I just started playing Deadfire for the first time this month. I'm so hyped there is still someone covering this game. I love the world building and build crafting it offers. Thanks so much and keep it up!
Bro, welcome to a loving tribute to the Baldur's Gate series. Hope you enjoy it, Obsidian really took care of us in both Pillars 1 and 2, always taking the time to read and respond to feedback on the forums and all. Here's a quick tip, in the game's splash screen where you can start a new game or load an existing one, at the very bottom of the menu, did you notice the statue ? Hover your mouse over it, and you'll get Magran's Challenges, optional toggles that modify the game's behaviour ! I always play with Galawain and Ondra's challenges on, although I'm too skittish for the other ones ;)
POE1&2 are my favorite games of all time. Thank you for covering it and giving it the exposure it deserves. A tip for newer players, the rogue talent "Retaliation" is a full attack which means it will attack with both weapons in your hand. If you get the shield Margrans Blessing it counts as a second weapon and a shield. So when Retaliation procss you will be able to get two attacks that are buffed by your sneak atttack. You can get it very early at the Sacred Stairs behind the Margran statue. Theres a guard near the weapon rack where its looted from, throw a sparkcracker behind him and while hes distracted nab it.
Excellent guide, looking forward to the other guides for Aloth and Xoti. Would also like a general guide on how to make a character build (powerful spells, how to stack modifiers, etc)
Just finished my first playthrough today. Deadfire is in my top 5 favorite games, so much fun from start to finish. Going to start another playthrough soon! Thanks for posting these guides, I hope there are many more to come!!!
Oh good lord bless your heart for making these! I'm just starting with Deadfire and was desperately looking for solid companion builds, you're a life saver! Also, the fact you included a written version is just a cherry on top for folks like me who just stash word/excel files away with all the best builds and such. Really, your effort is very much appreciated, thank you again!
Really looking forward to the Xoti build! This Eder build is pretty much the companion I was the most certain about on my own, but in dozens and dozens of playthroughs and restarts I’ve never managed to make a Xoti build that didn’t feel incredibly disappointing
Absolutely fantastic video. Thank you! I think you’ve convinced me to respec my Eder. And to repeat previous comments, I hope you continue with more companion builds.
Popping back in to say thank you for covering this game. There is a surprising lack of content on this game that actually includes commentary discussing things in depth. Your beginners guide is what convinced me to give the game a second chance after not liking it at first and I've been having a blast sailing around as a half dead pirate ship captain. It's actually inspired me to try and make some content of my own once I learn more. ESPECIALLY ABOUT CHANTER. It's my favorite class and it seems heavily overlooked, possibly because of the Beckoner nerfs that happened when the game released. But I think it has way more potential than people give it credit for.
Just finishing 1 (with White Marsh) first (this time for real) but having a proper Guide for 2 (wich I did complete, except the last DLC) is good to know and a welcome surprise. Thought about subbing, but looks like I already did some time in the past. :)
Ooooh I'm so getting a Tactician / Streetfighter Eder next playthrough ! Thank you for the guide, and looking forward to more ! Please do Maia some time soon ! 🙏
Great coverage! Now that the release has been pushed to February i have enough time to finish poe1+2. I will be watching your channel with great interest 🧐😂
This is great. Thank you so much! Ready to dive into the game, but waiting till you have all the videos completed! Figure i'm going to use your character from the first video hah!
I've only gotten through this game once, but that Deep Wounds tangent makes me think about that battle axe modal Bleeding Cut. Could really turn into a nasty damage over time thing by Riposting into enemies with not only the damage of the attack itself, but by also stacking two DoTs into the stratosphere with every Riposte, Cleave and forced Disengagement...
After several playthroughs, NEVER finishing any of them, I finally seem to have it. For interactions in dialogues, events in town & the world, picking locks, creeping up on enemies, you need 1 person in your party with the highest skill the interactions require. So min-max each character active/passive skills to cover mechanics, insight, history, survival, stealth, alchemy (if you make potions), etc (the ones I mention are most crucial in dialogue & interaction with the world). I used to have 3 tanks, now reduce it to 2. Most of my points go into passive skills in the skill tree. When you run out of zeal points, can't use your skill. So all these awesome, powerful active combat skills are useless when you can't use them. So pour your points into passive skills that increase damage, resist damage & afflictions, increase armor, heals you. None of my skill blind, confuse, daze you. I just go for raw damage, corrosive, electric. Pretty much everyone is resistant to fire & ice. It was a tedious process micro managing every single battle & sea engagement. Now I just let the AI mop things up within 1 minutes, unless it's a hard enemy group. PS - DON'T go killing bounty boss without a bounty first. There's a soft bug that I encountered once, where I got the bounty's head before getting the bounty. Then once I got the bounty, & tried turning it in, it didn't do anything. So I went back to the bounty's area to fight again, but nobody's there, cuz I already killed it. I have the head, but the game won't acknowledge it.
