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Difficulty: PotD Best Team Role: Crowd Control and off-tank dps Team based or solo (if emphasizing defensive talents first) This is more a party based guide and I have played this build in a party but it seems strong enough to solo with a few adjustments. Introduction: The wizard is one of the most versatile classes in PoE, being able to adjust himself or herself on the fly to do whatever is necessary to help the whole party succeed in any hairy battle situation. This guide is aimed at suggesting a wizard build strong across multiple functions (cc, disruption, interrupt, one-on-one melee duelist), no glass noodle, a team-player first and foremost, yet a badass who can in a cinch pull victory from the jaws of defeat should the team be almost overwhelmed, and do so with style to boot . Some of these suggestions for talents etc in this guide will no doubt be familiar to veteran wizard players, and I also have to say my choices for equipment, armor etc, have been done to fit the overall concept of the archetypal in my mind battlemage), to match the overall package. But without further ado, enter the Royal Court Wizard, veritable jack of many trades, and perhaps even master of one or two. Race: Human, it is good for the might bonus and the overall theme of this character is to be best when the battle gets tough so the racial bonus is good. A case can be made for Fire or Moon Godlike but they have to helm and I find that is a bigger con to the needs of this purticular character than their racials. Coastal aumaua can be considered too but that would be a "Court Djinn" Background: Living Lands (Might bonus), noble or mercenary. Stats: Might: Max it Con: 6 Dex: flat Perception: max it Int: Max it (but you want to buff might and perception more) Resolve: 6 Talents: ! = principle to the concept of the class, R = Very Highly recommended O= Optional but good choices In general order I would take them: Arcane Veil ! your bread and butter defensive ability, essential first line of defense especially as you will be spending a lot of time in melee Blast R (team) / Fast Runner ! (if solo) blast - mainly taken for the extra interrupts and any on hit effects from scepter rods and wands Penetrating Blast R/O (team) / Hardened Veil ! if solo! boosting damage a bit from blast does not hurt and your high might takes care of the rest, at range you will cast cc spells mainly anyways and do actual weapon damage in melee anyways this is the most optional of the early talents. Interrupting Blows ! essential talent as you want to be a great interrupter it helps your team when you attack at range and you when you zone in on an enemy in melee, it also comes at the time you get lvl 3 spells and delirious alactricy of motion. Scion of Flame / or Secrets of Rime ! (Choose one at least - Flame if you go more melee, rime if you stick in the back ranks more) fire is good in melee because of firebrand + flame shield, fan of flames and the occasional fireball opener. ice is good because the strongest damage + cc spells at range are ice. all the ninigauth spells basically. Vulnerable Attack R at this point you can start to make your melee attack more devastating if you like those rapiers which you should Two Weapon Style R greater attack speed when dual wielding rapiers Weapon Focus: Noble R you can get accuracy from other sources like eldridge aim, it is nice but I personally take: Hardened Veil O basically means you will only be grazed even at higher levels when this is active which combined from the dr on your armor is quite sufficient Savage Attack O Apprentice Sneak Attack O / Savage attack and Baby SA can be skipped if going more tanky you can take superior deflection I guess and cautious attack. I prefer the "melee" variant in first line here - the concept of this build is to be very competent mob cc, but also be able to dual against the mob boss leaders. Spell Mastery: Level 1: Slicken (cc this good too good to pass up) Level 2: Combusting wounds Level 3: DAoM is probably best although if you think you can just use potions of it you can maybe take Fireball Level 4: Flame Shield or Pull of Eora or Ninigauth Shadowflame (especially on distant rime build) Equipment: Helm: Azalin's Helm Armor: Osric's Family Breastplate (Durgan refined) Gloves: Pilferer's Grip or Forgemaster's Gloves, Ryonas Vambraces Boots: Glanfathan Stalking Boots Rings: Ring of searing flames, ring of deflection, ring of protection are all good generally Belt: Girdle of mortal protection Neck: Liliths Shawl Note this is mid game: I am sure there are some more awesome items before or after depending on how you progress through the game. You want to boost perception, might, and Int. Weapon 1: Gyrd Haewanes Stenas (you get it early, it's great, has super accuracy so what's not to like, and looks good and "fits" (domination chance) on the character!) Weapon 2: Vierina's Leaves + Spelltongue or Sword of Dyonisos + Spelltongue. They are already great without durgan I am sure they would be awesome with it. But it is not necessary to durganize them. potions: regen, llengrath's di or bulwark depending on fight type, spirit shield or paralysis scrolls, figurine How she behaves on the battlefield: generally starts in the back ranks and cc's / disrupts enemies and conserves some of her strength, but if the situation calls for she buffs herself up with alactricy, flame shield, vital essence, arcane veil, martial prowess, switches to dual rapiers and stun interrupts a troublesome target like a battery siren or a brood mother. She dueled against battery sirens and brood mothers for me just fine that way on Potd and I would not consider my skills good enough for solo at this game yet. I am sure in expert hands she would be even more fearsome. I like the breast plate because it fits the "noble court wizard" theme. With pilferer's grip and durgan it is as light as cloth (15% recovery penalty) hella sturdy, has second chance even, and looks awesome. You can have zero recovery with robes but this is not really a "robe" wizard in my mind. Current Grimoire: Totally Badass: Edit: looking at the grimoire again, I will replace kolakoth minor blights with pull of eora though both are really but this wizard just goes into melee should spells be low 85% of the time so kolakoth mb is not really needed.

