azmodael
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Posts posted by azmodael
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I'm replaying PoE in preparation to start PoE 2. I play exclusively on PotD and would like some advise on fleshing out my party.
What i currently have so far - I am level 5, Act 2
Main - Cipher with Molina Arbalest (using the mod that fixes it) & fine hide armor.
- Greater Focus
- Biting Whip
Aloth - the soulbound rod & his own armor. Heavy focus on debuffs,
- Blast
- Penetrating Shot
Durance - hatchet & large shield in plate as tank/buffer that heals the front line
- Sword & shield
- Field Triage (took this mostly for Kana)
Hiravias - durance staff & his claws in Eder's armor as second line
- Wildstrike (shock)
- WF Peasant
Kana - shatterstar hammer and medium shield, in plate as main tank
- Sword & Shield Style
- Ancient Memory
??? Open/Flexible what to put here ???
The thing is that my current setup is reliant on Hiravias & Main for DPS and if either gets knocked out the fights drag into eternity. From experience so far I need another melee char to hold the front line on PotD, otherwise the enemies just spill over and wreck my back line. Fights against multiple easy enemies are relatively easy - between Aloth, Kana and my main i have enough AoE to kill everything. The issue are encounters with tough, hard hitting enemies like the Pwagra+Lurker encounters or encounters with multiple mages which I can't kill fast enough.
I've had very bad experience using 2h/DW on front line - even in heavy armor they don't last. I keep most enemies blind from Aloth, but even so they get crit very often (especially when debuffed) and stacking DR is simply not enough against many enemies, which hit hard and deliver massive bursts of damage which can't be outhealed.
Zahua is my latest idea, but i need to level a bit before WM1 becomes available. I tried Sagani and she adds a lot of damage, but Ithumak is a sponge magnet for enemies due to his bad hp & poor defense. I try to send him in after front line is established, but eventually some enemies just turn on him and obliterate him. He is extremely susceptible to enemy mages and raw damage. 2h Pallegina was a disaster. 2h Eder i can't keep up with heal for above mentioned reasons (deflection lacking). Sword&shield Eder and Pallegina both worked, but i want something more damaging.
I also tried Eder as main/solo tank, but even with the Fighter stance he can't reliably keep enemies pinned on himself.
What would you suggest me to change in my setup?
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Tbh I've never managed to turn a chanter into an actual tank. I don't know how people do it - he always runs out of HP by the end of the second encounter after a rest.
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Lol I dropped Kana by accident. Guess my subconsciousness is trying to tell me something. Think it could be right?
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Cipher (PC) - ranged DPS
Aloth - Ranged DPS
Pallegina - main tank
Zahuna - secondary tank
Durance - secondary tank/party defense
Hiravias - 2nd line dps/secondary heal
Obviously I like them all. Who do you think would be the easiest to drop out?
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So... several hours later and now level 11 the build worked... just not as well as I hoped it would.
Since i put heavy armor and use his as a tank he ramps up wounds pretty fast, but If i start to cast the long pain he is likely to lose aggro on some enemies. Further, with my setup Long Pain doesn't add up that more damage compared to using the 2 wounds to power Torment's Reach. Lastly, since i run Pallagina with Zealot's Charge the range is not that beneficial since my frontline moves pretty fast without any boosts. Getting Turning Wheel would have probably been better...
PS: Hiravias is completely overpowered. I have no idea why I didn't use him in my first run. Probably too lazy to read Druid spells.
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In the end i settled on
Mgt 16
Con 14
Dex 12
Perception 10
Intelligence 16
Resolve 10
Probably bad idea to drop Might, but w/e. I am sure he'll do just fine.
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I checked the gloves and the perhiapt. The gloves require a Cad Nua adventure, which i believe is totally luck based to get. The periapt is acquired in WM2, which is like the hardest content in the game from what I've read and should be played last. There is also the belt of chimes, but this is a Cad Nua adventure as well. Gulping a potion seems like a workable solution, but if i have to do it every fight I'd rather not.
OK, how about this setup?
Str 18
Con 12
Dex 12
Perception 8
Intelligence 18
Resolve 10
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I can totally see the advantages of dumping Res, but how do you handle interrupt? With 2-4 mobs attacking the monk and hitting almost every time there is good chance he'll get perma interrupt-locked. As far as I am aware the haste bonuses are of no help there.
Also - using Sanguine Plate and low Res together means -15 Deflection. This will lead to many critical hits. Even if the healing is able to keep the Endurance the health pool will run out fast. Especially if i lower Con as well.
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The Long Pain is awesome. It also works with many of the monk's abilites which would otherwise only work with melee weapons.
