Yeah, you were way early to Searing Falls. That’s the hardest stuff in Act 2. There’s a mini-dungeon in Defiance Bay that can be extremely tough as well, but nothing like the freaking nonstop all night till the breaka-breaka-dawn drake party in Searing Falls.
So the strategy of returning to Defiance Bay and focusing on tasks there has paid off tremendously. My party is now Level 6, nearly Level 7, I’ve gained enough faction with the city to have advanced Eder’s quest, I’ve made several upgrades to the party’s equipment (both found items and purchased), and the stronghold is coming along nicely as well.
I may need to hire a few more NPCs at the stronghold though, as I just received a message that an attack by spirits and primordial is going to happen soon. Is it better to be there in person when such an attack happens?
I’ve also finished the Heritage Hill and it’s tower maps and quest line. That was pretty cool, lots of little story beats nestled inside the overall plotline there. Also very lucrative for my party both in loot and in experience/reputation.
I’m one step away from being able to add the Paladin to my party. First though, I may head out and try to finish off Sagani’s (the Ranger) quest. She is the party member I would most likely replace with the Paladin. Aloth, Eder and Kana are too useful to leave behind, so it’s pretty much between Sagani and Durance, and now that I’m getting more adept at using Durance’s clerical skills, I don’t want to give him up. Another heavy melee character would be nice up front, especially now that fights tend to have larger amounts of critters at one time.
Yeah, usually if you aren’t there buildings get damaged and NPC hirlings die and you have to rebuild/repair and it’s kind of a PITA. It’s really not a big deal though, by the end of every play through I generally stopped caring unless I was in the area anyway. I’m glad they are expanding on the stronghold quite a lot in the sequel for sure.
Glad you are enjoying it! PoE1 continues to be one of my favorite things!
Not to spoil anything, but Sagani’s quest isn’t something you can really blitz through where you’re at. I wouldn’t make that a priority. It’ll come.
Heh, I figured that out a bit last night when, on the very first leg of the quest, I ran into a pack of Feral Druids that came damn close to total party wiping me. Then it became obvious that chasing her quest was going to lead me well beyond the borders of where I needed to be for everything else I was doing, so I shelved it.
On the bright side, I successfully defended the stronghold (another very tough fight) and have opened up Dyrford Village and it’s quests, so I have plenty to keep me busy. Also found the Druid companion and sent him back to the stronghold. I may still swap out Sagani for the Paladin lady back in Defiance Bay, as I can always pick Sagani up again when I’m ready for her quest. I really wish the party limit was 8 instead of 6…
I am still really enjoying my solo run as a Monk. I just won the big pitched battle and now at the druid/elf town thingy on the lower right of the map. Very fun. My fists of fury are kinda awesome :)
marxeil
3109
I am a little stuck. I’m doing the Gilded Vale quests, finished Buried Secrets, The Smith’s Shipment, Against the Grain and Late for Dinner. The only quest left is Lord of a Barren Land, but the soldiers there wipe the floor with my party. My character is Lvl4.
Should I do something else and come back later after levelling? There are a couple of locations on the over world map, but I don’t know which one I’m supposed to head to next, or am I supposed to treat this game as open world and just randomly explore?
Bateau
3110
How many people do you have in your party? Iirc you can have 5 when you tackle that quest - PC, Durance, Eder, Aloth and Kana. Level 4 should be fine.
I had a similar issue, decided to move on to the Keep and then Defiance Bay, leveled up my party, expanded it to 6 (8 if you count pets), then went back and wiped the floor with everyone that wiped it with me previously. =)
I found that if I set the combat to the slowest time setting it helped immensely. Also, a good cleric is essential. I forget the names of the spells (maybe somebody can help) but there are a couple that aoe regenerate endurance and offer good buffs debuffs. Sometimes you just need to comeback to an area.
One last thought is the wizard crowd control spells like grease, etc. And the confusion spell is a game changer but that’s a lot higher level than what you get at level 4.
marxeil
3113
I got 4 people. The only named NPC i have is Aloth, the other 2 I recruited from the inn keep. I guess I’m really bad at this game. Where can I find these other guys?
I guess I’ll be off to some other locations first.
