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| Pillars of Eternity 2 Video-Based Walkthrough by David Milward |
ATTACK AND DEFENSE
Accuracy vs. Defenses
There are four Defenses any character or enemy has in the game:
Deflection - Defends against weapon attacks, melee or ranged.
Fortitude - Defends against attacks that negatively affect the body in a way other than just damage (e.g., poison).
Reflexes - Defends against energy-based attacks.
Will - Defends against mental attacks.
Anytime a character attacks an enemy, and vice versa, an attack roll of 1d100 is made. The roll accounts for both the attacker's Accuracy, and the Defense that is targeted by the attack. For example, let's suppose the Attacker wants to attack the enemy with a melee weapon and has an Accuracy score of 60. Let's suppose the target has a Deflection score of 40. The fact that the Accuracy is higher than the target's Deflection means that a higher Attack Roll is more likely. That's because the difference between Accuracy and Deflection will be added as a bonus to the 1d100 Attack Roll. The reverse can be true. If the Attacker has a weak Accuracy of 40 and the target has a Deflection of 80, a lower Attack Roll is more likely. The difference between Accuracy and Deflection subtracts from the 1d100 Attack Roll as a penalty.
A roll of 1-30 results in a Miss. The Attack does not inflict any Damage, and no Status Effect from the attack takes on hold on the target at all.
A roll of 31-50 results in a Graze. If the Attack does Damage, it is reduced by 50%. The duration of any Status Effects it inflicts is reduced by 50%.
A roll of 51-100 results in a Hit. The Attack does Damage within its stated range, and the duration of any Status Effects lasts as long as its stated range.
A roll that exceeds 100 results in a Critical Hit. If the Attack does Damage, Damage is increased by 25% and the Attack is made with x1.5 Penetration. If the Attack inflicts Status Effects, duration is increased by 25%.
Armor vs. Penetration
All characters and enemies have an Armor Rating against several types of attacks. Crushing Armor Rating, Piercing Armor Rating and Slashing Armor Rating typically protect against weapon attacks, although there are a few spells that can inflict these types of damage. Burning Armor Rating, Corrosive Armor Rating, Freezing Armor Rating and Shocking Armor Rating protect against elemental-energy type attacks.
The main source of Armor Rating is the body armor worn by the character. Any body armor typically offers the same Armor Rating for most types of damaging attacks, but it may have one or two weaknesses where it has a lower Armor Rating against certain types of attacks. For example, a standard unenchanted Plate Armor has a base Armor Rating of 9. That Armor Rating applies against all types of damage except Crushing and Shocking. Plate Armor has an Armor Rating of 5 against Crushing Damage and Shocking Damage. There are items and abilities that can either increase Armor for allies, or decrease it for enemies.
Lighter Armor, such as Cloth or Padded, tends to have lower Armor Ratings but decreased Recovery Time. So the cliche of having spellcasters in lighter armor holds true in this game as well. Heavier Armor, like Brigandine and Plate, tends to offer higher Armor Ratings but with increased Recovery Time.
Most attacks that cause Damage will involve a comparison of Penetration against Armor. Weapons have their own base Penetration value depending on weapon type. Estocs, with 10 Penetration, have a higher base Penetration value than any other type of weapon. Penetration for weapons can be increased by Enchantments that increase the tier of the weapon (e.g., Fine, Exceptional, Superb, Legendary). Spells have their own Penetration values. Some activated class abilities from the martial-oriented classes, like the Fighter's Sundering Blow for example, enjoy bonuses to Penetration. There are also class abilities and items that can improve Penetration generally, or improve Penetration for a specific kind of attack (e.g., Spirit of Flame provides +1 Penetration for Fire-keyworded attacks). There are also items and abilities that can reduce Penetration for enemies.
If an attack that causes Damage either Grazes, Hits or Critically Hits, a straight comparison of that attack's Penetration is made against the target's Armor Rating without a roll.
If Penetration is lower than Armor by 3 or more points, Damage gets reduced by 75%.
If Penetration is lower than Armor by 2 points, Damage gets reduced by 50%.
If Penetration is lower than Armor by 1 point, Damage gets reduced by 25%.
If Penetration is at least twice as high as Armor, an Overpenetration Attack results that increases Damage by 30%.
And as previously mentioned, a Critical Hit increases Penetration by x1.5. A Critical Hit that Overpenetrates can result in at least an additional 50% Damage.
Lastly, Raw Damage is not reduced by Armor Rating. There is no comparison of Penetration to Armor when an attack that inflicts Raw Damage connects.
Interrupt vs. Concentration
An Interrupt in this game does three things. One, it adds at least 2 sec to its target's Recovery Time. The reference point is the target's "Current Recovery Time". Let's suppose that an enemy target has a fast Recovery Time of 1.5 sec between attacks. The enemy has completed 1 sec of that Recovery Time. An Interrupt won't force 2.5 sec of Recovery. You can at best reset the target's Recovery Time to its usual 1.5 sec. On the other hand, let's suppose that an enemy has a long 6 sec of Recovery Time. It is just about to complete that 6 sec. Three Interrupts on that enemy can reset its Recovery Time all the way back to 6 sec.
Second, if an Interrupt connects on an enemy while that enemy is using an activated ability, like a spell, or a martial-class using an ability that spends Power Points, that ability is stopped. And any resources that went into trying to use that ability, like spell slots or Power Points, get expended.
Third, if the target is Engaging the character who Interrupts, the Interrupt will break the Engagement. That offers a window to get away from the target without having to worry about a Disengagement Attack, at least until its Recovery Time elapses and it can re-establish Engagement.
