So here's a PotD completionist 4-man

[atarb]

The challenge? Designing an optimal 4-man party for complete PotD. The problem? WAY too much coffee.

 

Some Notes:

 

• Completionism and the Level Cap – Go through all battles, no sneaky-sneaky. That's for soloers. The cap doesn't bother me, but might get in fun's way if someone is not satisfied with items, content, or new combat scenarios rather than character progression. For me, the 4-man just doesn't cap that quickly after the latest patch.
• Micromanagement - pretty high. I'm an RPG gamer. I like micromanagement. If you don't, I can recommend NES emulators and ROMs with great soundtracks like Mega Man 3.
• Low levels - very tough, occasionally grindy, somewhat flaccid. Get past them. About level 4 it picks up. I wouldn't recommend this party for (completionist) Iron Man, but it's possible if you're clever. I'm not.
• Doors / Kiting - some fights require geographical creativity. Another aspect of good strategy is positioning. You're simply not going to win some fights without it.
• Just Plain Cheating – Consider that it is possible to use the console to give yourself some gold to hire these NPC’s early on if you want to skip running around with Eder and Durance, who has gas.

 

After much consideration, my smoothest party is Fighter, Chanter, Priest and (ranged) Rogue. The Fighter attracts 4-5 enemies into engagement, the Chanter off-tanks the rest and summons while buffing the rogue’s attack speed, the Priest heals while providing a little AOE DPS (see below), and the Rogue is a crit damage battery safe in the backlines.

 

It seems to work, but I wonder what you think?

 

• 1) Fighter

 

Sadly, due to Engagement there is no alternative for a main tank. I don't like mods, so I don't know anything about IE and its capabilities here. Sounfortunately, Chanters and Paladins and Wizards and Hairdressers can't maintank in a PotD 4 man. Honestly, I like the engagement system anyway.

 

Race: Fire or Moon Godlike. No, stat bonuses on Orlans don't necessarily make them better tanks, since those can be raised by equipment or even ignored. Permanent Godlike abilities complement tanks nicely. I chose Fire because the racial brings up DR (and causes a bit of burn damage) below 50% endurance. Even a +5 DR bonus is very powerful when surrounded by enemies each doing 10-20 damage, with a nice little boost for timely battles in a party that needs a bit more AOE damage since it lacks a Druid, Wizard or Barbarian.

 

Alternatively, Moon godlike splurt out heals and lay magical eggs, but your superpowered Priest will likely be able to handle all that, and the real weakness of this 4-man is a lack of DPS, not heals.

 

Stats:

Easy: max out Con, Per and Res, play with the rest. Might helps in the lower level battles.

 

* Skills: grab Hold the Line and Defender; anything to increase the number of engaged enemies more than anything else. (Some items also provide +1 engaged.) You want to send him/her in first (re-design the party formation, for starters) and give all the enemies a solid 5-10 seconds of solid whacking.

 

* Take plenty of Stealth with this character. A sneaky tank means he's closer to a crowd of enemies when combat starts. Don't scout with the Rogue unless you're worried about traps, which are for mechanics to see.

 

• 2) Chanter

It's widely agreed that Chanters make great off-tanks, since they don't have to worry about Concentration breaking and do not suffer from spell speed debuffs in plate armor. Yeah, I like Moonies. Why? They poop out heals when they get hit with stuff. As an important off-tank, this chanter's going to get hit. Being less formidible than the main tank, her secondary heals (even mild ones) pay off enough to turn the difference against stats and other racial bonuses. So choose Moon Godlike.

 

Stats:

10, 18, 6, 18, 8, 18 ish  - You don't need Dex or Int nearly as much as a tank's deflection. Pump a remaining point into Con, Per or Res. A high Lore skill and equippable items that grant offensive spells make this a partial Wizard, so a bit of Might helps.

 

Chants: Strap on some plate metal, equip some items that grant Wizard spells, pick summoning invocations, and use them wisely to draw attention away from the squishies. The purpose of this character is grabbing whatever enemies are not engaged with the Fighter, summoning support and buffing the ranged attack speed of the Rogue later on with "Sure-Handed Ila," which sounds like Beyonce with brain damage but makes the Rogue 20% faster. Nifty.

