Help me flesh out my party

[azmodael]

I'm replaying PoE in preparation to start PoE 2. I play exclusively on PotD and would like some advise on fleshing out my party.

 

What i currently have so far - I am level 5, Act 2

 

Main - Cipher with Molina Arbalest (using the mod that fixes it) & fine hide armor.

• Greater Focus
• Biting Whip

Aloth - the soulbound rod & his own armor. Heavy focus on debuffs,

• Blast
• Penetrating Shot

Durance - hatchet & large shield in plate as tank/buffer that heals the front line

• Sword & shield 
• Field Triage (took this mostly for Kana)

Hiravias - durance staff & his claws in Eder's armor as second line

• Wildstrike (shock)
• WF Peasant

Kana - shatterstar hammer and medium shield, in plate as main tank

• Sword & Shield Style
• Ancient Memory

??? Open/Flexible what to put here ???

 

The thing is that my current setup is reliant on Hiravias & Main for DPS and if either gets knocked out the fights drag into eternity. From experience so far I need another melee char to hold the front line on PotD, otherwise the enemies just spill over and wreck my back line. Fights against multiple easy enemies are relatively easy - between Aloth, Kana and my main i have enough AoE to kill everything. The issue are encounters with tough, hard hitting enemies like the Pwagra+Lurker encounters or encounters with multiple mages which I can't kill fast enough.

 

I've had very bad experience using 2h/DW on front line - even in heavy armor they don't last. I keep most enemies blind from Aloth, but even so they get crit very often (especially when debuffed) and stacking DR is simply not enough against many enemies, which hit hard and deliver massive bursts of damage which can't be outhealed.

 

 

Zahua is my latest idea, but i need to level a bit before WM1 becomes available. I tried Sagani and she adds a lot of damage, but Ithumak is a sponge magnet for enemies due to his bad hp & poor defense. I try to send him in after front line is established, but eventually some enemies just turn on him and obliterate him. He is extremely susceptible to enemy mages and raw damage. 2h Pallegina was a disaster. 2h Eder i can't keep up with heal for above mentioned reasons (deflection lacking). Sword&shield Eder and Pallegina both worked, but i want something more damaging.

 

I also tried Eder as main/solo tank, but even with the Fighter stance he can't reliably keep enemies pinned on himself.

 

What would you suggest me to change in my setup?

Edited April 16, 2019 by azmodael

[Bleyas]

You can pick Eder and Pellagina with sword and shield and 2-handed in other slot. For me Pellagina due to paladins Lay On Hands and revive. 15% less dmg from not taking talent is not that big deal so it won't make 2h useless instantly.
I never used Durance in front line. For me he's way too important to be dead. If you want durability with some dps - hire frontliner. For me it would be monk/fighter/barb set to dual wield and this talent that increase movement speed. If you don't want to hire anyone, kick kana out and take Pellagina AND Eder both with shield and single weapon/2handed in second slot. You can take kana again at level 9 where dragon trashed chant kicks in. Chanters and Kana specially aren't real tanks early-on on potd.

Edited April 18, 2019 by Bleyas

[azmodael]

I managed to reach level 11 and things are much easier now. The amount of cc available allowed me to switch Kana to a ranged character with the reload chant, which allows me to focus fire important targets easier. I got Zahua and he is tanky as hell in exceptional plate even without a shield.

 

....

 

Honestly, Durance is my least contributing team member. As a whole i find the cleric spells fairly overwhelming. The accuracy buffs are OK and Prayer against Paralysis is basically mandatory at my level. Otherwise I'd happily replace him with someone else. Still, his 19 base Resolve and the fact that he doesn't need accuracy that much and the fact that his damage is crap allow you to slap a big shield and a hatchet on him. This gives him a ton of deflection and fixes his abysmal reflex defense. All in all he is much sturdier that keeping him in second line with ranged/reach weapon.