It's not any and every attack that can Interrupt. Some but not all activated abilities and spells will Interrupt according to their descriptions. Some will Interrupt on Graze, others on Hit, and others on Critical Hit.
Standard weapon auto-attacks do not ordinarily Interrupt. But some abilities can give auto-attacks Interrupt. For example, the Barbarian's Interrupting Blows passive means a Critical Hit has a 50% chance of causing Interrupt. The Ranger's Stunning Shots causes Critical Hits to Interrupt. The Energized Inspiration means a Critical Hit will always Interrupt.
Concentration acts as the buffer to prevent Interrupt. If a character has four Concentration in place for example, and is hit by an attack that Interrupts, the character will not be Interrupted. But Concentration gets reduced to three. If the remaining Concentration gets stripped away by Interrupting attacks over the course of the battle, the character is thereafter vulnerable to getting Interrupted.
Combat Focus is a passive ability available to any class that provides a character with one Concentration to start the battle. The Resolute Inspiration adds +1 Concentration every 6 sec. Other Abilities (e.g., Spirit Armor) and some items also add Concentration.
It is possible to completely immunize a character from Interrupts, and thereby void the need for Concentration. The Courageous Inspiration does so. But it's available only through the Paladin's Hands of Light ability, or The Weyc's Wand for a Priest. But even those instances have short durations, unless you can prolong it with buff-extenders like the Wizard's Wall of Draining or the Cleric's Salvation of Time.
A helmet called Rekvu's Fractured Casque completely immunizes its wearer against Interrupts, but only if the wearer has at least one Injury. Acute Rash or the Serious Burn are Injuries that you can perhaps be willing to swallow to gain complete immunity to Interrupts.
Sometimes the ability to Interrupt can really come in handy, especially against some bosses that will use unique and powerful activated abilities that you will want to stop. Sometimes those bosses have several layers of Concentration to start the battle. So one way is to at the outset use Interrupting attacks to strip down its Concentration. An alternative is either the Chanter's Thick Grew Their Tongues, Stumbled O'er Their Words or the Cipher's Echoing Shield. If either ability successfully makes an attack roll against the target's Will Defense, the target's Concentration will not block any Interrupts.
Some attacks, like the Fighter's Knockdown and the Monk's Force of Anguish both Interrupt and Prone. Prone has effects similar to Interrupt, but is not quite the same thing. The fact of knocking a target Prone stops its attack, including an activated ability or spell. And the target needs 3 sec to get up after having been rendered Prone. But the Cipher's Amplified Wave, for example, does not Interrupt but will knock its targets Prone. It won't reduce Concentration like an Interrupting attack will, but it also does not need to check against Concentration for the Prone to take effect.
There is also a kind of knock up into the air kind of attack, which is a feature of both the Fighter's Mule Kick and the Monk's Skyward kick. It functions essentially the same as Prone attacks, but with the difference that the being launched up in the air adds another 1.5s of animation where the victim is bounced up in the air and can't do anything, in addition to the usual 3 sec of Prone.
Engagement
Engaging an enemy means that enemy cannot move away from your character without risking a Disengagement attack, and vice versa. A Disengagement Attack enjoys hefty bonuses to Accuracy, Damage and Penetration.
Just being next to any enemy does not in itself result in Engagement. The character needs at least one Engagement slot to Engage an enemy. All Shields add +1 Engagement. Certain class abilities, like Hold the Line and Guardian Stance for the Fighter, Thick-Skinned for the Barbarian, Tactical Meld for the Cipher, and The Silver Knight's Shields Broke Both Arrow and Blade phrase of the Chanter, add Engagement slots. Some items also add Engagement.
It is rare that a character ever gets surrounded by more than 5 enemies, so more Engagement slots than that tends to be overkill.
Once an enemy is engaged, the enemy AI is such that it will very rarely risk a Disengagement Attack. The primary utility of Engagement for you is therefore to keep enemies locked down around your tank, and prevent them from reaching your more frail spellcasters.
However, once in a while your spellcaster may do enough to enemies that at least an enemy or two may be willing to risk a Disengagement Attack to reach the spellcaster. On that point, it can be helpful to give your tank abilities like Guardian Stance, or Overbearing Guardian, or have items like the One Dozen Stood armor, to amplify Disengagement Attacks.
Sometimes multiple Engagement slots can benefit a character in ways beyond the fact of locking down multiple enemies. The Reckless Brigandine, the Kapana Taga Club, and the Last Word War Hammer are examples of items that increase in power the more enemies you have Engaged. The Fighter's modal, Guardian Stance, enjoys more Damage Reduction the more enemies he Engages.
You also need to be mindful of Engagement when enemies try to lock your spellcasters down. Trying to walk away risks a very devastating Disengagement Attack that may knock the spellcaster Unconscious then and there, especially if the spellcaster has low Armor Rating. Some classes, like Barbarians and Rogues, have abilities that can instantly break any Engagement and place them away from their attackers. Some abilities, like the Nimble Inspiration, or some items, like the Gipon Prudensco armor, can provide complete immunity to Disengagement Attacks so as to allow you to walk away without worry. Another idea is to stack together defenses specifically vs. Disengagement attacks. For example, a single-class Cipher doesn't have the Escape abilities of the Rogue, nor the ability to instantly put up several defenses like the Wizard. But combine the Tumbling passive ability with The Magnificent Escape Cape and Boots of Speed, and chances are you can walk away without a scratch.
