Carys

I've had a lot of success and fun with both Bleakwalker/Skald and Fighter/Skald using 'Thrice she was wronged' and it's upgrade as the primary invocation and having a mix of situational chants as passives. I'd get the Ice and Tornado invocations, too, for when they were better options for a given fight, but Thrice she was wronged is strong the entire game.

I do have CP :). I went with Trickster/Priest and so far it's been pretty fun. Casting more then rogueing, but Touch of Rot is just so good. Majhe Island was so smooth. I even took down both halves of Gorecci Street (on Veteran), and just melted the four guys on the porch. So, I haven't needed to stab yet. The rogue half feels good, though. I'm going to run with Xoti as SC Priest, with main role of buff/debuff/heal, Serafen as SC Cipher, and keep him flanked out in case of bad wild surges, Mirke as primary melee, and Fassina to double up on all the juicy corrode spells and their dots. It'll be a more caster heavy party then I tend to which should be fun. I do want to try out an offensive Helwalker/Priest though at some point. I also found out that lying to Clario about having the papers does not give you neg rep with Xoti. Every other lie on Majhe does, but not that one!

That's a really interesting idea. Wizard doesn't actually add much to the build, as the priest bonus spells and the cool wiz spells for the concept overlap. I was thinking Helwalker, but I have to give the zealot idea more thought now. Maybe go with stealth and slight of hand and enable the pick pocket blessing to see if it's any good. Or stealth/mechanics and try using traps for once instead of just selling them.

I'll have a party. Eventually, I'll do a solo run, but I like the companions. I also still need the 'make a companion hate you' acheivement, so I think I'll bring Xoti and Eder along to let them see end game Eothas, and make every 'religion sucks' comment I can to make Xoti angry, since I don't think the God of Everything Needs to Go Away would care if one of his Priests was saying 'Religion needs to go away.' So, I'm thinking Xoti as pure priest and let her handle buffs/heals, Eder as Swashbuckler, the Watcher as a hybrid melee/caster, Fassina (because I like her and she can be really effective at higher levels, even without evocation, and Maia (if I go RDC) or Serafen (if I go Pirate), with a ranged focus on whichever I go with. I might also go: Xoti, Eder, Aloth, Fassina for lots of ranged blasting/heals. As for the suggestions, and again thanks for them, it could be fun to play a wizard with the touch spells as I typically don't use those. I hadn't thought of ranger, but a wolf or bear companion would feel wintery thematic. I've never played a watcher monk, so Helwalker could be interesting too.

Is there truly an option to not fix the Wheel? If you don't fix the Wheel, in a generation, all you get for kids is hollowborn, and there's strong hints that won't last forever. Effectively, Eothas puts all of Eora on an extinction clock. At the end of Beast of Winter, if you talk to the Beast, Rymrgand basically says "I know what Eothas is doing, and I want him to succeed." He wants everything to end, and likely feels the Kith cannot remake the work of making the Wheel in time. On a side note, I wish you could tell Eothas that at the end. "You do know that Ryrmgand thinks this is a great idea, right? Are you /sure/ something /he/ thinks is good is the right choice?" So, even if there was leadership in place in the Deadfire, post PoE2, that decided that rebuilding the Wheel wasn't their thing, would the rest of Eora actually let that happen? Or would the rest of the world group up and just smash that group as a matter of mutual survival? I also think Abydon is a wild card. While he seems to join the gods chorus of 'Let the mortals figure it out', I have a hard time thinking that the God of Building Things would not step in in some way if it looked like the Kith would fail, and everything would die.

This isn't your typical build advice request. I'm nearly done with my second full playthrough, just Ukaizo left, and I'm planning out my third. I want my Watcher to be a Priest of Rymrgand. The questions I have are: 1. Single or Dual? I do like my MC to be up front, and in melee at least sometimes. Obviously, I do want to be casting, but I don't want to just cast. 2. If Dual, what second class? I'm taking Chanter off the list, because as much as I love chanter, I want a MC that feels different from my last two. 3. Does anyone know any neat tricks around frost and/or corrode spells, since the bonus spells are flavored in that way? Thanks in advance for any advice.

