Alright, so quicker focus on cc and try to anticipate enemy cc. Makes me wonder how the heck anyone does a playthrough without a priest in the party.
Naa, challenge is fun)
On the other hand, upscalling Elmshore was added such that you won't feel it too easy after WM1.
So if you want a more comfortable ride, wait for lvl 11 or 13.
Depending on party composition it can be done earlier, but your team doesn't feel optimized enough to me.
Oh yes there is.The problem is that for cipher to really shine, he must be placed in... a specific environment.
I have been mentioning for quite awhile that there are two good approaches in PoE1 to party composition:
v1. soft cc + sturdy party. The idea is to make enemies mostly miss and graze vs higher DR, and killing enemies over time (mainly via dragon trashed and sacred immolation), while they try to scratch you.
v2. hard cc + high-dps. The idea is to lock-down enemies completely, and dispatch them while they cannot retaliate.
Ciphers generally prefer the second style. High dps means that more damage will be dealt in the same time-window that cc offers. It also allows to build focus faster, which allows them to cc even more, which allows them safely to deal more damage, which allows to build focus faster... you got the idea. It's a virtuous cycle.
Also they like when there is a second cipher in the party, because being usually built for cc and dps, they are quite frail and need someone to take enemies of them in case of emergency, and who can do this better if not another cipher?
As for Grieving Mother there are only two (apparent to me) ways you can built her effectively. First one is: give her Rain of Goddath warbow + Penetrating Shots + a few DAoM potions and try to achieve zero recovery. If you want you can open up with one shot from Lead Spitter, and switch to warbow after that. Also you can use Angio's Gambeson for the DAoM enchant. Use it in one fight, and switch to a good hide armor (wayfarer or maneha's) after combat end and till the next rest.
Another variant would be make her a melee cipher. Sanguine plate (prior to lvl 13) + Blade of the Endless Paths. Prior to lvl 12, you can also use Tidefall and Firebrand.
Tbh GM has really nice stats for such a cipher. Also she can work nicely in a roaming tandem with Eder. She paralyzes a target, and they hit it together, additionally Eder can knockdown anyone who threatens her in melee.
Imho, it's a good idea to charm enemy druids, and paralyze/prone their adragans. That's the job of your cipher + wizard (slicken, shadowflame, call to slumber, gaze of adragan; and if there are too many enemies: mass confusion). And Painful Interdiction should help in landing all this stuff.
Re: upscaled difficulty, I did some browsing in the forum and found the post that talked about the content order. I had always figured the expansion content was supposed to be done after completing the main game but pretty much everyone was saying to start it around the end of act II if not sooner so I'll head that way and hopefully when I get back the scaling will feel more fluid.
It really seems like the cipher skills are more suited to a melee range character with the annoyance of targeting antipathetic field from the back line and all the buffs to defense available from their spells, but I couldn't really find a build for that and I still don't know enough about mechanics and how to get more out of equips to make my own build. Your advice about the plate and weapon is helpful although I haven't found any of those except the blade of the endless paths currently equipped by Eder.
I started this playthrough as a warmup so that I would know enough about the major fights and flow of the game so I could do a path of the damned playthrough. Do you think that difficulty forces you to more towards version 1 or version 2 of your party playstyle?
It seems like with how I built my party it's kind of a mix between the two, although version 2 sounds more fun. Do you have a party composition that suits the version 2 playstyle you would recommend?