POTD Trial of Iron party composition with God Challenges (Berath, Ondra, Galawain, Skaen) , Balancing Polish Mod and Community Patch Help!

[Torm51]

Hey all,

 

Long story short just lost a POTD TOI with the above modifications plus a heavy melee party:

Eder: Swashbuckler damage (not the best damage dealer but he can be good if you invest the gear and he is sturdy)

Xoti: SC Monk

PC: Support Paladin (shieldbearer)

Ranged damage Herald

Lore Master damage/CC

 

All of my POTD TOI losses are with a heavy melee party, if I go ranged heavy I usually win (so 1 tank, one off tank/melee and 3 ranged damage dealer.  I feel that melee damage dealers get into a lot of trouble once the AI starts to target them, if I have strong tanks up front and all my damage dealers killing at range the AI does not want to disengage (I usually have strong disengagement damage dealers).  Anyone have a ton of success with a melee heavy party on POTD?

 

[masterty66]

If you're doing a melee heavy per you might want to consider pairing a Druid of some kind with your Herald. I suppose then it might not be melee heavy any more but Druid + Herald is so much healing that you will be able to out last almost everything. The +50% healing chant combined with Druids HOT is massive for survivability. I am running such a party now (not on TOI) and it's hard for me to wipe.

Two sources of rez would also be nice in case one of your rezzers dies.

 

[Elric Galad]

41 minutes ago, masterty66 said:

The +50% healing chant combined with Druids HOT is massive for survivability. I am running such a party now (not on TOI) and it's hard for me to wipe.

The chant is only 30% with BPM nerfs  

[masterty66]

1 hour ago, Elric Galad said:

The chant is only 30% with BPM nerfs  

Interesting. I only use CP for now so did not know that. I need to try your mod soon

Even so, 30% plus Druid heals is still quite good imo. Especially backed by summons.

Edited September 26, 2022 by masterty66

[Torm51]

2 hours ago, masterty66 said:

If you're doing a melee heavy per you might want to consider pairing a Druid of some kind with your Herald. I suppose then it might not be melee heavy any more but Druid + Herald is so much healing that you will be able to out last almost everything. The +50% healing chant combined with Druids HOT is massive for survivability. I am running such a party now (not on TOI) and it's hard for me to wipe.

Two sources of rez would also be nice in case one of your rezzers dies.

 

This was the main issue, i went to that cave a bit early and only had one rezzer, who was downed. My fault for sure

[masterty66]

4 minutes ago, Torm51 said:

This was the main issue, i went to that cave a bit early and only had one rezzer, who was downed. My fault for sure

Yeah after playing my current party I really do like having two rezzers. Pallegina is my Herald and my character is a Shifter/Paladin so both chars are very sturdy but even so occasionally one of them has died and that would cause me a wipe if not for having that backup rez.

I really like the idea of having two party members that can do that, as well as a main tank to soak up engagements and just take a beating on the front line. Imo if you have those three things, you can almost do whatever you want with the other two primary dps slots. I am sure it is possible to play without a main tank or without two rezzers but for me it just gives me so much more breathing room and helps me to keep enemies where I want them for aoe effects and so on.

I would also add to this that if your tank is a Fighter multi of some kind they can grab Unbreakable which is maybe not normally a talent someone would take but on a Trial of Iron run I'd think Unbreakable would be a real lifersaver when you need it

Edited September 26, 2022 by masterty66

[Torm51]

For sure, I always take Ubreakable on the fighter multi main tank since I only play POTD TOI, it’s a safety blanket. I was just trying a Paladin SC with @Elric Galadmod so the group was a little unorthodox in that the main tank was really the Paladin and my fighter multi was a swash buckler damage dealer. I think I got greedy and tried to fit 3 damage slots in (which you can do but it’s less safe for TOI imo)  If you run a support SC melee Paladin (with elrics mod) it’s not a bad tank but it’s not a fighter (for POTD). 

@masterty66 I think for your example my support Healing Paladin would take the place of the Druid (remember it’s elrics mod), most Exhortations except the Rez one are 1 zeal and you get a lot of heal options: LOH, Exalted Endurance, chain heal etc, Upgrade SI etc. If I run another tank in that group and maybe 3 ranged damage dealers that cascading issue of having to remove my melee dps from combat to save them and then the solo Paladin getting all the aggro would not happen. 
 

the only issue with mainly ranged damage dealers is no crush damage option.

 

Edited September 26, 2022 by Torm51

[Vasvary5050]

In my current run I've been playing PoTD with upward-only level scaling but not with Trial of Iron. I have to salute you, Watcher! Do you play pretty much the entire game (i.e. main story + most side quests + all 3 DLCs) on PoTD + ToI? I had to repeat a few fights in Arkemyr's Manor, the Hanging Sepulchers, and had more than a few wipes in BoW and SSS, and I'm sure I had to repeat a couple of other fights as well, and I think I would get very frustrated having to restart from the very beginning with ToI mode. I find just regular PoTD with upscaling challenging and slow-going enough for me. Out of interest, I presume your Herald is a kind wayfarer (my current main character is a kind wayfarer/troubadour Herald and it's healing is awesome through dual-wielding flames of devotion and chants).