Lampros

Hmmm, so are Soulbound items worse?

How many items per game can you usually enchant Durgan enchants with?

You are a site treasure!

There are monsters immune to slash? Dayyaam. I guess I really need back-up weapons. But doesn't that also mean I need to get a talent that enables quick switching - since I am not smart enough to memorize all resistances?

I posted not because I am doing this challenge purely using no micro. That would be a suicide for a newb like me! But I like party builds that require less micro, and I got some ideas off of this!

I am almost ready to fire off a new game - Lord of the Rings-themed and micro-management-light: Aragorn (tanking Chanter): I ultimately chose a Chanter over Fighter for main-tank duties, because a Fighter does not bring enough group utility. Also, I didn't want 2 of the same class in a group. Gimli (DPS, dual wield Barbarian): Close call over the Fighter. Fighter has more survivability, but Barbarian more AoE DPS - which I missed at times my abandoned 1st game. And I figured having both a Chanter and a Paladin might help with the front-line survivability anyways. Elrond (DPS, pike Paladin): For me the 3rd melee always has to be a Pike user due to congestion issues. Gandalf (Blaster Wizard): Continuing the theme of minimizing micro-management. Arwen (Support Priest): I guess you need a Priest, especially if you are w newb. Only thing still undecided is the last spot: It's either a Borresaine Rogue or a Cipher. Cipher brings more but it seems to require more micro-management. But I almost feel I need the Dominate-like abilities for some fights. I do not know.

My ideal party! Too bad AI sucks

Hmmm, do any popular Chanter builds use The Lover Cried out to the Beloved, "I am Yours!"? I ask, because the ability to charm is one of the appeal of this class for me.

No, it's total bullshart. All right. Blaster Wizard it is then! Edit: Especially since I will likely use a Cipher or Druid for more CC instead of a Rogue.

Why are pike builds for front-liners so seldom discussed? If you are going to have 3 or more melees, they seem the natural weapons for "excess" melees, given the congestion issues in some fights? Hmmm, you are almost persuading me to use my Aragorn as a tank! But then this... Damn, so many options!

Two questions: 1. Wouldn't a Fighter still be a far better tank than a Paladin, since his "tanking" talents and stats are superior? In particular, I really like the Overbearing Guard's capacity to knock down disengagers - which in my experience has been a serious problem, as tanks cannot seem to "hold aggro" in this game. 2. What are "marking weapons"? Is it wise to use 2 weapons from different Weapon Focus trees? Or do off-hand weapons matter less? Last, your Fighter seems to match the cowardish approach of hiding behind a shield, adding even +2 to RES and trying to survive instead of disabling attackers quickly. You haven't told enough about how you play that fighter. At least you haven't invested into raising CON. High INT can be worthwhile with reliable hits and long knockdowns, but reduced PER and a shield are detrimental then. Kinda strange to raise MIG so much instead of making the fighter hit well and faster. I think you're wasting potential. Confused. Are you suggesting that Fighters can tank without a shield?! Or that a tank is not needed?

Depends on your stats. For the barbarian before HoF, since I mainly attacked with Firebrand, which is 2handed, I needed max Dex, so I couldn't max Mi and I even dumped Con all the way. This meant i not only needed frenzy to make up for that, but also have max bonuses, through resting, whore and consumables for every serious fight. This is probably not a good approach if you're learning how to play the class, so if you have 10 base Con and 15 base MI (at least) you might not need Frenzy. Also bear in mind there's Sanguine Plate which gives you 2x frenzy per encounter if you get crit, I also used that quite a lot, unless I needed Stun/Prone reduction. I noticed a lot of builds have Sanguine Plate, but I am still put off by the inability to see your Endurance. How do you keep alive without even knowing how much health you have left? I don't get it. Do you just waste heals on the Frenzied Barbarian?

Thanks for the useful link - as well as your elaboration. I am still struggling to decide on my party, as there are so many viable options; and Rogues are still under consideration. (I had to re-start, because I downloaded the IE mod, did not keep more than 1 save, and that 1 save got bugged.)

Thanks. So you advise Priest to go full "spellsword" build? Also, I noticed a lot of their spells need to be really in-close anyways.

Since you guys are discussing Barbarians: Is Frenzy a "must" talent? In theory, the inability to see your Endurance would be a "no go," so I am thinking of not taking it. Will this nerf my DPS too much?

Ok, back to the blaster Wizard build then. One more question about this build though: According to a very extensive Steam guide on class builds, DPS Wizards fall off considerably in late-game relative to the non-caster DPS classses. Is this true? Also, is your Priest an implement user or a melee? I ask, because I might be unable to avoid having 4 melees anyways, since I think the Priest needs to be up-close.

