Pillars of Eternity Video-Based Walkthrough by David Milward
ALOTH, M ELF WIZARD
Why He's Included and How to Use Him
In terms of roleplaying, Aloth's destiny can be played towards good or evil. In this instance, I have him usurp control over the nefarious Leaden Key organization from Thaos.
He is my main damage-caster, crowd-controller and enemy debuffer. It is possible to have a Wizard become a viable warrior through spells like Llengrath's Siphoning Image and Citzal's Martial Power and such, but I prefer to use him in the other three roles.
A lot of battles can won outright with Aloth using Eldritch Aim as a primer for the Pull of Eora spell, which keeps enemies rooted in place. That in turn allows him to bombard the enemy with spells like Chill Fog, Malignant Cloud, Chain Lightning and Wilting Wind.
Aloth is actually a passable damage caster if you give him hefty Might bonuses that stack from both his weapon slot and another item slot. He won't be as good as a Watcher Wizard that has his or her Might pumped up during character creation, but he still sufficed for my purposes.
He also has spells like Call to Slumber and Gaze of the Adragan that can incapacitate or debuff enemies.
Lastly, he's also the only member of the evil party that has a bonus to Mechanics, so he becomes the lock-opener and trap-disarmer pretty much by default.
Location
He can be recruited at #9 in Gilded Vale.
Personal Quest
Two-Sided
Stats
- Might 12
- Constitution 10
- Dexterity 15
- Perception 12
- Intelligence 16
- Resolve 13
Skills
Athletics: This skill is important for any character on harder settings, even squishy spellcasters. It helps any character go longer without fatigue or exhaustion between camping, which is especially crucial during the Hard or Path of the Damned settings. It also provides bonus Health and Endurance.
Mechanics: Aloth is the only member of the evil party whose character class provides a bonus to this skill. So I pretty much have to make Aloth the trap disarmer and locksmith by default.
Talents
2nd Level - Marksman: Provides an Accuracy bonus to whenever Aloth attacks his enemies at a distance with his scepter, which is a lot of the time.
4th Level - Blast: Pretty much obligatory for any Wizard who attacks at a distance with a magical implement. This talent in particular augments the use of the Kalakoth's Minor Blights spell (see below).
6th Level - Penetrating Blast: It provides a +5 Damage Reduction Bypass for his Blast Talent. That would be meaningful enough when he uses his usual Scepter, but it also makes his use of Kalakoth's Minor Blights that much more effective.
8th Level - Secrets of Rime: I begin to take this line of talents not just to augment the damage from Aloth's offensive spells, but also to augment his damage when he uses Kalakoth's Minor Blights. It is sensible to take the Freezing damage talent at this point, since Aloth still makes frequent use of Chill Fog. There will be other offensive spells too like Ninagauth's Shadowflame.
10th Level - Scion of Flame: It will augment his use of Fireball when he uses it, as well as Kalakoth's Minor Blights.
12th Level - Spirit of Decay: Now is a good time to get this talent as he will have just learned the Death's Ring spell.
14th Level - Heart of the Storm: Now is a good time to get this talent as he will have recently learned the Chain Lightning spell.
16th Level - Dangerous Implements: It is a modal ability whereby Aloth will increase his damage with either his scepter, or his Minor Blights, by 25%. The drawback is having to take 3 Raw Damage each attack.
Spells
1st Level:
- Eldritch Aim - Learned on second level up. This spell, which provides a +15 bonus to Accuracy, will eventually become Aloth's 1st-level mastered spell. What I have in mind is that he starts off with this spell every battle, and thereby empowers the rest of any sequence that he may want to lead off a battle with. *Mastery* It becomes Aloth's mastered spell on his 9th level up. If he needs to start a sequence of spells, the efficacy of which depends on Accuracy, he can pop this off for free at the start of the battle and then initiate the rest of his sequence (e.g. Pull of Eora in particular).
