Custom party comp suggestions

[maikk_]

Hello, i'm gonna replay the game after a couple of years (on POTD most likely) and i wanna do it with a full custom party this time.

I'm set on a couple of classes already but i'm not sure about the others, can you suggest builds or a comp that works with what i have in mind?

 

- I know i want for sure:

1. Herald (Watcher and main tank)

2. Ancient druid nature godlike(dps/summons/occasional heal)

3. some form of cypher (either SC or multiclass, maybe trickster/beguiler?)

 

- the next 2 slots are what i'm unsure about to complement the team:

4. a priest maybe? (dedicated healer? is it even needed?)

5. ???

 

I'd like the idea of a melee focused swashbuckler in there too, but idk if it fits this party since there's already a tank.

 

i also wanna add i don't particularly like the kind of playstyle where you have to buff yourself with 2000 spells/consumables before hitting an enemy or engaging (i saw some people playing wizards like that, boring for me).

Looking forward to your inputs and ideas! 

 

[thelee]

3 hours ago, maikk_ said:

4. a priest maybe? (dedicated healer? is it even needed?)

with a druid, you already have a powerful healer. a priest isn't really great for dedicated healing - a druid will heal gobs more health. a priest is more useful for spot healing (with one exception - consecrated ground is pretty powerful) and coming back from defeat with revives or withdraw.

that being said, i think priest's role as buffer and debuffer is underrated. it's not as necessary on veteran and below, but on PotD I feel like having buffs and debuffs at your disposal really smooths out fights, especially when even a tier 1 buff spell can protect you from tier 3 afflictions.

 

for a fifth slot, it really feels to me like you could use more party damage. ironically a priest can help fill that gap in the late game, but in the meantime a swashbuckler could work fine, just focus more on the rogue side with lighter armor to make it less of a tank and more of a sturdy dps. you could probably get a lot of utility out of riposte with the right setup (esp stacked with whispers of the endless paths), especially since fighters have higher innate deflection, a feat for further deflection, and you can pick up conqueror stance for an additional +5 to +10 deflection.

[Shai Hulud]

You have a druid and ciphers can also heal some, plus your herald can chant ancient memory and/or mercy and kindness so you have enough healing.

I'd probably go pure cipher because their late game party support spells are fantastic. Shared Nightmare gives gigantic AOE to spells and defensive mindweb shares defenses across your whole party. So if your tank has 200 deflection, now everyone has 200 deflection. Reaping Knives are really good to hand to a DPS char so the cipher can spam more spells. And Ancestor's Memory is on-demand brilliant. The last one is Tier 7 and you could get it multiclass but not until level 19.

Ciphers are also extremely good in various multiclasses but for a full party you can't really beat a pure cipher. If you did go multiclass IDK about rogue, it isn't terrible but these choices are better IMO:  Blood mage / soul blade is insanely good DPS, blood mage / psion would be an excellent caster. Cipher/Ranger is also really good and has top tier accuracy and the ability to buff your animal companion with cipher spells. Soul blade for melee, psion or ascendant otherwise. Psion/troubadour is also very interesting for a caster/summoner. It really depends what you want to do with that character as ciphers can fulfill a lot of roles. 

In general you just want to fulfill enough roles. You need 2 tanks (or a tank and an offtank), at least one support class, at least one healing class, at least one DPS, and some CC spellcasting. One character can fulfill multiple roles, especially if multiclassed. Like FF / steel garrote is tank + DPS, FF / soul blade is DPS + support + offtank + CC, battlemage is CC + tank + DPS, sage can be tank or DPS + CC, shadowdancers are DPS + offtank (if you take FF). Swashbuckler would be DPS + offtank. You already have good healing, solid support, one tank, and good CC between chanter and cipher. 

Like thelee said you could use more damage. Also another tank, and maybe some wizardry. Besides blood mage / soul blade, other high DPS builds include battlemages, sages, shadowdancers and single class monk. Swashbucklers have decent DPS but not as much as the ones I mentioned. 

If you install the community patch which I'd recommend, soul blade / forbidden fist is good DPS, pretty tanky, and can cast when needed. FF / steel garrote paladin is perfect for a tank that can do some damage. I think it would outdamage swashbucklers but I haven't directly compared. Arcane knights are also excellent tanks. 

So IMO these parties would work very well with herald + druid

ascendant, blood mage/helwalker, FF/steel garrote
blood mage / psion, monk, FF/steel garrote
psion/troubadour, blood mage/helwalker, FF/steel garrote
ascendant, FF / streetfighter, blood mage / goldpact knight

Also I think a priest does more for parties in general than a druid. Priests have overall really top tier buffs. Their healing isn't as good as druids but a cipher can cast pain block and chanters can chant ancient memory so you'd be fine. Either would work though. 

Herald is a solid choice for main character assuming you're fulfilling a tank + support role. They don't do much damage. For subclasses I'd suggest troubadour on chanter side, the +1 phrase cost downside is very minor given their versatility of longer lingers or quicker phrase generation. And on paladin side it's mostly what you want to roleplay, but goldpact knights make good tanks early game because of their "blessing of gold" from gilded enmity which givess +4 armor until you're hit like 5 times. This stacks with exalted endurance but not with stoic steel (which you'd take at level 19 probably).

[Kaylon]

Beside the herald and the druid I would add a devoted/berserker, a forbidden fist and an ascendant/arcane archer.

