Eternity Pillars of Eternity 2: Deadfire + DLC Thread - now with turn-based combat!

[Desiderius]

So Hap what’s your favorite ranged build? Preferably w/o pet.

 

[Haplo]

Hm... I prefer melee and casters. But as far as ranged goes... I guess it'd include dual blunderbuss mortars (from Serafen) and two of: monk - Helwalker? (Stunning Surge, Dance of Death, damage, PEN), ranger - sharpshooter? (Driving Flight, Accuracy bonuses) and rogue - Streetfighter? (Speed, damage, DOTs, statuses, PEN & Accuracy on abilities).

 

[Desiderius]

Hm... I prefer melee and casters. But as far as ranged goes... I guess it'd include dual blunderbuss mortars (from Serafen) and two of: monk - Helwalker? (Stunning Surge, Dance of Death, damage, PEN), ranger - sharpshooter? (Driving Flight, Accuracy bonuses) and rogue - Streetfighter? (Speed, damage, DOTs, statuses, PEN & Accuracy on abilities).

Unbroken/Stalker is giving me my fill of melee, and I'm tired of having to blow all my level-ups on pet stuff with Ranger. I ran Eder as straight-up Ranged Rogue this time and that definitely doesn't work (way too much duplication in abilities and you miss out on some of the best passives at range).

Really loving Tehanu's no Friendly Fire ability on straight Druid nuker and I liked Eder Fighter/Rogue using Escape + Guardian Stance to jump into melee so those two are covered next time through. Trying to do Witch melee with Cipher Buffs on Serafen to trigger Carnage this playthrough but yeah miss the Mortars. Just got Leap so should get much better going forward.

 

[Flying Dutchman]

Just wait til you meet Eothas!

Hunt a god, I mean, tea time with a god

 

[Desiderius]

Frenzy => Borrowed Instinct => Leap to Crit Daze 4 mobs is pretty damn good

EDIT: Borrowed Instinct => Leap for crit Daze (Leap is OP, learned the importance of teleports from DoE) => Spirit Tornado Frenzy Upgrade is even better

 

[Desiderius]

Jeebus just figured out like eighth time thru that you can just sneak past the damn Drake to turn on the Adra pillar then he (and the bazillion Wurms and Panthers) will be gone when you come back up.

Seems like it’s designed around the Gunpowder Barrel but could never get that to work and fighting them straight up was like the hardest fight in the game by a good margin.

 

[Lacrymas]

If you are doing it "legit, i.e. MC, Eder, and Xoti, yeah it's probably the toughest encounter in the game. It also depends maybe on the class of the MC, Druid would be a bit easier for example. The barrels are super inconvenient and don't really play a practical role in the fight.

 

[Haplo]

Yeah, Druid or Cipher are very helpful there.
I do try to exploit the barrel. I sneak Eder near and set them on fire with a pistol/BB (shield in offhand), stay back for a while, then use Escape to get to the stairs. It helps a little, does solid damage to several enemies, but is not exactly a game-changer.

 

[Desiderius]

Yeah, Druid or Cipher are very helpful there.
I do try to exploit the barrel. I sneak Eder near and set them on fire with a pistol/BB (shield in offhand), stay back for a while, then use Escape to get to the stairs. It helps a little, does solid damage to several enemies, but is not exactly a game-changer.

My Arcane Archer/Evoker (Sylvan Sorc/Scroll Savant) MC Rolled a Fireball into the Gunpowder Barrel by the Imps/Crystal Spider and pretty much nuked that whole fight. That one gets you a chain reaction.

 

[Desiderius]

Yeah, Druid or Cipher are very helpful there.
I do try to exploit the barrel. I sneak Eder near and set them on fire with a pistol/BB (shield in offhand), stay back for a while, then use Escape to get to the stairs. It helps a little, does solid damage to several enemies, but is not exactly a game-changer.

Ancient/Stalker playthrough had Charm Beast which was nice.

 

[Echo Mirage]

Are the cleric/devoted fighter spiritual weapon builds still any good? I see it got nerfed at some point in the balance patches. But I'm looking for something to cure my crusading cleric urges.

 

[LESS T_T]

Someone wrote an academic article on Deadfire for some reason. http://gamestudies.org/2004/articles/felczak

Dungeon Pirates of the Postcolonial Seas. Domination, Necropolitics, Subsumption and Critical Play in Pillars of Eternity 2: Deadfire
by Mateusz Felczak

Abstract
This paper applies a postcolonial framework inspired by the ideas of Achille Mbembe to analyze Pillars of Eternity 2: Deadfire, a cRPG which directly approaches topics of colonialism in the context of a fantasy setting with strong historical inspirations. The article juxtaposes Deadfire’s gameplay formula which stems from AD&D-based Infinity Engine games with the arguably self-conscious narrative structure criticizing the colonial relations. Building on three elements of an interpretational framework: agonistic domination, necropolitical subjugation and totalizing subsumption, the narrative potential for critical play is mapped against the playful structure of more traditional, power-fantasy-inducing cRPG mechanics.