Hello there, I've been a ghost here for quite some time and now decided I need to post since I need some help with setting up my party properly. I'm playing a wizard according to this build: http://forums.obsidian.net/topic/84911-class-build-wizard-%E2%80%93-vecna%E2%80%99s-legacy-the-casual%E2%80%99s-guide-to-soloing-normal-difficulty-major-spoilers-301-approved/ Which is a lot of fun so far. I have also found 2 companion videos: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=vVtz0MZ8SdQ&t=1146s https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=2n952lELi1s Which aren't too bad though I was wondering whether anybody could improve upon them. If the concensus is that the builds are good (I'm playing on normal with a full party) then I would ask you if you could give me some advise on how to outfit/equip each of those companions or what to look for in terms of equipement (pistol, arquebus, rapier etc.) since the video doesn't really provide a lot of info on that and I would like to set my party up as well as I can. I know there have been a couple of those threads but most are old as dirt. Before an argument ensues: yes I want to play with the story companions, no I don't have any preferences other then that the group set ups work well together (you can advise me on those as well if you like). I'm grateful for any feedback you guys can give me. My experience with the Unity Engine is fairly limited tbh so I really need some sound advise.

After some games with my best 6 characters i've come to realize that the other characters where fresh from start (in terms of Basic cards and equipment). But in the other hand I was forced to chose between good cards to discard after game runs with my Advanced 6-team. So I devised kindda weird strategy: - When you finish a scenario, and you are at the map screen, you can click the party composition button, and exchange 1 character with a newbie one. Then you fill the newbie with best cards for him or the best cards you got (no matter if they aren't the most usefull for him, he is gonna be a "backpack character" for now). - Then you exchange again the newbies, and get back your "Top Dog" party (not as well equiped like previously or optimal but, as they are experienced, you can carry on...) As you are going to make AD3 runs with them, you'll encounter nearly the best cards availabe again in a few games, and now you don't care dropping that basic loot from the newbies. - After a couple of runs, i got my newbie "from-scratch" characters very well refurbished, and able to overcome most scenarios easier than fresh from start. - Also i got some of my best cards well preserved for future builds, with no need of being forced to discard those "good-but-not-top" cards that I want to include later (when a given character gets the proper power feat, as for a Heavy Armor or a Weapon, for example). I'm amazed how fast i refurbished the "ugly ones" (the other 5 characters), and how pretty did they get. Give it a try.

Hi 2 Talents: The Merciless Hand (+ crit dmg mult) Dungeon Delver (+ crit dmg mult) 2 Items: Rabbit Fur Gloves (+ crit dmg mult) Shattenstar or any other weapon with crit dmg mult. Does this stuff works together? Talents not beeing supressed? If dual wielding is there any reason to take two one-handed melee weapons (let's say axes) with crit dmg mult on each? Or they're supressed? Second question is about Caed Nua hirelings: I've got all the "guest" hirelings (War Criminal, Brutish Warrior, Noble Lady etc) + IG hirelings: Korgrak, Orico, Skaen Cleric, Fampyr and one fraction guy (Crucible Knight or Doemenel Thief). Is there anyone else in the game whom I can hire in my Stronghold? Have I missed someone? Thanks )

So now that I'm learning a bit more about PoE and the basics, I've started my third game now and bumped the difficulty up to hard. Realizing I never got much farther than the stronghold portion, I'm reserving future judgement on how difficult the game will get (though Normal seems too easy for what I'm looking for). My question, now, is (at the stage of game I'm playing) how detrimental will it be that I'm not using a perfect build for my character? For roleplay reasons, I haven't spec'ed my built for optimization entirely (16, 8, 15,14, 14, 13) as a rogue, but I'm planning on taking a full 6-man party. None of the characters will be re-trained because, for my strictly RP playthroughs, I feel that controlling the progression of other party-members so much is almost like power-gaming (though I have no issue doing this on subsequent playthroughs). Using an RP-friendly build, with RP-centric party-members, will Hard give me much trouble during the entire play's lifespan? Or is this game like IWD where you're almost expected to power-game to a certain degree?

I'm thinking about my first character and from the RP point of view I like both Wizards and Ciphers, but can't decide between them, so can anyone help me decide ? For Cipher I'd go with guns and as far as I know Arquebus is the best option right now, for wizard I guess I should go with staff and rely on spells/blast. Arguments for taking Cipher over Wizard: almost unlimited spells when compared to Wizard's per rest spells better accuracy damage bonuses and very good weapon damage unique dialogue options Arguments for taking Wizard over Cipher: spells seems to be stronger than Cipher's powers lore bonus Which one do you find to be a better ranged DPS/crowd control class? Also, it would be great if anyone could suggest a good builds for these classes.

