Lazy party challenge (potd)

[Kaylon]

Considering a lazy management approach (autoattack using AI) what party composition/builds (using official companions) do you think would be the most effective (beat the toughest encounters)?

[Boeroer]

Kana Rua with Dragon Thrashed for starters.

[Kaylon]

MC should be a chanter too I suppose 

[Boeroer]

Yes, my MC would also be a chanter with the same setup. I would use Ancient Memory + Beloved Spirits + Veteran's Recovery with both so that the regeneration effects stack nicely, supported by survival (healing bonus) and an item that does the same (Fulvano's Amulett, Belt of Bountiful Healing). The shield would be the solace one with preservation.

 

Kana might want to take Black Sanctuary because of Withdraw.

 

Then it depends how much micromanagement is allowed. For example if it's ok to trigger spells by yourself especially at the start of the encounter or if everything should be handeled by AI.

 

If manual spell casting from time to time is ok I'd take Hiravias with a non-spiritshifting "tanky" build, using the storm spells, Form of the Delemgan and also Moonwell and stuff. I would aim for Little Savior.

 

Same with durance for Devotions and so on.

 

Pallegina for Sacred Immolation and the Outworn Buckler.

 

And Zahua with the Long Pain (can't say if it gets cast by AI) or Sagani with Stormcaller or Aloth with Blast (non-squishy builds)

 

 

Grieving Mother with Mindweb would be desirable but I think ciphers are just too much micro.

If Hiravias is too much micro because of casting I would take Edér with Godansthunyr + Badgradr's Barricade or Devil of Caroc with the same setup or Maneha with the same setup (aiming for Dragon's Maw perhaps).

Edited April 12, 2017 by Boeroer

[Kaylon]

No micro at all, just autoattack at the beginning of the fight... Only the AI can use abilities/spells...

[Boeroer]

Ok - I really don't know how the AI behaves when it comes to cast things like Devotions, Relentless Storm or The Long Pain as soon as possible. It does an ok job with Force of Anguish for example. And I don't know how good AI is with buffing (priest). I didn't use AI since 2.03 or so...

[Kaylon]

If the AI is set on aggresive they will use their offensive abilities ASAP if available. For the other abilities (buffs, heals, protections) the AI decides if/when they're needed based on your party afflictions, health, etc... You should count 90% of the time on autoattacks and passives...

 

PS. The AI seems to never use Sacred Immolation (and I don't know if something can trigger it)

Edited April 12, 2017 by Kaylon

[Boeroer]

But I can't decide which spells are used - this makes it very quirky.

 

Same with buffing - for example Devotions. Healing works quite well because the trigger is clear, but I can't tell the priest to always use Devotions at the start of the encounter. So maybe I would only take companions which are not spell related.

 

Builds which work quite well with no micro are monks with focus on retaliation (Fire Godlike, Turning Wheel, Lightning Strikes, Blood Testament, Rooting Pain, retaliation gear) and also barbarians with the same approach (Fire Godlike, Blooded, One Stands Alone, Vengeful Defeat, Barbaric Retaliation, retaliation). They need no micro whatsoever and still deal good damage.

Maybe Zahua and Mahena would also be good with this approach although they lack Battle Forged. If Long Pain gets casted by AI I would totally go for that because the resulting auto attacks are very powerful and need no additional wounds while working great at range and in melee.

 

Maneha with Frenzy + Bloodlust + Blood Thirst + Hours of St. Rumbalt or Tall Grass can also be valuable in bounties at higher levels. The carnage-CC as passive and works quite well if you're fast enough. Or with a single CC weapon like Cladhaliath...

 

Devil of Caroc is nice as auto-attacker with Godansthunyr or We Toki + Badgradr's Barricade and the Binding Rope. She will get Deathblows a lot because she will deliver the afflictions by herself passively (stun/prone + stuck) and will be sturdy enough with the shield. ToTV will use Deathblows, too. Maybe even Riposte is worthwhile. Applying Deep Wounds via retaliation may also be a good idea as a bonus.

