whimper

Would you duel wield or sword and shield, two-handed? does it matter? I'm so confused... Without sword&shield you won't survive high level bounties or ship battles which are harder than bosses.Yeah, as a rule of thumb, sword and shield is the way to go for solo PotD. (There are certainly exceptions — specific builds constructed around the use of some particular weapon, say — but it’s generally much easier to survive going sword and board.)

For solo PotD, I’d definitely go for Paladin/chanter over Devoted/chanter. It’s substantially better in the boss fights that last forever, since it’s tougher, and you basically never run out of resources. And none of the non-boss fights will be challenging enough to require a special build to beat...

In my experience, solo PotD is much easier with sword and board than the other two options. And the benefits weapon and shield style give you are (IMO) much greater than the boosts you get from the two-handed and dual weapon styles. (The massive boost to reflex saves alone is pretty amazing.) So I think picking shield and weapon style is probably the best option here. (The exception being if you have a build constructed around a particular weapon, in which case just choose that.)

Regarding the possibility of beating Neriscyrlas with different weapon configurations: I just ran through the Neriscyrlas fights (on solo PotD) with a two-handed weapon using Devoted/Berserker. Interestingly, I didn't have much trouble beating her in the final battle by making use of the spirits. But I had a much harder time with the initial fight against her in the village. To beat her in the initial fight, I ended up retraining into a sword-and-board set-up with purely passive abilities (since the fight lasts too long for active abilities to be of much use), using Bronlar's Phalanx, the Animancer Energy Blade, and a ring of greater regeneration. Despite the -10 accuracy penalty for using the wrong kind of weapon, that did the trick.

That should work well. The Wizard half will give you good AOE spells, as well as some nice defensive options, and the Paladin half will keep you alive!

Having done several solo PotD runs, I’d definitely recommend a Paladin/X multiclass for your first run. Those builds are considerably easier and less stressful than pretty much any other kind of build. (There are lots of ways to do this — check Boeroer’s collection of builds, and check out any of the Paladin multi-classes that are listed as solo builds.)

Especially since it’s often the duration of the negative effects you wanna to see, and those are the ones that show up at the bottom, and so are pushed off the screen... Which is to say, it’d be great if these were made smaller, so you could see them all at once!

I play solo and still it does not happen always. Have you tried playing with Escape to teleport into the middle of groups? (I find I need the do this sometimes when the arrangement inadvertently puts them in a bottleneck where only one or two can reach me, and from the same direction.) The main obstacles to getting flanked I’ve run into, I think, are (1) when fighting ranged-attack opponents that don’t engage, and (2) fighting just one big boss opponent. In those cases I usually just have to wait to get bloodied... : P

Huh. This is weird, because I feel it’s always been pretty easy to get my streetfighter flanked. But that’s playing solo (where everyone attacks you), which makes it a lot easier. And I liberally use Escape to teleport into the middle of groups of foes to get the flanked condition. Maybe that explains the difference?...

Seconding this. Especially in the BoW DLC, where a lot of things have off the charts AR. If you’re planning on armor stacking, Kapana Taga with the Lone Champion enchantment is great.

Well, I would not say you gain 10 Int. You're not loosing 5 Int (but any item/food with Intellect resistance will ensure that also). And you could gain 5, but as I understand Frenzy Confused is canceled by Acute and both are removed? Unless you double-apply it, but then you burn double amount of resources on that. For martial classes I prefer 25% hit-to-crit conversion rather then a +1 PL bonus... As for stats, I don't know. I would dump Res to raise Perception and a little Con... but then again I don't play solo. Good catch. I'd read that higher level inspirations trump lower level afflictions, but I just double checked and that's not the case -- the two cancel, just as you say. (Not sure how I didn't notice that... : P) That does make Disciplined Strikes more attractive if you have another way to cancel the Confusion. I'm not crazy about using the DoC armor to get cancel Confusion because its armor value is too low to make high AR a viable means of defense. Since barbarians can't stack deflection very effectively (given the Frenzy deflection penalty), that makes solo PotD very painful. But food/booze (e.g., Captain's Banquet) are another way to do it. So maybe relying on that and going with Disciplined Strikes is a viable way to go. I think I'll retrain and try that! Yeah, having a decent Perception when in "exploration" mode is definitely important. But with a starting 15 (13+2BB), you can have a 17 in "exploration mode" by the time you leave the starting island (Protective Eothasian Charm, Gosha pet), and an 18 with a quick stop on the way to Neketaka to pick up the Cowl of the Piercing Gaze. I think that's enough to find pretty much everything in the game, no? That's how I've been doing things, and I haven't yet run into any traps or important hidden items I couldn't detect yet... (And, I suppose, if you ran into a trap that required something even higher, you could always reload and use consumables to get you to 20+.)

