indika_tates

It depends the mobs you are facing. Two handed dps is solid, estocs are nice and there are awesome weapons. Dual wield is more late game stuff when you have high tier equipment. But as you said Tidefall & Rumbalt are available very early on and there are also very good estocs you can get before level 7-8. You can't be wrong if you go the two handed path. The thing about this game is that every weapon is viable. Even one handed weapons can do pretty solid damage with proper equipment & skills.

I tried it so many times but sadly it's restricted to late game. Damage reduction is what hurts your one-handed DPS and some weapons & talents (maces, sabers, vulnerable attack) or spells (expose vulnerabilities) can soften it. The trade-off you get with a small shield early game IMO (with exceptions like outworn buckler) is not worth it compared to two handed weapons just because killed enemy mobs can't attack you anymore. Think about shades for example, or another earlier mobs with high DR. You literally do nothing with one-handed weapons if you are not a pure dps character. The thing is on higher difficulties non-maxed characters get the worst of two worlds. Not enough survivability and not enough DPS to make difference. Once you get Durgan steel & proper equipment everything changes. I tend to use sword&board characters early game like off-tanks. You trade a bit of damage to improve your survivability and when you can afford it later you have also decent frontline DPS characters. You can rush certain items early if you have played the White March before.

There are places in this game where you can't bottleneck mobs. The White March for example is a severe punishment for the player even on higher levels. What I do is to adapt my party to the terrain advantages. Into the Endless Paths is the optimal strategy because it's the way the dungeon is designed. If you have frail characters in your party and you fight into open terrain you have to rely on disables to avoid flanking. Everything is to adapt to each fight. Just try different party compositions, there are a lot of NPC to do it.

That's something I'm not aware of. How can you restore health without resting? I thought it was the only way to do it.

The problem I find with any character that is not "suited" for being a frontline one is that the health pool is what limits your gameplay. I've played a sword+shield cypher and it's powerful. But I hate having to rest every two encounters. A frontline rogue can spare some stat points on CON to soften it but a cipher not. And with 10 CON health drops quickly. How do you manage your health pool on POTD? I can't.

It works with everything. It's stupidly powerful on a druid also on a chanter.

Quick switch cipher is very powerful indeed. But irritating as hell having to micromanage it every combat. This is the reason I avoid it on every char.

¿Raedric hold? Put your party behind the small door, shoot the first one you can see, retreat and spam AOE to the chokepoint until they die. I suggest you to do WM as soon as you can. It's difficult to do on level 6-7 POTD but the reward worth it. Avoid durgan's battery because is really hard at low levels but there are a lot of gamechangers items, like the grey sleeper, stormcaller, talisman of the unconquerable, ninangauth's grimoire or the redeemer that are not too hard to get (to get the stormcaller you only need to fight against two group of lagufeths). Abuse chokepoints, aoe CC spells and rests. I usually go to stalwart as soon as I can (level 6) and if I feel I can't continue I go to defiance bay to level up a bit more. You can do Caed nua bounties on Act II (three of them), and at this stage of the game is about 1 level up and some nice items. The sooner you rush durgan's steel, stormcaller, firebrand, tidefall, tallgrass and so on, the easier the game becomes. May not be the most optimal choice, but as soon as you feel stronger try to do the endless paths. There are superb items inside that are worth the risk and it's very easy to go back and rest on certain levels that have direct stairs to level 1. Scrolls & potions are very important on POTD. At the end of the game you'll have more money than you can spend so nothing stops you from buying offensive/defensive scrolls and potions early to use it on every tough encounter you can found on the WM.

You are right. Indeed they are versatile if you build them different. But storms are not as powerful as other spells. Adragan, Confusion, DAoM, Citzal's lance, Blights and even Slicken. And Ninagauth's spells are something to take in mind. Iceball with paralysis? It's just too strong. Equip the two rings that give +2+2 / +2+1 spells per rest and you can spam AOE cc and nukes like no other class can. I mean, yes storms are very useful. And that's the main reason I use a druid, because it's a composite spell that do damage/stun at the same time. But I feel is ok because casters are the supreme class of this game, no matter if it's a priest, a druid or a wizard. It's not about a spell. It's just that casters late game are too powerful. And at this stage of the game I think dev's can't do too much about it.

What is a druid without storms? The nerfhammer is not going to fix the game anyway. Wizards also have very powerful spells, even more than storms. And level 5 spells are somewhat limited so unless you rest too often you can't cast a relentless storm every battle. Returning storm is a good spell, but far from being a gamechanger. Overwhelming wave is one of the best druid spells for example, but hard to use without harming your teammates.

