Returning Player question

[Dorftek]

Hello, downloading this amazing game on my xbox right now. I havent played since patch 3.0 hit us and i could use some help to get back to speed with my party composition. 

 

*I'd like to play on Potd.

 

*I'd like to play with the default companions and avoid the clearly better but more boring custom made ones. 

 

So first of all i am considering to make my Watcher a Wizard since Aloth is such a bad one with his low Mig. BUT i have also considered making my watcher a priest, a Cipher or a Chanter.

 

So in order to decide this i have a few question. 

 

1. When 3.0 launched ppl were freaking out about the Cipher nerf, has anything changed in that regard? Should Cipher be avoided on Potd? 

 

2. Durance have pretty weird stats with his super high resolve and crappy dex, could he be used as an off tank?

 

3. Do dex still do nothing for Chanter phrases? Can Chanters be made into decent dps and in that case will Kana suffice?

 

If i do not make my Watcher a wizard ill most likely use Aloth as a CC wiz.

 

I wanted to avoid using a fighter this playthrough. What would make the best main tank instead?

 

Edit: Going to make my watcher a glass cannon a glass cannon dwarven priest with high might and INT. With the Bael background and peasant weapon focus for quarterstaff (was the safest weapon focus i found for priest except the rifle wich i do not want to use). Does priest background weapon focus/bonus add to whatever soulbound my priest can equipp too? Because as far as i can remember the soulbound for staffs was not usable for priests.

Edited November 22, 2017 by Dorftek

[Ensign]

- The custom companions are only 'clearly better' in the late game, at which point the advantages from a 'better' stat distribution are dwarfed by class and gear bonuses.  In the early game the experience / level advantage of the default companions makes them clearly better.

 

1. Ciphers are still awesome.  Increased focus gain has more than made up for the increased focus costs.  They're just somewhat less front-loaded and get more use out of low level powers now.

2. He does play somewhat better that way, however you do want to keep his armor light if he's to do the typical priest buffing stuff.  Consider putting him in one of the special Deadfire armors to make this feel good.

3. Dex does nothing for chanter phrases.  Dragon Thrashed chanters are still one of the highest DPS characters in the game, especially on PotD where there are more enemies to burn down.  Build as tanky as possible and let the chants do the work.  Kana is very well built for that job.

 

- I would argue that all wizards are CC wizards on PotD.  You can still burst down trash mobs in the very early parts of the game, but that falls off quickly.  Late game, damage spells are celebratory fireworks used in fights you have already won.

 

- Best 'main tank' is generally a paladin.  Chanter does the job really well for short stretches, but doesn't have the staying power to do it full time.  Wizard does it well too (similar to chanter, very rest heavy).  I don't consider fighter to be a particularly good tank, personally (though I use a 'tank' in maybe half a dozen encounters in the game).

 

- Weapon focus and the priest's special +10 accuracy talents apply to all soulbound weapons.

[Whipstitch]

1. Ciphers do just fine on PotD. The drawbacks of the focus re-balance that freaked people out were often hilariously overstated. If anything I like Ciphers better on PotD than I do other difficulties since fights last longer and Focus is a renewable resource. That makes them MVP candidates in the early game when spell slots are limited and whiffing on spells causes your Druid to spiritshift into a sad panda. 

 

2. I actually rather like Durance's stat spread. It's not optimal past mid-game when you spend more time casting than wading into melee but I'd argue it's better than pumping Dex and Perception in the early game and that's when the game is normally hardest for Priests anyway. I don't use him for true tanking but I do like to set him up as a brigandine/plate wearing dual wielder and basically treat him like a rogue that can cast Armor of Faith and Consecrated Ground even when things are trying to interrupt him. It's dead simple and really helps push the math in your favor until you get enough powerful spells to transition to casting full time. All Priests are OP at endgame so I wouldn't even call it a sacrifice.

 

3. Still does nothing. Chanters are fairly poor single target DPS but their AoE really adds up, so all around they end up pretty solid. Kana's stats are fine. Ideally you'd probably dump his Dexterity harder but otherwise his stats are concentrated in the right places.

 

Soulbound weapons take any specialization, yes. What makes the best tank is pretty hilariously subjective. Personally, I mostly avoid the classic sword and board fighter build because I feel like it's way, way over-specialized. You don't need Constant Recovery AND defense talents AND a shield if have anyone else who is even moderately tanky or good at CC to take the heat off of your "main" tank. Personally, some of my favorite tanky NPC builds are the following:

 

1. Tanky Kana. You put Kana in heavy armor and give him Little Savior and you're basically done. He won't be the most durable tank in the world, but he'll be good enough with some support and as we already covered he doesn't actually give up much offense by having bad Recovery times. He just chants the Dragon Thrashed from behind his buckler and foes melt away. If you have any issues with health you can just take Wound Binding and some ranks in Survival for the resting bonus. People get weird bugs up their asses about doing that for some reason, but I'd take a Chanter with that setup over virtually anything else.

