Party composition advice

[Dawidusdb]

Hi, 
Even tho i am veteran of BG 1-2, IWD, NWD I was a bit overwhelmed by amount of tutorials, mechanics and guides, then looking for advice for someone more familiar

I am looking for the advice about party composition (maybe you can suggest some builds + some companions)

a. I want to use 6 man party 
b. I want to use story companions
c. I would like to play at hard or potd, unless due to other requirements this is too much hassle/not doable.
d. I dont mind microing stuff and pausing, I do like spells, abilities, so all the "classes with some kind of spells" are in favour.
e. I ve read that good beginner party composition is:

1. Tank
2. Offtank
3. 2nd line damage dealer
4. ranged damage dealer
5. Caster
6. Caster

The most interesting classes from look in game for me are: Paladin, Chanter, Wizard, Priest, Cipher(what a cool idea!) Druid ! Experience from other games says me that Rogue would be needed too.

Could you point me out some guides & companions i can use in such party? Thanks a lot

//I can edit post if i find some suitable build for some role. 

[Enuhal]

In PoE, the rogue class isn't needed, because the rogue role is performed by the "Mechanics" skill, which everyone can learn (a wizard and a cipher are both good for this, as they start with a bonus to mechanics. You'll also run into a wizard companion quite early). There's basically one companion for each class available when it comes to story companions, but you'll have to wait a while for some of them, especially the barbarian, rogue and monk. With the classes you like, you can use a fighter instead of the paladin (until you get a paladin, which takes a while) as the frontliner, a chanter as a secondary frontliner (relatively early), the cipher (takes a while, but still early if you know where to look) either as ranged or melee damage dealer, the priest, wizard and druid as casters (the druid will also double as a melee damage dealer with his shapeshifting ability). This party will certainly be powerful enough to finish the game.

You don't get enough companions to fill up your party right away, so it's a decent idea to recruit about two created tavern companions in the early game if you like playing with a full party (this will also make the early game much easier - the early game on PotD, especially two specific regions, is among the more difficult parts of the game). You can replace these guys later on and use them for adventures (which is something to do for NPCs you don't have space for in your party).

Edited March 13, 2020 by Enuhal

[Boeroer]

1 hour ago, Dawidusdb said:

The most interesting classes from look in game for me are: Paladin, Chanter, Wizard, Priest, Cipher(what a cool idea!) Druid

That is a totally viable party composition. But to be honest every party composition works because the classes are well balanced. 

If I would have to make a list of "most potential power" of classes in a party I would maybe go like (1. = best ) :

1. Priest
2. Wizard
3. Druid
4. Chanter
5. Cipher
6. Monk
7. Barbarian
8. Paladin
9. Ranger
10. Fighter
11. Rogue

Although that highly depends on personal opinion and experience, special build, party composition, item setup etc. - and the classes are quite close in terms of power in general.

PoE tends to be (or at least feels) more difficult for Wizard, Priest, Druid, Chanter and Barbarian in the beginning - while they tend to be pretty great later on (but high learining curve). Monk, Paladin and Cipher always work well and Ranger, Fighter and Rogue start great as well but tend to drop off later in the game. This is my personal judgement for Path of the Damed though where there are more enemies. And the more enemies the more valuable AoE becomes and the less impactful single target damage (see Rogue) becomes. On lower difficulties Ranger, Rogue and Fighter don't have that dropoff - or at least you don't really feel it. There are ways to overcome this but you need more knowledge about the game mechanics for that.

Official companions in order of appearence (not fix though - but how most people pick them up) are:

Wizard (Aloth, +++)
Fighter (Edér, +++ )
Priest (Durance, ++)
Chanter (Kana, ++)
Ranger (Sagani, +)
Paladin (Pallegina, +)
Cipher (Grieving Mother, -)
Druid (Hiravias, +++)
Barbarian (Expansion, Maneha, +)
Monk (Expansion, Zahua, +++)
Rogue  (Expansion, Devil of Caroc, ++)

The +/- indicate my personal preference (of the character and their banter/quests and fun, not his/her power). Most of times you can rush to a place and pick up your favorite companion though. The order is not fixed. You just have to know where to go and get them. The expansion characters are an exception because you can't just rush there.

I know no up-to-date guide (never used one). You can ask me anything though.

Edited March 13, 2020 by Boeroer

[mr_raider]

6 hours ago, Dawidusdb said:

Hi, 
Even tho i am veteran of BG 1-2, IWD, NWD I was a bit overwhelmed by amount of tutorials, mechanics and guides, then looking for advice for someone more familiar

I am looking for the advice about party composition (maybe you can suggest some builds + some companions)

a. I want to use 6 man party 
b. I want to use story companions
c. I would like to play at hard or potd, unless due to other requirements this is too much hassle/not doable.
d. I dont mind microing stuff and pausing, I do like spells, abilities, so all the "classes with some kind of spells" are in favour.
e. I ve read that good beginner party composition is:

1. Tank
2. Offtank
3. 2nd line damage dealer
4. ranged damage dealer
5. Caster
6. Caster

The most interesting classes from look in game for me are: Paladin, Chanter, Wizard, Priest, Cipher(what a cool idea!) Druid ! Experience from other games says me that Rogue would be needed too.

