Loved the videos, and your Pillars series is why I subscribed. I have only recently gotten into CRPGs, so I am grateful for a more straightfoward channel that gives me a thourough understanding of the games and the races/classes. And yes, as someone else has said, I would love to see a series from you on Pillars of Eternity 2: Deadfire. That was the game that started the CRPG journey for me a few months ago and it would be awesome to hear your thoughts on the... everything.
So pumped - about to start my first poe playthrough since the whitemarch DLC was released.. Really appreciate all this detailed info, trying my first run on potd.. Thank you, great vid!
On first playthrough I knew nothing, chose Paladin and was close to unkillable. I tried lots of different classes on a second before settling on a priest of Wael. I didn't like that my only real priest option was Durant, and it has been a lot more active to play the priest rather than the paladin. And you're so right about Chanters. I had no idea what I was doing for the longest time
2:04 Oh yeah, i loved the enchantment system. You could grab almost any weapon, and add an enchantment to it, I always put slaying on a lot of my weapons
Personally, I think POE2 was a big step up in this regard. The enchantment budget limits felt very stifling and both the base weapons and enchantments are far more flavourful in POE2. That said, POE1 still has respectable loot, but POE2 is best in class imo.
The very first time I booted PoE 1 and was staring at the class selection, I was immediately drawn to the Cypher and never looked back, it's so unique that I just fell in love with it, helps that I always play the class in heavy armor with a big two-handed sword, hood and cape at the front lines, all in black, just fits so thematically with the story as the Watcher.
Generally the class breakdown (IMHO) is as follows): Top Tier: Druid, Priest, Wizard Mid Tier: Paladin, Chanter, Cipher, Monk, Barbarian Bottom Tier: Rogue, Ranger, Fighter The reason it breaks down this way is because of how encounters and resting works. Per rest encounters are by design more powerful than per encounter ones. Thus, the per rest focused classes are more powerful and these happen to be the full casting classes in top tier. What makes them so powerful is, if they wish, they can unload their entire spellbook onto a fight which is disproportionalely more powerful than anything, anyone else can do because by design they are using all their per rest resources and per rest resources are inherently more powerful because they are supposed to be used less frequently. The breakdown is that because of how resting works, and how incredibly easy it is to rest, you can for the most part, blast through 2 or 3 fights with ease, sleep and be completely ready to go again with no adverse effect besides using a camping resource. Camping resources are not that rare either and you will come across plenty. What is also important to note is the main hurdles of the game are singular, large, difficult fights as opposed to lots of little fights. Your big hurdles are dragons, archmages, bounties and bosses, not really the trash mobs surrounding them. When you consider this, your per encounter designed classes just don't stack up because they abilities are pound for pound weaker, because you are supposed to use them more. Also AOE damage is absolutely king and being able to kill one guy fast isn't exactly helpful while his 5 friends maul you down. Being able to kill them all fast, or CC them is much much better. This pushes classes like Priest Druid and Wizard to the top because most of their spells are AOE. Spells like Relentless Storm, Ninagauth's Shadowflame, Shining Beacon etc vastly outclass anything any other class can do (with some exceptions like Sacred Immolation or the Chanters Dragon chant). While all of this is true (IMHO), the game can, and has been completed on the Ultimate by every class so while some are better than others, the hardest challenge the game can offer is still doable with every class. Lore and Potions can elevate most classes into absurdity, some classes just don't need that elevation, they already are absurd by themselves.
Resting turns into a hassle on higher difficulty when you have such a limited number of camp supplies, having to leave an area to find/buy more is more of a pain than anything that makes the game harder
Love this list. I've been a ranger (before the patch that fixed them), a cipher, and a druid, but you just convinced me to head back and give priest or paladin a try!!!
Good list. I agree with most of what you have here. The spellcasters (wizard, priest, druid) are definitely all top tier. The debuffs built into damaging spells are insane (blindness, charmed, petrified etc.), able to reduce enemy stats so low every attack and spell will hit while the enemy cant touch your party from low accuracy.
I'll be looking forward to when you dive in to Deadfire's mechanics it blows Pillars 1 out of the water and has a lot more going on. Enjoyed this series especially the deep dive into the spells this information will help newbies or players returning who haven't played in a while and need a refresher on how things work.
Thank you for this. I'm in love with this game 😅 I get extreme completion anxiety because I just don't want it to end😂 The art style for me is what made me buy pillars of eternity over games like divinity 2
4:09 I mean he's voiced by Matthew Mercer in both the first and second game. Not having him in your party is a crime imo. hahahahahha. He also did Aloth, another quality party member.
I haven't finished the second game yet, but after watching this I am strongly considering replaying the first one as a cypher. Had a lot of fun using Grieving Mother my first time through and also building a melee Aloth sounds like fun.
Durance and Grieving Mother are class aside, probably the best thematically and lore-wise integrated companions in the game. I would take them with me on most adventures just for that if nothing else. I made the mistake of benching Durance for most of my first run and hadn't really realized what i missed until my second run. Now i can't imagine running without him. Him and grieving mother are just irreplaceable, mechanics be damned. As for the latter, IMO, what she lacks in banter with the other companions, she more then makes up with the Watcher, especially if you play him or her as a Cypher as well.
loved the video, I have played poe 3 times and all three times ive played different types of paladins lol. But after watching this video i really wanna try either cypher or Priest for a change of pace. might even try for a evil playthrough. Any suggestions?
