Boeroer

Save often! And then there's a few things many players complain(ed) about (besides bugs and difficulty and stuff like that) or just missed: 1. Locking yourself out of a faction: It is possible to lock yourself out of a faction (in the big citiy) you actually want to join. There are three factions and every one of them has one entry quest (it gives some good reputation with that faction and unlocks the faction's shop - this may be important to your because of the unique items they sell). This entry quest is of no consequence regarding the other factions, so you can do them all. However, as soon as you pick up the second faction quest (not completing it but just picking it up!) you will lock yourself out of the other factions' second quest. So you have to choose in advance which faction you want to align yourself with more deeply. Every faction gives you a talent, reputation, a unique items and/or money as well a a special hireling for yout stronghold as reward. The talents/items are (without spoiling too much I hope): one "knightly" faction gives you +2 DR which stacks with everything and a unique sword which can be nice for certain builds (and a fine plate armor with an alternative look to normal ones but otherwise not special) the "rogueish" faction gives you +30% dmg for all critical hits (including spells etc.) and either a big bunch of money or a unique stiletto (which is meh imo) the "mob" faction gives +5 accuracy if you attack an enemy who's also attacked by an ally and a unique war bow (which is nice) and also a unique spear whose enchantments can be picked by you, which is pretty cool imo (although this spear can also be crafted up later in the game if you choose to align with another faction, so you are not locking yoursefl out of that one, just delaying it a bit) So be careful when you pick up the second quest for a faction and think about which reward might suit your main character best. There are little warning sings in the dialogue that the other factions might be p!ssed off if you take up that second faction quest, but tbh it's easy to miss and then you might be surprised. In any case you can still buy at the factions' shops not matter how you decide (unless you turn a faction outright hostile by attacking them). 2. Jumping into a certain pit near the end of the game and there's no way back: There is a point in the game where you have to make a jump - a leap of faith so to speak - into a pit. It's not a Xaurip pit in the Endless Paths that I'm talking about... Anyway, if you take the jump you cannot go back and the (rel. short) endgame starts. So before jumping in you want to complete everything (I mean everything you want to complete, it's not mandatory of course). Side quests, DLCs, buying that one item you always wanted, retraining your characters and so on. There are warnings before jumping but you'd be amazed about how many players didn't get it. So watch out. 3. Missing Edér: Edér is one of the very first (permanent) companions you can recruit. You cannot really talk to him before you do a certain quest-related thing. Afterwards he will talk to you, but not forcefully open the dialogue screen but simply say a line in your general direction that you can hear. At that point, when you click on him, you can finally enter proper dialogue with him. A lot of players tried to speak to him first, they couldn't because that one quest wasn't advanced enough, and after the quest progression which unlocks Edér's dialogue - when he spoke his line to them - they just didn't notice or ignored that and moved on, never realizing that they could've picked him up. Please don't miss my boy Edér. ;) 4. Starting the DLCs too late: Thw DLCs White March I and II are meant to expand the main game. They are not meant to be played after the main game (which isn't possible anyway because of the pit of no return). Many players get the in-game invitation to the DLCs' area (occurs mid-game) but think it's for later and are then surprised and frustrated that the DLCs are so freaking easy. You can go to the DLC area as soon as you get the invitation. However, the initial fight is pretty tough so I wouldn't go there pre lvl 8 as a new player. But then you can go there and even go back an forth. Look at it as if the DLCs just added a bunch of new maps and sidequests to the game (which they did). There are lots of unique items in those DLCs which you might want to pick up relatively early so you can use them in the main game, too. 5. Going to Crägholt Bluffs too early: With the DLCs there comes a map that doesn't have anything to do with the rest of the DLCs' areas. It's called Crägholt Bluffs and it's just another (small) set of maps and sidequest. You will get a warning that this area - although unlocked together with the rest of the DLCs - is tough and for high levels only. But it's easy to miss that warning. Crägholt Bluffs is very hard and I wouldn't touch it (as a new player) before level 10 at least, better to wait even longer. You can always go there and try it out though and then abort and come back later if it's still too hard - just save before trying! That's it I guess.

