Soloing PotD settings

[crdvis16]

I'm curious about how soloing PotD goes.  After my current full party PotD run (which hasn't been exactly easy) I'd be interested in trying a solo run but I'm wondering what kinds of settings would lead to a fun play through. 

I understand that some solo playthroughs rely on certain mechanics to make them viable.  Leveling up a bunch on only non- combat experience, utilizing tricks that give them infinite class resources, or not resting to stack certain buffs.  I get that some of these methods are probably just necessary depending on settings- doing an Ultimate run, for instance. 

But what if I wanted to do a relatively "normal" solo run, game play wise?  Where I complete quests in a relatively normal way/order and avoid tricks to stack buffs or get infinite resources.  Is it realistic to try that on PotD?  Do I probably have to not use upscaling?  Maybe make use of Berath blessings?  Does it limit my choice of classes pretty strictly or is this something people do fairly easily?  Megabosses maybe out of the question?

I also play with the community balance and polishing mods if that affects things. 

[Kaylon]

Playing without resting isn't some kind of exploit, it's a choice the game allows you to make - benefit from passive bonuses or instead use powerful "per rest" abilities. It was the same in PoE1 and in Tyranny too. 

There are a few classes able to solo in PotD in a "normal" way - like the paladin/troubadour or paladin/blood mage - but it still requires very good knowledge and optimization. Not sure about the second with your mods because I think the blood mage was nerfed pretty badly there...

[crdvis16]

1 hour ago, Kaylon said:

Playing without resting isn't some kind of exploit, it's a choice the game allows you to make - benefit from passive bonuses or instead use powerful "per rest" abilities. It was the same in PoE1 and in Tyranny too. 

There are a few classes able to solo in PotD in a "normal" way - like the paladin/troubadour or paladin/blood mage - but it still requires very good knowledge and optimization. Not sure about the second with your mods because I think the blood mage was nerfed pretty badly there...

That's a good point about not resting being a normal game choice.  When playing with a party not resting means you can't recover injuries from being knocked out but in solo play that's not really a consideration unless you've got revive abilities.  So in solo I guess it wouldn't be an abnormal choice to make.

I suppose I'm interested in what others have done when they've played solo.  Maybe I'll have to drop down from PotD and not upscale if I want to be able to pull off a relatively normal playthrough...

[dgray62]

2 hours ago, crdvis16 said:

When playing with a party not resting means you can't recover injuries from being knocked out but in solo play that's not really a consideration unless you've got revive abilities.

You can recover from injuries without resting with the luminous adra potion. If you're soloing, you'll have plenty of money to make a bunch of these for whenever you need them.

[Boeroer]

You can solo the game quite easily (compared to many other classes) with an Assassin - or any Rogue, but Assassin is the easiest imo - without taking an "abnormal" route. Even better in my opinion is Assassin/Paladin. I personally like Assassin/Goldpact Knight best.

One key are "neverending" damage over time effects: Gouging Strike (Rogue), True Love's Kiss (from the Dagger Lover's Embraced) and Brand Enemy (Paladin). The other is Smoke Veil (Rogue).

You can apply True Love's Kiss + Gouging Strike with one single handed, highly accurate attack from stealth. You will then have a very short recovery (attacks from stealth have a -85% recovery time) and can then use Brand Enemy (which is an auto-hit and has 0.5 secs casting time and 0 recovery), then use Smoke Veil and retreat out of sight. The combat will not end until the enemy is dead. 

You can win any encounter this way except those where you can't retreat out of sight.* Thus boarding fights must be avoided and the Water Dragon must also be solved peacefully. And of course you can use stealth to avoid fights altogether if you feel like it - because the method I described above is time consuming. Then some fights are not even in a normal path but totally optional - like Megabosses.

)* there are few others where you need to use Marux Amanth in order to destroy a near death target, most notable the Ooze Megaboss.

If you're not using Berath's Blessing points to reach lvl 4 right away (and start with Smoke Veil) you need to play the first levels carefully and not pick unnecessary fights. Luckily Goldpact's Gilded Enmity is there from lvl 1 on to help with survivability if you must fight. 

As soon as you reach Smoke Veil you can use an arquebus + modal to one-shot most enemies from stealth with Flames of Devotion until you get Gouging Strike or Lover's Embrace or Brand Enemy (first you only need one of these). If they can't be one-shotted you can turn invisible which will end combat and quickly (after regaining guile for more Smoke Veils) fire again from stealth before the enemy has healed up.

