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  1. I've been playing through Deadfire to about levels 10-17 a few times now and wanted to 'up' my knowledge a bit for another potential play through/potential restart. I'm playing real-time, PotD, everything up scaled. I enjoy puzzling out the fights, but it still feels all a bit too chaotic for me, so I'm hoping I can smooth things out with some help + questions. So far I've played a multi class Seer Ghostheart/Ascendant to about level 13, and a single class Beguiler to 17. The Seer was fantastic getting through the Engwithian Ruins, but the Beguiler got through well enough as well. Neither have been able to beat Gorreci Street however with just Aloth + Xoti. I just stealth skip it. After that, I am comfortable riding non-combat quests to about level 10, and everything mostly smooths out from there. Mid-game, I enjoyed the Beguiler a lot more then the Ascendant. What I found overwhelming about the Ascendant was 1) paying attention to when I hit the ascended state, and then 2) devoting all my attention to squeezing the most out of it during its duration. It's mostly because I like devoting equal attention and semi-micro managing all my party members equally, so my output with it always felt a bit sloppy. Hard to explain. I have auto-pause set after each skill is cast, but basically I'd often find I lost track of the Ascendant focusing on something else for a moment and find they've been CC'ed or sitting ascended without me realising it. Without schticks like Thunderous Report from the Kitchen Stove, I'd spend a good chunk of the hardest part of the battle (the early part, before some enemies die) trying to get Ascended again... The Beguiler however was perfect. Phantom Foes -> Secret Horrors and good to go for a little while at least, and no pressure to spam abilities. However, I find there seems to be clear winners and losers in terms of skills that pushes me back towards giving an Ascendant another go. I thought I'd be using things like Pain Block, Mind Plague, Wild Leech, and Psychvampiric Shield more often, but I just don't have enough time/focus to use anything but a few specific skills which just seem to do more or end fights in a more efficient way. Typically for crowds it's: Phantom Foes -> Secret Horrors -> Ectophycic Echo/Amplified Wave and/or Ring Leader. Single targets are Borrowed Instinct -> Whispers of Treason/Ring Leader or Disintegration + Recall Agony (+ Body Blows). So far, the above has basically allowed me to brute force most fights, and even things like Ancestors Memory, Reaping Knives, and Time Parasite all have a opportunity cost in time that seems too high to overcome. The cost in time is both in the casting + recovery time it takes to use things like Reaping Knives etc, and in the cost of cast + recovery time to suck up all that focus again. I'm thinking this is just the Cipher dilemna and why the Ascendant and multi classes are so popular. I just don't seem to need that many active skills. The Ascendant excels at spamming the few good skills really well and multi classes can suck up passives in lieu of skills you don't end up using anyway. I'm not 100% sure where I am going with all this, but any thoughts appreciated if I might be approaching/understanding things incorrectly. Moving on... I really want to try a Barbarian Berserker or Monk Helwalker, however, given that I build both Eder (engagement Swashbuckler) and Pallegina (Crusader) semi defensively and they seem to sometimes just peel over and die, I can't imagine being anything but frustrated with those two classes, so I am shying away from them. I understand how to get around the confused status with the Berserker, but the raw damage + hidden health seems like I'll be reloading a lot. I'm not too sold on other subclasses, so I dunno. The Monk is really appealing, because it's probably the least represented class in terms of companions + sidekicks (ish, I can't see turning Xoti into a Monk - ever really, and Mirke/Rekke don't have much representation in the game quest wise outside of being a sidekick). Speaking of companions. I like Eder as a Swashbuckler, but he has been a bit squishier then I thought he would be. I skipped Riposte + stacking deflection, so maybe that might be part of it (the stacking deflection bit). I'm using Mob Stance + Reckless Brigandine, but thinking of using Defender Stance + Reckless Brigandine instead. I can't get the AI to use Vigorous/Refreshing Defense correctly yet. Any tips? I think I've set it to activate on health < 90%, with a 15 second cooldown so it isn't spammed, but when I check on him, it never seems to be up like it should be... Pallegina has the same problem. He is dual wielding currently. Sword & Board is an option as well I guess... Pallegina is tough enough, but I'm not enjoying Whispers of the Endless Paths on her at all. I avoided the whole Offensive Parry schtick, so that might be part of it, but it also just seems underwhelming. What would be a better two hander for her? I use Morning Stars + Bodyblows situationally. Is there a reliable AI setting for Flames of Devotion? I've got it semi working with Always True + Class Resource > 3, but she also seems to prioritize Knock down more then FoD, but it could be my imagination. I was hoping Greater Lay on Hands would carry the bulk of my healing needs in the party, but in practice, she either isn't in range, or seems to get infinitely caught/interrupted or recovering to ever cast it in a emergency. I'm aware of setting her up as a Herald, but I'm not sold yet on basically having a healing totem for a companion. Aloth, my dear Aloth. I just don't know what to do with this guy. My Beguiler seems to cover CC well enough, so I tuned him more towards offensive AOE spells (Ninagauth's Teachings). In practice, he decimates easy fights, but on hard fights, his spells seem to hit like a noodle, and the CC + damage spells of my Beguiler seem to just do more. I just don't know what I am doing wrong here... Xoti - I am happy with Xoti as a pure priest. She suffers a bit from the same problem my Beguiler has however. There are a few good spells worth always spamming each encounter, but action economy wise, even those seem to get eaten up by the need to cast more healing spells then I would like. So in practice, on battles that are going well, the buffs like Devotions, Champions Boon, CoP, Triumph etc. all go off and its a merry stomp, but on harder fights it's a frantic mess of maybe I get off Devotions + CoP off, then I am in damage control trying to heal Eder or someone else/the occasional litany of spirits/body to clear a status effect, and by that point, we either turn the battle around and more buffs are just flashy displays of dominance, or we die. Anyway, wall of text, apologies. Just wanted to throw this post out and see if I can clean up my play a little. Cheers!
  2. Here is a link to a google doc that lists (almost) every build after 09 May 2019. Builds listed follow two criteria: 1. It had commentary after 09 May 2019. 2. It is mostly plug and play. These boards are a veritable treasure trove of Deadfire knowledge, but most people won't bother reading any of it. Builds listed must be mostly playable after less a minute of reading. If it follows these two rules, the build is listed. Little to no curation has been done on my part. https://docs.google.com/document/d/10yKVvE3jHyu9uHso-dAtwV7jrL7K3jdBP3pxVgH1gpM/edit?usp=sharing I've been a lurker here for many years. Thanks to everyone asking questions and answering!
