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So as the topic says, I am going to attempt my first PotD play through. I want to do a non-custom party build using all the standard recruits. I woud like to play the PC as a tanky front lines dps, I just finished doing a ranger in POE 2. I am thinking a monk or something similar to tank/dps. This would put Eder in the side roll of offtank/dps Kana as ranged dps/backline buff, Aloth as back line dps Durance as priest buff/heal And possibly Hirivias as shape changer dps, maybe Take grieving mother depending how it all plays out for more ranged dps. Any thoughts on what I need or could learn before I fail my first try?

https://www.nexusmods.com/pillarsofeternity2/mods/43/ Hello guys, I released the first version of my mod, aiming to increase the challenge on POTD. I would love it if you could give me feedback on whether things work the way they are supposed to. --------------------------------------------------------------------------------- DEADLY DEADFIRE v1.8 New optional weapon balance tweaks! New HARDCORE version of the mod has been added! New modular mods have been added for maximum customization! Changelog: NORMAL VERSION: v1.8 - Adjusted XP reduction to -28%. I finally found the perfect value. v1.7 - Increased XP reduction from -20% to -30%. v1.6 - Fixed duplicate files in download directory. v1.5 - Fixed Player Character Health getting buffed by the mod. v1.0 - Release HARCORE VERSION: v1.0 - Release WEAPON TWEAKS: v1.2 - Fixed uniquely named weapons not being afffected. v1.1 - Fixed spears and sabers not being affected. v1.0 - Release This mod is for all those that want to be challenged more by the combat encounters in this game. The devs have already said that the game is not difficult enough when played on Veteran or Path of the Damned, and this mod wants to fix those issues without breaking the feel of the game. *** THIS MOD IS MADE FOR POTD / VETERAN DIFFICULTY WITH LEVEL SCALING (UPWARDS ONLY) *** WHAT DOES IT DO: 1. Level Scaling - In vanilla enemies only scale upwards a maximum of 4 levels. If you are level 15 and find a level 5 enemy, he would be scaled up to level 9 but not any further. - This mod increases the scaling limit to 9. That enemy would now scale up to 14. (not quite this simple with location levels etc but you get the idea) 2. Named Enemies - Important Named Enemies will now scale an additional 2 levels higher than a normal enemy. If you find a level 8 named boss at level 10, he will now scale up to level 12, in an effort to keep even previously-missed lower level boss fights challenging. (again location levels matter too but this is the idea) 3. Increased HP - Enemy health has been increased by around 30% across the board. This is an attempt to stop a single empowered spell from halving the opponents right at the start of combat. 4. Reduced XP - Experience from quests and combat has been reduced by around 25% and 20% respectively. This is not really noticeable at the start but it will help with the over-levelling issue in the lategame. HARDCORE VERSION: I recommend starting with the normal mod, which already makes the game quite challenging. Then, if you feel like the game is still too unforgiving, or if you feel like the difficulty drops off during the latter part of the game, you can switch to the hardcore version. This hardcore version is very punishing, especially in the early game when you are lacking accuracy. Therefore I don't recommend it for a new game. WHAT DOES THE HARDCORE VERSION DO: - Further increases the scaling bonus levels and scaling range, for both normal enemies and even more for bosses. - Further reduces the experience gains up to a total of 35% and 30%. You can switch from normal version to hardcore version without problems. But keep in mind that enemies are generated when entering a new zone, so if you upgrade to the hardcore version, only areas you haven't visited yet will get the increased stats. WEAPON TWEAKS (OPTIONAL MOD) I have added a new optional mod called "Weapons Tweaks". - It reduces the penetration of all one-handed weapons by 1. Many have asked for this and I agree it makes sense. Now two-handed weapons have a purpose. In addition to dealing more damage, they now have more penetration compared to 1H weapons. HOW TO INSTALL: 1. Go to the Pillars of Eternity 2 folder (Pillars of Eternity II\PillarsOfEternityII_Data\) 2. Look for or create an "override" folder in Pillars of Eternity II\PillarsOfEternityII_Data\ 3. Unzip the mod inside the "override" folder. 4. The path to the mod files should look like this: /PillarsOfEternity2_Data/override/DeadlyDeadfireModX.X/gamedata/ 5. Launch the game. 6. The mod should work on existing savefiles, but only for areas not yet visited. 7. A new game is recommended. COMPATIBILITY WITH OTHER MODS: This mod changes these files: characters.gamedatabundle 'MaxLevelAdjustment' property changed; characters.gamedatabundle 'MaxHealth' and 'HealthPerLevel' values changed; progressiontable.gamedatabundle 'ExpectedCharacterLevelAdjustment' arrays expanded and 'AdjustedLevelAmount' values changed; global.gamedatabundle 'QuestXPMultiplier' and 'CombatXPMultiplier' values changed.

The answer to the question in the title is, you dodge every deflection targeting attack in the game, including ones from the final boss. I have always been a fan of wizard in rpg games, I initially started with a pure wizard but got stuck on the final boss due to the fact that I invested heavily in defense but ended up defense and damage both being mediocre, 3 meteor showers wasn't enough to carry me through the boss's phases despite meteor shower being crazy op, and I didn't want to use arcana scrolls, so I decided to reroll arcane knight for the 21 bonus defenses as well as passive/active healing. The core idea of this build is to build around the tier 1 wizard spell, wizard's double, it offers 40 deflection, highest among all the deflection buffs in the game, with a huge downside, it's gone if you are hit, even just a graze, but that downside is nonexistent if you never get hit, which is possible in this game by achieving 75 points higher defense score than enemie's accuracy score. A build using the same items and stats but as paladin/chanter probably works also, trading some deflection for 2 healing auras. Or a riposite build with trickster rogue and paladin, would do more damage and dodge all reflex attacks but won't have the spell reflect, I actually want to do a trickster/paladin build now hmm. Final boss video for those that want to see the build in action first: "https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=KXj6xAVOoNs&feature=youtu.be (anyone knows how to do the spoiler thing in text?) Character creation stats: Wizard: No subclass Paladin: Goldpact Race: Wild Orlan MIG: 2 CON: 3 DEX: 18 PER: 20 INT: 15 RES: 20 Low might: might in pillars 2 is nowhere as useful compare to previous game, due to the armor mechanics changes, and the fact that the damage bonus is additive with legendary weapon enchant and other damage+ modfiers. Low con: high life pool is useless if you never get hit. High resolve: it gives deflection, will, and reduces dot duration, every point of deflection that brings me closer to the untouchable line is worth it. High perception: accuracy is a very useful stat, but lot harder to get in this game compare to previous game, I really value accuracy, reflex is also very important. High dex: mostly for the reflex, but action speed is good dps boost. Rest into int: the duration will increase the duration of buffs and total damage of spells like chill dog and ninagauth's freezing pillar, and meteor shower if you feel like using scrolls, can trade this stat for might but I personally wanted high will ontop of everything I already have, since my fortitude stat is beyond saving. Blood pool: Eder Talents: I mostly focus on buffs on wizard side because the amount of the accuracy you can get is pretty low in this game. tier 1: wizard's double, chill dog tier 2: infused life essence tier 3: llengrath's displaced image tier 4: minor arcane reflection tier 5: llengrath's safeguard tier 6: ninagauth's freezing pillar tier 7: citzal's martial power paladin side: deep faith brand enemy weapon and shield style exalted endurance greater lay on hand clear head snake's reflex righteous soul practiced healer improved critical bull's will bear's fortitude stoic steel divine purpose Items: weapon: I used gladiator sword for the majority of my game, only switched to acolyte's frostbite hatchet for final boss for the weapon mastery skill. shield: cadhu scalth, very powerful shield that gives a lot of deflection and damage reduction, the interaction when retreiving the second quest item for this shield is currently bugged, you need a second member in your team to trigger it. armor: I wanted to use Gipon Prudensco because of it's crazy good enchant and it's interaction with miloletta's minor missles, sadly, after testing it with console I noticed that the enchant is completely broken and the item is probably not in the game atm, so I ended up using devil's caroc armor, there may be better choices out there. another option is the intimidate chest that gives deflection grimoire: grimoire of vaporous wizardry, none of the unique spells stood out too much for this build, so going for extra casts is not a bad idea. helm: rekvu's fractured casque, to counter grimoire's downsides and fighter knock downs in general, since we always get hit due to low fortitude. rings: entonia signet ring, very good ring that gives all defenses including deflection, the other ring I used ring of minor deflection but can be replaced. amulet: + 2 resolve from early drake bounty gloves: 1 dex 1 athletics / 10% mêlée action speed 1dex / 2 might 2 intimidate pet: I added Lil'babes from console for +1 dex and + 3 melee deflection for the final boss, I personally don't know where to get this cat, the pet seller in nekataka sells a dog that gives 20 life on kill and 3 melee deflection that worked really well for me early to mid game. Spoilers below Early game: If you started at level 4 then everything will be a breeze, gold pact sworn enemy adds 4 armor which is huge ontop of medium armor, which often reduces damage by 75%, the hardest fight for most solo builds should be the 3 wraith before oderisi, but with gladiator sword and large shield and proper talents the wraiths have 0 chance to hit, after that you can do a lot of easy quests in nekataka for exp. Mid game: At level 10 you can board beggar's ship and get a principi flag to do the fort deadlight quest chain, arkamyr's manor is also good source of exp. At lvl 11-12 you should have no trouble boarding 1 star ships, since they won't hit you much with llengrath's displaced image and large shield mastery ability on, go in a corner activate large shield active then just cast chill fog and auto, and because solo player exp bonus you'll quickly outscale your opponents, some fights will take longer than usual, like the giant bounty that has self regen, but they should still die in the end. Late game: Most fights should be really easy, Ninagauth pillars clear trash pretty quickly, probably want a gaze immune shield for the famyr cave though, the only fight that almost got me was the ancient lich, because of the reduced healing debuff, but he died anyway. Video for final boss. That should be it for now, might update later, overall I think the game's balance needs a lot of work, I really wish game's path of the damned difficulty got to the point where you need at least 3 members to beat. so I can actually think about class interactions, roles of tank, dps and healer and all that, or bring story companions and actually enjoy the story, as a hardcore gamer I really can't play with multiple characters knowing others have beaten the game with one, my pride disallows it. A game I played earlier called Tower of Time got the difficulty part somewhat right in comparison, if you ignore the crafting.

