Pillars of Eternity II - Suddenly Turn-Based

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Radia: Jul 14, 2021; And someday, together.. We'll shine.

I absolutely love write ups and build ideas like that, it�s like crack to me. Thank you so much

# ? Nov 15, 2022 22:51

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# ? May 9, 2024 22:50

Ginette Reno: Nov 18, 2006; How Doers get more done; Fun Shoe

Zeerust posted:

Thanks for the detailed writeup! That sounds like a lot of fun. I'll have to keep it bookmarked for when I decide to do a full Fear and Loathing run.

Playing back through PoE1, you really feel the restrictions in how the classes are set up. There's nothing wrong with role protection per se, but Deadfire made multiclassing so interesting that I really miss it.

I like Poe1 a lot still and usually do replay it if I'm doing a new Deadfire character. But I always enjoy the feel of a full series play of anything. With like Baldur's gate I always do a full trilogy run if I bother.

Having said that, Deadfire is a huge improvement on Poe1 in so many ways. Not so much so that I can't enjoy Poe1, but it's quite a bit better a game.

# ? Nov 15, 2022 22:55

unattended spaghetti: May 10, 2013

Waifu Radia posted:

I absolutely love write ups and build ideas like that, it�s like crack to me. Thank you so much

Ditto. I think PoE II is the only crunchy RPG where I took one look at the character creator, and instead of feeling overwhelmed, was just thrilled with all the possibility there. I�m not big-brained enough to come up with poo poo like this, but I sure do love reading about it.

A bit off topic I know, but as someone who loved Pillars II for that flexibility, would Wrath of the Righteous offer similar? I played 3E D&D, so I have a baseline understanding, but mostly what I�m wondering is if WotR, played on normal or whatever, will let me roleplay something and not hamstring me for it? I feel like that�s one of the best things about Pillars II. Feels pretty balanced. Not to say WotR is �balanced� because I�m sure it�s not, but high viability for lots of playstyles is what I�m after I guess.

# ? Nov 15, 2022 23:37

Radia: Jul 14, 2021; And someday, together.. We'll shine.

You might want to post in the WotR thread with that question. Unlike deadfire, WotR basically requires mods to be super fun and playable, but it also has a ton of customization options, so long as you play on Core or lower difficulties. Hard and Unfair both require much more meta builds.

# ? Nov 15, 2022 23:39

ilitarist: Apr 26, 2016; illiterate and militarist

I'd say even on normal the PF WotR expects you to understand a lot about the game systems. The difficulty level 1 step above normal turns off respec so this is a territory where you're supposed to know how your character will look in the end game when you're in the character creator screen.

I feel as though pathfinder ruleset is just bad when adapted on PC. It's interesting to think about builds but except for level up screen you don't make interesting choices about your party. Fun choices in the story, in the strategic metą-game, but when it comes to combat the question is if the fight is important enough for you to do 50+ clicks 3 minutes pre-buffing (this is not an exaggeration)

# ? Nov 16, 2022 08:51

Radia: Jul 14, 2021; And someday, together.. We'll shine.

that is why I said mods are a must. 1 click with bubble buff bot baby

# ? Nov 16, 2022 08:55

Radia: Jul 14, 2021; And someday, together.. We'll shine.

that said yeah def make your first playthrough on normal, the game has encounters that � really aren�t well designed if you don�t expect them on higher difficulties.

and ofc have a mod that lets you respec when you go to higher difficulties.

# ? Nov 16, 2022 08:56

ilitarist: Apr 26, 2016; illiterate and militarist

Thankfully the difficulty is configurable. At any moment you can turn on the ability to respect on any difficulty but you will lose a difficulty-related achievement. You can also turn on helpful stuff like heal every condition on rest. By default a lot of conditions require a specific spell to heal, but those spell scrolls are cheap and it's very unlikely you won't have a character capable of using those scrolls so it's just an annoyance.

Also "you should only play with mods" sounds like a big condemnation to me. This is an enhanced edition of a game that is basically and expandalone for another game that had an enhanced edition and director's cut. Devs not adding clearly needed features like simplified buffs tells you what this game is.

# ? Nov 16, 2022 10:37

No Dignity: Oct 15, 2007

Genuinely, I think one of the biggest and most sifnificant innovations PoE made to the CRPG genre was just not having prebuffing. That poo poo is terrible and one of the main reasons I couldn't engage with Pathfinder mechanically at all

# ? Nov 16, 2022 11:15

ilitarist: Apr 26, 2016; illiterate and militarist

Eh, Dragon Age Origins had a lot of things that were refined in PoE. It had no pre-buffing (or rather modal buffs that would turn on instantaneously and would eat a percentage of character's mama, but it solved the issue) and grazes in addition to hits to mitigate the d20 randomness.

# ? Nov 16, 2022 12:53

No Dignity: Oct 15, 2007

ilitarist posted:

Eh, Dragon Age Origins had a lot of things that were refined in PoE. It had no pre-buffing (or rather modal buffs that would turn on instantaneously and would eat a percentage of character's mama, but it solved the issue) and grazes in addition to hits to mitigate the d20 randomness.

