The Ultimate discussion thread Pt 2

[Waski]

9 hours ago, thelee said:

you could do it but i'm not sure what a multiclass monk gets you over most other multiclass options

One upside I can think of  is stunning surge, you can spam it without damaging weapons for triggering blade cascade or using smth like fist+grave calling in certain fights (average to low deflection hp sponges like guardian of Ukaizo, fire dragon or big ooze but that fights are auto win for brilliant priest so it doesn't really matter and idk if it increases dps but having stunning ability "on demand" helps while fighting second stage Hauani). 

[Raven Darkholme]

2 hours ago, Waski said:

One upside I can think of  is stunning surge, you can spam it without damaging weapons for triggering blade cascade or using smth like fist+grave calling in certain fights (average to low deflection hp sponges like guardian of Ukaizo, fire dragon or big ooze but that fights are auto win for brilliant priest so it doesn't really matter and idk if it increases dps but having stunning ability "on demand" helps while fighting second stage Hauani). 

Skyward kick is also wounds based and knockup is really powerful because it is not an affliction, so no immunities vs it.

Blade Turning is pretty op too in many fights like Dorudugan.

@thelee

Are you sure monastic has the same scaling as monk fists? Not saying it doesn't, just curious.

But yeah, in general it doesn't really matter what to multi either a priest or blood mage with and as you say in case of monk single class can be an option, to me personally its too squishy for ultimate and I'd definitely prefer multi.

[Boeroer]

@Raven Darkholme:
Monastic Unarmed Training scales every 3 PLs while Transcendent Suffering scales every 2 PLs. But MUT always uses single class progression even if you are multiclassed (TS doesn't).

@thelee wrote about it in length in his Deadfire gamefaqs: https://gamefaqs.gamespot.com/pc/227477-pillars-of-eternity-ii-deadfire/faqs/76599/monastic-unarmed-training

Edited June 14, 2020 by Boeroer

[Raven Darkholme]

4 hours ago, cohlin said:

Thanks :3

 

Thanks, was just wanted to do something new. So there are already tactician/skaen, bm/skaen, SC wizard, SC monk that has already completed the ultimate challenge right?

No afaik single class monks couldn't get past SSS, cuz it was too squishy, but never tested SSS with monk myself so idk if there is a workaround with Ooblit.

(Most/all (??) people who did the Ultimate did SSS before Forgotten Sanctum tho.)

 

49 minutes ago, Boeroer said:

@Raven Darkholme:
Monastic Unarmed Training scales every 3 PLs while Transcendent Suffering scales every 2 PLs. But MUT always uses single class progression even if you are multiclassed (TS doesn't).

@thelee wrote about it in length in his Deadfire gamefaqs: https://gamefaqs.gamespot.com/pc/227477-pillars-of-eternity-ii-deadfire/faqs/76599/monastic-unarmed-training

Oh interesting, so in the end it does scale the same.

edit: as multiclassed monk that is.

Edited June 14, 2020 by Raven Darkholme

[Boeroer]

Afaik there has been a successful Monk run - but it wasn't send in because the same user also completed the challenge with another build.

Another user (or the same?) did a run which ended prematurely because he chose the wrong dialogue option with Rymrgand (=instadeath). I believe that was also a SC Monk but I'm not sure about it.

[cohlin]

On 6/14/2020 at 5:29 PM, Waski said:

One upside I can think of  is stunning surge, you can spam it without damaging weapons for triggering blade cascade or using smth like fist+grave calling in certain fights (average to low deflection hp sponges like guardian of Ukaizo, fire dragon or big ooze but that fights are auto win for brilliant priest so it doesn't really matter and idk if it increases dps but having stunning ability "on demand" helps while fighting second stage Hauani). 

was curious that if monk is the only class that can deal melee damage to proc weapon features like grave calling without breaking weapons through Forbidden fist/Stunning Surge/WotW ? Can't find useful information on wiki :<

by the way, is there much fire resistant/immune mobs for ultimate? i know constructs are fire immune, one megaboss also. wonder if pure fire damage build is viable for the challenge

Edited June 21, 2020 by cohlin

[Raven Darkholme]

1 hour ago, cohlin said:

was curious that if monk is the only class that can deal melee damage to proc weapon features like grave calling without breaking weapons through Forbidden fist/Stunning Surge/WotW ? Can't find useful information on wiki :<

by the way, is there much fire resistant/immune mobs for ultimate? i know constructs are fire immune, one megaboss also. wonder if pure fire damage build is viable for the challenge

Any ability won't break your weapon, but the monk can generate wounds without the need for brilliant, which can be useful.