[CLASS BUILD] The Stress-free Master Evoker/Beckoner Description: This build is intended for people who want to have the most stress-free PotD solo run without being overly cheesy with their strats. This might not have the best DPS or the best survivability but what it does have is sustainability, great survivability and great dps without being too dependent on end-game gear. This build works smoothly from start to finish. Yes, even at level 1. Race: Whatever you fancy but here's a ranking anyway. Honestly, it makes no difference. Remember, 'Stress-free' No.1: Nature Godlike for the power levels No.2: Meh, Moon Godlike just for an easier time early on. Wood Elf is pretty nice for the resistance to affliction. No.3: Meh. Difficulty: POTD Solo: Yes Stats : 18 Might 10 Con 10 Dex 18 Per 18 Intelligence 3 Resolve Maxing might is obvious. 10 Con is honestly all you will ever need, most of your survivability will come from your shield/nemnok staff once you get it, plus your wizard spells. 10 Dex because with all that tankiness, casting super fast isn't that much of an issue compared to accuracy and duration+aoe. Max Perception because you can never have enough accuracy. Max Intelligence because of duration and aoes for your chants. Resolve is just junk. Period. Everything hits you on PotD anyway and even with 3 resolve, I have 100+ deflection without my chant buffs. That's more than enough to prevent permanent crits on you. As for status effects, just outtank them and chanter has a ton of resistance to afflictions so stuns/para/charms aren't even an issue. Skills: Go for hunter for the mechanics. Boost mechanics till you reach 4 minimum/6 if you don't have hylea's blessing or if you don't want to use it. Boost Survival till 2 or 4 for convenience sake. Everything into metaphysics after that. As for the other skills, I suggest mechanics up to 8 some athletics. You can retrain anyway so don't worry too much other than the initial two steps I managed. I will elaborate more on that later. Proficiency: Large Shield, Sabre. As you level up, flail, battle axe, quarterstaff. Whatever you have leftover doesn't matter. Flail modal is important since it gives a reflex debuff. I don't really use it much but without modal, there's really no reason to use a flail. Quarterstaff modal is useful but only once you get Nemnok's staff. Blessing of Berath: Highly Recommended: Unique Vendor Recommended: Double Skill bonus and bonus attributes. Great if you have it: 50k gold Whatever: The rest. Gear: I will split it up into early/mid/late game for those who are newer. Early: Firethrower's Glove: Unique Vendor in Port Majo(?). You need the Blessing of Berath for this. Otherwise, go for some generic +2 Might gauntlets (There's one sold in the vendor in Queen's Landing.) Burglar's Gloves: Just for the mechanics boost. Optional but quality of life item. Vendor Item (Nekataka? or Crookspur? I forgot.) Belt: Some generic +2 con belt or just nothing if you want to be fancy. Boots: Boots of the Stone for the affliction resistance Cloak: Cloak of protection/greater protection. Once again, doesn't matter too much. Armor: Depending on your gold, either the best breastplate you got or Devil of Caroc(Nekataka Vendor, Periki's Overlook) (useful throughout). Alternative is Miscreant Leather from Fort Deadlight (Benweth). Essentially you want the most armor rating for the least recovery penalty. These two options give bonus to recovery as well. Ultimately, you want to switch to Devil of Caroc for the armor rating (IMPORTANT) Weapon Mainhand: Sasha Singing Scimitar (Nekataka Vendor, Periki's Overlook). If you don't have the gold, go for the best option you have but gold shouldn't be an issue, I'll explain why later. Offhand: Best large shield you can get. Cadhu Scalth is your shield of choice (Old City, Gullet from the two cornett quest. It is possible to sneak past the boss and avoid fights if you are experienced with the area. I suggest picking up the cornett of the depths from the initial half of the old city before re-entering using the Undercroft's entrance. Complete the Delver's Row(Gullet) questline (Dereo). His questline will lead you the rest of the way.) Cadhu Scalth boosts your survivability by a LOT so it is important to get it by the late mid-game. Necklace: Stone of Power. You don't really have to buy this, I just happen on a ton of these. Great for fireball alpha strikes. Alternative is the +perception necklace in (Port Maje? or Majo) Rings: Ring of Focused Flame (Nekataka vendor, Periki's Overlook ), Kuara's Prize (Ori o Koiki , you can bribe the doorlady, at least I was able to (2000g)) Otherwise, it doesn't really matter much, only the Ring of Focused Flame is useful for this early stage. Helmet: Recruit Aloth and take his helmet. (I made him leaden key in my history) Once you unlock delver's row (Nekataka, Gullet) pay the assassin to kill the vithrack to get Whitewitch Mask. Pet: You want something that boosts your spells, perception, might or aoe. Honestly, it doesn't matter much but I settled on Nalvi in the end. I don't remember where I got him. Nalvi reduces recovery penalties. Grimoire: Ninagauth's Teachings (Arkemyr's mansion, Nekataka, Periki's Overlook). ABSOLUTELY CRITICAL and easy to get too. Walkthrough on how to grab the grimoire: Grab a thief's putty, Burglar's gloves, and rest with Hylea's Blessing to boost your mechanics to 10 artificially. Alternatively, do the quest for the vendor in the dark cauldron (in the same area) to gain entry, but you still require a degree of mechanics to pass this area easily. I forgot if there was a lock on the chest with Ninagauth's Teachings so just get your mechanics up to 4/6 as a precaution. Unlock the front door, pop your thief's putty if your stealth sucks and avoid the patrols as you head straight down the corridor. Open the main doors and head to the upper floor. On the upper floor, you will come upon an exit on your southwest. Take it and you will enter a rampart of sorts. Walk northwards to another door and enter it. Once you do, follow the path to Arkemyr's bedroom. Loot the entire room and read any notes you find. One of them give you a password to use. Equip Arkemyr's robes. Proceed back to the upper floor and this time, open the first door on the right to find an imp inside. He has a gem you can grab off him by pretending you are Arkemyr and using the password you found in his bedroom. From this point on, all the patrols won't be alerted by presence. Head downstairs to the first floor and search Arkemyr's study for another piece of note with the vault combination (middle room on the right). Once you do so, head down to the lab using the stairs. From here, head straight and take a right, you should a wheel like object you can interact with. That's the vault mechanism. If you did everything right, you can open it. Once you open it, watch out for traps etc. There's a 10 mechanics locked chest in there. Grab the quest item, the grimoire, and the figurine. Mid-game: Gloves: Firethrower's Gloves Belt: Maker's Own Power (A belt that petrifies you and heals you but I cannot recall where I got it. It's an easy bounty with a construct) Boots: Boots of the Stone or whatever you fancy, assuming your affliction resistance is taken care of. Cloak: Cloak of Greater Protection, easily found and bought from vendors Armor: Devil of Caroc Weapon Mainhand: Magran's Favor (Kohopa's Fang mini-dungeon) Right at the northern edge of the map. Slightly left of the middle line.) Shield: Cadhu Scalth. Absolutely critical, if your game is bugged, rip you. In that case, equip the best large shield or shield you can find. Alternative Weapon: Sasha (Enchanted to give empower points. Either works fine honestly.) Necklace: Orishia, gives a minor dmg shield, action speed, recovery speed, penetration, blah