Ouroboros226

They are indeed awesome and its good they got implemented. Unfortunately they will remain... boring, situational and underwhelming until the devs fixes the broken fact that reload times are not affected by action speed / dex.

I had a hillarious thing sort of like this happen to me. In the skaen temple I sacrificed Hiverias. He was sucked into the blood pool and dissolved as he was coughing blood and dying. In the next chapter I met him on the road again lol. Eager to talk about his life. As if the blood pool never happened

The Damage Types themselves doesn't matter much, really. Whenever possible, I think weapons should have niches beyond the damage type itself, anyway. On the note of large clubs, I really want sledge-type hammers. Good ol' Diablo 2-style mauls that you swing overhead into your opponents, crushing their skulls. Two-Handed Crush weapons, Slow speed, +Crit.Dmg like Battle Axes or simply +Dmg á la Sabres. Probably the best explanation so far. +25% Barbarian Rage duration? And 50% if dual-wielding clubs ^^ If you are also a priest who worships Skaen dual-wielding 2xclubs - then you also get to summon a mob with pitchforks and torches whom all gain your frenzy buff.

What if you're not having fun and are trying to figure out why? Did you have fun on your first playthrough Sensuki? I'm asking because on the DA:I forum - some guy complained (created a huge wall of text) that the game sucked, but admitted to having played 200+ hours. You don't play a game for 200 hours and say it sucks I just took you for a theorycrafter, I may be wrong but did it go like this? 1: Played through the game, had fun. 2: Theorycrafted your brains out on mechanics 3: Play the game again with knowledge of all exploits and mechanics possible 4: Find it easy, boring and bad due to having exhausted the challenge, surprise and unpredictability of the game. 5: Seeking out flaws and errors on purpose Not saying I'm right here! I'm just curious if what has happened in your case - could be having actually played yourself to boredom or the like.

Hi Its simple really. When you choose to pick up a club - a CLUB!... of all weapons... ; to bludgeon someone to death with. Then you are really, really set on killing them Hence the extra accuracy. I mean you could have chosen a sword, a bow, a mace or any other weapon. But a lousy club? Then you are SERIOUS about killing said person or creature.

This is correct. You will be playing a standard wizard until lvl5'ish, then transition into Armageddon's blade later on

My first attempt was actually an "arcane archer"... well sort of... more like a wizard gunslinger Wanted a wizard with gunner talent and high dex using pistol. However - for whatever idiotic and illogical reason there may be - the devs decided not to let dex affect reload speed. It makes absolutely no sense to me why high dex wouldnt affect a character's ability to reload guns faster. So that build was pretty much ruined. Bow-wizard might work fine. But imo... guns.... not so much. Still bitter on the devs for this design choice. So much in fact that I made a vow not to use ranged characters in this game out of spite

Did anyone try going back to the very first area where you awakened with high (12+ mechanic skill?). It would be awesome if the devs actually put a secret there that couldnt be revealed until endgame mechanic skill search. Like... who would think of going back there to look?

Remember when people just had fun playing games? And didn't analyze them to death looking for faults? Good times x)

I was born 1984. Started gaming at 7 years old with mario on NES. I have played countless games on all gaming platforms with a primary love for RPGs. RPGs the last 5-7 years has been average at best (few exceptions). I've actually gotten custom to so many average RPGs that I'm used to disappointment by now. That said... I think PoE is a solid 8/10. Beating Dragon age Inquisition which I considered a 7/10. Despite its faults - which has already been pointed out - I enjoyed PoE immensly. To sum up: You judge a game by the sum of its parts. You dont dismantle it and go "HAH! Found a rusty cog!". This is just my opinion, but PoE *DID* deliver on the most important aspects of what I missed with RPGs from back in the day.

Great to know. I've been poking around with a melee wizard (the devs seem to certainly want it to happen given the spell choices), this is a nice guide. OP, did the 3-7 CON impede your durability? Any grazes will still do a min of 20% damage vs any DR, I'm wondering how you survived when multiple mobs attacked. 6 con (starting con) for me only lowered endurance by 9%. At lvl10 that amounts to very little HP. Unfortunately constitution is pretty much a dead stat to wizards. Since your health gain is so low - lowering AND increasing con will have minimal actual impact. When I got targeted by more than 1 mob on my character I used the buffs: Iron skin (+8DR) Vitality (+100 endurance) Deflection (+20 deflect) Sometimes just 1, sometimes all 3 or more. Drain + retal probably kept me at 100% endurance in these cases. In like 70% of the game you are flank attacking, 20% of the time engaged to 1 mob only, and 10% of the game time ( in combat) you are fighting 2 or more. I never really had problems surviving after I got ironskin and plate armor.

