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Oh god yes. Absolute pet peeve of mine. It's in the name people, an RPG is Rocket Propelled; something like a Panzerfaust or PIAT is not Rocket Propelled so it's not an RPG.

does bg3 include raygun wielding gnome ceremorphs? am gonna hold off on a purchase until game is released and reviewed full by folks we trust, unless it includes gnome ceremorphs. insta purchase if includes d&d version o' marvin the martian? can't lose. HA! Good Fun!

Well if those covers count...

Here we go : https://forums.obsidian.net/topic/109535-mechanics-various-testing/page/2/?tab=comments#comment-2211923 But the true key to understanding is here : https://forums.obsidian.net/topic/109535-mechanics-various-testing/page/2/?tab=comments#comment-2213583 So basically, against sustained fire, you're indeed immortal.

i don't have strong opinions on the different builds, but I just wanted to highlight a couple things - - one extra armor can seem insignificant, but it can also be the most important thing in the world. it all depends. you're not going to see much benefit on a cloth-y, but for a heavy armor tank especially on upscaling potd (where PEN/AR is an arms race with you behind), +1 can mean a full 50% damage reduction over not having that +1 (this is the case where you go from -50% PEN to -75% PEN); remember that negative effects aren't additive (edit: as boeroer says). these days when i'm building a character for the puproses of tanking damage, I zealously guard each +1 AR I can find, especially ones that stack. - the malus isn't that bad because a tank isn't moving around much. edit - BAH ninja'ed by boeroer!

Swift Flurry is superior if you're going to crit a lot (i.e. you're stacking Accuracy and Hit-to-Crit conversion); otherwise, the lash from Lightning Strikes is going to net you more damage.

I usually prefer the Priest not to be my MC or even my primary damage dealer as there are a bajillion great buffs I'd want the Priest to cast. By the time the spells are cast, most enemies are already dead

Apart for the Poison/Acid/Disease/Decay clarification and White Wurms auto-hit correction, here what is planned for next version : Boil their flesh and upgrade : 0,5s/4s cast time24 - 27 raw48 - 54 corrode on near death kills Magran's Priest version of Torrent of Flames (which they get at Tier 7 instead of 5) : Cast with +15 accuracy and foe-only Purge of Toxin : 30s -> 60s 0,5s/3s Cast time (aligned with the priest single target "prayer" line of spell ; it was too weak for a single target situational Tier 3) Beetle Shell : 0,5s/4,5s Cast time (aligned with Withdraw) Probably going to think about buffing a bit the Fox & Farmer chant, because it is too situational (-20 acc on disengagement attack), not guaranteed (target Will) and overall weak compared to Silver Knight (which provide a +10 Deflection and an extra engagement !) and other chants in general. EDIT : I think a -20 Reflex penalty would be fitting. Consider that it on the same tier as Sure handed was Illa that provides +25%/50% attack speed to all ranged/firearms and 1 Tier below than the long Night that provides -14 fortitude on top of other things. EDIT EDIT : -15 Reflex is enough to stay relevant as the highest AoE Reflex debuff. It's very easy to combine with DEX and PER afflictions for a huge nuker support. Most of them are coded and tested, but in case you have opinion or suggestion, feel free to tell. Each time I'm trying to make a final version, but soon I find something to improve (call it a moditisis)...

Had a quick check: in Deadfire, Devotions does indeed grant a +10 generic Accuracy bonus, which means it doesn't stack with other active bonuses. I stand corrected.

Star Citizen... it is a game I keep forgetting about because it seems to just not want to die. A continuous death rattle and every time you think that's it is dead, it coughs up some more blood. As if we were in the gaming industry's version of a morbid slapstick comedy.

Orlan Devoted/Stalker from The White That Wends with Blade of the Endless Paths, likely. Get that PER at 35, stack Accuracy boni like there was no tomorrow, max out on Pen and you probably have good damage as well. EDIT: let's turn this into a build thread while we're at it. Here's a start: Class: Devoted/Stalker with proficiency in estocs. Attributes: Base Berath Item Insp Other Talent Total MIG 15 2 5 1 23 CON 8 2 2 5 17 DEX 18 2 3 5 28 PER 21 2 5 2 3 33 INT 8 2 5 15 RES 8 2 5 15 This is for an Orlan from The White That Wends. Talents are Gift from the Machine, Cauldron Brew, Savage Cunning, and Blood Pool (Sagani.) The bonus under "Other" is from Aenalys; items are Aegor's Swift Touch, Footprints of Ahu Taka, and The Undying Burden. Equipment: Helm of the Falcon Devil of Caroc Breastplate Aegor's Swift Touch The Undying Burden Footprints of Ahu Taka Ring of Prosperity's Fortune Blade of the Endless Paths The Willbreaker (for enemies immune to Piercing damage) Cutthroat Cosmo (for the armor speed penalty reduction) Ring 2? (Kuaru's prize for the +1 PER but it's better for a Wizard) Amulet? Cloak? (Ajamuut's Stalking Cloak for +1 PER but it's better for a Rogue or SC Monk; also comes pretty late unless you hire an exported character)

