Vasvary5050

Hi folks. Still got a way to go to complete my current playthrough but starting to think about my next (3rd) playthrough of Deadfire. I want to make it as different as I can to my first two playthroughs where other than ultimately supporting a different faction I've basically still been the "good guy" all the way through. I could do with some suggestions for a darkside playthrough. In particular: a) Companions with a potential "dark side"- to be honest they all seem mostly on the side of "good". Serafen is a pirate but seems quite soft-hearted. Pallegina and Maia are both a bit blinkered when it comes to seeing the rights and wrongs of their factions but otherwise seem to be good aligned. Xoti can go down the path of the darkside if you encourage her to hold on to the souls in her lantern and is probably the companion with the darkest dark side that I've seen. Do any of the other companions have a dark side that can be encouraged? b) dark-side main character ideas: The obvious archetypes which occur to me with supporting classes and skills are the cannibal (barbarian corpse-eater), the compulsive liar and conman (beguiler and/or trickster focusing on bluffing for his support skill), the cruel violent fanatic (Bleak Walker Paladin), keeper of the god's secrets (priest of Woedica and member of the Leaden Key?, or maybe priest of Wael) and if it was an option, an agent of entropy and the end of all things (priest of Rymrgand) By the way, how destructive can you be without completely breaking the entire game. Presumably there are somethings you can't do, like kill everyone in Port Maje island if you want to get your ship repaired and get off the island. Darkside Vas

@thelee @BoeroerThanks, this is really useful. I will wait until level 16. I'm finding POTD upscaled to be tough enough as it is without going out of my way to make it any more difficult (more on this in a moment). I do remember from my previous playthrough (which was on an easier difficulty) finding the dragon in BoW to be very difficult until I discovered the ranger's concussive tranquilizer ability (I plan to take a SC Ranger with me to BoW to help with the dragon). Going off on a tangent about difficulty: I watched a video by Mortismal Gaming yesterday (https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=BSYYBT4k7nk) in which he talks about "five of the easiest CRPGs". He seems to single out Deadfire as being super easy and talks about how you can just set up the AI for your characters and leave it to handle everything. Conversely, I'm finding PoTD upscaled to be plenty difficult, with lots of enemies with very high armour. I mean, I'm not finding it so difficult that I'm not able to win fights and make progress, but there are fights that go to the wire, that I have to micro-manage to win and where I plough through all the ability resources for my characters and only win in the final sprint. There are things that do make Deadfire "easier" than other CRPGs, like health, spells and abilities being restored at the end of fights and rest bonuses lasting until you next rest, but I consider these to be good QoL design decisions as I find having to rest and rebuff my party every 10 minutes or so in Pathfinder to be tedious rather than challenging. But other than these QoL design decisions, I find Deadfire to be plenty challenging enough. And there is no way I would leave these fights in the hands of the AI and just watch. I'm finding it very important to decide which targets to focus on, which abilities to use to reduce and penetrate armour, where and when to cast spells, etc. Which is good, I like a challenge, but then when I see Mortismal describe Deadfire as super easy it makes me feel a bit low like I must be doing it all wrong. I do wonder if he is playing on PoTD upscaled or not as I know on PoTD w/o scaling you can easily out-level the content, but I'm finding that the scaled up enemies can be really tough (seems to scale up their level, their penetration and their armour). So my question is, is Deadfire (on high difficulty) as easy for most players as Mortismal suggests? Is it just me finding it a decent challenge? (I haven't even started using Magran's Fire challenges yet).

Thanks @masterty66. In that case I'll probably press on until level 16 and then take on BoW.

Hi folks. Any suggestions for the best levels to start the DLC content? I've done the DLC content before but it was on veteran w/o scaling. I'm now playing PoTD upscaled and my party is around level 13/14. Is that too early to start on the DLC content? I'm a bit nervous about leaving it too late to start on the DLCs as I recall some of the DLC fights were pretty tough already w/o the enemies' levels and armour being upscaled.

