-
Posts
1287 -
Joined
-
Last visited
-
Days Won
1
Content Type
Profiles
Forums
Blogs
Everything posted by Jojobobo
-
Monks over-powered?
Jojobobo posted a topic in Pillars of Eternity: General Discussion (NO SPOILERS)
So I tried PotD solo with a rogue for ages, getting last act and stuff. It was tough but do-able, I went tanky with retaliation, a shield and deep wounds. I could usually ground my enemies down between my sneak attacks and the raw retaliation Deep Wounds (which I got to 5 damage per tick in the end), especially in conjunction with stuff like Overwhelming Wave on the White Crest Armor. However I decided I wanted to re-roll, so recently I started a monk, again solo and PotD. Damn, it's so much better. With Torment's Reach you're essentially getting a AoE Sneak Attack that you can use far more many times in a single battle than all a Rogue's per encounter abilities put together (sure, it's a crushing lash which things can be immune to, but still). You also have Swift Strikes which significantly ups your speed and duration, making you DPS like crazy - not to mention that both of these are level 1 abilities. Then later you get all the tank abilities like Crucible of Suffering, which is on top of your great accuracy and pretty good endurance as well as deflection. Going back to the rogue, sure with Dirty/Vicious Fighting, Deathblows, Finishing Blow, Reckless Assault and Backstab you're going to get maybe slightly higher damage on the whole (because of Reckless Assault - although if you're running Lightning Strikes I'd say it's arguable) and certainly higher burst damage (with Backstab and Deathblows) but when you compare that damage to the Rogue's fairly miserable lack of bulk and defenses and it the monk wins pretty much hands down every time - particularly when you factor in the AoE of Torment's Reach letting you tidily handle mobs. You're also more free to recklessly DPS with two weapons, as you do have the health to take the hit. And sure maybe rogues are better in a party context with more people running the CC, but even still they are much more situational than a monk who gets similar to sneak attack damage every few seconds and can spam that AoE, and has great bulk. Then I went onto compare a monk to a fighter, and sure the fighter is likely the better pure tank (Unbroken, Triggered Immunity, Constant Recovery) but I'm not seeing anywhere near the DPS per that amount of tankiness that I do with the monk. Likewise, when you look at a Paladin, though it does have great tankiness due to Faith and Conviction it's certainly limited in offensive clout due to Flames of Devotion still only being a few times per encounter. I guess what I'm getting at, compared to rogue the tankiness and AoE abilities are far greater than the slight loss of damage, and compared to a paladin/fighter the loss of tankiness is far greater than their somewhat lack of DPS. Anyone else feel this way? I'm certainly not calling for a nerf or anything like that, but I was surprised to go from a rogue to a monk and really see the damage spike and to find PotD so much easier. -
I think it's pretty lame this bars you from the Helwax Mold, duping two a desired weapon is quite a big deal if dual-wielding (i.e. like most monks, which is probably the most common TCS build to go with if I'm not mistaken) or if you want the same shield in two item sets. I was hoping to dupe Whispers of Yenwood so I could get +4 CON on my PotD solo (not TCS) because I've heard that when both boosts are are weapons they don't get suppressed - before I realised it was a stronghold quest item. It'd maybe be nice to be able to hire someone (i.e. not a proper companion, so you could maintain "solo") with the drawbacks being a hefty hire cost (most of the provided cash reward) and possibly the adventure taking an additional turn.
-
I found the scaling pretty harsh in Elmshore (which is a good thing), that group of ogres by that cave was numbering into the early teens it seemed which is pretty daunting for a solo PotD run. I didn't really notice the WM part I scaling, after that initial bit in Stalwart (which was really hard due to not being able to rest) subsequent areas seemed much easier. I'm now re-rolling, so I can't comment on WM part II.
