Second Playthrough Build

[Gunnar.Maluf]

Hi all, 

 

I just finished the game on 1.04 patch playing as a wizard (love them) on hard.

 

I love the game! It took me 105 hours to complete. I did lots of sidequests, the bounties, the 15 levels of the Stronghold, all the companion quests  etc. 

 

Now for my second playthrough I would like suggestions of what builds to play. While I played the game I was between the Ranger and

the Wizard but when I got the Ranger companion I didn't like it. It felt boring.Don't know if it had the wrong/boring abillities that made it feel like that. My point is, I like to micromanage during fights, I dont like to just look at Endurance levels and drink a potion now and then.

 

That being said, what do you suggest?

 

Also, someone played with a whole player created party? (no companions)

If that's the case, what classes did you use/mixed?

 

And if I create, lets say, the whole party, if I start a new game, will those "adventurers" be available to play as the main character? Can I choose them?

 

 

Thanks

[JONNIN]

I advise against an entirely player created party.   That might do for the final fights on hardcore mode, but IMHO you miss out not doing the companion quests and should have room in your part for at least 2 - 3 of the default companions at all times. 

 

Range is a little dull, but the companion one is not terribly well crafted.   Mostly, you have a couple of special attacks to click once in a while, and you stand there shooting and reloading the rest of the time. 

 

Player created party works like this.   You make a MAIN character.   You play thru the intro to the first inn, and from there you can roll companions for a fee (250 per level?).   You can roll 3 right away from the money from the intro items you found, maybe even 4 if you did more stuff, 3 if you did the bare minimum (includes the dissapointer vendored).   You can only add these to the current adventure, you can't roll charactrers to use in multiple adventures.    Its probably hackable, but thats another story.   In general you do not make them outside the adventure, but inside each one, see?

 

as for a class, do something different.    A monk? A druid?  A cipher?  There are a lot to pick from... 

 

Party makeup is your own choice.   This is just my opinion:

the fighter and priest given to you are pretty (very?) good.  

The wizard, cipher, chanter, and paladin are exceedingly poorly rolled or have poor default abilities from their auto-level-up.

The druid and hunter are OK.

 

Building off 2-3 of those default companions...

well I like to roll my own cipher, for sure, with a 19 int for large aoes. 

If you gonna use a paladin, you can't go wrong with a moongod high con damage sponge.

If you gonna use a wizard, you can't go wrong with your own that has 18+ might or 18+ int (and neither of those below 18)

If you gonna use a chanter, being able to pop out a phantom right away is good. Kana *can* be fixed/salvaged, but you need 2 levels to do it.

If you want a monk, rogue, barbarian, you gotta roll your own.  A second fighter can be sweet as well.

 

Races ... for max min, moongod (self heals), orlan (the hits to crits racial is powerful), wood elf (casters or ranged),  and amuana/dwarf (melee dps or high might toons) are all worth considering.  

Edited May 11, 2015 by JONNIN

[Raven Darkholme]

If you want interesting on the same level as wizard I'd go priest or druid, if you want to worry about resting a bit less I would go cipher.

If you want no caster I would go monk.

[Wolken3156]

I advise against an entirely player created party.   That might do for the final fights on hardcore mode, but IMHO you miss out not doing the companion quests and should have room in your part for at least 2 - 3 of the default companions at all times.

You can change party members at any inn or the stronghold. This also includes your own created characters. There's really nothing stopping you from doing them.

 

The only real downside is one of your characters will miss out on the exp. But its not a huge amount of exp anyway.

[MoxyWoo]

If you sell everything before the water skin to the merchant. . Ie get naked should have 1200 cp easily after the tutorial to have all created. Also 1 mechanic for the hidden gun sold there too.

 

I liked going 3/3 though for my ratio. Hired vs npc. That way I can micro 3 characters and the other npc can do little to no micro. Oddly adding so many premades make it too easy.

 

One odd build is to go SaganI as a tank build. Pet has 2 engagement and she can get 3 with item and talents. And if her pet dies... no worries on the loss of dps and accuracy.

 

Offhand since you did all companions.. why not a barbarian, monk and rogue? Those aren't covered.

[Jimmysdabestcop]

The Monk is a good idea for your PC. Once you do all the companion quests in your playthrough no reason to bring them on your 2nd playthrough I feel.

 

I would go IceWind Dale style and create an entire party. Monk, Fighter, Cipher, Priest with whatever other 2 slots you like. Maybe Barbarian and a Wizard.

[JONNIN]

I could have said that better --- right, you hit the stronghold and with a slot or two, swap out the companions, do their quest, and trade them around.  As their fighter and priest are pretty good I often have those 2, 3 of my own (including main) and rotate out the final slot to handle the side quests.  Correct, it is not a lot of xp for the companion quests, you can skip them if you prefer.  

 

I think people have literally soloed with each class now, or nearly (?).   Party makeup can be literally almost anything up to POTD.  POTD needs a deep understanding of the game,  and a silly party of all wizards or something takes more skill than a balanced party.   If you are having trouble, balance makes it a lot easier, at any difficulty level.