I haven't played a Paladin/Shifter but a couple of thoughts spring to mind (assuming you are seeing this character as being a tank). Firstly, as I recall, neither Paladins nor Druids are amazing at holding engagement with enemies. Paladins don't have any talents (passive or active abilities) to give them even a +1 engagement. I think Druids get +1 engagement when shifted but not in their non-shifted form. This means that when not shifted you will not have any ability to "engage" the enemy (sort of like Deadfire's version of holding threat) so enemies can easily slip around you to get at your squishier characters. And even when shifted you will only be able to engage (hold in place) one enemy. The easiest ways to increase engagement is through weapons and shields (having a shield gives +1 engagement, some magic weapons give +1 engagement, and the spear weapon modal gives +1 engagement) but as a shifted druid those don't help you. You can use a weapon and shield in non-shifted form, but that could mean having to spend 2 passives on weapon styles (weapon + shield style for non-shifted and two weapon style for shifted), and you presumably won't want to stay in non-shifted form much anyway. There are other ways to increase engagement but they are not available until later in the game (e.g. through chants). Another consideration is that I think - I might be wrong - the attacks for all shifted forms is dual-wielded slash damage. Personally I like to make sure that all my characters have at least 2 damage types strongly covered (and ideally 3), ideally being able to just weapon switch in combat to deal with situations where there are enemies with different resistances in the same pack (more of a consideration for upscaled POTD which feels like a penetration/armour arms race). Personally I love the fantasy of shifters and in my first playthrough (on veteran rather than POTD) I did use a fighter-shifter (a hired adventurer rather than my main character) to replace Eder as my main tank after I was about half-way through. Worked pretty well. I'm a big fan of having 1 fighter (SC or MC) in my party as my main "tank" as fighters can hold 3 or 4 engagement through their active/passive talents whilst using weapons that don't increase engagement and not having to use a shield. I often then use a second melee character that can hold at least 1 engagement as a damage-dealer/off-tank. A couple of final thoughts. If you make the Paladin a kind wayfarer, the character can double as a good healer through its druid spells and the Kind Wayfarer Paladin's modified version of Flames of Devotion (which heal in an AoE around you when you hit with this ability). Or as a Bleakwalker for focused damage dealing. Those are my favourite 2 paladin types. TL;DR: I think a Paladin/Shifter would make a good damage-dealer/off-tank, but not a great main tank (because of the low number of engagements that Paladins and Druids can hold through their passive/active abilities).

@theleeFair points. There is more synergy between priest and monk than I had realised. (I'll probably stick with Xoti being a priest though) @dgray62Yeah, I ended up making Tekahu a regular member of my party now. His damage isn't as high as my party's top damage dealer but it's pretty respectable and he is contributing heals over time to the group at the same time as doing decent damage (as well as some utility). On reflection I think he is probably one of the best - maybe the best - of the main companions (whilst I would love to change his stat distribution, his unique druid subclass is great).

Thanks @Boeroer, this is really helpful information. I'm now very tempted to try a Psion/Chanter!

@BoeroerI'm currently experimenting with different hired adventurers in my party on POTD upscaled. I've found a Psion to be great for certain long difficult fights (most notably against packs of ironclad constructs and steelclad prototypes where the Psion could just spam soul shock all fight long). As it happens I was also thinking about what might MC well with a Psion. How do you feel a Psion/Troubadour compares to a SC Psion? Obviously the Psion/Troubadour is more versatile but it has slower focus generation, slower access to higher tier abilities and a lower PL. I do love chanters and my current main character is already a Paladin/Troubadour, and yet 2 chanters would be nice. Is there anything else you would combine with a Psion (I would imagine druid or wizard would be the next best synergies after chanter)?

Hi folks. In my current run I've been a bit prolific with creating custom adventurers (been testing different class combination) and would like to remove a few. Does anyone know of any way to remove them other than knocking them out 4 times (i.e. killing them)?

@BoeroerThanks! I agree that Chillfog is a nice ability because of its blind. Prior to using Tekehu I was using the Cipher's Eyestrike and the Rogue's Gouging Strike (either single target with arqarbus or AoE through rod + rod modal) to achieve the same affliction on enemies. I like using Tekehu, he provides good heals over time, decent utility (e.g. Chillfog's blind) and decent if not s-tier damage, all in a single convenient package. @theleeYou're right, at the moment I lack a firm tactical vision for my party, as I'm sort of stumbling my way through POTD upscaled as I go, and chopping and changing my party as I hit problem fights. At the moment my main party is Eder (SC fighter), main-character (MC Kind Wayfarer/Troubadour), Xoti (SC priest), Ydwin (SC rogue) and the 5th slot is flexible (either Tekahu as SC druid, Maia as SC ranger, a MC cipher/assassin or a SC psion). Eder and the main-character hold the front line, do some damage and crowd control and the main characters is also providing heals through paladin aura and chant. Xoti is providing buffs/debuffs (and a bit of healing). And I want the other two characters to be strong ranged damage dealers. Mostly I've been using the cipher-rogue or Tekahu in the 5th slot. I have played a MC monk in a previous run (Helwalker Monk/BW Paladin), and I thought it was great, but I'm not sure I see much synergy between monk and priest, so I would probably want to go either SC monk or stick with SC priest for Xoti. (I do have mod that allows me to reset the class choice for the main companions so I can change Eder, Xoti and Tekahu).

