Build Advice for Potd Druid...

[Chrisghast]

Hello everyone, and thank you for looking at this.

I am looking for some direction for my druid build for deadfire potd run.

I am unsure if I want to go multi class or single class. My thought process being that single class for a magic user having access to more spells early is key.

And for multi class is that it helps back up a single aspect that I would be interested in. For multi class I am interested in devoted/fury for aoe spell magic and to use firebrand. 

Or Fury/Sharpshooter with the focus being rot skulls and ranged dps.

The main questions I have that I would like some input on is:

1)Does the spell firebrand count as an elemental spell for the fury?Giving it extra pen?

2)Does driving flight work with Rot Skulls?

3)As a single class druid vs multiclass are the potential benefits of being a ranger or fighter outweighed by having less powerful spells? (pillars 1 I loved druid)

4)What would a good attribute spread be? I have tried a few runs with max perception as a single class druid and still proceeded to miss alot. Is perception wasted on druid?

5)This druid is going to be my Main character and want to role-playing to be worth it, high int. is my most preferred stat for dialog. Can you help me make an attribute spread/build that reflects this?

I want this class to be a dps who preferably isn't a total glass canon.

[yorname]

3) ranger can be a good choice for extra accuracy. check this out.

Fighter also provide some accuracy, but their defensive abilities are kind of wasted on a druid imo.

4) Max PER, INT, min CON, RES. Rest into MIG if you want to be a caster, DEX if you want to be attacking. You can search for "no rest run" to know how to get some extra stats. Watcher will have ~20 more accuracy compared to companions this way. Single class druids don't have accuracy buffs I can think of, so a ranger multiclass is useful.

[thelee]

1) i don't think so, perhaps the deadfire community mod fixes this? it will definitely benefit from scion of flame.

2) yes. note you probably want the deadfire community patch (at least bug fixes version) for rot skulls to be great, as in vanilla it has 0 pen

3) it's definitely a trade-off. single-class druid can be insanely powerful (avenging storm, tornado, greater maelstrom, pollen patch are all extremely powerful and some of them extremely cheese-able spells). but you get greater versatility or can fulfill specific niches with multiclassing that can be worth giving up those spells. fighter can also get bonus PL and int, and can even take advantage of mob stance's recovery bonus. along with firebrand and confident aim, you could be pretty handy with firebrand.

4) on potd you're going to miss a lot, especially early on  think how much more you'd be missing without perception. like @yorname says, you can get tons of accuracy with ranger, but fighter also gets disciplined barrage for +5 per and graze to hit chance (you can upgrade it to hit->crit or an intellect inspiration) and also confident aim to help with the miss rate with fire brand.

5) i'm assuming you want to be a fighter/druid who is firebrand-focused.

15 mig/10 con/16 dex/10 per/18 int/8 res

choose a background that gives you +1 dex, probably. pick up disciplined strikes, confident aim to make up for mediocre accuracy. use mob stance and get hold the line for bonus engagement. armored grace so you can wear some armor when you're tossing around flame brand strikes.

 

[Chrisghast]

yorname I checked out that build you linked it is enticing for sure. Thank you for feedback.

Thelee after taking into account that Rot Skulls has no pen I have lost interest in the ranger multiclass. I am playing on steam deck and haven't added and patches or mods on to it yet and would like to avoid it if possible. Is the deadfire community patch so experience changing that vanilla isn't worth playing? If so I would attempt to install it. 

I think I am leaning more towards single class druid who is spell casting focused.

[masterty66]

1 hour ago, Chrisghast said:

yorname I checked out that build you linked it is enticing for sure. Thank you for feedback.

Thelee after taking into account that Rot Skulls has no pen I have lost interest in the ranger multiclass. I am playing on steam deck and haven't added and patches or mods on to it yet and would like to avoid it if possible. Is the deadfire community patch so experience changing that vanilla isn't worth playing? If so I would attempt to install it. 

I think I am leaning more towards single class druid who is spell casting focused.

CP isn't necessarily a massive overhaul but it fixes a lot of things and makes some bad abilities/spells a lot better. Normal game is playable without it but I'd say it's worth an install.

[Chrisghast]

Is there any suggestions for checking from character creation that the community patch successfully installed?

I think I got it right. I am going through the process on the steam deck and want to make sure!

I apologize I can make a new topic if this is inappropriate as it is not character creation/build related.