Tbh if you deck out a Single Class Fighter with the right gear and passives you only need 1 tank for most encounters. I use a Chanter to drop Skeletons/Ogre's for the occasional fight where we're surrounded or the enemies are too spread for my vanguard to catch them all. Often times weaker enemies will swarm the front liner even if there's more enemies than they have engagement. And tbh so many spells allow you to stun/paralyze/frighten etc that I actually can use those to make sure I lock everything down instead of using the summons.
Weapons and shield style will work with one handed style or 2 weapon style (if the shield has a bashing property (it can be used as an off hand weapon) highly suggest Magran' shield (from the sacred stair in nekataka, use a spark tracker to distract the guard and get away clean)
Very interesting to see you value the Rogue stuff so much. None of it is bad but it felt more so unnecessary. Even on POTD i just use Eder as a wall to hold enemies in place until my Chanter drops summons. Then spam Mule Kick on anyone who looks at him funny. I dabbled in Unbroken/Streetfighter, with Kapana Taga and Shattered Vengeance to get lots of Engage then slap Barring Deaths Door on top and youve got a literally unkillable monster.
One thing I missed from this awesome build that was missed is the ability to to have dual wield AND weapon and shield style at the same time when using magrans blessing. making +35% attack speed just from 1 node is amazing. magrans blessing also make eder immune to frost attacks with improved flame shield so with any immunities from perception like captains banquet + some immunity to dexterity affliction I can drop chilling fog + ninagauth freezing pillar can make everything melt around it.
I learned so much from withering strike I've always defaulted to other abilities but your explanations were awesome. oh kapana taga is really good with the second choices you didn't make. it really makes a difference.
First of all, thank you for the great content! You have sparked my interest in this game again. I really love your idea for the three starter characters, but from a completionist point of view, what would you suggest for the main character and additional companions/mercenaries to make a full party that can tackle the whole game on normal or veteran difficulty?
I absolutely love this game. I've played the first one and plan to go thru deadfire too. I want to make melee fighting cipher that is all about damage. Do you have any tips for that?
Great video, will prop try the companions again to hear their stories. It does still annoy me to no end that you can neither assign stats nor pick supclasses for the companions. Feels like you get a combat penelty (althoug minor) for picking the story characters over the soulless hirelings. Of course you dont need to min/max a party not even for PotD but some builds just feel alot more fun with specifik subclasses and a more optimised stats allocation.
Hi mate ! I played assasin fighter with hide shot hide and shot technique, later played priest + monk combo that uses priest orders claw transformation and deaths door spamming, But all of them requires playing alone (first one needs you to be alone, second one doesnt need party members at all :P) Always dream of playing this game slow pace with snergetic party.(For fast leveling I followed speed runners videos with solo char) Can you suggest main char builds that works good with this companion builds ?
Looks a great build! Going to retrain my own Eder when I play this eve lol. Do you have any recommendations about building a chanter focused on summoning? Struggling to find much up to date info on gear/builds. Possible I'm not looking hard enough...
I don't have good advice on that off the top of my head. One thing I can say is this item - pillarsofeternity.fandom.com/wiki/Sasha%27s_Singing_Scimitar - is really good on Chanters.
Im a noob but Chanter is my favorite and I've researched them the most. What kind of Chanter are you? Melee or ranged? Do you take more buffs or debuffs? That makes a considerable difference IMO. Also it matters what multiclass you picked if any. From what I can tell Summons aren't good for much more than body blocking, especially early on with low power levels. But if you multiclass/gear yourself with something like Paladin or Priest to make them stronger it's a different story. In general Skeletons/Ogre's are easy picks for tanking/front line. Wurms are the go to for damage because I'm pretty sure they attack faster than the other two and they don't seem to have engagement. I've heard people say Shadow is good damage too but I never used it because a single Shadow feels strictly worse than getting 2-3 summons from the other spells.
I wish they had made more use of the subclasses for NPCs, other than NPC specific subclasses. Streetfighter in particular would have been a good fit for Eder.
