Pillars of Eternity classes

[Ishal]

So I just bought PoE, and I started a Paladin. I'm liking it, but kinda not at the same time.

I understand it's a pretty newb friendly class, and meant to be played with emphasis to the order you choose influencing how you RP. That's fun, but the combat is kinda boring since all I do is buff and support. I'd like to make my PC the tank, but from what I've read from others and seen myself, it's kind of a waste since a fighter is better suited to the roll and you get on early on.

I'm thinking going for something ranged with a crossbow or rifle, so that'd be ranger, right? I've seen people giving priests ranged weapons, but I thought they were buff/debuff classes.

I'm not even to the stronghold yet, so I could just keep playing and settle in once I get more party members to diversify the roles. It's just that having two tanks or two healers in the party seems kinda sub optimal. But then, I've been told to min-max on the second playthrough, and RP the first.

I dunno.

 

[Jandau]

If your Paladin only buffs and supports, that's your own fault for building him that way. A Paladin is a perfectly solid damage class, even better suited for it than Fighters. Also, most classes start a bit slow and tend to open up as the levels go by. Special attacks, spells, items with active abilities, scrolls, etc.

The fact of the matter is, the class system is actually pretty open. Sure, a Ranger appears like the obvious choice for a ranged weapon user, but you can just as well make a ranged Cipher, a ranged Chanter, a ranged Priest or a ranged Druid. Seriously, just pick what you like and don't worry about it too much. All the classes are good. Sure, a few are a bit stronger *cough*Cipher*cough*, but none are broken or bad (before someone screams Wizard, they got buffed in the last patch). Maybe Rangers, due to their class mechanic being a bit weak (the pets are kinda garbage). I still keep Sagani with me, though, simply for her banter.

Two Tanks isn't suboptimal at all. For me, Eder is the main tank, while Pallegrina is an offtank, and still I can get swarmed in larger fights. As for healers... well, you don't really need them if you play smart. Sure, I have Durance along, but I rarely use him for his heals. His buffs, debuffs and damage spells are more of a priority to me.

As for min-maxing, on Normal you don't need to do any of it. As long as you don't make a complete mess of your characters, you'll be able to wipe the floor with pretty much anything in the game. On Hard, it gets challenging, but nothing too severe. Min-maxing is only really needed on the highest difficulty.

All in all, don't worry about stuff too much, just play the game.

 

[Smooth Operator]

You have no limits to armor or weapons so your paladin can engage any way you want, even switch around mid-fight.
And honestly it is moronic to not have your entire party equipped with ranged weapons when you start an encounter, you get the first chunk of damage in before anything else can happen.

 

[Jandau]

You have no limits to armor or weapons so your paladin can engage any way you want, even switch around mid-fight.
And honestly it is moronic to not have your entire party equipped with ranged weapons when you start an encounter, you get the first chunk of damage in before anything else can happen.

Disagreed on the ranged weapons part - an opening volley might sound nice, but switching to a melee weapon triggers the recovery period which can be problematic at the start. I'd rather have Eder knocking people down than maybe hitting someone with a single gunshot.

Also, constant weapon switching can get tedious.

 

[Fat Hippo]

If your Paladin only buffs and supports, that's your own fault for building him that way. A Paladin is a perfectly solid damage class, even better suited for it than Fighters. Also, most classes start a bit slow and tend to open up as the levels go by. Special attacks, spells, items with active abilities, scrolls, etc.

The fact of the matter is, the class system is actually pretty open. Sure, a Ranger appears like the obvious choice for a ranged weapon user, but you can just as well make a ranged Cipher, a ranged Chanter, a ranged Priest or a ranged Druid. Seriously, just pick what you like and don't worry about it too much. All the classes are good. Sure, a few are a bit stronger *cough*Cipher*cough*, but none are broken or bad (before someone screams Wizard, they got buffed in the last patch). Maybe Rangers, due to their class mechanic being a bit weak (the pets are kinda garbage). I still keep Sagani with me, though, simply for her banter.

Two Tanks isn't suboptimal at all. For me, Eder is the main tank, while Pallegrina is an offtank, and still I can get swarmed in larger fights. As for healers... well, you don't really need them if you play smart. Sure, I have Durance along, but I rarely use him for his heals. His buffs, debuffs and damage spells are more of a priority to me.

