What is the best party that meets these requirements?

[Mattkittan]

So I haven't played Pillars of Eternity in a while, and I'd like to do a PotD run before the sequel comes out. I also haven't used the official companions much in previous playthroughs, and there are certain classes I haven't used much. With that being said, what would you suggest as an optimal party that fits these requirements:

 

- At least 4 official companions (so only one merc would be allowed)

- Includes these classes: Barbarian, Druid, and Ranger OR Rogue (I hear rogue isn't all that good)

- This obviously means that either the MC or the merc are able to be the Barbarian, since there's no way I'm waiting all the way until WM1 to finally get one

- Include build suggestions for each character

 

Thanks!

[limaxophobiacq]

MC Priest (fire priest with Angios Gambeson, though personally I'd let someone else have abydons hammer and just use steadfast + little saviour and wear the looped rope because I'm paraniod about my priest going down)

Aloth (take blast talents and pick the good spells wizards aint hard)

Kana (tank with a small shield and chant nothing but the Dragon Thrashed, the Dragon Wailed, build done)

Hiravias (Batsh!t crazy build, use Garodhs Chorus with Retaliate + Sura's Supper Plate with Avenging Storm for maximum cheese, unless that's been fixed Edit: seems it has)

Sagani (with Stormcaller and Heart of the Storm)

Merc Barbarian (tank with dragons maw, something like this but with a party you don't need that resolve so you can have more 'normal' barbarian stats if you prefer)

 

Gets you a decent front line of Kana/Hiravias/Barbarian + Itumaak while also having all 3 vancian casters. Everyone but Sagani has great AoE damage and/or CC so mobs should get cleared real fast.

Edited November 7, 2017 by limaxophobiacq

[MaxQuest]

I second the limaxophobiacq's suggestion.
- Having an MC priest will make it easy vs vessels. Plus priest has great synergy with barb and party disables. I would recommend going for a moon godlike equiped with Raiment of Wael's Eyes + Kana's Arquebus (for early game) / Gyrd (for mid game) / and Abydon's Hammer (in late game) (because of the +4 mig and of the superb per-encounter aoe stun). Also, up the CON to 8 or 9, since this party doesn't have much single-target per-encounter cc.
- Kana will help on the total damage department. Will require investment in survival and perhaps Wound Binding. Forgotten Tear/Whispers of Yenwood + Little Saviour. Shame or Glory can work as well, if Sagani will be hitting his target. Btw, don't forget to give him Hermit's Hat once he is past lvl 9.
- And Hiravias has both decent aoe cc's and great single target damage.
- Sagani ain't stellar by herself, but together with Ituumak they have enough impact (combined damage, offtanking and cc via stormcaller procs) to get a spot in the party.
- I don't really like Aloth's stats. He's a mediocre blaster, nor is sturdy enough for frontline. But imho MC Priest + Aloth is better than MC Wizard + Durance anyway. In the end even if Aloth could only cast Slicken, Shadowflame and Call to Slumber he would still be useful as hell.
- As for barb, I haven't tried The Golden Dragon build. But I liked a dw-bittercut 18/10/12/14/18/6 boreal dwarf with Shod-in-Faith boots in my last run, so would recommend a compromise stat spread 18/9/8/19/18/6 with Purgatory + Dragon Maw.

So overall formation:
frontline: Kana, Barb, Hiravias
midline  : ____, Priest, Itumaak
backline : Aloth,Sagani

(with Aloth being rdy to switch to 1h+shield and use Arcane Veil if needed)

Edited November 7, 2017 by MaxQuest

[Boeroer]

For Sagani: use Persistence and skill for max pet damage with Predator's Sense, Vicious + Merciless Companion, Takedown + Brutal Takedown (Brutal Takedown only has to overcome 1/4 of DR). Combined they are great for taking out high priority targets. Ituumak crits for 100+ damage against high DR targets all the time for me.

 

Druid's Avenging Storm doesn't get triggered by retaliation any more, sorry. I would suggest an offensive shapeshifting (wildstrike shock) build with focus on self heal via Veteran's Recovery and survival 14 - also using Nature's Vigor & Balm right at the start of combat while the party is still in a compact formation. This way he can be placed in an offtank posistion as well.

 

Aloth as blaster with Kalakoth's Minor Blights is good enough. I like to also use his Phantoms frequently. Also because of the following:

 

I found a way to make good use of Kana's horrible skeleton summons (and also Rhymer's Summons): summon the skeletons together with other (multi-instance) summons like wood beetles, wizard's Phantoms and then cast Spark the Souls of the Righteous and gang up on the enemy. Ranger's animal companion also helps of course. Don't let the weak summons come into contact with the enemy though. The multiple shock damage is so numerous and strong that most bounty fights end very quickly if you only have enough summons + Spark the Souls.

[BlackHat]

yes, a Heavy summon party feels invincible against all but the most powerful enemy AOE (dragons come to mind).  I can vouch for this build.  Figurines are really easy to come by - I had 2 adra beetle figurines, the spiderling figurine, wood beetles and the wurms, all on different characters so that they could all summon- had Kana, Sagani (ranged build) OR Pallegina (auras, baby, for all dem pets), Hiravias (yes, I used Blight summons/on him too), Aloth, Durpance, my MC melee ranger with heavy retaliation build, his pet (wolf) and copious aoe damage, and 2 of those characters had blunderbusses.  Throw combusting wounds out a few times (by ring or by Aloth, though I prefer his first spell to be expose vulnerabilities) and you'll be shocked, shocked I say, at how much those tiny hits add up.  More importantly, you can clog up a map so bad that the enemy can't really move anywhere, and they all get flanked.   Of course, so will your team, so give them all guns or fast ranged weapons and keep them behind the wall of summons, except for your MC who should rush the enemy asap to draw aggro around himself (out in front of the summons line).  Let the buffs and foe aoes fly as soon as the wall of summons come out.   Never had such an impossibly OP party till I went with this Instant Army build