Are Chanters Useless?

[MeanJim]

While I was passing through my stronghold, I decided to do a few levels of the Endless Paths of Od Nua for Kana's quest. My character and all party members are level 7. I'm playing on hard difficulty and not using AI. So far most battles have been finished before or just as he gets to 3 chants, so he rarely is able to use his abilities.

The creatures he summons are next to useless too. I've used the summon skeletons ability a couple of times, but they don't do much damage. I used it once to cast behind some enemies and had all of them attack an archer. The party finished everyone off while those three skeletons had barely scratched that archer.

I took the one that summons 3 wurms, thinking that if it requires 4 chants, they should be better, but I had not been able to use it yet. On level 5 or 6 of the dungeon we were fighting a large group of skeletons. There was a skeleton wizard hanging back out where none of my ranged characters could get to him. We had gotten bunched up in a doorway and Edér and two ranger companions were in the door holding back the mob. Durance was keeping them healed and buffed, Aloth was casting AOE spells into the mob, Sagani and my character (Ranger) were shooting the targets our animals were attacking because they both have the ability that gives them a damage/accuracy bonus when attacking the same target. Kana was chanting and shooting from the back. This skeleton wizard was in the right spot that no one with a ranged weapon could hit them due to the angle, so he was able to sit there and light up Edér and the animals. He kept using the bounding missile spell on Edér which would bounce to two other targets and it was messing us up keeping Durance busy with healing.

This was the first time Kana got to 4 chants and there were actually enemies left, and lots of them. I summoned the wurms behind the mob and had all three attack that wizard. The wizard didn't care and kept targeting Edér with bounding missiles. We continued fighting, bunched in the door way when Kana reached 3 chants (the most chants he's ever done in a single fight). I used his 1st level ability that stuns and pushes enemies back in a large, wide cone which allowed me to get the animal companions through to chew on that wizard's bones. He was barely hurt after all this time with three wurms attacking him. Those animal companions made a quick meal out of him though.

Had I known how useless those wurms would be, I wouldn't have taken that, and also I would have used the push and stun ability earlier and gotten us out of that door way where I could have taken care of that wizard much earlier.

[D'amarr from Darshiva]

Keep in mind that Chanter class can solo the entire game on hardest difficulty mode, and it doesn't even need to be a specific build. Various builds can do it.

Skeleton summons in PoE 1 are among the weakest and least efficient. They are just a bit of cannon fodder. Phantom is the better choice early. Later on, Chanter can summon two Ogres, a Drake and three Animated Weapons, for examples.

You cannot "draw aggro" in this game simply by positioning summons near your opponents. The engagement rules don't work like that. Enemies prefer attacking targets with low defenses and low DR.

Blocking choke points and trying to survive with massive healing is not everyone's cup of tea. Offense can be the better defense.

Consider retraining Kana at the next inn.

[MeanJim]

When it was time to choose what ability to pick, for the ones that summon creatures, it doesn't give a details about the creature it summons, so I just went on my experiences fighting them and what was unlocked in the bestiary. I chose the skeletons because I had only run into one or two phantoms and didn't find them tough. When it was time to pick a 2nd level ability, it was either the wurms or will-o-wisps. I had not actually run into a wurm yet, but had killed a few will-o-wisp's and they were super fragile, so I went with a wurm thinking a tiny dragon would be better.

I just finished level 7 of the dungeon and Kana's. That battle was so long he was able to use 3 abilities during that fight. I didn't activate the machines because I didn't know what it would do (I later found out it makes the battle easier).

The summoned wurms don't do much damage, but they seem to be able to take a lot. This time they were able to keep the attention of several enemies while the party dealt with the others. I summoned another set when those were gone, then used a 1st level ability.

I've done enough of the endless paths for a while. I went back to the stronghold, rested up and will head out tomorrow to get back to questing. I was thinking about retraining Kana before heading out.

[psychotron666]

Skeletons are just useful to block enemies and take some hits for a bit.

Chanters are great though. I especially love them in the second because of turn based combat makes them easy to manage their phrases and spells. Phrases are resource free, action free buffs and debuffs.

[ÄmJii]

I recently finished Path of the Damned -difficulty run with Chanter main char. Definitely stronger than it first appears.
Ogre summons are by far the best summons.

Chanters are very versatile. They can buff, CC, use summons and deal good damage via Chants. Just customize them to fit your group properly and they'll function very nicely.

[Armanz]

Right now I don't feel like writing a novel but chanters are among the best classes in the game by far.

[D'amarr from Darshiva]

Originally posted by MeanJim:

When it was time to choose what ability to pick, for the ones that summon creatures, it doesn't give a details about the creature it summons, so I just went on my experiences fighting them and what was unlocked in the bestiary. I chose the skeletons because I had only run into one or two phantoms and didn't find them tough.

Both are 1st level invocations, so it is 1x Phantom versus 3x Human Skeletons. It's a simple tradeoff. Do you want three weaker summons or one stronger one. And it's a matter of taste, too.

https://pillarsofeternity.gamepedia.com/Phantom
https://pillarsofeternity.gamepedia.com/Skeletons

Originally posted by MeanJim:

When it was time to pick a 2nd level ability, it was either the wurms or will-o-wisps. I had not actually run into a wurm yet, but had killed a few will-o-wisp's and they were super fragile, so I went with a wurm thinking a tiny dragon would be better.

The wurms' ranged attacks can be very helpful. Much depends on what strategies and tactics you use.

[dwarfpcfan]

Chanters rock at higher levels ogre summons and drake summons are super strong