Cyrus_Blackfeather

Might's kept that high for skill checks and stuff - there's some that require it to be fairly respectable to maintain the tough guy act I'm going for. Fighter has a few passives that more or less allow me to eliminate the Recovery penalty from a lot of armor entirely, plus some of the gear I want will give me points to Dexterity. Also, I'll be playing with a party so I figure I can just bait Arcane Dampener out with Pallegina or Aloth or something. Helwalker/Paladin would probably get along just fine, but I'm waiting to see if anyone can put forward a solid enough case for taking Paladin as a multiclass over Fighter. Right now, the board's opinions (and mine) seem to be favoring a drugged up Brawler.

This is actually for a team comp - I plan to have party members handle Mechanics. I'll go ahead and stick with Durance's Blood Pool buff and swap out Con for Dex so it'll be something like this... 20 Might (8 + 2) 10 Con (9+1) 12 Dex (1 + 1) 18 Perception (8 ) 10 Intellect 10 Resolve (9+1) I'll go ahead and make up the PoE1 game state before the patch drops. Hopefully "early June" actually means "Within the first few weeks." I really wanna play through the game before Beast of Winter drops. Gear-wise I'm thinking... Entonia's Signet Ring Whatever the Necklace That Gives Whiteleaf After Rest is Called Modwyr Tuotilo's Fist Garari Cuirass or Blackened Plate Armor Blackened Plate Helm Gatecrashers or Apothecary's Gloves - Or the Woedica Gloves, but I don't know what Garrote does. Ring of Greater Regeneration Not sure what boots or cloak I should get. Giftbearer's would be most obvious, but then that'd require investing in History which sort of gimps me socially.

Okay, so - I've been going through a lot of build concepts, and I've finally decided it'd probably be a good idea to hold off on starting a new game in earnest until 1.1 hits in early June, just so I can get the PotD experience as intended. With this in mind, after listening to a lot of feedback and thinking about what I really want to play, I've come up with two concepts for a tanky Watcher that can still shell out respectable damage. RP Note: One of these characters is a Bleak Walker, the other is just a Fighter. Note that I'll be going for an Aggressive/Cruel primary disposition on both characters because I want to try to play the game as someone who adheres to a strict policy of violence and destruction for the greater good. 1. Bleak Walker/Nalpazca: Who? Human, Deadfire Mercenary. Alchemy/Athletics and Streetwise/Insight/Intimidate Why? While Helwalker definitely promises more raw damage consistently, I'm going into this assuming PotD will actually be a challenge post-patch, and I want a character that can consistently take that kind of punishment. Plus, I feel like playing a drugged out Bleak Walker who's unable to properly distinguish reality from their hallucinations most of the time would be pretty interesting, plus Alchemy seems like a fun skill to play with - there's lots of items that augment it in interesting ways. Paladins offer a ridiculous amount of passive defenses on their own without even getting into the more defender oriented paths. Bleak Walker is chosen for the augment to Flames of Devotion, as well as the fact that I can still take Lay on Hands/Greater LoH. Plus I just like the Bleak Walker philosophy, so much so that I intend to adhere to it regardless of which character I play. Deadfire background is picked for lots of dialogue checks/quest resolutions. What? This is where I start to waffle a bit. Part of me wants to go sword and board with the monk shield, while another part wants to stick with dual wielding swords (Since there are some NICE swords in this game). How? Stats, with PoE1 buffs factored in. 20 Might (18 + 1 Human + 1 Gift of the Machine) 13 Con (12 + 1 from sacrificing Zahua or Durance, haven't decided) 10 Dex (9 + 1 from Deadfire Background) 17 Perception (17) 10 Intellect 10 Resolve (9 + 1 Human) Sacrificing Zahua to the Blood Pool gives an effective 3 Intellect (15% buff duration) which further stacks onto the 100% drug duration of Nalpazca and all of the Alchemy bonuses I'll be receiving. Or Nalpazca/Fighter (Possibly Sword Devoted) Who? Human, Deadfire Mercenary, Alchemy/Athletics and Streetwise/Insight/Intimidate Why? Nalpazca is chosen for the same reasons as it was in the other build. Playing with Alchemy sounds like it could be a lot of fun, and I like the idea of using drugs and potions heavily - I never touched them in PoE1 and that punished me hard. Plus, it gives me a sort of Malkavian vibe from Vampire, and I love the idea of playing the borderline psychotic druggie who still seems to have a better handle of what's going on than anyone else. Now all we need are special dialogues for when you're under the influence. Fighters are chosen to bridge the gap between Swift Strikes and Disciplined Strikes. In the past, I've felt as if I've focused way too much of my attention on Flames of Devotion as *the* reason to play Paladin, when really it's just a (very nice) single skill. Fighters have things like Charge and Mob Stance that Paladins don't, and I feel like they synergize with Monk a bit better. What? Again, I can't decide between sword and board with the monk shield that grants more wounds on hit, or dual wielding swords. I'll be using Turning Wheel a lot for lashes, but I also want to be able to more freely spend my wounds to use different Monk powers as well. How? Stats, with PoE1 buffs factored in. 20 Might (18 + 1 Human + 1 Gift of the Machine) 13 Con (12 + 1 from sacrificing Zahua or Durance, haven't decided) 10 Dex (9 + 1 from Deadfire Background) 17 Perception (17) 10 Intellect 10 Resolve (9 + 1 Human) Sacrificing Zahua to the Blood Pool gives an effective 3 Intellect (15% buff duration) which further stacks onto the 100% drug duration of Nalpazca and all of the Alchemy bonuses I'll be receiving. Sacrificing Durance gives 5% max health in addition to the 5% I already receive from Gift of the Machine. So, these are the two concepts - Personally, I'm leaning more toward Fighter/Monk but I'd be interested in hearing your thoughts on the matter. Either way, I'll be holding off on making this character until 1.1 hits - because it looks like that's going to address a lot of the problems with PotD being just too darned easy. You know, not damned enough.