Rapier has +5 ACC as standard (passive) and +20 ACC modal (active so doesn't stack with many active buffs; still 20 is a lot and trumps most other bonuses). Ranning's Wrath adds +4 ACC (passive) on top of that. Arquebus also has +20 ACC modal (particularly good in Turn Based). Although passive -5 ACC. Scordeo's Edge saber is notorious not only because of Blade Cascade (which is kinda poor in Turn Based), but also for its stacking ACC bonus each hit, up to +20. Blade of the Endless Paths estoc, as AndreaColombo mentioned, stacks +1 ACC every 6s, up to +10. I can also be enchanted to debuff enemy Deflection by 4 per crit, up to -20. Eager Blade estoc stacks +2 ACC per crit, up to +8. Azure Blade stilletto can provide +10-15 ACC if bunched close together with allies. Magistrate's Cudgel mace marks enemies and provides +10 ACC vs them. Spearcaster Arbalest has +5 ACC bonus, scales with Arcana. Fleetbreaker x-bow has +8 ACC bonus. Tarn's Respite saber debuffs enemy Deflection with each hit, up to -10. Pikes have -10 Deflection modal. Spears, Clubs and Hunting Bows also have +5 (passive) ACC. Rod of the Deep Hunter debuffs enemy Deflection by -1 per hit. Grave Calling saber has a racial +15 ACC bonus vs Vessels. Amaliorra scepter has +10 ACC vs Vessels. Dire Talon saber has the specific +10 ACC vs beasts bonus. Hel Beckoning Sword has the specific +15 ACC bonus vs spirits (+Veil piercing). Whispers of Yenwood also has +15 ACC vs Spirits.

I'm plugging away at Pathfinder: Kingmaker as I can. Great game. The writers aren't all that great, but they have their moments. Huge game.

I forgot Cipher/Helwalker which would also be a very strong contender. +10 MIG and +10 INT as well as Stunning Surge and Lightning Strikes is very good with Watershaper's Focus, too. Add Thunderous Blows and Enduring Dance.

No. Not if you look at a whole playthrough. Whispers of the Wind + Resonant Touch is very strong and maybe that's what he's referring to, especially in combination with Swift Flurry and Heartbeat Drumming, but there are so many combinations of situations, classes an abilities and items and party compositions that it's impossible to say what has the highest single target dps when it comes to the "real" playthrough. Of course you can theorize around what would be the highest dps on paper under the most preferable condition - but those discussions are moot most of times since most theory falls flat as soon as you let your theoretical super-dps-guy loose on some Risen Armsmen and such. For example a Streetfighter with blunderbuss and Vanishing Strikes has higher dps in the late game and most likely during the course of the game. But if he drops dead more often - does he really do more dps? Monk can surely be a very, very good single target dps character, among the best if you ask me. On top of that it can also be a lot of fun to play.

Afaik ranged Ranger/Cipher has the highest ACC potential. Especially Arcane Archer with high Arcana and Imbue Shots. The highest ACC iirc is a Cipher/Arcane Archer with max Arcana, an imbue shot and Spearcaster as weapon. Paladin/Arcane Archer might be on par with Flames of Devotion (no penalty with Arcane Archer) + Ring of Focused Flames with Spearcaster. But Ciphers can also lower deflection easily with Secret Horrors, Phantom Foes and Eyestrike, giving them more "effective" ACC.

I still didn't play TB mode, but since recovery and action speed don't seem to matter much, I would guess that Watershaper's Focus with Blast and Ondra's Wrath should be one of the top-notch weapons for a ranged Cipher since Ondra's Wrath not only does very high dmg but also generates focus. The biggest downside of Blast in RTwP (the slow attack speed) shouldn't matter in TB, right? I assume that a Cipher/Arcane Archer would be a devastating dmg/CC combination then, because the Arcane Archer procs his imbue effects with every jump(!) of a projectile. Meaning Binding Web and Pull of Eora each proc thrice with Watershaper's Focus with Driving Flight, creating hefty zones of CC (immobilized + pull together, three instances in parallel each, absolute black hole that combo) while also having three jumping AoEs which deal damage with the same attacks, each of the hit rolls have the potential to trigger Ondra's Wrath. After Binding Web + Pull oE it's very easy to hit a lot of enemies at the same time with the Blast. Also Cipher/Ranger can have tremendous ranged ACC with Borrowed Instincts and the Rangers's known ACC buffs. But I can also see Cipher/Rogue as being effective since Ondra's Wrath benefits from Sneak Attack, Deathblows etc. A SC Cipher with Shared Nightmares will scale the size of Ondra's Wrath and the Blast AoE up. At 200 focus the blast and Ondra's Wrath will have +200% AoE size. Don't know if SC Cipher is cool in TB mode since the best high lvl ability (Time Parasite) seems to be meh on TB mode. I personally would pick a multiclass with Arcane Archer.

