[Favorite Tank Builds]

 

 

Since you want it to be pirate themed, have you considered a streetfighter swashbuckler tank? An Unbroken/Streetfighter, who'll swap to sword and board only in extreme need, but dual wield most of the time? It suffers more damage than "ultimate tank" builds but tanks quite nicely for all of that.

 

The idea is to 1) get as many engagements as possible via fighter+rogue skills and equipment and use of the rogue's Persistent Distraction to make everybody engaged distracted and, hence, flanked, 2) punish disengaging enemies exceedingly through high penetration attacks that additionally are likely to crit, and 3) attack frequently due to the swashbuckler himself being flanked most of the time (and occasionally bloodied), 4) convert misses, grazes, hits up to next better tier

 

Weapons to aim for:

 

MH: Kapana Taga  - gives +1 engagement (+2 upgraded) and scaling damage based on number engaged

OH: Stalker's Patience - spear modal gives +1 engagement; increased damage to flanked targets scaling with stealth, or alternatively the spear Mohora Tanga scaling damage and penetration with survival

 

OH a shield (activating the +1AR from Unbroken) when you feel the need to be as tanky as possible. Alternatively if you want to get the +1 AR bonus from unbroken all the time do so and take the shield ability rather than dual wield.

 

The only real problem with this tank is that there are so very many fighter and rogue passives that support that tanking style, that it is easy to end up starved for active abilities.

 

I never really thought about Streetfighter/Unbroken - I guess I'd been in the mentality of stacking Deflection as high as possible with Trickster to use Riposte. The whole being starved for active abilities thing is a bit of a downside though. I also don't really like the idea of dual wielding a club and a spear - it seems kind of silly. 

 

Ending up starved for active abilities is what the respect button is there for. If one wants more active abilities it is a question of making hard choices.

 

To be fair, that's also the case for the Unbroken/Trickster you mention in the first post: the issue is that the fighter class, by itself, has nearly enough useful passives in the first 7 tiers to use all skill points from leveling to 20 when building a tank (though admittedly that's including the +10 to individual defenses passives), and the rogue adds even more, so when using a fighter/rogue combination (of whatever subclasses) to build a tank there'll always be some hard choices to make because there are so very many good options, both in the split between active and passive abilities and in the choice of actives and passives.

 

E.g. absolute minimum:

Fighter actives: Disciplined Strikes (2pt), Guardian Stance (2pt), Refreshing Defense (2pt)

Rogue actives: Escape (1pt), a good full attack with +10 accuracy with upgrade (2pt)

 

This is the bread and butter.

 

But you'd really like Unbending, possibly upgraded, and though Escape allows repositioning Charge would be quite useful too... And as for rogue, there are lots of options if you want to go further.

 

Remember that Escape breaks engagement, which is not desirable for a tank in most situations. This is more viable if you have a differnet main tank and just want to be an off-tank dps. Charge would be better for mobility imo, but as you pointed out, fighters can burn Discipline FAST.

 

You said you wanted to set up the fight, which to me means main tank. Just make sure you have a clear objective imo.

[[WIP] Swashbuckler Tank (Unbroken/Streetfighter or Unbroken/Trickster)]

Without having played one I don't see how Unbroken + Streetfighter is going to synergize well. If you want to be a tank Trickster will be great for pumping defenses. There is some good discussion about this in another thread about the best tank in the game. Boeroer and Dorftek mae some great points about Unbroken/Trickster.

 

Also, I saw Two-Weapon style? Seems weird to me. Unbroken gains some AR from using a shield and increases your engagement.

 

Ofc if the point is to build an off-tank with high dps, then sure go with streetfighter.

[Portraits IV]

I would be very appreciative if someone could help me out with the water colors for this portrait. I have zero photoshop experience

[[Class build] Lady of Pain - the b!tch is back]

Some great points. Thank you.

 

I might just try out a pretty simple Brute build with Lord Darryn's Vouge. Very good synergy with Carnage and keeps me using a 2her. Moreso than carnage I really like Barb for all of the speed buffs from Frenzy, Bloodlust and Blood Thirst. I feel like this can really help make up for the slower 2hers and allow you to keep dex lower and pump up your tankiness.

 

Man I tell ya, for someone who had chronic reroll syndrome bad in poe1, the amount of options in poe2 makes the head spin. Ugh.

[[CLASS BUILD]: The Big Game Hunter, Massive Single Target Ranged Damage (Wanderer, Ghost Heart / Helwalker)]

Two handed style works with ranged now? I seem to remember in POE1 it was melee only?