 

Another option is a Paladin. In my mind, the summoning of a Chanter in a 4-man strategically outweighs the Lay on Hands and Aura buffs of a Paladin, though I think both are viable. Perhaps someone has an argument why a Paladin is a better choice here. Or even a tanky Druid - though the day when that actually goes well, pigs will fly.

 

• 3) Priest

 

Stats: 18 10 19 3 20 8 or so. Thanks to Withdraw (1) and your genital-thrustworthy tanking abilities, this character will almost never get hit, so she needs little deflection. A higher Constitution and Dexterity provides Reflex against AOE damage while granting a fast casting speed. I never wore anything with this character - and she was a dwarf. Just kidding. I never firmly decided on a race for this one; perhaps someone has a suggestion.

 

Use Consecrated Ground (2) regularly. It's immensely overpowered, by far the most valuable priest spell in this group aside from Withdraw (1), which immediately pulls a character out of combat.

 

Note that if Consecrated Ground is up, the Priest can whisk herself out of combat with Withdraw still pulsating with regular heals. A fancy combo for a squishy character, allowing her to wear nothing at all, increasing her casting speed, since she will rarely get hit. If she does, **** your pants.

 

This is a priest, but surprisingly also an AOE damage dealer. Priests with high Might are indeed capable of secondary DPS. Warding Seal (3) needs a good nerfing, a shock spell that seems to do immense amounts of damage to a small group of enemies, as does Searing Seal (4), with its Blind effect that assists the Rogue's ranged sneak attack. Don't underestimate these spells in bottleneck situations.

 

Like the Chanter, equipped with Lore this character becomes a partial Wizard.

 

For talents, Field Triage is essential for emergencies, Body Control is nice against Paralyzation and Stun effects during crucial healing points, but particularly a Bonus 2nd Level Spell for more Consecrated Ground enhances the lifeblood of the party.

 

• 4) Ranged Rogue

 

Why not a ranger? Well, for a lone DPS battery a 30-40% crit chance flatly outweighs the offtanking/CC advantage of a Ranger's pet. And in this situation, that's that.

 

Other options?

 

Melee Rogue: In my mind, backstab rogues in this game are somewhat broken and will likely be fixed in 2.0; regardless, in a 4-man the main DPS battery should not be in risky situations on the front line. If he falls - fight's over. The ranged position seems to be geographically advantageous.

 

Druid, Wizard or Cipher: A possibility, but a steady, single-target Piercing DPS seemed to me much more valuable than a limited cast of somewhat watery AOE spells - often resisted - on PotD. CC spells lack accompanying DPS in this party. We need a single damage battery who rarely dies or runs out of spells. A barbarian or monk has potential, but can't out-damage a rogue, who in this situation sits safely in the back. In addition, the Rogue has talents like Escape which come in handy when one or two enemies run through the front line.

 

Race: Orlan. This is a crit-based character; the 10% bonus is too good to pass up. Besides, they're cute. Another option is the Death godlike, with a 20% bonus to damage for low-endurance enemies. (But if they're low endurance, why do we need more damage? A good reason not to take the Bloody Slaughter talent.) Or choose an Elf, because the game blatantly ripped off music from LotR for the Stronghold and you think you are Legolas.

 

Stats: 19 10 19 18 6 6 ish. Of course, Int and Res are less than useful.

 

Go for Marksman and Gunner. The bonus 40% shooting speed when standing near the Chanter at higher levels makes guns more valuable than bows in terms of damage, though I haven't tested this since (though it's not much) I do have a life. Focus on abilities that provide Crit and bonus damage (Dirty Fighting, Vicious Fighting, Deep Wounds), avoid the avoidance abilities aside from Escape (which comes in handy).

Note that this makes the best full-on Mechanic. And I've written a novel, so stopping.

