Solo run on easy. Rogue or Ranger?

[arkanoide]

So, im new to PoE. Im loving the game. But - im not a big fan of full party and micromanaging 6 or more party members all the time. So i decided to try a solo run on Easy difficulty, from what ive read, on Easy there are less enemies so maybe it could work nicely for solo (was playing with full party on hard and didnt have too much trouble, got my way almost to act3, doing all quests possible, but like i said the micromanaging the whole party, pausing the game every second to check your members and give orders, especially when you are unfamiliar with the spells/skills - not a big fan, maybe ast some later point). My aim is to make the game challenging but not to the point that i will pull my hair out

 

Im undecided here - i DONT like magic classes in RPGs, never liked, maybe some kind of shadowblade etc but never a wizard/mage type characters. I always play sneaky assassins/thiefs or archers. I dont like pure tanks with pitiful damage  either, i like to dish out some good damage. So the choice here is obvious - Rogue or Ranger. What class will be better in soloing the game and both expansions? Easier, more fun? And the most important thing - i dont want to skip most fights/content and just get to the end credits, im doing this for fun and to complete the game not for the achievement. Im OK with skipping fights and come back to it later when im at higher level with better skills/gear etc, but i would like to do as much of the content as possible. Is there a ranger/rogue build that doesnt rely on end game skills/gear to fully develop? Im okay with builds that rely on specific gear that you can aquire quite early or mid game like the Persistance bow or Lead Splitter etc. The point is - i want to have fun from the early/mid game, not to drag the game almost to the end to get the skills/items that i need, when there is not more left to do in the game anyways Any help would be much appreciated!

[gogocactus]

If you look up Harpagornis his Noober challenge, you can see that he soloed PoE on PotD with a level one ranger.

 

http://pastebin.com/3b6zF0k0

 

Please check the above link if you want to see how he did it. Perhaps it can help you make your choice between rogue or ranger .

Edited March 19, 2016 by gogocactus

[rheingold]

Both will be fine. I'd go with which ever class you prefer rather than which is the "best" class. Not sure either class will be able to do all content though. That might only be possible with a paladin

[Blunderboss]

I remember messing arround a bit with solo rogue on easy/normal after PoE release , and its not that fun as it looks it will be in the first place .

Invisibility when soloing will reset fights .

Debuffing enemy for sneak attacks is complicated as u wont be able to flank them , and ur own debuffs are very limited .

Because of the the things i mentioned above u will have to build more tanky than u would like to avoid cheesing , also the Riposte is useless talent even when soloing

 

 

Sometime in the future i plan to mod cipher a bit ( adding rogue stuff with console ) and go solo on hard/potd this should be more interesting

 

On other hand Ranger with its pet will be one man army on easy , should be interesting enough and you will be able to complete everything i think

Edited March 20, 2016 by Blunderboss

[Raven Darkholme]

On easy you can pretty much pick any class.

I'd probably go with chanter if you don't like micro.

[DreamWayfarer]

You shouldn't dismiss classes other than Ranger and Rogue so easily.

 

Fighters built for damage can be a very effective and mostly safe choice, if very passive.

 

Or, if micro management of a single character is your thing, a Monk may prove the best choice due to the many fun abilities. Just remember that you don't have to go unarmed and unarmored just because D&D Monks do so. Yes, you can do it, but you don't need to if you feel robes aren't enough to survive.

Edited March 20, 2016 by DreamWayfarer

[arkanoide]

Well im currently running a moon godlike rogue, maxed perception, dex and resolve, 10 might, 8 constitution and 4 int, using weapon and shield + the talent, opted for the hit to crit talents, and yeah its not difficult, and when it gets a little difficult a bit of cheese helps, killed the spider queen at the beginning of caed nua dungeons with a pistol standing on the little stairs, she was standing in my face but for some reason because of the elevation difference i think she could not hit me at all(she just stood below me doing nothing) so i took no damage, cheesy kill and a nice dagger. But yeah its a bit less fun running a solo rogue when you cant inflict the conditions for sneak attacks, think ill run and try to get the Tall Grass pike, i will have 30% hit to crit conversion with it + Vicious Fighting, and prone on stun sounds excellent, plus it enables the sneak attacks. But is it 100% prone on stun or just a % chance? Anyways i will fiddle a bit more with the rogue and maybe it will pick up And if not then ill try ranger. BTW im not dismissing all other characters besides rogues and rangers, im just used to them and like to play them. But if you have any tips on other classess then any advice is welcomed! Well, besides pure caster classes. I dont mind some buffs/debuffs/cc spells throwed here and there Would maybe a Cipher be fun? From what i played with cipher it looks like it shines only when you have an ally in your group so it would probably end up bad when playing solo? Thanks guys for the responses

[Dorftek]

I play a solo Rogue right now on Hard, offensive built with dual wield speed weapons and 5% recovery armour. Works great so far. To create sneak attacks I use scrolls like Tanglefoot, once I get higher I can use scrolls of paralysis for tougher fights. Creating sneak attacks isn't really a problem if you use what is out there. Tall grass is one way if u want to play with a two hander.