Try the Lore-Friendly Companion Class Changes mod by Joshbi. You can get it on the Steam Workshop, probably also elsewhere. It makes more use of unique subclasses on companions and seems to have put a lot of thought into viable and believable choices. Adding Streetfighter to Eder’s rogue classes is a highlight for me. Another example I like a lot is changing Maia’s Ranger/Wizard build to Ranger/Fighter (Devoted). They also try some interesting things with Serafen (believe it’s Wild Mind, Wild Mind/Bellower, and Wild Mind/Debonaire). I really enjoy it a lot
@@Aestus_RPG yeah think your correct. I only noticed when I got my next companion that I could chose. It's my First time playing a game like this. It did say mulit class wasn't recommended to new players.
![Noob To Max With DRAGON REWORK In Blox Fruits [FULL MOVIE]](http://i.ytimg.com/vi/LnBMOinoOvA/mqdefault.jpg)
God I'm so happy you're covering this game and that you're covering companions. Good work as always
I just started playing Deadfire for the first time this month. I'm so hyped there is still someone covering this game. I love the world building and build crafting it offers. Thanks so much and keep it up!
Bro, welcome to a loving tribute to the Baldur's Gate series.
Hope you enjoy it, Obsidian really took care of us in both Pillars 1 and 2, always taking the time to read and respond to feedback on the forums and all.
Here's a quick tip, in the game's splash screen where you can start a new game or load an existing one, at the very bottom of the menu, did you notice the statue ?
Hover your mouse over it, and you'll get Magran's Challenges, optional toggles that modify the game's behaviour !
I always play with Galawain and Ondra's challenges on, although I'm too skittish for the other ones ;)
I'm glad I got back to this game just as videos like this have been popping up
Love this content! This game is so deep and you do a great job at explaining it to the point one sentence changes all my tactics.
POE1&2 are my favorite games of all time. Thank you for covering it and giving it the exposure it deserves. A tip for newer players, the rogue talent "Retaliation" is a full attack which means it will attack with both weapons in your hand. If you get the shield Margrans Blessing it counts as a second weapon and a shield. So when Retaliation procss you will be able to get two attacks that are buffed by your sneak atttack. You can get it very early at the Sacred Stairs behind the Margran statue. Theres a guard near the weapon rack where its looted from, throw a sparkcracker behind him and while hes distracted nab it.
Excellent guide, looking forward to the other guides for Aloth and Xoti.
Would also like a general guide on how to make a character build (powerful spells, how to stack modifiers, etc)
just wanted to say thank you for putting these guides out. Replaying it myself and there's really not much up-to-date content available
Just finished my first playthrough today. Deadfire is in my top 5 favorite games, so much fun from start to finish. Going to start another playthrough soon! Thanks for posting these guides, I hope there are many more to come!!!
Hey, I played this game recently and it was such a great game. I hope obsidian makes another Pillars crpg
Oh good lord bless your heart for making these! I'm just starting with Deadfire and was desperately looking for solid companion builds, you're a life saver! Also, the fact you included a written version is just a cherry on top for folks like me who just stash word/excel files away with all the best builds and such. Really, your effort is very much appreciated, thank you again!
Really looking forward to the Xoti build! This Eder build is pretty much the companion I was the most certain about on my own, but in dozens and dozens of playthroughs and restarts I’ve never managed to make a Xoti build that didn’t feel incredibly disappointing
Absolutely fantastic video. Thank you! I think you’ve convinced me to respec my Eder.
And to repeat previous comments, I hope you continue with more companion builds.
Popping back in to say thank you for covering this game. There is a surprising lack of content on this game that actually includes commentary discussing things in depth. Your beginners guide is what convinced me to give the game a second chance after not liking it at first and I've been having a blast sailing around as a half dead pirate ship captain. It's actually inspired me to try and make some content of my own once I learn more. ESPECIALLY ABOUT CHANTER. It's my favorite class and it seems heavily overlooked, possibly because of the Beckoner nerfs that happened when the game released. But I think it has way more potential than people give it credit for.
Look up Boeroer's builds, I believe he has one for Chanter + Arcane Archer for permanent interrupts with an arbalest ^^
Just finishing 1 (with White Marsh) first (this time for real) but having a proper Guide for 2 (wich I did complete, except the last DLC) is good to know and a welcome surprise.
Thought about subbing, but looks like I already did some time in the past. :)
This and the other videos inspired me to play the first title, I’m almost at the end of it, so I can enjoy Deadfire and follow your builds 👍🏻
Really enjoy this content, it's inspired me to buy the game. Can't wait for other builds to be released. Great job!
Ooooh I'm so getting a Tactician / Streetfighter Eder next playthrough !
Thank you for the guide, and looking forward to more !
Please do Maia some time soon ! 🙏
Great guide! Eder was my guy in POE 1. Can't wait for the rest of the companions.
