demon72

maybe a little bit misleading - enough in the sense of "it is not worth reducing other values for this".

nobody knows?

with Company Captain’s Cap and / or Ring of Thorns and Dex Resting Bonus you will have 19-20 Dex, this should be enough...

I would try something like this: RACE: Coastal Aumaua BCKG: Old Vailia - Drifter CLASS: Wizard Starting ATTS: MIG 16, CON 09, DEX 14, PER 12, INT 19, RES 8 SKILLS: Mechanics 12, Athletics 1+, Lore 2, Survival 7 ABLTS: Arcane Assault, Towering Physique, Minor Arcane Reflection, Second Wind MASTER SPELLS: (1st) Parasitic Staff, (2nd) Mirrored, (3rd) Deleterious, (4th) Llengrath's Physical Shields (retrain might be necessary) MEMORIZED SPELLS: (1st) Chillfog, Staff, Ghost, Double, (2nd) Bewildering, Blackened, Infuse, Merciless, (3rd) Expose, Blights, Displaced, Visage, (4th) Shadowflame, Physical, Confusion, Tentacles, (5th) Blast, Lance, Safeguard, Cloud, (6th) Hex, Martial, Gaze, Blunt, (7th) Doom, Image, Bolt, Orb, (8th) Rake, Bulwark, Wall, Wind TLNTS: Arcane Veil (R)*, Hardened Veil (R)*, Weapon and Shield (R), Vets Recovery (R), Weapon Focus (whatever you use as main weapon in Act I), Savage Attack, Two Handed, Bull's Will *if you retrain: you won't need Arcane Veil much in the later Game WPS: Steadfast + Little Savior / Adydon’s Hammer ITMS: Blaidh Golan (R) or Wayfarer’s Hide (chest), Company Captain’s Cap (head), Master Mystic (back), Guantlets of Swift Action (hands), Boots of Stability (R) or Vietto’s Footwear (feet), Looped Belt (R) or Royal Deadfire (waist), Ring Thorns & Ring of Protection (fingers)

Wizards are by far the best class for a melee-fighter build in PoE!

...is tempering Abydon possible, if you...? didn't finish Act II before, means... no "animancer hearings" Aloth doesn't made enough progress (not sure what is needed, just had a short conversation in the temple below copper-lane so far) if your party doesn't contain Pallegina (can she support without starting Act III?) Maneha (let her forget) Aloth (does he needs to be part of the party?) ...as you don't even have the chance to get enough arguments - not even talking about winning them! Besides the fact, that I bound the souls to the White Forge, I didn't do anything wrong so far, but did I do enough to temper Abydon?

you should be able to change phrases

why you don't use a trader?

I use it on my Cipher - and that was a good decision. But I always start battles with "weapon and shield" until my priest has finished buffing... ...in the later game "Defensive Mindweb" has the very nice effect, that only the build with the highest (or at least high) Deflection and Reflex values stays with "weapon & shield" while all other builds can switch to a two-handed weapon without loosing any Deflection and Reflex boni.

Boeroer has definetly much more experience than me, but what I wanted to say (based on my limited experience): Tier-1 Classes: Wizard Druid Priest Tier-2 Classes: Paladin Cypher Tier-3 Classes: Chanter Monk Barb Tier-4 Classes: Fighter Ranger Rogue at least from my experience. Never tried it, but it's obvious that "two bodies" will definetly be helpfull in the very early game. And as the very early game is the hardest part of PoE, you could argue, that the Ranger is a very good choice, but in the later game the additional "body" could even be a handicap, as it will block your way and "pathfinding" / "movement in battle" is programmed really really bad!

Stalker's Link is great for a Ranger... ...but on my experience the Ranger is one of the weakest (if not the weakest) class in PoE.

I use the Company Captain's Hat for my Paladin... ...and the Belt of the Royal Cannoneer for my Cypher.

yes, as the chanter doesn't have anything to do until the bad guys are closing in.

is very nice if you use a ranger (what I wouldn't recommend).

1x for the "mechanic"-build (just to put them on if you need them) 3x "Girdle of Eoten Strength" and 4x "Boots of Stability" are also very good "finds" if you already "found" 3-4 x "Gauntlets of Swift Action"... ...at least for my party.