  3. Hey guys, Long time forum lurker and recent member here. I'm sorry if this was asked before but I couldn't find anything. I'm playing single class monk (again :D) in party with regular companions. What enchantments do you usually pick for Tuotilo's Palm shield? It seems in my last game i was bad and left it without any upgrades.
  4. BLUF: Hung up on the decision to go Vaniila Wiz/Helwalker or Blood Mage/Helwalker and optimization choices (POTD, all DLC content, with a story companion party) I've looked at some of Cyrus_Blackfeather's and Whimper's builds on the list but they are somewhat dated so don't know if they are viable. I have also seen Waski's solo mega boss fights with a Sage (BM/HW) but don't know if that will work with a party or if it's better to just go vanilla wizard with a party. ***I understand the different playstyles and have messed around with them in some old saves.*** Context: I played through POE 1 a long time ago as a Cipher and recently revisited it as a Wizard. I am now looking to play through Deadfire on PoTD as a similar character with a full party of my team from POE1, plus extras (Eder, Pallegina, Xoti, and Ydwin) . I've played through on Veteran difficulty and PoTD with other classes to include Votary, Arcane Knight, SC Wizard, and Transcendent (with other party combinations), but never as a Sage. I found some of the Paladin multi-classes fun, but "safe" and I tend to like the higher risk/reward play-style better. I also am a big fan of versatility and typically gravitate to casters, but fast paced melee is also appealing. With that said, and after reading through many of the topics on these boards I am finding it difficult to decide between between blood mage or vanilla mage for the xxx/Helwalker as the optimal choice. From what I understand for Solo runs the Blood Mage is optimal but would it still be fun and viable with a party or would vanilla wiz end up more powerful with party support? Any other tips or advice regarding race, culture, etc are also welcome. Thanks in advance!
  5. Hello Can You guys share with me good build for solo PotD Paladin? I only know I can dump int but I don’t know which class I should chose (I prefer human) and what talents are “must have”. Thanks
  6. 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 ------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
  7. Hello! I will soon be returning to pillars and hopefully finally finish it (or at least get past Maerwald) before December when POE2 releases for PS4. I want to do a talkative build that works well in a team (and solo? I dunno if there are many fights you HAVE to do solo) on POTD. Also, havin POE2 in mind, are there some creation choices from POE1 that highly affect conversations in part 2? Stats and build dont matter to me much, as I like pretty much all playstyles in these types of games Races I find the most interesting: Orlan, Aumaua, Godlike Classes i find the most interesting: Paladin, Cipher, Priest While I like slaves or scholars the most, I am open to other backgrounds. For geographic origins I have no preferences at all, though I guess Deadfire would have the largest impact in POE2? Any advice is much appreciated ;D
  8. Hi all, I've looked everywhere I could think of and couldn't find any PotD solo turn based build so I've decided to ask for one here. I've already finished the game on PotD solo RTwP with a Devoted/Streetfighter and it was a lot of fun. However, this build obviously won't work on TB. I'm really interested in FINALLY trying the new turn based system but I only play solo PotD so here's that. A few points for this potential build: 1. I'm using Berath's Blessings so builds that are very weak at the beginning are still fine (I hope). 2. This build should be able to win against every boss (including expansions), including optionals such as the annoying Fampyr's Crypt. 3. I would very like for the build to be able to win against one of the Mega Bosses (I don't care which one), but I don't really expect to find one which does. :(( 4. Tested builds are preferred. Thanks in advance for anyone who tries to help.
  9. [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?
  10. Hello. Can You guys tell me how should look good build for solo chanter on potd (ver 3.07)? How should look attributes? Thanks.
  11. Hey everyone, I am currently running a assassin/Blood mage on POTD with AI up scaled. I wanted to use Pallegina and originally planned to use https://steamcommunity.com/sharedfiles/filedetails/?id=1400804034 as her build. although this looks like a solid build, I can not help but think I should go with her as a herald mainly because I read that she would be putting out great passive hp healing and was not sure if that would mesh better with my class. I will provide the rest of my party comp. I just picked up Pallegina so only lvl 7 currently and this is the farthest I have been in poe2 as I was burnt out at launch after playing 120hrs on hard in poe1 Current Party comp *MC -assassin/Blood mage -I use blood sacrifice "A LOT" to control what spells I wish to continue to use. I also use concelhaut's corrosive siphon as a form of gaining health alot as well when im having issues either with running low on hp pots or xoti is running low on healing casts. *Eder -swashbuckler - and pretty much tank atm..... using lost sinners build as well as it looked solid https://steamcommunity.com/sharedfiles/filedetails/?id=1398100119 *Xoti - Priest - currently only party heals and support. I am also not sure I want to keep her if another "better" healer comes up. *Aloth - Wizard - also using lost sinners build for aloth https://steamcommunity.com/sharedfiles/filedetails/?id=1406080663 I mainly wanted advice on Pallegina but I am also looking on input on my other companions and what might mesh well with what I got pre planned here for my party. Thanks for the help. Updated: I have received alot of pointers toward using her as a herald. Any builds for her would be appreciated. Also the recommendation to get Tekehu and swap him out with aloth and go with Pallegina as a crusader is up for debate.
  12. I am looking for 5 builds that match according to some rules I have for them. First a couple of rules. I want to have 5 multiclasses. I want to use all classes once except for ranger I do not want to use it. I want to have a Tank, a melee DPS off-tank, a ranged DPS (preferably something with an arquebuss), a magic DPS and a Healer/Buffer. Apart from that anything goes. Feel free to share builds if you feel like it.
