KDubya

I've had a two monk team where the MC was Juggernaut with fists and Zahua was a Juggernaut but with TideFall and Greenstone Staff. Zahua used Tidefall pretty much all the time as it was Durganized. It is effective but I just prefer two fists of fury better. Wounds were not a problem as it was on PotD and both Monks were standing in the front. Standing in the second row and using reach is not going to work well with a Monk who needs to take hits. If you want a second row melee go with a Barbarian or a Cipher. As others have said the self inflicting wound talent is trash.

Like K Galen B said swapping to the next loaded firearm is the most realistic way to use them. In fact there should be severe penalties for trying to reload while taking damage, or at least greatly increased chance for being interrupted. One of my favorite character types is the pirate with a brace of pistols who fires off 2 to 3 of them before wading in with a sabre.

The game engine does not lend itself to modding so you'll probably never see anything like what you get in a Bethesda game like Skyrim or Fallout.

You can set it so that companions start at level one and let you pick all of their abilities other than their first one. Its in the Options menu I believe. This would alleviate needing to retrain any of the story companions ever, unless at some point you wanted to train them in an all new direction. The only things I spend money on early is to add a burning lash to whatever fine quality or above weapon I use, make up some weapons with Spirit Slaying and a burning lash, and to buy the boots from the Crucible Knights with consecrated ground on crit. That and maybe some food. Never bought any potions ever. Cash is plentiful just sell loot. It's especially beneficial to kill everything at Raedric's Keep and sell all the armor, that cash sets you up for the whole game.

For story I'd say a Cipher fits the watcher the best. Not saying they are the best or my favorite class but that a class with mental abilities that is occasionally persecuted for them makes sense to travel to a new land and gain Watcher abilities from a biawac storm.

For race I always like Boreal Dwarves. The +15 accuracy against many common enemies helps a bunch. If not that I like Pale Elves for the cool look. Fire godlikes need to be below 50% endurance for their power to kick in, not sure how often you want that to happen. With reach weapons you can stay relatively safe in the back or you can pop Arcane Veil and go Jedi and never get hit. Might, Int and Per around 16 with 10 everywhere else works fine. When not using a summoned weapon a staff or pike could be good for the reach. One of the nice implements or the soulbound scepter could be good for a ranged weapon switch. If you take Concelhaut's staff for spell mastery you'd have that available for every battle. I'd pick a weapon focus that either has implements that you want to use or has a melee weapon that you like until you can spell mastery the summoned staff.

I've always found Sneak to be fairly useless. Even with level one sneak you still see enemies before they see you and can reposition as desired. Apprentice Sneak Attack works for the first few seconds so your alpha strike will get the bonus regardless. I have the same formation for scouting as for combat. I set speed to x2 and sneak scout with pause on enemy sighted. I find traps and secrets as I walk around and from the initial pause choose targets and then bum rush the mob. Now my teams are usually melee heavy, four plus, so with a squishier backline it may not work as good. For Survival there are the blue pajamas (padded armor) in the light house that get you +2 survival, just wear those when you camp to get a higher skill level. I try for lore level 8 for use of level four scrolls whenever possible.

You can still have your Ranger be the mechanic, even my worst case of 66 skill points can be achieved by level 12 leaving 24 skill points left for Survival or whatever. Ten or eleven is plenty for the normal game, upscaled White march is where you need up to 13 or so. With re-spec you can just change out the mechanic skill later when you acquire Devil. Plus there is always the +3 mechanics from resting at Caed Nua which you can use to free up 36 skill points. If you make the effort to use the resting bonus you can easily be the mechanic guy and have enough skills left over for whatever. This free's you from having to have a Rogue on the team, or anyone in particular for that matter as your Ranger will always be there and if he is the mechanic you'll always have one available. I really like the Survival healing bonus for any sort of melee guy who has some sort of regen or healing and will be taking a lot of damage. Your Ranger will probably not be taking much damage and definitely will not be heal-tanking the mobs. This makes Survival nice for a Ranger but not really essential like a tier three +60% heal bonus can be for a melee guy.

