Updated builds?

[Dyxx]

Tank: Swashbuckler Eder

Offtank: Contemplative Xoti with focus on offensive

Wizard: Aloth or custom/or Geomancer Maia if you go to Ukaizo without faction

Trick of all Trades/Heal: Theurg Tekehu

MC: Pala/Cipher with WoteP

 

Just a suggestion

 

[Boeroer]

I would always include Serafen as SC Barb at first and try to get Fire in the Hole asap, because that thing is just too good to let it pass in my opinion. Then either drop him (quest is finished anyway) or let him go up to PL 9 with Driving Roar and Blood Surge which is a game changer for any party. But the way to PL 9 can be a bit rocky. 

If going for RDC: Maia is pretty great with the Red Hand arquebus as a Scout. Single target sniper like few else. The is immune to engagement so you can fly in, apply Takedown Combo and flee whenever it's necessary, while Maia fires some Debilitating Strike with Sneak Attack from afar with deadly accuracy and can follow up with an immediate Deathblow. Super mobile with Escape and Evasive Roll. If you have the Precognition amulet: ouf.

Edér (with Berath's Blessing: Can I pet him anyway?) is nearly always the Swashbuckler tank with Cadhu Scalth, Reckless Brigandine, Kapana Taga, White Witch Mask, Mob Stance, Persistent Distraction and Adept Evasion. Riposte, too. He's pretty fast that way and does good melee dmg although he's tanking. I even leave on the club modal for massive Will debuffs via Riposte. Persistent Distraction debuffs most enemies around him (use Defender Stance until Reckless Brigandine and Kapana Taga become available). You can cast all kinds of AoE spells on him while he's holding off mobs. The Wall modal and Cadhu Scalth make sure he takes very little damage - if he's ever got hit because of Adept Evasion in the first place. He would be superb as Trickster but you can't have that. He always was good enough for me though. And the additional pet slot is really nice!

Aloth as SC Wizard: I'd put into Rekvu's Fractured Casque and cast Necrotic Lance on him outside of combat. Once he's got the Acute Rash he's immune to interrupts which includes those from Grimoire of Vaporous Wizardry (3 spell uses instead of 2 per tier is huge). Then cast his stuff. I stack him up on Power Levels (Stone of Power, Firethrower Gloves and so on) and later focus on empowered spells. 

For Huana: I love Tekehu as SC Stormspeaker with Sure Handed Ila and dual mortars, Deltro's Cage, shock spells such as Returning and Relentless and later Avenging Storm (PL 8). Blinding Smoke from hand mortar will not damage anything, but it will trigger a big cone attack that hits a lot of enemies several times. You always get a lot of hit rolls. And those all trigger Avenging Storm (!). Fire in the Hole has an integrated jump with Chain Shot which includes the AoE which also leads to a lot of hit rolls, all triggering Avenging Storm. It's absolutely devastating for all kinds of mobs. Best thing is basically that you have an unlimited amount of Avenging Storms. But also the "Her Revenge" and his Crackling Bolt and Chain Lightning are nice. Too bad he can't wear the Deltro's Cage helmet: it would be easy to hit yourself with one of the bolts or chain lightning and then profit from a big shocking lash. I also give him the mantle of the seven bolts as emergency cast option. 

Vaillians: Pallegina as Herald with Exalted Endurance and Ancient Memory. That's everything you need as a Herald. That's always really good. Rest can be done as you like (two handed, dual wielding, whatever). 

Xoti: SC Priest. No special sauce. The lantern is a nice stat stick. Add sandals and ring and she's piling up power leveks nicely. The monk subclass is pretty underpowered in a normal party. However: there's a nice companion build in the list that focuses on Xoti as a Priest/Monk and it sounds pretty fun. That monk subclass is best if it's played as a kill stealer. 

Don't want to dwell on the sidekicks. Lots of options there. Just wanted to say that Mirke as dual mortar Shadowdancer is just hilarious. Powder Burns grants buffed up Sneak Attack and recovery all the time (see "Heating Up"), Stunning Surge crits with might Force in an AoE for nearly endless supply of Mortification, for single targets there's the Long Pain or a regular blunderbuss. And all that kaboom with the Stance of a drunken lunatic.  

