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I've been following deadfire turn based beta since it came out and apparently its about to end this week.

I've already finished the game on POTD a while ago but I ended up outleveling everything and I lost motivation to play the DLC. This time around I'll use a mod to reduce XP gain

That said I have a few questions regarding my party:

  1. Are bashing shields any good now?
    I remember they didn't get any accuracy nor penetration from shield quality so they ended up lagging behind regular weapons after a while., I want to have a kind wayfarer paladin with magran's blessing to heal twice with his flames of devotion.
  2. Are paladin/chanter tanks actually good?
    Both classes lack +engagement slot skills so I can't imagine holding the line with just 2-3 slots from gear, also chants are pretty bad up until PL4. Do you spam summons  until you gather up +engagement equipment or what?
  3. How are pure ciphers in turn based?
    I've only played a psion/wizard focusing in CC so I have no idea if sould whip is any good, I want to have a soul blade for the shred powers discount and focus on casting with a reach/ranged weapon for focus gen. Is whispers of the endless paths any good for focus generation or should I stick to arquebus/dual pistols?

My planned party so far is:

Kind wayfarer/Unbroken tank using shield bash. (I want to try out the shinning beacon upgrade with +40% damage recibed or I would go fighter/chanter instead)

Stalker/Arcane trickster to help tank the front line with trickster buffs and using one of the new 2h axes to abuse their +crit damage. (Maybe monk would work better but I found torment reach gamebreaking on another playthrough)

Soul blade using whispers of the endless paths and staffs or maybe ranged weapons

Blood mage with low might for CC first and damage second with lance of the midwood staff (I think blood sacrifice should let him keep its +2PL up 24/7)

Priest of rymgard focusing on party buffs and damage spells.

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On 5/6/2019 at 10:55 AM, Ragniz said:

Are bashing shields any good now?

Not really; their damage is ok early game but doesn't scale at all (other than how Tuotilo's Palm scales with monk fists).

On 5/6/2019 at 10:55 AM, Ragniz said:

Are paladin/chanter tanks actually good?

Pretty solid.  Skald is super strong in turn based because you get aoe stun/paralyze every other turn.  

On 5/6/2019 at 10:55 AM, Ragniz said:

How are pure ciphers in turn based?

Still good.  I generally like running ranged Beguiler's the most; the soul blade shred discount is only 5 and it's much easier for a Beguiler to gain focus.  Mental binding is super strong in turn based and will often pay for itself.

On 5/6/2019 at 10:55 AM, Ragniz said:

My planned party so far is:

Kind wayfarer/Unbroken tank using shield bash. (I want to try out the shinning beacon upgrade with +40% damage recibed or I would go fighter/chanter instead)

Stalker/Arcane trickster to help tank the front line with trickster buffs and using one of the new 2h axes to abuse their +crit damage. (Maybe monk would work better but I found torment reach gamebreaking on another playthrough)

Soul blade using whispers of the endless paths and staffs or maybe ranged weapons

Blood mage with low might for CC first and damage second with lance of the midwood staff (I think blood sacrifice should let him keep its +2PL up 24/7)

Priest of rymgard focusing on party buffs and damage spells.

I would probably swap your two front liners:

- Unbroken/Trickster is really strong in turn based because Terrify causes disengagement attacks.  I generally think Black Jacket is the better tank fighter class in turn based since you can swap to a good damage setup while attacking and then switch back to your dagger/hatchet and shield setup before ending your turn.

- Kind wayfarer/Stalker is fun because your pet is most likely going to be nearby and will benefit from the heals.  Also, being able to Sworn Enemy + Marked Prey before your first attack is pretty fun.

The rest are solid, although working in a Skald in there somewhere is definitely going to make things easier.  I use Black Jacket/Skald as my main tank and he's amazing. 

I do kinda like multi-classing my priests with Tactician, especially in parties where a Cipher can Phantom Foes or a Wizard can Chill Fog.  I think priests are much better when you can spam their abilities.

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5 minutes ago, JackalTornMoons said:

- Unbroken/Trickster is really strong in turn based because Terrify causes disengagement attacks.

So it's working like that in turn based? I tried build such character in 2018 but Terrify didn't trigger disengagement attacks (at least in RTwP).

giphy.gif

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20 minutes ago, QuiteGoneJin said:

Tell me more about this tactician priest build.

