Hello,
Are there any recommended build for a damage focused Cipher (Ranged or Melee - leaning towards ranged guns) that could handle a hard / PoTD campaign. Right now, I am considering a Pale Elf or Human as my race. Additionally, are there any suggestions on skill selection? From what I understand, a few points in athletics is good and the rest can go to survival and lore.

Do you mean solo or with a party?

With a party you can do almost anything and it's fine, for example going full glascannon.

Solo you'd need to pay special attention to defenses.

I would suggest to roughly imagine what kind of cipher you would like to play (e.g. ranged or melee, favoring mind control or other crowd control or mainly dealing damage with your spells etc. 

Then it's easier to recommend a general build direction. There is no universal "best" way for a class in PoE unless you know the role the class should fit into. 

Skills: depends as well. For example the accuracy bonus from survival can be very good. But if nobody else in the party has mechanics that would also be a very important skill. 

Well, if you are mix-max I think the +20 stun defense from the coastal Aumaua to be the best racial. There's AoE stuns in the game. 

Being stunned not only can make your character die, but also prevents the cipher from doing DPS and casting spells. 

+2 MIG is also solid.

 

For Ranged there's no much to think about. Dump CON and RES, max out everything else. Requires a party, but the cipher won't be ranged otherwise anyways.

 

For melee. If you want a CC cipher, 10 - 12 MIG, max DEX and INT, dump RES. Your perception can be as high/low as your party gives you accuracy buffs.

For a damage cipher, inteligence can be lower, but might needs to be maxed. 

For melee, I'd pick pale elf or the same coastal aumaua.

Edited July 26, 20214 yr by DecayWolf