Also nice with Pukestabber - I mean obviously.  

 

 

 

 

 

 

Edited April 19, 2020 by Boeroer

[lorddarkflare]

Wow. the above is really awesome insight on the main party.

I am addicted to using Dual Mortars, so seeing that nice Mortar build with Tekehu means I can finally play something that is not a Bleak Walker/Rogue Mortar Nuker (seriously, I have a problem, I have been playing the game since release and beaten it 5 times, all with Bleak Walker/Rogue + Mortar or Bleak Walker/Assassin + Arquebus).

Which leaves me dumbfounded as to how I should play next.

Does Cipher + Debonair pair well? Any genuinely fun and powerful Cipher builds or combos?

Edited April 20, 2020 by lorddarkflare

[Boeroer]

Debonaire + Cipher (especially Beguiler) is a good combo. You can almost guarantee a crit with Soul Ignition or Disintegrate on a charmed target. Best thing is that charmed targets don't flip back if you hit them with Disintegrate (or Soul Ignition).

And should you run out of focus for whatever reason (like only few enemies left to hit with Deceptions): a Debonaire can still dish out high dmg Sneak Attacks like every other Rogue. 

Cipher combos I like:

Furyshaper/Beguiler (the Horror): White Witch Make, Willbreaker Morning Star (modal always on), Fear Ward, Phantom Foes, Secret Horrors, Spirit Frenzy, Brute Force, Blood Thirst (among others). Lowers Fortitude and Will on single targets and in an AoE, builds up focus real fast due to Beguiler mechanics, disables lots of foes completely with the Fear Ward (Will debuff of Furyshaper gets balances out by Cipher's high Will). Morning Star and other debuffs make landing stuff like Disintegrate really easy - and once the Blood Thirst gets rolling... Also works well with Ascendant - especially Blood Thirst during Ascension. I just like Beguiler better - also because of thematical reasons. Main focus is debuffing Focus and Will.

Forbidden Fist/Beguiler (the Dissolver): Forbidden Fist ability doesn't generate focus, so you need another source, hence Beguiler. With Community Patch (which "fixes" the ability so it generates focus) Forbidden Fist/Ascendant may be even better. Anyway: Forbidden Fist applies Enfeebled which not only lowers Fortitude by 10 (combine with Stunning Surge for another debuff of 10) but also prolongs hostile effects by 50%. Disintegrate is such a hostile effect. If you also crit your Disintegration will have a +100% duration. Ouch. You can make crits with Disintegrate more likely with a Morning Star + modal. But I like fists better in this case. Works with all other afflcitions, too. So if you hit a guy and then cast Whispers of Treason he's charmed for +50% time. Combine with Lingering Echoes and high INT (Turning Wheel) for absolutely absurd durations. Dominated Enemies will fight for you forever (kind of). Also dominating enemies doesn't cost much because Beguiler. I play it with highest RES possible, Tuotilo's Palm and add food and items that shorten hostile durations. 

Stalker/Soulblade: Takedown Combo + Soul Annihilation or Soul Ignition and Disintegrate. Unlike with direct damage, Disintegrate and Soul Ignition apply "pure" DoTs that don't cancel Takedown Combo. Still Takedown Combo applies its dmg boost to all the ticks of the DoTs, meaning those spells get +100% damage. Which is very good. Disintegrate and also Takedown Combo do target fortitude, so it's good to debuff that first (by party or yourself). I used a Morning Star myself again. Soul Annihilation + Takedown Combo is Overkill in most cases but really packs a punch against the big ones. This should also work very well with a Rapier since you can use it single handed + modal in the early game wich makes not missing with Soul Annihilation really easy. Later maybe add a Dagger or Stiletto for faster focus gain. You can get the Spider's Fang Rapier that is very good with Ciphers. I hear it's also very good on Monk/Ciohers. Hunter's Claw gives you plenty of ACC and more deflection, it's great. 

