Suggestions and tips for a custom party PotD Playthrough

[juppsen]

For my next playthrough I want to build a whole custom party on potd difficulty. While I´m pretty sure of how using some slots, I´m not sure about all of them.

 

1. Tank: Fighter / Paladin: I´m playing a fighter/paladin in my current playthrough and I realy like him. He can tank anything and he deals a bit damage.

2. Melee DPS: I think of either a barbarian/monk oder a paladin/barbarian. With the paladin/barbarian I´d have two auras active, but I think the barbarian/monk could do more damage. Actually I never played a monk before, but I think I could like a melee character who just uses his/her fists in fights!

3. Druid, ranged: I love druids, but I´m not sure if I should take a fury for some nice aoe damage and stuns or an ancient druid for some nice DOTs and support healing abilities.

4. Priest-Subclass for healing/support and a bit of damage. Mainly used to buff the party at the beginning of a fight and heal, when necessary. I totaly like Vatnir after respec and let him learn some healing and support abilities.

5. Open Slot for a ranged dps oder ranged dps/support character, if playing with a fury druid. Maybe a wizzard or a chanter (never player one in Deadfire because I didnt like Kana in POE)? I dont like pets that much, so maybe no ranger.

 

I´d like to use some different races, too.

1. Tank: Human

2. Melee DPS: ?

3. Druid: I guess nature Godlike

4. Priest: ? - maybe another Godlike - like I said, I love Vatnir

5. Ranged DPS: ?

 

Thanks for any advice you can give me!

[MikeMikeMikeMikeMike]

For my next playthrough I want to build a whole custom party on potd difficulty. While I´m pretty sure of how using some slots, I´m not sure about all of them.

 

1. Tank: Fighter / Paladin: I´m playing a fighter/paladin in my current playthrough and I realy like him. He can tank anything and he deals a bit damage.

2. Melee DPS: I think of either a barbarian/monk oder a paladin/barbarian. With the paladin/barbarian I´d have two auras active, but I think the barbarian/monk could do more damage. Actually I never played a monk before, but I think I could like a melee character who just uses his/her fists in fights!

3. Druid, ranged: I love druids, but I´m not sure if I should take a fury for some nice aoe damage and stuns or an ancient druid for some nice DOTs and support healing abilities.

4. Priest-Subclass for healing/support and a bit of damage. Mainly used to buff the party at the beginning of a fight and heal, when necessary. I totaly like Vatnir after respec and let him learn some healing and support abilities.

5. Open Slot for a ranged dps oder ranged dps/support character, if playing with a fury druid. Maybe a wizzard or a chanter (never player one in Deadfire because I didnt like Kana in POE)? I dont like pets that much, so maybe no ranger.

 

I´d like to use some different races, too.

1. Tank: Human

2. Melee DPS: ?

3. Druid: I guess nature Godlike

4. Priest: ? - maybe another Godlike - like I said, I love Vatnir

5. Ranged DPS: ?

 

Thanks for any advice you can give me!

 

Absolutely love your ideas.

 

I had a similar party.

1. I'd advise to make this a mountain dwarf due to the con resistances

2. Coastal Aumaua, Steel Garote + Furyshaper great totems and a pretty beefy off-tank DPS. DW marauder Berserker/Streetfighter is also cool.

3. Nature Godlike Ancient Druid,  Fury gives up any healing spells you can learn and Druid healing spells can be very strong. If you want to go full DPS, i'd pick Fury druid/ Blood Mage Wizard.

4. Priest of Wael is what I would pick maybe multiclass with a Troubadour chanter?

5. I'd pick Holy Slayer. Assassin Rogue/Bleakwalker Paladin. Bonus is that you get all 3 auras then, but you must wield an arquebus. If not this pick an Ascendant Cipher/Helwalker Monk Dual wield Blunderbusses.

Edited March 21, 2019 by MikeMikeMikeMikeMike

[Boeroer]

If you go for Barbarian/Monk try Berseker/Nalpasca.

 

The passive wound generation is enormous and thus you can spam abilites like Raised Torment all the time. But you will need a healer and also take Savage Defience at some point because the higher the level the faster this dude wants to go down due to his Frenzy's self dmg. High RES, Duality of Mortal Presence (CON) and Enlightened Clarity and maybe the Voidward ring do help a lot though! I don't think a Paladin/Barb can reach such levels of sustained dmg. Also Monk's fists + Barbarian's Carnage are big friends since Carnage's dmg is based on weapon base damage - and Monk's fists are the fast weapons with the highest base damage. There's nothing better for Carnage dmg.

