Building a party of 5 to have fun in POTD

[Yosharian]

In any case.  I'm open to dual-wielding builds but I don't know where to begin.  I could use some actual build suggestions (as in an entire build laid out).

Edited September 10, 2018 by Yosharian

[Haplok]

Two-handers are way cooler

 

Duals got a pretty hefty nerf.

[dunehunter]

-55% damage is nothing to a streetfighter.

[Haplok]

Well, but a Streetfighter will work better with a two-hander. The main draws of dual-wielding are

1. Speed

2. Double affliction/trigger chance

3. Used to be Full Attack damage, but now it's not so clear anymore.

 

A Streetfighter with Heating Up or On the Edge already got the first one in spades. And stacking speed has diminishing returns in PoE2.

Edited September 10, 2018 by Haplok

[1TTFFSSE]

Check out the obsidian board builders list for details on some of these builds

 

Tanks:

Grade A

Swashbuckler engagement lockdown build 

Holy Slayer Trickster/Paladins - high defenses, high party support, some enemy debuffs

Arcane Knights - like holy slayer but has more enemy debuffs / damage but less direct party buffing

 

Grade B

Cantor\ cc/utility + damage tank

Votary - same

Heralds - Defenses grade A but Offence is worth

 

Healers:

Grade A

Theurge

Grade B:

Liberator

Herald

 

Offtanks:

Grade A:

Contemplative

Sage

Warlock (melee)

Grade B:

Shaman

Swashbuckler (Streetfighter variety)

Brute

Mindblade (Chillfog streetfighter)

Witch (melee)

Mindstalker (soulblade/streetfighter)

 

probably a few others

like Liberator and Inquisitor as well as chanter/strong damage class multies like cantor

 

Damage Dealers

Grade A:

Wizard (at high levels) and Evoker

but before getting to late levels Wizards are no better than the DDs in category B- (the rest)

Grade B:

Contemplative

some pretty strong synergies 

Grade B-:

Transcendent 

Witch (ranged/ class canon)

Sage

Scout Blunderbuss

Shadowdancer Blunderbuss

Ravager

Marauder (single target burst)

Warlock

Pure ascendant

Pure Monk

 

There are a few more probably even pure Ranger is very serviceable with the right weapons like Frostseeker. 

[Manveru123]

I'd say that a Liberator is better than Theurge. Or at least on par. Spammable burst healing that makes a character invincible for the duration (with correct Paladin subclass), combined with Druid's healing over time, is ridiculously good.

 

Is a legit Contemplative (meaning, no Woedica!) really that strong tho?

Edited September 10, 2018 by Manveru123

[1TTFFSSE]

I'd say that a Liberator is better than Theurge. Or at least on par. Spammable burst healing that makes a character invincible for the duration (with correct Paladin subclass), combined with Druid's healing over time, is ridiculously good.

 

Is a legit Contemplative (meaning, no Woedica!) really that strong tho?

In terms of pure healing output nothing beat theurge because they have healing from chanter even when the per encounter abilities end so that is why I give them an edge over Liberator (which is very strong too though)

Nice thing about Theurge is that they can just heal/ support the party so you can min max their stats better than Liberator. A Liberator needs to refresh zeal by killing stuff so you can't totally dump perception on a liberator. 

Woedica Contemplative is above the rest yes and non Woedica is probably just as strong as other strong dps classes like Transcendent, Sage etc 

Edited September 10, 2018 by 1TTFFSSE

[Manveru123]

You mean the passive healing auras the Chanters have? Those are cool, but only really relevant in the end-game, when you characters can take some hits and the enemies have trouble outdamaging regen on your tanks. Early-to-mid game LoH is 1000% times more useful, especially with invulnerability. After you reach late-game, there won't be a single encounter where you will use up all of your Zeal (at least there wasn't for me), so no refreshing was needed. I did save all of my Zeal for LoH though.

[1TTFFSSE]

You mean the passive healing auras the Chanters have? Those are cool, but only really relevant in the end-game, when you characters can take some hits and the enemies have trouble outdamaging regen on your tanks. Early-to-mid game LoH is 1000% times more useful, especially with invulnerability. After you reach late-game, there won't be a single encounter where you will use up all of your Zeal (at least there wasn't for me), so no refreshing was needed. I did save all of my Zeal for LoH though.

