So how do I prevent my entire team dying early game in PotD?

[Plaje]

I thought if I followed a guide and built a really OP starting team I'd be able to start on PotD because from what I heard PotD isn't that hard even with crap teams (seeing people solo it on youtube). So I tried to min-max all my party based on some guides here and get wiped everywhere I go immediately. I barely survived the bears in the first cave, barely survived the first encounter with spiders in the ruined temple in the first town, and then after winning a few battles, ran into a group of ghosts that just literally stunlock my entire team. I don't see any character that has a stun-removal earlygame or a stun-prevention or a way to stun the ghosts before they can attack, so I'm not sure how people are doing solo.

Here's roughly what I came up with based on the guide's advice:
Fighter maintank (survival) (french connection) - shatterstar(hammer), large shield, plate armor - knockdown, weapon+shield style, defender, wary defender
paladin offtank (survival) (anvil of dawn) - hatchet, large shield, plate armor - lay on hands, weapon+shield style, zealous endurance, cautious attack
Rogue bladesguy (mechanics) (prince of persia) - resolution and purgatory sabers + durgan steel - crippling strike, ruffian weapons, reckless assault, two weapon fighting
Priest healer (athletics) (SPAM HERE, there is only one build) RESPEC AT 5 - arquebus then hatchet and large shield - diety, inspired flame, weapon focus, marksman, respec
Wizard cc/debuff (lore) (control freak) - hatchet and large shield (cloth) - arcane veil, hardened veil, weapon and shield style, cautious attack
Cipher rangedps (stealth) (no ciphers included) - blunderbuss then war bow (cloth) - 1 antipathetic field, mind wave, 2 soul shock, biting whip, 3 mental binding, amplified thrust, 4 psychovampiric shield, penetrating shot

https://steamcommunity.com/sharedfiles/filedetails/?id=416939844

What can I do with these guys to counter the ghosts? I see one move from the priest that buffs some defensive stats but doesn't seem to really matter since everyone still gets stunlocked until the team wipes anyway.

When I tried going somewhere else I just immediately got slaughtered by trolls who take no damage from anything and are apparently immune to all variety of spells. I can't get better gear for the team than random junk I found laying around because nobody sells anything useful besides two sabers (ghosts killed the rogue first ofc). Idk what else to do here.

[Plaje]

Btw, the video I saw of a guy soloing all the content in PotD ironman looked like he was basically just cheesing all the content by running around picking up unique items, still don't see how he avoids being stunlocked by the ghosts though, my designated tanks don't even resist the stuns and they certainly didn't tank trolls at all. I used up pretty much every spell in the books and the all did nothing.

[Baldurs_Gate_2]

Enemies don't give much XP in the game and after you have their bestiary full, they don't net anything at all. Chapter 1 is the hardest Chapter. You avoid the Phantoms with stealth, you don't have to kill them at all.

I recommend to just solo the first chapter with a rogue, he gets shadowing beyond with lvl 4 and can just escape any fight. Just do the exact same like wodjee in his ultimate run.

[ItachiDeltaForce]

Raise deflection defense get Eder, Aloth, Durance early on and hire or create 2 more characters to fill up to six party members...depending on your playstyle ...i usually do side quests and tasks 1st too get rewards and goodies and exp then move on onto the main quest when they are all done....but im very thorough with these things i dont want to cheese anything or just skip stuff or just main-line the main story quests. but thats up to u...dont worry about spirit/ghosts just read the bestiary and find their weaknesses think things through use tactics if u get lucky u might find a rymagands mantle cape/cloak, ignore the solo players they are just lost souls just testing themselves anyway and dont really care about immersion

P.S Aloths slicken/chill fog/curse of blackened sight/bewildering spectacle spells are op for act 1
use food buffs
try to use bottle necks when fighting enemies
durances buffs - armor of faith & consecrated ground combo
eders defender to pull more aggro
u should do fine with that unless u do something krazy

[Armanz]

Apart from what most people said here, it's hard to judge the fights without knowing the lvl you tried them with. The bear encounter isn't to be done immediately, more like on lvl 3 or 4. Same with the temple of Eothas.

[Protagoras]

Priest ground hot, 2 or 3 times.

[psychotron666]

First of all you shouldn't do the bear encounter at the beginning of the game, especially on potd. That's something you should come back with.

And potd is not easy. The people who say it's easy are people who live and breathe video games and have no other life outside of working and what video game they're gonna play when they get home.
They're the type of people to spend 200 hours learning all the game mechanics and how to cheese the game inside and out, and then turn around and say the game is super easy because it wasn't that hard for them to figure it all out, dismissing the 200 hours as nothing.