Happy Birthday to me! I survived a whole year on these boards. There's been fun times and adversarial times but all-in-all I prefer that over circle-jerking on social media. You learn through unpleasantness baby.

Walking home trough the snow you get the urge to take a dump so you open an app on your phone to preheat the toilet seat. Once you are doing the deed you wish for some coffee to warm you up so again you get on the app and turn on the coffee maker for that fresh brew to be waiting for you.

The Forbidden Fist was chosen because if its Enfeebling effect in synergy with Disintegrate (Ascendant) and Takedown Combo (Stalker/Bloodmage). Since a Forbidden Fist profits from maxed out RES and reduced hostile effects enchantments enormously he can as well be played as an offensively capable tank (with Tuotilo's Palm). Also because Forbidden Fist doesn't work with Heartbeat Drumming and Swift Flurry. That tank can uphold very high defenses, has unlimited resources and can spam Forbidden Fist non-stop while using his main weapon as stat-stick only (or backup weapon - e.g. Kapana Taga for +2 engagement or immunity to flanked). Every instance of Forbidden Fist will only last under 2 secs (Hylea's Talons will do the same basically), giving the Monk a wound and healing when it expires. Triggers Rooting Pain all the time. Also triggers Crucible of Suffering every few secs. Enlightened Agony will provide +5 INT and Iron Wheel (since Turning Wheel doesn't work with Forbidden fist anyway), giving that monk enormous Will, Fortitude and good Deflection and Reflex (RES, Lightning Strikes, Weapon & Shield Style). Imagined Pain will work extremely well with such a Monk. Every miss on him results in a wound. Parting Sorrow allows special synergy with White Witch Mask or a Wizard: terrified enemies will break engagement and give the Monk wounds. He doesn't need resistances because afflictions only last a few seconds and will give wounds and bonus defense. It's not a conventional tank but a pretty great mix of offense and defense once he comes online. Whispers of the Wind problem: correct. But if you use Ajamut's Stalking Cloak with WotW the enemies can't rush to your other party members because they will be stunned. Even if that might not prevent rushing 100%: the rest of the party seems to be plenty sturdy to handle a few enemies by themselves. Alternative would be to use Inner Death instead of WotW since it as the same "problems" as Forbidden Fist: no Turning Wheel, no Swift Flurry/HBD. But really good with Empowered Strikes. Since it uses Mortification and you won't use that a lot elsewhere (since you will use Forbidden Fist most of times) this is also a good use for that resource. Priest is never superfluous because of inspirations, Devotions and Salvation of Time. Especially Salvation of Time if you have an Ascendant with Ancestor's Memory since that creates an awesome synergy that lets you prolong Ascension a lot. But I agree that it might be better to not stack all the healing spells onto one character. He will hardly use them all in a single encounter due to casting times. Also there's a ton of micro already with the other chars and a caster/caster combo adds a lot more. I thought about Priest of Eothas/Troubadour with Ancient Memory + Mercy and Kindness maybe? Ascended does indeed work well with some multiclasses - especially Helwalker. This one is supposed to cast Disintegrate a lot. So SC reaches that a lot earlier and also Ancestor's Memory and Driving Echoes (maybe the most important advantages) and also gets +3 Power Level which translates to +15% multiplicative dmg (compared to a Helwalker's +30%max additive and +50% duration via INT). Also casts a lot faster during Ascension with the help of Time Parasite and has bigger AoE due to Shared Nightmare (very late game stuff though). At the same time Helwalker is more fun earlier, has a longer Ascension Time in general (+10 INT) and will most likely generate focus a lot quicker (lashes and stuff). He can also use Soul Ignition as an earlier (but weaker) Disintegrate until he gets that. Works also well with Enfeebled and Takedown Combo. Swift Flurry/Heartbeat Drumming can fill up focus instantly once they trigger. Which is pretty cool. I guess a multiclass would be more fun overall. Other alternatives to Helwalker are Barbarian/Ascendant (Blood Thirst + Disintegrate is cool), Ascendant/Bloodmage (Wall of Draining prolongs Ascension and stuff like Borrowed Instincts, also great focus generation with Spirit Lance), Ascendant/Streetfighter (super fast casting recovery with blunderbuss, very fast focus generation - great with mortars, too). Another option to cast Disintegrate all the time is Beguiler: you can alternate between Phantom Foes, Disintegrate, Secret Horrors, Disintegrate and so on since usually one big Deception creates enough focus for Disintegrate. No need for weapon dmg then. SC Beguiler is very nice with all the Will passives the Cipher can get and with Shared Nightmare. Also nice as multiclass. Or Psion/Bloodmage: Arkemyr's Brilliant Departure lets you generate focus undisturbed while casting Walls and CC from invisibility (doesn't break then) and once the focus is full: cast Disintegrate from invisibility (that will break then). Recast Brilliant Departure and repeat.