Yeah it could work.

 

In the end though to get the most out of the party composition you have two choices to solve the tank/healer slots:

 

Either use a good "offensive" tank like a Swashbuckler or Holy Slayer + a pure healer/ support like a Theurge

or make a Tank that doesn't do much damage but at least heals stuff like a Herald or Liberator 

the later approach actually may be better because then you have four slots for strong damage dealers. 

[Manveru123]

I tried something like that already. The problem with a character who is both a tank and a healer is recovery time. Heavy armor slows you down a lot, and a good support character needs to be reactive (especially with LoH). This is less of an issue in the late-game, but you need to reach late-game first As such, in this particular role, a Herald feels optimal. I like building my Liberator as a full supportive, fast caster, who can also deal some spell damage and summon monsters when needed.

[Yosharian]

Check out the obsidian board builders list for details on some of these builds

 

Tanks:

Grade A

Swashbuckler engagement lockdown build 

Holy Slayer Trickster/Paladins - high defenses, high party support, some enemy debuffs

Arcane Knights - like holy slayer but has more enemy debuffs / damage but less direct party buffing

 

Grade B

Cantor\ cc/utility + damage tank

Votary - same

Heralds - Defenses grade A but Offence is worth

 

Healers:

Grade A

Theurge

Grade B:

Liberator

Herald

 

Offtanks:

Grade A:

Contemplative

Sage

Warlock (melee)

Grade B:

Shaman

Swashbuckler (Streetfighter variety)

Brute

Mindblade (Chillfog streetfighter)

Witch (melee)

Mindstalker (soulblade/streetfighter)

 

probably a few others

like Liberator and Inquisitor as well as chanter/strong damage class multies like cantor

 

Damage Dealers

Grade A:

Wizard (at high levels) and Evoker

but before getting to late levels Wizards are no better than the DDs in category B- (the rest)

Grade B:

Contemplative

some pretty strong synergies 

Grade B-:

Transcendent 

Witch (ranged/ class canon)

Sage

Scout Blunderbuss

Shadowdancer Blunderbuss

Ravager

Marauder (single target burst)

Warlock

Pure ascendant

Pure Monk

 

There are a few more probably even pure Ranger is very serviceable with the right weapons like Frostseeker. 

 

Thanks for this.

 

Could you be a bit more specific with some of those?  For example there are 3 Swashbuckler builds, are you referring to the Iron Hammer or something else?

 

I take it with the Holy Slayer you are referring to your own Faceless Dancer build?

 

Arcane Knight: the 210 deflection one?

 

What do you think is a good party setup?  How many ranged, melee, how many tanks, etc

 

Also, what do you think of the suggestions I made in the OP?

Edited September 10, 2018 by Yosharian

[1TTFFSSE]

 

Check out the obsidian board builders list for details on some of these builds

 

Tanks:

Grade A

Swashbuckler engagement lockdown build 

Holy Slayer Trickster/Paladins - high defenses, high party support, some enemy debuffs

Arcane Knights - like holy slayer but has more enemy debuffs / damage but less direct party buffing

 

Grade B

Cantor\ cc/utility + damage tank

Votary - same

Heralds - Defenses grade A but Offence is worth

 

Healers:

Grade A

Theurge

Grade B:

Liberator

Herald

 

Offtanks:

Grade A:

Contemplative

Sage

Warlock (melee)

Grade B:

Shaman

Swashbuckler (Streetfighter variety)

Brute

Mindblade (Chillfog streetfighter)

Witch (melee)

Mindstalker (soulblade/streetfighter)

 

probably a few others

like Liberator and Inquisitor as well as chanter/strong damage class multies like cantor

 

Damage Dealers

Grade A:

Wizard (at high levels) and Evoker

but before getting to late levels Wizards are no better than the DDs in category B- (the rest)

Grade B:

Contemplative

some pretty strong synergies 

Grade B-:

Transcendent 

Witch (ranged/ class canon)

Sage

Scout Blunderbuss

Shadowdancer Blunderbuss

Ravager

Marauder (single target burst)

Warlock

Pure ascendant

Pure Monk

 

There are a few more probably even pure Ranger is very serviceable with the right weapons like Frostseeker. 

 

Thanks for this.

 

Could you be a bit more specific with some of those?  For example there are 3 Swashbuckler builds, are you referring to the Iron Hammer or something else?