My brother is one of these people. He plays Conan exiles religiously and when his base gets wiped out he's like "I'll just go mine and make another one" and proceed to play the next 14 hours straight getting everything back. When he raids someone and they quit the game, he thinks "what a ♥♥♥♥♥ for quitting, I can go get back everything in a day" without realizing that regular people can't just spend an entire day grinding just to get their stuff back.

[D'amarr from Darshiva]

First of all, let me point out that I advise against following a nerdcommando guide.

Secondly, many (if not all) socalled "build guides" are highly controversial and whenever "a build" is subject to discussion, it will be picked apart quite easily by some discussion participants.

With that said, I think your party setup is lacking in various ways. Two frontliners with heavy armor and a large shield is very inefficient. Offense is the better defense on PotD mode, or else most solo characters would be unable to survive.


About your problems in Act 1:

Don't try to play the game in a linear way. You don't need to enter Temple of Eothas in Gilded Vale early. You can do it much, much later. Especially since hired adventurers (aka custom companions) are at least one level lower than story companions and therefore typically start weaker. You don't need to defeat every creature in the accessible areas. You can return later.

If playing with adventurers (or solo), mission objective would be to figure out whether and when to do which quests and which dungeons. Eventually you will need to complete Act 1 by defeating Maerwald, and there are roughly enough XP in Act 1 for a full party to reach level 4. With less than six companions you may reach level 5.


About spirits, particularly Shades, Shadows, Phantoms:

Shades that survive for a longer time summon lesser Shadows, so concentrate on eliminating Shades first. Position yourself properly with your backs against a wall. Everyone can wear heavy armor, even spell caster. Withdraw, retreat, if necessary. As a last resort, flee and only fight the fewer foes that follow you. Shades/Shadows and Phantoms are vulnerable to Burn damage. In Act 1, you can find crafting materials to enhance a few weapons with Burn damage. Wizard spells are a good way to fight spirits, of course. Don't let solo playthroughs confuse you. Solo players can sneak past tons of enemies, but with a party investing into Stealth would cripple your skills quite a lot. Your offensive guys should learn Survival skill for the resting bonus options.

[Plaje]

D'amarr from Darshiva eredeti hozzászólása:

First of all, let me point out that I advise against following a nerdcommando guide.

Secondly, many (if not all) socalled "build guides" are highly controversial and whenever "a build" is subject to discussion, it will be picked apart quite easily by some discussion participants.

With that said, I think your party setup is lacking in various ways. Two frontliners with heavy armor and a large shield is very inefficient. Offense is the better defense on PotD mode, or else most solo characters would be unable to survive.

Yeah I guess that makes sense. Any suggestion for a good PotD party for a full custom team playthrough? Or any guides that are actually workable?

[ItachiDeltaForce]

yes iv seen some of nerd commandos yt vids on pillars related stuff, i would recommend his content, also try watching a non solo playthrough on yt to get some idea what your up against and how to synergize your party composition for your particular play style potd is not as scary as u think just have some confidence going into the fights. im doing a potd trial of iron mode run so i have to be xtra careful..i will honor player character and party companion knockouts and death with no save-scumming

[D'amarr from Darshiva]

Plaje eredeti hozzászólása:

Any suggestion for a good PotD party for a full custom team playthrough? Or any guides that are actually workable?

Heodan, the prologue companion, offers the highest buyer prices while you can sell to him at the caravan's camp site. If you sell most items to him (people who sell the prepurchase gift items have a small advantage here), you can afford adventurers earlier, and the XP difference to your Watcher will be lower compared with making cash in Act 1 and hiring companions later. After a few levels, that XP gap will be less than one full level, and all your party members will be at the same level most of the time.

On the other hand, some of the story companions in Act 1 are a fine choice - regardless of what some guide/build authors claim. Eder, for example, is the first companion you meet and the second who will join your party. Unless you know what you are doing, prefer him over any custom fighter. You can still replace him later, since there are enough XP in the game to reach the level cap with more than six companions.

To use more than six companions as to choose specialists for different quests can be a very good idea.

That solo characters can complete the entire game on highest difficulty mode does not imply that a party of six can jump into the fray and do the same. Soloing involves different strategies and tactics. You can simulate them with a party, but a single character receives +10% XP per missing companion, which is 1-2 levels, which in turn gives access to higher level abilities earlier - and effectively, it has an impact on which areas/dungeons/quests of the game you can do when.

A full party of custom companions doesn't guarantee an advantage over story companions. The story companions are good enough to complete the game on PotD mode. Min/maxed attributes can be rather bad. Build authors like bragging about what a level 16 character can achieve - and in various cases a priest is used to provide essential support and then is hidden at the screen border during a battle.

Offense can be the better defense. Trying to survive the onslaught in a long "healing vs damage race" is boring, tedious and risky.

