Dorftek

What's Black Company?

If one is playing with a full party of 6, I don't think that having one character (a fighter) who is solid, durable, reliable, and low micro-management is such a bad thing, even if he may see a little boring. With 6 characters to watch over, it's not a bad thing to have one guy you can count on to do his job without constant baby-sitting. And for what it's worth, before my most recent party where I had Kana in the party about 90% of the time (except when I was trying to do some other character's personal quest before sending them back to the bench), I didn't think much of Chanters. They didn't do much for me. But I have to say that they're a lot better than I realized. They're solid physical combatants, and once you start getting those fire-based 3rd level chants, they really start adding a LOT to the damage output of the party (at least when you're not fighting things that are immune to fire). Most of the time, I never even bothered casting his invocations. Only on the longest, hardest battles would I cast them, and usually I preferred the summoning ones, just to add more warm bodies on my side to do some damage and take some hits. All in all, Chanters are solid support characters, who may not be flashy, but they fill a role and contribute to the party. Yeah I never meant to imply that keeping a low micro fighter in grps are bad,on the opposite infact. I just think managing dmg soakers are boring, a tank is always a tank tho and if your building a pure meatshield I don't think any other class can compete with the fighter. If you build your fighter offensively most of the abilitys you get to pick aren't fun. Weapon focus-weapon expertise-weapon mastery-armoured grace etc etc. No fun stuff such as backstabbing, AoEing (Cept a per rest AoE), or other stuff you will manually work. Atleast not the lvls I've played so far (lvl 10). That don't mean they aren't good tho, just not quite my taste I say chanters are a little above the other classes because you can stack all defensive stuff on him pick almost nothing offensive and still chant everything to death with the dragon Thrashed chant, as long as you don't gimp your Might. With some INT aswell you can get great use out of invocations too and AoE charm stuff or summon things.

I play mine as a flanker/ambusher with Äru Bekr and fast runner. Also give him sugar sometimes! Now when stealth works individually it's great because I can quickly get to the enemies backline and kill their casters and ranged guys. The Rogue is a crit heavy class so they work great with "on crit" weapons. I also use shod in faith boots on him and it's usually enough to keep him alive

So far, for me and for my playstyle I prefer the "per encounter"characters a lot more then I do casters because they bring the better sustained performance. Favourite for my PC char so far is Rogue, with some speed gear/sugar/fast runner and high stealth and a couple of good weapons the Rogue is an insanely good flanker/ambusher. The Rogue clears the enemies backline like a pro! Cipher is just amazing in many ways and definitely one of my favourites. Chanters are, perhaps a bit above all other classes and they make a lot of the game a lot easier! Paladin is amazing utility and awesome overall! Barbarian with Tall grass is the best "choke point" DPS IMO. Fighters are amazing tanks and can also be built offensively. Great overall class I'd say but a boring one. All the classes seem to be pretty good if you give them time and thought. I just can't stand the "per rest" casters, simply because of playstyle

I've never seen either of those weapons so I suppose they also come late? There aren't much left of the game once I've entered ACT3 right? I mean it doesn't open many new side quests right?

Thanks! I might actually try both paladin and Rogue solo, since Rogue is my favorite class I think I'll give it an honest chance. Furthest I've gotten in this game is lvl 10 with a Rogue PC. Dual wielding double Cladhaliath Spears with stun on crit and bonus dmg vs stun/prone effects. He can stunlock most targets, but I don't think it's possible to get that spear on a solo run Are there any other one handed weapons with stun or prone effects?

Why Goldpact instead of bleakwalker? I absolutely love rogues, I always have, but do u think it's possible to build one strong enough to solo? Edit: Rogue specific, when do they get "deathblows" and is it even good when soloing?

I ended up derailing another thread with all my questions so I figured I'll start a new thread instead and leave Boeroers Backlash thread alone! :-P As title suggests I want to start a solo or possibly a duo run with durance using a PC double leadsplitter and sword and board character. What I'm looking for is a class with anything that helps bursting the initial Singletarget burst before switch to shield and one hander. My thoughts so far is Bleakwalker paladin or ranger but I'd appreciate all tips and tricks on other classes too. What can compete with bleakwalker flames of devotion plus sworn enemy? The character will also need to be quite good taking on enemies at 1vs1 melee too using chokepoints and speedgear. I plan on playing on Hard difficulty

Thank you for the replies, and sorry for derailing this thread. So let me just leave it by saying that this cipher build is very solid and it's the best way to use a cipher in my experience with them so far.

That's a common setup - and a powerful one. I did it with a 3 INT Paladin and it worked great (Sacred Immolation was gimped of course). You can also do this with a cipher. You will have tons of focus at the beginning of a fight (if you fire all shots after another) or when you need it (requires more micro throughout the fight). However - this is very micro heavy because the AI doesn't switch weapons (except when chars are mind controlled). So I only do this with one char maximum. Most of the time a char that needs a lot of micro anyway Yeah I was thinking as a solo or possibly a duo run with durance. Bleakwalker with their intense flames+corrode dmg seems like a great burst and then switch to sword and board + scrolls after the shots. I'm sure ciphers soulwhip would add nice dmg to it too but I have only so few talent points. With as few talent points as possible what other class would u recommend for a double leadsplitter + sword and board build? For the leadsplitters I want some kind of ability that works with it and is per encounter rather then per rest. I don't know much about rangers but from what I've read they are kind of bad, right?

