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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?

I can't seem to find any info on xp bonus for having less than 5 people in party. It this still a thing? I recall it being a thing in PoE 1.

Hi all, I am a returning player and finally decided to tackle the hardest achievements this game has to offer before moving to Deadfire. I have seen Wodjee's Ultimate run with a rogue and found genuinely cool although I am more inclined of doing it with a cipher. The builds I've found seem to be somewhat out-dated or not suitable for soloing let alone The Ultimate Achievement. So my questions as of now are the following: 1) At the current actual state of the game is it easier to achieve Ultimate with a rogue or a cipher? 2) It'd be very interested in corresponding SOLO(!) TCS/Ultimate build guides. post scriptum: I know there are maybe stronger classes (chanter, druid bla bla) but I want to have consistency with the char I am playing in Deadfire and a rogue or beguiler just seems way more piratey. Thanks in advance for sharing your experiences and any offered advice

POTD difficulty, trial of iron, solo playtrough. This guy started to talk to me as i stepped in the range of his totems in stealth. Didn't notice them before Conselhaut caught me in his best trap ever, made of a deadly totem and a lack of pause during the dialogues. During the dialogue, my character seems to have died from the totem effect, continiously doing whatever it does. After dialogue ended, i have a map full of fog of war, no characters and no game over message. I can save and load this state of the game, and I have a dead save file. I don't think that supposed to happen. To repeat the bug you just need to go to this encounter, get in range of totems while in stealth and talk to Concelhaut. Your character will die while in dialogue and you will get the result. Here is my save file - https://www.dropbox.com/s/9e3nglttwokxvun/Zerral%20%28c70d0256-241e-444b-9489-9879381787d6%29%20trialofiron.savegame?dl=0

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

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

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

https://www.polygon.com/2017/8/19/16174510/mass-effect-andromeda-no-dlc-last-update https://twitter.com/masseffect/status/899030727089569792 Sad day in the Milky Way, This looks like a little death for the Franchise. The critical disappointment at launch, regarding the Game's Issues, seems to have led to this. I wonder what can we expect for the Future of this IP. I personaly don't want the so-called "highly awaited" Anthem to replace this Franchise. Maybe it's time for Obsidian to save another IP ! (I know this will probably never happen but... Never Say Never) Seriously though, it's really sad for Mass Effect to end like this...

Hi Guys, First of all, let me thank you Obsidian for releasing such an awesome game, that probably makes everyone like me (former player of Infinity engine based RPGs) being able to step by back into childhood by playing this kind of wonderful games ! I stopped playing Pillars Of Eternity like a year ago, until I learnt about backers campaign on DeadFire, which just made me want to play it again ! (By the way, I personally do not care about the actual Deadfire release date, but please try to polish this game as much as you can : it's just going be an awesome game !) After getting back to Pillars of Eternity, I realized that made a lot of different runs that cover most aspects of the game, until I learnt about "The Ultimate" achievement that is probably the only thing that I was missing. So I decided to try it out ! Of course I could not try it with something else than a rogue, because it has always been my favorite class ! To push it a bit farther I decided to start the achievement with 3 base constitution and tried to do the run with the mindset of reducing its overall duration as much as I could (the idea behind it, was to allow some of you to try it without spending too much time). After countless (really countless) hours of strategy fine tuning, I can proudly announce that I could get it done. You can find the full run on YouTube : -- Do not watch it if you don't want to get spoiled! -- The full run lasts about 10 hours. You will be able to see that the idea was to avoid fights as much as possible to save some time and also try to work on pulling from fights only what is necessary to get the achievement. The goal of putting very low constitution as a rogue is to be able to kill opponents before they can actually hit you back ! I tried to apply splitting strategy on most fights, because as a rogue you can land very high damage but mainly on a single enemy. I hope you will enjoy watching it. If you try it by yourself and get stuck at some point, don't hesitate to ask for advices ! Let me know if you could get "The Ultimate" achievement by following it ! /Cheers