Hard to go wrong with Cipher. Playing a Priest somewhat forces you to pick consistent dialogue options. Not sure how you'd feel about being all the way evil all the time. LOL
11 Ranger: very limited role-playing opportunity and leans heavily on the pet for gameplay flexibility. 10 Rogue: lots of role-playing opportunity but hampered by being the narrowest class in gameplay flexibility. 9 Barbarian: has the same problem as rogue but with a tiny bit more gameplay flexibility. 8 Monk: good role-play, decent flexibility and their fists are the best single handed dps in the game. Hurt by not being as flexible as the classes below. 7 Fighter: great role-play opportunity, solid flexibility. The biggest problem with Fighter is they don't have the dps of a Monk or Barbarian nor are they as good of tanks as the Paladin. 6 Cipher: good role-play opportunity (though not nearly as good as some will tell you), but not as wide gameplay flexibility as any of the other classes from here on out. 5 Wizard: the king of combat flexibility, but more limited in role-play opportunity because canonically wizards are highly educated. Good luck trying to RP a rags to riches wizard. 4 Paladin: outstanding role-play opportunity, great gameplay flexibility. Lacks the umph of the final three classes, though. 3 Druid: outstanding gameplay flexibility but the most restrictive role-play opportunity of the tip 3 by a long shot. 2 Priest: outstanding gameplay flexibility and role-play opportunity. If they could take a hit better they'd be 1. 1 Chanter: Whatever you want to do in gameplay, a chanter can be built to do it. Because chanters don't canonically need to be higher educated (wizard) or rural (druid/ranger) you can role-play them however you want. Plus they're the only class with a ton of summons.
Because canonically ciphers and watchers and what they do are mutually exclusive. The two other watchers we meet are a wizard and rogue respectively. The class isn't a bad choice by any means to role-play, but I don't agree that it makes more sense than any other unless we're allowing for headcannon.
The problem with Chanters is that they are extremely passive and have the lowest number of actions of any class in the game, unless its a very long fight. Even worse, the higher the level of the abilities you are using, the fewer actions you take, particularly if you use higher level chants. You require increasing more phrases per invocation, and you generate those phrases more slowly, which frankly is just very bad class design. The gameplay, already rather boring to start with, just gets worse over time. Also, they really cannot be built to do anything. They can tank, buff and CC moderately well, they are best in class summoners. They are bad healers and atrocious damage dealers, with damage dealer being the only role you really need more than 1 of. POE2 with starting phrases, with higher level chants generating phrases just as quickly and with the troubadour literally doubling the rate of phrase generation is a big improvement in this regard, but even then, its still got the slowest gameplay of any class.
Got to be honest, I don't want to play a support character as my main character. I just dont find the idea of casting a few buffs and heals and then doing totally underwhelming weapon attacks at all appealing, and if you want to go offensive with priests, then you will have exactly the same issue with the per rest limitation on your spells as any other caster. I want my main character to be the character I am manually controlling more than any other. Also, priests are amongst the least stat dependent of any class. If you arent casting many spells per fight, dexterity matters a lot less. Perception matters a lot less when you are mainly healing and buffing. Its basically intellect and might that are needed, and Durance has respectable scores in both. He also has the virtue of being an early acquisition. As for Cipher, its a role that I find a lot more fun to play for a main character being almost purely offensive, it has the huge benefit of no rest limitation whatsoever so you get to use your most interesting abilities every fight, great from a story standpoint as you say and the NPC cipher is acquired a lot later than Durance, isn't great personality and interactivity wise and also is somewhat deficient stat wise. For ciphers, stats are extremely important, because there are no resource restrictions. Dexterity allows you to take more actions. Perception allows you to hit, and as almost everything you do is offensive, and you need to hit to generate resources in the first place, and as the difference between a miss/graze/hit/crit is huge for crowd control effects, this makes a massive difference. Intelligence is also very important as you have plenty of AOE abilities and duration based abilities and might is perhaps the least important of the offensive stats, but still very useful as hitting harder generates more focus and both your auto attack damage and spell damage is very significant. And because all offensive stats should be maxed, you will definitely want to go ranged, as you will want to dump con and resolve. Wood elf also gives a very welcome accuracy bonus. Grieving mother is a melee cipher. She has decent intelligence and dexterity, but everything else is mediocre, including the crucial perception stat and her con and resolve is still low enough that she is very squishy in melee. Being below half health is not a good place for a melee cipher to be to benefit from the admittedly very useful fight spirit passive of humans.
So many people are down on Grieving Mother. LOL I love her and consider a Cipher with her in the party at all times pretty much a canon playthrough. I cannot stand Durance during boss fights. It feels like the buffs I need take FOREVER to come out.
Thank you for this one. On my first playthroigh back in the day I used the wkrst class (ofcoirse) - the monk. Mow on my second playthroigh after all those years and have instinctively chosennthe best class that you have just confirmed - the priest. But am itching to be a cipher too.
