Eternity Pillars of Eternity + The White March Expansion Thread

[Lacrymas]

A properly built Rogue can and does decimate bosses, Devil managed to solo both Llengrath and Concelhaut quite easily. A MC Rogue is even more devastating. Invisibility is also stupidly powerful in this game.

 

[Jimmious]

I went Barbarian in my current "trying to fully play through both PoEs now that they are both finished" run. I'm playing PotD and well, Barbarian rules because of "splash damage".
After all PotD is littered with enemies so anything that does extra "splash" damage is good

 

[Haplo]

Try using Hours of St. Rumbaldt greatsword. Buff the Accuracy trough the roof with Priest buffs (and Fortitude debuffs, such as upgraded Interdiction), crit all the time... and keep a large mob prone throughout the fight. The damage is also very good on St. Rumbaldt... and it can be gotten really early.

 

[Parabalus]

Try using Hours of St. Rumbaldt greatsword. Buff the Accuracy trough the roof with Priest buffs (and Fortitude debuffs, such as upgraded Interdiction), crit all the time... and keep a large mob prone throughout the fight. The damage is also very good on St. Rumbaldt... and it can be gotten really early.

Why take Rumbaldt when the same merchant sells Tall Grass?

Same effect but the extended reach means you are protected behind the frontline(=more DPSey attributes) and have superior target selection.

 

[Haplo]

Sure, Tall Grass is the safe choice. But I've tried both and Hours of St. Rumbalt deals way more damage with its +50% critical damage property.
A well built Barbarian doesn't have much trouble with survivability.

In my case those shoes, which cast Consecrated Ground on crit were key. Plus Savage Defiance, I also played a Moon Godlike. You can stack a lot of healing.. and a Barb has a large Health pool to take advantage of it. I think I actually took one ability that self-recovered Health.

 

[Lacrymas]

Those boots are used in every melee build ever.

 

[Parabalus]

Because they're overtuned, like moon godlikes.

 

[2house2fly]

Also, is there any good PoE related reading material out there? I think one of the reasons I lost interest before was my lack of familiarity with the game world. I didn't have a clue what faction did this or who worshipped what god.

Crash course on lore:

The Soul

The world is called Eora, and is suffused by a miasma of energy called Essence, which enters the human body to form the soul. In this setting, souls are very important- a baby born with no soul is in a complete vegetative state, referred to as Hollowborn.
Upon death, souls leave the body and fragment, entering pillars of a substance called Adra which runs through the world, eventually being reborn into new bodies.
Souls can hold memories of previous lives, and if something triggers those memories the soul of a dead person can sometimes "come back to life" in a new body. This is called being Awakened, and can only be cured by, essentially, exorcising the awakened spirit- resolving its unfinished business, or what have you.
When someone with a Strong Soul (one which doesn't fragment after death) has a near-death experience where the soul partially leaves the body, they retain their connection to the afterlife and the ability to communicate with ghosts. These people are called Watchers. For a Watcher to be Awakened is extremely bad, because their connection to the spirit world fuels the power of the awakened spirit, eventually causing the Watcher's mind to blend with the mind of the awakened spirit, leaving them a confused mess unable to tell fantasy from reality

cultures

Aedyr, an old and stagnant empire
Old Vailia, formerly Grand Vailia, an even older empire in the process of falling apart completely
Rauatai, a militarist kingdom whose homeland is wracked by constant storms. They have advanced ship technology because none of them want to stay on land
Deadfire Archipelago, a cluster of islands originally inhabited by the Huana people, now also occupied by pirates descended from defunct Old Vailian families, Rauataians looking for fertile land to grow crops to send home to the lump of rock they live on, and scientists looking to study and profit from the weird stuff in the region. It's all a bit tense
The White That Wends, home to nomadic Pale Elves and their bizarre nihilist religion
The Living Lands, a huge island(or small continent)full of wildly diverse and weird flora and fauna

On the continent of the Eastern Reach:
The Vailian Republics, a bunch of city states who declared independence and now embarrass Old Vailia by thriving
Raedceras, former Aedyran colonies. Very poor and pious
Ixamitl, a land of wide plains and wise men who speak in koans
The White March, a mountainous region home to dwarves and weird monks
Eir Glanfath, a land of forests and hostile tribespeople
Dyrwood, where the game takes place

