Building a melee party

[Blovski]

So, I've had a couple of runs on both Hard and POTD with relatively dedicated tank and spank parties and I want to try something a little different. Not least because melee item loot was never terribly important to me, which seems a shame. Considering trying to run the game without ranged weapon specialists for the sake of... science, I guess?

My theory is, I want a team of a Cipher and a Rogue built for Deflection, using Escape to target the enemy backline and simultaneously rake the frontline with ectopsychic echo before they get a nerf for that in, which leaves me with four slots.

Probably a Priest because I've not used one for ages and because I figure their buffs will be a massive help if I can't rely on anyone being miles away from fire abusing the terrible AI, so that's three spots.

I'm tempted by wizards for the 1.05 buffs but then I just played a tank wizard. The idea of not using a druid makes me a little sad when I think about the Hold Beast spell but I've kind of overplayed them, too.

Which leaves:

Ranger, Chanter, Fighter, Barbarian, Paladin, Monk.

I tried a Monk on my second runthrough and it didn't really do it for me. I can't tell if I just built them wrong, though.

Chanters are very cool but I'm not sure what they really *add* to a melee party where move speed and reload aren't tremendously important... any ideas for chant selection? Rangers... nopenopenope from a melee perspective. Pet talents just don't let you specialise enough. Fighters are the dog's bollocks but a wall-of-stone fighter just doesn't appeal at the moment, anyone working with squishier damage dealing Fighters?

Anywayanyway, anyone got any suggestions? I want to keep the focus mostly to melee as the primary damage output, though I'm painfully aware that a good CCer would make a lot of difference to the group.

Edited May 9, 2015 by Blovski

[Raven Darkholme]

Fighter, Monk, Barbarian and Paladin all don't feel terribly well suited for this kind of party. Chanter seems the best bet but I guess I personally would go with more than one rogue. ;P

[peddroelm]

I've been playing potd melee parties exclusively .. All human theme .. 

 

fighter (damage stats and talents except weapon & shield, defender and wary defender) - rarely use the shield but it is and option. Noble weapons - Deathwing

paladin (damage stats and talents - kind wayfarer + lay on hands(mostly for monk)  )  - tidefall 

barbarian (damage stats and talents - top damage dealer) - The White Spire estoc (exceptional ) - great damage and AOE debuff

monk (damage stats and talents - close to barb in terms of damage) - knight focus (swords/axes)  (nice combo stunning/enervating blows, torment spammer otherwise)

ranger (damage stats and talents - barely above fighter in terms of damage ) - fells a bit off - but melee theme forbids casters ( chanter, cipher, priest, wizard, druid .. ) . Uses reach weapons  - staff because he goes down too easily otherwise ... And ranged weaponry forbidden in melee themed party .. 

rogue (damage stats and talents) - dual sabres .. Most effective single target unit ( likes to take advantage of monk stunning fists) 

 

Reason I didn't max fighter tanking (far from it) is because barb needs to be in the middle of it to make best use of limited carnage range // OSA .. Monk needs to get hit to increase damage output.. Protagonist paladins are quite sturdy even when built for maximum damage output ..

Edited May 9, 2015 by peddroelm

[Tigranes]

I'm currently doing Monk, Rogue, and (Ranged) Ranger on POTD, doing just fine. It'l be interesting to have even a pure melee combat like Fighter / Paladin / Barbarian / Monk / Rogue. It'd still be ridiculously powerful, and instead of corridor-blocking all the time it'll be in your interests to actually widen the battlefield, changing typical space / crowd management.

[peddroelm]

I'm currently doing Monk, Rogue, and (Ranged) Ranger on POTD, doing just fine. It'l be interesting to have even a pure melee combat like Fighter / Paladin / Barbarian / Monk / Rogue. It'd still be ridiculously powerful, and instead of corridor-blocking all the time it'll be in your interests to actually widen the battlefield, changing typical space / crowd management.

oh yeah - doors / tight spaces are the suck .. You need open spaces to be able to fully engage / flank the enemy .. 

[Manty5]

Suggestions?  Well if you're allowing no casters at all, then you need another source of healing and buffing/debuffing.

You want a Kind Wayfarer DPS paladin (preferably with a reach weapon) and a high-int chanter in that mix, methinks.  Also consider getting spellholding items and scrolls.

 

Choose which characters max survival and which ones max Lore.  All characters should have 2 Lore for level 1 scrolls, which are cheap and effective.

Give the Barb Survival so he can chug accuracy potions before big fights, and give the buff scrolls to any tanks with low might/high int.

 

Edit:  Oh, and have you considered using a figurine summons as your echo target?