As for min-maxing, on Normal you don't need to do any of it. As long as you don't make a complete mess of your characters, you'll be able to wipe the floor with pretty much anything in the game. On Hard, it gets challenging, but nothing too severe. Min-maxing is only really needed on the highest difficulty.

All in all, don't worry about stuff too much, just play the game.

Wizards are supposed to be weak? Really? That sounds so strange to me, since I've got two wizards in my party (PC and Aloth) and they have by far dealt the most damage of all my party members. And I haven't been having a particularly hard time with the game so far, 25 hours in, so maybe people just aren't using their wizards very well? I've heard people complain about the range, but there's plenty of ways around that. I tend to start fights with fireballs, and the extra AoE from the intellect bonus from those generally let me hit almost all of the enemies. I start a fight with two of those, and everyone is nice and softened up and ready to get stomped.

 

[Xyebane]

Cypher is the best.

Amazing damage, CC, and no per rest abilities. Very front loaded.

 

[DEAD34345]

Two tanks isn't suboptimal, in fact I'd highly recommend it. Tanking works completely differently to most games in POE, and no matter how many upgrades you get one tank isn't going to be able to successfully engage all of the enemies coming to kill your squishier characters.[footnote]Well... Unless you're blocking a door or something, but that isn't always possible.[/footnote] You only get one fighter companion in the game, and the paladin companion doesn't seem particularly suited to being a tank, so having a player paladin tank seems like a good choice to me. My plan at the moment is to restart and rush to the paladin companion as quickly as possible in the hopes I can recruit her before she picks the two handed specialty and then use her as a tank, but I'm playing as a rogue, and this wouldn't be necessary with a tank MC.

 

[Jandau]

Wizards are supposed to be weak? Really? That sounds so strange to me, since I've got two wizards in my party (PC and Aloth) and they have by far dealt the most damage of all my party members. And I haven't been having a particularly hard time with the game so far, 25 hours in, so maybe people just aren't using their wizards very well? I've heard people complain about the range, but there's plenty of ways around that. I tend to start fights with fireballs, and the extra AoE from the intellect bonus from those generally let me hit almost all of the enemies. I start a fight with two of those, and everyone is nice and softened up and ready to get stomped.

Oh, they are by no means weak, but people seem to insist on it. It's mostly down to the mix of low ranges (mostly fixed at this point), low damage early on and the need to actually position properly to make full use of many spells - all this results in a class that seems weak at first glance. But yeah, Aloth is the 2nd best damage dealer in my group (after my Cipher main character), despite his shit Might. And that's despite me using him mostly for his crowd control (Slicken is bizzarely good).

 

[Ishal]

Wizards are supposed to be weak? Really? That sounds so strange to me, since I've got two wizards in my party (PC and Aloth) and they have by far dealt the most damage of all my party members. And I haven't been having a particularly hard time with the game so far, 25 hours in, so maybe people just aren't using their wizards very well? I've heard people complain about the range, but there's plenty of ways around that. I tend to start fights with fireballs, and the extra AoE from the intellect bonus from those generally let me hit almost all of the enemies. I start a fight with two of those, and everyone is nice and softened up and ready to get stomped.

Oh, they are by no means weak, but people seem to insist on it. It's mostly down to the mix of low ranges (mostly fixed at this point), low damage early on and the need to actually position properly to make full use of many spells - all this results in a class that seems weak at first glance. But yeah, Aloth is the 2nd best damage dealer in my group (after my Cipher main character), despite his shit Might. And that's despite me using him mostly for his crowd control (Slicken is bizzarely good).

I think that's my main issue right now. Aloth keeps getting killed, despite me positioning him away from the combat, the range means he has to get close. Sometimes enemies see him, and he get's killed in two hits. Are there any taunts in this game? If not, then I can see how it's so different from other games.

 

[Jandau]

I think that's my main issue right now. Aloth keeps getting killed, despite me positioning him away from the combat, the range means he has to get close. Sometimes enemies see him, and he get's killed in two hits. Are there any taunts in this game? If not, then I can see how it's so different from other games.

