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If you consider North Korea as a positive example of being Chinese vassal, then I really apologize, but I have to question the sanity of that statement

Not just The Times... https://www.newyorker.com/news/q-and-a/the-purges-in-putins-shrinking-inner-circle https://www.timesofisrael.com/putin-said-to-be-conducting-internal-purge-of-military-generals-intel-personnel/ https://www.washingtonexaminer.com/news/putin-purges-russian-intelligence-as-military-elite-suffer-devastating-losses https://www.businessinsider.com/putin-rumored-to-be-purging-kremlin-officials-over-ukraine-invasion-2022-3

I suppose it's just wisest to ignore it. You can see so much of it on these forums, too, although admittedly from only a few users whose idea appears to be that criticism of Russia automatically means wholesale acceptance of everything about "the West". But of course this is not the case at all. Heck, perhaps some of us have been demonstrating against "the West's" actions in our own countries. Perhaps we have been doing that for a long time. Who knows. And here, by the way, is an important difference: in "the West" we can demonstrate without facing up to 15 years in jail.

The most fun build i've ever played was a monk/druid (shifter). Very powerfull from start to end with a lot of way to play (you can do it all : tank, healer, buffer, melee dps, range dps, spell dps) : - You are very capable in melee (shifted or not) : 6 differents forms (human, bear, boar, stag, cat, wolf) each looking good. Very adaptable. - You are a very nice spellcaster : druids can do AOE damage, single target damage, heal, buffs... and Monk can boost it (Speed/Might/Pen boost, Bonus Int for duration/AOE and even more bonus Might if you go hellwalker subclass).

But that's not true, either. Nor would it be true to say that no one gives a damn about what's happening in China. If you intend to say that the international response is much weaker than it should be, then that's a potentially fine argument, but it would really help the discussion if you actually made arguments that are true. Saying that no one cares at all is simply not true.

Interesting. Thanks for that! This is one of the major problems inherent in a kleptocracy: there is no trust. Vladimir Putin himself, being an out-and-out liar but not an idiot (IQ-wise), must recognize that because his regime is built on lies, this means that he cannot trust others, either. This, in turn, helps explain why he's built such massive internal security force: to protect him from his own people. The whole affair is so sad it's difficult to even express. This man had all the opportunity to at least try to build a better future for his own country and nation, but he decided not to(*). His lack of care is well exemplified by his willingness to kill his own people: the most heavily bombed city of Mariupol was 44% ethnic Russian. Putin ordered massive shelling anyway. (*) Some Russian universities have been good. Moscow University has expressed outrage at the war in Ukraine. At the moment, there are strong indications that Putin is intent on destroying education, too.

I couldn't imagine Russia would be so stupid as to actually invade Ukraine. And when, I couldn't imagine Russia would be so stupid as to try to reach Kiev through the Pripet marshes... (substitute Russia with Putin) Edit: Anyone who ever played a WWII wargame covering the eastern front knows the significance of those marshes... they are everything the allies thought The Ardennes was, i.e. impassable for armies, hence the long, unwieldy columns of troops and tanks

Updates : - Boar & Bear form : engagement bonus set to passive (so it stacks with active effects, as for Form of the Fearsome Brute) - Stag form carnage : reworked to an AoE triggered on Crit (including on main target) as Pet Stag companion (BPM made it works also on main target). => Base damage 10-18 Slash / Pierce, 9 PEN, 1.5 radius, scales as similar abilities (+5% multiplicative damages, +1 Acc, +0.25 PEN for each PL beyond 1). Why this change : I think the issue with "Barbarian style" carnage is that it is a bit pointless. It is much less focused than cat attack speed bonus, and more annoying, combo with few other abilities. I worked quite a bit on Barbarian to make carnage feels a bit like PoE1's (making Frenzy upgrades applies to Carnage hits, the making Interrupting blows working with BPM carnage crit). This, obviously, isn't easily doable with Druid Stag form. On the other side, I found this tweak for the stag pet : by working also on main target, it is an AoE passive, but also a Crit reliant damage ability vs main target. Crit fishing isn't easy with Stag pet nor with Stag form (except, well, entropy and some martial MC), but it is still much easier to build around (especially with a party) than a bit of raw damage around. Basically it is an extra Wildstrike Frenzy without extra property. Since it has to compete with things like Cat x1.33 attack speed, it has to be good enough. Finally Stag form working like Stag pet makes some sense.