The conjured weapons are actually surprisingly good, and will compete with any other late game weapons. The problem here is actually weapon focuses. You WILL need the +accuracy from weapon focus. However - the parasitic staff and the lance uses different weapon focuses IIR. And if you then take your standard weapon into account, you will need a minimum of 2 talents to use conjured weapons with the accuracy buff. The spirit lance when I tried it was VERY good. Against a group of trolls in the endless paths I tried the lance solo without my party, it does AOE damage and I managed to kill the group of 4 trolls solo with ease. However... the weapon focus is here the nightmare. Because optimally you dont want to be using weapons without focus. All in all I decided that the summoned weapons skills of the wizard, at least for my intentions (spellsword) are more a headache than help when considering weapon focuses and opportunity cost. Lets put it this way - if summoned weapons had twice as many casts per rest - I would definitely build my character around spirit lance. But due to playing melee I found that having a reliable good weapon 100% of the time was better than wasting an entire talent point to sometimes have a spirit lance etc.

SO! Just completed the game on hard+expert as a spellsword. The idea was simple: Use wizard buffs to become a strong melee fighter. Just wanted to share some knowledge on what I learned from this. Race Moon godlike, fire godlike and pale elf are imo the best options. Ability points 16+ might 3-7 con 16+ dex dump-8 perception 16+ int 16+ resolve You want to lower per 1x for each 1x increase in resolve, you want to strike even (at worst) on deflection. Keep in mind that a spellsword is IMO best played around high DR, NOT deflection. However this does not mean you want to neglect deflection in char creation into negative numbers. Weapon of choice Definitely 2 handers. I ended up with 2.4x damage in the end with all buffs. The reason you want 2 handers is because damage where its needed most is damage which deals with DR. Mobs that have low DR are normally not a threat anyway. I recommend greatsword or estoc. I opted for greatsword due to Tidefall. But lategame an enchanted estoc would be better imo. Armor/gear Plate! I never even noticed the recovery penalty. And it doesent seem to affect buff speed. Maybe due to my high dex? 1 x deflection gear piece Blunting belt early for extra DR Crucible knights +2DR 1x saving throws gearpiece Preservation item (+20 defense when prone/stunned) Accuracy You might think "Wizard low hit chance in melee? No thanks". Thing is... with the + ac from pala buff, radiance, buffs, gear and enchants - you will never have problems hitting stuff even if some of these suppresses eachother. Especially since most attacks comes from flanking. You wont crit a lot, but you will NOT miss much - and you will hit hard. Talents Weapon focus + Savage attack + bonus 3rd level spell (Iron skin ftw) are must haves. Rest are up to you really. Just dont waste talents on blasts and such. I dont recommend bloody slaughter as you will already hit hard but relatively slow. "What buffs makes this feasable?" Where to even begin? You have spells that grants (among others): +20 accuracy +20 deflection +100 endurance (REALLY great) +8DR +Flameshield retaliation +1.2x attack speed +15 elemental DR As a spellsword you have a pletora of buffs. And the main complaint for this playstyle is "BUT I DONT WANT TO STAND THERE BUFFING FOR HALF THE FIGHT!". You dont. You rarely use all the buffs in one fight. I usually used 0-3 per fight on average and maybe 2-5 in tough fights. Also, the buff speed - even in plate - is very fast. You can cast all your buffs before your team has even positioned proparly. Utility Using a melee wizard you can match the damage of a fighter or barb when buffed, and ALSO sit on a huge amount of CC like chillfog, confusion, slicken etc. You also still have AOE spells. You can at any point in addition to dealing good melee damage - CC or nuke your brains out. And if you run out of spells, even unbuffed you will be dealing good damage in battle. The whole point of a spellsword is "Spells and melee capability". You are not playing a caster that can occationally go into melee or a melee caster with some spells. You have - and I confirm this from experience - the strengths of both. In an average moderately hard fight You open up with some CC spells, then cast fireshield/ironskin/elemental bulwark and start flanking stuff beating them to a pulp. As a spellsword - you can completely ignore elemental AOE damage. I noticed on hard+expert that by midgame, my wizard could confidently tank 2-3 mobs solo without even taking damage. Conclusion Positives Very fun Extremely versatile Buff speed not an issue Number of spells / resting not an issue. Spellswords use less spells due to combat with weapons mixed into combat. Very strong Very, very adaptable for different encounters You still have EVERY strength of a normal wizard. Hybrid'ing yourself into a melee fighter only makes you stronger and is cheap talent-wise. Negatives Standard wizard early game, takes a few levels to transition into a safer and better melee fighter. Low health / endurance, overcome by high DR. Low starting deflection + acc, overcome and playable due to gear and buffs. Expect to hit often and hit hard, but not becoming a crit machine. Final notes Its very lategame, but when you get martial power at lvl11 - your transition to the dark side is complete. You turn into an avatar of war - and your enemies turn to ashes.

Thanks for answering Dimitri Out of curiosity. If time was not an issue, what would have been your next godlike choice to add?