Hi folks. I'm playing POTD upscaled, currently level 10, just completed Arkemyr's Manor and Hanging Sepulchre a few times. I was having some difficulties with these two dungeons (some fights took a few attempts), but decided to test a few different party combinations by reloading and re-running these dungeons multiple times. I could do with advice on Tekahu, Eder and Xoti: Tekahu: In one combination I had a SC rogue (ranged) and a MC rogue-cipher (also ranged) as my main 2 damage dealers (along with Eder-fighter, Xoti-priest and a MC Paladin-Chanter). In the other I swapped out the rogue-cipher for Tekahu (SC druid). I keep reading that Tekahu is an OP AOE nuker. Checking the damage logs before and after fights in Arekemyr's Manor and Hanging Sepulchre, I found that Tekahu's damage with his spells was okay but not amazing. It was about 50% of what the SC rogue and the MC rogue-cipher could pump out. In fairness, rogues seem to be amazing at pumping out the damage (either against single target or channeling their special attacks as small AoEs through a rod with blasting modal enabled). Conversely, Tekahu does huge AoEs, but it's smaller amounts of damage being done to each enemy hit, which I think is down to the very high armour and defences of enemies in POTD upscaled (especially in both of those dungeons). I think against large crowds of enemies with lower armour/defences he would be a damage monster, but he seems to struggle against really tough enemies. On the plus side, he did also put down a lot of Heals-over-time, but I do already have a Chantadin and Priest to provide a lot of heals. So my main question is, is Tekahu's OP-ness overrated for POTD upscaled, or is he a late-bloomer (i.e. good but only at higher levels), or is he OP even at level 10 (in which case I'm doing something wrong with him)? Any tips for how best to use him? Eder: What's the best class option for him? I've tried him as fighter, rogue and fighter-rogue. In terms of damage, I honestly found him underwhelming in all 3 configurations, whether dual wielding or wielding a 2-hander, and I think this is mainly because of his low perception and dexterity. He is a better damage dealer as fighter-rogue or rogue to be sure, but still low compared to my main damage dealers, which is why I ended up making him just a fighter in this run so he is at least very hard to kill. I've mainly got him in the party just because I like him (and he talks to Xoti a lot), but I am tempted to replace him with a homebrewed melee monster. Can he be made good? Xoti: I want Xoti in the party as she is the one character whose dialog I haven't seen (currently going down the dark Xoti path). As a priest she seems to be very good at buffing and debuffing, and helps a bit with heals and damage. Not sure if it would be better to use her as a monk or monk priest though, or to keep her in the priest role? Leaning towards keeping her as priest, though difficult to justify keeping her as priest if I decide to use Tekahu. Any advice? Any advice appreciated (I can use mod to respec the companions back to any of their 3 initial options). Best wishes, Vas.

Good tip @zoda. That would probably have been a lot easier than my solution. I will go ahead and pick up Essence Interruptor and LD's Voulge in case I bump into any more of these ironclad constructs and steelclad prototypes whilst still low level.

Managed to take out the constructs in Arkemy's manor at level 8 in POTD up-scaling, but had to use a bit of cheese. Basically I created a new custom adventurer just to get me through the manor, a pure Psion, who just kept Pain Link on Eder and the rest of the time kept spamming out Soul Shock continually on Eder (a level 1 cipher spell that does shock damage in an AoE - shock damage being the one damage type the constructs have low armour for). Soul Shock is also accuracy vs reflex so the constructs stupidly high deflect and armour became irrelevant, and being a level 1 cipher ability, Psion was able to just continually cast it. Had to be a Psion because weapon damage against the constructs was so low because of their very high armour. Never used a Psion before this. (I am aware that I could avoid killing the constructs but just wanted to see if I could kill my through the manor).

Thanks @Fab3686. I will probably try these areas again at level 10 (in my previous run through I did them at about level 9 I think but that was veteran upscaled rather than POTD). I have been thinking of inserting a Druid into the team, and replacing Ydwin with Tekahu is probably the logical way. Also toying with the idea of replacing Eder with a soulblade. Never used a soulblade character. The raw damage from the soul annihilation could be quite nice.

@Fab3686@BoeroerThanks. I will try the mods.