If you don't roleplay your Assassin/Paladin or incorporate stealthy parts etc. to have some variety in gameplay it can become a bit dull though. Because it's a lot of waiting until some enemies are dead. Especially those who heal themselves or get healed. So kill priests etc. first.

 

 

Edited May 15, 2021 by Boeroer

[Kaylon]

1 hour ago, Boeroer said:

)* there are few others where you need to use Marux Amanth in order to destroy a near death target, most notable the Ooze Megaboss.

Hauani can be destroyed directly only under the effect of Disintegration. Marux Amanth is just the best and easiest way to do it. In other words only a paladin/cipher, rogue/cipher or a priest/cipher can finish the ooze with Worthy Sacrifice.

[Boeroer]

Ah right. Sorry, I mixed that up.

I was able to finish Hauani O Whe with such an Assassin/Paladin and was using Marux Amanth. I don't recall every detail but at lvl 20 you can be rel. sturdy with this (if you want) and Marux Amanth helped to quicken the process and gave me back a bit of resources I guess. The first stage (killing the mountainous ooze) is easy because it doesn't move around and just dies from the DoTs. But I remember that the gigantic oozes wandered around a lot (patrolling) when I was invisible so it wasn't easy to wait out until their health was lowish enough to rush in and prevent the merging. I used Bounding Boots to move around and kite but being able to come back very quickly for an interrupt if needed. I used a ton of scrolls of Thrust of Tattered Veils (auto-hit, always interrupt, cheap, only 1 Arcana needed) and abused Lethandria's Devotion (switch weapon sets to heal up) to spare Zeal. The tons of smaller oozes provided enough Zeal via Virtuous Triumph to be able to use Brand Enemy lots of times. It was very tedious though. Using Sacred Immolation for killing smaller oozes is no problem though if you are willing to abuse Lethandria's Devotion.

Obviously that's not exploit-free anymore.

I personally would just skip megabosses with a "normal" or exploit-free solo playthrough.  

[Reent]

If you use a no rest run you can get +10 acc, +50% healing done - get a few more bonuses, that is really good, helps a lot.

If you rest, you can use per rest abilities (summon drake (dragon pendant), and quite a bit more). (a ranger can stack +acc and damage or deflection against his chosen race each time he rests, in a no rest run you can get it against one enemy type, in a rest run against the type you need)

 

Both are strong, however higher stats are always good, per rest abilities... there are good ones, but its not great in every situation (okay, for a solo run to summon a drake every fight is a great fight opener)

 

There are a few ways to fight:

1) endless dots and run

2) summon stuff that tanks

3) tank yourself

4) run around and make sure the enemies don't deal more damage than you can sustain

5) kill stuff fast

 

1) isn't mentioned in your post, but i wouldn't call it normal, however its the easiest way to win POE2, you use the "you die" button, after that the "i don't get attacked" button, after that you wait until the enemies are dead - rinse and repeat, no counter play, just a few encounters where you can't hide (withdraw scrolls with enough item slots?), as Boeror said.

2) that's one of the easiest ways to fight "normally"

3) no rest run helps a lot, i play characters that tank against anything the game throws at them and survive - but thats with +50% healing done in sustain tanks, maybe there are enough usefull per rest abilities (summon drake and kill a few enemies at the start of the fight could do the trick...), but thats probably possible with a lot fewer builds.

4) no rest would help a lot, however this can be done with many different characters, if you are (much) faster than the melee enemies and have high dex they are useless (until you fail your pathing), but that's not a normal playstyle.

5) i haven't tried this approach in a long time, you can have fun in many encounters only to get obliterated in the next one with no chance, i don't know if its even possible to play this way in POE2 (did it in POE1... but the encounters are way different)

[Boeroer]

As soon as you enter SSS and FS the "kill fast" approach falls flat imo if you haven't any means of staying power or means of avoiding damage.

[crdvis16]

What settings do people think would be possible to solo if you played something like SC ranger?  I'm not aware of any special tricks that a ranger can pull off but maybe assume you're playing the ranger "normally".  I know "normal" is pretty subjective but I'm using it here to mean mostly things you'd do when playing with a party- so you wouldn't DoT and hide in a party typically, for instance. 

It sounds like you'd probably need to not upscale, make use of Berath blessings maybe, and maybe not even go with PotD?

