demon72

I would recommend this party set-up: Great 6-Person Party: final run analysis and thoughts - Pillars of Eternity: Characters Builds, Strategies & the Unity Engine (Spoiler Warning!) - Obsidian Forum Community take the Cipher instead of the Barb skip the Ranger, as the Druid is much stronger Paladin makes a very nice secondary tank As a new PoE-player I directly went for PotD and used this party - I'm almost done with WM2 and just had one really challenging battle so far (Ogre Druids - as I tried this on a to low level). I would recommend few minor changes on the one or other build, but in general this party is absolutely awesome!

With the "great-6-person-party" (Cipher instead of Barb and "Schemer's Needler" instead of Priest of Berath) I'm meanwhile at L16 (Act I & II, WM I and end of WM II). In most cases I like flexibility, but I can't remember any battle (besides Act I) that wasn't already won at the point Schemer's Needler switched to melee. In Act I she was involved in melee, but wasn't able to contribute much at low level. Roleplaywise I really like the "Schemer's Needler"-idea but if we are just talking about a powergaming party, I would recommend a more support orientated priest-setup. At least in this party constellation the very few situations were I run into trouble always results from a disfunctional or even knocked out priest. Therefore I would say that a balanced build with high DEX and INT should be a good set-up for a support priest MIG: 9-10 CON: 9-10 DEX: 18-19 PER: 9-10 INT: 18-19 RES: 11-13 Equipment should help to avoid all afflictions that would stop the priest from casting: "Weapon and Shield"-Style with a high Deflection Shield medium Armour e.g. "Autumn Fire" "Looped Belt", "Ring of Deflection" and "Cloak of Protection"... ...and Increase INT, DEX and Speed ("Gwyn's Band", "Viettros Shoes", "Swift action")

Boeroer do you really see the need to cause damage for a priest (as part of a party)? From my experience other classes perform much better in killing enemies. I would keep a priests specialized on the things he can do best - buffing and protecting the rest of the party (in Act I also healing) Therefore the priest needs to stay functional and under this aspect I would sacrifice some MIG to increase RES and CON. If you run in the need to deal damage the priest can easily buff MIG on its own, but my priest almost never enters melee before the battle is almost over.

The 2 strongest low-level classes are Druid and Wizard from my point of view. Overall Wizard, Priest and Druid (in this order) are the most powerfull classes. But on normal difficulty the game should be quite easy with any party composition. A Frontline-/Support-Priest is the best option in the early game for several reasons: priest don't need accuracy as they just buff/heal your party most of the time and don't have many good damage / debuff spells in their arsenal therefore you can give them the heaviest armor and the biggest shields (and you will find a very big shield in the very early game) that way priests can block enemies and heal / buff your party without any significant disadvantages, as you don't need accuracy therefore Later and with a larger number of spells available, you might want to change to lighter armor to cast faster and this might result in changing your position from "front-line" to "flank protection". Support Priest: At least in PotD the priest needs to cast as many buffs and protection-spells as fast as possible! Time is sometimes that critical, that you might want a 2nd priest or give some priest-scrolls to melee-builds. Keep your priest in working condition and the priest will keep the rest of your party operational! Loosing your priest early may result in loosing the battle. Most important are buffs and protections spells, healing is just secondary. Don't use the priest for debuffing or damage dealing, other classes are definitly better in this tasks! A Melee-Wizard will kill everything that fast (when fully buffed), that the battle is over before the priest even starts to change to melee! Stats in order of relevance (support priest): DEX: it's all about speed - as you want to cast as many buffs as fast as you can - especially later in the later game INT: AoE is very small for many good buffs, you might want a larger AoE and you get longer lasting buffs that way - - RES: defence at it's best - underestimated in many builds from my point of view - - PER: somehow the counterpart to RES, but as a pure support priest, you're spending 90% of your time with buffing MIG: more healing and damage, but overestimated in many builds from my point of view! Especially as the priest doesn't (need to) heal in the later game anymore. In the few hard fights on PotD you might want to cast holy radiance, but my priest never used any other healing spells after Act I. ("Moonwell" is much better for healing and MIG is a very usefull stat for a druid!) CON: not lower as 9 or 10, as a "knocked out" priest can't help anyone (therefore a Wild Orlean or a Coastal Aumaua might be a good choice for a priest).

Hi Hermione, six month ago I was more or less at the same point, as I wanted to start directly on PotD as new player. First don't fear PotD that much, as it's not that hard, especially not after your party reaches L6/L7! My "biggest" problem was, that I entered Defiance Bay / Act II very (to) late.. ...some fights in Act I would be much easier, if you get some of the easy / free EXP there first! If you want to stay on the save side, then go with the "great 6 person party" (with the cipher instead of the barb)... ...and if you want to play with a monk in your party, just skip the chanter. DR is important, but I would also give some attention on fortitude and will defence, as many builds are quite weak on this (due to low CON & RES) and many enemies uses cc. I can only support Madd on the statement, that one party member with MAX Mechanics is absolutely helpfull - Class AND Background Boni are mandatory for this member (as your MC is a Cypher, this should be your choice!) Don't pick up any keys and disarm every single trap, as this gives you tons of EXP (go back to Cilant Lis to disarm the trapped symbols, if your party is complete!). Sell everything you have/find on the encampment map to Heodan (before taking the Waterskin), as this will allow you, to recruit your complete party directly after you reach Guilded Vale.

