Help with getting better gear. post tips and tricks.

[No Good Names Left]

I'm about 8 hours into the game ive spent most of my time playing side quests but I find myself having a pretty hard time with combat. I'm mostly using the starter stuff everyone gets as you recruit them because there doesnt seems to be any better options. I also dont have any enchantment recipies or any idea on how to get them.

I've also been to merchants who sells armor and weapons and they dont seem to have anything worth bying.
What am I doing wrong?

[supertrooper225]

The gear here doesn't work like Diablo. It won't go from rusty sword to SWORD OF FACE MURDER +95. I think you will go from normal sword to fine sword and so on. Any weapons that are higher quality will cost a pretty good bit of money and the safer bet is just to find it somewhere.

Pro Tip: Do a couple of floors in the Endless Paths. That is where the hardest encounters are...but also some of the best gear.

[busards]

You have all the enchanting formulas and you won't find any new ones. All you need are the ingredients.

Any weapon or armor as a limit to enchantment (the little anvil with x/12 points used) and you can't use twice the same type of enchantment (for example you can't stack a fire and ice element on a same weapon).

For weapons, you can do the following enchantments relatively easily (ingredients can be bought):
Quality: Exceptionnal (4 points)
Element: any (2 points)
Slaying: any (2~4 points)

As you can see, that only uses 8-10 points out of 12 points. So what you want to do when you loot/shop is look at the weapons' unique enchantments you can't get through enchanting yourself. Enchantments like Superb, Marking, Coordinating, Rending, Draining, Guarding, Stun on Crits, etc... And sometimes, a unique enchantment may be in the category of an enchantment you may be able to do such as Damaging 3 (x1.45 damage, 3 points) which is a "quality" enchantment 'like Exceptionnal (+8 accuracy, x1.3 damage, 4 points). So take into account that Exceptionnal would overwrite Damaging 3.

When you find a good combination of weapon type (dagger, hunting bow, estoc, whatever) and unique enchantments, you then enchant that weapon with your own enchantments.


For armors, it's the same except the enchantments you can do are:
Quality: Exceptionnal (4 points)
Attribute: any (2-4 points)
Damage Reduction: any (1 point)
So you will be looking for unique enchantments like Second Chance, Stealthy, of spell defense, etc...

And for shield,s it's extremely easy, all you can enchant yourself is the quality Exceptionnal. So pretty much any unique shield is better.


Early game, enchantment may seem to cost a lot of money (buying an unique weapon 10k, buying ingredients 20k, enchanting for another 10k) and you can never know if the investment will last through the whole game or if you will eventually find better. Still, some enchantments like Marking and Coordinating are very much worth it even if you dump the weapon later.

[General Malaise]

There's a weapon Called 'Gauns Share' in The Temple of Eothas which has 'Draining', and I've used that all the way through(Enchainting up when I can). I would still use it now, but prefer a weapon with 'Marking', so will switch to that when I find it.

[Shrapnel]

Do all sidequests, loot everything not nailed down everywhere you go. By the time you get to clear Raedrics and are ready to actually fight him, you'll be level 4. All the loot in his keep will be enough to kill him once equipped.
Take all that massive hoard of loot you have into act 2 where you will find some useful stuff that will give you a nice advantage at the start of the act. Theres nothing worth spending money on in Act 1

[General Malaise]

The Animat Summon is worth buying as soon as you have the cash(and have done Blacksmith quest).

[Crazed Possum]

"I'm about 8 hours into the game ive spent most of my time playing side quests but I find myself having a pretty hard time with combat"

Combat is mostly about endurance,placing of characters (formation), location of the fight and protection spells. Having average weapons that are not enchanted and enchanted armor have less of an effect on combat in chapter 1 then just taking your time and fighting a calculated planned attack on your enemy.

[No Good Names Left]

Originally posted by Crazed Possum:

"I'm about 8 hours into the game ive spent most of my time playing side quests but I find myself having a pretty hard time with combat"

Combat is mostly about endurance,placing of characters (formation), location of the fight and protection spells. Having average weapons that are not enchanted and enchanted armor have less of an effect on combat in chapter 1 then just taking your time and fighting a calculated planned attack on your enemy.

can you go a little deeper into how you arrange your party formation? because i have a full party of six and as soon as it kicks off its just a huge gaggle ♥♥♥♥. Also I see people running parties smaller than six is there any benefit to that?

