Best classes for two-character playthrough?

[Magnificate]

Lover's Ring inspired me to make my next playthough with exactly two characters.

 

Which classes would support each other the best and be able to take on PotD without skipping content?

[Braven]

Assuming you do not want to abuse the heck out of resting, I would say that the martial classes (ranger, rogue, fighter, paladin, monk, and cipher) all work quite nicely.  I like ranger because the ranger's pet doesn't have a health pool (free healing) and can do a lot of the tanking and is a third body.  This allows you to stall long enough to unload all of your abilities. 

 

If you do not mind resting often, the casters are very powerful because of all the per-rest spells they get.  Otherwise, I find them quite weak since their starting stats are much lower, and with only two party members, you can't really afford to just conserve spells for future battles.  Also, with lore, you don't really need them since you can just use scrolls for a tough battle and then anyone can be a wizard.

 

For the most fun and best synergy, I would suggest having your two characters specialize in opposite things.  Like one is a tank in heavy armor, one is a damage dealer wearing a robe.  Or one that heavily focuses on disabling abilities, like interrupts, stuns, and prone, and the other focus and cleaning them up quickly with high damage.  Or maybe you have one that is mainly around to buff the other one and heal them.

 

That way, they also generally want different equipment so you don't have to pick a favorite for any given item you find.

Edited March 3, 2016 by Braven

[MountainTiger]

Two Chanters journeying the world, serenading each other with sappy love songs, seems like the correct thematic choice

[Baron_Bathory]

I think a Wizard and a Warrior would be super effective. Tank holds aggro and Wiz blasts into oblivion. I guess this can technically be accomplished by any Tank/DPS combo.

[DreamWayfarer]

Paladin and Monk are a good choice. Both are sturdy, specialy the Paladin, and the per-encounter healing will help you make the most out of your monk.

[Braven]

What kind of play style do you like best?  I think most combinations are equally viable.  Being familiar with the game, knowing where everything is at, and knowing the proper tactics to defeat different kinds of enemies are much more important.  There is not that much of a difference between the power levels of any given two classes.

Edited March 3, 2016 by Braven

[Magnificate]

What kind of play style do you like best?  I think most combinations are equally viable.  Being familiar with the game, knowing where everything is at, and knowing the proper tactics to defeat different kinds of enemies are much more important.  There is not that much of a difference between the power levels of any given two classes.

I'm reasonably familiar with the game and I prefer low-maintance characters with lots of passive abilities and one or two trump-cards. I don't like to be reliant on healing, since in this game healing is rarely, if ever, instant.

[Ymarsakar]

 

What kind of play style do you like best?  I think most combinations are equally viable.  Being familiar with the game, knowing where everything is at, and knowing the proper tactics to defeat different kinds of enemies are much more important.  There is not that much of a difference between the power levels of any given two classes.

I'm reasonably familiar with the game and I prefer low-maintance characters with lots of passive abilities and one or two trump-cards. I don't like to be reliant on healing, since in this game healing is rarely, if ever, instant.

 

 

Monk and a retaliation build cipher might be interesting. Chanters also have that special resource, part of the 3 hybrid classes. In a full party, the chanter is low maintenance, but in a two person party, it might be too low maintenance to be fun

Edited March 3, 2016 by Ymarsakar

[Braven]

I think the best combination is Monk (focus on CON and RES) and Cipher (focus on high MIGHT, DEX, and PER) because of 4 powers the cipher has:

 

Amplified Thrust  - This actually creates more focus that it costs to cast, does a ton of damage (over 50 per cast), and it is a "fast" cast, so you can spam it very quickly over and over and over again until everything is dead.  The only condition is that you have an ally (which you do with the Monk).  It is available really early, as a second level power.  Intelligence doesn't help this power at all and you can consider keeping that stat low.

 

Defensive Web - Your cipher can gain all of the super high defenses of your Tank monk.

 

Something Knives (can't remember the exact name) - This will turn your monk into a killing machine since it stacks his unarmed fighting bonuses and it also generates more focus for the cipher than it costs to cast so you will never run out of focus once you get this, no matter what powers you want to use.

 

Detonate:  This deals something like 400 damage if you have max might.  This is your trump card for really hard bosses, like dragons.

 

 

Really, this combination is completely and totally broken, it is so good.  Healing doesn't matter because everything will die so fast before that is an issue.  However, it is kind of one-note since it is focused around abusing a couple poorly designed cipher powers that got really good in the latest patch.  I see a nerf coming.

Edited March 3, 2016 by Braven

[Dorftek]

I think the best combination is Monk (focus on CON and RES) and Cipher (focus on high MIGHT, DEX, and PER) because of 4 powers the cipher has:

 

Amplified Thrust - This actually creates more focus that it costs to cast, does a ton of damage (over 50 per cast), and it is a "fast" cast, so you can spam it very quickly over and over and over again until everything is dead. The only condition is that you have an ally (which you do with the Monk). It is available really early, as a second level power. Intelligence doesn't help this power at all and you can consider keeping that stat low.

 

Defensive Web - Your cipher can gain all of the super high defenses of your Tank monk.

 

Something Knives (can't remember the exact name) - This will turn your monk into a killing machine since it stacks his unarmed fighting bonuses and it also generates more focus for the cipher than it costs to cast so you will never run out of focus once you get this, no matter what powers you want to use.

 

Detonate: This deals something like 400 damage if you have max might. This is your trump card for really hard bosses, like dragons.

 

 

Really, this combination is completely and totally broken, it is so good. Healing doesn't matter because everything will die so fast before that is an issue. However, it is kind of one-note since it is focused around abusing a couple poorly designed cipher powers that got really good in the latest patch. I see a nerf coming.