After finishing base game i got expansions and want to start a new game - but play it with a solo character since im too lazy to micromanage stuff and think about companion builds. Most solo builds ive seen here are made fo PotD while using a ton of consumables, kiting, summons, hunting for specific items etc. while i want just simple play with a single character bashing my face against enemy faces til they are dead and drop loot. i plan on doing complete game, without skipping anything and will do companion quests so its not a true solo, but for most part ill be fighting alone. i know that some times ill have to cheese or use summons but i dont want to rely on them, same for consumables - its ok for harder fights, but having to keep them up all the time is annoying. also i want to play human and would prefer having decent dex and resolve for stat checks. any build suggestions ? i know any class can do it, but what would be most fun without managing too many buffs/consumables Paladin seems to be the simplest, great defenses, but needs level 13 to do damage, and is a bit boring, Chanter seems similar as paladin, but most guides rely on summons - something i would prefer not to, also the only solo guide is with specific gun, + kiting, the other to seems more thematic than general purpose Monk - a possible option though i dont want to play godlike like most guides advise Tank wizards - i love the idea of mage tanks should have nice damage, but they have limited casts per rest and a lot of buffs, upkeep might get tedious(having to cast them every fight and being squishy without), have guides Priest - similar to wizards, just 1 solo guide and not a fan of ​Skaen/Wael​ Druid - similar to above, but im not a fan of shapeshifting Barbarian - was my 1st character, want smth else Fighter - seems boring for solo Rogue - might not be best for solo Ranger - dont like pet classes Cipher - a lot of potential lost without allies, and i dont want to use charmed/dominated effects im mostly looking at first 4 on the list

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

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

Hello there, Triple Crown has been finished today and I think about Triple Crown Solo. Which class is better? I've already finished Solo PotD ( not Iron/Expert, just PotD ) playing a wizard, wouldn't say that it was very difficult, but there is too much difference between the save/load immortality and Trial of Iron, where one-shot can blow my char away. Wizards are such a "glass" at the start of any battle. I probably would have taken a dual wielding paladin.. but really not sure that I can handle some encounters ( for example, some bounties or lagufaeth and spirit packs in The White March locations ). What do you think? Any advice/suggestion, and also links to special guides will be greatly appreciated. P.S. Sorry for my poor English.