 

Good ways to remove Berserker's Confusion are Devil of Caroc Breastplate, Modwyr in the secind slot (you can just puse after casting Frenzy, switch to Modwyr and right back: no speed loss but instant removal of Confusion), Svef, Captain's Banquet or Enlightened Clarity.

 

Devil of Caroc's Breastplate has a nice enchantment that raises its AR by 2 once you drop below 50% endurance (which triggers the Blooded passive - that passive is handy because it tells you that you just fell below 50% health. Because the Berserker's health is obscured while frenzied this is really helpful). With Berseker Frenzy (+2 AR) and Thick Skinned you'll get very decent AR and with Duality (CON) you will have a lot of health left even if you are at 50%. You don't need to pick Iron Wheel (doesn't stack with Frenzy's AR bonus) or Turning Wheel (you want the CON and already get +5 INT from Enlightnened Clarity).

 

Berserker's Frenzy also includes a 25% hit to crit conversion, so taking Swift Flurry and later Heartbeat Drumming makes sense. Also Enduring Dance - the self damage does NOT end it. The more ACC the better.

 

Also take Enervated Blows. The weakening effect lowers enemies' fortitude by 10 points (and reduces health by 25%!) on crit - that synergizes well with Brute Force from Barb.

 

Of course you want Bloodlust and Blood Thirst. Interrupting Blows and even Bloody Slaughter make sense here. One Stands Alone obviously.

 

I didn't need Barbaric Smash etc. a lot. Mostly I used my Rage for Savage Defiance and Frenzy. Although Barbaric Smash is a nice "get your rage back"-finisher in combo with Swift Flurry and Heartbeat Drumming.

 

I did not pick Blood Frenzy because Spirit Frenzy staggers on hit - even with Carnage - while Blood Storm only does it's job on crit and doesn't stack. Staggered will lower enemies' fortitude by another 10 points -> hello again Brute Force!   Also several monk abilites like Force of Anguish and Stunning Surge target fortitude directly. 

 

Speaking of Stunning Surge: great ability to have. It helps to trigger the additional attacks from Swift Flurry and Heartbeat Drumming (stun lowers deflection and fortitude so your barb side can pick which is lower and create more crits).

 

Leap is cool because it kind of adds up to your AR. You already have good AR, but you cause -4 PEN on enemies which means the first seconds after you land and throw punches you won't get damaged a lot. You can zip out with Flagellanth's Path if you must.

 

All in all it's one of the most fun classes I played so far.

 

 

A Bleak Walker/Arcane Archer with Ring of Focused Flame and Spearcaster (max Arcana) is a really nice mix of ranged dmg dealer and support. Eternal Flames also works with the Imbue spells. Scion of Flame will give you +1 PEN with FoD as well as with Imbue Fireball (FoD also doesn't suffer Arcane Archer's ACC malus because it's a fire attack). With Imbue Fireball you will get +1 PEN, +10 ACC from Ring, +ACC from Arcana, +ACC from Spearcaster(due to Arcana). And with Driving Flight you will do two Fireballs that will most likely crit. Nice way to remove weak mobs. Against single targets the FoD damage and accuracy is great as well. Backup weapon for pierce immunes can be Frostseeker or Essence Interrupter (alternative dmg type and no ACC malus) - or Watershaper's Focus (additional jump produces one additional Imbue cast per shot - like +1 Fireball or +1 Pull of Eora). 

Edited March 21, 2019 by Boeroer

[SRSChaos]

I would definitely go with the ancient druid over the fury.  The minor penetration and range bonus from the fury's shapeshift are, IMO at least, not worth giving up all rejuvenation spells.  Also, there is nothing stopping the ancient from picking up the good elemental spells.

 

If you've never played a chanter I highly recommend giving one a try in your 5th slot.  If you want DPS I recommend a bellower, multiclass or single class are both great.  There isn't much better than starting every fight off with an empowered Eld Nary for some really obscene damage (make sure you have sasha's singing scimitar of course).

[Taudis]

1. Seconding Mikex5's advice. Avoiding CON afflictions really helps your Crusader keep Exalted Endurance and Rapid Recovery going strong.

