1TTFFSSE

Wizards you don't want to multi class unless you are making a martial wizard. Monks work as single class too as they renew resources and have pretty good level 8 and 9 attacks. Oh yeah and ranger if you want to be all "anti" establishment and use whirling strike or twinned shots. The rest...ugh Yes a pure cipher or priest will have high powerlevel and faster spell progression but neither classes level 8-9 abilities are as amazing as wizard and a multiclass with various strong classes like monk/barbarian gives lots of extra stats and speed that more than make up the lower powerlevel of the multiclass and give other nice perks from the multiclass.

That is where a.i. is surely headed in future games (self learning) and a.i. in general away from pre-defined behavior tables but I think that will be a whole different development process for the games as in this game the a.i. "learns" from challenging itself a million times to see what sequence of executions is. But chess is a funny example because with enough computer computation power the ai is better than human....that will also be the case in a game scenario that if you just set your say toon fighter to "fighter ai" he will eventually execute better than by human hand control.

My wish list: Magrans: Game can't be paused, enemies enraged (+2 pen +5 strength +20% action speed) Barath: injuries are permanent Rymrgand = healing effectiveness halved Hylea = SuperDrakes/ Dragons Wael = everyone afflicted by wild mind Skaen = sight decreased, poison affects +50% damage, all consumables -50% effectiveness Abydon = inventory disabled??? Woedica = all per encounter abilities now reset on rest Eothas = cannot rest

Wael: the other challenges are randomly turned on and off during the game. Actually, Weal should be all active part members now have empowered Wild Mind effect

Thanks for this. Could you be a bit more specific with some of those? For example there are 3 Swashbuckler builds, are you referring to the Iron Hammer or something else? I take it with the Holy Slayer you are referring to your own Faceless Dancer build? Arcane Knight: the 210 deflection one? What do you think is a good party setup? How many ranged, melee, how many tanks, etc Also, what do you think of the suggestions I made in the OP? Yeah for tank go the iron hammer variant. If you are making a swashbuckler that is not a tank but say an offtank or damage dealer you go devoted/streetfighter and pick talents that help offense more than defense. As for ranged question I now typically only play ranged on the main character if at all and all the others are melee and be stack to take advantage of aoe effects anyways so it is no big deal. The reason I play ranged sometimes is that you can get away playing a glass canon if you babysit it but I generally don't bother for the other party members because there are good dps builds for melee. An ai ranged toon could be a scout or shadowdancer though because those are pretty reliable. As you see from the list there is a lot of ways you can make a strong party. I would just suggest not to stack too many classes for variety sake, though you can't really go wrong with monks, wizards and chanters (strongest allround classes).

Yeah it could work. In the end though to get the most out of the party composition you have two choices to solve the tank/healer slots: Either use a good "offensive" tank like a Swashbuckler or Holy Slayer + a pure healer/ support like a Theurge or make a Tank that doesn't do much damage but at least heals stuff like a Herald or Liberator the later approach actually may be better because then you have four slots for strong damage dealers.

In terms of pure healing output nothing beat theurge because they have healing from chanter even when the per encounter abilities end so that is why I give them an edge over Liberator (which is very strong too though) Nice thing about Theurge is that they can just heal/ support the party so you can min max their stats better than Liberator. A Liberator needs to refresh zeal by killing stuff so you can't totally dump perception on a liberator. Woedica Contemplative is above the rest yes and non Woedica is probably just as strong as other strong dps classes like Transcendent, Sage etc