  13. A frigid soul in a cold barren land. She wanders around aimlessly, unknowingly guided by the Cosmo. Always alone but determined, she gazes towards the coal-black unflinching sky, her treasured flute by her side. At a distance spanning mountains wide, there is fire and warmth. A caravan can be seen, perched upon the snow capped mountains, the smell of barley and ale, the jovial atmosphere and the loud chattering of kith resting after a long day's travel. Unmistakably, the group of kith starts hearing a faint but sonorous melody. Not a second too long, a thunderous parade of jagged streaks can be seen painting blue the once austere sky. They jolt gently like falling Sakura leaves, chaotic but peaceful. The once loud chattering of the kith folk stops abruptly as if time itself has stopped. Even the previously biting gale lays still, replaced by the thunderous echoes of a forgotten past yearning for a distant future. As abrupt as it came, the spectacle ceases to exist. The void replaced by stars, slowly forming in the sky. And just like that, this band of weary travelers have bared witness to a famous bard's tale only thought to have been a legend. 1. Watch these Gameplay Videos first before you read on https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=sSX6l2QgP2o 2. Required Mods Mod: Level Scaling Mod Why? We want the game to be harder so it will be more satisfying to beat. We want to DL the file called, "Level Scaling Mod" under the old files section. This is because the new mod file got tuned down as a response to the 1.1 patch which increased the game difficulty. We want the original file. https://www.nexusmods.com/pillarsofeternity2/mods/24?tab=files Mod: Afflictions and Inspirations Mod Why? This is just an optional mod but it really improves the UI of the game. It's much cleaner to look at and much more informative than the standard base UI the game comes with. https://www.nexusmods.com/pillarsofeternity2/mods/32 3. Character Creation Race: Pale Elf Why? I just like the way they look. Also, *whispers* Class Selection: Devoted Fighter + Nalpazca Monk Why Devoted? This build has a 46% chance to crit so having that +25% crit damage would prove useful. That's not even the best part. Why we pick Devoted is because of the +2 penetration we get. Since we will be playing on POTD and since we will be using a Blunderbuss (low base pen), we will need as much armor pen as we can get. Why Nalpazca? It's miles ahead in comparison to any other monk subclass. This is because Helwalker makes us too squishy, Shattered is a no go because we need max wounds to take advantage of Turning Wheel and No Subclass gives us no benefit. Nalpazca on the other hand offers us a substantial benefit (+10 pl to drugs) with an easily fixed penalty (we need to take drugs). Also, Drugs are ridiculously good! Attributes: Without/With Berath's Blessing Mig 8 -> 10 Con 8 -> 10 Dex 18 -> 20 Per 18 -> 20 Int 18 -> 20 Res 8 -> 10 Why we only need few of might, constitution or resolve? Our weapon (Blunderbuss) has a low base damage so +% damage from might is not that attractive, the +% healing we get is ok but we have enough ways to keep ourselves healthy. We will have enough defense rating (deflection, fortitude, reflex, will) to offset our non-investment in constitution. Resolve gives us an ok amount of deflection. We also have sufficient tools to lower hostile effect duration through Ring of Solitary Wanderer (-35% hostile effect duration) and Clarity of Agony (-5 sec Duration of hostile effects, -50% Hostile effect duration for 20.0 sec). Why we need a lot of dexterity, perception and intellect? We need dex to attack fast so we can keep procing Avenging Storm which is the reason for this build. Perception is the king of stats, especially in POTD. We want to hit enemies. As a side benefit, both dexterity and perception increases our reflex defense. With sky-high reflex, plenty of the heavy hitting enemy ranged aoe damage will miss us leaving enemies to rely on their puny basic attacks to do damage on us. Enemy spells shouldn't be an issue either as we have enough will to resist it. The reason why we max intellect is for the increased duration in our abilities, scrolls, and drugs. This is more valuable than it sounds! Culture: The White that Wends Mystic Why? Mainly for the Lore. Also, Mystic gives us +1 to Arcana (the active skill we are going to max). Weapon Proficiency: Blunderbuss Why? We will be using Kitchen Stove which is a Blunderbuss. Active Skill: Max Arcana Why? Arcana along with Alchemy are straight-up bonkers as of patch 1.1. +1 Arcana is equivalent to +1 to power level of scrolls. We will be taking advantage of all the scrolls we can find/craft to unleash hell towards our enemies. Avenging Storm is our bread and butter. Passive Skill: Max History Why? We will be using the The Giftbearer's Cloth (+5 all defenses except deflection, increases with the History skill). 4. Equipment and Consumables Equipment: Helmet- Pearlescent Helm or Death's Maw (you can use whatever for this) Necklace - Bonesetter's Torc (for the +5% crit, +10% healing done and injury removal) Armor - Devil of Caroc Breastplate (still the best armor in-game despite the nerf imho) Ring Slot 1 - Ring of Solitary Wanderer (for the -35% harmful duration) Boots - Footprints of Ahu Taka (for the +2 dex and +10% healing done) Cape - The Giftbearer's Cloth (still gives a lot of defenses despite the nerf, +15 at 20 History) Gloves - Firethrower's Gloves (has everything we need for this build, +2 dex and +1 Arcana) Ring Slot 2 - Entonia Signet Ring (you can use whatever for this) Belt - Upright Captain's Belt (for the immunity to push/pull effects) Pet - Abraham (reduces recovery speed by a lot, best pet in-game imho) Weapon: Kitchen Stove - We want to use a Blunderbuss for its multi-shot passive. Kitchen Stove just happens to be the best Blunderbuss. Note# We want the modal on as it does crazy AOE damage. Its negative effect is offset by Intuitive from Disciplined Strikes. Note# The optimal enchantments are Frantic Reload and Wild Barrage. Food: Hot Razor Skewers is really good as it gives us +2 might, +2 pen and +1 to power level. Any other food should be fine as well. Note# Captain's Banquet +20% action speed bonus overrides the action speed bonus of our abilities. They don't stack together. Note# Captain's Banquet +20% dmg with spells doesn't work with Avenging Storm for some reason. Note# Crusted Swordfish +2 pen with spells doesn't work with Avenging Storm for some reason. Drugs: Deadeye is excellent for this build as it gives us accuracy as well as the % interrupt that gets pretty crazy due to multi-shot (Blunderbuss passive). Note# Coral Snuff is not good because its action speed bonus overrides the action speed bonus of our