I usually like the flexibility of choosing different goods for different areas, and do resting a fair bit. But in this case, maybe the low-rest route is the way to go...

Looks pretty good! Regarding abilities, I find that there are too many good ones (especially once you hit PL 5) to fit in, and pretty much everything you listed is pretty good. A couple thoughts regarding alternatives: --Lvl 2: Since Bloodied is the best remaining PL1 option, maybe pick that at level 2? That still leaves you with one crappy ability to choose, of course. I think Stride is an OK pick here -- it's not great, but it's a passive boost that doesn't take resources, and so will make you (very) slightly better, regardless of what else happens. As mentioned above, Monastic Training for an unarmed option is also a decent fallback option here, though I believe it scales pretty terribly compared to a monk. --Lvl 6: Sadly, as was mentioned, you can't get Unbending yet. Have to wait for a while still... Maybe move Thick Skinned earlier here? Getting stacking armor bonuses early is nice when trying to survive in solo PotD... --Lvl 10: One possibility worth considering here is upgrading your Frenzy here. (Spirit Frenzy is better at this level, IMO, though if you want to take Blood Storm later you'll want to retrain this into Blood Frenzy.) --Lvl 14: Mob Stance is good, but so is Conquerer Stance. The first is better for mobs, the second is better for one-on-one targets. I find the latter fights to be tougher for this multiclass, so I like Conquerer Stance better. But both options are good. --Lvl 16: Brute Force sounds great, but it's actually pretty hard to find creatures it'll be good for. (Unless you have a special build that focuses on lowering fort.) --Lvl 17: Clear Out is nice. But the Barbarian already has some AOE effects (and you'll get some further AOE effects if you're using Whispers). So not as nice as it would be for a straight fighter, who doesn't have a lot of other AoE options. --Some good picks you could think about fitting in (though again, there's too much good stuff to pick from): --I like Constant Recovery too; it's hard to have too much extra healing in solo PotD. --For a similar reason, I think Unbending Trunk is a pretty good talent. --Weapon Specialization is nice; it's not flashy, but it applies pretty much all the time, which makes it pretty good. Regarding equipment, a few thoughts: Pet: Abraham gives both recovery and health on kills. Perfect for this build. Armor: Also want a back-up set of high quality plate for certain fights. Helm: Helm of the Falcon is great for two-handed weapon builds. But the most powerful helm for solo runs is the Cap of the Laughingstock. If you can stand how it looks, it's the way to go. Gloves: Anyone of several nice options that give +Might or +Dex are good. Gatecrashers are nice given all of the effects you have increasing crit chances. Cloak: Cape of the Falling Star is the best for solo runs, but apparently it's bugged and doesn't work with pets? Cape of Greater Deflection is the next best thing. Rings: The Ring of the Solitary Wanderer is also nice, as is the Signet Ring. Belt: Undying Burden FTW!