I've had the cannons blow open the gate into the Iron Flail. It goes well with a "kill them all" approach as you literally blast in the front door and take on everyone at the same time.

My favorite pet is the war pig (boar) especially for a dwarf. Their extra high Con makes them as tanky as a bear but they attack a lot faster. There are a lot of good crossbows, they have full crit damage unlike the bigger arbalests, they have good interrupts and benefit from the Gunner talent that will speed up their reload. Plus the Knight weapon focus has axes, swords and Morningstars to give you plenty of options for a non-pierce weapon. I'd look to grab Interrupting Blows to double down on the interrupts, but if talents are tight you can wait for stunning shots. The extra +15 accuracy against Wilder and Primordial enemies will help a lot throughout the game, Boreal Dwarves are my go to race for just about anything. As far as skills go you'll need someone on the team with 13 or so Mechanics. This takes a lot of skill points so one needs to be dedicated, two guys with an 8 mechanics do nothing for you. You can find gloves that give +2 and there is a quest reward for another +1. If you started with a bonus due to culture this'd get you five free and you'd need 1+2+3+4+5+6+7+8= 36 skill points. Without the culture you'd need 45 skill points, without the gloves you'd need 66 skill points.

Just remember that the dialogues are perfectly handable without high stats of any sort, don't feel that you need to have certain high stats or else you miss the game. My advice is to pick the character you like and build him as you see them. If that gets you additional dialogue options great. Resolve gets you dialogue based on you force of conviction, you're the guy that does the right thing because it is the right thing, a strong willed character. Intellect gets you clever responses where you are like a rules lawyer manipulating the facts to trick the subject into giving up the information. I find it hard to roleplay a guy who can do both high Resolve and Intellect dialogue, since if you have the force of will to do it the right way why would you need to be clever about it? But YMMV. Another recommendation is to turn off the dialogue choice descriptions, it feels more natural choosing what you would say without being influenced by [Aggressive] or the others. This makes playing a Paladin more rewarding but more risky as you will need to work at staying in character instead of blindly clicking the two favored response types. Both Monks and Paladins are great, a Paladin will probably have better dialogue options as a Monk does really good with just Might and Constitution with everything else at ten.

I like Dwarves, tend to be them whenever I can as I like the strong stocky head on approach that I associate with them. That said I think Pillars would have been better off just going with humans, god-like, Orlan and Aumaua.

In testing in tavern fight club I find that bows do better with Vicious Aim instead of Swift Aim and that Penetrating Shot is better even against only 5 DR. Now this is done with identical target characters and identical Rangers except one takes Vicious and the other Swift (The Vicious guy also ends up with an extra talent as Swift uses two) I get the deflection of the targets to be equal to the accuracy of the Swift Aim guy, the Vicious guy has an accuracy advantage. Then in the tavern pause the game and have your Rangers shoot their own target and see who drops first. Since it is out of combat the target's endurance will regen and it will be health loss that ends the fight. Try it out with the targets wearing various levels of DR to see how it affects which is better, I tend to use fine Plate as the deciding DR as tough enemies have more DR anyway. Just make sure everything is identical except for what you want to test. Run a test for Vicious vs Swift with Hunting Bows, another for Vicious Vs Swift for Warbows, run one for Hunting vs Warbows, Dex vs Might whatever you are curious about.

Other than style points Two Handed Weapons get the short end of the stick. Sabres doing almost the same damage just makes it worse. Factor in that Sabres have some of the better uniques and are packaged in a great weapon focus group that includes pistols, blunderbuss and stilettos and it is hard from a pure numbers stand point to not go with sabre instead of Two Hander. A Two Handed Weapon also uses twice as much enchanting material and Durgan Steel. Two handers are plenty viable, the game is easy enough on PotD that you'll do just fine but your inner powergamer will be whispering "should have gone with Sabres"

I like to go with twin spears as hatchets have lower damage and the extra deflection does nothing for a Monk. The custom built spear, Cladhaliath, is good as is the one that causes defense debuff or the one with the speed enchant. Plus two spears look cool. I have two fists on one slot and two spears on the other.