[Aranador]

It might help to know what your party is. I will have to give examples of how my party works - I play on hard mode as I lack the patience to do PoT.

Fighter designed for tanking. Moves in ahead of the team so most initial attacks fall on her. Which is a LOL moment as she is tougher than a very tough thing.

Paladin designed for two smites a fight plus being very tough. Picks a target, unloads a smite and explodes it. If a few baddies move to her, swaps to a shield and is almost as tough as the tank, but lacks the engagement limit - still - sint going to die much. This character also carries items that can be used for spell effects - so when not smiting and using a useless weapon with her shield, can play at being a caster of sorts.

Monk designed for surprise death OMG you shouldnt have attacked me. Interesting and fun build - normally just moves up to flank with the tank and has that jolting touch knife in her off hand, while using unarmed in her main - almost certain to proc early in the fight and do a load of zappage. However the fun starts if she gets targeted - as soon as she gets wounds, she starts exploding whole rooms of people.

Druid designed to just sit at the back firing a bow. Nothing special - except if a baddie does break away from the front melee, she can hulk out into boar form and rip them to bits while regenerating damage. Alternatively, if the fight looks like it might be serious, she can actually use her magic, and devestate the enemy. She is essentially the back up plan.

Two ciphers. I debated long and hard about having a chanter, but I decided to avoid using summons. These guys fire their wands when not doing anything more important, but they can paralyse key enemies, blanket knockdown groups of enemies, single out targets for raw damage to get around high DR, and all sorts of useful effects. I have selected their talents in different orders because I was interested to see what sorts of differences that made.

Anyway - fights are basically, approach in stealth, send in the tank followed by the paladin and monk just behind, have the ciphers open up with control effects, while the druid plinks away. Ranged firepower focusing on key enemy units like spell casters, while my tank attempts to catch as many of their melee as possible, with the paladin looking to catch what spills, then the monk looking for anything else, before starting to pummel people.

Essentially, it is all about gaining control of the battlefield, eliminating key targets, then mopping up.

Woo - wall of text crits you !

[feralgal]

Especially in the beginning, it's easiest if you can position Eder (the fighter) in a chokepoint like a doorway and have him engage as many enemies as possible. Use the Defender modal ability if you are having any problems with his health/endurance bc you don't want him to go down. Most ppl seem to use him as a pure tank to keep enemies away from the rest of the party and don't care if he does any damage.

Assuming that you have Aloth, keep him in the back and try to manuever him after the enemies are engaged. (Use the icon with six dots, right click on one of the custom party formation icons to make your own custom formation. Or IIRC you can also rearrange party members by right clicking on one of the regular formation icons.) Altoth's Arcane Attack is excellent but some of his debuffs (e.g., chill fog, slicken) are good for disabling enemies as well. And Eldritch Aim can help a lot if you need to buff your accuracy (as is Durance's Blessing spell).

If you have Durance, try to keep him in the middle so that the spells that center on him affect more party members. But he can help with the front line if necessary. His Interdiction spell is excellent for debuffing enemies (and the other per encounter helps a lot with vessels which are essentially the undead). He also has other good buffs/debuffs which you should try.

If you have done the blacksmith's quest in Gilded Vale, he is the best merchant you will find until you go to Defiance Bay. You can get good equipment in Raedric's Hold but many ppl consider that fight quite difficult so I"m not sure if that's a good option for you. Enchanting equipment to "fine" helps so check to see which ingredients are necessary in the crafting menu. The figurine is very helpful for ppl who are having difficulty with combat bc it gives you an extra party member (1x per rest). You will find other figurines later (and can buy them).