Fire is viable for most of the challenge, but since Dorudugan is the boss who requires most damage input (unless you are a single class monk) you have to plan your single target at least partially around that.

[n00biwan]

11 hours ago, cohlin said:

is there much fire resistant/immune mobs for ultimate? i know constructs are fire immune, one megaboss also. wonder if pure fire damage build is viable for the challenge

The only mandatory flame resistant enemies are :

- The trash mobs gating ashen maw dragon, and ofc the fire dragon itself

- The flame nagas in SSS & in water shapers guild, those are not only fire resistant, but fire dmg will also heal them

-Constructs in SSS

- Construct megaboss dorugan

Don't think i've missed any, but thats all i remember from my run. I was tempted to pick up magrans favor for more holy fire spam, but with vela.... i didnt bother in the end

[Boeroer]

Flame Nagas have extra low burn armor so that you

a) won't underpenetrate with burn damage

and

b) get tricked into thinking "Haha - low burn AR! Let's roast them!"

Dorudugan is the same. Tanking him in melee leads to him healing up from his own burning AoE attacks. 

Rekvu's Scorched Cloak does the same for you if you suffer from an injury. 

BUT: if you step on fire traps (e.g. in Sandswept Ruins) you will still get the Serious Burn Injury. Three of those and your run will be fried. I reported that illogical mechanic in the early days after release but I think it never got fixed. 

Edited June 24, 2020 by Boeroer

[dunehunter]

A trick if you do not know yet, you can equip/unequip the oozie pet repeatedly to extend Brilliant duration, same as other buffs ( must be a bug but ultimate itself is a bug who cares  ), no need salvation of time for that.

Edited June 27, 2020 by dunehunter

[Boeroer]

Didn't know that! Thanks for sharing.

[dunehunter]

Some more stuff if not mentioned before, if you have blade cascade on and grave calling, you can permanently stun-lock mega bosses even they have body affliction resistance, dunno if this is an oversight but that paralyze from weapon cannot be resisted. 

Edited June 27, 2020 by dunehunter

[cohlin]

Just want to thank you all for the guides, you guys are the best!

I just have completed the ultimate challenge with death godlike/ ascendent cipher/ skaen priest.

In case if anyone is interested, the link is below:

https://www.youtube.com/playlist?list=PLWnrH6Lq2whImLWhcIfFYbsqaV5JnzSZY

 

[Waski]

8 hours ago, cohlin said:

Just want to thank you all for the guides, you guys are the best!

I just have completed the ultimate challenge with death godlike/ ascendent cipher/ skaen priest.

In case if anyone is interested, the link is below:

https://www.youtube.com/playlist?list=PLWnrH6Lq2whImLWhcIfFYbsqaV5JnzSZY

 

Nice, congratulations.

[thelee]

9 hours ago, cohlin said:

Just want to thank you all for the guides, you guys are the best!

I just have completed the ultimate challenge with death godlike/ ascendent cipher/ skaen priest.

In case if anyone is interested, the link is below:

https://www.youtube.com/playlist?list=PLWnrH6Lq2whImLWhcIfFYbsqaV5JnzSZY

 

Congrats!

[Boeroer]

Cool

[n00biwan]

Obsidian has disapproved my run of the ultimate, heres the reasoning they gave

Sorry for the wait. After some more prodding Josh was able to make some time to finish going over some of the playthrough to give his opinion on the verification process. Unfortunately this particular playthrough is being considered invalid due to the force closure of the game and loading of a save where it would normally not have been available. From the footage you took, it looks like you were able to find a way around this issue, but we would need a playthrough where you do this without using the force closure method. The thought process behind this decision was that people felt that it wasn't within the spirit of the challenge as the players who accomplish it have done research into potential bugs and know the game inside and out as a result.

One of the most common methods players have used to get around issues is to run consecutive playthroughs where one of them allows them to make mistakes or run into bugs to figure out a way around them and the other is their Ultimate Challenge run.