[[Class build] Lady of Pain - the b!tch is back]

Ya all these nerfs were a major bummer, but tbh a lot of it was probably needed. Have you put any thought into other class combinations that may still meet most of the requirements for the build? I always loved the lady of pain in POE1 because the damage felt amazing and you could still take a serious beating. Although it is NOT my preference, I'm willing to DW if its the only way for this to feel really good. Monk/Barb maybe to inject the litany of speed boosts barbarian offers. Would turn it into more of an aoe dmg build instead of single target, but that doesn't bother me personally.

[Sanguine Plate (or similar) armor in Deadfire: You know you want it!]

Saw some pictures posted of new BoW items. The frost themed plate looks amazing. Also some epic looking Magran based plate. Love that they added a 2h axe as well.

 

Overall I think most of the armor looks really good. I'm not a fan of over-embellishment, and prefer PoE's semi-realism. Robes need love though badly. I want a wizard that looks like a sith lord god damn it. Hood up and all!

[Portraits IV]

Hey guys, I'm looking for a great portrait to compliment my upcoming Warlock build. Prefer something with some wicked looking armor. Male human please. Would be much appreciated if anyone has some cool suggestions.

 

Also, has anyone done a POE2 conversion on my profile portrait? It's been a major favorite since it came out with one of the NWN expansions.

 

Thanks!

[The core of the problem: you are a pirate]

As stated many times already, there is nothing forcing you to be a pirate. In fact my Watcher would best be described as the Scourge of all Pirates. Like seriously there are a lot of dead pirates around deadfire now.

 

That said, I'm not a big fan of the setting. I did NOT enjoy having to sail around everywhere, constantly engaging in the "ship warfare" mini-game, and the overall game play this offered. I prefer a more classic medieval world, but that's just me. All that said, I knew exactly what kind of world I was entering when I bought POE2. It wasn't exactly a secret.

[Top 2her reviews]

Hey guys. I'm trying to decide on a wizard/melee hybrid build and need some advice from people that have had time to try out some different weapons. So far I'm considering the following, but would certainly be open to suggestions.

 

Citzal's Spirit Lance - doesn't seem to scale great? tried it at lvl 19 and only shows 22-30 damage but haven't tried it in practice.

 

Whispers of the Endless Paths - Was super strong before. Still considered best 2her?

 

Chromoprismatic Staff. - I'm curious how high of dps this can achieve with very high metaphysics skill. Also does the bonuses from skill level cap?

 

 

If anyone could also throw in some advice regarding Fighters. I haven't played much since they started patching PoE2. I've heard fighters got nerfed hard? Are they still good or should I consider other options?

 

Thanks!

[Power Pool and casters]

Does the chanter buff that gives Brilliant help refund casters power source?

[Best wizard spells?]

How high can you stack power levels for a wizard....for example could I do Evoker + the port Maje gloves + Magran's Axe for 5+ power levels on fire spells, combo with the + fire accuracy ring......seems like it could be insane dmg.

[[CLASS BUILD] The Redeemer (Inquisitor) - Solo PotD]

Does Inspiring Triumph effect the paladin as well or only team mates? If so this would be a nice addition it seems.

[Build Critique Barb/Devoted]

I haven't found that yet. Could you post a pic of stats. Or is there any good database of items yet?

[Build Critique Barb/Devoted]

Hey guys,

 

I'm hoping for some constructive criticism or for people to just blow up any ideas about this build that are incorrect. The idea is to build a barb/devoted that uses the Eager Blade estoc and uses some of the following synergies....

 

Rage + Eage Blade buff + Bloodlust + Mob Stance = huge attack speed buffs with little dex investment. Bloodthirst at higher levels.

Disciplined Strikes + Barbaric Blow for huge hit to crit to maximize Eager Blade buff quickly.

Mob Stance + Carnage + Eager Blade ability for big AoE damage

Mob Stance + One Stands Alone.....big buffs when there are a lot of enemies around.

 

I'd like to confirm that Carnage attacks are able to crit(will be essential for the eager blade buff to build fast). Also will Mob Stance + Carnage + Blood Thirst all work together?

 

I'm planning on teaming this build up with a chanter specced for support and tankiness (help regen rage and discipline to make barbaric blow more spammy), a main tank with pallagina, and probably Xoti and a high single target dps teammate.

 

One other question is will the synergies with Eager Blade be worth it? Dual Wielding is obviously very powerful with Full Attacks, and I'm wondering if the loss of Eager Blade's buffs and the additional penetration will be outweighed by say, 2 longswords. I do like the idea of Eager Blade, huge penetration, tons of accuracy buffs(+ disciplined strikes) to insure plenty of crits, etc.

 

Any thoughts and advice is welcome.

