Kyshakk Koan RaustBlackDragon Posted September 7, 2012 Share Posted September 7, 2012 Hey, so I've gotten reasonably far in the game on Torment, and I thought I'd share how my party's progressed if anybody's interested: 1: Albus the Paladin My predictions with this guy turned out to be correct: he's by far the weakest on my team in terms of damage output, but he's indispensable as a healer, and his resistance to magical attacks is by far the strongest on the team, with his physical survivability being quite good as well. Once I get the tome for return life (I've been told that getting it above level 1 is worthless), this survivability will be especially important, as I'll be able to continue battles after characters die (I like keeping experience roughly even). 2: Diana the Amazon Her endurance makes her great for handling ghosts and slimes, but in a great number of situations, she's not much help, and she's ironically often the most likely to die in many situations involving physical attacks, despite her excellent equipment. Of course, I did load tool use, cave lore AND first aid on her (I decided to use every skill in the game, no matter what the guides say, just for the heck of it), and the skill points this saves my other party members is immense. They owe a lot of their power to her, and her cave lore has been far, FAR more useful than the guides would suggest. (Continued in the next post) Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Kyshakk Koan RaustBlackDragon Posted September 7, 2012 Author Share Posted September 7, 2012 3: Orpheus the Ninja I predicted he'd be a ton of fun, and I believe I was correct. As my only character to invest 100% of their skill points in the combat tab, he is by far the best physical damage-dealer for the party. This is not just because he can dual-wield however; his gymnastics frequently endow him with 2 extra action points, which is a guaranteed two actions normally, and when battle-frenzied and hasted, it's a good chance of THREE actions. He rarely has to stand back and use his throwing weapons, though he's quite decent in those situations, but enough about that, the main benefit of this guy's dexterity is how easily he can dodge physical attacks. Who would have thought that the NINJA would be my party's physical tank? Between his evasion rate and bladeshield (He has access to every battle discipline in the game), he's unkillable by physical mooks (yes, I am playing on torment), and even physical minibosses/bosses have some difficulty hitting him. 4: Lucille, the SpellSlinger This bow-brandishing sorceress is utterly DEADLY. Her gymnastics, combined with the mercuric leather she's wearing, regularly grant her two bonus action points, and when hasted and frenzied, this allows her to unload some SERIOUS hurt, in the form of three fireblasts without the aid of adrenaline rush. Evildoers are in some serious trouble once she gets around to learning that particular technique, because then her foes will have to face down an onslaught of FIVE consecutive AOE spells in a single turn. And thanks to her magical efficiency, she totally has the stamina to keep that barrage coming. Granted, this immense damage output comes at the price of being exceedingly vulnerable to magical attacks, but against physical attacks she does quite well thanks to her dexterity. Any thoughts on my party? Any advice? Keep in mind I'm going by the following rules: 1: You can never put more than half of your allotted stat points into any one stat 2: By the time you reach level 30, for every skill there must be a character with at least one point invested in it, and by the time you reach level 61, for every skill there must be a character with at least 10 points invested in it (unless the limit is lower). 3: Every weapon type/style must be used by at least one character. So no advice that involves breaking these rules please Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Hatchling Cockatrice Lilith Posted September 7, 2012 Share Posted September 7, 2012 For the record, you're not going to reach level 61. 35 is a pretty normal endgame level. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Kyshakk Koan RaustBlackDragon Posted September 7, 2012 Author Share Posted September 7, 2012 I know that, it's a theoretical level I'm talking about, like I have to allocate my skill points so that I could meet those qualifications if I were to reach level 61. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Unflappable Drayk Death Knight Posted September 7, 2012 Share Posted September 7, 2012 Cool party! I like the bit where you named your characters after what they would be if class were an issue. Im definitely thinking of making an Amazon or some type of spear warrior after my 1st go through. Might use backstab-Shadowlancer or something cool like that. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Kyshakk Koan Hume Posted September 7, 2012 Share Posted September 7, 2012 From a power gamer's prospective, your party is simply awful. Your bow-brandishing sorceress will be MUCH more deadly if she give up the bow-brandishing thing. So is everone else in your party. I am surprised you managed to go this far in torment with this crappy party. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Fledgling Fyora Tanstaafl Posted September 7, 2012 Share Posted September 7, 2012 Originally Posted By: Death Knight Cool party! I like the bit where you named your characters after what they would be if class were an issue. Im definitely thinking of making an Amazon or some type of spear warrior after my 1st go through. Might use backstab-Shadowlancer or something cool like that. Same here, I like the backstory thoughts behind them. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Kyshakk Koan RaustBlackDragon Posted September 7, 2012 Author Share Posted September 7, 2012 Originally Posted By: Hume From a power gamer's prospective, your party is simply awful. Your bow-brandishing sorceress will be MUCH more deadly if she give up the bow-brandishing thing. So is everone else in your party. I am surprised you managed to go this far in torment with this crappy party. I'll take that as a compliment Basically, I view the loading of everything into one stat as a sort of exploit that is not how the game was intended to be played. Clearly Jeff did not plan on characters doing this, as he recommends a bit of dexterity for warriors in the stat description, as well as other examples in the game tips. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Hatchling Cockatrice Randomizer Posted September 7, 2012 Share Posted September 7, 2012 Jeff says lots of things that aren't good advice. Intense specialization ups your damage so you don't get into a war of attrition where one lucky round of all the monsters hitting can kill your party. You could have used trainers for cave lore (2 per character) and the Mertis quest and Giant Land pool would give you 10 without using skill points. Arcane lore with trainers will give you 8. Tool use is expensive so that is only for singletons. Lilith is right that grinding a party of 4 over level 35 is hard. Even a singleton doesn't need to reach 61 to finish the game on torment. I stopped grinding at 55. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Kyshakk Koan RaustBlackDragon Posted September 7, 2012 Author Share Posted September 7, 2012 Intense specialization also limits the variety of character types you can make, which is why I'm ignoring that and playing this way, which I consider more fun. Also, I don't like my characters being able to one-shot eachother the very instant they get charmed. Yes, it is from a practical standpoint rather stupid, but I'm having much more fun this way, and since this is a game, I really think that's all that matters. Does anybody have any advice for me going by the rules I set up for myself? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Hatchling Cockatrice Randomizer Posted September 7, 2012 Share Posted September 7, 2012 I'd max out parry for the first three characters since you don't take damage that way. Even 6 levels makes a significant difference. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Unflappable Drayk Death Knight Posted September 7, 2012 Share Posted September 7, 2012 -For your ninja character, I noticed that you have 5 points into quick action and only 3 in hardiness. I would recommend since your dexterity is high, to pump those 5 points of quick action into hardiness via the editor. It will really make a difference when you do get hit. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Kyshakk Koan RaustBlackDragon Posted September 8, 2012 Author Share Posted September 8, 2012 Originally Posted By: Death Knight -For your ninja character, I noticed that you have 5 points into quick action and only 3 in hardiness. I would recommend since your dexterity is high, to pump those 5 points of quick action into hardiness via the editor. It will really make a difference when you do get hit. Thanks, but 5 points are all I can spare. Orpheus's eventual build path will involve maxing out dual-wielding and lethal blow (the rules demand my builds are consistent with theoretically having every skill maxed by level 61). But I've decided to give Diana hardiness instead of Blademaster though, since Orpheus already covers the "maxing blademaster" requirement, then going for parry and riposte. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Unflappable Drayk Death Knight Posted September 8, 2012 Share Posted September 8, 2012 Just remember, Lethal Blow is only an passive chance of happening. Not to say that lethal blow isn't good, but you won't notice it as much unless you have 5 or more points in it. Its still one of the most damaging ways of making a fighting character, but for me I like blade master as it takes affect every hit. When you do have 10 or more points into lethal blow, are dual wielding, and have a reliable amount of strength, you will have a deadly fighter. I usually stick 1 or 2 points in lethal blow and let items do the rest. Im probably going to make my next fighting character and party like your ninja but with high backstab traits. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Kyshakk Koan RaustBlackDragon Posted September 8, 2012 Author Share Posted September 8, 2012 "Im probably going to make my next fighting character and party like your ninja but with high backstab traits." Heh, I'm going for maxed Backstab for my ninja too actually, just haven't gotten around to it yet Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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