So I saw this moments ago and thought to myself 'how many canceled games do I know of and which ones hurt the most?' Hmmm... -C&C Generals 2 -Fallout Van Buren -Prey 2 -Duke Nukem Forever(2001 version) -Silent Hills Just to name a few. But yeah, that Generals games really hurt. Good ol' RTS games of the late 90's and early 2000's...

I'm not sure about Devotions stacking with many other active bonuses. Maybe with some, but certainly not with all. And you're right about the bonus stacking per hit in Turn Based. Again, passively riposting with the like of Scordeo's Edge could help here.

You don't need your MC to be a Priest; suffice to bring one along for the ride. The catch with Devotions is that is grants separate Accuracy bonuses for melee and ranged, which count as different from overall Accuracy bonuses that apply to both simultaneously (which are the majority.) So you can stack it on top of most other Accuracy-bolstering active effects. As for the "no rest" playthrough—watch out for the game has a number of "forced rests." There's a mod on the Nexus that removes them. Other than Empower, you're not losing anything that I know of but you'll need a good supply of Adra potions to clear any wounds you get from being knocked out in battle.

Well, estocs would be the best in both categories. Specifically BotEP. Then again, if you crit all the time, PEN becomes less of an issue, as you get a +50% Pen bonus.

To stack Accuracy you'll of course want the highest Perception attribute you can get. I do not know what items boost Perception off the top of my head, but as for the rest: 18 base +2 Orlan +1 The White That Wends +1 Savage Cunning +1 Blood Pool sacrifice (Sagani) +1 Cauldron Brew (comes fairly late though) ------- 24 You can get it to 29 with a Perception Inspiration, 31 if you're using Berath's Blessings, and further up with items (not sure if you can get the +4 you need to hit the cap of 35 from items; the more experienced players may chime in on this.) EDIT: If you choose Aenalys at the brothel, you get another passive bonus of +2 PER. That gets to you to 33 if using Berath's Blessings while under the effects of a Perception Inspiration, so it should be easy to hit 35 with items at this point. Then you'll want your Priest to cast Devotions for the Faithful for another +10 Accuracy that stacks with pretty much everything, and you can get another +10 Accuracy from Nature's Resolve (though this will go away if you rest, so you'd need to opt into a No Rest playthrough once you get it.) A SC Monk has access to Razor's Edge, which grants +1 Accuracy per Wound up to a maximum of +10. Dance of Death / Enduring Dance have no cap that I know of, if you can avoid getting hit (you may give up on Razor's Edge and multi with Wizard to bolster your defenses with spells and guarantee a long-lasting Enduring Dance.) That said, as others have pointed out, Ciphers and Rangers can stack higher Accuracy than Monk. I believe there's a weapon or two that either stack Accuracy bonuses on the wielder or Deflection penalties on the target. BoTEP, off the top of my head, can stack Accuracy.

The name was chaged because there already existed a board game called Hero Quest.

Well, it looks like the leftist fasco-socialist corporation Twitter locked another account in their fight against Freedom™.

Yeah, happy birthday, Comrade. So, my old smoker has been working great for some time. I love it, but it's a real pain sometimes because it's a charcoal based smoker which means I have to babysit the BBQ. For those of you who smoke beef, pork, or whatever, you know how long that is. So, I'm actually kind of cheap, but I want something that will manage itself a bit more, and I've considered getting a pellet smoker. No soaking chunks. No having an offset tray for smoking chips. No micromanaging the smoke for hours at a time. I see things that range from a few hundred to a few thousand. I typically don't like to drop the coin for these things, but once I do, I tend to get as big a beast as I need. I refuse, on principle, to spend more than two grand on it, but I also have loved this backwater community for giving me advice that has *actually* been useful. Don't leave me hanging. I know there are some of you who know a bit about the smoke. Give me a couple tips about a good place to look. I've done my research, but one to two thousand dollars is a chunk o' coin for the humble likes o' mehself. Also, poultry lends itself to rotisserie, but not as much to smoking in my experience. Maybe a pellet driven smoker that could smoke good poultry or waterfowl would be most welcome.

That's.... not entirely true in my opinion. They are robe-killers. And rapidly eliminating enemies that are usually the biggest treat in a given fight does have great tactical value. Of course, there are other methods also, but monks are pretty great for this.

Swift Flurry tends to deliver very high dps on enemies where it doesn't matter much because they are dead quickly anyway.

Well, sorta, provided that they can crit a lot and trigger Swift Flurry (/Hearbeat Drumming) chains. So when they stack Accuracy (rapier with modal is really good for this) and/or target enemies with low Deflection (they are absolute beasts vs enemy casters, usually). IMO rogues are a little more consistent in general.

