I Am Groot is an exceptionally powerful Main Character to act as the centerpiece of a PotD party. He fits a party meta to:
- Sustain and enable a melee-heavy party. - Round out a companions-only party, with no class overlap. As MC, gets deep faith. - Strong & rewarding from level 1 to end-game. Crispy configurable battle AI. DESCRIPTION
I Am Groot is exactly what you expect from his flora colossus namesake: an exceptionally physically powerful party member who keeps everyone in tiptop shape. Mechanically, he gets the max from the Kind Wayfarer's White Flames that benefit from MIGHT and POWER LEVEL, with crossover accuracy from Transcendent Suffering. Groot is the rare paladin who never has to skill Lay of Hands & can use 100% of his class resources on Shared Flames to keep him and his party alive. I Am Groot starts every fight with lightning strikes and power surge for a quick +2 power level. With +10 MI from the helwalker passive, +2 MI from gauntlets of ogre strength, and +5 MI from thunderous blows, he consistently heals everyone in melee range for 27x2. Its almost always available with unarmed's low base attack + lightning strikes + two weapon style, there's little need to spend zeal on anything else, and with the practiced healer talent & Tekehu chanting Mercy and Kindness the heal value skyrockets. As a high accuracy, two-weapon full-attack, his melee DPS will also carry any party. I Am Groot would not be worthy of his title without a flashy and self-destructive ultimate. Throw down an Inspired Beacon in a large group of enemies followed by a MI-boosted Sacred Immolation, negate the malus with Monk's Clarity of Mind and a Shared Flames, and get your zeal back with Virtuous Triumph. You won't even have to reprise your role in POE3 as baby I Am Groot, though your enemies won't be around to notice. PARTY I Am Groot enables an otherwise fragile party of melee heroes, helping companions shine. Dual wield Eder (Fighter + Rogue) can spam full attacks in cleave stance without needing to lug around a shield, Serafen (Barbarian + Cipher) can throw down debuffs while hunting low health enemies to proc Blood Thirst to go full Witch King with a great sword and instant recovery, Deltro's Cage Tekehu can maintain 100% uptime on druid storms in the fray, while single class Wizard Aloth is the only one I micro in fights. Its a full-companion party only missing ranger & priest.. all I can ask for from a POE run. BUILD
Race: Flora Colossus.... I mean Nature Godlike.
Class: Helwalker Monk + Kind Wayfarer Paladin Stats: Max Might. Get some intelligence to boost the AoE (15 base and +5 from Turning Wheel is 100% white flames aoe). He doesn't need to sacrifice defensive stats for DEX or PER. The rest is up to you.
Skills: Utility for the party is fine... he doesn't need any skill boosted items to do his thing. Paladin Abilities: Shared Flames. Sworn Rival is nice too. Most everything else can go into the passives. Inspired Beacon + Sacred Immolation for the ultimate. Monk Abilities: Lightning Strikes + Turning Wheel + Thunderous Blows provides: +15% Shock Lash, +5%xWounds Fire Lash, +15% Action Speed, Quick (+5 DEX), Tenacious (+5 MI +2 Pen), +1 Power Level. Then add Stone of Power, Otto Starcat, Shared Flames, Haymaker.. you get the idea. After the core, pick your passives. Stunning Blow and Torment's Reach (or Skyward Kick...) have a place as a dump for Mort and Wounds. Items: This and That. I mostly give the good stuff to party members. I built him tanky to pair with his natural stats to get off one.. more.. shared.. flames. Eder's Armor was wonderful on him. Conversation choices: Passionate, baby. I AM GROOT.