What happen to you angry man? Do you have some kind of problem with your behaviour? Of course you are reported for your disrespectful post. Everyone can say freely his/her opinion and if I made one is because it fits my playstyle and it worked for me. And that mean I can write it on this forums if I want. After all, he is free to take my advise or not, this is a discussion forum where the players share their ideas. But something is wrong with you. I've seen multiple of your posts insulting or behaving disrespectful with other players because you don't share the same opinion. Take it easy. Insulting other users is not the way to go I think.

no . and story companions are nothing interesting , their builds are limited and their "story" part is shallow and doesnt make up for bad stats , id rather play with 6 interesting characters with interesting builds that i made myself , there are hundreds of builds in PoE that are worth trying and will be way more fun than listening to some crap lines companions have . Stop offering aloth n co to everyone they are trash Disagree. Of course if you play with the classical cheese build pack of 5 hirelings PoTD is a cakewalk. Try to play a PoTD run without a priest. And prepare your anus for the disabling fest. You can beat the game with NPC companions easily, and they add a lot of fun. I like them all, even Aloth. And his stats are not bad for a disabling wizard because you don't need MIG at all. If you play with 5 recruited mercs, you are not playing PoTD. You are playing on easy mode. Everyone can choose their style but I suggest to give NPC companions a try. Some of them have very good stats (Kana, Zahua, Maneha). Others like Hiravias are very funny to have in the party, and his stelgaer shapeshift is very good. Having a party of mercs is not mandatory for PoTD. If you don't know how to use properly NPC's companion it's not NPC's fault. It's yours.

I don't like to hire mercs. NPC companions are decent somewhat for a PoTD run. A standard party composition is: 1 Tank/sturdy 1 Dps 1 Priest 2 casters The last one can be whatever you like. IMO, having a druid & wizard & priest is a must. A cipher is also a good option to spam whispers. PoTD hardest enemies are casters and every mob that can disable your party members. So having different ways to deal with this is the most important part. The reason I don't like ciphers until late game is because wizards are better at disables. The druid can be also a good tank if build properly. If your MC is a paladin don't expect a lot of dps from this class. Until very late game paladins have mediocre DPS unless you build a second-line pikeman with dumped con & res.

The problem is that the play style of many players don't fit with chanters at all. This is the main reason. If you like to melt every encounter with vancian casters, definitively a chanter is not for you. If you have a chanter, build your party around it. Zealous endurance + plate armor even on your casters, weapon + shield style. It slow your battles but that's the point. There are invocations/chant that are class defining: - Invocations: Reny daret, Ogres, At the sound of his voice (bread&butter of a chanter the entire game), Come & come, Rise again. - Chants: The harbinger's doom (early game), Sure Handed, The dragon thrashed. The trick is to manage your chants properly. Late game with recitation brisk you should chant five level 1 in a row to summon ogres and then change to 2x dragon thrashed. Mixing dragon thrashed with a level 1 chant is also an option. Wizards & druids can have very good use of their offensive spells with a chanter in the group. At the sound of his voice + reflex damaging spell is a fest of criticals. Chanters are also very good scroll users because they have nothing to do meanwhile. And if you have a ranger or wizard this is another reason to have one in your group. Come & Come and Dragron thrashed are DOT effects (Predator's sense + combusting wounds).

Grieving mother has nice stats for a melee cipher. Might is not as important for a melee cipher as it may appear. With biting whip any weapon will have +40% dmg bonus + enchantment + lash. So for me something like this works: 10 Mig 10 Con Max Dex 10 Per Max Int 10 Resolve As talents I usually choose biting whip, sword and shield style, one handed style, apprentice sneak attack and vulnerable attack. With zealous focus is a 45% graze-to-hit conversion. With resolution it raises to 65%. Sword of daenysis is also a good choice. Starting a battle with interdiction + psychovampiric shield is enough to buff deflection to a decent level. Late game with retaliation items you'll have more focus that you can spend. For this kind of build, humans are the best choice IMO. Having +7 accuracy and +15% dmg for 30 seconds +- is invaluable and you can cheese it a bit if you have a paladin in your party.

Nice build Boeroer. I had ever the same problem. When I got scrolls I ever reserved it for tough battles. But at the end of the game I noticed that I never used all of that powerful scrolls that I had. This build has a lot of potential. If scrolls works with deatblows this guy is the ultimate mob eraser. A single scroll of fan of flames can create a hole on the ground with this char. And this is a rogue that can make use of the new perks so well, specially shadowstep. On top of this, this build without using scrolls just with Sure-handed and a durganized scepter for trash encounters still do lots of damage. I think I will give it a try, it can be a very interesting gameplay. Late game there are a lot of items with spells/rest and with careful planning this guy can spam per rest more spells than a vancian caster :D

