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Hi! Long time lurker here, trying to think of an interesting multiclass to finally finish deadfire with (500 hours and never made it much further than ashen maw for some reason, completed PoE 1 several times). I've tested a ton of combinations, but am becoming increasingly convinced that in a party, a caster multiclass character is usually overall less efficient than two characters single classed, or by relying on synergy between party members, with the exception maybe of monk to boost the caster side. The latest idea I had was a troubadour/druid DoT focused character, using the long night's drink + dragon thrashed (with community patch), making fortitude targetting spells easier to land while adding another dot on top. Of course, I ran into the problem where this would be much better accomplished by a single class ancient supported by some chanter multiclass, probably howler. I was thinking about this more, and even using fighter or barbarian to support the caster side doesn't make a whole lot of sense (unless playing solo). The bonus to accuracy and intelligence from fighter can be covered by a priest and chanter (which would also buff the entire party), and while armored grace is nice, it doesn't seem worth it to sacrifice PL 8/9 for extra sturdiness from heavy armor (again relying on party play to remove the need to wear heavy armor). Barbarian boosts also don't seem good enough to lose PL 8/9. Blooded working with spells is nice, but between losing power levels and potentially keeping might at base if using berserker, at best it breaks even in damage while losing the best spells and having slower spell progression. Action speed seems like the best benefit, and blood thirst on spells is a lot of fun, but is it actually more effective than a SC caster? You'd finish easier encounters faster, while losing top end potential and struggling more with tougher foes. Even ranger accuracy boosts I think would be less effective than having another party member specialized in debuffing defences. Howler with a pike or morning star, or fighter with AOE flail/club/morning star modal clear out. Paladin lash on spells is really cool, but again I'm not sure if the synergy is actually more effective than SC. Essentially I'm looking for multiclass ideas with legitimate synergy that warrants sacrificing the benefits of SC. The only caster where it's almost universally better to multiclass is chanter I think (cipher can go either way). When considering planning a full party, the only caster focused synergizes (outside of chanter) that I think are potent enough to justify are: - assassin+blood mage for permanent invisibility and chain CC (Boeroer's idea I believe) - blood mage + soul blade, focusing on the spirit lance soul annihilation - hellwaker + lifegiver when focusing on heals. If focusing on DoTs, while the extra might and int is cool but ultimately overshadowed by maelstrom in the end. - monk+wizard if specifically intending to focus on the lance. - fighter/paladin+ wizard if trying to make a tank, but this is using buffs to boost the martial side instead of using the multiclass to boost the caster. Most of the time if focusing on spells, it seems best to stay single class as a wizard, priest or druid. A melee focused character is another story of course. Any interesting synergizes I'm missing? Thanks everyone.

Hi everyone Coming back to PoE 2 after a long break. I originally finished the game twice on potd at the beginning of covid and absolutely loved it. With the release of games from owlcat and larian I've been pre occupied, but with avowed coming up I'm returning to deadfire! I never did the dlc so excited to jump into those. I previously finished the game with a SC wizard, really fun, and then a battle mage wizard with spirit lance. Party complemented, first run using companion base class and second using the unity engine to make them whatever I wanted. Parties were largely heavily optimized, very micro intensive. I'm looking to go at it again with a slightly different build in mind, a twin combo of the scordeos set. The idea is to build stacks with the pistol, get melee recovery down and then fly in and hopefully proc blade cascade with my quick recovery build up from the pistol and then SoT and let him just go buck wild. I know it's cheesy but like I said I'm on a third run and this just seems both fun and funny. I know it's slightly unopitmal until i get scordeos edge, the plan is go for faction quests only and rush the main quest to trigger honor among thieves whilst still leaving most side quests/tasks open to complete. Using the unity engine again so the plan is Xoti lifegiver/priest. Literally a buff and heal bot. Ydwin cipher using 2 handed gun/bow. I'm looking for suggestions for 2 front liners (Eder +1) who can soak the pressure while my mc builds stacks. The damage is less important on the Frontline, but THE most important thing is, I really don't want to micro them much at all. They just need to have high engagement, to keep mobs at bay, with xoti doing more than enough to keep them alive. I know AI exists but I basically only use the auto attack function because I can never get it to work and they end up burning slots I dont want them to, or running to weird places. I remember with my battlemage, the micro was really heavy, lining up the buffs, constantly checking if they're up or down, recasting etc. That's why I want to rule out wizard multi on any of them, because I just dont want to deal with it. Xoti will already be a little micro intensive, casting every druid/priest buff in existence. Ydwin will be self sufficient because I only have to check on her every 5-10 seconds or so to use focus and then let her go back to shooting on her own. I don't mind to take the classic herald build for one of the tanks, but I find I basically never use my paladin abilities and just want the aura. Chanter, like cipher, is great because it's doing it's thing passively with an occasional check to use my phrases and then back to do it's thing. With that in mind any suggestions? MC can be micro intensive, almost definitely fighter mutli with something. Given xoti will be my only micro, I dont mind to micro the mc also, so wizard is possibly fine here, but if there is something better I'm happy to take that also. I think action speed is literally the most important thing, as he will be in miscreant leathers anyway and I'm just looking to shoot and slash as quickly as is humanly possible, and between xoti and fighter, I should be survivable enough, especially given I have 2 front liners to body block for me. The 2 tanks... does a solo class chanter work? Or am is it just better to go herald for the passive paladin aura, even if I don't use the paladin resources mostly. 2nd tank I have literally no idea what would be micro light. Unbroken fighter + something? Thanks everyone in advance!

To begin with I love multi-classes and all my characters are multi-class. I don't play on very hard difficulty levels and more into the roleplay aspects of the game. Main character is: Templar = Paladin (Kind Wayfarers) & Priest (Eothas) This character is a tank using Xoti's Lantern for party buff from Thrashing Aura, and I max out Religion (which in addition to adding the Thrashing Aura buff, fits nicely in the roleplay aspect of the character). I like using Maces with this character for armor modal. Also as a priest I use this character in a buffing role, and using the Godlike, nature race adds a nice power-up. I also love love love the joint Paladin and Priest personality affinity system, which based on my choices of subclass provide my preferred all around kind and good guy roleplay. Then the buffs the personality affinity system provide to the character (Paladin: defense; Priest: offensive cleanse area for vessels) are amazing. Every time I restart the game I try to do a different combination for the main character but then quickly scrap it and restart with this OP build. Then after maxing out affinity for the scripted companions including completing their side quests, I then create the following additional characters. Mindstalker: Rogue (Street Fighter) & Cipher (Soul Blade) This character is a DPS, dual-wielding melee death god-like god. Soul Annihilation is the best part of this build and melts through enemies. I also lean into the riposte mechanic by equipping the Casita and maxing out his intimidation passive. I also add Mechanics skill to this character since it fits roleplay wise. Warden: Fighter (Tactician) & Druid (Fury) This character I max Athletics and Metaphysics with a thunder pistol Cadhu Scalth shield build. The protection this character has against spells is solid and in turn is my primary magic DPS caster. I rarely shift with her. I make sure godlike, moon for the regeneration benefit which she rarely needs. My Mindstalker helps to flank all enemies so this character can frequently gain the Brilliant inspiration. Sage: Monk (Shatter Pillar) & Wizard (No class) This is my primary DPS two-handed powerhouse. The Citzal's Spirit Lance (summoned) is its primary weapon mid- to end-game. The magic self-buffs that are free to cast make the Wizard class a huge benefit to any melee build. It is insane to me that you can cast 10+ free buff spells in a row without using up your turn and still attack (or in this character summon the spirit lance then attack next turn). Wildrhymer: Ranger (Sharpshooter) & Chanter (Troubadour) This is my primary DPS ranged powerhouse. I use the Red-hand which is quite powerful against most enemies. And my primary use of the chanter role is summoning some type of beast or spirit to assist in battle. I would imagine this team would work very well on POTD but I don't even know since I never play above Classic difficulty.