Keywords: postcolonialism, Achille Mbembe, necropolitics, cRPG, critical play, exploitation, Pillars of Eternity

Mateusz Felczak
Mateusz Felczak, PhD, works at the SWPS University in Warsaw, Poland. His research interests include eSports, streaming media, Infinity Engine modding, postcolonial theory and cognitive capitalism. Member of the Games Research Centre at the Jagiellonian University.

 

[Lacrymas]

I stopped at cRPG game.

 

[Abu Antar]

I stopped at academic article.

 

[Quillon]

I stopped at Someone.

 

[Zboj Lamignat]

SWPS "university" means it's not an academic article at all, nor is this guy a PhD, relax.

 

[Mikeal]

As a Pole I feel bad for it and I apologize everyone.

 

[Grunker]

Desiderius Ranged is easily the least fun I've had with this game regardless of how I've build it. It's too one-note compared to everything else, even though there are plenty of fun weapons (essence bow and the harbinger bows are both fun for example), the class options and skills are just not fun. The closest you get to something interactive is pushing or teleporting enemies with other chars and hobble-shotting them with your ranged guy.

 

[Desiderius]

Desiderius Ranged is easily the least fun I've had with this game regardless of how I've build it. It's too one-note compared to everything else, even though there are plenty of fun weapons (essence bow and the harbinger bows are both fun for example), the class options and skills are just not fun. The closest you get to something interactive is pushing or teleporting enemies with other chars and hobble-shotting them with your ranged guy.

It’s very strange. The ostensible Ranged class ends up spending 75% of level ups making your pet decent while gradually accumulating infinite accuracy almost accidentally.

Rogue on the other hand feels bad because you have to give up (at least) two of your best abilities altogether (Persistent Distraction and Riposte) and you miss out on that Ranger accuracy, not to mention the extra body.

I’m currently enjoying Evoker/Arcane Archer since that infinite accuracy helps your (Wiz) nukes crit and Web shot holds everyone in place to take their punishment.

Web also slows down the bad guys (or removes DEX inspirations) and is usually unavailable to Evoker. Just keep Deleterious, Health, and Eldritch up and go off. It’s not like you had many other uses for that Bond and the Imbues are free abilities, so you’ve got plenty of level ups for your pet (Wiz doesn’t take many either).

Compared to base Wiz having fully leveled up Pet, Hunter’s Mark, and Evasive Roll is nice. Every toon needs a Teleport. Plays like Sylvan Sorc from P:K.

 

[Mazisky]

I wish they would have stick with classic fantasy instead of going pirates caribbean setting.

I've enjoyed the game so far but to me gothic castles and lush forests and meadows will be always more charming than sea and fuking buganga tribal villages

Why devs do not understand that standard fantasy will be always a success and you will always fail when you try to be original and change just for the sake of changes

Elder Scrolls, The Witcher, Diablo, Baldur's Gate, Divinity and many others always kept classic fantasy for decades and yet they've always been succesful

 

[Lacrymas]

The setting was good, though, the writing just didn't take advantage of anything it sets up.

 

[Gray Wing]

Ekera, I wasn't a huge fan of having an entire game set in papaya fruit world. A smaller scale version would have been more acceptable to me as an expansion pack or something.

 

[Haplo]

Are the cleric/devoted fighter spiritual weapon builds still any good? I see it got nerfed at some point in the balance patches. But I'm looking for something to cure my crusading cleric urges.

It can work, I guess. Personally not a fan of summoned weapons. Unless its Citzal's Lance or Blackbow (the latter on a pure caster, as auto-attack filler), I suppose.
But a Cleric/fighter can Salvation of Time his own Unbending, making him effectively nearly immortal, so...
Then again, a cleric can already Salvation of Time his own Barring the Death's Door, so using a Wizard instead to Wall of Draining the Unbending would kinda be more.. synergistic.

 

[Hobo Elf]

I'm running potd with a fighter/pala, pala/chanter, Shifter, Ancient and Fury. It started out pretty strong, the tutorial island with all the fights that are usually quite challenging ended up being easy. 7-10 was starting to get challenging but now with my Fury casting Relentless Storm, my Ancient Venombloom and my Chanter summoning Ogres things have started to become easy again. The true test will be all the harder super bosses though. I'm a bit skeptical that I'll manage with this setup, but we'll see.

 

[Lacrymas]

The starting island fights are easy with a full party, the challenge is doing them with only 2 party members to emulate only Eder and Xoti being with you.