That's fair, it's easy to forget DA:I was the first legit inheitor to BG because of the rest of the series but it did make a good stab at solving some of those issues. I think PoE keeping the original style of spellcasting and allowing buffs with dramatic magnitudes but giving them an in-combat opportunity cost was the best way to go though, it feels more faithful to some of the stupid stuff you could do in BG2 without completely taking over the game or becoming a time tax on every significant fight

# ? Nov 16, 2022 13:20

Azuth0667: Sep 20, 2011; By the word of Zoroaster, no business decision is poor when it involves Ahura Mazda.

moot the hopple posted:

So the basic gist is that a Berserker's health drain, normally a negative consequence you have to accept in exchange for the subclass' other benefits, actually becomes a boon when combined with a Monk, who'll gain Wounds from the self damage while Frenzied. A Nalpazca monk passively gains Wounds on top of that whenever he's high on drugs, meaning a Berserker/Nalpazca is always gaining a steady flow of Wounds from both sources so he can constantly spam his attack abilities. The two classes synergize further in that they both have abilities that will lower enemies' Fortitude defense. Combined with the morningstar modal which further lowers Fortitude, the key Barbarian passive ability Brute Force which allows Barbarians to target Fortitude instead of Deflection if it's lower, and the hit-to-crit conversion that a Berserker gets while using Frenzy, a Berserker/Nalpazca is able to significantly lower their target's defenses and land huge critical hits, which leads to some crazy things such as getting free attacks and refundable stuns. Here's the build in detail:

Race
By order of preference: Hearth Orlan because they are able to get the highest starting Perception and their Minor Threat passive gives them further hit-to-crit conversion which are both valuable for our crit-seeking needs. Death Godlike are another consideration as their damage bonus to low health enemies synergizes with Barbarian's similar bonus. Humans get added damage and accuracy from their Fighting Spirit passive at half health, which can often happen when you play as a Berserker, but it's not as dependable of a bonus.

Attributes (These will be more guidelines with only a few defined scores. Feel free to play with the spread as you see fit)
Might � Doesn't have to be sky-high as a baseline because we'll have other means of increasing damage and Frenzy will already give us a +5 here. Super high Might is actually dangerous for a Berserker because the self-damage you take from Frenzy scales off of it. You want it high, but not close to max.
Constitution � You'll get +5 from Frenzy on top of an already large health pool. This is your main survival attribute so put as many points in here as you feel comfortable.
Dexterity � This can be average since you'll be getting +5 from Swift Flurry and this multi gets a slew of action speed bonus, recovery speed bonus, extra attacks, and instant recovery from other abilities.
Perception � Absolutely max this out. The goal is to get critical hits so the more points you can place here, the better.
Intellect � I would leave this at the default 10. Technically you can get +10 bonus at max Wounds from Turning Wheel, but in practice it'll hover a little bit below that as you use your Wounds and they replenish. Intellect does help with increasing the size of AoE attacks like Carnage and Raised Torment and also extending the duration of your self-buffs, but you don't really have to invest in here.
Resolve � In terms of deflection, Barbarians start with lower deflection and will get a further -10 penalty while using Frenzy so it will take a lot of Resolve just to overcome this inherent malus. If you're looking to be more tanky, your points would be better spent in Constitution.

Skills
Alchemy is an expected choice since Nalpazca monks already get a skill bonus when using drugs. Note that higher Alchemy only increases the duration of drugs and lessens the effects of drug crash. At high enough levels of Alchemy, the penalty of drug crash goes away entirely. However, Nalpazca monks will still need to take drugs in order to receive healing. Athletics is another good active ability choice to have a per-encounter heal. For passive skills, go with whatever you want to roleplay with, but if you decided to minmax some of your attributes, there's a decent cloak that gives a scaling bonus to defenses based on your History score to make up for any lowered defense.

Abilities
Barbarian
Blooded � The damage bonus at half health is useful but it also serves as an indicator for when your health is low since your health bar is otherwise hidden when Frenzied as a Berserker. Just pay attention to the Blooded icon that shows up by your character's portrait to gauge whether you need to heal at that point.
Spirit Frenzy � This upgrade to Frenzy allows all your attacks to Stagger enemies, dropping their Might by -5 which translates to -10 Fortitude defense. Note that I don't take the further upgrade, Spirit Tornado, because the added Terrify effect only happens at activation and I'd rather spend the point elsewhere for more value
Thick Skinned � Extra armor against all weapon damage types (which further stacks with the +2 armor Berserkers get from Frenzy) and an engagement slot is a lot of value here
One Stands Alone � A pretty decent damage bonus with a conditional that's easy to meet for a character that's going to be in the thick of things
Two Handed Style � A generic damage bonus for our weapon of choice
Accurate Carnage � Carnage damage is calculated off your weapon's damage, however Carnage's accuracy doesn't use get your weapon's accuracy bonus so this passive is useful
Bloody Slaughter � Any additional crit conversion is good and the bonus crit damage is even better
Barbaric Smash � Upgraded to refund the Rage cost upon killing an enemy, this is your finisher move you use on enemies near death to synergize with Bloody Slaughter and spread Carnage to the other enemies left alive around your target
Bloodlust � You'll be killing a lot of enemies back to back so it will be easy to have this action speed bonus on you for most of the battle
Uncanny Luck � Another source of crit conversion to stack
Improved Critical � Another source of critical damage to stack
Brute Force � The pivotal passive ability for this build. Since we're going to have an easier time attacking and debuffing Fortitude for the majority of enemies, this will be a major contributor to getting crits that's not just another method of crit conversion (which has diminishing returns as you stack it but it's still worth doing so in this build since it's the whole point). Anyway, Brute Force gets us on the way to weakening and then wrecking enemies
Blood Thirst � The instant recovery after a kill is like getting a free attack and becomes really powerful once you start chaining kills
Monk
Lesser Wounds � lowers the damage threshold required to get a Wound. This passive along with the scaling self-damage from Frenzy as you gain power levels will generate a lot of wounds for yourself
Combat Focus � Having a source of Concentration is very useful to prevent yourself from getting interrupted at the start of the battle when you need to activate Frenzy and take some drugs
Swift Flurry � The added Dexterity and action speed is great, but the cherry on top is the chance to get a free attack when you crit. Note that your free attack can crit, which can produce another free attack which can crit, and so on and so on. Sometimes this can lead to one-shotting an enemy as your initial attack can chain crit, leading to a hilarious stream of red numbers popping up over an enemy's head before it falls dead.
Turning Wheel � A fire damage lash and bonus to intellect that remains decently high with how quickly you generate Wounds
Raised Torment � This is your main attack ability to spend your Wounds on. A spammable source of interrupt, AoE damage that adds up in conjunction with Carnage, and an AoE stun is a great force multiplier
Stunning Surge � Raised Torment unfortunately doesn't stun its direct target, only the enemies behind it. Luckily, we have another direct target source of stun with Stunning Surge. It's fairly reliable because it targets Fortitude and it refunds its resource cost on crit, and we are purpose-built to exploit both aspects
Enervating Blows � Allows our attacks to impart Weakened, debuffing Constitution by -5 and dropping Fortitude by -10
Heartbeat Drumming � Further increases your chances of getting free attacks along with Swift Flurry