The Dyrwood

Centuries ago, the empire of Aedyr explored a continent called the Eastern Reach and colonised it. The land they settled was full of ruins from the ancient civilisation of Engwith, which mysteriously vanished from the world a few thousand years previously. The Engwithans had pretty advanced technology (particularly their knowledge of soul science, now called Animancy) and these ruins were ripe for the plundering- except that they were protected by the tribes of Eir Glanfath. The Aedyrans and Glanfathans fought a few wars before settling into an uneasy peace, where the Glanfathans promised not to kill outsiders on sight and the Aedyrans promised not to let the Glanfathans see them plundering the ruins.
A little after this truce was established, the Aedyrans of the Eastern Reach (now calling themselves Dyrwoodans) declared independence from the Aedyr Empire and after a bloody conflict the Aedyrans decided the grapes were sour anyway. Since then the Dyrwood has become known for embracing freedom and progress, a lack of societal stigma and proximity to Engwithan ruins making it a tempting destination for Animancers- the science of Animancy being frowned upon in many places because studying the soul is considered to be close to interfering with the works of the gods.
About 20 years ago, in the land of Raedceras north of Dyrwood, a farmer named Waidwen led an army claiming to be the vessel of one of the gods, and invaded the Dyrwood. This invasion was turned back when Waidwen was killed by a band of Dyrwoodan heroes called The Dozen and a magical bomb called the Godhammer, and the god he claimed was with him has not been heard from since.
In the time after the detonation of the Godhammer, babies in the Dyrwood began being born without souls- Hollowborn vegetables. This increased over time, and is now at the point where any baby born in the Dyrwood is expected to be hollow.

The Gods

There are eleven gods.
Woedica: Former queen of the gods, deposed many centuries ago and still bitter about it. Worshipped mainly in Aedyr. Known also as the Oathbinder, or The Queen That Was

Abydon: God of labour, manifests as a weird mechanical golem. Seems nice

Eothas: God of light and the dawn. Worshipped mainly in Raedceras. Waidwen claimed Eothas possessed him to invade the Dyrwood. Whether true or not, Eothas has gone silent to his followers in the wake of the Godhammer. Known also as The Dawnstars, or Gaun

Ondra: God of the sea, loss, and forgetting. Represented in stories as being in love with the moon, and trying to pull it down to embrace it. Worshipped mainly in the Deadfire Archipelago. Known also as The Sea Queen, or Ngati

Skaen: God of the resentment of the oppressed and enslaved, friend to those who would plot against their masters. And friend to the masters, once they find themselves downtrodden. Known also as The Quiet Slave, or The Effigy

Rymrgand: God of winter, famine, decay. Longs for, and gleefully takes any opportunity to help bring about, oblivion. Worshipped mainly in The White That Wends. Known also as The Beast Of Winter

Hylea: God of the sky, motherhood, and creation. Loves anything that flies, or that has feathers. Also known as Sky-Mother and Queen Of Birds

Galawain: God of the hunt, strength, and perseverance. Loves all tests and trials of power, and to the victor the spoils whoever they are. Worshipped mainly in Eir Glanfath. Known also as The Seeker God, or The Changeling

Wael: God of mysteries and dreams. Manifests as a cloud of eyes, and takes delight in anyone not knowing anything. Also known as The Eyeless Face, or The Obscured

Berath: God of life and death, doors and openings. Often associated with death and rebirth, the observed process of reincarnation is known as Berath's Wheel. Known also as The Twinned God, or Tangaloa

Magran: God of war and fire. Assisted in the creation of the Godhammer which killed Eothas. Her priests are assholes who stink. Worshipped mainly in the Dyrwood.

 

[FreeKaner]

The problem with Druids in PoE2 is that Teheku exists and Teheku as a theurge is basically better druid than any player druid will be.

 

[Haplo]

Those boots are used in every melee build ever.

Only in those with sucky Deflection :p

 

[oldmanpaco]

Wizard takes the prize as the most useful and most fun class in the game. It just takes a few levels to get off the ground. Barbarian is one of the more fun classes, and has the benefit of not being doubled up by a companion until White March. Ranger is extremely boring.

I'm not big on having a pure caster as my PC.

Yeah, I heard Rangers were pretty lame in this game. Rogues too.

I got the Frozen Throne achievement using a tanky wizard as my PC. Took stuff like Arcane Vail, Sword & Shield and other defensive abilities as well as Scion of Flame(?) to tie into my 1st strike and soulbound abilities. Gave him both the Deadfire Belt (firebrand/fireshield), Captains hat (immunities/stat bonuses). Had forge master(?) gloves in reserve for when I needed extra Firebrand. Heavy armor and shield because he wasn't really a volume caster and its better to go no armor or all armor.

