r2d23

Understood about the rogue, I guess I'll spend that talent point elsewhere. So, Cleansing Flames sounds to be kind of broken. I'm reading it's description right now. Could you clarify what does "-5 Duration of active beneficial effects for 5.0 sec" and "+100 Damage Over Time tick rate for 5.0 sec" mean, exactly? It's kind of convoluted. How does it translate into doubling the tick rate? What does tick rate mean here, anyway? 150 raw damage over 18s becomes 150 raw damage over 9s? Or it becomes 300 raw damage over 18s?

Thanks for the ideas, Boeroer. I'll probably go with the more classic approach this time. I am not that experienced with the rogue class to explore such extravagant builds. Plus, I really enjoy the micromanagement, it's part of my personal play style

Thanks for the explanation, Boeroer. Does it make sense to take both abilities or just one depending on the build? Why wizard or priest if the ability affect only one target? I thought the rogue would be a better candidate since he only deals single target damage. That's a shield, right? So far, the sabres seem more attractive to me. Should I consider taking another weapon focus for an alternative weapon set when sabres aren't applicable? I drafted a level progression table for the character and it seems I might have a free talent for another weapon focus.

I like the idea of WF: Soldier on Barbarian. It's very fitting thematically, has lots of good item options (hammers, swords, pikes) and coincides with the original idea of the barbarian being crowd controller. The rogue definitely needs high damaging weapons, I plan to use lots of single target attacks with him. What's the difference between Blood thirst and Bloodlust, exactly? Why the need for two similar abilities?

What weapons are good for a rogue? Sabres as well? Or maybe it would be better to leave sabres to the rogue and equip barbarian with things that deal CC effects on hit (spears, hammers, etc.)?

Is there any point in Greater Frenzy? Also, should I pick Barbaric Blow early on? Judging on some initial combat, the char would benefit more from Stalwart Defiance or Veteran's Recovery. The barbarian only has accurate carnage right now at level 2. Also, what's the point in Envenomed Strike? It carries over with Carnage and/or Heart of Fury?

Thanks, guys. Will give this a go, maybe even post some feedback later on if I get far enough with this run.

Thanks, MaxQuest. Why no Yell or Threatening Presense?

Thanks for the thorough analysis, MaxQuest. I went with 16/8/16/17/18/3 for the wizard and 20/7/17/12/19/3 for the priest. The former I actually found in one of your posts on reddit and the latter is from your fire priest guide. I'd rather go with the priest of magran just for some flavour. My melee cipher is 10/8/18/18/16/8 pale elf. I'll go with the heavy armoured estoc build as you recommend. For lack of better ideas I'll go with your suggestions for the ranged cipher and the barbarian. Maybe make the ranged cipher a bit more durable in terms of res, less of a glass cannon. Are there any particular abilities I should be aiming for in a barbarian except for those you've mentioned?

It sounds like a fun concept but I feel like this build would suit my party better. This barbarian is aimed at crowd control and interrupt, and it seems like he has good synergy with the priest. One thing I'm worried about is that he doesn't have much Con. That is one of the things that seems attractive in MasterCipher's build, looks like his variant could be a good punching bag which is valuable, especially early on while the priest and the wizard are not powerful yet.

OK, it took me a while to somewhat decipher the gear, although I still didn't get all of it. Is this a retaliation-based build? How does he ever hit anything in early-mid game with such low Per?

Melee. I don't like the concept of a ranged rogue. You've got a point. My reasoning was that arquebuses pack quite a punch by themselves which makes might less important. Fire up a couple of shots into an enemy priest/wizard/cipher, switch to the bow in the end and keep shooting. I guess I can go with the bow cipher for CC, although the firearm build fits better the theme of the party. Two ciphers is an interesting idea. My worry is whether the melee cipher would have much to contribute throughout the game until the hits the top-tier spells. Ciphers do not have that many direct damage powers, IIRC. What would you recommend for the barb? I am not a great expert but I figured the barb would have to stack those abilities that cause AoE afflictions on foes as well as pump carnage. I was planning to have high might, int and decent perception on a CC barb, the rest is average. What would change for a dps barb?

