Looking for feedback and tips on my first PotD playthrough.

[Keyseki]

I'm finishing my playthrough on hard, and have already started to think about my next playthrough. On hard I used this setup with great success:

 

Cipher mc dps/control

Edér tank

Pallegina tank/dps

Durance support/buffbot

Sagani companion centric build

Aloth dps/control

 

For my PotD run, I'd like to use the remaining 5 classes, and a more offensive priest. This time I'll use all custom made chars from the inn to give me more flexibility.

 

I've been lurking these forums for a while, and have tried to put together a party I think might work. But I would like some feedback on it. I havent decided what class to pick as mc either, so I was hoping you could help med pick the one build that would benefit the most out of being the watcher.

 

Current plan for PotD run:

 

Rogue - either 2nd line dmg dealer or dual sabre

Chanter tank - The Drake Ambassador

Monk tank - Monksterlasher

Druid dps/control/off-tank - Thundercat

Barbarian control - reach weapon/interrupt/prone

Priest - Fire Priest

 

How does this team setup look for a first timer on PotD? Is it too melee heavy? Appreciate all the help in advance

[MaxQuest]

The party looks fine, but it is indeed too melee heavy. Melee rogue, in some situations, might be unable to deal damage or will get stuck between enemies and your other frontliners. You have druid storm spells to help with survivability, but still it's not as reliable as cipher's cc would be.

 

I think you could try a ranged rogue for this setup:

- v1. Persistence and 1H + Barricade in the second weapon set.

- v2. Lead Spitter (or Silver Flash). Make one shot and switch to Persistence.

- v3. Quick-switch blunderbusses. And take Runner's Wounding Shot + Penetrating Shot.

[Keyseki]

I kind of fancy the idea of a melee rogue, so would it be better if i built the rogue sturdier and into riposte? Maybe changing the druid build into a more classical caster? Who would you reckon I should have as my mc?

[bigwillystyle]

If you like the idea of a melee rogue, one option could be using a reach weapon to attack over the front line (i.e., Tall Grass Pike) or something like that.

[MaxQuest]

Maybe changing the druid build into a more classical caster?

I haven't played with a druid yet. But have a feeling that without spiritshift he will be idling (i.e. just auto-attacking with a ranged weapon) during the numerous trash fights. 

 

I kind of fancy the idea of a melee rogue, so would it be better if i built the rogue sturdier and into riposte?

A riposte (1H + Barricade) rogue might work. With Painful Interdiction and Sunbeam you can activate deathblows plus sensibly reduce enemies accuracy. And priest can just up your deflection if you ran out of per-rest uses for Sunbeam.

 

Who would you reckon I should have as my mc?

Tbh the one you like more / feel more connection with.

From min-maxing point of view through:

- Priest if you want to have a stronger Radiance vs vessels

- Rogue if you want more dps, and will go for House Doemenel (or will add The Merciless Hand via console)

- Rogue if you go for riposte build and also happen to want more DR (Crucible Knights)

- and same reasoning for Barb and Druid

 

P.S. Can anyone explain how Backstab works? Is it instantly dispelled once you make an attack OR it has some very short duration before lingering-off?

Edited July 6, 2017 by MaxQuest

[Boeroer]

Rogue with reach weapon - especially Tall Grass - is nice,too.

 

Island Aumaua rogue with Arms Bearer & Quick Switch + 4 arquebus is not king of DPS, but the spike damage is really great. Runner's Wounding Shot is great.

 

In fact you can combine both pretty well with 3 arquebuses and 1 pike. I recommend Backstab as well. But only with high stealth. With high stealth you can stay hidden until the enemy reaches your front line. Wait till one of the enemies has two afflictions. Then you either fire one arquebus shot with Sneak + Deathblows + Backstab or you can do two attacks with the pike which will both get Backstab bonus - as long as those are auto attacks.

 

You can add Shadowing Beyond for the hefty fights and also Cape of the Master Mystic in case you get attacked. That will give you 1 invisibility per encounter. You can add another 1/rest with Nightshroud.

 

Doing a Backstab pike rogue atm (no arquebuses) and he's really effective so far (lvl 12). With Boots of Speed you can reach anybody while you're invisible and do either a shot or two pokes with the pike.

 

Melee:

Backstab bonus will be applied as long as you click on the target while you are stealthed. It doesn't matter if you unstealth while you run towards the target. You will get two auto attacks with Backstab bonus.

 

Ranged: Backstab bonus will get applied as long as you are stealthed and within 2 meters when you click the attack.

 

So obviously it's easier with melee weapons. And since you get two attacks instead of one shot the damage is cmparabke to an arquebus shot with Backstab. High stealth helps a lot.

 

The king of Backstab is Firebrand from invisibility + Deathblows. I use this as well in really tough fights. With 2 afflictions and the rogue's ACC and crit conversion you usually do a crit with it. Its high base damage is great for Backstab and the annihilating enchantment.

Edited July 6, 2017 by Boeroer

[Keyseki]

I was thinking of giving Tall Grass to my barb, and letting him prone enemies over my monk and chanter. Or is there better weapons for the barb to fill that role? If not, I like the idea of stealthing in for double backstabs with a pike. Thanks for all the help/ideas so far.

