Companions.

[Vero]

So I've met Diabolus the dog, Hugo Montesque the Knight, Olfghard the Rogue(?)[Act 1], and Jacques the Paladin[Act 2].

I've heard that there's one more in the last act, and according to the screenshots you can have Jacques and Olfghard? together + a 3rd. I'll have to reload to make sure.

I'm wondering if anyone has found any one in particular to be best for a given class.

It seems like Hugo has more health(tank) and Jacques does more dmg and is more accurate. Jacques has more skill points even 7 levels behind O.o;; so I'm not sure what's up with that.
I literally found out Jacques existed maybe 15 min ago, so He's 7 lvl behind Hugo right now >_< lol but then again I found Diablolus late so maybe it'll be okay.

Any comments on companions or your experiences are appreciated

[Kovi]

Well, my priest, Diabolus and Hugo were an effective team for a good part of Act I. Then I gave a chance to Olfghard and paid him many pouches of a well-deserved gold in the following hours. But towards the end of Act II enemies became too strong for my companions, I had to resurrect them after each more serious skirmish and so in one dark dungeon I decided to leave them to their rest and I've been walking the world all alone ever since.

[Vero]

I'm currently clearing maps away from the main story arch to try to level them up. I have Jacques, Diabolus, and Olfghard now. I found out about Jacques at the second level under the church(those clergymen are rough. They go down easy to the might of Rashgar's Fist, but inquisitor's have that avalanche spell which messes me up even with like 25% res to everything and 400 health.)

I'm going to keep trying to make these children into men and see if they're not useful. The official screenshots use Jacques, Olfghard and Nicholas, so I'll see if that was just for sure or if it's actually a viable thing.

[watcherzero]

In my experience Diabolus is a good meatshield but really vulnerable to spells, Olfghard is ranged and does good damage but is flimsy to melee, Hugo does really poor damage but hes got good survivability and makes a valid offtank alongside Diabolus to a lesser extent.

At the moment im using Diabolus and Hugo, they are fine on melee but everytime I face a spirit/ghost or other spellcaster I either have to tell them to wait somewhere safe, do no fighting and just spam healing spells to keep them alive or keep reloading because they die.

When you have 200 health and a enemy lightning bolt can do 250 damage you become really really scared of spellcasters.

[Vero]

Originally posted by watcherzero:

In my experience Diabolus is a good meatshield but really vulnerable to spells, Olfghard is ranged and does good damage but is flimsy to melee, Hugo does really poor damage but hes got good survivability and makes a valid offtank alongside Diabolus to a lesser extent.

At the moment im using Diabolus and Hugo, they are fine on melee but everytime I face a spirit/ghost or other spellcaster I either have to tell them to wait somewhere safe, do no fighting and just spam healing spells to keep them alive or keep reloading because they die.

When you have 200 health and a enemy lightning bolt can do 250 damage you become really really scared of spellcasters.

Get resistance spells. They really do help.

[watcherzero]

Not really as a Paladin, you can barely even cure yourself of curses/poison they fail 9 times out of 10 and only last about 5 seconds during which time you cant cast any other spells.

[Vero]

Originally posted by watcherzero:

Not really as a Paladin, you can barely even cure yourself of curses/poison they fail 9 times out of 10 and only last about 5 seconds during which time you cant cast any other spells.

All one can do as a brother of the righteous is 3 things:

1.Find yourself a Dmg increased to undead weapon. You usually get one either from the last boss in the Devil's Cavern or for the second Promotion as a paladin. There's also one(maybe) At the bottom of the Citadel.
2. Invest in Elemental Damage gear/holy protection. A lot of the great items in the game will be able to carry these modifiers, so look for them whenever possible.
3. Invest in light protection spells and potions. Trust me, brother, they are a Godsend and are instrumental in the vanquishing of unclean ghosts.

