Whats the best DPS to be my second custom party member

[soulshift]

My main is a Wild Orlain Fighter Tank.

I want one of my DPS to also be a custom min/max toon.

 

my question is what would probably benefit most from min/max compared to however the NPCs come specced.

 

Its either gonna be a custom wizard, cipher, or rogue.

 

I know rogue dont have a voice acted NPC and i dont want that to be factored in to your guys opinion since i dont care about that. 

 

How good is the NPC wizard specced? and the NPC cipher? if they are both good i might roll rogue custom. if either would significantly benefit from custom specs i may roll wiz or cipher custom and just not bring a rogue at all in my game. 

 

*Normal difficulty*

[tnc]

Wizard npc has low might. Cipher is managable. All the companions in this game are faar away from being min maxed.

 

If you're going to min max only one character i would go with one of barbarian/rogue/monk since they are the best dps when min maxed and properly protected by a tank. Personally i min maxed a barbarian while having a monk main char because they murder everyone especially the barb huge damage and aoe too.

[soulshift]

Hmm maybe barb. cipher is decent?

 

Ok so i guess between wiz/barb 

 

How would you spec them during character creation if your min maxin each? ill probably pick one of those 2

[tnc]

wizard high might and int medium dex and cons low resolve and per.

 

barb high might and dex medium cons and int low resolve and per.

 

you can go all the way to 20 for some stats with wizard but i dont suggest that on barb as he's melee and should not be too low on deflection. also check my guide there's barb tips:

 

http://forums.obsidian.net/topic/73658-barbarianmonkpriest-overpowered-combo/

[Voss]

Companions are built poorly.  And the cipher npc is... fairly on in the game, which means you're going to be higher level and she's going to have more bad talents. 

Edited March 30, 2015 by Voss

[cctobias]

For the custom specifically:

 

Rogue is the highest straight up kill em immediately:

   - Sneak attack x1.5

   - BackStab x2

   -Reckless assault x1.2

 

Back stab is only from sealth or invis and invis is two per rest but backstab is in total x2.7 or more damage.  So a rogue that is micro managed properly can take something out of the encounter basically immediately from stealth.  For really important fight you can take out 1 or 2 more if you take the invus talent.

 

For normal attack rogue is capable x1.7 damage as long as you make sure to debuff things and the normal companion are perfectly cpable of this

 

Also there is no Rogue companion.

 

 

The other option which is also very good is Cipher they are somewhat less damage with less capability to instantly take out via killing but more versatile good at range and can still disable things via other means.

 

Cipher is probably second highest damage since:

    -Soul whip is x1.2

    - Biting whip is x1.2

    - they can enhance offense or debuff defense very easily

 

So a cipher is normal at x1.4 which is pretty good and if they took savage attack if they had weapon with good +accuracy you could add some more.

 

Additionally they some nice AOE damage, a killer AOE paralyze, various other things to cause chaos and they even have a nice heal.

 

 

These are the two min/max custom options I would suggest.  They are roughly equivalent but play fairly different.  They are both roughly capable of taking multiple foes out of the fight either by kill or other means.  They both do very good basic attack damage, with the rogue being better, but the cipher has other goodies and being perfectly fine as pure ranged (rogue needs 2m on backstab can use ranged, blunderbus, but to really take stuff out needs to get close).

 

Cipher can also buff your fighter, but so can a lot of other things and there is a cipher companion as well.  The companions are quite bad though.

[soulshift]

thanks alot. im going to go with custom cipher and the rest of my party will be NPCs.

 

Ill search around but just incase, could i get a suggested starting stats/talent/race/background trait etc. id like to not second guess my roll on him considering how many times i already rerolled my tank. this is a one time shot for my proper cipher once i get to town. any other pointers? i plan on rolling this cipher as soon as available in town. anything i need to know before doing so?

 

thank you

 

 

 

 

im going to go ranged cipher. i guess blunderbuss? just fyi

Edited March 30, 2015 by soulshift

[cctobias]

thanks alot. im going to go with custom cipher and the rest of my party will be NPCs.

 

Ill search around but just incase, could i get a suggested starting stats/talent/race/background trait etc. id like to not second guess my roll on him considering how many times i already rerolled my tank. this is a one time shot for my proper cipher once i get to town. any other pointers? i plan on rolling this cipher as soon as available in town. anything i need to know before doing so?

 

thank you

 

 

 

 

im going to go ranged cipher. i guess blunderbuss? just fyi

 

I make no claims towards this being the best but this is what I would use for cipher:

 

Race wood elf purely for the racial ability and dex.  You might as well be ranged and the extra accuracy puts a cipher closer to Rogue etc.

 

Stats (I may have this slight wrong numbes wise):

 

might: 19(+1 from culture)

con: 3

Dex: 19

per:3 (put leftover points)

Int: 18 (alternately put culter point here)

resolve: 3

 

its a toss up between int and might, they are basically equivalent do this to taste, you might as well put extra points in per for interrupt as ranged you should hopefully not need concetration and the Con bonuses are not that bad on a class with low Vitality already.

 

Powers (for starters not gonna do full list ):

Eyestrike no matter what.  I usually take Soul shock works great with a good tank.  The charm is good and tenuous grasp is ok.  I am unsure about the beam.  You definitely want the Mental Bind paralyze+ aoe stuck at level 2 powers.

