Mocker22

Not sure if it was mentioned in the Glass Tsunami thread, but there is a level 1 Priest spell that adds 30 conc and 10 will. In my opinion the best level one priest spell once you get leveled up some. I actually ended up using mastery on this and its now part of my regular buff rotation.

I feel like the min Res is fine but min Con was really tough....if for no other reason than a lot of resting to regain Health.

Hey man looks good. I've been running the Glass Tsunami setup to try it out and like both of these builds a bunch. I had been toying with the idea of a zero recovery LoP with a lot of Glass elements thrown in like your above mentioned post. I'm slowly slogging my way through endless paths right now at level 9....not to sure I'll be able to get all the pieces of the blade at my current level but we'll see. I was thinking I'd probably keep the fully drained Res and be able to keep his int even higher. I've been absolutely loving the increased durations. 25 sec + of Disciplined barrage and very long prones are great. I've been considering playing around with Clear Out since it would last so long in the cone. Might be a sick opening move as the mob streams towards you to allow the casters time to really set up the CC. I'll throw in some input here once I've tested it out some. P.S. I'm pretty bad at using the loot charts. Is there any known "best" way to get the Gauntlets of Swift Action.

Well since you don't have a lot of control over companion stats I've always kept their builds fairly vanilla. Sagani as an archer, zahua a juggernaut build, Eder is basically a Lady of Pain type with Estocs. Nothing too fancy. I do really enjoy a Pallegina similar to the Fire General build. Only difference is I use a marking weapon and coordinated attacks so that once her alpha strikes are done she can really assist the melee dps.

Agreed. Wizards are absolutely incredible. I know when I first started PoE I didn't think they were such good dmg dealers until I realized I normally used buffs on my Priest! Get a wizard going with some good Priest buffs and god watch out. @Dorftek....if the casters could spam spells they would be so OP it would be ridiculous. Even 1-2 well placed spells can totally turn the tide of a tough fight. A couple self buffs with Concelhauts staff will even put out a ton of dps. And on those tough fights when you really want to unload....my god. I just did the first round of bounties at level 7 with my current team. Let Aloth unload in each fight....it was a joke.

Drives me nuts every time someone goes " This class is CRAP!" It just means you haven't learned how to make it effective yet. Which is fine because this game has a huge learning curve with the endless amount of abilities and spells. But don't write off a class as crap. Every single class can be very powerful by the late game, some do start slow though.

When I fought him he wasn't, but I believe that was before 2.0 and there were no immunities at that time if I remember correctly. Yeah, I went in wholly expecting to have to petrify the Adra dragon only to find she's immune now. In the end I didn't need to anyway, as she hit for about 100+ compared to the Alpine dragon. I had a blast fighting Adra. Alpine just felt entirely overtuned. I can deal with any enemy that has some immunities, high defenses, high DR, and a good bit of accuracy, but I can't deal with a monster that can one shot multiple party members with a single attack if it chooses to, or can one shot my tank when it lands a hit. If were due to some kind of "berserk" trigger once the dragon reaches a certain amount of health, I think I could manage, but when it's doing that right from the start I just shake my fist at the lack of prebuffing. It's hard to get buffs and debuffs going when any or everyone can die before you cast a couple spells. My problem isn't that the Alpine dragon is hard.....its a dragon ffs. But I never felt like the rewards were good enough at all. At least the other dragons give you crafting items.

You should be fine. Kana now has access to a chant that gives a huge dmg bonus and ACC bonus against dragons btw. The great thing is that you have buff time. You can get off two rounds of buffing before **** hits the fan. Have Durance casting the two buffs you find most important. Get your primary tank/dps to sip a DAOM potions. and most important use scrolls. Prayer against fear, imprisonment, treachery etc. Make sure you get them up. This makes this fight way more doable. I would personally focus on Llengrath and the smaller(weaker) dragon first. Make sure you use standard dragon tactics in that you should be trying to debuff them and get any kind of DR reduction possible.