Edited December 6, 2022 by Chrisghast

[masterty66]

10 minutes ago, Chrisghast said:

Is there any suggestions for checking from character creation that the community patch successfully installed?

I think I got it right. I am going through the process on the steam deck and want to make sure!

I apologize I can make a new topic if this is inappropriate as it is not character creation/build related.

From the main menu, click options and then click mod manager. You should see something like this if you installed it correctly:

I have more mods installed than you probably do but you get the picture. You should see the mod there and it should be enabled.

[Chrisghast]

Thank you for the quick response, I can confirm that it is working. 

I'm going to go with a fury/sniper multiclass at a combination of casting and using summoned weapons. would a complete dump of con and res be the most ideal spread as far as attributes go? 

 

[masterty66]

9 hours ago, Chrisghast said:

Thank you for the quick response, I can confirm that it is working. 

I'm going to go with a fury/sniper multiclass at a combination of casting and using summoned weapons. would a complete dump of con and res be the most ideal spread as far as attributes go? 

 

Personally I don't like completely dumping stats as low res = afflictions will affect you longer and low con = you'd be fragile enough that you could go down quickly. Remember that even as an Archer you'll still occasionally get hit by afflictions and you don't want those lasting forever. And enemies will still make it to your back line on occasion and you probably don't want to instantly fall over when they do. Also enemy archers will be a pain in the butt if your con is too low. Those nasty Burning Archers in Beast of Winter can be tough to deal with as you can't reliably pin them down with a tank.

Also, if you're using Berath's Blessings that's +2 to all stats which can help make for a decent stat spread.

So then, I would normally go no lower than 8 on a stat. That's just me though. I play on POTD/upscaled. In my opinion if you're gonna completely dump a stat you should have a really good reason for it and/or be very confident in your ability to crowd control enemies as otherwise you're just asking for trouble.

[thelee]

2 hours ago, masterty66 said:

Also enemy archers will be a pain in the butt if your con is too low.

yeah +100

there are some folk around here who will happily dump res and con w/out worry, and you can eventually pick up Tough as a huge boost to health, but frankly my play experience is a lot more enjoyable when I'm not getting two-hit comboed by enemy archers and/or enemy rogues (one hit, followed by a finishing blow ability or a big crit) than from a small amount of extra damage output. I still take a couple points out from resolve and con for back-of-line mainchars, but not typically lower than 8-9 for con/resolve. There are exceptions, for example, with Bear/Boar form I'm more willing to lower resolve a bit since I can always become tankier on demand if needed. Still don't really don't take con down much. (And I always take Tough anyway)

[dgray62]

I used to dump RES, but once I tried playing a FF monk I came to realize that I really under-appreciated this stat. It boosts deflection and will, and reduces hostile effects durations. The difference between a RES of 5 and 25 makes a big difference in how sturdy your character is.

[Chrisghast]

I modded the game to use the berath blessings yea getting mind controlled for 20 seconds doesn't sound fun going to take the advice and have res and con at a respectable value.

I am going to go with a ranger/druid multiclass. Leaning fury for the druid because of the spell pen. But am unsure about the ranger originally I was going sniper for the synergy with Rot Skulls but would stalker or ghost heart be the better move? I am not gaining too much benefits with the sniper and the recovery time and -10 deflection sounds rough. The appeal of having no bonded grief for ghost heart is appealing. 

Any recommendations or input as far as sub classes go? The build mentioned earlier with fury/stalker I think was geared a bit more for melee.

 

[dgray62]

I'd recommend Fury/Stalker, and use a melee weapon. Pick the bear companion for higher armor and survivability, and pick its buffs when you level up early game. The Effort great sword is the ultimate weapon for a druid, but Lord Daryn's Voulge is great until you get it. Make sure you get Taste of the Hunt; it provides great emergency healing that a Fury otherwise doesn't get, and applies a nice DoT effect on the enemy.

[Chrisghast]

Effort and that Voulge look amazing I will give stalker/fury a shot. The kit has everything I want and some extra survivability can't hurt.

 

Thank you everyone for sharing your expertise of this amazing franchise with me.

[masterty66]

5 hours ago, dgray62 said:

I used to dump RES, but once I tried playing a FF monk I came to realize that I really under-appreciated this stat. It boosts deflection and will, and reduces hostile effects durations. The difference between a RES of 5 and 25 makes a big difference in how sturdy your character is.

