Moneo

Practically, that's not "constantly", but occasionally. I'm an old man too, so I prefer to play strategically rather than use micro a lot Considering Spores. They are usually surrounded by tough hitting minions. Lure theese minions out of the range of the big ones and kill, then return with ranged weapons and shoot those bastards. If you have a wizard, cast a Chill Fog upon the Spore, that'll cause Blind and lower its Acc and Def. You'll be surprised how toothless it'll become and how quickly it'll go down. Chill Fog is a super OP debuff by a wizard. Considering scrolls. There are several types of them. First, the ones that buff your party. To cast them, you need only high Int (and high Mig for the healing ones). Then, some scrolls that do CC. To cast them effectively, you need high Int and high Per and Acc. Even low Mig chanter or wizard can cast them. At last, there are some damagins scrolls, the best one becomes available at Lore lvl 10. You need high Int and high Mig and Acc to cast them. So, my pally and barb cast protective scrolls. My chanter and cipher concentrate on CC-ing scrolls - actually, the most useful is the Paralyze scroll. Even if you run a wizard, just spam paralyze scrolls instead of spamming paralyze spells and keep theese spell slots. Finally, my priest casts damaging scrolls. Among protective scrolls, a very useful is the "Prayer against treachery" one, it requires 12 Lore and grants immunity to Dominate and Confusion. That's the reason to have at least one char with 12 Lore in your team alongside with a priest. Usually, that's my main char who has 12 Lore, this also helps in dialogs. Considering all this, and also a high damage dealt by the DDs, the absense of a wizard is not a great issue. I think, running through PotD without a priest is much more challenging, but that's not a "power gaming" IMO, at least until late game, when your chars become really powerful. Personally, I can't stand without my damaging barbarian butcher. I tried several runs without him, but in that cases I started experiencing pain below my back... eeeh... a serious lack of damaging power, the enemies just didn't want to die quickly and were overwhelming me. Yes, having a rogue is a good option damage-wise, but a fighter is more durable, so I like him more In my party, both the fighter and the barb are offensive off-tanks, while the latter is somewhat more squishy during the beginning of the game. BTW, what ranged weapon do you use with your rogue? I think, having a ranged rogue with durganized weapon who can switch to Nightshroud/Unlabored Blade/Reaping Knives is not a bad idea. And what reason is in using the Dragon Thrashed? After the nerf? IMO, 13 pierce/13 fire dmg with 20 Mig, considering this is before DR, is rather underwhelming. I didn't do exact math, but I feel that If your party does considering damage, Aefyllath is much better, unless you fight some fire immunes. Especially if you run a ranged rogue, then Sure-Handed Ila+Aefyllath would be great. IDK whether Aefyllath's damage boosts the cipher's focus generation, but an Amplified Wave or a Sacred Immolation buffed by a chanter are quite devastating. Not to mention barbarian's carnage attacks with Tidefall...

That's right, but don't forget that charmed foes start receiving your healing and are excluded from barbarian's carnage and wizard's blast.

I agree that Domination debuff is a bit dubious, as long as all other, which include flipping alliance. That's good if you are playing solo, or your party consists of many vancian casters, in this case it's a good way to protect your chars. But if you are using protective auras, chants and a lot of healing, this will make your foes just stronger, not weaker. Once I opposed the Sky Dragon with my lv 11 party (upscaled PotD). My Magran priest was armed with Gyrd and managed to dominate the damned beast, when it lost about half of his health! Of course this brute acquired paladin's Zealous Endurance on top of it's high defenses. That was an epic fail, lol. After that I was disappointed in Domination and Confusion and don't use them even with cipher. I prefer debuffs which weaken enemies and make them more vulnerable for damage from weapons. Also, now I think, that the most powerful ranged weapon for a priest in terms of direct damage is Pretty Pretty's Rib in hands of Wael's follower. For a wizard, that's The Golden Gaze, yeah.

