@Scotch_Lufkin, with all the time you’ve put in with different classes, how many times do you think you’ll play complete play throughs with different ones?
LOL probably more than most RPG’s that I get into, based on what I’ve experienced and read. Usually one play through at launch is all I take the time for, even with PoE1. It also sounds like the start of the game gets to the “real” game faster than PoE1 so starting a new game should be a little more interesting in that way, I think. I’m not sure how many complete play throughs I’ll do, but I’m assuming I’ll go through it once all the way with my first character and then a second time not much later, after the first patch (I have Battletech to break up the play throughs, which I’m looking forward to finally digging into, and it will help maintain my interest to take a little time away from it after I wrap it up that first game, I think).
Ha! Well, I do have an idea to make a build of 5 custom characters from some of the recent requests and then doing a big party based battle to show them all off. Save some time. Maybe. Not sure, might be easier to do them one at a time (or two at a time, one is definitely a support class only).
No fair, @Scotch_Lufkin…
After watching today’s video I now want to play a Cleric! Actually to be fair, one of the ideas I’m kicking around for my character is a Shaman (Barbarian + Priest) and I was thinking about picking Berath as a specialty, so Cleric isn’t too far from that idea (I would think Shaman would be a bit more offense-oriented than the Cleric).
But Fighter+Priest does look quite nice.
What do you think of Howler (Barbarian + Chanter[Skald]) or Ascetic (Monk + Druid)?
Actually, are there any combos that you think would be bad (I guess non-synergistic combos?)
If you’re looking for requests, I’d love to see any of (in no particular order) Howler, Ascetic, Loremaster, Geomancer, Itinerant, Arcane Night, or Mindstalker!
I can help with some of those already!
I found a list of companions here, and my current plan is to use the following party in order to experience a variety of classes:
Aloth - Wizard
Maia - Ranger/Rogue
Pallegina - Paladin/Fighter (Main tank)
Ydwin/PC - Cipher/?
For the last slot, I’d prefer to go with Tekēhu as a Druid/Chanter. But that seems like a lot of squishies, and I think another front line attacker would be more effective.
So my question is, can you feasibly build a Druid/Chanter as an offtank/melee damage dealer while still making use of druid spells?
If you give him heavy armor, that might work. I’d make sure if (assuming we can choose our companions stats) he has a decent Resolve/Con score though.
I think a devoted + Magran priest with pistol could be fun too.
Best use of the great sword I’ve seen so far is the Holy Slayer (assassin + paladin since flames of devotion offset the accuracy loss from the weapon’s modal).
Thanks @Scotch_Lufkin believe it or not I have been looking through your page on a daily basis and I’ve probably watched all three of those videos more than once! It’s terrible when your mind starts to go out to pasture.
@trelane, don’t you need to leave one slot open for yourself? With a party size of five you only have one slot left given the four characters you listed.
Thanks Scott. @Charlatan, yep that’s why I listed “Ydwin/PC”. My character will either be a cipher or the last remaining slot. Ydwin is a sidekick which is apparently a companion without a questline, so an actual companion would be better. But I definitely want a cipher as part of the team!
Ah, ok, I see how you’re planning your five person party then.
For comparison sake, my potential party is as follows:
Pallegina - Herald (Paladin+Chanter)
Aloth - Battlemage (Fighter+Wizard)
Eder - Rogue
Xoti - Priest
With me being either
Transcendent (Cipher+Monk)
Howler (Barbarian+Chanter)
Shaman (Barbarian+Priest)
Ascetic (Monk+Druid)
Currently leaning toward Transcendent, because I really want to have a Cipher in the party.
I’m trying to minimize overlap of support classes like Chanter so if I go with Howler for myself, I’d probably switch Pallegrina to a Crusader (Paladin+Fighter).
Though the dual classes all sound interesting, I don’t think it’s wise to dual-class more than a couple of the party members. Seems that the extra power levels from single classing will be quite useful near endgame.
When I started trying to figure out my party composition I had pegged Eder as a Fighter through and through. But in watching Scott’s videos, I saw just how incredibly powerful a Rogue can be - great mobility, big damage, interrupts out the wazoo… not to mention the lockpicking. They seem so useful that I feel compelled to put one in the party.
Yeah, Transcendent would be my suggestion. It could be good enough to tank and provide crowd control, and it seems pretty fun in theory. I bet it could be awesome in practice too. ;)
The thing I circle back to is we don’t really know when or how to get a given companion technically (we don’t even know who we may start with… Eder and Alloth is my guess, but who knows?) but my theory is once you have a companion join you, right then and there you create them (Josh said you pick their stats, but we know for sure you pick their class) and as such, I’m going to make a list of all the companions/sidekicks and what I want to make them, and then after I’ll put what I want (tentatively) for my “dream” party.