I have played the Druid in so many other RPG´s that it was quite obvious for me that i will give it a try in Pillars of Eternity too. And i must admit: It´s a lot of fun! My aim for the solo druid was to push the power of his spellcasting while still being tanky enough to survive the difficulty settings of PotD. Lets take a closer look! Which Race should i pick? Moon Godlike is one of the best choices. Thanks to the healing waves you can tank and outlast your opponents much better. Wood Elf is a good choice for the better ranged accuracy. Also gives you a little defence against ranged enemies. Boreal Dwarf +15 Bonus vs. Beasts and Primordals can be very helpful Pale Elf +10 resistance to fire and cold is not to be taken lightly. Adjusting your Stats There is no „best build“ in my opinion so you have a little bit of freedom to choose one build that fits your playstyle most. Some examples: Precision Druid----------Swift Druid----------Defender Druid Might 15--------------------Might 15--------------Might 15 Con 10----------------------Con 10----------------Con 10 Dex 10----------------------Dex 15-----------------Dex 10 Per 15-----------------------Per 10-----------------Per 10 Int 18------------------------Int 18------------------Int 18 Res 10----------------------Res 10-----------------Res 15 High Might and Int are nearly essential. You will not only hit harder but your spell area will increase significantly. If you remember how many AoE-spells the druid has this one is a real nobrainer. Dex, Per and Res are more about taste. Do you want to cast faster, hit more often or get tankier? Your choice! Con at 10 is all it needs especially if you are playing Moon Godlike. Personally i prefer the Precision Druid. The reason is quite simple: Unlike Wizards the druid has no spell to boost his accuracy. Missing spells too often can hurt you a lot. The Beast within: Spirit Form Choice I think anything will work. Personally i prefer the Catform for its high attack speed so i can clean up badly wounded enemies really quickly. If you want more tankiness choose the Bear. Fun note: The Spirit Form works great against some tougher opponents. Do you remember the infamous Shadows in the beginning? The Catform will kill them easily with a few swift strikes. Choose your Talents Weapon + Shield Style / Cautious Attack / Superior Deflection: If you are building tanky like this your deflection will jump over 100 around level 11. Thats not too bad and will save your day more than one time. Bull's Will /Snake's Reflexes / Bear's Fortitude: These too can be lifesavers. Just take a look which defenses are in need of an upgrade most. The numbers will also jump over 100 around level 11. Sounds good. Heart of the Storm /Scion of Flames /Secrets of Rime: Giving your elemental spells a better punch (+20%) always looks good. But after the nerfs to some of the druid spells its a good question wether they are worth the point. Personally i still like the talents a lot. Oh, and dont forget the +5 elemental damage reduction bonus. Bonus Spells: Bonus spells can be quite useful in longer fights where you will need any extra portion of power. Just remember that high Dex Druids will get a little bit more benefit as they can cast their extra spells faster. Wildstrike / Weapon Focus Peasant / Two Weapon Style: You want to play a bit more like a Shapeshifter? In this case you should take a closer look at these talents as they give nice bonuses to your wild form. Thinking about Skills Mechanics should be your primary focus. Opening chests and disarming traps is just too good to pass on. Everything else is quite optional – your choice. Its all about Equpiment As a primary weapon i mainly use Hatchet (+5 deflection) + Small Shield (no accuracy penalty). A Hunting Bow like Lenas Er can be quite handy too. If you have to tank a lot you should definetly use any kind of Plate Armour. If your summons are able to tank all night long than Clothes are the better choice: Faster casts = More Damage. Just be careful. With regards to all your Accessories. Do not think about them too much. Just make sure to find any stuff that buffs your primary attributes Might and Int. And always take a closer look at items like Ring of Deflection or Ring of Protection to boost your defensive power. Shod-in-Faith-Boots can later on be a lifesaver in tougher battles. Boots of Speed are quite funny if you want to play hit and run (works great against Thaos too). The power of summons Thanks to the new immunities your summons are now quite powerful. If you use them smartly they will tank like gods giving you an easy time casting your damage spells. Lets take a look: Earth Blight: Slashing + Corrode Flame Blight: Piercing + Fire Rain Blight: Piercing + Shock Wind Blight: Crushing + Frost As you can cast them only in combat its best to start the battle with a heavy CC like Overwhelming Wave. This gives you time to reposition and summon your Blight. Fun note: Have you ever watched big bad Thaos trying to burn down a Flame Blight? Try it on your own - and laugh! Nerf incoming? Fun Note II: Looking for some easy xp? Just kill your own blights! You will get experience as if killing hostile ones. Which Spells are useful? LEVEL 1 Tanglefoot: Nice engagement tool that can give you time for better positioning and summoning. Worth to remember: If you run away far enough some of the hobbled enemies will cancel their engagement so you can minmize their numbers. Natures Mark: Fine debuff with -1 Deflection, -10 Reflexes in a large area. Cast it first and watch them suffering! Sunbeam: Great debuff and burn damage. Blinded enemies will not only miss you