abilities. They don't stack together. Note# For hard encounters, use Deadeye. For general encounters, use any other drugs or even no drugs at all. Scrolls: Scroll of Avenging Storm - Our bread and butter. This is the reason why this build exists. Nuff Said. Scroll of Circle of Protection - Increases our defenses by 15 until combat ends. This is pretty crazy huh? Scroll of Moonwell - Increases our defenses by 10 and gives us a huge amount of constant healing (26.2hp per 3 seconds) for a long duration (40.5s). Scroll of Withdraw - We will only use this as a last resort. It makes us untargetable while healing us but we are stunned for the duration. Note# I only use these set of scrolls for hard encounters. For general encounters, use any other scrolls or even no scrolls at all. Note# No matter how much fun it is to always use Avenging Storm, I only use it when I actually need it. Use it sparingly as it's hard to craft. Note# I'm not using Scroll of Meteor Shower and Scroll of Great Maelstrom because they just one shot everything with maxed out Arcana. 5. Abilities Abilities by level guide: 2. Lesser Wounds 3. Fast Runner 4. Fighter Stances + 1H Style (+20% critical chance is crazy good) 5. Determination (amazing tanking passive) 6. Confident Aim 7. Disciplined Strikes + Lightning Strikes (core abilities of this build) 8. Rapid Recovery 9. Clarity of Agony (really good against strong damage over time) 10. Vigorous Defense + Thunderous Blows (+2 pen applies to Avenging Storm) 11. Duality of Mortal Presence 12. Crucible of Suffering (amazing tanking passive) 13. Conqueror Stance (+10 to accuracy/deflection is nuts) + Enlightened Agony (we love intellect) 14. Armored Grace 15. Enervating Blows (super useful against enemies that heal) 16. Refreshing Defense + Turning Wheel (we love intellect) 17. Body Control (resistance to might affliction) 18. Unstoppable (resistance to dex affliction) 19. Snake's Reflex + Bear's Fortitude (more defenses) 20. Uncanny Luck AI Behavior Script:
  14. Hi Folks! Happy Holidays! I recently completed my fourth run of Deadfire, and I want to attempt to complete every god challenge at once to spice up the difficulty. I was hoping players more experienced than I could chime in and provide suggestions in this thread on strategies to make this challenge work. NOTE: A 12th challenge will be released at some point. I will likely update this thread whenever it gets announced. Magran's Fires, for reference: Obviously, this is going to be monumentally difficult. This post is also going to have a monumental amount of information in it. After thinking about the challenges over the past week, I’ve broken up my thoughts into three big questions I need help with in order to succeed. 1) What can I do to minimize the effects of the challenges? 2) How can I maximize quest xp and minimize battle difficulty and travel time? and 3) What kind of party handles these challenges the best? Are there essential items that we need along the way? Countering the Challenges: Quest Routing This section is entirely untested for now, but we want to get as much XP as possible while minimizing travel time incurred by Eothas’ challenge. I borrow heavily from Dorftek’s guide on getting early XP, which you can read here: https://forums.obsidian.net/topic/103025-guide-grow-strong-before-fighting-anything/. Here’s my plan so far: Party Composition The good news is that we get to play with a full party, and I'm not so masochistic as to attempt this on Solo or Ironman Mode. The bad news is that, well, combat is HARD. Broadly speaking, these are things that I want my party to have, in rough order of importance: The Party Thus Far That’s where I’m at right now. Here are my questions: 1) Anybody have tricks or tips on handling specific God Challenges? Am I underestimating how annoying Abydon and Skaen are? Has anyone completed Eothas’ challenge yet? 2) Could I improve my route through the game to get more XP? What faction should I side with to make the challenge easier? 3) Give me your favorite character ideas. What builds on the forums handle Magran’s challenge well? What AI settings have you used that are effective? Looking forward to your ideas!
  15. When back in 2017 I heard of multiclassing in the then upcoming PoE2, I wanted to combine my two favorite classes in the game: Cipher and Paladin. I thought the synergy between the two would be monstrous: Faith and Conviction and the defensive arsenal of the Paladin would make a squishy Cipher more than capable to dish out all the damage possible without dying. At the same time, Cipher has renewable resources, so, yay, great for solo. You never wanna run out of fire. In my first playthrough, I didn't go solo, and because of the tooltip warning against multiclass, I opted for pure Cipher. By the time I did multiple playthroughs to know the game better, Paladin got nerfed to death: - increased cost to Greater Lay on Hands - 100% to 25% Virtous Triumph proc chance - FoD nerfs left and right In light of these changes, I deemed any Paladin tank build inferior to any Fighter multiclass, having Unbending become better compared to GLoH, and not having "infinite resources" by killing enemies anymore. Boy, was I wrong. Cipher, that to many is considered one of the most boring and underpowered classes - and the rationale behind their opinion escapes me, having this class access to all types of affliction and a whopping 300+ raw damage nuke - got nerfed, most notably with: - Body Attunement from -4/+4 to -2/+2 armor - Borrowed Instinct (literally single best spell in the game) from 30s base duration to 20s. - Time Parasite from -50% to -25% (note: this is one of the few way that allowed to achieve ~0s recovery at lvl 20) I recently decided to prove myself wrong, and tried an Inquisitor. I've always been a great fan of the Ascended, which for many (party, mostly) builds is insanely good, thanks to its ability to get max focus and then spam the best single target nuke in the game on literally everyone. Alas, Ascend got nerfed, too (from 20s to 12s base duration). What was I left with? Base class, meh. Beguiler, definitely not good for non-Rogue multiclass. And Soulblade. The latter can be surprisingly good when combined with Whispers of the Endless Path, as one can Soul Strike on multiple targets, recover focus at the same time by hitting the secondary ones, thus never actually being starved of focus. The counterattack on top, allows you to keep focus high. I would like to say that this is the best weapon for this build, but what I discovered by going through all the SSS challenges, is that it is not. The best weapon for a character with all the afflictions, with high defenses but excelling in none of them (compared to Tricksters, Skaen Priest, Wizards) is versatility. This build will not point out (except for a few slots) a fixed equipment. What we aim to achieve is the best Armor against every encounter. Therefore, we will focus on boosting Armor. Similarly, the other side of the coin is having good Penetration alongside with it. We plan to have a versatile arsenal. And since we decided that versatility is the name of the game, we will save all the unnecessary ability points from the Paladin tree, and invest them to get the Cipher spells that really matter. THE RACE THE BACKGROUND THE STATS THE SUBCLASSES THE ABILITIES THE EQUIPMENT To be continued... https://goo.gl/Eq12FG (soon)