Got it. Will read up on the Druid spells and talents now. By the way, implement damage has been God-awful on both my Priest and Wizard up to level 6. Do they scale better later? Or am I missing key late-game talents or gear? The lack of implement damage was another reason why I was looking at "spellsword"-style caster builds.

More on the build? And what kind of crit rate are we talking about? I actually wouldn't mind a ranged Fighter, if the damage difference is only marginal. I am frankly sick and tired of baby-sitting the Rogue - even at range. He is so fragile that - unlike the other classes - I sometimes do not have the time to heal him. I dislike the Ranger, because the pet seems like an extra character I need to control. The pet is also immersion-breaking for my role-play setting. I agree he requires less micro than casters, but I feel casters are kind of necessary, whereas Rangers are not. We human beings bear with unbearables that are unavoidable!

At what prestige level is he even eligible to appear?

For God's sake improve area loading times. SSD and a fast machine, and I still need a smoke after every load screen.

I hated the Rogue, but one thing I liked about him was his insane crit rate in combination with a disabling weapon (e.g. Borresaine). In fact, my crit rate was consistently around 85 percent from the early going onward, so with Borresaine I was stunning virtually everything I hit. But otherwise, I really dislike the Rogue in this game. Stealth is weaker in this game (and accessible to all classes anyways), and the Rogue has extremely low avoidance relative to its implementation in other games. So all I have left is single target damage and disables - which is not enough for me. So the question is: What other classes can achieve such high crit rates? Needless to say, nobody in my group came close to the 85 percent crit rate, and the next best was the DPS Fighter at 40 percent - so less than half. But is there a close approximation? I am willing to play any class but the Ranger. In particular, if I replace the Rogue, I'd want a ranged class capable of using the Borresaine. Also, in general, what are the paths I can take to increase crit rates on any class?

Ah, ok; I never thought about that method.

This looks perfectly what I wanted. Thanks! I do have some nuking capabilities here, too, though, right? One appeal of the Druid is the AoE - which my current group lacks.

I will experiment with a puller then - even though that's another layer of micro-management. I am still afraid of ranged enemies though. Not sure about the bow or the gun idea. Rogues seem to fragile unless I build them too survival-oriented (and thus lose DPS); I don't want a Ranger ever; and the other classes do not seem all that good with ranged weapons. Or am I wrong? Can Chanters or Ciphers work with bows? In that case, I might swap out the Rogue - though then I lose the hilarity of the Borresaine near-auto stuns. (My Rogue was averaging about 85 percent crit rate throughout even the early game.) The other advantage in having a melee caster, it looks like, is the fact that a lot of the good spells require me to be in-close range as well. So I think I might need equip the Priest in a 1H/shield mode, too, as most of her AoE buffs and heals require you to be near your group. Do you use a "puller" to bring enemies to open spaces then? And if so, who pulls and how does the puller avoid getting focused down before he gets to safety? I understand the principle of stacking movement speed to avoid melees, but couldn't you still get nuked down? You can if you want to. Slap a pair of boots of speed on a character and he/she basically can do pulling easily. I personally prefer not to pull in a party playthrough as it's a hassle. What I mean by "move the battle" is more like positioning to have a good exposed frontline so that the melee characters can fight properly. As I said, this is not perfect and yes there will be occasions when some of the party will not be able to melee engage. With awarenesss, chances are the characters are body blocked are my casters who can still potentially do something in the meantime. I think Raven's footage on the 6 chanters playthrough can sort of demonstrate this. Before battle take food items to buff up. Each different ones can potentially raise each your stats by 2-3 with other minor effects, and they last for minutes. Then there is the order of buffing. Potions of DAOM is very common as they reduce recovery and taking them first will shorten your spell buff chain Some of the best spell buffs are available in scrolls. Which frees up the buffer to cast the more unique buffs when the other part members can just scroll up. Best example I can think of are scrolls of protection from fear. Remain in a tight group at the start even if engagements starts. Getting buffed by say Crowns of the Faithful might even be worth giving up a more advantageous engagement position to the enemy. You can also use summons to temporary slow down enemy advance. It will buy the party about 5-ish seconds. I frequently use summons for this purpose. I guess I will just have to face the fact that I need to do a lot more micro-management in this game than I am used to - if I want to do really well!

Oh, I forgot to ask about these "spellswords" - or really any casters in general: I have now read tons of posts about how folks at harder difficulties stack tons of buffs - 3 or 4 or even more - during the early phase of the fight. Now, how is this even practical? In my experience, the enemy is on top of you immediately when fights begin, and I have not had the opportunity to buff at all. So I abandoned the idea of buffing and simply start offensive casting ASAP. I don't even cast Eldritch Aim on my Wizard. Is there a secret formula that I am missing here?