blah. A whole ton of stuff really. Grab it from a bounty (Flamewalker Vessali) Somewhere mid-east. Not entirely sure. Rings: Ring of Focused Flame, Kuara's Prize. Helmet: Whitewitch Mask Pet: Nalvi or whatever you fancy Grimoire: Concelhaut's grimoire (Berkana Observatory) You need to kill concelhaut for this and it will probably be a boring fight (really long). I did it around level 12 or 13? Save your raw damage spells for the right moment. Ensure you have resistance to resolve afflictions. Use ogre summons to bash him, very very slowly. When he tries to use his finger spell (that's the icon) run away from him since that spell heals him. Another key strategy is carefully pull mobs. Engage from as far as possible and run backwards, making use of the fog of war to kite the melee mobs away to the stairs. You will get it after a few tries. After grabbing the grimoire, it's not necessary to swap to it since power level 7 is the main reason to get it. End-game: Cloak: Giftbearer's Cloth. Gives defenses, additional quick item slots and weapon slots. Mini-dungeon (Fampyr's Crypt, south and slightly east of Nemnok) I suggest grabbing the resistance chant for this fight but it's doable without it. Once again, careful pulling is required since they are really a pain to deal with together. Mainhand: Magran's Favor with Cadhu Scalth Sasha (or a flail) with Cadhu Scalth Chromoprismatic Quarterstaff. (From Nemnok's questline, Drowned Barrows/Junvik Village. Northwest corner on the edge of the line) Grab the defensive and +power level enchantments. Everything else is the same. This section is optional tbh. Making Money early on: Stock up on the cheapest crew, food, water you can find. Grab four imperial long gun (dunnage and neketaka), aedryan hull treatment and cottonweave sails. Ensure your supplies are maxed and go ship hunting. Start with the easier foes first to build up crew experience. With this build you can tackle most of the ships you find in this game except for the rathun ships and Takabna. You might have to reload sometimes. Just remember to repair your ship mid fight. By farming like this, you can level easily, earn easy superb, legendary, uniques and grab a ton of experience and money from bounty quests. Ability Choices: Initial Choice: Minoletta Minor Missiles(WIZ) and a chant (CHAN) Next: Summon Skeleton. Then just grab spirit shield(PL1), mirror image(PL2), displacement(PL3). You need to rely on your grimoire for attack spells. PL3: Minoletta's Bounding Missiles (not necessary but it's reliable compared to fireball) PL4: Summon Ogre. As for chants, they don't really matter till you get to the resistance chants or the ancient memory chants. Grab Minoletta's Concussive Missiles and Ironskin. If you have Concelhaut's grimoire, feel free to retrain out of Minoletta's Concussive Missiles. Feel free to respec and get rid of skeletons at this point. PL5: Garbage. I rather passives. Ryngrim's Enervating Terror is a pretty nice pick but I didn't find much use in this build. Feel free to pick it. PL6: So Singt Thy Biting Winds o'Eld Nary (CHAN) and Minoletta's Precisely Piercing Burst. PL7: Set to their purpose they all knew their part (CHAN, requires a previous pick at PL5 I believe). ABSOLUTELY CRITICAL. GRAB THIS FIRST. At level 20, grab Set to His Bidding, the Ancient Instruments of Death (CHAN). Wiz spells from your grimoire. Passives: Potent Empower, Quick Summoning, Rapid Casting, Scion of Flame (not necessary but I'm going for the delayed fireball theme). Weapon and Shield Style. Combat Focus Chants: One Dozen stood against the power of the saint, Blessed was Wengridh, Ancient Memory, Seven Men onto the deck they went, They shield their eyes against the fampyr's gaze. There were two other chants I picked but I didn't really like them, feel free to use those two talent points for something else. One was a PL1 chant and the other was a PL5 chant. Strategy: Rely on your skeletons and ogres to coast through the ****ty phase of being a wizard. Essentially, the start and whenever you are out of spells. Powerful combos include: Empowered fireball: With your evoker power level and gloves and empower and nature godlike (if you used it, I didn't). You can severely cripple a whole mob right away. Use your ogres to bash the rest up. They hit really hard. Really. Empowered Minoletta's Concussive Missiles: Once you have this, don't empower fireballs unless they have resistances to crushing. This combo murders entire mobs even at high levels. Concelhaut's Crushing Doom: Works on every major boss except for the last one. Keeps them cced for a really really long time. Set to their purpose they all knew their part: The meat of this build. Other than the summons, this is the other reason to pick a chanter. This gives you resource points(spells). With this, you can spam as many defensive spells as you want. Eg. Arcane Reflection, Iron skin, displaced, mirrored image, spirit shield. Also turbocharges your phrase generation. You will never run out of resources period so just spam whatever you like. Summons: Ogres will get you through most of the early levels. Once you pick up the PL7 weapons summon, use that instead. Summons are really really good. Without summons, you have to cheese a lot more. With them, you can just sit in the back line and quietly heal up and watch your ogres bash them up. Empowering summons kinda suck so don't do it. Just empower your minoletta. Opening Rotation (non-PL7): Spam your defensive buffs, summon ogres, empowered minoletta. Most monsters won't be able to kill you fast with your shield and buffs so don't worry. PL7 Opening: Spam your defensive buffs, cast Set to their Purpose, empowered minoletta or delayed fireball (depends if you need them dead earlier or later). Cast your swords. Keep up your buffs and spam whatever spells you like, they won't run out anyway lol. Use Concelhaut draining missiles to heal up. You're even tankier now since you can spam arcane reflection without using up a spell point. You can basically face tank whatever you want. Reminder: Remember to check the enemy's resistances and make your own judgement as necessary. This build gives you a lot of leeway to make decisions and mistakes but that doesn't mean you don't need to think either. (Fampyrs are still annoying and running into a giant mob for no reason is still a bad idea.) Choices I Abandoned: Drakes: Worthless at the initial stage and I didn't find them worthwhile to spend two ability points on. AoE Frost Invocation: I forgot the name, it's the one with spikes and smaller spikes. I didn't want to spend two points on a purely frost spell that also relies on reflex for accuracy. Heals: With a tanky shield, all you need are your phrases and draining missiles to sustain you. Chugging a potion might be necessary from time to time. Fireball: Honestly, you can swap to the other grimoire if you like it that much. It's not a really reliable dps spell compared to the minoletta missiles series. Ryngrim: Why debuff them when you can blow them up? Your helmet has this spell anyway. Why Evoker/Beckoner: Beckoner is for the cheaper and increased number of summons. It helps a lot earlier on to have more bodies and the reduced cost ensures that even if you make a mistake, you can recover faster. Evoker is mostly for the increased power level. You can choose a normal wizard if you wish. If you do, you gain access to chill fog(instead of minoletta's minor missiles) and at PL6, you can pick up Ninagaulth Freezing Pillar instead of Minoletta. Conclusion: You still can't beat a pure wizard's empowered meteor shower but you have a lot more tankiness to afflictions and sustainability. Remember, the keyword is stress-free. With Minoletta and Delayed Fireball, you can blow everything up anyway, who needs wilting wind or meteor shower?

