Is PotD going to actually be tough? Rant on the game's balance

[Dr <3]

Yes i was very surprised, i could have easily bet all my money on cat, boar was a pleasant surprised. So basically just the bear is behind other forms

[Boeroer]

Another good thing about the boar is that he has no 1/rest ability but his bonuses are passive. Less fuzz.

Yeah, the bear's roar is really really lame. They should have given him scaling DR bonuses or... overbearing. So that he causes prone on crit. That would fit. Err - that rhymed, sorry.    

Edited September 22, 2016 by Boeroer

[r2d23]

Is there any benefit for druid who uses implements (as described above) in being a nature godlike?

[Boeroer]

If he uses Dangerous Implements and drops below 50% endurance, he gets +3 Might, +2 Constitution, +2 Dexterity which stack with everything else. So, for example with Outlander's Frenzy he could have +6 MIG, +5 CON and +2 DEX. But that requires a lot of implement attacks even if he has only 3 CON. The highest benefit would be the looks.

 

Wood Elf of Mountain Dwarf would be better. Wood Elf because of higher ACC and Maintain Dwarf because you can pick Sanctifier, Ghost Hunter and Beast Slayer and have all creatures (besides kith) covered with enhanced damage or ACC. If you put on the Bartender's Ring you can even skip Sanctifier and Ghost Hunter. 

 

Last time I took a wood elf, put on the Bartender's Ring and took Beast Slayer, Primal Bane and Wilder Hunter. The enhanced damage (also works with spells) worked nicely. I also put on Archer's Gloves as well as Cloak of the Frozen Hunt for additional 10% spell and ranged damage. With implements I then had 25+25(or 20)+10 = +60% (or +55%) damage bonus against everything but kith (who don't have that much endurance anyway). That's quite nice with the high base damage of Rot Skulls. 

Edited September 22, 2016 by Boeroer

[r2d23]

Solo PotD barb is quite easy - once you get Heart of Fury and use second chance + Vengeful Defeat you can obliterate even the most hefty bounty fights. It works with an offfensive dual sabre approach (with lots of CON) or with the tanky approach (stacking daze, frighten, sicken and fatigue with high deflection from weaon & shield). HoF also works well with Badgradr's Barricade and Dragon's Maw. However - a barb somewhat stinks when it comes to fighting dragons. Maybe they are all doable, but I didn't try more than a few times. All fights with more than 5 enemies are pretty easy though, thanks to the mechanics of HoF and Vengeful Defeat. The more, the better... which also answers your last question. Monks can also do that - as well as  priests or wizards.

 

Would a build like that (perhaps the tanky variation) work on Maneha? I have just joined her into the party in my current playthrough and wondering how to build her up.

 

[Boeroer]

Sure, why not. I think both will work.

 

Her high MIG and rel. high CON as well as her low DEX and normal RES make her more suitable for the more meaty, less defensive type with dual sabres, Frenzy, Bloodthirst and Bloodlust I guess. THat way HoF is optimized and she can reach great speed even with 9 DEX, the thickest armor and also after Frenzy wears off.

 

With Hof, you tend to kill at least two or three foes - so Blood Thirst and Bloodlust trigger right away, letting you attack directly after HoF without recovery and then with +20% speed from Bloodlust (which stacks with Frenzy). It's ideal for finishing off the last standing foes.

 

Combining Vengeful Defeat with that also makes a lot of sense. Wit a proest, paladin or chanter in the party or with a scroll or second chance item you can use Vengeful Defeat (it's like HoF light) more than once in a tough fight.

 

With that setup I soloed every bounty on PoTD - sometimes you make a mistake and it horribly fails, but normally an optimized HoF + eventually Vengeful Defeat turn everything into minced meat.

It's a risky strategy when soloing because you have to be in the thick of the battle to get the most out of HoF, but it's a lot of fun. It's all about the positioning and the right timing to be honest.

Edited September 26, 2016 by Boeroer

[r2d23]

Well, it wasn't very satisfiable to have Maneha in my party at current 8th level. She's just not contributing that much at the moment compared to the other warriors in the group. Pallegina has crazy burst damage and solid single target DPS, Eder is like a rock and Zahua is just awesome at everything. Heck, even the wolf does 30-50 damage per bite when targeting the same enemy as the ranger protagonist, he's perfect for guerilla strikes in the enemy caster ranks.

 

I ended up replacing Maneha with Hiravias for the time being. I guess I'll check her out again in a couple of levels when she gets her key abilities.

 

I realize that she should be better at handling large mobs but I didn't see it in practice even when she was in the midst of enemy groups that are lower level than her (I was clearing out Heritage Hill with all those zombies).

 

That's her current ability setup:

 

+ 1. Barbaric Yell

+ 2. Weapon Focus: Ruffian

+ 3. Frenzy

+ 4. Two Weapon Style

+ 5. One Stands Alone

+ 6. Accurate Carnage

+ 7. Savage Defiance

+ 8. Vulnerable Attack

 

Nothing really memorable on the equipment side of things. That barbarian belt bought in the city, aru-breckr armor, the cloak that increases the threshold for when the character is flanked, a couple of enchanted sabres.