Currently in the early/mid game, and I'm loving the monk. Being able to spam decent damage AoE or big knockback attacks is tons of fun. Hiravias does crazy damage on each spell, but my monk is no slouch either due to her spam (helps having pumped dex and might). The big weakness right now is getting Wounds in the first place and I'm sure everyone else will scale better in the late game. I won't disagree they're the worst class (I have nowhere near the knowledge to say that), but at least I have to give props to them for designing this class in a way that is so fun to play. Saying they're better in PoE2 just makes me more excited to play the sequel.
Coming from Baldur's Gate 3 i went with a fighter, and while everyone says its boring ive been having a blast with it especially since unlocking the Eldricth Knight sub class and multi classing 1 level of wizard. With all of that said I was very underwhelmed with fighter in this game and this video has helped me understanding why. Restarting and going with what I instinctively almost chosen at first the Cipher.
Slandered love the videos you do awesome work! Future video idea for rouge trader maybe cover unique weapons and armor. Wrath of the righteous had a ton of uniques so I'd like to see what RT has
Great Video. I have watched all your POE content many times. I have to disagree with you about the Fighter. I did a POTD run with my main as a Fighter and only took the companions. The Fighter is the best Off Tank in the game and can control the battlefield so well with knockdown, Into the Fray and Charge. The duel wielding Fighter is what the Rogue should have been.
great video, I honestly lost interest in PoE because I picked ranger and it wasn't fun at all, but I think Im going to try one of these top classes to see how much better it is haha
3:55 Yep, I say that is a lot more fitting for someone with a connection to some sort of immediate magic or entity, like a cipher or a priest, Namely Cipher.
I tried this game when it came out I didn't really like it, baldurs gate and icewind dale felt a lot better but idk. I'm downloading it again with white march 2 see if it'll take hold this time I didn't like baldurs gate when I first tried it either then I got hard hooked around 2015 or so, maybe I just like games after they've been fully fleshed out and builds have been found. I took like a fish to water to tyranny in comparison but that's because it was so fresh, while this game sort of follows old formulas for the most part. Tyranny in particular being a mage is op and I like games where magic is op. In pillars mages just seemed bottlenecked into melee fighters who have to buff themselves to be good. Are there any mods or anything you recommend for a playthrough like qol and things like that? I remember cypher seemed sort of fun too but idk the game just never wowed me. I'd like to run a standard party but with 2 custom characters one with a caster lean and one with a fighter lean.
The problem I find is that because other classes have access to stealth and lockpicking it kind of leaves rogue in a weird place. The only good thing they get is the flank sneak attack damage and backstab. They get absolutely wrecked up close close often the AI will target you the second you backstab, then trying to disengage you get slapped.
Monk was a blast to play in deadfire, haven't tried it in POE1. Id gladly play that game again if they're had been some turn based update/patch that mimics the sequel but on console we dont have that :/ No way I'm going back to the real time action of the first after how much i enjoyed the turn based of the second.
I tried a few times to play cipher, but every time I just constantly wish I was playing a wizard again. Thematically, being a powerful wizard who has their own castle, can peer into souls, and grants audience to travelors and lords ... reactivity be damned. I still feel like a wizard. I think the game recognizes the watcher as it would a wizard already that wizard doesn't need as many specific reactivity scenarios. That's my mental gymnastics on it anyway. Easier to do if you have a strong wizard bias lol
Druid is the highest dps in game... cast electric storm that will stun every opponent in a huge radius and do a lot of damage every couple of seconds. Jump into cat form and critical every time with a super high speed claws... no class gets even close to that
Aw man I need to get back to this game at some point. I got like 45 hours in (got some rare achievements as well) played as a Paladin but then live took over 😢 now I am honestly playing Balders Gate 3 when I can to many things not enough time grr
i would have preferred to see this video first and then the individual class videos. but this works as well. i would refer to them when i finally decide to make a whole playthrough of the game...
@@SlanderedGaming mhm. i get that it may be this way. it's just that if we take a look at all videos, this one looks like the thesis, and then the other videos are like the point by point arguments defending the thesis :D but yeah. it works as a conclusion as well :)
Also you are so right Rogue gets to be too much, man that's a tough class to play, feels like you gotta pause and think ahead every fraction of every second
I'm considering picking up this game again because if the party i have planned might be a really fun experience. Paladin. 2xCiphers, Priest, Barbarian, Wizard. I really can't stand the gameplay of chanters so..
I usually start a new game playing as a martial type. I’m wondering if a hybrid fighter that goes sword and shield but otherwise leans heavily into an offensive build would be viable. Can you build to an acceptable level of off-tank with respectable damage as well? Or maybe I should just roll paladin, since that’s more my personality in the first place. 😄
I liked those BioWare voiceless convos in FF16 because I could skip dialogue lines one at a time. After you-know-who left the story, I had trouble staying interested.
My first play through I went with Monk... yeah that was a big mistake... I completely misallocated my stats as I was use to finess monk in Neverwinter Nights 2 where high dex = high AC to where you never get hit... yeah big mistake... I was a fan of Paladins which I had for my 2nd playthrough / POE2 playthrough. Some of the damage numbers you could get with crits + your special attack were bonkers!