I second @dgray62 on the Priest type choice. It also depends on your gameplay: for pure hit n'run style, having a couple "free" extra rogue mobility/invisibility/damage with Skaen is nice as you might not use other priest spells anyway. Guile ain't cheap . So you could zap and stealth and murder for a bit longer. Otherwise Wael is best indeed, Rymrgand would be fun for the dual axes as spiritual weapon but it's only for Vatnir unless you mod. Here is also a SC Trickster rundown that can do nasty things on PotD:

I love monks, chanters and druids, so I second the above recommendations. But you might also consider a single class forbidden fist monk, which is very powerful and durable from beginning to end of the game, and is god-like once you get Whisper of the Winds. If you search for "forbidden fist" in this forum you'll find nice discussions of how to build a FF monk. However, for an even easier game I'd recommend @Powerotti's forbidden fist/steel garrote build, which is extremely sturdy, powerful and easy to play. If you want melee only it is my top recommendation. But if you like melee caster hybrids then a cantor or ascetic multi class would be great fun.

Assassins are great fun, and are one of the classes that can most easily solo the game on PotD difficulty. As for multi class combos, have you considered cipher? Ciphers bring an additional damage boost as well as great DoT abilities, and thus seems to be just what you are looking for. And don't forget borrowed instincts, one of the best buffs in the game, that gives you a huge boost to ACC and all defences. I have played a melee assassin/soul blade which was great fun. If you are interested in a ranged mindstalker, then I'd recommend @Not So Clever Hound's Soul Sniper Mindstalker build. As for Psyblade, I also played @Not So Clever Hound's Assassin/devoted build, which you might want to check out as it's a powerful combo. You might also consider single class trickster, to access nice high level rogue and wizard abilities. As for a zealot build, I wouldn't recommend Priest of Skaen, since it gives you as bonus spells rogue abilities that you'll already have. You might consider a different subclass that would add something extra, like Priest of Wael, for extra defensive buffs (wizard spells) that you wouldn't otherwise have access to.

If you want something simple and decisive a single class Chanter (Bellower, Troubadour or Skald) is fine. Literally all you do is cast a spell once every 20-40 seconds, all the rest of the time you're just auto attacking which gives you room to manage other members of the party. The previous suggestions here involve more micromanagement for the player character and/or metagaming.

"We definitely dont want a Le Pen victory, anything that threatens the sustainability of the EU we dont want " Who's this "we"?

yeah multi quote is weird, give us bbcode back! xD

For what you want Sage or Battlemage would be indeed powerhouses but most Wizard's AoEs come with friendly fire so you'd have to manage a bit the companions, the placement etc. Here is how I understand your specs: very powerful early-on and throughout, with a strong late-game plan melee/caster hybrid flex on looks/equipment not too squishy access to high damage AoE party friendly no matter the party comp/behavior easy automation + cool hands-on gameplay Then your "ideal build" IMO is a Cantor (Monk/Chanter). I had built one here for Solo hardest difficulty that can be super easily tweaked for relax party play. There is flex in race, subclass, abilities, stats, gear, etc. Overall it would be incredibly hard to build it in a way that cannot absolutely steamroll every encounter on low difficulty. EDIT: if you want another flavor, this one is great and more detailed:

It's not as if nobody ever critizised what the USA did in the middle east. People pretend now that we were always ok with it and never said anything.