You basically want a active multi-role unit. I recommend one of the following: Wizard/Fighter - Top tier tank, mid tier melee/caster dps, top tier debuff/disable, low tier heals Wizard/Paladin - Like fighter but gives up melee dps for more tanking and better heals... problem is, you dont need more tanking. Wizard/Monk - so OP that is practically broken. Makes the game trivial like any other crit monk build. Wizard/Fighter is my recommendation. Powerful at every level without feeling broken and can cover any role effectively (except healing) depending on who you bring with you. Good engagements, and can tank anything with a shield or can off tank and DPS with dual wield or 2H. Armored Grace means you can wear the heaviest of armors and still be useful on offense. With mid weight armor, can have zero recovery. Can fly around the field and target casters/ranged easily. Good range DPS, good AOE DPS, and tons of debuffs and disables. Self heal during the important early engagement when you need it the most (when ever ranged unit is targeting and every melee gets a hit on engagement). Pretty much a great all round class and can be very active if you want him to be. Can be lazy when you want too. Priest/Fighter or Priest/Paladin is going to be their best choice. Spells offer utility, Fighter and Paladin are both quite chufty and provide plenty of utility on their own, and Priests can get away with sacrificing power levels a lot more easily than can wizards. Priests also incorporate behavior requirements into their gameplay, which OP said was one reason they were drawn to Paladins. You could take opposing orders and deities with a Priest/Paladin and be forced to decide whether your god or your order is more important to you at any given time. Bleak Walker of Eothas, anyone? Could you spin that as being a Gaunite, in a decidedly "good is not nice" manner of speaking? Unfortunately, Priest/Paladin multiclasses can't have opposing dispositions. Eothas priests can't be Bleak Walkers.

Hey guys, So, I'm considering a drug monk/Paladin as my main for PotD, but it honestly seems like Monk has way too many good abilities at PL8 and 9 to lose them multiclassing. I'm looking to play a solid bruiser, so would I be better off just going plain monk and sticking to the dispositions I was going to do anyway for role play?

Very nice! Honestly, the role play potential for this kind of build is just so good.

Hey guys. I wanted to share my Bleak Walker/Nalpazca build idea. The role play concept of playing a Neutral Evil drug addict who can't even think straight unless he's had his daily fix is really appealing to me. So far, I know I want to prioritize Might, Perception, and Intellect. I was thinking something like this. 20 Might (18 plus Human and Gift of the Machine) 10 Con (Effectively twelve. 9 plus one from sacrificing Durance plus 10% health) 10 Dexterity (9 plus one for Deadfire background) 16 Perception 14 Intellect 10 Resolve (9 plus one from human) I'd probably dual wield swords or do sword and board for more engagements plus the monk shield. Also, any worries of this getting merged in the future? I want to play it when LorD gets properly tuned, too.