What do you think, should the Blessing of Berath to be changed or removed for PotD difficulty?

A great tactic has been found. If you use cracking bolt and rolling flame from a long distance, the enemy will not notice the party, which in turn means endless spells. This method allows you to destroy almost any encounter or lure enemies one by one increasing or decreasing the distance. Also, since the spells are power level 2-3, This strategy can be effectively used by any wiz-multiclasses, making the strategy a great way to complete solo PoTD. If you a smart wizard, you should practice sniping. Also, if an enemy encounter contains healers trying to kill someone is pretty useless unless you can kill mob with one blow, but in this case, such exploits are simply not needed. Still great for luring.

I decided to go for a Helwalker Monk as my PC but I'm already having issues keeping him alive. I feel like my monk don't have the high deflection / Armor needed to properly survive. Sure I could throw some heavier armor on him but it feels like that would hurt his damage too much. I'm only level 6 so haven't gotten that far into the game but I'm really thinking about restarting and going for PotD instead of Hard but also going for a regular monk or even the shattered piller one. What are you guys thoughts? We are talking Hard/PotD difficulty

Lvl 9 xoti single classed priest casts into takedown combo for 593.3. Seems high. That wasnt executing either half my party is still in stealth on potd. http://steamcommunity.com/profiles/76561198049990075/screenshot/922553829341613585

Hello folks! I have gotten almost to the end with my The Ultimate run with a wizard and I have a question because with my scouting char I can't seem to defeat Brynlod. This might be due to upscaling being on but I maneged it once and I wanted to know if getting the enemy separated and picking them off in smaller groups should be considered cheesing? Because I really want to make this a clean win but I can't seem to pull it of without resting through one encounter. Thanks in advance!

Max res, end, and perc, averege might, dump dex, 12 starting int https://www.gog.com/forum/pillars_of_eternity/ultimate_run_successful I'm starting this character, so I plan to post updates here, to see how this plays in group (no solo)

“Scorpions are nature’s way of saying, ‘Screw you! I’m gonna combine lobsters, spiders, wasps and nightmares!’” This build provides a tanky Rogue, who also has high single target damage and produces his own status effects through the Stun on crit version of Cladhalíath. Dexterity and Intellect have been pitched so that you can keep an enemy permanently stunned so long as you score a hit on the Stun vs. Fortitude roll that results from a melee crit. In this way, you can have high damage against a single target – while simultaneously disabling other enemies through periodic Riposte stuns as well, giving this build a nice offensive-defensive balance. Hopefully this should subvert the idea a Rogue is a weak class, with defences that are comparable to other solo tank builds but compared to some a great deal more damage. While the Yellow Flash build also uses Riposte mechanics to great effect, it seems more pitched towards the classic tank style of grinding enemies down with a wounding weapon rather than aiming for high single target damage. The Flaming Porcupine build seems to be much of the same idea as this build, but seems to have weaker defences and a slightly different focus (use of a two-handed weapon for one). As such, I think this build is distinct enough to warrant its own write-up. Why the name the Sprightly Scorpion? Because scorpions are well protected and defensive, Cladhalíath provides a stunning sting, and it’s sprightly because its attacks are fast enough to chain Stun. And because I said so! I will say this build is ENTIRELY UNTESTED (apart from the Stun-locking mechanics, which I've just had a play with, making sure the Stun-locking works). I hope to get around to testing it soonish (after Christmas maybe) but currently lack the time. I’ll update the build when or/if I finish testing it (or if one of you kind people do first), however I don’t anticipate their being any problems in terms of solo viability with the build. Without further ado… =================================== The Sprightly Scorpion =================================== Difficulty: Untested, but will test on expert PotD solo, no respec, with full upscaling -------------------------------------------------------------- Class: Rogue -------------------------------------------------------------- Race: Wild Orlan -------------------------------------------------------------- Background: Old Valia (Colonist) -------------------------------------------------------------- Starting Attributes: MIG: 17 CON: 15 DEX: 10 PER: 5 INT: 19 RES: 12 Final Attributes: MIG: 21 (Gift from the Machine, Garodh’s Chorus) CON: 16 (Rymrgand’s Boon) DEX: 14 (Viettro’s Formal Footware) PER: 8 (Elryn’s Jacket, Song of the Heavens) INT: 26 (Gwyn’s Band of Union, Forum resting bonus) RES: 16 (Siegebreaker’s Gauntlets) -------------------------------------------------------------- Important skills: Survival 16, Lore 9, Mechanics 5 (boostable to 10). This gives third stage survival accuracy bonus for +20 accuracy against anything but kith, as well as access to things like Scrolls of Confusion and Paralysis in tougher fights. Skill point allocation: -------------------------------------------------------------- Abilities and Talents: Abilities: 1 – Crippling Strike 3 – Reckless Assault 5 – Deep Wounds 7 – Dirty Fighting 9 – Adept Evasion 11 – Riposte 13 – Deathblows 15 – Withering Strike Talents: 2 – Veteran’s Recovery 4 – Weapon and Shield Style 6 – Weapon Focus Peasant 8 – Vicious Fighting 10 – Wound Binding 12 – Deep Pockets 14 – Superior Deflection 16 – Deflecting Assault Quest Talents: Blooded Hunter Dozen’s Luck Dungeon Delver Gift from the Machine Rymyrgand’s Boon Song of the Heavens Scale-Breaker The Merciless Hand --------------------------------------------------------------- Weapons and Equipment (listing only new enchantments): Weapon set 1: Cladhalíath (Stunning, Vicious, Superb, Durgan-Refined, Freezing Lash) and Badgradr’s Barricade (Superb, Durgan-Reinforced) Weapon Set 2: Alternate Stunning or Overbearing weapon, Little Saviour (Durgan-Reinforced, Legendary) Armor: Elryn’s Jacket (Legendary, Durgan-Reinforced) Neck: Cape of the Master Mystic Belt: Looped Rope Rings: Gwyn’s Band of Union and Ring of Protection Hands: Siegebreaker Gauntlets Head: Garodh’s Chorus (Retaliation) Feet: Viettro’s Formal Footwear --------------------------------------------------------------- Weapon accuracy and defenses: Cladhalíath accuracy 100 Def/Ref/Fort/Will 110/108/108/118 Calculations: Buffed defenses: Def/Ref/Fort/Will 160/168/170/148 Calculations: -------------------------------------------------------------- Playstyle overview: Using Cladhalíath, every crit on an enemy triggers a Stun vs. Fortitude roll. Stun itself gives a -30 Deflection debuff, meaning that once an enemy is stunned crits against that enemy should occur extremely frequently (with the Deflection debuff, but also with 40% hit-to-crit conversion from Vicious/Dirty Fighting and Durgan-Reinforcement). This provides more Stun vs. Fortitude rolls, which so long as they result in a hit themselves will result in the enemy being permanently stunned with the 14 Dex 15 Int combo. Cladhalíath itself can also be made Vicious as the second enchantment, dealing an extra 20% damage to stunned enemies. With a permanent Stun effect, triggering criteria for Deathblows becomes trivial. Both Withering Strike and Sever the Soul themselves debuff Fortitude through the Weakened affliction, meaning you will easily trigger both Stun and Weakened in a single attack opening up Deathblows. Crippling Strike and Figurine flanking, as well as occasional Eyestrikes from Elryn’s Jacket, give enough other means for you to get Deathblows easily in a single encounter. With the previously mentioned massive -30 Deflection debuff from Stun, Badgradr’s Barricade also really starts to shine, with every Bash crit resulting in a Thrust of the Tattered Veils, which itself targets the massively debuffed Deflection and is effected by Deathblows. This combination of effects against a stunned enemy gives you great single target damage, while also being defensively bulky. Riposte, Retaliation and Deep Wounds provide an excellent means of crowd control. Riposte itself gives free attacks to surrounding melee enemies on misses and grazes, made viable by the build’s good Deflection, giving you a chance to Stun these enemies with Cladhalíath for a few of seconds. As these enemies are entirely immobile during this time, this reduces the overall damage you’ll take from a melee group, making it an indirect defensive maneuver. Deep Wounds and Retaliation ensure that all melee enemies are constantly taking some raw damage, making them much weaker when you get around to targeting them specifically. Eyestrike from Elryn’s Jacket has nice synergy with Riposte, Retaliation and Deep Wounds as essentially melee enemies are always at risk of something (miss/graze -> Riposte chance, hit/crit -> Eyestrike chance, all the while taking Deep Wounds raw damage and Retaliation hits). When an enemy has been blinded, their accuracy debuff means that they’ll now tend towards more misses and grazes, and as such trigger even more Ripostes. For spellcasters, the extremely strong Adept Evasion (75% reflex grazes to misses, 50% reflex hits to grazes) coupled to your reasonable Reflex score means their attacks really aren’t much of a concern. When you couple this to the 20% spell reflection from Durgan-Reinforced Badgradr’s Barricade, and the chance they also have of suffering Eyestrike, they can be comfortably left until the end of combat when you’ve dealt with the melee enemies. Hopefully this rundown should have given you an idea of the build’s high damage, coupled to some great defenses that marry some of the best qualities of a Rogue and a tank. -------------------------------------------------------------- I’ve provided a few other little sections below, for anyone interested… Attribute score choice: Race and equipment choices, damage calcs: Talent and ability choices: Early game equipment: Big boss advice: Pairing for party play: -------------------------------------------------------------- And that’s that! I hope you’ve enjoyed the build, and even if it isn’t playtested I think it’d be worth a try. If anyone manages to give it a playtest before me, let me know and I’ll update the build with your findings. Have a nice day! EDIT: Re-tested Cladhalíath, and found the previous attributes I listed to be way off. The new set work fine to chain Stun on Stun roll hits.

