Class Tier List - Advice Needed (Again)

[Aestus]

Hello all! If you have the time, I need your advice.  

 

I am a Youtuber who’s mostly known for making educational videos on the tactics of Baldur’s Gate 3. I've recently made some fairly popular videos on the PoE series, including a Deadfire Class Tier List video featuring Thelee. Now I am turning my attention towards making a similar video for Pillars of Eternity 1.

Just like last time, I need your advice. I have just shy of 1,000 hours in PoE, which is enough for me to have an informed opinion, but still just one perspective. So, I am offering my draft of the list to peer review. I’ve outlined the list below. I can't include my reasoning without this post being to long, so feel free to ask questions. If you have any thoughts or challenges to offer, I’d appreciate your input. Please note though that the finished Tier List ultimately must represent my opinion. I will alter the list if my opinion is altered.

The List:

Game Breaking Tier: Priest, Druid

Overloaded Tier: Cipher, Monk, Wizard, Chanter

Bread'n'Butter Tier:  Barbarian, Paladin

Niche Tier: Fighter, Rogue, Ranger

[Boeroer]

My personal list for parties on PotD difficulty:

Game Breaking Tier: Priest

Overloaded Tier: Wizard, Druid, Monk, Chanter

Bread'n'Butter Tier:  Cipher, Barbarian, Paladin, Ranger

Niche Tier: Fighter, Rogue

 

Druid is really nice and so versatile, but imo not as impactful as a Priest - just because Inspiring Radiance + Devotions & Prayers. Unparalleled impact on every party imo. 6 Priest party: 6* Inspirig Radiance + Devotions = +80 ACC for everybody.

Wizard has nice spells and great summoned weapons with enormous base and the cheesy grimoire mechanic that allows him to learn all spells without actually spending ability points. Just scribe some grimoires, retrain, learn all the spells from the grimoires before leveling up and you're done. Maximum spell selection with minimal ability picks for spells. Deleterious Alacrity of Motion is nuts in PoE. 

Monk has very good starting values, potentially endless resources and great AoE capability (which is important for PotD). Torment's Reach with a dual wielding setup is almost too good. There's a reason we fear enemy monks more than most other enemy types. Henlo Abbey of the Fallen Moon it is I, the guy who hates to fight you.

Chanter is kind of made for PotD. The longer the fights the better the Chanter performs. Can clear Raedric's Castle with White Worms solo, later there's Dragon Thrashed: damage for nothin' (and your chicks for free), Ogres, Animated Weapons...

Cipher is great in most fights but I find the struggles to get sufficient focus against tough bosses a bit frustrating. The love triangle between Cipher, Chanter and Priest with Defensive double Preservation + Withdraw + Mindweb + Dragon Thrashed is extremely strong though (+100 to all defenses for the party, wow). But still... I don't like that when it matters most the Cipher kind of falls behind in terms of spellcasting. I would put in somewhere in between Overloaded and Bread'n Butter - but since I have to make a decision I put it into the latter (don't really like to play it because of the "to and fro" with weapons and spells). WelI could be easily convinced to put him higher I guess...

Barbarian is loads of fun with the funky Carnage mechanics and weapon effects. Maybe my favorite class (hard competition with Monk). But Barb also suffers from the "not great vs. boss" malaise - and it's not good in the early game due to low accuracy and low deflection (and little impact of the potentially big health pool, which only comes into play later). Limited resources - but Heart of Fury!  

Paladin (especially the Darcozzi) has amazing potential for ACC buffing a single ally on top of the other goodies and it can be tanky without even trying. But there's not much going on in the AoE department except Sacred Immolation. Limited resources.

Ranger is a great single target damage dealer with an animal companion that can hit hard like a truck if build properly. (AoE) CC on top if you wish. Awesome CC against single enemies later on without using resources. Which makes it better than the Rogue imo. Ranger with Persistence + Predator's Sense against some high-priority targets... ouch.

Fighter and Rogue suffer from no AoE and uninspired/lame/tooo expensive high level abilities and limited resources. Both nice in the early game (esp. Fighter) - but the power curve is too flat imo.    

 

     

Edited 2 hours ago by Boeroer

[Aestus]

Thanks for taking the time to help! You opinions are valued as always. BTW, I've been meaning to write, I open to doing another Top 5 Funnest Builds interviews but for PoE1. Let me know if you are interested!

17 minutes ago, Boeroer said:

Druid is really nice and so versatile, but imo not as impactful as a Priest - just because Inspiring Radiance + Devotions & Prayers. Unparalleled impact on every party imo. 6 Priest party: 6* Inspirig Radiance + Devotions = +80 ACC for everybody.

   

I expect the difference between our opinion has to do with rest restrictions. In resting games like this, I always assume a squad that can reliably clear an encounter by spending less finite resources is better then one that spends more for the same clear. I track this by tallying rests and try to reduce the amount of rests needed in each run. 

Priests are on a tier of their own when you can spam their spells. Druids excel by having a higher baseline impact when not using spells, which allows you to horde spells and go nova in key battles. 

What do you think of that kind of reasoning? 

Edited 2 hours ago by Aestus