Find Eder in Gilded Vale. You need to finish the quest where you communicate with the body of the dead dwarf animancer that’s hanging from the tree in town, and then on your way out Eder will offer to join. He is indispensable, being the best melee character you’re going to get (excepting yourself if you are melee) for a long time.
Pair him with Aloth, and then find Durance on the road to Defiance Bay, and you’ve got a little bit of everything you need to tackle most challenges up to and including Defiance Bay. You can also find Sagani, a dwarf Ranger, on the road to Definace Bay. Rangers are nice to have, especially if you are playing a melee character, as they come with a pet (more melee) and do wicked damage from range.
Sagani (or rather, Sagni’s fox) proved to be the biggest damage dealer by far in my game. That fox was nuts.
Sagani is awesome. You can’t get her until after at least the first bit of Caed Nua though.
Kana the Chanter is at Caed Nua; you’ll run into him there. He can be a helpful jack-of-all-trades addition even if Chanter isn’t my favorite class. Kana’s my favorite NPC aside from Aloth* and Eder, though, so he gets to stick around.
Bateau
3117
I’ve really come around on chanters when I played with a ranged heavy party. Make sure Kana is chanting the buffs for reload and ranged attack speed and give him an Arquebus and he’ll more than pull his weight.
marxeil
3118
Thanks for the replies. Seems like I need to hang around gilded vale a while longer.
Yeah, that’s not a bad move. I tend to use him more as an offtank / support guy, since I don’t really need the extra damage most of the time. Against casters, though, I usually pull out the arquebus and let him and Sagani rip em apart.
Been playing this off and on the past couple of months. Built up the stronghold, and advanced it’s quests to the point where I am now amassing an army to take on the noble who thinks he should own it (what a jerk). Finished two of the three main story quest out of Defiance Bay and am working on the final one (which looks like it might conclude Eder’s personal quest as well). My party is Level 8, and kitted out with all kinds of neat stuff. I’ve collected all the party characters, but am running with Eder, Kana, Aloth, Durance (man, does he kick ass now that I’m using him properly!) and Pallegina (the Paladin). That give me a 4-person melee wall (including my wolf) and a two-person ranged line (my ranger and Aloth), with Durance usually slinging support spells in the middle, and sometimes joining the melee with a wicked flail I looted during some quest.
I was able to go back and shred Searing Falls (only tough fight was the dragon at the end), took down The Forgotten, and have cleaned up Defiance Bay to the point where there are no remaining side quests and my rep there is Champion. I haven’t decided which faction to do the final faction quest for yet…leaning towards the Dozens for no real reason. In the meantime I’m going to finish that third quest out in the ruins, see if I can find Eder some answers, and figure out where that little elf girl ran off too. That should keep me busy for awhile. Pillars of Eternity is a lot of fun, but I feel like I need to have a solid hour or more to sit down with it…and it takes a lot of concentration, so it’s not an every night game for me.
Interesting. Do you find yourself trying to have a dedicated tank to take the big hits and gather the enemies, or with such a melee-heavy pattern do you kinda pair them off with bad guys? I’ve always run a pretty single-tank-heavy strategy, but I’m curious how well other methods might work.
I use Eder as the main tank for engaging the biggest threat. Kana will fight alongside him once the bad guy’s attention is on Eder. Pallegina will tank whatever other threat needs attention along with my wolf, and if there is only one caster my Ranger and Aloth usually explode him/her is short order.
If there are two casters, or multiple ranged threats, I will send Aloth off to the side at the start of the battle, then have him hurl a Fireball, Lightning Bolt or whatever that stream of fire spell is into the rear line of enemies, which usually is enough to kill one outright and damage the others making them easy pickings for my Ranger. I’ll keep the wolf back to guard Aloth in those situations, and possibly use Durance to finish some off as well. Both Eder and Pallegina can occupy multiple melee targets with their proper effects up, so I don’t usually have to worry about them until the ranged/casters are mopped up.
None of this would work nearly as well without Durance. That dude is a lifesaver. I’ll have him drop 2-3 buffs (DR and resistances) at the start of battle, then use either his knockdown spell or the one that freezes enemies while boosting allies stamina. In tougher fights, Consecrated Ground is a must for the stamina restoring pulse every second. Given that he’s also somehow become my best secret spotter (“and the flame reveals something new!”), lockpicker and trap disarmer…I can’t let him go at this point no matter how annoying he becomes!