Speed is mostly irrelevant for Turn Based, though. But I strongly agree with the earlier points: Fighter certainly isn't needed: neither for Accuracy, nor for Devoted Penetration. Rogues tend to bring a way higher damage boost to the table (their base skill, Crippling Strike, comes with a Pen boost too, many abilities come with a +10 Accuracy boost, Confounding Blind can be crippling enemy Deflection-wise). On the other hand, Fighters and Paladins are masters of survivability, of course.

Thanks for the endurance, laughs and contribution. Building community here is important to me. I hope you and others continue to find that this is a place that offers such space!

Lucca, Moon Godlike Darcozzi Paladini: Deadfire Introduction Game Version: 5.0.0.0040 LAX123ABCDEFGHI[TB] (All DLC enabled) Difficulty: Veteran Settings: Real Time With Pause; Expert Mode: Off; Trial of Iron: On; Berath's Blessings: None; Level Scaling: All, Only Upwards Mods: Community Patch: Basic, Extras, Keywords, Typos; Balance Polishing Mod: Buffs, Nerfs, Summon Rebalance (Minus Blunderbuss nerf, Chain Heal rework, Strike the Bell rework, Brilliant nerf); Carnage & Powder Burns Indicator; Enhanced User Interface Main Character Description: Lucca, Darcozzi Paladini and Watcher, has spent the years since Thaos enjoying all that life has to offer. She returned to visit Old Valia, but found little there to hold her loyalty or interest. The spirit of the Valian Republics now holds her attention, with their advances in animancy and bold action reaching towards the future. With no noble house to serve, Lucca spends her days serving her chosen family, the friends she has met along her adventures. This is just the kind of life she could get used to . . . Our chosen party this run will be Pallegina (Herald), Konstanten (Howler), Ydwin (Cipher), Fassina (Loremaster). A Chorus of Valian pride awaits!

Lampros, you don't need to multiclass as a fighter to boost accuracy. Ranger is probably the class that brings the most to accuracy table, with marked prey (+10), stalkers link (+10) and Survival of the fittest (+10 on targets below 50% health) and Marksman for ranged (+5) and Hunter's claw/fang for melee (+1 accuracy/+1% damage per hit, stackable to 20, against a specific species). Taken together this is a huge bonus. Stalker, I think, is an under-appreciated subclass that is great for melee multi-class builds, especially on PotD, and can give you an alternative to the fighter. Then there's cipher, which shines accuracy wise once you hit PL 5, where you can get borrowed instinct (+20 accuracy and all defences) and tactical meld (aware and +3 engagements for 30 seconds). I believe that the seer can achieve the highest possible accuracy in the game. But you can add ranger and cipher to your multiclass mix to get a bit more variety into your party. While fighters are great, rangers and ciphers also bring useful abilities to the table. Then there's monk. Monks don't bring much to the accuracy table, except for Dance with Death and Enduring Dance, which gives you increasing accuracy and wounds over time, but can be dispelled by hits, which makes it better for ranged builds and caster multi-classes. But monks, in melee, have one of the best weapons in the game, that scale in accuracy, damage and PEN to post-mythic levels if you stack power levels, making them very strong in this area too.

Lucca Act IV I brave the Adra dragon and make it through the conversation without mistakes. We do the amulet trick and come back to loot the hoard. Totally unnecessary, but feels good to finish it out. Everyone is now level 14. I don't have the energy to clear all the bounties and any remaining side quests to get to 16. I planned to get Ryona's Vambraces for Pallegina to complete her Missile Commander build, but I don't need the extra firepower with everything on Standard, and I don't want to take the risk of a misclick at this point in the run. We clear through Sun and Shadow faster than I've ever seen. I feed the team all the food buffs, including dragon meat dish, and everyone pops a snowcap. Thaos is down in record time, though Pallegina barely gets off her FoD blunderbuss shot for 200+ damage on him right at the end. I thought took a screenshot, but must have goofed, because it didn't save. We trap Thaos in Sun and Shadow and scatter the souls across the Dyrwood like we promised Galawain and Magran. On to the Deadfire!

Back to the Halloween carnival this afternoon. There are four of us there representing the VFW. Our role is general handyman, refrigeration mechanic, lifter of heavy things, and of course object lessons to children to study harder in school

Alas, Engrish of mine must sucketh, if thou has cometh to that kind of conclusion

I'm so glad I cut my losses early. I guess there's room for some pseudo-profound metaphorical commentary about the state of Trek writing and current times, and how ironic this is considering the writers' politics, but I'm perpetually tired so here's a silly gif instead: OT: I binge-watched Cobra Kai. Can't wait for S3.