Helwalker/Ascendant: self explanatory it seems. Huge AoE, big damage, long Ascension, increased PEN through Thunderous Blows etc. Works brilliantly with mortars as well.

Soulblade/Trickster: Offensive Parry from Whispers of the Endless Paths, Riposte Mirrored Images + Borrowed Instincts, max RES, pile up deflection via items and buffs. Blind enemies for reduced Accuracy and to unlock Deathblows. Offensive Parry and Riposte will fill up your focus quickly while you can strike normally, building up focus really fast. Then dump all the focus into a cone with WotEP+Soul Annihilation - Sneak Attack, Deathblows all apply. Rinse and repeat. You can spam Soul Annihilation all the time when fighting lots of weaker enemies who miss you in melee. Against single foes you can always switch to something with better single target damage - like Voidwheel or so. That class combo is also nice with Sun and Moon + shield instead of WotEP. Less parrying, bit the dual heads work very well with Soul Annihilation: first of all you get two chances to hit - and if both hit the first one applies the raw damage while the second already refills focus.

Recently I have come to like the Psion more. A Troubadour/Psion for example can cast invocations/cipher spells nonstop. While phrase counter is refilling you can cast from focus and vice versa. Also Wizard/Psion ist pretty hilarious at some point: you make yourself invisible with Arkemyr's Brilliant Departure and prolong it with Wall of Draining, then cast Cipher-CC powers from invisibility which don't break it (as long as no damage). A Priest/Psion can even cast Withdraw on himself; he can then emerge with full focus and health from the Withdraw. Not always useful, but a nice little synergy. Tactician/Psion could be nice because Phantom Foes will flank all enemies and the Psion's interrupt ability will restore Discipline if used wisely. Not so good in melee though since that will stop the focus generation. Go ranged with Penetrating Strikes I guess. Haven tried that one out yet though.

 

 

 

 

 

Edited April 20, 2020 by Boeroer

[lorddarkflare]

15 hours ago, Boeroer said:

Debonaire + Cipher (especially Beguiler) is a good combo. You can almost guarantee a crit with Soul Ignition or Disintegrate on a charmed target. Best thing is that charmed targets don't flip back if you hit them with Disintegrate (or Soul Ignition).

And should you run out of focus for whatever reason (like only few enemies left to hit with Deceptions): a Debonaire can still dish out high dmg Sneak Attacks like every other Rogue. 

Cipher combos I like:

Furyshaper/Beguiler (the Horror): White Witch Make, Willbreaker Morning Star (modal always on), Fear Ward, Phantom Foes, Secret Horrors, Spirit Frenzy, Brute Force, Blood Thirst (among others). Lowers Fortitude and Will on single targets and in an AoE, builds up focus real fast due to Beguiler mechanics, disables lots of foes completely with the Fear Ward (Will debuff of Furyshaper gets balances out by Cipher's high Will). Morning Star and other debuffs make landing stuff like Disintegrate really easy - and once the Blood Thirst gets rolling... Also works well with Ascendant - especially Blood Thirst during Ascension. I just like Beguiler better - also because of thematical reasons. Main focus is debuffing Focus and Will.

Forbidden Fist/Beguiler (the Dissolver): Forbidden Fist ability doesn't generate focus, so you need another source, hence Beguiler. With Community Patch (which "fixes" the ability so it generates focus) Forbidden Fist/Ascendant may be even better. Anyway: Forbidden Fist applies Enfeebled which not only lowers Fortitude by 10 (combine with Stunning Surge for another debuff of 10) but also prolongs hostile effects by 50%. Disintegrate is such a hostile effect. If you also crit your Disintegration will have a +100% duration. Ouch. You can make crits with Disintegrate more likely with a Morning Star + modal. But I like fists better in this case. Works with all other afflcitions, too. So if you hit a guy and then cast Whispers of Treason he's charmed for +50% time. Combine with Lingering Echoes and high INT (Turning Wheel) for absolutely absurd durations. Dominated Enemies will fight for you forever (kind of). Also dominating enemies doesn't cost much because Beguiler. I play it with highest RES possible, Tuotilo's Palm and add food and items that shorten hostile durations. 