You can read the following class build for information about the Long Pain since it completely evolves around it. It's not a heavy armored or tanky build, but the info about the Long Pain is still viable. I think you can easily adapt that stuff for your build idea:
Sanguine Plate's Frenzy does not stack with Swift Strikes if we talk about the attack speed bonus. But the +4 to MIG and CON will work. And you can spare your wound for Swift Strikes for the time when the frenzy weares off. So it's not a bad pick. Don't know which Kana chant you mean atm, I guess Shure Handed Ila. This does indeed stack with Frenzy's or Swift Strikes' speed bonus while you are using the Long Pain.
I am already aware of your build, it is actually the inspiration for making my own. What do you think on the Stat distribution though. Resolve is hard to dump, perception gives accuracy and sex needed too... If sanguine plate haste doesn't work is getting 4 con worth losing 10 deflection?
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I already have one playthrough of PoE on a cipher, but that was before WM 1 and 2. Now that I have both of the expansions i am coming back for another playthrough. I play exclusively on PoTD.
The cipher was fun, but I really liked Grieving Mother and I was not able to use her since main hero. So this time around I am doing monk.
I want to do something with the new ability added with WM2 - Long Pain. Basically the plan is to play like a tank - with heavy armor on the frontline, but use it to smack priority targets behind the lines. Help me make the most out of this concept.
Planned race & attributes:
Costal Aumaua (resist two most common CC debuffs for front liner, cool looking huge and awsome model)
Str 18
Con 14
Dex 12
Perception 6
Intelligence 16
Resolve 12
Most common disables seem to target Fort and Will. I remember the Druid stun spells target reflex, but Aumaua bonus should help there and I will keep a potion of Resist Elements at all times for fights against Druids. I don't care about interrupts that much, but accuracy might be a bit low? Maybe lower Resolve to 10 and put points in Per or Int? I was given to understand that Long Pain has in-build accuracy that might help.
Monk stuff taken in the order of writing:
Swift Strikes
Torment's Reach
Stunning Blow (for wizard smacking)
Long Pain
Iron Wheel
Talents:
WF (Peasant)
Lightning Strikes
Two Weapon Fighting
Superior Deflection
No idea after that...
Equipment:
Heavy armor
The boots that give regen aura on getting crit
No idea about the rest
Planned party composition:
Frontline:
Monk PC - plate&fists as first main tank
Pallegina - plate&paladin-only buckler as second main tank
Durance - plate&heavy shield as secondary tank and support
Middle:
Kana in medium armor using pistol and sword/shield as backup
Backside:
Aloth - robes as AoE DPS and CC machine
Grieving Mother - CC and support
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The idea is to use Kana for maximum AoE coverage to effectively buff 4 ranged heroes with the swift chant and the fire lash chant, which i believe stacks with everything and will help offset somewhat the speed penalty from Plate armor on the monk.
Grieving Mother has terrible attributes with horrible might, but okay-ish Dex so giving her a gun (why are there no Arquebuses whatsoever?) should be better than sticking to Warbow. Will use pain block
Aloth will be mostly using Kalkoth's Blights for AoE devastation, as well as general CC spells like Blind, Confusion etc. I like keeping him in his own armor for the AoE bonus.
Durance is there to take whatever mobs try to go around the 2 tanks and provide close range buffs and support. His attributes and skewered towards good Fort and Will and the large shield will fix both Deflection and Reflex. He doesn't need accuracy because he is supporing only.
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Also - how many of the Haste-like effects stack with each other?
Swift Strikes
Kana chant
Potion of the Wizard Haste Spell
Frenzy on Sanguine Plate
Two Weapon Fighting
I am pretty sure Swift Strikes will get supressed by the potion, but I don't know how the Frenzy from the plate is treated. I think that the chant and the 2 weapon talents stack with everything, right?
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Please critique the idea and help me make it work. I already checked Boroer's monk build based on the long pain, but I want something more tanky that requires less micromanagement with movement.
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Ciphers have been rebalanced so that their powers cost 10 focus per level. E.G. 10 focus for 1st level power, 50 focus for 5th level power.
Blacsonn: +3 Perception, +25 Resist vs. Ground, -2 Dexterity, Crash: -3 Might, -2 Dex
Yep, yet another major nerf to Ciphers. It is now a glorified rogue that can cast 2 spells/encounter.
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Well you play solo a game for a party of 6. Therefore you need tankiness. Therefore shield is best for you. Drop down the difficulty if you havn't already if you want the sub-optimal choice.
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There are a couple of things many people miss in this debate, notably difficulty, overkill damage and synergy.
Difficulty, especially PoTD, raises enemy defenses to very high levels. Its almost impossible to land consistent critical hits and most of the time you rely on debuffs to reliably hit enemies. This even applies to the debuffing spells - a grazing hit on a spell with reduce the duration in half. This means slower weapons require more micro-management, but will perform better when they are micromanaged (landing that one devastating hit in the 4 sec window that the enemy is paralyzed as an example). Faster weapons, on the other hand, are more versatile - they can switch targets more easily.