Edited May 9, 2015 by Manty5

[Manty5]

ranger (damage stats and talents - barely above fighter in terms of damage ) - fells a bit off - but melee theme forbids casters ( chanter, cipher, priest, wizard, druid .. ) . Uses reach weapons  - staff because he goes down too easily otherwise ... And ranged weaponry forbidden in melee themed party ...

 

 

 

Have you considered pistol/blunderbuss with close-range talent?  Shotguns ARE melee weapons

Edited May 9, 2015 by Manty5

[MoxyWoo]

Chanter can use some odd tactics like their Frost chant and run around trailing it behind them for slow down effect.  They also get some nice multiplicative benefits by stacking on Come-Come-Swift at the beginning, plus can play second row melee very easily this way, and later on that +Fire dmg chant for all the weapon swinging.

 

Wizard was mentioned, but I love them in any game.

 

Priest is good because of your tight formation usually, mainly you can use consecrated ground to keep everyone up if spells are allowed, I'm sure similarly a druid would also work via Nature's balm, but the Priest gives off another per encounter +5 accuracy/heal too, and melee is already crowded enough.

 

I'd revisit monk, use torment's reach more and moon godlike as one of the more powerful and fun combos, later on, rooting pain around them enables other melee classes to hit better which is awesome.  Plus they supposedly have the best in house dps with just fists, so stacking the chanter + faster weapons + dmg modifiers will be cool.

 

So...

 

1.  Cipher + Hatchet/shield for the extra deflection, mainly uses the "beam" spells.  (Main theme, doesn't have to be main PC)

2.  Rogue + hatchet/shield for the extra deflection, while escape ability is good... it doesn't save you once there if using the above.  OR monk + long stride (as turning wheel is bugged and will overwrite unarmed damage in some games, so long stride is a great choice at lvl 3) and they can run hella fast.  OR paladin + zealous charge + main pc for the extra defenses + outworn buckler for the entire party.  Moon godlike recommended for all of them.

 

-small note, if only engaged with one, you can "circle" an engaged without triggering Opportunity attacks with the above.

 

3.  Chanter tank.  Mostly to keep your tight formation for the other 5 in the group not in the "beam" using.  This guy uses invocations almost exclusively and so uses Come come swift almost every encounter, or the Dull the point, lvl 1 phrases.

4.  Chanter reach weapon.   Uses the higher lvl phrases to enable the group, but in earlier levels, plays like the above.

5.  Barbarian, cuz they're cool, and aoe is appreciated.

6.  whatever. maybe another cipher because double beams seems hilarious to make a plasma melee party.  Though with spells in play, Priest is also decent due to the above accuracy stuff and healing ground area.

Edited May 10, 2015 by MoxyWoo

[MadDemiurg]

Monk with long stride is a much better partner for ectopsychic echo cipher than a rogue. Even more so at level 11 when you get flagellants path. Disengagement attacks just give you more wounds.

 

As for chanter best support chants for melee are probably the -slash/pierce damage one at level 1, frighten at level 2 and flame weapons (duh!) at level 3.

Edited May 10, 2015 by MadDemiurg

[mazeltov]

I've been playing potd melee parties exclusively .. All human theme .. 

 

fighter (damage stats and talents except weapon & shield, defender and wary defender) - rarely use the shield but it is and option. Noble weapons - Deathwing

paladin (damage stats and talents - kind wayfarer + lay on hands(mostly for monk)  )  - tidefall 

barbarian (damage stats and talents - top damage dealer) - The White Spire estoc (exceptional ) - great damage and AOE debuff

monk (damage stats and talents - close to barb in terms of damage) - knight focus (swords/axes)  (nice combo stunning/enervating blows, torment spammer otherwise)

ranger (damage stats and talents - barely above fighter in terms of damage ) - fells a bit off - but melee theme forbids casters ( chanter, cipher, priest, wizard, druid .. ) . Uses reach weapons  - staff because he goes down too easily otherwise ... And ranged weaponry forbidden in melee themed party .. 

rogue (damage stats and talents) - dual sabres .. Most effective single target unit ( likes to take advantage of monk stunning fists) 

 

This party reeks of balance. All Human, too? It brings a tear to my eye.

 

Casters are so April 2015.

 

--

 

The state of bug fixes and whatnot feels good enough to go ahead with my Tanky Flank party from the novelty playthroughs thread. Six tanks, including three Paladins for the satisfaction of using all three Pally auras at the same time and having every party member benefit from them. Following MD's suggestion, I'll be trying a no pause challenge with slo-mo combat speed setting. Should be fun times.

[peddroelm]

 

Have you considered pistol/blunderbuss with close-range talent?  Shotguns ARE melee weapons

 

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=dzrAzAPWkbk 

 

Currently marked prey + blunderbuss is broken (at least in my save)