Korgull

What's OP about it is that it steps all over the rogue class which is supposed to be best at single target dps. With how OSA currently works, the barb is best at single target and AOE dps. The fact that cipher is better at being a rogue than the rogue is a separate issue. Also, I'd bet you can pretty much put full con, per and resolve on him while leaving might and dex at 10 and still butcher everything with fast dual wield weapons. I have might 18 and resolve 16 with rest of the defensive stats on 10 and deal 50 damage hits with hatchets, sometimes with carnage. I've been surrounded by six enemies and they go down way faster than my barbarian. You don't need to use charm or knockdown because everything dies in a couple of hits. The ability simply breaks the game, at least in the early game.

This skill has to be bugged. Just took it on level 5 and my barbarian basically destroys everything that comes around him in 2-3 seconds on medium difficulty. I might as well not have a party at all (maybe that's what the ability's name is referring to...). Would be nice to have an answer from the devs if the ability is really supposed to work this way. And yeah, marked prey definitely does not give +20 damage.

OP's character wasn't necessary crappy, just not what he wanted out of his character. Some people also just want their character to be good at everything at once and it leads them to end up being good at nothing which is the state of the companions right now. All of the companions can work fine if only because the combat isn't too painfully difficult especially on Hard and below. But relative to a custom build, yes companions including Pallegina suck at everything. I used Flames of Devotion and Arbalest on her, she was basically good for two sort-of hard hits(if they hit) and then relegated to babysitting squishier characters, which many other builds could do better while doing other things. Her damage in melee is weak, her damage at range is weak, her durability is mediocre. I've also tested the immortality of Eder, and post-bugs, he's not really durable nor is his damage output great. He has too many points in con which is the worst attribute unless you're going pure tank which Eder cannot really do until late game since he has weak Per/Res. I can make a character that does better damage and tanks better and is basically better in every way with just lower endurance that I could make up for by eating some food if I really wanted. And companions also take some pretty awful talents. So even if you think their attributes aren't a big deal, there's still that problem. Okay, I noticed some of your posts in other threads and my conclusion is that you're obsessed with character optimization and this discussion isn't going anywhere Still I'd like to suggest to OP that don't care about minmaxing that much unless you're playing on Path of the Damned, which I assume you aren't.

Uhh, what?! I did the quest, found the secret gold pile, but I'm pretty sure it didn't include that sword! Dammit, am I going to have to go back there to check it again...

Just because you can doesn't mean it's better. The less focused a build the more poorly it does its job. Why have a character that does mediocre damage and is only somewhat durable when you can optimize a few durable characters to take the damage and then have damage builds that wreck everything? Well, as the op said it's pretty damn boring to play a main character that deals absolutely no damage, but he also doesn't want a character who falls over when the enemy so much as looks in his direction. As it's perfectly possible and viable and even pretty effective to play the game on a balanced build (at least on medium difficulty, probably on hard as well), why would he make a build he doesn't find fun playing? My argument is more with your medium attribute build and my point is that medium deflection builds specifically aren't worth it. Unless you're stacking deflection, you may as well get your durability elsewhere. DR preferably, since Con sucks. I offered a solution I think is better. Pallegina is not a very effective character - she's my favorite companion but she just sucks in combat period. Actually my main reason to get 14 resolve and perception was the dialogue options. I just used the build as an example of one that I tried which was balanced around tanking and doing damage, and seemed to work well at least in the early game. I'm not saying it's the best, but it was still effective and fun to play. I think you and many others on this board are putting way too much emphasis on the importance of stat builds, while they actually matter way less than what class and talents you have and what equipment you use. I mean Eder only has 12 perception and 13 resolve and he's pretty much immortal with the right items and talents. People are saying that you're gimping your character unless you are minmaxing stats (which clearly led to OP creating a crappy, unfun character) while it's simply not the case. In my party Pallegina has almost caught up with Eder in damage even though she has been in the party for maybe half as long, and she can also easily tank two enemies at a time. I don't see how she sucks in combat.

It's important to keep in mind when people are asking for builds what they actually want. OP's post suggest he wants something fairly effective. And just generally when people ask for build advice they don't want a "this is a build that sucks but you can still complete the game with it" response. Dumping at least one attribute is the only way to make an effective tank + damage character in one build. And there are only a few classes that can pull it off. If I had to make one w/out dropping anything below 8 though I'd say: Fighter or Monk 17 might 8 Con 8 Dex 18 Per 8 Int 19 Res Ideal would of course be dumping int entirely though. Defender + Wary Defender or Cautious Attack for Monk should be taken Could try to pull off 2h or dual wield, but I'd sooner go with a strong 1h weapon + small shield and Weapon and Shield style. Monk with Turning Wheel can do some solid damage even with a 1h weapon. Alternatively could swap between one damage and one tanking weapon set depending on situation which is probably ideal once you have the equipment to do it. I wouldn't dump int on a monk considering that he has self buffs and strong disables which would be considerably weakened by the duration penalty. Also having a high constitution on a monk is very beneficial because of his innately huge health pool, which will allow you to get wounds in combat without having to rest after every second battle. I also don't find maxing deflection on a monk to be that amazing, considering that you actually want to get damaged. I'd much rather control the amount of damage I take by choosing what armor I wear, and have a nice big endurance pool so I can get wounds without being in danger of dying.