After some thinking, I've decided to go with the custom party after all. I aim at maximum combat and conflict, so it'll be kind of an "evil" play-through, does not really go well with the standard companions. Here's my approximate plan, still figuring out the details and maybe some flavour for each character. Rogue protagonist, key roles: DPS on single tough opponents (sneak attacks, death blows, etc.), manoeuvering, disengagement tactics. Monk: the lashing build from the forums, tank + DPS + scrolls Barbarian: CC, probably a heavy-armoured dual-wielding tank Cipher: CC, ranged, perhaps a quick switch build for burst focus generation Priest: buffs + ranged damage Wizard: blast build + ranged damage Barb and Monk will hold and clear out the crowd. Barbarian, Cipher, Priest and Wizard have good synergy at CC. Three dedicated damage dealers that will waste the mobs. I am specifically trying to avoid "traditional" high deflection tanks such as fighter, chanter or paladin here in order to try and rely on synergy between party members' abilities. Plus, the monk build looks incredibly interesting to try.

Why? What's the approach here? How do you develop these characters? No wizard (Aloth) or Cipher (GM) here to CC the crowd?

Thanks for the input, guys. Definitely not a beginner, I've played PoE before, including non-upscaled PotD, and found it to be somewhat easy towards the end. I want to play an upscaled version now and see how it differs. Yes, I've experienced it myself in the past, couldn't really find the right approach to make Devil effective. But I've skimmed through the epic 9-hour video on solo PotD rogue ultimate and it is clear that with the right approach the rogue can be deadly. You can definitely use the companions. Actual party comp really depends on personal preference. For me, I find a melee heavy party makes the game easy - 4 front-liners and 2 ranged. But just about anything will be fine. Being under leveled though, can make things painful. Some of the bounties upscaled can be painful.I've already done the melee-heavy party, it was quite fun. Now I was actually leaning towards more caster-heavy approach.

Cheers, everyone. What's the consensus on upscaled PotD here? How do the in-game NPCs fare on everything max difficulty? Any specific pointers on their builds? Or would I better be off with a custom party? I don't really like custom hirelings. I plan to have a rogue protagonist who aims to deal maximum damage on heavily disabled opponents. Never played rogues much, want to try that approach.

Any specific recommendations for the build? I've never run a melee cipher. I imagine I could sacrifice strength for some INT/DEX/PER and leave Con/Res at base line.

So, it's me again, looking for input and advice. I intent to try and finish one last Trial of Iron PotD run of the game to see how far can I go. Probably the only class I haven't experienced properly is Barbarian, so I would like to have a barbarian protagonist and a party that is tailored to have good synergy with him. The party should also be durable and err on the side of caution a little bit since it's ToI. No min-maxing though, I find playing in the extremes too dangerous. Every party member should be solid every step of the way, i.e. there shouldn't be any pushover who'll get 15 minutes of fame closer to the end of the game when he gets that special set of abilities and/or amount of items that makes him powerful. And I am not knowledgeable enough anyway to manipulate the game in order to maximise the loot and get a specific set of events working for me. I would also like to have a lesser amount of characters, 4 should be a good number to construct a well-functioning team without adding extra tediousness during mundane fights. I've thought about three but feel like this would be pushing my luck. The upcoming Tyranny gave me a hint as well (IIRC, the maximum amount of party members is four in there). Now, to the business. I want Barbarian to be sturdy, durable and punishing. I first thought of making him more tanky, taking all defensive talents and abilities that I can get but then I figured it would be more fun for him to control the field of battle by debuffing the enemies. Stuff like Barbarian Shout, Sickening aura and so on. Maybe skip Frenzy, aiming for Sanguine Plate. For weapons, great swords is the best choice judging simply by general availability of the good ones in the game at any stage. For attributes, prioritise Might, Intelligence, Constitution and Perception. Not sure about the proportions, though. Same goes for race. Plenty of good options: Dwarf (the one that gets the accuracy bonuses), Orlan (for Will defence bonus), Death Godlike and so on. Late game, I would also like to experience the Heart of Fury ability (without the Vengeful Defeat component, though, probably too risky for ToI). Definitely also take Priest and Wizard, for buffing and CC, thus improving Barbarian's potential. Priest should de-buff fortitude to provide good synergy, also be a decent tank (high resolve, deflection). Wizard has tons of good stuff for crowd control so a classic CC/Blast wizard should do fine. Not sure about the fourth slot. Somebody who can do lots of DPS and be capable of dealing with tougher enemies, perhaps. However, wizard could probably excel at that while Barb & Priest provide crowd control if I play them right (or so my understanding goes). My first candidate therefore is either a Monk with the Boeroer's lashing build (I gave it a short run in solo for a few levels and he's just incredible) or a melee cipher. Of course, I can go for a gun-wielding cipher to achieve crazy burst damage but it would make the char too squishy. I also considered Bleak Walker paladin built for offence. He can provide effective burst targeted damage as well good sturdiness and some party-friendly abilities (my favourites are exhortations that resurrect and postpone debuffs). Another option is a fighter, once again designed for offence and/or targeting enemy's casters. Of course, I can go with something hilarious like a second, high armoured front-line wizard. No other ideas at the moment. Would a riposte rogue be fun and effective? Having a wizard and a priest would go a long way to help this rogue achieve good defensive stats thus maximising his Riposte output. But I have no idea how to play such character and whether he'd be good in tough situations, fighting high-tier enemies (dragons, etc.). I definitely do not want take a ranger and a druid this time around. Chanter is always good for general utility, but lacks excitement: passive buffs, using scrolls and statuettes, drawing aggro. What are your suggestions?