I find ranger pets to be largely useless on higher difficulties because they all get one shotted by any tough-ish enemy and then the ranger is nerfed for the rest of combat because dead-pet-debuff Also the dissonance with intelligence being a great stat for barbarians is hilarious
💯 🎯 this is 1 of the best vids on PoE1. Everything is spot-on and I can promise this guy has played >100hr in this game & prob thousands of hours in cRPGs. Understanding how PoE’s “rest” mechanic impacts different classes & abilities is perhaps the most important aspect of deciding what class to play. Think of it like the most powerful abilities are tied to an invisible “mana” resource that only regenerates by rest which requires a campfire resource or trip to an inn/ stronghold. So, you may think Wizard is super OP - & they are… in their first battle after resting. Cipher however relies on a resource that she generates during combat rather than rest. If you’re like me and the rest mechanic is your main gripe (along with real-time + pause unfolding a bit too fast by default), you’ll enjoy a Cipher or even Priest play-thru far more than Wizard or even Druid. If you’re going to play in lower difficulties and carry lots of campfire resource, it’s less of an issue, but still a bit “fiddly”
Ranger being so low, i dont understand. I do have to admit that i have a bias for them after i 4v1 vs these desert looking wisp things that were 2 levels above my party in poko kohara islands. They wiped my party at nearly 80% health each. The ranger was the only one alive and im like: ok lets try seeing how many die. All of them did. It was hilarious! 😂
Fighter have weapon specializiation 25% more damage. They dont need intellect = Max Might 27% more damage. They have more health, accuracy and defence. I have 1 paladin tank, 2 melee fighter and 3 Fighter archer. No spell. Just finish Raedric. Maybe i get problem later.
@@SlanderedGaming if you give it a gun it does a decent damage, increased if you have the pet damaging the same target. Plus its just an minimum hassle class to work with. point & shoot lol nothing complex like the rogue.
@@SlanderedGaming oh and btw you should not be using the pet to tank. use it to give flanking bonus or position in such a way it hinders things from approaching back line. plus you can use pet to knock stuff prone which is super good.
How much does the world react to the class that you have. Do you get special dialogue or do people talk to you in a certain way because you are a Cleric or a Paladin.
I like that u specified eder is one of the greatest companions in gaming😂 hes a total bro, and i grinned ear to ear when i saw he was in 2
Absolutely he's a huge draw.
@@SlanderedGaming bro one day u have to do a top 10 best companions of all time. Would be an epic video
He's a total BRO.
Bros before hoes..... 😆😂
This was quite the project, and you handled it like a boss.
Thank you! Glad you enjoyed the series!
Agreed 👍
Indeed it was..
Now off to PoE2 where there is even more to deal with thanks to multiclassing. ;]
Over a year later, this series is still helpful. Your content is some of the best stuff out there!
Man I think a collab video with Mortismal gaming would be so dope
Me too, I am a big fan of his content. Planning to start a gaming podcast later this year, we'll see if he's willing to be a guest. :)
Loved the videos, and your Pillars series is why I subscribed. I have only recently gotten into CRPGs, so I am grateful for a more straightfoward channel that gives me a thourough understanding of the games and the races/classes.
And yes, as someone else has said, I would love to see a series from you on Pillars of Eternity 2: Deadfire. That was the game that started the CRPG journey for me a few months ago and it would be awesome to hear your thoughts on the... everything.
Thank you! I definitely plan to start doing Deadfire content soon!
So pumped - about to start my first poe playthrough since the whitemarch DLC was released.. Really appreciate all this detailed info, trying my first run on potd.. Thank you, great vid!
Cipher is my favorite, just for their mind magic flavor alone. I also liked being a caster with a gun.
Yup makes sense it's a lot of fun!
On first playthrough I knew nothing, chose Paladin and was close to unkillable. I tried lots of different classes on a second before settling on a priest of Wael. I didn't like that my only real priest option was Durant, and it has been a lot more active to play the priest rather than the paladin.
And you're so right about Chanters. I had no idea what I was doing for the longest time
2:04 Oh yeah, i loved the enchantment system. You could grab almost any weapon, and add an enchantment to it, I always put slaying on a lot of my weapons
Yup it added a lot to the game.
Personally, I think POE2 was a big step up in this regard. The enchantment budget limits felt very stifling and both the base weapons and enchantments are far more flavourful in POE2. That said, POE1 still has respectable loot, but POE2 is best in class imo.
This channel is now my go-to for guides and opinions on CRPGs and TRPGs.
Thank you!
The very first time I booted PoE 1 and was staring at the class selection, I was immediately drawn to the Cypher and never looked back, it's so unique that I just fell in love with it, helps that I always play the class in heavy armor with a big two-handed sword, hood and cape at the front lines, all in black, just fits so thematically with the story as the Watcher.
Yup it just feels right.
