mosspit

Oh yessss. I remembered my previous shield rogue can dance around Dragon Breaths. Let me think about it. Aila Braccia might also be situational viable. Ultimately, I like both Barb and Rogue to have Ilfan Byrngar's Solace (on swap) and Little Savior, and another item source for Preservation. Especially rogue since her chances to get stun/prone is higher. And get +100 defence while lying on her behind

Well not exactly. I have ran playthroughs with pure martial classes before. So I roughly know how it feels like. And I know others have soloed the game with all classes (I do use Wodjee's Rogue the Ultimate run for inspiration), but I am not those "others" with their skill level. I can more or less do playthroughs based on my own restrictions based on my personal knowledge of the game. However, this time round. I might have hit some sort of skill/planning threshold based on my experience so far. Believe me if I was streamrolling every battle, I wouldnt be asking for advise. I am merely checking if anyone have some creative skill synergy that I have not thought of. Although I know the risks of ToI, that doesn't mean I don't wanna do my best to push the party through the game via new creative means. Plus, Im bored

heheheh Well my rogue is shield wielder (Badgradr's Barricade). She is to be built more to tank by virtue of dmg avoidance, and then riposte with added dmg via deep wounds. Definitely not as a strong dps as a glass cannon rogue but I was curious how she will perform without Priest Support. I have done a similar build in a 6man ToI PotD previously. Hopefully CC provided by her teammates can offset her not so stellar defence (compared to other classes) Her stats: M:12, C:17, D:10, P:16, I:7, R:16. The rough idea is both Barb and Rogue is to have some sort of retaliation mechanics. Rogue is Riposte, Barb is built to have abysmal Res so she will chug flame potions and later take Barabaric Retaliation. Yes I wonder about Vengeful Defeat as I noticed that the description is ambiguous. And I don't wanna plan my build around consistent use of it. It is just that I wanna see if it is a good skill to use as a "hail mary". If my barb goes down, there goes majority of my ability to take dmg. And I notice that my Barb got to low End a little too often for my taste. Based on past experience, I got a rough gauge on how well my party can perform. Not getting the same confidence as compared to my previous playthroughs. Anyways, yes so no Priests so no consistent way to use VD as a proper attack strat. It is more of doing more dmg as she goes down and hopefully thats enough for the teammates to mop up whatever that's remaining.

Hey all, So I figured I dig the brains of you guys to figure out how to improve my current 4man ToI PotD run. Currently Im still lvl6 at Defiance Bay finishing up quests and getting prep to go to Stalwart. My party setup is as follows with the approximate roles: Barb (dmg sponge + offtank) Rogue (offtank) Druid (AoE Dmg, AoE CC) Wizard (AoE CC) As you can see, theres not much support options. Idea is to depend on CC to lockdown encounters. I wanna check on you guys on any sort of synergy to be had with this party? So far I have the following: - HoF and CW - Grimoire Imprints to situational get priest buffs (Thank Boeroer!) - Looking forward to getting to lvl7 and WM1 to get Ninagauth's Shadowflame, lvl9 (Relentless Storm) and lvl11 (HoF) Just some disclaimer: - Clearly this party is not well rounded. But I wanna see how far I can push this party - If there are stat spread advise, I will consider in future runs if this one fails (highly likely to fail) - Preferably to keep the classes as such - No split pulling if possible. But if I had to choose between split pull and losing the run, I will choose split pull. Also quick question, is the Vengeful Defeat attack the same as HoF? Thanks!

Nice info on the base damages

Its a good idea. I normally play mine like a rogue. Not built to handle multiple engagements, attack mostly from flanks. With your party size, that approach might not be possible. Increased importance in getting your key spells out. Later on you can maybe sub it out with Lost Periapt of the Winding Path if you don't fancy Talisman of the Unconquerable.

Well, the extra stat from Culture is not that important from a metagaming persecpective, unless you want to push beyond the normal 18 stat cap. Otherwise I choose background based on - Starting Items. Most cases Rauatai and Old Valia gives mail armour (9DR base) so I like those. But plate armour is quite easily gotten from gold plate npcs in the first village if you so decide to kill them. - The available backgrounds. From memory I like Colonist (+2 Sur), Labourer (+1 Mec/Ath), Philosopher and Artist (+2 Lor). Since points for these skills are exponent with levels, it makes more sense to choose a suitable background. I like +2 Sur when possible as the effects from the level scaling is very good. Especially for frontliners. If I had to choose a stat to max, it will mostly be Per if you are using it more for debuff, Mig if you are pushing up dmg. So the corresponding Cultures. Cipher spells generally have good base duration so max Int is not that important. Ofc, RP is another different thing altogether. You can take a lower than average Res as shield + weapon and shield talents is really good. But I wouldn't completely dump Res. Something about 7-8?

@Ymiraku: I have played DW and 2H Ciphers. In my experience, the issue of having too much focus will only come if the melee potential of the Cipher is optimized. Even so, the situation will arise only in late game. By then you got a few spells that is useful and fast like Tactical Meld and Defensive Mindweb. Defensive Mindweb in particular is instant cast (not even fast). Meaning no casting stance, not even casting animation, no recovery after, dumps 80 focus straight away. I second a weapon and shield setup. Or even 2H Tidefall for the draining enchantment to help with staying power. For Cipher class, I think Hearth Orlan is pretty standard. Depends on your playstyle.

