[4.1+] PotD party advice (please!)

[pmchem]

I beat the game on veteran when it originally came out, before any DLC or major patches.  Main char was single class monk for that run.  My next run will be a new PotD start and I'll do all the DLC.  RTwP game.  I'll be siding with Principi, playing a pirate.

 

In my party, I'll have:

 

Main char

Eder - swashbucker melee (full time)

Serafen - Barbarian OR Witch (full time)

2 rotating slots for characters to do their quests, have them around for areas where they have more dialogue, etc.  Won't be able to depend on anything here, just random dps/support.

 

Given my plan and PotD difficulty, how should I build main char and Serafen?  Serafen as barbarian melee?  Witch gun-user?  Witch melee?  Main char as healer?  Main char as multiclass tank?  Main char as ranged dps?

 

I really don't know what to do, and I haven't played PotD at all in POE2 yet.  All I know for sure is that I *don't* want main char as monk, rogue, or barbarian.  How can I make this work?  Can anyone link builds they'd recommend for Serafen or main char, given the rest of my party plans?

 

Thanks!

Edited January 26, 2019 by pmchem

[Enoch]

My personal preference would be to keep Serafen as a pure Barbarian, to avoid the frustrations of his awful Cipher subclass. 

 

Then, with 2 steady front-liners, I'd suggest picking whatever back-lines role for your main character that you find it hardest to do without.  For most play-styles, that's probably a single-classed Wizard, but you could do a Priest, caster-Druid, or a ranged-weapon user if you want.  You can always flex the Companions' class around yours-- e.g., if you play a pure Wizard, make Aloth a Battlemage. 

[pagulhan]

After several attempts on killing Nemnok the last night with party composed of Pellagina, Serafen, Maia and Tekehu, I strongly discourage you on playing with Serafen on PoTD. This is a long fight so it highlights how of a terrible companion he is. I'd encountered some weird deaths of my teammates before resulting in reloading the game and couldn't really understand what was going until I saw Serafen 'Wild Mind' using Death by 1000 Cuts and Disintegration on himself and the others.

 

I know it seems nice to play with the members of each faction but this guys basically means random deaths&reloads. Go ahead and use him as Barb, but skip the Cipher.

 

If you plan on being a pirate, I suggest going for ranged dps. Take Maia's outfit, buy a helmet and steal/loot the ring from the pirates on the upper floor of the inn in the Neketaka's bay, also loot Red Hand.

[Frog Man]

Eder and Serafen can make for a sufficiently beefy frontline for your squad. Swashie Eder as main tank with sword and board, Serafen 2 hand barbarian with morning star (willbreaker from crookspur) to debuff will and fortitude (helps your spell casters land abilities).

 

If it were me and I was looking to round out that team, I’d want the following:

 

3) priest

4) support/summons

5) an AOE caster

 

Xoti works. Vatnir can be Priest and summoner. Tekehu is great for healing as a theurge, or nuking as a single class Druid. Aloth is a powerhouse as a wizard. So figure out what companions you want for your main squad (to take into DLCs), and make your MC fill the other role.

 

Keep in mind, the possibilities are endless and almost any squad you put together CAN win. Some might just need more tactics and consumables and scrolls to get the job done. Make sure you can debuff defenses and take advantage of the debuffs (hence my recommendation to debuff fort for casters and deflection for melee guys).

[Dr. Hieronymous Alloy]

Main thing is make sure you have someone who can use mace, club, flail, Morningstar, and Pike modals.

 

Past that it's flexible. I'd suggest no more than one glass cannon character. On potd you probably want at least one chanter and at least one cipher for long fights. at least one dedicated healer but it helps to have a paladin and or chanter with backup resurrection. Multiclass your physical damage classes but a single class caster or two can be very useful for earlier access to higher level spells.

[pmchem]

Based on the posts above, I'm sold on Serafen as pure barb with 2h weapon.

 

Melee modals, hmm.  You have to be up in the face of the enemy and swinging with that weapon to apply the modal effect, correct?   You can't apply melee modals "at a distance" with skills?

 

If so, that would suggest that I somehow make main char a melee, so that main char / eder / serafen can cover most all of the modals that Hiero mentioned above.  But having a summoner or healing capability on the MC would be nice too.  Then the rotating 2 companions can focus on DPS.

 

Still pondering this.  Thanks for the comments, keep 'em coming!

