Livegood118

Make a wall with two characters using the priest spell withdraw at the bit just before you get to the dragon and you should be able to kill it with your back line characters. FYI tidefall has a reasonably high mechanics check, might wanna buy one of those mechanics scrolls.

I actually think there might have been a bug with the unlaboured blade before 3.5 that it only procced once per encounter. Something to watch our for, though can't remember if it's true or not.

I wouldn't say that the Fighter's offensive capabilities are underwhelming – in fact I'd prefer a Fighter to a Rogue any day of the week simply because they don't require any babysitting and whatever way you build them (assuming no crazy min-maxing) they're going to be quite tanky. I would be wary about putting Res below 10 on any melee fighter unless you've got specific contingency plans to avoid interrupts. I did the math a while ago and a Fighter's offensive output under an optimal set-up with a good 2hander is more or less equivalent to that of a Monk's at around 5 wounds, give or take a wound or two.

On the subject of perception, something to keep in mind is that for autoattacking characters excess accuracy does tend to lead to diminishing returns vs investments in other attributes later in the game (I'd say around level 9-10 onwards) unless you're using weapons and abilities specifically designed to take advantage of Crits e.g. Annihilating weps, the Doemenel and other crit damage talents, status affliction on hit weps or interrupters. For example, a crit on a 2 handed weapon without any of the above features/talents will only add an extra 7-10 damage plus whatever else you get out of lashes, then 5.5 - 8 for a single handed weapon. Extra accuracy on autoattacking chars is most useful when it's bringing you out of the Miss/graze range in to the hit range, rather than from hit to Crit range. There are many different ways of increase accuracy in Pillars and lowering your opponents deflection. For fighters in particular, I feel like you can get away with 10 Per pretty easily considering your already high base accuracy and the various means of boosting it. Same with Monks that use weapons (per is more important on fist monks because fist accuracy doesn't translate to the monks' various abilities). Barbarians arguably benefit quite well from higher per, depending on the kind of set up you're using. Rogues have enough hit to crit and base accuracy already that shoring up your defences is probably the better option. It's a different story for characters that use spells, as Crits are much much more valuable there.

Trying to irk good physical/auto-attack damage out of a Paladin is a losing game imo (other than alpha strikes from FoD). They don't really have many abilities that improve their physical combat capabilities. Sacred Immolation is going to absolutely dwarf anything else that your char can put out (eventually). Conversely, Fighters are wonderful auto-attack damage dealers – hit like a truck and don't go down easily. Dual wielding sounds about right on your barb. Personally – and others will probably disagree – I would alter your front line as follows: 1. Paladin, Weapon and Shield with marking weapon and outworn buckler/little saviour, Munaca Arret/Spirit Spiral (see Boroer's Counselor Ploi build in the thread pinned at the top of the forums), or dual marking weapons. Eventually use sacred immolation. 2. Fighter, 2H (Tidefall/Blade of the Endless Paths), armoured grace, Weapon Mastery/Specialisation etc ... Good char for Sanguine Plate imo 3. Barbarian (set-up seems fine) A 1H + Shield character can in principle do just as much damage as a dual wielder. To do so you'll need durgan steel on both the weapon and shield and a speed enchant on the weapon, as well as the gloves of swift action and likely a class ability to increase your speed (Frenzy, Swift Strikes etc ...). You can experiment on the PoE speed calculator: https://naijaro.github.io/poe-speed-calculator/ The unlaboured blade was nerfed to hell in the final patch of the game (3% firebug proc rate). Don't bother with it. Edit. As for stats: high might/intellect on all front liners, more Dex on the Fighter and the Barb, decent per/con/res for all and you're sorted (Maybe push Per a bit higher on your Paladin and lower dex even further). Get veterans recovery on the Paladin and Barb.

The stats that I recommended weren't really offensively optimal, they were written is such a way that you'd have access to the majority of the dialogue options in the game (e.g. 18 in Per, Int and Res after getting some items) while being able to access stealth/mechanics. A more offensively oriented variant of the same build would be 16M-10C-17D-10P-15I-10R, which would do about 15% more damage on auto-attacks (assuming all hits) and with more investment in Survival/Lore rather than stealth and Mechanics. But hey, who's to say that the extra points in Res aren't the thing that saves you in a tough fight, or the points in to Per mean you land a hit before something would have otherwise killed you. It's best not to get tied up in knots about attributes in Pillars as they all confer different benefits under different circumstances. If dialogue options are your priority, then go for it. The only true god stat IMO is Intellect, as the benefit it gives you for duration based and AoE effects on casters is huge. Not so much on auto-attacking classes, but still nice on a fighter because of their buffs and duration based abilities. Offensively, an extra ten points in intellect (x duration by 1.5) is equivalent to landing a crit every single time on opponents (crit on duration based effects = multiply duration by 1.5).