[Blades of Vanatar]

Chanter as MC.

 

Party looks good. If you are deadest on Melee Rogue then Sabre wielder is viable. Heavy Armour is not an issue if stealthing for a backstab. I like Sanguine Plate on my dual sabre Hearth Orlan Rogues. Also like the Ring of Wonder as you WILL go down in melee. But you will rise and possibly get more strikes in before the enemy turns back to you.

 

I also like Rogues who stun/prone enemies as they can't hit back. The faster the attack speed on a stun/prone weapon the better.

 

Once you start getting storm spells off and the enemy is immobilized your Rogue will really shine. When I see heavy hitters on the other side I stealth my Rogue longer until he can strike an immobilized toughie. Bartenders Ring and vessel slaying enchantments are sweet on a Rogue.

[Boeroer]

I was thinking of giving Tall Grass to my barb, and letting him prone enemies over my monk and chanter. Or is there better weapons for the barb to fill that role? If not, I like the idea of stealthing in for double backstabs with a pike. Thanks for all the help/ideas so far.

Of course Backstab works with any reach weapon. It's just nice that pikes and arquebuses share the same weapon focus.

 

Barb with Tall Grass is also nice, I agree. It's especially nice that you can place the centre of carnage way better with a reach weapon than with a normal melee weapon.

 

Another variant would be Lost Thayn's Reach for the barb. It "only" reduces enemies' ACC by 5 on hit (in an AoE because or carnage), but it stacks with every other ACC debuff and of course all defense buffs. A nother plus is that you will see the proc all the time. With Tall Grass your barb will need some levels in order to reliably crit foes and some are immune to prone. Nothing's immune to disorienting.

So if you combine Barbaric Yell (or any other source of frighten - like the chanter's lvl 2 phrase) and Lost Thayn's Reach, it's like casting a stackable AoE spell that does +15 to all defenses. Don't underestimate this, it can be very good. If you use a priest with some defense buffs, too you will see that your whole party will be a lot sturdier while at the same time you will deal nice AoE melee damage. Just a thought though. 

Or you could give your rogue Durance's Staff and do Backstabs with it. I think that dual damage on a weapon is very useful, especially if one of those is elemental damage. A bit later you could use Llawran's Stick then, which has speed. It's a really nice dps weapon which you can get rel. early in the game.

 

Or just forget Backstab (it's micro-heavy):

MaxQuest's suggestion with Persistence is good. You could dump INT entirely in order to raise wounding's dps (Persistance has wounding and wounding's dps raises the less INT you have) and just fire away with that bow. Combined with maxed MIG, PER and DEX this is a great setup for a ranged rogue. Wounding combined with high dmg mods and high MIG is awesome.

 

I agree with Blades of Vanatar that Relentless Storrm + rogue is an awesome combo. It's also very nice for a barb's Barbaric Blow and of course Heart of Fury!

Edited July 6, 2017 by Boeroer

[Keyseki]

Thanks for all the help. How would you build a more traditional chanter (than chillfog and d. ambassador, as they are more built around a theme) that is firstly tanky, but can also dish some damage? What phrases or invocations are worth using?

[Keyseki]

Btw, what should int, per and resolve be at to meet most speech checks? Is it any significant gain from meeting these checks?

[rheingold]

Going melee heavy isn't a problem. I normally go with a 4 melee, 2 ranged split and it works fine. Problem potentially with the party is that there are some micro intensive melee options there - a rogue, monk and druid shifter are going to take some attention to get the best out of them. Also while it's heavy melee, there are not a lot of tanking options. So the rogue and druid are going to be targeted which is probably not in their best interests.

The speech checks are not that important if you can't make them. I like them from the role playing side, but they are not necessary.

Resolve is probably the most important check, but in general 13/14 in the relevant stats will be fine as it's easy to get stat boosting items. Rogues are pretty good for that as you probably don't need to max dexterity or might especially if you are dual wielding. So lots of 14's or 15's in your stats will be really balanced and make sure you get most of the checks if that's what you want. But the checks will mainly be for flavour though....

[MaxQuest]

Btw, what should int, per and resolve be at to meet most speech checks?

Iirc: 17 INT, 19 PER and 18 RES will allow you to pass majority of conversation checks.

 

Is it any significant gain from meeting these checks?

Not much, but:

- if you don't want to kill Alpine Dragon, you can talk to him and he will give you Black Sanctuary iirc Ryona's Vambraces. (RES 17)

- if you don't want to fight Llengrath nor share unique knowledge (Engwithan language?) you can resolve it peacefully with a RES 17 check (or was it INT 16?)

- with 17 PER (and 17 RES if you don't have the reputation yet) you can end Eder's quest earlier (although there is no real benefit from it)

 

Majority are just for flavor. Also note that:

- even if you have passed the attribute check, it will not necessary lead to a successful result. For example check this dialog. Some of passed checks can lead to combat, or are simply not needed (as there are passable options without the checks).

- PER and INT, INT and Lore are quite often redundant.

Edited July 10, 2017 by MaxQuest

[Boeroer]

I'm pretty sure that the Alpine Dragon will give you Ryona's Vambraces, not Black Sanctuary. In order to get the shield you'll have to kill him.

Edited July 10, 2017 by Boeroer