[elaquardia]

Imo You need two fighter Tanks in front line ! paladin in second line for aura (accuracy) and when higher level he can remove or revitalize front line tanks cleric in the middle with range weapon Buffing party Rogue in 3rd line to cause some pain to blind and prone enemies and wizard causing blindness to enemies so they can be easily defeated Later on Act you can adjust your attack always look at what you defeated in log book so you can adjust your way you attack Weaknesses especially spells each spell may attack a certain save. oh always have two primary and a secondary weapon full with different weapon Slash Pierce Crush. One thing I noticed you have to Accuracy versus Deflection and sometime your accuracy will crit. So IMO Accuracy is the most important IMO. Even in damage spells you still have to hit opponent. constitution. is really not as important as I thought it might be. Deflection versus on opponents accuracy pls mix it up some offense with defense talents Try not to be a glass cannon. Party balance is strongly recommended for this game.

[Geforce]

Originally posted by Aranador:

It might help to know what your party is. I will have to give examples of how my party works - I play on hard mode as I lack the patience to do PoT.

Fighter designed for tanking. Moves in ahead of the team so most initial attacks fall on her. Which is a LOL moment as she is tougher than a very tough thing.

Paladin designed for two smites a fight plus being very tough. Picks a target, unloads a smite and explodes it. If a few baddies move to her, swaps to a shield and is almost as tough as the tank, but lacks the engagement limit - still - sint going to die much. This character also carries items that can be used for spell effects - so when not smiting and using a useless weapon with her shield, can play at being a caster of sorts.

Monk designed for surprise death OMG you shouldnt have attacked me. Interesting and fun build - normally just moves up to flank with the tank and has that jolting touch knife in her off hand, while using unarmed in her main - almost certain to proc early in the fight and do a load of zappage. However the fun starts if she gets targeted - as soon as she gets wounds, she starts exploding whole rooms of people.

Druid designed to just sit at the back firing a bow. Nothing special - except if a baddie does break away from the front melee, she can hulk out into boar form and rip them to bits while regenerating damage. Alternatively, if the fight looks like it might be serious, she can actually use her magic, and devestate the enemy. She is essentially the back up plan.

Two ciphers. I debated long and hard about having a chanter, but I decided to avoid using summons. These guys fire their wands when not doing anything more important, but they can paralyse key enemies, blanket knockdown groups of enemies, single out targets for raw damage to get around high DR, and all sorts of useful effects. I have selected their talents in different orders because I was interested to see what sorts of differences that made.

Anyway - fights are basically, approach in stealth, send in the tank followed by the paladin and monk just behind, have the ciphers open up with control effects, while the druid plinks away. Ranged firepower focusing on key enemy units like spell casters, while my tank attempts to catch as many of their melee as possible, with the paladin looking to catch what spills, then the monk looking for anything else, before starting to pummel people.

Essentially, it is all about gaining control of the battlefield, eliminating key targets, then mopping up.

Woo - wall of text crits you !

Yes crits... especially when you consider you didn't answer any part of his question. He's asking about armour and enchants. Well done.

No Good Names Left the post from busards is a good starting point for what you need.

[Chester Copperpot]

Just my two cents for part formation. 2 fighter tank builds, priest, magex2, rogue. You can easily change the last 3 around, ciphers ability to take control of enemies is a great tool. On anything less than PoTD, 2 fighters and priest can essentially hold the line with any dps in the back dropping dps from ranged.

[Burnt_RAM_]

loot everything in sight. sell it, buy better stuff... the armory shop in gilded vale has some cool armor that your tanks could use. also the defiance bay area has one or two cool weapons worth looking at.

on a side note your keep offers quests that can sometimes gift unique weapons so keep an eye on that.

[Alpha and Omega]

Combat is mainly about tactics, not gear. You've said that you've been trying to get better gear, but said nothing about how your're actually playing the game. So what is your battle strategy?

[D'amarr from Darshiva]

Originally posted by Alpha and Omega:

Combat is mainly about tactics, not gear. You've said that you've been trying to get better gear, but said nothing about how your're actually playing the game. So what is your battle strategy?

Considering that the topic is from 12 May, 2015, it is unlikely that the OP will answer. And probably has moved on to other games after only 17.2 hours of PoE and one achievement only.

It's okay that others still add the requested "tipps and tricks" to the topic without being accused of necromancy, though don't hope for specific persons to respond.

Back to your reply. Indeed, combat tactics and usage of talents, abilities, spells and skills are more important than equipment. Equipment is sugar on top.