Companions builds

[necrocannibalistic]

Hi all,

Just finished POE1 and I'm going to start POE2 and I'm looking for your Companions/Sidekicks builds.

Already found some useful posts, but looking for more (all companions/sidekicks), pls share

Cheers

 

Edited April 6, 2020 by necrocannibalistic

[AeonsLegend]

Since you can now single class and multiclass there's a lot more options and versatility with your companions setup and therefore also the combinations you can make. However not all companions can be combined in a single playthrough as some of them are linked to a faction and will leave depending on the choices you make (Maia, Pallegina and Tekehu)

I think it's a good idea to know which faction you would like to join and then build a party around that so that's fits your current RP. Or decide not to go with a faction, but I don't think that's an option first time players often choose. Maia, Pallegina and Tekehu cannot be in the same party for an extended amount of time if you choose to go with a faction. They also hate eachother.

Eder has the means to become a good frontline tank. He has the option to become a rogue and a fighter. I always combine the two classes. I feel that's his best configuration.

Aloth you can basically have as anything you want. I prefered him as pure Wizard at first, but now I build him as a frontliner Fighter/Wizard. Too strong imo.

I like having a Druid in the party, So Tekehu or Fassina fits that, unless you play one yourself. I also always have at least 1 Cipher. In terms of builds there's plenty of choices, but they should complement the party setup and such.

What are you looking for specifically? Just an overview of builds so you can choose? There's so much variety that you're going to fill 30 pages with builds...

[necrocannibalistic]

2 hours ago, AeonsLegend said:

Since you can now single class and multiclass there's a lot more options and versatility with your companions setup and therefore also the combinations you can make. However not all companions can be combined in a single playthrough as some of them are linked to a faction and will leave depending on the choices you make (Maia, Pallegina and Tekehu)

I think it's a good idea to know which faction you would like to join and then build a party around that so that's fits your current RP. Or decide not to go with a faction, but I don't think that's an option first time players often choose. Maia, Pallegina and Tekehu cannot be in the same party for an extended amount of time if you choose to go with a faction. They also hate eachother.

Eder has the means to become a good frontline tank. He has the option to become a rogue and a fighter. I always combine the two classes. I feel that's his best configuration.

Aloth you can basically have as anything you want. I prefered him as pure Wizard at first, but now I build him as a frontliner Fighter/Wizard. Too strong imo.

I like having a Druid in the party, So Tekehu or Fassina fits that, unless you play one yourself. I also always have at least 1 Cipher. In terms of builds there's plenty of choices, but they should complement the party setup and such.

What are you looking for specifically? Just an overview of builds so you can choose? There's so much variety that you're going to fill 30 pages with builds...

 

Hi AeonsLegend, 

I'll try to develop a cipher/priest for main character.

In POE1 my character was a cipher and I had Durance, Eder, Aloth, Kana and Hiravias , and had a pretty easy/comfortable game (difficulty-Normal).

Probably I'll stick with the same classes and just looking for some builds

I have to take a look at these factions, have y got any recommendations ?

 

Cheers

 

Edited April 6, 2020 by necrocannibalistic

[AeonsLegend]

No prob. Cipher / Priest I have never tried because I don't feel the synergy between them. Priest has a lot of good spells especially later that can buff the party or debuff the enemy. Not so good at healing though. The spells take a lot of time to cast and have a lot of recovery. So you're going to take a while to set up with the priest. You also don't generate focus as fast as with other combat style classes, which kind of hampers your Cipher setup. Ciphers are usually good with Fighter, Barbarian, Paladin, Monk, Rogue and even Ranger as they have a lot of means to do damage in a short amount of time allowing you to generate focus quickly for your Cipher spells.

Thing to consider with Cipher is which subclass you would like to go for and what style of play.

1. Soulblade is a combat style Cipher that can output all its generated focus in a single raw damage melee attack. You can use focus to cast Cipher spells if needed, but you will mostly use it for lots of damage with Soul Annihilation attack.