Stalker/Soulblade: Takedown Combo + Soul Annihilation or Soul Ignition and Disintegrate. Unlike with direct damage, Disintegrate and Soul Ignition apply "pure" DoTs that don't cancel Takedown Combo. Still Takedown Combo applies its dmg boost to all the ticks of the DoTs, meaning those spells get +100% damage. Which is very good. Disintegrate and also Takedown Combo do target fortitude, so it's good to debuff that first (by party or yourself). I used a Morning Star myself again. Soul Annihilation + Takedown Combo is Overkill in most cases but really packs a punch against the big ones. This should also work very well with a Rapier since you can use it single handed + modal in the early game wich makes not missing with Soul Annihilation really easy. Later maybe add a Dagger or Stiletto for faster focus gain. You can get the Spider's Fang Rapier that is very good with Ciphers. I hear it's also very good on Monk/Ciohers. Hunter's Claw gives you plenty of ACC and more deflection, it's great. 

Helwalker/Ascendant: self explanatory it seems. Huge AoE, big damage, long Ascension, increased PEN through Thunderous Blows etc. Works brilliantly with mortars as well.

Soulblade/Trickster: Offensive Parry from Whispers of the Endless Paths, Riposte Mirrored Images + Borrowed Instincts, max RES, pile up deflection via items and buffs. Blind enemies for reduced Accuracy and to unlock Deathblows. Offensive Parry and Riposte will fill up your focus quickly while you can strike normally, building up focus really fast. Then dump all the focus into a cone with WotEP+Soul Annihilation - Sneak Attack, Deathblows all apply. Rinse and repeat. You can spam Soul Annihilation all the time when fighting lots of weaker enemies who miss you in melee. Against single foes you can always switch to something with better single target damage - like Voidwheel or so. That class combo is also nice with Sun and Moon + shield instead of WotEP. Less parrying, bit the dual heads work very well with Soul Annihilation: first of all you get two chances to hit - and if both hit the first one applies the raw damage while the second already refills focus.

Recently I have come to like the Psion more. A Troubadour/Psion for example can cast invocations/cipher spells nonstop. While phrase counter is refilling you can cast from focus and vice versa. Also Wizard/Psion ist pretty hilarious at some point: you make yourself invisible with Arkemyr's Brilliant Departure and prolong it with Wall of Draining, then cast Cipher-CC powers from invisibility which don't break it (as long as no damage). A Priest/Psion can even cast Withdraw on himself; he can then emerge with full focus and health from the Withdraw. Not always useful, but a nice little synergy. Tactician/Psion could be nice because Phantom Foes will flank all enemies and the Psion's interrupt ability will restore Discipline if used wisely. Not so good in melee though since that will stop the focus generation. Go ranged with Penetrating Strikes I guess. Haven tried that one out yet though.

 

 

 

 

 

Fantastic recommendations.

I am seeing multiple Beguiler suggestions here, I think I may go that path. I am thinking SC Beguiler, Beguiler/Forbidden Fist and/or Beguiler/Debonaire.

Imma give all three a spin through the island. I expect SC to have the easiest time, but  I am willing to be surprised.

That Soul Ignition trick in particular seems like it might be useful. Shame to miss out on the PL from Ascendant, but I am hoping spell frequency accounts for that.

[Boeroer]

6 hours ago, lorddarkflare said:

I am seeing multiple Beguiler suggestions here [...]

Yes, I particularly like the Beguiler subclass. Its focus regeneration mechanic via Deceptions is very powerful and you can still generate focus the usual way (by dealing damage).

[lorddarkflare]

10 hours ago, Boeroer said:

Yes, I particularly like the Beguiler subclass. Its focus regeneration mechanic via Deceptions is very powerful and you can still generate focus the usual way (by dealing damage).

 

Yeah, I tried the Debonaire/Beguiler and I felt like I was cheating.

Pretty much kept charmed up on everything. And the Rogue + Debonaire  bonuses made damage pretty good despite only having 10 might. I am thinking that this may be a better combo than pure beguiler if I intend to take on the Megabosses.

