5.0 what builds still work for the watcher/companions/sidekicks in turn based mode

[AniGamerBond]

Hi All, 

following the 5.0 release I was hoping the pinned build threads would get updated for what still works in 5.0. 

Anyone up for helping to compile what builds work for 5.0 for each of the companions/sidekicks and the main watcher character ? 

Looking to run on turn based so builds that work in both or turn based only please. 

Any help would be appreciated ! 

Cheers 

[AniGamerBond]

I am mostly looking for which builds can be used from the below links and any new links.

I am not sure which are old/out of date and which are still viable.

Companions/character builds

https://steamcommunity.com/id/teesinz/myworkshopfiles/?section=guides&appid=560130

Forum build topic

https://forums.obsidian.net/topic/85492-the-obsidian-boards-build-list-last-modified-11-nov-18/?tab=comments#comment-1791391

forum build topic 2

https://forums.obsidian.net/topic/98193-the-obsidian-boards-build-list-last-modified-22-october-2018/?tab=comments#comment-2013433

fextralife TB builds 1

https://fextralife.com/5-turn-based-builds-for-pillars-of-eternity-2-deadfire/

fextralife TB builds 2

https://fextralife.com/5-more-turn-based-builds-for-pillars-of-eternity-2-deadfire/

[Dead Inside]

As somebody who played quite a lot of the turn-based in beta... Let's just say for a start that the meat of it has not changed. (From a min-max perspective) DEX went from being the top-priority attribute to lowest priority, since I get the impression turn-based is more of a CC race than a DPS race; initiative isn't all that useful if enemies are constantly stunned. Obsidian didn't really - at least not from what I can tell - amend the issue that INT is only useful in increments of 5 on the most part.

Into the fray/Lower Their Guard went from being a skill I never looked at twice to one of my favorite skills in turn-based. It's a free action (!) which drags enemies toward a location and lowers armor by 10 (!!), which is immensely useful for bunching up enemies for a Relentless Storm or Torment's Reach and generally has good synergy with AOE casters. The Blackjacket free weapon switch is actually immensely powerful: take out your damage dealing weapons, attack, switch back to your shield and dagger at no penalty.

I've also been liking abilities which reduce beneficial effects/interrupt in turn-based. It was really hard to line up a good Concussive Tranquilizer beforehand... but now that bloody Undead Battlemage with his millions of buffs has a much cleaner way of being defeated. The inverse is also true: I've been liking the exhortations and suspension of hostile effects, as in turn based you have a lot more control over managing debuffs.

To actually answer the question: what builds work? Well, builds which stack action speed don't work, but almost everything else does...

A few interesting ones:

Junkie Blade-Turner (Nalpazca/Chanter or Druid or anything else which passively deals damage). This one got especially stronger now that Mortification of the Soul is a free action. Engage enemies, cast mortification, dance of death and blade turning and watch as the (meele) enemies kill themselves. Once you get Duality of Mortal Presence and enough INT for Blade-turning to last 2 rounds, you can cast Blade-Turning -> some other action (like summoning or an overtime AOE like Nature's Terror) -> Blade-Turning. You constantly have wounds being generated by drugs and dance of death. Have a big shield and stay safe.

Zen Liberator (Goldpact/Druid w/ Bear Form). Wear the heaviest armor you can. Walk into some enemies, start marking them with Sworn Rival (get the upgrade which refunds zeal), turn into a bear and your armor rating rockets up (heavy armor + 2 from bear + 2 from goldpact + 1-3 from Stoic Steel). Cast Hands of Light on yourself to get the buff which prevents you from getting interrupted. Stand in the middle of your enemies and cast relentless storm, nature's terror or all those other high-damage low-range spells which druid has plenty of.

Meme Disengager - I don't know if this build still works, they might have patched Riposte triggering off disengagement attacks. Anyway, you need rogue + anything which can stack deflection. Get all the gear that has +deflection on disengagement attack (Great Escape Cape, Gipeon Prudesco, etc.). Walk up to an enemy, let them engage you... then walk away. They will disengagement-attack you but since your deflection on disengage is somewhere around 300, they will miss you, and get a riposte straight to the face. So this build kind of tiptoes around an enemy and watches them kill themselves.

Edited May 20, 2019 by Dead Inside

[Boeroer]

Gilded Enmity shouldn't stack with Zealous Endurance. Is that different in TB mode?

[Tommy1984]

I played turnbased for some time with a solo Beckoner/Goldpact Knight on PotD. That was the easiest solo run I ever did - summons and especially upgraded Wurms and Animated Weapons wreck everything when you have full control. Its the first time that I actually used the summons special abilties. With 6 upgraded wurms (their DoT tripples their damage in turnbased mode) you can easily kill multiple enemies per round, you just need to know how to use them. Beckoners work really good in turnbased, as you can dump DEX and take heavy armor without having problems as compared to AoE casters (who have targeting issues) you can completely ignore speed. Also Beckoner normally lacks scaling as there is no good way to increase attack speed for summons - in turnbased mode this is no longer an issue. Most fights didn't last many rounds, but they did last some time in realtime. Thats also the reason I stopped playing the build - clicking through every trashmob felt quite annoying. But I think thats a general problem with the turnbased mode.