2. Ascendant is a caster class which gains benefits at max focus of having a period of infinite focus and extra power level to all spells cast. Building focus fast is really important with this class. Arguably the best caster version of Cipher as you can quickly cast Disintegrate on many enemies. Intelligence and Dexterity are most important here.

3. Beguiler is also a caster class but relies on focus generation through Deception spells primarily. It can be very strong, but requires a bit of a different style of play and different spell selection.

4. Psion I have not tried, but this class generates focus passively until receiving damage. If you go with a back line caster support setup with priest this may work for you.

 

Like I said the priest is not a combat class. It can do well in combat with the buffs it receives, especially Minor Avatar is good, although you aqcuire this one very late when multi classing. If you're going to use your priest spells you will not generate focus so your Cipher class is kind of gimped unless you choose Psion.

Note that the spell Minor Avatar from priest and Borrowed Instinct from Cipher do stack to give you insane buffs with just two spells. (totals +20% damage +5 all primary stats, +20 accuracy and +20 all defenses). If you wanted to go combat style with priest and are ok with some setup time you could go with SoulBlade/Priest and buff up with Minor Avatar, Borrowed Instinct, Champions Boon and follow up with Salvation of Time. (you can buff more, but this won't be worth it or necessary for every encounter). After this you will have crazy stats that will easily overpower enemies. What the class does not get is Attack abilities like the classes I mentioned above. Although you can go with Priest of Skaen for the extra Rogue abilities like Finishing Blow, which is a really good executing Full Attack ability. Otherwise you may want to think about Priest of Wael for some extra Wizard spells you get for free to become more tanky.

 

With regards to the Factions you have a choice of 4:

Huana: basically a benevolent or "good" playthrough as you fight for the existing powers and people of the Deadfire

Valian: basically a faction that's out for money. You will find there's many sides to the Valians, some good and some bad. You may have to make some tough choices.

Royal Deadfire Company: they're here to conquer the Deadfire. Simple as that.

Principi: they're pirates. What more can I say? They do not actively oppose any faction so if you want to choose a faction, but not really a "side" then you can go with them safely.

I picked Huana as my first playthrough. I can't advise you on what to pick first, but if you enjoy being the good guy then the Huana are your faction. The game has more to offer if you play different playthroughs and choose different factions. Although you can complete a lot of the faction specific quests during a single playthroughs opossing factions may cancel eachothers quests. Once you complete the final quest for a faction, you automatically cancel all other faction quests and are locked in with them for the end-game.

Note that you must complete the DLC, if you wish to do so, before the point of no return. The game will tell you when this point is. The game does not let you go back to do the other quests but simply ends the game, much like POE1.

 

Edited April 6, 2020 by AeonsLegend

[necrocannibalistic]

11 hours ago, AeonsLegend said:

No prob. Cipher / Priest I have never tried because I don't feel the synergy between them. Priest has a lot of good spells especially later that can buff the party or debuff the enemy. Not so good at healing though. The spells take a lot of time to cast and have a lot of recovery. So you're going to take a while to set up with the priest. You also don't generate focus as fast as with other combat style classes, which kind of hampers your Cipher setup. Ciphers are usually good with Fighter, Barbarian, Paladin, Monk, Rogue and even Ranger as they have a lot of means to do damage in a short amount of time allowing you to generate focus quickly for your Cipher spells.

Thing to consider with Cipher is which subclass you would like to go for and what style of play.

1. Soulblade is a combat style Cipher that can output all its generated focus in a single raw damage melee attack. You can use focus to cast Cipher spells if needed, but you will mostly use it for lots of damage with Soul Annihilation attack.

2. Ascendant is a caster class which gains benefits at max focus of having a period of infinite focus and extra power level to all spells cast. Building focus fast is really important with this class. Arguably the best caster version of Cipher as you can quickly cast Disintegrate on many enemies. Intelligence and Dexterity are most important here.

3. Beguiler is also a caster class but relies on focus generation through Deception spells primarily. It can be very strong, but requires a bit of a different style of play and different spell selection.

4. Psion I have not tried, but this class generates focus passively until receiving damage. If you go with a back line caster support setup with priest this may work for you.

