Razorchain

I second that. I can keep everybody locked down all of the fight with a wizard and a ring of wizardry. At level 9 I can spam slicken like there is no tomorrow. I felt like johnny one spell with my cipher until level 11 because most cipher spells are trash, at least it felt like it on potd. I had to paralyze to hit to gain focus to cast paralyze again to gain more focus to hit (thats low level cipher for you). I didn't cast mental binding for it's group aoe, I cast that sucker to paralyze that one foe and kill him dead. When you are facing a horde of enemies that paralyze that barely sticks isnt going save you, but it might help out a little. If it wasn't for MB I probably wouldn't even use cipher at all

I you are going for a Backstabby rogue you don´t need might. Backstab will give you a +100% to damage and then you will get an exceptional weapons for another +30% so you will do 230% weapon damage when backstabbing so getting a +24% from might 18 isn´t going to help your character much if he´s facedown in the mud. So you might as well go for a might 10 rogue and put more points to raise deflection or endurance.

How are you handling conditions without a priest? I know druid has healing easily as good as priest, but if there's an equalvelent to suspending conditions, I don't know of it. Worst fights I end in are with Domination or Confusion as I have rather limited ways to deal with it. There are fights I have lost just because an enemy is spamming confusion and it sticks to 4 out of 6 and then my backliners get ganked. My way of dealing with this is an Cipher Assassin in cahoots with a Ranger. The Cipher paralyzes the caster and then they shoot him to death with arquebuses. I still have nightmares from fighting 5 Spores at once though.

Ok, you are going to play your first potd and that means it is much better to specialize, having a specialized melee fighter than can use a bow/firearm in case he can't reach melee or for a pull or first strike or whatever is much better than specializing in both. That has also to do with weapon sets, if you are going to spend an extra talent to learn both Shield and Two handed, that is a waste of precious talent. And when you have chosen a class it's good to define it's role and stick to it. Tanky Chanter for example would be better off with a weapon and shield, you'll find out that your chanter is more squishy than your fighter (lower hp and no self regen) and would rather benefit from being a coastal aumaua for stun and prone resistance. You might for example make a offensive fighter with a two hander and aim for grabbing a Tidenfall a superb, draining two-handed sword and make him a Moon Godlike for extra heals and have him with a arquebus as a backup weapon. As for skils, just make the Rogue or the Chanter, or even your priest your mech guy and spend your other points on whatever...one with good stealth to steal everything, everybody with decent athletics so you don't have to rest all the time.

1. You don't need a hearth orlan unless you are going to max Perception and Resolve, my fighters are often Aumaua for extra resistance to stun, prone. or Pale Elf to better tank Shades on low levels 2. Moon Godlike is very good but lends itself best to Barbarians and Monks but is good on any frontliner who's going to be taking damage, else Pale Elfs and Aumaua. 3. With a quickswitch and couple of grimoires you can have a decent offtank starting at level 5 or so, you don't even have to spend a point on anything, achievable through spells. Iron skin and deflection buffing spells. This is why my Wizard has the WF: Adventurer, a good wand and then switch to Estoc. Why Wand? Because it has fast attack to pew pew between spells. But your wizard is more valuable as a spell spammer than a tank, but when excrement hits the fan it's good to have options. and also sometimes it's fun to find another role for the wizard like a spellsword. 4. You could give your Cipher a warbow, but after the change I think the warbow cipher is worse off because now he generates a percentage of his damage as focus. I am using a gun switching, mage assassin cipher in a cahoots with a Ranger. The cipher paralyzes the mage/priest and then he gets shot to snailsnot. Rinse and repeat as needed. But I haven't played around with a cipher without a gun after the "balancing" which made the druid a more fun replacement. I would go with a druid rather than a cipher anyday....these days at least, spamming sunbeam has never been so fun!! 5. Of your lineup? Probably a chanter tank, he's going to beg for some Perception and Resolve. Sadly he doesn't need that much Int as it has little or no effect on his chants and you'll be lucky if you manage more than one spell per fight. Ok, let me rephrase that: If your chanter is managing to cast lots of spells during fights then you are either a bad player or have a badly optimized party. This is why I find chanters boring, but that is only my personal opinion, some people love them. I personally would change him out for a monk as I love monks after I realized their sado-masochistic damage potential.

Are you kidding me, I have a custom ranger with a bear on potd and no problems. Yes the pet dies occasionally but after reading the forums on how bad the pet was I was pleasantly suprised by how durable the pet was. And yes the pet is not a extra tank that will stand there and tank 3 enemies without a sweat. It will reliably tank one enemy. I mean if you could tank 3 mobs why would you make a tank then? Just make a couple of rangers and tank with their pets

Priest is by no means a must. I'm finishing up a potd run without a priest and druid and there are only couple of fights where I have missed a priest and that is more because of buffs than healing. But I agree with you that there is no need for a fighter tank, I'd go with a good monk any day

While I agree about the 2 MIG bit, I don't agree about the deflection part. You can have high might and max def on PC paladins or even non PC fighters. Paladin also would have high saves. I have a paladin in my current group as my main. Atm I'm level 10 in Twin Elms. He has Mig 19, Con 6 , dex 15 , per 13, int 12, Res 13. Wields a Saber and Oathsworn Buckler. He does not have cautious attacker and sure he tanks decently but the barbarian and the monk beside him are just as tough and kill twice as many enemies. His contribution to the party is carrying oathsworn buckler and providing 3 extra DR. I was going to use him for healing cause I dont have a priest but my barbarian does that in Shod-in-faith and my Monk is a moon godlike so my poor pally could have been switched out for couple of potions. I think deflection is super important if you're going solo but you dont really need to deflection stack to go through potd, I'd rather pack a punch. A two handed fighter with Tidenfall will be tearing your enemies apart at lvl 6. A low might max deflection Orlan fighter is never going to contribute to a fight other than just being there hiding behind a ridiculously big shield and never hitting anything and when he hits it will be the death from thousand cuts cause he'll do so little damage. This just means extra strain on your backliners who will need to use more spells and need more resting.