 

Thanks,

 

Mock

[POTD Tips Please]

Hey there guys, I am hoping for some good points on making POTD a little easier for me, especially early game like level 6-7. So far I've been having issues with landing CC quick enough and agro seems to jump around a lot. Especially in a fight where it is easy to get surrounded like the ship v ship battles, my squishies seem to just get targeted and dropped. Not to big a fan of how many firearms you see in Deadfire compared to PoE1....that opening salvo is wrecking my team.

 

All in all POTD feels drastically harder to me than in POE1. Any advice on tactics, builds, etc, that have worked well for people would be appreciated.

 

Thanks, Mock

[unbalanced unique distribution (by weapon type)?]

Yeah, I could have bet money on this, tbh. I mean, let's face it swords and greatswords are THE staple fantasy weapons, arguably. Sabres would also be a sure-fire bet, what with the pirate theme of the game and all. What does surprise me is that battle axes (another staple) are very poorly represented in both PoE's so far. But yeah, a Devoted/Shattered Pillar focused on sabres and dual-wielding just seems like a stupidly brutal choice for mince-meating through the game.

Battle Axe had some amazing choices in PoE1. At least 3-4 viable unique choices.

 

Anyways, I'm glad to hear swords are in good shape. There wasn't any powerful options in PoE1 and I'm a sucker for the classic longsword + shield combo. Now if only small shields didn't look so horrible >.<

 

Can anyone tell me if there is a clear cut(get it) more powerful option between longsword and greatsword. Also I would take into account how early you have access to powerful options. Don't want to be 20 hours in before I get something good

 

Thanks for the help, Devoted makes me nervous about a bad choice hehe.

 

I'd like to add as well.....is dual wielding or 2hed performing better? or are we pretty equal atm.

[Gear Advice + Attack Speed help]

Thanks Boeroer, the link helps a lot.

 

It looks like I can do DAoM + Spirit Lance + Gauntlets of Swift Action + Vulnerable attack and be at 0 recovery if I durganize the Helmsman uniform.

 

Just need to decide if dex is worth it to me to improve casting speeds.

[Gear Advice + Attack Speed help]

Hey guys, I haven't played much PoE in a while but I want to do a run through before Deadfire, and use some of the new deadfire items as well. I'm going to run a versatile, tank/melee oriented wizard, and would like some help narrowing down my gear choices.

 

I'll be using Helmsman's uniform so either 10% or 0%(with durgan) recovery penalty. I want to reach zero recovery with DAoM + Citzal's. With these things already in place, do I need anything else to hit zero recovery, such as how much dex, or how little dex + gauntlets of swift action?

 

Quick help with these calculations would be very greatly appreciated.

 

Thanks, Mock

[What character do you plan on importing into Deadfire, part II]

Well, since the thread is going again.....I'm very curious to see how well a classic battlemage type build will work. I love, love, love, this archtype, but in many games they come out feeling very underwhelming to me so we'll see. I'm thinking Black Jacket / Wizard since defensive spells can make up for the lack of Constant Recovery I'd guess. I'm sorta just waiting to see how all the classes work to. If it is similar to PoE1 in that most classes's low level spells stay very useful, then I'm excited for this.

 

I like the idea of a fighter/rogue as well. I feel like we could create a fairly tanky guy with utterly insane melee dps.

[Returning Player question]

Careful of how powerful chanters are. It can really get a bit boring. I have a chanter at lvl 11 right now with a build like described above. Max might and int, drop dex entirely. Took Veteran's recovery, ancient spirirts and beloved spirits + survival bonus and item bonus for healing, heavy plate and sword and shield style.

 

Where I messed up is including Aloth and Hiravas. at lvl 10 the WM bounties are a joke. Start a fight with a couple heavy duty priest buffs and aloth self buffs. Aloth casts some nice CC, Hiravas is Avenging Storm and Incest Plague and chanter going at em with Dragon Thrashed......I can't even get of any fun incantations everythings dead so fast. Oops.

[Returning Player question]

1. Ciphers do just fine on PotD. The drawbacks of the focus re-balance that freaked people out were often hilariously overstated. If anything I like Ciphers better on PotD than I do other difficulties since fights last longer and Focus is a renewable resource. That makes them MVP candidates in the early game when spell slots are limited and whiffing on spells causes your Druid to spiritshift into a sad panda. 

 

2. I actually rather like Durance's stat spread. It's not optimal past mid-game when you spend more time casting than wading into melee but I'd argue it's better than pumping Dex and Perception in the early game and that's when the game is normally hardest for Priests anyway. I don't use him for true tanking but I do like to set him up as a brigandine/plate wearing dual wielder and basically treat him like a rogue that can cast Armor of Faith and Consecrated Ground even when things are trying to interrupt him. It's dead simple and really helps push the math in your favor until you get enough powerful spells to transition to casting full time. All Priests are OP at endgame so I wouldn't even call it a sacrifice.

