First, anyone considering Aloth to be underpowered. In this section were going to cover the must have Battlemage Abilities for this Build. I believe they can even have special power and enchantments on them, just like weapons and armor. This also means that finding new Grimoires focused on specific domains is more interesting and Grimoires are more like any other loot. +1 Autonomy, "It's hard to see it at the time, but sometimes pressure is useful." As mentioned before. Pillars of Eternity: Characters Builds, Strategies & the Unity Engine (Spoiler Warning! I ignored the wizard class talents and boosted his accuracy with arbalests, as most of the time Aloth wasn't casting spells, just auto attacking. While Aloth is capable of dealing damage, that isn't what he's built for. A couple things in this thread confused me. It's easy! If you don't like Aloth's spells you can retrain him, if you don't like his AI you can change it, or turn it off. Aloth is a 62-year-old slender Wood elf with pale skin and straight, dark brown hair. I like it better in Deadfire and I hope there is a long delay (~10 seconds) for switching grimoires in combat. Aloth can be found at the Engwithan Digsite, which is east of Port Maje. Arcane Veil is also a pretty wasted talent, but at least Grimoire Slam has a use. I would love fire- and cold-based attacks for some enemies, but I can't use them without hitting my own characters and/or putting Aloth on the front line, where he doesn't last long at all (reasonably enough). He joined the Watcher seeking direction, correctly surmising that they were on the trail of the Leaden Key.[5]. Companion Quests Brillant radiance vs interdiction ? Conquerors Stance This skill will further increase your Accuracy with spells and Weapons by +5. Pyschovampire or whatever its called- the only Cipher buff you can still cast before combat. Faction People who don't want to edit the grimoires certainly would not have to do so. These two things are really sapping my enjoyment at the moment. Arcane Archer is an ability in Pillars of Eternity II: Deadfire. Pleasure. Weapon Mastery Another passive that increases damage so you pick it up. You may want to spam the single target Corrosive Lance or Merciless Gaze, Curse of Blankened Sight every encounter (or paralyse-spam with Fetid Caress) and feel you're gonna need the extra spell. ; Pillars of Eternity II: Deadfire []. Soul ignition - stacks with itself from same Cipher and with high MIG actually scales to the same damage per second as Disintegration. I found the bonus spells to be useful, but mainly because they were broken so that I ended up between 8 and 26 extra casts. The idea behind Grimoires now is that they are highly focused and specialized, and meant to be used more like weapons, swapped for the right occasion. ManOWar2. The character I have is a Deflection based Fighter. Other than that, you'd just put the best spells in there and be done with it, swapping them out as you see fit since you learned all of them. In the same vein, giving a single class access (whether through loot or upon lvl) to all their spells AND a per-encounter based system would mean that class becomes a diversity machine monster, and as a result the spells for that class would probably have to be toned down to prevent an auto include in each party. ), Curse of Blackened Sight (Party friendly long duration AoE blind, use when things too messy for chillfog), Fetid Caress (Decent single target paralyses), Miasma of Dull Mindedness (Good to soften up before will attacking spell), Deleterious Alacrity (One of the best buffs in the game, cuts recovery in half with 0 armor penalty leads to no recovery for spells), Expose Vulnerabilities (Better than dropping a fireball), Kalakoth Minor Blights (With Blast, Penetrating Blast + Combusting Wounds + Deleterious Alacrity + expose vulnerabilities will pressure cook enemies), Llengrath's Displaced Image (Good buff if under duress), Confusion (Great AoE confusion, party friendly), Maura's Writhing Tentacles (Very good, keeps dudes locked down), Ninagauth's Shadowflame (One of the best spells in the game, fast cast AoE Paralyse), Ninagauth's Death Ray (Decent single target damage with good might), Pull of Eora (Use to suck people for Barbarians/Citzals Spirit Lance), Wall of Flame (great for interrupt/combusting wounds), Arkemyr's Wondrous Torment (For when you really need a will spell to land), Call to Slumber (One of the best AoE CCs in the game), Malignant Cloud (Good Raw aoe damage, combine with, Ninagauth's Bitter Mooring (Good damage), Ryngrim's Enervating Terror (Great Debuff), Wall of Force (Good for combusting Wounds/Interrupt), Citzals Spirit Lance (Has an AoE effect, does great damage), Gaze of the Adragan (Probably best CC spell in the game, petrified targets take 2x damage), XXX Blunt Wisdom (Insane damage weapon summon, but gotten very late in game), Ninagauth's Freezing Pillar (Good damage), Concelhaut's Crushing Doom (Insane single target prone, made for messing with dragons), XXX Siphoning Image (Very good protection spell, gotten late), Wall of Draining (Insanely good spell, can get infinite duration buffs = near invulnerability), Chaotic