Party composition help

[number30five]

Hey all.
Need some advice on party composition
I've restarted the game a few times because I just cant seem to find a party that feels right. Still not used to the multi-classing i think.

atm, I'm taking:
Eider as a tank (pure fighter? or is a swashbuckler tank viable?)
Xoti as pure support priest
PC cipher as ranged DPS / CC

so i need a pure DPS melee character & another ranged damage dealer.

leaning toward Maia Rua (Ranger/Rogue multi) for ranged & either Serefan or Pallegina as the 2nd melee member, but i have no idea which class (or multiclass) is best suited to that role.

any advice would be appreciated.

[hairyscotsman]

Swashbuckler is very viable

There's some companion build suggestions here:
https://steamcommunity.com/id/teesinz/myworkshopfiles/?section=guides&appid=560130

I've tried a beckoner/healing druid combo for my main 1st time. Doubled summons recommended.
Currently on a Holy Slayer using Trickster to generate high deflection.

[feralgal]

I have Pallegina as a Herald and she's an awesome tank. The Paladin's Brand Enemy has no hit roll and always hits. Instead of picking passives that give bonuses to armor or deflection (like I did for a tank), pick abilities that give bonuses to damage, e.g., eternal devotion, exalted focus, or even debuffs like Glorious Beacon which blinds enemies and should let you kill them faster. Pick summons for the Chanter invocations. You can either buff, debuff, or damage with the chants.

[Gregorovitch]

Basic rule for this game is multi-class options are much stronger (and more fun) than single class optiolns with the possible exception of druids and wizards. Druids and wizards work well as single class becasue of their awsome (frankly OP) offensive spell arsenal that can often win a battle in one shot mid-to-late game. But they can also work incredibly effectively dual-classed too and are arguably more fun to play that way.

You want to mix a melee focussed class (fighter/rogue/pally/barb) with something else that has a bag of nasty tricks. This makes a party of cutthroats that are very difficult to kill, havew no real weak points and are extremely dangerous. If playing single class wizards/druids they are vulnedrable to melee attack so your friend is summons as they will protect them whilst they lay waste to the opposition. Druid and Wizard both have effective summons (the tentacles and the vine were my faves) and if a you add chanter to the mix for the ogres you have three summons up for each battle. That is enougfh.

Eder is totally awesome as a dueal-wieild swashbuckler becasue he has essentially most of the tankiness of a fighter (and the awsome Disciplined Strikes and Charge abilities) but he also has the collossal DPS output of a rogue. It is, frankly, a no-brainer to make Eder a Swashbukler.

Xoti is much more awsome as a priest/monk than she is a straight priest. Part of this is becasue the priest spell book is far less comprehensive than it was in PoE1, so you don't need it so much, and part of it is that once she's cast basic buffs and Concecrated Ground at the beginning of a battle she just switches on the Kung Fu stuff and literarally kicks arse - all over the battle field. She can tank on the front line fine, she charge pesky enemy wizards and just stun them with a roundhouse kick, bye-bye wizard. Etc. Someone bothering your wizard? Just get Xoti to kick their arse 10m across the map. Job done. She is a collossal nuisance for the enemy as a priest/monk.

Pallegina works superbly as herald - constant Paladin aura buffs, constant Chanter phrase buffs, awasome summons right off the bat and to all intents and purposes indestructable. What is not to like about this?

TL;DR: dual-class FTW unless you want to play a wizard or druid equipped with tactical nuclear weapons.

[haramb3]

I suggust the following teimplate
tank - singe class figther, they are the best tank untill u are comfortable with multiclass
support tank (this can be a paladin, a chanter, a monk) you want someon else on the front lines
DPS tank/flanker (rogue or another DPS character) you want this character to be the one targeting enemies' mages and archers: best defense is a good offense!
wizard-wizards are amazing
healing caster (priest, druid, or a multi class like Fassina - sorcerer)

[Singrave]

play solo DD\CC with a TANK\DD
on POTD difficulty!
you'll love all this micromanagement in no time, i swear!