  16. The "Stop-N-Go" or "The Jumping Fortress"* (Holy Slayer) [*Thanks to Dr <3 for this more evocative name.] Introduction: The idea behind this build is take advantage of several defense-boosting abilities that require you stand still (the large shield modal, Bronlar's Phalanx, Stoic Steel), combined with the fact that you count as "standing still" when you use Escape to teleport somewhere. In practice, this build has two modes. In the first mode we rush into the middle of your enemies with two weapons or a two-handed weapon and get ourself Flanked and Bloodied as quickly as possible. In the second "Stop-N-Go" mode, we shift to a heavy shield/weapon set-up, activate our stand-still abilities and spam Sworn Rival. This allows us to comfortably sit in the Bloodied/Near Death zone while enjoying a number of abilities that are conditional on being low health. And when we need to re-position to get flanked again, or need to move to take out potential threats, we use Escape to teleport there. In the latter mode, we're extremely tanky -- we have a high deflection, substantial damage reduction (especially against ranged and reflex-based attacks), multiple sources of regeneration, and a 20+ armor rating -- and we can pull out Lay on Hands in emergencies. And we also have an impressive array of offensive boosts that allows us to quickly obliterate targets around us. Difficulty: Solo PotD v.2.1 (with Berth's Blessing and level scaling) I completed my Solo PotD run using Berath's Blessings and level scaling. Berath's Blessings aren't necessary, but the 50k bonus blessing is recommended, as it will help you get some key equipment much sooner.Classes: Holy Slayer (Streetfighter Rogue/Goldpact Paladin) Rogue gives us a number of great offensive boosts (e.g., Deathblows) and Escape, which is crucial for this build. The Streetfighter specialty adds some fantastic offensive boosts while Bloodied and/or Flanked, which is most of the time. Paladin gives us a number of abilities that allow us to be very tanky, including Stoic Steel, one of the best "stand still" abilities. The Goldpact specialty allows our Sworn Rival ability to provide a temporary stacking armor boost whose cost is refunded when the target dies. And since we kill things very quickly, we can keep that armor bonus up pretty much all of the time. Race: Human The Human bonuses to accuracy and damage when Bloodied are great for this build, since it's built around being Bloodied or Near Death.Background: The White that Wends (Hunter, or anything else you like) The White that Wends gives a bonus for our most important stat, Perception. There are a number of reasonable choices for background, but Hunter probably provides the most generally useful skill bumps (Mechanics).Stats: Might: Very High Constitution: High Dexterity: Very High Perception: Max Intellect: Min Resolve: Medium Perception is our most important stat: since we'll frequently be seeing the massive Streetfighter bonus to critical damage kick in, we'll want to crit as much as possible. And we'll generally have a large shield accuracy penalty to overcome. Dexterity is our second most important stat; it's always nice to be able to do more, and do it quicker. Boosts to Perception, Dexterity and Might are DPS increases that are multiplicative with respect to each other, so in order to be a DPS machine we want to boost all three. Might is our third most important stat. It's nice -- it boosts our damage and our healing abilities. But the damage bonuses from the Rogue and Streetfighter abilities will quickly dwarf any bonuses Might provides, making this a lower priority than Perception and Dexterity. We want a reasonable amount of Constitution, to allow us to comfortabley stay Bloodied or Near Death most of the time. But this build gets so tanky that after the first third of the game, that a small boost to Constitution suffices. We want our Resolve to be flat. We don't want it to be too high, because we still want to be hit in our warm-up mode, and we don't want it to be too low, because we don't want to be hit in our stop-n-go mode. Intellect is the least important stat, since little hangs on it -- in a solo run we don't care about how big our aura is, we don't have any other interesting AoE abilities, and the only class ability with a duration we care about is Lay on Hands -- and that's partially a good thing, since it gives us more fine-grained control of how much health we have, making it easier to say in the Bloodied zone. For reference, in my run my starting stats were M16, C13, D20, P21, I10, R10. In hindsight this was a mistake -- M21, C13, D20, P21, I5, R10 would have been better. Skills: For the early game, this can be whatever makes things easiest -- I'd recommend starting with a point or two in Explosive and Arcana to provides some AoE options on the first island, and then some points in Stealth and Mechanics. After that you can retrain to take whatever you like. In my run I invested heavily in Explosives, but after level 10 I never bothered using them -- it was easier to just kill things the old fashioned way. Class Abilities: (Highly recommended abilities underlined.) Escape and Lay on Hands (You won't use Lay on Hands in 95% of your fights. But it's nice to have for the toughest fights.) Deep Faith Retribution Zealous Aura and Weapon and Shield Dirty Fighting Any (Crippling Strike, Flames of Devotion, Divine Purpose and Inspired Defenses are all reasonable choices.) Sworn Rival and Riposte Any (Snake's Reflexes, Bull's Will, Bear's Fortitude, and any leftover options from above are all reasonable choices.) Any (Ditto) Exalted Endurance and Persistent Distraction (Exalted Endurance is a little funny -- in a lot of fights you'll never even use it. But it's great in tougher fights, since you can turn it on and off as needed to keep you comfortably in the Bloodied zone.) Any (Any of the leftovers from above or Adept Evasion are decent choices) Any (Ditto) Any (Any of the leftovers from above or Uncanny Luck are decent choices) and Deep Wounds Any Any Improved Critical + Slippery Mind Any Any Stoic Steel and Deathblows Any Gear: (Highly recommended gear is underlined.) Armor: Bloody Links (early), Reckless Brigadine (later). You'll also want a set of legendary plate armor for fights against enemies with strong piercing or corrode attacks. Shield: Bronlar's Phalanx Weapons: ​(Initial Mode): Any nice 2-hander or pair of weapons will do nicely.A couple nice 2-handed choices: Lance of Midwood Stag (you can start wailing away, and when you get Blooded Woodskin kicks in and you can shift to Stop-N-Go mode, keeping the Woodskin armor boost for a while); Voidwheel (the self-damaging aspect of this sword is actually a perk, since it helps you become Bloodied more quickly); Wahai Poraga (you're often swarmed with enemies, so hitting several of them at a time is nice). If you go with two weapons, I'd recommend Rust's Poignard (with persistent distraction, enemies are usually flanked and you'll get the flanking bonuses) and Stalker's Patience (ditto). (Stop-N-Go mode): Kapana Taga (The Lone Champion enchantment gives you a stacking +4 deflection and +1 armor bonus whenever there are no nearby allies (i.e., always); and the Champion's Relic enchantment increases damage with # of people engaged and increases engagement limit, which is great when you're used to being swarmed.) You'll also want to have the Animancer's Energy Blade as a back-up weapon against high AR targets (which is about half of the fights in the BoW DLC). Neck: Protective Eothasian Charm (early): +1 to most important stat (perception) and hefty damage reduction and healing when Near Death? Perfect fit for this build. It's a decent choice for the entire game, or you can replace it with something like Bone Setter's Torc (+ crit chance and + healing for emergencies are both nice) or Claim and Refusal. Belt: The Undying Burden Rings: The Ring of Mule's Wit is fantastic with this build -- it drops our Int to 1, but we won't notice, and it gives us resistance to all Mind Afflictions(!). The Entonia Signet Ring and Ring of the Solitary Wanderer are also nice options. Hands: Firethrower's Gloves, Gatecrashers, Woedica's Strangling Grasp are all decent. Cloak: The Cloak of the Falling Star is great for solo play, and thus great for this build. (Violet Redemption would be perfect for this build, fitting nicely with the stand-still effects theme. Sadly, we can't get it until the very end of the game. ) Head: The Cap of the Laughingstock looks silly, but it's amazing for solo martial builds, effectively increasing our accuracy by +10. And since this build wants to get as many criticals as possible, to take advantage of the Streetfighter bonuses, it's especially good for this build. (It does make our enemies immune to resolve afflictions, but we don't care about that.) Feet: The Rakhan Field Boots are a nice choice, as they effectively give you an additional 1/encounter teleportation option, which also inflicts a full attack on anyone in the way. The Boots of the Stone and Footprints of Ahu Taka are also decent. Pet: Jules (+perception, and bonus to healing is nice for the toughest fights) and Nalvi (+resolve and reduced recovery) are nice options after you get to Neketaka. Avoid pets that give you healing after killing things, though, since you don't want them to force you out of the Bloodied zone! PROs of this build: It's great against single tanky enemies, since it can last forever and wear them down. Once you get the key equipment and your level 10 class abilities, the build really starts to take off, so we have a fun build to play for most of the game. It's really, really tough -- once everything comes together, we can beat every fight on upscaled PotD without having to pull mobs or use consumables. CONs of this build: Certain kinds of enemies can be a pain (e.g., spellcasters); in these cases we'll want to use Escape to teleport next to the most threatening opponents and take them down quickly. Since you lack AoE attacks, swarms can take a while to get through. You can compensate by investing in Explosives or Arcana, but I usually just hacked my way through them. You won't get everything online until fairly late (level 19). But most pieces of the build will be in place (and the build is fun to play) long before then.
  17. Hello everyone, I could use some help on a build I'm putting together. As some of you know I've been testing out the combination of DPS and overall damage resistance by creating several Paladin/X combinations. Anyways I always test the same way. I spawn Ukaizo and see how I do. So far Arcane Knight is right behind my Devoted/Goldpact build in terms of DPS and her ability to tank any damage that come her way. Success wise she got Ukaizo to 50% facetanking everything he had. So I would like some advice on what I'm doing wrong here. I've written out everything I can think of for this build to work. Currently it requires consumables in order to deal out some nasty DPS. What I'm hoping is that I can cut the consumable use down to just the occasional nuke if I absolutely have to. I would like the melee DPS to be increased if possible, I'm also open to using ranged weapons if it makes the DPS increase. I would also like to increase the overall tankiness of the build. Lastly, I had this idea (which I"m certain I read in another post) that I could get heals through flames, is this a good idea? I did give it a go, and it seemed to be working fairly well. Can this healing be increased too? Class: Arcane Knight - Goldpact Knights/Evoker Race: Wild Orlen Attributes: MIG: 15 >> 18 (BB, GoTM) CON: 6 >> 10 (BB, Gear) DEX: 15 >> 20 (BB) >> XX (Gear) PER: 19 >> 22 (BB, Effigy, Cauldron Brew) INT: 18 >> 23 (BB, Gear) RES: 6 >> 10 (BB, Gear) Abilities (Goldpact): Sworn Enemy Sworn Rival Flames of Devotion Eternal Devotion Lay on Hands Zealous Aura Exalted Endurance Deep Faith Retribution Inspired Defenses Divine Purpose Combat Focus Scion of Flame Mental Fortress Uncanny Luck Practiced Healer Improved Critical Virtuous Triumph Stoic Steel Abilities (Evoker): Fleet Feet Wizards Double Mirrored Image Infuse With Vital Essence Llengrath’s Displaced Image Iron Skin Ryngrim’s Enervating Terror Heart of the Storm Rapid Casting Skills: Arcana: 12 >> 15 (Paladin, Wizard, Gear) Mechanics 7 >> 8 (Hunter)* Gears: Armor: Devil of Caroc Breastplate Weapons (MH): Magran’s Favor (Blazing Core, Enduring Flame) Weapons (OH): Kapana Taga (Lone Champion, All Comers) Grimoire: Grimoire of Vaporous Wizardry Neck: Stone of Power (+1 INT) Belt: The Undying Burden (+2 CON) Ring 1: Voidward Ring 2: Solitary Wanderer (+1 RES) Hands: Flamethrower’s Gloves (+2 DEX) Cloak: Cape of the Falling Star Head: Heaven’s Cacophony (+2 INT) Boots: Boots of the Stone (+1 DEX, +1 RES) Pet: Undecided Consumables: Healing Pots x10 Scroll of Great Maelstorm Scrol of Meteor Shower *should be able to get that to 12 or 14ish with gear I believe?