I am going to give Monk combo a run to see how that does.

[dgray62]

On 4/17/2020 at 8:19 AM, Boeroer said:

There's so much more, like dual mortar SC Helwalker (WotW + Resonant Touch), Scordeo's Edge/Fire in the Hole SC Stalker (Whirling Strikes), dual mortar SC Streetfighter (Vanishing Strikes + Gambit), SC Furyshaper (Blood Ward + DoTs), Heralds in general, SC Stormspeaker (or SC Fury) with dual mortars and Avenging Storm (Blinding Smoke triggers Avenging Storm), Berserker with Grave Calling and a Beckoner friend (killing Beckoner's Skeletons procs Chilling Grave) and whatnot. Depends on the party and how long you can wait until the build fulfills its potential.

Boeroer, I've never played a dual mortar build, and was thinking trying a SC Helwalker per your recommendation. Which mortars do you use, and which upgrades do you apply to them?

[Boeroer]

There are only two mortars: "Hand Mortar" and "Fire in the Hole". Both are Serafen's guns. He comes with Hand Mortar and after finishing his quest he'll get Fire in the Hole.

Fortunately Serafen's quest is very easy to complete and also quickly done:

• Go to Fort Deadlight
• Open the chest in the room which is right north of the harpsichord, this will give you a hint to go to the Luminous Bathhouse
• Go to the Luminous Bathhouse and talk to Undyne
• Go to Sayuka and find Remaro not far from the harbor (northeast up the stair) - he will give you the gun.
• Cool cool cool cool no doubt no doubt

Enchantments: for Hand Mortar I usually pick Blinding Smoke because it triggers Avenging Storm (which I get from Heaven's Cacophony helm). But it does friendly fire so be careful. However: i think it's the better enchantment even though Point Blank does work pretty nicely with Whispers of the Wind and Flagellanth's Path. So if you are not using Avenging Storm it might be a good alternative.
For Fire in the Hole it's Chain Shot. It adds a projectile jump which includes the AoE. There is no question that this is better - especially because with WotW and Flagellant's Path you are not actually reloding (only recovery) - so the alternative enchantment doesn't even work well. Also double AoE is better for Stunning Surge because more chance to crit = refund of mortification.

Key abilitiies are:

• Lightning Strikes (Swift Flurry doesn't work) : +15% lash works with ranged weapons
• Two Weapon Style
• Duality of Mortal Presence (INT - Turning Wheel doesn't work with ranged weapons) : the AoE of both mortars will grow with INT
• Enduring Dance (more ACC = more crits and auto-wounds)
• Thunderous Blows (PEN)
• Stunning Surge (lots of hit rolls -> high chance of crit => refund. Also AoE stun effect of course)
• Flagellant's Path (no reload but recovery, fires both mortars with AoEs at target)
• Razor's Edge (more ACC)
• Resonant Touch (every AoE hit roll will add a stack of Resonant Touch to enemies)
• Whispers of the Wind (every jump will fire the gund + AoEs which leads to ridiculous stacking of Resonant Touch - best if enemies stand near to each other!)

Against single targets you can use normal blunderbusses or summon the Long Pain. Most important item for Whispers of the Wind is Ajamuut's Stalking Cloak. Ring of the Marksman is nice. I also used Ring of Overseeing and Aloth's armor - but other stuff also works fine. I tried to stack a lot of INT, too.  

[dgray62]

Thanks for the quick and detailed reply, Boeroer. I was under the false impression that Kitchen Stove was a mortar too, but checking I see that it is not, thanks!

[Gel214th]

On 4/21/2020 at 12:35 PM, lorddarkflare said:

 

Yeah, I tried the Debonaire/Beguiler and I felt like I was cheating.

Pretty much kept charmed up on everything. And the Rogue + Debonaire  bonuses made damage pretty good despite only having 10 might. I am thinking that this may be a better combo than pure beguiler if I intend to take on the Megabosses.

What happens with all the enemies , mainly bosses, that are immune to Charm? Aren't most megabosses immune, so against them what would happen?