- Arkemyr's Dazzling Lights - Aloth already has this spell in his Grimoire. It only affects enemies within its area of effect. One benefit is a -10 penalty to Accuracy, which can be very significant in the early levels. The second benefit is a -10 penalty to Will, which may prime his enemies up for other spells which target the Will defense.
- Kalakoth's Sunless Grasp - Aloth already has this spell in his Grimoire. Applies both Freezing Damage and a -10 Accuracy penalty on a single-target. Can be useful for hitting the boss enemy during lower-level encounters.
2nd Level:
- Miasma of Dull-Mindedness - Taken on 3rd level up. Imposes -6 penalties on Intellect, Perception, and Resolve. It only affects enemies within its radius. Since it reduces Deflection through the Resolve penalty, it will stack with powers or spells that directly debuff Deflection.
- Mirrored Image - Taken on 3rd level up. Provides a Deflection bonus of +30, which gets reduced each time the caster gets struck in combat. Can be useful in a pinch, since even the best efforts to protect the Wizard by hiding behind a tank or using crowd-control can sometimes not work out.
- Merciless Gaze - Taken on 4th level up. A long-lasting spell that converts 15% of Hits into Critical Hits. Can be useful in battles against enemies with high Endurance.
- Concelhaut's Corrosive Siphon - Learned from Osrya's Grimoire. It both inflicts Corrosive damage on enemies caught within its small area of effect, and will heal Aloth at the same time. Can provide a useful self-heal option for Aloth when he needs it.
3rd Level:
- Fireball - Learned from Osrya's Grimoire. Inflicts Burning damage on anyone caught within its medium-sized area of effect. It won't win battles by itself. What it does have going for it is that it is unleashed almost instantly, which makes it a great first strike option before the enemies close in.
- Kalakoth's Minor Blights - Taken on 5th level up. Creates a Wand-type weapon that lasts for 60 seconds. Each time you use it, it inflicts damage of a random type (e.g. Burning, Freezing) over a small area of effect. However, it is also a magical implement for purposes of the Blast talent. That means each enemy caught in the initial area of effect will in turn set off a Blast that inflicts damage over more areas of effect centred around each target struck by the initial attack. That can lead to a kind of ripple-effect whereby the damage can really add up for enemies caught in the heart of the initial area of effect. This is one of the key spells for Aloth.
- Llengrath's Displaced Image - Taken on 5th level up. Adds +25 Deflection, +25 Reflexes, and turns 50% of all incoming Hits into Grazes, for 45 seconds. This is one of the key defensive resources for Aloth should he get caught by any enemies that happen to get around the party tanks. It also makes the Arcane Veil talent unnecessary in my opinion.
- Expose Vulnerabilities - Taken on 6th level up. Reduces Damage Reduction and Deflection only for enemies caught within its area of effect. Can be useful for softening up enemies when party members and numerous enemies are interlocked with each other in an intense physical confrontation.
4th Level:
- Wall of Force - Learned from the Singed Grimoire. Wall spells are best used at narrow chokepoints, where mobs will often trip over each other trying to get through and take damage from the wall multiple times. My preference amongst the wall-type spells is the Wall of Force, partly because I have other spells in mind for other spell levels, and partly because it also inflicts Hobbled on its victims.
- Pull of Eora - Taken on 7th level up. Sets up a small gravitational vortex at a spot chosen by the caster, pulling all nearby creatures towards it. That makes it an ideal crowd-control spell, since Aloth can start combat by placing this in the path of oncoming enemies, keep them tied down around the vortex, and then blast away with his offensive spells. This can come in handy in very large scale fights, since even tanks like Eder can get overwhelmed by sheer numbers.
- Essential Phantom - Taken on 7th level up. Summons a duplicate of the Wizard, which can hit its enemies with Shocking damage at a distance.
- Iron Skin - Taken on 8th level up. It will increase Aloth's Damage Reduction in case he needs it in the event that enemies get close to him and attack him up front.
5th Level:
- Malignant Cloud - Taken on 9th level up. Cloud-damage type spell that inflicts Raw damage over its duration. It is one of the few powers that can inflict Raw damage on multiple targets. One application is to blanket it over archers and spellcasters who are hanging back and tend to stay in the same spots at a distance. The other application is when Aloth is keeping the enemies under crowd-control through a Pull of Eora. The two spells together provide a potent combination.
