Enjoyable party-build (on hard) for a "beginner"

[RonSonite]

Heya!

 

Have to say first: Never played a game like PoE before.

 

I've started to play PoE at an earlier version (1.03 or 1.04?!) and played a cipher with a thunderbluss (yes, op, I know) on the normal difficulty. It was definitely fun but at some point I got stuck on other games. I was at that point in the main story, that I have to choose for which of the 3 fractions I go. Solved nearly all side quests to that point.

 

Now I've seen the changes and I wanna go for a new run. I thin it can be a bit harder, since I made some experiences in my first run.

 

The main question for me is now:

 

Which party build should I prefer to enjoy the game and have some variety for me when I control my characters-

 

I've looked around a bit here but there are so many threads..

 

Are there any no-go's or some classes which I really need to have?

[Wolken3156]

All casters.

 

You have all the different colors of the carnage rainbow.

 

 

In seriousness though, you can get through with most party formations. For an optimal party you should have at least 1 of each of these roles:

 

Tanks - Fighters, Paladins and (Believe it or not) Chanters are choices for this. Monks sorta count too. Generally you want a damage sponge, and these are your picks. Due to engagement limits, most people tend to run 2 of these.

 

Supporter - Chanters, Priests and (To a lesser extent) Druids generally fall under this. Buffs are a huge game changer in prolonged battles. Druids and Priests also pack healing spells as well.

 

Controller - Wizards, Druids and Ciphers are your picks. Just like buffs being game changing, so are debuffs. Wizard is the unquestionable champion of this with Slicken, Call to Slumber and the likes, but Druids and Ciphers aren't slouches at it either. Ciphers are the most beginner friendly of the casters incidentally, due to their lack of need to conserve spells, so they're good pick in general.

 

DPS - Obviously, you need to kill things to get anywhere. Lots of flavors for this role. You have Wizards, Druids, Rogues, Barbarians, Monks, Ciphers and Rangers to pick from. Pick the ones that suit your play style best.

[JONNIN]

there is no answer.   You can certainly make it easier with certain party makeups (say, 1 pure tank, 2 off-tanks/damage dealers, healer, debuffing caster, and ranged damage dealer) compared to others (no tank at all can be rough for example, if you are not really deep into the mechanics and tactics and builds).   But there are thousands of great combinations that will work just fine for a full party led by an inexperienced player.  

 

For that matter, the provided companions are not even remotely built for max/min and they are sufficient to take you through the content if you pick a good set of them to complement your  main character's class and role.   I would even advise this,  given that you have not seen all the companion stories yet.  A fully hand created party is much less interactive and its actually a pretty short/small game after the first time through it. 

[RonSonite]

Thanks for the answers so far!

 

If I wanna go through the game with a full party of hirelings (I'm not that min/max-guy but some characters are definitely worse for their defined roles in the party), what's the best way to do it? Hire all members at the start of the game?

[Manty5]

That's certainly the cheapest option.  However, you might not have that much money at the start of the game... later, your pockets overflow with gold.

Hiring early is the best way to keep their levels close:  If you can't do that, at least do hiring RIGHT after a level-up, because you can only hire up to your level -1.

 

Finally, if you feel that strongly about the character optimization, recall that you can use the console to alter stats and even abilities (including racial talents), but not things like race or background.  I'd rather alter Eder's stats than not have him trading bawdy tales with Hiravias.
 

I prefer using 4 pre-written companions and 2 custom.  Believe me, at hard difficulty and below the power you get from just two optimized characters is more than enough to carry the rest... and you might be suprised how good the rest actually are.  Talents and abilities are MORE important than stats, and ever since 1.05 you can turn off the auto-levelling, letting you choose most of the character development without the need to rush companion gathering.

 

Remember, Companions join at about the same level that you are when you recruit them, so there's less of a rush to get them.

 

Paladins make great PC's, since without IEmod only the main character gets full bonsues to Faith And Conviction.  So do rogues, monks, and barbarians, since no companion has those specialties.  Also consider that you get interesting conversation options for high stats, so you might plan a playthrough playing as a tank (one set of stats) and another as a DPS (the other ones). 

Edited May 29, 2015 by Manty5

[Tigranes]

Everybody's pretty viable. Ciphers are easiest to pick up and achieve "powerful enough" levels, while it can take a bit longer to learn to get mileage out of priest, paladin and ranger. Don't worry about it and just take whoever you like. As you can always hire hirelings and level them, and as story companions get XP while out of the party, you can always chop and change on the go.

[Manty5]

Everybody's pretty viable. Ciphers are easiest to pick up and achieve "powerful enough" levels, while it can take a bit longer to learn to get mileage out of priest, paladin and ranger. 