Nope. I only tried out the TB mode for a couple of days while it was in its beta phase.

Correct, and I consider the "occasionality" (had to look up if that words actually exists, hehe) of Defiant Resolve to be very okay. Having a +10 to all defenses buff that stacks with everything in fights with plenty of fear abilites and auras (Drakes, Dragons, Banshees etc.) and which procs off of many annoying spells from Ciphers, Priests, Chanters and Wizards is a very nice thing to have imo. Especially since defenses have increasing returns. It makes makes all dragon fights easier, the Banshee stuff in the Endless Paths, bounties, Crägholt Bluffs and so on.

My favorite party composition is: Edér Aloth Durance Kana Rua Hiravias Kana Rua is very useful on some maps in the early game because he has access to the "White Worms" invocation. As long as you don't reload a map (leaving/coming back or reloading as save) all corpses will stay on the map. Every corpse works with White Worms over and over again (they don't get consumed). So on a map like Raedric's Castly you can pile up corpse over corpse in some doorways and use Kanas White Worms invocation for massive AoE damage. Also in longer encounters the summoed Phantom is extremely good in the early game. It can win fights for you (as long as Kana doesn't go down). From level 9 on I give him "The Dragon Thrashed" as only phrase for his chant and give him a single one handed weapon (because the +12 accuracy bonus translates to offensive chants for some overlooked reason) which decimates all mobs in range automatically. It's very powerful. Hiravias as a caster is very good in general but also his Spiritshift ability is very potent. I give him Wildstrike + Greater Wildstrike + Weapon FOcus Peasant + Two Weapon Style and Outlander's Frenzy. Very important to give him a Wildstrike Belt asap (can be bought for very cheap in Ondra's Gift). He then shreds through single enemies who want to mess with him in melee like no other class (not even Rogues). I give him the soulbound scepter because then he can regain his 1 spiritshift use per encounter, making it possible for him to spiritshift twice. Durance as a Priest is kind of a must if you don't want to gimp the party. Priests' buffs are just so strong. Pick Inspiring Radiance asap. It gives you +10 accuracy for the party in every encounter and stacks with everything. Makes the early game a lot easier. Aloth for CC is also my preffered way of playing him. Try Blast + Penetrating Blast + Weapon Focus + Dangerous Implements + Marksman and then summon Kalakoth's Minor Blights. It's a very good (small) AoE dmg combo and only needs one spell cast (for figts where you not necessarly need a lot of CC). Later something like the Rod of Pale Shades is very cool like that, too because Blast works with weapon procs (in this case Stunning + Disorienting) Although not in my favorite party setup, Pallegina can be very useful if you give her a Marking Weapon (there are several, my preference for her is a weapon set set of Spectacular Spetum pollaxe asap + Blade of the Endless Paths estoc later, pollaxe I keep as backup against pierce immue enemies) - and in additon pick Coordinated Attacks. This means she can give the nearest ally who's atacking the same target as her +10 stackable accuracy. This makes it a lot easier to overcome single tough foes (bosses and the like). And it's all passive so it doesn't cost resources or action time. And on top she can do all the other Paladin stuff of course.

If you don't play on the highest difficulty setting (Path of the Damned) you carry around up to 4 camping supplies. So resting is not an issue. Don't hold back your spells too much or you will end up resting because of low health but not because you used all your spells. Players tend to hold on to spells "just in case a big fight comes" - but if you save the game regularly (and it also does auto saves for you) you can reload of you got into a big fight totally unprepared and rest before that fight. Having said that: melee Wizards can contribute in many fights without casting too many spells. Their Arcane Assault (2/encounter) and a single weapon summon spell go a pretty long way.

