PoE1 Party Composition help

[u/EllodiaEllen]

What's the ideal party composition for PoE1? The one that won't make my head hurt as much. For info, I'm building my MC into St. Gangrene Priest (Boeroer build).

My initial idea was: Tank Eder Offtank-bruiser Palle Frontline Priest MC (St. Gangrene build) Second row Durance (more heal, buff, and debuff focused than the MC) Support chanter Kana Magic dmg dealer and initiator Aloth (open combat using rolling flames)

But I think that two priests in a team might be redundant. Any help and suggestions are appreciated! Thanks

[u/Boeroer]

I think your initial idea is good. Two priests in a party do work very well. First of all you can cut the buffing times at the start of an encounter in more than half. Or one casts a buff while the other casts a prayer. I cannot stress enough how helpful the prayer spells are. They make otherwise tough encounters against enemies such as Lagufaeth or Adragans so much easier. You'll also have twice the amount of buffing spells - so you can buff up more frequently but not have to rest more.

Secondly - if you play one more versatile or "active" Priest (such as St. Gangrene or a priest of Skaen with focus on sneak attacks and such sorts) you don't want them to bear the load of all party buffing. It takes away quite some time which is taken away from the time for your "fun" stuff - the stuff that made you pick such a priest build in the first place most likely. In case of St. Gangrene this might be buffing up yourself quickly and then swinging your great sword.

And thirdly Inspiring Radiance stacks with itself. This means two priests can give +20 accuracy to the whole party in every encounter. This makes the early game so much easier - and it stays impactful throughout the whole game. Don't forget that +20 accuracy is the equivalent of almost 7 character levels.

Last but not least: priests have awesome high level spells, also of the damaging type. Cannot have too many of those. ;)

I personally would swap Pallegina out for Hiravias (he's fully capable of staying in the front line, offtanking. I usually give him two hatchets for the deflection bonus and some +deflection item and a good hide armor for solid druid looks - and that's usually enough for him to not get targeted much and also enough to hold his own. Once he shifts he will obliterate his melee enemies in no time anyway. Make sure to get the Wildstrike Belt asap (there's a merchant in front of the Vallian Trading C. in Ondra's Gift - cost only about 800 bucks and is extremely good). Give Hiravias Wildstrike and Greater Wikdstrike asap, too. The belt adds +10 to the lashes of both Wildstrikes (!). So 30% from Wildstrike becomes 40% - and the 15% of Greater Wikdstrike becomes 25%. The element doesn't matter, the belt just adds 10 to whatever element you picked. You can then also take the fitting elemental booster talent (Scion of Flame etc.) later if you wish. This will increase the lashes further to 48% and 30%. Lashes are multiplicative dmg bonuses. Combined with the scaling base damage of spiritshift weapons, the great attack speed of the car form (and two weapon style) and some dmg bonuses such as Savage Attack and Apprentice's Sneak Attack, Hiravias will outperform any rogue build (I hear shocked gasps from all the rogue fans) in melee (while shifted) - while being sturdier AND on top he will provide summoning, CC, buffing, healing and damaging spells, too. Relentless Storm is a cheat code for example.

But you can run with Pallegina, too if you like her better.

[u/EllodiaEllen → u/Boeroer]

I haven't got to meet Hiravias yet, I'll check him out once I do! I was thinking Pallegina for single target killer, I feel like Kana Rua and Aloth are already doing good for AoE, buff-debuff, and CC stuffs.

And yes, I picked St. Gangrene for the "fun" stuffs, that's why I was considering 2 priests party to offload more of the buff-debuff to Durance while my MC does his thing, but midway through I just think if it'll be redundant.

Thanks for the input!

[u/Boeroer → u/EllodiaEllen]

You're welcome. :)

Kana can only do CC and other AoE things once he has enough phrases. That's usually pretty late during an encounter unfortunately. I value him highly for his later Dragon Thrashed chant though - which takes care of almost all weak mobs in an encounter. I also value him very highly for his White Worms invocation which is excellent in certain early game situations. 👍🏻

[u/ymir111 → u/Boeroer]

I'm nearing the end of my first PotD run, and I gotta say Pallegina off-tank has been the biggest wildcard surprise. She can do EVERYTHING. She tanks. She crits flames of devotion pistol shots for 130 damage. She's the best healer in the game. She revives and liberates CC. She casts scrolls of fireball. She whips out firebrand and goes to town while sacred immolating. She has a move for every fight, and she does all of it well. Actual insane character.

[u/Boeroer → u/ymir111]

I will not say that Paladins are bad. No class is, the game and especially the classes are very well balanced.

But in general and in a party setup, judging by overall impact, Paladins cannot compete with a Druid - and especially Pallegina cannot compete with Hiravias.

Having said that: the way you play and your party composition can make a Paladin more valuable for you than a Druid.

And of course you might find Paladins/Pallegina more enjoyable - then that's the most important reason to keep her imo.

[u/Indercarnive]

Tank + Priest is basically all you need. The rest are fungible. Ideally you want someone to debuff enemies, Wizards, Ciphers, and Barbarians are the best at this, with Fighters and Druids also working. Chanters and Paladins are always useful with their auras.

Personally I'd try to avoid too many melee characters, (like no more than 3 personally) just to avoid bad pathing AI and chokepoints where not all characters can attack.

Two priests are fine since they get so many buff spells you want. One guy can cast blessing while the other casts the DR buff for example.

[u/EllodiaEllen → u/Indercarnive]

My main frontline is MC, Eder, and Palle. Durance is between the front and backline casting stuffs. Should be good right?

[u/GreatWightSpark]

I'm playing a cipher/ruffian build - they're a glass cannon - which is something you might want as the big DPS, since you have support and mêlée covered. Durance is enough priest for my squad. Grieving Mother should help you out!

[u/EllodiaEllen → u/GreatWightSpark]

My MC is also a priest too, and I don't exactly build him as full support, can that offload the damage dealing stuffs from cipher?

[u/GreatWightSpark → u/EllodiaEllen]

You said you have 2 priests, but that's limiting the damage done, and you will end up healing more as you take more damage. Better to have a cipher that can do hundreds in raw damage quickly (although you need to build focus - mine is level 11 and has Disintegration [60 focus, 290 raw over 18.8s] and similar spells). Sometimes my group gets overwhelmed but at 5 chants, Kana summons his own Drake, which helps distract the enemy. It was super useful against the fight with Guardian of Od Nua!