Loog

I usually build Pallegina as a crusader or herald. In this playthrough I tried dual wielding crusader (I usually go with 2H) but the damage is still not great (rest of the team is Watcher Priest, Eder Swashbuckler, Maia Scout, Xoti Priest) and they are all out damaging her. By a lot. She's using the Reckless Brigandine with Kapana Tanga and Shattered Vengeance as I thought I could improve her attack speed this way. She's also equipped with the following items: boltcatcher Chameleo's Touch The Maker's Own Power Ring of Prosperity Fortune (15% hit to crit) Boots of Stone Cog oh Cohh (not optimal but precognition + claim and refusal are already used by Maia and Eder). Cloak of greater protection Am I doing something very wrong or is there no way to build her as a decent melee damage dealer? And if it's not really possible to build her this way, what other char could replace her in melee (doing damage and distracting enemies so my backline can breath)? Eder is currently doing a great job at this but I'd like a 2nd "bruiser". thanks!

Good idea, I'll try Cadhu Scalth + dagger at the beginning of hard encounters and will switch to other weapons once the buffing and summoning is done. Thanks!

Thank you both for the very detailed answers, helps a lot! One thing I'm a bit worried about is the low deflection when running low RES & no shield. My last playthrough was with an Ancient / Helwalker and he was constantly focused down, mainly by ranged attackers. This made some encounters (like boarding ships) really annoying. How could I prevent this on this char? Regarding Xoti, I wanted to try double priest this time so buff would be up twice as fast and they would also have some time to cast offensive spells (fire for Xoti, frost for MC). In previous run when running only one priest, he didn't had time to use offensive spells since he was to busy buffing / healing. By the time all buffs / defense were up and the team health stabilize the encounter was almost won so offensive spells didn't really matter. But maybe I am playing priest wrong ?

I'm about to start a new playthrough and it will be as a priest of Rymrgand focused on buffing and frost damage. However, I'm not to sure on how to build this character. Regarding the abilities I don't have many questions, it's pretty straightforward. I'm not too sure regarding the attributes. I will probably min-max with high Perception / Intellect / Might, medium Dexterity but I'm not sure if the remaining points should be use for constitution or resolve. I believe that AI will target the party member with the lowest deflection / armor so I would say deflection to avoid that but I'm not too sure. It's the gearing part where I'm a bit lost. For the weapons if was thinking: Chromoprismatic Quarterstaff but that's only +1 PL. The modal is nice but won't help against ranged enemies... Sun & Moon. Only good half the time Marux Amanth: a bit unreliable + double casting buff is not that useful. Griffin's Blade: decent stat stick I guess? + if I go with a 1H weapon I'm not sure which small shield would be best to use. Xoti Lantern won't be an option since she'll be in my party using it. Regarding the armor there's a few options: Aloth's Armor for more AoE. Bit squishy though Miscreant's Leathers. Great for recovery time, still squishy... Fleshmender. Leather armor (so only 20% recovery) but with added survivability Casità Samelia's Legacy. A bit slow but great to boost deflection. Devil of Caroc Breastplate. Better armor than leather while still maintaining decent recovery time... Let me know what you think. Thanks! edit: Party will be Eder Swashbuckler, Pallegina Crusader, Maia Scout, Xoti SC Priest + MC

Hi ! I'd like to build a "swashbuckler" ripost tank. However, I'm not sure about which subclasses to pick. For the fighter part, should I go with the unbroken or is the "standard" fighter better for what I am trying to achieve ? And for the "rogue part": Tricksters for some deflection buff ? With Last Word as a weapon for the +1 engagement slot Streetfighter for all the bonuses while flanked ? This means no Kapana Taga for flanking immunity (and thus -10 deflection / - 1 armor) Any other suggestion ? Regarding the equipment I mentioned the weapons, what about the other slots ? Cadhu Scalth seems like an ideal option for the shield. Thanks !

Hey ! Thanks a lot for all you replies ! You rock ! I went helwalker / ancient in the end, gonna try this build. Does this means that spells like Venombloom (or Wall of Thorns) will be affected by the "Poison master" upgrade of the Spider Silk Robe (+2 poison PL) ? Or only that ennemies immune to poison won't be affected by this ability while you can't use +poison PL to boost it ? This would be so unfair .... I would, however "Relentless Storm" for example is on the same tier than Plague of Insect ... tough choice. One question though, are each pulses from pulsing spells using value (might / int / PL boost / etc.) snapshot during the cast (like DoTs) or is it updated in real time for each pulse ? If it's the later it could be interesting to cast this spell at the start of the combat and let it grow stronger as Dance of Death stack. Thus delaying the cast of Plague of Insect (which we don't wan't to cast unbuff). Thank you all !

