The Pillars of Eternity No Reload Challenge

[semiticgod]

Nizidramanii'yt, Hearth Orlan Wizard (Poverty run)

 

As it happens, the early game is actually fairly easy if you've got a druid. A lot of the early-game fights are against Beasts, and even level 1 druids can charm them pretty easily.

Plus, while this party has very limited options for sustainable damage, we do have great burst damage, since we have six full-time spellcasters. And even without using spells, our mages can hit pretty hard with Concelhaut's.

We carefully pick our fights to make sure I don't run into anything too scary, and gradually get Nizi up to level 3, giving her blindness and some better defenses. I really like how she looks; the Ixamitl outfit is quite fancy.

Beasts are one thing, but humanoids are a little tougher to deal with. But fully rested, we have some decent disablers against humanoids as well: Slicken is a short-lasting but very reliable disabler.

Once we return to the inn to report our success in saving the cook from the bandits, all our custom characters hit level 2! All of my options are geared towards optimizing our offensive potential.

 

Why not shore up our defenses? Well, Superior Deflection doesn't show up for some reason, and there's not much else we can do to improve our defenses. Besides, our Deflection is going to be extremely low for pretty much the whole game aside from our mages during Arcane Veil, so if we're taking pressure, we're probably dead whether our Deflection is 30 or 35.

 

Anyway, with blindness on hand, we can handle some heavy hitters for short periods of time, and when we've got lots of enemies on the map, our druids can blast them with area-effect spells.

We have trouble against the Sporelings, however. We let our druids take the confusion spells from the Dank Spores, then have our mages rush in with Arcane Veil to deal damage with their staffs. Unfortunately, they get confused pretty easily as well, forcing us to resort to ranged spells.

In the temple of Eothas, we try our hand at the spiders and Spirits, using rest bonuses to get +10 Accuracy against each one. Frost ends up playing a major role thanks to her Fan of Flames spells.

For tougher fights, we use choke points, Dancing Bolts, and blindness spells to apply spell damage from a safe position.

We set foot on level 2, but go no further; we're not ready to mess with Spirits tougher than Will o' Wisps. I'm worried about the fight at Caed Nua, and we need to make sure we're as strong as possible before we take on the Phantoms and Shadows.

 

Since this is a poverty run, of course, we can only do two things to make the party stronger: gain levels, and practice our strategy. We've got some work to do before we're ready to handle Caed Nua.

[Jaheiras Witness]

When you said poverty run I was expecting to see a bunch of monks :D. Only you would ignore the class most suited to it.

 

Will be an interesting run for sure. You will just have to use spells for everything: buffing defence and offence, crowd control and damage. I’m looking forward to seeing how you deal with the challenges.

[Enuhal]

All right! Already doing a poverty run, nice. Mages should certainly be great for this, given their versatile options regarding summoned weapons (especially later in the game), though I think a monk or even a chanter would've been a great addition to the party. Harpagonis has done wonders with a poverty monk. In any case, good luck to Irenicus' pet dragon!

 

I do agree that with your party, maximizing offensive potential is the way to go. Prolonged fights would be quite dangerous with this party composition and poverty rules.

 

Just FYI, superior deflection didn't show up as an option for you because it's only available starting at level 6.

[semiticgod]

Yikes, Pillars of Eternity 2 is $50! I'm not sure I've ever paid so much for a game (I got PoE 1 as a gift). Normally I've only paid like $20 for an individual game before... I wonder how long it will take for the price to drop down.

[Serg BlackStrider]

Yikes, Pillars of Eternity 2 is $50! I'm not sure I've ever paid so much for a game (I got PoE 1 as a gift). Normally I've only paid like $20 for an individual game before... I wonder how long it will take for the price to drop down.

I got mine (Pillars of Eternity II: Deadfire - Obsidian Edition with all three DLC) for $34.99 in May. Usually there is big Christmas discount on Steam so you'll not wait too long.

[Alesia_BH]

Yikes, Pillars of Eternity 2 is $50! I'm not sure I've ever paid so much for a game (I got PoE 1 as a gift). Normally I've only paid like $20 for an individual game before... I wonder how long it will take for the price to drop down.

 

 

It's the holiday season, and I'm something other than poor. I'd happily gift you a copy.

 

If others would like to contribute, they'd be welcome to (absolutely zero obligation, though!)

 

Best,

 

A.

