2.0 Expansion - Strongest builds right now?

[Snerf]

Anyone have thoughts on building a melee wizard in 2.0?

[Theorycrafter]

Anyone have thoughts on building a melee wizard in 2.0?

Pretty much as before, except you have a fancier weapon enchant past level 12 now and one or two buffs.

[Snerf]

 

Anyone have thoughts on building a melee wizard in 2.0?

Pretty much as before, except you have a fancier weapon enchant past level 12 now and one or two buffs.

 

Haven't rolled one before, what attribute spread works well?

[szarywilq]

Hi guys,

 

Can someone explain to me, why pistol/blunderbass Cipher is so good idea and many people are using this combinations? What is so special about cipher with guns and not for example bows?

[Killyox]

I never pick +spells. It's redundant. I pretty much never run out of spells (i don't spam them, just use strategically for most impact) so instead on my mage I pick stuff like veil, -4s to tome change and so on. I don't even take blast. Why? Because with grimoire 2 per enc use scaling nicely up to ~50 dmg later on, and ltos of spells +phantoms (which have blast) I don't need it.

 

Low on spells or needing some serious dmg for little spells cast? Concelhaut's parasitic staff is awesome especially with lvl 2 concelhaut's aoe drain that does a lot. Usually picking spells that have huge impact instantly and those that can have a rather big impact over the course of the fight. Having 65 seconds of citzal's lance coupled with alacrity is insane for big, long battles.

Edited August 27, 2015 by Killyox

[Killyox]

Anyone have thoughts on building a melee wizard in 2.0?

He kicks ass. One of, if not the best melee. Just sustainability is limited by # of casts. Later with per rest it's better but tbh there is no other melee that can stand to wiz with spells on.

 

Deleterious Alacrity of Motion + Citzal's Spirit Lance + Citzal's Martial Power combo changes you into a melee monstrosity. You can also have a lot of other spells slung here and there for even more power but usually don;t have to. cobine it with Curse Of Blackened Sight and Concelhaut's Corrosive Siphon to get even more dmg + heal + defense/offense (blind) going on.

 

Alacrity is amazing, it speeds up all casts as well so it's best to start with it.

Edited August 27, 2015 by Killyox

[Raven Darkholme]

Hi guys,

 

Can someone explain to me, why pistol/blunderbass Cipher is so good idea and many people are using this combinations? What is so special about cipher with guns and not for example bows?

Bows are actually better than pistol/bb now, since their focus build is more consistent.

[Killyox]

 

 

 

The multiclass rogue talent seems borderline obligatory. That's not a complaint, mind - but I think just about any DPS character who's not takingnother multiclass talent has good reasons to take it.

A Barbarian with Sneak Attack, and someone who casts CC spell as backup sounds very fun. You could maul a room full of enemies ridiculously fast.

 

Actually I think of saccing a bit of Might for Per on barb to have more accurate carnage + better interrupt and maybe follow it up with Interrupting Blows. That talent will give 15% dmg so that lets me sac might a bit for per.

 

You can build a barb with

M 18

D 14

C 10

P 16

I  16

R 4

 

Which is going to be pretty devastating. Glass canon tho, but as lons you have a decent front line it will do just fine. Good conversation options, too.

 

I don't dump stas to 3-4. I find it anticlimatic The least I will put is 7. And I still roll over POTD atm

[Fëanor]

2.0 did a real blow to Ciphers, if you ask me. Perception can't be dumped anymore, so Dex can't maxed. You still have to add as much Might and Intellect as possible, so Dex has to be 10; 12-14 tops if you want to sacrifice Con or Res.
In short, +27% attack speed bonus (again, maybe +12% if you want to risk it) for a min/maxed Cipher is basically gone, so focus per second takes a serious hit. Least they could do is buff the initial focus again.

[Judicator]

 

 

 

 

The multiclass rogue talent seems borderline obligatory. That's not a complaint, mind - but I think just about any DPS character who's not takingnother multiclass talent has good reasons to take it.

A Barbarian with Sneak Attack, and someone who casts CC spell as backup sounds very fun. You could maul a room full of enemies ridiculously fast.

 

Actually I think of saccing a bit of Might for Per on barb to have more accurate carnage + better interrupt and maybe follow it up with Interrupting Blows. That talent will give 15% dmg so that lets me sac might a bit for per.