Feel like it was easier to dump in Poe1 because deflection mattered less there with all the items that gave buffs based on you getting crit (The boots with consecrated ground on crit frenzied plate etc) but also because of all the Prayers Against Effects that Priests had. Don't much care debuff durations when you can make yourself immune.

Res seems a lot better in Deadfire with fewer immunities and lots of nasty debuffs to deal with.

  

1 hour ago, dgray62 said:

I'd recommend Fury/Stalker, and use a melee weapon. Pick the bear companion for higher armor and survivability, and pick its buffs when you level up early game. The Effort great sword is the ultimate weapon for a druid, but Lord Daryn's Voulge is great until you get it. Make sure you get Taste of the Hunt; it provides great emergency healing that a Fury otherwise doesn't get, and applies a nice DoT effect on the enemy.

I'm using Whispers Of The Endless Paths on Tekehu right now and that's not so bad either, mostly because you can apply Taste of Hunt with it to a lot of enemies at once, which is nice.

Edited December 7, 2022 by masterty66

[thelee]

lol i was going to recommend a build i used (fury + stalker) that also used firebrand a lot, and then i realized that yorname already linked it. here it is again just for good measure: 

the plus of using a stalker is that you can cheat on your defensive stats again, like a fighter, and still be rather safe. this build actually goes down to 7 con and 8 resolve.

 

15 hours ago, dgray62 said:

The Effort great sword is the ultimate weapon for a druid

this is only true for a single-class druid. you need a regular source of Avenging Storm to make it powerful. Otherwise it's kinda merely OK (i'd rather use Firebrand)

[dgray62]

27 minutes ago, thelee said:

this is only true for a single-class druid. you need a regular source of Avenging Storm to make it powerful. Otherwise it's kinda merely OK (i'd rather use Firebrand)

Well, you can use Heaven's Cacophony and scrolls if you MC, but I agree, SC druid is best for Effort. Not only because you can naturally cast AS, but also because the weapon's great with Greater Maelstrom as well. But for a Fury/Stalker you could specialize in great sword, and make regular use of WotEP and Firebrand, and play around with Effort later once you get it.

[Boeroer]

Mohora Tanga with single handed use (and style) and some ACC gear and crit conversion, combined with Boltcatchers or Hylea's Talons and also Ring of Molded Flesh is very good with a SC Druid who uses Avenging Storm, too.

I also like the combo of a Druid with any class that grants easy access to accuracy (Monk & Ranger mostly, Helwalker specifically because of the nice MIG boost on top of the INT boost) because accuracy is the only thing a Druid is lacking sometimes - especially because some of the cool spells go agaist Fortitude and that is often quite high on the bigger and tougher enemies. 

I played a Stalker/Ancient recently and was pleasantly surprised about how good he was. Not only great accuracy vs. singular and multiple targets, but also 2 good summons (Sporelings) + Animal Companion in combination with healing and revival (AC don't get injuries so using revival multiple times is cool).

[Chrisghast]

I was interested in possibly doing an ancient for a little while. I opted for the Fury because of the Spell Pen. I figured if I am not a single class druid this would help my spells that I do have hit a little hard.

I went single class druid for my Pillars 1 Potd run I was predominantly a caster but whenever i could would use firebrand but I want to try something a bit different this time. 

Summons with a ranger companion is really appealing however. I could just summon Storm Blights or whichever element I get still as a fury/stalker. I was thinking of Ancient/ghost heart for a little but want sure if my summoned pet would stack with summoned creatures from my druid.

I am happy with the build so far as the Fury/stalker. The extra survivability/distraction of the stalker class and animal companion helps me actually exist in the game. I feel I can be adaptive in more ways than spell variety. Plus Firebrand and I had read about the endless paths greatsword prior to even starting this so incorporating it into my build is nice. I also might try to use the essence interrupter for the early game.

For my weapon proficiency I took great sword and War Bows.

I have to say it took my almost 3 years to complete pillars 1 bc I tried almost everything I can think of. This forum website truly inspired me to dig deeper into the mechanics of the game, and I found something I really enjoy thanks to it. 

[Boeroer]

16 hours ago, Chrisghast said:

I was thinking of Ancient/ghost heart for a little but want sure if my summoned pet would stack with summoned creatures from my druid.

