PotD Trial of Run planning

[Creslin321]

Hey All,

 

So I think I may take the plunge and try PotD with Trial of Iron, I definitely want to build my full party custom, but I'm kind of agonizing over my party build.  I was wondering if you guys had any advice.

 

So far my plan is to have...

 

1 Fighter.  Tank focused completely on defense.  I'm thinking of having INT as a dump stat because it doesn't seem like AoE or duration is important for fighters.

 

1 Priest.  It seems like priests have lots of great support spells, and they definitely seem to be the best at healing so I thought a priest would be important.

 

1 Cypher.  In my current hard game my cypher does great consistent damage, so I thought one would be useful for AoE DPS and some CC.

 

1 Wizard.  I like the versatility that a wizard gets with all the different spells, and fan of flames does such great damage for a level 1 spell.  I'm a little unsure of the wizard still though, not sure if a druid or another cypher may be better...

 

1 Chanter.  I like the AoE buffs the chants give, and their summon spells have worked out pretty well for me in my hard game.

 

 

The last slot is open, I'm thinking maybe Barbarian to help the fighter out with some consistent DPS in the front line...I'm just worried that a barb would get melted too fast.

 

Any thoughts?

Edited April 2, 2015 by Creslin321

[Bartleby]

It's not very punishing to simply swap members as you go. The people you hire in taverns will be the same level as those in your party. Just try something and swap if needed  

[Creslin321]

It's not very punishing to simply swap members as you go. The people you hire in taverns will be the same level as those in your party. Just try something and swap if needed

 

OMG, I just figured this out myself lol.

 

I had thought for some reason that people not in your party got 0 exp because when I looked at them in the "swap" screen, they were still level 3 while all my guys were level 6.  Then I realized that it's just because they had the exp, I just needed to level them up.  LOL dumb me.

[Sir Rogers]

2 fighters to tank the increased amount of mobs I'd say, defo 1 priest and 1 chanter. The last 2 slots customizable as you play best.

[Lasci]

Swap the wizard out for a paladin or monk and I think you're good to go.

[Mercbeast]

I wouldn't take a barb. 

 

I'd run double tank.

Chanter/Priest

Double ranged DPS (rogue+cipher).

 

I'm currently running through POTD without trial of iron. My barb is about neck and neck with my cipher in terms of DPS. Problem is the barb can die, and it can die really easily and really quickly. For ultimate cheese you could probably run 3 ciphers + 2 tanks + 1 priest and that would be a relatively (if micro intensive) easy run and rather safe given how easy it is to abuse the paralyze spell with ciphers.

[Creslin321]

Thanks for the advice guys!

 

One question though, what would you guys think of taking a druid?  The druid seems like they have really good AoE DPS and decent utility with their spells, but I have very little experience with them.

 

Any thought?

[Lasci]

My main character is a druid and I love her to bits. It's good early because of shapeshift and dominates later because of an excellent spell list.

[Ceranai]

Hey All,

 

So I think I may take the plunge and try PotD with Trial of Iron, I definitely want to build my full party custom, but I'm kind of agonizing over my party build.  I was wondering if you guys had any advice.

 

So far my plan is to have...

 

1 Fighter.  Tank focused completely on defense.  I'm thinking of having INT as a dump stat because it doesn't seem like AoE or duration is important for fighters.

 

1 Priest.  It seems like priests have lots of great support spells, and they definitely seem to be the best at healing so I thought a priest would be important.

 

1 Cypher.  In my current hard game my cypher does great consistent damage, so I thought one would be useful for AoE DPS and some CC.

 

1 Wizard.  I like the versatility that a wizard gets with all the different spells, and fan of flames does such great damage for a level 1 spell.  I'm a little unsure of the wizard still though, not sure if a druid or another cypher may be better...

 

1 Chanter.  I like the AoE buffs the chants give, and their summon spells have worked out pretty well for me in my hard game.

 

 

The last slot is open, I'm thinking maybe Barbarian to help the fighter out with some consistent DPS in the front line...I'm just worried that a barb would get melted too fast.

 

Any thoughts?

druid>wizard 9 out of 10 fights, druid can heal, is less of a glass cannon, has a better range of spells per fight and mostimportantly can cast their spells safely behind the from line without worrying about hitting enemies. Fact is as wizard all your best spells require you to position badly or to fire through your own team. 

 

Also i think the best set up is invariably 3 front row 3 back row because less than 3 in your back row always runs the risk of people getting to you squishies. I am going to turn my solo PoTD attempt into a rstandard run and I will be running 3 godlike moon monks, one priest, and two cyphers, im quite confident that build will tear apart any groups, hell im pretty sure my monks could solo most thinks by themselves anyway im only throwing the cyphers in to speed it up and the priest in as a lifeboat if things get nasty

[gwith]

Run Cyphers, you win...

 

And please do not take a ****ty chanter.

Edited April 2, 2015 by gwith

[Fimconte]

Run Cyphers, you win...

 

And please do not take a ****ty chanter.