Yes, the two handed summoned weapons are a lot better than what you can buy/find at those times and a Wizard with weapon + shield isn't a very good setup. That is: unless you just want the protection of a shield and don't care about your weapon damage - in that case hatchet + small shield is a good option because they provide decent deflection and some reflex that stacks with your self buffs. But your weapon damage will be pretty atrocious compared to the summoned weapons. Medium and large shields will negatively impact your casting accuracy (-4 for medium shields and -8 for large ones) so I wouldn't recommend them. Wizards' base accuracy is already weak enough... ;) You can also take a look at a melee Cipher: that class combines weapon damage with spellcasting. In fact you need to deal weapon damage in order to cast spells.

PS: What you can also do is to play a Fighter with high INT and use Lore for scrolls (potentially very powerful) and so-called spellbinding gear. Those are items that contain per-rest spells of Wizards, Druids and Priests (and sometimes even Ciphers) and can be used by anybody. A Fighter is a good candidate because the spells work especially well with the high accuracy the Fighter class has. For examle there's Bots that contain Jolting Touch 3/rest, a sabre that contains Fireball 3/rest, an Amulet and an armor which both contain Sunburst 3/rest each (so in total 6 casts of Sunburst per rest), an Estoc that has Blizzard 3/rest and so on. You can then add some talents such as Aspirant's Mark, Prestidigitator's Missiles, Enigma's Charm... (all 1/encounter). That way you can build a very accurate Fighter who's good with weapon (because... Fighter) and has some nice spells from items, talents and scrolls, too.