That's not an issue, just give your melee guys (at least two of them) a ranged weapon in the second slot. For example, my fighter wields dual sabres in the first slot and a pistol in the second. In case of congestion, just switch to ranged, retreat if needed, and shoot the enemy. Not too much micro. BTW I have dedicated ranged weapons enchanted for slaying Primordials for all my melees, 'cause those nasty mushrooms are really nasty, and the best way to kill them is to shoot one by one. There are a lot of narrow places in Act II, and before that I usually pick up the Tall Grass pike for my barbarian, and he wields it during the whole second act. At lv 8 or 9 I kill that fire drake and finally pick up Tidefall. And my chanter is ranged by default, but have 1h+shield in the second slot for those cases when he (actually, she) is oppressed. But this doesn't happen often, foe AI tends to focus on my cipher, hehe. So, cipher and priest also have 1h+shield and switch to it, if the enemy focuses them, this helps a bit (although I don't give them the "Weapon and Shield" talent, but this is an option for this party, see below). Yes, that's an issue a bit. That's why I bother about wizard. But it's a matter of playstyle. This party is designed for being able to rapidly buff themselves (with priest spells, scrolls and consumables), withstand enemy's pressure and dish out a ton of damage quickly. So in tough battles use scrolls of defense, of protection, "prayer against" scrolls and spells. I train in Lore all characters except fighter, so pally, barb and late in game chanter can buff the party while enemy's approaching. Then the cipher opens the battle with "Phantom Foes" cast, and this makes a whole screen of enemies flanked. Assuming survival bonus which I use on my three damage dealers by default, "Apprentice sneak attack" talent and Glanfanthan Stalking Boots on fighter and cipher, this means x1.35-x.1.45 damage boost against bad guys from the dedicated damage dealers. That's a great debuff with no immunity. Moreover, I use a special party formation - in a form of an arrow, or a cross. The pally stands in front, right behind him, the chanter stands. He can shoot or switch to melee if nescessary. To the left and to the right of the chanter, the fighter and the barb stand. They cover the wings of my formation and can move forwards and backwards rapidly, if needed. Right behind the chanter, the priest stands. And behind the priest, there is a place for the cipher. So the latter shoots from behind and can comfortably utilise the Wood Elf's racial ability. I have the second custom formation - just the same, but reversed; I use it for the cases, when I need to retreat keeping my formation, where the tanks are oriented to the enemy. So, while my frontliners meet the enemy and engage them, other chars usually have enough time to raise up party's defenses and prepare their own CCs. Of course, this party needs to withstand and endure, but the practice shows it is able to bear that. The damaging potential of this party is very high, and the faster your foes fall, the less you need CCs. Battles with dragons can be hard without a wizard, but just buff your accuracy via survival bonus and try to stack all of the boni to it during the fight. Cipher can successfully debuff and even damage dragons, just don't underestimate the "Fractured Volition" spell, it's a rare source of lowering Fortitude (without a wizard, again). About paladin's aura. Early on, low accuracy is an issue, so I recommend starting up with Zealous Focus. Later, high enemy's damage and subsequent harm to health become an issue (the party usually has enough healing to sustain even fragile chars in battle). So at lv 8 I usually take Gallant's Focus with my chanter and respec the pally into Zealous Endurance. This aura helps a lot, especially with its hit->graze conversion, that's not only direct damage, but also debuffs.