 

Edér with dual wielding or two hander + Sanguine Plate + Swaddling Sheet + Shod-in-Faith (although his INT is only 10) may also be viable. I never use Overbearing Guard but maybe with a two hander like Tidefall it's cool to prevent enemies from running around too much?

 

I would skip everything too squishy. Sagani with Stormcaller for example is nice, but once she gets targeted it's quickly over.

 

Do ciphers cast Mind Control on immune enemies if controlled by AI?

Edited April 12, 2017 by Boeroer

[Livegood118]

If the AI is set on aggresive they will use their offensive abilities ASAP if available. For the other abilities (buffs, heals, protections) the AI decides if/when they're needed based on your party afflictions, health, etc... You should count 90% of the time on autoattacks and passives...

 

PS. The AI seems to never use Sacred Immolation (and I don't know if something can trigger it)

 

 

Yeah the thing about Sacred Immolation was really annoying. I like the AI for triggering per encounter abilities that I'd normally forget to use or which are very micro intensive and can be forgotten in the heat of the moment (Exhortations, Interdictions, Arcane Assaults, Swift Strikes etc ...)

[Dr <3]

I will go all Chanter , after you set dragon trashed for everyone i think you don't even need to click on enemy for autoattack nor waste your precious clicks to set ai on "aggressive". Just walk against mobs and wait. This is the final lazyness.

[Boeroer]

Pretty difficult with official companions though.

[Livegood118]

I'd probably go for:

 

PC (Dwarven Dragon Thrashed Tank for bonus vs wilders and primordials – Summoner)

Kana (Dragon Thrashed Tank – Summoner)
Eder (2H Sanguine Plate/Shod in Faith'er – Aggressive)

Maneha (One Handed CC Barbarian – Aggressive)

Grieving Mother (Melee Cipher – Whatever)

Priest (100% Defensively Specced)

 

I have no idea how good the priest's per rest AI is, but it would be silly if it didn't counter status effects on your party with the related prayer spells. If it can do buffing, even better.

 

Also don't know how good Cipher AI is but if they can knock out charms then that'd be great ... maybe even defensive Mindweb at very high levels?

 

edit: hmm ... I was just thinking that rather than taking Maneha you could take Zahua and respec so that his only active ability is Force of Anguish. This would mean he'd spend all of his wounds proning dudes left right and centre which would be extremely valuable in this kind of set up.

Edited April 12, 2017 by Livegood118

[Kaylon]

The AI is very limited and uses only basic abilities to facilitate the gameplay. I think it uses only pre-WM spells/abilities and if they don't appear in the script description then they probably will never be used. It's better to focus on auto attacks and passive abilities instead...

[Gnomic]

This thread makes me wish that we could program in our own character-specific AI scripts.

 

That would be an interesting & educational challenge -- see who can write the best script(s) to take their character(s) through the game.

[Livegood118]

This thread makes me wish that we could program in our own character-specific AI scripts.

 

That would be an interesting & educational challenge -- see who can write the best script(s) to take their character(s) through the game.

 

 

PoE 2 is going to have a much more customisable AI set-up, a la Dragon age or FFXII.

 

Maybe once PoE 2 is long finished we'll get a remastered PoE1 with the engine improvements from 2. 

[Lampros]

My ideal party! Too bad AI sucks

[Raven Darkholme]

Companions and AI is kinda hard, since chanters are ideal for this, but then again, does it really matter if they use the wrong abilities every now and then?

You don't need to thrash fights in 2 minutes like AI chanters would, do you?

[Lampros]

I am almost ready to fire off a new game - Lord of the Rings-themed and micro-management-light:

 

Aragorn (tanking Chanter): I ultimately chose a Chanter over Fighter for main-tank duties, because a Fighter does not bring enough group utility. Also, I didn't want 2 of the same class in a group.

 

Gimli (DPS, dual wield Barbarian): Close call over the Fighter. Fighter has more survivability, but Barbarian more AoE DPS - which I missed at times my abandoned 1st game. And I figured having both a Chanter and a Paladin might help with the front-line survivability anyways.

 

Elrond (DPS, pike Paladin): For me the 3rd melee always has to be a Pike user due to congestion issues.

 

Gandalf (Blaster Wizard): Continuing the theme of minimizing micro-management.

