Leaderboard

How About a Base Blueprints Gallery The Ability to scan your base ... and upload it to The Player Base Gallery Then other players could browse the Gallery ... download blueprints for your creations .... and build them on their own Many people have posted that they are not creative base builders ... I've had people invite me to their games, just so that I can build them a base ... obviously I can't do that for 50 or more different people .. no matter how much they liked my buildings ... BUT, if they could download my blueprints .... and it just told them to add this much clay, pebblet, stem, grass, rope, sprigs, clover ... and whatever it needed ... and they could build it themselves .... LOTS of players would LOVE that and there are TONS of creative players out there building all sorts of interesting things a Blueprints Gallery would bring a new level of interactivity to the community, allowing us to share our works with each other DIRECTLY and not just through pictures in the forums and on Reddit ...

Alright, here's my little report after a very slow playthrough 6h in: -Using my Omen laptop, the very nicely done cutscenes managed to press my system to the max, and finally, one of the scenes caused the game to freeze (my first and only crash). Larian advised peeps like me to switch from Vulkan to DirectX11, and that did the trick for me. -I could've sworn I named my Ranger Indira Lightfoot, but in game she's consistently been called Tav. Well, thank you for the surprise, I guess. -The thing that's bugged me the most is that screen edge panning constantly resetting itself. Half of the time it doesn't work. Also, a pity that I can't adjust the font size. Otherwise, the tutorial aspects of it and the systems are pretty intuitive for any CRPG veteran. -My party is level 2 going on level 3, and you spend quite some time in both these levels. So levelling doesn't feel too fast, which I'm happy with. -The ability to interact with the environment, all the level differences, the use of ice, fire, brine, grease and acid, although over the top in effects, is really fun This is right up Larian's alley - I dare say that this makes combat more entertaining, but also slower, and not necessarily more complex. -Combat takes time, moving around in the environment takes time, since you need to rotate your camera and actively search, and also often move objects, destroy others, place surfaces on hostile surfaces, and so forth. The first couple of hours, this annoyed me as being too sluggish. But perhaps I'm getting old, but the pace's growing on me. I guess you'll get tired of it later, and it will make the replayability suffer a bit. But this game is not a cold beer on a hot summer day, but rather a really nice wine to savour indoors some stormy autumn evening in a log cabin, preferrably at a sturdy Ron Swanson piece of a dining table, bedazzled by flickering candlelight and nostalgia. -The biggest general praise I can give so far is that the game really feels like a PnP session. Most enemies and NPCs are quite fleshed out and so are the environments and the entire atmosphere. Very well done, Larian! -Being one of the few people that actually enjoyed Sword Coast Legends, I'll use that D&D CRPG as my benchmark (I suspect that most of you will regard that standard as ridiciculously low and desperate for new D&D content). Perhaps, but to me, If this game can be at least that good, then definitely thumbs up, worth at least one playthrough. Everything else, anything surpassing that kind of achievement, is simply icing on the cake. So far, the characters and the story are indeed better than in Sword Coast Legends. Still, the characters aren't that mature and adult in theme, but rather more simple, Teenage Witch style/quality of vanilla NWN2 OC - which I don't mind at all. The graphics in BG3 is far superior than SCL, it's like Pillars of Eternity 2 and NWN2 had a baby (most likely, it's rather DOS3, but like I said, I haven't played that game, so I can't compare them). The Inon Zur music in Sword Coast Legends is slightly better than the tunes I've been presented with in BG3- but this is just the opening sections. I'd say this music is really good, like PoE2, but not yet as PoE1. The number of character build possibilities seems to be limited, I'd guess it's like Sword Coast Legends (no deal breaker for me), but for those of you that crave a D&D CRPG statistics bonanza, I still think NWN and NWN 2 are the pinnacles of that kind of guilty pleasure.

in other paradox news Imperator Rome is getting a complete overhaul with the next patch. New UI new game mechanics and it sounds like a lot of elements from crusader kings three are going to be introduced there. Also in stellaris we have a new DLC to look forward to. Well, you can count me in on both of them.

I got one friend who got it because he theoretically loved BG2. He is also not the sharpest tool in the shed though and thinks all well known games are amazing. He also doesn't remember anything about BG2 except for "we all loved that back then". Sometimes I wonder if he actually played any of the games he loved. Except for Phoenix Point. After a while even he quit that one.

