Search the Community

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!

Hi. Long time lurker and I appreciate the help this community gives and seems friendly. So I got the highly addictive case of restartitus and have been looking for a build (still haven't completed the story though putting quite a few hours in but still fairly new) playing on veteran I'm interested in the fate testarossa build but I would love to use dual guns. Then I came across the gypsy thunder build but when trying it got bored fairly quickly, which then gave me an idea. Would those 2 builds work together? Could I cause a thunder storm while shooting thunder at them? So this is where I am at also taking a few inspirations from sintee's gunfu monk. (awesome build but as my MC I don't want to be forced into decisions) Class: monk (helwalker) /druid (fury) Race:pale elf Stats: MIG: 18 CON: 10 DEX: 11 PER: 20 INT: 16 RES: 03 Adding berath blessing for +2 onto each Skills and abilities I'm currently not sure on those going to pick as I go. This is what I really need help with. Next problem is blunderbuss or pistol? If pistol I'm looking at going towards arcane blaster and thundercrack. If blunderbuss not a clue other than kitchen stove (maybe hand mortars) however have I made my build not as effective with blunder as my might is high? I'm thinking deltro cage might be the armour for that boast to lightening damage too. Don't know if the recovery time will be worth it though. Anyway thanks for reading and looking forward to your input. PS. Kind of imagining this char loosely based on storm from x-men

To find out that Shattered Pillar Monk is utter trash now. Went from super OP to (for me) unplayable. I played the game the first two weeks it came out a lot have changed since then... Time to reroll i guess. I got one question im planning to do either a Nalpazca paladin multiclass or a Helwalker Paladin multiclass. I prefered nalpazca because of the insane stat/accuracy/crit bonuses from pots and drugs. But im not sure when i read the patch nodes from 1.2 what those mean: "Alchemy Skill no longer affects "Poison" keyworded spells and abilities. (It still affects applied poison consumables)" From reports in the forum i read that Alchemy does not work anymore on increasing the stats that potion and drugs provide is that correct? In that case there is only one good monk subclass left and my decision is clear. I just want to be safe about how alchemy skill works in 1.2 - can anybody tell me maybe?

The Slayer (Updated for 2.0) Slayers are suicidal dwarves that go out into the world having sworn to die in battle to expunge some dishonor from their name. This slayer is constantly trying to die, but is just too good at killing to have succeeded at his goal yet. The build uses +damage the more you’re hurt synergies. This is more of a theme build rather than a min/max; but it did WAY better than I expected (this works really well in party w/ someone using willbreaker and Body Blows) Game Version: 2.0 Difficulty: PotD (+all Upscale, no mods) Solo: *No - You will need backup (Salvation of time and/or Barring death's door from others, the cloak can't always last long enough on boss fights) Race: Dwarf (mountain for the red hair) Class: Ravager [Helwalker/Berzerker] Home: The Living Lands Background: Laborer Stats: (not including blessings) Mig 16 Con: 10 Dex: 10 Per: 18 Int: 16 Res: 8 Skills: Active: Athletics Max (or split with alchemy, see consumables) Passive: your choice (I chose to pump survival for my backup weapon set) Abilities: (in order I selected them) Frenzy Swift Strikes Blooded Lesser wounds Thick skin Two handed style Barbaric Blow Accurate Carnage One stands alone Swift flurry Bloodlust Stunning blow Blood frenzy Duality Savage Defiance Bloody Slaughter Barbaric smash Enervating blows Interrupting Blows Stunning surge Brute force Turning wheel Tough Bull's will Bloodstorm Heartbeat Drumming Bloodthirst Equipment main weapon: Oathbreaker's End (early game I used duskfall+modwyr to get the wahai poraga then lord darynn's to go get oathbreaker's) Backup weapons: Magran's + Mohora Tanga Whitewitch Mask Protective Eothasian Charm Reckless Brigandine (into the breach) Ring of greater regen Voidward Boots of the stone Nemnok’s Cloak Boltcatchers The Undying Burden Pet: Nalvi Consumables Food: Mahora wraps (get that mig to 20 & nifty recovery speed) Coral snuff (more speed) Potion of Spirit shield Major heal pots (or moderate if you split between athletics and alchemy) This guy plays so much better than the first two iterations. Dots for everyone, and a giant axe finally!