 

Arwen (Support Priest): I guess you need a Priest, especially if you are w newb.

 

Only thing still undecided is the last spot: It's either a Borresaine Rogue or a Cipher. Cipher brings more but it seems to require more micro-management. But I almost feel I need the Dominate-like abilities for some fights. I do not know.

[Lampros]

Companions and AI is kinda hard, since chanters are ideal for this, but then again, does it really matter if they use the wrong abilities every now and then?

You don't need to thrash fights in 2 minutes like AI chanters would, do you?

 

I posted not because I am doing this challenge purely using no micro. That would be a suicide for a newb like me!

 

But I like party builds that require less micro, and I got some ideas off of this!

[Kaylon]

With Ancient Memory, Veteran's Recovery and the best armor for the entire party the Ch.1 is not very hard even on potd...

Edited September 2, 2017 by Kaylon

[Lampros]

With Ancient Memory, Veteran's Recovery and the best armor for the entire party the Ch.1 is not very hard even on potd...

 

What did your ultimate line-up turn out to be?

 

And what would you choose if you could build the whole party from scratch and not use in-game companions?

[Kaylon]

 

With Ancient Memory, Veteran's Recovery and the best armor for the entire party the Ch.1 is not very hard even on potd...

 

What did your ultimate line-up turn out to be?

 

And what would you choose if you could build the whole party from scratch and not use in-game companions?

 

My lazy team with pre-made companions is paladin (MC), Eder, Maneha, Kana, Palegina, Zahua which is very low maintenance and requires minimal resting.

With only custom companions a party of 6 tank paladins is my ultimate lazy party. Many people would argue that 6 chanters are better because of their AoE dmg, but chanters are too vulnerable to cc and are very squishy (they have caster end/hp).

[Lampros]

 

 

With Ancient Memory, Veteran's Recovery and the best armor for the entire party the Ch.1 is not very hard even on potd...

 

What did your ultimate line-up turn out to be?

 

And what would you choose if you could build the whole party from scratch and not use in-game companions?

 

My lazy team with pre-made companions is paladin (MC), Eder, Maneha, Kana, Palegina, Zahua which is very low maintenance and requires minimal resting.

With only custom companions a party of 6 tank paladins is my ultimate lazy party. Many people would argue that 6 chanters are better because of their AoE dmg, but chanters are too vulnerable to cc and are very squishy (they have caster end/hp).

 

 

Stacking 6 of anything is no fun though. What if there is a restriction of no more than 2 per class?

[Kaylon]

 

 

 

With Ancient Memory, Veteran's Recovery and the best armor for the entire party the Ch.1 is not very hard even on potd...

 

What did your ultimate line-up turn out to be?

 

And what would you choose if you could build the whole party from scratch and not use in-game companions?

 

My lazy team with pre-made companions is paladin (MC), Eder, Maneha, Kana, Palegina, Zahua which is very low maintenance and requires minimal resting.

With only custom companions a party of 6 tank paladins is my ultimate lazy party. Many people would argue that 6 chanters are better because of their AoE dmg, but chanters are too vulnerable to cc and are very squishy (they have caster end/hp).

 

 

Stacking 6 of anything is no fun though. What if there is a restriction of no more than 2 per class?

 

2 paladins, 2 monks, 1barb, 1 chanter

[Lampros]

 

 

 

 

With Ancient Memory, Veteran's Recovery and the best armor for the entire party the Ch.1 is not very hard even on potd...

 

What did your ultimate line-up turn out to be?

 

And what would you choose if you could build the whole party from scratch and not use in-game companions?

 

My lazy team with pre-made companions is paladin (MC), Eder, Maneha, Kana, Palegina, Zahua which is very low maintenance and requires minimal resting.

With only custom companions a party of 6 tank paladins is my ultimate lazy party. Many people would argue that 6 chanters are better because of their AoE dmg, but chanters are too vulnerable to cc and are very squishy (they have caster end/hp).

 

 

Stacking 6 of anything is no fun though. What if there is a restriction of no more than 2 per class?

 

2 paladins, 2 monks, 1barb, 1 chanter

 

 

I thought Monks were micro-intensive?