I'm alternating between The Witcher 3 and sucking at Enter the Gungeon. Enter the Gungeon kicks my behind in ways no other bullet hell game has so far. It's slower paced than other games of its kind that I played (e.g. Starward Rogue) but something makes it way harder for me. Might be the perspective, I keep running into bullets and yelling "no way that was a hit" at my screen and I get regularily hit by projectiles that I could swear would be absorbed by a wall or an obstacle when they pass right through (or rather, along the outer edges of the obstacles). And sometimes they pass right along the edge and being arcing afterwards. It just breaks my head. Or my eyes, not sure. The Witcher 3 on the other hand... I put off playing this game for a long time because I was afraid I wouldn't enjoy it. And lo and behold, I don't. Which is not the fault of the game, it looks good, it plays well enough (especially when compared to the first and second games) and whenever a main quest is up the writing and quest structure are top notch. But that feels like it's 5% of the game. The remaining 95% is ticking off open world checklists and running around BEAUSE LOOK AT THE WORLD WE DESIGNED DOESN'T IT LOOK AWESOME oh and here's a level 25 chimera in the middle of a level 5 area, haha, thought you could complete the checklists all at once without backtracking? Silly Witcher! Hey I found cool crafting schematics. *craft craft craft* Oh look over there, an item in a tree stump. Oh wow that's better equipment, thanks random loot generation system! I also really don't like it when games have merchants that don't buy all your loot or when they have limited amounts of gold available. Game does both, obviously. Oh, I get that having limited gold on merchants is a way to limit the overall amount of money available in a game and could be interesting for "balance" reasons (never seen that work though) but why can't I just sell my loot haul to anyone? Because realism in a game where your horse can teleport on a whistle, just NOT when you're on it? Riiiiiiiiiiight... Really wish the game was more structured like the first one. But that's just me not liking open world games. Which exacerbates the little things that annoy me. Like having to visit a sign post to fast travel. Why, just why? So you can't teleport out of combat? There's already a check in the game for when you can't save, just use that for fast travelling. Or openening the map. Ugh. Please. Oh I know I could just follow the main quest, but these games have a habit of having side content loop into the main story, so that's not really an option, right? I mean even if I would be able to come across a checklist and NOT tick it off completely. Silly brain.

well, the pictured cows is dairy cows. just as stinky. just as dumb. dairy cows tend to be less ornery 'cause is tougher to milk a hostile bovine even if is mechanical milking. clean a cow and then they smell more like wet grass than anything-- less smelly. clean a cow wouldn't inspire us to embrace it. milk sometimes ends up as cheese. whole lotta varieties o' cheese which requires a cow to exist. minor quibble, but we would point out steaks and cheese. ... an alpaca? they is docile (typical) and fluffy, but perhaps not big enough to fit the requirements. 'course there is bigger alpacas. have never hugged an alpaca, but we have given neck rubs to a few... am admitting the manner in which the critters lean into and respond to a neck rub with obvious appreciation brought a childish smile to our face. alpacas do have vocalizations which may startle folks who ain't familiar with the critters. HA! Good Fun!

That's always been a glaring weakness of D&D. They dropped 2.1 (official turn-based option) a while back and there's been lots of issues reported.

One moment of distraction can make a huge difference.

Methinks it's just what passes for character development in Larian's brand of "storytelling". The character is a jerk and then suddenly they're not (and possibly you can bang). Yay.

Try sticking to things that exist

This will be great.

2020. Most people I know stopped with 2nd Ed, and kind of ignored the whole CyberGeneration. Sure, Arasaka set off a nuke in the middle of the city during the 4th Corp War, but that doesn't physically move Heywood up and above Pacifica.. Edit: Don't get me wrong, it's not a complaint, I'm just vaguely curious on the reasons for things like this. When you've had a focus on getting the lore right, there's got to be some sort of technical reasons for changing the layout of the city.

I think that Nalzpaca is a great subclass, but you really have to have to be into micro to enjoy it. The Community Patch is available on Nexus Mods. Regarding FF, enfeeble really is an amazing affliction. Once you land it, tough foes melt quickly, particularly if you have DOTs to apply to them; having spell casters in your party is great for this reason. If you have a druid, for example, they can hobble with tanglefoot (which will only affect you for a second or two, giving you a wound) and then melt the enfeebled foe with spells like insect swarm. In my experience, wound generation is slow in the early game, say, levels 1-4 or so, but once you get Clarity of Agony (which is essential for a FF) and Hylea's Talons you'll have plenty of wounds. FF curse and Hylea's Talons create a vicious spiral for enemies, as being enfeebled extends the time that they are afflicted by the unwieldy raw damage DOT.