Welcome to the new and updated list of current builds from these boards. Each of the eleven classes in the game is listed below in alphabetical order, with each build listed alphabetically underneath. For each build you'll find a short descriptor, an indication of the game version it was built for and/or it uses gear and abilities from, and whether it has been meant or tested for solo play. DISCLAIMER: In drawing up the list, I assumed solo play to be untested for all builds that did not explicitly mention solo play in the OP. If anyone tested any of these builds for solo play and would like their experience to be reflected in this thread, please PM me or Tigranes specifying the build you used, the difficulty you tried, and whether you could beat the game. Similarly, if you want your build's descriptor updated, contact us with the updated descriptor. DISCLAIMER II: Included in this list are what builds I could find scavenging the boards, plus any builds that were PMed to me. If your build is missing, please PM me or Tigranes with the relevant information (link, descriptor, game version, solo play) and we will add it. FORMAT: Build Name [links to the build's thread] Short descriptor of what the build does or specializes in. Author: The user who made the build. Game version: What game version the build was created for, and/or uses equipment and abilities from. Solo: Whether the build is suitable for solo play. "Yes [Difficulty]" - The build was either created or tested for solo play on the specified difficulty level. "No [Difficulty]" - The build was tested for solo play on the specified difficulty level and the game could not be beaten. "Untested" - The build wasn't born with solo play in mind, but for all we know it might as well work—except nobody's tried yet. BARBARIAN Accident-prone Squire, The Low-Resolve, low-Perception build that relies on extreme Endurance regeneration and Firebug for AoE damage. Author: Braven Game version: 3.0+ Solo: Untested Cauterizer, The Firebranded Barbarian lusting for blood. Author: Boeroer Game version: 3.0+ Solo: Untested Golden Dragon, The The wild, unconventional, but also posh counterpart to a usual bodyguard. Author: Boeroer & Jojobobo Game version: 3.0+ Solo: Untested Leech, The Time bandit tank. Author: Boeroer Game version: 2.0+, suitable for 3.0+ Solo: Untested Interrupt Barbarian Dual-wielding Barbarian focused on interrupting and debuffing enemies. Author: MountainTiger Game version: 3.0+ Solo: Untested Immortal Martyr, The Twisted Barbarian DPS decoy Author: Boeroer Game version: 3.0+ Solo: No Trashman, The Single-axe Barbarian built to cleave through trash mobs. Author: Odd Hermit Game version: 3.03 Solo: Untested Very Annoying Barbarian, The A Barbarian that uses carnage to pile as many on-hit/crit status effects as possible on the enemy as well as passive auras and effects from being hit. Author: kungapa Game version: 3.05 Solo: Untested CHANTER Chillfog Cool soothing Chanter tank. Includes The Last Unicorn variant. Author: Boeroer Game version: 3.0+ Solo: Untested Drake Ambassador, The Searing and mesmerizing Chanter tank. Author: Boeroer Game version: 2.0+, suitable for 3.0+ Solo: Untested Gunslinger, The Guns-only Chanter. Author: Jojobobo Game version: 3.0+ Solo: Yes [PotD] CIPHER Backlash Beldam, The Melee multi-retaliation Cipher tank. Author: Boeroer Game version: 2.0+, suitable for 3.0+ Solo: Untested NOTE: Retaliation no longer generates focus as of 3.02, thus undermining the foundations of this build. Dichotomous Souldbenders, The Twisted twin CC/DPS mophers. Author: Boeroer Game version: 3.0+ Solo: No (it's two guys, so...) Mr. Speedo Ranged frenzied maniac. Author: ottffsse Game version: 3.0+ Solo: Untested DRUID Batsh!t crazy Disabling Druid tank. Author: Boeroer Game version: 2.0+, suitable for 3.0+ Solo: Untested Hungry like the wolf Spiritshift aggro Druid. Author: AndreaColombo Game version: 3.0+ Solo: Untested Thundercat, The Spiritshift off-tank Druid that's also good and slinging spells. Author: L4wlight Game version: 3.0+ Solo: Untested FIGHTER Engineer, The Shocking DPS Fighter artillery tank. Author: Boeroer Game version: 2.0+, suitable for 3.0+ Solo: Untested Glass Tsunami, The High-DPS glass cannon that relies on Endurance regeneration to outlast their enemies. Author: Braven Game version: 3.0+ Solo: Yes [Easy] Lady of Pain, The High-speed, high-DPS, heavy-armored Fighter. Available in four five variants: 0-recovery, Lord of the Crits, Hulk Smash!, Glass of Pain, and Tank of Pain. Author: AndreaColombo Game version: 2.0+, updated to 3.0+ Solo: Untested Unstoppable Wave, The Siege-breaker Fighter. Author: Elric Galad Game version: 3.05 Solo: Untested MONK Anvil, The Toughest Monk around. Author: Dr <3 Game version: 3.0+ Solo: Yes [PotD] Ascetic, The The rules of this build are quite harsh. You are not allowed to use any items (except for consumables). Author: Harpagornis Game version: 3.0+ Solo: Yes [PotD] Fulmineo Prondroni Duelist that runs super fast and can pick off priority targets and disable them with super-fast attacks and prones. Author: Boeroer Game version: 2.0+, suitable for 3.0+ Solo: Untested Juggernaut, The Non-min/maxed approach to making a heavily armored Monk that is durable and damaging. Works for Zahua as well. Author: KDubya Game version: 2.0+, suitable for 3.0+ Solo: Untested Monksterlash Elemental lashing and retaliating offensive tank. Author: Boeroer Game version: 3.0+ Solo: Untested Shaolin Dragonslayer A beast-slaying Monk. Author: Undesirable Game version: 3.0+ Solo: Yes [? not sure what difficulty setting] Uber Disabler, The DPS/CC hybrid build that relies on bestowing as many afflictions as possible on enemies. Author: AndreaColombo Game version: 3.0+ Solo: Untested NOTE: This build relies on equipment that is currently (as of patch 3.03) bugged. Unless Obsidian fix those items, this build will remain not viable. Witch Doctor, The Mid-range DPS Monk disabler. Author: Boeroer Game version: 3.0+ Solo: Untested PALADIN Counselor Ploi Diplomat/supporter/mind controller jack of all trades. Author: Boeroer & Jojobobo Game version: 3.0+ Solo: Untested Darcozzi Commendatore A variant of the Darcozzi Forward Observer. Author: PrimeJunta Game version: 2.0+, suitable for 3.0+ Solo: Untested Darcozzi Forward Observer, The Designates targets for the heavy melee party by increasing their Accuracy by large amounts. Author: Torm51 Game version: 2.0+, suitable for 3.0+ Solo: Untested Dull Runner, The Caster clipper Paladin tank. Author: Boeroer Game version: 2.0+, suitable for 3.0+ Solo: Untested Rauatai Captain, The Paladin tank that makes their allies tankier. Author: SimpleEnigma Game version: 2.0+ Solo: Untested Sh!t's on fire Basic off-tankish Paladin that deals a lot of fire damage and also pretends to be a Fighter with some gear found in PX1/2. Author: limaxophobiacq Game version: 3.0+ Solo: Untested Bleak Walker Melee dual-wielding Paladin monster. Author: Blunderboss Game version: 3.0+ Solo: No PRIEST Fire Priest Priest focused on buffs and healing, and capable of some serious damage. It comes in 3 flavors: The Godhammer; Mecwyn, the Slave Queen; the Falling Moon (aka Moonfire.) Author: MaxQuest Game version: 3.0+ Solo: Untested Schemer's Needle, The Rogue-like Skaen Priest. Author: Boeroer Game version: 2.0+, suitable for 3.0+ Solo: Untested Support Priest, or How I Buffed The Others Pure-support buff/debuff build that can contribute to combat too, but is better off casting anyway. Author: AndreaColombo Game version: 2.0+, updated to 3.0+ Solo: No Unfaithful, The Solo Priest build with strategies. Author: MimeTactics Game version: 3.0+ Solo: Yes [PotD] RANGER Apex Predator Firearm ranger. Author: MasterCipher Game version: 3.0+ Solo: Untested Noober's Revenge The rules of this build are simple: You will never level up and remain at level 1 all game long. Author: Harpagornis Game version: 3.0+ Solo: Yes [PotD] Riptide & The Pit Fright DPS & off-tank melee Ranger double team supreme. Author: Boeroer Game version: 2.0+, suitable for 3.0+ Solo: Untested Storm & Plague Caller A slight variation of the good ol' Stormcaller Ranger that focuses on maximizing Stormcaller's proc and disabling/interrupting foes. Author: L4wlight Game version: 3.0+ Solo: Untested ROGUE Don Juan Dedicated trap/secret finder; laid-back passive build. Author: K-Slash Game version: 3.0+ Solo: Untested Fast Assassin, The A rogue who goes for full offense, moves and attacks as fast as possible and does lots of damage. Author: Madscientist Game version: 3.0+ Solo: No Flaming Porcupine Rogue that takes advantage of full attacks' having 0 recovery via Riposte and full-attack abilities. Author: MasterCipher Game version: 3.0+ Solo: Untested Mad Hornet, The DPS ranged Rogue. Author: Boeroer Game version: 2.0+, suitable for 3.0+ Solo: Untested Sorcerer's Apprentice, The Twisted sneaky DPS scroll user. Author: Boeroer Game version: 3.0+ Solo: Untested Yellow Flash, The Riposte off-tank Rogue. Author: mosspit Game version: 3.0+ Solo: Untested WIZARD Bilestomper Tanky & corrosive drainer Wizard. Author: Boeroer Game version: 3.0+ Solo: Untested Coldhearth Solo Ice-Wizard Author: Dr <3 Game version: 3.03 Solo: Yes [PotD] Frozen Lance, The A melee Wizard that engages his opponents head-on. Author: grausch Game version: 3.0+ Solo: Yes [PotD] Royal Court Battlemage, The Veritable jack of many trades, and perhaps even master of one or two. Author: ottffsse Game version: 3.0+ Solo: Yes Skeletor, The Spellcaster and spellbreaker. Author: Mlok Game version: 3.0+ Solo: Untested Vecna's Legacy Solo blaster build. Author: Baron_Bathory Game version: 3.0+ Solo: Yes Witted Wizard, The Efficient spellcaster with high mental stats. Author: Ben No.3 Game version: 3.0+ Solo: Untested Zeblastian Hurtstacker Autoattacking double trouble DPS Wizard. Author: Boeroer Game version: 2.0+, suitable for 3.0+ Solo: Untested