Company Captain's Hat = best item for the "head"-slot Belt of the Royal Cannoneer = best or maybe 2nd best item (depends how you rate "looped belt") on the "waist"-slot If you give both to the same build, the DEX-boni will stack.

...any new on the durgan steel ingots? also missing several...

I'm with Boeroer, if you take one caster-class two times, then I would choose Priest... ...but for another reason: two priest can cast all the protecion spells and buffs your party needs in half of the time!

same thing for "Scion of Flame" and "Sacred Immolation" I guess?

I'm not sure if there is a 100% strategy against the BIG Dragons - as there is always a small risk, that they deal that much damage, that a party member gets instantly killed. If I remember correctly, I beat the Adra Dragon with that party on L12 - means without flames and without any pre-battle buffs on my second try. I would also win the 1st try, if I had accepted that one party member got killed. On L14 or later, especially with Defensive Mindweb, this battle should be no big problem.

I'm a little bit confused about the benefit of the damage increasing talents in PoE: Savage Attack Vulnerable Attack Bloody Slaughter Apprentice's Sneak Attack other? While Savage Attack seems to be quite good (+20% at the cost of 5 accuracy),... ...vulnerable attack seems to be worthwhile only for builds using 2 Stilettos or a Blunderbuss. Bloody Slaughter leaves me back confused, if this talent is any good at all - as it only triggers on enemies with less then 10% endurance? While Apprentice's Sneak Attack seems to be somehow underrated, as you will get the trigger-conditions 90% of the time?

...very nice! At which number you get immune to everything? With a few buffs (especially "Crowns of the faithfull") my party reaches 150 to 180 for all types of defense and especially Will goes even up to 250+ with "Defensive Mindweb"... ...I don't have the impression that I my party takes any hits after casting "Defensive Mindweb", but maybe only so few that I do not notice them... ...is there a number that gives "Immunity"?

happy to hear this! Some early (spelllevel 2) game strategy for this party: Chanter: heavy armor start with ranged, switch to weapon & shield phrases 2-3x "comrades" afterwards mix in "death" cast Phantoms Paladin: heavy armor weapon & shield start with summoning (from items) flames Priest: heavy armor weapon & shield casting: Armor, Holy Power, Iconic Projection, Interdiction, whatever else is needed Cipher: heavy armor start with ranged, switch to weapon & shield casting: Treason (!!!) - only melee to increase focus Druid: medium armor weapon & shield casting: Woodskin, offensive spells depending on situation/weaknesses, then spititshift to boar Wizard: medium armor weapon & shield casting: start with Chill Fog & Bewildering (depending on enemy weaknesses), followed by some defensive self-buffing (e.g. Mirrored) and Parasitic Staff, then switch to melee, Veil if needed

Best you forget everything you know from older AD&D games! The wizard is by far the best melee build and is great in cc. The Druid is more the "classic wizard" as he will provide the Damage-Spells. All non-caster Classes in PoE I are very weak compared to Wizard, Druid and Priest.

not that much. The 3 Godlikes in that party will help in Act I, as you won't find any good headgear and therefore their race boni are quite good without any downsides. In WM 1 & 2 you will find some nice headgear, but at that point the game is even in PotD that easy, that it might be a better decision to take this small advantage in Act I (which is the hardest part of the game). For each build there are always some slightly better fitting races, but you won't mess up your party that much. At least not with the recommended party, as the set-up is very well balanced and the party will get insane strong when you reach ~L8. I skipped the Barb for the Cipher (a few posts later in that thread), what was a very good decision, as the Cipher is really strong in Act I (great tank with unlimited charm spells) what saved me in many harder battles. Mid-Game the Cipher is quite good, but on L15 he gets the auto-win spell "Defensive Mindweb", which will skyrocket the defense of this party to godlike. I don't see any good reason for additional changes in that set-up - the Wizard and the Druid do such insane amounts of damage, that the rest of the party is more or less support to keep these two guys alive/functional. Therefore I would build the priest more defensive / sturdy (a little bit lower MIG and PER and higher DEX, INT, CON and RES) If you really want to change one more build, the Chanter shoud be the one to skip - but I wouldn't recommend this, as he can give your party some initial defense you can't get elswhere that fast. On L16 I tested several other party set-ups and builds, but no matter what I change, the party was always weaker then the original one (with Cipher instead of Barb).