I'd interested in playing a "DoT based character" melting hordes of ennemies with powerful debuff / persistent AoE. The idea would be to use a build with an emphasis on AoE damage over time which I believe would exclude most of the martial classes (like rogue with their single target DoTs) and martial skills (like the axe modal). I'd also like to avoid wizard (SC or Multi). Bonus point if foe only. I was thinking that Ancient Druid (Insect Swarm, Plague of Insect, etc.) or Priest (Shining Beacon, Cleansing Fame, Symbol of X) may be part of the answer but I don't know where to go from there. Like, should I use a SC or multi class. By multiclassing I'll loose 3 PL and access to PL 8 & 9 spells. On the other hand multiclassing with something like helwalker would provide +10 might / int which is more or less equivalent to 6 PL ? I'm also under the impression that most build / discussion I came across are severely outdated / not working in the current patch (like Plague of Insect not scaling with Alchemy anymore, etc.) Any recommandation / build to share ? Thanks !

I'm planning a new playthrough (RTwP) and was thinking of running the following custom party. I'm not too sure about some choices (marked with "?") : every advice is welcome ! Paladin (?) / Troubadour (Main tank / healer) Race : ? high might / int high history Weapon : Sasha's Singing Scimitar + Lethandria's Devotion Helmet : Amulet : Bone Setter's Torc Cloak : The Giftbearer's Cloth (?) Gloves :Engwithan Bracers (?) Ring : Entonia Signet Ring Ring : Belt : Physicker's Belt Boots : Footprints of Ahu Taka Key abilities : Ancient Memory + Mercy and Kindness (+50% healing) + Exalted Endurance + Practiced Healer ... Priest of Wael (Support and Debuff) race : ? high might / int high metaphysics / high athletics Weapon : ? + Cadhu Scalth (?) Helmet : Helm of the White Void Amulet : Cloak : Gloves : Ring : Halgot's Warmth (because why not) ? Ring : Belt : Boots : Key abilitities : Dire Blessing + Devotions for the Faithful + Confusion + Spark the Souls of the Righteous + Blessing of Wael ... Ancient Druid (focusing on DoT) race : Nature godlike high might / int / perception Weapon : The Spine of the Thicket Green Helmet : N/A Amulet : Cloak : Gloves : Gloves of the Dungeon Warden Ring : Kuaru's Prize Ring : Ring of Overseeing Belt : Boots : Key abilities : Insect Swarm, Wicked Briars, Plague of Insects, Venombloom... Priest of Magram (fire focused caster, inquisitor style) race : ? high might / int / perception Weapon : Magram's Favor + Sun and Moon Helmet : Acina's Tricorn Amulet : Cloak : Gloves : Gauntlet of Accuracy Ring : Ring of Focused Flame Ring : Ring of Overseeing Belt : Boots : Key abilities : Divine Mark, Shining Beacon, Scion of Flame, Pillar of Holy Fire, Storm of Holy Fire, Cleansing Flame, Symbol of Magram, Magram's Might Not sure about the last slot, maybe Eder to deal with squishy backliner and a 2nd pet slot ? Any other suggestion ? I Also believe this party lack the abilities to cluster ennemies together (like a wizard or a Priest of Rymrgand) ... would you multiclass the Ancient with a bloodmage to gain access to Pull of Eora ? The druid spells I'm mainly interested in are pretty low PL anyway ... Bonus question : can you stack + acc items ? Like Gauntlet of Accuracy and Ring of Focused Flame ? Pet : Otto Starcat / Boras / Corlagon / Lucero ? I know this is not that great of a party but I like the idea of focusing what we would call "divine" casters / classes in other games (aka paladin / druid / priest). Do you think I'll be able to handle PotD with such party ? Any suggestion / improvement ? Thank you !

I encourage Xoti to follow the "dark path" : I tried "releasing the souls" or "keeping the souls" but both options gave me the "Light of the Dawnstar" enchant ... is it bugged ?

Hi ! I choose to add Pallegina to my party. Unfortunately I picked her as a Paladin and she's kind of useless for now ... Playing on potd, party is lvl 7 with : - Eder as a Swashbuckler (dual saber) - Xoti as a Contemplative (fist) - Teheku as druid - Watcher as an Herald (saber + shield) How should I build Pallegina ? She's doing almost no damage for the moment and I don't really need her to tank. Should I switch from 2H to dual ? Is so, with which weapons ? bonus question : what do you think of Xoti as a contemplative ? Thanks !

I agree that this spell is really really good. However, if you nerf it I honestly don't know why you would bother to bring a priest : - other class have better healing (life giver / paladin+chanter ...) - other buff are not that impactful , at least no enough to justify 1 character slot - they damage is subpart (if not multi classed)

in my opinion res is way better than cons for "non-tank". It's simple : the AI won't bother targeting your backline / squishy if they have enough deflection. Equipped my priest with a small shield, average res, dump cons : nobody cares about him.