Edited January 27, 2019 by pmchem

[FleetFeet]

I reached lvl 20 on my most recent playthru(PoTD) and for most of that time I used Eder and Serafen as my front line. Eder as a dual wield swashy and Serafin as a pure barb weilding a morningstar. I like having Serafen in my party but as others have said, his cipher subclass is very frustrating. From a RP perspective, it's a shame not to have him as a cipher or witch but I was very glad I followed advice in these forums to build him pure barb using morningstar (Willbreaker). The modal synergises with Brute Force and Eder's mule kick(targets fort) and can be applied in an AOE with Heart of Fury.  Barb is really easy to play/build, here is a link:

https://forums.obsidian.net/topic/106968-how-to-play-serafen-as-a-barbarian/

 

Hard for me to suggest what type of main to play but will say that with these two I would rule out having your main be a dedicated tank. You also mentioned ranged DPS, while that's totally fine of course it doesn't give you as much flexibility to freely swap in/out your other two slots as you wanted. A main with either healing/buffing/debuffing would be better in that respect. Personally, I find a wizard to be invaluable but part of that might be that I enjoy playing them. I also find Aloth too far from optimized.

[pmchem]

I reached lvl 20 on my most recent playthru(PoTD) and for most of that time I used Eder and Serafen as my front line. Eder as a dual wield swashy and Serafin as a pure barb weilding a morningstar. I like having Serafen in my party but as others have said, his cipher subclass is very frustrating. From a RP perspective, it's a shame not to have him as a cipher or witch but I was very glad I followed advice in these forums to build him pure barb using morningstar (Willbreaker). The modal synergises with Brute Force and Eder's mule kick(targets fort) and can be applied in an AOE with Heart of Fury.  Barb is really easy to play/build, here is a link:

 

https://forums.obsidian.net/topic/106968-how-to-play-serafen-as-a-barbarian/

 

Hard for me to suggest what type of main to play but will say that with these two I would rule out having your main be a dedicated tank. You also mentioned ranged DPS, while that's totally fine of course it doesn't give you as much flexibility to freely swap in/out your other two slots as you wanted. A main with either healing/buffing/debuffing would be better in that respect. Personally, I find a wizard to be invaluable but part of that might be that I enjoy playing them. I also find Aloth too far from optimized.

 

Great to hear from someone else who also rolled with Eder and barb Serafen!   Wiz does seem like a strong pick here, but, they can't heal people -- so multiclass with priest or druid or maybe paladin or bard?  What gives the best synergy, yet effective heals, with a wiz multiclass?

[pmchem]

I've been thinking about this some more.  My main char will need 18-20 perception as he will be the only regular reliable source of perception in the party.

 

So what's a PotD build that can multiclass with wizard, provide primary source of party healing, and have 18+ perception?

[Dr. Hieronymous Alloy]

I've been thinking about this some more.  My main char will need 18-20 perception as he will be the only regular reliable source of perception in the party.

 

So what's a PotD build that can multiclass with wizard, provide primary source of party healing, and have 18+ perception?

 

 

It doesn't quite fit all those but a ranged cipher orlan build can get a LOT of mileage out of high perception and can do at least *backup* healing with Pain Block. Wouldn't dualclass well with Wizard though.

 

Those two requirements are a little contradictory because you want high Per on strikers and generally your striker isn't your healer. You could do a Fire Nuke Priest build, there are a lot of good items for that.

 

Hrm. One thing you could do would be swashbuckler Eder, Retaliation Build Morningstar Seraphen, Xoti or Vatnir Priest Nuker, Ydwin Cipher or Maia WIz/Ranger with +Per Items, PC. 

Edited February 1, 2019 by Dr. Hieronymous Alloy

[DozingDragon]

Arcane Knight (Paladin/Wizard) should provide plenty of healing between Exalted Endurance and Lay on Hands. Your high Perception will also be useful for landing Flames of Devotion.

[pmchem]

Arcane Knight seems... interesting.   Kind Wayfarer + Flames of Devotion + Greater Lay on Hands could do primary healing for a party?

[Dr. Hieronymous Alloy]

Arcane Knight seems... interesting.   Kind Wayfarer + Flames of Devotion + Greater Lay on Hands could do primary healing for a party?

 

 

I just went through last night and used the Unity Console mod to make Aloth a Steel Garotte / Blood Mage Arcane Knight. Ridiculously strong defenses, solid healing, endless casting.

 

The real puzzle with an arcane knight is always whether to go full sword and board + defensive spells for absurdly high defensive stats, or go two-hander and use Citzal's to wipe the board.