NEWBIE: I almost feel like giving up - can't handle combat!

[imacken]

I know there might have been a thousand posts like this already - or maybe not - so I apologise in advance.

I started PoE a couple of days ago, and I have played this kind of game several times in the past, but I really feel like giving up already as I just cannot handle the combat at all!

I started off exploring each area, and had so much trouble with combat, that I decided to stick to the main plot, gather some characters, build up my party before tackling stuff that was too much for me.

However, I have found that I can't even do that.  I am at the Great Hall, Caed Nua with 2 Phantoms and 1 Shadow and nothing I do can get me passed this!

I have Level 3 Cipher, Priest, Wizard and Chanter and have looked at various Youtube tutorials, but still feel nothing but frustration with this combat!

[AndreaColombo]

What difficulty are you on? What equipment are you using?

 

Your party seems to be a bit light on melee DPS; I suggest hiring Edér in Gilded Vale. You can always ditch him afterward.

Edited March 29, 2016 by AndreaColombo

[vv221]

Well, it will sound like an obvious suggestion, but have you tried lowering the difficulty for your first playthrough?

If you keep playing at a difficulty level that is frustratingly hard for you, you won’t be able to enjoy this great game… And you will still be able to up the difficulty later on, when you feel more comfortable with the combat and want a tougher challenge.

[Karkarov]

You are level 3 at caed nua?  That seems pretty low to be honest.  Get all the npcs who will join you to join you.  At that point you could have Eder. Aloth. Durance. amd Kana Rua.  That plus your character and 1 merc you would have a full team.  Like others have said lower the difficulty if needed.  Try different tactics or abilities.  Honestly the beginning of the game is the hardest part of the game, once you get to Defiance Bay it opens up and things can get a lot easier.

[phimseto]

What others have said: you can pick up four party NPCs on the way to Caed Nua (Eder, Aloth, Durance, and Kana). You can then hire one more generic hero at the Gilded Vale inn. Or, if you really don't want any of the player NPCs, just hire out the full contingent of five generic heroes. You want at least one martial/tank, one cleric, and one person who is good at disarming traps. 

 

Like others have said, level 3 is a bit low to be hitting Caed Nua at, especially with a less than full party. Combat is the least interesting part of a RPG to me, but even I had to learn the tricks and techniques in order to succeed in PoE. The surest way of making combat easier is taking the time to seek out and do the game's various side quests - garner the XP, items, and levels that will make combats you hit as easy as they can be by the time that you reach them. And yeah, play on an easier difficulty too until you have more comfort with how the different characters work and have developed some tactics that you like to use.

[Sking]

Hey imacken,

 

Definitely recommend grabbing Eder (by the tree in Gilded Vale). Not only is he a great tank, his banter is top notch. Also hit up some of the side quests in Gilded Vale before heading through Caed Nua.

Aside from these 'just avoid the problem' suggestions,

some combat tips;

- Switch Kana to his estoc after firing once with his arquebus, try to keep him alive along enough to get a summon off

- Give Durrance some actual armor (DR is your best friend early game). Get an Armor of Faith off as soon as the combat starts.

- Have Aloth/Cipher/Kana's first rifle shot hit the same target and focus it down first

- Assuming you've grabbed Eder (he is like so hot right now) get him infront and spam knockdown.

- There is a pot right when you enter the room, search it before combat.

 

Good luck adventurer

-Sking

 

Post Script - Don't forget to flank

[imacken]

Thanks so much, guys.  I got past that bit and moved on to  Maerwald. Now, that is definitely too much for me!

I'm on Normal difficulty with Aloth, Durance and Kana.

Do you think I should start again, or just go back to Gilded Vale.

PS. I'm not getting any reply notifications here!

[Marceror]

There doesn't seem to be any reason for you to start over based on what you shared. Just go back to Glilded Vale to pick up Eder, and focus on easier side quests in that area. Make sure to check all buildings in the area, as you won't get many of the quests otherwise.

[oddrheia]

Thanks so much, guys.  I got past that bit and moved on to  Maerwald. Now, that is definitely too much for me!

I'm on Normal difficulty with Aloth, Durance and Kana.

Do you think I should start again, or just go back to Gilded Vale.

PS. I'm not getting any reply notifications here!