There are no Taunts as such. Instead there's something called "Engagement". Basically, each character can "engage" one opponent. If the engaged enemy tries moving away, the engaging character gets to make an attack with hefty Accuracy and Damage bonuses. You can tell who's engaging who by the green and red lines between the chracters - green means a friendly character is engaging a target, red means that an enemy is engagina friendly character.

This mechanic works both ways! A frequent mistake is to try to just run away when your squishies are engaged, and they just get dropped on the spot.

Most enemies, once engaged, will stick to the person engaging them. Eder (and any Fighter) can engage two extra enemies (for a total of 3) using his "Defender" ability (this is also what makes Fighters such good tanks). Also, anyone can grab the "Hold the Line" talent that gives 1 extra engage target (I picked that up on Pallegina). So your front liners can "taunt" in a way - enemies will rarely try to break engagement.

If your own characters get engaged, your best bet is to crowd control the enemies in question. Hard CC effects disable engagement - things like Paralyze, Stun and Prone, as well as knocking the attacked out of range (for instance, the Grimoire Slam ability for Aloth might be helpful).

This is also why multiple tanks aren't a bad idea. In my party, Eder can engage 3 enemies, Pallegina can engage 2. I set them up in front, with a bit of room between them (my Cipher and Aloth can toss line and cone spells in between them), so they intercept as many enemies as possible.

Another thing to note is that control through spells and abilities is crucial - spells that Paralyze, Stun and knock enemies Prone are invaluable, and Slows and such are also helpful. Again, during low levels try to get Slicken for Aloth, use Eder's Knockdown, look into what your character might do in this regard (for instance, my Cipher has a dirt cheap, long lasting Paralyze spell in Mental Binding). Recover and use traps through the use of Mechanics skills, etc.

Seriously, you should be able to control most normal engagements. Exceptions are fights against Phantoms/Spectres since they can (and will) teleport, and enemies with mind control/confusion effects who can disrupt your line of battle.

 

[KingsGambit_v1legacy]

So I just bought PoE, and I started a Paladin. I'm liking it, but kinda not at the same time.

I understand it's a pretty newb friendly class, and meant to be played with emphasis to the order you choose influencing how you RP. That's fun, but the combat is kinda boring since all I do is buff and support. I'd like to make my PC the tank, but from what I've read from others and seen myself, it's kind of a waste since a fighter is better suited to the roll and you get on early on.

I'm thinking going for something ranged with a crossbow or rifle, so that'd be ranger, right? I've seen people giving priests ranged weapons, but I thought they were buff/debuff classes.

I'm not even to the stronghold yet, so I could just keep playing and settle in once I get more party members to diversify the roles. It's just that having two tanks or two healers in the party seems kinda sub optimal. But then, I've been told to min-max on the second playthrough, and RP the first.

I dunno.

I haven't played a Paladin and have only just picked up the Paladin companion so can't comment on specific skills. My understanding from the PoE forums and much reading is that they shine in one of two roles: Tank or Buff/Support. In one of these two roles you'll come online quite early and only get better as time goes on. They can be specced for damage, but they'll be very much late-bloomers. They don't have many class talents/abilities to improve their damage, just one or two per encounter things.

Saying all that, they would likely be fun to play with attention to your Order's preferred personality traits and will have so much interaction when you get to Defiance Bay. A fighter also makes a good tank, but can also be as easily specced for damage. I was using a created fighter tank until I found a 6th voice-acted NPC with Eder providing solid DPS with dual sabres and scale armour. I admit I did spec him towards tank early on so he could take over the role when I dumped the hired NPC but no reason you can't tank with the Paladin and have Eder has a front-line DPS alongside you.

Your party composition will change and there's some selection of NPCs to join you. You have only met 2-3 NPCs at this point. There's 1-3 more yet to come before or around the end of Act I and I believe 1-2 more in Act II (depending on when you visit certain areas). Each of those classes can be levelled and equipped differently to provide whatever you want. For example: Aloth could be CC, debuffer, nuker. Eder: DPS or Tank. Durance less so since he has all his spells, but you can equip him for range, melee, etc as you like.

Don't worry about fighters being better tanks than Paladins; they aren't. Tanking is down to one thing: Deflection, and that comes from the class (both classes are high deflection), shields and some gear/talents (as well as temporary buffs from spells).

