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Lampros

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Posts posted by Lampros

    Choosing a multiclassed Caster build & some Blood Mage questions post 5.0 patch

    in Pillars of Eternity II: Deadfire Characters Builds, Strategies & the Unity Engine (Spoiler Warning!)

    Posted

    15 hours ago, Haplok said:

    Also using Arkemyr's Grimoir means you're not taking advantage of Ningauth's Teachings, and that's a fantastic grimoire for an Assassin Bloodmage nuker. Note Death Ray is absolutely fantastic in Turn Based mode and one of the staple spells I've kept using till the very end. And opening combat with Shadowflame with +25 Accuracy is often an "I win" button.

    I've never played Wizard, but I am thinking of playing the next run, and I noticed that Ningauth's grimore is almost universally recommended for a nuke wizard. But here's the problem: Some of Ningauth's nukes are 6 second casts. So are they viable in turn-based in that case? It seems to me that the only way to ensure they land before mobs move out is to immobilize/stun/paralyze them, but most of those effects only last 1 turn in turn-based. So by the time my cast completely, the mobs will be un-immobilize/stun/paralyzed, no?

    Also, would Paladin/Evoker still do decent nuke DPS? Or do I have to go single class?

     

    Just a rope and a grappling hook, dammit!

    in Pillars of Eternity II: Deadfire Characters Builds, Strategies & the Unity Engine (Spoiler Warning!)

    Posted

    4 hours ago, OldCookies said:

    In real time with pause, I like to run away from the sigil before it activates, into a chokepoint where I can abuse area of effect spells. You might have trouble with your slower initiative characters in turnbased mode though! The other thing I like to do is use spells like Delayed Fireball in order to deal massive damage to enemies (and sigils!) before combat begins.

    I believe in you :)

    I did notice that scroll nuking them works reliably - provided I have at least 2 characters using scrolls. Very few things survive two scroll casts of end-game nukes.

    Thanks for your belief, but I bet I fail multiple times to begin with! ;)

    Best heavy armor for a DPS melee?

    in Pillars of Eternity II: Deadfire Characters Builds, Strategies & the Unity Engine (Spoiler Warning!)

    Posted

    22 hours ago, Boeroer said:

    Blackened Plate comes fairly late though. I mean you have to kill some powerful fampyrs to get it.

    The Bloody Links with the enchantment "Crimson Steel" gives +2 Armor Rating when bloodied and thus gives the same base AR as plate armor - and at the same time gives all-stackable +5 to all defenses which is great. And it comes quite early (buy it in Fort Deadlight from No-Nut Ned).

    Devil of Caroc's Breastplate has a somewhat similar enchantment (+2 R when bloodied, but limited to 2/encounter) and will give you more resources (+2 Discipline and +2 Mortification).

    Reckless Brigandine has "Into the Breach": more melee weapon dmg as you lose health (but max +20% damage). AR increases as you lose health (max +2 AR). So it works a bit like the Bloody Links - but this requires to beat the Deathguard in the Forgotten Catacomb (which is a lot easier than killing the Fampyrs in Splintered Reef though).

    With "Constant Rebound" and "Bronze Juggernaut" as enchantments I also guess the Patinated Plate is great in TB mode (since the recovery penalty doesn't matter that much). Which you can also get quite early. 

    Another heavy armor that could be nice for a damage oriented Brawler in TB mode is Kāhako Nihi. But also late ad it's best used with unarmed attacks.

    Yes, this would be a choice once I've gathered everything. I didn't grab Blackened Plate until level 16, and I don't think I can at least post level 13 at the earliest (but even that's doubtful). What enabled me to kill the Fampyrs painlessly was to spam scroll nukes by multiple characters, and I can't reach high enough Arcana for a while.

    In contrast, I grabbed Patinated Plate at level 8, so it is the default armor for a long time.

    4 hours ago, OldCookies said:

    I know you're playing in turn based, but I think in rtwp Patinated Plate would be the best for dps. There's a GameFAQs guide that says that it's the most lightweight heavy armor with the correct enchantments due to some silly inversion things that I don't fully understand.

    Ironically, it's the very speed advantage that Patinated Plate gives that makes me not like it as much! ;) (Of course, I can opt to avoid the speed enchant though.) With the speed enchant (and bonuses from MC Berath's Blessings, Alchemical Guile, and Swift Flurry), I was going ahead of the main tank, and I definitely didn't want to do that. Instead, I like to set things up with my main tank (Swashbuckler) putting Persistent Distraction and Lower Their Guard on multiple mobs and enabling my MC to do massive damage with Clear out>

    • Like 1

    Just a rope and a grappling hook, dammit!

    in Pillars of Eternity II: Deadfire Characters Builds, Strategies & the Unity Engine (Spoiler Warning!)