Edited December 6, 2018 by Alesia_BH

[Alesia_BH]

Best of luck with your poverty run, Semiticgod!

 

(As an fyi, I'm working on a rogue solo, on Normal. We've made it to Defiance Bay. I'll refrain from posting until Arcadia posts are complete, though)

 

Best,

 

A.

Edited December 6, 2018 by Alesia_BH

[FNGRenegade]

 

Yikes, Pillars of Eternity 2 is $50! I'm not sure I've ever paid so much for a game (I got PoE 1 as a gift). Normally I've only paid like $20 for an individual game before... I wonder how long it will take for the price to drop down.

 

 

It's the holiday season, and I'm something other than poor. I'd happily gift you a copy.

 

If others would like to contribute, they'd be welcome to (absolutely zero obligation, though!)

 

Best,

 

A.

 

 

I know I picked it up for about 30 bucks including all DLCs about four weeks ago in the steam autumn sale. So I assume that Serge is right and if you wait a week or 2 it will be discounted again on steam in the Chrismas Sale. Either way I'd be happy to contribute as well if needed.

[semiticgod]

You guys are sweet, but I think I'll wait and see if there's a Christmas discount before the holidays. I'm not poor; I'm just really cheap. I'll tell my brother about it--normally my family has trouble figuring out what to get me because I don't really want things (I'm lucky that way), though my brother has a way of thinking of the perfect gifts.

[Alesia_BH]

Arcadia, Moon-Godlike Wizard: The Forge Guardians

 

Arcadia entered the White March seeking vengeance for Aotha. I was a little nervous heading into this fight, but, as it turns out, the forge guardians aren't nearly as fearsome as they seem. They may look scary, but they aren't terribly dangerous. Arcadia prevailed with ease.

 

There were two distinctions between Aotha's battle with the forge guardians and Arcadia's: positioning and resolve. By positioning, I mean where were placed ourselves on the battlefield. By resolve, I don't mean the game stat but, rather, my commitment -as a player- to winning this fight and completing our run. Both made a tremendous difference.

 

Since I knew to expect a fight this time, I pre-scouted the area for favorable terrain. We chose this cozy piece of real estate, with the understanding that Pallegina could keep our friendly-neighborhood forge guardian under control.

 

 

 

 

We took our buffs. I don't recall which, exactly, honestly, but I believe we took Scroll of Protection + Circle of Protection + Shield for the Faithful + Devotions for the Faithful + Inspiring Radiance for the team; Arcane Veil for the wizards; and Llengrath's (potions) for the priests. The priests also kept their shields equipped for the duration of the fight. We had Bulwark potions at the ready, but we decided to conserve those after noticing that our Reflex scores and an already deployed Moonwell (over-kill) would more than suffice. A tentacle wall helped grant us the time and space needed to buff in peace. Ok. Let's do this.

 

 

 

 

Our first objective was to eliminate the fragments. Call to Slumber from our moon wizard and fireballs from our fire wizards quickly achieved that end. Note that Arcadia opted to take her Llengrath's now, after casting Maura's and Call to Slumber. Sometimes non-standard sequencing makes sense. With the wall up, Llengrath's wasn't needed. Better to focus on disabling the enemy casters, and take the Llengraths later, as the wall comes down.

 

 

 

 

Just one fragment left now. The priests will handle that one soon enough. Arcadia and Alikae turn their attention to the guardian, choosing a Pull to relieve pressure and Blast of Frost for damage.

 

 

 

 

The priests eliminate the final fragment as the now seriously wounded guardians struggle against Alikae's pull.

 

 

 

 

We've entered cleanup phase.

 

 

 

 

Arcadia finishes with a Blast of Frost. Vengeance is best served cold, am I right?

 

 

 

 

Next up, the Battle of Yenwood Field, followed by the Sky Dragon (my very first PoE dragon kill!)

 

Best,

 

A.

Edited December 6, 2018 by Alesia_BH

[Alesia_BH]

You guys are sweet, but I think I'll wait and see if there's a Christmas discount before the holidays. I'm not poor; I'm just really cheap.

 

Understood. $50 does seem steep. Makes sense. Anyhoo, I hope you get PoE II up and running soon. We need our first Hall of Heroes entry!

 

Best,

 

A. 