Many of us could not imagine that Russia will be so stupid to dig trenches in Chernobyl, or that they would put 11 time in the row their war instruments on Chornobaivka airport near Kherson, just to let them be destroyed over and over and over 😄 Anyway, you probably missed that, because I put that in one of the edits, but in Russia, there are already people who demand the use of chemical weapons in Mariupol, including their propaganda mouthpiece RIA Novosti. Repost: Also the mouthpiece of Russian propaganda RIA Novosti is already spreading the word, how a chemical attack in Mariupol is urgently needed... https://t.me/rian_ru/158246 Google translate: Basurin said that it makes no sense to storm the underground fortifications of Azovstal in Mariupol, you need to "turn to the chemical troops" "There are underground floors, so it makes no sense to take this object by storm. Because you can put a large number of your soldiers, and the enemy will not suffer losses as such" “Therefore, at the moment it is necessary to deal with the blocking of this plant, find all the exits and entrances - in principle, this can be done." @Sarex Allow me to apologize, if my previous post looked like, it was aimed directly at you. That was not the case. It was just my seldom clumsiness to properly express in written form what I really want to say I just wanted to given my reasons, why I am sometimes prefer to do multiple post, due to my not very good experience with Multiquote forum feature. And I fully understand that why it might be annoying to some people, so I am doing my best to minimize that, and after posting I am trying to post only after enough of other people express their own opinions as well

Following up on @Not So Clever Hound's excellent suggestions, you could also complete the triangle by considering a cantor, perhaps with the Helwalker/Skald subclasses. You might find @Jayd's Wind Path Cantor build to be of interest, as it's designed to maximize movement speed, so you can zip around, frequently unleashing powerful invocations like Her Revenge.

Puerto Rico got massive amounts of help, they just let it rot on the docks and in the warehouses.

Other than getting the rona earlier this year, I haven't been really sick in a while. I get some digestion issues and insomnia though. That's better than a cold at least. Today I went to work. I've been an independent contractor for a minute and I'm making about 50-100% more than I did as an employee. I'm going to make as much money as I can doing this over the summer and then look to getting a 9 to 5 outside of Houston specifically and maybe (hopefully?) Texas generally. It's time to run away from the hurricanes.

It's also probably related to the impression of the first few episodes, before Allen, Hitomi and Van arrive at the capital everyone's pretty busy being on the run and not dying. Understandably so, but afterwards the character elements got a bit more time to breathe. I'm guessing that's the point where it lost the shounen crowd, unless they turned off the first episode because why am I watching a girl and her attempts to run 100m in less than 13 seconds? The show's pretty great, yeah. It has to be with everything it got away with. Well, hey, the emperor must stick to some tropes, at least. Always saying the same thing isn't that uncommon for villains. Don't fail me again, Jadeite! There's maybe something else, I don't think it's possible for the most vocal part of the fanbase to complain about NGE in some manner, because it's a classic you just have to like to be part of the crowd. The insane success of the more fast paced and somewhat more straightforward Rebuild speaks volumes, but who knows how long that's going to last, or perhaps I haven't looked properly. There must be some people who watched Rebuild and then went for the classic and said something like: What's with the boring talking, where's the LARGE SCALE CGI MADNESS? I'm not going to pretend to be able to look past visual misgivings, all in all, because there are instances where I can't, but Girls' Last Tour was fairly eye opening. I never thought I'd be able to like that based on how it looks, but here I am. One of the good things that came out of this thread is that I successfully branched out of my comfort zone a little. Kinda agree with The Vision of Escaflowne over the looks of Twelve Kingdoms. Escaflowne has a relatively strange mix of character art and sometimes combines elements from different eras in a way that I can at least understand if it's not exactly liked. Particularily compared with the looks of other mid 90ies shows. I still need to finish that film, but the first thiry minutes left me rather unimpressed - with the film, not with the visuals, so I still can't contribute anything to the (attempted?) rape scene discussion. The one thing I really get is how the little things sometimes are all that's needed for enjoyment, but that happens more often in music for me than in film or TV shows, but even there. Heck, I watched two full seasons of Kevin Sorbo ruining Andromeda not just because any OCD issue forced me to, but beause the memories of the characters I used to like made not hate watching the series. Up to a certain point, at least. Nowadays on rewatches, oh dear... It's one area where I am more forgiving - or perhaps less... or sometimes not bothered at all - when it comes to live action over animation, and video games. Way back when I refused to play the original Tomb Raider games because everyone was talking about Lara Croft's triangular, ginormous pixel cleavage and hot pants. The only Tomb Raider game I've played so far was the first of the remakes that was free on Steam a while back. Lara has regular sized assets in this one, but overall while I wouldn't have minded paying money for the game, it's been just as well that it was free. The difference is, in reality, yes, you still have male gaze shots - regardless of the gender of the characters involved, because oh boy, Andromeda sure made use of Kevin Sorbo's and Keith Hamilton Cobb's phsysique at the time... actually... I think initially, the two were more used for shirtless workout scenes than the girls on the crew were part of fanservice, Lexa Doig's jelly boobs aside - but outside of plastic surgery, nobody created the characters involved just for that. Lara was designed from the ground up to appeal to mouthbreathers to increase sales. I'm pretty sure the games were good outside of having tank controls, but seriously... also, when playing MMOs, I can't count how often I've heard that the only reason people play female characters is because "if I'm going to stare at an ass for hours, it should at least be a pretty female one", like what? Yeah, I don't want to play with you guys. Still, I'm probably not the best person to judge this.