Hi, first of all: the early game is pretty hard - noticably harder than what comes afterwards until the late game. It is most likely not your Priest build's fault that you feel that way but a combination of: Picking a class that is not very strong at the beginning of the game. Although the Priest will become your most impactful party member soon amd is considered the most powerful class overall, it starts rather slow. Classes like Fighter, Ranger or Monk start a lot stronger because they have higher base stats and don't rely on per-rest spells (which are scarce so early in the game). They will not become as powerful as a Priest (or Wizard or Druid for example) but the early game is easier with them. Not knowing the mechanics well (yet) - this will solve itself over time The early game being quite hard as I said - nothing you can do about that except: accepting that you don't have to fight every enemy in sight. Sneaking around and avoiding fights (alltogether or come back later after more level-ups) are valid options. The game doesn't give much XP rewards for fighting. Instead, exploring and quests are the main source of XP. using some sneaky tactics like: kiting/pulling/separating enemies, using chokepoints or even lure certain enemies towards other enemies (example: lure wolves to a bandit camp in Valewood, lure some trolls to a bandit camp in Black Meadow or luring the Sly Cyrdel bounty group towards the group of Gramrfel the Wayfarer in Magran's Fork a bit later in the game) Anyway, my understanding is that you want to play a melee Wizard. This is a good choice if you keep a few things in mind: The best weapon options for a melee Wizard are always his summoned weapons. They are vasty more powerful than any other weapon the wiuard can use, especially at level 1. At level 1 you pick Concelhaut's Parasitic Staff. It has a lot more base damage than a normal two handed weapon (20-30), has exceptional quality (which is awesome that early in the game and balances out the bad base accuracy of the Wizard) and drains endurance for you with every successful attack. Later use Citzal's Spirit Lance which has the same high base damage but also AoE capabilites and speed. If you feel that that's not enough summoned weapons and that you burn through them to quickly you can also pick up the Belt of the Royal Deadfire Cannoneer and Forgemaster Gloves during the early(ish) game. That will give you 6 casts of Firebrand per rest, a summoned fire great sword that also has the same high base damage. Try to not be in the front line too much in the early game. The Staff and the Lance are reach weapons so you can stand in the second line and still hit enemies who attack your front line. Infuse with Vital Essence is a great spell to regain lost health. Endurance can be healed during the encounter, but health usually only gets healed during a rest. Infuse with Vital Essence however will give you "temporary" bonus health. The thing is though that it's not really temporary but just stays there as if you had healed. It works even better if you use some items that give you incresed healing, for example the early amulet of Fulvano (or Fulvano's Amulet) which increses all healing you receive by 25% and a survival/camping bonus for increased healing. High Might also increases the effect. Use the Survical skill and put it to 4 points asap. This gives you access to a neat accuracy bonus based on the kind of enemy you face. If you can bring it up to 10 asap (this takes time). This can also be done by skilling it to 8 only and then use an item that grants +2 survival (there are several) and put it on before camping/resting in the wilds. You don't need to wear it all the time. This will give you an even bigger accuracy bonus gainst certain enemies. You need to scout ahead a bit an check out the tyoes of enemies which are awaiting you (if you don't know already) but this bonus reall helps. If you will face kith enemies: there's no survival bonus for them so go for increased healing instead (tier II grants +40% healing). It stacks with the amulet's effects (25%+40% = 65% more healing received ). If you feel too squishy pick Veteran's Recovery. It heals very well if combined with the bonus healing options I mentioned above and will keep you alive without you having to cast Corrosive Siphon or a party member needing to use a healing spell on you. Use Concelhaut's Corrosive Siphon to heal even more if necessary. Talents which are great for a melee Wizard: Veteran's Recovery as I said above if you feel too squishy Weapon Focus for whatever your backup weapon is. Summoned weapons can use any weapon focus, they are universal in that regard. So if you want a backup weapon (I suggest Durance's Staff) you pick Weapon Focus Peasant and this will apply to the quarterstaff and the Spirit Lance as well. Aspirant's Mark: this is a -8 delfection and reflex spel that is 1/encounter which is awesome. You can cast this in every fight right at the start - best is after the Priest hit you with an Inspiring Radiance (+10 accuracy). This doesn't have to be done by your wizard and could be used by any of your party members (it's especially good on a Fighter with Disciplied Barrage). Two Handed Style: since the summoned wepaons have high base damage, all damage bonuses you can get have a visible impact Arcane Veil: great to have in a pinch when you get damaged too much. Also great to demotivate enemy rushers to pick you as target in the first place Savage Attack: only later in the game where accuracy isn't an issue anymore (because of Priest buffs, good debuffs on enemies and so on) Apprentice's Sneak Attack: as I said: bonus dmg works well with summoned weapons Good spells to use as a melee Wizard (I mean there are tons but these ones I cast more frequently than others as a melee Wizard): Chillfog: one of the best spells and especially early on. Just don't step into its AoE yourself Concelhaut's Parasitic Staff Deleterious Alarity of Motion: raises your melee dps a ton because your recover twice as fast, especially great with the speed of the Spirit Lance all defensive self-buffs, especially Llengrath's Safeguard which stacks with all deflection-only-buffs such as Arcane Veil Infuse with Vital Essence as I described above Concelhaut's Corrosive Siphon Pull of Eora: very good in combination with Spirit Lance in order to pull enemies into tight fomations where your lance AOE can hit them all Citzal's Martial Power once you are done with buffing/summoning stuff Eldritch Aim is great as Spell Mastery imo (at level 9 you can pick a spell you already know which turns from per rest into 1/encounter) Attributes: above average MIG since it boosts not only damage but also healing you do (to yourself). It's also one of the few things that boosts spell damage. But it doesn't need to be maxed or anything. I'd say ~12. mediocre CON is enough (~10) decent DEX and PER (~14) high INT (~18) mediocre RES (~10) shifting a few points here and there doesn't make a difference. Tthe attributes are not crazy impactful like in other games