 

By the way, I have a feeling that she's one of the poorest written characters. I am still very early into WM1 and her backstory, dialogue and voice acting just doesn't come together for me. Feels like she was added at the last moment. Zahua's so much better in that regard and fits with the in-game lore on monks perfectly, a self-proclaimed masochist.

 

While I am ranting This has probably been pointed out in the past but I see a very good parallel between Throne of Bhaal and White March addons in terms of itemization. As in Shadows of Amn, in the original PoE it takes forever to find strong artifact items. The party ends up wielding whatever they have found for the larger portion of the game (Gaun's Share is the new Flail of Ages, you get it early and just keep using forever). In White March, since it targeted at high levels, everybody starts wielding high-tier equipment all of a sudden and great items come up much often simply due to the fact that the expansion is much shorter.

[r2d23]

So, it's me again, looking for input and advice. I intent to try and finish one last Trial of Iron PotD run of the game to see how far can I go.

 

Probably the only class I haven't experienced properly is Barbarian, so I would like to have a barbarian protagonist and a party that is tailored to have good synergy with him. The party should also be durable and err on the side of caution a little bit since it's ToI. No min-maxing though, I find playing in the extremes too dangerous. Every party member should be solid every step of the way, i.e. there shouldn't be any pushover who'll get 15 minutes of fame closer to the end of the game when he gets that special set of abilities and/or amount of items that makes him powerful. And I am not knowledgeable enough anyway to manipulate the game in order to maximise the loot and get a specific set of events working for me.

 

I would also like to have a lesser amount of characters, 4 should be a good number to construct a well-functioning team without adding extra tediousness during mundane fights. I've thought about three but feel like this would be pushing my luck. The upcoming Tyranny gave me a hint as well (IIRC, the maximum amount of party members is four in there).

 

Now, to the business. I want Barbarian to be sturdy, durable and punishing. I first thought of making him more tanky, taking all defensive talents and abilities that I can get but then I figured it would be more fun for him to control the field of battle by debuffing the enemies. Stuff like Barbarian Shout, Sickening aura and so on. Maybe skip Frenzy, aiming for Sanguine Plate. For weapons, great swords is the best choice judging simply by general availability of the good ones in the game at any stage. For attributes, prioritise Might, Intelligence, Constitution and Perception. Not sure about the proportions, though. Same goes for race. Plenty of good options: Dwarf (the one that gets the accuracy bonuses), Orlan (for Will defence bonus), Death Godlike and so on. Late game, I would also like to experience the Heart of Fury ability (without the Vengeful Defeat component, though, probably too risky for ToI).

 

Definitely also take Priest and Wizard, for buffing and CC, thus improving Barbarian's potential. Priest should de-buff fortitude to provide good synergy, also be a decent tank (high resolve, deflection). Wizard has tons of good stuff for crowd control so a classic CC/Blast wizard should do fine.

 

Not sure about the fourth slot. Somebody who can do lots of DPS and be capable of dealing with tougher enemies, perhaps. However, wizard could probably excel at that while Barb & Priest provide crowd control if I play them right (or so my understanding goes). My first candidate therefore is either a Monk with the Boeroer's lashing build (I gave it a short run in solo for a few levels and he's just incredible) or a melee cipher. Of course, I can go for a gun-wielding cipher to achieve crazy burst damage but it would make the char too squishy.

 

I also considered Bleak Walker paladin built for offence. He can provide effective burst targeted damage as well good sturdiness and some party-friendly abilities (my favourites are exhortations that resurrect and postpone debuffs). Another option is a fighter, once again designed for offence and/or targeting enemy's casters.

 

Of course, I can go with something hilarious like a second, high armoured front-line wizard. No other ideas at the moment.

 

Would a riposte rogue be fun and effective? Having a wizard and a priest would go a long way to help this rogue achieve good defensive stats thus maximising his Riposte output. But I have no idea how to play such character and whether he'd be good in tough situations, fighting high-tier enemies (dragons, etc.).

 

I definitely do not want take a ranger and a druid this time around. Chanter is always good for general utility, but lacks excitement: passive buffs, using scrolls and statuettes, drawing aggro.

 

What are your suggestions?

[Raven Darkholme]

I would go with a cipher.

Very nice dps and cc and ofc once you get there reaping knives + barbarian = win.

[r2d23]

Any specific recommendations for the build? I've never run a melee cipher. I imagine I could sacrifice strength for some INT/DEX/PER and leave Con/Res at base line.

[Raven Darkholme]

Yes, if you go melee you need less DEX, 10 is absolutely fine if you dual wield.

CON and RES are fine at 10, too

Tbf even tho maxed Int is nice it isn't absolutely necessary either, PER is your main stat by far because of your many awesome FORT targeting spells and the crazy Fort defenses of so many enemies.