Orb (Good when there's two targets), Kalakoth's Freezing Rake (Insane Damage), Antipathetic Field (Insane damage for early game, withdraw a guy at a choke point then do this over them), Whisper of Treason (useful from start to finish, fast cast single target long duration charm, messes up dragons), Mental Binding (Great AoE CC, cheap with good duration), Phantom Foes (Use in combination with vs flanked resting bonus for certain classes, increases spell damage too), Recall Agony (Good damage vs single targets), Ectopsychic Echo (Party friendly version of antipathetic field, cast on your own dudes), Puppet Master (Dominate version of whisper of treason, insanely good, messes up dragons), Ringleader (Great AoE dominate/charm debuff), Tactical Meld (Stacks with every other ACC Bonus, great for landing CC against high def targets), Amplified Wave (Insane spell, damage and prone in massive area), Disintegration (Insane single target damage, doesn't destroy loot! You are especially in luck because with two Wizards, you can pick different spells for each level for your MC and Aloth and then write them into each other's books as well, so you can have a lot quickly. The Parasitic Staff is great for the early game and the Spirit Lance and Warding Staff are even better later on. As wizardy memorize repertoire of spells when lvling up, Grimoires are there to expand their repertoire and ar intended to be swapped around. Some players couldn't tolerate one PC not doing something in every single fight, or doing only a little in some fights, so this differentiator has been more and more lost over time. I will give these spells a go. Aloth has two rings, which, when worn together, give him +2 level 1, 2, and 3 spells, plus a bonus level 4 spell. Are people spending 2nd level new spells gained on 1st level spells just to get access to this spell? It gets the player to actually make some choices regarding their spell selection. In Pillars of Eternity wizard returns to the roots of the genre. It's doing fine. I was irritated to realize that the spell slot talents I chose became irrelevant at 9th and 12th level. He does have some debuffs, though it's hard to tell if they're doing us any good. All trademarks are property of their respective owners in the US and other countries. Accuracy For Wizard, direct damage spells of a given level tend to drop off in power as you gain levels. Interdiction is fantastic, as are any/all abilities that upgrade it. I don't like this, I think pillars had it better. Try to attack enemies that have these status effects for best results. Arcane Archers are among those few, and apply their innate aptitude with magic by temporarily infusing spells into their projectiles. You can never have too much accuracy, so this really helps out. Bonus spells are really good b/c Aloth will be able to caste 1st lv spells at a per encounter basis at lv 9 and then do the same for 2nd lv spells at lv 11. WCG With that said, here's what I typically do with Aloth: Level 4 - Weapon Focus (Noble). For now as I'm using Aloth I just use him without a grimoire equipped, that way he only gets and uses spells he learns via level up progression. He decided to track down an ancient and remote Leaden Key sect in the Deadfire Archipelago so he could observe their workings and use that knowledge for his goals. It's for Aloth and Grieving Mother. Also, some of the lower level abilities have a higher chance to hit and longer duration than the higher level area of effects. Aloth doesn't initially disclose his ties to the Leaden Key. Before PoE 1.03, Aloth had the following Attributes: Mig: 12 Con: 10 Dex: 11 Per: 16 Int: 16 Res: 13. And despite that, Wizards are still the only class with potential to access all their abilities without respeccing, since you can just bring in Grimoires with spells you need. Stay tuned for more Pillars of Eternity 2: Deadfire Guides, as we cover all the Companions in preparation for the console launch. Please, regale us with your experiences on how useful these abilities are in your experience. The main thing you want to look for is something that benefits Critical Hits, or benefits both weapon attacks and spells. I see the per-encounter system from PoE1 and IE games as an adopted system from tabletops, which never found it place in its computer counterparts. ", "Most people need that kind of guidance. Weapon Specialization This passive will further increase the damage with your proficient weapons, so it is a great choice. Fear. It is a class with very powerful offensive capabilities, a great variety of spells with various effects, weak defense and very small amount of health and endurance points. I found Grimoire Slam very helpful, as he often had to sneak up to the front line to get in place for a Fan of Flame. Pillars of Eternity Wiki is a FANDOM Games Community. Just make sure you have a tank in the party if you intend to use Aloth to the best of his . Bewildering Spectacle is an AoE confuse that works on most enemies even on PotD. Use it at the start of every fight. Im not sure i like the new way of learning magic for Wizards in POE2. If you sort out his little problem with the