 

Hey! Just hang in there, and as many have said do backtrack to Guilded Vale and pick up Eder before you go any farther. Equip him with a shield and a hatchet for more defense too.

 

Your main problem is the party composition -  you play a squishy class for a main hero, and so far your party is also mostly all squishies. You lack a tank who would engage the enemies thus preventing them from going after your lightly armored characters and killing them off too fast. Try it, I can bet anything you will have a far more pleasant experience once you round up your party with someone who can soak up some damage .

[Stoner]

Why not just restart on Story Mode and get a hang of game first? OP seems seriously out of any experience with cRPGs, if he keeps up like that, he'll surely hit the brick wall, cause there are lots of tough encounters ahead... I suggest going on easiest difficulty, learn game, builds and stuff first, than replay game on higher difficulty with better knowledge and being prepared. There's just too much stuff to explain and no post can cover that.

[Nauzhror]

"I have Level 3 Cipher, Priest, Wizard and Chanter and have looked at various Youtube tutorials, but still feel nothing but frustration with this combat!"

 

Cipher? None avalable at that stage, so I assume that must be your character, and you skipped picking up Eder, who would be a HUGE help. You have 4 casters, Eder is a fighter, far tankier than any of the characters you are using.

 

One Story time, Easy, or Normal though, it still shouldn't be that hard with 4 casters, I am playing a solo game atm (my first playthrough period as well) as a wizard, te only fight that gave me a ton of trouble in the earlygame was 

Raederic

 

[Marceror]

Might not be a bad idea to hire a 6th character from a tavern. Maybe a paladin for more tankiness and group buffs would be a way to go.

 

Also, not sure how comfortable you are with real-time-with-pause, but don't be afraid to hit that pause button often. Particularly with a large number of casters, you are going to lose a lot of control if you aren't pausing a lot. If you essentially approach combat as turn based you could do a lot worse.

[Skirge01]

I'm the one who started the thread titled Idiot's Guide to RTwP? because I felt the same way as you did when I started playing (if not more so!).  I received a TON of great suggestions from people via that thread and I'm now thoroughly enjoying the game.  Check out that thread and feel free to chime in.  We are not alone.  The solution is out there.

[imacken]

Thanks so much for your help guys. Following your encouragement, I restarted the game, and my experience has been completely transformed!  Really enjoying it now and have completed many sub quests, etc. and I'm not out of Gilded Vale yet!  I restarted with a fighter rather than a Cipher and I feel more comfortable with that.

A couple of questions at this stage:

1) I recruited Eder, but, I found that kind of random.  After I talked to him the first time, he just kept on saying something about 'enjoy the village'.  I have no idea what triggered a change, but sometime later I went back and got into the 'recruit' conversation.  I have no idea how a player is supposed to know that. Seems random.

2) how do I get a character to consume a potion or food, etc.?

One of the things I like about this game, is that there is not the usual constant need to eat food! That has always annoyed me about certain games of this ilk. Also, there is not the content need to find torches as the one being held was constantly running out!

I'm loving this game now!

PS I don't get any notifications of replies here. How do I contact the administrators?

[Abel]

1) Eder is available to recruit after some key event in Gilded Vale i assume. I suggest that you speak to named characters several times at different times. May be obvious, but all won't say everything they have to say after you first meet them. Some will give you new informations, new quests, or even become available to recruit after some time. It all depends of what happen in the game world. There may be new things in areas you explored 50H earlier in your playthrough, too. Understanding what is going on may help you discovering many things. But i guess you already knew this .

 

2) you need to put potions, food, and most consumable items (like scrolls) in the quick item slots before using them. You can't eat a meal during combat tough (which is quite relevant actually)

 

One more piece of advice about combat. It's a Real Time with Pause game. Which means you can issue orders while game is paused. I feel it's better to over use the pause than not using it enough . Beware of the AI too, since, sometimes, it will screw up the orders you have issued. If you feel like your characters don't do what you told them to, it may be because of the AI. If so, try deactive it.

 

While some things i say may be obvious, i think it's better said once than not at all. Have a good game.

