Who is better mage: Hiravias or Aloth?

[Krajzen]

As I am trying to optimize my team composition I have a little dilemma between them.

 

My team:

 

*Hazelnut, girl dps monk, I love this class. Works fine.

*Eder, full tank. Works fine.

Itumaak, Sagani's pet, additional distraction for first line. Works fine.

*Durance, priest who can fight melee if really needed. Works fine.

*Sagani, ranger DPS + stealth. Works fine.

*Grieving Mother, cipher, works fine.

 

And I wanna play with full 6 members team so I wanna one additional character, some spellcaster. Sidenote: High difficulty.

 

*Hiravias - I am not sure if he satisfies me. Maybe I manage him wrong but from far range he deals mediocre dmg with weapons, I don't need his spiritshift or high HP... I just wanna strong spellcaster.

 

Who is better in Pure Ranged Spellcaster role, Hiravias or Aloth? Or if they are balanced, what are the key differences between them?

 

There is also a dilemma between their story and character where I like them both so far...

Edited May 23, 2015 by Krajzen

[Hebruixe]

I personally feel that druids trump wizards in all regards. However Aloth performs quite well (despite his mediocre stats) and is a very viable member of the party.

[Krajzen]

I have also very big dilemma between their characters... Hiravias is funny while Aloth seems to be more interesting.

 

Damn.

[Krajzen]

My alternate solution would be very unorthodox - I am thinking about abandoning Sagani and having BOTH Hiravias and Aloth in team :D

 

Sagani has imho by far the most boring personality of all companions (hunter from village seeking for a ghost, had children, fight for honour, yawn...) while both Aloth and Hiravias have cool personalities.

 

Of course this would mean I lose ranger and get two mages but I am not sure if it is that big loss. I gave Grieving Mother firearms and she is doing as well as Sagani in ranged combat while dwarf woman doesn't offer anything beyond her bow (theoretically she can fight melee but she has low HP and I have enough melee fighters). She isn't elf so doesn't have 'innate' bonuses to ranged combat and other characters can be similarly good at stealth skill (which has questionable power anyway). Meanwhile I would get cool spells.

 

EDIT

Jesus, I have just discovered Aloth is a Wood Elf and gets that cool ranged combat bonus. Okay I have decided, bye Sagani. I am going to enjoy a team of awkward elf with mental issues, completely crazy priest, middle-finger hobbit, telepathic nurse, Bruce Willis and my childish boxing supergirl.

Edited May 23, 2015 by Krajzen

[AshenPlanet]

Take both, they are both better than the ranger.

 

Thoughts on which is superior - Hiravias is better vs. masses, Aloth is better vs. bosses.

Druid spells are almost all AOE, some are foe AOE, but many are straight AOE.

Mage spells include more targeted spells and better debuffs.

Both have petrify, frighten, blind, prone, hobble, push, etc. but mages have better versions of the best ones - blind, petrify, and prone (quicker/longer lasting) and also have paralyze, weaken, slow, -DT, daze, etc.

 

Mages have better self-buffs (+crit, +accuracy, +speed, +max endurance, +miss chance), but druids have healing and 1 group buff.

In general, after the fan of flames nerf, druids have better low level elemental spells, and mages have better high level elemental spells.

Another factor: druids are cheap, all their spells are free, give them a good hunting bow, and they're good to go; mages require lot's of money to scribe the spells you find.

 

Neither need to use any weapons after they get to 9th level - they can spam spells constantly without resting.

Consider that when choosing whether to take blast, penetrating blast, implement, focus or wild strike, improved wild strike, dual-weild, focus talents.

That's more than half your talents, and there's no point in taking blast or wild strike unless you go all the way with all 4 talents.

 

Summary, druid > early game, mage > late game.

 

 

[Gromnir]

there is no best. the druid is a much more straightforward damage dealer, particularly at low levels.  the mage has a more varied selection o' debuffs with options to debilitate will scores that are absent from the druid.  the mage, as noted already in this thread, has access to powerful combat buffing spells which, perhaps ironically, means that the mage can be a more capable melee combatant than any druid wildshape build, but that is a late game option for the mage.  the druid pairs very well with a rogue as the status effects of many druid spells create sneak attack opportunities. however, with an appropriate spellbook selection, you can have your mage bolster a rogue quite well indeed.  the mage pairs well with an offensive-minded priest, as the priest gets considerable mileage from spells that attack will. a monk's enervating blows also deals a considerable and dependable will and fortitude debuff.  that will debuff is gonna be less useful to your druid than to a priest, mage and cipher.

 

etc.

 

HA! Good Fun!

[Exoduss]

Aloth is better in melee or as offtank same as all wizards are better than druids in close range , meanwhile druid is superior spell caster 

[roller12]

In my game (hard) Sagani dps == Aloth dps and she runs on full auto, consider this if wanting to take yet another character who needs manual targeting each round. And you will lose a tank. However since that party doesnt have a chanter(and his ranged buffs) magic users will run ahead, still its likely a bad trade-off, you are exchanging a single target hard hitter and a tank for a squishie with some weaker aoes. The enemies will just ignore and charge forward and kill you unless you paralyze them first, so each encounter will be a gamble

 

Summary, druid > early game, mage > late game.

early game mage > druid. He has 2/encounter party friendly raw damage aoe

 

 

bottom line i would actually take a chanter, for -reload song and +burn damage on weapons song, that would benefit everyone, and he can cast allright, just wait for the two ogres summon.

[dukefx]

Druid spells are extremely slow and that's why I would never consider druids the better casters if you really have to choose between the two. Both have a really nice arsenal, but only the wizard's spells can be used reliably. My suggestion: take both!

[Luckmann]

Hiravias. He's a druid.

[roller12]

Strictly speaking Hiravias isnt a mage at all, he is a divine caster with offensive circles, his powers granted to him by his deity. Aloth is the only mage in the game and as such he is a better mage than any other recruitable companion.

[the streaker]

Strictly speaking Hiravias isnt a mage at all, he is a divine caster with offensive circles, his powers granted to him by his deity. Aloth is the only mage in the game and as such he is a better mage than any other recruitable companion.

 

Strictly strictly speaking, according to the storyline, Hiravias's powers most likely stem from his own soul, just like Aloth, so they are both similar and both can be considered "mages."

[Nakia]

From the PoE Official WIKI:

 

Through a variety of techniques (e.g. martial training, meditation, ritualistic evocation, mortification of the flesh), some individuals are able to draw upon the energy of their soul to accomplish extraordinary feats. These abilities range from the mundanely superhuman to the explosively magical. Having a strong soul seems to make this easier, but sometimes even people with fragmented souls are able to accomplish the extraordinary. The individual's body seems to act as a conduit and battery for this power, drawing in replenishment from seemingly omnipresent "fields" of unbound spiritual energy in the world around them.

I would say it depends on your definition of magic.