 

Isn't it funny that the earliest caster to bloom is the last one you get?

[RonSonite]

Just another question..

 

I thought I can now level up new story companions at my own, when I acquire them?

 

Got to Gilded Vale and Aloth joined my party with level 2 and I don't get the chance to level him up from 1 to 2?

[srlapo]

Go to the options menu and disable companion auto-leveling.

[ErlKing]

I would suggest to use pre-written companions, they not so bad and its enjoyable to see their banter and opinions through game.

 

For fun main character I would suggest:

 

- Darcozzi Paladini Paladin - good way, smartass, party support, heal, tank/of-tank.

- Bleak Walkers Paladin - evil way, roleplaying evil hero.

- Barbarian - melee AoEer.

- Rogue - scout, decent damager, lockspicker.

- Monk - really fun in some ways.

- Chanter - solid choice that does not require lot of micromanagement, decent buff for go-to-go fights, powerful summons for tougher fights.

[Drath]

 

All casters.

 

You have all the different colors of the carnage rainbow.

 

 

In seriousness though, you can get through with most party formations. For an optimal party you should have at least 1 of each of these roles:

 

Tanks - Fighters, Paladins and (Believe it or not) Chanters are choices for this. Monks sorta count too. Generally you want a damage sponge, and these are your picks. Due to engagement limits, most people tend to run 2 of these.

 

Supporter - Chanters, Priests and (To a lesser extent) Druids generally fall under this. Buffs are a huge game changer in prolonged battles. Druids and Priests also pack healing spells as well.

 

Controller - Wizards, Druids and Ciphers are your picks. Just like buffs being game changing, so are debuffs. Wizard is the unquestionable champion of this with Slicken, Call to Slumber and the likes, but Druids and Ciphers aren't slouches at it either. Ciphers are the most beginner friendly of the casters incidentally, due to their lack of need to conserve spells, so they're good pick in general.

 

DPS - Obviously, you need to kill things to get anywhere. Lots of flavors for this role. You have Wizards, Druids, Rogues, Barbarians, Monks, Ciphers and Rangers to pick from. Pick the ones that suit your play style best.

 

 

I like the idea of balanced parties as well myself.

On PotD, my picks for tanks are Fighters and Paladins. Tanks for me need to be Deflection oriented characters as in able to make a good number incoming blows misses or grazes. The classes that have abilities and talents which improve Deflection are Fighters and Paladins, with Fighters being better at holding multiple enemies at once and Paladin having some support capabilities. If the definition of a tank/offtank is someone who can take a few blows, then I guess Chanters qualify as well, and so would a Ranger's pet, but IMHO, no where near the effectiveness of a Fighter/Paladin. Agree that on open ground fights, it would be nice to have 2 tanks.

Agreed on Priests and Chanters as support. I would add Paladin to this as well. Liberating Exhortation is useful to get out of debuffs temporarily, getting a squishier party member unstuck can mean moving away in time. Reinforcing Exhortation is great on tanks for +15 Deflection. Flames of Devotion can make for good initial burst damage when coupled with a high damage ranged weapon, though admittedly their damage tends to fall off soon after and they're probably more effective in a tanking role. Lastly Paladins can supply significant heals to tanks and tanking pets via Lay on Hands, once every encounter. The Paladin doesn't really have spells, but his/her abilities and customizable auras (ie Zealous Focus + Critical Focus - is a nice dps support aura for the whole party) make for a constant, reliable support class in addition to tanking roles.

A good number of classes can supply debuffs and disabling afflictions for crowd control. The Wizard probably has the widest selection, from early game favorites like Slicken and Chill Fog to a late game petrifying spell, but needs rest to renew his arsenal. The Cipher's Mental Binding is a signature disabling power spammable every encounter and great for many battles. Even the Fighter (Knockdown, Clear Out), Cleric (Halt, Pillar of Faith) can chip in to lessen incoming damage and while the Rogue doesn't have a disabling affliction, Blinding Strike is still a good debuffing move to have on hand, usable every encounter.

For dps, Wizards and Druids are great for those big fights where you're making use of a good number of spells to turn the tide. I think they really come into their own at L9 and above, though they're reasonable dpsers at any level. If you're not resting often, I find Rogues (single target dps) and Ciphers (flexible multiple target dps and crowd control) the workhorses which take care of most mid-sized encounters without expending resources. The Barbarian's Carnage is a blast to use on massed enemies.

Edited May 31, 2015 by Drath

[RonSonite]

Go to the options menu and disable companion auto-leveling.

 

You mean the option "Choose Companion Starting Levels"?