[Boeroer]

Hauani O Whe and Dorudugan are immune to INT afflictions, charm will not work. The others are not immune afaik. 

 

[lorddarkflare]

3 hours ago, Gel214th said:

What happens with all the enemies , mainly bosses, that are immune to Charm? Aren't most megabosses immune, so against them what would happen?

Against them I spam debuffs, party buffs and Disintegrate.

Overall, the build works really well, but I so very rarely fight Kith that I don't think I have ever used Roguish Charm.

I decided to pair the build with The Red Hand for a pretty flexible character: Buffs, debuffs, some minor healing, DOTs and Burtst Damage.

Edited May 1, 2020 by lorddarkflare

[Boeroer]

Yeah, since a Beguiler usually has plenty of focus at most times and Whispers of Treason you almost never use Rogueish Charm. It's more about the 100% crit conversion. 

[guilherme]

Hello, I just got to POEII after my 4th POEI run. I want to play a (closed micromanaged) melee Rogue in my first POEII run (POTD upscaled). I plan to do an evil run for RP (in which both Eder and Aloth are dead).

Could you guys give me some solid 5.0 builds? Im up for both SC ou multi. I was thinking about doing a Streetfigher/Monk (dex/per), is it a bad idea? I usually like bulds in which I have to think/react/position.

Edited May 1, 2020 by guilherme

[mjo2138]

On 4/18/2020 at 4:09 PM, Kaylon said:

If you want to keep your party complete until the end and also choose a faction, then you don't have many choices... In general Serafen is considered the weakest overall but he is also required if you go with the Principi... My advice is to always try to have in your party a paladin, a chanter, a cipher and a priest and choose the MC accordingly, in order to have a strong and balanced party.

 

That is great advice -- why do you like those classes (and their combinations) in particular? I always feel like I need a wizard because I love the CC, and something about me just likes magic users the most in RPGS. Do you suggest multiclasses of these or SC? 

[Boeroer]

7 hours ago, guilherme said:

Hello, I just got to POEII after my 4th POEI run. I want to play a (closed micromanaged) melee Rogue in my first POEII run (POTD upscaled). I plan to do an evil run for RP (in which both Eder and Aloth are dead).

Could you guys give me some solid 5.0 builds? Im up for both SC ou multi. I was thinking about doing a Streetfigher/Monk (dex/per), is it a bad idea? I usually like bulds in which I have to think/react/position.

Shadowdancer (Rogue/Monk) is a good multiclass in terms of damage. With Blunderbusses (and the weapon proficiency) it's very easy to get your Streetfighter flanked (via distraction) without actually getting flanked by enemies. But since Monk and Rogue both have abilities which help with movement (Long Stride, Flagellant's Path, Escape) it's also no big problem with melee weapons. 

Single Class Rogue can get the abilities "Vanishing Strikes" and "Gambit" which are very good if you build towards them (in case of Vanishing Strikes that means Backstab and maxed INT as well as everything that prolongs duration, Gambit wants high ACC and crit conversion). That will take some time though. On the road towards Power Level 8/9 (where you'll get those two abilities) it will be less exciting than a Shadowdancer.

[guilherme]

1 hour ago, Boeroer said:

Shadowdancer (Rogue/Monk) is a good multiclass in terms of damage. With Blunderbusses (and the weapon proficiency) it's very easy to get your Streetfighter flanked (via distraction) without actually getting flanked by enemies. But since Monk and Rogue both have abilities which help with movement (Long Stride, Flagellant's Path, Escape) it's also no big problem with melee weapons. 

Single Class Rogue can get the abilities "Vanishing Strikes" and "Gambit" which are very good if you build towards them (in case of Vanishing Strikes that means Backstab and maxed INT as well as everything that prolongs duration, Gambit wants high ACC and crit conversion). That will take some time though. On the road towards Power Level 8/9 (where you'll get those two abilities) it will be less exciting than a Shadowdancer.

Boeroer, thanks very much for the answer! In the meantime, I ended up making a Shadowdancer (Streetfighter/Nalpazca) and im having a blast as I find the health/cc to avoid dying management very rewarding.