Hi, cool. Yes indeed, for a Helwalker the Potion Belt doesn't make as much sense. Sadly there is no belt that increses Intellect. Instead you could pick one of these: Belt of Magran's Chosen Sash of Judgement The Maker's Own Power The Belt of Magran's Chosen has a pretty high chance of summoning a hostile flame blight because if the many mortar hits. But that's not even a bad thing because it leads to more jump targets that can be used for Whispers of the Wind. This is nice if only one enemy is left (beides the blights). The blights themselves are pretty weak and not a big threat. They can also be used as "fuel" for party members such as Barbarian (Blood Thirst, Bloodlust), Xoti (+3 wounds on melee kill), Cipher (easy focus gain), Paladin (Inspiring/Vortuous Triumph), a Chanter with Blightheart, any wielder of Xoti's Sickle, Twin Eels, Sungrazer, Engoliero do Espirs and so on. So basically any party member who profits from hitting/killing weak targets.

It is so. While shifted you are dual-wielding your natural weapon and thus Two-Weapon Style applies. There used to be an issue with the Stormblight form: the natural ranged weapon it has was considered a two-hander for some quirky reasons. But that got fixed with a patch at some point and now all spiritshift forms are dual wielding.

It's no problem. You can "park" currently not used party members in your Stronghold and let them do stronghold quests so they don't fall behind on XP too much. New companions you pick up will have the same XP as you. So you are very flexible with your party composition.

A pure DoT (with no direct damage component - for example Disintegrate) will profit from Takedown Combo without removing it! It is actually the best combo. Or if the direct damage attack roll has already happened and a DoT remains (Touch of Rot, Necrotic Lance, Barrel Axes Bleeding Cuts, Gouging Strike etc.). I believe stuff like Insect Swarm, Plague of Insects and Infestation of Maggots also work like Disintegrate in that regard. So... if an enemy has a lot of DoTs on them already, Takedown Combo will boost all their damage per tick by 100%. Pulsing spells would only profit from Takedown Combo with their first pulse (first attack roll) and then immediately remove the Takedowns Combo effect, making them the worst choice.

I didn't test it but that should profit from Ring of Focused Flames.

Nice! But won't you run out of space in the action bar pretty quickly as the levels progress and you gain more active abilities?

There is a big difference between Monk's and Cipher's resource mechanic: the Monk doesn't have to use any action time in order to gain wounds - he just turns the (inevitable) damage he receives into wounds. So he doesn't have to pause what he's doing in order to gain wounds, it happens at the same time he is active with other stuff. The Cipher has to stop casting spells in order to deal weapon damage. Here the action economy is way worse. You cannot harvest your resorce on the fly, you must either spend action time harvesting resources xor use action time spending them. Op top of that the Cipher's resource harvesting is extremely reliant on the defenses and DR of the enemy: weak enemies = easy focus gain. Tough enemies = hard focus gain. And in which fights do you actually want to have a lot of focus because they are harder? Right, the fights against tough foes. This is why Ciphers - to me - feel phenomenal againt weak mobs (or in general at lower difficulty settings where good hit quality is easier to achieve) and pretty much suck (imo) against tough foes (especially on PotD difficulty). There are ways around it: Reaping Knives for example shifts the necessity to deal weapon damage to another party member (who wants to use melee attacks most of times anyways) so you can cast non-stop basically. But it's a late game ability. There used to be a very potent way to harvest focus "passively" like a Monk basically: using Retaliation items/abilities. They made it so that you could automatically relatiate with a bit of pierce and/or burn damage which in turn generated focus for you. This decoupled the harvesting of focus from your own weapon attacks and allowed you to gain focus while castig and basically tanking attacks. I made a build anout this, called the Backlash Beldam. It was very powerful and so Obsidian nerfed the mechanic so that Retaltion effects no longer generated focus. Because I play on PoTD this is a constant bother for me with Ciphers in PoE1. I don't need their bombastic performances during easy filler fights - and I'm frustrated with their lackluster performance in difficult fights. With Deadfire it's a bit different because there's the Beguiler and the Psion subclasses who both don't need to deal weapon damage in order to gain focus. But many players don't play on PotD so they will have a lot of fun with Ciphers in all fights and that's cool.