Nope, they won't stack unfortunately. Animal Companion will replace druid summons and vice versa. So Stalker is def. a better pick than Ghost Heart imo - if you want to use any of the druid's summons.

 

 

 

[dgray62]

I'd recommend stalker as well. And you might consider using the Griffin's Blade sword. It dazes on crits, and a stalker will crit a lot. This will reduce foes PEN, and will significantly boost survivability for you and your pet & summons, while also boosting spell damage. You might consider it as an alternative to Firebrand/WotEP.

[Chrisghast]

I hate to say I am thinking about scrapping this run. 

I am having a hard time keeping the pet alive and spending most of my levels for it kinda sucks.

I might stay with it but I am leaning towards going single class cipher or single class druid now.

In Potd are the companions not so worth it? I beat pillars 1 potd with companions and wanted to do the same but Xoti seems bad. I might make some custom companions instead. 

I don't want to edit their stats.

[Boeroer]

Imo they are fine for PotD. Custom adventurers will be better in the long run for sure, but at the early stages of the game (which are the most tricky for a lot of players) the official companions have the advantage of one additional level (adventurers start with your level -1). Also, custom adventurers are a little boring compared to the OCs, since they have 0 banter, dialogue, quests etc. Just the usual barks when you command them to do something etc.

Imo Xoti is fine as SC Priest, at least for me. I'm not a big fan of her Monk subclass (unless you build around some of her special passives) and want to get access to the good Priest buffs asap, so that's why I use her as SC Priest 90% of times. Getting stuff live Devotions for the Faithful Earl can make a bug difference in party performance for example.

You shouldn't try to tank with your animal companion, usually it doesn't have the defenses or armor to withstand a lot of punishment. A Stalker's Bear with Resilient Companion at 4m distance is the best armor you can get and it makes the bear a lot tougher, but it's still not a good tank. Instead use Sporelings (did you pick the Ancient, don't remember, sorry) for tanking (if you have no other solid tank). With Wild Growth they become very tough (it lasts forever theoretically and practically it's over when when the summons disappear (from damage or bc. they expire). If you didn't pick the Ancient then this is pretty useless advice obviously. Other low tier summons of the Druid are not good at this, so better use a main tank like Edér or a custom adventurer or so. 

The Animal Companion has the advantage of not getting injured if it drops. So with sufficient resources you can revive it indefinitely. Still it's better to use it as "marker" and flanker in not-so crowded spots. Keep it by your side (stealthed if possible) when the combat starts and only send it in once the enemies settled on their opponents. Later on, with more healing options, buffs, abilities and revives it can become more reliable - or used as cheap decoy to lead enemies away. If it dies you just revive. This is often less "action-economically" expensive than a summon and it stacks with your summons. I find ACs very useful mostly, but it needs some experience to figure them out I guess. Anyway: don't use it as main tank or so (at least that would be my advice).

But if this character generally isn't fun then maybe it's not worth trying, but maybe it would be better to start anew with something more "frontloaded", meaning it performs better right from the start of the game and doesn't need a certain char level to suddenly become fun to play.

 

 

Edited December 12, 2022 by Boeroer

[thelee]

it might be worth poing out that that IME on potd your pet will fall over a lot early game. enemies hit disproportionately hard and healing is a scarce resource for the most part early on (for this reason i prefer revive pet over heal pet as a ranger ability). a way to think about it is, that's a lot of damage that would have been hitting you or another party member but instead hit your pet, which doesn't accumulate injuries (and on berath's challenge, can't die).

if you're not having fun, you're not having fun, but just wanted to highlight that having pet get knocked out a lot early on is par for the course.

[yorname]

Even the bear (tankiest of all) isn't a good tank, don't send it in first, rather use it as something to engage when an enemy jumps to your backline or +10 accuracy provider (from ranger passive)

Companions are more than enough, for potd the easiest way is always to metagame more and come back when you have better gear.

Priests in 2 is less like a buff-bot in 1 because many of their buffs are inspirations now and can potentially be countered, and their importance decrease when you have other sources of inspirations. Instead I like to use them as affliction counters with low tier spell slots, for example they have the fastest charmed counter. Also they kind of become masters of exploits, but that's not everyone's thing.

@theleecan you share an English version of your accuracy list? I'm trying similar stuff with a geomancer and want to make sure I have every buff I need, thx!