Struggling with gearing my party properly

[Zelgadis]

Hello Everyone,

This is my first post here so I will just say Hello again .

I have to say that after 3.0 (4.0 now) I'm struggling with some fight and I feel that enemy hits like trucks and some fight became really difficult despite my party is lvl 14/15. I'm playing on Hard difficulty with lvl scalling up. I have not done any DLC yet (planned to do them after Meeting with Eothas and killing Nemnok).

My Setup:

 

1. Paladin Inquisitor (me, Kind Wayfarer + Cipher)

2. Eder (fighter)

3. Maia  Rua( Ranger) (I'm feeling like she is not doing any dps, even with good bows/guns, maybe I can replace her)

4. Xoti (Priest, not multiclassed)

5. Aloth (wizard, not multiclassed)

 

Almost all weapons have +2 pen (I can upgrade 2 weapons to legendary) but I think most of my armors are basic one (have not found anything special yet). I should go for meeting with Eothas now and maybe get Magran's Favor to boost my paladin DPS. I have like 200k gold so I can but stuff/upgrade but if I will wear heavier armor then my AS will get slower. 

I tried Kraken and he just destroyed me(particulary his maces, their speed is crazy and range dmg was really high). I feel it will be the same with Nemnok but I could try.

I just feel that I made stupid decision not mutliclassing Eder and Maia. I feel that I could replace Maia with Serafen(more dmg) or Tekehu(for dmg and healing). Any advise how can I make my party composition better? I think I made Serafen pure barb (mistake again?).

I will really appreciate any advices.

[Wormerine]

Are you sure you don't have uniue armors you can upgrade? Half of the companions come with unique armors (Eder, Pallegina, Maia), and I on level 6 and already have most of my party equipped in upgratable armors. 

 

Your party seems solid enough, and at that level single class characters are effective. It's been a while since I fought kraken so he might got buffed lately - on my last PotD playthrough I didn't fight him, as my PC was fond of Galawain. 

[Dr. Hieronymous Alloy]

If you haven't, steal everything you can in Neketaka and on the beach in Crookspur. If you use stealth and some sparkcrackers you should be able to do so without alerting guards or having to kill anyone, and you should get some gear upgrades if you haven't. Or if you're feeling moral you can spend money, like a bourgeois.

 

Past that though yeah you should be able to upgrade armor you've found by now.

 

One thing a lot of party setups neglect is making sure you've got someone who can use the different modals -- mace, morningstar, flail, club, pike -- to reduce enemy defensive stats, which can make a big difference in terms of landing other debuffs etc. (Aloth can do pike with Citzal's Spirit Lance). 

 

There's a thread in the mechanics forum on the stacking rules; https://forums.obsidian.net/topic/104896-the-big-post-of-stacking-rules/

 

Make sure you've read through that and understand it, once you do, you can dramatically increase your defensive abilities by stacking different buffs (for example, xoti's circle of protection will stack with Aloth's mirror images). 

 

If you can debuff the enemy and buff yourself then all the fights will get dramatically easier.

Edited January 30, 2019 by Dr. Hieronymous Alloy

[Zelgadis]

I think I've killed everyone at Crookspur because I've decided to free all the slaves. Maybe I need to get back there and check if merchant have anything interesting to sell.
I think "bad" armors are my biggest problem right now. I need to look for something to buy because I have 200k and more in gear which was not sold yet...

Question about Maia Rua - how to make her good dmg dealer? I have only 2 characters which fight in close combat but I feel that Maia dmg is lackluster. Not sure how make her great.

[Dr. Hieronymous Alloy]

I think I've killed everyone at Crookspur because I've decided to free all the slaves. Maybe I need to get back there and check if merchant have anything interesting to sell.

I think "bad" armors are my biggest problem right now. I need to look for something to buy because I have 200k and more in gear which was not sold yet...