Axis Football Diaries: Week 7 Tennessee Bloodhounds: Do not. Blitz. The Corners! Axis struggles with coding defensive movement. Pass completions were too high so as a band aid fix they lowered QB accuracy and WR catching because that's far easier than recoding the whole defense position by position. Anyway, both teams struggle in the first quarter. Quite a few yards but no points. First Quarter: 0 - 0 Both teams finally come to life in the second half. I score a touchdown and a field goal and they kick a field goal. The Bloodhounds have a solid run game. I'm jealous. I get the ball after they kick a field goal and my RB/FB Hill fumbles. They get the ball on a very short field but have to settle for a field goal. I get the ball and on a 3rd and 3 I call a pass. They blitz the corners. My WR Cook catches a 66 yard bomb. They get the ball back and kick another field goal. I use my two minute offense to drive down and kick a field goal with 1 second left in the half. Second Quarter: 20 - 9 The only thing that happens in the third is us completing another long pass on a corner blitz, again. Third Quarter: 27 - 9 Bloodhounds put a really good drive together mixing up the run and pass. They score a touchdown and convert on a two point try.* I get the ball back and don't even mean to, but on a third and long I call a pass. They countered with a corner blitz. Six points to us. They go on a final drive and score a touchdown. They didn't bother trying for 2 or kicking the onside kick as there's less than 2 minutes left in the game, they're out of timeouts, and there's a 10 gap. Final Score: 34 - 24 Sharks Current Record: 5-2 *This was a bug. I tried to back out of the special teams plays to change to goal line defense but it acted like a skip play button.

But hey, at least you can buy a new super expensive ship!

Heh, I have The Witcher 3 sitting in my queue for the exact same reason. Granted it also took me a couple years to finally commit to playing TW2. I also find The Witcher universe to be pretty depressing, and I need to be in a certain mood to get into it. I'm plodding through Wasteland 3, which is also a depressing world to live in. There is some fun absurd humor that makes it a bit easier to overlook the darker moments, but I hope I am nearing the end. It is pretty combat heavy, but that might be because everyone is terrible and I'm not a fan of just letting them off the hook for cannibalism and slavery.

OK, coded and tested. I will include it in next version (probably 1.31 once I've clarified the Driving Flight issue). I thought about crafting and I think you are right. Limited ressources for crafting sounded wrong. Excessive price too so and reverted Adra Ban to its normal value. Yup, it's a bit of powercreeping but I think it's better for enjoyment. Here your hotfile : gn.all_gems_in_shop.gamedatabundle

It's October, time for the annual batch of spooky games.

Early Access BG3 for 59.99 or Indy 4: Fate of Atlantis for 1.79 Hmmm, GOG creates real dilemmas.

Australia makes everything better, even Danes!

not particular insightful alpaca info australians make it more humorous somehow. HA! Good Fun! ps most notable attribute o' alpacas which is complete missed in the video is their "wool." alpacas shown were recent shorn.

Well it's good to see they acknowledged the issue. Im hoping they get it resolved soon. I gave in and started from my pre-3.0 save, and finally got back the 20+ days I had lost. Then today when I started the game, all my saves using 3.0 are listed as unknown. They still load correctly, but I'm VERY hesitant to keep playing them just in case they decide to go missing like the last ones. It's a very frustrating situation. I feel for everyone who has lost progress over this. Also, I can confirm that uninstall/reinstall didn't help at all with missing saves, and it didn't help the sync process at all. Honestly I would caution against it. That's what caused me to lose my 20+ days worth of saves in the first place. Unfortunately the problem with sync leave us with two choices: One, keep playing and risk losing days worth of time and effort, or two, just don't play and hope they get it resolved soon. Good luck to all of you. Please let us know if you come across any new information about a fix. Thanks.

That's the dumbest thing I've read today. And that includes things Drumph has written this week. They smell, they're dirty as **** and dumb as a doorknob. The only good cow is a steak.

Yes, taking drugs/potions with AI is pretty horrible. Or was - didn't try for some time now.

