Skills and Bascis, coming to version 3 from 1

[aaOzymandias]

Hi!

 

 

I have not played through Pillars since it first released, and now with all the changes I am a bit in the blue on how to spec my characters skills etc.

 

Used to be having about 3 in athletics skill was the way to go, but now it seems you only really need 1 if you want a small heal? I am playing on hard and trying to figure out what I really need as a baseline for all my companions (only the story ones I will use, with at least Eder, Aloth, Pallegina and Durance, last one I will have to see).

 

Is there anything else that is good to know now? Something to keep an eye out for when leveling my companions from level 1 (a welcome feature!)? Any particular talent that is good?

 

I know I should spec at least one character into mechanics (not decided who yet, maybe Eder or Aloth?), but most information I find online is a bit dated, and the wiki seems a bit unreliable.

 

 

Thanks!

[Giant Octopodes]

Wiki seems pretty reliable to me, I've rarely to never found egregious errors in there (and if you do, you can always fix them ;-) )  I am a firm believer that *someone* should grab the Cipher multiclass talent (Whisper of Treason) ASAP, as the 5 second combat time is not excessively onerous and the effect is absolutely magnificent. 1 less enemy to deal wih, all their actions used to slay your foes during a relevant part of the combat instead?  Yes please.

 

I'm sure others will have advice which is relevant and great.  As to skills specifically, there's 5 skills, and 6 party members.  Everyone should ideally have 1 rank in Athletics and Survival, for front line fighters I find movement speed to be critical to ensure they determine their positioning so I shoot for 3 survival, but honestly the Accuracy bonus is so incredible if resting pre-boss and you know what you're about to face that I can't imagine anyone saying going for 4 survival all around is "bad".

 

Beyond those universally useful skills, unless you're going for something specific (like an all stealth, ambush force, which I personally love) you only need 1 person to specialize in each, so as to overcome challenges and puzzles based on them.  That would still leave room for 1 skill to be doubled up on, which is probably going to be lore, if you want some flexibility in who is using scrolls.  Just keep in mind that it's probably not optimal to have the lore focused people be your primary casters.  They have plenty to do already.  Characters with slow starts (like Chanters or Ciphers) or with relatively low impact actions to take at any given time (like Rangers or frontline folks in a fight where it's difficult / impossible for them to get into a good position) are FAR better off being the ones to fill their "down time" with scroll usage.  Primary casters focusing on Mechanics or Athletics or something instead makes far more sense, from an optimization standpoint.  

[aaOzymandias]

Wiki seems pretty reliable to me, I've rarely to never found egregious errors in there (and if you do, you can always fix them ;-) )  I am a firm believer that *someone* should grab the Cipher multiclass talent (Whisper of Treason) ASAP, as the 5 second combat time is not excessively onerous and the effect is absolutely magnificent. 1 less enemy to deal wih, all their actions used to slay your foes during a relevant part of the combat instead?  Yes please.

 

I'm sure others will have advice which is relevant and great.  As to skills specifically, there's 5 skills, and 6 party members.  Everyone should ideally have 1 rank in Athletics and Survival, for front line fighters I find movement speed to be critical to ensure they determine their positioning so I shoot for 3 survival, but honestly the Accuracy bonus is so incredible if resting pre-boss and you know what you're about to face that I can't imagine anyone saying going for 4 survival all around is "bad".

 

Beyond those universally useful skills, unless you're going for something specific (like an all stealth, ambush force, which I personally love) you only need 1 person to specialize in each, so as to overcome challenges and puzzles based on them.  That would still leave room for 1 skill to be doubled up on, which is probably going to be lore, if you want some flexibility in who is using scrolls.  Just keep in mind that it's probably not optimal to have the lore focused people be your primary casters.  They have plenty to do already.  Characters with slow starts (like Chanters or Ciphers) or with relatively low impact actions to take at any given time (like Rangers or frontline folks in a fight where it's difficult / impossible for them to get into a good position) are FAR better off being the ones to fill their "down time" with scroll usage.  Primary casters focusing on Mechanics or Athletics or something instead makes far more sense, from an optimization standpoint.  

Thanks! I might have read the wrong wiki it appeared, found the real one now (just some bad googling on my part)

 

Sounds like good advice, might as well have my Aloth do something with another skill than lore since he is gonna fling spells and blast anyways. The cross talents did seem interesting, the accuracy aura one seemed pretty good too.

