Eternity Pillars of Eternity + The White March Expansion Thread

[Piotrovitz]

You want to stack accuracy and stack afflictions on enemies.

Pretty much sums up the entire tactic for PotD.

I never bothered with CON, even for custom tanks, it just isn't worth it. Better to pump up DEX/MGT/PER instead.
If your MC is paladin, he will get ridiculously high defenses anyway when following his order's disposition.

 

[Ulfhednar]

In most of my parties fights drag on a bit and my tanks definitely go below 50% Endurance. Lol, gg, u gun get raped etc.

As counterintuitive as it sounds, raising CON on your frontline is not a good solution to this problem in PoE. It just makes the fights drag on even longer.

 

[Piotrovitz]

So you're saying Might is more important by far than Dex on light weapons?

Given how the DR mechanics work, then the answer is pretty much yes.

 

[Lacrymas]

Not only that, but going Sanguine Plate will allow you to get to zero recovery even with 10 DEX while dual-wielding. Going high INT will make your exhortations and Sacred Immolation last longer and will make your auras affect a broader radius. But you are mostly getting it because nothing else is all that lucrative. Given the existence of Sworn Enemy, +ACC on Flames of Devotion and Priest buffs, I wouldn't pump PER too much, 10-12 is enough tbh.

 

[Sacred82]

In most of my parties fights drag on a bit and my tanks definitely go below 50% Endurance. Lol, gg, u gun get raped etc.

As counterintuitive as it sounds, raising CON on your frontline is not a good solution to this problem in PoE. It just makes the fights drag on even longer.

You mean if you do put out DPS but you're still fighting a losing battle? Why can't high DPS from the rest of the party fix this problem?

So you're saying Might is more important by far than Dex on light weapons?

Given how the DR mechanics work, then the answer is pretty much yes.

I thought the penetration mechanics of the mace would make up for that, at least if it stacks for dual maces, but I guess it is applied only per weapon per hit? Deflection bonus on hatchets stacks though, doesn't it?

Not only that, but going Sanguine Plate will allow you to get to zero recovery even with 10 DEX while dual-wielding.

does it make sense to put a -10 deflection armor on a tank with no shield?

 

[Lacrymas]

does it make sense to put a -10 deflection armor on a tank with no shield?

You have to make up your mind, is it a DPS or is it a tank? Paladins can't be equally good at both at the same time. Not that that -10 Deflection will do anything that much, but still. If you want to be an off-tanky DPS sort of Paladin, go with Sanguine Plate and dual sabres, if not, then the discussion shifts again to a tank one.

 

[Sacred82]

two more questions, does Dex increase casting speed for scrolls?

and how do retaliation things like flame shield or the Fire Godlike's own bonus work? Do they have fixed accuracy and damage or are those set at your base values/ increased by attributes?

 

[Lacrymas]

Flame Shield and the racial stack. Not that you'll see much of the Fire-like's racial, but anyway. I don't think such Thorns-like abilities have accuracy per se, I think they apply their damage whenever something hits you, but don't quote me on that. Not that you'll get hit much with insane Paladin defenses. The damage does increase with MIG.

 

[Ulfhednar]

You mean if you do put out DPS but you're still fighting a losing battle? Why can't high DPS from the rest of the party fix this problem?

More or less - You want to finish most fights before your front line takes significant damage. You want to stack afflictions on the enemies so that 1) they can't hit you, and 2) you can hit them more easily because you have lowered their defenses. Then you want to get rid of as many enemies as possible before your afflictions wear off. CON doesn't help you with any of that. You just need enough CON to keep your characters on their feet - and for paladins, that's a pretty small number. Monks are probably a different story, but I don't ever play with them.

The goal really isn't to have enough health to take a hit, but to just not get hit at all by disabling everything in sight. The more damage you can do in that window where the enemies can't hurt you, the better. Then if you find you're still having trouble, bust out the summoning trinkets and some food bonuses / consumables, and you'll steamroll pretty much anything.

 

[Piotrovitz]

I don't think such Thorns-like abilities have accuracy per se, I think they apply their damage whenever something hits you, but don't quote me on that.

I'll quote you, Fire-godlike aura has regular accuracy vs deflection :^)

As for the rest - Ulf nailed down everything that anyone needs to know about having easy times on PotD. Buff your accuracy, debuff the shit out of the mobs, and take down everything that moves as fast as possible. That's why I love my DW sabres rogues so much. Mid/late game, when your natural acc and deflection are high enough, there's really no reason to have a pure tank anymore. You can easily respec your paladin from S&S to DW/2H and make him another DPS.

 

[Haplo]

If you are going for DPS, then that's a completely different thing. Drop DEX to 10 and raise MIG and INT. Everything else at 10. Still wouldn't go Fire-like.

So you're saying Might is more important by far than Dex on light weapons?

Don't forget the dual-wielding part. Dual wielders got it pretty easy to minimize recovery even in plate and with low Dex.

 

[Tygrende]

I've been playing around with traps trying to figure out their accuracy formula. I think the fomula is

base class accuracy + 1*level (same bonus that is applied to all active abilites) + 3*level-1 + mechanics*3 + perception bonus - accuracy penalty

The thing is, I think traps are bugged and their accuracy penalty is applied twice. With a lvl 5 rogue, 4 mechanics and 18 perception I'm getting 47 accuracy with a trap that has -10 penalty, 57 with -5 penalty and 27 with -20 penalty.

I remember that petrify traps used to be OP shortly after the release, now they seem to be completly useless.

 

[Lacrymas]

I tried using traps once, it wasn't very good so I dropped them.

 

[Sacred82]

I kind of forgot Might is a defensive stat as well as it increases healing received.

Hmm too bad. Characters end up looking kind of samey.

I'll make him a DPS with Might and Perception then.

 

[Lacrymas]

No, it increases Fortitude and damage/healing done.

 

[Sacred82]

ok, in that case I'll stay with the 20 Dex build for shits and giggles.

 

[Parabalus]

ok, in that case I'll stay with the 20 Dex build for shits and giggles.

Paladins probably benefit the least from Dex since they have so few abilities to cast and they have fast casting speeds.

Their strongest is Sacred Immolation which gets dmg/heal from MIG/INT and no benefit from dex, similar with the rest of them.

You can always respec later.

 

[CptMace]

Dex can be good to maximize the effect of whatever ability buffs the party when the paladin gets the last hit on an enemy. More chances to trigger it.

 

[Lacrymas]

Tanks generally won't get much use out of the abilities that trigger when you down an enemy, though, because they generally won't be the one to down anything. They also don't affect the Paladin itself afaik.

 

[Tygrende]

So many options. For reference I didn't even start this fight and also have 2 points in benevolent reputation.

 

[FreeKaner]

You can take her as a prisoner if you have built the dungeons in Caed Nua.

 

[Tygrende]

That's strange, they bothered to implement an option to take her prisoner but not to simply spare her life? Not to mention I don't see much reason in taking her prisoner since she's just a random thug you are supposed to take care of.

 

[Lacrymas]

All of the prisoners are pretty random.

 

[FreeKaner]

Yeah they are all random except that one expedition leader in act three.

 

[rusty_shackleford]

So many options. For reference I didn't even start this fight and also have 2 points in benevolent reputation.