I'm guessing caster are not that popular What do you think about something along those lines : - might 10 - cons 6 - dex 18 - per 18 - int 18 - res 5 ? Also, regarding power level vs might. It appears that the damage bonus from power level is equal to ([power level] - [spell level]) * 10% aka at lvl 10 (PL 5 for a pure caster) - lvl 1 spells get 40% dmg bonus from power level - lvl 2 spells get 30% dmg bonus from power level - lvl 3 spells get 20% ... and so on. duration bonus from PL seems similar : ([power level] - [spell level]) * 5% The more I play the more it seems that perception is way way better than might for damage. And I don't think you need to boost your healing via might, it's already insanely strong as it is. Bonus : cc / debuff will last longer with perception (might have no effect).

Hi ! I'm browsing this forum a lot but it seems most of the post are dedicated to melee multiclass. I'd really like to have your opinion on how to build a caster. I'm trying to build a caster druid (with, if possible some melee potential : I loved the "thundercat" from POE1). However with the new mechanisms introduced in deadfire, I believe that we have to rethink entirely how we build such characters ... How would you do it ? In POE1, might was (in my opinion) very useful for caster due to, for example, how damage reduction worked : - if your relentless storm was hitting for 12 on an enemy with 10 shock armor you were doing almost no damage at all : +25% damage via might in this case was effectively a 150% dmg increase (from 2 to 5). This is no longer the case with the new armor vs pen system : as long as your pen is at least equal to your target armor you're fine. - might now work "additionally" and compete with powerlevel. At lvl 5 only, my druid Sunbeam is getting +20% damage from power level and +24% from might. I'd imagine that, at higher powerlevel, the might bonus will become at best a "small bonus" and at worst ... "negligible". So I'm not saying might is the new dump stat ... but don't you think 10 should be enough for most of the caster ? Dexterity is still kind, even more than before due to the long cast times ... Intellect is still good due to the AOE bonus (duration also increase with power level so ... same deal as might) So maybe this time around we should dump resolve too much and raise perception instead of might as it seems that caster have terrible accuracy ... and no real way to fix it ? I'm still mad that shield still give spell accuracy malus :/ What do you think ?

Hi, thanks to both of you for your help I did reach lvl 9 with the 2 chanters, you were right, it's almost a whole different class I still got a few question, in no particular order ^^ - do buff like paladin aura / blessing / inspiring radiance etc buff spell accuracy ? - Is a "real" tank needed for potd ? By real I mean a watcher paladin with Outworn Buckler. Or are chanters enought ? - A more "caster" oriented druid seems like a good idea. However, a part from the "storm" spells, what should I do ? I don't see that many nuke / cc like on a wizzard. - Which spell mastery do you recommend for priest & drood ? - For priest, Armor of faith and blessing seems overkill (if 2 paladins). - For my druid, I choosed Tanglefoot. I can cast it to only hit enemy melee but I soon as my melee move to reach their ranged they get stuck. Should I choose another spell as mastery ? - what about lvl 2 to 4 ? Based on your feedback, would a party with 3 ranged & 3 melee be more "viable" ? Something like - chanter tank - paladin (tank/utility needed ? or DW ?) - druid "tank / caster" ? - ranger - wizz - priest (full support aka low might or "fire" version ?) Thanks Loog

Hey guys, I'm just start playing PoE after a looooooong break (since release, never finished it) and... well, a lot have change. I'm playing on normal mod and thing are going ok-ish. Started WM1 yesterday and the party is around lvl 8. Now I'd like to try to play on higher difficulty, maybe restart however I have some serious doubt regarding my party comp : - 2 tanky chanters => I believed having 2 "bards" would be fun with a lot of buff & debuf by in practice the combat end before they can cast "invocation" (or maybe just 1). Damage is crazy low and... well they're not that useful. - A dual wielding paladin, inspired by the bleak walker build. He's a monster, 2nd party dps. One thing bother me though, The ACC bonus of "Blessing" (priest spell mastery) does not stack with Zealous focus. Should I ditch one ? Also, are bittercut + sword of Daenysis (both with corrode lash) a good set of weapon ? - A Darcozzi Paladin with Tall Grass (fire lash). Again, "Armor of faith" does not stack well with Zealous endurance. Other than that he don't seems that useful. Not sure what make Darcozzi so special. - A priest, casting a few buff / interdicition / inspiring radiance then mainly auto attacking with Gyrd Haewanes Stenes. OK character I guess (he's the watcher). - A druid : veeeeeery squishy (no resolve :'( ). Returning storm and Form of the Delemgan are awesome, the other spell.... not so much : I never use them. What did I miss ? Insane damage once Spiritshift, main party DD.... for 15 sec . But still, he's dealing twice the damage of the dual wielding paladin. As you can see, melee oriented party, I was SO tired of ennemies rushing my poor naked caster in the backline... now there is none What do you think of this party ? And what should I change if I want to try potd ? I guess I could : - ditch the 2 chanters ? - Maybe use only 1 paladin since the benefit of having two seems kind of small (to me). Any build recommendation for a sword & shield tank ? - keep the priest a the druid ? - Then what should I add ? A wizzard for the cc maybe ? How may I prevent a horrible death in the first few second from each fight when he's getting swarmed ? - Any recommandation ? Thanks ! Loog'