This is awesome if it's true, and that twitter thread is gold 😂

None taken.

I am really sorry. That pic should have included Libya and Serbia as well. @Sarex no offense

Max int and good per + dex. Dump res If u have to. Low con and might makes blood sacrifice tougher but on the other hand one cast of corrosive siphon is more than enough to get your health back. After you get arkemys brilliant departure you prolong it with wall of draining and cast no damage cc-spells without breaking the invisibility.

Assassinate bonus applies all spells made from invisibility (backstab has range parameter) and blood mage has access to arkemys brilliant departure, so it is a great combo.

Good thing you're not Gorgon.

I was thinking Skaen so could get those abilities through that class and use Guile for different abilities. For example I could Escape and Shadowing Beyond twice and from Rogue I could do Escape and Shadow Step or skip that line entirely and use the Guile for Smoke, Crippling Strike, Confounding Blind / Gouging Strike or Strike the Bell, maybe even Toxic Strike since I could self-buff INT. The talk earlier of Wizards and Chanters got me thinking. Does the assassins attack from stealth bonus apply to a spell if its <2m from target? (I don't trust the games descriptions anymore). For example use Smoke then run in and use a Chanters invocation such as Seven Nights or Wizards spell like Minolettas Piercing Burst or Death Ring?

If you wield Sun & Moon with nothing in your left hand and launch any melee attack, the +12 ACC bonus of going one-handed only applies to the second head roll, not to the first. I am playing with CP and latest BPM.

Been thinking about a Rogue (Assassin) to try and make use of Escape, Shadowing Beyond or Shadow Step and/or Smoke Veil, Smoke Cloud or Pernicious Cloud. If using most of the Rogues Guile for those abilities I think I should multiclass with one that has a good damage ability or maybe something with a DOT ability to finish enemies off? Assassin gives Pen, accuracy and crit damage so to make use of the extra crit damage I think the second class should also increase crit rate to make sure that attack from stealth does as much damage as possible. I'm thinking Fighter with its Disciplined Strikes for more accuracy and crit rate, Mule Kick that gives extra accuracy+damage plus a bit of protection and Penetrating Strike for more damage+pen. Maybe a Devoted with a one-handed weapon? Another idea was involving a Skaen Priest since it has many of the same abilities as the Rogue? Is this viable on PotD or do enemies just have too much HP/DR to "assassinate" and run/hide?

