Tips

Master Pillars of Eternity II: Deadfire with essential tips on combat, character creation, skills, and more. Enhance your gameplay and overcome challenges.

General Tips

• Set Auto-Pause options to make the game less annoying. You will want to pause and stop party movement when an enemy is spotted and when a trap is detected.
• If you've not played the first game, the introductory sequence will get you up to speed on the backstory. On subsequent playthroughs, you can select "Start & Skip Intro".
• There are a bewildering number of speech icons. Since it is not at all obvious what they mean, click L3 and move the cursor over an icon. You can do the same with highlighted words and phrases for additional context.
• In combat, the R2 button will bring up an action menu. However, the abilities are represented with simple icons and it is non-obvious what each one does. Use the △ button to show the names.
• When fast travelling to an area, be aware that you can often select specific locations which saves you walking time and loading screens. When sailing on the world map, click L1 to bring up a list of known locations and click on the one you want to sail to.
• If you are in a city where you can resupply your ship, you can change party members without having to travel to an inn or return to your ship. Bring up the Area Map, click ▢ to switch to the City Map and click on Supply. One of the R2 options is party management.
• Always buy accessories which boost skills. You cannot cover all skill checks with your character, but there's nothing to prevent you dressing for the occasion when you need a boost.
• Some merchants sell crafting materials and their stock refreshes every couple of days. Keep an eye out for materials like Vithrack Brains and Antlers which don't drop from enemies.

Character Creation

• Perception is the attribute most frequently checked in interactions.
• Not all skills are equal. There are traps and locked doors and containers everywhere which makes Mechanics essential. A score of 16 (including party bonus) is required to overcome the highest challenges in the game. You will want every party member to have an Athletics skill of 10 or more (again including party bonus) to avoid injuries while exploring the world.
• Diplomacy is the most important passive skill and late-game checks require a total of 16 or so. Like Athletics, Survival is used frequently in scripted interactions so you'll want a high value on at least one of your party members.
• The Bonus Skills Berath's Blessing can be unlocked after around twenty minutes if you don't mind restarting. This doubles the starting skills for your PC and your companions giving you a total of 50 skill points which goes a long way to making gameplay smoother.
• When choosing weapon proficiencies, pay attention to itemisation. Swords, sabres and great swords have the best variety and availability. You'll want to be able to inflict Crush damage as well and flails are a good choice.

Trophies

• You can unlock the Platinum in a single playthrough - the game is long but not especially difficult (unless you want to make it so). The main thing to be careful of is that you don't lock yourself out of faction quests before you're ready. You also need to make one of your companions hate you but you can do this in the context of a temporary save.