I'm not sure about setting up an AI command to autotake drugs; in fact, when you try to take a drug or potion in battle, it seems that you have to turn off the AI, as the AI constantly interferes with the potion/drug taking animation. What I would usually when playing Nalzpaca is take a drug before entering into a series of battles (say, all of the battles in a single area) and then try to rush through the battles before it expired. If it did expire, or in ship battles, I'd take the drug in battle, but I hated doing this because of the clunkiness of using drugs and potions in battle, necessitating shutting off the AI to do so. Usually I'd get lazy and rest and then not take any drugs, but then Nalzpaca is worse than vanilla monk due to the wound degeneration. In my experience, it's only good if you're really into micromanagement.

I don't like the words "worthless" and "useless" since it's often used so hyperbolically. Of course the lower wound cap is suboptimal and this shows when using Turning Wheel/Iron Wheel. Also the Shattered Pillar first had that cap and then it even got hit with the "only autoattacks generate wounds". That would have been a good time to remove the lowered wound cap. But since it's easier to raise your damage output than it is to raise the amount of damage you receive (in a somewhat controlled way) the higher-level SP gains wounds faster if you know what you are doing. You will never get past 5 wounds - but you will reach that limit a lot faster than the average monk who needs to collect wounds via received damage - at least in non-boss encounters (here the SP has the same issues as a vanilla cipher, soulblade or ascendant). On non-PotD playthroughs with Swift Flurry it can be pretty ridiculous because the additional attacks count as normal attacks even if triggered off of ability attacks (you can even combine with Nomad's Brigandine, Offensive Parry or Riposte - both generate wounds as well. Offensive Parry + Imagined Pain + Nomand's Brigandine is awesome on a Shattered Pillar: tons of wounds if you trigger disengagment attacks). And you're not putting yourself in danger in the process. Your average wound count over the course of an encounter might not be that much lower. Still I would have liked it that the cap was raised back to 10 - like the Community Patch does. I don't think it makes stuff useless but it surely hurts (a bit too much for my taste).

Well, it's true to the BG1 and BG2 in that sense.

Yes, but instead of landing at 0 phrases (after empowering an invocation with Refreshing Finale) they end up with 3. With Encore they would have 6 instead (which is better obviously) but would have to rest more often for "only" having 3 phrases more after using Empower. You are totally right though that when you have no problem with resting frequently anyway you should def. pick Encore over Refreshing Finale. By the way: the shocking lash of Shocking Prelude (2% - 14% for a MC Bellower) - like Eternal Devotion - works with all kinds of damage you deal, invocations included.

normally i would agree with you on this, but the bellower mechanics are such that I found it to be *extremely* worth while to get the enchant that gives you full phrases instead. you have to rest a lot more, which can be annoying if you have good bonuses or are on a challenge like eothas or rymrgand, but bellowers benefit from having full phrase count way more than any other chanter imo. keep in mind also that unlike other chanters, bellowers lose all their phrases when they use an invocation, which means that the expected value of free phrases for a bellower is much higher than for other chanters when using the "full phrase" enchant on sasha's.

Still working from home. State offices have not reopened yet. And as I posted earlier my home office never will reopen. What that means for me remains to be seen. Right now the theory is we continue with virtual offices with physical facilities for our district in Memphis when needed. That would not be so bad. You have to give corona credit for one thing. It has moved the Internet in the direction of realizing it’s true potential. meanwhile in a totally non-technology related direction I’ve been looking at a method to start a fish farm on my property. It would be easy if I could redirect the creek but I can’t get around that damn state navigable waterway law. I’ve already widened a portion out of it to form a sort of little swimming pool but that’s about as far as I dare to go.

Dragonlance would suit Larian better.

