[Best shapeshift form?]

IMO the best form is bear, but it really depends on how you've built your druid. The druid in my group is built to be an AoE bomber, so min con, high might, int and dex, so I chose bear form just so that if someone managed to break past my two tanks, that my back lines wouldn't get demolished before I could retaliate. I'd strongly recommend not putting any points into shapeshifting, it has horrid scaling and the druid primarily excels at being an AoE nuke.

[Let's talk class balance....]

About the chanter, isn't it weird that they would be one of the worst classes if not for their summons? The latest patch having crippled their most interesting buffs actually made me wonder if people would even use one if they nerfed his summons too.

Not a chance, and I'm not going to even add one to my party at this stage because I know that they're probably going to nerf summons sooner or later.

[My more tanky Barbarian build..]

If you want to be tanky don't raise your constitution, raise your per/res. I know it sounds weird but deflection>endurance/hp BY FAR. If you can stack it high enough you just can't die.

Like tnc is saying, it might seem counter-intuitive, but you'd be far better off dumping con and putting the points into per/res to get deflection and the other defensive stats. Deflection in this game is the most important, because it's the melee characters that are typically going to shred you.

[Barbarian DPS build]

The Barbarian setup that I run is the following:

 

Race: Hearth Orlan, they have a crit passive which is perfect for a melee DPS character.

 

Might: 18

Dex: 18

Int: 14

Con: 10

Per: 10

Res: 10

 

For a weapon use a pike or a quarterstaff, because you really don't want to get hit depending on what difficulty you're playing on. Pikes and quarterstaffs have increased range, which will allow you to poke at things from behind your tanks. A lot of people will dump Con and pump the rest into Int. It just depends on what you want. If you choose to pump it into int, your barb is going to evaporate as soon as a mob touches them on higher difficulties. These stats maximize your main DPS stats (Might and Dex) while making sure your AoEs still get a bonus from the +4 int.

 

Keep in mind that barbs have low starting deflection, so your health pool is literally your lifeline early game and is still very important later. An alternative to this is dumping con and putting the points into Per/Res. This will decrease the chance you are hit, and it's mostly a matter of preference.

[Let's talk class balance....]

Fighter is just the best damage sponge. He's good, but I won't say top. You can replace him with a lot of other options that won't work as well, but will do the job for the most part, plus if you go heavy on the nuking you may not need a tank at all (don't say it's optimal). He doesn't have any "I win" buttons though, and can't win the fights on his own usually. That makes him just "good" but not "top" in my book.

I think when talking about balance it's important to consider what difficulty is being played at, in my case I'm referring to PotD. When a lot of the guys here are saying stuff like "melee dps sucks" and whatnot, they're referring to the fact if you place a melee dps in melee range, and they pull agro for 2 seconds, they're going to get roasted. A lot of the other classes are just relative, when your making ranks, you have to consider this too. For instance, can a monk tank? Yes, it can, but not as well as a fighter can. So for that role it gets shoved in a tier below in my mind.

[Let's talk class balance....]

The only class that is not great at anything is Paladin. What he does can be replicated with a few items and scrolls.

 

Add some range to those auras ffs, it's like second-hand invisibility spell from Order of the Stick comic.

Hard to disagree with this imo...

 

Based of the testing I've done on PotD I'd have my list looking like this:

 

1: Cipher, Druid

2: Fighter, Rogue, Priest

3: Wizard, Barbarian, Chanter

4: Paladin, Ranger

5: Monk

 

Monks in my mind have the most counter-intuitive build out of all of the classes. First of all, they scale poorly while they level because their fists end up being garbage late game. Second of all, their abilities proc of wounds, which require you to get hit. When you're playing in PotD, having a melee DPS get hit that isn't a fighter or a barb with a decent health pool is going to result in their swift death. One would then assume that a monk should tank, but they get completely outclassed by fighters here.

[Let's talk class balance....]