Hi everyone! Played PoE 1 and and played a little of Deadfire (got distracted by an game release, that was like a year ago). So, I thought I’d start fresh in Deadfire. Got some ideas on what I want to build, it’s just a matter of picking one. But if you have any other ideas this is how I like to play. No, I don’t play on very high difficulty, and yes I still want give some thought into my build. Just because I prefer playing for RP and leisure does not mean should “not worry about” or “play what I like”. You can still make planned out build and not care about the details. If you disagree you can take your comments elsewhere. Anyway… I like an easy, versatile, and well rounded build. From the way I see it, I like your standard Copy-and-past hero. Your Skywalker, Mario, Frodo and Jack Ryan. The character you immediately know “That’s the protagonist”. I would say “balanced”, but if it requires a lot of thought to keep balanced then I’ll just go without, most weaknesses and lack of synergy in most Rpgs are not game ending as people think they are. In my honest opinion at least. Not a lot of details to worry about like min/maxing, micromanaging, or reliant on specific gear or skills/spells. There are two ways I approach gameplay, in and out of combat. In combat I like focusing on pure combat, balancing between close and long range for whatever the situation requires, spells/skills/ and other such tricks on a whim not relying on them. Buffs and Debuffs are fine if you can remember to use them diligently, but that is not the case for me, I’m a “Oh yeah, I can do that!” Kind of guy. I’ve alway been an agile Dps fighter in other games, I do like things like great swords and heavy armor, but what I do is take the item and test it out a little. Then give it a companion with the right build, go back to my preferred build, and live vicariously the my party members. Outside combat; I’m the complete opposite, while I am quick to jump into combat a lot of the time (Not every time, but half the time). I try to avoid combat anyway I can, or at least try to use the most cleaver approach to any situation. This can be either using a diplomatic approach, using intuition checks. Or lies, stealing, picking locks, intimidation, and other such delightfully shady chicanery. Most cases I’m a rogue, but there are exceptions if I can get the right skill set. Alright, took a minute but I think that’s everything. Now, for the builds I have in mind as mentioned in the title. All builds will focus mainly on two weapon style and medium to light armor, they are also are multiclass. The Vampire: As you probably guessed this is a Bloodmage, again while not reliant on specific spells, this build will have Vampiric themed spells. Like the Concelhaut brand spells (Brandname magic? Weird, but makes sense). Mixed with Rogue, especially a Trickster, the themes fit amazingly. However, I find the the fighter and it’s health regeneration has an even better fit to the vampire concept, the idea that vampires healing from any wound right in the midst of battle. And as vampires tend to be viewed as enigmatic and eccentric nobles, I like the idea of a courtly blood knight. I like Pale Elf for this build, simply because they look the most like vampires. The Harlequin: This is a Mindstalker, specifically a Trickster/Soulblade. No assembly required, ready to go right of the box. This is great a Dps fighter, which as I said I enjoy, and playing as an Hearth Orlan with the crit chance is not bad either. Plus, a Trickster/Soulblade Orlan is the perfect tricky little gremlin (No offense to Serafen and Mirke). The Watcher: This is the Hierophant build, subs unknown, most likely Wizard will be no sub. Now, I know caster/caster Multiclass isn’t very popular, especially since Wizard can’t generate focus. But I think the Heirophant is the epitome of what a “Watcher” is supposed to look like (To me at least). And the Heirophant, IMO, is not as bad as some of the other double caster multi’s. And again I will be playing with a forgiving difficulty, does that mean I’m out danger from doing something really stupid and getting killed? Of course not. Cipher will also make up for some Wizard’s lack of physical damage, as for defense, enough levels and good armor should handle that fine. This will be a Human, while I don’t like how situational Fighting Spirit is, should work well with Heirophant in case things get sticky. The War Forged: This is a Battlemage tank with a focus on Pyromancy. This build probably will do better with Two-Hand weapons and heavy armor, which is fine, like I said. I am flexible. This will definitely be a fun build as well as easy to use. I can’t think of any better race than a Fire Godlike, they look great and the racial fits like a glove. let me know what Y’all think, any suggestions is welcome, I know I don’t rely on specific skills/spells/gear. But if you’re into that, I’ll listen, just be concise and speak layman.

welcome thoughts, comments, feedback. I love em though!! Templar [MC]: Hand of Bërath Priest (Berath) Paladin (Shield bearers) Race (Nature Godlike) Primary role (Tank) Additional roles (Healer, buffer, DPS magic with scrolls) Weapon style (Sword and shield) Primary mid-game weapon (Sword: Min's Fortune) Primary end-game weapon (Flail: Magran's Favor) Small Shield (Xoti's Lantern for thrashing aura) Active (Arcana 20+) Passive (Religion 20+) Hunter: Flavio del Maricón Ranger (Sharpshooter) Cipher (Beguiler) Race (Orlan) Primary role (DPS ranged) Additional roles (Crowd control) Weapon style (Two-handed) Primary mid-game weapon (Arquebus: Red hand, for 2 shots per turn) Animal companion: Boar Active (Mechanics 20+) Passive (Bluff, Survival, Streetwise) Sage: Tama Pièdmont Monk (Shatterpillar) Wizard (No subclass) Race (Aumaua) Primary role (DPS melee) Additional roles (None) Weapon style (Two-handed) Primary early-game weapon (Summoned staff) Primary late-game weapon (Summoned lance) Headgear (Thaos Headdress) Active (Alchemy 20+) Passive (History, Insight, Diplomacy) Swashbuckler: Jack Spãrrow Rogue (Streetfighter) Fighter (Unbroken) Race (Human) Primary role (Tank) Additional roles (DPS melee, debuffer) Weapon style (Sword and shield) Primary late-game weapon (Sabre: Aldris Blade of Captain Crow) Medium shield (Lethandria's Devotion) Medium armor (Casità de Samilta) Headgear (Fair favor) Active (Sneak 10+, Sleight 10+) Passive (Intimidate 20+) Theurge: Saruwūman the Blue Chanter (Troubadour) Druid (Fury) Race (Moon godlike) Primary role (DPS magic) Additional roles (Healer, summoner, debuffer, buffer) Role (DPS magic, summons, buffing) Weapon style (Sword and shield) Primary early-game weapon (Scepter: Any, for modal) Primary late-game weapon (Wand: A Whale of a Wand) Large Shield (Cadhu Scalth, for scaling buffs) Active (Athletics 20+) Passive (Metaphysics 20+)

[This post has been edited do to accidentally posting before it was completed] Most of the time when I play an Rpg I just try to get a balance of Attack and Defense. This normally means I play as rogues, barbarians, fighters, and any other close range fighter. As of late though I’ve felt yearning to do something different, so I’m going to do a ranged build. Ranger, of course, is my first choice. And I would like to multiclass. But if there is any other ideas I want to hear them.