  18. A howling immortal one-man-army that smashes everything in its path with high Hit-to-Crit conversion. "Sir! The third cohort has been repeled, they suffered heavy casualties! Should we send the cavalry?" "Send the cavalry, the fourth, the fifth, the bloody reserves too! The enemy has us clearly outnumbered!" "...Sir, it's just one man." "what." "With a Morningstar, Sir." https://imgur.com/a/bi7qvIL Until now, Barbarian has been a luckluster class to me, lacking the other martial classes high accuracy, and with not enough sustain to fulfill its role like it did in PoE1. Not to mention lack of any obvious CC. However, the Morningstar modal completely changed my mind: in combination with Brute Force and Might afflictions, one can effectively increase their Accuracy by +35, by lowering the enemies Fortitude of that much. Note that the modal, while having a -25% damage penalty, can be turned off after scoring the first hit, as it persists for ~12s, and then on again. Morningstars are underrepresented - the only two unique ones are Saru-Sichr and The Willbreaker. While the fomer is quite unimpressive, The Willbreaker has the following perks: - 10% attack speed - 10% Hit to Crit - High raw damage over time on Resolve affliction ridden enemies (in this build, we will reach about 90 raw damage over 20s, by just hitting things. RIP deep wounds) - 10% Chance to Shaken on Hit Combine the former with the 30% Hit-to-Crit from Berserker, and another 25% from Intuitive, and we get to a nice ~53% Hit-to-Crit. And that's why we turn at the Devoted subclass, which adds more penetration on top of Tenacious, and additional Crit damage, all the same without losing in versatility, as Morningstars have good damage combination (Pierce/Crush). The issue of self inflicted damage during Frenzy is addressed through spamming of Unbending Shield, Ring of Greater Regeneration, and last but not least, Devil's Due upgrade from The Devil of Caroc's Breastplate (incidentally coming with the Intellect Affliction Resistance we need), which provides healing on scoring Crits. Top this with a Voidward (-25% Raw damage, necessary because at high level and Might Frenzy ends up dealing about 30raw/3s), and you obtain a self-sustaining unstoppable killer. I've tested this character in successfully clearing the Drowned Barrows, Nemnok included. I strongly believe this build is suitable for solo'ing PotD, even though it will suffer A LOT before getting its core ability, i.e. Brute Force, i.e. lvl 16. But again, in this game one can reach that level without much fighting. Here's the build. Race Class Culture and Background Attributes Skills Abilities Equipment
  19. 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.
  20. Some of you might remember me from the good old Level-1-Noober-Challenge or the Naked-Challenge in PoE 1 so a warm "hello again" to all stumbling into this post! First i must admit that i love PoE 2 after starting it two weeks ago but - on the same hand - it starts to bore me again and again so i did not completed a single run even though i have created dozens of characters now - mostly using TCS settings. I started the game completly blind using Monks and Druids as i played them the most in PoE 1. The problem was: They lacked the easy escape buttons and died many times due to ambushes or bad luck (yeah, lack of metagame knowledge here!). I then started switching to priest and rogue multiclass. Hellwalker/Priest of Skaen was fun, my current Shifter/Trickster even more. Concepts of a Paladin/Trickster also sound very promising. However. My question to the community is: What do you think is the most capable class to beat PoE 2 (plus DLC) using the following rules: 1. Complete the game without wearing any armor, boots, gloves, helmets, or accessories in combat. 2. Path of the Damned or Triple Crown Solo. 3. No Berath Blessings. 4. No retraining. 5. Upscaling for all enemies. 6. Collect all bounties. 7. Finish the main game plus the DLC´s. 8. Chanters are banned. 9. No AI scripts. 10. Difficulty increasing Mods like Deadly Deadfire are optional but highly welcome - your choice! There are only a couple of execptions to play through the game: 1. You may use things like Camping Supply, Lock Pick, Hook, Prybar, Hammer and Chisel, Rope and Grapling Hook. 2. You may use plot/quest items for their plot/quest purposes. 3. You may use gold for quests, resting or visiting brothels. 4. You may use gold to build up your ship. As i personally play only using Triple Crown settings i have died many times running into unknown territory AND lacking the easy escape options (Withdraw, Smoke Veil, Shadowing Beyond...). Splittpulling still works but seems to be much harder than in PoE 1 as enemies tend to follow forever if you cant outrun them. Is there a way around? Another major concern is the fight against the Guardian of Ukaizo. Will any naked character stand a chance here? I know that the battle can be skipped using invisibility but somehow that feels lame. Is there a way to "talk him down"? However: Before tiping too much nonsense i am eager to read about your ideas. Thanks! P.S. Maybe @Reent will wake up again playing another Chanter?
  21. Hello For my 2nd run I try to play a principal priest, I do not especially like xoti. But I discovered that much less I like to play interpreting a priest, and much less with pallegrina in the group, doing anything referring to gods is negative for her. So the solution is to play without a priest, but I do not know if it is viable in the maximum difficulty with level scale. I would like you to leave your opinion and what strategies you would use.
  22. Need 5th for my super-duper team (also some ideas for others' team builds): I always found that traditional tanks do very little for the team, hence I split duties of a tank between my melee dps and the healer/buffer, resulting in a stable 4 man PotD (no scaling) group that allows to "carry" companions through their respective quest lines. I prefer to go for level 20 before Hasongo, so right now the only companion being carried is Eder. Once he's good, I will have a spot open for 5th custom character on my team. I would appreciate to learn new "OP" build while doing so. At the moment I have the following team comp: 1. Trixie (Swashbuckler: Devoted/Trickster) as WotEP Deflection-Riposte "main tank" 2. Xander (Templar: Kind Wayfarers/Eothas Priest) as Healer-Buffer turtle (120+ all defenses lvl 16) 3. Vilara (Mindstalker: Ascendant/Streetfighter) as Main DPS (Streetfighter+Mortars and Ascentant for self buff, and some extra utility for hard fights) 4. Ravig (Loremaster: Troubadour/Wizard) as De-buffer/Summoner turtle (Used to open fights with Summons, then put maluses on enemies: Pull of Eora+Expose Vulnerabilities+Arkemyr's Torment & Hex for sneak attacks from Vilara) and then stand around occasionally summoning stuff with 12% vamp/ +10 deflections chants always active. 5.??? I have never played/been attracted to Druid,Monk or Barb in either PoE or PoE 2: Deadfire. Would appreciate strong PotD builds including these classes focused around big damage numbers Thank you!