 

2. I really like Bleak Walker Paladin/Berzerker Barbarian as a fairly sturdy FORT debuffer/damage dealer. Spirit Frenzy + Bleak Walker Flames of Devotion + Morningstar Modal = -45 FORT. The Willbreaker morningstar upgraded with The Mind Makes Real works very well with Spirit Frenzy's terrified upgrade to consistently apply a raw DoT, and it gets a hit-to-crit upgrade that can help you interrupt with Barbarian's Interrupting Blows passive. Not the best possible DPS ever but with Falcon Helm you can still whack pretty fast and IMO the added utility/defenses are more than worth it.

 

IIRC Paladin's +5 accuracy aura doesn't stack with Devotions for the Faithful so I wouldn't run a second Pally and a Priest - choose one or the other.

 

3. Nature Godlike Helwalker Monk/Fury Druid. Wicked good caster DPS. Get the Deltro's Cage and Lord Darryn's Voulge for PL stacking and go to town. Strongly disagree with SRSChaos, the extra PEN is extremely worth it on PotD.

 

Of course if you want your Druid to do support, Ancient with The Spine of Thicket Green is also quite powerful. I'd go with the support Druid if you did dual Pallys and no Priest, and the Fury Druid if your melee DPS isn't a Pally and you keep the Priest. Not really sure what specifically appeals to you about Druids but I'll also say that an Ancient Druid feels more like a Druid, while a Fury/Helwalker is basically just a nuke.

 

4. IMO Vatnir is the best Priest by quite a long shot because his bonus spells fill holes in the Priest spell list (well, one hole: non-fire damage) and, with the exception of his PL9, are all actually bonus spells and not forced picks. If you want a Priest, I would just take him. My second choice Priest would be Wael if you don't want Vatnir (Or want a Priest earlier). You'll want a good AI set-up to handle the quick buffs because otherwise it's a lot of micro but it's very sturdy and has some powerful endgame debuffs.

 

If you want a second Pally, I'd roll with a Trickster Rogue/Skald Chanter here (or Trickster/Troubadour if you want to be ranged). The build can be set up to be able to apply afflictions to every stat and is a jack-of-all-trades debuffer. Which is sort of an inversion of the Priest and kind of fills the same role?

 

5. Seconding Boeroer on the Arcane Archer/Paladin. I'm playing one right now and it's a very potent combo of both single target and AoE damage. Worth noting Arcane Archer spells are bugged wrt PL scaling, if that sort of thing is a deal breaker to you. They're still quite good but you're gonna get a lot of No PEN notifications.

 

My second choice for ranged DPS would be a little setup I like to call the Storm Dragon. You go single class Bellower, wield Sasha's Singing Scimitar and the Kitchen Stove and wear the Dragon Pendant and the Mantle of Seven Bolts. Every combat goes something like Empowered Eld Nary, followed by Thunderous Report, Breath of Flames and/or Storm of Seven Bolts. Cast a second Eld Nary when you've gone through your item abilities, and that's probably it for most enemies. It's a bit repetitive to play the whole game through with and the abilities are bit too finicky to leave to the AI. The amount of face Bellowed Empowered Eld Narys smash is well worth it, though.

[juppsen]

Thanks very much! I read about a mod, to use the Vatnir kit with custom characters, maybe I'll try it.

 

With my imported POE1 savegame, I don't got the DOC breastplate. How can I be sure to get it on a new game?

[SRSChaos]

3. Nature Godlike Helwalker Monk/Fury Druid. Wicked good caster DPS. Get the Deltro's Cage and Lord Darryn's Voulge for PL stacking and go to town. Strongly disagree with SRSChaos, the extra PEN is extremely worth it on PotD.

 

The Helwalker/Fury is a very different beast than a single class druid.  The OP didn't say anything about multiclassing the druid.  

 

Also, the extra +1 PEN isn't really that great.  You only get it when shifted and when shifted you don't have a weapon equipped.  That means for the best spells (relentless storm, great maelstrom, etc) you are better off not shifting so you don't lose Lord Darryn's bonus.  

 

Helwalker/Fury is a great glass cannon and one of my favorite characters, but if what you want is a druid (which is what the OP said) then an ancient is much better.  

[Boeroer]

It's not correct that you get the PEN bonus of the Fury only when shifted. It's a permanent bonus. All elemental spells will have +1 PEN no matter if shifted or not. At least last time I played one.