[BUILD GUIDE] - The Soul Devourer (5.0) Class - Blood Mage / Soul Blade (Hierophant) Concept - Mass drain focus with Citzal's Spirit Lance and use soul annihilation for mass slaughter. This build has extremely high defenses thanks to equipment, various wizard defense spells, and the amazing cipher spell Borrowed Instinct. We also have spectacular accuracy and crit nearly every hit. Use Pull of Eora to group enemies so we can maximally build focus and annihilate souls. Slaughter kith, wilders, monsters, and...destructibles, to drain their souls and build max focus. This build works with any alignment but is particularly suited for EVIL playthroughs as you're rewarded for slaughtering everything for their souls and their spells. I even killed a temple full of Dawnstars. But not the younglings... POTD - YES SOLO - YES, in fact this build can handle the Ultimate challenge (link below). Companions - Not necessary but would work well in any party as a striker / off-tank. ----------- Why play this class? I was inspired towards soul blade builds after watching Sarcastic Sarcophagae's ultimate run using a soul blade / ranger, and I started thinking about whether we really needed the ranger part, and no, you don't, though ranger makes it easier to proc focus gain since you can kill the pet over and over. I wanted to create a god-like character that felt like a kensai/mage from Baldur's Gate 2. Capable of single-handedly blitzkrieging large groups of enemies. Despite being a blood mage multiclass, we use very few offensive spells. This is very much a melee build and ideal for a no-rest run. ----------- RACE: Coastal Aumaua for might resistance. Wild Orlan, wood elf, mountain dwarf, and human are also decent choices, but really you can use any race besides maybe godlikes, since the helmet we use is important. BACKGROUND: Old Vailia - Artist (mechanics/history/insight) Effigy's Resentment: Maneha (+1 MIG is not quite as good as +1 INT, but we get +5 resistance to might afflictions which is great) STATS MIG - 13 base, 19 final (+2 Auamaua, +1 Gift from Machine, +1 Maneha, +2 Alchemic Brawn, + items and +5 from tenacious/energized) CON - 9 base, 13 final (+2 Alchemic Brawn, +2 Konstanten's Boon, plus items and +5 from Infuse or Robust) DEX - 14 base, 18 final (+2 Alchemic Guile, +2 Amira's Blessing, plus items and +5 from Deleterious) PER - 18 base, 22 final (+2 Alchemic Guile, +1 Konstanten's Boon, +1 Savage Cunning, plus items and +5 from Eldritch Aim) INT - 18 base, 22 final (+1 Old Vailia, +2 Alchemic Wits, +1 Konstanten's Boon, +1 Cauldron's Shard, plus items and +5 from Infuse or Brilliant) RES - 3 base, 9 final (+2 Alchemic Wits, +2 Nature's Resolve, +2 Rikuhu's Blessing, plus items and +5 from Pyschovampiric Shield) It is easy for us to proc inspirations for everything but might (but that can be done too). In battle the stats are typically something like 26/20/24/28/29/14 --------------- To cheese or not to cheese? This build will work fine in parties and likely solo on lower difficulties without using "cheese" strategies. But the cheese is so good. Don't you want to ascend to godhood? Cabalist's Gambeson and Strand of Favor are used to extend many buffs, most important of which is the soul blade's max focus buff. For every melee kill you get +10 max focus for IDK, something like 60 seconds, but we can extend that and end up with 15000+ focus by late game, which translates to starting battles with something like 3500 focus! This lets us zerg dangerous enemies when needed, or whenever we feel like it. In addition, blood mage's minor grimoire imprint can STEAL SPELLS, permanently. This is super useful in general but especially for solo, trial of iron runs, and ESPECIALLY ultimate runs. We can steal spells like Escape, Withdraw, Nature's Balm (Robust!), Halt, and even watershaper spells like Ondra's Whip and a party friendly Chill Fog! Any spell that's level 3 or lower, and an enemy has it, we can steal it. It works like this. DO NOT memorize Minor Grimoire Imprint. Carry a grimoire with Minor Grimoire Imprint. Easiest to get is Aloth's grimoire. Cast minor grimoire imprint on the enemy. If it hits (vs fortitude), a random level 1 to 3 spell the caster knows is stolen and shows up in your quick bar. Most enemies know 2 spells per level, but a few like Eamund the Fox know more (has ten L1 to L3 spells). We can make the theft PERMANENT by swapping to another grimoire and back after we steal it. In this way you can get every level 1 to 3 wizard spell for free (wizard spells don't show up in the quick bar), provided it isn't learned already, plus any level 1 to 3 priest or druid spells you'd want, such as Barbs of Condemnation, Divine Mark, Pillar of Faith, Nature's Mark, etc. etc. But don't steal TOO MANY, not sure what happens when the quick bar extends to the edge of the screen. The spells I stole on my ultimate run were these: every wizard spell I could (because no renewable resources, and just because), withdraw, restore, nature's balm, the moon's light, chill fog (watershaper version), Ondra's whip, Escape, Barbs of Condemnation, and Halt. You can get most of these (minus the wizard spells) from two encounters: Beina, who is a priest of skaen and has other priests in her party, and the watershaper Biakara. These encounters are relatively easy even for solo, and you can watch me do them in Video 13. ------------------- FOOD: Hylea's Bounty! You can get it at the start of the game if you pledged to Hylea in POE1 (everything good import has it). So we can immediately have +2 to all skills which is SUPER helpful in the early game, and the entire game really. It's also GREAT for combat. We get +25% max health, which allows us to dump CON a bit, and even better, +10 to ALL defenses. This is by far the best food in the game for this build. If you have to rest later, I guess I'd go with Captain's Banquet or Shark's Soup for the immunities mainly, but the combat buffs are also excellent. You'll be squishier without Hylea's Bounty buffs though, and skill checks are tougher, and more important you lose your per-rest buffs like Dawnstar's Blessing, so try to avoid resting! ------------------- SKILLS: In the early game, stealth is most important active, then mechanics. Later we want some athletics. With a luminous Adra potion, Hylea's bounty, and the various unguents, plus training, your BASE for every skill should be 7 with no points in it. For passives, early we want lots of diplomacy and a little survival. Once you get the GiftBearer's Cloth, pump history as much as you can. For a solo run I wouldn't take it past 12 points invested (which with other bonuses gave me 20 history and +15 to defenses). My late-game skill investment was something like Arcana 3, Athletics 7, mechanics 9, diplomacy 5, history 12, survival 3. Diplomacy and survival can be boosted with items to around 15 which is enough to pass most checks. ------------------- ABILITIES I went through most of the game without taking a single wizard spell, because you can get almost everything you need from Llengrath's Martial Mysteries and Aloth's Grimoire, but eventually I took Pull of Eora because it is really good and I have one or two ability choices that are somewhat free. Here is my suggestion for what to take leveling up as you go. Grab pull of eora at L10 to L12 or do what I did and cast from grimoire and take it late. 1 - Eldritch Aim and Tenuous Grasp (EA is hard to find as stealable spell plus it is just great, TG is a .5s cast but take whatever cipher side) 2 - Iron Will (!)- +15 to will. Will is probably the most important defense on a solo run and iron will STACKS with bull's will! 3 - Lingering Echoes - your cipher spells lasting longer is pretty nice, but mostly we take this because there's nothing better to take 4 - Psychovampiric Shield (!) and TwoHanded - PVS effectively gives +10 accuracy vs the enemy and gives us Steadfast, and a .5s cast! 5 - Draining Whip (!) - Once you build tons of focus you might want to switch to Biting Whip, but I stuck with draining whole game. 6 - Mental Binding - this one is a bit free, Phantom Foes also a good choice but doesn't stack other flank debuffs like Chill Fog 7 - Hammering Thoughts (!) and Bear's Fortitude (!) - HT +1 weapon penetration is amazing, and our fortitude is a bit low 8 - Secret Horrors - really good debuff over huge area, especially for minor grimoire imprint, and a .5s cast 9 - Weapon and Shield Style - before summoning weapons we want a shield for the bonus deflection, so why not get reflex and more deflection? 10 - Body Attunement and Bull's Will - nothing great on cipher side, but BA is situationally useful vs enemies with high AR 11 - Secrets of Rime - for chill fog 12 - Heart of the Storm - becomes relevant when we proc Lord Darryn's Voulge and Conduit (or take pull of eora and this at 19) 13 - Borrowed Instinct (!!) and Tough - the build starts to become very powerful now we have Borrowed Instinct and Citzal's Spirit Lance 14 - Uncanny Luck - hit to crit always welcome, could also take Rapid Casting or Farcasting, we eventually take all 15 - Rapid Casting - get the buffs up faster 16 - The Empty Soul (!) and Improved Critical (!) - TES +10 ACC vs will with the cipher spells we really need to hit (PVS and BI) 17 - Martial Caster - Summon that weapon a little faster 18 - Farcasting - moderately useful, +20% range on most spells (doesn't apply to escape sadly) 19 - Echoing Horror (!) and Pull of Eora - EH is like a perma-frighten and POE means no more grimoire swapping 20 - Psychic Backlash - Kind of free, could sub Recall Agony, Phantom Foes, Ringleader, Arms Bearer, or a wizard spell MODALS Club (!), Quarterstaff (!), Medium Shield (!), Small Shield (!), Pike, Rapier, Morningstar (last two don't really matter, and pike modal not that great) None of these are super important besides maybe quarterstaff since we use summoned weapons, but the small shield and medium shield especially are nice to reduce damage before we summon the weapon. Club kinda useful early to reduce will. GOD POWER Mien of Death's Herald or Ire of Death's Herald (give Intuitive and Energized respectively). For Mien be diplomatic in god conversations and for ire be aggressive. Intuitive is the only Tier 3 we can't otherwise get, but it isn't *that* much better than aware. Energized is much better than Tenacious for the interrupts which hit your primary and secondary lance targets. But...we can get Energized through other means. In a no rest run these abilities can be used once, so you want to extend them and not lose them. Can wear Effigy's Husk to keep Energized, though you sacrifice some armor and reflex/will compared to Magnera's Chain. It is better vs enemies that use lots of might afflctions though. I took Ire of Death's Herald, and...I forgot to use it. --------------- EQUIPMENT WE WEAR Head - Cap of the Laughingstock - effectively +10 accuracy, and if we use mirror's image or essential phantom we get immunity to resolve (and -10 deflection) Neck - Protective Eothasian Charm - mostly for the proc, but if worn the healing is doubled from might and dawnstar's blessing Body - Magnera's Chain, Effigy's Husk - MC has +10 