Hi. So I've been playing this game for a while every now and then, I've beaten the OC on hard multiple times, and only did like 10% of WM 1. I have a fair bit of knowledge and experience, but I'm far from a pro at the game. I still want to finally defeat the Adra Dragon and not p**** out every time for free xp lol. I want to do a full playthrough on PotD, however, and I'd be grateful for some general advice. My specific questions: - If I go to WM1/2 to get some early items that are needed, then go back to OC (original campaign/vanilla game) and only return after high levels before dealing with Thaos, will I get an option to upscale the content? - Are there any user-friendly mods that re-enable achievements? Because I'd really want to roleplay as a good character (benevolent, honest), but I have this thing that I want my MC to be a hardcore dps every time, and getting that amazing +0.3crit damage is only possible through the Doemenel faction. And if I'd choose to be more of a tank or cc monkey, I'd be forced to hire mercs, but I want to play with the fixed companions. - I usually go with 5 people, would I need 6 (probably not, but asking anyway) for PotD? Onto the matter at hand. As I mentioned, MC is preferably high-end dps. I'm thinking about Barb/Rogue/Cipher or maybe even Priest (mainly for RP reasons, I noticed there are a ton of dialogue options for the Magran faith). Must be physical (as in utilizing weapon) dps, as I prefer using a really nice weapon to do the main source of damage for me. This is why I like to dps with items like Stormcaller (Ranger), Tall Grass, etc.. high physical (+ lash & nice on-hits ) dps with a badass, highly enchanted weapon. Just my prefered playstyle. Can be melee or ranged, any suggestion (talents, stats and items) is welcome for those classes. Now, I was thinking the usual: Edér as main tank, Aloth for mainly cc, Durance for them epic buffs and heals, maybe Hiravias for amazing aoe potential and the strong shapeshift to reserve per-rest uses, Kana as support (really liked his ranged attack speed boost chant, along with the +25% flame lash chant with my Stormcaller Ranger, don't know if he could be equally useful with a melee dps MC) and maybe GM as a support/cc Cipher. I found Barb to be very fun with Tall Grass/Hours of St. Rumbalt combo, while the tank is holding down a choke or simply letting everything sorround him if no chokepoint. I also enjoyed a dual-wielding Rogue with 2 stilettos/2 sabres. However, that one proved to be extremely squishy, even when I was maneuvering with a lot of care. Not sure if they'd work on PotD. I'd be very much interested in a dps-centric Cipher, as well, and I'm pretty sure you can still use some cc like Whispers and Puppet Master despite being a main dps. That's all that comes to mind, sorry for the fairly long post, I hope somebody with a lot of experience finds the time and patience to read this mess of a thread and reply. For that, thanks in advance!

Having just finished my second full campaign of Pillars of Eternity and my first with the White March installed (I know I'm late to the party but I've gotten completely hooked having played 220 hours in the couple weeks I've owned the game) I've decided to push myself by playing on PoTD with Expert Mode enabled, and given that Deadfire is on its way early next year I want to create a character to import. However, I'm torn on how to build my party since I found Hard difficulty quite challenging by itself, and I built my party quite poorly to the point that I wasn't able to beat the Alpine Dragon or Llengrath, so I'd like some help building it this time so I don't run into the same problems. I do have a few ideas though, and some I'd be reluctant to part with. My MC has to be an Aedyr Meadow Folk because I have a custom portrait I intend to use, and I'd like to prioritise relatively high Mental stats to maximise dialogue options, but background and class are quite flexible. I'd like to pick a class that could have potential multiclass synergies, and I'd like to play one of a Cipher, Druid, Monk, Chanter or Ranger (in descending order of how much I want to play them). As far as the rest of the party goes, I'm planning on using Aloth, Edér and Pallegina throughout since they carry over to Deadfire, but the last 2 companions are quite flexible. I'd prefer not to use Sagani though, throughout my last campaign Itumaak was bugged and seemed to have a movement speed of 0.00001 in combat so I'd rather not have to deal with that again. Any help is much appreciated. (Side notes: Should I kill or bargain with Sefyra? It seems like I could run into her in Deadfire if I help her escape, but Scale Breaker seems like it would pretty useful. Same question applies for Llengrath. Also, I know it's a bit late to pledge for Deadfire, but I'd like to do so; however, is there any issue due to the fact that I'd be converting from GBP to USD?)