I'm sorry for the disappointing decision that was made and hope that it doesn't discourage you from trying again and getting your name on The Ultimate challenge board. I'll look forward to that playthrough if you decided to take on the challenge again!

Thanks again for reaching out to us and for your time and effort put into The Ultimate.

 

heres the video where the bug occurred, guess its my fault this random bug occurs only in the ironman save and not the playtests

 

too bad this challenge was so unfun and i'll never ever try anything like this again, more disappointed in the amount of time i wasted on the challenge itself than the result

Edited July 11, 2020 by n00biwan

[thelee]

@n00biwan that is a rough call my dude, sorry to hear about that. it's especially rough because it's not like you were trying to do some lame cheese that bugs out 10% of the time, it looks like just a relatively non-deterministic outcome of a fairly normal world encounter.

[Alcarin]

Hi everyone, I'm working on my Ultimate run based on Tenray's routing using the BM/Skaen.  Could anybody tell me how they recorded screens?

I'm running on a (pretty weak) Mac, and lots of the big fights already lag very hard, even without the recording software.  I've heard OBS is lightweight, and that QuickTime is decent too.  Any other suggestions?

Thanks in advance!

[thelee]

On 10/6/2020 at 6:41 PM, Alcarin said:

Hi everyone, I'm working on my Ultimate run based on Tenray's routing using the BM/Skaen.  Could anybody tell me how they recorded screens?

I'm running on a (pretty weak) Mac, and lots of the big fights already lag very hard, even without the recording software.  I've heard OBS is lightweight, and that QuickTime is decent too.  Any other suggestions?

Thanks in advance!

is it a macbook? I think OBS (and similar software) is only lightweight because they can do something with the GPU directly as it renders. If it's a lower-end macbook (which uses integrated graphics) it might not do as well. But! It's better than nothing. I used OBS at first, and then it was just easier to use my GPU's native recording software.

[Silvaren]

As always I'm late for the party. I was playing other games since 2019 instead of focus on the series I really like the most in recent years. Anyway, I think now it's time to try my luck with SC Chanter but it can be hard without Withdraw.

@Raven DarkholmeVictor, I'm watching your current playthrough with several challenges. Did you give up on Ultimate? ;<

How about you,@Boeroer? I remember you mentioned that you prefer playing with party and you won't be aiming at Ultimate. Maybe something changed? There are still 2 places on the Roll of Honor iirc.

[Boeroer]

I played some solo runs recently - which is tedious enough in some fights. I still have no interest in adding even more tedium to that.

[abot]

did anybody manage to replicate/explain how to avoid Vela  being teleported to the player/beast of winter when dialog starts, like showed in this video? I've tried with 17 arcana + scroll of binding web, I've tried starting the battle at bottom right of the map using fire blight summon belt, then walking to the encounter area followed by aggroed fire blight summon while Vela is still terrified at the opposite of the map, no way, as soon as I get to the encounter area Vela is teleported in front of the Beast of Winter.
Or could it be that the video has been done with a previous patch version?

[thelee]

1 hour ago, abot said:

did anybody manage to replicate/explain how to avoid Vela  being teleported to the player/beast of winter when dialog starts, like showed in this video? I've tried with 17 arcana + scroll of binding web, I've tried starting the battle at bottom right of the map using fire blight summon belt, then walking to the encounter area followed by aggroed fire blight summon while Vela is still terrified at the opposite of the map, no way, as soon as I get to the encounter area Vela is teleported in front of the Beast of Winter.
Or could it be that the video has been done with a previous patch version?

there's no way it could have been done with a previous patch version. there was no ultimate before 5.0.

 

i do the same thing as well in my own ultimate run. are you saying that you are starting in the bottom-right of the map? if so, you might be too far away and the game might be relocating vela when the beast of winter triggers (i think everyone is suppossed to be on the "island" that forms when the beast of winter breaks the bridge).

 

note that in my run, i noticd that my halt "grazed" vela, so i ended up halting her again. in practice runs it was critically important for vela to be at least hit by halt, or else it wouldn't last enough to last through the beast of winter appearing and starting the fight and vela would end up right next to the beast.

[abot]

the isle position in the video was the first thing i tried, the only difference is that Vela walks there in the middle of dialog instead of teleporting, hopefully it is a matter of finding some way to crit her with a scroll so it lasts more