 

I agree that an Ancient feels better though. Roll a Nature Godlike and pick up the Spine of Thicket Green from the Dark Cupboard and enchant it with +3 PL to beast and plant spells or pick up Lance of the Midwood Stag (+2 PL universally once you cast Woodskin or Form of the Delemgan). Lance is advised if you pick a multiclass - but of course a single class Ancient can pile a lot more Power Levels for his Plague DoTs (which are raw dmg!). PL 9 - Prestige + Spine + Wellspring = 14 PL without any hassle.

 

THere is one single class Fury build which is pretty strong (besides focus on shock and Deltro's Cage + Voulge), but only once you reach Avenging Storm: Deltro's Cage + dual mortars. Blinding Smoke from Hand Mortar triggers Avenging Storm and Fire in the Hole jumps one time (including AoE hits). With the Fury's +2 PEN (Heart of the Storm + passive) and the PL boost from the armor your multiple Avenging Storms per shot hit pretty hard. If you add a Relentless Storm it's lightning and stunning all over the place.

[Taudis]

 

3. Nature Godlike Helwalker Monk/Fury Druid. Wicked good caster DPS. Get the Deltro's Cage and Lord Darryn's Voulge for PL stacking and go to town. Strongly disagree with SRSChaos, the extra PEN is extremely worth it on PotD.

 

The Helwalker/Fury is a very different beast than a single class druid.  The OP didn't say anything about multiclassing the druid.  

 

Also, the extra +1 PEN isn't really that great.  You only get it when shifted and when shifted you don't have a weapon equipped.  That means for the best spells (relentless storm, great maelstrom, etc) you are better off not shifting so you don't lose Lord Darryn's bonus.  

 

Helwalker/Fury is a great glass cannon and one of my favorite characters, but if what you want is a druid (which is what the OP said) then an ancient is much better.

 

 

You definitely get the PEN all the time and not just when shifted. I also already mentioned in my post that Ancient Druid has more Druid-y feel.

 

EDIT: Ninja'd by Boeroer!

 

With my imported POE1 savegame, I don't got the DOC breastplate. How can I be sure to get it on a new game?

 

If you make a custom history (you can do this from the main menu), select the Spare Harmke option for Devil of Caroc's History. If you're dedicated to your POE1 history, the most important part of the DoC Breastplate is the INT resistance, which is covered by Captain's Banquet. The food shop in Sayuka tends to have the ingredients available.

Edited March 21, 2019 by Taudis

[SRSChaos]

It's not correct that you get the PEN bonus of the Fury only when shifted. It's a permanent bonus. All elemental spells will have +1 PEN no matter if shifted or not. At least last time I played one.

 

It would appear you are correct.  I always thought that because in the class description the line about the PEN bonus was sandwiched between 2 lines about spirit form it also applied to spirit form.  Apparently I never looked very closely at the tooltips when I was playing one, but I just loaded an old save and its definitely there.

[Boeroer]

Cool. Thanks for the verification.

[Ophiuchus]

If you go for Barbarian/Monk try Berseker/Nalpasca.

 

The passive wound generation is enormous and thus you can spam abilites like Raised Torment all the time. But you will need a healer and also take Savage Defience at some point because the higher the level the faster this dude wants to go down due to his Frenzy's self dmg. High RES, Duality of Mortal Presence (CON) and Enlightened Clarity and maybe the Voidward ring do help a lot though! I don't think a Paladin/Barb can reach such levels of sustained dmg. Also Monk's fists + Barbarian's Carnage are big friends since Carnage's dmg is based on weapon base damage - and Monk's fists are the fast weapons with the highest base damage. There's nothing better for Carnage dmg.

 

Good ways to remove Berserker's Confusion are Devil of Caroc Breastplate, Modwyr in the secind slot (you can just puse after casting Frenzy, switch to Modwyr and right back: no speed loss but instant removal of Confusion), Svef, Captain's Banquet or Enlightened Clarity.

 

Devil of Caroc's Breastplate has a nice enchantment that raises its AR by 2 once you drop below 50% endurance (which triggers the Blooded passive - that passive is handy because it tells you that you just fell below 50% health. Because the Berserker's health is obscured while frenzied this is really helpful). With Berseker Frenzy (+2 AR) and Thick Skinned you'll get very decent AR and with Duality (CON) you will have a lot of health left even if you are at 50%. You don't need to pick Iron Wheel (doesn't stack with Frenzy's AR bonus) or Turning Wheel (you want the CON and already get +5 INT from Enlightnened Clarity).