Equipment
Armor � Devil of Caroc Breastplate. Primarily as a way to get rid of the Confused affliction while using Frenzy but the heal upon crit upgrade, extra class resources to use for buffs, and increased recovery are all relevant for our build
Weapon � Saru-Sichr and The Willbreaker. There's only two unique morningstars but that's okay because they're both good. Saru-Sichr is more of your early game weapon because it's available for free depending on how sneaky you are. Both have good, stackable effects but the key component is the morningstar modal which drops Fortitude by a whooping -25 points
Helmet � Maw of Ingimyrk for the +2 Perception. Helm of the Falcon's increased recovery for two handed weapons is a good stepping stone before you do the DLC
Necklace � Protective Eothasan Charm for the Perception. The automatic heal is also very useful for Berserkers and their hidden health bar
Cloak � Ajamuut's Stalking Cloak again for the Perception. Giftbearer's Cloth with stacked History skill if you want more defense. Three Trolls Stitched is also good for the regen early on to mitigate the Berserker health drain
Gloves � Gloves of Accuracy or Gloves of the Dungeon Warden for +3 accuracy which is the main point of relevance for the build. The first set you get very early and the second set just has an extra per-rest ability.
Rings � Ring of Prosperity's Fortune for the crit chance bonus and Voidward to mitigate the self-damage from Frenzy. Early on when you don't have all the money to activate the full bonus for RoPF or when Frenzy's self-damage hasn't reached the level at full power levels, the Greater Ring of Regeneration is a fine option
Belt � The Maker's Own Power. The added armor and Might is relevant but the per-rest ability is your safety net and guarantees that you won't get yourself killed if your not paying attention to health
Boots � Boots of the Stone. This slot doesn't have any essentials so you can substitute whatever you want
Pet � Abraham. The recovery bonus is great and the health return upon kills will really pay dividends

Gameplay
How it all comes together. When you first start combat, activate Frenzy, snort some drugs (Svef or Deadeye preferably for the accuracy, or White Leaf for the mild health regen), and activate Swift Flurry. You should already have enough Wounds to use Raised Torment on whatever enemy has the lowest Fortitude to stun enemies behind him. As you attack, you'll apply Staggered, Weakened, and Body Blows which cumulatively debuffs enemies for -45 Fortitude. That's an unparalleled amount that even dedicated spellcasters would struggle to reach. With their Fortitude defense tanked, you can use Stunning Surge to reliably crit and stun for free any enemies who are directly targeting you and then use them as a pivot point to further stun enemies behind them with Raised Torment until you have most of the enemies near you stunlocked. Then it's just a matter of picking off enemies based on the lowest fortitude score so that you can get free hits and crits off them while using Barbaric Smash as your finisher when they are at low health. The beauty is that enemies get weaker and more vulnerable as you attack them while you keep getting stronger by killing things for increased speed and health return.

This isn't really a solo capable build so in terms of party makeup, having an actual tank to deal with damage is useful. While the Berserker/Nalpazca can stay safe by stunning and interrupting his opponents, he still needs a tank to draw all the frontloaded damage while he buffs himself. A healer is also very important; a priest who can cast Triumph of the Crusaders would take care of any health concerns for this build and the accuracy buff from spells would have added value. A Chanter/Paladin with healing auras would also be a decent teammate; that's what I actually paired this build with when I made this character and I didn't have too much trouble keeping him alive with all the passive healing.

More of these, this is awesome!

# ? Nov 16, 2022 22:26

Radia: Jul 14, 2021; And someday, together.. We'll shine.

ilitarist posted:

Also "you should only play with mods" sounds like a big condemnation to me. This is an enhanced edition of a game that is basically and expandalone for another game that had an enhanced edition and director's cut. Devs not adding clearly needed features like simplified buffs tells you what this game is.

yes. I intend it as a condemnation of the developers.