 

Talents:

Biting whip (good damage increase and you are like 50/50 between powers and weapon for damage)

draining whip (use a blunderbus with this to get massive focus)

Other talents to your choice, poissibly the ranged ones,

If you feel good on accuracy take Savage attack (remember the Wood Elf part?  that offsets the savage attack -5 accuracy so you can choose between more accuracy or extra x1.2 damage and get into rogue territory damage ).  Note probably turn if off when casting non-damaging debuffs (eyestrike)

DO NOT TAKE MAX FOCUS TALENT (+10 max focus may sound good but it sucks don't take it)

[Arctic]

get a wood elf cypher if you want my build pm me

 

Important note: At hight level, chanters do a hight amount of damage with their lvl 3 chants. So you want at least 1 in your team .. or 2 .. or 3 ... xD

 

 

PD: I did take the max focus talent, but couse there is nothing else good enought xD, since your damage is not elemental you cant take the 20% damage one ...

Edited March 30, 2015 by Arctic

[soulshift]

Thanks for answers. I'm hesitant to drop any stats down that low.. It's just ugh. But maybe I could try. I'm going to grab a chanter too. That sounds like it will fit in group nicely.

[Mercbeast]

Ciphers, Barbs and Chanters are IMHO the best damage dealers at higher difficulty levels. The issue with Rogue is not that they don't plow people/things, it's that they do it one at a time. Whereas the other 3 can plow stuff one at a time almost as well, but they can blow up groups.

 

Wiz/Druid can do this as well, but they are not per encounter type abilities. Those guys are your artillery. They have range to reach out and wreck someone, but they have limited shells so you need to conserve them.

 

Aloth is one of my most important companions on a POTD run, primarily because when the battle is super crazy, he pulls out all the stops and its a big game changer for me. On the other hand, 90% of all fights he just shoots with an Arbalest and does pitiful damage ;p

[bobthe]

I can't recommend Barbarian for your DPS enough =D My barbarian has done at least triple the damage of any other individual party member, including my rogue, which was a custom NPC I added immediately when I got to the first town so he's been in my party nearly as long as my Barbarian (main char).

[Mercbeast]

Thanks for answers. I'm hesitant to drop any stats down that low.. It's just ugh. But maybe I could try. I'm going to grab a chanter too. That sounds like it will fit in group nicely.

 

Chanters are great. I don't know what difficulty you're playing on but yea, people dropping stats that low, I'm not sure I'd recommend that on POTD. Lot of AOE flying around and in some fights anyone with less than 70ish endurance will instantly die.

 

Barbarians and Monks might be the only class you could really get away with dumping con low because they get  such a high modifier to begin with.

 

The more I play POTD difficulty, the more I change how I would have built my 3 hirelings. For DPS I've started to adopt an old addage from Mountain Biking regarding wheels. Pick 2 from;

Light, strong or cheap.

 

Now substitute that for might, dex, int. You don't need all 3 on your DPS at POTD unless you are making a very glass cannony blow everything up instantly group build. For example my PC barbarian I went 16 might, 18 dex and 18 int. If I could go back I would drop the might down and boost my constitution and or resolve/perception a bit. Why? The difference in might isn't going to make or break the barbarian, I'd rather be able to stick her in the fight and have a little more leeway in protecting/healing her.

 

For my cipher, I'd pick dex and int again. For a priest I'd pick might and int. For a CC wizard I'd pick dex and int. For a DPS wizard might and dex.

 

Basically I'd rather have reliability over a little extra damage. Giving myself a little more staying power is what counts for me on POTD, mainly because I am not running a cheese 6 cipher group that opens with 12 mind blades ;p

[Arctic]

 

Thanks for answers. I'm hesitant to drop any stats down that low.. It's just ugh. But maybe I could try. I'm going to grab a chanter too. That sounds like it will fit in group nicely.

 

Chanters are great. I don't know what difficulty you're playing on but yea, people dropping stats that low, I'm not sure I'd recommend that on POTD. Lot of AOE flying around and in some fights anyone with less than 70ish endurance will instantly die.

 

Barbarians and Monks might be the only class you could really get away with dumping con low because they get  such a high modifier to begin with.

 

The more I play POTD difficulty, the more I change how I would have built my 3 hirelings. For DPS I've started to adopt an old addage from Mountain Biking regarding wheels. Pick 2 from;

Light, strong or cheap.

 

Now substitute that for might, dex, int. You don't need all 3 on your DPS at POTD unless you are making a very glass cannony blow everything up instantly group build. For example my PC barbarian I went 16 might, 18 dex and 18 int. If I could go back I would drop the might down and boost my constitution and or resolve/perception a bit. Why? The difference in might isn't going to make or break the barbarian, I'd rather be able to stick her in the fight and have a little more leeway in protecting/healing her.

 

For my cipher, I'd pick dex and int again. For a priest I'd pick might and int. For a CC wizard I'd pick dex and int. For a DPS wizard might and dex.

 

Basically I'd rather have reliability over a little extra damage. Giving myself a little more staying power is what counts for me on POTD, mainly because I am not running a cheese 6 cipher group that opens with 12 mind blades ;p

 

 

 

the thing is ... that for example a cypher or a wizard.... you want to cast your spells as fast as you can, couse when you have a mob coming to you, or one that can kill all your party in 1 hit, you can be as fast as you can to stun it ... so that means no armor .. and with no armor and the low hp from that squishi classes ... it dont matter if you have 18 constitution .. you will still die in 1 hit... so .. if you will die in 1 hit why waste points ?  just put a 3 in there ... the same goes for .. intelect for example ... if you use a retaliate tank monk, without duration in skills and no aoe .. why will you waste points in int ?  or with a full tank whay waste points in might when you will go with -20 acuracy and -60% attack speed ...