[Boeroer]

Solo SC Ranger is difficult compared to some other choices imo. I played a solo Geomancer (Stalker/Bloodmage) on PotD (not upscaled) and that went pretty well (no megabosses because so tedious - but all "normal" bosses without any exploits, not even consumables or any resting bonuses).

However, SC Ranger can pull off some amazing stuff later in the game (stuff like Hand Mortar with Blinding Strikes + Driving Flight + Twinned Shot + Avenging Storm scroll... or Whirling Strikes with Scordeo's Edge + Hand Mortar + Driving Flight + Avenging Storm). I have to say I never tried that solo though. In a party it can be jawdroppingly good. Maybe somebody else tried SC Ranger solo on PotD. I think Shadowed Hunter could be good later on to flee fights after you killed an enemy - grind them down foe after foe. But that's just me brainstorming...   

[crdvis16]

1 hour ago, Boeroer said:

Solo SC Ranger is difficult compared to some other choices imo. I played a solo Geomancer (Stalker/Bloodmage) on PotD (not upscaled) and that went pretty well (no megabosses because so tedious - but all "normal" bosses without any exploits, not even consumables or any resting bonuses).

However, SC Ranger can pull off some amazing stuff later in the game (stuff like Hand Mortar with Blinding Strikes + Driving Flight + Twinned Shot + Avenging Storm scroll... or Whirling Strikes with Scordeo's Edge + Hand Mortar + Driving Flight + Avenging Storm). I have to say I never tried that solo though. In a party it can be jawdroppingly good. Maybe somebody else tried SC Ranger solo on PotD. I think Shadowed Hunter could be good later on to flee fights after you killed an enemy - grind them down foe after foe. But that's just me brainstorming...   

Bloodmage seems so strong.  I think the balance polishing mod changes them in some way but I haven't actually played as one so I don't know the specifics.  But it seems like you can multiclass them with the classes that don't have longevity in order to overcome that weakness.

Good ideas on how to dish out big burst damage.  That could probably end a lot of fights and for those it can't you fall back on kiting/resetting I guess. 

[Reent]

Bloodmage is very strong - but you should know what you are doing, i killed myself quite some time before i understood that blood sacrifice can deal ludicrous amounts of self damage (my last BM build could heal his entire health pool in something like 12 secs (stopped lvl 11) passive... and with spells much faster, but he could kill himself with 2 blood sacrifices.

(no mod player here)

[Not So Clever Hound]

On 5/15/2021 at 12:12 PM, Reent said:

(withdraw scrolls with enough item slots?

I've done that, it works but tedious as hell  with Deep Pockets and max Arcana you can have over 10 minutes of withdraw per fight. If you can stack permanent DoTs and sometimes land additional ones (Toxic Strike, Disintegration...) in between Withdraw casts you can become the most annoying Rogue on the face of Eora. But if you want to exploit Arcana, you're better off using high end damage + cc scrolls.

Edited May 16, 2021 by Not So Clever Hound

[freddfranca]

One question about soloing. Do I lose much of the history if I do my first run as a solo?

[Reent]

10 hours ago, freddfranca said:

One question about soloing. Do I lose much of the history if I do my first run as a solo?

Depends, i play solo because party play is either too easy (if i control everything, the builds of companions and every detail in fights) but fights tend to take too long for me (or i get wiped because i stopped caring about anything and its just a filler fight...) or i just have to reload/rest all the time (because casters are too squishy and the builds supbar if i don't care about them)... i tend to do everything with the MC ...

In solo i have a plan, get items X right after the start until i am strong enough to use endgame items Y i can't get early - on the way to the items i get exp, i do the bounties... and before i do 10% of the quests in neketaka i saw the whole world and i am high enough lvl to ignore most quests.

But thats not a first run, i haven't finished the game yet but i know the way to lvl 20 and to everything i need - a first run solo (not POTD recommended) where you do all the quests (or at least don't skip the way i do)... you get most of the story/history, however i'd still recommend taking companions, they are a plus for the story

[freddfranca]

I have the same feeling with the companions, I always leave them to the AI and they end wiping everything...

[Kaylon]

9 hours ago, freddfranca said:

I have the same feeling with the companions, I always leave them to the AI and they end wiping everything...

It depends who you pick and how you spec/equip them. At high level Eder (fighter/rogue), Pallegina (chanter/paladin), Maia (Ranger/Rogue) and Xoti (monk) can deal with most encounters just by themselves on AI.