Sorry miscalculation from me. Drop the Per to 10 and then pump that in to might, int and res. Fighter has high base Accuracy anyways. You'll miss out on some Per based dialogue options but that's not a big deal imo.

It'll be totally fine. Don't worry about it.

It's up to you. For Estocs you need weapon focus adventurer and would typically go for Drake's Bell early and then BotEP later on when you can do the deeper levels of the endless paths. Greatswords are weapon focus Soldier. Tidefall can be gotten around level 6 if you're good, otherwise Rumbalt is purchasable at the Shop in Dyrford around the same time and can be used until you get Tidefall. Both are equally good imo. Personally, I think it's a good idea to go for Greatswords in the early game and then re-spec to Estocs once you get BotEP. It just hits so fast.

Of course, in the very tough fights you should always be drinking a potion of deleterious alacrity of motion anyway so in that case ole' Tidefall would have the definite advantage in terms of damage.

https://naijaro.github.io/poe-speed-calculator/ With the Blade of the endless paths you'll attack very fast – Frenzy from Sanguine Plate, Gloves of Swift Action, Durgan Steel, Armoured Grace and the Speed Enchant on the weapon combine to minimise your recovery to about 95%. With the ring of thorns for +3 Dex and preservation, which you should probably wear you'll attack every 34.3f which is about once a second under Frenzy. This is in full plate that looks pretty snazzy. Rumbalt and Tidefall will not be quite as fast but faster than most characters. 50 frame cycle, so about once every 1.6 seconds. Tidefall is typically better vs. high DR targets, Rumbalt is nice for the prone. The choice is up to you. I personally leave CC to my mage chars and like the extra speed of BotEP. Either way you're going to be hitting like a truck and very difficult to go down.

I haven't read the thread but it strikes me that you could probably do this with a 2H Fighter build fairly easily: Might: 15 Con: 10 Dex: 10 Per: 15 Int: 15 Res: 15 Then use the Int Bonus from the Stronghold (I have this on 90% of the game), the +3 Res Ring and Lilith's Shawl for +3 Per (gives +1 stealth)/+4 Perception Cloak. Tidefall/Blade of the Endless Paths (Grants +10 accuracy bonus to other closest attacker), Sanguine Plate (Enchant for Might), Shod in Faith, Girdle of Mortal Protection, Gloves of Swift Action/Gloves of the Mechanic on Switch. Talents: 2H Style, Apprentice Sneak, Savage Attack, Rapid Recovery, Superior Deflection, Weapon Focus, Weapon Mastery, Enigma's Charm (or something else, you can use Munaca Arret for 3x per day) Abilities: Disciplined Barrage, Confident Aim, Weapon Specialisation, Vigorous Defence, Armoured Grace, Unbending, Charge, Triggered Immunity 1 point in to survival (+2 from Sanguine plate, +1 from fighter) will mean you can get accuracy bonus, 2-3 in stealth, then rest in to Mechanics. Durganise everything. With equip/set-up I suggested you'll get: 17 Might 10 Con 10 Dex 18 Per 18 Int 18 Res Edit: Hours of St. Rumbalt and Doemenel/Other crit talents probably worth considering too given your high accuracy and synergy with annihilating

When I'm testing characters I usually fart around Cragholdt for a bit but no, I have to admit I don't have much extensive solo experience. There is also the Black Sanctuary shield that you can use to cast withdraw on yourself and you'll chant while you're invincible, but that's probably more of an exploit that anything else. If you've got a priest a long then this is strategy that can be used (or abused) from level 1. I have found in my many playthroughs that enemy PC Monks AI seems to be set to zooming towards the lowest deflection characters in range and landing Prone/Disables with any wounds that are available. Drunken Orlan is maybe more of a unique case, as if memory serves he used the Dichotomous Soul quite a lot.

Ring of Thorns (Endless Paths level 11) + Ilfan Bryfgar's Solice (Endless Paths level 5)/Little Saviour (Endless Paths level 15) should be very achievable before you come across nasty monk men. Personally, I find that those guys use Force of Anguish/Prone so often that it wouldn't be much of a risk but each to their own I guess.