First, my Watcher. I’m pretty sure (but sadly not 100%) I’m going with a single-class, no sub-class Wizard of the Nature Godlike variety. I had so much fun being just an unstoppable damage dealer and crowd controller and I usually roll Wizard for my first play throughs. I really like Monk as well, but you’ll see in a bit why I ditched the idea of Monk for my character.
Okay, we also know a few things about sub-classes for the companions, thanks to a post Josh made on Something Awful earlier last month.
“Companions and sidekicks have whatever subclasses they come with. Usually they are “pure” versions of the class, but there are exceptions. Xoti has unique subclasses for her priest (Harvester of Gaun) and monk (Sister of the Reaping Moon) classes. Tekēhu has unique subclasses for his druid (Watershaper) and chanter (Storm Speaker) classes. Fassina is a conjurer instead of a base wizard. And of course Pallegina is a member of the Brotherhood of the Five Suns.”
Color me super intrigued by Xoti, and her two unique sub-classes. So I may not want to make myself a Monk… let’s get back to that.
Going with this list here is what I’m aiming to do when I meet each companion.
Aloth - Spellblade. As I’ll be a pure mage, why not play around with a build I had fun with in the beta? Aloth could use a few smacks to the face, too, so this will help. Plus you know there is some sort of badass spellblade type Soul Bound weapon and/or armor in the game.
Eder - I was going to do full Fighter, but just exactly like what h appened to @Charlatan my own videos made unwilling to skimp out on a Rogue, and the Swashbuckler is fun so while I hate to hit multi-class so hard so early in this list, I think I’m going Swashbuckler, or possibly a pure rogue. Depends on when I get another tank. If Eder starts in my party, and I started as a pure Mage, he may be a single class fighter. And if he’s a full Fighter and I have Aloth close to the start of the game, he’ll definitely be my Rogue.
Maia - I am loving her unique animal companion, and I’m going to stick with pure Ranger for her but if I make Eder a pure Fighter, she’s going Scout. I really, really liked the Scout build I made in the beta, so I’m totally fine with that option. But my primary aim is pure Ranger, make her a ranged character that can sit back with me in the cloth armor row.
Pallengina - No question, pure Paladin. I’ve got to see those high level Paladin abilities, and I love that she has a unique Paladin Order. Her as a Crusader would be an amazing secondary though, but I’m not as likely to go that way with her.
Serafen - I’m not sure about this character, though I do think he’ll be fun and I love the voice actor. However, I’m thinking it might be really interesting to go ahead and do Barbarian/Cipher. I like the idea so much, and I really like Cipher’s paired with melee attackers.
Tekehu - A unique Druid sub-class?! Nice! Just like Pallengin, I really want to see those high level Druid spells, so he’s pure Druid for me. But, I’m going to spec him to be a melee Druid, with medium or even heavy armor, so he’s in range for stuff like Returning Storm, and also for when he turns into a freaking shark monster. Plus since I want the Ranger in my party, I don’t need a third back of the line spell caster/ranged character.
Xoti - Here we come to a tough choice. My primary thought with her is full Monk, because I love Monks and want to see a very high level one, and she has a unique subclass for Monk. But she also has Priest, and I don’t yet h ave a Priest (and none are coming up). So. I’m a little torn on this one. Probably full Monk though.
Fassina, Konstanten, Rekee, Ydwin aren’t on my radar as they are side kicks, and while I appreciate they look cool and are voiced by awesome people, I’m focused on full on companions for my first play through. That said, if there is a chance I get access to a side kick before I have a full party of companions, here is what I’ll make them.
Fassina - Loremaster (why not?)
Konstanten - Barbarian (to get to the high level Barbarian stuff)
Rekee - Brawler (because this is a great combination)
Ydwin - Cipher/Rogue for sure I love this combination enough it will probably be my second play through, so using Ydwin a bit to test things out before I roll that character up would be smart.
And after all that, my end-game party is going to look like this, then.
Tekehu - Front line Druid/off tank
Pallengina - Main Tank
Eder - Battlefield control tank/striker
Xoti - Pure Monk
Watcher - Badass Wizard
Interesting. I really thought I was going to have Maia in there somewhere, but in the end I seemed to have gone with Xoti. Well, we’ll see - after all, you can drop characters in and out on the ship, so it’s feasible I’ll change the party up now and then, and I may find I really like one character (as a character!) to the point where I keep them in the party after I meet them, and they never leave.
Man, this is going to be a slow weekend.