    Posted

    Oh, as an auxiliary question: How do people generally handle Sigils? I found that it's not always possible to destroy them on the first turn before they trigger. So I need wardstones. Now, are you supposed to pop them all when you acquire them? I thought about doing that, but I was afraid I'd make a mistake and need to rest eventually. So I've been hoarding them and destroying sigils and popping only when I cannot destroy them on the first turn.

    Just a rope and a grappling hook, dammit!

    in Pillars of Eternity II: Deadfire Characters Builds, Strategies & the Unity Engine (Spoiler Warning!)

    Posted · Edited by Lampros

    I forgot that descending from certain places in the Beast of Winter DLC area will cause injury without it. Goddamn! I had to waste 6 Luminous Adra potions. As a result, my no rest run is in real jeopardy, because I only have 2 left. (Early on, I kept forgetting to pop wardstones, so I wasted a ton.)

    Lesson: People should mention quick items and other utility gear you need at all times when listing their builds - not just equipment. Otherwise newbs like me waste 100-plus-hours of progress! ;)

    Optimizing for Defensive Mindweb

    in Pillars of Eternity II: Deadfire Characters Builds, Strategies & the Unity Engine (Spoiler Warning!)

    Posted

    On 8/13/2018 at 6:29 PM, Kaylon said:

    Paladin/wizard with Wizard's Double using Cloak of Major Deflection/Cadhu Scalth/Casita Samelia can probably have both deflection/reflex over 200, while a paladin/helwalker with Magnera's Chain, Giftbearer's cloak, ring of minor protection, Wahaki Tua can probably reach over 200 fortitude/will.

    I've never seen Wahaki Tua Any where - even as a random drop.

    Druid vs Wizard

    in Pillars of Eternity II: Deadfire Characters Builds, Strategies & the Unity Engine (Spoiler Warning!)

    Posted

    6 hours ago, Boeroer said:

    I'm also not a huge fan of summons (except Essential Phantom and Watery Double) - but Call to the Primordials is so good because some of the Oozes have special abilites, several of them with unlimited uses. For example the Bog Ooze can cast Plague of Insects once and something like Overbearing Wave unlimited times. And the Greater Black Ooze has Divide and Conquer so if it gets "killed" it splits into two smaller oozes which can merge back again, giving enemies a really hard time. It also can do a corrosive AoE attack unlimited times. And besides that they always come as three and each has resonably high health. So those are the reasons I think that Call to the Primordials is a top spell. But I almost never use it. ;)

    Thanks; in that case I may experiment then.

    Which high level direct damage scroll spell is the best?

    in Pillars of Eternity II: Deadfire Characters Builds, Strategies & the Unity Engine (Spoiler Warning!)

    Posted

    6 hours ago, Boeroer said:

    Great Maelstrom for me.

    Scrolls all have 1.6 secs casting time and 3 secs recovery in RTwP I believe.

    Edit: now my scrolls say 4.5 secs recovery - but I don't know if that's a vanilla nerf or if Community Patch nerfed that. 

    I tested, and among the 4 I mentioned at Arcana 13 or above, I like Great Maelstrom and Wilting Wind. Neither are resisted a lot; in contrast, Meteor Shower seems to have too many resistant or immune monsters. The targeting is also imprecise, and you can waste a lot of the "meteors" with bad luck. Tornado is okay - somewhere in the middle for me.

    I am also using Tayn's Chaotic Orb and Gaze of Adragon.

    On turn-based, I see no indicator for recovery time on scroll; but all actions are "standard" so they are instantly cast. This makes scroll build perhaps the best build in turn-based! ;)

    Druid vs Wizard

    in Pillars of Eternity II: Deadfire Characters Builds, Strategies & the Unity Engine (Spoiler Warning!)

    Posted

    3 minutes ago, Boeroer said:

    Venombloom is quite powerful (unless poison immune foes). It's like Chillfog but with raw dmg and weaken + frighten instead of blinded. 

    Garden of Life is an excellent healing spell BUT there have to be corpses on the ground. You want to deactivate gibs in the game option menue though - because gibbed enemies don't leave corpses. If there are corpses it's great really. 