more often but they are even easier targets for your own spells. Charm Beast: A gamechanger. Cast it on beasts and watch them fighting each other! Remember the infamous bear cave at the beginning? Thanks to this spell you can clear it at level 2. Talons Reach: Deals quite okay AoE Slash Damage and - the best - its fast cast. Winterwind: A large cone that will deal frost damage (damn nerf). Works great in corridors with lots of enemies. Fun note: The knockback effect will completly immobilize Blights and Will o Wisps so you can easily kill them. Natures Vigor: Okay healing over time. This spell will also increase your maximum endurance by 15 %. Can work nicely in longer fights as long as your enemies do not have burst damage. LEVEL 2 Autumn´s Decay: Great cone spell that will deal corrode damage over time. As corrode damage isnt resisted that often it will hurt most enemies quite a bit. Blizzard: Large AoE that will deal frost damage and reduce attack speed by 20 %. Works best against large and fast attacking enemy groups. Burst of Summer Flame: This spell will deal AoE burn damage. Works nice for finishing enemy groups thanks to its fast casting speed. Conjure Lesser Blight: Great spell – for more info take a look at the „Summons“ section. Hold Beasts: You are surrounded by a pack of beasts and thinking its over? Dont worry! Cast this spell and watch them freezing. Now you have time to turn the fight around and hurt them badly. Works against dragons too – great! Insect Swarm: Fine AoE spell that will deal piercing damage over time. Works nicely in combination with Autumn´s Decay. The -10 concentration will make it easier to interrupt your enemies. Woodskin: Gives you +6 DR against Piercing, Shock and Burn for 15 seconds. Rarely used but quite okay self buff. LEVEL 3 Beetle Shell: If your summons are desperately in need of a shield this might save them. Absorbs 100 points of damage and gives you time for other healing spells. Infestation of Maggots: A tricky spell. Will deal 10 Damage by percentage of health lost over time. This means the more wounded your enemies are the more damage they take. Works great against groups that are already suffering from spells like Autum´s Decay and Insect Swarm. Natures Balm: The healing over time isnt that great but may help you through longer fights. Rarely used. Returning Storm: Great spell that will deal shock damage and stun. As the lightning will continously strike you may be able to stunlock your opponent. Spreading Plague: This spell leaves the primary target Hobbled and Weakened before jumping to 5 other enemies max. Nice debuff that will make it easier to hit your following spells. Twin Stones: The two boulders will deal Crush Damage to any enemy within their path and explode to deal Pierce Damage to all nearby enemies. Quite okay spell against large enemy groups. LEVEL 4 Boiling Spray: Large Cone that will deal burn damage. Works best against large enemy groups. The knockback will immobilze Blights and Will o Wisps. Calling the World’s Maw: Great CC spell that will deal Pierce Damage to enemies and will knock them down. Just remember that there are several opponents that cannot be knocked down. Conjure Blight: For more info take a look at the „Summons“ section. Hail Storm: This icy storm will deal Crush Damage and 25 % Freeze Damage. The huge (!) radius of this spell can hurt dozens of enemies. Moonwell: Nice healing over time and +10 to all defenses. Will help greatly in tougher battles – if you get the time casting it. Overwhelming Wave: Very powerful engagement tool that will not only deal Crush Damage but will stun enemies in its path. Use this time to start your pain train! LEVEL 5 Embrace the Earth-Talon: Powerful spell that will not only deal Pierce Damage but also petrify enemies. Only downside: The duration isnt that long so you will barely be able to hit your enemies more than one time while being petrified. Relentless Storm: Hands down this is one of the best spells in the game. An AoE stun that will continuously strike your enemies? Cast this at the start of an engagement and use the stuns to follow up with damage spells. Works best against dangerous groups of spellcasters like Adragans so they will never get the chance to petrify you. Plague of Insects: This spell is also great as the insects will deal Raw Damage, reduce Concentration and Sicken enemies. Nice followup after Relentless Storm. Firebug: Deals good amount of burn damage and jumps up to 8 times. Feels weaker than the other spells on this level but is quite okay as a finishing move. LEVEL 6: Conjure Greater Blight: For more info take a look at the „Summons“ section. Garden of Life: The healing is only useful when there are plenty of corpses around. Rarely used. Rot Skull: Will change your weapon and let you throw skulls that will deal crushing and AoE corrode damage. Sounds cool but i rarely used it. Sunlance: Good single target piercing + burn damage that works best against tougher opponents in 1vs1 situations. Venom Bloom: The Weakened and Frightened Debuff is great. Only downside: Its duration is very short. Remember, Remember Do not try to burn down a Flame Blight like Thaos! Always take a look at the resistances of your enemies. Positioning is key. Using bottlenecks like doors can save you from many harm! Debuff your enemies to make sure you will land your spells more often! Use your summons for distraction so you get time for your damage spells! Inns will become your best friends as you will run out of spells quite often! The more you eat, the more you get. Or: The power of food buffs. Why i am not using all those traps i have collected?