Do you want to try a funny barbarian build? A human barbarian with (base) 19 Mig 9 Con 18 Dex 3 Per 19 Int 10 Res Equipment: Resolution or Gaun's share + Medium shield (Dragon's maw late game). Larder's door is fine at the beginning but I hate how it looks. Sanguine plate + shod in faith for eternal frenzy/healing. Late game there are a bunch of options because you don't restrict yourself to a specific equipment. Every weapon works but those with graze to hit conversion are the best one. Talents: One handed style (30% graze conversion) + Savage attack + Apprentice sneak attack + Vulnerable attack + Bloodlust + Savage defiance. This is the basic pack. The trick of this build is that with zealous focus (15% graze conversion + 30% from flail + 30% from talent you have a whooping 75% graze to hit conversion). Yes, your accuracy is horrible. But it doesn't matter as long as you graze. Fighting spirit helps a lot. And it's very easy to activate. Wait until you endurance drops to 50% then activate savage defiance. Landing a graze is not too hard. Nature's mark, expose vulnerabilities, +6 accuracy from zealous focus is more than enough to graze everyone around you. This build begins to shine as soon as you can enchant resolution or gaun's share to +8 accuracy and +30% damage. With gaun's share you heal yourself about 20-30 per hit against multiple mobs. One of the thing I like of this build is that you rotate your weapons and you adapt yourself to every encounter. Spirits? Yenwood. Low DR enemies? Resolution or Gaun's share. High DR ones? Ravenwing. And this is early game. Late game you have even better options. The damage output is just insane (27% might + 20% savage attack + 15% Apprentice sneak attack + 30% weapon enchanment + 15% from fighting spirit) * 1.25 from lash. And the attack rate of a fast weapon with 18+ Dex is really fast. You have about 120% damage late in the game and this is the point where fast weapons start to be a real menace to the foes. Of course against very high DR enemies this build suffer but there are a lot of ways of dealing with it. Is a funny class to play and at the moment you get Dragon's maw this build is insanely OP at the point that is boring even on POTD.

This build can work great with a human bonus 30 seconds of +15% dmg and +7% accuracy is enough to melt any kind of combat with implements

I have been playing with a fire godlike frontline chanter and it was one of the funniest times I had in this game. 18 Mig, 20 INT, dump DEX, and put some points into constitution. There are two parts of the game. The first one is before dragon thrased, the second one is after you get it. It's an absolute game changer so don't worry about not being to cast invocations too often. It doesn't matter when you burn everyone in a huge radius. A fire godlike with Caed nua bonus, casitas, a sacrificed Kana, some items and a priest can reach an absurd level of intelligence. Then, you only have to raise your perception a bit (gloves of accuracy works like a charm) and see how mobs burn endlessly. Take scion of flame and raise up your tradition. In tough battles burn everyone with scrolls of fireballs/fan of flames. There are some nice items that gives you fireballs/rest, or sunbeam rests (wael quest) which stacks with scion of flame. With your insane intelligence is worth it having as many of these items as possible. With shod in faith your healing will be also awesome due to high might. Put a sanguine plate in (which increases your dragon thrased damage due to MIG increase and healing) and enjoy. As soon as you get 4 phrases, holy inspired radiance (+10 accuracy), sound of his voice (everyone paralized), then double scroll of flames/fireball with your main and you can clear a fully room of mobs with your chanter About chants I was using double come/come (Itumaak shines when you build sagani properly because come come and dragon thrased are DOT effects) and after come/dragon. DOT's stacks each other so you can burn a whole area of mobs. The equipment is pretty easy. Small shield (avoid large ones because accuracy penalty affects your chants) and a hatchet. Weapon and shield style, superior deflection, cautious attack. And you have a tank. Put him in the center of the battle. Voice of the mountaintop helps a lot because the larger your chant is, the more enemies burn. Grieving mommy and Durance interdiction helps a lot landing your chants because come/come and dragon rolls are against fortitude. Secret horrors & painful interdiction soften your targets. About races, the chanter is not limited but there are some ones that fit better. Elves because distant advantage, boreal dwarves (high MIG and accuracy), aumauas (stun and prone resistances are awesome when needed) and godlikes because INT and some nice effects. Moon godlikes are also a very good option for a high MIG chanter.

I think an image is enough, it's pretty funny. The problem appears to be confident aim

The most powerful wizard spells are in fact, those who doesn't do damage. Slicken is very useful through the entire game (think that a high PER wizard can prone for 2x time (12s+-) for a level one spell. Miasma and blind(level 2 spells) are awesome debuffs. Damage spells are useful sometimes to abuse debuffs (slicken + fb + fb + fb). Also, the wizard is the best tank of the game for a small period of time (veil + lot's of deflection spells). Later on the game you have disables like Adragan or Call to slumber that makes POTD a cakewalk. Just down a bit mob's resistances with theo ther party members. My opinion is that if you want to AOE nuke, pick a druid because that class suit better that role.

Hello! There is one problem I can't solve while managing the new AI. There is no option for "holding the line" and I hate when my frontliners hurry into a chill fog or a wall of flame. Let's see. - Passive: It's like no AI. I suggest to modify passive just to attack anything at range without moving. This will be so valuable. - Autodefense: The main problem is that your chars will break the line as soon as an enemy dies. - Aggresive & Defensive : Useful for junk encounters but having a organized front line is generally better to put AOE non-friendly spells. I think that other solution should be adding a button to the central panel. "Hold". Just to avoid disgusting party movement. In this game positioning is 90% of the combat and having no way to manage it automatically hurts.