Edited December 6, 2018 by Alesia_BH

[Jaheiras Witness]

On a practical note, where will PoE2 playthroughs be documented? Hopefully not here because I don’t want the game spoiled before I finally get round to it. Maybe another thread is needed in the Pillars 2 forum?

[Alesia_BH]

Arcadia, Moon-Godlike Wizard: The Battle of Yenwood Field

 

By the time we finished White March, we were ready to take on Thaos. I decided, however, to leverage our powerful party to explore some content that I had previously avoided out of fear: The Battle of Yenwood Field, the Caed Nua bounties (5), undead Raedric and, as mentioned earlier, the Sky Dragon.

 

Of those quests, the Battle of Yenwood Field was by far the most enjoyable. This is a really cool quest, which I strongly encourage all our players to explore. If you haven't done it yet, do it (And, yes: spoiler alert!)

 

We'll start with Gathbin's ambush at the Crate & Barrel. (I know, I know: It's actually the Charred Barrel, not Crate & Barrel, but I prefer to think of it as a bourgeois furniture shop, rather than a tavern- hence the name change.)

 

This fight is barely (barrel-ly?) worth covering, since we were so over-levelled, but I've decided to share it mostly because I was impressed with the amount of punishment these blokes took.

 

We opened with our standard buffs and then put everyone to sleep with double Calls to Slumber.

 

Now, in reallife, I'd advise against doing terrible things to people while they sleep -totally don't do that. But in PoE, it's kind of fun. Adra beetle starts us off with a wicked Shocking Blast- 6/6 on crits.

 

 

 

 

Not to be outdone, the priest follow with Pillars of Holy Fire. Cassia goes 3/4 on crits, but tops adra beetles max damage with a 95. It's fun to blow things up!

 

 

 

 

To the main event. Here's our army: crucible knights, veteran troops, and crag ogres. We also have a full complement of 8 hirelings. I'm fair certain that I botched the dialogue based general tasks, so our numbers are thinner than they probably should have been.

 

 

 

 

Now, I had no idea what I was doing here- I've never fought a battle even remotely like this. Our crew emerged unscathed, but I think I kind of butchered the army. I'll do better next time.

 

We take our buffs and observe the evolution of the battlefield. Our troops have the enemy's southern contingent under control, but Gathbin is leading a charge to the north. We place our beetles in his path, to grant ourselves more time.

 

 

 

 

We make our move, heading northward. Cassia tosses us a prayer against fear, to counter those war dog cries, while Alena and the wizards get to work, leading with Shinning Beacon and Call to Slumber.

 

 

 

 

We went with party friendly stuff here because we have allies all over the place.

 

 

 

 

Gathbin and his assault team are down. We're into the archer line. Alikae's Fireball does middling damage.

 

 

 

 

But Arcadia's Call to Slumber->Blast of Frost works beautifully. 4/4 on crits, each for +100 damage.

 

 

 

 

Alena bakes a straggler while the wizard turn their attention to assisting Cassia, who had been sent to reinforce our southern flank.

 

 

 

 

Clean up time.

 

 

 

 

Fin!

 

 

 

 

That was a lot of fun! We could have fought better -I was vaguely overwhelmed by the scale of the fight- but our core crew emerged happy and healthy. I look forward to fighting this battle again!

 

Best,

 

A.

Edited December 6, 2018 by Alesia_BH

[Alesia_BH]

On a practical note, where will PoE2 playthroughs be documented? Hopefully not here because I don’t want the game spoiled before I finally get round to it. Maybe another thread is needed in the Pillars 2 forum?

 

Yuppers! We'll open another thread in the PoE 2 forum when some of us are ready to transition.

 

I'd prefer to have at least a few of us active and ready to post on the day the thread opens, to get things off on the right foot. I'd be happy to accommodate others on the timing. Arcadia is ready for export. I'll hold her in reserve until someone else is ready to go.

 

Best,

 

A.

Edited December 6, 2018 by Alesia_BH

[Alesia_BH]

Arcadia, Moon-Godlike Wizard: Sky Dragon

 

Prior to this run I had faced the Sky Dragon exactly once. That was about 6 weeks ago in my first play-through, on easy (a play through that was, despite the difficulty level, far more difficult for me than any since).

 

When we arrived at the Sky Dragon we were at level 7, which I, in my naivety, thought was a high level, entirely sufficient for the Sky Dragon, even for a novice player. I couldn't have been more wrong about that. We were absolutely destroyed. I didn't even consider retrying the fight. Instead, I consulted the Interwebs, in search of an easier way to Sun in Shadows. Once I found one, I never looked back- not until this run, that is.

