want to happen generally. As a wizard, keep your phantom between you and Thaos at all times. This way, Thaos will target the phantom first and it will eat most dangerous spells. If it eats cleansing flame, run away with phantom so it doesn't jump to you. Weakest saves - Thaos - reflex, Headsman - will, Judge - reflex. Both statues also have low deflection. Out of the 3 Judge has the weakest fort save so he's the best target for powerful fort targeting spells. Best damage types are pierce and freeze, but it doesn't matter that much. Arcane reflection is tempting, however it won't reflect cleansing flame as it's l6 spell and dominate as it's either some ability that does not count as a spell or is counted as a level 6+ (Level 7 priest spell ?). This is a bit disappointing given that it reflects stuff like fampyr charm.

Weapons spec is unique. Weapon focus is what's universally available. Theoretically useful fighter's abilities for ranged: weapon spec/mastery (+25% damage), armored grace (wearing clothes is not that great even as a ranged glasscannon), disciplined barrage (limited duration, not super useful in a team with priest/paladin), confident aim. It also comes down to talents and limitations on how many you can pick though. Ranged fighter can do: Weapon Focus Weapon Mastery Penetrating Shot Arms bearer Quickswitch Marksman With abilities: Disciplined barrage Weapon spec Confident aim Armored grace Vigorous defence (pop up when in danger) Unbroken Result: +25% damage on up to 4 (with island aumaua) hard hitting ranger weapons with +10 accuracy (disciplined barrage, which is enough for initial quickswitch burst), some bonus to min damage and graze -> hit conversion and some extra defences if things go south. I'd say it's competitive with ranger quickswitch build, although overall still worse offensively (but with extra survivability on top). It would help if there were more offensive abilities to pick instead of vigorous defence & unbroken but these aren't too horrible either (and unbroken would see much more use than on a tank fighter). Besides, all your damage talents work in melee as well so you can go like 3 arbalests + greatsword for flexibility.

The difference is that you get the statues to tank it for you . It also gives a more "legit" feeling to me as you're sort of fighting them simultaneously, but that's personal preference. It was possible to brute force the fight in 1.04 with some lucky petrify rolls, but I don't think it's gonna work in 1.05. And it wasn't a TC worthy strategy anyway, since it worked like maybe in 70% cases. Start is actually always the same, so it's easy to reproduce. I'll post some general tips later.

I agree that it's up to personal preference. But I find it a bit gamebreaking to "pull" mobs 1 by 1 for instance as the encounters clearly were not designed to be fought that way. Ultimately it's up to the player to define restrictions on what's "fair". As for AI - ideally I'd like to see an RPG with decent tactical experience like XCOM . This remains a dream so far. As for this thread: no updates today, but here's an alternative Thaos solo tactic I recorded: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=kIDjoea4aHY Problem solving in action for another tricky encounter so I'd say it's relevant here.

M'kay, here's the vid https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=kIDjoea4aHY. I wouldn't say this tactic is 100% reproducible but overall is very reliable. It's definitely more reliable than trying to melee Thaos without disabling him. And we're fighting all of them at once like a man! Well, they are fighting each other, but you get what I'm saying . Landing mind control on Headsman is 100% reliable, his will save is crap. You need to be careful with positioning and pay attention to what Thaos is casting though. It actually works better as a Cipher as Mind Plague is the most powerful mind control spell in the game. If you're wondering if it's doable without scrolls as well - it is, scrolls are just to speedup the process and minimize chances of screw up. You can use piercing burst/frost blast/cracking bolt instead or just wait and CC a bit more and let them kill each other (headsman will need some help from you though). As seen, I still have tons of spells and scrolls left by the end of the fight. This is just one of MANY tactics that can be used for this fight that I've discovered. You need a non TCS save to test them though . Just use your brain.

Caster wiz can kill Thaos without even cheesing the split. I will post the vid. It is much easier than trying to melee tbh. As of 1.05 with petrify nerf thaos can one shot most chars with cleansing flame if you just melee him and petrify trap is harder to land and is often not enough to kill him.

For splitting them up just follow one of the million vids available out there. Thaos fort is not unbreachable, at least with spells, but he uses strong buffs on himself and statues so it's better to wait them out. Dunno about traps after 1.05 nerf. Remember to use eldritch aim and rotfinger gloves. His freeze DT is low, so he's also vulnerable to bitter morning/blast of frost and it's possible to kill him without disabling using these. It's possible to do this fight with more unconventional tactics but I'd rather show it than just describe.

Well, figurines are always useful throughout the game, but in tough fights like AD the best they can do is work like a distraction. Scrolls are extremely powerful, but they cost you a lot of money so I won't say they are "OP", even if they can use some balancing. They allow to do fights you wouldn't be able to do otherwise though. High level wiz/priest/druid can beat many tough fights w/o using any of these by just burning all (or most of) their spells per day. Martial classes and even cipher find these much more crucial. If I would define a single biggest cheese that would be abusing the dumb AI (which I try not to). Other than that, it all depends on the actual fight.

I feel Barb will be even more hardcore. Kaylon did a ranger solo, but his approached was a bit cheesy as he used what I think is an AI glitch to eliminate the ads first without aggroing the dragon. I'll try to get by without it. i'm pretty sure it's doable with 30 scrolls but i'd like to avoid that too (but not sure I'll manage to).

Added more priest stuff. Will post tactics summary later. Meanwhile, any preferences which class to do next?

Walk in with pala. Durance a bit in the back but not too far. Once melee enemies surround the pala cast repulsing seal under them. If they try to get up - cast again. Burst everything that stands with wizard and druid. Done.

Mind blades were (and now even more so are) terrible on PotD. They need to roll the hit again for each jump. At the level they're available on it's very difficult to hit reliably with anything. They need to do 4 or more hits to outdamage amplified thrust. That's vs 0 DT. Realistically even if all 5 hit they would often deal less damage. The only reason they were nerfed is that they require no positioning or thinking how to use them, thus everyone whined: oh noes, mind blades too stronk, I press button and they do damage.

For burst generation - arbbalest/arquebus. Pair this with quickswitch. For steady generation - warbow. Warbow has more overall dps and will win out in the long run. As for melee - as usual pikes for reach (same group as arbalest/arquebus), estocs and dual sabers. Tbh as of 1.05 dual sabers are very strong. Now that focus generation is fully tied directly to dps and not hit frequency all weapons that do 24+ damage per hit got better, and sabers were the best dps weapon already. With dual superb sabers 50 dmg hits and 80 dmg crits are the norm at high level, resulting in 16+ focus per hit. Full blunderbuss shot in 1.04 got you maybe like 30-35 focus, which you easily get with like 2 saber hits (and you can land like 10 of them while you reload a blunderbuss). Blunderbuss is still good as an opener if you use carrow golan.

I like W&S style for massive deflection and reflex boost when you are in "caster mode". Cautious attack does not stack with displaced image, so I wouldn't pick it. Extra spell slot, corrosive/frost/fire extra damage or even WF: Soldier for extra pike accuracy for the last one.

All fights are quite easy for wiz once you figure out the right approach. The only way to fail is to go in without a plan. Batman wiz .

Shades and phantoms can't hit you even at level 4 if you do everything right. You can clear the searing falls, but stock up on prayer against fear scrolls and don't try to clear everything, it's not worth it. You only need to do the quest and clear the path to Pearlwood Bluff if you haven't already. Use rotfinger gloves on the big dragon to ease CC and make sure you rest before that fight. +Int rest bonuses might come in handy too.

Updated initial post with some math for druid and priest debuff/CC analysis.