So for me so far Pros: + Engine - I like that engine and amount of interactivity with environment is awesome. + Visuals* - I am very pleased with how environments look * Quests - its nice to have a lot of options how to handle situations Cons: - Companions - so far only one I could stomach. I really hope they will include a bit more because there is only one front liner and she is a b***h but if you are not front liner she is your only option - Visuals* - spell effects are like from 2000 and animations are jenky af. One would expect someone is able to animate run in 2020 that does not look like character have stick plugged up his bum all the time - No fast forward for running around. It really get boring when you explore some place you already been and have to look on your character run back and forth slowly - 5E DnD rules - I am sure those are pretty good in PnP sessions but I am sure they quite suck for cRPG. There is very little character customization so far, and I think It will be true for full game as well (I am no expert on E5 by any means) and its one of the main points I play cRPGs these days - pathfinding - for some reason characters run sometimes into hazard terrain even if they know its hazard. And all it would take them is make 2 steps around - Hazard terrain - Its really hard to tell where it starts and where it ends. Some outline would be really helpfull Neutral -+ Skill checks - I cant decide if I like it or hate it so - meh +- Story - its so so. I am not digging it but its not horrible -+ Dialog -

I would prefer to use Her Revenge with the enchantment "Refreshing Finale" that restores the empower point and gives you +3 phrases instead of the full phrase refillment (but no empower refund) of "Encore". The nice thing about a chanter is not only that you can empower in every fight as soon as you get the scimitar but also that Her Revenge (and the upgrade) is quite good with empower so it's already fun pre late game. Most other classes are not very special in terms of empower until you get the coil. Then of course stuff like Missile Salvo, Storm of Holy Fire and even Avenging Storm (especially with dual mortars, helloooo! ) are supernice to trigger Brilliant - but before that it's just a plain ol priest/wizard/druid. I used Thekehu's Stormspeaker class with the scimitar to empower Avenging Storm once I got it as invocation at PL8, then after that switched to mortars and rain the wildest pierce/slash/shock AoE dmg (used Sure Handed Ila - Mith Fyr doesn't work with Tekehu because his race cancels out fire effects) while triggerig Brillant nearly 100% (practically 100% - theoretically a tiny bit less ;)) due to the unbelievably high amount of Avenging Storm lightnings that get put out by Blinding Smoke (hand mortar) and also the jump of chain Shot (Fire in the Hole, but less). But of course: that's not an MC build. I mean unless you use the console or a mod and make your MC a Stormspeaker. Then I would say that's the most fun way to use the empower mechanics that lead to he unstable coil and Weyc's stuff. First use with Her Revenge and later use Avenging Storm (most likely you will already have this when the coil is ready anyway). BUT: Obviously the triggering of Brilliant isn't that impactful for a SC Stormspeaker as it is for an MC Priest... If that's not cool then I would also pick Bellower/caster - just because everybody and their neighbor use Troubadour and that's just so boring right now.

Have you hugged a cow today? If not, you should. Cow cuddling is apparently good for humans http://www.bbc.com/travel/story/20201008-is-cow-hugging-the-worlds-new-wellness-trend

UPDATE: I finally heard back direct from OBSIDIAN SUPPORT but it’s mostly what I thought. At least they are aware and working on it “ Hello Kevin, I'm sorry you ran into this issue with the save files . The team is aware of a few variations of this issue and are still investigating the cause in the hopes that they can get a fix out as soon as possible. In the meantime, some players have reported that uninstalling and reinstalling Grounded triggered their cloud saves to resync and brought their saves back. It may be worth trying this to gain back any lost progress until the team can get a fix out that prevents these save issues. If you happen to learn anything else about this save issue or if you run into any other issues, please don't hesitate to let us know so we can look into those as well. In case it helps, we recently created a Grounded Issue Tracker and Grounded Feature Board if you want to check the status and latest information about commonly reported issues and new features coming to Grounded. Thank you for letting us know about this issue with your save files and sorry again for all the trouble it has been causing. --William BeasleyPlayer Support Analystsupport@obsidian.net”

I'm a huge fan of the bellower, so I approve this. With Sasha's Stinging Scimitar, her revenge might be a better trigger than Holy Fire for least unstable coil, even in late game, for non-critical ubertough fighters (basically excluding fights where you definitely want brilliant, which rain of holy fire is much better at). Imagine this: bellower empowered her revenge -> nice damage, 66% chance of brilliant, your chants pass 50% faster (using weyc's robe), sasha's scimitar restores all phrases, and immediately spend it on another invocation of your choice (maybe the shield breaks so that all of magran's damage spells land well). if you got brilliant triggered, you could start stretching out that faster-chant effect while you also start magran mayhem at +3 PL, so you'll have souped up invocations for the rest of the fight. You don't get the faster chants if you empower rain of holy fire. if you didn't get brilliant but still want it, you could use the watcher ability for it.

That's terrible, but Antifa has been breaking windows and stuff, so you need to make sure to condemn them as well.

