Two person party

[LadyCrimson]

Most people talk about trying to go the game solo etc. I'm not interested in doing that right now, but I'd be interested in what pair of classes you think would fare well (in Normal or Hard, haven't decided yet) as a duo-team. Two fighters? Druid/Barbarian? etc?

 

I'm finding the levels of micromanagement of 5-6 a bit annoying as time goes on - not as patient as I used to be I guess - and am thinking I'd like to attempt it with a much smaller party. 2 is what I want, but 3 would be workable if anyone thinks 2 is "impossible."

 

Thoughts?

[lord_wc]

For two man you probably would have the easiest time with two ciphers. You won't have enough damage output to dedicate one of your characters to tank and bosses don't have blanket immunities so you can debuff them to oblivion. Grab some dakkas to generate focus and just paralize/confuse/dominate/daze all your enemies.

 

For 3 I would have a chanter tank and 2 ranged dps. Probably a cipher and maybe a paladin to oneshot casters. Or a wizard if you don't mind resting a lot. Actually that's how I started my current party as I hate micro just as you. Later on I picked up a wizard as 4th member as dps still was just too low. I still don't know if it was worth it or not, most of the time she just spams autoattacks for laughable damage, but she can lay out a world of pain when she starts spell spamming.

[redviiper]

It could be interesting to have two rogues who strike and reposition and then strike again.

[BigFuzzy]

It could be interesting to have two rogues who strike and reposition and then strike again.

says the guy clearly a fan of the Dorne style of fighting!  Would be "fun" to try. 

[lord_wc]

It could be interesting to have two rogues who strike and reposition and then strike again.

You could do it about once per encounter from level 2? Then die to disengage attacks?

[gwith]

For two man you probably would have the easiest time with two ciphers. You won't have enough damage output to dedicate one of your characters to tank and bosses don't have blanket immunities so you can debuff them to oblivion. Grab some dakkas to generate focus and just paralize/confuse/dominate/daze all your enemies.

 

For 3 I would have a chanter tank and 2 ranged dps. Probably a cipher and maybe a paladin to oneshot casters. Or a wizard if you don't mind resting a lot. Actually that's how I started my current party as I hate micro just as you. Later on I picked up a wizard as 4th member as dps still was just too low. I still don't know if it was worth it or not, most of the time she just spams autoattacks for laughable damage, but she can lay out a world of pain when she starts spell spamming.

How do paladins one shot casters?

[PrimeJunta]

I'd go with a tank-built fighter + ranged cipher. Ciphers get lots of seriously good abilities that synergise with a companion.

 

Two ciphers would probably work too, if you made one a frontliner with high Deflection and Concentration and the other one a glass cannon nuker.

[LadyCrimson]

For two man you probably would have the easiest time with two ciphers. You won't have enough damage output to dedicate one of your characters to tank and bosses don't have blanket immunities so you can debuff them to oblivion. Grab some dakkas to generate focus and just paralize/confuse/dominate/daze all your enemies.

 

For 3 I would have a chanter tank and 2 ranged dps. Probably a cipher and maybe a paladin to oneshot casters. Or a wizard if you don't mind resting a lot. Actually that's how I started my current party as I hate micro just as you. Later on I picked up a wizard as 4th member as dps still was just too low. I still don't know if it was worth it or not, most of the time she just spams autoattacks for laughable damage, but she can lay out a world of pain when she starts spell spamming.

Good points.

So I take it the game has too many counters for two melee fighters to just "tough it out," with food/potion buff use etc? eg, two high level Monks. I haven't tried a Cipher yet but I hear good things about them. I'll start a test Easy game just to check out their playstyle a bit.

 

Definitely not into the wizards in PoE so far... especially at low levels. They might get better later but don't have the patience to find out right now.

[twiek]

Hi!

I just registered because of this thread. I hope i don't make huge mistakes with my english appearance.

 

Normally I really enjoy beating games like PoE in a solo run but i gave this up for now.

So i thought a two person party is the way to go! I spent about 20 hours to find my personal optimal character choice. I thought i could share my experience til now.

 

I started with an Orlean cipher on hard difficulty and created a level 2 fighter once i hit level 3.  My ciphers stats are 18-8-18-9-18-7 while the fighter goes with 8-18-8-18-8-18. It's a classical DD and tank setup.

The main skills of the cipher are Tenous Grasp, Mental Binding and Mind Blades. You can do really sick stuff with Tenous Grasp - really cool :D Besides that he wears a two-handed "Fine Estoc" (you find this early on) and a "Fine Hunting Bow" in the second slot just in case there is not enough room for two meeles.

My fighter just skilles and wears everything that raises his defense. Heavy armor, shield, ... he can tank really good.

 

With level 3 and 2 I cleared the Temple of Eothas easily. With level 4 and 3 I bet everything in Raedric's Castle. Now I'm at the beggining in Caed Nua (nearly level 5 cipher and level 4 fighter at the moment). I don't know what waits there for me but I think (and hope) it will be doable.

