Soloing PotD "The Ultimate style" in the Beta

[Alhoon]

I recently managed to complete my solo run of beta content on Path of the Damned difficulty. By "complete" I mean exploring every location, completing all the quests and most importantly, killing every possible enemy this beta phase possesses. What I mean by "The Ultimate style" is to have a build that offers a reliable way to beat every encounter, provided you have all the available preknowledge and don't make mistakes. Save file for my game is in the attachments for those interested.

 

A bit of background, I completed The Ultimate in Pillars 1 little over a year ago as a monk. I've also been playing similar games like Baldur's Gate series as solo for well over a decade, most recent run being a solo Dwarven Defender from Candlekeep to the finale of Throne of Bhaal.

 

For Pillars 2 beta, I chose to go with a Wildrhymer (Ranger No subclass / Chanter Beckoner) Nature Godlike. I've tried many other classes (including my beloved Monks obviously) but none of them have anywhere near the required toughness to endure the fights. Since quite a few of the fights exist in relatively small arenas where you're put in the middle of enemies, it rules out vast majority of cheesing tactics that were viable in Pillars 1. In a way, with a failed stealth check the fight with the Dryad directly north of Tikawara reminds me of good old Raedric in Pillars 1, both in good and in bad. These small arena fights will probably become even more common in the main game, as OBS has talked about random encounters in the world map.

 

Below is a detailed explanation of the build I used to complete my run.

 

Character Creation

 

Playstyle

 

As far as this build goes, the general idea in a typical scenario is the following:

 

Approach enemy in stealth while letting your Ranger companion start the fight. Pull the enemies away from their initial spawn/patrol location before they butcher your companion, otherwise if you choose to reset the fight, your companion will stay in combat and you won't be able to use him. After the fight is initiated, start casting summons and carry on spamming summons until the fight is over. Also note that you don't need to leave stealth for Chanting or non-Offensive Invocations, making this build ideal for Trial of Iron, since if your summons somehow get killed before new wave is ready, the enemies run back to their spawn allowing you to reset the fight.

 

This is the only viable general tactic I've figured out for starting the fights without getting your character butchered. It saddens me to say but the only reason this build is Ranger is to have a companion who can start the fight and be torn to shreds in seconds.

 

Race

 

Race actually doesn't matter at all for beta content. Overall, Nature Godlike seems like the best choice for this kind of build at higher levels, when Ranger gets access to Evasive Roll which grants an inspiration to enable the racial. Technically, this build can get it in beta too, but by that time my run was already over. Dex and Int are also great stats so there's that too I guess. Ultimately it'll depend on available helmet choices too.

 

Class

 

I've tried 3 different multiclass options for Beckoner instead of Wildrhymer:

 

1) War Caller (Fighter / Chanter) and just tank the enemies yourself. Dagger + Large Shield with both modals activated. You'll still die most of the time.

2) Loremaster (Wizard / Chanter), Fleet Feet -> Arcane Veil -> Wizard's Double. Works against Deflection checks as long as the buffs stay, which is not long enough. Also you'll die to spells.

3) Celebrant (Priest Wael / Chanter), Arcane Veil -> Chanter Summons -> Withdraw. Withdraw duration is too long and you won't be able to sustain your summoning, which ultimately ruins this strategy.

 

Skills

 

Invocations

Skeleton and Wurm summons are must, as well as Wisps when you get there. Everything else is useless. Some of the offensive ones could be situationally useful (Hel-Hyraf) but are ruined by lack of accuracy. Phantoms have too low duration until you get the upgraded ones. Don't bother with the Skeleton upgrade, it's bugged and doesn't work. Damage types for summons are:

 

Skeleton = Slashing

Wurm = Burn

Phantom = Freeze

Wisp = Shock

Ogre = Crush

 

Remember to match correct damage type according to enemy weakness. It's like playing Pokemon!

 

Phrases

I only used Wengridh to be able to react faster if the enemies get too close. You usually can't be close enough for your summons to benefit from them, so only think about your own character when selecting a Phrase.

 

Ranger Active

First choice doesn't matter, you won't be using either of them. Get Takedown if you want, but I've never been able to knock anyone prone with it in PotD. Later on, Evasive Roll is great for getting Quick and enabling Nature Godlike racial. Companion heal is useless, he'll die in seconds anyways.

 

Ranger Passives

Get every passive that increases the defenses of your Companion. They won't do much, but it's not like you can choose anything else either.

 

Stats

 

Ultimately, this build is remarkably stat independent. While some are more useful than the others, if there ever was a challenge to play a character with 3 in all stats, I'd definitely pick this build for it.

 

Mig 3 - Summons are the only thing dealing damage for us, and our Might won't affect them.

Con 18 - You don't really need it, but if things go bad or you get hit by random AoE, it's nice to have.

Dex 19 - Higher Action Speed means you can get your initial summons out faster, which is super important. Also, less time you spend casting Invocations, more time there is for repositioning yourself, which you'll be doing a lot.

Per 9 - We don't need accuracy.

Int 19 - The most useful stat. Bigger AoE is important because it allows you to be further away, and extra summon duration never hurts. Also high int might allow you to keep two Phrases up in the endgame, which could be nice.

Res 9 - We don't need deflection.

 

Ultimately Per 15 / Res 3 could be better. It'd allow us to maybe sometimes use situational offensive Invocations more effectively.

 

Skills

 

All points in Stealth for Active Skills. Passive is for flavor, pick whatever.

 

Background

 

Old Vailia for Int. Dissident for Stealth.

 

I'm interested in hearing how your solo adventures have fared, PotD or not. Feel free to post your build ideas or stories. Have fun minmaxing!

Alhoon (Tikawara) (45bbb0cd-d6c0-4540-acfe-37049af4031e) (759472485).zip

[IndiraLightfoot]

This is a pretty unique build, for the Deadfire beta at least, and I love how you stand around in the shadows, stealthed, singing uncanny tunes, and then you unleash your companion as cannon fodder, only to summon hideous monstrosities on the enemies you manage to lure out. I can see some neat RP potential to the build as well.

 

Gratz on the build!

 

Having done PoE1 PotD solo with a cipher when the game was new, I certainly know how much patience and carefulness it takes to pull stuff like this off. 

Edited November 21, 2017 by IndiraLightfoot