Class Help

[Gurslak]

Hello folks,

Not sure how much traction this forum gets, but I'm guessing it's as good a place to ask as any!

 

I picked up poe1 over the weekend and despite lots of reading I can't decide on a class to play.

Traditionally in rpg's I've initially jumped in with a melee type, fighter or a fighty cleric. This tends to get a bit boring snd tedious. But, the most fun I've had comes from dots and CC. My typical parties in Baldurs Gate always ended up with a meat shield or two and everyone else ranged. There's nothing like seeing a bunch of mobs wandering around aimlessly or stuck in place as their health ticks down, and maybe finishing with a big ol' nuke.

 

Which of the classes, if any does this sound like to you?

 

Thanks in advance, I appreciate any and all help! 

[Okkes]

Hey bro, i suggest you to try druid it has very good dot spells, and you can go melee with boar form(Boeroer style) it has a very powerful dot attack too. Also Priest has very good fire based dots but you need to be patient for few levels it feels weak at the start. Have fun!

[Boeroer]

Hi,

for DoTs and CC there are three classes that fit best:

• Wizard (per-rest caster, individual spell selection via learning and grimoires)
• Druid (per-rest caster, automatic spell selection)
• Cipher (casts spells with focus which is harvested via weapon damage)

All of them can be good melee performers: Wizards with summoned weapons which are very good, Druids with Spiritshift which is extremely strong while it lasts and Ciphers with normal weapons and their special ability "Soul Whip" which not only transforms damage into focus but also gives you a damage bonus for weapons. They all have nice CC and DoT spells. Cipher's DoT is mostly against single targets but very strong. Wizard and Druid have AoE options for DoTs. 

My personal favorite is the Druid. Spiritshift is very potent but has limited duration. So you can play him as a CC/DoT caster mostly but shift as soon as somebody attacks you in melee - and you then shred them to pieces. Spiritshift performance is completely independent from gear - except one special belt, the Wildstrike Belt. This means there's more good gear for the rest of he party since your Druid usually doesn't care as much about it. The best Spiritshift forms are Cat (higher attack speed) or Boar (wounding DoT on every strike). The Cat is better against low DR foes, the Boar is better against high DR foes. Imo it mostly comes down to taste. Boar form is also a little bit more sturdy because it has a little regeneration effect while shifted. 

Wizard can have a (much) bigger spell selection, the summoned weapons (mainly Concelhaut's Parasitic Staff and later Citzal's Spirit Lance) have very high base damage and they also have reach, so you can attack from the back row over your front row/tanks which can be an advantage. But Wizards can also deal a lot of ranged weapon damage with Blast + Kalakoth's Minor Blights (another summioned weapon, this time a wand). Blast is an AoE that attaches itself to every wand/rod/scepter attack. It can also transport on-hit/on-crit effects from your weapon - for example prone on critical hit (Overbearing). So in theory everybody in the Blast AoE could be knocked down (if you crit them with the Blast).

Ciphers are my personal least favorite of the trio. Mainly because I consider the focus mechanic as flawed: the action economy isn't great because you have to alternate between weapon damage and casting all the time. And also the transformation of damage into fuel for casts means that the Cipher usually is VERY good in fights with lots of weak foes (which are usually not that hard to win anyways) because dealing lots of damage to weak enemies is easy - but lacks impact in the hardest fights, when dealing a lot of damage is hard and therefore getting focus for spells is difficult and the Cipher can become focus-starved.
But this depends a LOT on the difficulty setting. Ciphers generally perform much better on the lower difficulties up to Veteran where the enemies' defenses aren't so high. So if you plan to play on normal or veteran difficulty you can dismiss what I wrote there.   Ciphers are def. the most popular of the three among players - I assume because the mix of weapon damage + spellcasting is entertaining and cool - and because it's fun to annihilate (trash) mobs very quickly. Against bosses the rest of the party can step in then - so it's not a big deal if the Cipher performs a little worse than usual. 

 

Edited 6 hours ago by Boeroer

[Gurslak]

@Boeroer @Okkes

Thanks for the replies!

I've tried out Fighter, Cipher & Druid all to very, very early parts of the game. I mean first town with the hanging tree and part cleared the temple ruins early.

 

I was bored as Fighter. Cipher I kept forgetting to cast abilities with and the druid was the coolest by far, but I had a habit of initiating combat popping into wereboar form and charging headlong into combat. Great until I met a Spirit that ate me for lunch!

 

The Druid I should probably play better, but I'll give a Wizard a go too. It might make me play better.

 

Is there a recommended difficulty level for a reasonably balanced challenge?

Also whilst I think on it, do multiple instances of the same items bonuses stack? I.e. +5 from ring of protection, stack to +10 if you wear two or locked at the +5?

[Chaospread]

If you don't want a caster class, I'd try a Barbarian.

[Gurslak]

2 minutes ago, Chaospread said:

If you don't want a caster class, I'd try a Barbarian.

I think I'm actually leaning more towards caster classes tbh. I get a bit bored with the melee types and they make me play bad. (That's my excuse and I'm sticking to it )

[Boeroer]

5 hours ago, Gurslak said:

Is there a recommended difficulty level for a reasonably balanced challenge?

That is hard to say. If a Phantom or Shade gave you a lot of trouble then maybe start with normal difficulty. You can always ramp it up to Veteran difficulty afterwards (note that only undiscovered maps will become more difficult then, the already discovered maps stay the same as they were when you loaded them the first time). Only Path of the Damned is a locked in experience which you cannot change once started.

5 hours ago, Gurslak said:

Also whilst I think on it, do multiple instances of the same items bonuses stack? I.e. +5 from ring of protection, stack to +10 if you wear two or locked at the +5?

In PoE1 they do not unless it's a bonus from a weapon or shield (for example the defense bonus of Outworn Buckler stacks with everything). Or if you have multiple gear with "Retaliation" it won't stack unless you have a shield with "Retaliation" and a helmet or cape for example - then you will have two Retaliations and so on. For all other gear: the higher bonus of the same kind suppresses the lower, no stacking.

One minor exception: roll conversions (offensive x% hit to crit conversion for example or the defensive x% hit to graze conversion) will stack with each other. But they won't get added in a flat manner but instead they will all go into a list and then get checked one after another until one of the list is successful or none triggered. 

A 10% hit to crit conversion and another 10% hit to crit conversion thus will not result in an overall 20% chance to convert - but instead you will have an overall chance of 19% (1-0.9*0.9). 10% and 20% would not be 30% but 1-0.9*0.8 = 28%.  

Passive abilities stack with everything, active abilities do not stack with each other (if they apply a bonus to the same stat/attribute). Talents which add some "passive" effect to an active ability (see the Priest's talent "Inspiring Radiance" for the ability Holy Radiance" for example or Darcozzi Paladins' "Inspring Liberation" talent for the ability "Liberating Exhortation") do stack with everything even though the parent ability is an active one.