Been playing this backlash cipher solo on hard for a bit, currently lvl 8 with Hiros and supper. Working out really good. Currently using Äru Bekr armour and eating sugar for antipathetic field kiting when there's too many mobs and the soloing power of this class is amazing! Can't imagine what could beat this class in solo gameplay? Ty for sharing this idea!In my experiece Chanter (all def talents + maximized dragon chant) and wizard ( melee build, sword e shield that shift in a melee monster with llengrat displaced Image, alacrity, citazel staff) are by far stronger and more fun in solo. When i play solo with chiper i feel always these problems: 1) a lot of the best power can't be used or can't target self ( pain block, amplified thrust, amplified wave, while with others class you live abusing your best spells/abilities 2) you need to do DMG ( or take a good chunk with backlash beldam build) for use spells. So any kind of disable hurt you much more than other class 3) i fell trapped in using only charms/ block people spell, all the rest are really underwhelming if you don' t have a party for abuse the bonus This is true, I know the chanter is beast, I also tried a sword and board wizard up until lvl 8 but the spells are too few imo but I spose you could use ur per rest spells for buffs and then use scrolls a lot too wich I never did. I've been thinking about making a quickswitch 4 weapon slot Paladin with x2 leadsplitter + another blunderbuss and Sabre+shield in last slot.

Sounds like fun! Anyway, off-topic, I went to stalwart instead, first with lvl scaling off and cleared the village from ogres then reloaded and put lvl scaling on and did the same but didn't notice any real difference in difficulty. Does it only affect certain key fights or is the difference just very small? (I play on Hard as it is my first playthrough)

Ok cool gives me something to look forward to. Oh so the landlord is hostile? I had the impression I was there to help or rescue him from these mercenaries :-P

Just received a quest to go to Crägholds Bluffs so I did only to get humiliated on the second fight where there was a drunken Orlan and loads of others. I'm lvl 10 but I feel like its probably too low for this place, am I correct?

The dragon Thrashed is OP and gamebreaking IMO. Just pick all the defensive stuff on your turtle chanter and he will still melt all the mobs around him. I had two chanters run the first 8 lvls of endless paths on lvl 9 and they just destroyed everything while being extremely durable.

Been playing this backlash cipher solo on hard for a bit, currently lvl 8 with Hiros and supper. Working out really good. Currently using Äru Bekr armour and eating sugar for antipathetic field kiting when there's too many mobs and the soloing power of this class is amazing! Can't imagine what could beat this class in solo gameplay? Ty for sharing this idea!

I hear ya, but I mean in-between those tougher fights where you go "should I waste a spell? Naaah!". I dunno maybe it's just me being cheap and not wanting to rest before my health pools forces me to. I did play a sword and board solo wizard on Hard up until lvl 9 and he was a monster when buffed up, but eventually I got bored with all the need to rest. Playing a solo sword and board cipher now and it's a lot more satisfying because he has strong spells AND a strong autoattack.

It is a shame that wizards are a liability to the grp 80% of the time cuz he isn't casting spells like a wizard should but just shooting his weak pew pew rod while the rest of the guys are laughing at him. The "spell mastery" is a joke, one spell per encounter? :| I like the missile spells coupled with penetrating shot to take down the dangerous opponents early, but they work as scrolls too on any other class! Wizards and druids are hands down the most underwhelming classes in this game.

I haven't tried Cipher since I patched it, are you saying that Cipher dmg spells now generates focus? :-o

Wizard becomes great at lvl 9 when their first lvl spells become per encounter, but thats a long time to wait. But slicken and fog several times per encounter is badass. Yeah Alacrity is very good and sure the wiz can dish out some good bursts, not going to argue with that, BUT it's a per rest thing so sustained I'd say Cipher and Barb beats wiz.

It would overpower them for sure, a cooldown on each spelltier would be a better option. Anything other then "per rest" would be welcome, the "per rest" system has always been bad. My shield monk with disengage and speed build coupled with two ciphers is insanely OP AoE DPS and i can do it every encounter. Cipher>>Wizard/Druid in almost every scenario. A Barb with tall grass, high INT/Might, Vulnerable Attack, Two handed focus and a couple of potions will also out dps wizards in AoE. Put the Forgemaster gloves on him for a 3per rest AoE overkill.

Sadly (imo) casters are crap to play in PoE simply because you need to rest to get ur very limited amount of spells back, Cept ciphers. I don't bring druids, wizards or priests because I hate the "per rest" system too much especially since you can only carry two camps with ya. Wizards just tag along and hang in the back just incase there will be a fight where you feel like you need to spend one of your precious spells, wich u rarely will! Better to just make it a Rogue with high INT who carries scrolls.

Wizard tank is cool a few fights per rest....

Sorry for the double post

He did say he wanted to build a dual wielding Rogue, Tall grass is a good weapon especially if you crit a lot but it is also extremely boring and wielding a big two handed pike on a Rogue just feels wrong! The disengage stuff is strong and I recommend it. Tried a shield monk build with run speed and disengage items/talets running with 3 ciphers who puts their beams on the monk while he just run around the mobs dragging the beams around, mobs were exploding and the monk was untouchable. Fun stuff! Anyway, furthest I've played a Rogue is to lvl 8 and they are strong ST dps. Abilitys/talents that I like: Crippling strike-two weapon focus-reckless assault-weapon focus-dirty fighting-savage attack. That's a start. I prefer Hearth Orlan for more crits and they look badass if u make him black! Ruffian is a good focus for weapons. Max out dex and might. Minimum constitution and intelligence(if you have other debuffers in grp). Make friends with a Cipher. Paladin as Off tank with Zealots focus aura allows for even more crits.