Party for POTD

[Husein]

Hi All

I am not an expert at the game, but did play through a good chunk of the game a year ago on veteran. Learned some of the mechanics, modals, defences etc. However by about level 10/12 on veteran the game became too easy. I breezed through to Level 17 ish before getting bored.

Now to be clear i dont want to play with enemy upscaling bc I do appreciate the power creep in rpgs and by the end of the game feeling pretty god like. I just felt like veteran got too easy too quickly.

Want to start a new game on POTD, but I know this comes with a lot more thought into party comp, synergies etc. 

I want to run a mixed squad of story companions and custom ones. I will be taking Eder and Xoti for sure, as they are the only charachters I enjoyed. The other characters "alliances" are annoying. If I want to screw a particular faction I don't want to lose/piss of a companion and I just personally dont care for that interaction. Im the watcher do what I ****ing say lol

So in terms of comp I was thinking

 

MC - Ascendant Cipher, bows and guns, focused on dps casting once ascended

Custom Wizard - no subclass no nothing, just a magic slinger. Really there for PL 8 and 9 when it gets really crazy

Custom Lifegiver/Chanter OR Lifegiver/Priest - I personally love Lifegiver healing and buffs. It felt so much better than everything. Dont care for higher level stuff so, multi classing with some other support makes sense. Chanter equals unlimitied resource, priest equals better buffs

Eder - Swashbuckler or fighter? Dont care which, whatever makes him beefier. Strangely I have read swashbuckler is...tankier? Feels counter intuitive but the rogue abilities seem to make it so?

Xoti - **** knows but...I guess I have so much ranged dps and NO melee dps so she has to be SC monk??

 

Will this work? Does SC ascended cipher do solid DPS? I would like my MC to be the main damage dealer. I mean its the MC; to me he should be the Goku of the squad, just unmatched in damage. Not sure if wizard or CIpher will do more dps but i have heard cipher has better dialogue story dialogue and crazy single target dps for bosses?

But more importantly, will this hold up in POTD? Is my front line too soft? A monk and a swashbuckler?

[Constentin Lévine]

Monk and swashbucker are not the most tanky you can get but I dont think your frontline will be too soft with your composition : your main Cipher with Puppetmaster or Ringleader can transform some ennemies on "tanky distractions" that deal damages on top, and your Lifegiver-Chanter just behind the frontline could be really interesting with your party.

As a lifegiver, the druid become tanky-by-healing, so he dont need to be hide, and as a chanter, he can turn a lot of ennemies into your side with the chant The lovers... for the same reasons that the cipher's Ringleader. Both sides of this multiclasse give acces to hard CC spells that stun or paralyse ennemies, but at the condition to stay at range of the ennemies (for most of those spells).  Both sides have acces to summons on top, and some are tanky. A Lifegiver-Chanter is polyvalent and very nice to play.

For Cipher, I dont know if during the story progression he will stay your higher DPS source, but he can be. At end level, Death of 1.000 cuts on an ennemy catch into the Antipathetic Field beam become really martyred. While ascended, Time Parasite can eventually turn the ascension to a Super Goku one, and if Xoti is also a priest, she can extend the duration of the ascension. It is fun to water ennemies with a succesion of MAJ-key Mind Blades, and most of your spells get an incredible AoE with Shared Nightmare. This last talent is the reason why investing in Arcana is good for SC Ciphers, since instant healing Scrolls have a small area at the base for exemple.

I suggest to you to recrut Aloth, even if you dont want to use him : his robe can be very useful, +15% AoE is more than nice, and with the Ring of Overseeing, Loki cat, and good int, your main cipher will keep his central place because each spells will affect a lot of ennemies. AoE weapons like Mortar from Seraphen or Rod (especially Tekehu's one) with modal should make your cipher ascended very fast with all this stuff, + Shared Nightmare at end level.

Abraham as a pet for Eder is great, and I think Eder is a man who like dogs.

By the way, I'm asking myself about the Abraham's healing power if you kill your own skeletons.. 

Edited January 31, 2022 by Constentin Lévine

[Bosmer]

8 hours ago, Husein said:

Will this work? Does SC ascended cipher do solid DPS? I would like my MC to be the main damage dealer. I mean its the MC; to me he should be the Goku of the squad, just unmatched in damage. Not sure if wizard or CIpher will do more dps but i have heard cipher has better dialogue story dialogue and crazy single target dps for bosses?