Q14. You absolutely will not: 1. Sit in an airplane circling in a holding pattern for two hours 2. Admit that you were ever turned on by a comic book character ✔ 3. Walk through the desert for a week 4. Do software development

Woedica : Concelhaut Crushing Doom was my idea but more on level VIII. Haunting Chain (BPM version) is a bit too much since it is meant to be the ultimate CC by the ultimate single target CC class and Woedicans would get it even sooner. You could go (renamed) Bitter Mooring on Tier VI (Woedica likes immobilizing stuff) and Crushing Doom on Tier VIII. Abydon : Unbending is the key ultimate Fighter ability. I don't think it's wise to give it to another class. You should go Sundering blow instead (even if Tier IX, it's only 2 discipline, so it makes sense on Tier VIII as a bit better Rust). I don't think it's good for 2 gods to have the same spell on different level, so maybe not Crushing Doom. Maybe Power Strike ? (faster mode) Galawain : Wild Sprint on Tier IV is too bad. Hunter's Claw is too weird mechanic to be used as a spell. Blackbow shall not be put on Tier VII ! It would be abusable by Multiclass. Panther's Leap Tier IX is a bit too high. Furious Vengeance : Invocation worth more than usual level. Swap with Panther's Leap. Still a bit generous but okay. I like Marked Prey has an unique trait. Maybe Tier IV Hylea : Avenging Storm shall not be put on Tier VII ! It would be abusable by Multiclass. Ondra : Nothing bad, but Moonwell, Relentless Storm and Avenging Storm should not be that high Tier. Maybe remove the Fragment spell and move down everything 1 less tier. No idea for Tier VII and IX for the moment. Missile Salvo ? Incarnate : Don't forget that all Incarnate joins Teams, not Party. Duration shall depend on their number (or they would be too powerful). Woedica : No idea but Skaen would feel weird. No Incarnate is an option, but you need other abilities then... Galawain : Compared to Druid Version, this one would be less good (join Team, not party, PL penalty). Suggestion : you could have this one give +1PL instead of a malus. That would be unique but consitent with Galawain fluff. Hylea : Check if this one is technically doable. And don't forget to balance it. You can go for a couple of non-upgraded Drakes if it doesn't work. (adult Dragon can be suspiciously OP) Ondra : same as Hylea. The other mod has a spell that summons ice clone. 3 of them for 20s would be a good enough incarnate. Weapons : Galawain : go for a pike. It will save you the trouble of dealing with the 1-handed thingy.

Whispers of the Endless Path: the cone is foe-only! The cone works with FoD (so all attack rolls get the lashes). The key element is Offensive Parry (but you need living steel for that) Spirit Lance + FoD (Bleak Walker) + Zandethus Fury is very good as well. Rooting Pain: If you can't gain wounds (like being at max would count) it will not trigger. You'd have to spend wounds first. It's still a great passive to have for a tankish monk since the occasional interrupt can mess up enemies really bad. Spend some wound with Thunderous Blows and Enlightened Agony and such. Edit: Oops AeonsLegend already answered that, sorry. Cipher vs. single (Mega-)Bosses: in my opinion the Psion is best here. Others might really struggle with focus generation. Psion does not. If you have a Priest you can withdraw the Psion if he gets hit too often - then he'll emerge with full focus (and healed).

Thank you both for your response. First it's good to read that my suggested party isn't bad and that melting my brain wasn pointless ! I don't know how to quote on my mobile so I'll try to cover everything without quoting. I'll start from the top. About the Stalker/Bloodmage -> I've read your guide/explanation in another thread and it sounds really interesting. I wanted to include a Ranger in my party and I'm a new Wizard fan, so that's great. I like the idea with the Phantoms and using the Wizard spells more supportive or for a big nuke via Takedown Combo. Also the AC is one more body in the front. This will be my go to Morningstar wielder, cause everyone needs one for Body Blows. You are right Boeroer that I want to use Enfeeble, Takedown Combo and Disintegrate. It shall be a heart part of my party for the tough ones and megabosses. About the Bleak Walker/Bloodmage: I thought about going the lancing route. AOE FoDs seems pretty strong, and my Paladin won't run out off zeal anytime. But using the Blightheart sounds interesting too, but puts it more into a caster role. So FoD seems to play a lower role. I don't know what to think about it right now but it's something think about ! The Garrote/Bloodmage is really simple but brilliant ! This seems to be very good but WoteP attacks in a cone and I'm afraid I'll kill my own frontline. Till now it's the FF, R/W + AC (+ P/W), looks quite messy. But the idea is a favorite of mine since I read it ! About the Priest of Eothas/Lifegiver: Its basically just a buffer and healer. I like priests a lot and I wanted to include a druid, cause druids always come to short for me I every game. I'm sure this comb is a overkill and under other circumstances I wouldn't play my priest as a buffer. I thought about Wael/Helwalker -> buffs via priest part and +pl buff so fists would scale to legendary and maybe play as a nature godlike. Defensive spells from Waels part and dmg from monk's side. But then bye bye druid. And about Priest/Chanter: I'm sorry I'm playing on PS4 and Chanters are bugged and that's the reason why I stopped my lovely Cantor, sad. About Forbidden Fist tank: I'm set to this. I know I could play a Swashbuckler or Herald but I don't want to. I want to take another route and try something different. This just feels good a d Boeroer already said enough about it here. No Pala multiclass just a Forbidden Fist. But there's one question I still have. When my FF sits at 10 wounds and he would theoretically get a wound, which he can't cause he has already 10, would this trigger Rooting Pain ? So about the Ascendant: I'm not set on Ascendant just on Cipher. I don't know why but somehow I have a affinity for Ascendant. I know Beguiler would be fine too and can fill focus fast while using spells. But how is this in bossfights/Megabosses ? I mostly think about that cause all other encounters are doable anyhow. The big plus for SC Ascendant or Beguiler for me is Time Parasit and getting all spells faster. My Ascendant state would be prolonged by Salvation of Time. For your suggestions for Cipher/Streetfighter, I thought about it but I don't know how the slower spellprogression and losing PL 8/9 will work out. All of this for faster recovery from Streetfighter and Blunderbuss synergie ? It's nice but I want my cipher as a spell machine. Helwalker/Ascendant on the other hand is more interesting for me. The 10 Int and 10 Might are a good bonus, maybe worth losing PL 8/9 and fast progression. Played at short range with mortars. Something to think about. I'm excited about your opinions.