Great coverage! Now that the release has been pushed to February i have enough time to finish poe1+2. I will be watching your channel with great interest 🧐😂
Great video, only critique I would add is if you use custom AI settings for a build you could talk about that a bit at the end. Thanks for the video!
Thanks for this. I returning to the game after a long time.
Came for the build but stayed for the blather. But seriously I was feeling nostalgic for PoE and this was a nice refresh series.
This is great. Thank you so much! Ready to dive into the game, but waiting till you have all the videos completed! Figure i'm going to use your character from the first video hah!
I never would have guessed how many rogue skills would synergize with a rank role. This game is a gem
Thank you for including the google doc
Fantastic, cannot wait to consume!
It was mentioned in a comment below, but a guide on how to use the custom AI would be awesome!
really looking forward t o trying this game out. Thanks for all the guides they will come in handy Im sure
Thank you very much for this clear and informative guide.
I've only gotten through this game once, but that Deep Wounds tangent makes me think about that battle axe modal Bleeding Cut. Could really turn into a nasty damage over time thing by Riposting into enemies with not only the damage of the attack itself, but by also stacking two DoTs into the stratosphere with every Riposte, Cleave and forced Disengagement...
Great job i have hope u make another companion guides like this
After several playthroughs, NEVER finishing any of them, I finally seem to have it. For interactions in dialogues, events in town & the world, picking locks, creeping up on enemies, you need 1 person in your party with the highest skill the interactions require. So min-max each character active/passive skills to cover mechanics, insight, history, survival, stealth, alchemy (if you make potions), etc (the ones I mention are most crucial in dialogue & interaction with the world). I used to have 3 tanks, now reduce it to 2. Most of my points go into passive skills in the skill tree. When you run out of zeal points, can't use your skill. So all these awesome, powerful active combat skills are useless when you can't use them. So pour your points into passive skills that increase damage, resist damage & afflictions, increase armor, heals you. None of my skill blind, confuse, daze you. I just go for raw damage, corrosive, electric. Pretty much everyone is resistant to fire & ice.
It was a tedious process micro managing every single battle & sea engagement. Now I just let the AI mop things up within 1 minutes, unless it's a hard enemy group.
PS - DON'T go killing bounty boss without a bounty first. There's a soft bug that I encountered once, where I got the bounty's head before getting the bounty. Then once I got the bounty, & tried turning it in, it didn't do anything. So I went back to the bounty's area to fight again, but nobody's there, cuz I already killed it. I have the head, but the game won't acknowledge it.
Tbh if you deck out a Single Class Fighter with the right gear and passives you only need 1 tank for most encounters. I use a Chanter to drop Skeletons/Ogre's for the occasional fight where we're surrounded or the enemies are too spread for my vanguard to catch them all. Often times weaker enemies will swarm the front liner even if there's more enemies than they have engagement. And tbh so many spells allow you to stun/paralyze/frighten etc that I actually can use those to make sure I lock everything down instead of using the summons.
Weapons and shield style will work with one handed style or 2 weapon style (if the shield has a bashing property (it can be used as an off hand weapon) highly suggest Magran' shield (from the sacred stair in nekataka, use a spark tracker to distract the guard and get away clean)
Very interesting to see you value the Rogue stuff so much. None of it is bad but it felt more so unnecessary. Even on POTD i just use Eder as a wall to hold enemies in place until my Chanter drops summons. Then spam Mule Kick on anyone who looks at him funny.
I dabbled in Unbroken/Streetfighter, with Kapana Taga and Shattered Vengeance to get lots of Engage then slap Barring Deaths Door on top and youve got a literally unkillable monster.
One thing I missed from this awesome build that was missed is the ability to to have dual wield AND weapon and shield style at the same time when using magrans blessing. making +35% attack speed just from 1 node is amazing. magrans blessing also make eder immune to frost attacks with improved flame shield so with any immunities from perception like captains banquet + some immunity to dexterity affliction I can drop chilling fog + ninagauth freezing pillar can make everything melt around it.
I learned so much from withering strike I've always defaulted to other abilities but your explanations were awesome. oh kapana taga is really good with the second choices you didn't make. it really makes a difference.
More deadfire builds pls!
First of all, thank you for the great content! You have sparked my interest in this game again. I really love your idea for the three starter characters, but from a completionist point of view, what would you suggest for the main character and additional companions/mercenaries to make a full party that can tackle the whole game on normal or veteran difficulty?
Stay tuned. I enlisted the help of the Deadfire builds master. A video of elite builds from him will be dropping soon.
@@Aestus_RPG great I can't wait !
Best boy build.
Tanks for doing these videos. Can you make some character build guides as well?