Poison can really only be dealt with by
A. not letting your companions get poisoned(they just drink pots like fish)
B. getting antidote pots. Like you suggested most of the spells don't work most of the time.
C. Sturdiness SHOULD work at a high level, as should getting a higher constitution making poison less of a threat.
D. Get the pagan poison res spell. All the spells are good, even if only a few points.

Honesty, I didn't level my magical stuff till I was probably on the path between Disciple/Journeyman for most of my melee oriented skills, but they did help.

God be with you.

[Thorleifs]

I'm nearly finished and at lvl 50 as Thief on hard and this is my two cents. The dog is pretty much all you need in this game (left the others dead as disco out of frustration), having only him makes it really easy to keep him alive while he takes all aggro of you. To deal with the undeads or any foe for that matter I found the aoe frost bolt talismans to be somewhat of a RIG, now I do not know if these are too expensive for anyone without the thief eloquence skill but I use em alot :P. Ghosts or any undead cant take the dmg from the aoe talisman up close and die almost instantly, make sure the talismans are all the lvl 4 ones.

[Thorleifs]

Also the last companion is a priest, if you dont mind the mana potion drain he can nuke down most stuff with his frost bolt and keep you and himself healed.

[Vero]

Originally posted by staffan.nylander:

I'm nearly finished and at lvl 50 as Thief on hard and this is my two cents. The dog is pretty much all you need in this game (left the others dead as disco out of frustration), having only him makes it really easy to keep him alive while he takes all aggro of you. To deal with the undeads or any foe for that matter I found the aoe frost bolt talismans to be somewhat of a RIG, now I do not know if these are too expensive for anyone without the thief eloquence skill but I use em alot :P. Ghosts or any undead cant take the dmg from the aoe talisman up close and die almost instantly, make sure the talismans are all the lvl 4 ones.

On normal, I'm lvl 51 now, and all the members are alive and well.I'd say sure, that diabolus is easier, but the extra DPS is nice all the same, and nicolas keeps everyone alive . Vidergo makes things easier.

[Thorleifs]

Nice :)
I have to admit that I had to resort to getting levitation to finish my fallen angel runs :(. (From previous discussion)

The miracle book spells are actually all pretty damn good, purge makes a breeze out of some otherwise really hard battles (one major battle in particular), swarm of locust is really nice against magic resistant enemies. So for a non magic user up to lvl 50 I'm really happy about that particular spell set as I set to finish the game, what is the lvl cap btw? My dog is 52 atm.

[Vero]

Originally posted by staffan.nylander:

Nice :)
I have to admit that I had to resort to getting levitation to finish my fallen angel runs :(. (From previous discussion)

The miracle book spells are actually all pretty damn good, purge makes a breeze out of some otherwise really hard battles (one major battle in particular), swarm of locust is really nice against magic resistant enemies. So for a non magic user up to lvl 50 I'm really happy about that particular spell set as I set to finish the game, what is the lvl cap btw? My dog is 52 atm.

Think the cap is actually 100, but i don't think that many enemies actually exist in the game, so more realistically you might be able to squeeze out 52/53 before you finish the game.

[watcherzero]

Im level 30 about half way through second act, Master +1/2 in melee/defence skills and have about 10 points in the spell classes (though since Paladin cant learn past second tier spells not much need other than boosting the amount healing touch heals). Ive got the second Paladin companion now, his health is lower than the first ones but his durability is better, Diabolus continues to have high health but really vulnerable to magic though I think the first Paladins health had overtaken him just before I switched.

Stat wise I have 80 strength, 60 intelligence, 50 dexterity and constitution and 26 speed. Im wearing full plate +8 all attributes and have two +1 to all non-spell skill items along with some elemental and status resists.

Im using a two handed legendary axe that I got 3/4 of the way through Act 1 that does 30-40 damage 0.5 speed which is translating to about 40-70 damage per swing, Im Melee immune but spells still continuing to be a pain, you resist several then you get a couple of back to back crits for vitually your entire health, companion charachters still being hit for larger than their max health.

Ive been looking out for the ressurction spell so I can raise my companions rather than reloading for hours, just not finding it in drops or vendors.