 

Question about Maia Rua - how to make her good dmg dealer? I have only 2 characters which fight in close combat but I feel that Maia dmg is lackluster. Not sure how make her great.

 

How do you have maia set up? ranger or ranger/wiz or what?

 

Generally I give her the Red Hand arquebus and a lot of ranger actives. If I dual her I don't take any wizard spells, just let her cast from a grimoire -- Grimoire of Disruption is a good choice, as is Slaver's. 

 

You could also swap her out for a different class. Tekehu has a good damage build here: 

https://forums.obsidian.net/topic/104571-companion-build-t%C4%81whirim%C4%81tea-the-god-of-storms/

 

Have you done the Family Pride questline -- valeras and bardattos? Two good armors from that depending on how you resolve it.

Edited January 30, 2019 by Dr. Hieronymous Alloy

[Zelgadis]

Unfortunatly I decided for medation in quest Family Pride so no armor as a reward for me .

I've did some changes to Maia and now well. I'm impressed . I think she will only get better now.

 

I think I will replace Aloth with Tekehu. Xoti has some useful spells and I think she adds a lot to Eothas plot. Will see if Tekehu is better than Aloth (and I do not like Aloth really anyway...)

I still need to get better armors. Can't get Devil of Caroc but I have found some useful ones on website so I will try to get them.

Can't understand one thing though. I gave legendary flail to Eder (+4 pen) which replaced fine hammer (+2 pen) and his penetration in stats was still the same for 2nd hand. As far as I remember, his proficiency with flails is the same but of course I would need to check that. Does weapon proficiency affect penetration?
 

[Dr. Hieronymous Alloy]

Unfortunatly I decided for medation in quest Family Pride so no armor as a reward for me .

I've did some changes to Maia and now well. I'm impressed . I think she will only get better now.

 

I think I will replace Aloth with Tekehu. Xoti has some useful spells and I think she adds a lot to Eothas plot. Will see if Tekehu is better than Aloth (and I do not like Aloth really anyway...)

 

I still need to get better armors. Can't get Devil of Caroc but I have found some useful ones on website so I will try to get them.

 

Can't understand one thing though. I gave legendary flail to Eder (+4 pen) which replaced fine hammer (+2 pen) and his penetration in stats was still the same for 2nd hand. As far as I remember, his proficiency with flails is the same but of course I would need to check that. Does weapon proficiency affect penetration?

 

 

 

Part of it may be that Hammers have a higher base penetration than flails. Different weapons have different pen values. 

 

https://pillarsofeternity.gamepedia.com/Weapons_(Deadfire)

[Crucis]

 

Unfortunatly I decided for medation in quest Family Pride so no armor as a reward for me .

I've did some changes to Maia and now well. I'm impressed . I think she will only get better now.

 

I think I will replace Aloth with Tekehu. Xoti has some useful spells and I think she adds a lot to Eothas plot. Will see if Tekehu is better than Aloth (and I do not like Aloth really anyway...)

 

I still need to get better armors. Can't get Devil of Caroc but I have found some useful ones on website so I will try to get them.

 

Can't understand one thing though. I gave legendary flail to Eder (+4 pen) which replaced fine hammer (+2 pen) and his penetration in stats was still the same for 2nd hand. As far as I remember, his proficiency with flails is the same but of course I would need to check that. Does weapon proficiency affect penetration?

 

 

 

Part of it may be that Hammers have a higher base penetration than flails. Different weapons have different pen values. 

 

https://pillarsofeternity.gamepedia.com/Weapons_(Deadfire)

 

 

 

Also, Flails are a single damage type weapon, but Hammers are a dual type (blunt and piercing).  And on top of that, the Hammer special ability allows you to increase piercing damage penetration.

[Verde]

So I'd say one of the best non-tank armor is sold at Marihi's Metalworks, depending on your PoE1 choices. It's amazing for really any type of character, except a frontliner who should prob have one of the top notch heavy armors. Really any item that gives you immunity, several upgrade choices, and PL bonuses are typically gonna be top tier. I mean there is a heavy armor that negates disengagement attacks! So good on a Paladin or Monk.