 

Heading into this fight I was confident, but nervous. I'm more experienced now than I was 6 weeks ago, but that was Easy and this was PotD. For all I knew I was marching Arcadia to her death- feeding her to an over-powered foes. That was possible. I just couldn't know.

 

As it turned out, Arcadia, now at level 11, was eminently capable of defeating the Sky Dragon. But while I've learned a lot in the past 6 weeks, my dragon fighting tactics are still underdeveloped. By the end of the fight, the Sky Dragon would point that out.

 

The battle begins. We take our buffs, including Bulwarks all around. We send in our tanks and call our summons. It's time to check the Sky Dragon's defenses. 

 

 

 

 

Ok. We can work with that. Deflection is high, but within reach. Will, too, is within reach. We can't see Reflex yet, but it's probably in the same neighborhood. The weak points are crushing and fire. We decide to go with Expose Vulnerabilities (Will)->Concussive Missiles (Crushing, Deflection) + Pillar of Fire (Fire, Reflex). That should work, although it's possible our pillars will miss. We also added tentacles for distraction and possibly a bit of extra crush (probably nor worth it).

 

We land Expose Vulnerabilities. Our Concussive Missiles hit hard.  

 

 

 

 

We now know that the Sky Dragon's Relex is higher than his Deflection, but the Pillars of Fire remain a good choice for the priests. Some miss, but those that do hit, hit well. We're getting there.

 

 

 

 

The Sky Dragon is at Badly Injured and we haven't taken a scratch. We're crushing this. But those familiar with PoE dragon fights surely see the problem: our entire team is on the same side of the dragon in a fan shape. That's a terrible idea!

 

 

 

 

The Sky Dragon took advantage. What looked like an extermination is now a fight to the death. Arcadia and Alikae are down. Alena and Cassia are seriously wounded. 

 

 

 

 

Our tanks are fine, thankfully. Our casters heal and regroup. 

 

 

 

 

Now we have to choose: scatter or finish With the Sky Dragon at Near Death, we choose to press for the kill, maintaining our positions. Wrong call.

 

 

 

 

Lesson learned: positioning must be priority one in dragon fights. We resolve to scatter upon recovery this time. But just as we prepare to heal, Pallegina ends it. Victory! My very first PoE dragon kill! And in a no reload on PotD, no less. Fun stuff!

 

 

 

 

Up next: Undead Raedric!

 

Best,

 

A.

Edited December 6, 2018 by Alesia_BH

[Serg BlackStrider]

 

On a practical note, where will PoE2 playthroughs be documented? Hopefully not here because I don’t want the game spoiled before I finally get round to it. Maybe another thread is needed in the Pillars 2 forum?

 

Yuppers! We'll open another thread in the PoE 2 forum when some of us are ready to transition.

 

I'd prefer to have at least a few of us active and ready to post on the day the thread opens, to get things off on the right foot. I'd be happy to accommodate others on the timing. Arcadia is ready for export. I'll hold her in reserve until someone else is ready to go.

I don't think, it's a matter of 'spoilers' that should be taken in consideration here. If one doesn't want to be spoiled, he will not follow a PoE2 part no matter where it will be posted - here or in PoE2 forum. At the moment we all (except maybe Enuhal) are newbies in PoE2, so each and every post of PoE2 will contain spoilers. And we all play at a very different pace. So if we are interested in our friends runs - we read their posts, if we want to avoid spoilers - we skip them. At least for some time. But that somewhat diminishes all their efforts then... Moreover, some of us usually concentrate on main quest and minimize side-questing, others prefer a completionist approach, so the former will always witness some spoilers following the other runs. Personally, I would prefer a one joint thread here since in my opinion it's more convenient - like on Beamdog's forums. If a majority will decide otherwise though, I'll not complain... too much.

Edited December 6, 2018 by Serg BlackStrider

[Jaheiras Witness]

Jez Watt, Solo Monk (Hard), Part 5

 

Playing a monk is a lot more...bloody than playing a chanter.

 

 

 

 

The fights take a fraction of the time than they would with a chanter but there's way more action and a lot more risk. Oftentimes it's just about who can throw out most damage the fastest.

