Poll - Strongest/ Weakest Class (1.2.0)

[prodigydancer]

I think mainly because the dmg spells of Wizards work best with the empower mechanics. Since you can rest nearly whenever you want that's a huge advantage over classes that don't profit from Empower that much. IF you are willing to use Empower of course. If not then the wizard loses power - but only in your game, not in general.

I see. I thought rest-spamming to abuse per-rest options was frowned upon. Of course, empower will make a lot of difference if used frequently.

 

Ciphers are dedicated mind controllers

Oh. Is this why they nerfed WoT range and the duration of WoT, Puppet Master and Ringleader? Edited July 10, 2018 by prodigydancer

[hilfazer]

Someone has finally voted druid for strongest class. Yes, both priest and ranger were voted strongest before druid was.

[Boeroer]

Oh. Is this why they nerfed WoT range and the duration of WoT, Puppet Master and Ringleader?

I guess.

 

I also think many people who played PoE1 don't use Slicken in Deadfire because they just assume it works like in PoE (one-time-prone) while prone lost its power. I was guilty of that too until I accidentally cast it one time (because it was in a Grimoire) and thought "woot?".

[dunehunter]

 

Oh. Is this why they nerfed WoT range and the duration of WoT, Puppet Master and Ringleader?

I guess.

 

I also think many people who played PoE1 don't use Slicken in Deadfire because they just assume it works like in PoE (one-time-prone) while prone lost its power. I was guilty of that too until I accidentally cast it one time (because it was in a Grimoire) and thought "woot?".

Yep, in my notebook Slicken is even more powerful than Chill fog because it is a constant soft CC that nobody immune to.

[prodigydancer]

I also think many people who played PoE1 don't use Slicken in Deadfire because they just assume it works like in PoE (one-time-prone) while prone lost its power. I was guilty of that too until I accidentally cast it one time (because it was in a Grimoire) and thought "woot?".

Slicken has duration again? Well, that's something. Thanks for the tip. I admit to not reading the description carefully.

[Verde]

On my third playthrough and was excited to spec Maia is a Scout...sheesh she is still underwhelming.

 

Fix loading time for Arquebus...its wayyyyy too slow. Or maybe just improve Gunner. Either way I feel at a severe disadvantage with Maia in my group.

Edited July 10, 2018 by Verde

[no1fanboy]

On my third playthrough and was excited to spec Maia is a Scout...sheesh she is still underwhelming.

 

Fix loading time for Arquebus...its wayyyyy too slow. Or maybe just improve Gunner. Either way I feel at a severe disadvantage with Maia in my group.

i second that

 

complete waste of space

 

The loading time for arquebus isnt the problem the problem is all the stupid skill points wasted on the uselss pet. 

Edited July 11, 2018 by no1fanboy

[Boeroer]

I use her as long range interruptor and that works pretty well. That means: I don't shoot as soon as I can but wait until an enemy tries to cast stuff and THEN shoot him - either with an Accurate Wounding Shot (in hopes that the 80% interrupt chance of the Gunhawk triggers - when the cast isn't too powerful) or with Concussive Shot. And removing buffs with Concussive Tranquilizer is pretty neat as well. Of course not as good as Arcane Dampener.

 

One ability of the Animal Companion that I like a lot is Takedown Combo (1 Bond for interrupt and +100% dmg for your next attack). As a Scout you can combine it with Sneak Attack and Deathblows (even Assassinate and Backstab if you want). Sure, it is a bit of a tedium to time it right, but boy do they explode!

Edited July 11, 2018 by Boeroer

[thelee]

I use her as long range interruptor and that works pretty well. That means: I don't shoot as soon as I can but wait until an enemy tries to cast stuff and THEN shoot him - either with an Accurate Wounding Shot (in hopes that the 80% interrupt chance of the Gunhawk triggers - when the cast isn't too powerful) or with Concussive Shot. And removing buffs with Concussive Tranquilizer is pretty neat as well. Of course not as good as Arcane Dampener.

 

One ability of the Animal Companion that I like a lot is Takedown Combo (1 Bond for interrupt and +100% dmg for your next attack). As a Scout you can combine it with Sneak Attack and Deathblows (even Assassinate and Backstab if you want). Sure, it is a bit of a tedium to time it right, but boy do they explode!

 

imo concussive shot/tranq were saving graces for my first party, which had maia and my charname was an itinerant (berath/ghost heart).

