I didn't use Greiving Mother until around level 8-ish so my thing may be skewed. I kept her in light armor with dual swords. I used abilities that drain accuracy, deflection, and other stats from the enemy so they were a weak, missing, fool and Grieving Mother was a juggernaught of destruction XD
I LOVE Syphon-type abilities in games and Ciphers seem to have tons of them!
I also played on normal difficulty.
I could easily be underestimating how useful their powers are, I haven't played one before. I swear, the game has so much replay value...
Ranged with arbeques or blunderbuss appears to be the way to go with Cipher. Hunting bow could work, but later on if you run into high dr opponents you may have trouble doing damage and therefore getting focus. (actually now that i think about it i am not sure whether dr reduces focus, if not then bows are fine)
Blunderbuss has been removed from the early game loot pool b/c it was too powerful. Against high dr opponents, arbeques would probably gain more focus.
I find the gunner talent is pretty decent on my Cipher and i took soldier weapons to use the arbelast early then arbeques.
The strat is cast then hit to regain focus then cast, or hit first then cast all your focus.
I don't have grieving mother yet but from what others have said about her deflection stealing debuff powers, she may be designed as a melee Cipher, which is considered sub-optimal currently.
Also, i don't know personally about late game Cipher but I've seen several people say the late game powers are as powerful as any other class, if not more.
That's okay, I thought you were doing it on purpose, and I was mentally pronouncing your arbeques like "barbeque." It made for a more amusing read. ^_~
For the cipher, level 2 mental binding is the spell I use most often. In fact it's pretty much the only spell I bother to use most fights.
It's an enemy only AOE spell. Long duration paralysis on the main target (makes the target unable to do anything and -40 deflection), and long duration stuck on all other targets (they can't move but can still attack/cast and -20 deflection).
With those massive deflection penalties inflicted it's then very easy for the cipher to build up focus to for most castings. And also very easy for the rest of my ranged attackers to blast everyone away. Eder is the tank for any stragglers who slip past.
Also, I want to do a second run with a custom party and this time do the super long dungeon since I didn't do it on my first run. I also didn't do bounties on my first run so I'd like to try that to.
I just can't decide on a protagonist
Nature Godlike Orlan, Death Godlike Orlan, Hearth Orlan, or Wild Orlan, I can't decide!
And a Priest of Berath or a Bleak Walker Paladin. Or maybe a Cipher?! Or a druid that only uses decay spells!?
I know my full party, Death's Hand, will consist of the following:
Priest of Berath Bleak Walker Paladin Chanter Rogue Cipher (or druid, can't decide) and Wizard.
But I could also do my canon party that I used for IWD:EE, ToEE, PoR, and any other make your own party RPG. These characters are based on a story I'm writing.
Val'myr: Pale Elf (no Drow) Priest of Berath Piro: Nature Godlike Orlan Chanter Kitze: Human Monk Aiyumii: Human Wizard (light armor and melee focused, she's a magus-type character if you're familiar with Pathfinder). Fae: Wood Elf Rogue (archer) Aria: Death Godlike Bleak Walker Paladin.
Do I do my story party? Death's Hand? SOMETHING DIFFERENT!?
And who should the protagonist be? QQ I already did my first run as a Pale Elf Chanter.
@vallmyr go with the story party and tell me how the melee wizard is with the new defensive buffs!
I think I will. I'll probably play as Piro as the main char but switch the classes around and make her the priestess of Berath and Val a Chanter since I already played a Pale Elf and a Chanter.
Well, I mentioned the estoc for the barbarian on page 4, and I've come to realize that I enjoy weapons with DR bypass qualities. I've also been thinking about the role of a tank recently, and about how much a group role is worth sacrificing damage output for; also, paladins got a boost from a patch recently. All of these things led to me finally restarting PoE in earnest (I still haven't beaten the game yet) as a jaunty pale elven Darcozzi Paladini. Going for the Clever and Passionate traits just seems like a fun kind of knight to be. I still wanted something like a tank experience, so I gave her Perception 15 and Resolve 18, but my class and talent choices have been offensive in nature so I have been building around her focusing with the estoc. I was curious if she would be capable of both offense and tanking with these stats:
Str: 13 / Con 10 / Dex 11 / Per 15 / Int 11 / Res 18
There were moments I was growing into the build that I struggled a little bit, but after getting Drake's Bell and a bit of experience I can tell you that this offensive tank build is *fun*. Eder is still my best primary tank, but Pallegina and I (rockin' the Vailian Republics, y'all!) make for sturdy off-tanks, and Zellana (charname) can stand toe-to-toe with most critters. Unlike my previous tank character Lyrexia though, I get to see crits for 60+ damage! I know it's overkill, but my next talent is going to be Vulnerable Strike to stack DR bypass up to 13, which should allow me to shank almost anything with impunity even on a glancing blow.