And still no Chanter build is "over-powered" as some people call it. With a single Chanter, it takes a lot of effort to eliminate the Drunken Orlan or a Mercenary Brawler, which are similar. Not really imo. 2x preservation items, get proned from Force of Anguish then Chant Dragon Thrashed while looking up from the floor with 200+ in all defences. The most powerful Chanter build ever would be one that can sit down at will

Ok then, I guess a nice option would then be: 1. Kana 2. Eder 3. Grieving Mother 4. Hiravias 5. Your Paladin 6. Durance

My rule of thumb for party composition on POTD is as follows: Front-Line: 1. Sturdy Front-Liner (Fighter/Monk/Barb/Paladin/Chanter) 2. Sturdy Front-Liner (Fighter/Monk/Barb/Paladin/Chanter) 3. Whatever Front-Liner, Having single target damage is nice Back Line: 4. Dedicated hard CC Char (Wizard/Druid/Cipher) 5. Ranged Damage/More hard CC 6. Priest You can put a Priest in the front-line if you want but you're not really playing to the class's main strength, which is ultimately their ability to dish out spells. A Ranged Paladin is also not really playing to the strength of the Paladin class, which is being sturdy as hell on the front-line and providing support. With what you've discussed I'd suggest the following: Front Line 1. Kana - Dragon Thrashed Tank 2. PC – Dual Marking weapon Darcozzi paladin 3. Eder – Medium Armour single target DPS, 2h Wep (Tidefall -> BotEP, Sanguine Plate) 3.5. Itumaak Back Line 4. Grieving Mother – Ranged damage/CC 5. Sagani – Ranged Damage + CC when you get Stormcaller + Doggo, or Hiravias 6. Durance

Unless you've got meta-knowledge of the game to compensate for the deficiencies that min-maxed stats bring I wouldn't recommend doing it, at least for a beginner. It also depends on the class in question – if you're a ranged character you can probably get away with min-maxing a bit more than a melee character. The game's AI will target enemies based on a range of factors, but in generally they're more likely to go for characters that they know the can kill quickly. You can always stats at an inn for your PC, and for hired non-story companions.

Drawn in Spring is an amazing weapon but unfortunately wounding doesn't generate focus so I wouldn't use it on a Cipher. I think daggers suffer from the same problem that all "small" one-handed weapons face as you progress in the game, which is that damage multipliers become more plentiful and these work better with higher base damage weapons, and enemy DR tends to increase as the game goes on too. I can't think of any build that's more optimal with a small weapon (Starcaller stun on hit, Drawn in Spring notwithstanding) than with larger weapons, unless you wanna count Monk Fists as a small weapon Spelltongue and the Sword of Daenysis are quite cool too.

I prefer 3 melee and 3 ranged. With only 2 guys that can take hits I'd find that a lot of enemies tend to bleed through, but that's just me. Four bodies (3 + Hunters Pet) I find that dudes very rarely break through.

I always give my backline casters a Hatchet + Enchanted Small Shield + Sword and Shield Style for the tougher fights and eventually superior deflection. This is typically enough to raise their deflection so that they don't become targets for enemy AI (+32 deflection, or thereabouts). Veterans recovery is also a given on any character with high might and intellect as far as I'm concerned. In the harder fights you're naturally going to be spellcasting all the time so it works quite nicely.

Sounds nice. Although a paladin with a marking ranged weapon might need less running around. Did you think about Cape of the Cheat (if the path is blocked)? Or did you perhaps use Fast Runner + Graceful Retreat + item with disengaging bonus (boots or armor or cape) for a total bonus of +32? He could also use a shield just for the way to his target to prevent hits. Because I can imagine that all the disengagement attacks can be frustrating once there's no open space and you have to run past enemies. I called it Ondra's "Gift", it's kind of a play on how moon godlikes are supposed to be lucky (i.e. the accuracy bonus granted is lucky) and she was always at the right place and at the right time. Talents: Superior Deflection, Veterans Recovery, Inspiring Liberation, Fast Runner, Deep Pockets, Scion of Flame, Graceful Retreat, Deep Faith ... Abilities: Lay On Hands, Zealous Charge, Liberating Exhortation, Coordinated Attacks, Reinforcing Exhortation, Reviving Exhortation, Sacred Immolation, Inspiring Triumph. Though if I was going to post it I'd amend some of those for some Alpha Strike capabilities (definitely Flames of Devotion + Quickswitch + Arms Bearer + Prestidigitators Missiles + Vulnerable Attack). Used Dimensional Switch from Unlaboured Blade and Cape of the Cheat too.

My build concept was a Paladin that had +30 passive marking that can move around the Battlefield at lightning speed (+8/9 speed) with Zealous charge on and deliver the marking bonus to important targets around the battlefield on-demand. We got there in the end =)

I actually built a build around this – a Superfast Darcozzi dual-marking weps coordinated attacks moon godlike. It worked quite well, might post it some day.

Whew thought my credibility had gone out the window there for a sec Let's say you have a different example now: – Marking Paladin is attacking target A – Fighter is attacking target B, but is closest to Paladin – Nearby Wizard fires a spell and hits target A Does Wizard still get the marking bonus?