I haven't tried Cipher since I patched it, are you saying that Cipher dmg spells now generates focus? :-o

[Ymarsakar]

2 cipher spells apply focus, apart from retaliation effects and spark soul priest buff.

 

That would be amplified thrust and detonate's aoe damage if you kill the target, and from the two, amplified thrust is much more reliable.

Edited March 9, 2016 by Ymarsakar

[Braven]

Most people consider it a "bug" that Amplified Thrust generates focus, even though it has been that way for a very long time and has never been "fixed".  What makes it more interesting now in 3.0 is that they buffed the damage and reduced the focus cost.  Because of those changes, it now usually generates as much (or more if you land a critical) focus each time you use it.  You can basically just cast it over and over and over again and kill everything near your other character.

 

The new Reeping Knives also generates more focus than it costs to cast, over time, though that ability is clearly designed to work that way and isn't available until late game.

Edited March 9, 2016 by Braven

[Reent]

full damage chanter +support durance- chanter has no problems killing stuff but is bad vs CC, priest is good vs CC - thats what i am running atm after dying with the solo chanter 3 times (ironman runs) to wm1 content (didnt play wm1/2 before) - should be able to clear everything the game throws at me, but i will see.

 

"Saw you in the Flames" - "I will be the Flame that destroys everything in my Path" - what better team could there be? :D

[Kaylon]

Paladin&Cypher

[Raven Darkholme]

There is a couple of couples () that would work very well.

The paladin is pretty much a must, but since you can solo with any char ofc you can play without him.

My personal Top 5 would be:

 

1. Paladin + Chanter

Since you not only can build the chanter very tanky, but he also gets a great passive AoE attack with level 9, these two have the best synergy if you want low micro.

Summons are also real handy in some situations and with level 13 you get a 30 pt damage shield which makes a tanky paladin invulnerable.

 

2. Paladin and Priest

I only set this to 2, because of higher micro. This is the strongest combination I can think of. Priests buffs can make a solo priest very tanky, just think about what they do to the pala.

Combine this with excellent cc and healing...

 

3. Paladin and Cipher.

Once again,5 this could very well be top 1. With max level, this is easily Top 1 because of mindweb, but even before that the massive damage output and excellent crowd control of the cipher compliments the paladins tankiness, let's not forget the great supportspells of which the cipher also has a few. Pain link + Sacred Immolation seems to work even if the pala doesn't get hit by enemies the selfdamage seems to proc link. And many people might know how cheesy a cipher in stealth is, when Echo is activated.

 

4. Paladin and Ranger

Really strong if you enjoy splitting large groups of enemies. Let the pet pull melees away from casters (or just split a large group of melees) and let the paladin tank them, while the ranger shoots.

 

5. Paladin and Wizard

The wizard can tank as well as the paladin but needs spells for it and especially Arcane Veil is something you don't want to spam (short duration, per rest).

A tactic I like with these two is have the wizard in a corner or behind a door and the paladin in front so melees can't reach the wizard. Activate parasitic staff and enjoy dat reach.

You can save your defensive spells for encounters, where the terrain makes this impossible.

[theBalthazar]

Personnaly i Think :

 

Priest + Ranger

 

With his pet, he can tank and do much damage.

 

The priest can do the job for buffs and can do DPS.

 

But attention : two characters, you must pass by invocations.

 

Wizard : bad at the start of the game fo tank or DPS.

 

Barbarian : Ok, but in endgame, it become hard to fight. Ranger its better in endgame (more safe)

 

Chanter : Not fan. You must use invocations, so wait a long time. And time = risk.

Edited March 10, 2016 by theBalthazar

[Heijoushin]

Wait, what? What is this Lover's Ring item? Where can I get it and what does it do?

[MaxQuest]

^ Copper and Silver Lover's Rings are from some stronghold quest.

 

Boeroer posted their stats here.

 

P.S. It seems no one has tested yet if they do generate wounds, and also the interaction with Pain Link?

Edited March 10, 2016 by MaxQuest

[Stasis_Sword]

I think the best combination is Monk (focus on CON and RES) and Cipher (focus on high MIGHT, DEX, and PER) because of 4 powers the cipher has:

 

Amplified Thrust  - This actually creates more focus that it costs to cast, does a ton of damage (over 50 per cast), and it is a "fast" cast, so you can spam it very quickly over and over and over again until everything is dead.  The only condition is that you have an ally (which you do with the Monk).  It is available really early, as a second level power.  Intelligence doesn't help this power at all and you can consider keeping that stat low.

 

Defensive Web - Your cipher can gain all of the super high defenses of your Tank monk.

 

Something Knives (can't remember the exact name) - This will turn your monk into a killing machine since it stacks his unarmed fighting bonuses and it also generates more focus for the cipher than it costs to cast so you will never run out of focus once you get this, no matter what powers you want to use.

 

Detonate:  This deals something like 400 damage if you have max might.  This is your trump card for really hard bosses, like dragons.

 

 

Really, this combination is completely and totally broken, it is so good.  Healing doesn't matter because everything will die so fast before that is an issue.  However, it is kind of one-note since it is focused around abusing a couple poorly designed cipher powers that got really good in the latest patch.  I see a nerf coming.

 

The other very helpful power would be pain block for some extra DR/healing on the monk. Also remember not to build the cipher too squishy.

Strategy would probably be amplified thrust/range attack -> reaping knives -> unlimited focus.

 

I'm also surprised no one mentioned druid yet. Seems like healing, aoe damage and shapeshifting would help cover a lot of bases.