 

 

[Cantousent]

Welcome aboard, atarb! I'm going to finish my hard run and then do a PotD soiree myself. However, I just can't help myself but to include one of those wizards with his watery AOE spells. :Cant's wink and broad grin icon:

[tnb234]

Great build! I just tried to play a 4 man team on a PotD run myself ( rogue, cipher, fighter and chanter ). The lower levels felt way to grindy and I switched back to a 6 man team ( added a wizard and paladin ).

Honestly I was surprised by how much harder it is to make it with a party of 4.

 

I'll give your build a shot ) Is the priest really necessary here ? If you swapped him with a cipher for some more CC/damage maybe the fights would be over before needing to heal the tanks ?

[atarb]

The lower levels are seriously grindy. But as soon as you hit 4 or so, it really picks up fast. (Now I'm considering throwing in a Druid and Wizard for a 6-man triple crown run.)

 

I think the Priest and Fighter are absolute. No heals = death. Saving the squishies using Withdraw in times of trouble is crucial. There will be several fights where an enemy goes straight for the rogue, or sends out a nasty AOE shockwave, or things just go wrong. The priest has some DPS and CC opportunities with blinding, seals and using scrolls and items wisely. It's a completionist group, so you'll have plenty of those.

[Vincent Ros]

Sorry for this newbish question, but is there any advantage to doing POTD with 4 rather than 6 characters? Is it impossible to reach the level cap with 6?

[Raven Darkholme]

Haven't read all your post, since its way too much text for me. ;p

Generally your team looks decent, two things I don't agree with.

The fighter is not needed just because he engages more enemies. In this game any tank will always engage more foes than his limit, because the AI sucks.

The rogue seems way worse, than a cipher in a small group. Aoes and cc are supreme and ciphets ranged damage is not really worse than rogues due to soul whip.

[Nobear]

Sorry for this newbish question, but is there any advantage to doing POTD with 4 rather than 6 characters? Is it impossible to reach the level cap with 6?

 

The only net advantage is the added challenge, which in other words is a deliberately chosen disadvantage, if you're thinking of an advantage as something that would make life easier for you.

 

It is very possible to reach the level cap with six. On my completionist PoTD run with six, I reached the level cap early into Act 3 (of 4 acts). Granted, Act 4 is a relatively short endgame act, but this still leaves room for saving all the toughest fights in the game for max level. You could certainly save all the lower levels of Od Nua for max level, which are totally optional content, but have some good loot and story, and end in what's generally considered the single toughest fight in this game.

 

Od Nua doesn't grant much XP for the amount of content it has, but the bounties you can unlock as a stronghold upgrade do. These also include some pretty tough fights, which would be ideal to do at level 10 or 11.

[Vincent Ros]

Thank you, Nobear. I was still wondering about that. Completed my first full playthrough a couple of days ago with a team of 6, but didn't hit the cap. I must admit I got a little impatient near the end; I just wanted to know how the story would end

[Andvare]

Comments!

 

 

Completed Hard with OP´s party with the addition of Wizard/Druid as suggested DPS (6 party instead of 4).

 

Most of the issues was due to pushing Od Nua underleveled.

 

- Ranged Rogue peaked mid game but felt more and more obsolete late game where enemies had high deflection/pierce DR.

 

- The chanter did his part as offtank. For summons I used mostly figurines as phrases takes forever to build up. Ended up

using him mostly for the "Sure Handed Ila" buff.

 

- Druid was strong but perhaps not needed because of Wizard.

 

PoTD is obviously harder so perhaps Chanter/Rogue is a necessity. Also note that we are talking about optimized parties here. Rogue 

is only obsolete in the sense that perhaps something else can be more effective late game.

 

 

So next I´m doing a PoTD run and was thinking of going with:

 

Fighter

Priest

Cipher

Melee Wizard

 

I´m split about Cipher because of the focus which takes time to build up and requires a steady of consistent damage.

The best alternative seems to build him as ranged while melee provides better focus generation.

 

I was also thinking of the Cipher with Aumaua + Qucik Switch spike during initlization for focus advantage.

 

 

Ideas?

Edited August 8, 2015 by Andvare