Alright. So would you recommend Helwalker or Shattered Pillar for a Bleak Walker mukticlass?Monk lashes and FoD is insane dmg. I'm gonna recommend drugmonk like I always do. Pillar have less max focus so ud be nerfing ur lash dmg. Helwalker is squishy and u wanted to avoid that. There's so much money in this game that ull never run out of drugs anyway and if u wanna min/max ur DPS wich i assume u do since ur asking on forum there's no reason not to use drugs. Deadeye is amazing with high alchemy (wich is a very easy stat to boost). Drugmonk is amazing give it a try That honestly sounds amazing. A Bleak Walker who spends most of his time coked out of his mind.

Alright. So would you recommend Helwalker or Shattered Pillar for a Bleak Walker mukticlass?

Hey guys, So I've been trying to get some opinions here and on the Steam Forums about a multiclass for a Bleak Walker Paladin. Essentially, I'm tired of playing backrow/squishy melee characters in these sorts of games, and I want to play a character that can take a few hits while dealing respectable damage. I've considered going Fighter, but I've also heard people say that I should go Monk. However, looking at the skills, it really doesn't seem like there are a lot of Monk abilities that synergize all that well with Paladin, or that offer things that Fighter doesn't. For example, Fighter offers amazing reductions to recovery time for wearing heavy armor with Mob Stance and Armored Grace, while Monk offers faster action speed through Swift Strikes. Some of Monk's best damage increasing capabilities come from the Helwalker subclass, which seems like it would possibly hamper a tank. Fighter doesn't offer much in the way of raw damage, but it does seem to offer slightly better AoE through Charge and Cleave. So, I just wanted to get some opinions on which would be the better choice for a more well-rounded character. If I went with Bleak Walker/Fighter, would I be specializing too much in defense when it's really not needed? Would Bleak Walker/Helwalker be able to defend against attacks that'd otherwise clobber me because of the 50% extra damage enemies would get? This isn't so much a 'rate my build' thread as it is a 'please explain the pros and cons of taking each' thread. So far, all people have really said is "You don't need Fighter, take Monk," and I don't really understand why they're saying that on paper.

Can I get some feedback from folks regarding which was more fun to play out of Paladin/Fighter and Paladin/Monk? Paladin/Fighter feels like it'd be more fun early on, but Paladin/Monk feels like it'd be stronger throughout the game as it gets more useful powers. But then Monk doesn't get Charge or Mob Stance to handle groups of enemies.

If you side with Galawain, Eder gets 5 max HP for his soul being strengthened. If you side with Berath, she gives you a 3 use consumable item that does damage and healing in an AoE around you. I'm not sure about Wael or Rymrgand though.

Okay, so I double checked and Zahua's Blood Pool boost actually only gives +15% to drug effect durations in the first game. Is that how his bonus works when it carries over to the second? If that's the case, I might sacrifice Durance instead since that gives Constitution AND 5% max HP. Plus, I'd be doing Magran a favor.

Hey guys, So, I'm crafting a Bleak Walker Crusader to serve as a sort of Knight of Galawain (Until we get a proper priest of Galawain class). His whole purpose is seeking greater and greater challenges until one of them eventually kills him, and he has few qualms about committing morally questionable acts to ensure he remains as an apex predator (Absorbing Maerwald's soul, absorbing the souls from the Machine in Heritage Hill, etc.). I want to present a character who's not above helping people who offer sufficient payment, but who wholeheartedly adheres to the Bleak Walker philosophy of absolute devastation and carnage for the sake of bringing conflict to a swift end. My issue comes with the Blood Pool, and the Companion I'm considering sacrificing to it (Zahua). Taking this choice would plunge my character firmly into the Neutral Evil side of the alignment chart and, while I'm not exactly opposed to that, it's also a choice I can't exactly come back from. Understand that this is NOT the character I played in the first game, he took one look at that thing and refused its offer. This character? Well... there are definitely some of his traveling companions that he likes, but there are also those he wouldn't be against getting rid of if the price was right. Zahua just happens to be one of those (And it's totally not because his additional buff is the best out of all of them, by far). So, I guess my question to you fellow Watchers on the Evil side of the alignment axes... How did you justify sacrificing a companion, with the knowledge that once they were gone, they were gone for good? No one would know what you did, but they'd all have to live with the fact that someone they'd gotten to know over the months had suddenly and inexplicably died in a horrible and brutal fashion right in front of them. What was going through your heads, when you pressed the button? Honestly, I haven't even gotten too far into the game. Attempting to determine choices like this for my character has been way too much fun.

Well, you know that Llengrath isn't a person, it's a title. I assume that if you killed her in the first game, another would take her place I honestly kind of like the idea of ticking off most of the Archmages. You kill Concelhaut (Twice), break into Arkemyr's house, kill Llengrath...