A seemingly fragile glass cannon that can attacks fast, dodge everything, deal with mobs, and get out of the stickiest situations alive. Alright, this is my first post after years of lurking. (Sorry about my poor formatting skills and no pics) This build is for you if you like: - versatile characters - playing around your afflictions - outmaneuvering enemies with risky plays This build is NOT for you if you: - hate micro - don't like very squishy characters - feel uneasy because you don't have heals (ya goddamn chicken, **cluck-cluck...!**) When Trickster was the only class to get buffed in the last two patches, I thought I'd try a solo run on a character I had in mind originally as a Streetfighter/Nalpzaca, which proved to be too squishy and unreliable in some fights. What does this build do: goes into fight and builds up asap maximum Wounds, either by deliberately getting yourself hit a couple of times (but who wants that, really), or by using the titular ability of this build, i.e. Dance of Death. Then, as you have a +10 Int +15 Might bonus, you can start casting all the defensive buffs that allow you to not get hit, and keep stacking bonuses while attacking very fast thanks to Lightning Strikes. All of this spiced up by the mystique of the Trickster, which provides all the afflictions and the CC that base Rogue is missing. THE PREMISE: BUILD BERATH'S BLESSINGS: RACE: REGION: STATS: ABILITIES BY LEVEL: SKILLS: EQUIPMENT: STRATEGY Thanks to Stealthmandem for some useful suggestions!

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

Has anyone else tried out this combination? I personally think it's insane. This guy gets insanely buffed without ever having to take damage from an enemy making him a great mid/back line fighter. Shattered Pillar Monks are sort of the answer for monks that don't want to get hit, but Berserker circumvents the need to create wounds from enemy attacks. Also, unlike in PoE1, you don't a mage to cause friendly fire to stack your wounds. You also don't have to run into melee, run out taking disengage penalties, and then begin your damage. Background Human - Living Lands - Whatever I'm not your dad. Human because you put yourself below 50% with Frenzy and kick off the 15% damage and it kind of fits the whole Frenzy theme. Notes on Stats: 20 Might (This allows for 30 might with 10 self inflicted wounds from the Berserker's Frenzy. That's an extra 30% damage (60% total) according to the sheet from might alone.) The rest is up to you depending on what you want, but I originally went for 18 Constitution and then 10 in everything else. I tend not to min/max (especially now since the game calls me infirm for doing so), but you could dump int to avoid cleaving your melee with friendly fire carnage. The tank provided took the cleaves fine and I'm sure with a proper tank they won't worry about the carnage hits too much. You could also dump resolve if you want to use this build with reach weapons or The Long Pain. Notes on Gear: Unsure so far, but it seems you could build this however you want. One thing I noticed is, with proficient weapons you have a lot more accuracy and hit a lot more often than with fists since there isn't an unarmed proficiency. I liked using the Dragoon's Leap Boots (Bounding Boots?) and jumping into the back line and RAVAGING mages. The problem is after you leap you stand there like a doofus for a while. The safer you are the lighter armor you can wear. Pretty simple. Notes on Talents: Since I used him as a "behind enemy lines" type, I chose anything that made him run fast and also took Force of Anguish in order to CC mages. If you intend on using this from the friendly mid/back line then you probably could skip the movement speed/disengage talents. Bloodied works well here as well. I believe it's an another 15% (25%? I should have have looked this up before posting) damage that you create for yourself. Lesser Wounds is obviously great here since you stack wounds faster with less Frenzy casts. I took accurate carnage as well. The worst part about the build is listening to your tank and rogue complain that you're hitting them 3 times a second. Notes on Gameplay: Start with Frenzy, Auto attack everything (including your friends) to death. When Frenzy runs out, cast Frenzy again. When all your Frenzies are exhausted, cast Swift Strikes. Guess when your health is too low and heal using Athletics or whatever. Use CC or whatever as needed. Finally a non-micro heavy monk. This is my first post and not really a guide by any measure. Just something I tried out and had fun with and wanted to see if you guys had any thoughts on it. P.S. - Please don't nerf. I'm making this guy in PoE1 for my "cannon" play-through. Thanks in advance. P.S.S - If you read this Boeroer, you're the reason I have rerollitis. I hope it keeps you up at night. Edit: Just adding stuff as I think of it.