- Call of Slumber - Taken on 9th level up. This is the key resource for the evil party should they get swarmed by numerous foes from all sides. It allows Aloth to render enemies, and only enemies, Prone in its area of effect.
- Llengrath's Safeguard - Taken on 10th level up. It increases all Defenses by 20 and Damage Reduction by 10. It is another defensive resource that can be handy in a pinch when he needs it.
6th Level:
- Gaze of the Adragan - Learned from the Singed Grimoire. It's enemies-only radius may be smaller, and it doesn't last very long. The key point behind Petrification is that it both inflicts a massive hit to Deflection, and any character that hits the target will inflict double damage. It can be very effective in the right situations.
- Chain Lightning - Taken on 11th level up. It inflicts Shocking Damage only on enemies, with the most damage being inflicted on the initial target.
- Death's Ring - Taken on 11th level up. It inflicts Corrosive Damage only on enemies within a certain radius centred around the Wizard. It can be a great spell to use when multiple enemies swarm the party from all sides. It can even kill weaker enemies outright.
- Ninagauth's Freezing Pillar - Taken on 12th level up. It will inflict Freezing Damage in an area similar to Fireball, but will also leave behind a hazard-zone in its wake that will Hobble any victims that pass through.
7th Level:
- Concelhaut's Crushing Doom - Learned from The Ironclasped grimoire. This is arguably the best-single target spell for singularly powerful enemies in the game, since it provides multiple chances of knocking its target Prone. Crushing damage over the duration is a plus.
- Tayn's Chaotic Orb - Taken on 13th level up. It inflicts random negative status effects only on enemies. It can be useful in some situations, like for example if you want to debuff several enemies who are right in the mix with your warriors.
- Wall of Draining - Taken on 13th level up. This spell can be used when I conduct fights where the enemy has to approach me through a bottleneck. Any beneficial effects they may have (e.g. Barbarian Frenzy) will lose duration, and at the same time increase any beneficial effects that Aloth may have on himself (e.g. Eldritch Aim).
- Ninagauth's Killing Bolt - Taken on 14th level up. Will inflict plenty of Raw Damage on a single target.
8th Level:
- Llengrath's Superior Elemental Bulwark - Learned from Llengrath's Grimoire. The spell provides 100 points of Damage Reduction against elemental attacks and lasts for 30 seconds. Can really come in handy in battles against dragons and enemy spellcasters.
- Minoletta's Piercing Sigil - Taken on 15th level up. It provides a powerful defensive resource for Aloth should he get swarmed, in addition to his other buffs. It will both push away and Stun any enemies who melee strike him in combat.
- Wilting Wind - Taken on 15th level up. It inflicts a lot of Raw Damage over a very wide aura, and also inflicts Weakened on its targets. The latter point can also help Maneha take full advantage of her Brute Force and Threatening Presence abilities.
- Kalakoth's Freezing Rake - Taken on 16th level up. It inflicts plenty of Freezing Damage plus Weakened and Hobbled on all targets within a very large area.
Mastered Spells
9th Level - Eldritch Aim: Aloth will have the option of using this for free whenever he encounters a fight where he needs to start off with crowd-control (e.g. Call to Slumber, Pull of Eora) and therefore would welcome the boost to his Accuracy.
11th Level - Merciless Gaze: Can be used every fight to both ramp up the damage of his offensive spells, and also the damage from Kalakoth's Minor Blights.
13th Level - Kalakoth's Minor Blights: It's really an easy choice. During long treks through dungeons where careful use of spells may be required, Aloth can simply choose to use both Kalakoth's Minor Blights and Merciless Gaze together every fight and then bombs away.
15th Level - Essential Phantom: He can now, every fight, summon a lightning cannon that can fire away on its enemies from a distance.