I’m most likely going as Transcendent myself.
I mean, I thought about Ravager, as Barbarians and Monks are my go to classes, followed by Wizards usually, but Ravager doesn’t seem amazing, going by @Scotch_Lufkin’s video.
Eder for Swashbuckler, and Aloth as a BattleMage (because I didsliked how squishy he was in PoE1) but the rest as pure classes, except maybe Xoti because I anticipate needing healing.
@Scotch_Lufkin that looks like a nice rig. Specs?
I’m looking to upgrade my monitor this summer, torn between replacing my currently perfectly serviceable 24" thing with a big screen, maybe an actual TV (they all come with hdmi input anyway these days) or with a multiscreen rig.
Yours looks much much Bond Villain, which is awesome, but screen real estate without bevels…would also be awesome.
I wouldn’t necessarily go by my video, I watched a little of it and it’s crazy how much more I understand about the game than a month ago when I recorded that. I didn’t even notice Wounds were displayed right on my character portrait, for instance. And I think a Barbarian/Monk could be a great build, especially if you went Shattered Pillar over Helwalker. You’ll be dealing so much damage as a Barbarian (especially with Carnage) you’ll generate lots of wounds just by doing what Barbarians like to do.
As for my rig, I build it with an i7 4770k, 500GB SSD, and 16GB of RAM back in 2014 and it’s been a beast since. The video card is a 1080ti but it and the G-sync monitor are only because I cashed in some vacation hours I’d saved at work, so I had a big influx of cash my wife let me have. :)
As for the monitors themselves, I actually spoke about them here - Advice for purchasing a new PC monitor
Both those displays are awesome, and I’m a big fan of the Ultrasharp by Dell I still have to my right.
Que? bro, I think even Josh sawyer will be following your builds. :P
I have an Alienware laptop, so presumably the monitor is the same Dell ultrasharp. It’s nice. Then again, I dislike Dell.
I’ll go have a look at that thread.
edit: shattered pillar = gain wounds by melee damage inflicted.
Barbarian = inflict damage via melee.
I see where you’re going with this. Off the top of your head, how would you allocate the stats and abilities?
edit: I’m thinking heavy might and constitution, then whatever ensures accuracy.
Intelligence not needed?
I’d go mid-teens on MIGHT and CON, a few points in Perception is good for the accuracy, and I’d put a few points in INT because carnage hitting one or two enemies will grow your wounds faster (in theory - I’m assuming carnage triggers wound gain). It’s tough because a build like this can use all the stats. Maybe go no extra CON but instead heavy armor and a decent DEX to help offset to armor penalties. Hm… Let me test it quick.
@BloodyBattleBrain
Try this:
I’m going to be so far behind you guys on day 1 because while @Scotch_Lufkin does a great job on his videos, I’ve stayed away from most of them because I like developing my own strategies. If I watch others I’ll have those seeds planted and it will influence my decision making.
I’m curious how you guys play…
Do you turn on the option that shows what all of the possible choices are in dialog / events, or just the ones your character qualifies for? I’m always torn. I think in PoE1 I started off with only ones I was qualified for, then turned on the option to show them all. I still don’t know what I prefer.
I actually like to leave them on, as I like the idea of knowing how many ways to complete something were out there I didn’t quality for. Makes me super curious and in some cases informs my decision on what to play with next time. I think if I only saw what I qualified for listed, I’d erroneously believe they didn’t write a lot of differnet options/solutions for stuff.
Watching Cohh play the game and so far, no worries about spoilers, he’s just going through all the classes abilities and passives. If anyone wants to see what some of the higher level abilities are now rather than spend time at launch looking through all the trees, and if you are a little quick on the draw with the pause button (with so many to go through, he goes through them pretty quick in some cases) you can do so.
EDIT - ONLY the character creation/abilities has been cut out and put in a separate YT video.
At the point where I’m at in watching, I haven’t seen too many changes from the beta (Paladin’s have a cool ability at power level 5 I don’t remember seeing, Abjuration, where they can banish or deal heavy damage to summoned creatures and spirits) but I did see a little extra oomph was given to the stat selection screen.
I’ll post any more things I notice as I watch, but once the game starts, I’m bailing, I don’t want to know anything about the first hour with the game.
Also, clicking on menu items/buttons has a nice, pleasing little click noise I don’t think was in the beta. I have my master volume pretty low because of recording though, so I may have just missed it.
I’m seeing lots of little graphical changes, like there is a little more color to the “paper” the character creation is one, and the selection circle is a little less of a thick glowing box and more of a solid line, which looks nice.
New on the left, old (beta 4) on the right.