Edited February 1, 2019 by Verde

[Zelgadis]

Hey,
I was fighting with Jageferlas the Ancient and while I finally bit her at second atempt, I could not penetrate her armor with most of my attacks. She was invincible ( insensitivity, resist? sorry english is not my native lang ) most of my weapons (even legendary) and most dmg was dealt by Maia and spells. Don't remember now but it looks like only piercing dmg could harm her? I can't find anywhere information about what kind of ressists she have. I've moved on so I can't check what kind of weapon could do any damage to her.

My question is: How to lower enemy armor rating so I can start doing some dmg in those very difficult fights? Are there any spells which can help me? How to lower enemy armor rating efficiently?

[brasilgringo]

 

Hey,

I was fighting with Jageferlas the Ancient and while I finally bit her at second atempt, I could not penetrate her armor with most of my attacks. She was invincible ( insensitivity, resist? sorry english is not my native lang ) most of my weapons (even legendary) and most dmg was dealt by Maia and spells. Don't remember now but it looks like only piercing dmg could harm her? I can't find anywhere information about what kind of ressists she have. I've moved on so I can't check what kind of weapon could do any damage to her.

My question is: How to lower enemy armor rating so I can start doing some dmg in those very difficult fights? Are there any spells which can help me? How to lower enemy armor rating efficiently?

 

 

You can buff your PEN (penetration) with foods (Hot Razor Skewers for weapons, for instance, I think, and Crusted Swordfish for spells), as well as I think potions.  Also spells - Cipher has a late level spell that gives +8 PEN and Priest has a mid-level one (Champion's Boon I believe) that gives +2 PEN.  If you're not playing on Expert mode, you can mouse over the enemies and see their AR levels which tell you what PEN you need for each damage type to get through their armor ... and then switch to items that do that damage type, for example firearms do Pierce generally, as do Estocs and Stilettos (which have some of the highest PEN of weapons, and modals that increase their PEN further).  Also remember that Crits increase PEN (I think) so a high-crit build should be able to PEN as well.  And finally there are talents for certain classes (like the elemental PEN talents for casters) and certain subclasses (e.g., Devoted fighters, and I think Fury druids, for instance) that get extra PEN with certain items or spell types.

 

For lowering enemy AR, most casters have certain spells that do it -- for example, Expose Vulnerabilities for Wiz, or Rust Armor (name?) for druid and i think Berath priest subclass?  Also I think if you apply certain afflictions like Paralyzed or Petrified, you can boost your crit % which will increase ability to PEN (Entropy spell from druid, Wiz spells that paralyze, etc.)

 

For stealing items from the Crookspur merchants and others, don't forget the Boots of Leap (or Barbarian leap ability) also let you stealth first, and then pause as soon as you land from the leap, to get close to the chest/item without breaking stealth, which lets you steal in relative safety as long as you can open the chests / etc (mechanics).  You can generally open the chests etc first with mechanics on any toon without aggroing enemies, and then use the leap tactic on another toon (if needed) to steal from the then-unlocked chest.  Various items and potions (e.g. Luminous Adra) or even foods (Hylea Bounty?) and I think boons from tavern prostitutes (in Dunnage?) increase your skills, so you can at least temporarily get high skills (mechanics) early to steal items even early.  And some nice high level items are also buyable early if you save your money, including starting money from Berath's Blessings, at places like Treasure Trove in Dunnage or shops in Nekataka (Dark Cupboard, for instance, or the Foundry place in Brass Citadel -- both of which have lots of stealable items too, or Marhi's Metalworks in periki overlook).  Oh yeah, the vendor in Sakuya by the food tables has a really nice Spear for stealth-skill invested toons that you can buy early too.

Edited February 3, 2019 by brasilgringo