Pick your battles. The world is bigger than the Watcher, and bigger than Thaos - this is not the only story, and the Watcher is not its only champion. More than anything, the gods are ideals to live up to - bad ideals, good ideals, but ideals. Sometimes it helps that those ideals can provide direct counsel, but as Engwithan history demonstrates, people constructed and believed in those ideals long before they could talk back. Not in a hundred lifetimes could one person convince them to give those ideals up - but Thaos was never afraid of one or two atheists. He was afraid of scientific and social progress allowing people to learn the truth for themselves, and so he perpetrated horrors to prevent it. With him out of the way, Animancy will progress, and the heroes of the coming age will hopefully be the scientists and scholars who can teach a whole world the way one guy with a sword never can. The Watcher learned something, and because of that knowledge, can make informed decisions. By dispatching Thaos and saving the Dyrwood, the Watcher gave the world the chance to do the same. That's probably the best one person - no matter how powerful - can ask for. As it is, souls already break apart and reform all the time as part of Berath's Wheel. Only Woedica and Rymrgand's choices are harmful in the long term. All of the others have their pros and cons. You make some good points here. Can't argue there

Wow... Sawyer hits it right on the head. My concern for cheating was secondary. I want the trial of iron attempt for myself - and pretty much with the mentality Sawyer explains. However the secondary concern is that trial of iron would not give me bragging rights, as in - if its easy to cheat - you cant brag about it. I guess if people really want to cheat they will manage.

Just curious how it actually works. I mean... if you die your savefile gets deleted - I get that part. But can you load before dying? Or is loading the game disabled overall? I'm just wondering if its easy to circumvent the trial of iron mode or if the mode is properly enforced by the game. Because this achievement is pretty pointless if its easy to "cheat through it".

Endgame spoilers.

Since the devs obviously didnt want us to fight the Adra dragon in the conventional way; I finally caved in and chose to fight cheese with cheese. My strategy, if it helps someone else: 1: Talk to the adra dragon and receive her quest 2: Proceed right and kill the mobs from the top right and downwards, facing the wall 3: When you reach the Xaurups, the adra dragon will aggro and slowly walk towards the party 4: Summon some wyrms or something else and send it towards the adra dragon 5: Train the mobs remaining all the way to the treasury 6: The adra dragon should be closing in now 7: send eder - the only character that can survive being one shot to the left and hug the wall, make sure he is closest to the adra dragon 8: when the dragon is nearly in range of him, summon the adra beetle right infront of the adra dragon aswell 9: Run your mages to the far right and down, then straight left into the side of the dragon. 10: Cast all the petrify skills you have and pray they land - if it doesent - reload, if petrify hits - nuke the dragon with all you got I found out that petrifying the dragon in itself does not work. Impossible to survive all the adds on their own with the mass lightning, mass dominate, paralyze spears etc. Edit: Further note: It is really sad that the devs made such a great game but failed so hard on the adra dragon. It is by far the most cheesy and cheap boss design I have ever seen in a video game and I've been a gamer for 20 years. The dragon will simply one shot most of your party in less than 2 seconds, even WITHOUT all the adds in the room the dragon is straight up impossible to win against with the AOE one-shot mechanics here.

I'm wondering if it takes considerable resources, skill or time to create the godlike heads. The reason is that my vanity are locking me out from playing certain godlike races. We could really need some more options for godlikes as 3 for each does not grant enough options imo. I'm not a game designer so I'm not sure if this is a reasonable request?

Playing on hard + expert. Food and rest bonuses too weak to make any noticable difference. Enchanting? Used it minimally. My entire party always had better than what I could craft. The only thing that would make enchanting worth it would be if the crafting mats for superb armor and weapons was available in a moderate amount by mid-game. However - crafting mats for top tier weapon and armor is limited to 1 character. And the difficulty of the monster you must kill for top tier armor upgrade is the hardest in the game. So ironically, when you have the mats to craft 1 x top tier armor - you are strong enough to not need it.

Where can I find the skydragon? First playthrough and I got to the end - never found it. Now on my second playthrough Im at act 3 (start). Been looking all over still cant find it. Its seemingly extremely hard to find! Do you need a certain quest to unlock the zone?

I found them all easy on hard+expert. Except one - the Dweller. The Dweller took me like 10+ reloads lol. Not sure whats up with this encounter but even with good positioning and defensive buffs my party took so much seemingly random damage that people started dying all the time. I eventually managed to do the encounter by opening with slicken and unload all my 10 fireballs + lightning attacks from my 2 mages from the side.

How so? Not a single spell is strong enough for that? O.o

Not sure if its even possible. But what classes would have the highest and lowest chances of soloing the Adra dragon on PoTD? Note: NOT including cheese or exploits; like spamming figurines, reaching a bugged safe-spot etc.