 

I've enabled it so I'm allowed to manually level up new companions. At the time I got Aloth and Eder they are level 2 and already leveled up..?!

[Krajzen]

My personal team performing wonderfully on hard:

 

 

1) Player character - girl monk philosopher bare fist DPS build. It sounds crazy and it is crazy but it works brilliantly for me. Attribute priority is Might > Constitution/Resolve > Dexterity > Intellect >>>>>>>>>> Perception (dump stat). Skill Lore, two-weapons talents and monk skills. The result is crazy damage and Jackie Chan awesomeness, she deals 2 times more damage than second highest damaging character in my team and I recruited companions very very early (deliberate rush) while being not easy to kill. Reserve against crush-resistant enemies: hatchet+spear as secondary weapon set. weapon specialization: peasant.

 

2) Eder full extreme super tough tank. Everything goes him into full tank. Super armor, super shield, shield combat talent + some good onehanded weapons, Defender talent and another talent giving him +enemy engage. All of that means he blocks 4 enemies at once and almost never dies due to insanely high defences and high HP. Skill: athletics.

 

These two characters are main melee frontline fighters in my team, other characters join them only if it seems to be necessary.

 

3) Durance armed with arbalest (slow ranged weapon) in one set and two handed melee weapon in second set. Heals and supports entire team, invaluable help despite dealing the least damage of all. General support. Quite good at melee fight if needed.

 

4) Hiravias armed with war bow in one set and two handed weapon in second one. Do not invest anything in his spirit form as it sucks in current patch Instead he concentrates on ranged combat and using his spells. Occasionally can go into frontline. Skill: survival (though it is the most useless skill so far...)

 

These two characters try to stay away from enemies as much as it's possible.

 

5) Grieving Mother, armed with crossbow in main set, in stiletto in second one. Uses cipher damage or shoots. Skill: stealth. Talent giving bonus accuracy against far range enemies regardless of weapon used.

 

6) Aloth, armed with rod/scepter/wand in main set, desperate rapire in secondary one. Uses damage spells and shoots. Talent Blast giving additional damage to rods/scepters/wands. Skill mechanics.

Edited May 31, 2015 by Krajzen

[Tennisgolfboll]

Get the npcs and you will be fine

 

eder+pallegina as tanks

kana+aloth+hiravias for ranged support, cc, and spells with ranged weapons

 

and your own character. Which can be whatever you want.

[RonSonite]

Heya!

 

I'm playing with the new patch at the moment and have some serious problems..

 

Group (most builds are from the steam communityguide from nerdcommando.gamestudios)

 

Paladin (Shieldbearer of St. Elega, Tank)

Fighter (Lady of Pain, Retaliate Tank/low DPS)

Rogue (Pure ranged DPS)

Druid (Catform / Spells / Bow, DPS)

Chanter (Speed Metal, Buffs & Ranged DPS)

Aloth (took the good spells but I don't know.. Not that much DPS)

 

What I'm wondering about.. I'm just playing on normal and sometimes got my ass kicked hard just by random encounters.. I get huge amounts of damage while dealing not that much damage I need in a short amount of time.

 

From my experiences made with 1.02 or 1.03 (can't remember exactly) I'm shocked how crazy the mobs act now..

 

Any advises for a noob?

[Tennisgolfboll]

For an easy party.

 

Get 3 tanks (pc paladin, eder, pallegina)

Get kana, aloth and hiravias.

 

The tanks need large shields+sabres/hatchets ( 1 paladin with buckler with herald) use endurance and focus auras.

 

3 ranged men with arqebus and kana chants nock.

 

Have hiravias heal and use aoe wheen needed. Remember paladins lay on hands. Get heaviest armor for all party members and ale.

 

Aloth and chill fog learn to use it well. Confuse vs hard enemies.

 

Your team will mow down most things with very little management.

[Tennisgolfboll]

12+4+3+2= 21 DT (24 vs slash/pierce) is really nice for 95% of all incoming attacks. The team will need little micro management and heals are more powerful the more dt you have.

 

Almost all fights will be cake walk. But to make it even more absurd one could do a custom team with all fire or moon godlikes.

Edited June 11, 2015 by Tennisgolfboll

[s13ep]

A tank, and off-tank to split up enemies partially ( a cipher, a paladin, a monk, a druid, a barbarian ). Bare in mind the off-tank isn't required in all battles, most battles where one is required are on an open field. A rangers pet makes a good off-tank, but I often use my cipher ( perhaps not the best decision ).

A wizard with a damage-orientated spec, perhaps with a few crowd control (Bewildering Spectacle, Confusion).

A ranger and a chanter, both equipped with ranged weapons.

A healer.

Edited June 11, 2015 by s13ep