Paladin {me} Godlike: Moon -> Darcozzi Paladin -> Orlan: Wild -> Slave Culture: Old Valia Stats: high RES, high INT, high MIG, normal PER, low DEX, normal CON Abilities: Lay on Hands, Zealous Endurance, Liberating Exhortation, Inspired Liberation, Reviving Exhortation, Greater Lay on Hands, Talents: Weapon & Shield, Superior Deflection, Hold the Line, Cautious Attack, Deep Faith, Sacred Immolation, Scion of Flame Weapon: Shatterstar, Larder Door Fighter ~ Godlike: Fire -> -> Slave Culture: Living Lands Stats: high MIG, highCON, normDEX, normPER, lowINT, highRES Abilities: Disciplined Barrage, Armored Grace, Confident Aim, Critical Defense, Vulnerable Attack, Unbroken, Savage Attack, Take the Hit, Talents: Two-Handed Style, Apprentice's Sneak Attack, Weapon Focus & Mastery: Adventurer, Bull's Will, Scion of Flame Weapon: Spectacular Spetum/ Grey Sleeper Rogue ~ Moon Godlike -> Dwarf: Boreal -> Laborer Culture: The White That Wends Stats: highMIG, normCON, highDEX, highPER, lowINT, normRES Abilities: Crippling Strike, Reckless Assault, Deflecting Assault, Dirty Fighting, Vicious Fighting, Deep Wounds, Finishing Blow, Adept Evasion, Death Blows, Vulnerable Attack, Finishing Blow, Lethal Blow Talents: Weapon & Shield, Superior Deflection, Weapon Focus: Knight Weapons: Battle Axe {We Toki} Ranger ~ Moon Godlike -> Orlean: Hearth -> Slave Culture: Living Lands Stats: highMIG, normCON, highDEX, highPERS, lowINT, normRES Abilities: {Pet: Bear} Wounding Shot, Resilient Companion, Vicious Aim, Stalker's Link, Arrow Sense, Defensive Bond, {lvl 11 retrain: Antelope} Resilient Companion, Strengthened Bond, Stunning Shots, Twinned Arrows Talents: Gunner, Penetrating Shot, Apprentice's Sneak Attack, Weapon Focus: Ruffian {lvl 11 retrain} Marksman,Weapon Focus: Adventurer, Apprentice's Sneak Attack, Bull's Will, Mental Fortress Weapons: Blunderbuss/Pistol until lvl 11. Chanter ~ Moon Godlike -> Elf: Wood -> Slave Culture: Old Valia Stats: highMIG, normCON, highDEX, normPER, highINT, lowRES Abilities: At the Sight of their Comrades, their Hearts Grew Bold; White Worms Writhed in the Bellies of the Dead; Dull the Edge, Blunt the Point; The Thunder Rolled Like Waves on Black Seas; Sure-Handed Ha Nocked Her Arrows with Speed; At the Sound of His Voice, the Killers Froze Stiff; Rime and Frost Followed the Footfalls of Karth, Shatter their Shackles; Cast off their Chains, Aefyllath Ues Myth Fyr; Oh, But Knock Not on the Door of Urdel and Gurdel; The Dragon Thrashed, The Dragon Wailed; Seven Nights She Waited While the White Winds Wept; Seven Nights She Waited While the White Winds Wept; They Shielded Their Eyes 'Gainst the Fampyr's Gaze; Their Champion Braved The Horde Alone; Talents: Fast Runner, Shot on the Run, Marksman, Weapon Focus: Adventurer, Scion of Flame, Secrets of Rime, Apprentice's Sneak Attack Weapons: Ranged {Cgadob's Hazel} Priest ~ Fire Godlike -> Elf: Pale -> Slave Culture: OId Vailia Stats: highMIG, normCON, lowDEX, highPER, highINT, normRES {About 6ish will be retraining: highMIG, normCON, highDEX, normPER, highINT, lowRES } Abilities: Deity: Eothas, Inspired Radiance, The Hope Eternal, Bonus 2nd lvl Spell, Heart of the Storm, Bonus 3d lvl Spell, Bonus 4th lvl Spell Talents: Weapon & Shield Style, Scion of Flame, Superior Deflection, Weapons: Ranged Grateful for you sharing your time and Gravity. May you ask the Goddess to eternally alight your path. Please feel free to criticize my planned party. According to many Fighters are better tanks simply for the engagements. However being a Paladin, and the non-rogue dps to be ranged, is of want by me. Other than that everything is changeable.

Hi guys, I'd like to apologize in advance in case my question is dumb. I'm currently finishing up my Triple Crown play through (currently at Council of Stars) and I'm wondering which party composition would be optimal for the last boss. I currently have lvl 12 party (will be 13-14 after completing WM2) with the following: 2x Rogues (including main character) Barb with Tall Grass Monk with fists Tanky Chanter Cipher I have only completed the game once on Easy/Normal before, so I had to do some research and figured that priest and wizard would be nice to have (resurrecting + Gaze of the Adragan). So, a question: 1. Who should I dump from the party to grab these two? Barb seems to be the obvious choice as Carnage is not useful on this boss. But who should be the second one to dump? I'd like to keep the monk (his damage is ridiculously high) and the chanter (ogres for the win!). 2. Or am I overreacting and should just go and kill the boss?

Hello folks. I don't really have much experience with PoE yet other than blasting through it right now on hard with the default companions. I'm not too far into the game but so far it seems a tad too easy. I was thinking of starting an alternate playthrough with a solo character on POTD. I know there are builds out there but it kinda looks like most of them are outdated so I thought I'd ask you guys for some help / recommendations. The classes I'm taking into account are rogue and chanter. Maybe ranger if you convince me but I'd really like the build to be melee. Not really a fan of wizards and such because of the ancient mechanic of rest that should die a long time ago but hey, a man's gotta be open-minded. I'm thinking both rogue and chanter should be more than doable and I could probably figure out some builds on my own but I'm very interested in what you guys think about this. Thanks in advance for any input.