Clarity of Agony is nice, but it costs 2 wounds and has recovery. Better to only use it against the long-lasting stuff in my opinion. Because If you have to use it to reduce Forbidden Fist Curse you spend 2 wounds for gaining one which isn't that great. The maxed out RES, combined with items and food that reduce hostile effect duration, makes sure that you can spam it with (nearly) no pause, get lots of wounds and healing all the time in the process. And since your RES is maxed anyway you can as well use that guy as tank. Not the only viable way to play a Forbidden Fist of course, but a nice one if you are looking for a good combo of offense and defense - e.g. if you don't like the usual damage sponge tank tht only eats damage and engages but doesn't do much else. Point with not using a Monk's good mobility: yeah, that's right. But if you want to use Rooting Pain, Blade Turning and Parting Sorrow/Imagined Pain you can't zip around too much anyways. Instruments of Pain let's this more stationary Forbidden Fist tank attack enemies at ca. 6m range - so that isn't such a big deal once you get that. But yeah: the zip-zap of a mobile monk can be fun. Maybe another argument for an additional monk multiclass with that Ascendent.

I personally wouldn't build a tank monk. Monks have the highest single target DPS in the game and can be insane mobile disruptors. Doesn't mean they can't be a tank of course, but Paladins have so many built in tank stats that I would choose them instead to be your tank. They even gain a passive that gains DR while standing still. Perfect for "tanking". After you get Whispers of the Wind your monk will hardly tank anything, because after every 1-2 strikes they will be untargettable for a few seconds breaking any form of engagement and letting enemies seek out a new target. Imo SC ascendant is fine, but it may not be optimal. If you use Kitchen stove then you can instantly gain full focus at the start of battle. Outside of that it will have a harder time to gain focus and then it can be in trouble because you will want to be ascended as much as possible. Combine it with any hard hitting combat class as to make up for it. The loss of power level won't impact it all that much. It's better to have multiple ascended stages that are a little bit less powerful during a battle than having a single bit more powerful stage. Personally I would not combine the Lifegiver with Priest because of the amount of time they need to cast abilities. Best to split up the classes over different characters I think. But priest is probably a bit superfluous with the wizards and druid you already have. Maybe better to go SC druid and have access to Great Mailstrom for ultimate decimation of your enemy.

What's the problem? Looks fine. SC Ascendant is a bit weaker than some multiclass combos like Helwalker/Ascendant or Streetfighter/Ascendant in the earlier parts of the game. But as soon as SC Ascandant gets Time Siphon he's an absolute beast. And of course you'll get access to Driving Echoes for your other casters and Shared Nightmare which is superb with Ascendants/while ascended. Is anybody of your guys wielding a Morning Star? 'Cause no proper playthrough without a Morning Star. I have a hunch that you want to use Disintegrate and Takedown Combo + Forbidden Fist's enfeebling effect. Therefore a Morning Star would be very helpful to land those reliably. Both Takedown Combo and Disintegrate target Fortitude. CON- and MIG afflictions would help further. Looking at your Stalker/Bloodmage: I once had a Stalker/Wizard with the Morning Star Willbreaker (using Takedown Combo + Essential Phantom with Draining Touch) and it was pretty good. So maybe that's an option? Don't know if you know it, but your Bloodmage/Bleak Walker can get +10% corrosive lash and +10% burning lash for all the wizard spells: with the soulbound arquebus Blightheart and Eternal Devotion. It's pretty neat to add 20% multiplicative dmg to your spells. Has to play ranged then though because switching away from Blighheart will remove the 10% corrosove lash immedialtely. Another great (really great) Arcane Knight is Steel Garrote/Bloodmage with Whispers of the Endless Paths. Melee then of course. Max out deflection and use Offensive Parry. You will drain health faster than you can lose it while damaging foes at the same time. It's very easy to use Blood Sacrifice and cast spells atthe same time because Offensive Parry will also happen while casting. So you're doing melee dmg and healing while casting. Pretty cool. Offensive Parry itself dazes enemies so you don't even need to acitively afflict enemies around that guy if you don't want to. He's afflicting enemies "passively" all by himself. How is the Priest of Eothas/Livegiver supposed to look like?

