played shortly after launch but never finished, lets go for round 2

[snjits]

played after launch, but never really to got to finish that playthrough

looking to play durable melee twohanded aided by existing companions (probably: eder(MT), pallegina(the haste buff seems usefull), sagani(remember liking her character), durance(the buffs), aloth (debuffs)

weapon choice, undecided between greatsword or estoc (how is the soulbound one compared to endless paths?)

classes I've considered:

paladin (wayfarer): seems solidwith support but not much dmg aside from the 2/encounter

chanter: fire godlike with fire chant sounds fun

barbarian: carnage with on hit/crit seems intresting too

not 100% sure on statline, but I want decent defences while being able to hit (dont care too much about complete min max so spread is fine)

[Slack83er]

I was almost in the same situation... started with a melee strong class... now I'm playing a ranger though, cos the idea of the button smashing killing machine wasn't appealing at all. Looking at your preferences, I'd go chanter. Fun class, not much micromanaging, always useful... give it a try!

[Ben No.3]

Chanters are very powerful but more tanks than damage dealers (there is a build for that though... The Chillfog in it's 2. Variation). I think you might enjoy a barbarian, especially since pallegina is a paladin already. Barbarians also have some nice synergy with high dr bypass, let's say you get the unique estoc "drake's bell" with 8 DR bypass, Vurnable attack with another 5 and some equipment for another 3, that means carnage hits everyone with 16 dr bypass.

[Boeroer]

Good thing about chanters is they can be good tanks and impressive damage dealers at the same time. Same as barbs and monks by the way, but chanters are king in this "hybrid" discipline.

 

Any class can tank well if build properly, but that may take some time, lvls and knowledge.

 

If you can grasp and embrace the mechanics of a monk I think there's nothing that is more fun in PoE. Some of their abilities are so satisfying when applied in combat. But people tend to either love or hate them. However, they are quite powerful, but require more micro than chanters for example. I'd say they require the same amount of micromanagement as casters.

 

A Kind Wayfarer paladin can be a lot of fun if you combine the ability to kill with all his healing capabilities. He has two special talents besides Lay on Hands and Healing Chain that heal allies - one when using his Flames of Devotion ability (burning lash 2/encounter) and the other when killing enemies. This can be done with any weapon style (weapon & shield, 2 handed, one handed or dual wielding). If you combine Flames of Devotion, Intense Flames, Scion of Flame and put a burning lash on your weapon you will cause massive, massive damage those 2 times per encounter. And the rest of your attacks will be fierce enough, too. Later on, you get Sacred Immolation. After that you will kill a ton of enemies just by standing around, healing your allies non-stop. Search for "damaging healbot" - it's an unfinished build in these forums which has a lot of cool ideas around this. I personally would go for Fire Godlike, using Forgemaster's Gloves to summon Firebrand and another 2 hander as backup (another great sword or an estoc maybe or even Durance's Staff) - just because of the fire theme. Being a burning monster out of hell and at the same time calling yourself a "Kind Wayfarer" who heals friends by killing foes sounds funny...

Moon Godlike also makes a lot of sense with such a build.

Edited September 27, 2016 by Boeroer

[Slack83er]

Boeroer... how the hell do you come with such amazing ideas?? how many times have you played this games and most important: how many different characters have you mastered?? You're the Pillars wikipedia! hahah

[Boeroer]

Hehe, thanks.

 

I just looked it up at Steam: I've put nearly three thousand hours into this game. I can't say how this is even possible - but sometimes I leave it open (and paused) over night, so that's def. not the exact number of hours I actively played the game. But I played it a lot, that's for sure.

The number of characters I've played or tried I can't guess. Hundrets maybe..

 

But most of my time I'm using the console to try out build ideas - and 90% of the time they don't meet my expectations when I test them solo or with a supporting tank as distraction against bounties and other high level content. But when they seem to be fun, I do a complete PoE playthorugh with them and then I post them if I'm satisfied. It's hard to test support capabilities if you are solo, so I always use a complete party with the builds I've cumulated so far.

 

However, when it comes to numbers, rules and mechanics, I'm not the expert here. I just like to build classes in unusual ways. And I'm not the only one for sure. I mean look at the build list - so many awesome ideas that lead to great builds.

[Slack83er]

I'm like you on this matter... I like to do strange combinations with classes and abilities, but I'm still too green for this on Pillars... I'll just play for a bit and see if this char does well.

[snjits]

cool thanks for the input, reading up on that paladin

 

and can turn kana into chantertank

 

how is the grey sleeper compared to blade of endless path? (can it be gotten earlier or really late?, not sure when you get access to white march stuff and if its doable to get it early)

 

also looking to get companions as early as possible (there's a guide for it on steam)

[Boeroer]

Overall the Blade is better - especially if you are willing to use resources like Durgan Steel and so on to enchant it. The Grey Sleeper - once obtained, can be leveled to superb quality very quickly without any resources. On a barbarian, the Grey Sleeper can be really good - because of carnage (and the multiple hits per strike) it's special spell chances like Paralyze, Invoke Vessels and Twin Stones trigger a lot more often than with other classes. For any other class The Blade is the better choice by far.

 

Getting the Blade is a lot more work than picking up an leveling the Grey Sleeper - you have to collect all the parts in 15 levels of the Endless Paths of Od Nua - and the last levels of it are hefty if your own character level is too low.