[Dead Inside]

9 hours ago, Boeroer said:

Gilded Enmity shouldn't stack with Zealous Endurance. Is that different in TB mode?

Excuse me, not Zealous Endurance but Stoic Steel (I think that's the name of the passive which grants +AR when standing still).

[Boeroer]

Ah, sure. Those will stack.

[AniGamerBond]

Hi Guys, First off awesome thanks for responses. Any direct links to some builds for a noob that does not know the skill names your referencing ? 

Just so its easier to follow level per level what I should be taking ability wise and stats from beginning. 

Cheers ! 

 

[Dead Inside]

Try here (I hope the link works):

https://steamcommunity.com/sharedfiles/filedetails/?id=1391010246

Bear in mind that ALL of these builds are for RtwP, so a lot of them (the swashbuckler and the streetfighter builds in general) refer to using RtwP mechanics where attacking faster >> having more CC. To modify them for Turn-Based, pick a few which you like, you can drop dexterity on almost all of them down to 10 or less and - as a rule of the thumb - pump Perception (esp. on casters), Might, Intelligence, Resolve then Constitution in that order for DPS characters. For the tanks, don't make the mistake thinking you need as much Constitution, at least if you are going to be stacking either deflection or armor. If you're a Beserker or plan to be taking hits, you probably want it.

Edited May 21, 2019 by Dead Inside

[AniGamerBond]

Nice ! thank you for the link much appreciated 

[Lampros]

On 5/19/2019 at 12:52 PM, Dead Inside said:

As somebody who played quite a lot of the turn-based in beta... Let's just say for a start that the meat of it has not changed. (From a min-max perspective) DEX went from being the top-priority attribute to lowest priority, since I get the impression turn-based is more of a CC race than a DPS race; initiative isn't all that useful if enemies are constantly stunned. Obsidian didn't really - at least not from what I can tell - amend the issue that INT is only useful in increments of 5 on the most part.

Into the fray/Lower Their Guard went from being a skill I never looked at twice to one of my favorite skills in turn-based. It's a free action (!) which drags enemies toward a location and lowers armor by 10 (!!), which is immensely useful for bunching up enemies for a Relentless Storm or Torment's Reach and generally has good synergy with AOE casters. The Blackjacket free weapon switch is actually immensely powerful: take out your damage dealing weapons, attack, switch back to your shield and dagger at no penalty.

I've also been liking abilities which reduce beneficial effects/interrupt in turn-based. It was really hard to line up a good Concussive Tranquilizer beforehand... but now that bloody Undead Battlemage with his millions of buffs has a much cleaner way of being defeated. The inverse is also true: I've been liking the exhortations and suspension of hostile effects, as in turn based you have a lot more control over managing debuffs.

To actually answer the question: what builds work? Well, builds which stack action speed don't work, but almost everything else does...

A few interesting ones:

Junkie Blade-Turner (Nalpazca/Chanter or Druid or anything else which passively deals damage). This one got especially stronger now that Mortification of the Soul is a free action. Engage enemies, cast mortification, dance of death and blade turning and watch as the (meele) enemies kill themselves. Once you get Duality of Mortal Presence and enough INT for Blade-turning to last 2 rounds, you can cast Blade-Turning -> some other action (like summoning or an overtime AOE like Nature's Terror) -> Blade-Turning. You constantly have wounds being generated by drugs and dance of death. Have a big shield and stay safe.

Zen Liberator (Goldpact/Druid w/ Bear Form). Wear the heaviest armor you can. Walk into some enemies, start marking them with Sworn Rival (get the upgrade which refunds zeal), turn into a bear and your armor rating rockets up (heavy armor + 2 from bear + 2 from goldpact + 1-3 from Stoic Steel). Cast Hands of Light on yourself to get the buff which prevents you from getting interrupted. Stand in the middle of your enemies and cast relentless storm, nature's terror or all those other high-damage low-range spells which druid has plenty of.

Meme Disengager - I don't know if this build still works, they might have patched Riposte triggering off disengagement attacks. Anyway, you need rogue + anything which can stack deflection. Get all the gear that has +deflection on disengagement attack (Great Escape Cape, Gipeon Prudesco, etc.). Walk up to an enemy, let them engage you... then walk away. They will disengagement-attack you but since your deflection on disengage is somewhere around 300, they will miss you, and get a riposte straight to the face. So this build kind of tiptoes around an enemy and watches them kill themselves.

Another illuminating post!