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Back to Back TC Fails. I want your opinions!


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So I have had back to back Triple Crown Fails after my Successful PotD/ToI run.  I took break from the game for a month and came back to get ready for WM 2!  and well I love this game.

 

My first run ended in ACT I the ghost fight inside Caed Nua.  I had a level 3 party with Me (tank/Support Paladin), Eder (Fighter Damage dealing with weapon focus adventurer), Durance, Aloth, Kana (I think he is the week point) and a Barbarian (bad too in the early game).  This run was ended because I had not played since 2.2 and didn't notice that ghosts were immune to knock down.  I waisted 2 good priest spells that I could have used to AEO heal the entire party.  That would of won the encounter as I was down to 2 phantoms but did not have enough personnel alive to win.

 

My second run I was in defiance bay EARLY at level 3 as I now knew ghosts were immune to KD so the fight wasn't a problem. This time oddly enough it was Penhelm.  I had Eder, Me Paladin, 2 Rangers, Kana and Aloth.  I think the mistake here was TWO rangers in the early game as their pets are not tough early and they will both get bonded grief severally hurting dps.  So my frontline was just me, eder and the 2 pets which didn't last long even with LoH.  Also I had no priest so once the pets were dead I could not Seal trap the guys who got into the front line (I have never played without a priest so running experiments in TC is not a good idea).  Also maybe I was too early level for Act 2.  I usually do everything in gilded vale and am close to 5 at act Two.

 

The biggest difference with these characters and my successful PotD run is my Zealous aura.  I have been going with Zealous FOCUS this time around as in my last successful playthrough the only thing that annoyed me about my Paladin was his lack of ACC against high defense targets like the spirits in Durgan's Battery.  My last guy had Zealous Charge and in the early game if the frontline was by passed I could move quickly and reposition my back and front lines.....I just wanted to try a different aura lol.  Any advice?

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Have gun will travel.

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Is fighting Penhelm intentional? In any case, I will usually front load all non-combat side quest to gain levels fast as you would know. Doemenel's quests (not including Changing of the Guard) in particular are quite notable as they are easy and pay quite well. As you said, I will normally start on the quest that involve fighting at around lv5.

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Ya I did it on purpose as I thought it would not be that hard.  But I have not done that fight at level 3 and it was lmao.  Ya maybe I am doing too much fighting early.  I am trying to play the game naturally and not intentionally skip encounters but I know the game in and out by now so this kind of cant be avoided.

Have gun will travel.

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Maybe I'm wrong, but after my successful Triple Crown playthrough I find that spellcasting & range companions are better than melee in every conceivable way. 

 

My party - main char ( chanter-tank ), Aloth, Durance, Hiravias, Grieving Mother and Sagani. 

 

When I've hired Eder, Devil of Caroc, Pallegina and Zahua - every time something went wrong. They are just too vulnerable for enemies and too slow with their single-target attacks.

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Maybe I'm wrong, but after my successful Triple Crown playthrough I find that spellcasting & range companions are better than melee in every conceivable way. 
 
My party - main char ( chanter-tank ), Aloth, Durance, Hiravias, Grieving Mother and Sagani. 
 
When I've hired Eder, Devil of Caroc, Pallegina and Zahua - every time something went wrong. They are just too vulnerable for enemies and too slow with their single-target attacks.

 

I find that its the exact opposite.  Especially in the early game.  My successful PotD/ToI run was heavy melee and it worked because it was an extremely sturdy front line with insane dps.

Zahua would take decent damage but that was ok as he needs the wounds and  my PC Paladin and Pallegina had LoH for him.  By the end game he was hitting high DR targets for almost triple digits with Torments Reach + Turning Wheel.  Iron Wheel also helped his survivability.  I also found that the Devil of Caroc with My paladins Reinforcing Exhortation and her with a shield was very sturdy and still dealt out massive pain.  Killed the Adra Dragon with a triple digit Deathblow.  Maybe you build (I don't mean it in a bad way) your melee groups too much like glass cannons?  I find that heavily offensive melee classes if given some defensive items coupled with a Paladin or 2 to support them still dish out crazy damage.  Maybe those melee groups didn't have a lot of Paladin support?  I find that Paladins for heavy melee groups are kick ass.  Great support and they can obviously tank.

 

 

Secondly, and this is my opine of course things work for different people I think maybe you are better then me at microing a ranged group.  At the start of any PotD game ranged characters are especially soft and there is a lot of bad guys.  If you have a 2 man front line they will get by passed and the bad guys will beat up on your softees.  That's actually was my problem against Penhelm.  Too much range...and ya I have never played without a priest so no repulsing seal...not saying you cant win without one of course you can I just had never played without one lmao.