-
Azzuro the merchant
Jojobobo replied to zered's topic in Pillars of Eternity: General Discussion (NO SPOILERS)
I do find that, after his dilemma is solved, he shows up pretty regularly. I'd wager to say they incorporated this due to people getting frustrated not being able to get his items often enough. -
I tried some of these on your suggestion before, and I found Bittercut to be extremely underwhelming due to the radius. However, Overwhelming Wave is literally os OP as all hell and the Deep Wound it inflicts are pretty severe. Spell scrolls and spells attached to items as you mentioned are reasonable due to the Rogue's natural accuracy. I suppose what I'm after now is a character with a higher chance to crit on his per encounter effects, and with spell effects bound to items, without compromising on bulk. I guess I'll probably try the build as is (more Per to Con and Res doesn't seem too rewarding) but if it doesn't work out I'll restart again and switch it up fairly early for a more average build. I'm still looking to make a class build out of this at some point, Deep Wounds and Retaliation is a fundamentally good combo. I will say maybe the current build I'm running is good - it certainly seemed that the jump from 26 Might and 4 Deep Wounds damage to 27 Might and 5 Deep Wounds damage (upon getting Galawain's Boon) really did make all the difference in cracking Stalwart Village when you arrive there solo and can't rest (as well as many other encounters besides). However, the 11 Might investment you need from 16 to 27 to ensure that extra damage seems a little needless, when you can be using Deathblows and high Int to wrack up a lot more damage 1-to-1. I guess I'm struggling with the optimum here. I know Might must hit 16, and Int is likely good to max to eventually ensure some stun-locking with Sap precluded with Withering Blow, however what's the best compromise with the other stats between tankiness and accuracy. I'll take a stab and see how I go.
-
So I made a solo Rogue tank on PotD, and I've got to level 15, and it's working well. However, I'm wondering, could it be better? I don't want to respec, at least on the current playthrough, so as such I'll run down my current situation - and while it's potentially inadequate - and my musings on the new build I want to make. Here we go: Current build: Max Might, max Con, max Res, dump Dex. Talents: Crip Strike, Reck Assault, Deep Wounds, Riposte (a very bad choice), Blind Strike, Sap, Dirty Fighting, Death Blows. Abilities: Weapon and Shield, Vulnerable Attack, Deflecting Assault, Cautious Attack, Superior Deflection, Shadowing Beyond, Vicious Fighting. 16th slot choice: who really cares? Essential equipment abilities: Retaliation Conclusions: It's worked well. With the Machine's Gift and Galwain's Blessing plus relevant equipment and Training Ground bonus I hit 27 Might - meaning 5 Deep Wounds proc damage which with Retaliation is beastly. However, Riposte isn't at all great, and if it was subbed for Withering Strike (which damages Will) then I could crit on Sap, following a crit on Blinding Strike, etc. It builds a nice chain of crit effects that I currently lack - not saying it's the end of the world, but I want better. Current thinking: Hit Might 16 for 4 rather than 5 Deep Wounds damage, max Int and Per for more crits and very long duration debuffs, dump Dex again, leave Con as is and slightly boost Res (talking about 1 point). Take Withering Strike over Riposte. With the higher Int my damage output will be much better, and will allow for Death Blows to proc easily which isn't currently the case. High Per lets spell effects like Overwhelming Wave from White Crest Armour hit really well (which is already damn sweet). My problems with the new set-up: Is the Con too low? I haven't dumped it, but I do want to (somewhat) tank while maintaining DPS - is 10 too low on this kind of build late game (ultimately, will the well-rounded defenses and damage output offset the lowish endurance)? Also is my concentration too low to whack out some nice item spell effects and scrolls or not? Reassurance on the problems, or not, would be much obliged. I could always run a more average set - maxing Int (which I'm now convinced is the best idea with Death Blows) but averaging stats between Con, Res and Per. Thanks in advance cheery people.