    Sunlance is one of the highest dmg single target spells in the game. It has a huge, huge range (20 m). It also comes with high PEN. I like it a lot on Furies where the range and PEN are even higher. Funnily enough the spell works with Instruments of Pain (Monk) and thus gets a range of 120(!) meters. You can basically cast it across the whole map (in theory). Fun with a Helwalker/Fury. I somewhere had a thread where I tested everything that works with Insturments of Pain, maybe I cvan find it again. IIRC there were more druid spells that did.  

    Rusted Armor can be very good against high AR foes. -4 AR for 15 secs base can make a huge difference. 

    Some players really like Rot Skulls. I'm not a huge fan but it's certainly not bad at all. 

    Call to the Primordials calls some pretty powerful oozes. I think it's a top summoning spell. Way better than the other stuff a Druid can summon. 

    Thanks. I am a bit wary of Venombloom, because I am so inept at casting AoEs that can potentially inflict friendly fire damage. But I guess I shouldn't be worried as much in turn-based. Yet old habits die hard, and I seem to automatically avoid any non-foe-only AoEs! ;)

    I am using Garden of Life, and I am satisfied. I am getting it automatically on my subclass, so I forgot to mention I had it.

    I was thinking of picking either Rusted Armor or Sunlance, so I guess I will do so now - I cannot take both, because I only have 1 level to go.

    Finally, I am not a fan of summoning spells (micro-management wary), so Call to the Primordials is probably something I wouldn't want to take.

    [Class build] Lady of Pain - the b!tch is back

    in Pillars of Eternity II: Deadfire Characters Builds, Strategies & the Unity Engine (Spoiler Warning!)

    Posted

    I can't believe the author wanted to put this build on the "deprecated" list. I am not completely through my run yet (level 17), but this is by far the best all-around melee DPS build I've tried. I am doing AoE caster-like damage by spamming Clear Out and Torment's Reach; and Swift Flurry and Karaboru keep triggering. (I guess it helps that I have 80-plus percent crit rate even on PoTD.) While I will experiment with, say, different tank or different CC builds in the future, I don't think I can ever go to a different melee DPS build in the future!

    • Like 1

    Druid vs Wizard

    in Pillars of Eternity II: Deadfire Characters Builds, Strategies & the Unity Engine (Spoiler Warning!)

    Posted

    2 hours ago, Boeroer said:

    It is always very viable. The description is a bit misleading. The damage you see there will get applied thrice! Also the upgrade is very good.

    The best part is that will will trigger a lot of individual attack rolls that all count as separate casts/usages. This is important because in the late game you can have the Least Unstable Coil. It will give you one random tier-3 inspiration if you empower an ability usage. A Chanter can empower in every encounter with Sasha's Singing Scimitar. So you empower Her Revenge which will count as countless individual casts - giving you ALL tier-3 inspirations almost guaranteed. 

    But even besides that the invocation is viable in the endgame because not only does it get casts thrice as I said at the beginning but it also scales with Power Level of course. 

    Ah, thanks. I will try it out next run then. I really ought to run two Chanters from now on, because I don't have enough level-up choices! ;)

    Druid vs Wizard

    in Pillars of Eternity II: Deadfire Characters Builds, Strategies & the Unity Engine (Spoiler Warning!)

    Posted

    On 10/29/2020 at 3:58 PM, dgray62 said:

    I really like Theurge builds, and if you do it makes sense to focus on electric attacks, given the powerful options on both the druid and chanter side. You could, for example start a fight with an empowered Her Revenge while wielding Sasha's, which is even better if you're also wearing the Least Unstable Coil and Weyc's Wand in your offhand. Once you're empowered with bonus PLs and inspirations, you could then switch to the Voulge and cast a relentless storm or two. I really like Sasha's because I rarely ever otherwise empower attacks, for the same reason that I rarely use per rest abilities. In other words, I don't like having to rest all the time.

    Is Her Revenge viable late-game, too? I never chose it, because the paper damage seems too low to work come late-game. But I see a lot of people recommending it? The problem with Chanter is that you have so many good choices; perhaps the answer is to run two! ;)

    City guards randomly decide to attack in Turn-Based Mode

    in Pillars of Eternity II: Deadfire Technical Support (Spoiler Warning!)

    Posted

    On 2/4/2019 at 7:11 PM, SChin said:

    Hello Mundane,

     

    I'm sorry about this bug with the guards becoming hostile.  This has been reported to us a few times fortunately so the investigation of this by the team is already underway.  If you happen to discover anything else about this, please continue to post about it here as I will be linking this thread to the bug report to be used as a reference for the team during their investigation.

     

    Thanks again Mundane and sorry for the inconvenience this is causing.

    If you guys knew about it, then why was it never fixed?

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