 

i think it's better than arcane dampener. arcane dampener is temporary and in any hard fight it goes away and all the buffs come back with the duration they had when they got hit. concussive tranq is an effectively permanent solution and works pretty well on the enemy casters with high will. no aoe though i guess :/

[Boeroer]

But Arcane Dampener also supresses newly cast buffs (in an AoE!). Tranquilizer only removes current buffs. If enemy AI decides to buff again you have to use Tranquilizer again. Not with Dampener. And Dampener's duration is not too short (15 sec base).

 

The upside is that with Tranquilizer you can get a lot more accuracy and almost guarantee a hit on bosses: accuracy passives of the ranger + arquebus modal + weapon enchantments +10 bonus ACC from the ability itself = awesomest ACC. And it fires right through Veil.

Edited July 11, 2018 by Boeroer

[Manveru123]

Go pure Ranger with Twinned Shot + Red Hand. Or a Scout with dual Pistols. She's great if you build her correctly.

 

Unfortunately I feel like it's best to keep the pet on Passive.

[Boeroer]

I never tried: what happens when you use Three Bells Through + Driving Flight and Twinned Shot?

[Zelse]

Both priest and ranger have basically 0 impact specializations by the way..

 

ranger ghost heart is more of a QOL change and the other 2 are awful

priest basically just changes the spells he gets around a bit and has no other effect

 

This is also true for cipher to some degree since +1PL from ascendant (ONLY when ascended) doesnt even get close to making up for the penalties.

Soul Blade just competes with casting and beguiler has another pretty significant penalty while not providing much (literally 2 int worth of range and some bonus focus from casting)

 

^i dont really understand why the PL bonus for cipher was nerfed while the PL bonus for wizard was buffed to the same bonus cipher ascendant had pre-nerf when wizard can make much more use of bonus PL with+missiles. (like yes, losing spell schools is bad but the payoff is bigger and more consistent e.g. immediately at the start of combat!)

(even though wizard is a bit of a special case since everyone who plays PoE is crazy about wizards ever since the first game for some reason i never understood)

 

Anyway, the special classes for the ones who were voted weak are consistently no improvement or even making the class worse while higher voted classes (monk and rogue in particular) all have special classes that are a consistent improvement over the base class.

 

While i disagree with the vote result overall its still interesting to note.

Edited July 11, 2018 by Zelse

[Manveru123]

I never tried: what happens when you use Three Bells Through + Driving Flight and Twinned Shot?

Considering that this weapon does friendly fire, it will probably do more harm than good. Unless you micro and position carefully I guess.

[dunehunter]

But Arcane Dampener also supresses newly cast buffs (in an AoE!). Tranquilizer only removes current buffs. If enemy AI decides to buff again you have to use Tranquilizer again. Not with Dampener. And Dampener's duration is not too short (15 sec base).

 

The upside is that with Tranquilizer you can get a lot more accuracy and almost guarantee a hit on bosses: accuracy passives of the ranger + arquebus modal + weapon enchantments +10 bonus ACC from the ability itself = awesomest ACC. And it fires right through Veil.

It’s way easier to boost acc for attacks vs deflection than spell attack vs will. And the target who u need to arcane damper usuallly have high will def. so imo tranq is much better.

[Archaven]

On my third playthrough and was excited to spec Maia is a Scout...sheesh she is still underwhelming.

 

Fix loading time for Arquebus...its wayyyyy too slow. Or maybe just improve Gunner. Either way I feel at a severe disadvantage with Maia in my group.

 

she seems to be the most effective damage dealer for me.

Edited July 11, 2018 by Archaven

[Boeroer]

Both priest and ranger have basically 0 impact specializations by the way..

 

ranger ghost heart is more of a QOL change and the other 2 are awful

priest basically just changes the spells he gets around a bit and has no other effect

 

This is also true for cipher to some degree since +1PL from ascendant (ONLY when ascended) doesnt even get close to making up for the penalties.

Soul Blade just competes with casting and beguiler has another pretty significant penalty while not providing much (literally 2 int worth of range and some bonus focus from casting)

 

^i dont really understand why the PL bonus for cipher was nerfed while the PL bonus for wizard was buffed to the same bonus cipher ascendant had pre-nerf when wizard can make much more use of bonus PL with+missiles. (like yes, losing spell schools is bad but the payoff is bigger and more consistent e.g. immediately at the start of combat!)