Hi folks. I'm currently doing my first POTD-upscale run. Currently level 8 doing quests around Neketaka. So far I've been okay doing everything up until Neketaka and I've just finished all of the Old City stuff, but now starting to hit my first brick walls (Arkymyr's manor and the Hanging Sepulchers). Can anyone advise on the following 2 questions please?: 1) The main thing that I'm confused about is when is it best to go to these quests areas. According to wiki, Hanging Sepulcher is a level 6 area (though the quest there is still white 3-skulls) and Arkymyr's manor is a level 5 area (though the quest there is 2-skulls). I thought I would go there now because areas that are upscaled by a lot tend to make the mobs with high armour and penetration have stupidly high armour and penetration, but I'm not sure if my reasoning on this is sound. Any advice? Should I come back in a couple of level's time, or is that just making it harder for myself? And Is the upscaling based on the zone's "level" or the quest's level? 2) I'm currently running with 3 companions (Eder as fighter; Xoti as priest; Ydwin as rogue), main character (Kind Wayfarer/troubadour) and 1 custom character (beguiler/assassin). Is this okay for POTD upscale (I'm not planning on doing the mega-bosses this run) Thanks and best wishes, Vas.

@Boeroer Thanks! I really appreciate all this information and the offer of help. For now I'm going to try to stick to not using console so I can work on the missing achievements. If necessary I can put Eder on the reserves bench and create a custom replacement. I do love Deadfire - I think it's amazing - but I wish they had implemented it with more flexibility for the companions. So many amazing multi-class/sub-class combinations to try and would love to try them whilst still keeping the companion dialogue. This is one of the few things I prefer about the Pathfinder games, you have more choice about classes for the companions (though their early levels are still restricted).

Hi Fab. Do "Alternate Class Feature" and "PoE2 Deadfire Tweaks" work without problems with the latest version of Deadfire? I know Deadfire hasn't received any updates for a long time, but both of those mods were last modified a long time ago: 2018 (Alternate class features) and Jan 2019 (Deadfire Tweaks)? HI Boeroer. Thanks for this as I wasn't sure how to do this in Console. Do you know if doing this turns off achievements? I got 50/55 achievements in Deadfire just playing vanilla +DLCs, and hoping to get the remaining 5 achieves in this run. I think I read somewhere that using console to make changes turns off achievements. And to both of you, do you if it is too late to use these approaches (mods/console) once you have selected the companion, picked their class and started to level them? Best wishes, Vas.

Hey Fab, which mods are you using to modify the classes and subclasses for the companions. I wanted to do this myself but concluded that there was more to it than just console, and I tried a couple of mods that change the classes for the companions but the game wouldn't work with them installed (the mods were old and the game crashed out when I recruited the modified companions). As an aside, I started a POTD upscale run yesterday and have gone with Eder (Fighter), Xoti (Priest), Ydwin (Rogue), a Chantadin (Kind Wayfarer/Troubadour) and a Mindstalker (Beguiler/Assassin). Not sure if this is a good party composition. It's doing fine so far but some fights are a bit of a slow grind. Eder feels like a bit of a liability with his low PER/DEX and just being a fighter; would love to change him to Unbroken/Trickster as you plan. Would love to squeeze a Druid into the party somehow, and for the end-game a Wizard, but not sure who I would substitute out.

Thanks Elric Galad. I will look into that!

How often would you say it procs? I remember using Serafen in my first run and I agree it did not proc that much but it did wipe him out and take out some of the party a few times. I'm now playing on POTD upscaled so not super keen on him wiping the party at the end of a long fight. But I do like him and I do like ciphers so I would like to use him.

I've used mods but never done a "console command" in Deadfire. Do you need to install a mod to do console commands or are they just built into vanilla game? And is it as simple as a single console command to change Serafen from Wild Mind cipher to something else (e.g. Beguiler)?

Hi folks. As the title says, does anyone know of a mod (that works with latest Deadfire patch) to change Serafen's subclass? I would really like to have Serafen in the party but not as Wild Mind (too dangerous) or a pure Barbarian.

I'm wondering what people think of SC rangers. For the most part I've found them to be pretty lacklustre, except I really like their tier 6 ability concussive tranquilizer, which you can get at level 11 with a SC ranger but have to wait until level 16 with a MC ranger. Whilst it's very situational, there are some fights where it is a very handy ability. I'm just hitting level 11/12 on my current run and debating whether to put a ranger in the team and curious what other people think about SC rangers.

Thanks for the replies. In the end I decided to just stick to one chanter in the party for the early game (a kind wayfarer Chantadin) and made Eder a fighter-rogue so just two primary front-liners. Went for a Mind-Stalker (assassin/beguiler) for my main character. And the 4th and 5th slots will be a floating spots for whichever companions/adventurers/sidekicks I decide to bring along for particular quests. Will probably create a SC chanter and a SC wizard much later on when I get to a reasonably high level (as custom adventurers) for the reasons suggested by a few of you. Thanks again!