But more importantly, will this hold up in POTD? Is my front line too soft? A monk and a swashbuckler?

Yes, SC Ascended cipher will do very nice DPS throughout the game and having different options to do so: Ampl. Wave for very large crowds, Mind Blades for 2-4 enemies, Disintegration for single-target and later on death of 1000 cuts. Key is finding and upgrading weapons that help you to reach the ascendant state as fast as possible. Frostseeker works great for me with high enough ACC or hit-to-crit. For single target + high deflection the red hand is nice as well!

[thelee]

18 hours ago, Husein said:

Xoti - **** knows but...I guess I have so much ranged dps and NO melee dps so she has to be SC monk??

if you want power creep, make xoti single-class monk, get ajumaat's stalking cloak, and spam whispers of the wind in fights (backed up by dance of death for wound regen). she'll be a one-woman fighting machine. she can basically bring down one of the megabosses by herself without much effort (hauane o whe). [her monk subclass is a bit meh but is actually really useful in this setup because each kill will give you a burst of wounds to help instantly funnel more whispers of the wind]

 

18 hours ago, Husein said:

Custom Lifegiver/Chanter OR Lifegiver/Priest - I personally love Lifegiver healing and buffs. It felt so much better than everything. Dont care for higher level stuff so, multi classing with some other support makes sense. Chanter equals unlimitied resource, priest equals better buffs

if you want ascendant to go full Goku, get Salvation of Time on a priest. It requires a bit of paying attention, but once you get ascended, spam salvation of time on your cipher a few times and just toss out all your top damage and shred spells (death by 1000 cuts + a multi-hit shred power like mental blades or antipathetic field, tons of amplified wave [or silent scream or mind wave for more death by 1000 cuts synergy]). make sure you have real good dexterity and try resting with rum or rymsjogga lager for extra speed.

Edited January 31, 2022 by thelee

[NotDumbEnough]

If it's a single-class Ascendant (don't recommend multiclassing) you can just spam Time Parasite and get incredible action speed -- the buff stacks, and I believe you can also drain the same enemy multiple times.

[thelee]

2 hours ago, NotDumbEnough said:

If it's a single-class Ascendant (don't recommend multiclassing) you can just spam Time Parasite and get incredible action speed -- the buff stacks, and I believe you can also drain the same enemy multiple times.

unless there's a trick i'm missing, only problem is that the duration is quite short, but yeah in any decent-sized fight you can get an incredible action speed bonus.

[dgray62]

51 minutes ago, thelee said:

unless there's a trick i'm missing, only problem is that the duration is quite short, but yeah in any decent-sized fight you can get an incredible action speed bonus.

But you could use SoT to extend both the ascended state as well as the time parasite speed bonus, right? All the more reason to bring a priest along with you.....

[Constentin Lévine]

No, that depend of the enemies's debuff, like for Borrowed Instinct. You cant stack some Time Parasite effects on enemy, only the duration can be adjusted by another cast of the spell. But while ascended, it is not a problem to recast the spell before the buff expire. Anyway, the spell is not very good against solo enemy, since effect dont stack.

[dgray62]

Yes, I just read in another post that TP can't be extended with SoT. It was reported as a bug, but it makes sense that you cannot extend it, as you explain Constentin Lévine.  Thanks!

[NotDumbEnough]

8 hours ago, thelee said:

unless there's a trick i'm missing, only problem is that the duration is quite short, but yeah in any decent-sized fight you can get an incredible action speed bonus.

With high intellect and the power level bonus of an ascendant, it lasts for roughly 20 seconds which should be more than sufficient. With high action speed most spells only take about 3 seconds to cast and recover. It's a terrible ability on non-ascendants though, it's just not worth the cost of 80 focus.

[Constentin Lévine]

1 hour ago, NotDumbEnough said:

With high intellect and the power level bonus of an ascendant, it lasts for roughly 20 seconds which should be more than sufficient. With high action speed most spells only take about 3 seconds to cast and recover. It's a terrible ability on non-ascendants though, it's just not worth the cost of 80 focus.

Excepted for Beguiler! 

8 hours ago, dgray62 said:

It was reported as a bug,

But it is not a bug, Cipher's spells are about somebody else spirit, not their own ; they can model their target's mind for the best and worst with Ancestor Memory or Puppet Master, and can drain what they found inside, with Time Parasite or Wild Leech. So it is normal that entierely depend of the target mind I think. 

