Climhazzard

I noticed, I was actually wondering if they scale on power level, but was to lazy to check... if so nature godlike is getting better and better for multi classing.

So back to the subject of tank builds, after finishing beta on PotD I'm feeling like basically anyone with the large shield modal is a tank. If you want to build specifically for a tank then defender stance + large shield gives you so much mitigation that you don't need anything else regardless of stats or equipment. With that in mind you ought to wonder what else this guy could provide to the party. CC? Accuracy is to low Debuff? Accuracy is to low Damage? Accuracy is to low, recovery is to long Buffing? Yeah that would work. Summoning? This would work too. So, the best options are probably Priest, Paladin, or Chanter. If you left him as a straight fighter he'd be nothing but a meatshield that couldn't hit with his active abilities. Priest would help with your buffing phase, your tank could cast quicker inspirations while your real priest casts the longer ones Paladin wouldn't really do much but would have the option to use lay on hands or exhortations when needed. Paladin would probably be the toughest option, nigh unkillable. Chanter seems like the best option, there are heaps of good defensive phrases that don't require accuracy, non offensive invocations are fast cast and provide a lot of good options, though your recovery will be pretty bad with good armor. You can also go beckoner and summon a heap of mobs at the start of every battle, though the chances of getting interrupted are somewhat high this is still my favorite option. Basically.. Unbroken/Beckoner Any race with affliction resistance. Defender's stance-summons-defensive phrases-defensive invocations

Hmmm it's probably similar to PoE in that only certain enemies would try to disengage, such as the monks in the white marsh. Also it's altogether possible that enemy AI isn't done being tweaked.

Swift flurry can proc off itself so it's basically utterly broken on any kind of crit build. If you check the screenshots I put up on the first page it's a fighter/monk swift flurry build doing 200+ damage in a single hit from swift flurry crit/proccing 6 times in a row.

am very much intrigued by any number o' possible helwalker/caster builds. with lesser wounds, your multi-class helwalker/whatever is starting every combat encounter with +3 might, which stacks with priestly inspirations. am also surprised by the absence o' tanks being shared in this thread. is a few paladin/fighter builds which, with non-magical brigandine, is near invulnerable in the beta runs we has tried. haven't had a chance to make a chanter-tank, but am not doubting there is a few possibilities. given the op nature o' a few o' the current chanter invocations at the moment, am not doubting we will use such more than once... though am current having difficulty not having a skald/devoted in our party. HA! Good Fun! Fighter/Paladin is probably the strongest but it's not complicated at all so that's probably why it hasn't really been shared. I'm currently trying out a Holy Slayer Riposte build that uses eternal devotion and retribution to buff riposte. Riposte seems to have quite the internal cooldown though so I'm not sure how I feel about it so far. I think it would probably be pretty good as a main tank once you get persistent distraction for your 3rd engagement slot, before then you'd have to use a spear though. Also if rogues get any reflex based evasion type stuff that would be pretty good for tanking too. The one thing I don't get is why adept evasion turns grazes into misses when nothing grazes... lol.

I just confirmed returning storm does not generate wounds. Taste of the hunt did though. Would require more testing but I suspect it has to be a primary or full attack type ability to work. Also I just learned that lightning strikes+cat flurry= ridiculous attack speed.

Yeah we did have an ability like this in PoE and it helped a lot to make monk tanky enough to generate wounds and not die... but shattered pillar doesn't really need to be the center of attention to generate wounds so he'd be fine without it. Also abilities cost a lot more wounds than in PoE so you'd actually have to choose between the armor buff or using your abilities. It is a bit of a disadvantage in that case (can't remember what that ability was called) but I think it's more than worth the loss, we'll know for sure after we get to see the rest of the abilities though.

Well, basically... this guy is an epic push over. He's epic in his arrival animation and the fact there is a watcher scene warning you of a powerful enemy ahead... And then he dies without having done anything. For a mini boss this guy is about the biggest push over in existence. Please make him stronger. Give him some affliction resistances, more health, better abilities, etc. Stuff like a Pbaoe that causes prone. His grab should throw you across the screen. His kick should hit multiple characters. Give him a laserbeam from his eyes or something.... Anyways, tonight instead of commenting more on game mechanics or whatever, I decided to make sure this guy gets the love he deserves....

So I decided to mess around a bit with Nature Godlike to see how much it could benefit monk since transcendent suffering is affected by power level and the result was very good. At level 7 you get a pretty big transcendent suffering jump in power with the wellspring buff (50% damage, 14 accuracy, 4 penetration). Since Torment's reach spends and generates wound's at the same time it's basically awesome combined with rooting pain. Rooting pain is also buffed by lightning strikes. Build is basically as follows.. Nature Godlike Shattered Pillar Lightning strikes-Torment's Reach-Rooting Pain You have to hit level 7 to become OP. Lightning strikes activate wellspring of life. You don't really need tenacious blows yet especially if you are using some form of armor debuff so make sure to get rooting pain. I expect that eventually talent's that use wound's won't generate wounds, it would be strong regardless but less bursty. The main problem here is that Nature Godlike does not suit my aesthetic tastes at all.... why oh why couldn't this have been a human racial.... I'm literally going to be punching people with flowers.