Proud Boys change name to Leather Men

I played a dual mortar monk from start to finish on PotD in a party - as well as a mortar Shadowdancer and a SC Rogue. Dual mortar is no problem with WotW. Enduring Dance is enough to be able to trigger WotW with very little downtime. If you feel the pause is too long just use Mortification otS. In a party it's usually no problem to have a few secs of downtime. The good thing about dual mortars is that you can apply Blinding Smoke (which is ridiculous in combination with Avenging Storm since every cone attack of BS triggers a lightning on every enemy it hits - and remember that every enemoy in the mortar AoE can trigger a Blinding Smoke come - even though it doesn't cause damage itself) while the jump from Fire in the Hole's Chain Shot usually doubles the stacks of Resonant Touch that you apply with it. Most important for a dual mortar Monk is INT, not MIG. And DEX is a lot more valuable on a mortar monk for me personally. Stuff like WotW and Flagellanth's Path still have noticable recovery, even in lightish armor. And I want to keep enemies stunned as long as possible. MIG doesn't help there. 15 is def. enough. +15% addtive dmg don't make a lot of difference for me. Even with slight underpenetration and lowish base damage (which is somewhat countered by the dual damage of mortars which often prevents underpenetration in the first place) you are always applying a ton of Resonant Touches as long as you make sure that the enemies are not scattered all over the place but stand near each other. Monk/Rogue I found to be inferior after the mid game - as mortar user at least. Applying Sneak Attack, afflictions and DoTs in an AoE is really nice, but it can't hold up against Resonant Touch + WotW. If Avenging Storm gets added the Monk has the huge advantage of the AoE*AoE mechanic of WotW. One would think that the mid game is more fun than SC Monk. But is was not. I guess because Stunning Surge of the Monk is so good with mortars in the mid game (remember that you get that a lot earlier as SC than as MC) that most stuff the Rogue can do feels a bit inferior. Hard CC so early in the game with a very likely refund (hitting multiple enemies with 3 AoEs per use is very, very likely to crit at least once) is very good. A great thing though with a Shadowdancer is that Blinding Smoke immediately unlocks Deathblows. Still not as good as WotW + RT but nice high level stuff. SC Rogue (doesn't matter that much if Streetfighter or Assassin, both work fine at the highest levels) was nearly as impactful and fun in the late game with Vanishing Strikes - because you can trigger Backstabs on all surrounding enemies all the time (because the invisibility doesn't break) - but during midgame I found it a bit unfun (obvidously Streetfighter is way better here than Assassin). The biggest advantage of a Monk over a Rogue is the replenishable Wound system over the limited Guile. The way bigger AoE is also a big plus with mortars. When it comes to a gun build that was most entertaining/fun one during my time with Deadfire, nothing comes close to SC dual mortar monk. At least for me.

SC Mortar Monk is rel. straightforward: since you don't want top pick melee stuff a lot of abilites already fall aside. I picked a Coastal Aumaua (but race doesn't matter much) and a Helwalker (because as ranged char you don't get attacked that much and the bonus MIG is neat). Nalpasca would have a more steady wound income but suffers from hostile Arcane Dampener (removes drug effects and sends him into a drug crash). Both are totally fine. Stats should focus on MIG, PER, DEX and especially INT since you want the AoE of the mortars to be as large as possible. I personally then like to wear Aloth's leather armor (because it gives you bonus AoE size), the Ring of the Marksman and a Ring of Overseeing (same, stacks) and INT gear like Heaven's Cacophony (+2 INT and the sweet Avenging Storm 2/rest). Ajamuut's Stalking Cloak causes stun from WotW (because invisible). Used the Charm of Bones for another +2 INT or Stone of Power (for more Power Levels - if you have two you can stack them in the stash after each fight which resets the per-rest charge). Mortification Bindings for the hands - Gountles of Greater Reliability are also ver nice. Bounding Boots can be cheesed: if you cancel the ability while your guy's still in the air but the green circle is already at the target location then the char will land there but no per-rest use is substracted. Later Rhakan Field Boots are best. I used the Upright Captain's Belt for some concentration because hte worst thing is getting interrupted while casting Wispers of the Wind. My favorite pet was Loki (another 15% AoE size) but pets like Harley or Cutthroat Cosmo are also nice. Recommended abilities: Swift Strikes, Dance of Death, Mortification of the Soul, Two Weapon Style, Long Stride, Lightning Strikes, Stunning Blow, Duality of Mortal Presence (use INT), Thunderous Blows, Enduring Dance, The Long Pain (good alternative against tough single foes where mortars don't shine, also good backup weapon for enemies who are vulnerable to crush damage), Stunning Surge, NOT Turning Wheel (doesn't work with ranged weapons unless you install the Community Patch mod), Flagellant's Path, Resonant Touch, Razor's Edge, Whispers of the Wind, Prestige - rest as you like (if there's any rest, didn't 100% corss-check witgh available ability points). One important thing is to squeeze as many foes as possible in a tight space. You can do that with a tank (so that enemies gather aound her/him) or use a chokepoint - or you lure them with sparkcrackers or a spall like Arkemy's Dazzling Lights from stealth or you use Binding Web + Pull of Eora - whatever works. This will make sure your monk can hit as many enemies as possible with one (or two) shot. If enemies are spread out it's better to either switch to a normal blunderbuss (works well with Resonant Touch, too) or use the Long Pain (it's very strong against single targets).

