Custom Caster based party for PotD?

[ziphnor]

I have nearly finished my playthrough on Veteran using a Cipher/Paladin as MC, and now i thought it would be fun to try PotD with a party consisting nearly only of magic users. I played a lot with Ciphers previously, and no wizards, so want to try something else this time.

 

So far i have created a Nature Godlike Evoker a bit min/maxed ( low res/con), and i am now trying to figure out what to put in my party. I am planning to only take Aloth from the game companions (as i haven't used him before), and create the rest as custom characters.

 

I was thinking something along the lines of:

 

Monk/Chanter - Taking all the hits and summoning

Aloth - Wizard (unless there are some fun melee wizard stuff to consider?)

Priest - Gotta have one, right?

Druid (or even another Wizard)

 

I am trying to figure out the sub-classes as well. For the monk/chanter i am thinking Shattered Pillar for the monk, but having trouble figuring out the Chanter. Beckoner sounds good, but the penalties seem fairly harsh. I am considering the troubadour, since this character is not likely to have much time for invocations (except 1-2 summoning per encounter) and could therefore benefit from the longer linger periods.

 

For the druid i am wondering whether Fury would make sense, or if it would just be a weak wizard-wannabe?

 

Suggestions for priest subclass are welcome. I am also open to suggestions on additional multi-classing where it would make sense, but the intention is to have a party that uses magic to destroy enemies, not normal weapons.

Edited July 28, 2018 by ziphnor

[1TTFFSSE]

basically you should "split" elements to utilize items as consistently as possible to boost your characters because there are nice +fire and +shock items in game.

 

-for tank I would use Monk/chanter as you said or monk/cipher with the cipher part of the tank to there to "cc" and "buff" so use only those cipher spells. use magistrate cudgel+tuitilo's palm on this toon dual wield+sword and shield style. very good "offensive / cc" tank. for monk I like shattered pillar or vanilla here and cipher I still like ascendant because of the extra focus you get. in general I do not like my tank to be the summoner because I'd rather have them cc with chanter or cipher spells in between attacks.

-for healer best healer in game is a lifegiver druid. druid heals synergizes well with a more passive class like chanter because healing will generally be cast intensive. but in this case troubadour is still very powerful because it is so good as a chanter. Get lightning spells from both druid and chanter here for doing damage in between healing. or summon stuff.

-wizard/priest (skaen) makes for a very good fire offensive caster/debuffer

-get a pure ascendant cipher for damage

-pure evoker wizard pure more damage

 

I think that is a good party composition.

[ziphnor]

Thanks for the response. So far i have only created one custom character ( Shattered Pillar/Troubadour ). I was then forced to recruit Xoti and Eder to win the fight getting to Aloth (PotD is pretty tough actually...). I made Aloth a Pure Wizard.

 

So i still have to spots to fill, possibly with a Priest and a Druid ( i will skip Cipher because i played so much with Cipher in PoE1 and my first play in PoE2). I need to read up on the Lifegiver druid and Skaen priest.

Edited July 28, 2018 by ziphnor

[grayrest]

Priest - Gotta have one, right?

 

You don't really need a priest. I've had an easy run with a Herald (Paladin/Chanter) and Druid combo and you could probably do it with just a Herald if it was a custom build and not Pallegina.

[1TTFFSSE]

Priest is better on offense with all the fire spells anyways. Levels 1+2 you usually take heal+withdraw but from level 3 onwards you take fire and buff/debuff utility spells. Druid has the better "traditional" healing spells in moonwell etc anyways. 

[ziphnor]

Priest is better on offense with all the fire spells anyways. Levels 1+2 you usually take heal+withdraw but from level 3 onwards you take fire and buff/debuff utility spells. Druid has the better "traditional" healing spells in moonwell etc anyways. 

 

Is Moonwell a good healing spell? The description says only +8 Health?

 

You really think the Priest is better on offense, do you mean specifically wrt generic damage? Because the druid has spells like Touch of Rot, the various XYZ Storm, Insect Swarm/Plague, Infestation of maggots and Crushing Wave.

[1TTFFSSE]

 

Priest is better on offense with all the fire spells anyways. Levels 1+2 you usually take heal+withdraw but from level 3 onwards you take fire and buff/debuff utility spells. Druid has the better "traditional" healing spells in moonwell etc anyways. 

 

Is Moonwell a good healing spell? The description says only +8 Health?

 

You really think the Priest is better on offense, do you mean specifically wrt generic damage? Because the druid has spells like Touch of Rot, the various XYZ Storm, Insect Swarm/Plague, Infestation of maggots and Crushing Wave.

 

I am looking it from a pure health/per sec perspective. Moonwell scales with int and might by the way and also provides +10 defenses. I am just sayingDruid especially lifegiver will have more healing spells to use - specifically strong aoe heals. If I was making a healer it would probably be a druid/chanter. As for nuking druid is a wannabe wizard anyways so you may as well leave the nuking to the wizard. Also Druid has that aoe robust spell at level 3 which is very strong. 

[ziphnor]

I am looking it from a pure health/per sec perspective. Moonwell scales with int and might by the way and also provides +10 defenses. I am just sayingDruid especially lifegiver will have more healing spells to use - specifically strong aoe heals. If I was making a healer it would probably be a druid/chanter. As for nuking druid is a wannabe wizard anyways so you may as well leave the nuking to the wizard. Also Druid has that aoe robust spell at level 3 which is very strong. 

 

 

 

 

I decided to create a female Nature Godlike Lifegiver to match up against the male Nature Godlike Evoker main character. Two min/max'ed (glass cannon weirdos.

 

So now i have:

Shattered Pillar/Troubadour ("tank" and summoner )

Evoker

Lifegiver

Aloth (pure Wizard)

 

My thinking is that i probably need some more summoning, otherwise my frail casters will probably get into trouble. Priest is not exactly a good summoner (through Spirit Ally is nice), so maybe i need more Chanter? Pure Chanter is pretty dull though, so perhaps a ranged Chanter/Cipher (a Chanter/Wizard will probably seem week compared to the two pure casters)? 

[mant2si]

I offer you to pick at least 1 priest. Magran or Skaen instead of Evoker

[ziphnor]

The Evoker is the main character (and is doing a pretty good job blowing things up with Nature Godlike power level boost, evoker power level boost and Firethrowers gloves). Besides, part of the point of this party is to be Wizard-heavy (i have never used Wizards before in PoE1 og PoE2, the first because of "per rest", the latter because i didn't realize it had changed).

 

I could let the last character be a priest i suppose, but i worry about having enough summoning power to control the battlefield enough. The Magran additional spells seems pretty nice, but i would still only have one character capable of summoning until the priest gets spiritual ally. I could multiclass with a Chanter, but multi-classing priests doesn't really work that well, does it? (most of their useful spells are high-level).

 

EDIT: I guess a Celebrant would not be that bad, Holy Power is a cheap way to trigger Nature Godlike's and you will still gain Devotions for the Faithful and Revive the Fallen. If i build it as another Nature Godlike (that would make it the 3 nature godlike glass-cannons and their minions then the powerlevel of abilities won't be a big problem.

 

Any further feedback is highly appreciated.

Edited July 29, 2018 by ziphnor