Ahh combat just like they used to make in the good old days :)



As the old saying goes, the best form of attack is defense. In my humble opinion, the best thing you can do is kit out your entire party in the highest DR armor you can get your grubby paws on.

Although this will increase your recovery time you will be able to stay alive much longer and resolve combat encounters more efficiently.

I have never been entirely convinced by the unwritten law that says Paladins and Warriors can clomp about in the equivalent of a walking fortress but poor old mages and priests have to wear the equivalent of a blanket. I mean the priests are going to be healing the warriors and if I was a bandit I would go straight after the dude or dudette with the glowy wand and leave the warriors to clomp slowly after me in a few hundred pounds of metal...

Anyhoo.... moving swiftly on...

Regardless of which type of weapon you choose there will always be a tradeoff. Two Handers are useful for punching through foes high DR but are slower than a 1 handed weapon. Using a stiletto and dagger will result in fast attack times and the ol' traditional Sword and board will increase deflection at the expense of some accuracy.

With this in mind, it is a good idea to have an alternate setup for each of your damage dealers in case you encounter a particularly tough foe and make sure you have a different Damage type on your alternates to deal with different resistances. If you feel like a fight is dragging on way too long it never hurts to check the combat log to see if you are scoring a lot of misses or grazes and switch up your tactics.

Speaking of party roles I have found it really useful to set up Custom Hot Keys for my casters. Given that I use Durance for healing mainly I have set up half a dozen keys that have his most useful AOE Buffs so that I dont have to go looking through 4 tabs of spells every time I want to bolster my party. With Aloth and Hiavias I have done the same with their most damaging AOEs so I can begin a fight by buffing my party and messing up the oppostions day with a few key presses.

To do this just hover over a spell or button on your hotbar and press the key you want to bind to it (bearing in mind that quite a few are bound to shortcuts already.)

Terminology

Attack times

The speed of weapons progresses thus:

Fast > Average > Slow > Very Slow > Extremely Slow

DR = Damage Resistance

This is the primary means of mitigating damage in POE.

Damage type There are types of damage in POE as follows:

Physical

Slashing – caused by weapons with an edged blade, such as battle axes and sabres.
Piercing – caused by weapons with a sharp point, such as stilettos and rapiers.
Crushing – caused by weapons with a blunt striking surface, such as clubs and flails.

Elemental

Shock – attacks from spells or additional damage to physical weapon attacks.
Burn – attacks from spells or additional damage to physical weapon attacks.
Freeze – attacks from spells or additional damage to physical weapon attacks.
Corrode – attacks from spells or additional damage to physical weapon attacks.

Raw

Caused by venom, mental powers and rare skills. Ignores any damage reduction

Misses, Grazes etc

During combat there will be one of four outcomes:

Miss meaning attack has no effect
Graze meaning -50% damage or duration
Hit meaning standard damage and duration
Critical Hit meaning +50% damage or duration

Recovery time

This is the gap between actions such as casting a spell, drinking a potion or using a combat ability.

The Endless Paths of Od Nua are set beneath your fortress and offer a good opportunity to gather lots of loot, slay enemies and run away screaming from over powered monsters retreat to your Fortress and count your ill gotten gains.

To enable you to get to where you are going and back again with minumum fuss here is some handy info :)

On Level 2 there is a sacrificial pit that takes you straight to Level 5




Depending on the exploration gear you are carrying you then have a few options :



There is also a Master Staircase that allows quick access to levels 1, 3, 5, 8, 11 and 14.


So have fun and remember that the monsters aren't Evil, just misunderstood >:)

P.S As for what sort of monsters inhabit which floors... well that would ruin your fun now wouldn't it. Muahahhahahah....

Hey what could POSSIBLY be Hazardous about getting all these ingredients right?

If you are about to explore Terra Incognita, dive into a dungeon or just got your butt kicked in a scripted fight then don't underestimate the value of camping and then eating before setting off.

As you level up your Survival skill you will unlock progressively more powerful and useful bonuses that you can apply on rest. If you know you are going to be facing alot of the same enemies then it is a good idea to give say your Melee and ranged characters Bonus Damage Vs. that type and increased damage reduction to your casters.