 

2. Marking Pallegina. Get a big nasty ranged weapon and put the Outworn Buckler and a debuffing/coordinating/marking weapon in your other set. You blast people with Flames of Devotion and Wrath of the Five Suns then when the survivors rush your front line you swap to your buckler and stand around looking pretty. Low sustained damage but stupidly high single target spike damage per encounter. It's a lot easier to get away with having crappy auto attack damage when you start the fight by hammering the most dangerous opponent right into the ground. Late game you get passive aoe damage that helps shore up your sustained damage too.

 

3. Offensive Eder. Give him +healing received gear, Might boosters, a ton of Survival and two sabers or warhammers. Knock down dragons, win the game.

 

4. Loud Maneha. Give her Badgradr's Barricade or the Dragons Maw then have her jump and yell until people die. Debuffs everyone and works great with other moderately tanky builds. At level 11 you still take Heart of Fury because you're not an idiot.

5. Riposte Devil. Badgradr's Barricade, Binding Rope and a stunning weapon. Not very good as a main tank because Recovery hurts rogues more than chanters and the class has even worse base deflection and no group buffs or built-in AoE. She does nice single target damage though and immunities make her a solid off-tank/tanky dps. Anything that tries to fight her head-on gets debuffed and Deathblowed into oblivion. 

6. Zahua. Umm, he's a monk? The dude has literally built his lifestyle around getting punched in the face, so hell yeah he can tank. He's admittedly more rewarding as a DPSer though due to his race combo. The true majesty of monk tanking lies in creating a MC Fire Godlike with turning wheel.

Edited November 22, 2017 by Whipstitch

[Boeroer]

- The custom companions are only 'clearly better' in the late game, at which point the advantages from a 'better' stat distribution are dwarfed by class and gear bonuses.  In the early game the experience / level advantage of the default companions makes them clearly better.

 

1. Ciphers are still awesome.  Increased focus gain has more than made up for the increased focus costs.  They're just somewhat less front-loaded and get more use out of low level powers now.

 

2. He does play somewhat better that way, however you do want to keep his armor light if he's to do the typical priest buffing stuff.  Consider putting him in one of the special Deadfire armors to make this feel good.

 

3. Dex does nothing for chanter phrases.  Dragon Thrashed chanters are still one of the highest DPS characters in the game, especially on PotD where there are more enemies to burn down.  Build as tanky as possible and let the chants do the work.  Kana is very well built for that job.

 

- I would argue that all wizards are CC wizards on PotD.  You can still burst down trash mobs in the very early parts of the game, but that falls off quickly.  Late game, damage spells are celebratory fireworks used in fights you have already won.

 

- Best 'main tank' is generally a paladin.  Chanter does the job really well for short stretches, but doesn't have the staying power to do it full time.  Wizard does it well too (similar to chanter, very rest heavy).  I don't consider fighter to be a particularly good tank, personally (though I use a 'tank' in maybe half a dozen encounters in the game).

 

- Weapon focus and the priest's special +10 accuracy talents apply to all soulbound weapons.

... aaand summoned weapons as well.

 

Rest I completely agree with.

Edited November 22, 2017 by Boeroer

[Dorftek]

Thank u Ensign and Whipstich for your very informative posts! 

 

And wow Boeroer u still hang around? :D 

 

So a small update: The controls on Xbox are horrific! positioning and managing everyone in battle is a chore! It was way better on PC, but no suprise there really.

I realised after dying because of silly mistakes that i will have to get used to this and get into the game a bit again so i started over and i now play on Hard. So far its perfectly challanging. 

I picked up Aloth, Eder, Durance and Kana as soon as i could and then continued doing some minor questing until i hit lvl 4. Now i am going to do the ruins in Gilded Vale.

 

PS: I think there is no Deadfire DLC on the Xbox. I cannot check exactly what i have it just says "Definitive Edition" and says i have the same major updates as PC but i am not sure about this. I read in one of the patchnotes here on forums that "One Handed Style" was changed from "Graze to Hit" into "Hit to Crit" but on my tooltip on the xbox it still says "Graze to Hit".

 

Edit: I just went to Anslög's Compass and there are no merchant there. 

Edited November 23, 2017 by Dorftek

[Mocker22]

1. Ciphers do just fine on PotD. The drawbacks of the focus re-balance that freaked people out were often hilariously overstated. If anything I like Ciphers better on PotD than I do other difficulties since fights last longer and Focus is a renewable resource. That makes them MVP candidates in the early game when spell slots are limited and whiffing on spells causes your Druid to spiritshift into a sad panda. 

 

2. I actually rather like Durance's stat spread. It's not optimal past mid-game when you spend more time casting than wading into melee but I'd argue it's better than pumping Dex and Perception in the early game and that's when the game is normally hardest for Priests anyway. I don't use him for true tanking but I do like to set him up as a brigandine/plate wearing dual wielder and basically treat him like a rogue that can cast Armor of Faith and Consecrated Ground even when things are trying to interrupt him. It's dead simple and really helps push the math in your favor until you get enough powerful spells to transition to casting full time. All Priests are OP at endgame so I wouldn't even call it a sacrifice.