 

 

 

 

It's like two heavweight boxers just dropping their guard and exchanging haymakers. The damage dished and taken is brutal. When did I ever have health this low with the chanter?

 

 

 

 

Imagine you have to drive 200 miles. You could take the Volvo estate: it might be a 4 hour journey, but you can relax, tune your mind out, listen to some music, and you know you'll get there with no dramas. That's the chanter.

 

Or you could take the Lamborghini. That will get you there in an hour and a half. But if you switch off for even a second, the car will try to kill you. It's loud, it's fast, it's hard work, and my word it's fun. And very dangerous.

 

That's the monk.

 

I meant to rest after the last battle but then I found some adra which allowed me to craft Vital Essence, so I carried on.

 

 

 

 

I did rest soon after as I had a goldrot chew crash; and I wanted to be at full effectiveness for the Spider Queen fight.

 

 

 

 

I opened with Spirit Shield and then cast Tanglefoot hopefully to slow the Spider Queen's attacks. And then it all got very messy.

 

 

 

 

I underestimated how much damage the Spider Queen could do and how quickly. Part of that was because of her poison. My endurance started to plummet before my eyes and I suddenly had the maximum 10 wounds. The Second Wind in the above screenshot landed just in time.

 

And then it was a race. With more wounds than I could use, I started chaining Torment's Reach relentlessly. The only question was who would finish their opponent the quicker.

 

 

 

 

And it wasn't over there. Ivory Spinners can hit plenty hard too.

 

 

 

 

That got me to level 5; I increased Mechanics to 5 and chose this ability after much deliberation.

 

 

 

 

The decision was between Stunning Blows and Long Stride. The latter would be great for positioning and possibly escaping from sticky situations. But since I generally fight at chokepoints I figured I would get more overall utility from Stunning Blows. What I like about this ability is that it is 2/encounter and does not require wounds. So I can use these when I don't have wounds available, or if I want to disrupt a dangerous opponent or action. Even with wounds, I now have a choice between Stunning Blows for a stun effect or Torment's Reach for damage.

 

I made use of both to pound Maerwald into oblivion.

 

 

 

 

Character record and inventory update:

 

 

 

[Enuhal]

Regarding PoEII - while I normally would prefer to have the challenge in a single thread, in his case, opening another one for PoEII seems like a very good idea to me, simply because there's so much more traffic in the PoEII forums, so starting another thread there is bound to get our little no-reload group a lot more attention, which could lead to some new players joining the challenge.

 

Good work taking down Maerwald, Jaheira's Witness!

 

@Alesia_BH - The dragon's breath weapon is, as you have discovered, extremely deadly in PoE. However, compared to the other dragons in the game, the sky dragon is positively harmless - so keep that in mind if you ever feel like challenging one of the other ones

Btw, for which superb enchantments did you end up using the dragon's eyes?

Edited December 6, 2018 by Enuhal

[Alesia_BH]

 

@Alesia_BH - The dragon's breath weapon is, as you have discovered, extremely deadly in PoE. However, compared to the other dragons in the game, the sky dragon is positively harmless - so keep that in mind if you ever feel like challenging one of the other ones

 

 

Yes. That's the impression I was under. That's the only reason I was willing to take the Sky Dragon on in a quasi-blind attempt. I knew she wasn't terribly challenging.

 

Despite some dithering, we had gotten her to badly injured before she even used her breath weapon. I'm sure it's possible to drop her very, very quick.

 

 

Btw, for which superb enchantments did you end up using the dragon's eyes?

 

A generic esotec, actually. By that point the game was essentially over. Aside from a few bounties and undead Raedric (all of which we were over leveled for) we didn't have any blind content ahead of us. The known content we were facing was likely to be trivial, including Thaos. The choice wasn't of consequence.

 

I was happy with all of our weapons, save Eder's occasional use two-hander. For kicks, I decided to custom build a weapon for Thaos, with Superb + Kith Slaying + Damage Lash. Those enchantments alone add up to 12. There weren't any interesting esotecs that we could fit them on, so we built a weapon from scratch. It was fun and it worked.

Edited December 7, 2018 by Alesia_BH

[Jaheiras Witness]

Just to add: breath weapon is not the only dangerous dragon attack. You should see what a tail slap can do. Or when the Alpine Dragon starts hitting with sneak attacks + deathblows.