Generally the class breakdown (IMHO) is as follows):
Top Tier:
Druid, Priest, Wizard
Mid Tier:
Paladin, Chanter, Cipher, Monk, Barbarian
Bottom Tier:
Rogue, Ranger, Fighter
The reason it breaks down this way is because of how encounters and resting works. Per rest encounters are by design more powerful than per encounter ones. Thus, the per rest focused classes are more powerful and these happen to be the full casting classes in top tier. What makes them so powerful is, if they wish, they can unload their entire spellbook onto a fight which is disproportionalely more powerful than anything, anyone else can do because by design they are using all their per rest resources and per rest resources are inherently more powerful because they are supposed to be used less frequently. The breakdown is that because of how resting works, and how incredibly easy it is to rest, you can for the most part, blast through 2 or 3 fights with ease, sleep and be completely ready to go again with no adverse effect besides using a camping resource. Camping resources are not that rare either and you will come across plenty.
What is also important to note is the main hurdles of the game are singular, large, difficult fights as opposed to lots of little fights. Your big hurdles are dragons, archmages, bounties and bosses, not really the trash mobs surrounding them. When you consider this, your per encounter designed classes just don't stack up because they abilities are pound for pound weaker, because you are supposed to use them more.
Also AOE damage is absolutely king and being able to kill one guy fast isn't exactly helpful while his 5 friends maul you down. Being able to kill them all fast, or CC them is much much better. This pushes classes like Priest Druid and Wizard to the top because most of their spells are AOE. Spells like Relentless Storm, Ninagauth's Shadowflame, Shining Beacon etc vastly outclass anything any other class can do (with some exceptions like Sacred Immolation or the Chanters Dragon chant).
While all of this is true (IMHO), the game can, and has been completed on the Ultimate by every class so while some are better than others, the hardest challenge the game can offer is still doable with every class. Lore and Potions can elevate most classes into absurdity, some classes just don't need that elevation, they already are absurd by themselves.
Nice take my brudda
Resting turns into a hassle on higher difficulty when you have such a limited number of camp supplies, having to leave an area to find/buy more is more of a pain than anything that makes the game harder
So i should just use one of the top three classes as my first character?
Love this list. I've been a ranger (before the patch that fixed them), a cipher, and a druid, but you just convinced me to head back and give priest or paladin a try!!!
Awesome glad you liked it!
Good list. I agree with most of what you have here. The spellcasters (wizard, priest, druid) are definitely all top tier. The debuffs built into damaging spells are insane (blindness, charmed, petrified etc.), able to reduce enemy stats so low every attack and spell will hit while the enemy cant touch your party from low accuracy.
Though I do understand why you put druid so low. Spiritshape is basically useless.
I'll be looking forward to when you dive in to Deadfire's mechanics it blows Pillars 1 out of the water and has a lot more going on. Enjoyed this series especially the deep dive into the spells this information will help newbies or players returning who haven't played in a while and need a refresher on how things work.
Thank you for this. I'm in love with this game 😅
I get extreme completion anxiety because I just don't want it to end😂
The art style for me is what made me buy pillars of eternity over games like divinity 2
4:09 I mean he's voiced by Matthew Mercer in both the first and second game. Not having him in your party is a crime imo. hahahahahha. He also did Aloth, another quality party member.
😂
I haven't finished the second game yet, but after watching this I am strongly considering replaying the first one as a cypher. Had a lot of fun using Grieving Mother my first time through and also building a melee Aloth sounds like fun.
Cipher is a TON of fun in POE 1. Not as impressed with it in Deadfire but yeah I highly recommend a playthrough with it for this game.
Durance and Grieving Mother are class aside, probably the best thematically and lore-wise integrated companions in the game. I would take them with me on most adventures just for that if nothing else. I made the mistake of benching Durance for most of my first run and hadn't really realized what i missed until my second run. Now i can't imagine running without him. Him and grieving mother are just irreplaceable, mechanics be damned. As for the latter, IMO, what she lacks in banter with the other companions, she more then makes up with the Watcher, especially if you play him or her as a Cypher as well.
I ranked all the POE companions and Durance along with Grieving Mother were at the top of the mountain.
both of these characters were written by Chris Avellone, a legend in the genre.
loved the video, I have played poe 3 times and all three times ive played different types of paladins lol. But after watching this video i really wanna try either cypher or Priest for a change of pace. might even try for a evil playthrough. Any suggestions?
Hard to go wrong with Cipher. Playing a Priest somewhat forces you to pick consistent dialogue options. Not sure how you'd feel about being all the way evil all the time. LOL
11 Ranger: very limited role-playing opportunity and leans heavily on the pet for gameplay flexibility.
10 Rogue: lots of role-playing opportunity but hampered by being the narrowest class in gameplay flexibility.
9 Barbarian: has the same problem as rogue but with a tiny bit more gameplay flexibility.
8 Monk: good role-play, decent flexibility and their fists are the best single handed dps in the game. Hurt by not being as flexible as the classes below.
7 Fighter: great role-play opportunity, solid flexibility. The biggest problem with Fighter is they don't have the dps of a Monk or Barbarian nor are they as good of tanks as the Paladin.
6 Cipher: good role-play opportunity (though not nearly as good as some will tell you), but not as wide gameplay flexibility as any of the other classes from here on out.
5 Wizard: the king of combat flexibility, but more limited in role-play opportunity because canonically wizards are highly educated. Good luck trying to RP a rags to riches wizard.
4 Paladin: outstanding role-play opportunity, great gameplay flexibility. Lacks the umph of the final three classes, though.