[MountainTiger]

A few points in Athletics are nice early, but it doesn't scale very well late game. You still want one Mechanics specialist. Survival is the most generally useful skill, you'll want to pick a resting bonus for every character and put in enough points to unlock it, at the second tier if you can spare the points.

[Boeroer]

The thing about Enigma's Charm is that it not only needs 5 seconds in combat but is also a slow cast compared to the rel. fast cast of Whisper of Treason. Besides that it's quite nice because it's 1/encounter.

 

A good way to substitute this talent is to buy Munacra Arret and later Spirit Spiral (see wiki) for the "real" Whisper of Treason 6 times per rest and also the Ring of Changing Heart (2 dominates per rest which are very fast but have no ACC bonus).

 

All those effects are quite great on any character with high accuracy and good INT.

 

Look at the build "Counselor Ploi" in the build list to read more about the effective use of those items with a paladin. Also works really well with rogue and especially fighter (Disciplined Barrage).

 

Concerning skills: I like Veteran's Recovery and other regenerating effects a lot because with 8 or even 14 survival, decent MIG and an item like Fulvano's Amulet you get a healing bonus of about +100% which is very nice for any frontliner who want to be in the fray but doesn't want to raise deflection (or can't) but still be very sturdy (barbs, monks and so on). The healing bonus works with all healing sources except draining (on weapons). Also the other bonuses can be really nice (accuracy, movement speed and so on).

 

So I usually favor survival. Althetics is a bit poor in my opinion, stealth is only useful for a Backstab rogue (but then it's nice because it grants you two consecutive +150% damage attacks per encounter. Lore is only useful if you want to use scrolls. Scrolls can be very powerful with fighters and rogues (all damaging spells that are not DoT work with Deathblows, spells that do crush/pierce or slash damage also work with Deep Wounds). So lore is very useful if you want to use scrolls. One guy should skill mechanics to 10 minimum, better 12.

Edited February 25, 2018 by Boeroer

[aaOzymandias]

Thanks for all the input! Think I got my head wrapped around the skill changes now.

 

Any general tips on how to build companions? I am planning Eder as tank (do I need to spec how many he can engage with, what weapons?), Pallegina as offtank/dps (Estocs?), Durance as buff/heal, Aloth as blast wizard (seems like rods are good for that, with the level 3 spell as well), and my main as a ranged Cipher dps (got a fair idea of how to build that). Last position I am unsure what to bring, maybe the chanter, or grieving mother since she was an interesting character.

[Torm51]

Thanks for all the input! Think I got my head wrapped around the skill changes now.

 

Any general tips on how to build companions? I am planning Eder as tank (do I need to spec how many he can engage with, what weapons?), Pallegina as offtank/dps (Estocs?), Durance as buff/heal, Aloth as blast wizard (seems like rods are good for that, with the level 3 spell as well), and my main as a ranged Cipher dps (got a fair idea of how to build that). Last position I am unsure what to bring, maybe the chanter, or grieving mother since she was an interesting character.

I’d do it backwards I like fighter as damage dealer off tanks and Paladins as the tank. Fighters get better deflection but that’s it, Paladins with full Faith and Conviction get way higher Fort, reflex and will which is much more important, especially fort. If you are disabled how much deflection you have is irrelevant and Paladins are way better at avoiding CC. Fighter is also a better DPSer with thins like Disciplined Barrage and Weapon Masteries. With Charge they will beat a Paladin with Sacred Immolation in DPS.

 

Whatever you decide either will work though.

[aaOzymandias]

 

Thanks for all the input! Think I got my head wrapped around the skill changes now.

 

Any general tips on how to build companions? I am planning Eder as tank (do I need to spec how many he can engage with, what weapons?), Pallegina as offtank/dps (Estocs?), Durance as buff/heal, Aloth as blast wizard (seems like rods are good for that, with the level 3 spell as well), and my main as a ranged Cipher dps (got a fair idea of how to build that). Last position I am unsure what to bring, maybe the chanter, or grieving mother since she was an interesting character.

I’d do it backwards I like fighter as damage dealer off tanks and Paladins as the tank. Fighters get better deflection but that’s it, Paladins with full Faith and Conviction get way higher Fort, reflex and will which is much more important, especially fort. If you are disabled how much deflection you have is irrelevant and Paladins are way better at avoiding CC. Fighter is also a better DPSer with thins like Disciplined Barrage and Weapon Masteries. With Charge they will beat a Paladin with Sacred Immolation in DPS.

 

Whatever you decide either will work though.

 

Not a bad idea, might shake it up a bit since last time I played as well, and having some fighter damage early in Eder might come in handy.