 

Like I said the priest is not a combat class. It can do well in combat with the buffs it receives, especially Minor Avatar is good, although you aqcuire this one very late when multi classing. If you're going to use your priest spells you will not generate focus so your Cipher class is kind of gimped unless you choose Psion.

Note that the spell Minor Avatar from priest and Borrowed Instinct from Cipher do stack to give you insane buffs with just two spells. (totals +20% damage +5 all primary stats, +20 accuracy and +20 all defenses). If you wanted to go combat style with priest and are ok with some setup time you could go with SoulBlade/Priest and buff up with Minor Avatar, Borrowed Instinct, Champions Boon and follow up with Salvation of Time. (you can buff more, but this won't be worth it or necessary for every encounter). After this you will have crazy stats that will easily overpower enemies. What the class does not get is Attack abilities like the classes I mentioned above. Although you can go with Priest of Skaen for the extra Rogue abilities like Finishing Blow, which is a really good executing Full Attack ability. Otherwise you may want to think about Priest of Wael for some extra Wizard spells you get for free to become more tanky.

 

With regards to the Factions you have a choice of 4:

Huana: basically a benevolent or "good" playthrough as you fight for the existing powers and people of the Deadfire

Valian: basically a faction that's out for money. You will find there's many sides to the Valians, some good and some bad. You may have to make some tough choices.

Royal Deadfire Company: they're here to conquer the Deadfire. Simple as that.

Principi: they're pirates. What more can I say? They do not actively oppose any faction so if you want to choose a faction, but not really a "side" then you can go with them safely.

I picked Huana as my first playthrough. I can't advise you on what to pick first, but if you enjoy being the good guy then the Huana are your faction. The game has more to offer if you play different playthroughs and choose different factions. Although you can complete a lot of the faction specific quests during a single playthroughs opossing factions may cancel eachothers quests. Once you complete the final quest for a faction, you automatically cancel all other faction quests and are locked in with them for the end-game.

Note that you must complete the DLC, if you wish to do so, before the point of no return. The game will tell you when this point is. The game does not let you go back to do the other quests but simply ends the game, much like POE1.

 

 

Hi AeonsLegend, 

Thank you for your exceptional explanation, really appreciate your help.

So, Priest/Cipher doesn't sound  like a good idea. I'll give a shot on priest/chanter. Since my Eothas Priests will spend a considerable amount of time casting, I'll choose another class that doesn’t - Chanter(Troubadour) and end up with celebrant 

In POE1 I was a good guy and i'm planning to stick to it, so Huana is my faction, for this playthrough.

Cheers!

 

 

 

[Boeroer]

Psion/Priest is actually not bad. The Psion's focus generation doesn't rely on hitting anything at all so a Psion would be the perfect fit for a supportive Priest (who also doesn't need to hit things that badly). 

Psion's focus generation scales with Power Level, so it's quite good at higher levels as long as you don't get hit (receiving damage is fine as long as there's no attack roll - so self damage or DoT ticks will not stop it). 

Priests may have ways to prevent getting hit. Most notably Withdraw (come out of it with full focus) and Skaen's Shadowing Beyond but also defensive buffs (especially Priest of Wael). Wearing a shield and staying in the back rows also helps of course. Priest of Wael/Beguiler is a great fit as well - thematically and also in terms of crowd control and buffing/debuffing.

Priest of Woedica/Cipher does pretty nasty damage and focus refill with Soul Whip + summoned "claws". Even works well as Soul Blade. 

Edited April 7, 2020 by Boeroer

[Boeroer]

Now rereading and missed "Priest of Eothas" the first time. 

I have to say Priest of Eothas/Chanter (especially Troubadour) sounds a lot more fitting to me than Priest of Eothas/Cipher. I mean thematically. Mechanically there's no problem either. Troubadour with its passive that lets you overlap two chants without gap and Ancient Memory + support chant coupled with a Priest makes a nice passive + active healer and buffer combo. And it is somehow fitting that a benevolent Priest of Eothas wanders around, putting joy in the hearts of his fellows with his jolly songs and such.