  23. Gonna be streaming Magran's Fires Berath & Magran's Challenges. I will usually stream between 3pm - 11 pm CEST. The challenges are: Berath's Challenge: Any party member Knocked Out for 6 seconds is Killed Cannot flee from combat Magran's Challenge: The game cannot be paused The game time cannot be slowed In addition the challenges force you to go PoTD & Upscaling. Party Composition: Devoted/Skald Bleak Walker/Streetfighter Priest of Eothas Evoker Wizard Devoted/Assassin Playthrough will be uploaded to my youtube channel once I'm done. Eventually I will make Build Guides for my each individual party member. Channel links: Twitch Channel Youtube Channel Donate via Streamlabs
  24. Short: POTD, direct route to Gorecci street after clearing the beach. No spending gold (except crafting), no free bonuses, no cheese. BIG HEAD MODE MANDATORY! Complex rules: - POTD , upscaling only - NO BLESSINGS! NO DLC items / Collectors Edition / Console command pets (only the astral pig is okay for roleplaying reasons!). - benevolent backstory! but DO NOT USE HYLEAS BOUNTY! - pick up Eder and Xoti whenever you like! - (allowed to) full clear everything on the beach! (including the cave) - Stay on the route to port maje, you are only allowed to take what you can see from the road (ale and fresh fruit) - NO TALKING to anyone that isnt on the beach OR directly related to the gorecci quest (i.e. the woman in the prison who gives you the quest). - You are allowed to LOOT everything u can in the main area of port maje (i didnt go into the tavern or into the mayors house) but DO NOT TALK TO ANYONE THAT ISNT REQUIRED (for the things mentioned above)! - This means NO recruiting, NO buying items! ONLY LOOT (+crafting!)! - You HAVE to hard engage the entire group at the well! (NO pulling half of them! NO kiting around walls!) You may stealth into position / move (since they dont aggro right away) Screen of the difficulty: https://ibb.co/krBAwo ^This puts you at level 2 with some drugs,pots and food. FINISHED WITH: Moon Godlike Kind Wayfarers Paladin+Drug Monk multiclass (named Gorecci), Xoti monk/priest , Eder fighter https://ibb.co/dH312T Finished Fight: https://ibb.co/dDsYGo So the setup i used was around the wizard who just HAS to die instantly, in fact i HAD to hit the first knockdown as well since his 1 cast is jolting touch which just fks you up. Setup: https://ibb.co/mES0wo On my first try i got an insane roll as well https://ibb.co/eeNuNT hitting for 49 damage but still ended up dying because the fighters ended up blocking the way down and that ONE bloody archer just deleted me... Eder got instagibbed on my 2nd try but thanks to his op armor passive i got to push thru AND Got past the fighters while taking only a few disengage attacks and the archer https://ibb.co/hSJqwo Still almost fked up my main character in 2 hits https://ibb.co/htjkU8 But after the archer was dead and my party was still pretty alive it was just easy cleanup as seen on top. https://ibb.co/dDsYGo Items used: Ripple sponge (crafted) was the mvp imo. +15%dmg -5% speed drug on eder, the interrupt drug on xoti though i didnt see any interrupts and would probably have prefered svef. A bunch of pots (like 3 in a row on xoti while she was solo tanking the 2 fighters while my other 2 chars were dealing with the last archer). and then some Stun bombs (20% chance to hit on 4 ppl gave me like 1 graze/hit each of the 2 times i used them. Probably not using those again... Food: Grog on MC and fresh fruit on xoti and eder TAKE THE CHALLENGE AND SHARE YOUR EXPERIENCE/BUILD GIT GUD
  25. So after 1.1 and, as Josh said, a great scythe swiped over items & abilities and "reworked" encounters (I think most people would only ever remember the boars, panthers and dragons living happily together) I began another playthrough with 1+3 custom characters, not very optimized and mostly some fun builds, PoTD+all level scaling, only up. The beginning was promising and game began reminding me of Tyranny on highest difficulty - people who played it probably know that final fight in prologue there was supah difficult, although then it just fell down. So I began using actual healing spells, switch weapons to fit enemy armor. I explored just 25% of the world map, and due to even more xp gains from monsters, and overall enormous amount of xp you gain for quests and such, hit level 15 (!) and almost abandonded the playthrough again. I only kept going to check on possibly reworked encounters, but so far only few were tweaked (the prologue, engwithan titan and it's dungeon was, for sure, gullet dungeon a bit, some random redskulls were placed - a few); most encounters, secondary & faction locations, bounties, mini-dungeons were not touched and are just as easy as they were. So here's the thing. Player abilities got cut in half, all items got Sid Meier'd "cut everything 50% and see what happens", yet the game is still too easy. Well, a few points. By cutting on player abilities, you also affect enemies. For example, enemy fighters are not an unkillable fortresses anymore due to Unbending nerfed. Rogues are still the only ones which can 2-shot your characters, while others don't seem as strong. The items and stacking, sure, may have affected some powah builds, but ideally you should actually balance endgame for player having some high tier items, not just turning them all to worthless junk. But here's the thing. No matter how much you plug the holes, the ship continues leaking. Why? Because PoE leveling system is simply not balanced for an open world game. Cause, a) You gain XP too fast. and b) Levels are everything, and accuracy is everything. Most of your potential, comes from levels, just like in PoE1. Where after first big city, game became super easy. Baldur's Gate countered this somewhat with the flat AD&D leveling system, where after particular level, gains did not matter as much ("you leveled up. you gain +1 to saving throws and +1 hit point"). Also some classes were hard to level up (Druids and their 13 to 14 leveling). And I think PoE2 should have done this during development too, compared to basically linear PoE1. So, why not do something like this now? Without MODS WILL FIX IT agenda, I think 2 things should happen (at least maybe on Veteran/PoTD): 1) Without touching much on XP rewards, it's probably possible to make higher levels require more xp. Most players I've read feel that levels 1-8 are fine, since you need to get them quickly to feel like you well played 1st game. The difficulty during these levels is also pretty good. So I'd keep these levels as they are. Then there is a particular something about going from level 9 to 12 or so. I felt it and many others said that "after level 12" (which is when player vacuum cleans Neketaka) people become overpowered. So maybe this should get 25-30% or so increased xp requirement. Finally, going from level 12 to 20 should give diminishing returns. So the further you are, the more xp you need to gain these levels. 2) At some level, character system should create sort of "plateau" (like levels 8-12 in IE games), and your accuracy and defences, as well as hit points gains, should diminish. Naturally it's same for the enemies. That way, most of Deadfire populaton, which primarely consists of low level critters and various pirate goons won't explode the moment you click on them. Or, you know, maybe scale everything +10/-10. But many believe that level scaling is cancer etc. Naturally, there should also be more high level content. There are nearly not enough strong creatures and crazy encounters in the game, which we haven't seen in PoE1, and many were just copypasted from it or White March. I played up to level 18 after all the super patching, and it's same story as ever - at some point, enemies simply cease to be any threat, and begin exploding from your dudes armed with better weapons, or simply die to a single empowered spell... all while you barely touched second half of the game. Oops.
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