“Say hello to my little friend!” As a bit of a foreword, this build is designed to exclusively use guns with class abilities, even in the tough boss fights. I’ve yet to kill any of the really tough bosses (the Kraken, Adra or Alpine Dragons, Concelhaut, Llengrath) but all the bounties are completed as is the Radiant Spore and Sky Dragon, so being an impatient so-and-so I thought I’d post up the build and I’ll post up details of some of the tough bosses as I go along. I’m just at the Abbey of the Fallen Moon, so I’m also missing Gwyn’s Band of Union for the time being – but it will come shortly. I’ll post edits up here as I go when I get the big things killed off. EDIT: All the bosses are now complete! =================================== The Gunslinger =================================== Difficulty: Expert PotD solo, no respec, with full upscaling -------------------------------------------------------------- Class: Chanter -------------------------------------------------------------- Race: Wild Orlan -------------------------------------------------------------- Background: Old Vailia – Colonist -------------------------------------------------------------- Starting attributes: MIG: 10 CON: 9 DEX: 18 PER: 12 INT: 19 RES: 10 Final attributes: MIG: 11/15 (Gift from the Machine, 15 with Maegfolc Skull) CON: 10 (Rymrgand’s Boon) DEX: 22 (Viettro’s Formal Footware) PER: 15 (Elryn’s Jacket, Song of the Heavens) INT: 26 (Forum resting bonus, Gwyn’s Band of Union) RES: 10 -------------------------------------------------------------- Skill levels obtained: Survival 11 (Jack of Wide Waters, Rymyrgand’s Boon, Colonist), Mechanics 13 (Dungeon Delver, Gloves of Manipulation, Chanter bonus), Lore 11 (Chanter bonus, Viettro’s Formal Footware), Athletics/Stealth – who cares? These levels weren’t really optimized, I was originally shooting for higher Survival aiming for Lore 8 – but then I quickly found out you really need Scrolls Against Imprisonment in WM part I, so it’s all a bit of a mess. However, I found these levels perfectly adequate for what I wanted to do. -------------------------------------------------------------- Abilities and Talents: Phrases: 1 – Come, Come Soft Winds of Death and At the Sight of their Comrades, their Hearts Grew Bold 3 – Blessed Was Wengridh, Quickest of His Tribe 5 – Sure-Handed Ila Nocked Her Arrows with Speed 7 – One Dozen Stood Against the Power of the Saint 9 – The Dragon Thrashed, the Dragon Wailed 11 – Choice (I went for Aefyllath, but I think Silver Knights’ Shields would be occasionally more useful) 13 – Her Courage Thick as Steel 15 – With All Your Strength Slay the Beast Invocations: 1 – But Reny Daret’s Ghost, He would not Rest 2 – White Worms Writhed in the Bellies of the Dead 4 – Choice (I picked Hel-Hyraf, but rarely used it) 6 – At the Sound of His Voice, the Killers Froze Stiff 8 – Choice (I never got much use out of Shatter their Shackles, so I’d probably recommend The Lover Cried) 10 – Seven Nights She Waited While the White Winds Wept 12 – The Brideman Slew Thirty 'Fore they Crossed Half the Hall 14 – The Bride Caught their Ruse and Set to Make them Pay 16 – Called to His Bidding, the Ancient Instruments of Death Talents by level: 2 – Veteran’s Recovery (can pick Ancient Memory with the 3.04 fix) 4 – Gallant’s Focus 6 – Gunner 8 – Envenomed Strike 10 – Penetrating Shot 12 – Bear’s Fortitude 14 – Deep Pockets 16 – Snake’s Reflexes Additional talents: Gift from the Machine Song of the Heavens Rymrgand’s Boon Second Skin Dungeon Delver Weapons and Equipment (listing only new enchantments): Weapon set 1: Silver Flash (Legendary, Durgan-Refined, Freezing Lash) Weapon Set 2: Pliambo per Casitàs (Superb, Durgan-Refined, Slaying (Vessel), Corrosive Lash) Boots: Viettro’s Formal Footware or Boots of Speed when needed Armor: Elryn’s Jacket (Legendary, Durgan-Reinforced) or Starlit Garb (Superb, Durgan-Reinforced, +2 Perception) Neck: Cape of the Master Mystic Belt: Looped Rope Rings: Ring of Protection and Gwyn’s Band of Union Hands: Gauntlets of Accuracy Head: Arret Munacra or Maegfolc Skull You can maybe throw in Ilfan Byrngar's Solace with your fist for when you’re being stunned (no other weapons to live up to the gun-only archetype) but whenever I switched to it while stunned I still got beat down so in the end I didn’t bother. --------------------------------------------------------------- I was going to break this into individual sections using the spoiler tags so people only have to look at sections they wanted to, but apparently the forum only puts the first paragraph of a section inside the tags So sorry for the horrendous length of the post, I've put the different topic titles in a nice lurid red so you should be able to spot them easily enough through scrolling. I will however keep the first point in spoiler tags for suspense... EDIT: Turns out I got the spoiler tags working after all. Why would you want to play this build? Why is the Silver Flash so neat? Class choice: Race, attribute, equipment and talent choices: When the build was tested, what worked and what didn’t? Different act equipment and chant/invocation advice: Changes for party play: Big bosses: -------------------------------------------------------------- So there we have it, I hope this has been interesting and demonstrated another sweet gun build (and the only solo one) is possible. Let me know if you have any advice or changes to suggest or if you want me to clarify anything, and I’ll try to catch any typos I’ve made later. Cheers!

First of all I would like to thank MaxQuest for inspiring me to try this run by posting his Fire Priest build. ​That inpired me to try my own priest build, wich worked vey well and was able to solo the game. CHARACTER ----------------------------------------------------------------------------- Class: Priest ​Deity: ​Skaen/Wael Background: ​Old Valia - Drifter Race: Wood Elf Solo: ​Yes PoTD:​ Yes​ Trial of Iron:​ If you avoid the Luminescent Caves ----------------------------------------------------------------------------- STATS -------------------------- ​Pre - Level 09: Mig: ​18 Con: 05 Dex: 18 Per: 13 ​Int: 18 Res: 03 Post - Level 09: Mig: ​18 Con: 03 Dex: 18 Per: 15 ​Int: 18 Res: 03 ------------------------ ​SKILLS ---------------------- Stealth: 02 Athletics: 03 Lore: 04 Mechanics: 11 Survival: 02 ---------------------- TALENTS ----------------------------------- (?) = Can be replaced. Base Weapon and Shield Style Scion of Flame Inspiring Radiance Interdiction Aggrandizing Radiance Painful Interdiction Deep Pockets Envenomed Strike (?) Event Based The Merciless Hand Gift from the Machine Song of the Heavens Blooded Hunter Dungeon Delver Hylea's Boon (?) Flick of the Wrist Dozen's Luck Sever the Soul Scale Breaker ----------------------------------- MASTERED SPELLS ---------------------------------------------------------------------- Barbs of Condemnation / Blessing/Holy Meditation Repulsing Seal / Iconic Projection Pillar of Faith / Dire Blessing Shinning Beacon / Devotions for the Faithful ---------------------------------------------------------------------- EQUIPMENT ----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- End Game Head: Maegfolk Skull Torso: Angio's Gambesson ​Arms: Gauntlets of Swift Action ​Legs: Viettro's Formal Footwear Neck: Mantle of the Excavator Waist: Girdle of Eoten Constitution ​Ring I: Gwin's Band of Union Ring II: Ring of Changing Heart Weapon Set I: Bittercut if they fix the Infestation of Maggots bug, otherwise: Drawn in Spring/Steadfast and Little Savior / Aila Braccia ​Weapon Set II: St. Ydwen's Redeemer / Abydon's Hammer Pet: ​Concelhaut's Skull Potions: Deleterious Alacrity of Motion, Llngrath displaced Image and War Paint Scrolls: Paralysis, Moonwel and Insect Swarm Early-Mid Game Head: Hermit's Hat Torso: Angio's Gambesson ​Arms: Gauntlets of Accuracy ​Legs: Malina's Boots / Shod In Faith Neck: Lilith's Shawn / Finrhea's Grace Waist: Blunting Belt ​Ring I: Ring of Defflection (Ring of Thorns if you are able to rush it) Ring II: Ring of Prottection Weapon Set I: Whispers of Yenwood and Small Shield ​Weapon Set II: Blunderbuss / Arquebus Pet: ​Tiny Spider (You will fail the game with other pet) Item Slots: Figurines, Potions of Wizard's Double and Eldritch Aim P.S. Aways carry a set of Gloves of Manipulation around ----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- STRATEGIES: ------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------ (remove the space from the word youtube in the link) Dragons Sky: https://www.you tube.com/watch?v=54cwqbB-kwk Adra: https://www.you tube.com/watch?v=9R8UvKjtZ-4 ​Alpine: https://www.you tube.com/watch?v=yPuvUjX5dJw ​Gafonercos: https://www.you tube.com/watch?v=9yw8mfdqIeQ Turisulfus: https://www.you tube.com/watch?v=9yw8mfdqIeQ Mages Concelhaut: https://www.you tube.com/watch?v=kZ0LnKGlynA ​Llengrath: https://www.you tube.com/watch?v=9yw8mfdqIeQ Thaos: https://www.you tube.com/watch?v=3fhRirQZ3BQ Monsters Kraken: https://www.you tube.com/watch?v=yCYgNGdD-74 ​Radiant Spore: https://www.you tube.com/watch?v=G7NNgaF2560 Bounties Nalrend the Wise: https://www.you tube.com/watch?v=KUhQ86iJDWU ​Brynlod: https://www.you tube.com/watch?v=7ZYUguAISfI Magran's Faithful: https://www.you tube.com/watch?v=i4X6Zlxufh0 ------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