 

[BloatedGuppy]

So I just bought PoE, and I started a Paladin. I'm liking it, but kinda not at the same time.

I understand it's a pretty newb friendly class, and meant to be played with emphasis to the order you choose influencing how you RP. That's fun, but the combat is kinda boring since all I do is buff and support. I'd like to make my PC the tank, but from what I've read from others and seen myself, it's kind of a waste since a fighter is better suited to the roll and you get on early on.

I'm thinking going for something ranged with a crossbow or rifle, so that'd be ranger, right? I've seen people giving priests ranged weapons, but I thought they were buff/debuff classes.

I'm not even to the stronghold yet, so I could just keep playing and settle in once I get more party members to diversify the roles. It's just that having two tanks or two healers in the party seems kinda sub optimal. But then, I've been told to min-max on the second playthrough, and RP the first.

I dunno.

Well, lets run through the options available to you. Some mild spoilers as to NPC classes you get in your party and roughly when.

BARBARIAN (NO NPC) - One of three classes for which you will never get an NPC companion. I have zero experience with these guys, so someone else would have to weigh in. Given the importance of having ~2 "tanky" front line combatants, a strong possibility for the player character.

CHANTER - You get Kana pretty early on, I believe he's your third or fourth NPC companion and you'll likely encounter him in your first 3-4 hours of play. Chanters are...not ideal. If you're playing on Path of the Damned you might view a Chanter as an optimal or required class, but on lower difficulties combat resolves too quickly for them to have much impact. They end up being a bit of a mediocre "Oh right, that guy" kind of class.

CIPHER - Your Cipher companion doesn't show up until quite deep into Act 2, so running a Cipher PC isn't a terrible idea. Arguably the most flexible all-around DPS class in the game. Their focus regenerates between fights, so their abilities can be considered "spammable" and by-encounter instead of by-rest. Some nice utility and CC options as well. Very good class. A bit lackluster without focus perhaps but you can't have everything.

DRUID - Druid companion is also found deep in Act 2, and he's kind of irritating to boot, so this is another strong PC possibility. Druids can arguably outshine Mages at magery and are more robust in the bargain. Their shapeshift mechanic quickly loses steam as you level up, though, so you're just going to be Nature Mage.

FIGHTER - As you've discovered, Eder is one of the first companions you get, and as he'll be a relatively blank slate when you get him he's easy to shape into whatever you need, which in 99.9% of cases will be a tank. Thus, a fighter PC will feel a bit superfluous, unless you really dislike Eder's personality and want to sit him. Which seems unlikely, since Eder is so charming.

MONK (NO NPC) - As one of the three classes with no NPC, Monks stand out. They also stand out for having an oddball mechanic and being a bit lackluster in terms of functionality. It might just be the way I play the game, but on higher difficulties health is an incredibly precious resource, so playing a class that must soak up damage to function properly is a no-go.

PALADIN - Your NPC Paladin doesn't come as late as some of the other classes, but she doesn't come early, either. Paladins are...okay. They feel a bit like Chanters...some decent if not overly spectacular buffs, the ability to sort of/kind of frontline fight alongside fights. They're alright. Not terribly interactive and get outshone by other classes in specialty roles.

PRIEST - Probably second only to fighter in terms of being indispensible at higher difficulties. You get your NPC Priest relatively early but he's also a bit of a dickbag, so you might be happier with a PC in this role. As with all classes you can throw any kind of armor and weapons at your Priest as fits your fancy, so you can have a rugged front line plate wearing Priest or a back line cloth-wearing priest depending on your preference. I prefer the former, as Priests often need to be in the thick of things to be most effective.

RANGER - You get a pretty cool Ranger companion, which is awesome, but Rangers are a bit of a "meh" class, which is less awesome. They're a bit mediocre for DPS despite occupying a DPS niche, the pets make good temporary tanks but get run over swiftly by any serious opposition, and they lack utility and AoE. They're "ok". Definitely a bottom tier class.