-
So I've not been keeping up to date with the patches, and back in the day people were grumbling about enchanting - specifically, "Why on a Superb item if I have 6 slots of enchanting left can I not enchant with Legendary as it would remove the Superb enchantment and so free up more slots?" Did Obsidian ever cave and change this so that enchanting factors in the slots lost (if you know what I mean), or do you always have to have the slots free for the enchantment you want to use (so Legendary needs 8 slots, yet if it overides Superb you'll get two slots back - but you still need those initial 8 slots)? Obviously the answer will effect my current enchanting choices (i.e. if I only need two slots free to go from Superb -> Legendary, instead of eight) if it was patched from the original situation. Personally, I always thought it made sense that you did have to have the free slots to put an enchantment on an item even though slots are recovered and never really got the original gripe - but that doesn't mean Obsidian wouldn't have necessarily conformed on a crowd-funded game and I currently don't have any items that fit the bill to test this with.
-
I think the only recommendation I would make is either using the OP's version of Riposte, or increasing the chance of full attack on miss to 40-50%. That way, it would be a little more worthwhile. Full attack on graze 20% of the time may be a little over powered given the Rogue's natural high damage and accuracy.
-
Flick of the Wrist bug?
Jojobobo replied to Jojobobo's question in Pillars of Eternity: Technical Support (Spoiler Warning!)
Yes that clears it up great, thanks very much. -
I didn't want to respec (seeing as I'm playing expert mode, seems a little counter-intuitive) so I got my PER up to 19 from base 10 with Lilith's Shawl, Song of the Heavens, the Tower Resting bonus and Aldwyn's prostitute bonus, with DEX at 5 (base 4 with Gloves of Manipulation) and after reloading the save before I entered... success! I'd make sure it's the first thing you do in the Inn, and save-scumming does work. That PER and DEX combo gives a reasonable rate of success with the guidelines I listed earlier (when to aim for ears and when to aim for nose). Three rounds was all that was required. Not sure if it is dependent on your accuracy for you primary weapon, using only Drawn In Spring without a shield/additional weapon mine was 118. Now the dice match doesn't seem as good, so maybe it's slightly dependent on MIG which I had higher last time. I'm sure save-scumming will see me through eventually.
-
I thought it was when your opponent ran out of money. Once, I spammed forever and ever and never got it. Another time, I just played a few games and got it. Pretty sure the one I tried forever resulted in more total victories. That's maybe it, I did try spamming like crazy before optimising my PER for it. I've got a save before I ever entered the Inn, so I'll give it another go and see.
-
Flick of the Wrist bug?
Jojobobo posted a question in Pillars of Eternity: Technical Support (Spoiler Warning!)
So I've heard you only need three consecutive wins on Orlan's Head to get Flick of the Wrist, but I definitely have done that and still no talent. Is there anything that stops you from getting the talent (i.e. saying the game is in poor taste to begin with - which I did, getting the Dozen's Luck talent) or am I misinformed about the number of consecutive wins you need? I'd be grateful if a dev would respond, so I don't have to waste an hour playing a game that on my version is bugged. EDIT: In the character builds forum, someone mentioned that the talent can be achieved through save-scumming and wins. However even trying this and getting many consecutive wins I haven't got the talent. It therefore seems very likely to be bugged, please fix this. EDIT 2: Reloaded a save from before I entered and it worked. Not sure if it is a bug, or the criteria for getting the talent are just quite vague. -
So there's nothing which makes having both talents incompatible? I've definitely won three times in a row, and yet no talent - I've posted this in the bugs section too to make sure this isn't just bad luck. I did a little testing, it seems like DEX > PER in terms of an effect, but both do seem to affect the score - athletics has no effect at all (I thought it might do, so I boosted it to 9 but didn't see a change). In terms of getting more wins, I found it more useful when they got a low score (a one or a two) to go for the ears, when they got a seven or a ten go for the nose. The ears do seem to be a slightly more dependable option, which is why it's best to go for them if they're already not scoring high, especially if it's the last round and you only need 7 to win. The Dozen's Luck took me a minute or two. It's good that you can just spam the number 1 button to cycle through the turns faster. No idea if there's anything that would affect it - my character has high lore and mechanics, middling stealth (not sure if the idea could be some sleight of hand takes place), low Dex, high Might, high Resolve and high Con, the rest was left at base.