Trying to follow dubious guides painstakingly would be a bad idea, if the guide uses classes and abilities you don't like and is not accurate about strategies/tactics. Preferably decide on which four adventurers shall build the essential core of your party. Choose classes and roles you like - have fun with them. You won't like painfully fragile "builds" that require insane amounts of micromanagement in cases where a quick monk can jump into the fray.

[Plaje]

D'amarr from Darshiva eredeti hozzászólása:

Trying to follow dubious guides painstakingly would be a bad idea, if the guide uses classes and abilities you don't like and is not accurate about strategies/tactics. Preferably decide on which four adventurers shall build the essential core of your party. Choose classes and roles you like - have fun with them. You won't like painfully fragile "builds" that require insane amounts of micromanagement in cases where a quick monk can jump into the fray.

Well that's why I was asking you what you think a good party for PotD would look like, what classes, stats, skills, and gear you would look for in a solid PotD group.
I know it's asking a lot but I'm kind of new to the game and apparently there is a lack of good guides out there for what kind of party would be optimal. Most of the advice I see on google is lots of back and forth opinions but very little substance, and there isn't really a go-to explanation of what a highly effective party looks like beyond "i like this kind of group" like there would be for most games.
The only thing I want to do is have a rogue as my PC, other than that I'm just looking for whatever is the most optimal party to carry me through the game.

[Armanz]

Priest, Wizard, Druid, Fighter, Cipher are the stronger classes

[D'amarr from Darshiva]

Plaje eredeti hozzászólása:

Well that's why I was asking you what you think a good party for PotD would look like, what classes, stats, skills, and gear you would look for in a solid PotD group.

TIMTOWDI.

Why do you insist on starting the game on PotD mode and with the help of a guide/walkthrough?

It would be much more satisfying, rewarding, to start on Normal mode and gain hands on experience with the game. Possibly skipping some battles and learning by trial and error. Then drawing conclusions and choosing team members that fit your personal playstyle.

There are so many choices that just work. Even stomach decisions work very well on the character creation screen. A multitude of party setups works well - and it is not as if the major battles (such as versus dragons) could only be completed with few parties. There are many ways how to do it. Figure out what works for you.

Asking for a full party guide that takes you from level 1 in Act 1 to level 16 in Act 4, covering all the level up choices and the expansion content would result in a guide of the size of a book. A guide that tells which abilities to learn would also need to tell which abilities to use when and in which order. Without guidance on enemies you would not know which attack vectors (four defenses and immunities afterall) to target.

Plaje eredeti hozzászólása:

The only thing I want to do is have a rogue as my PC,

Why a rogue? In PoE, they are ruffian mercenaries, not thieves. Anyone can learn any skills like Mechanics and Stealth. A support priest can be the much better choice for the party mechanic. Why would you want to play a rogue as main player character?

Plaje eredeti hozzászólása:

other than that I'm just looking for whatever is the most optimal party to carry me through the game.

There is no "most optimal party" by definition. Optimal is what works for you, also with regard to conversation, disposition, reputation. You need to figure out what will work for you.

Armanz eredeti hozzászólása:

Priest, Wizard, Druid, Fighter, Cipher are the stronger classes

That is highly subjective. Monk and Chanter are very powerful choices.

[Username]

dunno if this was already mentioned, but scroll of protection (-50% on hostile CC duration) should be your bread and butter scroll for at least any moderately difficult fight when you enter midgame. it's absolutely necessary if you run a lot of martial classes in melee.

now you probably want to spice up your frontline with healing and stat buffs. if you have priest let him do acc buffs and pop scroll of defense. later on you will do crowns + sod or moonwell + shields for the faithful, but that's lategame and thats easy. moonwell deserves a special mention though. it gives both sustain and stats buff.

carry revival scrolls too. your melees will die occasionally, and those scrolls will be your insurance policy. just carry them.

don't forget debuffs. as a tanky buffed frontline lineup you don't really need hard cc so just do soft cc. debuff enemy stats.

btw, rogues work well with this strat too. their only problem is that they're just boring. they do damage... and that's it. they're not super squishy or anything. just not immortal like chanters/fighters.

honestly, this game is a lot deeper strategywise compared to poe 2, it's really impressive.

EDIT: one last thing i forgot to mention. shields, on their own, are bad. just bad. they're good as a OH ♥♥♥♥ button, when you suddenly need to increase your deflection levels and switch to a shield, but they cut too hard into your damage output, and it takes special strategy to make shield a primary loadout for your char.

[Username]

as for act 1, my favorite tactic is to give fighters estoc so they can knock stunlocking phantoms on their ass. i just click ability, click on the phantom and always hit first since estoc strike animation is fast. it feels really great to stunlock a stunlocking bastard, try it yourself.