Overkill damage occur when you deal 40 damage to a target with less then 40hp. This is more prominent on slower weapons, who also have slower refire rates. Overkill damage is bad and should be avoid - ideally have at least one character with a fast weapon to switch between targets and finish them off. Personally i use Aloth with Scepter + that 3lvl spell that creates a wand for that.
Synergy occurs when your other party members debuff the enemies for you. The -defense reduction spells benefit both slow and fast weapons equally, but -DR spells (incl Combusting Wounds) benefit faster weapons much more then slower weapons. If you intend to use the Warbow consider getting that Chanter Invocation + Expose VUlnerabilities from the Wizard. Together with Penetrating Shot you can stack -10 to -15 DR penetration.
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The Cipher nerf is massive, but honestly necessary too. Started my first game on PoTD and wrecking all opposition.
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I just noticed the post date of the Beta thread Voltron linked to, that is almost two weeks? And they are still not releasing it on steam? ( And on GoG soon after for those who have that version. ) Do not miss understand me, I understand things need to be tested to get the bugs out as much as possible, but if it is still going to take quit some time then at the very least remove or edit the line "NOTE: The 1.05 beta will be released later today if our initial tests come back positive." Especially when the thread was posted almost two weeks ago.
It is nitpicking I know, but still. ( I can be odd that way at times.
)The document was created on the 21th, but it together with the beta was made public only two days ago.
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It's beta and its up on Steam.
GoG second rate citizens like myself have to wait for official release
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You mean it might actually be useful
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Cipher - brutal nerfes all around. Wizard defensive spells buffed. Wizard&Cipher endurance upped a bit, Cleric Ranger companion fatigue fixed. Minor changes to other classes. Wizard/Cleric health buffed a bit.
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+15 is an extra 15% chance to be missed and an extra 15% chance to get grazed (half duration) and additional -15% chance to NOT get hit for the full duration. Don't dismiss them so fast.
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While it is true that Might increases healing, the effect is less pronounced then the effect might has on damage.
Consider 10 damage hit with 15might (15% increase) vs DR 8 compared to 10 might (0% increase). 10*1.15=11.5-8=3.5 damage inflicted compared to 10-8=2 damage inflicted - a whooping 57% increase in actual damage.
Healing doesn't have to beat flat DR reductions like damage does, so a 15% increase is a 15% increase, which is... well... meager.
If you are building your priest as a melee support fighter then he'll probably wear heavier armor and his damage output will be terrible. Perception and Constitution on the other hand will increase his staying power.
If you plan to sit with him on the back lines then yes - Might is obviously better since he doesn't need the added survivability.
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Then what do you need might for? The best buffs are unaffected by might. Only the damage and heal spells (i think?) are.
If you don't go melee drop Con and Per.
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Thanks everyone for the insights.
Main reason I got high resolve is because I read that it is involved in conversations. I can optimise for DPS on my NPCs, I want my main character to experience the most out of the writing style, but without gimping him totally by getting perception AND resolve.
I think I will drop mechanics altogether and level it up on an NPC - will probably buy a Rogue and make him scout + spotter. I will try giving every character a few points in stealth see how it goes - might equip guns/X-bows on all characters and open with stealth salvos on enemies
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Hello community,
I am a long time RPG player, including both computer and PnP RPGs. Thus I have experience with these types of games. However...
I do feel a bit overwhelmed, mainly by the lack of proper descriptions in this game. I decided to start with a ranged Cipher character. I read a few threads around this forum and have an idea what talents/spells are good picks.
Skills, however, are a mystery to me. I want to ask - how many points does a character get? Because I want to put a few points in Athletics, Mechanics, Stealth, Lore... you get the idea.
Now, I understand it might be better to focus and use NPCs to fill the holes, but I have no knowledge of what NPCs there are.
My question is - between how many skills can I split my points and still function late game? I was thinking of getting Mechanics max, Lore up to 10 and some points in Stealth and Athletics. Is it doable?
Also how's that for an attribute spread for my Wood Elf (i really really like the female elf model) Cipher:
Might 16
Constitution 5
Dexterity 15
Perception 8
Intelligence 17(+1)
Resolve 16
)
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Help me flesh out my party
in Pillars of Eternity: Characters Builds, Strategies & the Unity Engine (Spoiler Warning!)
Posted
I managed to reach level 11 and things are much easier now. The amount of cc available allowed me to switch Kana to a ranged character with the reload chant, which allows me to focus fire important targets easier. I got Zahua and he is tanky as hell in exceptional plate even without a shield.
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Honestly, Durance is my least contributing team member. As a whole i find the cleric spells fairly overwhelming. The accuracy buffs are OK and Prayer against Paralysis is basically mandatory at my level. Otherwise I'd happily replace him with someone else. Still, his 19 base Resolve and the fact that he doesn't need accuracy that much and the fact that his damage is crap allow you to slap a big shield and a hatchet on him. This gives him a ton of deflection and fixes his abysmal reflex defense. All in all he is much sturdier that keeping him in second line with ranged/reach weapon.