Near any Paladin/x combination, 18AR and 10HP per 3sec + 5 from Ring of great regeneration make you near invincible I also don't have problem with my Ranger/Cipher build (with Red Hand) Hmm, there are not any youtube videos that show a paladin multiclass to do it or? And which skills do you mean for 18 AR / 10 HP 3 sec? I rarely played paladin. mant2si is referring to the Paladin's Stoic Steel ability, the Paladin's Exalted Endurance talent, and the Goldpact Paladin's special Sworn Rival benefit (which doesn't stack with Exalted Endurance, but is still awfully nice until it runs out). And mant2si is completely right -- solo PotD is much easier with tanky builds than purely offense-focused ones, and Paladin is the tankiest class in the game. I beat her with upscaled PotD solo, without using any consumables, or making use of any of the spirits I'd liberated. I just used Sworn Rival, then ran up and auto-attacked, and used a Lay on Hands whenever my health dropped into the 50s. (I did use an empower to refresh Lay on Hands uses near the end.) I'd make a video, but I have no idea how to make a video... : P To give you concrete details, here's the exact build I used, with the following equipment: Weapon: Animancer's energy blade Shield: Bronlar's Phalanx Armor: Blackened Plate Armor (though any legendary plate would do) Head: Copperhead's Helm Neck: Protective Eothasian Charm [*though the Cauldron Shard would be better for this fight] Shoulders: Cloak of Greater Protection Rings: Ring of the Solitary Wanderer, Entonia's Signet Ring [*though Voidward would be better for this fight] Hands: Gatecrashers Feet: Rakhan Field Boots Pet: Jules Food: Honey-Wine Hen

Done!

Yeah, loading up on Spirit Shield potions is a good idea

How are you dealing with interrupts? (I’m half-heartedly trying a solo chanter run, and I’m finding interrupts, with the long cast times, to be a real hassle. And not a huge fan of having to carry an injury around everywhere... : P)

Ah, I thought you meant Blade of Endless Paths (the estoc), not Whispers of Endless Paths (the greatsword). Yeah, that sounds fine too (from the point of view of doing multiple damage types). With respect to the dual wielding nerf, I’m not sure it’s *that* severe — dual wielding will still seems like it’ll be at least as good as one handing or using a 2Hed weapon (special weapon properties aside). But yeah, it’s no longer the clear optimal choice, opening up other options. EDIT: Haplok makes some good points too. Lots to consider...

--Stats: The stats you listed are literally identical to the stat distribution I'm running with. So they look good to me! (If you wanted to ditch a little Might to boost Dex and Per even more, I'm sure that would work well too. But anything along these lines should be good.) --Race: Yeah, I went with Human for the Bloodied effect. Unlike Streetfighter, the benefits of being Bloodied, even with the Human and Barbarian talent boosts, aren't quite enough to make being Bloodied something you need to try to be in all the time. But you'll be Bloodied often enough in solo PotD without really trying that it ends up being a nice boost a fair amount of the time. (EDIT: And the really nice feature of being Human is that it gives you a way to keep track of what your health is, even though Frenzy hides it from you. That was my main reason for going Human.) Dwarf is also nice, since it gives you resistance to Constitution effects, which can hamper all of your nice healing abilities. --Armor: I find that in solo PotD I need to vary up the armor I wear depending on what the encounter is. Reckless Brigandine is great when you're in the middle of a swarm of enemies (i.e., most of the time), as long as you don't have a lot of powerful archers or rogues hitting you with piercing attacks. If you do, then it's a deathtrap, and you want to swap it out for one of the nice unique plate armors (I think there are at least three). Ditto for encounters in which you face a lot of corrode attacks, like the boss of the BoW DLC expansion. --Weapons: As a rule of thumb, it's nice to pair Devoted with weapons that do at least two kinds of damage, so they don't have to switch out if they encounter something that's invulnerable, or has extremely high armor, against (say) piercing or slashing. So that's a tentative reason to not go with sabres or estocs (Blade of the Endless Paths). Though I suspect both of those options are viable. Three natural options to consider (IMO): I. Pollaxes. This is what I went with, following the advice given by a number of people on these threads. (See this for a yet-to-be-played build using pollaxes that inspired my current run.) They're really nice for a Devoted/Barbarian multiclass for a couple reasons. (1) There are two great unique pollaxes, Lord Darryn's Voulge and Wahai Poraga, that you get can really early in the game. You can get the Voulge as soon as you get off the first island, and with a handful of points in stealth (coupled with the stealth boosting familiar and boots of stealth), you can sneak in and steal Wahai Poraga with very little combat, making it accessible by level 9 or 10. (2) Pollaxes do two kinds of damage (Bludgeoning or Slashing). And, even better, Lord Darryn's Voulge does Slashing or Electric, meaning that with those two pollaxes you can cover *three* damage types. (3) Both of the special pollaxes have great synergies with Carnage. As was noted above, Carnage hits with the Voulge stack charges, allowing you to hits tons of things with the charges every time you swing, and do a ton of damage whenever one of your crits sets them off. Likewise, Wahai Poraga's two free extra attacks it makes against nearby creatures also inflict further Carnage damage, allowing you to triple the amount of Carnage damage you're doing. Again, really great with a Barbarian. II. Warhammers Theosupus has a nice build that dual wields Warhammers, which are nice since they have two damage types, a high base penetration, and there are a couple really nice unique Warhammers, though they come later in the game. III. Swords Dual-wielding swords is also nice, since they do two kinds of damage, and one of the unique swords (Modwyr) gives you immunity to your Frenzy's confusion effect. (Though I'll note that if you grab Tactical Barrage, you don't need to worry about it, since Tactical Barrage cancels the Confused effect of your Frenzy by giving you the Acute condition (in addition to the Aware condition). That's a net swing of 10 Int points, which makes a really big difference to how big your Carnage field is (+100% area), and how long your other abilities last (+50% duration). And Tactical Barrage is pretty nice for this build in general, since, in addition to that(!) it gives you a +5 Perception boost, a nice graze-to-hit conversion boost, and a +1 PL bonus to everything. Pretty sweet...) Those are my thoughts, anyway!