3 Druid: outstanding gameplay flexibility but the most restrictive role-play opportunity of the tip 3 by a long shot.
2 Priest: outstanding gameplay flexibility and role-play opportunity. If they could take a hit better they'd be 1.
1 Chanter: Whatever you want to do in gameplay, a chanter can be built to do it. Because chanters don't canonically need to be higher educated (wizard) or rural (druid/ranger) you can role-play them however you want. Plus they're the only class with a ton of summons.
Fascinating. Why do you feel that Cipher is overrated roleplaying wise?
Because canonically ciphers and watchers and what they do are mutually exclusive. The two other watchers we meet are a wizard and rogue respectively. The class isn't a bad choice by any means to role-play, but I don't agree that it makes more sense than any other unless we're allowing for headcannon.
The problem with Chanters is that they are extremely passive and have the lowest number of actions of any class in the game, unless its a very long fight. Even worse, the higher the level of the abilities you are using, the fewer actions you take, particularly if you use higher level chants. You require increasing more phrases per invocation, and you generate those phrases more slowly, which frankly is just very bad class design. The gameplay, already rather boring to start with, just gets worse over time. Also, they really cannot be built to do anything. They can tank, buff and CC moderately well, they are best in class summoners. They are bad healers and atrocious damage dealers, with damage dealer being the only role you really need more than 1 of.
POE2 with starting phrases, with higher level chants generating phrases just as quickly and with the troubadour literally doubling the rate of phrase generation is a big improvement in this regard, but even then, its still got the slowest gameplay of any class.
Would you be doing breakdowns for Deadfire? If so I'm really looking forward to it. Excellent content as always.
Absolutely I am looking forward to it!
Got to be honest, I don't want to play a support character as my main character. I just dont find the idea of casting a few buffs and heals and then doing totally underwhelming weapon attacks at all appealing, and if you want to go offensive with priests, then you will have exactly the same issue with the per rest limitation on your spells as any other caster. I want my main character to be the character I am manually controlling more than any other.
Also, priests are amongst the least stat dependent of any class. If you arent casting many spells per fight, dexterity matters a lot less. Perception matters a lot less when you are mainly healing and buffing. Its basically intellect and might that are needed, and Durance has respectable scores in both. He also has the virtue of being an early acquisition.
As for Cipher, its a role that I find a lot more fun to play for a main character being almost purely offensive, it has the huge benefit of no rest limitation whatsoever so you get to use your most interesting abilities every fight, great from a story standpoint as you say and the NPC cipher is acquired a lot later than Durance, isn't great personality and interactivity wise and also is somewhat deficient stat wise.
For ciphers, stats are extremely important, because there are no resource restrictions. Dexterity allows you to take more actions. Perception allows you to hit, and as almost everything you do is offensive, and you need to hit to generate resources in the first place, and as the difference between a miss/graze/hit/crit is huge for crowd control effects, this makes a massive difference. Intelligence is also very important as you have plenty of AOE abilities and duration based abilities and might is perhaps the least important of the offensive stats, but still very useful as hitting harder generates more focus and both your auto attack damage and spell damage is very significant.
And because all offensive stats should be maxed, you will definitely want to go ranged, as you will want to dump con and resolve. Wood elf also gives a very welcome accuracy bonus. Grieving mother is a melee cipher. She has decent intelligence and dexterity, but everything else is mediocre, including the crucial perception stat and her con and resolve is still low enough that she is very squishy in melee. Being below half health is not a good place for a melee cipher to be to benefit from the admittedly very useful fight spirit passive of humans.
So many people are down on Grieving Mother. LOL I love her and consider a Cipher with her in the party at all times pretty much a canon playthrough.
I cannot stand Durance during boss fights. It feels like the buffs I need take FOREVER to come out.
Thank you for this one. On my first playthroigh back in the day I used the wkrst class (ofcoirse) - the monk. Mow on my second playthroigh after all those years and have instinctively chosennthe best class that you have just confirmed - the priest. But am itching to be a cipher too.
Currently in the early/mid game, and I'm loving the monk. Being able to spam decent damage AoE or big knockback attacks is tons of fun. Hiravias does crazy damage on each spell, but my monk is no slouch either due to her spam (helps having pumped dex and might). The big weakness right now is getting Wounds in the first place and I'm sure everyone else will scale better in the late game. I won't disagree they're the worst class (I have nowhere near the knowledge to say that), but at least I have to give props to them for designing this class in a way that is so fun to play. Saying they're better in PoE2 just makes me more excited to play the sequel.
Coming from Baldur's Gate 3 i went with a fighter, and while everyone says its boring ive been having a blast with it especially since unlocking the Eldricth Knight sub class and multi classing 1 level of wizard.
With all of that said I was very underwhelmed with fighter in this game and this video has helped me understanding why. Restarting and going with what I instinctively almost chosen at first the Cipher.
i dont get it, you had a blast or were underwhelmed in the end?
Just wanted to say thanks for all the helpful guides and ask if you had a favorite race in the series
My pleasure! I almost always play as an Aumua. Love their reactivity and look.
Your class guides are great.
In pathfinder you helped me a lot.
Thanks😊
Thank you! Glad you have been enjoying them!