Once they have had a good kip I will make sure they all have a hearty breakfast and then let them loose knowing they are at peak effectiveness. It also doesn't hurt to pause combat as soon as it starts and get everyone to chug a potion.

Food and Potions are easily obtainable either via looting or crafting. Even if you cannot make some of the longer lasting dishes it still cant hurt to have a peice of cheese or a swig of beer.

Mind you I am not entirely sure it is socially responsbile of the Devs to encourage people to get drunk, drink some weird purple concoction and then start a massive fight, but hey what do I know right ?

Before it all kicks off I will do the following :

Eder and myself (Melee): Potion of Minor Recovery (mitigates against hostile effects)

Sagani and Grieving Mother (Ranged): Potion of Merciless Gaze (increased Crit chance)

Aloth and Durance (Ranged Casters) : Potion of Eldritch aim (increases accuracy)

In this way, I can maximize my damage at the start of the fight and hopefully make it short and sweet rather than painful and drawn out. If you still G.H.Y.A ™ (Get Handed Your A$$) then perhaps running away making a tactical withdrawal is best.

(or go find some rats to clear from a cellar heh, heh)

'cos Sagani and Grieving Mother are my Scouts ya see :)


Like any good CRPG of yore, this game is crammed full of secret stashes, traps, and enemies just waiting to jump up and down on your cold dead corpse.

Luckily though Dear Reader you can use the oh so handy scouting mode to check out the lie of the land. The best way to do this in invest points in Stealth and Mechanics and make your own scouting party.

Like it says above I have a mini-party comprising of Sagani maxed out on Stealth and Grieving Mother maxed out on Mechanics bound to key 7. I just send them ahead in dungeons to take care of any nasty surprises and in towns to rob the populace blind (well it's hardly my fault people just leave loot lying around in highly tempting locked chests is it now?)

However, this need not be a slow process as you can engage Fast mode with F1 and trot along at an acceptable pace and not a slow crawl. Don't forget to press TAB as you go along to highlight any collectibles/chests etc. If you make sure to enable `hidden object found` in the Auto Pause menu then you won't go dashing past that sweet, sweet loot :)

If I do spot a pack of ne'er-do-well's hanging about I can stick a couple of arrows in them and lead them on a merry dance back to the rest of my party where we can proceed to teach them the error of their ways >:)

Kiting [gaming.wikia.com]enemies in this way is the best way to go as it gives you a chance to control the battle from the get go rather than charging in willy nilly and finding yourself smack in the middle of a pincer maneuver.

BOO !!

Although there are alot of abilites and spells that you can use to give your opponents a solid thrashing it is very useful to specialize in certain weapon schools to give a consistent damage boost to your Melee or Ranged attacks.




Weapon Specialization - Gives +15% Damage with specific groups of weapons


Adventurer : Pollaxe, Estoc, Flail, Wand and War bow.

Knight : Battle axe, Sword, Morning star and Crossbow.

Noble : Dagger, Rapier, Mace, Scepter and Rod.

Peasant : Hatchet, Spear, Quarterstaff, Hunting bow, and unarmed.

Ruffian : Sabre, Stiletto, Club, Pistol and Blunderbuss.

Soldier : Great sword, Pike, War hammer, Arbalest and Arquebus.

If also choose to Focus as well as Specialize in the above styles you will gain +6 Accuracy when using any weapon from that school.


Weapon Styles

One Handed Style : 15% of Hits are converted to Crits.

Two Weapon Style : Increases attack speed by 20% when Dual-Wielding.

Two-Handed Style : Grants a damage bonus when wielding a 2 handed Weapon

Weapon and Shield Style : Increases equipped shield's deflection bonus and gives a reflex bonus equal to your shield's deflection bonus.

There are also certain talents you can pick such as Gunner and Marksman that increase your reload speed and damage vs. Distant enemies respectively.

Even if you only choose to invest in one of these methods for each member of your party it will help to resolve combat that little bit faster.