Chanter is only really good for Gunpowder spam with Ila's.  

If you go with like Chanter + 3 ranged Gunpowder, it's worth it for the increased ASPD and much faster reload.

 

Beyond that, chanter is not that great. 

Edited April 2, 2015 by Fimconte

[Ceranai]

Run Cyphers, you win...

 

And please do not take a ****ty chanter.

Running a 5 man chanter 1 priest is epic, if cheesy, the pure number of summons guarantees you win any fight you survive the first 12 seconds of

[Sobric]

Not played on this mode or at this difficulty yet, but Moon Godlike Paladins make decent tanks and provide support to your main tank (fighter). 

 

A Monk could also be an option to provide more CC, but I'm not sure how well a Monk can tank at the hardest difficulties (Moon Godlike is again great here though!)

[Odd Hermit]

Paladin, you want one. For dispel, revive, and for the +6 accuracy aura. Ideally as your PC so you can take dialogue options to buff Faith and Conviction.

 

I'd honestly take two and skip the fighter, personally. Or get a monk for more prone spam. Fighter gets 2 prones, Monk gets nigh infinite as long as they're taking some damage - and damage is in bigger supply on PoD of course. Monk also debuffs and reflects and has all sorts kooky stuff.

 

Also might swap Cipher out for Druid on PoD. Ciphers are amazing on hard but pretty meh on PoD IMO.

Edited April 2, 2015 by Odd Hermit

[Fun3z]

Thinking about starting aswell and this is what my party would look like.

 

Fighter - Tank

Paladin - Tank (For buffs!)

2 x Priest - Ranged and for healing and SEALS! (Ultimate cheese spells, you will need these in order to beat certain fights)

2 x Cipher - Ranged

[Odd Hermit]

Thinking about starting aswell and this is what my party would look like.

 

Fighter - Tank

Paladin - Tank (For buffs!)

2 x Priest - Ranged and for healing and SEALS! (Ultimate cheese spells, you will need these in order to beat certain fights)

2 x Cipher - Ranged

 

2x Cipher is a total waste IMO.

 

Spell diversity and synergy is what works on PoD.

 

Wizard and/or Druid for their debuffs and DoTs stacking > Ciphers

 

 

Ciphers have their uses and Pain Block is a really great buff to toss on a tank, but you definitely don't need two of them.

 

Priests are pretty strong though I could see doubling up on them as valid..

[Fun3z]

Yeah I guess u could take druid instead of one cipher tbh or even 3rd priest haha.

[lord_wc]

Chanter moon godlike tank (no might needed, can deflection tank all right, will buff ranged and can stay relevant due to summons).

Cipher with blunderbuss (CC then shoot with the BB once for about 30 focus, CC the rest - weaponswap another BB of course for more focus)

Paladin with arquebus (main job is to take out casters the cipher paralyzes immediately and provide accuracy to casters - I might reroll this to have 4 swaps of weapon though)

Druid with arquebus (main job is to, well, take out everything that's not a caster)

 

Works all right, will probably add more members when needed (maybe an offtank and another druid - druids are actually really good). I would love to include melee dps but honestly everyone that goes into melee range and is not a tank has very good chances of ending up dead.

Edited April 2, 2015 by lord_wc

[Lasci]

Thinking about starting aswell and this is what my party would look like.

 

Fighter - Tank

Paladin - Tank (For buffs!)

2 x Priest - Ranged and for healing and SEALS! (Ultimate cheese spells, you will need these in order to beat certain fights)

2 x Cipher - Ranged

 

Swap one of the priests out for a druid and you should be fine. There's no reason to take two priests on PotD; a druid will provide much more damage and support than a second priest.

 

Alternatively, you can take a chanter instead of that second priest, which can serve as an off-tank to support your frontline. 

Edited April 2, 2015 by Lasci

[Ehrgeix]

I'm not sure how much optimization matters compared to prior cRPGs - I'm playing on PotD using a relatively optimized PC (Druid), but other than that I've just picked up the standard NPCs (Aloth, Eder, Durance, and Kana Rua thusfar - first playthrough etc). I think positioning and spell use matter a *lot* more than builds in this game compared to anything else similar. So that makes Trial of Iron seem kind of rough on PotD - like, you misposition something and a bunch of shadows kill your Wizard and it's bad times.

 

That said - pretty rough thoughts below based on optimzing similar stuff and reading things:

 

I think all your melee guys should be Moon or Fire Godlike, all your ranged guys should be Wood Elves or Heath Orlan. Probably you do want a Druid in your group somewhere, because they seem incredibly ridiculous. Also a Priest for the DR/damage/accuracy buffs, and a Cipher since everyone seems to think they're incredibly busted. Probably a Fighter and a Paladin?

 

So something like:

 

Backline: Druid (spells only? guns/spells?), Cipher (guns/spells?), Priest (spells only? guns/spells?)

Frontline: Fighter (1h & shield), Paladin (1h & shield), ?

Edited April 2, 2015 by Ehrgeix