Also while I'm posting old screenshots I might as well put this one up. If nothing else godlike should be able to wear this thing, lol, it'd fit right over the horns.

It heals like 150 endurance a tick by endgame if you spec high might and equip +healing items, that's way better than anything you can get from any helmet. Checking in my screenshots I found one I took that sort of proves my previous statement, the wing slam was fully negated by silver tide. It's from my only finished Ironman PotD run. Though it seems heavily nerfed in PoE2 so far, and probably not worth the loss of a helmet.

If some general abilities do end up being pulled into a general ability pool, then I hope that either weapon focus does not end up there or that fists gain a weapon proficiency for monks. Otherwise fist users will have lower than average accuracy.

This is SO awesome! Thanks for testing this. I really hope when all is said and done, that a party of no casters except possibly a healer can kick ass in PoE2, including taking down every boss and overcoming every challenge in the game, because then that's all I would ever want to use in my games. Problem with 4 dps 1 priest is your priest is pulling double duty as a buffer and healer. After looking at Boeroer's Lifegiver I'm thinking a standard PotD party might look like the following... Tank- Fighter/Paladin or some other worthy combination Striker- Monks, rogues, barbarians, perhaps rangers, devoted multiclass CC/support- Skald/striker multi would probably be my choice with fast cast invocations. Priest- Mainly for accuracy buffs and inspirations Lifegiver- Keep party on it's feet.

Hadn't considered using a large shield as a stand your ground option... if you're going to have a buffing phase it'd definitely be better than just turning the AI off.

Personally I've just been using empower with the rest bonus that causes it to graze so if I really need an effect it won't miss, otherwise I can't see what difference a small boost in powerlevel is really going to do.

With inspirations you just need to plan ahead to counter something like that, probably wouldn't be to hard. Guess I underestimated the healing druid if it can do all that.

I agree. When the beta first started I was on the fence about the loss of general passives, but after much playing I think it's beneficial. All that needs to happen is classes with few or no passives need to be fleshed out a bit so that single classing has options and isn't boring. Also I think more things (everything) should be affected by power level, bringing additional benefit to single classing. Right now there's a ton of things that aren't affected by power level.

From top to bottom, my feelings so far. scale 1-10 Barbarian-8- Pretty good all round Berserker- 9 - Perhaps good with Paladin mutli class. Also great synergy with monks due to clarity of mind and both having many effects that proc on crit builds. Corpse Eater- No idea Mage slayer- -50% beneficial spell duration is really bad, extremely bad Chanter-8- Pretty support good all round. But that 9 second summoning time is basically terrible. Summoner- If you do a buffing stage at the start of battle there's usually enough time to get the summons out and then they're great. Skald- Offensive invocations are about your best CC option right now of any class. Use dual wands, daggers, or clubs, for fast crits. Troubadour - The passive subclass. Cipher-5/8 (single/ soul blade multi)- Ehh... great multi class for the passives, but the spells are pretty meh. The effects weren't balanced with the new cast times. Example: Whisper of treason cast+recov = 9 seconds, duration = 10 seconds; Mental binding cast+recov = 9 seconds, duration = 6 seconds. There are many more examples. Also many buffs don't affect the caster. Ascendant- Bad. Takes forever to cap focus then you only have 5 seconds to do something with the buff you get from it. Beguiler- Uh cipher's have illusion spells? If this is referring to deception spells then it might be a good way to perma debuff enemies if you get enough focus from it, but I doubt that. Soul Blade-8- Great melee multi class. Don't bother with spells. Druid- 5/8- Shapeshifting is always fun. But suffers from spell effect duration's that weren't balanced with the new cast times, same as cipher. Example: Tanglefoot, cast time+recovery time= 9 seconds, duration = 6 seconds. Fury- Spell cast times to long vs spell effect, though some might still be good Lifegiver- 8 - EDIT: This get's upgraded to an 8 after using Boeroer's lifegiver build, even a 9 wouldn't be to generous, it heals much better than I thought. Shapeshifter-8- Strong, mutli class with a class who's abilities you can use while shifted, monk for example. Fighter- 8 - Good as a tank, great for martial multi classing Black Jacket- Idk, it's for weapon swap builds. Devoted-10- Give this one a 10 for martial multi classing because of the penetration system. Even with 1 proficiency it will probably excel with swords or greatswords. Unbroken- Multi class to paladin for one tough mofo Monk- 9 - Tons of good stuff here. Lightning strikes, swift flurry, raised torment, thunderous blows, rooting pain, Blade turning, etc Helwalker- Well, I don't like glass cannons, but it's a nice option Nalpazca- Idk, depends on drug durations Shattered Pillar- Monk's dream come true. Paladin- 8 - Lots of good skills here, they're so tough it's a real shame they don't have more natural engagement slots though. Multi class to something that does Priest- 7 -Unlike the other casters priest spells have a decent duration and are quite important, especially now that you need dire blessing to graze. 7 instead of 8 since they don't have any passives. Ranger- ? - Haven't got a ranger working yet so Idk Rogue- 8 - Rogue has plenty of good options. Confounding blind is awesome. Managing them kind of sucks until you get persistent distraction though. Assassin- ? - Idk, might be cool with shadowing beyond. Street fighter- A squishy melee that benefits from low health and is punished for full health? Bad Trickster- I wouldn't trade 30% of my sneak attack for arkemyr's dazzling lights. Not sure what else they get, some mirror images might make it worth it for riposte builds Wizard- 5 - No passives, spell durations/effects aren't balanced with the new cast times, though some of the defensive spells are nice. Specializations to restrictive. EDIT: A few changes, most notably life giver gets much more credit now.