I will definitely build a custom companion at level 9 to test both builds you mentioned. As I learned about POE2 stealth mechanics I was a little bit underwhelmed as I usually like to dual wield and two handed was clearly superior at first glance. But it seems to me the Vanishing Strikes strategy may actually make dual wield feasible with fast attacks (PER/INT max, right? As DW seems already fast enough). Anyhow, the Gambit option does sound a little bit more appealing to me as it seems I would have Guile to do more than trying to stay stealth.. or does the high INT allow me to have some breathing room?

Edited May 2, 2020 by guilherme
spelling!

[Kaylon]

7 hours ago, mjo2138 said:

That is great advice -- why do you like those classes (and their combinations) in particular? I always feel like I need a wizard because I love the CC, and something about me just likes magic users the most in RPGS. Do you suggest multiclasses of these or SC? 

Those should be multiclasses of course. The paladin adds tanking/healing, the chanter adds great support for the party (passive healing, buffs, summons), the cipher offers also some great buffs (Pain Block, Ancestor's Memory, Tactical Meld) and CCs, while the priest adds Barring Death's Door and Salvation of Time besides other buffs/heals. With them in your party you can deal smoothly with any encounter in the game. After that, you can have up to 6 other classes in your party which can be whatever you want. 

[Kaylon]

11 hours ago, guilherme said:

Hello, I just got to POEII after my 4th POEI run. I want to play a (closed micromanaged) melee Rogue in my first POEII run (POTD upscaled). I plan to do an evil run for RP (in which both Eder and Aloth are dead).

Could you guys give me some solid 5.0 builds? Im up for both SC ou multi. I was thinking about doing a Streetfigher/Monk (dex/per), is it a bad idea? I usually like bulds in which I have to think/react/position.

If you want to play a streetfighter I recommend you to have a SC priest in your party who can cast on you Barring Death's Door+Salvation of Time as early as possible or else it will be painful.

You can pick SC streetfighter and spam Gambit at high level or streetfighter/soul blade and spam Soul Annihilation from start to the end or streetfighter/helwalker who has a chance to attack again on crits.

The SC rogue and the monk perform poorly against enemies with high defenses or crit to hit conversion. The streetfighter/soul blade has the highest melee dps (is not dependent on crits) and is effective from the start (at the beginning you can also build him more tanky and play like a regular rogue while still doing good dps); at high level you can have also fun with Disintegration and cast Brilliant on your priest...

[mjo2138]

4 hours ago, Kaylon said:

Those should be multiclasses of course. The paladin adds tanking/healing, the chanter adds great support for the party (passive healing, buffs, summons), the cipher offers also some great buffs (Pain Block, Ancestor's Memory, Tactical Meld) and CCs, while the priest adds Barring Death's Door and Salvation of Time besides other buffs/heals. With them in your party you can deal smoothly with any encounter in the game. After that, you can have up to 6 other classes in your party which can be whatever you want. 

Thanks! 

[guilherme]

8 hours ago, Kaylon said:

If you want to play a streetfighter I recommend you to have a SC priest in your party who can cast on you Barring Death's Door+Salvation of Time as early as possible or else it will be painful.

You can pick SC streetfighter and spam Gambit at high level or streetfighter/soul blade and spam Soul Annihilation from start to the end or streetfighter/helwalker who has a chance to attack again on crits.

The SC rogue and the monk perform poorly against enemies with high defenses or crit to hit conversion. The streetfighter/soul blade has the highest melee dps (is not dependent on crits) and is effective from the start (at the beginning you can also build him more tanky and play like a regular rogue while still doing good dps); at high level you can have also fun with Disintegration and cast Brilliant on your priest...

Ill definitely use this Barring Death's Door+Salvation of Time combo, sounds very nice! Thanks very much for your answers, the Streetfighter/Sould Blade does sound very promising and ill make a custom character to check it out asap. Which stats should I have? Can I make it DW?