locals, he'll join up with you. Game They could just create a special vendor who edits your grimoire and adds the spells you want for a cost. Sign up for a new account in our community. Anyway, if you hate it that's fine, but that's the idea. First, you should use your melee fighters (especially a tank, Eder can becoime him) to block enemy fighters from going to Aloth by engaging them (keep in mind doorways, they are good to put there one ore two fighters and not to worry for ranged comrades). [1], Five years into his training, his father's beatings came to a head and resulted in Aloth's Awakening. I've mostly only played up to level 4 so far as I keep rerolling to try new builds and to perfect my characters, but I believe my current group is perfect for me at last. Spirit Shield A good early game source of Armor and Concentration with a really long Duration. However, note he doesn't say wizard spells ignore the elemental talents. If the latter is chosen, Aloth's story unceremoniously ends; finding himself with nowhere he feels he belongs, he decides in his desperation to head to Eir Glanfath, where he tracks down one of the ancient machines, ending his life by sacrificing his soul to it. Head . By the time he met the Watcher he was on his own for several months. That worked OK if I was lucky enough to hit them (and the fire didn't bounce back into us). Now I just feel like I have an unrelated series of standalone fights, and I'm reset after each one so I can meet the next with the full catalog again. It is the same reason why druids and priests lost access to all of their spells and have to choose as wizards do. None of those are good designs. Gary1986 :D, You need to be a member in order to leave a comment. Since he has blast, I decided to give him penetrating blast. Wiki. First, you can increase the Damage and Penetration they deal through Destructive Channeling, which is healed by Constant Recovery. It's more important to get the spells which are immediately useful to you (see list above or similar topics) or spells you can't get through loot. By Permanent It sacrifices long term considerations on the alter of the short attention span appeal. Aloth Corfiser is an elven wizard and one of the companions in Pillars of Eternity and Pillars of Eternity II: Deadfire. You accomplished that on your own, and you would have been fine without him pushing you." Cipher can throw stun or mass damage spell, but have to recharge by attacking afterwards while Alloth at later stages can hurl pack of fireballs, place prolonged aoe debuff zones, blind, sicken, confuse and burn every enemy on field without catching a break. As far as spells go, these are left entirely up to the player to decide. I kept choosing the bonus spellsthey were occasionally handy to have in longer fights after using up most of his high lvl slots, vs. needing scrolls or having him just using his wand, since they become per encounter use later. Should he remain with the party, the Watcher's influence (see Endings) on Aloth expresses itself in his ending slides. Wizards are still very powerful. - King Arthur, Monty Python and the Quest for the Holy Grail, "Space is big, really big." Just allow their editing as in POE1, and provide an "ironman" type game mode to turn off the infuriating Diablo auto-regeneration of health and spells, and I'm a happy Deadfire player. His wizard specialization talents are not very interesting, apart from the choice that includes the 1st, 2nd lv buffs (again b/c those buffs may be cast every encounter at higher lvs). Of cause, I think that if you do play on normal/easy difficulty, equipped your party for melee and used to fight without pause, then he would give you trouble because you should activly using pause for battles with Aloth (except situations when he is out of reach for enemy fighters). Defense talents are not good choices also, unless you want to better shield him against mind or stunning effects (in that case, it helps more to get the +10 to relevant defense talent- Unstoppable and others will be your next choice if you need more defense). Scepter and rod attacks also seem to hit friendly characters in the way (unlike arrows) - and like his magic missile spell, they do mundane damage, which is also a bit disappointing. If Aloth got much damage, then to get some time for resquing him you can cast a spell from your priest (it's some sphere, level one or two) which makes a character unavsilable for taking part in melee fighting for some time. At high levels pick up the spell Cadebald's Black Bow, cast it, and then cast Essential Phantom. +1 Autonomy, "People need something to believe in" +1 Authority, If you do not recruit him at the digsite, he will be found in front of, If you do not recruit him at all, he will make his way to, If Aloth became Grandmaster of the Leaden Key it causes some negative reputation with. There are talents that increase a specific elements damage by 20% which helps increase your damage significantly. ), Concelhauts Parasitic Staff (Great in early game), Bewildering Spectacle (Useful in early game before Confusion at level 4, aoe Confuse), Binding Web (Combine with Druid's form of the