Lampros

Do spiderlings spawn infinitely?

Even with Driving Flight?

:0 Speaking of which: Someone mentioned that scripting weapon set switch was in beta. Did anything come of it?

Yeah, I will likely carry both, but I am not sure which one to use as a primary weapon. Also, how much will I miss Wizard CC - and can rods do reasonable DPS if I add Driving Flight?

Oops. But that's worse, because there are more pierce-immunes Then swap to a crush weapon...LOL. The "penalty" is not that significant IMHO. Or don't do devoted and have a lot of weapon choices. I hate micro-management! And Devoted is kind of useful for PotD, no? Oops. But that's worse, because there are more pierce-immunes Actually they are relatively rare.... You meet some skellies sometimes, but that's about it. Not a problem to switch to a blunt then. Never had any issues with immune enemies. Micro-management is my enemy once again

Okay, just as with PoE 1, I am going to make my first PotD party themed after the Fellowship of the Ring, and I would like some build advice. I am going to try to juggle between lore fidelity and game-play effectiveness, so please bear that in mind as well. (Of course, ultimately game-play effectiveness wins out when it conflicts with lore fidelity: I have decided to use Arwen instead of Gandalf, because I am no longer certain I need a Wizard; and I have also decided to give Frodo gunpowder weapons, because I think both arquebuses and blunderbusses are too good to ignore.) Anyways, here's the rough idea. Any kind of advice is welcome - whether it is the whole group composition or individual build. Overall: Composition-wise, I decided to use the group paradigm advised by one of the guides I saw: two melees, one support, and two ranged DPS. Melees are both Rogue-plus another class; ranged DPS are Ranger-plus another class; and support is Priest/Chanter. I regret not having a second Paladin multi-class for Zealous Endurance for PotD, but I decided ultimately that a Chanter multi-class is better when I already have a Paladin multi-class; I also do not have Wizard for the first time in my PoE career, but I figured that 3 Rogues and scrolls will be enough. Did I make mistake in either of these decisions? In particular, I am most concerned about missing the Wizard and his CCs: Will I have enough healing and CC for PotD? I am more than willing to drop a ranged DPS for the Wizard multi-class then. Individual team: *Melee 1 and main character: Aragorn (Paladin/Rogue) 14/10/14/16/16/8 A run-of-the-mill Holy Slayer melee build who is going to be both sturdy and do meaningful DPS. I plan on dual wielding Duskfall and Modwyer while encased in the Devil of Caroc armor. My only concern is penetration with what is inherently low-penetration weapon type without Devoted to boost it. I hope food and Priest buffs are sufficient. *Melee 2: Gimli (Devoted/Rogue) 14/12/12/16/12 Another generic build that tries to be both tanky and capable of DPS. A variation of Haplok's version - https://forums.obsidian.net/topic/105365-class-build-armorbreaker/ - except that I plan on going warhammer instead of estoc. Am I losing too much base damage in doing so? Perhaps this is not the right decision, but I am way too traumatized from damage type resistances and immunities from PoE 1 to risk going single damage-type. *Support: Arwen (Chanter/Priest) 12/10/16/14/16/10 As I said, I hotly debated making the support Paladin/Priest, but I thought a Chanter would bring more when I already have a Paladin. No Celebrant build on the board, so I am a bit on my own here. Consequently, advice even more welcome. For now, I am going to make her use some form of a shield and Sasha's Singing Scimitar. She's going to be primarily a buff/heal-bot, with some CC contributing. *Ranged 1: Legolas (Ranger/Devoted) 12/10/18/16/12/10 Per Kaylon's advice in an old post, I decided that I have to go Devoted if I want to use a hunting bow, given the low penetration. I want to leverage Essence Interruptor right away, so I made this guy. My biggest question here is: Is Essence Interruptor worth upgrading to Soul Diplomacy (or whatever it's called when resurrected creatures become your allies) at the cost of 2 (!) Adra Bans? If not, then I will switch to Aamina's Legacy later. *Ranged 2: Frodo (Ranger/Rogue) 12/10/16/16/14/10 This is the gunpowder counterpart to the bow-meister Legolas. The question is: Arquebus or blunderbuss? I really cannot decide at this point. Given the make-up of the group, what weapon serves the team better? *Alternate Ranged: Gandalf (Wizard/Ranger?) The alternate would have been to take a ranged DPS out in favor of a Wizard multi-class that would have been a ranged DPS/CC hybrid using the bouncing rod. But that rod has apparently been nerfed, so this is not a good idea? Or should I still go this way given the value of the Wizard CCs? Perhaps go Wizard/Ranger and leverage Driving Flight with the rod modal? Edit: I guess the race is unlisted, but it's also obvious

Agree, only one thing tho, Pen modals don't stack with Tenacious or Potion of piercing strikes or any other active pen increase. But food works I didn't know this, and this sucks. So I guess I've been wasting Deflection the last game unnecessarily by having both sword modal and Tenacious cast on me. Do Tenacious and potion stack with each other?

I am using this build for my current PotD run, but I did use warhammers, like you said. PoE 1 had a ton of weapon immunes, and I am being a bit cautious. But on the same token, warhammers suffer from a lack of selection, and their base damage is very low.

Oops. But that's worse, because there are more pierce-immunes

Or both. Indeed! Any rogue with the Red Hand would come ahead of most melee classes. Yes, it's a stunningly powerful weapon. I was floored.