I'm planning on running: Fighter Barbarian War Chanter Battle Mage or Regular Wizard Wizard Rogue Build suggestions welcome. Or should I sub a Priest in?

I've been thinking of starting a solo triple crown run with a druid, and I'm looking for suggestions. I haven't used druids much since the beta, and I've only used tank characters in a solo environment, so any input would be useful. In terms of race, I'm thinking probably Wood Elf, Aumauauauaua, Moonlike ... I dunno. Like I said, any input. For the attribute spread, max Int/Might and minimum Perception are obvious, but I'm not sure whether to bother with Con and Dex. I hear Fast Runner or whatever it's called is good for lighter characters in solo play, as well as Deep Pockets. Is that accurate? Aside from that, should I just stick to the elemental damage bonus talents? And obviously spiritshift trails off pretty quickly, but since it's supposedly good at early levels: what's a reliable shift to start with?

So, been wondering this for a while: does the One-Handed Style talent negate Weapon & Shield Style, or vice versa? I honestly don't think it does but just wanted to check.

I've seen mentions of retaliation monks who use their fists here and there, but not much the particulars of how people have actually built them. I'm curious, and thinking of starting one up, and while a few things occur to me, I'm not quite sure how to approach building the character. How would you/do you/have you made an unarmed monk focused around retaliation?

So, I won't be playing the game for at least a few more hours. Got a job interview with Lego soon. Anyone want to recommend builds for this party set-up?: Chanter Fighter Rogue Eothas Priest Bleak Walker Paladin Wizard 2nd Fighter/Barbarian

A simple thread for community brainstorming, suggesting possible feats or traits that allow different builds and methods of role-playing. Weak of body/Strong of mind You were born the runt of the litter, weak of body and with a Soul that was broken and shattered, and you suffered. But you would not give up, you would not die and you would not accept that only the strong deserve life. You fought against this injustice, you struggled tooth and claw to survive, against everything that life could throw at you. Your resolve became as iron, and your will was unbreakable. Effect: Might suffers a substantial penalty but all Soul powers and spells (but not physical melee and ranged attacks) gain a significant damage bonus from Resolve, allowing the classic archetype of the frail but powerful spellcaster to be built. Restriction: Can only be taken by spellcasters, Ciphers, Wizards, Druids and such.

There's a fair bit of discussion here about game balance and various subsystems, such as armor, weapons, dual-wielding etc. Josh Sawyer in particular has discussed the utility of skills a fair bit. Magic has been discussed a bit too. One thing that hasn't been done well in any cRPG I've played, though, is situational utility of combat skills (and equipment). I think it would be a great way to add variety to the gameplay and encourage creativity in character and party builds. By situational utility I mean making different types of combat skills be more or less effective in different situations, or against different opponents. I think this sort of thing would be relatively easy to model in a game system, and it would be pretty easy to have them contribute to the verisimilitude of the game as well. A few examples off the top of my head. Large weapons with lots of reach would work better against large creatures and beasts but be significantly hampered in confined spaces. Heavy armor gives a great deal of protection against damage but would take time to equip and would fatigue you more quickly, which means you would only be able to use it if you had time to prepare for combat, and you'd have to find a way to conserve or restore your stamina during combat if it dragged on. A character would need to be physically very strong and fit to be able to manage this, but would not need to be acrobatically nimble. On the other hand, dual-wielding two light weapons gives an advantage to feinting and parrying. This means it's more effective against human(oid)s, but less effective against beasts and suchlike. Dual-wielding requires higher dexterity, which means trading off something else, resulting in a particular type of fighter. His blows are light but precise, and his skills are honed for one-on-one duels with humans. Piercing weapons would be useless against unliving enemies, but perhaps more effective at getting through magical protection; firearms could be a more powerful version of the same, but with slow reload rates. You'd have a better chance against a battlemage with a gun and a rapier than with a longsword or a sling, but you'd be advised to bludgeon a skeleton or a golem into submission rather than trying to ineffectively poke holes into it. If the game system had these types of complexities, and a variety of combat challenges to match them, it would make party and character-building very interesting. One party could be a collection of specialists, with the one with the right skills taking point in each encounter and the others moving to support her; another could go for a set of well-rounded characters able to perform at their best in most situations, and would use that tactically to their advantage. Both would be viable strategies for victory, but would require very different tactics. Additionally, no build would be objectively better in all circumstances. Our nimble dual-wielding Scaramouche might be able to best heavily-armored Sir George of Joustalot in a duel, with a skilful stab in a vulnerable spot -- but Sir George would run a raging magic giant wild boar right through with his lance where Scaramouche's best bet for survival would be to climb a tree. N.b.: I'm not arguing for any of these mechanics specifically; rather, I would like to see a system of mechanics balanced out to function differently in different circumstances. I don't really care about the details. Thoughts?