The new penetration system is making rooting pain a lot stronger than it was in the first PoE. Also it's basically amazing with shattered pillar. Rooting pain proccing off doing damage means you can control where it hits and interrupts enemies better, it's probably the best way in the game atm to lock down casters, especially since the upgrade to Torment's reach stuns your target and if it hits it causes more rooting pain procs. Just pure shattered pillar is actually an awesome build right now (though you have to go to level 9 to get the most of it and level 7 is more realistic playing the beta normally), if only you didn't have to cast dire blessing every fight to prevent torment's reach from missing. I'm sure it'll be great with multi class possibilities as well, but that's a little out of reach in the beta.

I feel like lightning strikes affecting stuff like mind blades is unintended, though I hope not because it's pretty cool. Most multi class options only improve martial classes, having something that improves spells would be sweet.

They should keep it, rename it to cloak of blinding and give it an aoe blind effect that effects everyone in range, lol.

Fists already have higher base damage than other fast weapons which makes up for lack of enchants. The monk bonus scales with power level so they'll surely be competitive to superb weapons by endgame. Whether they compete with legendary or soulbound weapons is yet to be seen, perhaps not... or perhaps monks will get their own unique items to compensate. It's to early to judge. Also not every class even gets a free passive so you can't really say that they're giving up a passive to get fists as a weapon. I agree with the OP that fists ought to have a proficiency for monks. Especially for a devoted fist user. But I don't necessarily believe that it will make or break fists as a weapon type. Anyways, if they do get a modal then I hope it's something like pressure point strikes... sacrifice damage or recovery for some kind of affliction on the enemy.

I asked if there was an unarmed modal in their live stream beta announcement and the answer I got was that monks bare fists are already OP so they don't have any plans to add one. I can't blame them because in my last playthrough as a monk I was one shotting mobs on PotD by the end of the game. That said, if you want to punch dragons to death (as is my preference ) you have to play as a monk. Ok I'm confused, perhaps the character sheet is just fcked up. Monk fists list 8-13 damage. Sabers list 21-33 damage. Long story short, I ended up playing my monk with sabers -.- Gonna have to double check that I guess... Edit: just to be on the same page here, when you talk about your last playthrough on POTD, you talkin' about DF or POE1 ? It's a bug, check your damage when you first make your monk then compare it to after the first time you load the game. It gets cut in half. Also if this is anything like PoE then fists will have fast attack speed while the sabers will have average attack speed. Right now they both have fast attack speed. Fists will be fast (assumption) and come in somewhere between 20-25 while your saber is average and coming in at 30 or so. Fists will be plenty competitive as long as they have enough penetration, which they probably won't have for every encounter so you'll end up using the sabers sometimes anyways.

Yeah but Imo long reach weapon should have more control of battle and get larger engagement range. Thanks for mentioning. Full reach engagement leads to the possibility of engagement kiting. Without at least a global cooldown on engagement attacks it's broken. Something like this I didn't read the replies here and am putting in my 2 cents anyways, so take it with a grain of salt, but if you want to keep 5 enemies engaged then your best bet is to unstealth your tank first and wait until he engages all 5 enemies before coming out with the rest of your party.

Interesting.I am trying to figure out what would be the perfect PEN thresholds that would satisfy a set of conditions/expectations set by the forumers. And your statement regarding "if there is no armor, penetration can't do anything" - kinda heavily affects the viability of high pen weapons. I'd like to clarify: - you expect two similar attacks against naked character, but one with quite higher PEN, deal same damage? - (same thing rephrased) you are against dealing bonus damage with stuff like estocs and stilletos when your PEN is much higher than target's AR? I think I would agree with this too, if the target has no armor I don't see why PEN should do anything. If it doesn't then there isn't really much to discourage the player from going around naked with all his non tank characters.