Edited March 30, 2016 by Abel

[Elric Galad]

Final advice : once you're done with Maerwall, the game will suddenly become far more easy, except for a few endgame battles. Just don't leave the main road once you enter the countryside area after Caed Nua. You'll soon reach a big town, with a lot of quests, so in case one give you some trouble, leave it for later.

 

I have a horrible memory of my first time at Caed Nua in Normal mode. Now I beat the game in PotD. So don't worry, you'll learn, there's hope.

 

Also before Caed Nua, the Hold final battle is very challenging. You may skip it and leave it for later.

 

You may even switch to Hard once you feel comfortable.

Edited March 30, 2016 by Elric Galad

[Karkarov]

There doesn't seem to be any reason for you to start over based on what you shared. Just go back to Glilded Vale to pick up Eder, and focus on easier side quests in that area. Make sure to check all buildings in the area, as you won't get many of the quests otherwise.

Exactly, you can get to level 4 before you deal with Maerwald at least and there is no reason not to have Eder that early in the game.  Honestly after trying to do it myself I advise against using hired adventurers early on because your money is short and you don't have the gear to get them equal to the things the story companions start with.  Later on you do have that bank roll and the access to better gear easier.

[Gfted1]

PS I don't get any notifications of replies here. How do I contact the administrators?

I'm not sure, but you may not be receiving notifications since your account is under moderator review for the first five posts. You are currently at 3 posts so after 2 more the notifications will hopefully begin.

[imacken]

 

PS I don't get any notifications of replies here. How do I contact the administrators?

I'm not sure, but you may not be receiving notifications since your account is under moderator review for the first five posts. You are currently at 3 posts so after 2 more the notifications will hopefully begin.

 

All sorted! I didn't realise that you don't get auto-subscribed to posts. I had to select this thread in the user panel and follow it.  Bit weird. Normally, threads you start or contribute to are auto-subscribed, but I know now!

[Tennisgolfboll]

There are different levels of difficulty for a reason.

 

Play on the difficulty that you enjoy. Be it storytime or PoTD

[Elric Galad]

There's difficulty and there's tediousness of Caed Nua for a new player. It's not the most relevent point of the difficulty curve.

[Crucis]

I strongly suggest NOT doing Caed Nua until after you've done all of the main and side quests in and around Gilded Vale.  I will say that it is worth heading to Caed Nua as soon as you can to grab Kana, but then turn back around and do NOT go into Caed Nua itself.  Caed Nua isn't really meant for low level parties that are just starting out.

[Elric Galad]

There's just 1 single battle in act I that is significantly harder that all that you can find at Caed Nua. Not sure it is wise to advise doing it.

[Skirge01]

I strongly suggest NOT doing Caed Nua until after you've done all of the main and side quests in and around Gilded Vale.  I will say that it is worth heading to Caed Nua as soon as you can to grab Kana, but then turn back around and do NOT go into Caed Nua itself.  Caed Nua isn't really meant for low level parties that are just starting out.

 

When I first went to Caed Nua, I tried the first level and was getting my *ss kicked, so I just figured it was too soon to go to level 2.  I came back later and got through a few more levels.  I'm currently in Act 3 and have gotten through to level 7 with relative ease, so I probably should've come back a little sooner.  Based on this, I get the feeling the levels were designed to be done in spurts, not necessarily all at once.

[Marceror]

 

I strongly suggest NOT doing Caed Nua until after you've done all of the main and side quests in and around Gilded Vale.  I will say that it is worth heading to Caed Nua as soon as you can to grab Kana, but then turn back around and do NOT go into Caed Nua itself.  Caed Nua isn't really meant for low level parties that are just starting out.

 

When I first went to Caed Nua, I tried the first level and was getting my *ss kicked, so I just figured it was too soon to go to level 2.  I came back later and got through a few more levels.  I'm currently in Act 3 and have gotten through to level 7 with relative ease, so I probably should've come back a little sooner.  Based on this, I get the feeling the levels were designed to be done in spurts, not necessarily all at once.

 

Yeah, the idea is definitely to break it up. If you start going through the dungeon early, you may do okay for a while, but you will very quickly get outclasses. You need to be very well outfitted and at higher levels for the latter levels. This is also a reason for the main stairway, so you can return easily to deeper parts of the dungeon.

 

Plus, who wants to wade through 15 levels of dungeon without a break? That would be pretty grueling.