yogaman28734

heldred, I am so grateful for your posting this team build. People will be reading it for years to come — here I am four years later making comments. I want to talk about my experience with this team (the cipher version), in case anyone is hesitant to try it. I’ve played this game over 2000 hours, and this is the most fun I’ve had with a team. (POTD solo monk and solo wizard were really the most fun, but a lot of micromanagement.) I went straight into the Eothasian temple before anything else, which I’d never done, and it went well with a lot of resting. I shamelessly play the money machine there to get 200-300k cp, which I don’t consider a cheat, since it’s built into the game, doesn’t affect achievements, and I hate being short of cash. I buy the best equipment available, plus enchanting resources and scrolls. This team taught me the value of scrolls and high Lore for everyone. At level 6 they went to the battle of Yenwood with no allies other than the experienced soldiers from Marshall Forwyn for 10k. They kicked ass. (It took two rounds of scrolls and buff spells.) My priest kept Korgrak alive for a long time, which tied up five enemies. My cipher was the only one who died; a scroll got him up and going again, and he got to finish off Gathbin, who was tough with exceptional plate and high defenses. Haven’t finished a run through, but so much fun! I hope I’ve answered some of the questions about how this team does in the early game. Thanks again, and I will look at more of your posts.

I only have a few hundred hours of play, a lot of it with full parties, and I had the most fun with a party of four wizards plus Eder. Eder as swashbuckler Watcher as Archmage Eternal build from St*am forum Aloth as Arcane Master build from St*am forum Nature godlike Evoker wizard/priest of Eothas with Xoti’s weapons Mountain dwarf Blood mage using arcane weapons with Llengrath’s martial grimoire, and later respec to have all the weapons and martial spells with Concelhaut’s grimoire — nothing is more satisfying to me than hitting the toughest in any gang with Crushing doom, and having Concelhaut pet doing it too. A martial casting blood mage doesn’t need to refresh spells very often, so can have a higher MIG not damaging self as much, and still gets the constant recovery, plus self healing from parasitic staff, corrosive siphon, and parasitic touch. Also fun to play with the necklace of endless possibilities, getting a different top tier weapon at each combat start. At the higher levels, the arcane weapons scale to awesome damage. I also tried a martial casting blood mage solo, but it didn’t work out.

Boeroer, I haven’t felt confident enough to play PoTD solo, and on my first attempt I couldn’t get past the essence anomalies in the arena sub-level of the Engwithan digsite, even with imported gear. Any general or class-specific tips? (With veteran difficulty I just ran up into a notch by the adra pillar so they couldn’t flank me.) The answer to this question may also help our original poster, Tillbot87, thanks

I loved this belt and firebrand with a solo monk in PoE1 using torment’s reach, which was way more powerful in that game. For existing party members in PoE2, how about Aloth as off-tank/striker? (See the Arcane Master build in the St*am forums.) With boots of speed and other speed buffs, the magnificent escape cape, Aloth can make good use of the belt’s other spells without blasting the party. Add scion of flame and the ring of focused flame and things will scale nicely.

The 33-levels mod lets you get the tier 8 and 9 abilities with MC characters once you get above level 20. Playing solo or with a small party this doesn’t have to be late in the game.

I love this description! This is the reason I never let my AI handle escape or charge or leap. It’s always AS (artificial stupidity).

Wow that’s good

I’m awfully fond of the Dragon Pendant when I can find it. I always wondered why the Belt of the Royal Deadfire Cannoneer from PoE1 [DP] isn’t found in PoE2, but it would be awesome to recharge this way.

Doh! Thanks for reminding me, I completely forgot that you can steal this grimoire. My solo stealth is low when I first hit Neketaka, but the Cobbler has the boots, and pop some thieves putty. My point really is that the main gear for this build can all be had very early with Berath’s blessings, a lot of it before you leave Port Maje. Cape of greater protection will do until you get the giftbearer’s cloth, and waiting for Kuaru’s prize ring you can use ring of focused flame or anything else. Some other popular builds of all classes, the gear you want comes much later in the game.