Inventory
Abydon's Hammer: A reward for The Rising Tide quest. The hammer, despite all the buildup and cool-sounding abilities, is actually not that great of a melee weapon. You can't 'Durganize' it to increase its attack speed, nor does it have much of anything in the way of 'on hit' effects. What it does have going for it is that its +4 Might will stack with the +4 Might bonus from the Maegfolc Skull. The hammer is actually an ideal weapon for a damage-caster for that reason. Granted, Aloth doesn't have the greatest stats to be an optimized damage caster. But he does well enough, and the idea certainly commends itself if you wanted a Might-maximized damage caster for your own Watcher build. The stun all enemies within 4m once per encounter power is sugar on top, and may come in handy during some battles.
Gyrd Haweanes Stenes: A reward for the task called A Call to Court. A Soulbound Scepter that once upgraded will have a very high Accuracy bonus (+21) and a 10% chance of Dominating its target on a Hit or Critical Hit. It will serve as Aloth's default weapon, and it's a sound choice since its Dominate power will often sow chaos amongst my foes. However, keep in mind that I prefer other weapons for other situations. I prefer Kalakoth's Minor Blights when I want Aloth to crank out damage during a lengthy battle. I prefer to have Abydon's Hammer equipped when I want him to use higher-level offensive spells. Still, the scepter provides a good option either by default or in some battles where I may want to take advantage of the Dominate power.
Maegfolc Skull Looted from Roedwith after pursuing the bounty on her. The obvious benefit is the +4 bonus to Might, which will soon stack with the +4 Might bonus provided by Abydon's Hammer. Despite the fact this Might score isn't great to begin with, Aloth is not bad as a damage caster. And he becomes quite good at it through this combination.
Cape of the Master Mystic Looted from Laenric after pursuing the bounty on him. The +12 bonus to Deflection will stack with the Deflection bonus provided by the Llengrath's Safeguard spell. The Invisibility power is quite meaningful for a Wizard like Aloth, since he is more physically vulnerable. Should he get struck with a Critical Hit, the Invisibility power provides an escape route and an opportunity to reposition him away from the thick of things.
Aloth's Leather Armor: Already part of his starting equipment. It is the only armor that provides a +10% bonus to area of effect, and that in turn frees up his ring slots for rings that provide bonus spells. I add the following enchantments: Legendary (+8 Damage Reduction), +2 Intellect, Corrode-Proofed (+3 Corrosive Damage Reduction), and Durgan Iron. The last enchantment is to reduce his Armor Speed Penalty, and thus increase the speed with which he casts spells in succession.
Gauntlets of Swift Action: Obtained as a random item from the "Endless Paths - 12th Vithrack" section of the Random Drop List. The obvious benefit is that it helps him cast his spells faster, especially when he needs to protect himself with multiple buffs in a flash. It also helps him attack faster with either his scepter or his Kalakoth's Minor Blights.
Telda's Ring: Purchased from Lora at #25 in Copperlane. It provides 2 bonus 2nd-level Wizard spells, and a bonus 4th-level Wizard spell. In a game setting where I have less Camping Supplies, more bonus spells for a Wizard is a good thing. In fact, my entire set up for Aloth is to free up his ring slots for rings that provide bonus spells.
Ring of the Selonan: Looted from a dead body at #4 in the Pearlwood Bluff Cave. It provides 2 bonus 1st-level Wizard spells, and 2 bonus 3rd-level Wizard spells. I wear it for the same reasons as for Telda's Ring.
Belt of the Stelgaer: Purchased from Cartugo at #22 in Ondra's Gift. It increases his Dexterity by +2, and thereby allows him to cast spells and attack with projectiles faster. And it also means that his Dexterity bonus comes from a source other than his ring slots. The -33% Knockdown reduction time is sugar on top.
Malina's Boots: Purchased from the merchant named Azzuro. Keep in mind that none of the boots available in the game are anything close to game breaking, so I find what utility I can in them. Aloth is always pretty vulnerable whenever enemies get close to him, and more so should he get Stunned or knocked Prone. I figure the Boots should keep him relatively safer in such situations.
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