It's not so easy to answer what is best. It also depends on your level and your progress in the game. Some combos start really strong and become boring afterwards while others start slowly and take of at higher power levels. If we look at the endgame then SC Mortar Monk. Because of the combination of Whispers of the Wind which will trigger three AoE explosions for each enemy it hits. All those AoEs will produce Resonant Touches which will end every normal enemy who has been caught in that storm of shrapnel (rel. big animated gifs behind the spoiler tags): If you are wearing Heaven's Cacophony you can add some Avenging Storms (2 per rest) for great effect: Mid game is also good because of Stunning Surge (great with mortars) and Flagellant's Path (it uses the mortars AoE effects but skips the reload - but has its own recovery which is much faster). But I think a Streetfigher or Streetfighter/Arcane Archer is maybe better in the early/mid game due to the frontloaded nature of both classes. In the late game a SC Streetfigher can pull off Vanishing Strikes + Gambit + Backstabs which is also an awesome combo, but it isn't as devastating as Whispers of the Wind (the vid is from an SC Assassin, but a SC Streetfighter would work nearly the same): SC Fury is superfun after PL8, but before that it's not really a gunslinger so maybe it's not for you (have no vid). There's also SC Barbarian with Heart of Fury (works with mortars) and SC Ranger with Whirling Strikes (requires one melee weapon though) as well as SC Fighter with Clear the Path or Clean Sweep. They all become relaly good with mortars but they are not very fun to play until they reach higher Power Levels. It's material for hirelings mostly I would say - or for companions after a retraining session. By the way: Tekehu works also very well with mortars - no matter if Druid or Chanter - both his subclasses get access to Avenging Storm...

I can't say anything about those guides since I didn't watch/read them. I can only tell you that from my exprerience the most fun non-solo dual-wielding gunslinger builds are: - Single Class Mortar Monk (Stunning Surge, Resonant Touch and Whispers of the Wind are awesome with dual mortars). Nalpasca or Helwalker. - Streetfighter/Arcane Archer (Pull enemies together with three Binding Web + Pull of Eora imbue shots because each jump triggers one instance, then blast the crowded group with Crippling Strikes or whatever. - Single Class Streetfighter (the goal is to unlock Vanishing Strikes and then use Gambit with Backstabs while standing in the midst of the enemies). - Single Class Fury (goal is to get Avenging Storm - every hit of the mortars produces a lightning and also Blinding Smoke, the enchantment of the Hand Mortar, produces a lightning with every hit roll). SC Monk and Streetfighter builds are fun from an early stage while the Fury needs a bit time - but can be used as normal nuker in between of course. Streetfighter needs to use the Powder Burns modal to unlock his passive which might leads to more misses in the early game. But he will get there... Monks can use Dance of Death for lots of ACC and a good stream of wounds. I'm sure other players have several different opinions about this (using Devoted or SC Ranger etc). But I guess most of them agree that SC Mortar Monk is a lot of fun to play. I absolutely advise people to pick the noble voice set when going with mortars. With most crits this voice set will laugh and the laugh sounds a bit like Barry White which I found very entertaining (combine with Konstanten for a Barry White laughter duo). And mortars can crit a lot if you are targeting a lot of enemies.