 

Basic rule for dragonfighting: keep the dragon crowd controlled (preferably paralysed) or prepare to suffer the consequences.

[FNGRenegade]

Mithlean Hearth Orlan Paladin - Defiance Bay, Dyrford, Bounties

 

Note: I completely messed up three of the screen shots by somehow overlapping them with others while editing them for size. So they are a big small and missing the bottom half of the screen, I'll try be more careful next time.

 

We left off our squad thinking to go back to Defiance Bay to get some more gear and levels before we go back to the paths. So we started off to the Compass first to talk to a Crucible knight before returning to the city to save their keep from their own creations. This was another wake up call because do those forge guardians hurt with their AoE spam. We had to regroup after the first fight downed half our team but we did come up with a better strategy during it. Leave them fighting the knights themselves and take some time to buff up. Especially Aloth is clutch here with DAOM and Minor blights he cuts through them like a hot knife through butter.

 

 

 

 

 

After this we did the forgotten, which was a lot easier then I remember but I also landed an insane confusion that got rid of 60% of the enemies so that surely helped. Finally we went to Dyrford where we wrestled some spiders and an ogre and grabbed a dragon egg. All the fights were easy and nothing to write home about, the ogre fight is very easy with a druid who can charm all the bears.

 

Now at this part of the story I do something really clever, I go out drinking with some friends and upon getting back since I'm not tired I decide to go tackle some bounties, those are some good xp. So we head off to the Black Meadow and unsurprisingly being tried and slightly drunk is a great way to nearly end a run. The fight started out decent with the summons bearing the brunt while we whittled down the adds. But I wasn't really paying much attention to the endurance of my team which landed Mithras on the ground very quickly. As the fight continued Mirrah and Dighan joined him at death's door and we had just Mithlean, Aloth and Kiara left vs the big guy and a troll. Mithlean managed to kill the dweller right before going down and by the skin of my teeth I managed to tank the last troll with Aloth under buffs and take him down with Echtoplasmic Echo from Kiara. Unfortunatly this screenshot I messed up but Aloth had about 12 endurance left and Kiara about 30.

 

 

 

 

 

 

You'd say such a close call would deter me from going on and just going to sleep but as I stated I wasn't in the best state of mind so this obvious success spurred me on towards the next bounty Sir Clydel. Luckily for me nearly losing the run did wake/sober me up quite a bit and the next to fights actually went really well with not one person even coming close to death. First that band of bandits on the road at Magran's, which was odd since I remember them dropping a good item but I didn't really find any afterwards. The summons again stalled the fight while i buffed, confused and charmed to make some extra friends during the fight. The tanks held the rest and Aloth ripped them up with blights.

 

 

 

 

 

 

And finally the bounty itself, the easiest one in my opinion. I managed to nuke the wizard down with Aloth and our ranged squad with arbalests before he even got a spell off. This made the fight a lot easier, my tactic at the moment is again have the summons stall while we buff and take out high priority targets (wizards, priests) after which the rest is usually easy cleanup. Luckily after this I was smart enough to go to bed because those Xaurips and their drakes would have almost certainly spelled my doom I think.

 

 

 

 

But lets look at the state of the party as it stands now, this time i'll screenshot the abilities and talents and I'll note down any noteworthy items:

 

Mithlean - Level 7 Paladin:

Notable Items: Company Captains Cap, Boots of Zealous Command, Belt of the Royal Deadfire Cannoneer, Shame or Glory, Outworn Buckler, Oaken Scarab Figurine

 

 

 

Mithras Level 7 Chanter:

Noteable Items: The Pilgrim's Lasting Vigil, Shod-in-Faith, Fulvano's Amulet, Measured Restraint, Larder Door, Obsidian lamp figurine

 

 

 

Dighan Level 7 Priest:

Noteable Items: Sanguine Plate (not sure about this yet), Gloves of manipulation, Dead man's stand

 

 

 

Mirrah Level 7 Druid:

Noteable Items: Aru-Brekr, Torc of Falcon's Eyes, Fulvano's Gloves, One-Eyed Molina's Gold-Fingered Spike Flinger

 

 

 

Aloth Level 7 Wizard:

Noteable Items: Fine Robe, Unwavering Resolve, Gyrd Haewanes Stenes (fully soulbound)

 

 

 

Kiara Level 7 Cipher:

Noteable Items: Footpad's Hood, Fine Robe, Mourning Gloves, Bartender's Ring, Binding Rope, Fine War Bow

 

 

 

I have a question though, is there any thing I might be missing with Cipher? She is my most min/maxed stat character with great accuracy etc, but I'm thoroughly underwhelmed by her in every fight. Aloth does more then double her damage output, charms etc are nice but it's one target and Aloth's confusion does just as well usually and is AoE. And on top of that Aloth is able to defend himself, I'm really missing my Carnage Firebrand barbarian from last run and I really feel Kiara is not pulling her weight. I might get her a stormcaller soon but I'm not sure that would convince me otherwise.

