Ranger (GH), Cipher or Ranger(GH)/Cipher for a party with Eder, Xoti, Tekehu and Serafen good? on PotD

[SirMirrorcoat]

My indecisiveness in POE1 drove me to looking into Deadfire to see which companions I would enjoy and what they bring to the table. 

Now, at least there are fewer interesting companions in DF compared to the first, so I actually have my party decided. Switching companions out for quests is of course part of it

The whole 'which classes to pick for my companions'-shtick I will ask properly once I am finished with POE1, but just for some premature planning: Is Seer a good class for this party or would I be better off with single-class Cipher or Ranger?

[dgray62]

A seer is a great combination; this multiclass can get what I believe is the highest possible accuracy in the game (or close to it at least), which is particularly useful when you are playing at higher difficulty levels. Most tend to play this as a ranged build, using combos such as ghostheart/ascendant, although I am partial to the melee build, namely stalker/soul blade. This is a personal preference, and also due to the fact that there are some great weapons for ciphers in this game; dual wielding Grave Calling and the Seeker's Fang is my favorite combo.

[Boeroer]

I think it is indeed so that solo Ranger/Cipher can reach the highest ACC of all solo classes. 

[SirMirrorcoat]

11 hours ago, dgray62 said:

A seer is a great combination; this multiclass can get what I believe is the highest possible accuracy in the game (or close to it at least), which is particularly useful when you are playing at higher difficulty levels. Most tend to play this as a ranged build, using combos such as ghostheart/ascendant, although I am partial to the melee build, namely stalker/soul blade. This is a personal preference, and also due to the fact that there are some great weapons for ciphers in this game; dual wielding Grave Calling and the Seeker's Fang is my favorite combo.

Would a GH/Soulblade work as well? Because I find GH to be the most interesting subclass.

[Boeroer]

Yes. No Bonded Grief, less defenses and AR. 

Cipher powers that require an ally can be cast on a "normal" Animal Companion as well as on the spirit version of the Ghost Heart.

For some powers it might be even beneficial to be able to "drop" the summon somewhere behind enemies. A Stalker's animal companion must move there first. And if it's farther away than 4 meters you'll suffer Bonded Grief. 

Stalker's passive is good - but I think Ghost Heart is more versatile with powers in mind that need an ally. Just keep in mind that you need to sacrifice a little bit of action time and a point of Bond to summon your companion. 

[dgray62]

I'd say that GH is best if you really don't want to bother with a an animal companion (AC) much. Due to the bother I often wouldn't summon one when playing GH. But it's great to summon one behind enemies as Boeroer explained, and then cast ectoplasmic echo on them. However, when playing a SB I prefer stalker for the extra defenses.

[SirMirrorcoat]

So, how hard would it be to keep the pet alive on potd in df?

I can only speak for Act1 of poe1, but keeping the pets alive is a pain ita. Except for the bear, but I would much rather have the lion, wolf or stag for flavour...

[Boeroer]

Boar and Bear are okay. Both are quite sturdy if you give them Resilient Companion + Pain Block. They are all okay with Resilient Companion + Pain Block tbh. But they are no tanks by all means.

 

[SirMirrorcoat]

Maybe I pretend that my space pig became my Animal Companion and go for the Boar...

[ArnoldRimmer]

I tried a seer with a stalker (the deer for the better defense) and it was great... the cipher powers could be used to buff the AC - there is a good first level cipher spell that boosts 2 stats. I prefer to have an AC, if I wanted a ranged character without an AC I would pick rogue

[dgray62]

The best bet for keeping a non-GH pet alive is going with stalker and the bear pet. The higher AR really works wonders keeping the pet alive. Then you can try to keep your foes dazed, which lowers their PEN by -4, so they'll always under-penetrate you and do little damage. One way to do this is with Griffin's Blade, which dazes foes in an AOE on crit. A seer, with high accuracy & INT and lingering echoes, can keep foes perma-dazed. Or you could build a geomancer bloodmage/stalker, as Boeroer has discussed in many other threads, and daze them with Arkemyer's Dazzling Lights. But if you go with seer you could have Aloth or a hireling mage do this for you.