# ? Nov 16, 2022 22:27

rocketrobot: Jul 11, 2003

moot the hopple posted:

So the basic gist is that a Berserker's health drain, normally a negative consequence you have to accept in exchange for the subclass' other benefits, actually becomes a boon when combined with a Monk, who'll gain Wounds from the self damage while Frenzied. A Nalpazca monk passively gains Wounds on top of that whenever he's high on drugs, meaning a Berserker/Nalpazca is always gaining a steady flow of Wounds from both sources so he can constantly spam his attack abilities. The two classes synergize further in that they both have abilities that will lower enemies' Fortitude defense. Combined with the morningstar modal which further lowers Fortitude, the key Barbarian passive ability Brute Force which allows Barbarians to target Fortitude instead of Deflection if it's lower, and the hit-to-crit conversion that a Berserker gets while using Frenzy, a Berserker/Nalpazca is able to significantly lower their target's defenses and land huge critical hits, which leads to some crazy things such as getting free attacks and refundable stuns. Here's the build in detail:

Race
By order of preference: Hearth Orlan because they are able to get the highest starting Perception and their Minor Threat passive gives them further hit-to-crit conversion which are both valuable for our crit-seeking needs. Death Godlike are another consideration as their damage bonus to low health enemies synergizes with Barbarian's similar bonus. Humans get added damage and accuracy from their Fighting Spirit passive at half health, which can often happen when you play as a Berserker, but it's not as dependable of a bonus.

Attributes (These will be more guidelines with only a few defined scores. Feel free to play with the spread as you see fit)
Might – Doesn't have to be sky-high as a baseline because we'll have other means of increasing damage and Frenzy will already give us a +5 here. Super high Might is actually dangerous for a Berserker because the self-damage you take from Frenzy scales off of it. You want it high, but not close to max.
Constitution – You'll get +5 from Frenzy on top of an already large health pool. This is your main survival attribute so put as many points in here as you feel comfortable.
Dexterity – This can be average since you'll be getting +5 from Swift Flurry and this multi gets a slew of action speed bonus, recovery speed bonus, extra attacks, and instant recovery from other abilities.
Perception – Absolutely max this out. The goal is to get critical hits so the more points you can place here, the better.
Intellect – I would leave this at the default 10. Technically you can get +10 bonus at max Wounds from Turning Wheel, but in practice it'll hover a little bit below that as you use your Wounds and they replenish. Intellect does help with increasing the size of AoE attacks like Carnage and Raised Torment and also extending the duration of your self-buffs, but you don't really have to invest in here.
Resolve – In terms of deflection, Barbarians start with lower deflection and will get a further -10 penalty while using Frenzy so it will take a lot of Resolve just to overcome this inherent malus. If you're looking to be more tanky, your points would be better spent in Constitution.

Skills
Alchemy is an expected choice since Nalpazca monks already get a skill bonus when using drugs. Note that higher Alchemy only increases the duration of drugs and lessens the effects of drug crash. At high enough levels of Alchemy, the penalty of drug crash goes away entirely. However, Nalpazca monks will still need to take drugs in order to receive healing. Athletics is another good active ability choice to have a per-encounter heal. For passive skills, go with whatever you want to roleplay with, but if you decided to minmax some of your attributes, there's a decent cloak that gives a scaling bonus to defenses based on your History score to make up for any lowered defense.

Abilities
Barbarian
Blooded – The damage bonus at half health is useful but it also serves as an indicator for when your health is low since your health bar is otherwise hidden when Frenzied as a Berserker. Just pay attention to the Blooded icon that shows up by your character's portrait to gauge whether you need to heal at that point.
Spirit Frenzy – This upgrade to Frenzy allows all your attacks to Stagger enemies, dropping their Might by -5 which translates to -10 Fortitude defense. Note that I don't take the further upgrade, Spirit Tornado, because the added Terrify effect only happens at activation and I'd rather spend the point elsewhere for more value
Thick Skinned – Extra armor against all weapon damage types (which further stacks with the +2 armor Berserkers get from Frenzy) and an engagement slot is a lot of value here
One Stands Alone – A pretty decent damage bonus with a conditional that's easy to meet for a character that's going to be in the thick of things
Two Handed Style – A generic damage bonus for our weapon of choice
Accurate Carnage – Carnage damage is calculated off your weapon's damage, however Carnage's accuracy doesn't use get your weapon's accuracy bonus so this passive is useful
Bloody Slaughter – Any additional crit conversion is good and the bonus crit damage is even better
Barbaric Smash – Upgraded to refund the Rage cost upon killing an enemy, this is your finisher move you use on enemies near death to synergize with Bloody Slaughter and spread Carnage to the other enemies left alive around your target
Bloodlust – You'll be killing a lot of enemies back to back so it will be easy to have this action speed bonus on you for most of the battle
Uncanny Luck – Another source of crit conversion to stack
Improved Critical – Another source of critical damage to stack
Brute Force – The pivotal passive ability for this build. Since we're going to have an easier time attacking and debuffing Fortitude for the majority of enemies, this will be a major contributor to getting crits that's not just another method of crit conversion (which has diminishing returns as you stack it but it's still worth doing so in this build since it's the whole point). Anyway, Brute Force gets us on the way to weakening and then wrecking enemies
Blood Thirst – The instant recovery after a kill is like getting a free attack and becomes really powerful once you start chaining kills
Monk
Lesser Wounds – lowers the damage threshold required to get a Wound. This passive along with the scaling self-damage from Frenzy as you gain power levels will generate a lot of wounds for yourself
Combat Focus – Having a source of Concentration is very useful to prevent yourself from getting interrupted at the start of the battle when you need to activate Frenzy and take some drugs
Swift Flurry – The added Dexterity and action speed is great, but the cherry on top is the chance to get a free attack when you crit. Note that your free attack can crit, which can produce another free attack which can crit, and so on and so on. Sometimes this can lead to one-shotting an enemy as your initial attack can chain crit, leading to a hilarious stream of red numbers popping up over an enemy's head before it falls dead.
Turning Wheel – A fire damage lash and bonus to intellect that remains decently high with how quickly you generate Wounds
Raised Torment – This is your main attack ability to spend your Wounds on. A spammable source of interrupt, AoE damage that adds up in conjunction with Carnage, and an AoE stun is a great force multiplier
Stunning Surge – Raised Torment unfortunately doesn't stun its direct target, only the enemies behind it. Luckily, we have another direct target source of stun with Stunning Surge. It's fairly reliable because it targets Fortitude and it refunds its resource cost on crit, and we are purpose-built to exploit both aspects
Enervating Blows – Allows our attacks to impart Weakened, debuffing Constitution by -5 and dropping Fortitude by -10
Heartbeat Drumming – Further increases your chances of getting free attacks along with Swift Flurry