I'm currently using a Priest of Magran/Tactician.  Have them use a crossbow or arbalest to get some free discipline from interrupts.  Disciplined Barrage and Conqueror's Stance help you hit/crit with your spells (along with the fire accuracy ring).  I would actually prefer a Druid/Tactician since AoE damage is stronger in turn-based and Druids have more AoE damage options, but I like having the Salvation of Time / Ancestor's Memory combo in my party.  Priest of Magran is good enough :)

20 minutes ago, Silvaren said:

So it's working like that in turn based? I tried build such character in 2018 but Terrify didn't trigger disengagement attacks (at least in RTwP).

It was working in the turn based beta; I haven't tried it yet in 5.0 but they didn't mention anything about changing it in the patch notes.

Edited by JackalTornMoons
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11 hours ago, JackalTornMoons said:

Not really; their damage is ok early game but doesn't scale at all (other than how Tuotilo's Palm scales with monk fists).

-snip-

I wanna jump on this and ask a follow-up: 

So Bash shields scale poorly. But are they worse than using a regular shield? (Considering the -35% damage full attacks incur)

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11 hours ago, Greensleeve said:

I wanna jump on this and ask a follow-up: 

So Bash shields scale poorly. But are they worse than using a regular shield? (Considering the -35% damage full attacks incur)

Did some testing on my own. Not the most scientific or thorough, but provides a rough idea I should think. 

I hit Eder 20 times with Penetrating Strike using my Crusader. I used Modwyr as my main-hand in both cases. For the bash shield I used Magran's Favor, and for the non-bash I used an exceptional round shield. Eder had legendary plate on, giving him AR 13, Crush 9. He also had Uncanny Luck. I counted all attacks, regardless of the outcome of the attack. 

Modwyr + Magran's Favor = 44.55 average damage over 20 Penetrating Strikes. 

Modwyr + Exceptional round shield = 37.65 average damage over 20 Penetrating Strikes. 

Now, I didn't save the individual numbers, so I can't confirm this, but I'm pretty sure the Modwyr + Exceptional Shield hit higher numbers, but obviously only half as many. I think I saw a crit in the 60s, whereas I don't think I hit above the low 50s with Modwyr + Magran's Favor. 

So result seems to be: Damage/attack is higher with a bash shield, even against a moderately armored target, but a regular shield will lead to higher numbers on crits and the like. 

Of course, this is not a standardized nor large enough sample to fully draw conclusions from, but I think it gives a decent enough overview to count as acceptable anecdotal evidence.  

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I started playing with this party and reached level6 yesterday, here is what I think of each party member:

Kind wayfarer/Unbroken he doesn't have vigorous defense yet so he hasn't reach ridiculous defenses but he can keep himself alive with constant recovery and kind wayfarer heal procing twice per turn, I gave him the +fire acccuracy ring to help him land flames of devotion, his shield already hits like a wet noodle but for me its all about that second hit so I'm ok with that. I might switch to a dagger in the offhand or something later on.

Stalker/Arcane trickster has good accuracy, his animal companion hitting twice per round means he's a steady +25damage or so every round. Trickster make it so he rarely needs healing and can reposition wherever he want. He's lacking AoE damage though, maybe I should have given him explosives.

Soul blade was alright up until I reforged whispers of the endless paths, hitting 2 targets can fill her focus easy now, mind blades is great if there are few enemies alive,  Ectopsychic Echo is as good as ever and soul annihilation lets her dump all her focus for those times I just want to whack things instead of casting. I'm just baffled about Soul Blade's proc on kill though, the concentration is nice but the max focus increase is pretty meh.

Blood mage is amazing, I'm kinda disappointed on blind status in turn based so her CC game isn't that good for now, her low might does cripple her damage a bit but casting spells every single turn makes up for it. I just wish spells like web and chill fog hit as soon as someone walked inside, having enemy groups running right through your web just feels wrong.

Priest of rymgard serviceable, touch of rot is amazing on anything vulnerable to it but I'm struggling with penetration with her other spells. Consecrated ground is just plain terrible in turn based so I plan to sticking to watchful presence. I have her equipped with a crossbow since their proficiency modal is amazing.

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On 5/11/2019 at 12:34 AM, JackalTornMoons said:

I'm currently using a Priest of Magran/Tactician.  Have them use a crossbow or arbalest to get some free discipline from interrupts.  Disciplined Barrage and Conqueror's Stance help you hit/crit with your spells (along with the fire accuracy ring).  I would actually prefer a Druid/Tactician since AoE damage is stronger in turn-based and Druids have more AoE damage options, but I like having the Salvation of Time / Ancestor's Memory combo in my party.  Priest of Magran is good enough :)

It was working in the turn based beta; I haven't tried it yet in 5.0 but they didn't mention anything about changing it in the patch notes.

How hard is it to gain brilliance? What method do you use? I've never played a tactician but it seems (in TB anyway) you don't actually interrupt enemies that often. 

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