Here's another video showing how a paladin is able to tank the adra dragon in potd and without heals - no traps, no cheap tactics. Base stats - wild orlan 17mig/15con/4dex/20per/3int/18res. Adragans had to be killed first to prevent summons/healing for the dragon... I used jolting touch scrolls because they're common/easy to craft and don't require high lore. https://youtu.be/0nNLwfGrpKQ

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

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

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

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

Hello again, gentles, So, I've begun a few solo PotD runs with different classes/builds to see what feels like the best fit. What I've really been struggling with, though, is just getting to lvl 4. 1. I can clear Valewood, except of course for the bear cave. 2. I've found I can cherry-pick some mobs in Esternwood, Magran's Fork, and Black Meadow, but get owned by others. 3. I think I can see where I can stealth up to the bandit camp to steal the blacksmith quest item without getting caught. For those of you who've soloed recently, how do you approach it? What quests and areas do you do first? Any advice would be appreciated. I've watched some solo runs on Youtube, but all the ones I can find are from pre-2.01, and with the balancing changes things seem to play out differently now.

I thought I'd share my battle with the 3 early bears in the cave...Done on my second try so I had some luck I'm guessing, but at lvl 2 on PotD, you probably need "some" luck since 1 hit and you're dead anyways... I tried this after Eler in my party died in my current Wizard game (hated resting so he had low health) so I may restart as a Cipher again and start over (Trial of Iron). Never did like the whole limits on casts/day anyways. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=bUprh94zNM4

Hey all! Stopped playing a short while after release due to bugs and general incompatibility with my crappy computer. I'm coming back into the fray and loving the game! I'm currently in act 2 with a level 8 solo wizard. I have a fully upgraded fortress and my gear is as follows: - Sanguine Plate (Resistances) - Rotfinger Gloves (2 amazing foe debuffs) - Belt of Blunting (Resistance) - Gaun's Share (leeching) - Some turban looking hat that gives constitution - Lilith's Shawl (stealth and perception) Haven't found boots yet. I've done every task in defiance bay and every quest except cinders. Haven't touched the main quest and haven't left The Bay. I've been relatively successful in all encounters so far. The hardest thus far has been the forgotten. They essentially just plop you in the middle of a bridge with like 7 decently geared enemies with nowhere to bottleneck. It was a pain but I finally downed them after loading like 15 times. I'm also having trouble with the cinders drake. I found an awesome spot where him and all of his minions are trapped in a straight line at which point I pelt them with everything I have including summons. Problem is all of his drake and kobold minions will die and by the time he comes around I only have enough spells to get him down to badly injured. He hits like a truck and I would have no defences left at this point. The spells I'm using are pretty much chill fog, fan of flames, concelhaut's ciphon, bulward vs elements, hardened arcane veil, mirror image, essential phantom, rotfiner debuffs, expose vulnerabilities and my 3 figurines. If theres an amazing piece of gear I'm missing out on or possibly a good strategy or spell I'm not using, some advice would be great. Thank you so much!

For people interested how to defeat the Adra Dragon with a ranger solo here's a little video. https://youtu.be/ewxtIFixUb8 In the video I forgot to show my accuracy vs dragon defenses in the logs. My max accuracy was 126 with bow while the dragon's lowest deflection was 96. I had 100 accuracy when I used Binding Roots and the dragon had 100 reflex. With Scale Breaker and the debuff from Lenas Er the dragon had 119 fortitude.

Hello guys, Any sign about improvements on soloing play? I mean, as far as I see, a lot of players are soloing the game or already did/tried it. But I think things are a little unbalanced for soloing, obviously, the game was designed for a small group of heroes, but, if we have a tendency here of liking to solo (or at least try it), why not think to do some improvements in the soloing playing? One of them, I think would be great with the leveling up while solo was effectively faster. If you want to play Path of the Demned, Expert Mode and Trial of Iron, AND SOLO, that turns the game a little not fun for some character classes... I find viable to solo as a Fighter and as a Monk, but with other classes (I'm still testing), that's just doesn't work. Even as a Monk I was needed to take Éder as a tank in some moments. What do you think, would be great to also improve some aspects of the game soloing in White March or any other updates? Cheers.

Hello there, I have search in forum and in the wiki but don't find anything about the experience system, maybe I don't use the right words. Anyway, how the experience and leveling up works? Are the experience earned in quests and battle divided to the party or are always the same for every party member? My question it's about playing solo. My character will level up faster if playing solo or have no difference? I just did not understand the experience system yet. Cheers!