Builds - Pillars of Eternity: Complete Edition Walkthrough & Guide (2024)

Builds

This page provides builds for each class that you can use in your own playthroughs..

Barbarian

Frenzy is not great at low levels because you don't need the Accuracy penalty. However, in the long term, it's better than Barbaric Yell. Savage Defiance combos with Fighting Spirit: when sufficient damage is taken to activate the combat boosts, you can heal yourself. Most of the abilities are passive: if you're going to be in the thick of combat, you may as well weaken nearby enemies. One Stands Alone, which confers a damage bonus, only requires enemy proximity rather than actual Engagement.

The weapon focus is for the Tall Grass pike or the Hours of St. Rumbauld great sword which can knock enemies Prone on a critical hit. Carnage turns this into an AoE effect and Threatening Presence makes it more likely to proc by lowering enemies' Fortitude.

Chanter

A Chanter's strengths don't dispose her to being the being the fastest killer on the battlefield so this build focuses on defence and passive aggression. The weapon focus is for the Deflection benefits of hatchets and for a general Accuracy bonus. The higher level Invocations are boosted by Secrets of Rime.

For most encounters, you're best off mindlessly chanting Come, come... so that you can get your damaging Invocations off or access your powerful summons more quickly. When they come online, you can mix in Old Slec or Mercy and Kindness for some powerful self and party heals.

Cipher

This is a decent mix of crowd control and direct damage. At first, you'll likely be using a bow but when you get Greater Focus at level 2 you can open with Eyebite which will help you land your physical attacks. If you prefer a more hands-on approach, you can open up with Psychovampiric Shield from level 3 and go in swinging. The weapon focus encompasses reach and missile weapons to support a hybrid playstyle.

Disintegration is your big damage spell. If you need to soften up a high-defence target first, Fractured Volition reduces Fortitude. Before that you can use Antipatheitc Field and Ectopsychic Echo.

Druid

There seems little point in playing a Druid as a pure caster class - you might as well play a Wizard. Instead, I've chosen to build around Spiritshifting. I prefer the cat slightly to the boar since building for attack speed works better when you have high attack speed to start with.

Nature Godlike would be nice, but the synergy of Elemental Endurance with Form of the Delemgan is just too good to pass up.

You might take Veteran's Recovery for early survivability and respec when that ceases to be such a problem. Savage Attack works well with Spiritshift attacks since they have high Accuracy.

Fighter

This is a Fighter built for lethality rather than defence. I've chosen Boreal Dwarf but any racial choice with a fixed bonus would be good. I've chosen the Ruffian weapon set for two-weapon fighting - adjust to taste.

Monk (Long Pain)

This is a variant Monk built around the Long Pain Fists. Until level 7, you will play as a conventional Monk. Because of low Resolve, you will have to play slightly cautiously at first. Once you get The Long Pain ability, you have an extremely high damage, dual-wield weapon. All the selected abilities work with it (note that Enervating Blows is not one of these) and the bane-type talents increase what is already high damage further. If you want the complete set, swap the Marksman talent for Wilder Hunter.

Monk (Passive Aggressive)

The idea here is to repay pain with interest. The key talent is Battle Forged which works with Turning Wheel and Vulnerable Attack. This does require you to be at 50% Endurance, but with very high Constitution, this will still be quite high.

Paladin

Shieldbearers get a couple of decent talents and more defence for everyone is never a bad thing. The basic idea is to open up with Flames of Devotion which - combined with a shot from an arquebus - will damage or even kill a backline enemy while providing a decent boost to all allies. With this out of the way, the Paladin can get stuck in with a great sword while boosting the Accuracy of the entire party. Besides Sacred Immolation (which is too good to pass up regardless), most of the chosen abilities do not depend strongly on Intellect, allowing attribute points to be moved elsewhere.

Priest of Eothas

This is the nice Priest build with joint emphasis on party support and burning enemies to ash. Eothas has probably the least useful Deity-specific talent but the best Symbol spell for late game. The rather strange looking Outlander's Frenzy talent is to boost casting speed.

Priest of Skaen

In contrast a Priest of an evil deity is built rather more selfishly and plays like a Rogue with the exception that the enemies he engages are already going to be weakened in several ways before he starts stabbing them.

Ranger

Since the USP of a Ranger is the animal companion, it makes sense to build around it. For level 3, either take Predator's Sense or take Vicious Aim and respec when you get to level 13 since Twinned Shots makes other modal abilities obsolete. At level 5, you may prefer Defensive Bond which doesn't require you to pay such close attention to what your companion is up to.

Rogue

At level 1, you only have two choices. Blinding Strike gives the superior debuff but you can pick Crippling Strike which can be used twice as often. The weapon focus suggests something like a sabre and stiletto or a club and stiletto. Two Weapon Style and Vulnerable Attack will cancel each other out. However, combined they give you a way of overcoming high DR without compromising offence too badly. When you don't need the DR bypass, turn Vulnerable Attack off.

Since Deflection is in the crapper, I don't try to repair the penalty from Reckless Assault through Deflecting Assault. If you weren't reckless, you wouldn't play as a Rogue in the first place!

Wizard (Ranged)

This is primarily a ranged build with a mix of damaging and disabling magic. The trick is using implements (rods, staves and wands) and having them do AoE damage through (Penetrating) Blast. You can use AoE blasts to deliver Envenomed Strike. Dangerous Implements increases your damage output and helps proc Silver Tide by damaging you with each blast.

Wizard (Melee)

The spell selection focuses on self-buffs and spells with a fast casting time. Arcane Veil doesn't last that long so you may want to have an escape plan (Fleet Feet or similar). The Parasitic Staff is great for the early game and the Spirit Lance and Warding Staff are even better later on.