I don’t want to wear out my welcome here, and this may be the last thing I post to this thread. There are a lot of reasons this build is a great one to play solo, that Not So Clever Hound hasn’t mentioned. First off, the minute you hit Neketaka after launching your ship, you are level 5 or 6, and you have money from Berath’s Blessings, you can buy the two main items that make this build work: the Grimoire of Vaporous Wizardry and Rekvu’s Fractured Casque. (If you spent points on the Unique Merchant, “Well-Traveled Supplier,” you got some other items at 50% off in Port Maje; do get a Necklace of Fireballs, they help you through level 8 at least.) Second, even if some of the full build doesn’t come until late in the game (buffs from Outcast’s Respite, the Giftbearer’s Cloth from Fampyr’s Crypt, etc), this build is plenty sturdy and the best part, it’s “‘very forgiving.’” Once you get to level 14 or so, which doesn’t take long in solo play, you can make some of the mistakes I made, and still mop the decks with your foes if they are not way above your level: (1) explore dungeons with a torch, and forget to change back to sword and shield when the fight starts (didn’t notice the difference); (2) go into battle with your thieving gear still on (Burglar’s Gloves, Boots of Stealth, Mirrorback Cape or the later one) and never know it until the fight is over; (3) buff your skills with a Luminous Adra Potion and forget to re-injure yourself, then board Oheiro to fight about 3 wizards, a couple of priests, some rogues and chanters and fighters, realize that you were interrupting yourself with the Vaporous grimoire, and you still annihilated about 18 tough Rauatai defenders (after your crew was knocked out in the first 20 seconds). Maybe like me you’ve played a solo monk with all the monk gear, a solo wizard with Sun & Moon and Ninagauth’s Teachings, and you’ve done all kinds of party play — give this one a try, and you won’t regret it.

Good to know; I generally play benevolent but can get aggressive, never cruel (except when I sacrificed Sagani or Grieving Mother). Great info on Bleakrock and fixing stacking bugs, thanks.

I’ve run into a snag with stacking permabuffs. Currently aside from what carried over from PoE 1, I have Hylea’s Bounty, Konstanten’s Boon, Nature’s Resolve. If I pray at the shrine on Poko Kohara looking for Rikuhu’s Blessing, I lose all of the above. Before I respec my character to get Religion 15 for Bleakrock Shrine, the other place to get Rikuhu’s Blessing, is praying there not a rest that kills the permabuffs? Is there anything else we should know about the “loading order” for permabuffs? I discovered that the +2 skills from a Luminous Adra Potion do not stack on top of the +2 skills from Hylea’s Bounty, so in that case it’s just good for unwanted injuries. Again, thanks a lot.

dgray62, so kind of you. With Steam there is no individual game icon in the Mac “Applications” folder, but you can get to the local files through the Steam interface. I found the “Contents” folder and added an “override” folder, put the unzipped mod in there, closed and reopened Steam and the game, lo and behold! the No Forced Rests mod is now in the game’s Mod Manager! Not only that, but there is a button to conveniently add more mods from Nexus. If I could buy you a beer or a milkshake I surely would. Thanks a lot!

I was sold already! My first solo run was a monk, and the next was a wizard with Nina’s Teachings, Sun & Moon, Whitewitch Mask, etc and both of these builds relied a lot on food and drugs and per-rest abilities. This is so much more fun, and I’m selling food and drugs instead of buying them. (Took me a while to stop grabbing a luminous lobster every time I found one. No more special trips to Sayuka and Dunnage.) Now if I could just figure out how to install the No Forced Rest mod on a Mac — I can’t find a simple answer to that, but the Steam Workshop mods install themselves, if that one was available; it’s not. I ran all the way up to level 18 without using Hylea’s Bounty, because of those forced rests; I took the Dawnstar Blessing too soon and lost it. Anyway, Thanks again.

Thank you for the detailed explanation of the strategy with WoD + PotLS. Makes me wish I had killed all the Naga on Hasongo instead of going “bloodless” — some extra reptilian blood would have been handy to make more Potion of the Last Stand. Today I went immortal in that first big brutal fight against risen in the Hanging Sepulchers, which was kicking my butt before this. I started from stealth in the doorway and threw a wall of many colors making sure it hit somebody for combat start. Then I threw another one to make an X. By the time I cast ironskin and gulped a potion of ascension, that annoying risen champion who usually hits you from behind went right past me to hit one of his dominated pals! Now I was getting hit hard by the archers, casters, and two engagers so I threw the WoD on a couple of risen who never move, and gulped the PotLS. Combusting wounds, meteor showers, and expose vulnerability did the rest, with one repeat of WoD. The last archer I just beat to death with griffin’s blade. This is really something generous you’ve given us here, and I can’t thank you enough.