Equipment
Armor – Devil of Caroc Breastplate. Primarily as a way to get rid of the Confused affliction while using Frenzy but the heal upon crit upgrade, extra class resources to use for buffs, and increased recovery are all relevant for our build
Weapon – Saru-Sichr and The Willbreaker. There's only two unique morningstars but that's okay because they're both good. Saru-Sichr is more of your early game weapon because it's available for free depending on how sneaky you are. Both have good, stackable effects but the key component is the morningstar modal which drops Fortitude by a whooping -25 points
Helmet – Maw of Ingimyrk for the +2 Perception. Helm of the Falcon's increased recovery for two handed weapons is a good stepping stone before you do the DLC
Necklace – Protective Eothasan Charm for the Perception. The automatic heal is also very useful for Berserkers and their hidden health bar
Cloak – Ajamuut's Stalking Cloak again for the Perception. Giftbearer's Cloth with stacked History skill if you want more defense. Three Trolls Stitched is also good for the regen early on to mitigate the Berserker health drain
Gloves – Gloves of Accuracy or Gloves of the Dungeon Warden for +3 accuracy which is the main point of relevance for the build. The first set you get very early and the second set just has an extra per-rest ability.
Rings – Ring of Prosperity's Fortune for the crit chance bonus and Voidward to mitigate the self-damage from Frenzy. Early on when you don't have all the money to activate the full bonus for RoPF or when Frenzy's self-damage hasn't reached the level at full power levels, the Greater Ring of Regeneration is a fine option
Belt – The Maker's Own Power. The added armor and Might is relevant but the per-rest ability is your safety net and guarantees that you won't get yourself killed if your not paying attention to health
Boots – Boots of the Stone. This slot doesn't have any essentials so you can substitute whatever you want
Pet – Abraham. The recovery bonus is great and the health return upon kills will really pay dividends

Gameplay
How it all comes together. When you first start combat, activate Frenzy, snort some drugs (Svef or Deadeye preferably for the accuracy, or White Leaf for the mild health regen), and activate Swift Flurry. You should already have enough Wounds to use Raised Torment on whatever enemy has the lowest Fortitude to stun enemies behind him. As you attack, you'll apply Staggered, Weakened, and Body Blows which cumulatively debuffs enemies for -45 Fortitude. That's an unparalleled amount that even dedicated spellcasters would struggle to reach. With their Fortitude defense tanked, you can use Stunning Surge to reliably crit and stun for free any enemies who are directly targeting you and then use them as a pivot point to further stun enemies behind them with Raised Torment until you have most of the enemies near you stunlocked. Then it's just a matter of picking off enemies based on the lowest fortitude score so that you can get free hits and crits off them while using Barbaric Smash as your finisher when they are at low health. The beauty is that enemies get weaker and more vulnerable as you attack them while you keep getting stronger by killing things for increased speed and health return.

This isn't really a solo capable build so in terms of party makeup, having an actual tank to deal with damage is useful. While the Berserker/Nalpazca can stay safe by stunning and interrupting his opponents, he still needs a tank to draw all the frontloaded damage while he buffs himself. A healer is also very important; a priest who can cast Triumph of the Crusaders would take care of any health concerns for this build and the accuracy buff from spells would have added value. A Chanter/Paladin with healing auras would also be a decent teammate; that's what I actually paired this build with when I made this character and I didn't have too much trouble keeping him alive with all the passive healing.

Why does this forum not have the ability to bookmark individual posts and organize them?

Ugh fund, I'll just copy the URL of the post as a bookmark for my internet browser like a plebian.

# ? Nov 18, 2022 03:40

Servetus: Apr 1, 2010

What's the furthest in the game anyone has gotten before going to Neketaka?

On a whim I went to Hasongo first in a playthrough, to see what happened when I walked into Onekaza's throne room after that. There is entirely different dialogue if you've resolved Hasongo before setting foot in the throne room. I hadn't done enough xp grinding around the islands to manage Ashen Maw, it was two Red skulls for me, but it got me thinking. If you took the right Berath's blessings, did Fort Deadlight and Dunnage right after Port Maje, Island hopped like a Madman, and did at least Tikawara if not Poko Kahara; could you get through Ashen Maw before setting foot in Neketaka?

# ? Nov 23, 2022 01:27

Ginette Reno: Nov 18, 2006; How Doers get more done; Fun Shoe

Servetus posted:

What's the furthest in the game anyone has gotten before going to Neketaka?