Since he was at the front he could lead with a first strike CC of damage spell and then wade in. That freezing spell you get in WM is pretty great as is confusion of course. Used summoned weapons (firebrand, parasitic staff, that other one you get at high level) as needed.

Anyway it was fun.

Rangers are best with Stormcaller and a maxed out Bear companion which is admittedly pretty boring.

Rogues are a pain in the ass and best used for the +1 damage reduction bypass your PC receives.

 

[JDR13]

Playing through the prologue as a Barbarian now and liking him a lot. I think it's going to come down to Barbarian or Druid when I start my full playthrough.

I might do a test run with a Monk as well.

 

[Feyd Rautha]

What's in the new update?

 

[2house2fly]

Nothing, it's some steam thing. I had 19 games needing updates yesterday and most of them didn't actually download anyything

 

[Jarpie]

Finally finished PoE, it'd been sitting on my HD with save in the third chapter, so completed it while waiting for the next DLC on Pathfinder. Can't really add much more to the what others have said about the flaws, just that the story did have a great potential, but never reached it.

 

[Perkel]

Questions:

Is there mod that removes from PoTD stat boost but leaves amount of enemies and extra skills they use ?
Is PoTD only hard + extra stats ?

Multi-classing. I noticed that it now you can get some main class skills from other classes with reduced effectivnes of them.
Do they actually make sense or this is just for the sake of having "something" in that vein ?

 

[Lacrymas]

Some cross-class skills are mandatory for most builds, some are useless. The PotD stat boost makes sense and it's the only thing keeping the system together, so it's pointless to remove it. I think PotD has even more mobs than on hard.

 

[FreeKaner]

You can think of the POTD stat "boost" as being the default stats and lower difficulties having less stats. Your characters will exceed enemy stats when you get some levels and items.

 

[Parabalus]

All thanks to the new trend of extravagant names for difficulties, so people "don't feel like shit".

PotD is really 'core rules' or even 'normal'.

 

[Orma]

Codexers are bad at videogames, what else is new?

 

[Theldaran]

Well... When playing POE, it amazes me that I have to read the spell descriptions in the middle of combat. I haven't seen any other place where you can consult them. So I just practically spam the same spells that seem good over and over. With mages it's trickier because you have to actually have them in your spellbook. Classic dilemma of "the magic is in the book, not in the mage". A mage without a spellbook is just a peasant, just great.

This is just one of many indignities the game forces on you.

 

[noobz0r]

I tried to play this when it first came out but lost interest when I arrived in the first(?) big city. Compared to Baldur's Gate or Athkatla the place was lifeless and seemed almost unfinished. Plus, the atmosphere from the first few hours seemed to disappear. Now I'm willing to give it a second chance. Any tips for a first playthrough? Any builds to avoid because they're too OP? I assume POTD is the way to go and I already know to ignore the NPCs added by the Kickstarter backers

 

[Riddler]

I tried to play this when it first came out but lost interest when I arrived in the first(?) big city. Compared to Baldur's Gate or Athkatla the place was lifeless and seemed almost unfinished. Plus, the atmosphere from the first few hours seemed to disappear. Now I'm willing to give it a second chance. Any tips for a first playthrough? Any builds to avoid because they're too OP? I assume POTD is the way to go and I already know to ignore the NPCs added by the Kickstarter backers

Play without priests.

 

[Jonathan "Zee Nekomimi]

Well... When playing POE, it amazes me that I have to read the spell descriptions in the middle of combat. I haven't seen any other place where you can consult them. So I just practically spam the same spells that seem good over and over. With mages it's trickier because you have to actually have them in your spellbook. Classic dilemma of "the magic is in the book, not in the mage". A mage without a spellbook is just a peasant, just great.

This is just one of many indignities the game forces on you.

All u need is the great flames of Zorg, works 80% of the time, also up that dual book wielding son :D

 

[noobz0r]

Uninstall and play Deadfire instead.

Finding out that Deadfire has a TB mode made me want to give the first one another try. So you're saying I won't miss anything by skipping it?

Play without priests.

Are they too powerful or is this a suggestion for added challenge? I think the only priest character I remember was also the most interesting NPC I've met during my first failed attempt at a playthrough, so probably keeping that one. If his casting gets in the way of challenge, I'll just have him as a wimpy fighter, I guess.