(even though wizard is a bit of a special case since everyone who plays PoE is crazy about wizards ever since the first game for some reason i never understood)

 

Anyway, the special classes for the ones who were voted weak are consistently no improvement or even making the class worse while higher voted classes (monk and rogue in particular) all have special classes that are a consistent improvement over the base class.

 

While i disagree with the vote result overall its still interesting to note.

Sharpshooter with guns/other reloaders doesn't seem to have a lot of drawbacks besides -10 deflection - which doesn't mean a lot for a ranged char. So why is it awful?

 

Stalker is debatable, but I think for a melee ranger it's the best subclass. Def. not awful.

 

The Ascendant not only gets bonus PL when ascended bt can cast powers for 0 focus as long as he's ascended.

 

Subclasses are not supposed to be improvements to the main class.

Edited July 11, 2018 by Boeroer

[Manveru123]

Here's an "awful" Stalker in action on the current patch:

 

[Verde]

 

On my third playthrough and was excited to spec Maia is a Scout...sheesh she is still underwhelming.

 

Fix loading time for Arquebus...its wayyyyy too slow. Or maybe just improve Gunner. Either way I feel at a severe disadvantage with Maia in my group.

she seems to be the most effective damage dealer for me.

Try a Rogue or Monk.

[Boeroer]

I don't know. Highest stackable ACC in the game and a very cheap Full Attack with again +20 ACC and raw damage. I mean monk is great and all, but ranger is not awful.

 

Did anybody actually try out Whirling Strikes (PL with a melee ranger (maybe even with Wahaī Pōraga)? AoE Full Attack like Heart of Fury plus 54 raw DoT (base) per attack sounds rather great. Everybody says single class ranger stinks because the high tier abilities are crap - but this one sounds really nice. Maybe combine it with Evasive Roll to quickly reach the center of mobs, trigger Whirling Strikes and escape with Evasive Roll again?

Edited July 11, 2018 by Boeroer

[thelee]

But Arcane Dampener also supresses newly cast buffs (in an AoE!). Tranquilizer only removes current buffs. If enemy AI decides to buff again you have to use Tranquilizer again. Not with Dampener. And Dampener's duration is not too short (15 sec base).

 

 

I think this aspect of Arcane Dampener was a bug that got stealthfixed in 1.2. I definitely remember having issues trying to rebuff from an Arcane Dampener while it was still active but post 1.2 I just recently had a fight where I was able to rebuff while still having an Arcane Dampener effect active.

[Boeroer]

 

I never tried: what happens when you use Three Bells Through + Driving Flight and Twinned Shot?

Considering that this weapon does friendly fire, it will probably do more harm than good. Unless you micro and position carefully I guess.

So... you don't know I presume.

[dragubaba]

It's funny that barbarians and rangers don't get much praise in this poll. Perceived value and all that. I'm currently doing a PotD run (everything level-scaled, only upwards) with a savage (barbarian/ghost heart) with Eder and Xoti in the party and doing very well. Savage is a nice combination of barbs damage potential and rangers accuracy bonusses and survivability with the summonable spirit pet (very easy to flank mobs).

[Manveru123]

 

 

I never tried: what happens when you use Three Bells Through + Driving Flight and Twinned Shot?

Considering that this weapon does friendly fire, it will probably do more harm than good. Unless you micro and position carefully I guess.

So... you don't know I presume.

 

Nope. I stay away from weapons with friendly fire, because I like putting my martial fighters on an AI script.

 

It's funny that barbarians and rangers don't get much praise in this poll. Perceived value and all that. I'm currently doing a PotD run (everything level-scaled, only upwards) with a savage (barbarian/ghost heart) with Eder and Xoti in the party and doing very well. Savage is a nice combination of barbs damage potential and rangers accuracy bonusses and survivability with the summonable spirit pet (very easy to flank mobs).

This poll doesn't mean anything in the long run. Every class in the game is strong, the difference is, how early does that strength come. For example mid-to-high level Priest striking potential is at least on par with a Wizard.

[Kaylon]

It's funny that barbarians and rangers don't get much praise in this poll. Perceived value and all that. I'm currently doing a PotD run (everything level-scaled, only upwards) with a savage (barbarian/ghost heart) with Eder and Xoti in the party and doing very well. Savage is a nice combination of barbs damage potential and rangers accuracy bonusses and survivability with the summonable spirit pet (very easy to flank mobs).

The fact that you don't feel gimped means nothing. The game is easy enough with a party even on PotD and the differences between classes aren't that huge anymore after the nerfs. Weakest doesn't means unplayable, it means just you can do better with other class.