The Berathian

Best healer character? Any healing class paired with a helwalker monk. Massive AoEs and megaheals. Edit: I was just thinking, adding a nature godlike would help recover some power levels, and it wouldn't be hard to trigger the buff. You could be the lifegiving tree. Like from that poem.

Playing a ranger / priest does an awful lot to keep your living animal companion alive. Withdraw allows you to snatch your pet away from the jaws of Tangaloa. Other than that though, the priest / ranger is a terrible combo. Mine was a fire godlike priest of Magran and I don't remember the ranger half. What I do remember is using the spiritual weapon summon an awful lot, because it did a helluva lotta burn damage. Normally, adding the ranger class to another class makes it better. I ended up ending this playthrough early because it was just plain awful. Of course, I was still figuring out the game back then. So maybe it's not as bad as I remember.

I've made several attempts to build a geomancer focused on tossing blights. But each time has been something of a failure. You run out of ammo too fast. But, when you do have ammo, the build is scary. Tried a sharpshooter variant, and there wasn't much of a noticeable change. The ghostheart variant made pet management easier, but there was still the issue of the blights running out. When the blood mage got introduce, I meant to try a geomancer bloodmage, so I could endlessly replenish the blight supply, but I never got around to it. Pre-bloodmage, but I forget which patch, there was the nature godlike build, and that one felt the strongest. Maybe because of power level increase. Can't say. I love the idea of a wizard ranger tossing endless bombs. At some point, I might have to give the blood mage a try and see if that fixes the issue.

That's kinda brilliant.

This is true. But it is more true when one of those classes you mix it with benefits from deception. While you can mix it up with almost anything, adding it to other 'sneaky' type classes allows you to do some ridiculous things. I don't recall the specifics, but in the instance of my trickster troubadour, he used weapon models that drained enemy stats and armor, along with chants that did the same. The cherry on top was things like the dazzling lights and such. It makes killing things like spellcasters a little too easy.

Trickster and beguiler go well together. One of my favourite builds with a trickster was a trickster troubadour. At the start, he was mostly support, and it took a while before he got off the ground. But when he did, hoo-boy. He used flails and clubs to apply status effects, and then used chanter spells that targeted those weakened armor types, like the lightning shout.

Also, as an aside, but also on topic, if I ever did this again, I would make one of the band members a chanter / nalpazca monk. He (or she) would be that questionable sort that is all messed up on drugs all the time, but contributes so much to the band that you'd never kick them out. But then the death metal band would become a bit more Spinal Tap, and there are no inflatable stonehenges in the Deadfire. The cheese smells strong with this one. Unsure of chanter class. Maybe bellower? I mean, with 30+ int and other factors, those would be some impressive bellows. "Here I go again on my own!" Followed by skirting dangerously close to the enemy to maybe say something to inspire the roadies.

I ordered the roadies to cut down the mightiest tree in the forest... with a herring! And they did. Because they're dumb like that. There's a really good safe space in the little alcove where you exit. If you tuck your party in there, and leave your rogue on the very edge of the battle, you can stay 100% safe with no threat to the party. Then, you send in the lumberjacks armed with herrings... and wait. Maybe fix a cuppa. The skellies tend to do about 1 to 3 damage per poke. Sending in a few summoned spirits helps.

There's a problem with both of these. Well, not a problem. Not exactly. The whole purpose of this lark was absolute safety. I didn't think it would actually work when I did it. But when it did work, I leaned into it really hard to see where it would go. It allowed me to do things I really should not have been doing. I ventured into triple red skulled dungeons and waltzed back out again, completely unscathed. I think I was level eightish or ninish when I did Poko. Yes, it was a slog. Yes, it was slow going. Yes, it was like pulling teeth and it took me hours, but I did it in complete safety and none of my living party members took even a single hit point of damage. This team allowed me to really explore the game and go into places that I hadn't gone yet. The only toon that saw occasional danger was the orlan, who was a thief and a beckoner. Traps had to be undone, and occasionally, a dot was applied. But she stayed safe with shadowing beyond and smoke veil and other means. With this crew, I took down some of the nastiest places in the game at a relatively low level, and to me, that reeks of stinky cheese. Mostly because summons in overwhelming numbers break the game. Skeletons are great! Really! You just have to amass them in great numbers. Spirits are great, but, again, you have to assemble them in numbers. Are they better than wyrms or animated weapons? That's not a fair comparison because those summons have a different aim, a different purpose. It's like comparing oranges vs a can of spam. An army of skeletons turns your game into a pirate-themed Ray Harryhausen game. This skeletal horde will allow you to make mistakes without much in the way of consequences. It was also with this very crew that I learned the AI scripts of the game. I developed some really convoluted and specific stuff that basically automated gameplay. Like scripts that target animal companions specifically, that will heal the party, but the healers will not waste their spells on the undead or summons. It was the crew that caused me to fall in love with this game, and why I have over 800 hours.