[Dorftek]

To answer your cipher question I have tried a cipher solo on hard aswell up until lvl 9, it's very easy actually. Rogue is tougher for sure

[arkanoide]

Hmm will need to check scrolls out as i have never used them, how much points in Lore would you guys recommend for using scrolls, since im a bit starving with skill points with Stealth(lvl6) and Mechanics(lvl6, will stop at already

[Braven]

Ranger will be easier than rogue. The animal companion is really helpful and I like using it to setup flanks and such and tank early on. I recommend wounding shot and an arbalest (enchant with fire lash) for the early game. It will one shot anything in ACT 1 and is a good option for "alpha strikes" for the whole game because wounding shot doubles the damage. With high dex and swift aim, the reload is pretty fast. Later, you might want to switch to melee as I found the animal starts to struggle tanking in the mid-game and you get items like sanguine plate armor and shod-in-faith boots which really helps melee. Maybe a bow with just cloth armor would be strong enough with summons, though, if you want to stick with a bow. When you get the stunning shots ability (which also works with melee now), dual-speed weapons can be nice for inflicting the stuns much faster.

 

However, It is possible to solo everything in the game with any class on Easy with a little planning.

Edited March 20, 2016 by Braven

[rheingold]

Mmm not sure if things have changed but easy isn't as easy as some people think.... The enemy stats are the same as hard, the only thing that changes is the amount of adds. That means the alpine dragon is still, well the alpine dragon. Its only Potd and storytime where the stats change. So there are still going to be some tough fights, though obviously the adds do make a difference in difficulty.

[Dorftek]

Yeah, less adds and easier type of adds

[Raven Darkholme]

Cipher is a lot of fun solo. I cry everytime I can't use an ability but still one of the most viable solo classes.

As to on crit prone effects: The crit triggers a 2nd attack which can be deflected but it targets a different defense I believe for prone it's fortitude.

There also might be an accuraccy bonus on that effect I'm not sure.

 

 

Mmm not sure if things have changed but easy isn't as easy as some people think.... The enemy stats are the same as hard, the only thing that changes is the amount of adds. That means the alpine dragon is still, well the alpine dragon. Its only Potd and storytime where the stats change. So there are still going to be some tough fights, though obviously the adds do make a difference in difficulty.

 

For people who usually play PotD the difference is huge.

Edited March 21, 2016 by Raven Darkholme

[Tennisgolfboll]

Cipher is a lot of fun solo. I cry everytime I can't use an ability but still one of the most viable solo classes.

As to on crit prone effects: The crit triggers a 2nd attack which can be deflected but it targets a different defense I believe for prone it's fortitude.

There also might be an accuraccy bonus on that effect I'm not sure.

 

 

 

Mmm not sure if things have changed but easy isn't as easy as some people think.... The enemy stats are the same as hard, the only thing that changes is the amount of adds. That means the alpine dragon is still, well the alpine dragon. Its only Potd and storytime where the stats change. So there are still going to be some tough fights, though obviously the adds do make a difference in difficulty.

For people who usually play PotD the difference is huge.

If i were to put number on the difficulty settings:

 

Story 10

Easy 100

Normal 115

Hard 130

POTD 160

 

As said alpine dragon is the same on easy, normal, hard which makes those difficulty settings much closer to eachother than one thinks.

 

Storytime is incredibly easy. The difference between easy and storytime is bigger than between easy and POTD!!

[Raven Darkholme]

 

Cipher is a lot of fun solo. I cry everytime I can't use an ability but still one of the most viable solo classes.

As to on crit prone effects: The crit triggers a 2nd attack which can be deflected but it targets a different defense I believe for prone it's fortitude.

There also might be an accuraccy bonus on that effect I'm not sure.