On a whim I went to Hasongo first in a playthrough, to see what happened when I walked into Onekaza's throne room after that. There is entirely different dialogue if you've resolved Hasongo before setting foot in the throne room. I hadn't done enough xp grinding around the islands to manage Ashen Maw, it was two Red skulls for me, but it got me thinking. If you took the right Berath's blessings, did Fort Deadlight and Dunnage right after Port Maje, Island hopped like a Madman, and did at least Tikawara if not Poko Kahara; could you get through Ashen Maw before setting foot in Neketaka?

I've never done things in a wacky order really. I suspect you could get all the way to Ashen Maw without even going to Neketaka. To beat the game after Ashenmaw you'd have to get one of the factions on your side or buy the ship upgrade I guess.

Ashen Maw isn't even that hard and you can talk your way through a lot, so I don't think you'd have trouble doing it at a lower level either.

# ? Nov 23, 2022 02:12

Servetus: Apr 1, 2010

Ginette Reno posted:

I've never done things in a wacky order really. I suspect you could get all the way to Ashen Maw without even going to Neketaka. To beat the game after Ashenmaw you'd have to get one of the factions on your side or buy the ship upgrade I guess.

Ashen Maw isn't even that hard and you can talk your way through a lot, so I don't think you'd have trouble doing it at a lower level either.

I recall a lot of sneaking and mechanics checks, plus two unskippable fights on the way to the Dragon's lair.

I'm just wondering if the Harbor Master will still give you poo poo the first time you enter Queen's Berth after Eothas slings you to the palace before he heads for Ukaizo.

# ? Nov 23, 2022 02:36

ilitarist: Apr 26, 2016; illiterate and militarist

Do you even have to go to the dragon's lair? I remember those dudes waiting for the guy who went to talk to the dragon, but I'm not sure if you can talk them down.

Also nothing stops you from playing on Story Difficulty with the auto-leveling down. You can probably go straight to Hasongo and then Ashen Maw with a setup like this.

# ? Nov 23, 2022 10:06

OzFactor: Apr 16, 2001

What are Maia and Pallegina doing if you go to Hasongo first? Are they still just sitting in the throne room having a very long diplomatic session?

# ? Nov 23, 2022 18:19

Servetus: Apr 1, 2010

OzFactor posted:

What are Maia and Pallegina doing if you go to Hasongo first? Are they still just sitting in the throne room having a very long diplomatic session?

Correct, they are just hanging out in the throne room whenever you walk in.

Both the VTC and RDC representatives are pretty desperate to get the Watcher on their side if you solve Hasongo first. They both dip into flattery, which is weird coming from the Hazanui.

# ? Nov 23, 2022 18:35

Ginette Reno: Nov 18, 2006; How Doers get more done; Fun Shoe

ilitarist posted:

Do you even have to go to the dragon's lair? I remember those dudes waiting for the guy who went to talk to the dragon, but I'm not sure if you can talk them down.

Also nothing stops you from playing on Story Difficulty with the auto-leveling down. You can probably go straight to Hasongo and then Ashen Maw with a setup like this.

I think you do.

If you're a Fire Godlike or a Priest of Magran I think you can talk the Giants down without any combat and any character with the right dialogue choices/attributes can talk the Dragon down from fighting.

So you can get through Ashen Maw with next to no combat other than the trash encounter in the dragons lair and the one just before that. And those encounters aren't hard at all, although if you were low enough level I suppose they might be.

# ? Nov 24, 2022 00:28

Radia: Jul 14, 2021; And someday, together.. We'll shine.

phew, oracle of wael on potd with the community mod was no joke. really feel good about it only taking 2-3 tries (and ofc drugs for all my characters) to beat it, even though it was still by the skin of my teeth. definitely feel like Sissak and the Frightened Child were way way harder even so

god this game owns so much. i started this run as a proof of concept of a melee Priest and i feel like i proved it. now i wish there were more campaigns etc to sink my teeth into for this game/engine :smith:

oh well. time to finish this run with beast of winter and spend a few months playing other things while thinking about my next run

# ? Nov 24, 2022 19:09

Radia: Jul 14, 2021; And someday, together.. We'll shine.

Waifu Radia posted:

phew, oracle of wael on potd with the community mod was no joke. really feel good about it only taking 2-3 tries (and ofc drugs for all my characters) to beat it, even though it was still by the skin of my teeth. definitely feel like Sissak and the Frightened Child were way way harder even so

god this game owns so much. i started this run as a proof of concept of a melee Priest and i feel like i proved it. now i wish there were more campaigns etc to sink my teeth into for this game/engine

oh well. time to finish this run with beast of winter and spend a few months playing other things while thinking about my next run

forgot how much smaller (comparatively) beast of winter is, and easier to boot, didnt have to retry any of the boss battles lol

bittersweet ending, but i guess that's always the case. the RDC ending isn't as grim as I had feared, and even has notes of hope amidst some of the oppression that starts to crack down.

# ? Nov 28, 2022 06:55

Ginette Reno: Nov 18, 2006; How Doers get more done; Fun Shoe

Waifu Radia posted:

forgot how much smaller (comparatively) beast of winter is, and easier to boot, didnt have to retry any of the boss battles lol

bittersweet ending, but i guess that's always the case. the RDC ending isn't as grim as I had feared, and even has notes of hope amidst some of the oppression that starts to crack down.

In terms of DLC difficulty, it's Beast of Winter--->Seeker, Slayer, Survivor--->Forgotten Sanctum. Some of the optional content in SSS can be pretty hard though depending on your party.