You have no need for a might 2 tank that does nothing but being hit. I recommend an agressive frontline instead. High deflection isnt going to save you anyway, the hardest fights are when you have been spammed by insect swarms or mass dominated/confused/paralyzed/blinded or all at once. Those people who tell you to hide behind a might 2 Orlan with maxed out deflection are girly men who are only gimping themselves . I recommend a Pale Elf Chanter with a shield in the front Aumaua fighter with a 21 might either specced for Estoc or Greatsword. He's going to hit like a truck if you do a weapon master build with a Wary defender for survivability. Moon Godlike Monk. Max Might and Dex and forget about deflection its not going to save you. Put him in Sanguine Plate and Shod-in-faith and goe through your foes like a pummeling wrecking ball. Backliners I agree that a Arquebus wielding priest of maghran is a great build. Wood elf or a aumaua for a extra weapon slot. Cipher, whatever not my favorite class after the nerf. Using one now though with a couple of arquebuses, decent for a paralyze assasinations alongside your priest. Woodelf to hit things and make your spells stick. Wizard I prefer a wood elf or pale elf depending on the mood. With a quickswitch great as an offtank. Yes sometimes the 4th melee will come in handy unless youre going to cheese every door and avoid all outdoor fights. Accuracy is everything the first 4 levels on Potd and if you are going with an offensive build then moon godlike is much better with high might. After lvl 4 most everything is a cakewalk discounting 4-5 fights, you just need to know when you are ready to pick those fights

Well the summons become nothing more than an obstacle in the late tougher fights in Potd. I fought the Fampyr and the Deathknights on the level 8 in the endless paths and my party wasn't quite high enough level and even though I summoned everything I had (3 or 4 statues) I had to play that fight 3 or 4 times to win it. Don't get me wrong, they are useful as a buffer or a diversion to buy yourself time to win the fight but at later stages they're not going to win the fight for you.

Moon Godlike for self and party heals. Str 19 Con 12 Dex 19 Per 5 Int 13 (for bigger TR or you could just leave int at 10 and put the extra 3 points into Con.) Res 10 With these stats you will get hit a lot and generate lots of wounds to spam Torments Reach. I'm running a monk like this with a custom party on Potd difficulty. Ability and Talents per level suggestions. 1. Torment's Reach. Your bread and butter damg power through the game. 2. WF: Peasant. When you hit things more often you'll do more damage. 3. Turning Wheels: Yes your aim is to spend your wounds, but when you get 10 wounds you can't spend them fast enough and the extra damage is...free! 4. Two weapon fighting: More speed is good 5. Swift Strikes. Even more speed is better 6. Lesser wounds. More wounds More damage 7. Rooting Pain. Dishing it out while taking it is always good. 8. Lighting Strikes. Essentially a lash on your fists = more damage 9. Duality of Mortal Presence. I use it mainly for bonus to Fort/Ref/Will which is nice. 10. Savage attack, You'll be hitting most of the time so why not get +20% damage? 11. Flagellants Path: For fun you know 12. Whatever!!!

Yeah, that was the bounty I had most problem with...those insect swarms. Then I decided to cast a confuse spell on those ogres and managed to affect them all while my barbarian had Shod-in-Faith active, so to my suprise I started to heal up the Ogres again with consecrated ground. At that moment I did not find it funny at all.

Yep Paladin Auras get supressed by spells. So paladin eh..provides action economy? Or maybe just an meatshield

That´s because the bast AoE spells are fire, except Iconic projection which is frost, but then again the priest gets more fire spells.

Aumaua Barbarian Might 21 Con 8 Dex 18 Per 4 Int 15 Res 12 Put him in Sanguine Plate (don't forget to enchant it for better DR) and Shod-in-Faith and you can send him into the fray like a true barbarian. Hiding behind other party members to poke at the enemy isn´t the true barbarian style. Remember that time when Conan hid behind his friends and poked at his enemies with a stick? Well neither do I because it NEVER HAPPENED!!!

I usually go for Marksman, Gunner and Weapon Focus and make a priest of maghran for that extra sweet +10 in accuracy for Arquebus. On Potd I also go for inspiring radiance...thats a +5 acc boost per encounter.

I recommend that you pair him in Shod-in-Faith. Frenzying self healing barbarian bomb. The best thing is the frenzy and consecrated ground procc on the same crit.

well look at it Well, Cruelty 1 *and* the machine is not destroyed. Bit of a downer on the last part. Bad enough we have to feed someone to that zombie guy on top of the tower... Well look at the bright side, you can always use it at later date to eat more souls.

Well if being considered cruel and deceptive is stopping you from eating other people souls for more personal power then I guess you don´t deserve that power.

Well with the focus nerf my cipher mostly paralyzes stuff to hit it to build focus for the next paralyze.

You have to do a quest to open the store, same as the other factions

Well I´ve never been happier with my aura size, it was one of those things I was hoping they change.

Was just checking my Paladin Zealous Endurance which seems to be crazy big though in the tooltip it should only be 2.9 m. My Paladin is the guy in the front with the Saber and my moon Godlike monk who stands far away seems to be affected.

2H Fighter with for example Estoc is good throughout the whole game. I had one with Wary Defender and he could facetank decently while dishing out lots of damage.

I would actually go for a Paladin Tank and fighter 2 handed dps. You can make a really strong 2handed fighter who really dishes out damage. You only going for a 5 man party? Or are you going to rotate story companions