 

3. Still does nothing. Chanters are fairly poor single target DPS but their AoE really adds up, so all around they end up pretty solid. Kana's stats are fine. Ideally you'd probably dump his Dexterity harder but otherwise his stats are concentrated in the right places.

 

Soulbound weapons take any specialization, yes. What makes the best tank is pretty hilariously subjective. Personally, I mostly avoid the classic sword and board fighter build because I feel like it's way, way over-specialized. You don't need Constant Recovery AND defense talents AND a shield if have anyone else who is even moderately tanky or good at CC to take the heat off of your "main" tank. Personally, some of my favorite tanky NPC builds are the following:

 

1. Tanky Kana. You put Kana in heavy armor and give him Little Savior and you're basically done. He won't be the most durable tank in the world, but he'll be good enough with some support and as we already covered he doesn't actually give up much offense by having bad Recovery times. He just chants the Dragon Thrashed from behind his buckler and foes melt away. If you have any issues with health you can just take Wound Binding and some ranks in Survival for the resting bonus. People get weird bugs up their asses about doing that for some reason, but I'd take a Chanter with that setup over virtually anything else.

 

2. Marking Pallegina. Get a big nasty ranged weapon and put the Outworn Buckler and a debuffing/coordinating/marking weapon in your other set. You blast people with Flames of Devotion and Wrath of the Five Suns then when the survivors rush your front line you swap to your buckler and stand around looking pretty. Low sustained damage but stupidly high single target spike damage per encounter. It's a lot easier to get away with having crappy auto attack damage when you start the fight by hammering the most dangerous opponent right into the ground. Late game you get passive aoe damage that helps shore up your sustained damage too.

 

3. Offensive Eder. Give him +healing received gear, Might boosters, a ton of Survival and two sabers or warhammers. Knock down dragons, win the game.

 

4. Loud Maneha. Give her Badgradr's Barricade or the Dragons Maw then have her jump and yell until people die. Debuffs everyone and works great with other moderately tanky builds. At level 11 you still take Heart of Fury because you're not an idiot.

 

5. Riposte Devil. Badgradr's Barricade, Binding Rope and a stunning weapon. Not very good as a main tank because Recovery hurts rogues more than chanters and the class has even worse base deflection and no group buffs or built-in AoE. She does nice single target damage though and immunities make her a solid off-tank/tanky dps. Anything that tries to fight her head-on gets debuffed and Deathblowed into oblivion. 

 

6. Zahua. Umm, he's a monk? The dude has literally built his lifestyle around getting punched in the face, so hell yeah he can tank. He's admittedly more rewarding as a DPSer though due to his race combo. The true majesty of monk tanking lies in creating a MC Fire Godlike with turning wheel.

I love this type of Pallegina build btw. Extremely heavy on the front-load ranged dmg she can straight up put a dangerous enemy caster or two in the ground before they have any impact. Followed up by a fairly tanky build that has HUGE accuracy gains for companions some good utility and Sacred Immolation late game. I build her almost entirely around that front-load ranged dps whenever I can.

[Mocker22]

Careful of how powerful chanters are. It can really get a bit boring. I have a chanter at lvl 11 right now with a build like described above. Max might and int, drop dex entirely. Took Veteran's recovery, ancient spirirts and beloved spirits + survival bonus and item bonus for healing, heavy plate and sword and shield style.

 

Where I messed up is including Aloth and Hiravas. at lvl 10 the WM bounties are a joke. Start a fight with a couple heavy duty priest buffs and aloth self buffs. Aloth casts some nice CC, Hiravas is Avenging Storm and Incest Plague and chanter going at em with Dragon Thrashed......I can't even get of any fun incantations everythings dead so fast. Oops.

[Jojobobo]

Careful of how powerful chanters are. It can really get a bit boring. I have a chanter at lvl 11 right now with a build like described above. Max might and int, drop dex entirely. Took Veteran's recovery, ancient spirirts and beloved spirits + survival bonus and item bonus for healing, heavy plate and sword and shield style.

 

Where I messed up is including Aloth and Hiravas. at lvl 10 the WM bounties are a joke. Start a fight with a couple heavy duty priest buffs and aloth self buffs. Aloth casts some nice CC, Hiravas is Avenging Storm and Incest Plague and chanter going at em with Dragon Thrashed......I can't even get of any fun incantations everythings dead so fast. Oops.

Yeah I'd have to agree. Looking at the defences of my Gunslinger build, you would think there's no way that could solo PotD. However, the simple fact of the matter is Dragon Thrashed is insane, and I was effectively buffing Dragon Thrashed by Blinding consistently.

 

It was a cool build (if I do say so myself), and at least retained some challenge on solo, but I'd imagine Chanters in a full party have a tendency to make things a wash fairly easily.