 

I take it with the Holy Slayer you are referring to your own Faceless Dancer build?

 

Arcane Knight: the 210 deflection one?

 

What do you think is a good party setup?  How many ranged, melee, how many tanks, etc

 

Also, what do you think of the suggestions I made in the OP?

 

Yeah for tank go the iron hammer variant.

 

If you are making a swashbuckler that is not a tank but say an offtank or damage dealer you go devoted/streetfighter and pick talents that help offense more than defense.

 

As for ranged question I now typically only play ranged on the main character if at all and all the others are melee and be stack to take advantage of aoe effects anyways so it is no big deal. The reason I play ranged sometimes is that you can get away playing a glass canon if you babysit it but I generally don't bother for the other party members because there are good dps builds for melee.

 

An ai ranged toon could be a scout or shadowdancer though because those are pretty reliable. 

 

As you see from the list there is a lot of ways you can make a strong party. I would just suggest not to stack too many classes for variety sake, though you can't really go wrong with monks, wizards and chanters (strongest allround classes). 

[Ascaloth]

 

 

 

 

 

Just keep in mind that Fate can't quite put out the ****hueg nuke numbers that were shown in the images on the first page anymore, not since the v1.2 patch that nerfed Storm of Seven Bolts to no longer scale the numbers of thunderbolts produced to PL. There are images on the second and third pages of the thread which more accurately shows how well that nuke works ever since v1.2, and to be fair it still adds up to pretty high Shock numbers... but just so you know.

 

The Fate Testarossa is a build that deals a lot of friendly fire damage. If you ignore that and just put in some builds that you feel are cool, you will destroy yourself instead of POTD.

 

On the bright side, Static Charge from Lord Darryn's Voulge no longer causes friendly fire ever since v1.2 either. So Fate is a much safer build to play these days, compared to her first iteration.

 

Which abilities from that build still cause friendly fire?

 

 

Storm of Seven Bolts, assuming you're not being especially careful with where you're aiming it. 

 

 

Only that?  That seems like it'd be relatively easy to avoid firing at your own party members.  If it's only that ability, then the build is solid as far as I'm concerned.  Is it still a decent build in your opinion, or not?  If I use it, I won't use Helwalker/Monk with any other characters.

 

 

Still very much decent, and I'd dare say it's still one of the most powerful Shock DPS builds you can get. 

 

 

The other guy says Nature's Terror and Crackling Bolt also hit friendlies...

 

 

They do, but as Manveru123 said, you could work around that simply by positioning Fate so she doesn't hit her own teammates. That wasn't quite possible with the old Static Charge, which had a huge and unavoidable AoE. But the current version is just a single-target effect (unless you bound the Voulge to a Barbarian, which is a whole other story), so Fate is nowhere near as much of a teamkiller as she used to be in the early days.

[Lampros]

If you want to destroy PotD and break game pick Wizard (no-subclass) / Monk (With 2x blunderbusses I don't know if there exist resonate build or not) / Holy Slayer (Streetfighter) / Chanter  

 

What are easy power builds that do not require you to micro much? Something similar to Dragon Thrashed Chanter builds or Sacred Immolation Paladin builds from the original PoE game?

[Lampros]

Check out the obsidian board builders list for details on some of these builds

 

Tanks:

Grade A

Swashbuckler engagement lockdown build 

Holy Slayer Trickster/Paladins - high defenses, high party support, some enemy debuffs

Arcane Knights - like holy slayer but has more enemy debuffs / damage but less direct party buffing

 

Grade B

Cantor\ cc/utility + damage tank

Votary - same

Heralds - Defenses grade A but Offence is worth

 

Healers:

Grade A

Theurge

Grade B:

Liberator

Herald

 

Offtanks:

Grade A:

Contemplative

Sage

Warlock (melee)

Grade B:

Shaman

Swashbuckler (Streetfighter variety)

Brute

Mindblade (Chillfog streetfighter)

Witch (melee)

Mindstalker (soulblade/streetfighter)

 

probably a few others

like Liberator and Inquisitor as well as chanter/strong damage class multies like cantor

 

Damage Dealers

Grade A:

Wizard (at high levels) and Evoker

but before getting to late levels Wizards are no better than the DDs in category B- (the rest)

Grade B:

Contemplative

some pretty strong synergies 

Grade B-:

Transcendent 

Witch (ranged/ class canon)

Sage

Scout Blunderbuss

Shadowdancer Blunderbuss

Ravager

Marauder (single target burst)

Warlock

Pure ascendant

Pure Monk

 

There are a few more probably even pure Ranger is very serviceable with the right weapons like Frostseeker. 