Just finished my cipher playthrough that class is so good yo. Wish I could have it in every RPG. Is cipher as op in poe2 as well?
Pillars is the best fantasy setting in gaming. Love everything about this world. Thanks for your take on the classes!
My pleasure!
Slandered love the videos you do awesome work! Future video idea for rouge trader maybe cover unique weapons and armor. Wrath of the righteous had a ton of uniques so I'd like to see what RT has
Thanks glad you are enjoying them! I am waiting for the next major update and then that's definitely something I'll look into it.
Would love to see some of your favorite builds
Great Video. I have watched all your POE content many times. I have to disagree with you about the Fighter. I did a POTD run with my main as a Fighter and only took the companions. The Fighter is the best Off Tank in the game and can control the battlefield so well with knockdown, Into the Fray and Charge. The duel wielding Fighter is what the Rogue should have been.
Funny you should say that because I definitely think Swashbuckler in Deadfire is the top tier tank of the game.
i love the concepts of monks, druids and rangers... sad to see they are often messed up in games.
Thank you so much for your videos! To be honest, POE doesn't hold your hand at all in character creation, or have downright confusing descriptions.
My pleasure!
3:25 Paladins with Sworn Enemy can make them great for focusing bosses, or just saying fuck an enemy in particular.
Yup I especially like the talent when used with Pallegina.
great video, I honestly lost interest in PoE because I picked ranger and it wasn't fun at all, but I think Im going to try one of these top classes to see how much better it is haha
So helpful, thank you ❤
My pleasure!
My class makeup is usually 2 priests, 1 offense, 1 defence. 1 druid for crowd control, 1 mage for aoe, and 1 warrior/barbarian or paladin as tank
3:55 Yep, I say that is a lot more fitting for someone with a connection to some sort of immediate magic or entity, like a cipher or a priest, Namely Cipher.
Exactly.
Ive had this game for years and never completed it, with your videos it has pushed me to restart again
Awesome I hope you enjoy it!
Amazing video! I'm starting the game tomorrow, which class would you recommend for a first playthrough between Cipher and Priest? Cheers!
Thanks glad you enjoyed it. I would say Cipher since most people don't like playing support classes.
@@SlanderedGaming thanks! Then Cipher it shall be 😎
I tried this game when it came out I didn't really like it, baldurs gate and icewind dale felt a lot better but idk. I'm downloading it again with white march 2 see if it'll take hold this time I didn't like baldurs gate when I first tried it either then I got hard hooked around 2015 or so, maybe I just like games after they've been fully fleshed out and builds have been found. I took like a fish to water to tyranny in comparison but that's because it was so fresh, while this game sort of follows old formulas for the most part. Tyranny in particular being a mage is op and I like games where magic is op. In pillars mages just seemed bottlenecked into melee fighters who have to buff themselves to be good.
Are there any mods or anything you recommend for a playthrough like qol and things like that? I remember cypher seemed sort of fun too but idk the game just never wowed me. I'd like to run a standard party but with 2 custom characters one with a caster lean and one with a fighter lean.
The problem I find is that because other classes have access to stealth and lockpicking it kind of leaves rogue in a weird place. The only good thing they get is the flank sneak attack damage and backstab. They get absolutely wrecked up close close often the AI will target you the second you backstab, then trying to disengage you get slapped.
Yup it's not as useful as it is in other games.
Monk was a blast to play in deadfire, haven't tried it in POE1. Id gladly play that game again if they're had been some turn based update/patch that mimics the sequel but on console we dont have that :/ No way I'm going back to the real time action of the first after how much i enjoyed the turn based of the second.
I tried a few times to play cipher, but every time I just constantly wish I was playing a wizard again. Thematically, being a powerful wizard who has their own castle, can peer into souls, and grants audience to travelors and lords ... reactivity be damned. I still feel like a wizard.
I think the game recognizes the watcher as it would a wizard already that wizard doesn't need as many specific reactivity scenarios.
That's my mental gymnastics on it anyway. Easier to do if you have a strong wizard bias lol
Honestly it's hard to disagree with what you've said and Wizard does mesh nicely with what you do as a Watcher.
Druid is the highest dps in game... cast electric storm that will stun every opponent in a huge radius and do a lot of damage every couple of seconds. Jump into cat form and critical every time with a super high speed claws... no class gets even close to that
Yeah it's pretty awesome. Just not a huge fan of how the animal forms are implemented. Think they should be more self sufficient late game.
Aw man I need to get back to this game at some point. I got like 45 hours in (got some rare achievements as well) played as a Paladin but then live took over 😢 now I am honestly playing Balders Gate 3 when I can to many things not enough time grr
I think Wizards are actually the best tanks, at least in terms of having a shit ton of deflection
i would have preferred to see this video first and then the individual class videos. but this works as well. i would refer to them when i finally decide to make a whole playthrough of the game...
I needed to walk through the mechanics one by one in order to make this video.
@@SlanderedGaming mhm. i get that it may be this way.
it's just that if we take a look at all videos, this one looks like the thesis, and then the other videos are like the point by point arguments defending the thesis :D
but yeah. it works as a conclusion as well :)
Awesome work
Thank you!