The comment about boiling off the fur also happens when Hiravias is in the party, just saw it yesterday when playing through that segment.

Interesting. Thanks for the explanation. I was just planning to respec Zahua into this build to check it out (hopefully, the lack of build-in fire shield wouldn't hurt the overall performance much).

I am a bit unclear on the mechanics of Torment's Reach but it appears that the upcoming patch 3.04 is going to nerf the ability so that it doesn't proc off every enemy that is hit. What does that mean for the monk? The extra crushing damage will not be applied to everyone affected by the cone or any other lashes that are present on the weapon? How will this change affect this particular the build and the monk class in general?

Well, it wasn't very satisfiable to have Maneha in my party at current 8th level. She's just not contributing that much at the moment compared to the other warriors in the group. Pallegina has crazy burst damage and solid single target DPS, Eder is like a rock and Zahua is just awesome at everything. Heck, even the wolf does 30-50 damage per bite when targeting the same enemy as the ranger protagonist, he's perfect for guerilla strikes in the enemy caster ranks. I ended up replacing Maneha with Hiravias for the time being. I guess I'll check her out again in a couple of levels when she gets her key abilities. I realize that she should be better at handling large mobs but I didn't see it in practice even when she was in the midst of enemy groups that are lower level than her (I was clearing out Heritage Hill with all those zombies). That's her current ability setup: + 1. Barbaric Yell + 2. Weapon Focus: Ruffian + 3. Frenzy + 4. Two Weapon Style + 5. One Stands Alone + 6. Accurate Carnage + 7. Savage Defiance + 8. Vulnerable Attack Nothing really memorable on the equipment side of things. That barbarian belt bought in the city, aru-breckr armor, the cloak that increases the threshold for when the character is flanked, a couple of enchanted sabres. By the way, I have a feeling that she's one of the poorest written characters. I am still very early into WM1 and her backstory, dialogue and voice acting just doesn't come together for me. Feels like she was added at the last moment. Zahua's so much better in that regard and fits with the in-game lore on monks perfectly, a self-proclaimed masochist. While I am ranting This has probably been pointed out in the past but I see a very good parallel between Throne of Bhaal and White March addons in terms of itemization. As in Shadows of Amn, in the original PoE it takes forever to find strong artifact items. The party ends up wielding whatever they have found for the larger portion of the game (Gaun's Share is the new Flail of Ages, you get it early and just keep using forever). In White March, since it targeted at high levels, everybody starts wielding high-tier equipment all of a sudden and great items come up much often simply due to the fact that the expansion is much shorter.

Would a build like that (perhaps the tanky variation) work on Maneha? I have just joined her into the party in my current playthrough and wondering how to build her up.

You can also play a cipher with focus on ranged weapons. With Island Aumaua you can take Gunner, Quick Switch and the fourth weapon slot (forgot the name of the ability, sorry). This way you can make up to 4 (or 5, with Twin Sting) quick shots (done by firing and then switching the weapon without waiting for a reload, make sure you bind a hotkey for that) thus generating insane amount of focus and doing tons of damage (casters are always good targets because of poor deflection and low health). After that, you can keep on using your last weapon in a traditional manner (fire & reload), casting stuff and so on. I've had a similar character in my recent playthrough but I used bows and arquebuses instead, and it is insane how powerful he was. I imagine a ranger would be even more devastating with this combination in terms of pure damage output (there was a thread on reddit somewhere about such ranger build succeeding a TCS run in 2.03). No idea about rogues but I think sneak attack works in short range (up to four meters). I wonder if anyone ever tried to do a build of rogue who does sneak attacks with ranged weapons using quick switch tactic or if it is viable at all.

Is there any benefit for druid who uses implements (as described above) in being a nature godlike?