Eternity Pillars of Eternity + The White March Expansion Thread

[AwesomeButton]

the most efficient way

The returns on optimizing, in terms of combat difficulty becoming easier, are very diminished already, because the encounters are not designed around optimized builds at all. Unless you turn on the Path of the Damned mode which increases stats of enemies. Then you will get some returns on your optimization, but even then, if you don't go out of your way to make a bad build, it will work.

 

[Haplo]

Barbarians are better tanks than Paladins, lulz.

No, they are aoe Crowd Controllers and aoe damage dealers.
A bit worse at handling strong single targets, like bosses.

 

[Lyric Suite]

Ok, tentative stat distribution for my fuck you Sawyer build:

17 7 12 13 15 14

From what i understand, there's a permanent +1 might and +1 perception you can get from quests, so i would end up with this in the end:

18 7 12 14 15 14

Race is human btw.

Now, some rationale here. First, i sacrified constitution in hopes the defences and healing of the paladin will make up for it. A lower health pool my also help trigger the human racial more often, or so i hope.

Dex is at 12 because medium and slow weapons benefit from it. While not as important for sword & shield tanking, i couldn't think of a way to justify switching to a 2 hander with a low dexterity. I can also switch to a lighter armor to maximize 2handed dps if i can get away with it (keep in mind Eder is sharing tanking duties). As far as combat styles, not sure which one to prioritize, sword & shield or 2 handed, or both (if it's possible to pick more than one).

Now the last three are at sufficient high baseline to allow me to confortably raise each with items or buffs as needed depending on the conversation. Resolve has the highest check in the game (20), but there's also a crap ton of ways to raise it so i should be covered (a whooping total of +11, which would theoretically allow me to start with a resolve of 10 if i wanted to, but i'd rather not get bogged down with stacking so much of the same stat).

All i have left now is decide which paladin order i want to play. As far as skills and talents i'll think about that once i'm leveling.

I also have decided against playing with expert mode on. I looked at the options and you can pretty much turn things on and off so i can try both ways to play the game and see which i like best.

 

[Lyric Suite]

Unless you turn on the Path of the Damned mode which increases stats of enemies.

I'm doing just that.

 

[Lacrymas]

Barbarians are better tanks than Paladins, lulz.

No, they are aoe Crowd Controllers and aoe damage dealers.

Which makes them better tanks in the context of PoE where "tank" is not an appropriate role either way. What do paladins bring to the table as tanks? At best very high defenses that can make everyone a tank with Mental Web or whatever that cipher spell was called that shares defenses.

 

[Lyric Suite]

Ironically, Barbarians work the best for two-handers because Carnage spreads on-hit/crit effects. I'm not exactly sure what Paladins get by wielding a two-hander. It seems simply worse than dual-wielding.

It's about the theme. Fashion is king brah.

I want my Paladin to be the knight in shiny armor so his combat style and weapon selection should reflect that as well. Swords (both 1h and 2h), maces, morning stars, pikes, lances, halberts, those should be his weapons, not faggy daggers or rapiers.

I also have no problem with Paladins being less afficient at fighting than figthers since that fits the lore. Paladins are warriors who have devoted their time to spiritual pursuits as well as various social and diplomatic causes. Their fighting prowess may have suffered for devoting so much time in those non-martial activities but what they have gained in return makes up for it and that's how i've always played them.

 

[Orud]

2-handed Paladin builds aren't the most optimal builds either in many D&D versions/games. If that didn't stop you from going 2-handed Paladin build in those games, then neither should it stop you in this game.

For what it might still matter, considering the changes done to the game; I personally finished the game with a 2-handed melee Paladin at launch.

 

[Lyric Suite]

1h weapon style is also an option.

I could also lower resolve to 12 and up something else, maybe int or might.

 

[AwesomeButton]

Unless you turn on the Path of the Damned mode which increases stats of enemies.

I'm doing just that.

For me it added more frustration than challenge, but to each their own. The number of enemies from Hard with the stat bonuses of PotD is what I think would have been ideal.

 

[Lacrymas]

PotD is the only legit way to play these games tbh, the system doesn't make sense on anything below that. If you are getting frustrated, you aren't engaging with the system enough imo.

 

[AwesomeButton]

PotD is the only legit way to play these games tbh, the system doesn't make sense on anything below that. If you are getting frustrated, you aren't engaging with the system enough imo.

The frustration is from realizing that the additional difficulty on PotD is the dumb kind of difficulty, not the smart kind. The one where stats and enemy numbers are pumped up, and combat is prolonged but the puzzle does not become more complex. More steps to complete the puzzle are added, but the complexity of the steps is the same.

Let's see what Lyric Suite says as he plays.

 

[Lacrymas]

Ironically, pumping up the stats of the mobs is what was needed to take it to next level. You have so many ways to manipulate the stats of the enemies, but you never have to do that on everything below PotD. You have to be aware of the enemy's stats and how to affect them on PotD.

 

[Haplo]

Codex: bro it's impossible to play without priest because your frontline is too squishy

Also Codex: bro your frontline should dump all the defensive stats to 3 and dual wield two daggers in light armor

Taking a Priest is about the blanket immunities, not buffing defenses. When you don't have one, you'll craft scrolls in order to get the immunities.

I disagree. In PoE1 taking a Priest along was all about exploiting the Accuracy Vs enemy defense equation. Priest could provide sick buffs/debuffs to both - and offer like a 40 or even 60 point advantage in this equation.
The buffs of no other class compare.

 

[Haplo]

Ironically, Barbarians work the best for two-handers because Carnage spreads on-hit/crit effects. I'm not exactly sure what Paladins get by wielding a two-hander. It seems simply worse than dual-wielding.