 

You can build a barb with

M 18

D 14

C 10

P 16

I  16

R 4

 

Which is going to be pretty devastating. Glass canon tho, but as lons you have a decent front line it will do just fine. Good conversation options, too.

 

I don't dump stas to 3-4. I find it anticlimatic The least I will put is 7. And I still roll over POTD atm

You can probably take 1-2 points from Per and Int. It won't matter much.

[pi2repsion]

Per is not only about accuracy. It is also interrupt.

 

With per encounter lvl 3 spells, wizard can chain cast fast fireball while buffed by alacrity. Interrupting blow does apply to spell.

 

So I think interrupt wizard might worth considering now, especially because it uses the same stats as Crowd Control.

Good point. Might even be worth taking the Interrupting Blows talent for +15 interrupt since the effect doesn't mention only applying to attacks; I assume it also works for spells despite the name of the talent. (This needs to be tested).

 

EDIT: Nope, doesn't seem to work.

Edited August 27, 2015 by pi2repsion

[Killyox]

 

 

 

 

 

The multiclass rogue talent seems borderline obligatory. That's not a complaint, mind - but I think just about any DPS character who's not takingnother multiclass talent has good reasons to take it.

A Barbarian with Sneak Attack, and someone who casts CC spell as backup sounds very fun. You could maul a room full of enemies ridiculously fast.

 

Actually I think of saccing a bit of Might for Per on barb to have more accurate carnage + better interrupt and maybe follow it up with Interrupting Blows. That talent will give 15% dmg so that lets me sac might a bit for per.

 

You can build a barb with

M 18

D 14

C 10

P 16

I  16

R 4

 

Which is going to be pretty devastating. Glass canon tho, but as lons you have a decent front line it will do just fine. Good conversation options, too.

 

I don't dump stas to 3-4. I find it anticlimatic The least I will put is 7. And I still roll over POTD atm

You can probably take 1-2 points from Per and Int. It won't matter much.

 

I never complained about my barb though. He's a beast:D

[Katarack21]

I used four ciphers during my last PotD run in 1.06. Weapon choice: Blunderbuss/Pistol, Crossbow, Arbalest, Warbow. Not much of a difference in focus generarion. And they were all awesome. Ciphers are still number one - for me at least. Mental Binding is so cheap and so powerful. Ectopsychic Echo is so damaging and Amplified Wave is just uber. Easiest Potd run ever (including perma-paralyzed adra dragon thanks to Tactical Meld, Borrowed Instinct and Mental Binding). Thaos was finished in round about 15 sec. Ciphers are still awesome.

Quiet down about Amplified Wave! We don't want to bring it to anybodies attention...

[Perturabo]

Not to stir gak, but does anyone else find it ironic that we have to employ this kind of duck-and-cover mentality while discussing a single-player game? And also that classes get gutted and buffed from patch to patch almost on the same level as seen in WoW when Ghostcrawler was in charge?

[PIP-Clownboy]

Not to stir gak, but does anyone else find it ironic that we have to employ this kind of duck-and-cover mentality while discussing a single-player game? And also that classes get gutted and buffed from patch to patch almost on the same level as seen in WoW when Ghostcrawler was in charge?

 

Something I welcome. Keeps the game and various builds fresh for multiple playthroughs over time. 

[rheingold]

Y

Not to stir gak, but does anyone else find it ironic that we have to employ this kind of duck-and-cover mentality while discussing a single-player game? And also that classes get gutted and buffed from patch to patch almost on the same level as seen in WoW when Ghostcrawler was in charge?

Not to stir gak, but does anyone else find it ironic that we have to employ this kind of duck-and-cover mentality while discussing a single-player game? And also that classes get gutted and buffed from patch to patch almost on the same level as seen in WoW when Ghostcrawler was in charge?

To be honest it's more like refining the system. I definitely don't have a problem with that. They built a new system from scratch, and it's nowhere near perfect. So, yeah while I don't agree with everything they do, I fully support their tinkering. It may sound like I'm having a slight dig at them, but it's not the case. It's just that they do need to tweak everything, from combat to classes and attributes. I for one would be really disappointed and worried if they had done nothing since release. And yeah, that means they are going to make changes that I don't agree with somewhere down the line. All this does is show that they have some commitment towards the game, which is a good thing, a very good thing, and should be encouraged instead of whining.