Hello you all! After being persuaded by my brother to finally get a new computer just to play the only recent game I am actually interested in and spending 2 days choosing a class... I am at a loss xD luckily I still have time till i have my new computer I definitely want to play a hearth orlan cipher, no question there anymore, but I can't choose a combat-style or stats. While I don't mind min/maxing to a certain extent, I do mind ignoring roleplay. My brother said, as I am used to playing Baldurs Gate on SCS (heavy AI-improvement mod), I would feel at home on PotD, though they are very different games... How does a melee Cipher fare on PotD? What stats should I go for? Or is ranged far superior to melee on a Cipher? Do I suffer role-playability (compassionate good guy with racial issues because of 'heritage') because of necessary powergaming when I go melee? Probably stupid questions (dunno, me tired) but still relevant to me ^^ Greetings Adelard

...And I have to say it was quite an interesting experience! I also went for "No Rest for the Pro", and it didn't make the game all that much harder now that there's no travel fatigue anymore. And I managed to legitimately miss "Zero Knockouts" achievement in a solo run, which, I guess, should be an achievement in its own right. :D Just for clarity: I was playing without Trial of Iron (I don't believe in legitimate triple-crown-solo anyway) and without Expert mode (finished on Expert my first time, but decided to enable spell area indicators and info on dialogue checks for the second). With a final official kill count of 140, I've successfully finished most of the side quests in the base game (didn't touch the expansions yet, except for some stronghold stuff, but not all of it). A few exceptions (besides party members' quests, of course) are: - Endless Paths of Od Nua. I've only reached level 6, and consciously ignored some heavily guarded stuff on previous levels. I did kill that ogre chieftain on level 3, though. - Divine quests of Galawain and Berath (first could be done without much kills due to a bug, but I decided not to, and second requires clearing out Etik Nol, which is totally not a pacifist thing to do). - Clandestine Cargo - I could do it kill-free with a Rite of Walking Shadows, but it wasn't worth spending such a rare scroll for such a useless reward. Ignoring it (and, eventually, failing due to destruction of the Sanitarium) turned out to be the right decision: I really needed all these stealth rites later. By far, the most interesting find of this playthrough was the fact that this game does have almost everything needed for a "pure pacifist" run with a non-rogue class, even if the developers probably think different. My total number of story kills is 14. That is, 11 in the very first location (too much, I know, but I guess I was a little dumb when I started), and 3 in the final battle with Thaos. Everything in between is strictly optional, as far as the kill counter is concerned. So, after reading about the 12-kill run with a rogue elsewhere, I think that the real minimum would be 7. However, getting clean stats globally would be tricky - perhaps still possible without rogue's shadowing beyond, but I can't be 100% sure. For example, there isn't much XP to get in Chapter 1 unless you finish Raedric's hold (which isn't doable without a single kill), and you really need that XP to up your stealth. And, even if you manage that, I'm not sure a pure pacifist could do Cliaban Rilag without all the extra XP for non-pacifist side quests: for the last guarded door in this dungeon, you need stealth 15 + mechanics 8, or, more realistically, stealth 12 + mechanics 8 + lore 4 + a single rite of walking shadows. Me? I played as a pure pacifist story-wise (refusing to kill anything the game so often tried to trick me into killing just to progress), but wasn't aiming to do my second playthrough super-boring, so I did kill for side-quest XP when I had to - and, in a few cases, when I wanted to, which amounts to around 10 extra kills out of these 140. And, of course, there's that three-tusk staelgar leader whom I poisoned via dialogue without raising the kill count... *** And now, some rant... 1) Athletics and survival still look totally useless, despite their new mechanics. Not sure what was the point of changing them. I mean, high athletics is now equal to 1 extra healing potion per encounter? Great, but who needs that? Survival bonuses look nice... in theory... but in practice, they are just too weak to justify spending so much skill points. Of course, I'm judging from a solo run perspective, so perhaps I'm missing some great tactical opportunities for a normal party... 2) Who the hell decided that limiting item summons to 20 seconds was a good idea?! They are already limited to 1 summon per rest, so you basically killed off a game feature. As if there's not enough dumb "balancing" limits taking the fun out of the game already. This was a huge disappointment and a horrible thing to do with a patch, I never expected to come back to something like this. Although I did find a lot of use for summons in my pacifist schemes, but that's about everything they are good for now. 3) I would very much like it if some future Obsidian RPG showed a little more respect for stealth characters. Namely, I hate proximity scripts which force me out of stealth for a "very important" dialogue before I am technically detected. And I absolutely hate that convenience script on stairs in Heritage Hill tower! Ruining my stealth just to ask if I want to go to the second floor, or to the first floor? Yeah, great idea, great time saver. Especially when there's a bunch of hungry undead waiting for me on both floors, just near the stairs. Thanks devs, I really needed that. Twice. Not that it helped you much in tricking me out of my pacifism... 4) A little less underestimation would be nice too. Remember those looters under Madhmr bridge? I actually sneaked around their 2 lookouts, only to find the rest accusing me of killing them because they "heard fighting". So I just killed them all. That was also the biggest exception to my pacifism, because, technically, I didn't have to, but they didn't give my cruel character any good reason to spare them, and Peregund promised reward... 5) I totally expected the final fight to be tricky on solo path of the damned, but I didn't expect it to be impossible without using a horrible (and, thankfully, still unpatched) exploit. Looks like it is. Cipher is definitely not a bad solo class, but totally helpless against Thaos' will stats and extra resists. My only chance came from re-rolling the stats in a tavern (that was the second time I had to do this in this run, with first being before Cliaban Rilag due to a lack of mechanics) and re-making my cipher into a stupid tank with super-high endurance, deflection and accuracy. Oh, and that exploit too, otherwise I don't think my kiting skills would be enough still. I do remember someone complaining about Thaos being too vulnerable to paralyse-lock in original game, so I assume this was rebalanced with a later patch. Good call perhaps, but still not a good idea to lock ciphers out of the party completely. Perhaps a few skills/talents/items/drugs with good spell-accuracy buffs on self would help. Of course, if anyone knows how to kill Thaos with a solo 12 lvl cipher on Path of the Damned without any dirty tricks, I'd be very interested to hear all about it.

I finally managed to kill him with my ranger an I must say it was easier than expected considering that my character wasn't even fully optimized (no durgan enchantments, no scale breaker...). Now I am 100% positive that a ranger can also beat the game solo without skipping any encounter. https://youtu.be/NBPgwipx3OM

Since scaled Thaos can be even more cheap and brutal than the dragons I thought it would be interesting to find a good method to kill him. Tanking him (video 1) is possible but not very reliable (various bugs mostly and sometimes rng can screw you badly if you don't play perfectly). The second method is to run and shoot them to death (video 2) since the map looks like it was designed for that . https://youtu.be/6oGAmsXep34 https://youtu.be/E8jh6m-fO9o PS. In my game the spellward amulet is bugged and I'm losing 10 more defense against spells. With it you could reach 100% protection against Cleansing Flame more easily.

For people wondering if the dragons can still be soloed in 2.03 here are my new videos: - vs adra https://youtu.be/j5g_bmRfAIk - vs alpine https://youtu.be/TKrA1BvcQDI

I'm making a Paladin currently on PotD, and I figure using Athletics and Lore are best, but i'm not sure how much I should add? And I have a general idea of whats decent for each class, but specific numbers would be nice since i'm in PotD. Any help would be appreciated!

Hi, i need help to solve this problem. Im playng with my Priest, solo and in POTD. I have after many hours come to Durgans batteri, and i am now locked inside. I cleared the 1. floor and went to the second. Now i cant get out to buy camp rests, because of the door at the first floor apperently have closed itself after i went through it. Is this a bug or? And can any help me? I have attached 3 pictures, so u can see for yourself what i meen. Anybody knows what to do? Sorry for my bad english... I have no rests, and have no chance of survive to the final and 3 floor, where i know there is a entrence out, because im playng solo in POTD. And also, i dont have enough atlectics to get the 3 key to open the door to the final floor. So need to remake my skills setings also. All my save files are after i wnet down to the second floor, rookie mistake...