The Chanter regen auras are Ancient Memories and Beloved Spirits. Together they get you around 6 endurance for 60 sec, I think it is per 3 second tick so 120 endurance total. When you add in Veteran's Recovery at 9-10 per tick your up around 270 - 300 endurance gained back through passive regen. Might help to have Kana shoot then wade into melee with a shield. I tend to keep him in melee and keep the frightened song going so that the enemy has an accuracy debuff. I also give Kana Gallant Focus and Aspirant's mark for accuracy boosters for the team. At higher levels I keep the +25% fire lash chant up and weave in others. I find that the team does more damage, or at least Juggernaut does, when Kana keeps the fire lash up instead of dragon thrashed, but I may be way off on this assumption. Either way the game is not so tough that it makes a difference. At level 3 or 4 I'm trying to clear Anslog's Compass and trying not to be eaten by wolves or boars. Killing Xaurips is easier as I'm a Boreal Dwarf and the +15 accuracy is huge. Level five is better as you'll have Lightning Strikes, Torment's Reach, and Force of Anguish and either Veteran's Recovery, Weapon Focus Peasant or Two weapon Style. FoA adds a lot of survivability by letting you prone someone for 10+ seconds.

Changing from custom made to the story companions is not going to make much of a difference, especially if you go for a durable synergizing team that meshes well. The reason for that is the story companions are not min maxed, tend to have better than needed defensive stats like Con, and the biggest advantage is they will be one level higher than your hirelings which makes a huge difference in the beginning which is when it is the most difficult. As others have stated go with a three or four man team. I went with a four man team PotD and am having a blast. No cheezy tactics needed like solo, straight up fair fights where I use consumables and food occasionally. PS I'm glad that you like the Juggernaut

The race should do fine. What is your team make up? I tend to always have Kana with the two Chanter regen auras going as well as a Paladin with Zealous Endurance for the extra DR and the hit>graze plus a few Lay on Hands when needed. Also as Undesirable wrote get Shod in Faith boots. Perhaps add in Veteran's Recovery sooner rather than later. Also what level are you having difficulty at? You need a few levels to get enough of an endurance pool to be able to take the hits. My last run was with the Juggernaut 3.0, Kana, Pellaginna and devil (used hirelings as stand ins until I could get the actual companions) as a four man team on PotD and they kicked ass.

If you are taking just one deflection boosting talent the best bang for your buck is Weapon and Shield Style - a small shield gets you +8 deflection, enchantable up to another +16 (realistically only +12 and easily a +eight and another +6 from the style itself. At level 8 with an exceptional small shield you get +22 deflection. If you want enemies to miss you grab a shield. If you want even more deflection you can grab Superior Deflection or Cautious Attack. Both gets you +5 deflection with one trading -20% attack speed for +3 deflection. Are you guys really of the opinion that -20% attack speed for +3 deflection is a good deal? A Paladin with a base 14 Might (could be easily a 17 with an item, 19 with food and 22 with Caed Nua resting) using an average speed weapon like a warhammer is going to hit fairly hard. This is not some 2 Might hatchet wielding vermin (Orlan), this is a heavy melee guy who can hold his own in a fight. Trading -20% attack speed for +5 DR penetration is a good trade but for +3 deflection it is terrible.

They are the best place to get mods for just about every game and do it themselves through donations. With PoE I don't use mods beyond additional portraits but imagine Skyrim or Fallout 3. NV or 4 without mods ..... Bethesda should write a big check to the Nexus team for making their games better and fixing their bugs.