Crutch Tier: Cipher, Chanter, Druid

 

Solid Tier: Fighter, Priest, Rogue, Wizard

 

Fighter Lite Tier : Pally, Barb, Ranger

 

How Do They Even Work Tier: Monk

 

 

Caveat: heavy use of confusion and prone AoEs raises Wizard to Crutch Tier.

Sorry if I sound like a scrub, but why are Chanters being rated so highly? Didn't they just get hit with a nerfbat?

[DPS Chanter]

So I've decided to try out a DPS chanter, but I'm having a little bit of trouble deciding what to take.

 

In terms of an invocation, the AoE stun seems like an obvious one, because it scales with might. What about the phrases though? The +10 to fortitude and will seem powerful early game, but I'm not so sure about a second phrase.

 

Does anyone have insight on this?

[Rogue & Cipher Builds for POTD Difficulty Please]

Hello,

 

I hit Act 3 and have been loving the story but have recently decided to re-roll for a greater challenge and all custom-party.

 

For my party makeup I was thinking:

 

Tanks:

Fighter

Chanter

 

Melee DPS:

Barbarian

Rogue

 

Ranged DPS:

Priest

Cipher

 

Is this setup viable or should I slot a Wizard in somewhere?

 

I know how to build all of these classes with the exception to Ciphers and Rogues, I have seen many builds for these characters but never found the ones best for POTD.

 

For Cipher I am hearing light armor and arquebus gun dps is the way to go, I need stat recommendations.

 

For Rogue I was thinking Medium or Light Armor with dual maces to complement the dual sabres on my barbarian. Max Might and Dex, what else?

 

 

 

One idea I have been toying with is removing my Fighter, adding a Wizard, and then having one of my other Melee characters slightly tanky.

 

Any tips would be appreciated!

Melee DPS characters suck pretty bad on PotD, they are inherently flawed for this difficulty. Essentially, if you move your barbarian or rogue out of place ONCE they are going to get fried.

[A Newb's Perspective/Build Assistance]

Well after putting about 5 hours into min-maxing different characters and seeing what sort of play style I'd like to use, I've come to a few conclusions.

 

1) Melee DPS seems to be utter garbage compared to ranged DPS, simply because they get shredded in four seconds if they pull agro, and tanks don't have any taunt ability that I have seen so far.

2) Paladins suck for DPS, once you blow your flames of devotion you are pretty much relying on auto-attacks and don't have any innate bonuses for them.

 

Essentially from a role-playing perspective I like playing characters that are melee DPS, but don't die as soon as someone accidently steps on their toes. I made a build for my main character that seemed to work, but I'm looking for more input before I start to go through the entire game with it and potentially regret it later.

 

Race: Hearth Orlan

Class: Fighter

Att: 18/10/18/10/10/12

 

This character has cranked might and dex for damage, and a bit of res just for some damage reduction. Fighters innately have good accuracy, so this coupled with the accuracy ability you can choose at level 1 along with the Hearth Orlan passive should theoretically result in high consistent single target DPS.

 

If anyone has thoughts on this, I'd like to hear them.

[Attributes Required for Dialogue Checks?]

Basically how much int, per and res do you need to pass dialogue checks.

[Need Help Picking a Main Character Class]

Paladin, barbarian, monk, or rogue.

 

Paladin is a great roleplaying experience and only the main character can benefit from the obscene defensive bonuses obtained from adhering to your order's beliefs.

 

Barbarian, monk, and rogue aren't featured in the written NPC's in this game, so if you plan on avoiding using adventurers, taking one of those would be best for the full experience of every NPC.

I was thinking of making a front-line utility paladin, in other words, have a little bit of damage, a little bit of support and a bit of being able to not die from a nasty look.

 

Not so sure about the race, I was leaning towards either of the Orlan sub-races, and the bleak-walkers order looks appealing for my... less than merciful playstyle.

[Need Help Picking a Main Character Class]

Greetings,

 

I'm a complete noob...

 

What would you guys reccomend as a main character class?