Always use custom parties... my favs 1) Anything Cipher... cipher (single class), cipher/fighter, cipher/pali, etc. This class really grew on me over my hours in POE2. It starts fairly strong and turns into a beast, with multiple ways to spec and play. I tend to favor SB with shred-hybrid casting capabilities, plus buffing/debuffing for survivability. Lots of fun and would be a monster if there was ever PvP. 2) Anything Wiz... wiz (single), wiz/rogue, wiz/monk, wiz/pali, and wiz/fighter. Nothing beats the versatility of a Wiz, due to: 1) multi-grimoires, 2) fast, useful buffs, 3) DPS at your fingertips, 4) ability to endure long fights, especially melee hybrids in boss/mega-boss battles. Just wow... not as fun as Cipher (for me), but great versatility, survivability, and DPS. Lots of ways to spec, but I still enjoy Wiz/Fighter with Citzals, plus buffing. I also marvel at the deadliness of a buffed Rogue in combat, as well as the stability of a Wiz/Pali. Let's not forget the AOE-speedster-monster a Wiz/Monk becomes. If this game had PvP, it would be hard to ignore this class. Yeah, I always have Wizards in every party... just can't avoid their power-to-party-slot-ratio. 3) Rogue, Monk, Fighter, and Pali... The melee quadruplets always find a home in my party. Want a class to hit harder, pair it with Rogue. Need speed and increased intelligence for a caster, Monk is your friend. Care for better survivability and still have some punch, pair anything with Pali or Fighter. To be clear, I rarely play these as single-classes. I think their best stuff (barring Monk), happens below PL7 and provides a huge lift to any class. 4) The Druid... Very quietly worked into my Top 5 (treating the melee quadruplets as one). This class has great flexibility... Need a healer? This class could be viewed as the top healer in the game (without mods). Need DPS... a solo Druid is one of the best DPS casters in the game, thanks to Maelstrom, Plague of insects, Returning storm, etc. Oh yeah, I can also spec one of the hardest hitting melee combos in the game (Shifter/Rogue or Shifter/Monk). Fun, dynamic, versatile... yeah, the Druid might deserve my #3 slot. 5) Chanters... This class baffles me, since it is highly reliable with renewable resources, but much of the game it is too slow to impact regular battles past level 8ish. Once a Wiz or Druid has decent nukes (that can be cast in under 2 secs), the Chanter is still humming away. To be fair, a Chanter provides reliable buffs to the party, decent healing, and flexibility (summons, dps, etc.). Chanters do shine in long battles (megabosses), but they aren't as much fun for me, possibly because everything happens so fast at upper levels (for 99% of battles). 6) Priests... without mods, every other class does the Priest's job better (kind of sad). Buffs take too long and DPS is inconsistent, unless solo and focusing on higher-level spells. I do agree, some solo priests are solid and have some great higher-tier debuffs, but not better than other classes (for me). Oddly enough, Priest was a top-3 favorite for me in POE1. 7) Ranger and Zerker... I'm not much into ranged attacks (besides spells), so I have a natural bias against Rangers. As the devs tried to compensate for Rangers starting on the wrong foot (release), they became a jumbled patchwork of skills. A ranger can certainly be powerful, but outside of the summon (which I also avoid), I feel like a ranger struggles for an identity, lost between a rogue and/or fighter. As for the Zerker, I know they can be a strong single-class and add some speed to a caster, but here are my concerns... I don't like the whole "I YELL REALLY LOUD" skill sets of the Zerker... really should be a chanter skill, but not a big deal. I feel like one of the Devs spent too much time playing Diablo for inspiration instead of reading Conan comics/books. When pairing a caster I pick the Monk every time over the Zerker, since they do everything better (opinion) from greater buffs, speed, survivability, etc. Yeah, I don't believe I've played either one of these classes start-to-finish on any run, since I just like every other class better. Latest play-through: Cipher Wiz/Fighter Wiz/Pali Druid/Monk Rogue/Monk