ROGUE (NO NPC) - Rogues are the highest single target DPS class in the game bar none, and your best bet at killing THAT mob RIGHT NOW. Their role can arguably be filled more completely by a Cipher, due to Rogues having no AoE worth talking about, but no one can dump a single target faster. My Rogue eventually lapped my wizard on the DPS charts.

WIZARD - Wizards are in a tough spot because you get one straight off the hop, and he's a pretty endearing companion, so it's hard to justify a PC Wizard. The general rule with Wizards should be one or none, too, as they're arguably outclassed by both Druids and Ciphers in their role as AoE artillery.

If you want to play a ranged class, I'd overwhelmingly recommend a Cipher or a Rogue. If you want to tank, I'd go for a Barbarian, or make a Priest/Druid and get them as tanky as you can.

Don't worry about fighters being better tanks than Paladins; they aren't.

They kind of are, actually. Defender, Constant Recovery, Wary Defender and Vigorous Defense all make a significant difference in terms of ability to front-line soak. I play on hard, and I've had Eder completely ringed by enemies and his health/endurance barely moves. Pallegina frequently gets badly hurt just handling a single add, despite only being about 10 deflection behind him.

 

[Ishal]

snip

Thanks for the notes, Gup.

So, if I were to reroll a priest, what would I be looking at? Say I wanted to spec him to be a tank-ish class and stick him alongside Eder, would I be sacrificing his buff abilities to do so? In which case I'd need Durance?

Cipher is something I'm hearing several people rave about. So I'll likely stick that in the second character slot for another playthrough.

Barbarian I've heard isn't that good for tanking, they're mainly for melee AOE dps. Cleaves and such.

I'll think on what to do. Maybe I'll go priest tonight.

 

[mavkiel]

Problem is weird design choices in PoE.

Paladins for example have next to no abilities to use. Oh joy, a flaming sword attack twice per battle? Great.. Lay on hands? Nice - at least early on. Honestly they needed to look at either D&D or any mmo. Having things to do in combat is great. (Having to micro manage classes you need but detest is awful though).

Wizards, their problem isnt strength, its more of a fun issue. Its not much fun to be better off spamming a level 1 ae attack. All of their single target spells are very lackluster. Oh and no pre-buffing also sucks. Every fight I feel like my wizard is just slapping their target with a glove, and challenging them to a duel. (At which point the monster just rips the throat out of the wizard)

Rogues - Group stealth.. really group stealth that breaks for everyone soon as combat is engaged? So the only way to ever use your ambush style attack, is to open up with your rogue at close range, then use your vanish ability. Thats *two* talents blown for something you can do twice per rest.

Chanters - seem a fairly solid class. however, if your using either wizards or rogues chances of them actually chanting long enough to get a spell off is fairly low.

 

[BloatedGuppy]

Thanks for the notes, Gup.

So, if I were to reroll a priest, what would I be looking at? Say I wanted to spec him to be a tank-ish class and stick him alongside Eder, would I be sacrificing his buff abilities to do so? In which case I'd need Durance?

Cipher is something I'm hearing several people rave about. So I'll likely stick that in the second character slot for another playthrough.

Barbarian I've heard isn't that good for tanking, they're mainly for melee AOE dps. Cleaves and such.

I'll think on what to do. Maybe I'll go priest tonight.

If I wanted a beefy Priest, I'd probably dump some DEX and CON (seems backward if you're an AD&D player, but CON should ALWAYS be your dump stat), push a little bit extra into RES, and make sure MIGHT and INT were high. If you want to dump more, take a little bit from PER and put it into RES...the deflection gain from the latter will offset the loss from the former, and you want the concentration more than the interrupt.

Then slap the heaviest armor you can get on him, give him a big-ass shield, and take 2nd pick of tanky items like rings of deflection (Eder should always have first priority). Then you use him to tie up mobs that leak around Eder. Try not to get him flanked. Remember he is TANKY, but not a TANK. He'll get creamed if you let him get flanked/surrounded. Priests do not need to spam cast to be effective, they are reactive casters primarily, so you don't need to worry about your slightly slower action speed/recovery.

Rogues - Group stealth.. really group stealth that breaks for everyone soon as combat is engaged? So the only way to ever use your ambush style attack, is to open up with your rogue at close range, then use your vanish ability. Thats *two* talents blown for something you can do twice per rest.