On a per fight basis they should last for most of the fights. As mentioned the summoned staff last for 45s base. And the duration will scale with int. If you are talking about consistency of managing spells fight after fight, it will be recharging via resting. Which is similar to how a standard Wizard is managed.

Hmm once it hits these kind of rarer configurations, it becomes quite situational. It also depends on other restrictions (if any) like no split pulling. Maybe others have better insight on specific battles. If I may comment, it will be having race of the paladin be some other non godlike race. In my experience, if things go south they tend to do so fast. Not easy to maintain a paladin at lower than 50% endurance for battleforged and it is risky too. So sacrificing a headslot for something this situational is debatable. Plus, (if im wrong pls let me know), battleforged retaliation depends on being hit and a paladin's high defence might make it difficult to utilize this even if battleforged is on. OTOH with a headgear, paladin can wear Maegfolc Skull which is a pretty amazing tank item. Coincidentally, I am currently doing a 4man ToI PotD playthrough too. Had a restart in Anslog Compass due to unfamiliarity with my setup but so far still manageable. I am using - Barbarian (multiple weapon config, dmg sponge via accelerated healing) - Rogue offtank (melee riposte, high defense, possible good single target potential) - Druid (boar and constant AoE CC via storms, AoE dmg) - Wizard (Spike defense and AoE CC) Not optimized, more for fun. No idea how far I can push this party lol

Well if you wanna boost your Cipher, it is one of the good reason to use Aefyllath. My last playthrough, my Cipher dual wield Bittercuts with Aefyllath. During late game, she generates "too much" focus. After Defensive Mindweb, Time Parasite and Borrowed Instinct, she still hits 180 Focus too fast. Almost annoying that I had to trigger Defensive Mindweb just to burn out Focus. Only battle that Focus generation was "normalized" was in Lenegrath's battle lol.

Well at lvl 1, the wizard has access to Concelhaut's Parasitic Staff. That reach weapon is amazing, exceptional enchantment at lvl 1 with Draining, last for long time (45s base). Not sure on what the base dmg is, but it has carried my wizard through the very start. Try to compare it with the weapon dps your other melee martial characters is doing for the first 3 levels and you probably see what I mean

One thing for sure, Ringleader is a really bad CC option Makes me wonder if the confused status which flips allegiance is buggy as well.... I am planning to use Confusion regularly in my current playthrough. A little uncertain now lol

I didn't notice what the tooltips description for Whispers or Puppet Master were tbh. It has been Whispers being average cast and Puppet Master being fast cast based on play experience since my previous playthrough before the one I just had, which done last year. Pretty obvious to tell - For Whispers the character will be stuck in a casting stance for some time. For PM, the character will just start the casting animation if its not in recovery. Also, not based on video capture so not frame perfect analysis.

@JereKruger: You might wanna check Whispers again. I just did a playthrough with a Cipher, and also did a test as well.

Still, Puppet Master has something going for it, which is fast cast. Fast cast CC abilities are very strong in my books.

I am actually using a very similar barb with that kind of stat spread in my current playthrough. She's not fixed on weapon configuration though - dual wield at start, weapon and shield when things get rough, 2H when forgemasters is accessible. The survivability of Mig, Con, Int and Vet Recovery is just so good for early game. I also tried that configuration for a Monk in my previous playthrough works very well in contributing to her solid staying power.

Not really. The point is about the debuff conversion - it can also affect CC effects, so not only dmg. I can't remember if I tested this before but this aspect of ZE is not new, just not brought up often. A subtle yet significant effect of ZE and it not being brought up often was my point.

Hmmm I think that is not the point I was trying to make, but to each his own.

You can but Dragon Thrashed can also stack with itself. Mith Fyr can't. So its either pure Dragon Thrashed, or Dragon Thrashed and Mith Fyr alternate.

Mith Fyr is at least good for opening, where it is unlikely to get all the enemies affected by Dragon Thrashed. Good for Ciphers as that means more focus generation... but yeah I know how you feel about them Ciphers. Not necessary to get Scion of Flame on everyone, thats overkill. But the thing is Dragon Thrash offers 2 dmg type, so if fire immune enemies come along, one will still preferably switch to pure Dragon Thrashed. If you cant stand to micro, then Dragon Thrashed all the way is fine.

Nice calculations. In this situation, I would probably pick up Spirit of Decay only just for Bittercut with Corrosive Lash for its unique dmg nature. Also have done so in practice.

I share the sentiments on Cipher's Fractured Volition. Lowers Fortitude, but targets Will. I like Ciphers because they have quite a number of abilities that are not covered by immunities like Wild Leech, Borrowed Instinct, Pyschovampiric Shield etc Agreed on Paladin's aura too. The debuff conversion for ZE is not brought up enough.

@OP: You can make a detour to Caed Nua and pick another Chanter companion. Might make things more manageable. As mentioned, Raedric is a difficulty spike. Somewhat like venturing into the bear cave in Valewood at lvl2 solo. But although Raedric is a major plot element, it isn't tied to the main story progression so you can do it later. Just try to complete it before the in Defiance Bay. Also once you hit Defiance Bay, you can get access to 4 more companions (Ranger, Cipher, Druid and Paladin) quickly.

Btw, high Might, high Int, average-to-low Res, excellent candidate for Shod-in-Faith.