How would one go about beating "the ultimate" without both scrolls or a spellcasting class?

[pmmeyourbuilds]

Most of the successful ultimate runs i've seen seem to (understandably) heavily rely on scrolls. How difficult would it be to beat it without them with a non-caster class?

The first thing that comes to mind is that you really need a way to not just roll over and die without all the possible immunities you can get from scrolls.  Getting your defenses high enough might be pretty damn hard except for a paladin, and i dont think you can otherwise get immunity to anything other than fear? Obviously this is on top of needing crazy damage and survivability for all the fights on PotD.

So i guess i have 2 questions really:

1. How would you go about beating the ultimate without scrolls with a martial class, is it even possible without a paladin or some extensive cheesing? Seems like you will eventually get paralyzed/stunned and sent back to the wheel.

2. If the above conditions are too harsh, then maybe the following caveat makes it more interesting: What martial build would be good for ultimate if you allow ONLY immunity scrolls. Can you beat ultimate with a fighter without maelstrom, scrolls of paralysis, confusion?

I would consider caster classes to be chanter, wizard, druid, priest and cipher.

So basically, can you beat the game in the most hardcore way with just 1 man and his weapons  ?

 

 

[Boeroer]

I once attempted a non-consumable Ultimate run with a Barbarian and it worked quite well until I ran into a bug (using Second Wind while Battle Forged is active will make you hit yourself with Battle Forged retaliation dmg - which is very high at higher levels) which cost me my life.

Basically you'll need exquisite meta knowledge about the fights ahead. You must also prepare to "divide and conquer" and kite and lure single enemies away from groups. Also you need good knowledge of stacking rules/mechanics and maybe use items with spellbindings. 

It's possible with any class I guess - Rogue, while not being a very strong class in general, has an advantage here because you can always flee and thus end fights (for example after killing a single enemy) with the use of invisibility (Shadowing Beyond). This works in most fights as long as there's enough space - so not againat the alpine dragon...
I suspect Fighter to be the hardest class - but it should be possible nontheless. 

But not using scrolls will certainly make it a lot harder. 

PS: that wasn't me  It's @Kaylon's videa who also did more solo runs than most people and might have more useful, more in-depth tipps. 

Edited January 28, 2022 by Boeroer

[pmmeyourbuilds]

So in your non-consumable barbarian run, what was the strategy against enemy CC? Especially adragans seem to be pretty difficult without scrolls. Did you always manage to tank that with summons or something? 

[Boeroer]

Adragans are the pest, Lagufaeth blowdarts, too. While the latter can be countered rel. easily with Aila Braccia, the Adragans have to be countered with stuff like Blaidh Golan, Orlan's Bramble Ring or Tempered Helm and a ton of fortitude (including bonuses to MIG and CON from all sorts of sources - bonuses from weapons like Abydon's Hammer or Whispers of Yenwood stack with everything). And being very careful as well as using charming and dominating (from items such as Spirit Spiral, Munacra Arret and Ring of Changing Heart) as well as summons to make the Adgragans use the petrifying gaze on something else than you. Those items also work quite well on most dragons, too.   

If it's just about not using scrolls you can use Potion of Major Recovery.   

I'd have no problem using an immunity scroll here and there though if I had the impression that i would be ruining my run otherwise. For example dragon fights are a pain witout immunity because of the terrifiying aura that roll every few secs and will get you eventually even if your defenses are top notch. Unles you are a Cipher with Psychic/Brutal Backlash of course...  

[pmmeyourbuilds]

Wait, aila braccia ignores ANY ranged graze not just deflection, AND shoots it back at the attacker? Including any single targeted spells? 

[Boeroer]

Only attacks that count as ranged attacks (some single target spells fall into that category, too iirc - but I didn't test them against the shield) - Lagufaeth Blowdarts do paralyze and they have unlimited uses. But they are normal ranged weapon attacks, the paralyze is a separate roll if they hit. Since the shield turns all ranged grazes into misses and sends them back (and the Lagufaeth themselves are not immune and don't have high deflection or fortitude) it turns those fights from superdifficult into quite easy.

The shield is useful against all sorts of ranged attackers (and complements with the Monk's Soul Mirror) - but against Lagufaeth its effects are most obvious. 

The conversion effect (100% graze to miss) alone is extremely good on its own.  

[Kaylon]

In PoE1 any class can pick Persistence and Boots of Speed and kite most encounters. After that you're left with a few encounters which require careful planning and consumables, but are doable by probably any class. The paladin can tank (with strategical positioning) and beat 99% of the encounters (without scrolls), while for the remaining 1% he needs to kite (the high level bounties are harder than the dragons...).