Question regarding class choices

[Rozza23]

Hey everyone,

 

So I just finished my first play through of BG I & II and was craving another cRPG, so I thought I'd pick up PoE. While it's installing I had a look at the classes and had a few questions about them, in particular the monk, cipher, and wizard classes. Essentially I am after a versatile class that can help with both control and damage. From what I've read the cipher seems to fit this role very well, but it does seem to be a bit overpowered (Like on par with Fighter-Mage from BG) which I never really enjoyed, how true is this? Alternatively I was thinking the wizard would be another decent choice but from what I understand you get a companion pretty early with this class, so I'm not entirely sure how viable it is to run through the game with 2 mages. The final class I was looking at was monk, which unfortunately I couldn't find much of a consensus on as some sites say they are tanks, other say that are second line dps, and other say they are more control oriented. Would appreciate some your guys thoughts on the matter, as I'm pretty excited to get into the game once it downloads.

[Dr <3]

Go for monk and build it as you like (/with different abilities wich you will find by yourself he can become what you want between tank, DPS or cc ). I did some time a go a good build for him for a novice player ( search for " illuminated master); in the main build thread there is also the juggernout build that is also very strong.

I like monks because they are sturdy, they do good DMG, are fun from lvl 1 and are quite easy to use ( if you turn on the aggressive ai you don't even had to spam your skills because the computer do this for you)

[MaxQuest]

From what I've read the cipher seems to fit this role very well, but it does seem to be a bit overpowered

I suppose all classes can be considered overpowered in a way, especially if you know what you are doing.

Alternatively I was thinking the wizard would be another decent choice but from what I understand you get a companion pretty early with this class, so I'm not entirely sure how viable it is to run through the game with 2 mages.

It is viable to have two wizards in the party. And you can get Eder and Kana just 5 minutes afterwords. But in the early game, and especially on the first playthrough, wizard might appear as underwhelming. It's only later you come to realization how powerful this class is.

 

The final class I was looking at was monk, which unfortunately I couldn't find much of a consensus on as some sites say they are tanks, other say that are second line dps, and other say they are more control oriented.

That's because monk can be built in different ways.

And I would agree with DR<3 on the monk suggestion.

[unfriendly_cat]

Rangers are surprisingly good at control now; there are several great CC bows, binding roots, plus stunning shots later on and takedown from the animal companion. Their specialty is of course single target damage, but they can add some AoE eventually. The animal companions are very efficient as off-tanks/flankers as well. In the later builds ranger has become perhaps the most fun class to play; went through PotD with a ranger PC and Sagani in the party, and in non-boss encounters they pretty much took care of CC by themselves. Also, having two animal companions who don't have to worry about health is a great convenience when clearing maps.

Edited May 17, 2016 by unfriendly_cat

[Stasis_Sword]

Monk - As mentioned above they are a great class. They can be very durable (see juggernaut build) and also provide a range of active abilities. In addition to doing great damage with their quick auto attacks they can do AOE damage with torment's reach, dash around the field with flagellant's path and CC a target with Force of anguish. Their abilities use a resource called wounds which you accumulate my taking damage, while this might sound undesirable it's actually nice because you take damage almost every encounter and can use their abilities without needing to hold back.

 

Cipher - Is powerful but not enough to avoid it. The cipher gets a powerful damage multiplier for both melee and ranged attacks. They posses a fairly diverse range of powers which can charm, debuff and deal raw damage to multiple targets. Their abilities use a resource called focus which you accumulate by dealing weapon damage. Like wounds you can (and should) spend focus as soon as you get it because it won't carry over to the next battle. The only downside to focus is that unlike a high level wizard you can't fire off a bunch of your highest level powers at the beginning of an encounter.

 

Wizard - Much like BG they begin kind of weak and get much stronger as the game progresses. They have a huge range of spells for every situation including incredible CC, AOE damage, debuffs and amazing self buffs. Wizards use a per rest spell system similar to BG which means you need to careful consider how many spells you want to use in any given encounter. When they get to those higher levels in addition to having more spells per rest they also develop spell mastery where they can cast certain spells once per encounter for no cost. For example at level 9 you could pick slicken (a 1st level spell) as your per encounter spell and be able to cast it for free once per encounter. Eventually you can master a level 1st, 2nd, 3rd and 4th level spell which makes normal encounters much more fun.

 

Also you will eventually meet companions of every class (although Monk, Rogue and Barbarian come later) so don't let having two of a class worry you.

Edited May 17, 2016 by Stasis_Sword

[Rozza23]

Thanks for the input everyone! Going to roll with a monk for my first playthrough and then move onto cipher probably for my second