-
Anyone been able to pin down what makes a difference here? I want to use a dagger as my final weapon, or at least a while longer, so getting this talent would be greatly desirable. Currently I have 17 Per (base 10 with Lilith's, Tower's Resting bonus and Song of the Heavens) but my Dex is crap (5) and while I win about half my matches on the whole I just can't seem to get enough consecutive victories. Is it 5 needed? Because I've had 4 so far, then a loss, so I guess that gives me a little hope. Further, I noticed that unequiping my shield did seem to make a positive impact - so it could be that it's going off the accuracy of your primary weapon, mine is about 115ish (Rogue + Reckless Assault + Drawn in Spring + my temp Per boosts + level 14).
-
I will say that tanky rogues however do work. If you run high deflection with shield, get a Retaliate item and run Deep Wounds with mid to high Might then you can fairly easily take out whole groups. It's a lot like Carnage with a smaller AoE given that it's only people directly attacking you - however unlike a barbarian you maintain a high level of defensive capability, your accuracy is naturally reasonable and Deep Wounds gives you a trickle of raw damage to grind enemies down. Riposte does add slightly to this effect, but the amount of enemies missing you on PotD is not high. Deathblows is arguably a better choice, proc'ing easily with Shadowing Beyond and any of the per encounter status attacks, or just an extra per encounter status attack like Smoke Bomb or Withering Strike (assuming you're already picking up Sap, Blinding Strike and Crippling Strike to target the different defenses).
-
Even if it is GOG's responsibility, Obsidian shouldn't be happy that a retailer of their game is providing bad service and they should be getting onto them about it. I have also contacted GOG about this, so hopefully they'll sort it out. I'm going to try and download the expansions themselves and see if it's possible to write them over what is already installed, still as I mentioned the downloads take ages at my internet speed (fibre optic isn't available in my area unfortunately).
-
The entire screen, apart from the UI, is pink when I first go to Stalwart Village. See below: I mentioned this bug for Cragholdt Bluffs, where only the moving particles where replaced by pink crap. Looking elsewhere, it seems like a clean install is the only way to go (see here), as I patched to 3.01 on top of the original 3.00 White March parts I and II version - still that implies every time I want to patch, I'm going to have to fully un-install the game, then reinstall with the correct White March versions, then I'm good to go, which takes ages. GOG doesn't provide separate v3.00 -> v3.01 patches for White March, so I'm going to re-download 5 GB of expansion just to get to play them - with my internet speed that'll be 2-3 hours combined with the very slow install too. Please can you sort out whatever ridiculous problem is causing this bug, your patches should not be making this happen. Plenty of other games have managed to implement a system where you can install the latest version of a patch and it not render the expansion unplayable. Either that, or have GOG release some way to update White March to the appropriate version outside of 5 GB download and fresh install - as far as I can tell, there isn't any option for that. Here's a save, if you needed it: http://www.filedropper.com/716516f7-3f37-4af1-8407-189ec4667660autosave2 It's my most recent autosave, so it should be correct - I can't save at Stalwart Village otherwise as it goes straight to combat.
-
I keep coming across Adragans on POTD soloing as a rogue, and I'm finding them very difficult to deal with. Most Petrify me for 20s, then the rest of their group swarms me and kills me in a couple of hits. Even when they're on their own, there's a good chance they Petrify and then crit me with their shock spell. All I'm managing to do so far is separate off their group with Shadowing Beyond, and then once I have them alone spam figurines and try to hit them as hard and as fast as possible so they don't have a chance to Moonwell. Still, I wanted to know if there's something I'm missing as this strategy isn't great. Any tips for taking them out much more easily? I don't know if anyone else has already posted about this, but it seems like all that happens when you google or forum search Adragan is loads of threads about Gaze of the Adragan come up.