Zahua got beaten up all the time, and made me figure Monks just weren't that good but, he was such a fun weird guy I kept him around anyway!
Also you are so right Rogue gets to be too much, man that's a tough class to play, feels like you gotta pause and think ahead every fraction of every second
I'm considering picking up this game again because if the party i have planned might be a really fun experience.
Paladin. 2xCiphers, Priest, Barbarian, Wizard. I really can't stand the gameplay of chanters so..
Nice that should work!
I usually start a new game playing as a martial type. I’m wondering if a hybrid fighter that goes sword and shield but otherwise leans heavily into an offensive build would be viable. Can you build to an acceptable level of off-tank with respectable damage as well?
Or maybe I should just roll paladin, since that’s more my personality in the first place. 😄
I liked those BioWare voiceless convos in FF16 because I could skip dialogue lines one at a time. After you-know-who left the story, I had trouble staying interested.
ENJOYED
Amazing videos
Just so everyone knows you play a fighter you are obligated to screw over every melee enemy there is knockdown knock down knock down
😂
haha, I chose priest because I like playing healers and then came to see if I made a mistake.
Nope you are all good!
Yay nice video
Thank you!
What are the priest choices you were talking about for best reactivity?
My first play through I went with Monk... yeah that was a big mistake... I completely misallocated my stats as I was use to finess monk in Neverwinter Nights 2 where high dex = high AC to where you never get hit... yeah big mistake... I was a fan of Paladins which I had for my 2nd playthrough / POE2 playthrough. Some of the damage numbers you could get with crits + your special attack were bonkers!
Yeah they are just not my cup of tea in this game.
I find ranger pets to be largely useless on higher difficulties because they all get one shotted by any tough-ish enemy and then the ranger is nerfed for the rest of combat because dead-pet-debuff
Also the dissonance with intelligence being a great stat for barbarians is hilarious
💯 🎯 this is 1 of the best vids on PoE1. Everything is spot-on and I can promise this guy has played >100hr in this game & prob thousands of hours in cRPGs.
Understanding how PoE’s “rest” mechanic impacts different classes & abilities is perhaps the most important aspect of deciding what class to play. Think of it like the most powerful abilities are tied to an invisible “mana” resource that only regenerates by rest which requires a campfire resource or trip to an inn/ stronghold. So, you may think Wizard is super OP - & they are… in their first battle after resting. Cipher however relies on a resource that she generates during combat rather than rest.
If you’re like me and the rest mechanic is your main gripe (along with real-time + pause unfolding a bit too fast by default), you’ll enjoy a Cipher or even Priest play-thru far more than Wizard or even Druid. If you’re going to play in lower difficulties and carry lots of campfire resource, it’s less of an issue, but still a bit “fiddly”
Thank you! Glad you enjoyed the video!
The duscord link in the description doesn't work
Whoops thank you! discord.gg/zKYyVV65BM
Ranger being so low, i dont understand. I do have to admit that i have a bias for them after i 4v1 vs these desert looking wisp things that were 2 levels above my party in poko kohara islands. They wiped my party at nearly 80% health each. The ranger was the only one alive and im like: ok lets try seeing how many die.
All of them did. It was hilarious! 😂
I just started the game and i become a ranger but i build a stealth build with my wolf is this bad for me
Of course not. Play in whatever way is fun for you. :)
Fighter have weapon specializiation 25% more damage. They dont need intellect = Max Might 27% more damage. They have more health, accuracy and defence.
I have 1 paladin tank, 2 melee fighter and 3 Fighter archer. No spell. Just finish Raedric. Maybe i get problem later.
That's an interesting team. Let me know how it works out when you finish the game.
What difficulty is this for? I've found class ranks depend heavily on difficulty.
Normal. if you are playing PotD then definitely some people might feel differently.
@@SlanderedGaming thanks for the reply
Saddens me to watch this video because for my first ever playthrough I rolled a Ranger and my first hired merc I made a dwarf fighter. Lol onwards!
😂😂😂
While I don't disagree with your reasoning at all I am surprised at the order of the top 2.
So am I honestly, but after combing through all the mechanics it didn't feel right having Cipher at 1.
Chanter should be #1, downvoted this ;)
😂😂
My favorite classes: Cipher, Paladin, Ranger (w/gun)
Nice. What do you like about Ranger?
@@SlanderedGaming if you give it a gun it does a decent damage, increased if you have the pet damaging the same target. Plus its just an minimum hassle class to work with. point & shoot lol nothing complex like the rogue.
@@SlanderedGaming oh and btw you should not be using the pet to tank. use it to give flanking bonus or position in such a way it hinders things from approaching back line. plus you can use pet to knock stuff prone which is super good.
Can u did pillars of eternity 2 deadfire
Yup we will do the same series for Pillars 2.
clerics are always the best...am starting to hate the cleric class !! 😡
😂😂
what do you mean by reactivity?
How much does the world react to the class that you have. Do you get special dialogue or do people talk to you in a certain way because you are a Cleric or a Paladin.
👍🏾👍🏾🔥🔥🔥🔥🔥🔥🔥🔥🔥🔥
Ich küsse dein Nacken MFG
Just started....and created a Monk. Guess it's time to start over lol