 

Do Rangers still need pets to be effective? I never used them in PoE original, because I didn't want to micro yet another melee.

[mant2si]

 

If you want to destroy PotD and break game pick Wizard (no-subclass) / Monk (With 2x blunderbusses I don't know if there exist resonate build or not) / Holy Slayer (Streetfighter) / Chanter  

 

What are easy power builds that do not require you to micro much? Something similar to Dragon Thrashed Chanter builds or Sacred Immolation Paladin builds from the original PoE game?

 

Chanter/Paladin will give you what you want, but for example BoW boss required good DPS (because of constant healing), so you will still need to use some consumables or pick second character with rogue subclass and manage him in this fight

Edited September 10, 2018 by mant2si

[Theosupus]

If you are using the Iron Hammer as your tank I HIGHLY suggest a rogue DPS to take max advantage of that persistent distraction.

-I personally preferred Mia (as a gunhawk Scout) with dual mortars and the red hand to take max advantage when you have masses of mobs or boss fights respectively.

--Although the dual wield nerf may change my preference when I get back around to test this guy further

But I've also run him with w/:
-Single class vanilla rogue w/ dual mortars & effigy's husk perception immune + blunderbuss modal

-Drunken Master (shadowdancer dagger build)

-Shadowdancer blunderbuss

But I would want something rogue to spam deathblows since my tank is setting the mobs up for them.
 

Edited September 10, 2018 by Theosupus

[heldred]

If you don’t care about homogeneity, the recommendation is:

1) 5 pure Wizards

Or

2) 5 pure Chanters (slower, but lower micro with stacked chants)

 

Middle ground caster heavy:

1) 2x Wiz, 1x Chanter, 1x Priest, and any Multi

 

Favorite melee heavy set of mine (AI helps with micro)

1) Druid-Shifter/Rogue-Street, Wiz/Fighter, Wiz/Rogue-Street, Chanter-Troub/Pali, Wiz/Monk

Or

2) Druid-Shifter/Rogue-Street, Wiz/Pali, Wiz/Rogue-Street, Chanter/Druid, Pali/Rogue-Trix

[Lampros]

 

 

If you want to destroy PotD and break game pick Wizard (no-subclass) / Monk (With 2x blunderbusses I don't know if there exist resonate build or not) / Holy Slayer (Streetfighter) / Chanter  

 

What are easy power builds that do not require you to micro much? Something similar to Dragon Thrashed Chanter builds or Sacred Immolation Paladin builds from the original PoE game?

 

Chanter/Paladin will give you what you want, but for example BoW boss required good DPS (because of constant healing), so you will still need to use some consumables or pick second character with rogue subclass and manage him in this fight

 

 

I am definitely not planning to solo any part of the game!

 

 

If you don’t care about homogeneity, the recommendation is:

1) 5 pure Wizards

Or

2) 5 pure Chanters (slower, but lower micro with stacked chants)

 

Middle ground caster heavy:

1) 2x Wiz, 1x Chanter, 1x Priest, and any Multi

 

Favorite melee heavy set of mine (AI helps with micro)

1) Druid-Shifter/Rogue-Street, Wiz/Fighter, Wiz/Rogue-Street, Chanter-Troub/Pali, Wiz/Monk

Or

2) Druid-Shifter/Rogue-Street, Wiz/Pali, Wiz/Rogue-Street, Chanter/Druid, Pali/Rogue-Trix

 

So a full Chanter team still works like the original PoE game? What chants would you rely on - given that Dragon Thrashed has apparently been nerfed?

[Manveru123]

It doesn't matter, just have them all wear heavy armor, shields, chant all healing chants and any offensive ones, then use accumulated phases for summons. This is very slow and boring AF but effective because you can't die.

Edited September 10, 2018 by Manveru123

[Haplok]

 

 

 

If you really like two-handers. For AOE, Oathbreaker and Arma or the soulbound pollaxe are the best. There are many builds around these weapons.