Been trying out this build as I've always loved Fighters but like to try builds that are not quite so straight forward. One outstanding thing about this is how incredibly quickly it gears up and becomes powerful. I thought early game would be a problem with 3 con and 4 res but it really isn't. Just started doing all the Defiance Bay quests and hit level 5. Rocking Sword of Daenysis and March Steel Dagger both with lashes attached. Got Hermits Cap and All-Consuming Rage bracers for some nice key stat bumps and enchanted some plate to Fine. Guy is an unkillable beast with only 59 endurance(I think.) Looking forward to starting to crit a bunch at level 6. That is when I'll get my Weapon Focus. With the nature high ACC, Disciplined Barrage, Zealous charge from Pallegina and the natural +5 on rapiers and daggers......very high ACC for level 5. Knockdown is basically guaranteed hit at least. Verrryyy short recovery already also, especially since I'm in plate and have -50%. Forgot to mention Fulvano's Amulet. Make a bee-line for this ASAP.

Monks in PoE are probably not going to do good in no armor. You could build as a glassy dps wearing Monk Outfits but this will be extremely rough early game. Check out Kdbuya's Juggernaut Monk. Works extremely well as a tank. Later in the game you could go back to very light armor once you gain Iron Wheel at level 11 to help with your DR. There are some very good monk robes in WMII.

Shapeshift is powerful throughout the game and can be built to do incredible damage. That said it is a very short duration and you need to be able to do other things. I would personally take the cat form for max dps and then get Wildstrike shock, weapon focus peasant, two-weapon fighting, greater wildstrike shock, scion of the storm, apprentice sneak attack, outlanders fury. I choose shock because it pairs so well with all of the druids outstanding lightning spells. Get a companion with stormcaller for maximum shock dps. The key here is to pick your timing for shapeshift. I would start off tougher battles by casting some debuffs(Spreading plague is amazing for combining with storm spells), cast your 3 different storm spells, and then make sure you know exactly which mobs you plan to do chunk in cat form, and hit outlanders fury right before you shift. The new soulbound scepter also does offer the ability to gain 1 more shapeshift in an encounter but it is very inconsistent. You'll never be able to JUST shapeshift but it is great for trash mob fights and for doing some insane burst dps.

+3 from Pensiavi Mes Rai ring or from the amulet found on burial isle.

By the time I have those items I normally know what each characters end game weapon will be. The armor upgrades are a lot harder.

+1. But would it really be Minsc? No screaming "Butt kicking for goodness!" Without the crazy he's just.....a ranger.

Braven do you feel like maxed int is really necessary when using Spelltongue? Shouldn't that extend all your durations basically indefinitely? Also, how well did you do with Min con and Res at low levels?

Paladin is probably going to be the easiest especially if you don't want to hit and run. Ranger and wizard are also great solo choices I'd say. Check out the youtube channel for Victor Creed. Some very good info about a solo pally.

Stasis summed it up nicely imo. A chanter won't ever really shine as a melee character. They are really all about the chants and invocations. For your first playthrough I would probably just recommend a fighter. Although they don't have any magical talents you could always put points into Lore and use scrolls, or the abilities on items. If you look at AndreaColumbo's "Lady of Pain" thread you will find info about an extremely high dps fighter that uses 2hers and can take hits as well. Estocs or Greatswords have very good weapon options and fill your request of a 2her sword.

This is now the second thread that you've ranted about how useless Zahua is.....and now throw Sagani into the mix too? Both are considered too be extremely powerful. Zahua is a very good tank that has good dps capabilities as well, and rangers are simply beasts. From the moment you get Sagani she can be dealing extreme dps which continues to get better and better. Clearly this is a problem of you building and/or playing your characters horribly bad. Stop ranting about things you don't understand and try to learn.