Check out the obsidian board builders list for details on some of these builds Tanks: Grade A Swashbuckler engagement lockdown build Holy Slayer Trickster/Paladins - high defenses, high party support, some enemy debuffs Arcane Knights - like holy slayer but has more enemy debuffs / damage but less direct party buffing Grade B Cantor\ cc/utility + damage tank Votary - same Heralds - Defenses grade A but Offence is worth Healers: Grade A Theurge Grade B: Liberator Herald Offtanks: Grade A: Contemplative Sage Warlock (melee) Grade B: Shaman Swashbuckler (Streetfighter variety) Brute Mindblade (Chillfog streetfighter) Witch (melee) Mindstalker (soulblade/streetfighter) probably a few others like Liberator and Inquisitor as well as chanter/strong damage class multies like cantor Damage Dealers Grade A: Wizard (at high levels) and Evoker but before getting to late levels Wizards are no better than the DDs in category B- (the rest) Grade B: Contemplative some pretty strong synergies Grade B-: Transcendent Witch (ranged/ class canon) Sage Scout Blunderbuss Shadowdancer Blunderbuss Ravager Marauder (single target burst) Warlock Pure ascendant Pure Monk There are a few more probably even pure Ranger is very serviceable with the right weapons like Frostseeker.

I hope there is a plan to add elemental keywords to abilities on chanter (several ice/fire invocations) and barbarian (spirit frenzy-frost) as well as some weapons that do elemental damage like frostfall and essence interrupter.

2.1 Beta Cipher ascendant shootout - long test running up to first to 150K damage, with BoW enemies (high pen) so dps figures lower on average than prior tests. All toons had identical base stats and equipment. Ai was identical as much as possible. Witch/Berserker 10,738 dph Transcendent/Helwalker 10,423 dph Cipher asc single 7,184 dph Mindstalker/Streetfighter 5,670 dph

I mean Witch is more a Principi character because it is kind of chaotic in nature with the barbarian. Transcendent would work for Villain because I think monk is more "disciplined" neutral/lawful character by nature. I am testing the turning wheel transcendent currently and it is strong. But I am testing Helwalker so it is actually more squishy than a Witch, which has access to Borrowed Instinct + Savage Defiance (pick one) + lots of Con/hp because of barbarian. Helwalker pretty much melts under any kind of pressure without access to barring death's door or high defensive stats., or paired with a tanky class. I am not quite done with the test but at level 20 in same equipment across toons and stats damage in the cipher shootout is 1.) Witch (Berserker) 2.) Transcendent (Helwalker)3.) Pure Cipher Asc 4.) Mindstalker (Streetfighter) In a playthrough, you can get away by more extreme min/maxed stats on a Witch than a Transcendent actually if you go helwalker. So I would recommend a Nalpazca unless you are pairing the monk with a "tanky" class. But this is all at high level when game is practically finished. Having access to amplified wave at like level 11 makes many encounters much more easier earlier. I remember playing Hardcore Deadly deadfire in a party and at level 12 or 13? fights like Hasongo or Fire Dragon (without fire cloak) were pretty challenging for a party with a Mindstalker dps who did not have amp wave yet, when I switched to pure cipher at those levels those encounters were much easier. If you are unsure which caster to play seriously just load a random save, hire a bunch of adventurers level them up with unity / gear them and play around with them to see what suits you. My default gear for tests are: -High Harbinger Robes -Orishia -Gauntlets of Ogre Might -Cloak of Greater Protection -Boots of Speed -Gwyn's Bridal -Kuaru's Prize -Ring of the Marksman -Acina's Trihorn For me personally pure cipher kinda hurts because I cannot deny that ability selection after level 6 spells is less than ideal. And it is a cool character with nice animations and flair and decently strong but it feels like it hits its peak when it gets those level 6 spells and from there it kinda fades because for a level 8 spell time parasite cast to freakin last the whole combat to justify being a level 8 spell - and it does not - compare it to blood frenzy which is much more efficient or deleterious alactrity of motion which is a faster cast and last longer (and a level 3 spell!). And I would say finally that pure ciphers are stronger in wizards in the mid game once you have those level 6 spells (and hence the strongest practical caster for most of the game because they peak relatively early).