In turn based, weapon swapping takes a standard action, so other than move that's all you do for a turn. It could work, yes, if you initiate in melee, then the next round move away and swap. Black Jacket (I believe that's the correct warrior subclass) gets free action weapon swap, and there's a mod on Nexus that lets you either/or use the first money Berath's Blessing for that for the Watcher, or adds that functionality to the Arms Master passive (the one that unlocks an additional weapon set), and that can be used on the Watcher or companions. The concept for the build is fine. The idea behind it would work just fine in either TB or RTWP.

I play Skald's all the time in turn based. It's my favorite/only class/subclass for my Watcher. Max Perception. You want to make sure you hit. High might, high int. I've read that int has breakpoints in TB, but I'm not sure if that is true. I wouldn't dump Dex, because while it is not as important as in RTWP, it does impact your round to round initiative. I don't like dumping resolve, but if your comfortable with it, I don't see it as an issue. Take 'Thrice she was Wronged and Thrice she was Avenged' at level 1. It melts groups. Dual Wield as well. I wouldn't limit yourself to one weapon type as there are a lot of interesting and cool weapons in the game, but in my turn based runs, DW has been by far the best way to go for any melee character. Note that I have never played Path of the Damned, so I don't know if the effectiveness of Skald would drop on that difficulty, but if I ever do play PotD, my Watcher would be Skald/something, since I like the subclass that much. I focus on offensive invocations and melee. If I want summons, I bring a second chanter for those as there are so many story companions with chanter options that I don't feel the need to have my Watcher summoning when she could be exploding a few badguys.

re: chanters in TB. My first completed TB run had my watcher as a MC Skald/Bleak Walker, and I had no issues at all with phrase generation. Admitted, that could have been due to the MC combo, as I was DWing in melee, and using chants like Thrice She Was Wronged as insta cast, point blank AoE. I didn't try any summomings as that was not her role in the group. My core party was my MC, Barb Serafen, Druid Tekehu, and 2 Geomancers, Maia and a hired adventurer, which also gave me two pets, so I didn't feel the need for chanter summons. I found Skald to be very powerful in TB. I would imagine a summoner chanter, or a caster chanter, would be equally powerful, but I haven't played one yet in TB, so I can't be 100% sure. I suspect that the passive chants might be slightly weaker, due to what I think is slightly less linger, but the invocations were not weak in any way.

I guess what I would do with a no sidekick, no repeat classes limitation, is probably this: Eder: Multi Fighter/Rogue. Aloth: pure mage or Serafen: pure ranged cypher - depending on which companion you like more. Xoti: Pure Priest. Maia: Pure Ranger if Aloth is there, Ranger/Mage if not. Then the MC as whichever melee you'd like. That gives two melee, three ranged, a mage, a healer, and seems balance to me. But, depending on your playstyle, likes in companions, etc, there are tons of options. For instance, I started a Valian playthrough yesterday and my core party will be my Watcher, a Brute (Corpse Eater Barb and Greatsword Devoted Fighter), Xoti (Pure priest), Pallegina (a herald, Pally/Chanter), Fassina (pure Wiz), and Ydwin, who I may MC and I may leave pure Cipher, not sure yet.

Every point of conflict that can cause a story companion to leave is part of the story. If you choose to side against the RDC, Maia will leave. Of course, you, as the player, knows she works for the RDC. If you choose to side against the VTC, Pallegina will leave. Of course, you, as the player, knows she works for the VTC. If you choose to side with Huana, Takehu will leave. Of course, you, as the player, knows he is loyal to the throne and a local. If you choose to side with the Crookspur Slavers, Sarefen will leave. Of course, you as the player knows he is an ex-slave, and Serafen is very very very vocal about not working with slavers. If one of your companions leave, it's over choices you made, choices you had control over. That's the entire point to RPGs that make consequences matter. You make choices and they impact that playthrough. That's the why you're looking for. That's the entire point of having choices.