[pi2repsion]

 

Per is not only about accuracy. It is also interrupt.

 

With per encounter lvl 3 spells, wizard can chain cast fast fireball while buffed by alacrity. Interrupting blow does apply to spell.

 

So I think interrupt wizard might worth considering now, especially because it uses the same stats as Crowd Control.

Good point. Might even be worth taking the Interrupting Blows talent for +15 interrupt since the effect doesn't mention only applying to attacks; I assume it also works for spells despite the name of the talent. (This needs to be tested).

 

EDIT: Nope, doesn't seem to work.

 

An update on this.

 

I'm now running a MIG 18, CON 3, DEX 19, PER 16, INT 19, RES 3 Pale Elf wizard on POTD supported by the default companions, wearing a torc of the falcon's eyes +2 (so PER 18), and while the first four levels were rough (considerably rougher than 1.6), now that I have DAoM I can spam lowlevel AOEs without getting overrun while casting, and I am seeing a decent number of successful interrupts from the +24 interrupt modifier from perception due to the sheer number of interrupt rolls made. Not, alas, enough to rely on it against any individual enemy, but every enemy action interrupted in the big fights against hordes of enemies when playing POTD is a win as far as I am concerned.

 

I can only imagine how good this would be on easy to hard difficulties, where enemies don't have sky-high defenses.

 

I'm not certain that it is better than a wizard RES build, but so far it works well.

Edited August 28, 2015 by pi2repsion

[hugin7]

 

 

Per is not only about accuracy. It is also interrupt.

 

With per encounter lvl 3 spells, wizard can chain cast fast fireball while buffed by alacrity. Interrupting blow does apply to spell.

 

So I think interrupt wizard might worth considering now, especially because it uses the same stats as Crowd Control.

Good point. Might even be worth taking the Interrupting Blows talent for +15 interrupt since the effect doesn't mention only applying to attacks; I assume it also works for spells despite the name of the talent. (This needs to be tested).

 

EDIT: Nope, doesn't seem to work.

 

An update on this.

 

I'm now running a MIG 18, CON 3, DEX 19, PER 16, INT 19, RES 3 Pale Elf wizard on POTD supported by the default companions, wearing a torc of the falcon's eyes +2 (so PER 18), and while the first four levels were rough (considerably rougher than 1.6), now that I have DAoM I can spam lowlevel AOEs without getting overrun while casting, and I am seeing a decent number of successful interrupts from the +24 interrupt modifier from perception due to the sheer number of interrupt rolls made. Not, alas, enough to rely on it against any individual enemy, but every enemy action interrupted in the big fights against hordes of enemies when playing POTD is a win as far as I am concerned.

 

I can only imagine how good this would be on easy to hard difficulties, where enemies don't have sky-high defenses.

 

I'm not certain that it is better than a wizard RES build, but so far it works well.

 

 

Deleterious Alacrity of Motion apparently no longer affects casting speed: http://forums.obsidian.net/topic/81506-deleterious-alacrity-of-motion-no-longer-affects-casting-speed/.  Not sure if it is a bug or a stealth nerf.

[hugin7]

 

 

 

Per is not only about accuracy. It is also interrupt.

 

With per encounter lvl 3 spells, wizard can chain cast fast fireball while buffed by alacrity. Interrupting blow does apply to spell.

 

So I think interrupt wizard might worth considering now, especially because it uses the same stats as Crowd Control.

Good point. Might even be worth taking the Interrupting Blows talent for +15 interrupt since the effect doesn't mention only applying to attacks; I assume it also works for spells despite the name of the talent. (This needs to be tested).

 

EDIT: Nope, doesn't seem to work.

 

An update on this.

 

I'm now running a MIG 18, CON 3, DEX 19, PER 16, INT 19, RES 3 Pale Elf wizard on POTD supported by the default companions, wearing a torc of the falcon's eyes +2 (so PER 18), and while the first four levels were rough (considerably rougher than 1.6), now that I have DAoM I can spam lowlevel AOEs without getting overrun while casting, and I am seeing a decent number of successful interrupts from the +24 interrupt modifier from perception due to the sheer number of interrupt rolls made. Not, alas, enough to rely on it against any individual enemy, but every enemy action interrupted in the big fights against hordes of enemies when playing POTD is a win as far as I am concerned.

