janikest

Hi guys, just an update: i will try this party on path of the damned and see how it goes

First, i want to emphasize that i don't play the White March but "vanilla POE" on hard difficulty. Sword of endless path, Tidefall, Firebrand, Citzal's spirit lance.... Who needs range weapons or even shield to begin with! :D I got four dudes in the front, and they share all one thing: they do so much damage that they can dismantle a pack of ogres in a few seconds. Char 1: Eder with sword of endless path, full plate, armored grace, specialized in estocs and two handed weapons Who needs shield? He is already so tanky that making him a two handler doesn't affect too much his incredible damage soaking abilities. And with this specialisation, i can tell you he delivers quite a punch! Char 2: Custom barbarian. Full plate as well, with a lot of damage reduction items, tidefall, frenzy, and ferocious attack. Maxed might, min resolution, high int. He deals a lot of damage and restores his endurance with the sword. One of his blows has the same range damage as a level 3 wizzard spell. His high damage reduction from gear, buffs, and barbarian hard skin allows him to soak up in the frontline and end up the battle with only a few scratches. Char 3: Custom cipher. Ah, ciphers... I got him a berathian robe (2 dr for 5% recovery speed seems nothing, but its a great ratio. Got it enchanted of course). Once you get body attunment (stacks with other armor buffs), DR isn't much of a problem. I know theres a lot of controversies about cipher play but i see really it as a damage oriented spellsword, since 40% more damage to physical attacks is incredible. Further, might, dex, and per both beneficiate spells and physical damage. Why building a range cipher? Give him the biggest sword you can find and watch him cleave people in half. Don't bother with high time casting spells, as the raw damage output is more interesting. I have firebrand with him, scion of flame, to hand training, specialisations etc. He deals an average 60 damage per hit. I alternate between cleaving people and spamming mind lance and silent scream. Char 4: Aloth. Concelhaut parasitic staff and then Citzal spirit lance. His might is a bit lackluster but i make up for with equipment and once you get level 4 and 5 benedictions with your priests it become less important. Deleterious alacrity of motion really makes it a mage on steroids. Its still interesting to have his crowd control abilities, mainly at level 2 and 4. The damage output of citzal's spirit lance is ridiculous. Aloth and the barbarian alone can demolish a pack of adra scarabs on a chokepoint in a few seconds. Use hardened veil if you end up on the frontline, and deflection buffing abilities. The two last chars are priests (including Durance), and their main job is to keep the buffs going. Armor of faith is always great, the level 4 benediction is extremely powerful and breaks the game at that stage, especially with 4 chars specialized in two handed weapons that hit like trucks. The benediction that gives crit damage is also great, and finally, strcngth of the champion on the Cipher or Aloth is like a super Sayan transformation. The results are: The cipher is on a league of his own regarding damage, but i must say that firebrand is an exceptional weapon as well. His tanking abilities however are really situational and spell dependant. Although i never had too much troubles playing melee cipher. On one to one, cast mental binding, and if he gets caught against multiple enemies, body atunement stacks with other DR spells. Also remember that with Firebrand, you take enemies extremely fast. 50k damage at level 9 The barb and the fighter are both between 35 and 40k, but the barb should be a bit higher due to an early specialisation in sabers that prove a bit less effective. They both tank amazingly well. Aloth has something around 30k since he also drops a lot of crowd control spells, but i think he has his moment of glory when he summons Citzal's lance and martial power. I will see how it works on path of the damned and keep you acquainted!

Welcome to the club! I personally use a dual sabre build and focus on dex/int/per. I typically play him like a rogue. Buff - go in and dish damage - cast mental binding - resume slashing - then whatever sounds fun. This is probably one of my favorite classes in an RPG. It allows me to RP as a swashbuckling, spell slinging Sherlock Holmes. Brilliant. I knew some other people would think that this cipher guy is great in melee! I swapped hatched for sabres and it works even better! Surprisingly, i can go with less deflection because sabres allow me to farm even more focus and quickly protect myself with borrowed instinct. I understand your build can have good synergies since there is this unique saber that adds to crit multiplier, it could be nice to build something around perception and heavy crits. Currently, i play as a heavy dps offtank (GM opens with blunderbuss and gives the melee cipher pain block, and once i got borrowed inscinct you can unpause and watch the cipher turn into a physical and mental blender). I spam mindlance and silent scream because of their cheap casting time since i want to autoattack constantly. I am contemplating taking wild leech and go as a pure pysical damage dealer buffing himself with spells but ultimately i think i have found a good balance between hits and spells. Mind lance and silent scream do a lot of damage, especially with high int for the later. Aloth is also now part of the melee squad with haste and that level 5 magic lance!

Hello there! Being a former baldurs gate player who likes spellswords builds I found the cipher highly satisfying. I play a level 7 melee cipher in a 6 slot party on default difficulty. Here are the stats: Mig 21 Con 5 Dex 19 Int 17 Per 10 Red 14 all items included. The basic stats were about pumping Mig and dez and drop con. The idea is deflection for an offtank build. Cipher low base health pool makes constitution less interesting in terms of scaling. The idea is to not get hit and cipher has good base deflection and some nice buffs to pump it (level 2 shield) without gimping himself. I wear hide armor, deflection ring, dual wield hatchets, and have a spec in superior deflection and dual wielding. I uaually let eder tank first and then initiate with psychovampiric shield. I can tank a few mobs easily and dish out damage at alarming speed. The key ia to focus low DR enemies to farm focus and then cast body attunement on sturdy ones. I also have a set of sabers for that. I have also grieving mother in my party with blumderbuss but although she is my second damage dealer nothing comes close to my melee cipher. For me and my play style the class is designed to maximize both magical and physical damage and melee also provides optimal positioning for that. Might and dex should be maxed because they enhance both magical and physical abilities. With your buffs and gear and one guy in the front line you can offtank without sweating. Initiate with shield, hack foes to pieces and reap them with mind Lance since you are melee. I read a lot of people mentioning cipher should be ranged and provide damage mainly via spells but it doesn't necessarily make sense to me. I would like to take advantage from the insane amount of damage soul whip provides and the insane buffs/debuffs that transform the cipher into a killing machine. Blumderbuss is great and I enjoy grieving mother in this role but melee provides unparalleled dps. Just buff yourself since behind gear and enhancements theres a squishy wizard