fort/will/ref, and Effigy's Husk immunity to might. Early game wear Devil of Caroc BP. Rings - Ring of Minor Protection + Entonia Signet Ring pre-escape, then ROMP + Prosperity's Fortune, then ROMPx2 (they stack!) Feet - Boots of Stealth early, then Bounding Boots or Boots of Stability (with two copies of Bounding Boots, you can use Leap 2x per ENCOUNTER, then put it back in stash between battles and swap back to get Leap back) Cape - Cloak of Greater Protection early, then Cape of the Falling Star, then The GiftBearer's Cloth. Hands - Killer's Gloves early, then Gatecrashers, then Firethrower's Gloves, then Left Hand of the Obscured or Onepahau's Strength (or Killer's Gloves again) Waist - Undying Burden then Upright Captain's Belt so we're unaffected by Pull of Eora Pet - Pes early (+10%dmg, 5% hit to crit), Bear Cub later (+8 fort, 5% hit to crit), Ooblit even later (+3s duration beneficial effects) Weapons - You don't actually use the weapons much, but their passive buffs can be useful before summoning. Squid's Grasp in slot 1 and 3 (copy), Lethandria's Devotion in slot 1, Outworn Buckler and some other weapon in Slot 2, Xoti's Lantern in slot 3 (if Skaen challenge) The important thing with the shields is if you get hit by something nasty (not likely with all the inspirations but happens occasionally), you can clear it by rapidly swapping slots 1 and 2. Can clear even faster with 2x outworn buckler, but I like Lethandria / Outworn for healing passive and because Lethandria is a better fighting shield. Every switch you're healed 2 points and clear 6% off the duration. This can be scripted so you clear an arcane dampener in a couple seconds (or no time if you can pause). On Squid's Grasp you want Broken Curse and Attempted Parley, this provides a huge action speed buff when you're threatended by 3+ enemies which happens a lot solo, and it applies to spells! On Lethandria take Sheltering Light and Captivating Crystal. On Outworn Buckler take Timeless Perseverence and Symbol of Courage. Grimoires - LLengrath's Martial Mysteries (or Katrenn's), Aloth's. These are the main two. Jernaugh's Careful Calamities is useful for the spell Jernaugh's Equalizing Burst which is a good opener, also Ninagauth's Shadowflame from Ninagauth's Teachings, but normally we open with Pull of Eora. Might want to hold onto Arkemyr's Illuminating Discoveries or Celestial Grimoire for Arkemyr's Brilliant Departure, but I never needed to use it. Escape is not quite as good but a much faster cast. ----------------- EQUIPMENT FOR PROCS - this is stuff we equip only if we want to proc some effect, either temporarily or to extend indefinitely, we extend with first Cabalist's Gambeson, then Cabalist's Gambeson plus Strand of Favor. Takes 10 to 20 seconds to extend something to near infinity, depending where you are it affects how fast you can cycle armor and necklace. The sea is usually the fastest place. Thief's Putty / Ungent of Animalism / Blessed Incense / Oil of Allure / Arcanist's Balm (!!!!) - proc these right after getting Cabalist's Gambeson for +2 to all skills Antidote - permanent immunity to poison attacks Amra (!!!!) - Tempered Fury gives FRENZY without the deflection penalty! Incredible. Protective Eothasian Charm's Darkest Before Dawn (!!!!) - gives +10 health per 3s, -25% damage taken (decreases conduit effect unfortunately) Deltro's Cage Helm (!!!!) - can TRIPLE your damage output if you crit yourself wearing the right equipment at high level with Chain Lightning or even better, Scrolls of Great Maelstrom. Note the scrolls are very dangerous to Vela and yourself so not recommended for iron run, but with max Arcana they do insane damage and you can get +220% lightning damage, which applies not only to melee but spells. Ideally you'll have all of these when you proc Conduit - Chromoprismatic QS's Elemental Induction buff, Improved Critical, Heart of the Storm (make sure you overpen, kill yourself for System Shock if needed), Griffin's Blade (Hound's Courage), +2MIG gloves or Left Hand of the Obscured (arcana for scroll, strength for spells), Kuaru's Ring, Chameleon's Touch, Sash of Judgment, High Harbinger's Robes or Furrante's Breastplate or Deltro's Cage, Sandals of the Water Lily (make it easier to crit yourself). Milx for hit to crit conversion with spells. I crit myself with Chain Lightning in video 28, right before I fight Dorudugan and Huani o Whe. Chromoprismatic Quarterstaff (!!!) - Elemental Induction gives +15% damage which applies to everything including SA, Entropy Shield reduces damage by about 8% Devil of Caroc's BP (!) - 2 health per 3 seconds is okay, but it adds up. If worn this increases to 4. Grove's Kin from Nature's Embrace (!!) - gives Woodskin. We could just steal woodskin and cast it, but perma-woodskin is cool too. Less / Least Unstable Coil (!!) - +15% Action Speed. I proc this during the Maerwald fight because that's when I get it usually and he's a spirit. Lord Darryn's Voulge (!!!) - gives Lightning Strikes - quick, +15% action speed, +15% damage as shock with weapons Outworn Buckler (!!) - would have more ! as this can proc Courageous, but we are already immune to interrupts from insanely high concentration Rannig's Wrath (!!) - Redoublement gives +10 deflection, which is part of why we can dump resolve Resounding Call (!!) - Call to Arms procs Tenacious when destroying a destructible. Slayer's Claw can upgrade this to Energized by swapping weapons. Robes of the Weyc - +1 AR against your chosen type Sanguine Great Sword (!!!) - Proc Blood Gift, then Greater Blood Gift. They STACK for +20 health per 6 seconds, much more if you have the item equipped Scordeo's Trophy (!!!) - can be used early game to greatly reduce recovery with Opening Barrage Scordeo's Edge (!!!!) - can ELIMINATE recovery with Blade Cascade. Can stack accuracy +20 every time you save. Insane. Not necessary to stack accuracy this much but makes things easier. Serpent Crown (!!!) - +10 accuracy that applies to spells not just weapons! Shadow Form (!!!!) (Slipper of the Assassin) - use to steal things with ease, and to start nearly every encounter from stealth (invisible). You don't need to actually wear the boots in combat, after the first proc, switch to the boots you want to wear then extend it and you'll still be invisible. Shea's War Staff (!) - 15% hit to crit with weapons is nice, though by the time you get this you have Scordeo's Edge Slayer's Claw (!!!!) - can bump up any might inspiration to Energized simply by cycling weapons Shroud of the Phantasm (!!!!!) - proc brilliant. It is easy to proc if you have stolen something like Minoletta's Minor Missiles and Restore. Just alternate Missiles and restore. They're .2s casts with speed bonuses, so you can fire off 100 missiles in no time. Wall of Flame also good, but we can't steal it. Make sure to remove clothes when proccing this if you have Abydon's Challenge on. Unstable Soul Essence - an explosive that heals you roughly 6 health per 6 seconds. Okay. Heals much more if you have high explosives. Wahai Poroga (!!!) - At Blade's Reach reduces melee damage by 20% and counterattack returns damage as raw DOT. Combined with Blood Mage healing, we have passive healing around 10(BM) + 20(DBD) + 20(SGS) + 6(USE) + 4(DOCBP) = 60 health per 6 seconds. Add robust for 40 more, add the moon's light for 32 more. Normally my script doesn't proc The Moon's Light but Robust is usually up, so that's 100 or 132 health per 6 seconds, about 16 or 22 health per second. Plus we are hard to hit, so basically unkillable. -------- OTHER BUFFS Nature's Resolve - +10 accuracy, +2 resolve, best per-rest buff in the game Dawnstar's Blessing - +50% healing, +2 religion - I know I just said NR was the best, but THIS is the best per-rest one time buff. Or 2nd best IDK. Alchemist's Wits/Brawn/Guile - +2 to all stats, per rest Cauldon Shard - +1 to chosen stat, I took INT, permanent I think Konstanten's Boon - best prostitute boon IMO, gives +2 CON, +1 PER, +1INT Savage Cunning - +1 PER, +2 survival, permanent Rikuhu's Blessing - +2 RES, get from the shrine on Crookspur Island, takes religion 15, choose to rest you get interrupted, with high diplomacy you get the boon Amira's Blessing - +2 DEX, this is a random proc while traveling Neketaka. When you get the burning house, go in, flee the house, be nice to the old lady Ngati's Blessing - +2 CON, get from Teo Ramunga on Neketaka Island. I skipped this one since it is out of the way and it removes Rikuhu and vice versa. They also remove Amira so try to get that later (just don't do too much unnecessary map travelling in Neketaka and it should proc Amira later). Once I managed to get all three but I can't figure out how to reproduce it. ------- DRUGS SAY NO TO DRUGS But seriously, if you don't want to rest and you get hit by even one arcane dampener your drugs will cause a drug crash, even though when the dampener ends the drug effects return. You can actually stack every drug with saves and loads, and if you have every drug benefit plus the crashes, the benefits still slightly outweigh the crashes (except whiteleaf, don't take whiteleaf, the crash effects are awful). So it still may be worth it. BUT you lose mostly perception, and perception is one of the most important stats so I just didn't mess with drugs. I was only hit with one, maybe two arcane dampeners so it would have been fine if I'd used them but you don't need them and it eliminates worry about that risen mage getting lucky and rolling a 100 vs your insanely high will defense... ------- MY ULTIMATE RUN First 20 or so videos are very boring, please don't watch them. It's just me sneaking around, questing, and proccing things. Not a lot of combat. Gets more interesting after that. I tried to script as much of the fighting as possible, but the POE2 engine is pretty limited compared to say Baldur's Gate, where I once wrote a 3000+ line script capable of handling every battle solo on insane with all the mods (God I'm a nerd). This script has just 33 blocks, and basically we try to keep up inspirations at all time, start battles with defensive buffs, summon citzal's spirit lance or sometimes concelhaut's staff, then use psychovampiric shield, borrowed instinct, and secret horrors for buffs/debuffs, cast pull of eora and chill fog on groups, then move in for the slaughter, healing ourself with restore and the moon's light as necessary, and using escape to zip around the battlefield while exploding things. One relevant note about my pathing. It was not well planned. I should not have gone to Sandswept immediately for the slight XP boost, it cost me later and delayed acquistion of both Shroud of the Phantasm and Lord Darryn's Voulge. I had to get to the Sanguine Harvest island on the 16th (has to be the 16th) for several reasons. You can get the sword, which has really nice healing passives. And you can get the sword again. And again, and again. After a day of repeating that encounter I emerged quite possibly the richest adventurer in Eora, and I drained a few hundred souls for focus in the meantime, so as Korgan would say. "Sigh...a good day". https://www.youtube.com/playlist?list=PLkOCqAbkQHxwTJyCKvA_31wYyPWK_87VY