Well, considering how the Llengrath lore works it kind of makes sense - though if it's the EXACT SAME one from the first game then it doesn't. But I think what people were saying was that the bonus for giving her the phylactery and trading knowledge to her doesn't carry over.

Hey guys, So I've been trying to think of a build for a heavy frontline fighter for a while now, and after discussing this with folks here and on the Steam Forums, I've come up with two options - a Crusader Main Tank and a Votary Off-tank. I wanted to share the build with you now (It's largely the same for both) and get your feedback as to improvements I can make with it. Both builds will dual-wield swords, because swords tend to be more versatile/have better enchantments than sabres in my opinion. Crusader: Knight of Galawain (Bleak Walker/Devoted) Human/Deadfire Mercenary (I might pick another culture, but Deadfire definitely seems to have the most unique dialogue associated with it.) Previous Decisions: - Gift of the Machine - Effigy's Resentment (Zahua) Might: 20 (18 + 2 from Human and GotM) Con: 10* (9+1 from sacrificing Zahua) Dexterity: 10 (9 + 1 Deadfire bonus) Perception: 16 Intellect: 14** Resolve: 10 (9 + 1 Human bonus) * I've considered bumping Constitution up a small bit to 12 or so, but otherwise I feel like it's probably fine at 10 adjusted ** Sacrificing Zahua gives +15% buff duration, which effectively gives me 35% buff duration with my INT investment. That means that Disciplined Barrage and other important buffs last for 20 seconds! Votary (Shieldbearers/Helwalker) or (Bleak Walker/Helwalker) - No Catchy Name This build would probably wind up working more or less exactly the same, though I would probably take points from Intellect and put them into either Resolve or Constitution just to mitigate the extra damage I'd be taking as a result of the Helwalker. Granted, Monk gets its own modal later on that allows me to put points into either Con or Intellect as I gain wounds, so that's worth considering. So it'd be something like... 20 14 10 16 10 10 Any thoughts either way? I'm personally leaning toward the Crusader (Deus Vult!) primarily because I love the idea of playing a Bleak Walker that emphasizes Galawain's tenants. Plus I just really feel like not-dying since I've come so close to death so many times on less squishy characters.

Plus Modwyr (AKA, sword waifu) gives immunity to Intellect afflictions anyway, which I think includes Charmed and Dominated. I was moreso asking if there were any scripted interactions or dialogue checks where someone was trying to dominate you that Resolve would help with.

Alright. How many of those 'assaults on the mind' are there? I'm assuming Serafen's whole Cipher Wild Magic thing is one of them?

Seriously? Yeesh. How much HP did you have at the end? Edit: Or rather, that'd be -35% health I think, so we'd have to do the math.

Hey guys, So in PoE1 I played a glass cannon Striker type character that was a lot of fun, but I really want to experiment with a Paladin multiclass in Pillars 2 (You can see my build here: https://forums.obsidian.net/topic/101021-looking-for-help-with-a-crusader-bleak-walkerdevoted-build-for-potd/).I'm hoping to be a tank, engaging lots of enemies and not dying due to superior defenses while shelling out decent damage in response. I just had a few questions about stats for such a character... 1. So far, most tanking/solo builds I've seen have dumped Resolve - either to as low as 3 or at least 8 or so. I get why, because Paladins provide so much Will/Deflection in their own right, the small bonuses you get are just peanuts, but then I start to worry about dialogue checks involving Resolve. In Pillars 1, Resolve was EVERYWHERE - it essentially served as your Charisma score, and was checked quite a bit when it came to force of will type conversation options. In fact, I think there was one potential game over you could get for not having a high enough Resolve to resist a particular effect. How necessary is having a high Resolve for getting the best out of the story of Deadfire? 2. People have ALSO discussed that tank builds have little need for Constitution. This I'm a tad more willing to accept, it's certainly worth having in the beginning, but not so much in the middle/end of the game where your defenses should be high enough to comfortably graze/no-pen most attacks. Is just leaving it at a 10 base good enough to start? Also, I'm considering a Paladin/Fighter, so using the stats I have freed up by not investing in Resolve or Con, what should I focus on next? The latest build I've theorycrafted on the thread there has Intellect as a tertiary stat after Might and Precision, for AoE range and skill duration. Would that be worth going for?