You can extend the buffs with Enfeebled or Frostfall's Dispersed Suffering on the target ; that have more sense to me that Salvation of Time, it is not a selfbuff.

(With Frosfall and Kitchen stove, a Thunderous Report on an army of skeletons near ennemies that are drained transform the env. 15 or 20s buff into a 60 or 80s one, after that each new skeleton killed by the cipher will grow up exponentialy the duration, like for SoF.)

[Bosmer]

4 minutes ago, Constentin Lévine said:

(With Frosfall and Kitchen stove, a Thunderous Report on an army of skeletons near ennemies that are drained transform the env. 15 or 20s buff into a 60 or 80s one, after that each new skeleton killed by the cipher will grow up exponentialy the duration, like for SoF.)

Wow, so each kill with frostfall (or kills while frostfall is equiped) will extend the duration of the hostile effect AND the self buff multiplicatively by 20%? Does this work for all cipher "draining self-buffs"?

[Constentin Lévine]

Only on weapon kill, yes, and Thunderous Report is from weapon ! That work with every hostile effect and buff that depend of these hostile effects. Frostfall is my favorite weapon

When the hostile effect is prolonged but not the beneficial one that is "linked", then that mean you can extend it with Salvation of Time, it is not truly linked. Cipher's deception buffs are mostly "linked" stuffs : Vampiric Shield, Body Attunement, Wild Leech, Borrowed Instinct and Time Parasite work like that.

[Bosmer]

that's neat, I'll have to give it a chance I guess! Btw, have you been able to make any use of Wild Leech? I'm using the community patch which upgrades the self-buff to Tier 2 Inspiration.. but still it seems a bit costly and time-intensive to use. However, in contrast to PoE1 it can stack now (even on the same target) potentially allowing you to have all Tier 2 inspirations at the same time while debuffing the target. Do you by chance know if the self-buff doesn't work if the enemy resists the affliction?

[Constentin Lévine]

2 hours ago, Bosmer said:

 Btw, have you been able to make any use of Wild Leech? I'm using the community patch which upgrades the self-buff to Tier 2 Inspiration.. but still it seems a bit costly and time-intensive to use. 

I'm agree with you, although CP give a better sound to the spell, ability point is precious for cipher since they have great actives and passives to get.. If I remember correctely, the self-buff work even when the ennemy resist to the affliction, and under Parasite Time effect it is easy for Ascendant to spam some Wild Leech on the target that is right.

For inspirations, exepted for Aware and Resolute, the only way to get Quick (Nimble with CP) for SC cipher is Hastening/Zealous Exhortation from a Paladin, and other inspirations from a Priest. So, with CP, this spell is nice for some independance.

There is a way to get "full "buff from deception draining spells even against solo enemy, like Dragons or Megabosses, but it is tedious actually : first, the cipher have to be confused, then Parasite Time and others spells will target party members. when that is done, everybody is slowy and "borrowed", a Brilliant priest need to cast Supress Affliction on the team. Hostiles effects are suspended, still count as beneficial effect for the cipher as long they are suspended (Salvation of Time). I personnaly prepare my cipher before the fight, with Sap or Fugue Spores from Squid's Grasp with Calmo's Curse (-50 defenses is nasty). Of course, I switch the weapon before the begining of the fight!

Edited February 1, 2022 by Constentin Lévine

[dgray62]

So if I understand correctly, normally you cannot extend buffs like borrowed instincts with SoT because is linked to the debuff on the enemy. But if you "break the link" by extending the debuff with enfeebled or dispersed suffering, THEN you can extend the buff with SoT or Wall of Draining. Is this correct?

[thelee]

10 minutes ago, dgray62 said:

But if you "break the link" by extending the debuff with enfeebled or dispersed suffering, THEN you can extend the buff with SoT or Wall of Draining. Is this correct?

no i think link is broken by using suppress affliction to supress the debuff on your allies, and then what you're extending is not the buff, but extending Salvation of Time.

[NotDumbEnough]

If you use Borrowed Instincts on an enfeebled enemy, it lengthens the duration of both the debuff and the corresponding buff that you get. Basically if the enemy has the debuff, then you have the buff. Even if the enemy dies the debuff persists on their corpse (though if you blow the corpse up the debuff goes away and your buff also ends) and the buff lingers on you. In fact you can use Borrowed Instincts on destructibles.

[dgray62]

Ah, thanks for the clarification! I confused SoT with Suppress Affliction. And it makes sense to enfeeble and then cast borrowed instincts.