 

3. Still does nothing. Chanters are fairly poor single target DPS but their AoE really adds up, so all around they end up pretty solid. Kana's stats are fine. Ideally you'd probably dump his Dexterity harder but otherwise his stats are concentrated in the right places.

 

Soulbound weapons take any specialization, yes. What makes the best tank is pretty hilariously subjective. Personally, I mostly avoid the classic sword and board fighter build because I feel like it's way, way over-specialized. You don't need Constant Recovery AND defense talents AND a shield if have anyone else who is even moderately tanky or good at CC to take the heat off of your "main" tank. Personally, some of my favorite tanky NPC builds are the following:

 

1. Tanky Kana. You put Kana in heavy armor and give him Little Savior and you're basically done. He won't be the most durable tank in the world, but he'll be good enough with some support and as we already covered he doesn't actually give up much offense by having bad Recovery times. He just chants the Dragon Thrashed from behind his buckler and foes melt away. If you have any issues with health you can just take Wound Binding and some ranks in Survival for the resting bonus. People get weird bugs up their asses about doing that for some reason, but I'd take a Chanter with that setup over virtually anything else.

 

2. Marking Pallegina. Get a big nasty ranged weapon and put the Outworn Buckler and a debuffing/coordinating/marking weapon in your other set. You blast people with Flames of Devotion and Wrath of the Five Suns then when the survivors rush your front line you swap to your buckler and stand around looking pretty. Low sustained damage but stupidly high single target spike damage per encounter. It's a lot easier to get away with having crappy auto attack damage when you start the fight by hammering the most dangerous opponent right into the ground. Late game you get passive aoe damage that helps shore up your sustained damage too.

 

3. Offensive Eder. Give him +healing received gear, Might boosters, a ton of Survival and two sabers or warhammers. Knock down dragons, win the game.

 

4. Loud Maneha. Give her Badgradr's Barricade or the Dragons Maw then have her jump and yell until people die. Debuffs everyone and works great with other moderately tanky builds. At level 11 you still take Heart of Fury because you're not an idiot.

 

5. Riposte Devil. Badgradr's Barricade, Binding Rope and a stunning weapon. Not very good as a main tank because Recovery hurts rogues more than chanters and the class has even worse base deflection and no group buffs or built-in AoE. She does nice single target damage though and immunities make her a solid off-tank/tanky dps. Anything that tries to fight her head-on gets debuffed and Deathblowed into oblivion. 

 

6. Zahua. Umm, he's a monk? The dude has literally built his lifestyle around getting punched in the face, so hell yeah he can tank. He's admittedly more rewarding as a DPSer though due to his race combo. The true majesty of monk tanking lies in creating a MC Fire Godlike with turning wheel.

I love this type of Pallegina build btw. Extremely heavy on the front-load ranged dmg she can straight up put a dangerous enemy caster or two in the ground before they have any impact. Followed up by a fairly tanky build that has HUGE accuracy gains for companions some good utility and Sacred Immolation late game. I build her almost entirely around that front-load ranged dps whenever I can.

[Barb + Blood Thirst + Cannoneer Belt = Death]

This looks like a lot of fun tbh. I never was into barbs when I played PoE originally, but they've had some nice improvements over time.

 

Was curious what ur starting stats were. I've always found it very hard to choose on a barb as they need like....everything lol. I was thinking of trying something like this...

 

M-21 - max dmg, but moreso for the healing bonus.

C-10

D-10 - Hopefully Blood Thirst helps make up for this somewhat

P-16 - need to on crit stuff to land as I plan to use Rumbalts late game, this I'm unsure of tho

I-18 - Gotta max out carnage and healing durations

R-3 - Rely on Shod in faith, veterans, savage defiance to stay alive and try to pump DR up pretty high.

 

Let me know whatcha think.

 

Thanks

[Deadfire DLC items from v3.07?]

Although they are powerful, the devs did a great job of making choices hard. Lots of stats on the items but none of them have +4 to an item so it makes you give up something.

 

The armor is super good imo, and I'm going to make a build to use it, but its risky. Do you want tons of deflection and resist, but risk the super low DR?

 

Major give and take with the Deadfire stuff.

[What Stat?]

Thank you all for your replies. Figured some stuff out. As dgray62 says you need to actually look at the map, its not enough to just have it. Seems obvious now lol.

 

Tidefall.....um I got no clue. Finally got it by using the Caed Nua resting bonus to get up to 12 mechanics, but I'm sure one of the things I tried was a scroll to boost mechanics. Perhaps its just a bit buggy somehow. But anyways back on track....I even finally managed to get Deadfire items working heh.