Paladin might be up your ally. They have good defenses and great party utility. Paladins can do very good damage but its really only on a couple of big hits, i.e. Alpha Strikes with Flames of Devotion. Why the fighter hate? They are extremely versatile in how you build them. Fighter is probably one of two classes that is damn powerful right out of the gate. Take Knockdown, Disciplined Barrage, Weapon focus Adventurer, and Two Handed Style. Take Kana's Fine Estoc and add a flame lash(this can be had extremely fast, like RIGHT after getting to Gilded Vale). You'll be doing very good dps, tanking better than anyone at that level except maybe monk.

You are doing something wrong. Monks are one of the most powerful melee classes. If you don't like micromanagement to much (Torment's Reach needs some), then skip Torment's Reach and take Swift&Lightning Strikes + Turning Wheel and Force of Anguish. I have no idea how you can't love monks. I'm actually not just not liking the monk class, but actively almost-hating it. I don't get it. All of Zahua's abilities either cause status effects on enemies that other character can cause more reliably and more frequently, or buff his damage output similar to barbarian abilities. What am I missing with this class? So far there is NO micromanaging to be done; I just put him on aggressive and he uses all his s*** but still sucks. Your doing something very wrong. Monks are outstanding and Zahua is actually quite good for a pre-made companion. For starters you may try going unarmed as that is really whats intended. Look at Kdbuya's Juggernaut Monk thread for a good solid build. Perhaps with more info about what talents you've taken and your gear on him we could be more helpful.

#1 rule about guides for PoE....don't believe them. Wizards can deal an incredible amount of AoE damage with nukes. They are very powerful. Pump might, per, dex, and int, and drop con and res fairly low and just keep him in the back. Can't go to wrong with talents. Focusing on abilities that help your wand/scepter/rod dmg like Blast and dangerous implement can be good. Interupting blows is a very solid choice on wiz. For damage talents I'd take cold for sure, and maybe fire. IMO wizards def have more nuking power than a druid. Druids got a lot of other cool stuff, and shapeshift can be built to do a ton of burst dps, but if you want your dps to come from spells, go Wiz.

Am I correct that in order to unlock this zone you have to have killed Cauncelhaut and started the quest?

That morning star really would be outrageous on a barb. Not only the spell stealing but a 1 sec interrupt with wounding. Man what a build. But it comes SO late. You would really be forced to respect once you got to that point of the game.....and really I can't think of too many fights after this point that i'd really want it.

I disagree ENTIRELY. IMO you will get hit no matter what, especially against the mobs that really matter. Therefore higher DR and items or abilities that heal you are the keys to survival. Barbs do start very slow. But really that's a very small portion of the game. By level 6-7 you can start to form a nice build. I think the starting endurance for barb is a very nice treat. It allows to ignore con a bit more since you need so many stats. With the right items, as long as you have a decent Might you can survive well on healing. IMO many of the more complex, interrupt, or on hit effect builds, starting working a lot better later in the game when you have access to outstanding buffing. I don't really like crit focused builds for a barb until I know I can buff the crap outta his ACC, reliably debuff enemies, and have good enough items to really get a big AoE for carnage. If your not opposed to respeccing try something simple to start with. A basic Tidefall + Shod in faith combo works good as boeroer said. With a solid might score you have a LOT of healing going on. Tidefall also puts out very steady reliable dps as Wounding property is amazing on barbs. With Savage Defiance for Oh Crap moments and some solid plate on you'll be fine. You could have this build going strong by level 7-8. On a side note, to those of you barb experts, do you feel that a Interupt build or Prone on Crit build is more reliable CC at higher levels?

Loki......don't bother with much else. Go read the Lady of Pain thread in detail, and look at the recent updates. This is THE huge dps fighter, and it can take a beating just fine. The only thing I would say is Andrea has picked a couple items for personal flavor and looks(Sanguine helm?) so you might be able to get a little bit more min-maxy on the gear if you want.