[feralgal]

Originally posted by Gregorovitch:

Basic rule for this game is multi-class options are much stronger (and more fun) than single class optiolns with the possible exception of druids and wizards. . . .

TL;DR: dual-class FTW unless you want to play a wizard or druid equipped with tactical nuclear weapons.

I agree. I left Eder as a fighter bc the warning in the beginning scared me off of multiclassing him. I think that was a mistake bc rogues have some excellent abilities that I think would work well with a front line fighter.. My other party members are multi-classed. I think I chose the monk/priest option for Xoti bc of one of your posts and she's been excellent. (Thanks.) I use her for healing a lot more than you do but that's bc of my playstyle.

I'd add chanter to the list of classes you may want to consider playing as a single class. They can be very OP even with one class, though I think the recent nerfs have hurt that. I also think that you can add chanter, rogue, or probably monk to any class and improve them, though if you're planning on reaching the highest levels in the game, you'll want to check out the top level abilities and make sure you're ok with giving up the top two levels. For ppl like me who aren't planning on leveling that high, multi-classing is a no brainer with the only drawback in the beginning when you don't advance in your first class as quickly but you only give up one level every third level and gain a lot.

I wonder if some of the complaints about POE2 are bc the new classes are so good that you can just let the AI fight.

[Gregorovitch]

Originally posted by Funtimes:

tank - singe class figther, they are the best tank untill u are comfortable with multiclass
support tank

I'm sure you are right that fighters make excellent tanks but speaking of Eder (and let's face it many people are going to be wondering what to do witrh Eder) I played him on PotD as swashbuckler (fighter/rogue) and can assure everyone that he is almost indestructable, he was almost impossible to kill. He took point in every battle, he was imovable.

But he was also able to deal collossal damage becasue of his rigue abilities- over the game IIRC Aloth (straight wizard) did a total of 88k damage, my druid 83k and Eder 79k. That is insane damage output for a front line melee.

In short a dual wielding swashbuckler Eder is a monster.

Equally my Pallegina as Herald and Xoti as priest/monk were also more or less indestructable. My conclusion was clear - if you got one of the main four melee classes in the mix and you pick up a few key passives along the way (as you should) you got a full on tank, pure and simple, or rather a tank++ and I can't see what's not to like about that.

Originally posted by feralgal:

I left Eder as a fighter bc the warning in the beginning scared me off of multiclassing him.

Obsiadian should remove that rediculous and totally misleaading "advice" forthwith IMHO. It's not just that multi-class options tend to be stronger, it's also they tend to be more fun to play.

[feralgal]

Originally posted by Gregorovitch:

Originally posted by feralgal:

I left Eder as a fighter bc the warning in the beginning scared me off of multiclassing him.

Obsiadian should remove that rediculous and totally misleaading "advice" forthwith IMHO. It's not just that multi-class options tend to be stronger, it's also they tend to be more fun to play.

I think they're easier to play as well so the advice is especially troublesome bc you would want to pick a swashbuckler instead of a pure fighter or rogue if you're new to POE or especially relatively new to the genre. I play a lot with my party at a fairly low level and dual classing gives you so many more options with a character bc you get abilities and power resources from two classes. They're more versatile, not only for different types of encounters but also you can easily build a powerful character for pure tanking, pure DPS, support, or a mixture. If they're going to put in a warning it should be that you should only choose one of the single classes if you're experienced.

The other problem is that I am fairly experienced. I soloed POE1 on POTD twice (and started a couple more that I abandoned when they nerfed the class) and the warning still worried me enough that I chose fighter instead of swashbuckler. I had not followed POE2's development at all and thought maybe there was something that would cause unexpected and difficult problems by choosing multiclass. I don't like to get much metagame info before playing, so I heeded the warning. If it's going to scare off someone who played POE1 (and has been playing cRPGs for years), they probably need to reword it or, as you say, take it out.