 

I can only imagine how good this would be on easy to hard difficulties, where enemies don't have sky-high defenses.

 

I'm not certain that it is better than a wizard RES build, but so far it works well.

 

 

Deleterious Alacrity of Motion apparently no longer affects casting speed: http://forums.obsidian.net/topic/81506-deleterious-alacrity-of-motion-no-longer-affects-casting-speed/.  Not sure if it is a bug or a stealth nerf.

 

 

Turns out that my Deleterious Alacrity of Motion issue was likely due to a patch-induced data corruption.  False alarm.

[Perturabo]

Something I welcome. Keeps the game and various builds fresh for multiple playthroughs over time. 

 

 

I don't believe that for a second (and in fact suspect that you are making a deliberately contentious statement). This isn't an MMO where the nerf-buff-nerf cycle is necessary to keep players rerolling, regearing and therefore spending money. (Or where, indeed, PvP-and-sometimes-PvE-induced butthurt results in strident cries of "OMG SO OP NERF ASAP SUB CANCELT WAITING 4 <insert next hot upcoming MMO title here>").

 

For most people, PoE will be one-and-done, maybe two-and-done for those who want to go for achievements. There's nothing wrong with it, PoE is not open-ended like Skyrim, it tells one story that is fairly on rails and has a definite end. It doesn't even have two distinct story branches like Witcher 2 for example, so people are unlikely to replay it more than maybe a couple times.

 

For those wishing to do so, there are multiple classes and multiple races. This offers plenty of "fresh" experience. Ripping the guts out of the gameplay of one or another class just to keep it "fresh" is poorly justified at best, and smacks of chronically bad design choices at worst. Outside of fixing outright bug-induced exploits, single-player games should offer a fairly stable and consistent environment - at least compared to MMOs. If it is necessary to rebuild characters and drastically change your playstyle every time a patch drops, then at the very least, it leaves a very bad impression; combine that with the necessity to dodge the ever-swinging nerf bat, and one may start to wonder why they aren't playing an MMO in the first place.

[rheingold]

It's utter nonsense to claim balance is not necessary in a single player game. It's something that is repeated again and again, as if it's a fact like the sun rises. Everyone plays differently and hence there are some things that are important to them that don't matter to others. There are some people who do like classes to be balanced. Apparently they are less important than those who don't care.

[Elric Galad]

Mmm, not so simple.

For sure, balance is less critical in single player game.

In addition, this is a party game, not single character. You expect characters to be complementary, not being strictly equal.
A priest is most probably overall stronger than a barbarian, but a barbarian buffed by a priest is usually a good combination.

I like thid kind of games because I'm fond of the idea of complementary strengths, just because it is so epic !
(not to say 6 rangers with 6 bears is not epic ^^ )

So basically, balanced stuff is more epic !

Edited August 29, 2015 by Elric Galad

[pi2repsion]

 

Turns out that my Deleterious Alacrity of Motion issue was likely due to a patch-induced data corruption.  False alarm.

 

 

Yep, DaOM works perfectly well and using it on a wizard who has sky-high dexterity and uses armour with minimal recovery penalty* is as fun as ever.

 

 

* i.e. enchanted Berathian Priest robes from Raedric's Hold. 2DR, 5% recovery penalty and you'll look much more stylish than wearing ordinary Dyrwoodian clothing with 0DR, 0% penalty, while avoiding the harsh penalty of normal robes with 3DR, 15% penalty. Though the Gwisk Glass robes are a decent alternative once you get them, trading the higher recovery penalty for the Second Chance enchant.

[Killyox]

It works fine on any wizard. I got my wiz running atm in full plate almost 30 DR to fire/frost due to being pale elf and a lot more with ele resist spell.

[Tomice]

Balance in a single player game is very important.

 

If 80% of the cool-sounding skills don't work in practical gameplay and you're stuck using the same few cheesy talents over and over again on higher difficulties, then something is wrong - even in single player.

 

Other examples for single-player balance issues:

- If your mage is so powerful and essential that you feel like you almost don't have to control the rest of your party.

- If simple-to use-spells are so powerful that you don't feel the need to use the more complex ones.

- If rogues are powerful in theory, but so squishy that they die before doing much damage.

- If you feel that certain classes don't contribute anything meaningful to your party.

Edited August 29, 2015 by Tomice