Questions on character building in turn based

[TinnyViolin72]

I just got this game recently and I am spending a lot of time pouring over the character creation trying to figure out what I’m doing, mainly with the attributes in relation to turn based. I am confused on what stats may be useful on certain characters as I am mostly accustomed to DND5e and poe2 does things very differently as a traditionally real time with pause game and I could use help translating to turn based.

On top of all of that, I am very indecisive on what I want to play, I have a few ideas and am hoping for some guidance or other suggestions. A few of my ideas include...

- A skald chanter mixed with a martial class (fighter?) for a melee spell skirmisher. That first lightning ability looks dope.

- A priest of Berath (this seems like it would be great for RP) mixed with a devoted fighter with a specialization in Greatswords because I heard that priests get spiritual weapons based on their gods so I think that penalty wouldn’t hurt just for the extra bonus to the spiritual weapon. (I am hoping to be in peoples face with the Greatsword, but I heard that priests aren’t that good for that which is why I multiclassed into fighter, would that compensate?)

- A paladin that can do decent damage and support, probably subclassing into kind wayfarer cause I like playing nice people ( I also heard that palis are bad for damage and am wondering about a possible multi class to bump up melee power)

- A straight up fury Druid cause them elemental spells look mighty fine

these are listed from most to least interested, but they are all pretty close, and as I said at they beginning I have very little idea of what I’m doing so other recommendations that fill similar rolls are welcome and I would really appreciate some sort of attributes spread to get on my feet with one of these characters.

[Haplok]

Go with caster, like that Fury Druid IMO.

Simple melee (attacking once or twice - if dual wielding) is very underwhelming in Turn Based IMO. Casting a spell in that same time frame typically has far more impact.

Exceptions: Multi-attacks like monk Swift Flurry / Heartbeat Drumming procs. Or Riposte/Retaliation builds (attack passively when missed or hit by enemy - the latter comes online super late, though).

Edited June 25, 2021 by Haplok

[TinnyViolin72]

Ok, Thanks! What kind of stat spread would be good for that? I remember hearing conflicting info on how good might and dex are, I know that con and intellect are probably useful, and I have no idea how useful perception and resolve are, so any help would be appreciated.

[thelee]

7 hours ago, TinnyViolin72 said:

Ok, Thanks! What kind of stat spread would be good for that? I remember hearing conflicting info on how good might and dex are, I know that con and intellect are probably useful, and I have no idea how useful perception and resolve are, so any help would be appreciated.

for turn-based mode, dex is pretty unimportant; i've even seen arguments suggesting that tanking dex is a good idea so you go last and can make sure your spells are never interrupted. Generally speaking Con is also pretty unimportant, because offense > defense. Resolve is really all-or-nothing.  i play on PotD and Con/Resolve are my least invested stats. In certain situations [tank/deflection builds] I'll pump max resolve, but there's hardly ever a situation where I actually invest points into con. I know that some people don't like the idea of dumping stats (I hate dumping), but I'm going to suggest that at the very least dropping resolve to 8 will give you a couple more extra points without noticably hurting you that bad. 

My general finding is that might and perception are roughly equivalent in their net effect on your damage, and if you just care about damage, you should roughly balance them (for the same reason that maximizing the area of a 4-sided figure is to make it a square). This is only true for real time though, the graze range is huger in turn-based mode, so i think might may be better in general.

However, depending on your build this rough guidance may not be the same. IMO for a Fury Druid, for example, you really really want your Relentless Storm, and Returning Storm to successfully debuff enemies (on turn-based the storms only stun on crit making it even more important to have high acc), so it may be that perception is more useful. You're also not going to be doing any healing as a fury druid, so it's not like might is going to help you heal anyway.

Either way, intellect is a king stat for a caster, and is pretty good still for non-casters. On TB mode there are some awkward rounding thresholds for this, but I feel like if you go fury druid route, it's a no brainer to maximize this since you get larger AoE as well. (edit - one suggestion for TB fury druid stat spread: 13 m, 10 c, 10 d, 18 int, 18 p, 8 r; choose a background and race at your discretion. on rtwp i would invest less in perception and might and more in dexterity)

 

19 hours ago, TinnyViolin72 said:

these are listed from most to least interested, but they are all pretty close, and as I said at they beginning I have very little idea of what I’m doing

i would also suggest just get going with something so you can get a better feel for the game, and don't be too worried about abandoning a character that's not working out.

Edited June 25, 2021 by thelee