But if you did Forgotten Sanctum first I'm not surprised you had an easy time with it in Beast of Winter. Typically you'd do BOW first.

# ? Nov 28, 2022 07:20

Radia: Jul 14, 2021; And someday, together.. We'll shine.

i full cleared SSS and yeah it was marginally trickier. i remembered having a lot of trouble with Neriscylawereatnrsgl my first run, and i guess i just really learned how to integrate things like interrupts and constant damage pressure into my builds more, because i didnt have any issue this time? dunno

i really wanted the forgotten sanctum loot for BoW and because of the above, assume i just thought "well sick, i'll have a ton of cool loot for this other hard dungeon", and then.. yeah

# ? Nov 28, 2022 09:14

Big Mad Drongo: Nov 10, 2006

Yeah Neri-whatever is odd in that she kicks the poo poo out of you the first time you meet her then after you realize her giant glowing weak point is interrupts she's one of the easiest major encounters in all the DLCs. I lost count of the reloads against her on my first playthrough and she was barely a speedbump on the second.

She feels like she could have been an early-game boss in that she does a great job teaching you that interrupts are really, really good. Then again an insane caster on the first island or early in Neketaka would probably turn more people off than it would help and she serves the same role in prepping you for how much harder the DLC is than the base game so it works out in the end.

# ? Nov 28, 2022 16:22

Radia: Jul 14, 2021; And someday, together.. We'll shine.

Maia stoned on Deadeye feels like cheating

# ? Nov 28, 2022 19:34

Ginette Reno: Nov 18, 2006; How Doers get more done; Fun Shoe

Big Mad Drongo posted:

Yeah Neri-whatever is odd in that she kicks the poo poo out of you the first time you meet her then after you realize her giant glowing weak point is interrupts she's one of the easiest major encounters in all the DLCs. I lost count of the reloads against her on my first playthrough and she was barely a speedbump on the second.

She feels like she could have been an early-game boss in that she does a great job teaching you that interrupts are really, really good. Then again an insane caster on the first island or early in Neketaka would probably turn more people off than it would help and she serves the same role in prepping you for how much harder the DLC is than the base game so it works out in the end.

It'd be hard to put together a tougher first island than what they already did. Between Gorecci street and the digsite that has to be one of the roughest first areas in recent gaming history. Granted I haven't played them on normal since I only play potd but even now with all my Deadfire knowledge those areas still are no picnic.

# ? Nov 28, 2022 20:43

NikkolasKing: Apr 3, 2010

Stupid me went and bought a copy of POEDE to give as a gift without realizing the games are on this GamePass thing so I guess as many people who actually wanna play them have already done so.

# ? Dec 1, 2022 00:20

Starks: Sep 24, 2006

Gorecci is so optional it�s silly to even attempt early on imo. In maybe 10 play throughs I�ve never forced myself to.

# ? Dec 1, 2022 00:50

Radia: Jul 14, 2021; And someday, together.. We'll shine.

Starks posted:

Gorecci is so optional it�s silly to even attempt early on imo. In maybe 10 play throughs I�ve never forced myself to.

it�s fun to be challenged tho

# ? Dec 1, 2022 00:53

Ginette Reno: Nov 18, 2006; How Doers get more done; Fun Shoe

Starks posted:

Gorecci is so optional it�s silly to even attempt early on imo. In maybe 10 play throughs I�ve never forced myself to.

It's very hard on potd, but usually doable with a companion.

Typically I hire an Ancient companion for the prologue. This serves two important roles: 1) Gives me a summoner for the Gorreci fight which makes it much easier to manage. Those Sporelings can take a beating for you. 2) Gives me charm animal spells for the Digsite. All those Drakes and Boars are much much easier when you charm half of them.

# ? Dec 1, 2022 00:58

Starks: Sep 24, 2006

Waifu Radia posted:

it�s fun to be challenged tho

Oh yeah if that�s your position that�s cool, I just don�t consider it part of the early game. It�s like that first imp catacomb in Elden Ring, you�re supposed to come back to it but if you want to be a badass by all means. Just don�t complain about the difficulty after.

# ? Dec 1, 2022 01:00

Servetus: Apr 1, 2010

Ginette Reno posted:

It's very hard on potd, but usually doable with a companion.

Typically I hire an Ancient companion for the prologue. This serves two important roles: 1) Gives me a summoner for the Gorreci fight which makes it much easier to manage. Those Sporelings can take a beating for you. 2) Gives me charm animal spells for the Digsite. All those Drakes and Boars are much much easier when you charm half of them.

I started making a Tactician/Ancient Warden instead of a straight Ancient for a hireling. Lower Power Level and slower progression, but it kills in Boss fights right through the game. Once you clear out the chaff and get a boss flanked, you can just pump out healing over time, swarms of bugs to strip concentration, and the Sporeling summons.

# ? Dec 1, 2022 01:14

Basic Chunnel: Sep 21, 2010; Jesus! Jesus Christ! Say his name! Jesus! Jesus! Come down now!

With contextually triggered layouts for things like hotkeys / dialogue options / character select, PoE2 works pretty drat well in TB mode on the Steam Deck. Which makes sense as it worked on the Steam Controller and the functional design is basically identical.

I do wish you could scale the UI a little bit and not just the reading text, but you can�t always get what you want.

# ? Dec 17, 2022 04:16

Radia: Jul 14, 2021; And someday, together.. We'll shine.