 

Berserker's Frenzy also includes a 25% hit to crit conversion, so taking Swift Flurry and later Heartbeat Drumming makes sense. Also Enduring Dance - the self damage does NOT end it. The more ACC the better.

 

Also take Enervated Blows. The weakening effect lowers enemies' fortitude by 10 points (and reduces health by 25%!) on crit - that synergizes well with Brute Force from Barb.

 

Of course you want Bloodlust and Blood Thirst. Interrupting Blows and even Bloody Slaughter make sense here. One Stands Alone obviously.

 

I didn't need Barbaric Smash etc. a lot. Mostly I used my Rage for Savage Defiance and Frenzy. Although Barbaric Smash is a nice "get your rage back"-finisher in combo with Swift Flurry and Heartbeat Drumming.

 

I did not pick Blood Frenzy because Spirit Frenzy staggers on hit - even with Carnage - while Blood Storm only does it's job on crit and doesn't stack. Staggered will lower enemies' fortitude by another 10 points -> hello again Brute Force!   Also several monk abilites like Force of Anguish and Stunning Surge target fortitude directly. 

 

Speaking of Stunning Surge: great ability to have. It helps to trigger the additional attacks from Swift Flurry and Heartbeat Drumming (stun lowers deflection and fortitude so your barb side can pick which is lower and create more crits).

 

Leap is cool because it kind of adds up to your AR. You already have good AR, but you cause -4 PEN on enemies which means the first seconds after you land and throw punches you won't get damaged a lot. You can zip out with Flagellanth's Path if you must.

 

All in all it's one of the most fun classes I played so far.

 

Ravager seems a bit...overlooked compared to a lot of the other martial multi options. Excellent information there.

[juppsen]

I agree that an Ancient feels better though. Roll a Nature Godlike and pick up the Spine of Thicket Green from the Dark Cupboard and enchant it with +3 PL to beast and plant spells or pick up Lance of the Midwood Stag (+2 PL universally once you cast Woodskin or Form of the Delemgan).

Are the +Powerlevels active, if the weapons isnt in the active weapon Slot?

[Boeroer]

No. Once you shift you only retain bonuses from non-weapons and non-armor items. You wouldn't want to switch or shift.

 

Also the DoT reacts to a loss of PL immediately as long as it's active (like Healing over Time or other pulsing effects like Wicked Briars or Wenombloom as well): the damage etc. of the ticks will drop.

 

So just stick to the Spine as long as you want to cast Beast/Plant spells with longer duration and keep up your Wellspring of Life.

Hence I almost never shift with an Ancient - because why would I want to? I mean except if I get attacked in melee a lot maybe. But you might want to prevent that.

Edited March 22, 2019 by Boeroer

[MaxQuest]

^ Regarding shifting as Ancient: you could shift to cat, enable cat flurry and unshift.

[Verde]

And the Stag form still has issues with certain spells like Nature's Balm and Woodskin so it really is a last resort.

[Woopee]

Worst part of the arcane archer/paladin: the class is called "shepherd." wtf? 

[juppsen]

I just created my party, but still wasnt sure about my 5th slot. I saw, I'll be missing some debuffs from mages, like blinding or confusing, so I guess, I'll try a ranged chanter/multiclass. Should I go for a Troubadour/mage or Troubadour/Paladin?

[Taudis]

What's the rest of the party now?

 

If you're missing Blind and Confuse, sounds like you want a Trickster Rogue. I'd go Troub/Trickster if you're staying at range.

 

If you're set on Paladin or Wizard, Paladin is likely better since it leans into the support role that Chanter provides. IMO single class Chanter or single class Wizard is better than multiclassing the two. They both primarily have active abilities, so don't mix very well.

[juppsen]

1. Pala/Fighter Tank (darf)

2. Pala/Barbarian Melee DPS (human)

3. Ancient Druid (nature godlike)

4. Priest of magran (pale elf)

 

That's the actual party. I realy don't need a third paladin aura, so maybe a single class chanter or chanter/wizzard would fit better?

Edited March 23, 2019 by juppsen

[Verde]

Worst part of the arcane archer/paladin: the class is called "shepherd." wtf?

Ugh. I think that's why I avoided the combo.

[Boeroer]

Name him "Book" and you're good to go.

[Kovil]

Or  name him Sheep

Edited March 23, 2019 by Kovil

[Verde]

Or Commander

[Kovil]

Or Commander

Thats golden XDDD