[maikk_]

3 hours ago, Shai Hulud said:

You have a druid and ciphers can also heal some, plus your herald can chant ancient memory and/or mercy and kindness so you have enough healing.

I'd probably go pure cipher because their late game party support spells are fantastic. Shared Nightmare gives gigantic AOE to spells and defensive mindweb shares defenses across your whole party. So if your tank has 200 deflection, now everyone has 200 deflection. Reaping Knives are really good to hand to a DPS char so the cipher can spam more spells. And Ancestor's Memory is on-demand brilliant. The last one is Tier 7 and you could get it multiclass but not until level 19.

Ciphers are also extremely good in various multiclasses but for a full party you can't really beat a pure cipher. If you did go multiclass IDK about rogue, it isn't terrible but these choices are better IMO:  Blood mage / soul blade is insanely good DPS, blood mage / psion would be an excellent caster. Cipher/Ranger is also really good and has top tier accuracy and the ability to buff your animal companion with cipher spells. Soul blade for melee, psion or ascendant otherwise. Psion/troubadour is also very interesting for a caster/summoner. It really depends what you want to do with that character as ciphers can fulfill a lot of roles. 

In general you just want to fulfill enough roles. You need 2 tanks (or a tank and an offtank), at least one support class, at least one healing class, at least one DPS, and some CC spellcasting. One character can fulfill multiple roles, especially if multiclassed. Like FF / steel garrote is tank + DPS, FF / soul blade is DPS + support + offtank + CC, battlemage is CC + tank + DPS, sage can be tank or DPS + CC, shadowdancers are DPS + offtank (if you take FF). Swashbuckler would be DPS + offtank. You already have good healing, solid support, one tank, and good CC between chanter and cipher. 

Like thelee said you could use more damage. Also another tank, and maybe some wizardry. Besides blood mage / soul blade, other high DPS builds include battlemages, sages, shadowdancers and single class monk. Swashbucklers have decent DPS but not as much as the ones I mentioned. 

If you install the community patch which I'd recommend, soul blade / forbidden fist is good DPS, pretty tanky, and can cast when needed. FF / steel garrote paladin is perfect for a tank that can do some damage. I think it would outdamage swashbucklers but I haven't directly compared. Arcane knights are also excellent tanks. 

So IMO these parties would work very well with herald + druid

ascendant, blood mage/helwalker, FF/steel garrote
blood mage / psion, monk, FF/steel garrote
psion/troubadour, blood mage/helwalker, FF/steel garrote
ascendant, FF / streetfighter, blood mage / goldpact knight

Also I think a priest does more for parties in general than a druid. Priests have overall really top tier buffs. Their healing isn't as good as druids but a cipher can cast pain block and chanters can chant ancient memory so you'd be fine. Either would work though. 

Herald is a solid choice for main character assuming you're fulfilling a tank + support role. They don't do much damage. For subclasses I'd suggest troubadour on chanter side, the +1 phrase cost downside is very minor given their versatility of longer lingers or quicker phrase generation. And on paladin side it's mostly what you want to roleplay, but goldpact knights make good tanks early game because of their "blessing of gold" from gilded enmity which givess +4 armor until you're hit like 5 times. This stacks with exalted endurance but not with stoic steel (which you'd take at level 19 probably).

this is a very helpful post, thank you and yes, i'm gonna use the community patch, i forgot to mention it.

How would you fit a priest or priest multiclass in a setup similar to the ones you suggested? Can i use it in place of the mage slot or you think a mage is just too good to pass up? I'm adamant on keeping the druid because i really like the theme of that class, so i wanna keep it in the roster.

The main character is gonna be the main tank, so i'll build him with heavy armor and low damage.

[Shai Hulud]

17 hours ago, maikk_ said:

this is a very helpful post, thank you and yes, i'm gonna use the community patch, i forgot to mention it.

How would you fit a priest or priest multiclass in a setup similar to the ones you suggested? Can i use it in place of the mage slot or you think a mage is just too good to pass up? I'm adamant on keeping the druid because i really like the theme of that class, so i wanna keep it in the roster.

The main character is gonna be the main tank, so i'll build him with heavy armor and low damage.

You don't have to have a mage. With a priest, cipher, and chanter you have sufficient debuffs and CC. Blood mages are nice though for the resource renewal and diversity of spells. You could include both a priest and a mage with multiclassing.

Lots of combinations that can work e.g.

ascendant/arcane archer, helwalker/priest, FF/steel garrote. 

Or ascendant, helwalker/priest, FF

Or with both: psion/priest, helwalker/blood mage, FF/steel garrote or FF

Another with both: blood mage / soul blade, priest, FF

Helwalker/priest won't do as much damage as a helwalker/blood mage but helwalker helps, can cast as well as fight when needed. Ascendant/arcane archer does decent damage. Psion/priest is an amazing support build, while helwalker/blood mage does tremendous damage (either melee or with spells), and FF / SG can tank and do damage. Pure FF does even more damage but not as tanky. Psion/priest is more pure caster, while blood mage / soul blade is a high dps melee build with citzals spirit lance.

Kaylon's suggestions are good too (though I'm less sold on the berserker/devoted than the others). You don't *need* any specific class and could get by without priest or mage, it is just about coverage of enough roles that your party is effective, and what builds you enjoy playing.

Edited May 7, 2023 by Shai Hulud