[AnctRome]

I've just completed the game (every quest, every fight, every dragon, everything) with a 2 man party. I wasn't sure if I was going to be able to do it but I just last night killed the Alpine Dragon and the Kraken and then killed Thaos, all other quests were already done (and all bounties, the . My main character is a Bleak Walker Paladin (only because I need to get Gift from the Machine in Heritage Hill, and then sacrifice Eder to the blood whatever for 1 might and 2 deflection, which require Cruel rep which will hose any other paladin's Deep Faith), and my second character is a Chanter. We are both Wild Orlans because Defiant Resolve is easily the best racial passive for tank-types IMO. It was really hard. Alpine Dragon took me about 10 tries. Kraken actually is a joke fight and was super easy. To be honest the most difficult encounter in the entire game was the Brynlod bounty, as everyone (not literally everyone, but many people) is in exceptional plate + exceptional large shields + cautious attack AND THERE ARE THREE CHANTERS ("Shanty-Singers") who are constantly healing everyone, so from a survival point of view it is not that difficult (actually that's a lie because the "Deadfire Backstabbers" are rogues who do raw damage constantly which is a big problem) but from a DPS point of view it is a complete nightmare for 2 man parties. I had to separate the chanters by summoning things between waves of them, and then you can have part of the group keep following you while most of the group deals with your spiders or whatever, but I don't think there is any way at all to handle this group as a full force with 2 people, there is just too much mitigation and too much healing. Anyway I am extremely satisfied with having pulled it off, was not entirely sure it was possible but I did not cheat in any way, was on Path of the Damned difficulty and I just have to say there is tremendous synergy between pallies and chanters in PoE 1. I did not use any of the items introduced in the pre-deadfire patch (hat, belt, whatever) as they are obviously completely out of sync with the gear that the developer initially intended the game to be played with.

 

 

I can post more details if anyone wants to know, but my gear was Maegfolk Skull/Ryona's Breastplate/Ring of Deflection/Ring of Protection/Viettro's Formal Footwear/Concelhaut's Skull/Cloak of Comfort/Siegebreaker Gauntlets/Binging Rope/Steadfast/Little Savior (Legendary, Durgan-enchanted).

 

My chanter's gear was Gharod's Chorus (retaliation)/He Carries Many Scars (Legendary, Durgan-enchanted, Shock-proofed, +2 Int), Ring of Protection, Ring of Changing Heart, Frythr's Plated Greaves/Mantle of the Excavator/Glittering Gauntlets/Looped Rope/Wodewys (Exceptional, Durgan-enchanted), Little Savior (Legendary, Durgan-Enchanted, I used the Helwax Mold to dupe this once it was legendary and durgan-enchanted, enabling me to have 3 legendary pieces of armor)

 

There is incredible synergy between these two people and the only fight which really gave me a lot of trouble was the Alpine Dragon. I am going to try Deadfire with this same crew although they have changed Paladin and Chanter mechanics both quite a bit.

 

FWIW I am also pretty far though another 2 man PT where my main character is a Ranger and my other character is a chanter tank... but I don't think they are nearly as effective as my original party.

[Boeroer]

Nice.

 

Goldpact Knights can be cruel without any drawback by the way.

 

In Deadfire Paladins and Chanters are even better and have even more synergies.

 

Speaking about synergiy with a two-man-party: you should try Barb + Priest.

[Hulk'O'Saurus]

I am down with couple of wizards.

 

Why?

 

Dunno.

 

Think it would be cool, though.

Edited April 5, 2018 by Hulk'O'Saurus

[Druitt]

I've been trying a duo with me as Monk and picking up Eder (Fighter) as my tank, on Normal. One of the things I've liked so far is to get the Rogue talent for backstabbing, and then I can run around behind folks that are being tanked and do some serious damage.

[molly_hatchet]

Nice.

 

Goldpact Knights can be cruel without any drawback by the way.

 

In Deadfire Paladins and Chanters are even better and have even more synergies.

 

Speaking about synergiy with a two-man-party: you should try Barb + Priest.

 

 

This (barbarian and priest) is piquing my curiosity... what are their major overlaps/synergies? I have only ever had Durance as priest experience, in a party I took partway through a "Hard" game using companions. I've never used a barbarian before.

 

I am VERY interested in doing a runthrough with a duo team.

[molly_hatchet]

 

Nice.

 

Goldpact Knights can be cruel without any drawback by the way.

 

In Deadfire Paladins and Chanters are even better and have even more synergies.

 

Speaking about synergiy with a two-man-party: you should try Barb + Priest.

 

 

This (barbarian and priest) is piquing my curiosity... what are their major overlaps/synergies? I have only ever had Durance as priest experience, in a party I took partway through a "Hard" game using companions. I've never used a barbarian before.

 

I am VERY interested in doing a runthrough with a duo team.

 

 

 

Also wondering if a paladin/priest duo works pretty well?

[Ymiraku]

Paladin/priest would be extremely strong. You wouldn't be able to burn through groups as quickly as you could with barb/priest but you would have an easier time against dragons etc. Then again sacred immolation + shining beacon would provide some crazy aoe damage.

[molly_hatchet]

Paladin/priest would be extremely strong. You wouldn't be able to burn through groups as quickly as you could with barb/priest but you would have an easier time against dragons etc. Then again sacred immolation + shining beacon would provide some crazy aoe damage.

 

 

Thanks for the reply! The paladin/priest combo sounds interesting... maybe a Bleak Walker paladin and an evil priest would be fun.

 

The paladin I used in my previous playthrough (Palegina) I specced for firearms. I will look into melee options for this duo.