 

750 gold for 3 inn-created sidekicks is selling the disappointer, all your excess gear from the scripted "must do" fights, and most of your crafting materials that you found in the first 2 areas including all that vessel flesh at the machine.  It does not include any sideline stuff as I would save all the sidelines (xarip camp, bandit camp, bear cave, ooze / hidden wall eyegem, grid of traps (good chunk of xp here), etc) for after you have your party assembled.   

 

Inn-created party is always 1 level under the main character.  Because of this you *may* want to "xp farm" before doing anything serious at the very beginning.  XP farming is basically getting some free XP by doing things like all the intro stuff I listed, + unlocking every lock you can find in the first town (it is NOT stealing to open MOST locks in the game, just don't loot the container after popping the lock for XP) and hitting every map you can  get to without a risky fight (map unlocks give xp).  Pick up durance, do the blacksmith crate, those sorts of things.  In short order your whole team will be level 3, and able to safely do the more risky intro stuff like the temple and raderick's hold etc.   That is not necessary, but it can help get things rolling on harder difficulty settings.

Edited May 12, 2015 by JONNIN

[Gunnar.Maluf]

I could have said that better --- right, you hit the stronghold and with a slot or two, swap out the companions, do their quest, and trade them around.  As their fighter and priest are pretty good I often have those 2, 3 of my own (including main) and rotate out the final slot to handle the side quests.  Correct, it is not a lot of xp for the companion quests, you can skip them if you prefer.  

 

I think people have literally soloed with each class now, or nearly (?).   Party makeup can be literally almost anything up to POTD.  POTD needs a deep understanding of the game,  and a silly party of all wizards or something takes more skill than a balanced party.   If you are having trouble, balance makes it a lot easier, at any difficulty level.

Can I play PotD on any difficulty level?

 

Sorry, I got it messed up with Trial of Iron.

Edited May 12, 2015 by Gunnar.Maluf

[JONNIN]

 

I could have said that better --- right, you hit the stronghold and with a slot or two, swap out the companions, do their quest, and trade them around.  As their fighter and priest are pretty good I often have those 2, 3 of my own (including main) and rotate out the final slot to handle the side quests.  Correct, it is not a lot of xp for the companion quests, you can skip them if you prefer.  

 

I think people have literally soloed with each class now, or nearly (?).   Party makeup can be literally almost anything up to POTD.  POTD needs a deep understanding of the game,  and a silly party of all wizards or something takes more skill than a balanced party.   If you are having trouble, balance makes it a lot easier, at any difficulty level.

Can I play PotD on any difficulty level?

 

 

POTD *is* a difficulty level.  You can play it "not hardcore" so that you can save and reload the game.  You can play it with the nice features turned on, like "anywhere stash".  

POTD does 2 major things: it locks your difficulty so you can't set it to easy for boss fights, then back to POTD for trash.  And, it ups the difficulty in 3 ways: first, every fight will have MORE enemy,  every enemy will have higher stats (harder to hit them, and they will hit YOU easier), and every fight will have possibly tougher enemy (example, instead of a basic skuldur you get a skuldur king, or instead of a bear, you get an elder bear, or something).

 

Also, you can't carry as many camping supplies on POTD, I think it limits you to 2 at a time.

 

I do not recommend it until you have played the game through at least once, maybe twice.  Its not that much harder if you are not on trial of iron (by the way, you can play trial of iron on any difficulty, maybe that was your question?) but it will make some boss fights nearly impossible if you do not know the game mechanics, where to find the good gear, and how to build a team that can debuff and kill while staying alive.    If you know the game mechanics, its just a small step up in coordinating your team and working through the fights.  If you are new to the details, it is going to be brutal. 

Edited May 12, 2015 by JONNIN

[Gunnar.Maluf]

 

 

I could have said that better --- right, you hit the stronghold and with a slot or two, swap out the companions, do their quest, and trade them around.  As their fighter and priest are pretty good I often have those 2, 3 of my own (including main) and rotate out the final slot to handle the side quests.  Correct, it is not a lot of xp for the companion quests, you can skip them if you prefer.  

 

I think people have literally soloed with each class now, or nearly (?).   Party makeup can be literally almost anything up to POTD.  POTD needs a deep understanding of the game,  and a silly party of all wizards or something takes more skill than a balanced party.   If you are having trouble, balance makes it a lot easier, at any difficulty level.

Can I play PotD on any difficulty level?

 

 

POTD *is* a difficulty level.  You can play it "not hardcore" so that you can save and reload the game.  You can play it with the nice features turned on, like "anywhere stash".  

POTD does 2 major things: it locks your difficulty so you can't set it to easy for boss fights, then back to POTD for trash.  And, it ups the difficulty in 3 ways: first, every fight will have MORE enemy,  every enemy will have higher stats (harder to hit them, and they will hit YOU easier), and every fight will have possibly tougher enemy (example, instead of a basic skuldur you get a skuldur king, or instead of a bear, you get an elder bear, or something).

 

Also, you can't carry as many camping supplies on POTD, I think it limits you to 2 at a time.

 

Ok thanks a lot for your explanation. I finished the game on hard mode, thought it was hard at the beginning (as a wizard) and easy towards the end. Overall no sweat besides the Thaos and Adra Dragon fights.

 

Doesn't PotD make those fights really hard?

 

Also, I took a look at the barbarian and rogue abbilities and they seem awesome. Are they passive?