 

Second question, I most likely won't do it this run but what are your thoughts on replacing party members if they aren't performing. I mean in my fantasy of the party I only really care about Mithlean and Mithras since their are my MCs and brother and sister. I see the rest as hired help turned friends over a long time working together, but not so close that they don't also notice Kiara is struggling.

Edited December 7, 2018 by FNGRenegade

[FNGRenegade]

That dragon fight looked tense indeed Alesia, I haven't really faced a dragon yet in this game either so if I get that far I'd have to seriously consider if I want to or if I'd rather not risk it. Although knowing myself I'm just going to risk it anyway. It's kind of what I like about these runs not knowing before you start the fight if you can make it.

 

Jez Watt is also making me itch for a solo run but I doubt that's a good idea before i completely learn the game.

Edited December 7, 2018 by FNGRenegade

[Alesia_BH]

Basic rule for dragonfighting: keep the dragon crowd controlled (preferably paralysed) or prepare to suffer the consequences.

 

 

That's helpful. Thanks!

[Alesia_BH]

That dragon fight looked tense indeed Alesia, I haven't really faced a dragon yet in this game either so if I get that far I'd have to seriously consider if I want to or if I'd rather not risk it.

 

It wasn't tense until it was. We were cruising along until the breath weapon hit. Our tanks were never endangered, though, so I never feared we'd actually lose.

 

If your party is at a high enough level (10 or so, I'd say) then you may want to give the Sky Dragon a try. I chose not to read about dragon fighting tactics prior to the fight, but surely that would lead to a safer, cleaner battle.

 

Long term, I'd advise practicing your dragon fighting tactics on the Sky Dragon before moving on to the other ones. That's what I intend to do, at least.

 

Best,

 

A.

 

 

 

NW: None of the dragon fights are required for our challenge. We've had runs that have included then and runs that haven't. Don't feel compelled to fight one: only risk it if you want to! 

Edited December 7, 2018 by Alesia_BH

[Alesia_BH]

 

I have a question though, is there any thing I might be missing with Cipher? She is my most min/maxed stat character with great accuracy etc, but I'm thoroughly underwhelmed by her in every fight. Aloth does more then double her damage output, charms etc are nice but it's one target and Aloth's confusion does just as well usually and is AoE. And on top of that Aloth is able to defend himself

 

I, too, would be interested in hearing what others think about this. I fiddled with a cipher yesterday to see if I wanted to attempt a run with one. I was not impressed. My cipher, Alyssa, seemed like a slow, defenseless wizard. I wasn't enjoying her. 

 

The beam spells are powerful, but in my experience the micro-management involved in using them made them counter productive, in the end. They did excellent damage, but the time I spent managing the beam and fiddling with positioning could have been better spent maintaining our line and timing our wizard and priest actions. For me, at least, the beam spells led to sloppier, less efficient fights. I could imagine using them effectively, without crowding out other actions, but I'd have to use a lot of auto-pauses, so I could go back to the other characters when they're ready to act. It doesn't sound fun.

 

That said, I do think a cipher could be a valuable team member. They excel at crowd control in per encounter ability fights, while also having the potential to be saviors in truly challenging encounters, when your frontline has broken, and things have gone floey (the beam spells seem perfect for this). I think you'd have to accept, however, that in per rest abilitity fights, where all is well, the line is strong, and your casters are blasting away, your cipher will be a lesser light, in comparison to a wizard, priest, or druid.. 

 

That's the impression I'm under, at least, but my experience with ciphers is very, very limited: I've used Grieving Mother for Blood Legacy a few times and I've experimented with a PC cipher pre-Caed Nua. That's it. I'd be interested in hearing from someone with a more thorough understanding of the class.

 

Best,

 

A.

Edited December 7, 2018 by Alesia_BH