Starks posted:

Oh yeah if that�s your position that�s cool, I just don�t consider it part of the early game. It�s like that first imp catacomb in Elden Ring, you�re supposed to come back to it but if you want to be a badass by all means. Just don�t complain about the difficulty after.

dunno if i agree but i dont disagree strongly lol so fair 'nuff

# ? Dec 17, 2022 04:25

rocketrobot: Jul 11, 2003

Basic Chunnel posted:

With contextually triggered layouts for things like hotkeys / dialogue options / character select, PoE2 works pretty drat well in TB mode on the Steam Deck. Which makes sense as it worked on the Steam Controller and the functional design is basically identical.

I do wish you could scale the UI a little bit and not just the reading text, but you can’t always get what you want.

I have been playing PoE 1 on my steam deck and it works just fine. I would recommend not using the default community layout though.

# ? Dec 17, 2022 23:57

moot the hopple: Apr 26, 2008; dyslexic Bowie clone

I think I'm going to abandon this long running priest of Eothas playthrough I've been picking away at since it's not been that much of a departure mechanically from other priest builds I've played in the past or when I've used Xoti as a priest companion, and the Eothasan reactivity isn't as deep or impactful as I was expecting. It's not a complete bust for me though since I'm coming away from it with a newfound appreciation for how powerful priests' spiritual weapons can be. I've always been down on priest multiclassing but now I have an idea for a MC priest build that uses gear and abilities that allows him to decently tank without any recovery malus, which in turn allows him to get off buff spells faster (and even faster as more enemies engage him) before turning into a melee powerhouse with summoned spiritual weapons and buffs.

I'm also lightening up on my stance that caster/caster multiclasses are an inherently bad idea because of action economy after playing around with some pretty fun caster combos (Ancient/Blood Mage that uses itemization for increased power level, resource regeneration, and good spell synergy, Evoker/Priest of Magran that maximizes echo casting chance, and of course The Ultimate darling Psion/Troubadour). This playthrough I've been experimenting with a Bellower/Ascendant and I can tell you now that I was foolishly sleeping on the Bellower subclass. Whereas the Psion/Troubadour is a proven concept due to regenerating class resources which can keep you casting throughout the battle, the Bellower/Ascendant frontloads its damage at the start of the battle and, thanks to the inherent power level bonuses from both subclasses and synergistic empowerment gear and weapons that efficiently generate Focus, can wipe several groups of enemies off the battlefield with just a few back to back, supercharged spells. This is a level 19 hired adventurer that I've added late into the game and have been testing on the repeatable Seeker, Slayer, Survivor arena fights and shipboarding encounters, and his damage output is already surpassing the rest of my party who've been in the party since the beginning. My plan is to take him into the next playthrough to see how he plays from start to finish and if he's viable throughout, but this is already shaping up to being one of my top 5 favorite builds of all time.

Another build I want to work out is an offensive tank, which is to say not just a character that can stand on the frontlines and withstand damage while dealing it out but a build that specifically incorporates elements of its defense into offensive power. I've tried this across multiple builds (high deflection + counterattack, terrify + forced disengagement, and barbaric retaliation) but all of them have had shortcomings as tanks or weren't outputting the kind of damage I wanted. My latest effort in this abandoned run was a Tactician/Forbidden Fist which I think had some pretty clever synergies. I went high resolve so the debuff from the Forbidden Fist ability cooled down faster so I could spam it more and generate plenty of Wounds. The high deflection from high resolve also allowed me to reliably keep Enduring Dance up, generating a Wound every 3 seconds. The Rooting Pain passive then gave me a chance to get an AoE attack every time I gained a Wound with a chance to interrupt which synergized with the Tactician subclass ability to gain Discipline resource upon a successful interrupt. Since I was always spamming Forbidden Fist, I was able to maintain the defense bonus from Crucible of Suffering which further stacked with the defenses from Fighter's Vigorous Defense ability. I would then have enough resources to spam Forbidden Fist or Mule Kick in order to manually interrupt enemies and regain more Discipline. The only problem is that the damage output was really lackluster, especially since the Forbidden Fist ability is coded as a spell and not a weapon attack so it doesn't proc stuff like Swift Flurry or Heartbeat Drumming. All in all, a kind of interesting concept but finicky to play and never reached the same heights in terms of defense or offensive as other offensive tanks. The offensive tank is still one of my white whales that I want to pursue, even though it might be a case of wanting to have my cake and eat it too.

Anyways, this is all goes to show how robust and tight the class designs and multiclassing potential is in this game. Even though this is off the backs of a "failed" run or at least one that I'm no longer interested in continuing, I still learned a couple of new things, had some preconceptions dispelled, and stumbled across a powerful multi by sheer accident thinking it would be a gimmick. I definitely play this game way too much but I'm still excited with the Christmas vacation to jump back in with new ideas for a fresh custom party.

# ? Dec 19, 2022 03:08

Vermain: Sep 5, 2006

I really do think PoE2's got the best character building out of any CRPG out there both in terms of breadth and viability. There's less effective combinations, but you really gotta be specifically angling to make a dud to roll something that genuinely struggles to contribute meaningfully. There's a solid mix of baseline usability and min-maxing niches that can be carved out with enough system knowledge, which is I think the ideal for good RPG character building.

# ? Dec 19, 2022 03:24

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# ? May 9, 2024 22:50

AriadneThread: Feb 17, 2011; The Devil sounds like smoke and honey. We cannot move. It is too beautiful.

that just makes me wonder, what would the worst possible character build look like?

# ? Dec 19, 2022 03:59

The Something Awful Forums > Discussion > Video Games > Pillars of Eternity II - Suddenly Turn-Based

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