Backstab is near useless. Almost impossible to set up. You use Rogues for sneak attack, which is triggered by a panoply of different status effects, and not just stealth. 1.5x damage modifier is still a LOT. My Rogue routinely crits for over 100 damage. I can usually single out and kill 1-2 casters from an enemy team in the opening seconds of combat.

 

[beastro]

BARBARIAN (NO NPC) - One of three classes for which you will never get an NPC companion. I have zero experience with these guys, so someone else would have to weigh in. Given the importance of having ~2 "tanky" front line combatants, a strong possibility for the player character.

My first guy is one and he's great, able to off tank and focus on dps at the same time, I find he's able to take more damage than the Pally you get and can heal himself better than she can though I have him using the best Pike I've come across and use doorways as much as possible to choke point using Eder and Palligina as meat shields.

I was originally going to pick a Pally before launch until I did some research and got the gist of what they were going to play as and went to Barb and never looked back.

With Eder, Palligina, my Barb as tanks/off-tanks, Grieving Mother as a meld of DW melee and ranged and Aloth and Durance I have a good balance of dps and CC (helps that Aloth's level 1 spell bugged out so now he has 22 uses per rest for Slicken). I originally had Kana in place of Aloth but found three meleers was enough and his Chanter spells somewhat underwhelming on Hard since most fights end before he can use his chants more than once.

DRUID - Druid companion is also found deep in Act 2, and he's kind of irritating to boot, so this is another strong PC possibility.

He's the only character I can't stand and the reason I'm walking around with Aloth as my secondary caster.

PRIEST - Probably second only to fighter in terms of being indispensible at higher difficulties. You get your NPC Priest relatively early but he's also a bit of a dickbag, so you might be happier with a PC in this role.

Durance is a character you love as much as he's loathsome. He's definitely the most entertaining and interesting companion you get.

You have no limits to armor or weapons so your paladin can engage any way you want, even switch around mid-fight.
And honestly it is moronic to not have your entire party equipped with ranged weapons when you start an encounter, you get the first chunk of damage in before anything else can happen.

I find heavy armour good to slap on my tanks and my support like my priest and wizard since mobs like to go after them the most.

I quickly learned this and decked my party out in Arbalests. I've spent most of the game sneaking around and then charge sneaking into battle enough to spot the weaker support mobs like wizards and priests and take them out on the opening round before they can do anything.

 

[BloatedGuppy]

Durance is a character you love as much as he's loathsome. He's definitely the most entertaining and interesting companion you get.

I don't hate Durance, but on the loveable/entertaining spectrum he falls below Eder and Aloth for sure, and probably Sagani and Pallegina as well. I keep him around because he's indispensible in terms of ability set, but if I had my druthers I'd swap him out for Sagani.

I agree he can be interesting, but I've poked through most of his dialogue trees already.

 

[Rattja]

Don't know much about paladins, but people really should not write off the Monk class. The damage they do later on is rather insane, even without wounds.

All in all you are quite free to build any class the way you want, as long as you are somewhat smart about it.

Although.. I've come to the conclusion that all you really need is scroll of paralyze, because that thing is just ridicules.

Oh and Edèr, because he is just all sorts of awesome.

 

[mavkiel]

...
Backstab is near useless. Almost impossible to set up. You use Rogues for sneak attack, which is triggered by a panoply of different status effects, and not just stealth. 1.5x damage modifier is still a LOT. My Rogue routinely crits for over 100 damage. I can usually single out and kill 1-2 casters from an enemy team in the opening seconds of combat.

If you get rid of backstab, then you have even fewer things to do with that character. Shoot, one would think they would give some more abilities you could use in a fight. Instead its, blow one or two abilities then just watch the pretty numbers. Or switch to one of the casters to do something interesting.

 

[BloatedGuppy]

If you get rid of backstab, then you have even fewer things to do with that character. Shoot, one would think they would give some more abilities you could use in a fight. Instead its, blow one or two abilities then just watch the pretty numbers. Or switch to one of the casters to do something interesting.

Rogues are not a terribly interactive class, no, but they are extremely high output in terms of damage. I point mine at whatever needs to die ASAP and get back to micromanaging the fussy classes.