nalrend on potd-melee/cipher party.

[Panda Baby]

Hey guys,

 

so i'm on my 50% reduced xp playthourgh with only npcs, . so far its been challenging but ok.

 

i got to act 3, i'm levle 7, and decided do the bounties/paths for try get to 9 before going white march ,although doubt the xp suffise lol.

 

Anyway my probleme is NALREND THE WISE.

 

my party has eder,pallegina,mother,me ( cypher), and 2 customs with exact same stats as zahua/meneha, until i get the real ones.

 

so 4 melee, 2 caster, and no priest/mage.

 

my cyphers are getting raped by insect plague and melee have hard time too...i have no topazes yet for craft firewall of confusion scrolls.

 

so what can i do ? expect goign town for get mage custom or such...

 

how with my compo i can beat them? it's stupid cus i'm sure i can handle other bounties much easier way. but nalrend and the pack infront cave are wiping with my face.

[rheingold]

You are probably underlevelled for this fight, its really painful. Reckon ciphers are not great for this fight as well. I'd probably pick up Hiravious. Druids are great for this fight. Start with overwhelming wave, put up the storm spells while they are stunned. Calling the worlds maw for the rest and moonwell for insect plague. I found it easier to be really aggresive with this fight and hit them with everything my druid had in the beggining. Ciphers cant do that.

Edited March 18, 2016 by rheingold

[Panda Baby]

problem of levle is vicious circle.

 

need the bounty doen for unlock next set of bounties for the xp.

 

even if i menage get to endless path maybe level 7-8 withotu getting raped dubt is give me enough xp to level 9.

 

might bed forced start som act 3 quests then.

 

 

anyway i find game more enjoyable when its not easy.get to this levle 7 when playing from start with 50% increased xp needed proved a challenge.Espcilly with 4 melee/2ciphers and no priest/mage who are op lol.

[Panda Baby]

next i plan try a 6 priest group lol

[MaxQuest]

my cyphers are getting raped by insect plague and melee have hard time too...i have no topazes yet for craft firewall of confusion scrolls.

I used somewhat similar party composition. Just let your two ciphers charm their spellcasters. And dominate 1-2 of their closest melee. Edited March 18, 2016 by MaxQuest

[atua]

You're a bit under levelled for this so things like Scroll of Valor/Potion of Eldrich Aim to improve your accuracy, so you can land some key crowd control spells at the start of the fight will help. Scroll of Defense/Moonwell to help your defenses. Maybe also Potion of Spirit Shield if the Plague of Insects interruption is bad

[Panda Baby]

guess i might try respec the cipher for get charm and puppet master.

 

will see how it goes. crafting levle 4 scrolls require gems i nu have yet

[MaxQuest]

^ Whispers of Treason is awesome.

One of it's uses is against low-will, but high-endurance enemies (notably Ogres).

Another one is as preemptive measure against being dominated by Adragans, or paralyzed by a teleported Cean Gwla. Being a fast cast itself, and being used by high-dex cipher, it lands really quick.

And the third is against dragons. Alpine Dragon killing half of his adds, is quite a help. Also you can later charm him again, to land a better disintegrate.

Edited March 19, 2016 by MaxQuest

[atua]

I second the Whisper of Treason recommendation. And I'd actually avoid Puppet Master. A dominated target attacks a bit harder than a charmed one, and can be attacked by your party, but generally you should avoid attacking your charm/dominated target until last so in a crowd control sense there's little difference between the two. Whisper's only 1/3 the focus cost (10 vs 30) of Puppetmaster, and a fast cast too, so it's the more efficient option in most cases.

 

For high HP targets, Recall Agony's also very nice. Pain Link's handy in boss fights too. I'm assuming you've already taken Ectopsychic Echo; two of those in operation will kill even ogres pretty fast. Use summons (from items) as targets if you can't get anyone in your party across the other side.

Edited March 19, 2016 by atua

[ottffsse]

Yeah Whispers is pretty op on cipher since revision. With with

3.2 amp thrust will get the nerf though I don't know about detonaTe.

 

I ran a ranged cipher in 3.1 and had great success only my barb was catching up to me in damage but that was late game and Maneha still did not catch up.

 

I used death godlike with arms bearer talent and coil of resourcefulness to quickswitch opening gunshots without the actual talent. Endgame my weapons were 2 superior durganized lead spitters and rain of godagh field as my last weapon after the opening gun salvo. Sometimes I switched to persistence though which was really nice too. I played mostly at 33% XP nerf as I did want to try out the level 15/16 powers before the last fight.

 

Abilities were:

 

1: Whispers, soul shock, mind wave

2: recall agony, mental binding, amp thrust, psychovampiric shield

3: pain link, dominate, echto echo

4: pain block, going between, body attunement

5: detonate, borrowed instinct, tactical meld

6: disintegrate, amp wave

7-8: all

You can skip stasis shell tbh and take another lower level quality debuff spell like eyestrike or flanking foes if you have rogues.

 

Talents were :

 

2: biting whip

4: arms bearer

6: outlander frenzy (later replaced by bloody slaughter once I got time parasite).

8: penetrating shot

10: marksman

12: draining whip

14: weapon focus adventurer

 

16: I hit lvl 16 just before battle with end boss did not bother to lvl up.

 

Had a priest and Pali in the party to offset the need for accuracy talents + used survival bonus to rest 4 accuracy vs enemy type.

And also integrated a wizard into the party to debuff enemies will saves so my cipher always hit with Whispers or mental binding.

[Panda Baby]

i start regretting going with 2 ciphers.

 

i picked npcs from a pure prefernce point of view for their storylien and alignement...now i see tactic wise its a painfull choice.

 

myself being a 2nd cipher i regret not rolling as a mage or a priest since i killed durance/aloth :D

 

i feel melee are underpowred...true eder/pallegina/zahua/meneha stats are messed...but the gear shud catch up for that, alass it dont...

 

without a priest the enemy casters simply disable and burn u down ...

[ottffsse]

Have one cipher be like backlash bedlam. Gm can do that it's not optimal but it works as a debuffer. Definitely slower than a priest or wizard. Just dominate everything. Zahua and Maneha and even Eder have decent stats. It's the spellcasters that are a bit messed up. I actually turned aloth into a skaen priest lol with ie mod. As he had better perception and dexterity than durance.

[MaxQuest]

i start regretting going with 2 ciphers.

But why?

 

without a priest the enemy casters simply disable and burn u down ...

You can preemptively disable them too. And for emergency cases liberating exhortation, scrolls of protection and potions of major recovery will help you greatly.

Edited March 19, 2016 by MaxQuest