At normal most anything will work. I'd pick a main class that sounds interesting and then grab the story companions as you find them and forge a team from what you find. This is not a "holy trinity" style game where you need tanks, buffers and damage dealers. You can make your Paladin the damage dealer and the Wizard can tank. If you get hit too much grab a shield, take too much damage get better armor or make better use of crowd control or even do more damage faster so that the fights end quicker. Find a style that you enjoy and build around that.

What you have will definitely work, the stats are balanced and will work fine. I also try not to dump anything below a ten. Changes I would make but are optional: Drop Cautious Attack - You are taking Superior Deflection which is +5 with no malus, +8 for -20% attack speed is a bad deal I'd try and fit in a weapon focus, +6 accuracy is useful Veteran's Recovery is also very nice for a tanky guy with good might, intellect and defenses. Drop Superior Deflection if needed I'm not a fan of Hastening Exhortation, it is per rest and suppressed by most every other speed boost. have Pellaginna take her special speed buff after Flames of Devotion instead. it is as good but also gets an AoE. Aegis of Loyalty is a great ability. Charms can be really dangerous and this takes them off the table. Reviving Exhortation - I don't find myself in need of reviving my team on PotD except in some sort of super hard bounty or dragon fight and for that there are either the AoE Chanter revive or scrolls. I've always thought that if your team is getting KO'd every other fight you need better tactics Athletics is fine with one or so. Someone should have a five or six for some scripted events but it does not have to be you. Your Lay on hands will be ten times better. Mechanics needs 13 or so but again that can be someone else. Lore is good at 8. Most everything needed from scrolls will work with an 8 Survival is good at a 14 for the +60% healing buff. There are blue pajamas (padded armor) that have +2 Survival that you can put on before camping to be able to get by with a natural 12 Survival.

I went with Monk as favorite and Priest as least liked. The ability to make a heavy armored Juggernaut Monk is one of the great things about PoE. They are useful from start to finish. DnD always had the problem with Monks being worthless early and godlike at the end. As for the Priest I just do not like buffing classes*. The game is either balanced around you needing the buffs which makes them required or the buffs trivialize the game's difficulty. I find PoE balanced such that I can roll without a Priest so I do so. * Specifically active buffing classes. A passive buff like a Paladin aura or a Chanter I really like having on the team.

With Ogres and lurkers I've had my melee engaged at a range where they hit me but I could not hit them and had to eat a disengagement in order to get into my melee range. I tried a reach, multiple engagement Fighter when the overbearing ability was added and found it not to work with engagement which is a shame. Imagine two fighters holding ten guys at bay, it'd be like a phalanx.

I'd be in favor of getting rid of all Vancian casters and replacing with some variant of how the Monk (damage received), Cipher (damage done) or Chanter (time and invocation) work. In pen and paper you had the Fighters for the trash mobs and minions, making sure that they kept the fragile Wizard alive. When you got to the big fight or if things went bad the Wizard could unleash hell and save the day. With a DM this works well and both Wizards and Fighters are happy and feel special. In Baldurs Gate, ADnD, Wizards are pretty much dead weight until level 9+. A few spells per day ended up either having a bad slingshotter for 90% of the time or a guy with a sleeping disorder Don't even bring up multi-class abominations like Kensai or Berserker Magi. In PoE it is easy to balance for a Cipher. By adjusting the cost of his powers and the rate at which he gains focus you can achieve a state that is both challenging and fun. Good in both trash and boss fights. For a Wizard you can act as if there was a DM around and marshall your resources, saving some for when you really need it. This works well or you can just blast everything into little pieces and camp a few extra times resulting in trivial encounters. Balance the big encounters on the assumption that a few Vancian casters will be unleashing hell and any team without them will be severely disadvantaged. Since the license and all creative decisions are entirely up to the team at Obsidian, I'd like them to think out of the box like they did with the Cipher, Monk and Chanter and apply that to re-making the Vancian casters.