Rift Inquisitor build by Sintee: https://steamcommunity.com/sharedfiles/filedetails/?id=1451632958 What can I change to make this suitable for a Kindwayfarer/Soulblade who uses a sword (or other more suitable weapon) and a Shield. My character will be an Aedyr Meadow Human Drifter. I know it won't be ideal but what would be optimal within the boundaries I set for myself? This is my first time playing this series. Thanks in advance!

Hello, so lately I know I've been asking around alot about various builds, trying to find the another build that is just as fun as the two builds I have only beaten the game with (Steel garrote/ Bloodmage) and (Forbidden Fist/Ascendant), So I tried other half caster multiclasses but they didn't Have the same fun feel as the previous 2, but one thing I keep coming back to for the caster half is Druid as I really like the spell list you get with it , with all the Storm, Plant, and Beast spells. But sadly they have a finite pool of spell slots/number of times you can use your spells, which gave me the idea of combining it with tactician which has the brilliant ability to regenerating class resources, which would allow me to cast spells like the more infinite resource having classes, But I'm having trouble picking a druid subclass for this warden build and also having trouble on how I would proc brilliant using said druid class(Fury,Ancient or maybe Shifter), I would really appreciate the help and advice thx.

Right now, I am playing a melee Wiz with 14/8/10/15/16/15 base stats, and I - for the first time - defeated Raedric at party level 4. Lots of resting in the castle, but still, really powerful. Got me thinking, what other classes/builds make for great talkers that are also combatitive on PotD.

Hey everybody been having fun playing various melee caster builds I decided on trying a potd solo run with a liberator, and I'm stuck on which version I should go with (kind wayfarer/fury or shifter), or (steel garrote/fury or shifter) and whether or not to use magran favor+sun &moon or darryns voulge as 2h for this run, would really appreciate the advice and help thx

I have 2 Rangers, 2 Paladins, 1 Cipher and 1 Chanter. I really like this setup so far, also, I cannot think of any classes that would make snese for Sagani/GM/Kana/Pallegina aside from their standard one, aside from Eder, who I think makes quite the fitting Kind Wayfarer Though I could imagine him as a Ranger as well, with his high affinity to animals. But 3 Rangers would be a bit insane I think xD So, stats look like this: Orlan Ranger MC: M17 C3 D19 P20 I15 R4 Arbalest as main (One-Eyed Molina with nexus patch) Sagani Ranger: M20 C4 D17 P19 I15 R3 Hunting Bow main (Currently still her personal one) Eder Paladin KW: M17 C10 D14 P14 I18 R5 Greatsword main (Justice so far, but Imma buy some others soon) Zealous Focus Pallegina Paladin: M16 C10 D15 P14 I20 R3 can't decide and constantly switch between SnS with Outworn Buckler, or dualwield small weapons. Zealous Charge (that thing saved me so many times) is insane. GM Cipher: M16 C8 D14 P16 I16 R8 Warbow/2handed main, switch between the 2 depending on scenario. Haven't found any unique Warbow/Poleaxe/Estoc yet, currently she has Durance's Staff and a Fine Warbow with Wilder enchantment on. Quickly became my second-hardest and most efficient hitter next to MC Ranger. Went down only once (against my first encounter with an Ogre Druid - never again), Kills second highest number, deleted Raedric with Soul Ignition after buffs. Kana Chanter: M20 C8 D15 P14 I18 R3 am really not sure how to build him effectively as a support ranged unit. Just Ila constantly is good enough I guess, collecting phrases for an emergency heal or a summon, but eh, I feel like he's a bit underutilzed there, aside from the tangibly ridiculous speed buff he gives my MC. Also, he has Gallant's Focus to buff the backline even more... I thought (and tried) a gunslinger style setup, but it's weird... Kana I feel like I need the most advice with. The others work very well so far and I feel neither like they are carrying the rest of the party nor that they are underutilized, but Kana is in a weird place imo. But of course I am open to any kind of advice/criticism

By now we're all very familiar with super-powered Heralds, Sages, Arcane Knights and whatnot that can absolutely decimate the game. But what about the forgotten builds? The class combos that don't possess any obvious synergies or feature a traditionally 'unsexy' class (sorry Rangers...) Every now and again this board will throw up an unsung hero build that opens people's eyes to exciting possibilities - e.g. Takedown combo Geomancers, spell-turret Troubadour/Psions - that go to show that even the least popular combos have some merit. A quick glance at the pinned build list (stuck in 2018 limbo) shows the following combos missing builds: Beastmaster, Cantor, Celebrant, Cleric, Crusader, Geomancer, Hierophant, Hunter, Itinerant, Liberator, Mystic, Oracle, Pathfinder, Psyblade, Savage, Tempest, Warlock, Wildrhymer, Witch. Obviously some of those have been fairly well covered by now (Warlock), but I'm not sure I've ever seen discussion around Beastmasters for example. So what are you favourite, under-represented builds and why? Are there some you're keen to try? I'd love to hear your thoughts!

Hello, I've been trying to decide what build to play for quite sometime now, ever since deadfire first released on the ps4, I've gone through multiple builds all the way from fextralife builds to sin tee builds, but none of there's really catch my tastes, but I have notice I prefer melee casters with regenerative resources and I've decided the three melee casters builds I've come to like is fighter(tactician)/wizard(bloodmage) , fighter(tactician)/cipher(soulblade), and paladin(steel garrote)/wizard(bloodmage). Also I would appreciate if you could tell me how much reactivity that cipher and wizard have in the game,as well as which build will allow me to beat the entire game including dlc and megabosses. Thank you. P.S. I'm know I'm asking alot but would really appreciate the help as I've haven't gone farther then when you first get to nekataka, and I would really like to actually get through the game as I really do enjoy it, I just get caught up in making the perfect build for me.