 

For single target DPS, I would recommend Voidwheel + Helwalker/Bleakwalker or Monk/Ghost Heart, Monk/Assassin. The key point is Swift Furry + Heartbeat Drumming + Necrotic Heart. Necrotic Heart has a 15%(25% when upgraded) chance to trigger Necrotic Lance on crit. So with the extra hit and high accuracy from FoD or Ranger/Assassin, it is very easy to trigger a chain effect. You crit -> crit -> crit and trigger Necrotic Lance, which usually instantly kill a low deflection target in one shot.

 

Also Monk/Paladin + Engoliero do Espirs can be a beast because of Sacred Immolation + Clarity of Agony. Every time you land a kill with SI, u will trigger ghostblade and get healed.

 

 

Your aoe list is missing Eager Blade. Also you mention Engoliero, but only in connection with SI, while it's a pretty good general purpose aoe weapon as well.

 

As for the OP, I'd also consider an addition of a Cipher Ascendant to the party. I'd probably go pure, though Helwalker, Ranger or Streetfighter multiclasses would work as well.

Edit: You consider a Cipher. Ascendant is the best by far. You can use Charm, of course. But a cipher brings a lot more to the table. Pure Cipher gets access to cool powers much sooner.

 

 

Engoliero is a bit special as it procs not only on weapon kills, but any kills u made. So it's very suitable for any build that wanna be engaged with enemies, and can blast with spells or spell-like abilities.

 

 

 

Well, I've been testing Engoliero in 2.1 beta and it does not trigger Ghost Blades on Cipher spell kills at least. I tested Mind Blades, Ecto Echo, Mind Lance and Silent Scream kills. Perhaps some other spells/power still work... but those do not. I don't know about SI, maybe it could work still.

Edited September 10, 2018 by Haplok

[Yosharian]

If you are using the Iron Hammer as your tank I HIGHLY suggest a rogue DPS to take max advantage of that persistent distraction.

 

-I personally preferred Mia (as a gunhawk Scout) with dual mortars and the red hand to take max advantage when you have masses of mobs or boss fights respectively.

--Although the dual wield nerf may change my preference when I get back around to test this guy further

 

But I've also run him with w/:

-Single class vanilla rogue w/ dual mortars & effigy's husk perception immune + blunderbuss modal

-Drunken Master (shadowdancer dagger build)

-Shadowdancer blunderbuss

 

But I would want something rogue to spam deathblows since my tank is setting the mobs up for them.

 

 

I'd prefer either something tanky if it's melee.

 

If it's ranged, perhaps a ranger/rogue but not with guns, I'd strongly prefer a bow user if it's a ranged character.

 

Are there any specific builds in the sticked build list that you would recommend for either of these concepts?

[Mocker22]

Well someone is going to say it if it hasn't been already so..... 5 Wizards. Done.

 

Ok seriously though POTD isn't really hard enough to need to min-max 5 characters.

[Yosharian]

 

Well someone is going to say it if it hasn't been already so..... 5 Wizards. Done.

 

Ok seriously though POTD isn't really hard enough to need to min-max 5 characters.

 

 

I updated the OP to specify that I don't want to run 5 wizards, or 5 chanters, or 5 monks.

 

My bad for not specifying that.

[Yosharian]

 

I'd say that a Liberator is better than Theurge. Or at least on par. Spammable burst healing that makes a character invincible for the duration (with correct Paladin subclass), combined with Druid's healing over time, is ridiculously good.

 

Is a legit Contemplative (meaning, no Woedica!) really that strong tho?

In terms of pure healing output nothing beat theurge because they have healing from chanter even when the per encounter abilities end so that is why I give them an edge over Liberator (which is very strong too though)

Nice thing about Theurge is that they can just heal/ support the party so you can min max their stats better than Liberator. A Liberator needs to refresh zeal by killing stuff so you can't totally dump perception on a liberator. 

Woedica Contemplative is above the rest yes and non Woedica is probably just as strong as other strong dps classes like Transcendent, Sage etc 

 

 

Theurge is cool and all, but I already have Fate Testarossa for Druid, and I'm not too bothered about including a Chanter as I mained a Chanter/Paladin last game.

 

Also, I was considering the Champion of Magran build and I figured that would give me a bit of healing while not being a throwaway 'healbot' type character.

 

A bit more interesting, maybe not as powerful, but... you know.  More interesting to run.