I find Pillars of Eternity one of the best team RPGs. It has many interesting classes, which provide a great variety of abilities, so the funniest way to play PoE is IMO to go full-party. The good thing about PoE is that there is no any "best" party composition, so almost any party composed of characters with reasonable builds is viable. But not every party is funny. I think that parties like "6 chanters" or "6 wizards" are boring and tedious. We need different classes to make their skills work together in synergy. And our party also should be healthy and powerful. Moreover, I like to rely on per-encounter abilities and damage made from weapons, not from spells, in order to rest as seldom as possible. So that's my experience and suggestions. 1. PC - Wild Orlan Goldpact Paladin main tank (Old Vailia - Aristocrat) 17/15/3/5/19/19 - I've took him for abusing RP reasons. Goldpact Knights are not penalized from being Cruel and Deceptive, so I can take the Gift from the Machine and the Effigy Resentment talents, but I'm not stricted to be evil, so the option to be Benevolent is also available (it's important in some situations). The goal of this character is to tank, to support, to have the highest defences in the party (Mindweb-wise) and to burn the enemies with Sacred Immolation. I use only generic paladin and common class talents and don't take Goldpact-specific talents. After all, 95% or even 99% of paladin's power is just paladinish and not order-specific. 2. Coastal Aumaua DW saber Fighter (The Living Lands - Colonist) 21/16/18/10/3/10 - damage dealer and off-tank. Also a subject for cipher's Reaping Knives late in game. I used to take a monk with similar race and stats for this role, but while the monk is extremely good with his fists, nothing from his skills benefits the Reaping Knives. But fighter, on the other side, has Weapon Mastery and Specialization and also Armored Grace, so he'll be dishing out more damage with the Knives than a monk. Of course, one can take a rogue for this role, but the rogue is quite squishy, he tends to die rapidly and needs a lot of precise micromanagement, so he doesn't fit in the philosophy of this party. Although fighter doesn't shine in damaging like a rogue, he is very sturdy and reliable source of damage, so that's our choice. 3. Boreal Dwarf 2H Barbarian (Old Vailia - Colonist) 19/10/10/10/19/10 - a very simple and straightforward genocide machine. That's Hitler and Pol Pot mixed together. Just give him Tidefall or Redeemer (depending on situation), put on Sanguine Plate, Shod in Faith, Berserker's Belt, and let him rush upon the enemies. And watch the dealt damage rate skyrockets. No need for min-maxing, no need for Savage Attack or Vulnerable Attack. Must-have abilities: Frenzy, Savage Defiance, One Stands Alone, Blood Thirst (heavy and slow 2-handers benefit from this ability the most). Nothing can stop him except for really high defences of some bosses. But for those ones we have other weapons 4. Mountain Dwarf Chanter (Old Vailia - Merchant) 20/16/2/18/19/3 - light support off-tank. Buffs the party with Sure-Handed Ila and Aefyllath songs (the latter quite helps the barbarian to dish out the damage). Sometimes summons ogres or casts other invocations. He uses an implement, but can switch to 1h and shield. Low Res doesn't stop this character from being a good off-tank covered by other heavy tanks in this party ("Sword and Shield" talent is mandatory; chanters have innate high deflection, so we can sacrifice some Res without losing decent tankyishness, high Con also helps). That's my utility character, he is used to disarm traps and open locks. After maxing Mechanics at 13, I put skillpoints into Lore in order to use scrolls in battles. 5. Moon Godlike Priest of Wael (Old Vailia - Colonist) 18/9/18/10/20/3 - this build is very close to a Fire Priest described on this forum, but I took the deity of Wael in order to use Pretty Pretty's Rib as a main weapon. 6. Wood Elf Cipher (Old Vailia - Colonist) 18/10/11/17/19/3 - a simple CC/damaging cipher. Phantom Foes, Amplified Wawe, Detonate, Desintegration, Reaping Knives, Mindweb etc. Uses Rain of Godach Fields. This team is very powerful and doesn't need to rest often. It rushes through the game from the very beginning till the end and doesn't need a lot of micromanagement. Moreover, all 6 characters are of different classes and different races, so it's a lot of fun. All of them have their own class and race abilities, every character has it's unique role. But this team doesn't satisfy me completely. It lacks one of the most interesting characters in PoE, a wizard. I think, a blasting wizard could've fit in this party very well (blasting in trash encounters, helping with spells during tough battles - I experienced some lack of wizard's debuffing abilities in several boss fights, especially dragons; nevertheless all battles are viable), but the party is very well and tight suited. Whom to change for a wizard? The most boring character here is a fighter. Also, even blasting wizard in PoE is a good damage dealer, so we can swap these two guys. But who'd be a subject for the Reaping Knives? The barbarian? But I'm happy with my 2H variant, he's extremely powerful and almost unkillable while he's swinging his Tidefall being surrounded by enemies. And the Redeemer devastates the vessels. Also, those DW barbarians with on-hit/on-crit weapons are complete garbage IMO: give the barbarian a heavy weapon and let him kill, and let the casters bother about debuffs and disables. Of course, I can just give my barbarian the DW talent at lv 14, and bestow him the Knives from time to time, when it's nescessary. I've read that a barbarian with Reaping Knives is very strong, but I'm afraid this strategy would weaken my variant of barbarian, he'd become less durable and damaging. Or it would weaken my cipher, when, for example, I fight vessels and the barbarian uses the Redeemer. What do you think? How to modify this party in order to add a wizard? Will the party be even more powerful or not?