A party of 5 chanters. Different flavours and types, if you so desire. At least one beckoner. The beckoner really should be an orlan so his or her skeletons match. Have all of them get the skeleton summoning spell and the skeleton summoning chant. Start a battle. Retreat to safety. Summon skeletons endlessly in safety and send in skeletal sorties to engage your enemies. Maybe send a few spirits, too. Roleplay that you are a death metal band, touring the Deadfire, and spreading musical mayhem wherever you go. Have your undead roadies clear the area of malcontents. A lot of people are probably scratching their heads right now, and that's fine. But trust me, this is cheesier than it sounds. Skeletons make for a surprisingly good boarding party, because most of the pirates have pistols and such. I discovered, quite by accident, that I could start boarding boats pretty much as soon as I left Port Maje. On PotD. After a few cautious attempts, I became the scourge of the seas, bringing death metal to the masses and sending them to suckle from Ondra's icy tit down in the briny depths.

I am aware. There's a pistol that does electrical damage, the Thundercrack Pistol, then there is the Arcane Blaster, which does raw damage, and both seem like good weapons for wizards. You can take the elemental passives that grant bonus penetration. Aside from the pistols, these will help with your spells, as most of the really good spells (imho) do lightning or corrode damage. The Red Hand will probably also be equipped, though it might go to a different character. That is if I follow through with this build idea. I once finished up a game with Blightheart as my main weapon, so I am no stranger to quirky builds using sub-optimal weapons.

There's no priest of Galawain though, which is why I didn't consider the priest class. I did think about a wizard / priest briefly, but couldn't think of a way to make the roleplaying angle work. Could still go ranged and melee. Use guns for an alpha strike, like that one pistol with elemental damage, which can be buffed with electrical penetration skill, and the blaster. After the opening salvo, wouldn't be too hard to summon a weapon and cause carnage. It would be a very dwarf-like thing to do. An angry, pissed off dwarven wizard packing pistols who beats undead to death (?) with his staff. Occasionally, he turns one of the corpses into a totem to let the others know what fate awaits them. Sometimes, in his calmer moments, he casts spells.

Since the last post went over like a fart in church, I am thinking I asked too much in one thread. So, I've been thinking about a dedicated undead slayer build. The character in question is going to be imported from PoE1. Lots of folk died so that he might live. Not a lot of survivors. He's a dwarf. Wizard. He sort of took on a life of his own in PoE, as any roleplayed character should, and developed a downright mean hatred of the undead. He's devoted to Galawain, and that's how he finished out the game. Even though he's a wizard, he used guns, bows, crossbows, pretty much all-manner of ranged weapons, and used his spells to buff himself up for ranged combat and to make himself tanky. Which brings me to importing him into Deadfire. I could not help but notice the Furyshaper. A character who has endured trauma and who has a bonus to-hit against spirits. How effective would a Furyshaping Bloodmage be? And how to best shape the character to have the undead slayer Galawain loving theme? The dwarf, he's been touched by trauma alright. Most of his companions died. Eothas broke his castle and stepped on him. So a Furyshaper really does fit. It also goes well with his survival of the fittest mentality. So it seems like the built would fit him quite well. But customising the build and finding just the right weapons and gear, there's still a lot of theorycrafting to do. So any ideas would be greatly appreciated. Thanks in advance.