 

PS I skipped no hard fights in this PotD/ToI run also.  I fought the Alpine dragon and won.  I had never fought him before (1 week after WM release lol) and had zero clue about the fight as I didn't read any guides.  Its a solid group.  I just have been trying different things....and TC is a bit different with 2.3

Edited by Torm51

Have gun will travel.

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Maybe I'm wrong, but after my successful Triple Crown playthrough I find that spellcasting & range companions are better than melee in every conceivable way. 
 
My party - main char ( chanter-tank ), Aloth, Durance, Hiravias, Grieving Mother and Sagani. 
 
When I've hired Eder, Devil of Caroc, Pallegina and Zahua - every time something went wrong. They are just too vulnerable for enemies and too slow with their single-target attacks.

 

 

It depends on your party compo and strats. Yours probably have a frontline and you utilize bottleneck strats.

 

I did my Triple Crown run with an all martials party (with a pally, fighter, barb, monk, rogue and ranger, and ranger being the only ranged char there). I did a PotD ToI with a all melee class. I basically enjoy a non-frontline approach and it can be still effective.

Edited by mosspit
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My spellcasting/range tactic was quite simple - in most cases it was...

 

1) Aloth ( starting battle in stealth mode ) - Confusion or Ninagauth's Shadowflame 

2) Grieving Mother - Amplified Wave 

3) Hiravias - Calling the World's Maw or Relentless Storm

4) Durance - Crowns for the Faithful ( if it still looks like a serious battle ) or Devotions for the Faithful

5) Sagani - Binding Roots on the most tough melee enemy or boss

6) main char's chants - Sure-Handed Ila & Aefyllath

 

Everybody is confused, fighting each other or prone/stunned/paralyzed, etc. A few seconds and everybody is disabled/covered with debuffs from top to toe. A chaos... in which I can't see a good job for any melee, except only Sagani's fox and maybe Aloth with his Citzal's combo. But it seems much easier to finish off "survivors" with a huge AoE like the Storm of Holy Fire.

 

Sorry for my poor English ( isn't my native language).

 

P.S. Probably a "mannequin" beating is something funny... I used scroll of Paralyze and Gaze of the Adragan on the Dragons - Adra Dragon ( confused almost everyone in the area and paralized the dragon ) and Alpine Dragon ( petrified the dragon and confused its retinue ). Both are destroyed.

Edited by Grumpy Sorc
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That's a very good tactic - but these are all high level abilities. I think Torm's problem now is the early game (or isn't it?).

 

The Penhelm fight is difficult for low level groups because it takes place in a small but open area with lots of high DR foes that have good defenses. They can take a beat and won't die quickly if they try to reach your squishier damage dealers (if you have some). And they are trying really hard. So - a "classic" party setup with a tanky but non-dps frontline and a DPS-heavy backline is not optimal for this fight (or any other fight against foes that teleport etc.). A party that has no real glass cannons performs better in this case. And if you're level 3 - which is really low for this encounter - you don't have lots of CC capabilities either. Those you have might miss a lot.

 

My overall opinion is that lvl 3 is way too low for Penhelm. Especially if you're doing ToI. :)

Edited by Boeroer
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Agreed.  Currently plowed through Readric's front gate.  One hell of a siege it was but he and his soldiers went down.  Almost level 5.  I have speced Kana for tanking, I have my usual tank/support Paladin, a pre made Monk with Torments reach and a DPS 2handed speced Eder.  Really solid durable front line with great support from my Paladin.  My backline is Aloth who is WRECKED those high DR Paladins with Concelhauts staff.  Aloth and my monk are a Crush damage nightmare against high DR mobs (low level ones in Plate..so far).  And then I have Durance for more support.

 

Whats weird with this set up is that I have THREE leader classes, one CCer and one front liner  and one heavy hitter (technically none as OBS doesn't consider a monk a heavy hitter but I think the class is) yet the damage dealing is substantial.  Conchelhauts staff, a monk, DPS fighter and a Paladin is doing well...so far haha.

Have gun will travel.

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Also even though Kana has 10 RES if you give him a large shield and my Outworn Buckler aura he has very high deflection...give him weapon and shield style and he is a very serviceable tank with good buffs/debuffs and that phantom which at the start of the game is clutch.  Pretty much the biggest changes have been a much sturdier front line with Kana and a monk (I had my paladin and Eder in the other run).

 

Also Concelhauts staff has made a huge difference early in the game.  Before I used my Wizards for just plain CC and Blight damage/Blast/Pen Blast but at the start of the game that builds WEAK as you don't have any of that and just auto attack with a implement...which sucks.  I am thinking of speccing Aloth as a Battle Mage instead of CCer for once with Citzels Lance...but that's late game and I don't want to get ahead of myself lol...

Have gun will travel.

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