[CLASS BUILD] The Soul Sniper - Mindstalker - Solo PotD Full Playthrough with Megabosses Class: Assassin/Cipher (no subclass) Concept: Ranged glass cannon (ab)using stealth mechanics and highly synergistic skills, weapons and items to deliver high burst damage and DoT while staying in the safety of the shadows. Game Version: Works with latest updates and DLCs as of v5.0.00040. I recommend the Full Community Patch and the No Forced Rests mod (otherwise just metagame around them, it’s fully viable but just a bit annoying). POTD Solo: Yes. Base Game, All DLCs, All 4 Megabosses completed. Some strategies below. Companion: Nope (really meant to play solo by definition) Important Opening Notes: 1) This build originated from playing Kaylon’s excellent Glimmer Man Tactician/Assassin build. I reused a lot of his findings here, and other thoughts from Boeroer, Thelee and others. 2) This build will NOT work with Berath’s Challenge. 3) I would not recommend this build for a first playthrough in the Deadfire. It relies upon a niche type of gameplay that you will most enjoy if you are a returning player with some understanding of the combat mechanics of Deadfire. 4) This is a long post… bear with me, I hope it will be worth the read! -----INTRO------ The idea of this build came to life while trying out Kaylon’s Glimmer Man build. I was really interested in a solo PotD capable ranged Assassin and Kaylon’s build was extremely appealing. As I played it up to lvl 20, I got really impressed by its potential and it turned out to be a lot more versatile than I thought. I also realized a few things along the way: - Brilliant Tactician was very nice but maybe not that crucial, even for a full playthrough. - Some of the drawbacks of Tactician were not optimal (lower PEN and ACC mostly) - There were lots of synergistic Fighter skills, but some not as much (e.g. the +ACC bonus of Stances doesn't stack with Arquebus modal, Constant Recovery doesn’t do much for this build). - Most importantly, this weapon user, high damage build could really benefit from having all 4 mythical adra stones, but Hauani o Whe can’t be reliably dealt with as Kaylon pointed out. I decided to try something different, and the Mindstalker made sense because of class synergies (Biting Whip, Hammering Thoughts and Disintegration cost 3 skill points and are on their own very incremental/transformational to the Assassin), plus you can easily take Hauani (Disintegration + Marux Amanth), and it has a nice thematic fit. From there, I decided upon vanilla Cipher because of the lack of drawbacks and because it brought the best Whip ability for weapon damage. It’s probably debatable, but since you mostly attack with Rogue skills, you don’t consistently generate focus so you have a permanent 20% DMG increase and a 20% Raw Lash on top. Nice. From then, the big questions was: can you complete the game, the Megabosses and the DLCs solo on PotD with a resource-intensive toon that mostly doesn’t have resource regeneration? The answer is yes. From the heights of Vilario’s Rest down to the rectum of Wael’s Titan body, this toon performed far above my expectations. As I’ll explain in a bit, it is one of the most synergistic build I’ve played, in the sense that every skill point invested or item equipped brings something specific to the build. Nothing is wasted, even if certain skills aren’t used that often. The build can basically trivialize 95% of the game including Megabosses. It slows down a little bit in the last 5% which are the DLC fights where the game suddenly puts you in a small enclosed space with lots of respawning enemies and no way to reset the fight. Even then, you just have to slightly adapt your build and you basically turn on God Mode again. The key then is to keep your Guile for stealth and to have high Arcana to nuke everybody with AoE Scrolls (which will benefit from your bonii of attacking from stealth). I’ll detail everything below after a quick rundown of the skills and items specs. -----SPECS------ Race: Wood Elf (optimal, doesn’t matter too much) Background: The White that Wends – Hunter (doesn’t matter much) FINAL STATS WITH ALL PERMABUFFS AND NO-REST BUFFS AS OF 5.0 (without combat buffs): MIG 25 (18 Base +2 Berath +1 Gift from Machine +2 Alchemic Brawn +2 Hot Razor Skewers) CON 9 (3 Base +2 Berath +2 Alchemic Brawn +2 Konstanten Boon) DEX 22 (15 Base +1 Elf +2 Berath +2 Alchemic Guile +2 Amira’s Blessing(?? To be investigated, apparently it has to do with the Neketaka burning house event. Never got the bonus before although getting the event 100% of time. This time I didn’t pursue the arsonists…) PER 29 (18 Base +1 Elf +1 White that Wends +2 Berath +1 Konstanten Boon +1 Effigy: Sagani +2 Alchemic Guile +1 Savage Cunning +1 Cauldron Brew +1 Ajamuut) INT 25 (18 Base +2 Berath +1 Konstanten Boon +2 Alchemic Wits +2 Charm of Bones) RES 11 (3 Base +2 Berath +2 Alchemic Wits +2 Nature’s Resolve +2 Rikuhu’s Blessing) ADDITIONAL PERMABUFFS: Food: Hot Razor Skewers Adratic Glow All Trainings Dawnstar Blessing Luminous Adra Potion Nature’s Resolve (Accuracy) Savage Cunning (Survival) Galawain’s Gift x3 (Acc. against beasts) BERATH BLESSINGS: I am not ashamed of investing all 105 points. BUT none is required to win with this build. SKILLS: I like to roll Diplomacy, Survival, Athletics, and Mechanics (and a bit of Stealth of course) over the course of the game as they enable important stat checks early on. After level 20 and once I’m in the thick of the DLC’s, a stronger focus on Arcana is very helpful and mandatory for the biggest cheesy fights. ----- ABILITIES ------ ASSASSIN Core to the build: Crippling Strike, Fast Runner, Arms Bearer, Smoke Veil, Blinding Strike, Dirty Fighting, Two Handed, Debilitating (or Arterial) Strike, Gouging Strike, Finishing Blow, Deep Pockets, Withering Strike, Devastating Blow, Tough, Uncanny Luck, Deep Wounds, Toxic Strike, Improved Critical, Deathblows. CIPHER Core to the build: Whisper of Treason (just to make Krovix of the Deep your pet), Biting Whip, Hammering Thought, Disintegration. Situational Skills: Borrowed Instinct, Empty Soul (both for Hauani), Farcasting, Rapid Casting (for end-game, Arcana heavy build). Caution: NEVER Take Echoing Horror, it will make you come out of Stealth/Invisibility! A Couple of Notes: -You don’t need the Shadowing Beyond tree. Smoke Veil and the occasional Potion of Invisibility or Scroll of Withdraw are all you need in stealth. For extra mobility, you can consider the Bounding Boots with Boeroer’s tricks. Not required at all, but fun if you’re really into Arterial Strike. I prefer Debilitating Strike because I have already a lot in the DoT department, and because it enables Deathblows which can synergize with Thunderous Report. -Backstab doesn’t fit the playtstyle of this build and is in my experience buggy with Arquebus. -I really don’t spread much into the Cipher’s skill tree, but what I take is incredibly helpful, and then it allows me to invest heavily in the Assassin skill-intensive tree. This is synergy! -----GEAR------ Weapon Set 1: Dragon’s Dowry, Mythic, Volatile Runelock, Serpent’s Rage. Weapon Set 2: The Red Hand, Mythic, Double Tap, Unburdened Soul (trust me on the long run Unburdened Soul is the better choice. See notes below). Weapon Set 3: Main Hand Fire in the Hole, Mythic, Chain Shot and Off-Hand Kitchen Stove, Mythic, Thunderous Report, Everything and Anything. Also keep handy: Marux Amanth. And True Lover’s Kiss if you want. Acina’s Tricorn Charm of Bones Devil of Caroc: whatever enchantments. With permabuffs, it gives us 12 Guile/Encounter. Ajamuut’s Stalking Cloak: amazing! Killer’s Gloves (keep Burglar’s Gloves and Firethrower’s gloves handy) Ring of Focused Flames (synergizes with Dragon’s Dowry and Thunderous Report) Ring of the Marksman (keep Kuaru’s prize handy) Slippers of the Assassin (free stealth once per encounter when you kill your first enemy: this item is amazing!) Sash of Judgment Harley Dog (keep Eviee handy) Potions and Scrolls: Invisibility, Withdraw, high level elemental and physical damage scrolls, anything that can also paralyze/ petrify. A couple of notes: -On the Red Hand, I initially went with Guilty Conscience. Even if it fits the idea of the build, +40% damage taken still sucks. The Red Hand doesn’t need the extra-extra 20% DMG to be awesome. Also, Guilty Conscience will make the (very) optional fight in SSS where you are turned into an Ironclad impossible to win. -Double Tap and especially Thunderous Report are some of the most powerful, transformational weapon effects in the game. Worthy Sacrifice also, but just for one fight. -Overall, just keep unique stuff you come across to have options, especially if you haven’t played PotD a lot. If you come across items with immunities/resistance, hold on to them. You will have more than enough money anyway. -----GENERAL STRATEGIES------ Our Defense is dismal, and we will take a lot of damage because of our passives. Our only option is to stay hidden in the shadows, and to strike hard. Luckily we have a pretty serious and flexible offensive potential: long range single target, short range AoE, both able to apply Burst or DoT, plus afflictions that enable more damage. Lots of combos in perspective. Our ACC will routinely reach 200+ and our PEN is always above 20. So you will always crit and so you will always overpenetrate etc. Thunderous Report is usually critting at 182 ACC with 33 PEN and 400+ DMG. The arquebuses can reach higher ACC and PEN of 36 and hit for 200-300 DMG a shot – and then you can add the DoT! All in all, this build always has the PEN mechanic working in his favor, and will crit 99% of enemies 99% of the time. BURST DAMAGE: -Debilitating Strike: Cheap, big damage, enables Deathblows. Nice opener for Burst DMG. -Devastating Blow: Very strong finisher on enemies with lots of health and closer to the end. Thunderous Report: Outstanding damage in a BIG AoE cone. -Any combination of those will obliterate most enemies. With Dragon Dowry, you can routinely do about 600 DMG on a single target with Debilitating + Devastating in a double tap. -Debilitating Strike with Fire in the Hole immediately followed by Thunderous Report from Stealth is ridiculously strong and will result in potentially 3,000+ total AoE damage depending on the size of the crowd, in less than 5sec of combat. -The Red Hand’s Double Tap will instakill all vessels… except Dorudugan, Concelhaut, the Fampyr’s in Splintered Reef, maybe a few others. But the other Ancient Fampyrs in their cave, the Ancient Liche Battlemage, the Ancient Deathguards, the Steel Ironclads, the Engwithan Titans… all instakillable. -Pierce Immunes are never a problem between double tap for vessels and the lashes/additional effects, especially if using Dragon Dowry. -Do not use Dragon Dowry on Fire immunes. All its attacks are keyworded as Fire which is on the other hand great with Ring of Focused Flames. (Also works with Thunderous Report). OVER TIME DAMAGE: -Gouging Strike: will prolong combat and work until the enemy is no more. Amazing. -Toxic Strike: will increase in potency over time, scaling to incredible damage. -Disintegration: one of the strongest single target damage spell in the game. You can apply all 3 DoTs above to the same target. It works very well at absolutely obliterating enemies that thought they could out-heal your offense, and can speed up boss fights. We are concentrating in this build some of the stronger DoTs in the game. Sure you could also have Arterial Strike, and team up with your Priest, Paladin and Ranger buddies for a crazy DoT-fest. But you have all you need there already to make any enemy a dead man standing. -Deep Wounds: always on, and pretty cool! -----MEGABOSS/HARD FIGHTS STRATEGIES------ You may argue that I use very cheap tactics against those magnificent beings. But if I can’t even abuse Gouging Strike with an Assassin, then who can? Dorudugan: Equip upright captain belt, shoot Doru in the face with Gouging Strike, Stealth and retreat to the exact South East corner of the map (right in the corner). Come back an hour later, it’s cooked. Belranga: Shoot her in the face with Gouging strike, Stealth and retreat at the beginning of the map. Once she’s done, proceed to finish the remaining spiders with Thunderous Report on the biggest cluster and stealth+snipe on the stragglers. Hauani O Whe: Shoot it in the “face?” with Gouging Strike, then retreat to the south of the beach and chill. Once it’s at Near Death, take a +ACC potion/scroll, gulp a potion of invisibility, fire Borrowed Instinct on Hauani. Restealth and use your additional +ACC to land Disintegration (Empower ok but not necessary). Restealth, walk to Hauani and make sure it’s not moving and it’s under the effect of Disintegration. Yank it with Marux Amanth for a nice instakill. Auranic: It’s actually pretty easy even with this build: you need potions of invisibility, the Eviee pet, one Empower point, and do NOT damage Auranic from the beginning. Keep her for last. First, go kill the bodyguard that can charge/stun. Stealth and Thunderous Report + maybe a normal followup attack will do. This will trigger your invisibility from the boots. Go slightly south while switching to the Red Hand. Fire on the Sigil that opened (obelisk of terror) and the remaining bodyguard both with Gouging Strike. Yes, even if obelisks are pierce DMG immune they will take the hit, triggering lashes and additional effects. Drink a potion of invisibility and retreat to the entrance to chill a bit. Now you will repeat this strategy to apply Gouging Strike to all the remaining obelisks but never attack Auranic. It’s actually really easy, walk up, Auranic opens an obelisk, shoot, stealth, run away. Use potions of invisibility and replenish 6 points of Guile out of your 12 Max when needed. Once all obelisks have the Gouging Strike, wait at the entrance for their destruction. Because Auranic is still relaxed, she won’t open the obelisks unless provoked. Once they’re gone, shoot Auranic in the face with Gouging Strike from Dragon’s Dowry and retreat to the entrance. Wait until she’s done. Of note, you can use the same strategy without using the Empower points and the True Lover’s Kiss, but it’s probably very tedious. SSS Hard Arena Fights /BoW Bridge Ablaze/FS Oratory and Oracle: Those fights might seem impossible at first but respec to max Arcana and load up with the strongest AoE scrolls with potions of invisibility and use your Guile to stay invisible or Gouging Strike key opponents. The fights will become a cakewalk. As an Assassin, you retain your bonii from striking from stealth when you use scrolls which leads to devastating AoE strikes. -----THE END------ Happy to read your thoughts and potential for improvement. Retrospectively, I may have underutilized the Cipher half of this toon, but at the same time this version is very effective!