I'm getting ready to do a sidekick only run, as soon as I figure out what I want my Watcher to be. After I do that, or even during it, I may be able to give thoughts about Fassina. I do have a plan in mind for here, focusing on Decay/Acid spells, since most are conjuration or transmuation, and that's a spell school I've wanted to explore for a bit.

In turn based, it's not an issue at all. You can manually track the berserker's HPs by noting, on paper, what he has when he frenzies and then use the combat log to see how much damage he took if he is attacked. and update your paper note. In RTwP, that might still be possible, but would be much harder I would think.

Up to level 7 now and in Neketaka now, Did some island exploring on the way, and I'm getting more comfy with the build. I think the monk part is the stronger half. At 6 and 7 I took 2 points in mechanics, 1 each in history and metaphysics. I added Clarity of Agony (6) and Lightning Strikes (7) for monk and Great Amira Let Her Wrath Be Shown and Ancient Memory (both 7) for Chanter.

Thanks for the Dance of Death information, I didn't know that.

The dig site was pretty smooth except for the fight at the bottom with the three panthers and two wurms. That took Amelia and Xoti a few tries. I'm getting a feel for the build and I'm liking it, and I want to try a single class monk at some point with the same subclass. Getting three wounds after you make a kill leads to some crazy ability chaining sometimes. At level 5, I took +1 mechanics, +1 history, and two weapon style since I am mostly using fists. Dance of Death doesn't seem impressive so far but maybe I'm using it wrong.

I made it to level four just doing all the things you can do without fighting in Port Mahje. I've added 2 to mechanics, 1 each to Diplomacy and Bluff, and picked up saber proficiency. Chanter abilities: The Thunder Rolled Like Waves on Black Seas The Cave Provided Shelter through the Storm At the Sound of His Voice, the Killers Grew Stiff Monk ability: Dance of Death While I have not combat tested the new things yet, I've added a bit of CC to go along with lightning strikes. Hopefully, the dig site goes smoothly for Xoti and Amelia.

First observations: Thrice she was Wronged and The Skies Opened are not redundant at all. The different AoE templates for them make for flexibility. Swift Strikes is fun. I guess most monk players know that, but I never played monk in PoE 1 and the AI did great with Zahua, so I never micro'ed him. I'm not sure if unarmed or rapier/shield is better, I've been switching between them, testing a bit. They seem close to equal at level 1. Level 2: I put points in stealth and insight. I don't know if I'll go high stealth, but I tend to like sneaky MCs in all games, so at least a little. I also took Force of Angush to have a wound spender. I debated that, though, because it knocks back, and I want to keep her targets in melee, but the prone could be nice to melee CC casters. So far, and it's early, the build is fun.

While I've had PoE2 for a while now, I have not got far, because I keep wanting to try out new builds, and explore them. I've been looking at Chanter since I liked it a lot in PoE1, and I've decided to go with my take for a melee based Chanter and make a build thread, to help me overcome my alt-itis and play through the game. I also noted there are no Cantor builds (Chanter/Monk) in the build list, so I went what that combo, so that if it works at all, others can try it and modify to fit their play styles. I am using one mod, one that opens up all the subclasses and that is relevant here. My basic concept, from an RP sense, is a person driven by the fact her life keeps getting uprooted. She started as a normal elf, living a normal life in the Deadfire, until her village was raided by slavers. She was caught, escaped eventually, joined a pirate crew. She was successful enough, but her captain was betrayed by a rival, and she barely escaped when authorities caught them in port. Making her way to the Dyrwood, she awakened, survived, and settled down as a reasonable, fair-minded, noble. Then Eothas wrecked her home and turned her life upside down once more. Needless to say, she has a bone to pick with him, and Berath's offer to track him down was eagerly accepted. Amelia Race: Wood Elf Background: Deadfire - Raider. Classes: Chanter (Stormspeaker). Why this class: It fits the build perfectly. She calls down the fury of the storm on her enemies. Power wise, it's redundant at level one, but I'm ok with that. Monk (Sister of the Reaping Moon). Why this one? I love the name, I want to keep Xoti single classed as a Priestess, and I love the name. Blessings: I have not unlocked many points yet (alt-itis). I have Double Skills and Unique Vendor chosen. Stats: Might: 14 Con: 10 Dex: 14 Per: 16 Int: 14 Res: 10 I could lower con/res for more in int/might, but I hate seeing numbers less than 10. If I had the stats blessing, I think Con/Res would be base 8. Proficiencies: Small Shield, Rapier. Chanter Abilities: Thrice She was Wronged, and Thrice She was Avenged Come, Come Soft Winds of Death The Skies Opened and Vengence Rained Down Monk Abilities: Swift Strikes Skills: Active: 4: Athletics. 3: Alchemy, Arcana, Slight of Hand 1: Stealth Passive: 3: All except : 1: Streewise 0: Intimidate and Survival I'll update as I level and with thoughts about battles as I have them. I hope to be entertaining and comments are welcome.