Just because you can doesn't mean it's better. The less focused a build the more poorly it does its job. Why have a character that does mediocre damage and is only somewhat durable when you can optimize a few durable characters to take the damage and then have damage builds that wreck everything? Well, as the op said it's pretty damn boring to play a main character that deals absolutely no damage, but he also doesn't want a character who falls over when the enemy so much as looks in his direction. As it's perfectly possible and viable and even pretty effective to play the game on a balanced build (at least on medium difficulty, probably on hard as well), why would he make a build he doesn't find fun playing?

Like someone else already said, forget about people who say that you need to minmax stats for dps or tanks. I'm currently using Pallegina as a secondary tank with a two-handed weapon, and her stats are hardly minmaxed but she tanks quite well and deals a lot of damage just with autoattacks. If you want a tough dps character, I suggest a paladin or a fighter with stats spread across might, perception and resolve and maybe some points in other stats if you like, wielding a two-handed weapon. You may still need to have Eder as a main tank, but your character won't get destroyed if he gets targeted. As for a monk, I tried a fire godlike with 16 16 8 14 10 14, and she was reasonably tanky in leather armor while dealing quite a lot of damage. I've only played her until level 3 but it seemed like a pretty strong build. You could probably switch the race to some other and do just as well, but the +3 dr and fire damage retaliation when under 50% endurance just seemed to synergize very well with a monk.

The following contains very slight spoilers: Luckily the shades seem to be quite rare in the game, I've only encountered them in large numbers in one place after the Eothasian temple. At which point I said screw this, and went elsewhere. When I'm going back I'm gonna put everyone in my party in plate armor and see how it goes, hopefully it'll be a bit easier. But the damn things sure aren't balanced, when the game's second dungeon is actually one of the hardest in the game (at least 30 hours into the game) just because of one enemy type. Oh, and Aloth's fan of flames is really good against them. The yellow AOE doesn't hit friendlies so it's not as hard to use the spell as you might think.

Durance is probably the best companion ever written for an rpg. Haven't finished his backstory yet, but so far the dialogue has been amazing. Eder seems kinda like your basic likable fighter that every rpg requires, although I think he's slightly more interesting than most of those. Aloth is really cool, with great voice acting (same as Durance). Sagani seemed interesting, but the American girl accent really puts me off in a character that's supposed to be sort of exotic. Grieving Mother voice acting is also really bad, but at least Pallegina's is good so there's one female companion with good voice acting. Haven't progressed that far in her her story yet. Kana also has good voice acting, and he's also pretty interesting and unlike most cheerful rpg companions, not annoying at all.

Yeah, except all of that int AOE bonus goes into the yellow area which doesn't hit friendlies. So with a high intelligence, you can use cone spells from behind your tanks, for example.

Wildstrike only affects your melee damage while spiritshifted. Are you sure? I think it should affect spells as well. I think I also tested this but I'm not sure anymore, as I've mostly used spiritshift to tear enemies apart in melee. Works pretty well as far as level 7 by the way. As for the op, I've used my druid mostly to cast spells in the beginning of battle, and then let him join Eder and Pallegina in melee with a two handed weapon. He's been wearing anything from hide to breastplate. What armor you want to use depends on how much you're getting hit in battles. If he's not targeted much, use a lighter armor but if you want to use him as some kind of semi-tank (which he really isn't optimal for as has been already stated in this thread) you'll probably need to put him in a plate. The good thing about this game is that you don't really need to plan your weapon or armor choices that much early in the game, and can just switch things around depending on what you feel suits your playstyle. Even the weapon focus talents will benefit you for at least one two-handed, one handed and ranged weapon. As for talents, wildstrike will make you a melee powerhouse early on in the game, so I suggest taking it on level one. In addition to that, the elemental damage talents are good, although the druid doesn't have corrode spells at least in the first four levels so avoid that one. Taking a weapon focus talent is also a pretty safe bet.

Umm, I solo killed the bear with a not very heavily optimized druid without using any potions or other consumables, so I wouldn't really consider that barbarian build "super powerful".