Could you point me out some guides & companions i can use in such party? Thanks a lot

//I can edit post if i find some suitable build for some role. 

I like this guide:

 

 

It's for POTD but it works on hard. It uses custom characters but you can adapt many of the characters in game to the builds. Just make sure autolevel is disabled so you can configure companions manually. The stat spreads will be slightly off, but so what.

 

Your main can be anything, and just pick the other characters to complement him. I recommend a priest in any party.

 

I used the same guide with the following changes:

1. My MC was a ranged wizard with blast talents, not a sword shield tank (see Zeblastian hurstacker build). 

2. I used different races

3. I built my priest with sneak attack abilities and the capacity to go ranged if needed (see the Schmemer's needle build).

4, I modified the talents and spell selection slightly.

 

Note that it doesn't have rogue or fighter, but that's up to you. 

[Dawidusdb]

Thank you for all the responses. I managed to get my squad after few hours in game, most of them I met in the middle of roads etc. 

 

What I would like to ask is about weapon and (especially) Armor selection. I have real issues with evaluating weapons and even more the armors: DR is very nice but -50%attack speed is very harsh too... I feel like having 4 people in no armor is very bad, but I struggle to choose what is preferred. For now I am steamrolling all the fights on POTD other than caves under castle (I got stomped I will come back later, what level I should?)

 

Current party:

1. Cipher Ranged DPS currently I use no armor and pistol->warbow

2. Aloth - CC wizard no armor - sceptre ->shield and hatchet

3. Durance - rod -> sword and shield

4. Hiravas - no armor - most of the time he is in his wildshape

5. Kana - Arkebuz -> sword and shield - heavy armor

6. Pallegina - Arbalest -> flail + shield - heavy armor

 

Summing up the question:

Who should wear what armor?

What are good weapon choices for classes (1h or 2h)

What is recommended lvl for castle dungeon?

Is juggling weapons (like opening the fight with XVIII century firearm barrage) worth it? 

Edited March 14, 2020 by Dawidusdb
Forgot to add

[mr_raider]

Armor impacts recovery both of fighters and casters. So you want your speed dependent characters to be in lighter armor.

Chanters are fairly speed insensitive so heavy armor is just fine. If your paladin in built as a sword and board tank heavy armor is fine, since his job is stand up and produce an aura.

Casters need speed. They need to cast fast especially if they need to put up buffs at the start. I keep my priests below -20% because they need to cast buffs and heals on a moment's notice. A wizard can get away with -25% if he is an offensive caster since after level 5 he can haste himself. It also helps to give wizard and priests dex of 10 or higher with dex boosting gear. A back line wizard who focus on status effects and blasts can do fine with -10% armor. Remember armor is only DR, not deflection.

 

Druids can be medium or light armored. Back line caster can do fine in light armor and front line shifters can use medium. Remember druids get DR buff spells at level 3 and 7 which can greatly enhance their survival.

 

Ciphers are problematic. They have to engage in combat to build focus. Ranged ciphers can go light, melee ciphers may consider -40% armor even. Give ciphers good dex (14+) to mitigate.

 

A few spoilers:

 

Early in the game you can buy special light armors in analog that are -10% and give +9 deflection! I used that on my wizard until level 12.

You will be able to enchant armor with speed enhancements at one point in the game, but that is limited by supplies.

 

You will come up on a few quest items that arr -5% robe. Grab a few and enchant them.

All armors can be upgraded to fine, exceptional, etc... So look at the armors base properties and bonuses, not just the DR.

 

[Boeroer]

Keep in mind that all those "attack speed" effects only apply to recovery. Always. Be it armor penalty or bonuses like from Deleterious Alacrity or dual wielding etc.

So a Wizard in plate armor will complete the casting action of a spell as quickly as if he were in robes - it's only the recovery afterwards that will take (significantly) longer. So in plate he has to wait longer until he can cast the next spell.

Only Dexterity affects the casting speed (and the recovery as well).

 

 

[Dawidusdb]

Thank you guys for all the help i finished first game <corona = a lot of time> , heading towards second! Can i proceed with my current mechanics familiarity or Deadfire is completely different?

[Boeroer]

The mechanics around attack resolution (miss/graze/hit/crit) are mostly the same, but attack speed calculation and armor mechanics are rather different. Also char leveling and abilities as well as resources (special attacks per encounter/per rest) are different (although the names are kept (mostly). And you'll have multiclassing.