Good idea! Now we just need a “scars and peg legs” DLC!

Seriously? Don't buff one-handed what is garbage and don't buff twohanded what is still useless (if they buffed it, i did not see the notes yet). No no nerf the only option melee classes had. Just play chanter / wizard multiclass now, you dont even need gear to beat everything in the game. #worstchangeever Can't see how you can beat neriscyrlas solo on potd upscaled now with a melee class. I did the Neriscyrlas fight (solo, PotD, upscaled) with a sword and board set-up, so it's definitely doable. Less clear how doable it is dual wielding, though... I even made a youtube video of my marauder doing it. But with that damage nerf, i don't think it is possible anymore, because of the lack of ressources. Which class did you have? Regarding the viability of doing the fight dual wielding: Yeah, I should have been clearer. I meant "it's less clear how doable it is dual wielding [now that this nerf has been imposed]". I saw from your other thread that you beat her on 2.0 dual wielding (which I found pretty impressive; in my experience sword-and-board is much easier for solo PotD). I did the fight with a Goldpact Paladin/Streetfighter, using the Animancer's Energy Blade and Bronlar's Phalanx. (Using this build, but with some corrode armor boosting items subbed in for this fight.)

Wait, what? I thought from the wiki description it was -10 deflection *to self* ... it is to enemies? Yep, it’s not to self, but to enemies and allies, if u are soloing it’s enemy only then. There is another item that grant u Dex Immune, but that item also reduce your deflection by 10. That’s why I think cap of laughingstock has almost no penalty and grant you double bonus is OP. This is almost certainly a bug, though, no? I.e., the description of the Village Fool condition is that anyone who has it gets a -10 to deflection and is immune to resolve conditions. And in combat, you and those near you will get the Village Fool condition. But for some reason while everyone around you has their deflection go down (as looking at your attacks against them reveals), your deflection doesn't go down... Still, until they fix it, it's pretty amazing! A mea culpa: As Boeroer helpfully pointed out in the bug report thread, this does not appear to be a bug. My bad! An almost mandatory item for solo runs. The main downside (besides looking silly) is that it anti-synergizes with the Infamous Captain terror effect by making your opponents immune to resolve afflictions...

Whoops, I think you're right. I could swear that both you and your opponents got the Village Fool condition, which states that you're immune to Resolve conditions and get a -10 deflection penalty. But when I just checked again, the character sheet of the character wearing the item doesn't list the Village Fool condition after all. My bad! Is there a way to close/delete this bug report?

Seriously? Don't buff one-handed what is garbage and don't buff twohanded what is still useless (if they buffed it, i did not see the notes yet). No no nerf the only option melee classes had. Just play chanter / wizard multiclass now, you dont even need gear to beat everything in the game. #worstchangeever Can't see how you can beat neriscyrlas solo on potd upscaled now with a melee class. I did the Neriscyrlas fight (solo, PotD, upscaled) with a sword and board set-up, so it's definitely doable. Less clear how doable it is dual wielding, though...

...of course, it goes without saying that different considerations apply to the Berserker/Bleak Walker combo!