This is an interesting topic, but I don't think it's very meaningful with story companions, because you pick them up at different points. The most remarkable thing about my first run was that Maia (Ranger/Rogue) with Red Hand actually almost caught up to my main Watcher (Fighter/Paladin) by the end - in spite of the fact that she joined at level 15!!! That was a stunning testament to either the power of the Ranger/Rogue or the weakness of Fighter/Paladin (as a pure DPS, that is). Oh, and Eder (Fighter/Rogue) was slightly behind my watcher when I dropped him at level 15 (I went through a full team re-make then) for Pallegina for the other melee slot. Eder was doing more DPS, but I wanted an extra Paladin for an even easier run overall. In the next game I will start with a full custom party without running the +2 Attribute Blessing on the Watcher. So I will get a much better picture of the DPS balance.

Is this live now?

Wait, gaze spells like the Gaze of Adragon actually works with Driving Flight?!!! Holy crap. Has this been fixed or still working as it did? So I guess Wizard/Ranger is a possibility?

But Paladin/Priest or Paladin/Druid or Paladin/Chanter will not require as much baby-sitting, since 1) he's so sturdy and 2) most of his stuff are either passive or near-insta casts?

So what is your preference in conclusion?

Probably healing pots and food only type run. I don't want to have to spend a ton of time crafting and finding materials for crafting if possible Then - Paladin/Streetfighter, Fighter/Soulblade, Paladin/Ranger, Paladin/Chanter, Paladin/Fighter, Monk/Wizard, Monk/Fighter, Monk/Paladin. The game has pretty easy mathematic (if we will skip all unstable classes like Streetfighter/Berserker or BDD like builds) You just need: - Some way to restore your hit points (for example healing pots) - ~19-20 armor (~50% DM reduction for bosses attacks) - ~130 defenses and 120 ACC You can play with numbers and try to sacrifice some numbers for more offensive setups You need that on every character?! I don't know how to get 19-20 armor on any non-Goldpact character; and I don't know 120 ACC on any non-Ranger character.

So it only becomes top-tier DPS melee with an AoE weapon? Hmm, so I guess Ranger/Rogue is still king of ranged DPS then?

Another solo. Jesus, I feel inferior

I will have a Paladin/Rogue near him at all times (my main), so he won't be alone. I am also thinking about getting a pure support character that is something like a Paladin/Priest or a Paladin/Chanter.

Thanks; I will likely use it - except that I am still uncomfortable about single target damage. What enemies are totally immune to slash?

Agree; base damage is quite bad - which is another negative, in addition to the selection.

Actually Streetfighter who is blooded or flanked (can use blunderbuss modal to get flanked status) gets up to 60% sneak damage + 50% streetfighter bonus, eventually at PL VII also +50% deathblows against enemies with 2 statuses (in melee Persistant Distruction provides both). Then the active abilities provide another +25%, DoTs, afflictions and Devastating Blow can potentially add up too 300% vs badly hurt enemies. Also if both blooded and flanked, another +100% on a crit. So the total bonus damage is quite a lot higher then 90%. Unless you mean only passively and at first level.. then together with the Cipher, for a triggered streetfighter it would be... +100%? Unless both flanked and blooded and crit, of course.. I don't like to keep characters at Bloodied state though. I have my scripts to heal at 75 percent and at 50 percent. So I'd be losing out on the Bloodied bonus from either Human or Streetfighter, and thus I do not factor them into equation in my game-play.

Just looked up Soulblade, and 40 percent passive damage add with Biting Whip? Wow! So they can be built as a pure melee character when multi-classing with a martial class? Are they 40%? In my game it says 30% I am reading off of Wiki. But are you using Soul Blade though? They get the extra 10 percent on the Biting Whip. Soul blade is the same as no subclass cipher they only get soul annihilation and focus on melee kill You are right; I checked in-game just now. The Wiki numbers must be obsolete.

Again, Rogue is a damage dealer. Ranger is a hybrid. Clearly Rogue will do a lot more damage. As for Fighter vs Paladin, my vote goes to Fighter. Intuitive stance provides hit-to-crit conversion. Cleaving Stance provides free attacks whenever you down an enemy. Clear Out is a cool aoe move. With Unbending you just don't die. Paladins provide more party support though. I see. I saw the Ranger update skills, and I thought 20 percent accuracy and 20 percent damage would change the melee DPS tiers, but then Deathblows alone give you 50 percent for the Rogue - which is almost like a perma crit (what is crit damage boost anyways? - 50 percent?). Would Barbarian/Rogue do more than Fighter/Rogue? But perhaps a bit squishy now? Base crit damage bonus is only +25%. In general Barb/Rogue is theoretically capable of higher dps then a fighter/rogue, yes. In practice I think a fighter/rogue usually has much better chances being surrounded by enemies, triggering streetfighter bonuses, attacking everyone and surviving. Particularly after getting Unbending. My swashbuckler with 3 Resolve and a two-hander estoc charges in the middle of the enemies and takes all the heat all the time. Also barb/rogue blooms much later. A fighter/rogue is excellent from start to finish. Thanks. Yeah, last night I created Gimli as a Fighter/Barbarian, and I was discouraged by the low deflection - which gets worse with Frenzy. I assume the initial survivability will be even worse as Barbarian/Rogue, since I will have even lower deflection/HPs and no Constant Recovery.

Just looked up Soulblade, and 40 percent passive damage add with Biting Whip? Wow! So they can be built as a pure melee character when multi-classing with a martial class? Are they 40%? In my game it says 30% I am reading off of Wiki. But are you using Soul Blade though? They get the extra 10 percent on the Biting Whip.