You mean reach weapons, not all two handers. But it's not necessary and dual wielding barbarians are great too.
Although my favourite playstyle was swinging Hours of St. Rumbalt greatsword, knocking multiple enemies on their asses via Carnage with every crit (and with Priest buffs + Brute Force there was a lot of crits).
Can do the same with safety and better positioning of Tall Grass pike - but Hours does a lot more critical damage.

 

[Lacrymas]

I disagree. In PoE1 taking a Priest along was all about exploiting the Accuracy Vs enemy defense equation. Priest could provide sick buffs/debuffs to both - and offer like a 40 or even 60 point advantage in this equation.
The buffs of no other class compare.

It's both. However, you have other ways to buff yourself up, not as ridiculously as with a Priest but still. Those blanket immunities is what you desperately want in a lot of fights, the most apt example being the lagufaeth broodmother fight. I'm planning on replaying PoE without a Priest to see how that works out.

 

[Haplo]

Barbarians are better tanks than Paladins, lulz.

No, they are aoe Crowd Controllers and aoe damage dealers.

Which makes them better tanks in the context of PoE where "tank" is not an appropriate role either way. What do paladins bring to the table as tanks? At best very high defenses that can make everyone a tank with Mental Web or whatever that cipher spell was called that shares defenses.

But it's true that played offensively, they die quickly on PotD if your not careful / don't know what you're doing. Which kinda doesn't fit my understanding of "tank".
You could build one defensively, but why bother? Might as well play a fighter and be more effective at that.

 

[AwesomeButton]

Ironically, pumping up the stats of the mobs is what was needed to take it to next level. You have so many ways to manipulate the stats of the enemies, but you never have to do that on everything below PotD. You have to be aware of the enemy's stats and how to affect them on PotD.

Depends on which end of the equation you want to adjust. As I said, I'd leave the numbers as they are, and just play on Hard with PotD stats, but there is no option to do that.

Something like PotD with a 5-member party or Hard with 4-member party is also interesting to try.

 

[Decado]

Ironically, pumping up the stats of the mobs is what was needed to take it to next level. You have so many ways to manipulate the stats of the enemies, but you never have to do that on everything below PotD. You have to be aware of the enemy's stats and how to affect them on PotD.

This was my chief complaint about magic in general, when I reviewed the game years ago. It never made sense to fuck around with lowering enemy stats or anything like that, since doing pure damage was almost always the better option. Even if you bumped into resistances, it always seemed better to just power through shit than trying to be clever.

If it is different in PoTD, that is cool I guess. But I will likely never play that mode.

 

[Lyric Suite]

Fucking hell i was browsing through the portraits and this one looks exactly like the guy who just came to fix a problem i had with the water pump in my house lmao:

I'm almost tempted to make a snarky Paparazzi Paladini.

 

[Lyric Suite]

Why the fuck do half the images one finds on google not link on forums?

It's the fat guy with the helmet with the raised visor.

 

[Roguey]

Why does fuck do half the images one finds on google not link on forums?

It's the fat guy with the helmet with the raised visor.

Wikia hates image leeching.

 

[deem]

Am I missing out, if I compose a party at the inn, instead of hiring pre-made companions?

 

[vazha]

Am I missing out, if I compose a party at the inn, instead of hiring pre-made companions?

You ll make the game even more of a cakewalk than it already is thats all

 

[plem]

Am I missing out, if I compose a party at the inn, instead of hiring pre-made companions?

the writing and voice acting on the companions is pretty good and they each have their own quests, so I'd recommend using them on your first playthrough at least

 

[Lyric Suite]

Alright, i think i finally figured out the best min/max build i can come up ("just play the game!", lmao, no, i find dissecting the system immensely entertaining in those games).

17 7 14 16 10 14

Could also go 16 dex and 14 perception, haven't decided yet.

Rationale: i could have taken strengh to 19 or 20, maximize the damage bonus since from what i was able to gather, this becomes more important on PotD than it is on lower difficulties, the reason being that it is much more difficult to score hits on PotD, especially critical hits, and that's where the extra damage from Might comes in, not only for normal hits but also for grazed hits, which recieve a good bonus from damage modifiers. Alas, once you start getting bonuses on damage from gear, the bonus you get from Might becomes less significant. Theoretically, i could start with Might at 19 or 20 than lower it somewhere past the mid point but i guess it really doesn't matter.

Dextery i need not only because the speed bonus you get from it is unique (all buffs on speed you get elsewhere only affect recovery time. Dextery is the only thing that increases the speed of everything, from the speed of your actions to, i believe, reload time for ranged weapons), but also to fight off the speed penalty of heavy armor. I just learned that for armor, the difference in the speed penalty becomes less relevant the higher said penalty gets. That is to say, the difference between light armor and no armor is more significant than the difference between, say, mail and plate, meaning there's no reason not to wear plate and be done with it as i'm definitely not going to wear light armor.

Perception and Resolve are my talkie stats on top of everything else they do. I could trade Perception for a lower Dextery since this build revolves around dealing killing blows to trigger Strange Mercy, but i don't know. Like with Might, it is only a couple points so.

That leaves Intelligence at 10, to be increased with buffs for range of auras etc. As far as the conversation options, i didn't really like what i saw from Intelligence. Too many "snarky" kinda of answers and i'm not going to roleplay a jack ass, so (may i'll do that with de' Medici Paladini on a future run).

Just tried it and i was able to solo the two wolves in the starting camp without having to heal, which i couldn't do with the first draft i posted before. So i guess the bonus on Dex and Perception did something.