I don't just feel like a set piece being moved on a chessboard now; I feel like a kick-ass swashbuckling knight who doesn't always have to bother her party to catch up when she runs across an enemy or two while scouting in a dungeon.
I know paladins are typically known as being staunch defenders, but what do you all think about hybridizing the role to play offense as well? For that matter, what is your mileage using non-"tank" classes on the front lines? I see a lot of potential for a melee chanter, and I could imagine a well-built cipher wreaking havoc. What of wizards though... would it take too much effort and defensive spells to make a mage tank viable? Some of the touch range spells have me curious to try it, but I haven't quite gone mad yet...
Comments
Blunderbuss has been removed from the early game loot pool b/c it was too powerful. Against high dr opponents, arbeques would probably gain more focus.
I find the gunner talent is pretty decent on my Cipher and i took soldier weapons to use the arbelast early then arbeques.
The strat is cast then hit to regain focus then cast, or hit first then cast all your focus.
I don't have grieving mother yet but from what others have said about her deflection stealing debuff powers, she may be designed as a melee Cipher, which is considered sub-optimal currently.
Also, i don't know personally about late game Cipher but I've seen several people say the late game powers are as powerful as any other class, if not more.
PS: @Qbert, no offense, just kidding.
It's an enemy only AOE spell. Long duration paralysis on the main target (makes the target unable to do anything and -40 deflection), and long duration stuck on all other targets (they can't move but can still attack/cast and -20 deflection).
With those massive deflection penalties inflicted it's then very easy for the cipher to build up focus to for most castings. And also very easy for the rest of my ranged attackers to blast everyone away. Eder is the tank for any stragglers who slip past.
I just can't decide on a protagonist
Nature Godlike Orlan, Death Godlike Orlan, Hearth Orlan, or Wild Orlan, I can't decide!
And a Priest of Berath or a Bleak Walker Paladin. Or maybe a Cipher?!
Or a druid that only uses decay spells!?
I know my full party, Death's Hand, will consist of the following:
Priest of Berath
Bleak Walker Paladin
Chanter
Rogue
Cipher (or druid, can't decide)
and Wizard.
But I could also do my canon party that I used for IWD:EE, ToEE, PoR, and any other make your own party RPG. These characters are based on a story I'm writing.
Val'myr: Pale Elf (no Drow) Priest of Berath
Piro: Nature Godlike Orlan Chanter
Kitze: Human Monk
Aiyumii: Human Wizard (light armor and melee focused, she's a magus-type character if you're familiar with Pathfinder).
Fae: Wood Elf Rogue (archer)
Aria: Death Godlike Bleak Walker Paladin.
Do I do my story party?
Death's Hand?
SOMETHING DIFFERENT!?
And who should the protagonist be? QQ I already did my first run as a Pale Elf Chanter.
Str: 13 / Con 10 / Dex 11 / Per 15 / Int 11 / Res 18
There were moments I was growing into the build that I struggled a little bit, but after getting Drake's Bell and a bit of experience I can tell you that this offensive tank build is *fun*. Eder is still my best primary tank, but Pallegina and I (rockin' the Vailian Republics, y'all!) make for sturdy off-tanks, and Zellana (charname) can stand toe-to-toe with most critters. Unlike my previous tank character Lyrexia though, I get to see crits for 60+ damage! I know it's overkill, but my next talent is going to be Vulnerable Strike to stack DR bypass up to 13, which should allow me to shank almost anything with impunity even on a glancing blow.
I don't just feel like a set piece being moved on a chessboard now; I feel like a kick-ass swashbuckling knight who doesn't always have to bother her party to catch up when she runs across an enemy or two while scouting in a dungeon.
I know paladins are typically known as being staunch defenders, but what do you all think about hybridizing the role to play offense as well? For that matter, what is your mileage using non-"tank" classes on the front lines? I see a lot of potential for a melee chanter, and I could imagine a well-built cipher wreaking havoc. What of wizards though... would it take too much effort and defensive spells to make a mage tank viable? Some of the touch range spells have me curious to try it, but I haven't quite gone mad yet...
A moon godlike Fighter seems like a very useful tanky char,i just had to make 1.
Dwarven Monk probably 1 of the strongest offensive kits,think he's accuracy was up to 89 (with both hands) or so.
My next char is going to be a Death Godlike Rogue i think.Its skills are very useful through the campaign.(Pure damager)
Still i have a lot to figure out,only halfway into the game,might add stats,names and feats later.