Edited May 2, 2020 by guilherme

[guilherme]

On 4/20/2020 at 4:54 AM, Boeroer said:

Soulblade/Trickster: Offensive Parry from Whispers of the Endless Paths, Riposte Mirrored Images + Borrowed Instincts, max RES, pile up deflection via items and buffs. Blind enemies for reduced Accuracy and to unlock Deathblows. Offensive Parry and Riposte will fill up your focus quickly while you can strike normally, building up focus really fast. Then dump all the focus into a cone with WotEP+Soul Annihilation - Sneak Attack, Deathblows all apply. Rinse and repeat. You can spam Soul Annihilation all the time when fighting lots of weaker enemies who miss you in melee. Against single foes you can always switch to something with better single target damage - like Voidwheel or so. That class combo is also nice with Sun and Moon + shield instead of WotEP. Less parrying, bit the dual heads work very well with Soul Annihilation: first of all you get two chances to hit - and if both hit the first one applies the raw damage while the second already refills focus.

On second thought this also sounds very interesting! Which stats should I focus on a build like this? PER/INT/RES? Can I dump Might? I also assume that with this much RES (+skills), CON could be around 10 even on POTD,,, Also, as im building focus with Riposte, DEX does not sound like a priority, as I can focus my time straight up using the key skills like Soul Annihilatoin. Am I right or am I missing something? Thanks in advance for your patience!!

[Kaylon]

4 hours ago, guilherme said:

Ill definitely use this Barring Death's Door+Salvation of Time combo, sounds very nice! Thanks very much for your answers, the Streetfighter/Sould Blade does sound very promising and ill make a custom character to check it out asap. Which stats should I have? Can I make it DW?

The soul blade/rogue has a specific synergy with the Sun and Moon flail and Toutilo's Palm shield (which I recommend using at least until you get Barring Death's Door) because it will increase your survivability without sacrificing your dps. The flail hits twice which allows you to gain focus during Soul Annihilation and you can spam it over and over again (besides the raw dmg you gain the PL dmg bonus, concentration with  every hit and you can interrupt on crits). Because Soul Annihilation is a primary attack you will use only your flail, while the Toutilo's Palm will cut your recovery like if you were using two weapons (besides adding more defense and a chance to riposte). With Salvation of Time you can still use the same combo and benefit also from 50 deflection bonus from Escape for a higher chance to trigger ripostes (from the rogue/shield) which translate in more focus and damage.

Using two weapons is of course possible, but then you will have to alternate between Soul Annihilation and other abilities/normal hits in order to gain focus. Using 2h weapons works also very well and with the Whispers of the Endless Paths you can hit with Soul Annihilation multiple targets for great AoE damage.

For the stats you should keep in mind that once you have Barring Death's Door con/res become useless (thus you should lower them as much as you're comfortable with). The important stats to max are in that order : per>mig>dex and the rest in int. Ideal race is human (accuracy/dmg bonuses while bloodied).

[guilherme]

10 minutes ago, Kaylon said:

The soul blade/rogue has a specific synergy with the Sun and Moon flail and Toutilo's Palm shield (which I recommend using at least until you get Barring Death's Door) because it will increase your survivability without sacrificing your dps. The flail hits twice which allows you to gain focus during Soul Annihilation and you can spam it over and over again (besides the raw dmg you gain the PL dmg bonus, concentration with  every hit and you can interrupt on crits). Because Soul Annihilation is a primary attack you will use only your flail, while the Toutilo's Palm will cut your recovery like if you were using two weapons (besides adding more defense and a chance to riposte). With Salvation of Time you can still use the same combo and benefit also from 50 deflection bonus from Escape for a higher chance to trigger ripostes (from the rogue/shield) which translate in more focus and damage.

Using two weapons is of course possible, but then you will have to alternate between Soul Annihilation and other abilities/normal hits in order to gain focus. Using 2h weapons works also very well and with the Whispers of the Endless Paths you can hit with Soul Annihilation multiple targets for great AoE damage.

For the stats you should keep in mind that once you have Barring Death's Door con/res become useless (thus you should lower them as much as you're comfortable with). The important stats to max are in that order : per>mig>dex and the rest in int. Ideal race is human (accuracy/dmg bonuses while bloodied).

Thanks very much for the patience and for the detailed answer!!!