Help me replace my wizard.

[Torm51]

Hey guys.  I am currently really late into my Trial of Iron PoTD run.  Well I have lost my second wizard now as I got careless (it was really late and I was about to go to sleep lol) and triggered a trap in Cragholdt killing my Wizard (second one on this playthrough) instantly.  Well I refuse to cheese it and get a THIRD one.  I just don't think an awesome Wizard would be so readily available.  So who could fill the CC roll?  My main concern is the Master Below and whatever is at the end of Cragholdt (no spoilers !) as they have the potential to end my game.  My last PoTD trial of iron run ended this way.  I lost a core member late in the game, fought the master below with a not so familiar class and lost.  I dominated The Torn Bannerman and now am at the undead portion of the siege (no spoilers!). 

 

What class do you think is my best bet for the debuff roll?  I was thinking Hiravias? Grieving Mother?  My party has been a melee heavy build throughout the game.  Frontline is Paladin, Paladin, Monk, Rogue then my backline is CC caster, Priest.  I crushed the Alpine Dragon with this crew but I had a Wizard.

 

PS This is the LAST trial of iron/PoTD run that I make a Wizard my mechanic.  I truly try and be careful with traps and ONE mistake and they are TOAST in every play through I get a KIA squishy because of traps.  The issue is my Frontliners need high Athletics so there is no room to make one a high mechanic....Maybe I am getting to much Athletics on them?  I always have around 8. 

[KDubya]

I always though of Athletics as only needing to be like four and have everyone have that much, maybe one guy gets more. I usually have my main be the trap finder, regardless of class as long as it is one of the front liners.

 

Grieving Mother does a good job at CC with her high intellect, but Hiravois is easier to use. Just choose and cast, no need to worry about keeping focus or learning about drugs.

 

I'd say Hiravois for the easy use aspect and easy learning curve. With a druid you get all spells and can pick what you want, with a cipher you need to choose a few powers from a larger list and what works for you will depend on stats playstyles and team synergy. High level at the end game is not the time to figure what works and what doesn't, especially on Trial of Iron.

Edited October 1, 2015 by KDubya

[Torm51]

I always though of Athletics as only needing to be like four and have everyone have that much, maybe one guy gets more. I usually have my main be the trap finder, regardless of class as long as it is one of the front liners.

 

Grieving Mother does a good job at CC with her high intellect, but Hiravois is easier to use. Just choose and cast, no need to worry about keeping focus or learning about drugs.

 

I'd say Hiravois for the easy use aspect and easy learning curve. With a druid you get all spells and can pick what you want, with a cipher you need to choose a few powers from a larger list and what works for you will depend on stats playstyles and team synergy. High level at the end game is not the time to figure what works and what doesn't, especially on Trial of Iron.

Ya dude this is a big problem.  and its my fault for making softies my mechanic.  I have been playing this game for a while and always took a large athletics score for my frontline so they can fight more....but maybe I am over doing it or don't know exactly how fatigue effects combat.  I thought id have to rest a lot more with a tank that has 5 athletics...am I wrong? 

 

I have been playing the game a while so its not like I do not know what the druid does.  I have asked help on another thread with the Cipher but I know it how it works.  The thread was mainly for Cipher vs Bosses.  Its going to be Hiravious.

Edited October 1, 2015 by Torm51

[Vorad]

I have been running my entire party with 3 athletics and 3 stealth works perfectly fine, the rest goes into lore up to 10 and any remaining into survival for longer potion/food duration. The only exception is my mechanic usually a chanter with max mechanic instead of lore. As for the cc role as said above druid or cipher are ok if you also have a priest in there you got enough cc for any fight.

[Ymarsakar]

I second the druid option, since it is very easy to use, aoe lightning cc that also does damage.

 

3 in athletics will minimize fatigue hits at the minimum, since it is -90% fatigue gained.

 

More than that, is for people who don't need per rest abilities, they just go all martial on enemies on and on until they hit critical fatigue or something ridiculous like that.

 

Generally the health on my tank goes red first before they hit any fatigue at 3-5 athletics. At 3, you are already at your max for - fatigue from combat. So any more would just be because you want to keep walking around for days on end on the map or in real time/game time.