@@sno0p3r I'm working on some stuff
Hi If I play a sipiritualist (psion/chanter) is it still better to make Eder multi class or staying rough would be better for sneak attaks
I absolutely love this game. I've played the first one and plan to go thru deadfire too. I want to make melee fighting cipher that is all about damage. Do you have any tips for that?
Yes, martial class + Soulblade make awesome damage dealers.
@@Aestus_RPG So I should do a multi class?
@@zackzebedi561 Melee ciphers are best as a multiclass, but you can do whatever you prefer.
Love it!
I'd love a monk guide. It's the one class that I can see is super strong on paper but I can never actually make work to that level in practice.
Look up Boeroer's Mortar Monk guide !
It’s small beans, but with an Unbending-focused build, would turning reflex grazes into missed actually harm survivability?
@@rupertmcbutters1748 In this build? Yes.
Great video, will prop try the companions again to hear their stories. It does still annoy me to no end that you can neither assign stats nor pick supclasses for the companions. Feels like you get a combat penelty (althoug minor) for picking the story characters over the soulless hirelings. Of course you dont need to min/max a party not even for PotD but some builds just feel alot more fun with specifik subclasses and a more optimised stats allocation.
@@Kvurv Hirelings are always at least one level lower than a story companion, so it's kind of balanced that way.
@@Aestus_RPGNot with mods 😉 I know you don't use them though
Starting my full new playthrough. Think I’m picking an orlan
Hi mate ! I played assasin fighter with hide shot hide and shot technique, later played priest + monk combo that uses priest orders claw transformation and deaths door spamming, But all of them requires playing alone (first one needs you to be alone, second one doesnt need party members at all :P) Always dream of playing this game slow pace with snergetic party.(For fast leveling I followed speed runners videos with solo char) Can you suggest main char builds that works good with this companion builds ?
@letsbegin4584 check out my 5 Most Fun Builds for Deadfire video with Boeroer!
Looks a great build! Going to retrain my own Eder when I play this eve lol. Do you have any recommendations about building a chanter focused on summoning? Struggling to find much up to date info on gear/builds. Possible I'm not looking hard enough...
I don't have good advice on that off the top of my head. One thing I can say is this item - pillarsofeternity.fandom.com/wiki/Sasha%27s_Singing_Scimitar - is really good on Chanters.
Cheers that's a start!
Im a noob but Chanter is my favorite and I've researched them the most. What kind of Chanter are you? Melee or ranged? Do you take more buffs or debuffs? That makes a considerable difference IMO. Also it matters what multiclass you picked if any. From what I can tell Summons aren't good for much more than body blocking, especially early on with low power levels. But if you multiclass/gear yourself with something like Paladin or Priest to make them stronger it's a different story.
In general Skeletons/Ogre's are easy picks for tanking/front line. Wurms are the go to for damage because I'm pretty sure they attack faster than the other two and they don't seem to have engagement. I've heard people say Shadow is good damage too but I never used it because a single Shadow feels strictly worse than getting 2-3 summons from the other spells.
I wish they had made more use of the subclasses for NPCs, other than NPC specific subclasses. Streetfighter in particular would have been a good fit for Eder.
Unbroken trickster very nasty with that disengagements.
if you dual rogue with Mirke she gets access to street fighter.
Try the Lore-Friendly Companion Class Changes mod by Joshbi. You can get it on the Steam Workshop, probably also elsewhere. It makes more use of unique subclasses on companions and seems to have put a lot of thought into viable and believable choices. Adding Streetfighter to Eder’s rogue classes is a highlight for me. Another example I like a lot is changing Maia’s Ranger/Wizard build to Ranger/Fighter (Devoted). They also try some interesting things with Serafen (believe it’s Wild Mind, Wild Mind/Bellower, and Wild Mind/Debonaire). I really enjoy it a lot
How about making vids about the first game?
Seconded !
Perfect but where were you a week ago when I started my run lol. But seriously I wanted a tank build I could only find dps.
Woohoo
Why does my eder not have rouge points
You probably made him a different class when you first recruited him.
@@Aestus_RPG yeah think your correct. I only noticed when I got my next companion that I could chose. It's my First time playing a game like this. It did say mulit class wasn't recommended to new players.
Why take dirty fighting over one handed style? Seems twice as good if you are sword and board.
@ramsenc one handed style doesn't work with shields.
I picked pure rouge for him and I regretted it
is this game any good? I lost interest pretty quick when I tried it
I tried on turn based because it's what's I'm used to and it was ass. If you play RTWP instead and learn the AI system it's way more fun.
Hey
the problem is eder, and aloth, are annoying crybabies that won't be played.
Serafen and Tekehu are the best characters.