So, I am thinking of importing a save from a PoE1 game, but I know it is going to be awful. Most of my companions died because there were no reloads and I intentionally played a sort of every man for himself with a character devoted to Galawain. Anyhow, I thought this particular save file might actually serve a purpose; a chance to have the sidekick characters serve as the main party. Eder and Aloth are gone. Palagina is still alive, but she got the Kind Wayfarer ending, and she's not going to be happy to see me. So, to the heart of the issue. There are sidekicks. How to build them? How does one construct a functional crew for Path of the Damned with the sidekicks? How does one play to their strengths and shore up their weaknesses? How do I build a team that can keep each other alive, because the main character, he's bad about keeping his teammates alive. No, I really don't want solo strategies, so let me cut you off right there. No interest. While I could do that, that's not fun. Then again, I am fully aware that the sidekicks have very little interaction, but that's fine. Main character was a wizard in PoE1, and I'm not sure what I'll do with him in Deadfire. Might multiclass, but not sure with what. In a roleplaying sense, he was my dedicated undead hunter, and he took umbrage with the very existence of the undead. Because life was all about challenges, and being alive. So I might try to do a dedicated undead slayer build in Deadfire, but I'm not sure what is the best way to go about doing that. He's a dwarf. I made him on a lark because I thought a dwarf wizard would be hilarious. But then he took on a life of his own and developed a real hatred for the undead, which seemed somewhat Watchery, because he sees the undead as being insomniacs and he just wants to put them to bed.

As mentioned in the first post, I have a full party. Stuff just melts. I've never been this successful against large mobs.

I do have some spells that pulse, so that must be it. The other big numbers must simply be the change in power level. In general, I avoid power gaming and playing for the big numbers. Being this successful was accidental.

Having looked at the combat logs, I can say that Death Godlikes and DOT effects go well together. You can see the point where the ability kicks in. Damage tics will be like 5 points here, 20 points there, 10 points there, 15 points here, and then all of a sudden, triple digit damage crit. And gibletisation in gory spectacular fashion. Stacking dots of all kinds wears enemies down so Death's Usher can kick in. Honestly, I've never been impressed with Death Godlikes in Deadfire, and found them disappointing. But this makes them beyond viable. Not sure what is going on though, because the numbers don't seem to add up quite right. Might be that critical damage is calculated weirdly. But all of the applied DOTS, including things like Combusting Wounds, they produce a steady stream of continuous damage, a trickle of small numbers, and then BOOM! Instagib. Big green explosion. I don't pay enough attention to know what is going on, but the crit numbers seem far too large compared to the rest of the damage tics. I think that, if I were to try it again, I would go Ancient and Cipher, just for Recall Agony and Soul Ignition. And more crippling effects. But there is something about the application of DOTs and the Death Godlike.

Have you ever accidentally stumbled into a build that just works? Relevant details: I completed Pillars of Eternity with a roleplay build; a Death Godlike who was a priest of Berath. I used a dwarf body, because, Berath. Imported save file into Deadfire. Path of the Damned. Scaling difficulty, all upward. The usual. And then, on a whim, I decided to multiclass. Priest of Barath with an Ancient Druid. Just for funsies. Little did I know. First fight on the ship, I accidentally killed Eder and Irena. Immediately, I reload. Killed Eder a second time. Whoops. Friendly fire is mean. It took a few tries, but I kept Eder alive. And then I got to work on the starting island. I started to notice a pattern after a while, and I keep killing Eder and Xoti. Switch them both to ranged weapons and let my summons tank. Much to my surprise, I absolutely obliterate the first island. Managed to beat the drake and recruit Aloth before going into the ruins. I am a virulent spreader of disease and the plague. After the first island, things got out of hand. At some point, I noticed that some of my dots were critting for over 100 damage. Nobody can fight me because everybody is sick. I constantly kill my own party members, who get in the way and take friendly fire. I don't kill fast, but death is certain. My character has become the Ravager of Berath and without intending to do so, I created a power build. I'm still trying to sort out why the character is so strong. She has high perception, so she crits often. When things hit the Near Death status, some of those crits get ridiculous. I just go from place to place, spreading disease and the plague, and giving pirates a lethal case of crotch rot, from which they do not recover. It's gross. I've never seen Path of the Damned so trivialised and I have almost 800 hours sunk into the game. If you like having fun, I suggest you give it a try. Empowered Touch of Rot is something else. If I was a dedicated powergamer, I'd do an in-depth analysis.