I'd like to see in game photos for godlike that match the in game head choices, It's bugged me in both games that, for instance, the fire godlike pics don't match the head choices. When you have only one custom option for the head, and that being the head itself, it doesn't seem to much to ask for the pics to match.

I just finished my first playthrough a little over a week ago with a cipher. My party was like this: Watcher Cipher, human raider from Deadfire. I was in heavy armor and was dual wielding sabers most of the game. Pallegina, Sword and board, mostly, with Deadfire belt Firebrand for occassional burst damage. Devil of Caroc, dual wielding stilleto's, mostly, since I had a ton by the time I got her and wanted to see them used. Itumak, mostly focusing on Casters. Sagani, with Twin Sting helping her fox focus casters. Grieving Mother, on CC and using Stormcaller. A player made wizard for AoE, since I'm not a huge Aloth fan. Overall it went pretty well. I think that any party can work for almost any watcher. While the story companions might not be optimized, they still do a the job just fine.

I'll give it a try. The Bleak Walker creed very much feels to me as 'We will bring overpowering might against you if we need to fight.' I would make sense to be that a Bleak Walker Watcher, once finding out that Thaos was hundreds of years old, and had never lost as far as anyone could tell, would take every chance he (or she) had to become more powerful and make his allies more powerful. Hence, as many side quests and bounties as possible. In addition, not being local would remove any real incentive to win as fast as possible, because the BW would not care if the locals suffered more while he fully prepared himself. Does that help?

The muscle are frustrating once you get to Heroic. The 16 for a check is really hard for Valeros (or most characters) to beat without blessings and the discard every turn puts you up against a hard timer. I've been stuck on Heroic Barroom Brawl for days trying to find the right team to pull it off.

You can also cc Thaos himself. I did this fight for the first time today, and Grieving Mother locked him down with Puppet Master and he helped us kill of his statues before he went back to being the bad guy.

Like some other people, I've had Pillars for a while. In my case, I never finished because of alt-itis, I'd restart to try out different classes and never get far. But, with Deadfire coming out, I wanted to get a full run in. I've really liked Pillars, and as I'm almost done with my first run, I want to get a second in before April. I tend to keep the same companions in a group with me for most or all of a game. So, in this run it's been my Watcher as a dual wielding melee cipher, Pallegina, Devil, Sagani, Greiving Mother and a player created wizard. Aloth just rubs be wrong, I gave him to the blood pool. For my second run, I know I want to focus with Kana, Hiravais and Maneha as core companions. Maneha as Melee DPS, Hiravais as AOE Casting, Kana's role will vary based on the group. My first question is who should the other companion(s) be? I might five man to practice for Deadfire and I might go all six. I don't want to reuse my current four, so I that can see different interactions (though I'll recruitt everyone for bodies for Stronghold Quests.) My second question is what to play my Watcher as. Not Cipher, since I'm doing that. I don't want to double up on Chanter or Barbarian. Some of my ideas are: Another druid for double AoE fun; a Death Godlike Bleak Walker; a Fire Godlike Priest of Magran; maybe a Priest of Eothas to see if there's any storyline aspects to that choice (if I did that, I'd take Durance along I think). I'm unsure about Priest since I'm not sure if you can make them more than support builds. I am, however, open to the other classes as well. I'd appreciate any suggestions that anyone might have. Thanks!