...is "belted loop" as good as it looks? Especially as it seems, that it doesn't even stack with any other items? But I'm not sure how good the +20 against all afflictions really is? As I'm thinking about choosing the "belted loop" for the "hellwax mold" instead of "little savior" - what would be your recommendation? EDIT: although there is really no need to make the party even stronger - I would just be interested to know what the optimum would be.

Right now I cast... Citzal's Spirit Lance (for my Wizard) Firebrand (for my Cypher) ...in almost every more serious battle as main weapon. ...both are great, no question, but are there any weapons you would consider as better or at least equal for them?

just curios, as "form of delegman" and "armor of faith" do stack and as far as I understand - they shouldn't (same group).

based on the speed-calculator the effect seems to be much higher as it should be (~ +40%) - but maybe the speed-calculator is just wrong at this point. Doesn't it stack? At least I would have no idea how to proof this. Swift Strikes, Swift Aim and Frenzy are not available for may party, only thing that would matter would be Deleterious Alacrity. Definetly, but there at that few harder fights, that I'm not sure if I will ever use up all 3 charges before resting. And as my Paladin doesn't do anything usefull in the first few seconds of a fight anyway - why shouldn't he help my melee-wizard to get even more deadly as he already is? But all depends if it stacks with Deleterious Alacrity or not.

Think that you don't need it to win 90% of the battles, but I would guess, that this could be quite helpfull in the few harder ones. At least in the speed-calculator it seems to have a massive effect!

Why does nobody uses Hastening Exhortation?

to questions concerning Devil (somehow): increased stealth to 14 and expected that she should be able to sneak up to an enemy that way... but Devil was already detected 10m away from the target? What number of stealth does she needs to sneak in melee-range? Wouldn't "Halfmast" be a good weapon chioce?

nice... as I didn't find anything so far - is there any in-game-value that gives you the overall "speed"? ...or how do you calculate this value? If I upgrade "Little Savior" to legendary and duplicate it with Helwax Mold - does the duplicated "Little Savior" keep "legendary"? EDIT: could test this myself, but didn't have a bog-dragon scale yet.

"Gauntlets of Swift Action": what is affected by +15% atttack speed? melee ranged casting

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similar question: in which way will The Dragon Thrashed, The Dragon Wailed be affected by Scion of Flame?

how do you get superb and shock? ...or is this meant additional to the first two enchantments from the ritual? ...if so, which would be the recommended two from the ritual? EDIT: guess this should answer my question cladhaliath Q, can you add weapon quality? - Pillars of Eternity: Characters Builds, Strategies & the Unity Engine (Spoiler Warning!) - Obsidian Forum Community

if you give a talent like "heart of the storm" (+20% shock damage) to a druid... ...which types of damage will be increased? just melee (including shapeshift)? also spells, and if so all spells? damage from storms? or only +20% if the basic damage is "shock"?

White March: ...early before Act III? ...after finishing Game? ...or what would be the best point from your point of view? ...gameplaywise, not which way is easier... ...after getting past the druid-trolls in endless paths (a battle that was really hard keeping all alive with a low CON-party),... ...PoE is already that easy in PotD, that's almost no fun anymore (guess I took one Level to much before starting Act II)...

definetly - but right now battles take that much time, that after initial casting and shapeshifting, there is still much battle left after the druid shifts back... ...while Schemer's Needler does that much casting (as the only priest in the party), and will join melee very late therefore - that I'm not sure, if all the investments in melee will pay off. ...other question concering reputation: is "slight" more or less then "minor" ?

...with the Schemer's Needler as MC, Doemenel seems to be the best choice, although Misery's End seems to be rather useless. ...on the other hand Cladhaliath would be a great weapon for my druid, who is much more involved in melee as the priest right now... other question concering reputation: is "slight" more or less then "minor" ?

1. does it make any difference which faction you choose in defiance bay? if it makes a difference, what would be the recommendation? 2. is the Ring of Protection and the Ring of Deflection combi that superior, that almost no build here uses any other rings? especially as there seems to be some nice ring giving additional spell uses?

A: as long as I have at least one weapon-focus? What still confuses me is the following: you can have both weapon-focus and weapon style - as long as you have any weapon-focus this will give the weapon-focus boni to all summoned and soulbound waepons, no matter if this is the fitting one or not - right? But what about the "weapon-style" talent? Do I need two-weapon-style for Parasitic Staff or will any weapon-style work? The question about shield was a little bit misleading - if my wizard is equipped with a shield in the moment as he casts Parasitic Staff - will he keep the deflection bonus from the shield when using Parasitic Staff? Without taking "arms-bearer" you will never get a 3rd weapon-set? The 4th set is just for the combination: Island Aumaua AND arms-bearer?

does Concelhaut's Parasitic Staff get a bonus from weapon-focus peasant? same question for Citzal's Spirit Lance - does weapon-focus soldier give a bonus? Should a melee wizard change to Citzal's at L5 as main weapon? If a wizard is equipped with a shield when casting a spell-weapon - does the shield works with a two-handed cast-weapon? I'm a little curios why several melee-wizards-builds use "weapon and shield style"...

...as Raedrics Hold and some Dyrford Side-Quests were quite easy, I'm somehow stuck with my L5 party meanwhile... ...don't know if I should go for "never far from the queen", but as crossing Aedelwan-bridge seems to end Act I, I'm not sure if this should be done that early... Dyrford Ruins, seems to be designed for a L6 or even L7 party and I would guess that "desperate measures" alone wouldn't give enough XP for L6... Am I missing some quests that should be done early?