Delemgan), Combusting Wounds (Combine with any non-DoT repeat damage spell/ability/attack, loads of damage! At character creation, wizards select one 1st level spell (active only). Its a great way to boost damage with AoE spells, or make some spells hit more targets in exchange for a little less effectiveness. He works for the mysterious faction known as the Leaden Key to stop use of Animacy. Yeah, cold damage AND blind, on an enemy only AOE. "poor foreign handwriting" as a lore explanation) make them less effective or something. I think a lot of people just aren't aware of proper use of the two area ranges for spells. (I thought the red area would get the full damage, while the yellow just partial damage.). I can't wait to find out what happens next. The way this Build works is that Aloth will begin combat by casting Disciplined Strikes, which boosts his Chance to Hit and Critical Chance, which applies to both spells and weapon attacks. You no longer have to make meaningful choices about which spells to use, or limit yourself strategically. This is a primary factor in deciding to make Aloth a Battlemage, since hell be more effective when he runs out of spells earlier on in the game. Fighter Stances These Stances become available at level 4 and although you wont be using Cleaving Stance, Warrior Stance does increase the Accuracy of your weapon attacks and Wizard spells, so is a good fit. Or even cast Eldritch Aim every encounter right before you are to release some heavy dmging spells. So you should start casting protective spells on Aloth when you see that he would be engaged soon enough. Good thread. Aloth reveals he struggles with feeling responsible for the incident in Old Valia. +1 Autonomy, "That's true. Bonus 2nd Lv usefulness depends on your play choice. ), Pillars of Eternity: Lords of the Eastern Reach. They no longer have any meaningful cost, because you auto-regenerate what you used right after. Bonus 2nd Level Spell is amazing and lasts until the end of the game, even with the ring, for two reasons: Bewildering Spectacle and Miasma of Dull-Mindedness. What I absolutely don't take are bonus spells or elemental damage talents. Where I stand is following: The resource management and long term planning/thinking is great. If her favor is 0 or negative, Aloth will suppress her. For other enemies, once the battle is stabilized, I can sometimes move him around to the other side, so he can use his scepter. For the record, I think you do get access to almost every wizard spell in the game through looted grimoires. On a hard difficulty in not simple battles you should use pause anyway so Aloth is quite normal guy there. In the first game, I basically just used the same spells all game. That's why I think it should be a game option, like "hardcore" mode: "Let me pick my own spells, but don't bloody reset them or my HP pool after each fight like I'm playing Diablo". It's easy! I use my ciphers for crowd control mainly, so Aloth for aoe damage I've found much more useful. He's the dude putting all the bad guys to sleep so your off tanks can murder them. I n this Pillars of Eternity 2: Deadfire Build Guide we're going to be taking a look at the Spellblade Class, which is a mixture of Wizard and Rogue.I'll be providing information on Attributes, Weapons, Armor, and most importantly, what Abilities to take and how to use them. You can turn any wizard into a ranged auto-attack AoE murder machine by taking, Pillars of Eternity: General Discussion (NO SPOILERS), Cant decide on what talents to give Aloth on level up, Things are as they are. When we see them for what they are, we become unstoppable.". [4] He lost favor after trying to inform instructors about a student-run experiment that would eventually kill a dozen students, though this would later lead to his discovery of the Leaden Key. As he meets your eyes, he gives you a knowing nod. I'm not really looking for magic damage as I read a thread on this forum that said something along the lines that nuking in this game was not as good as the one you'd see in a D&D game. Disintegration doesn't scale as well with MIG for some reason. The "unit of attention" becomes a single fight. Use only when you can do so without being interrupted, such as at the beginning of combat when enemies are still moving towards you. It totally depends how you want to play those. Lets start with Fighter. Then you should manage the situations when you can not avoid melee engagement fot Aloth. The new system to me seems more consistant and faithful to the rest of the game and design. So, most of the time, Aloth seems to have nothing useful to contribute. He asks the Watcher to help him find the ancient Leaden Key sect known only as "The Painted Masks". Aloth's Leather Armor The character I have is a Deflection based Fighter. He is from the Cythwood, part of the mainland of the Aedyr Empire, and brought up in a servile family employed by Aedyran nobility, the Erl of Cythwood. Whatever, strategic value the old system provided was imaginary or result of self imposed limitations by players. He joined because it would provide postings far away from the Cythwood, Aloth's father, and his erl.