 

The map in where the Grey Sleeper... well sleeps, is quite difficult and the encounter that you have to master before getting the Sleeper is not so easy. But you can scout and avoid fights on that map until you get to that place. If you prepare to fight spirits and strenghten your defenses against stun and paralyze it's doable quite early.

 

There are two other nice estocs in the game whoch you can get really early with not too much fuss. One is The White Spire that you can buy at the Crucible Knights - it has a nice spell binding and looks superawesome with a certain plate armor named "The White Crest" that you can get rel. early in WM I. They fit beautyfully - not only the looks, but also the theme and the spell bindings.

THe other is Drake's Bell that you cvan get from an early bounty mission whoich is not too hard. It has 8 DR bypass instead of 5 and also gives you more burn DR which stacks with everything else. Both are great by itself or as a nice substitute until you get the Blade of the ENdless Paths - or the Grey Sleeper.

[rheingold]

"The map in where the Grey Sleeper... well sleeps is quite difficult."

In addition to your talent as a character builder it would also appear that you are a master of understatement.

[AndreaColombo]

One is The White Spire that you can buy at the Crucible Knights - it has a nice spell binding and looks superawesome with a certain plate armor named "The White Crest" that you can get rel. early in WM I. They fit beautyfully - not only the looks, but also the theme and the spell bindings.

 

Now I must build a character around these items.

[DreamWayfarer]

 

 

One is The White Spire that you can buy at the Crucible Knights - it has a nice spell binding and looks superawesome with a certain plate armor named "The White Crest" that you can get rel. early in WM I. They fit beautyfully - not only the looks, but also the theme and the spell bindings.

Now I must build a character around these items.

Try to not make it a Chanter, Boeroer already did that one.

[prototype00]

Just my 2c: Hiravais is a pretty savage damage dealer (easily out performing single target DPS against everything but a main character Druid or rogue)

 

Spiritshape with all the trimmings (Wildstrike Shock, G.Wildstrike shock, wildshape belt, two weapon fighting, savage attack, weapon focus peasant) will make him do ludicrous damage as he levels up. And by upper levels, he is in Spiritshape for the duration of most fights.

 

I mean the casterly version of him is good too, kudos to Boroer, but it just doesn't output as much damage.

[Boeroer]

That's right. Spiritshifting doesn't prevent you from casting spells, so you don't loose the ability to dish out CC and AoE damage even if shifted.

 

The non-shifting variant that is "Batsh!t Crazy" is simply a more tankier and convenient front line druid for everyone who likes less micro (after all, running around spiritshifted and striking things while the duration is quite limited is a bit stressful). I like tanks (=less babysitting), but I hate it when they can't do any damage. This guy can really tank AND do nice damage and CC at the same time.

Some dps spells of the druid are cone shaped, friendly fire spells that are great from the front line - but while you are shifted you normally don't want to stop and cast spells, you want to hit things while the shift lasts.

So, the tanky version allows you to stand in the middle of the fight without the fear that you might go down soon - while all the spells that work best when you stand near to the enemy can work at their fullest potential. Things like Returning & Relentless Storm, all the cone shaped spells and so on.

With the storms up and being very tanky even without buffs, this druid can be put into the fray and stunlock nearly all enemies while you can micro other party members. This is a good and effective build for Hiravias for example - because a lot of people want to micro the MC a lot, but don't want to put too much time into controlling all the companions all the time.

 

The other variant I play every now and then: after getting Rot Skulls I retrain the druid like an implement blast wizard and will summmon Rot Skulls as a standard opening move in every tough fight. This clearly does more damage than a spiritshifted druid. That's why I use spiritshift only until I get Rot Skulls - unless it's a build that evolves around spiritshift itself of course.

 

For example I played a boar shifter with Veteran's Recovery and maxed CON, MIG and INT and maxed self healing bonuses. This form is also very tanky (for a shifted druid) while doing great damage via Boar Tusks (it's raw wounding damage that stacks like with Tidefall/Drawn in Spring/Persistence). It's damage gets better and better the more MIG you have (it not only boosts your initial damage, but also the wounding damage - MIG pays off twice here) - which also makes you self healing more powerful. So things like Frenzy are great for it. This is a great combination of sturdiness and melee dps. It's not as tanky as the Batsh!t, but can survive in the front line without too much babysitting and can withstand 2- 3 foes hitting it. It does a bit less damage against low DR foes than the cat form when it's maxed oput for melee dps, but it is sturdier, meaning the boar won't go down easily and may even deal more damage overall because it doesn't get knocked out. Against high DR foes it even does better dps than the cat - because of the wounding that causes raw damage.

Edited September 28, 2016 by Boeroer

[snjits]

havent had much time recently, so getting back to it, could use a little more input on party setup

 

so went with fire godlike wayfarer paladin going for the dmg and heals, looking to use forge gloves - firebrand/tidefall (greatsword spec)

 

kana gonna be tanky chanter, eventually picking up the fire chant also, likely saber and shield leading to the fire saber, what are some of the better early chants?

 

durance for priestly duties, mostly interdiction I suppose, not sure what else I want to do with him, the fire priest (godhammer) thing in the builds looks fun but not sure if that ll work with durance

 

sagani for ranged dmg, eventually picking up the storm bow

 

undecided between aloth or gm for debuffing/controlling, though leaning towards aloth, though a bit worried to catch allies in firendly fire 

 

also want to take pallegina for the speedbuff, and well a second paladin wont hurt, since I will use 2hander on main, I could have her use the paladin shield + 1 handed, and I guess zealous endurance since I will likely use focus on main for bigger area and to make sure main has benefit from it