 

Mmm not sure if things have changed but easy isn't as easy as some people think.... The enemy stats are the same as hard, the only thing that changes is the amount of adds. That means the alpine dragon is still, well the alpine dragon. Its only Potd and storytime where the stats change. So there are still going to be some tough fights, though obviously the adds do make a difference in difficulty.

For people who usually play PotD the difference is huge.

If i were to put number on the difficulty settings:

 

Story 10

Easy 100

Normal 115

Hard 130

POTD 160

 

As said alpine dragon is the same on easy, normal, hard which makes those difficulty settings much closer to eachother than one thinks.

 

Storytime is incredibly easy. The difference between easy and storytime is bigger than between easy and POTD!!

 

I never understood why you would need storytime since there is easy already.

Let's be real even on hard the Alpine Dragon is not that bad. And on easy especially the Adra dragon becomes a cake walk because less (no?) Adragans.

[gogocactus]

Well, I'm a very experienced gamer and certainly had difficulty defeating the adra dragon on hard the first time around. Now I'm playing on PotD and I couldn't defeat the Alpine dragon until my party was level sixteen.

 

As for my girlfriend, she hardly ever plays videogames and had no trouble completing the game on easy the first time around. Yet, she can't defeat the adra dragon because to do so requires quite in depth knowledge of all spells and mechanics.

 

All in all, I wouldn't say that PoE's mechanics are that accessible. They require a lot of knowledge, which is something more casual players might not have interest in to acquire. Story mode seems like a nice addition then.

Edited March 21, 2016 by gogocactus

[Elric Galad]

Come on, most people here play PotD but we are absolutelty not representative of real players. Story Mode is a mode for "gothic but not gamer girlfriend", "little brother" or "daddy with time devourer monster in the craddle" or any casual player who just can't haunt thid forum in order to understand if durgan steel stack with alacrity.

 

PoE is not very difficult but with little game knowledge it tends to be very tedious, especially in the beginning.

[gogocactus]

"daddy with time devourer monster in the craddle"

Lmao.

[Raven Darkholme]

Well, I'm a very experienced gamer and certainly had difficulty defeating the adra dragon on hard the first time around. Now I'm playing on PotD and I couldn't defeat the Alpine dragon until my party was level sixteen.

 

As for my girlfriend, she hardly ever plays videogames and had no trouble completing the game on easy the first time around. Yet, she can't defeat the adra dragon because to do so requires quite in depth knowledge of all spells and mechanics.

 

All in all, I wouldn't say that PoE's mechanics are that accessible. They require a lot of knowledge, which is something more casual players might not have interest in to acquire. Story mode seems like a nice addition then.

Yes you do need to know how your skills work in a game like this.

If your gf hardly plays any video games I don't think she is a good comparison to other players who play a CRPG.

Normally those kind of players play something more casual if they ever play a game.

If your party needed to be level 16 that's not a real concern, since the Alpine Dragon is one of the toughest single enemies in the game.

It is however significantly easier on hard, believe me or don't it has -15 on both accuracy and defenses which is an immensely huge deal.

[arkanoide]

Ok im trying Ranger and it is SO much more fun than Rogue Playing rogue i found myself abusing the figurines 90% of the fights when i builded offensive, or just build up tanky with plate armor + weapon and shield - and playing weapon and shield rogue is just not fun My sin was treating my animal companion as a useless meat shield when playing ranger, now i care more about it, like it was an actual character, and its going great. Got Persistence bow at lvl 4 from Caed Nua, running no armor, my wolf is destroying things I found the pet too squishy even with Resilient Companion talent, now im lvl 7 and i took the skill to heal the pet, its 2 per encounter, 1 use heals it up fully and it makes so much difference ! Still using figurines occasionaly when theres a swarm of 10+ mobs or just hard hitting ones to take off aggro off the pet, but not so much as when playing rogue. Done almost all sidequest in Defiance Bay, will be moving to Dyrford Village soon. The Lighthouse quest scares me with my squishy ranger so im postponing it :D

 

Would love any advice on the build if its optimal and if you would change something, and what to look out for next levels

 

Wood elf

Might: 18

Con: 4

Dex: 20

Per: 18

Int: 14

Res: 4

 

I took Wounding Shot, Resilient Companion, Predators Sense, Vicious Companion, Stalkers Link, and the Pet healing skill. Should i still work on the pet or go for some skills for myself now? And one more question - i heard the Stormcaller bow is very good for the ranger - i would like to check it out - at what level should i go to White March and try to get it? Is it hard to get? Would like to get it as soon as i can. Thanks guys