Edited October 1, 2015 by Ymarsakar

[Torm51]

Well I have been screwing myself on skills then.  From now on I will be the mechanic.  I am tired of having my squishies KIA in every run.  Happens once every Trial of Iron.

[Ymarsakar]

Why don't you send itumaak on a suicide run to trip all the traps? He can't be killed, can he since he doesn't have health... right? Oh I see, your party comp doesn't have a ranger.

 

Generally at 3 athletics, my party needs to rest about every 3 days of travel. Which is like 1 trip from Caed Nua to big city 1 and a return trip or 1 trip to big city 2. If people find that it is wasting their time because they spend so much traveling around like that, and don't want to get hit by fatigue, athletics to 4, 5 or 6 may add enough extra stamina that you won't need to rest, since you won't get minor fatigue yet.

Edited October 1, 2015 by Ymarsakar

[MadDemiurg]

Imo aside from wizard, the best CC class for bosses is priest. The best CC class for regular fights is level 11+ cipher. Ranger is pretty great for single target CC at high levels as well.

[Torm51]

So what would you take.

 

Imo aside from wizard, the best CC class for bosses is priest. The best CC class for regular fights is level 11+ cipher. Ranger is pretty great for single target CC at high levels as well.

and you mean CC cause of seals?  They are great agreed just in the Master Fight the Knock down seal is 5m and he will tail swipe your priest in half. 

Edited October 1, 2015 by Torm51

[Torm51]

Imo aside from wizard, the best CC class for bosses is priest. The best CC class for regular fights is level 11+ cipher. Ranger is pretty great for single target CC at high levels as well.

I also need a debuffer.  A priest gets blind and knock down (but as mentioned he has to get perilously close to the dragon).  But he cant Petrify or Paralyze.  I find that on PoTD I need to burst down dragons while they are CCed as no matter how well you maximize your tank (especially after the PER change) your tank is just delaying the inevitable if it doesn't die quickly.

Edited October 1, 2015 by Torm51

[MadDemiurg]

Why would you approach the dragon from behind to get tail swiped? You would place the seal in front of you and back away to lure the dragon into it. Not to mention that fully buffed priest can make himself and the whole party able to tank the dragon in the first place.

 

And yes, he's lacking Pertify and Paralyze, but outside of wizard only druid and cipher provide these. Druid's petrify is much weaker and paralyze is vs animals (luckily dragon is an animal). Cipher has paralyze only and it's very brief.

 

Luckily you don't need these to kill the dragon quickly, the priest himself can bring down the dragon in like 2 casts with proper optimization.

 

Priest in some old version soloing Adra dragon with ads on PoTD. Times have changed, but it shouldn't be that different now, especially with a party.

Edited October 1, 2015 by MadDemiurg

[Torm51]

Absolutely true. You could lure him I just have that mmo habit if taking my tank and turning the dragon so it doesn't breath my party.

Edited October 1, 2015 by Torm51

[Boeroer]

I never spend more than 4 athletics on anyone - frontliner or not. I seldomly trigger traps and only one time on the Endless Paths a trap knocked out a character. But I never run long distances. It's mostly stop and go for me (4 or 5 meter steps) if the area is still unexplored. That's because I don't trust the autopause feature when you neet enemies - although it never failed.

[Boeroer]

Take another Priest! I like that idea. Since you are lvl 13 (?) you can spam Repulsing Seal and Iconic Projektion like crazy. If only one seal hits the fight is basically over since you can place two more under the prone dragon and when he gets up there's very little chance he won't Fall back over... and over... Meanwhile your Iconic Projections kill all the mobs. And with Aggradizing Radiance and Minor Avatar and so in your damage spells will hit superhard and your healing will be very potent. Did I mention Iconic Projection?

[Oralaina]

Absolutely true. You could lure him I just have that mmo habit if taking my tank and turning the dragon so it doesn't breath my party.

 

Heh.  Been there done that.... I now have a post-it ON MY SCREEN reminding me I don't need to do that in this game!

[Vorad]

 Not to mention that fully buffed priest can make himself and the whole party able to tank the dragon in the first place.

 

Exactly Crown + Shield + Protect vs X, the entire party is good to go but especially tanks they can actually tank the dragon shrugging off most of attacks.