I don’t know if this has been mentioned but this would be great for those of us builders who like the structure of a build to look supported without having to scaffold all the way to the ground from an elevated build. Vertical Triangle Scaffold (triangular sides) would be nice to cap off a horizontal support made of boxed scaffold (normal scaffold with a border on bottom instead of just legs).

Hello everyone, Some time ago I've created a Google Sheet with the automatic level progression for all the story companions in the game. I this spreadsheet I've noted all the options each companion would automatically take at each level if automatic leveling is enabled (took me quite a lot to do this through console commands), as well its Skill Points allocation and its starting equipment. Now I would like to take this thing up a notch, and insert as well an example of end-game gear each companion should wear. The problem is, I'm not so savvy about equipment in Pillars of Eternity, since I still haven't finished the game once (I'm currently at the beginning of Act III), thus I thought that someone here could help me with this project by pointing out the best equipment for each character. Before you (hopefully) start commenting on the sheet I have just two limitations about the equipment: since this is more intended for role-play than optimization the various companions must keep their "iconic" equipment (those item's with their names on it, or otherwise named after their background, like the Saint's War Armor or Massuk Hunting Bow), and also the type of weapon and/or armor can't be changed (for example, if a character comes with a brigadine and a estoc it can't equip a padded armor and a pike in the end-game). That said I hope to find someone who can help me with this project. If you have questions about it just ask away, I don't bite. Thank you in advance for your help and time.

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!

In the first game I happened to finish Aloth's companion quest before going to the White March, so I dropped him when I picked up new companions there. He remained at Caed Nua the rest of the game. Now that I've picked him up in Pillars 2, I'm trying to play him as a straight wizard class. Are there any suggestions how he should be built? I found the magic system in POE 1, with the fiddling and constant swapping of grimoires rather annoying. Now that the system's changed in POE 2 I want to try to see if I can bring Aloth all the way to the end game. My current party consists of my main character (rogue cipher), Serafen (barb), Eder (fighter), Xoti (priest) and Aloth. My party is at level 7. Thanks.

So I have played the game through twice. Once messing about with everything eventually choosing Phineas and once with the Board. I had an assault rifle build the first play through (but it wasn't focused) then. (sided with Phineas) The second play through I wanted to try out 1H Melee combat. Which took a lot longer to be good but once I leveled up my skills I was running around combat in time dilation taking out enemies. (sided with the Board) If I want to try out Supernova I get the feeling I really have to decide exactly what I want to be doing and build towards it from the start of my play through. I also want it to be somewhat good from the start so that I don't have to keep reloading when I lose companions (do I even want companions?) Anyone got a fun build, that's not too hard to play?

Hi guys, I've recently started a Deadfire playthrough after beating PoE and importing my save file. In PoE I allowed the Devil to get her revenge and sacrificed her at the pool, which I thought would trigger her Breastplate in Deadfire according to what I had read, that she just had to be dead in PoE. Well it is not appearing. So what I did was to download the Unity Console to get the brute way. But it is not working, and I can't find anything about it. The thing is, I think I deserve that damn armor. The game is only getting fun now that I got past the bull**** (Maje island on PotD) and I can actually see my character improving. I had planned his whole build with the armor in mind, given that he being a Marauder would benefit from the resistance to intelligence affliction and stop hitting Eder. Can someone help?

Hey! Just curious what people are going to play as their 1st build. I’m personally thinking of a charming sneak thief that is high in leadership. I’m wondering if I can do a totally pacifist play through. I’ll sneak everywhere in disguise and if I get caught try to talk my way out of it, and if all else fails my companions can get their hands dirty. I’m just curious if this is even plausible early game... can you befriend marauders? Not kill aliens or robots? Thoughts please! Thanks!

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

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.