Yeah that is the main reason to go pure cipher to get amp wave as early as possible and play a big chunk of a game with it. Shared Nightmare is the best thing about pure cipher ascendant (level 9 passive) - in ascendant state amp wave has a huge aoe then that hits the whole screen. Sure monk and barb variations as well as streetfighter have slight easier speed buffs to cast things rapidly but smaller aoe size. also from my understanding monk has a 15% lightning lash no? and turning wheel fire lash only affects melee weapon attacks?

Make the following challenge: -All enemies enraged:+20%attack speed, +2 penetration, +5 Might

On Potd in patch 2.1 barbs have been neutered a bit because of that Lion's Sprint fix and dual weapon nerf. I now find it pretty essential to multi barbarian with a class that has some form of bonus to accuracy stacking.

I mean disintegrate is still better on boss/high hp targets. Especially considering high hp targets have high fortitude so you graze more often = win/win. Detonate is better agains normal mob encounters but if there are 2/3 regular mobs just cast mind blades. If there is one left someone should mop it up while you can cast a beam on it or recall agony. No big deal. By the way I think last time I had it Antopathetic field did hit the targeted mob and all enemies AND ALLIES! in the beam path. As for ranged auto attack weapons my favorites are 1.) Aamina's Legacy 2. The Red Hand 3.) Essence Interrutor The first two are kind of equal in damage done but Red hand more bursty/irregular while Aamina's Legacy is a constant damage stream. But over longer periods of attacking the damage is about the same.

Gipon ... you can copy miscreant's mods on it.

I don't know...so far the boss design in PoE1 and PoE2 never involved mechanics like wow where party coordination is a must to beat the encounter, that is why these things were soloable as long as you have sufficient defenses or could kite. Things can easily change if 1.) random megaboss afflicts a random party member with high damage nonavoidable dot right at the start of the encounter or worse yet random insta-death 2.)random megaboss has creeping death mechanic once below 25% hp aka expanding lava/death field that fills the arena area and creates a tight burn/dps check on a high health target. stuff like that

You can Drop Potent Empower for Mind plague, and optional take the beam attack at level Antipathetic Field. I guess. You kind of want fast beam/multihit attacks in endgame if you are using Death of 1000 Cuts because that's how that spell works as it ticks extra raw damage on a target everytime it gets damaged by something else - like a beam attack. It may be faster than positioning an ally with Echto echo but that works too. I would personally drop tough instead of potent empower for the reason you can use Konstenten's buff to increase con. By the way, Echoing Shield vs Tactical Meld is another decision as both are great. And Tactical Meld is great to cast on the party rogue/x so they can deal even more damage (along with you). Because of how Death 1000 works you want a fast beam attack or Mind blades in your repertoire (see above point). Also pick up The Red Hand when you can in Nekataka its still a great weapon and you should try it out to see if you prefer it to the hunting bow in the mid game. Before you get amp wave (even after you get silent scream) a lot of time you will be spamming charm/ secret horrors and mind blades so know your play will be a bit restrictive until you can get more spell variety at later levels to open options up. Metaphysics bonus on Essence interrupter is lackluster like 0.20% damage per metaphysics point but it is still a nice weapon considering you get it on the starting island.

aren't chanters like ez mode too? if not like cantor troubadour/nalpazca ...summon lots of critters (and monk duplicates) while using long pain fists to stay at range

Yes

That was fast....I guess I will have to go invisible now for 20 sec and nuke them with spells.

But if someone lands a dot on you you instantly melt.

Meanwhile, wizards will laugh at everyone.

I mean deep leap (prior to patch 2.1) was like the most optimized cheese I've seen especially how you grouped unsuspecting groups of mobs with dazzling lights and then one shotted them. Those poor fools didn't even have a chance to react.

Bump. I'm curious too. So far I have only used either Unity console or Priest Classes unlocked (2nd mod). So I may have been running a "gimped" version of the spiritual fists, yet it already felt really strong. If you use "all Classes unlocked" - that first mod which that tweaks the stringtable to unarmed weapon attacks it will be even stronger it seems.