So, I rethought the build a little bit and considered dropping Might down a tad. Here's what it looks like now. 16 Might (4 + 2 - Human Racial/Gift of the Machine) 11 Con (+1 from sacrificing Zahua) 11 Dex 17 Perception (7) 14 Intellect (4) 11 Resolve Dropping those points in Might gives me a little bit more to play with (And plus, gear that boosts Might seems to be easy enough to come by). That is, assuming that the Gift of the Machine bonus works as it should. Though if I'm guaranteed the bonuses from Effigy's Resentment, I could drop Con, Dex, and Resolve down to 9 and then put those points back into Might. That'd bring it up to 19. So it'd be... 19 Might 10 Con 10 Dex 17 Perception 14 Intellect 10 Resolve Intellect is mostly there for the sake of Disciplined Barrage duration and Zealous Aura/Charge/Mob Stance AoE.

Maybe Hylea just really likes giving you cake? She's like the Team Mom of the pantheon.

Hey guys; So I'm currently brainstorming a Bleak Walker/Fighter (Maybe Devoted if I could ever decide between swords and sabres). I want this to be for PotD and I want to use companions, and I also don't want to min-max (Just because I don't want a character that's a Resolve-less coward because that doesn't really make sense for a Paladin that focuses on intimidation and fear tactics). The build I have right now, not counting bonuses from my background like Gift of the Machine or Effigy's Resentment (Which will give me about +15% buff duration and +1 Con - sorry Zahua) looks like this. Human Deadfire Archipelago - Mercenary Active Skills - Athletics/Alchemy Passive Skills - Insight/Streetwise or Intimidate Attributes: 20 Might (8 points + 1 Human racial bonus +1 Gift of the Machine) 13 Constitution (3 points) 10 Dexterity (+1 point from Deadfire Background) 16 Perception (6 points) 10 Intellect 10 Resolve (+1 Human racial bonus) Might would then, assuming Gift of the Machine works, go up to 20, while Constitution would go up to 14 from sacrificing Zahua and then another 5% from Gift of the Machine (So, effectively, 15 - but since Con isn't checked in dialogue seemingly at all that probably wouldn't matter). I've also considered bumping Intellect slightly to better synergize with the bonus to saccing Zahua (It's going to be the only gamey decision I make, but I can honestly justify it by virtue of him serving no functional purpose to my Watcher). The Intellect build looks something like this... 20 Might 10 Con 10 Dex 16 Perception 13 Intellect 10 Resolve The only issue here is that this doesn't give me nearly enough Intellect to pass most of the checks in the game, but it DOES give me an effective 16 points in Intellect in regards to buff duration. I've also considered playing around with putting those stray three points into Dexterity, or even Resolve. TL;DR: What do you think of the build in its purest concept (High Might/Perception, 1 point each shaved off of Resolve and Dexterity for 3 extra points to play around with) and where should I put those extra points for best results? Would it be worth it to take a few points off of Might so that I could have higher Dexterity/Constitution/Intellect? People seem to universally keep Resolve pretty low, the only reason I'm not dropping it to 3 is because I don't like the idea of my character being THAT deficient in a particular stat. Is it worth pumping Resolve or are all of the dialogue checks that would have required it in the first game instead covered by the 'talky' passive skills? Because of the Fighter's access to Recovery reduction skills, is Dexterity really that necessary for 'em? Is the Devil of Caroc's Breastplate so necessary that it's worth making a completely illogical decision in order to get it, or can I safely let the poor woman have her revenge and get something else?

Hey guys! So, I was wondering about a few interactions late in the base game and the expansion pack regarding dragons of the adra and bog variety, as well as archmages of the Lich and Nature godlike variety. I know there are certain bonuses you can carry over regarding sacrificing companions to the Blood Pool and absorbing souls with an Engwithan machine, but I was curious if these bonuses transferred over as well. 1. Llengrath's bonus for making a deal with her: If you decide to cut a deal with Llengrath rather than fight her and her Bog Dragons, you get a permanent bonus to Intellect, Resolve, and Perception for... what little of the first game there is left to do (The fight with Thaos, one assumes). I was wondering if that bonus carried over into the next game. From a roleplay perspective, since most of my characters are all about challenging themselves, it makes sense that they'd kill Llengrath, but this is for if I were to play a character that didn't. 2. Is there any missed content involved with killing Concelhaut (Or, debodying him as it were) in the first game? 3. If you say that you killed the Adra Dragon and learned Scale-Breaker from Falanroed, do you start with Scale-Breaker in the second game? Likewise, is there any benefit for helping the Adra Dragon out or is that entirely for roleplay reasons?