Okay as much as I hate people who whine, I may have to become a whiner myself if we don't get any real information about this game very soon. Why such a strident information blackout? It's downright cruel and mean-spirited that Obsidian is unwilling to say anything about this game.

I've read it in multiple sources of assorted dubiousness and never questioned it because it's how Russia always operated. Banana for scale - here's a credible (there is existing case) source about corruption in warship service business, where the dude embezzled over 692 million roubles out of 1 billion, i.e. 69%: https://www.kommersant.ru/doc/5271652 And it's just a mundane, one-of-many sort of a case, not even scandalous like that high ranking law enforcement officer who had to rent an apartment just to store all his bribe money.

They use two phase election, in first phase there can be any number of candidates and if no one gets over 50% of vote then there will be second election where people vote between top 2 from first vote.

I'm no fan of Macron, but I personally hope Marine Le Pen doesn't win. The world has had enough "Trumps and Trump wannabes" for a life time. On the other hand, it would be entertaining following news from the EU (and the possible implosion of the EU) if it were to happen 😂 Edit: EU the organisation, not the region

This is what I used:

Speaking of fun little roguelike games, it's a bit older but Enter the Gungeon is pretty fun. Silly gun-based humor and good for a quick paced round of action or two. The perspective took me a long while to get used to, so take care if that sort of thing bothers you.

It's not exactly melee but going off of @Kaylon's speedy char idea, a Blood Mage/Troubadour or Blood Mage/Helwalker can speed around like a madman and be immune to engagement to seek optimal placement while unleashing devastating "walking bomb" type abilities like Precisely Piercing Burst, Torrent of Flames, Death Ring, Her Tears or Spirit Lance + Stunning Surge/Raised Torment. Buffs and Repulsive Visage can keep you reasonably safe. It would require some micro but would be practically a mass-destruction speedy gonzales. It could be the target of your resident Cipher's Amplified Wave for additional walking bomb fun.

Something I noted was that in a combat after this I heard a chanter voice line in a voice that was not Pallegina's (it was a combat in the same crypt, so not a chanter enemy). Maybe I misheard, but maybe the implementation for Companion's Prelude is hacky and involves having an invisible NPC follow you to provide the aura or something.

Well. I am sorry to upset anyone, but lately being not very active here, I am trying to answer all the questions/posts as soon, as I found any interesting ones. And sometimes these questions are spanned over few pages. (Yes, you are correct, not the case this time). Also for some reason when I tried to use multiquote few times in the past, it failed on me few times before. So I am more clumsy than lazy, while trying to answer multiple of people at once

I personally don't like it either when people spam multiple posts in a span of a minute. It's just lazy and increases the page count of a thread for no reason. Who ended up being at fault there, the US gov or the local gov?

Ruh roh, your going to upset @majestic , again, with your multiple posts.

If Swift Flurry proc or another attack from an ability (no auto-attack) can proc HbD or another Swift Flurry , then a riposte attack should do the same. I cant take a look for the moment, but I think about that : In the first screen, 1 auto-attack with Sun and Moon, 12 Swift Flurry procs ; in the second screen, 1 Torment Reach (so active ability), 6 Swift Flurry procs, only for the first target -- no Heartbeat Drumming proc. HbD and Riposte are passive abilities, but I think they work in the same way.

The best mobility abilities are Escape (rogue) and Evasive Roll (ranger) - both have minimal cost and have no recovery. Leap, Charge and Flagellant's Path are IMO too costly for what they do. However you can simply do a very speedy character immune to engagement. A monk/rogue can stack Fast Runner and Long Stride while also adding Boots of Speed and Ruata's Walking Cloak. Then you give him Nomad's Brigandine (enchanted with Tactical Withdraw) and he can move freely on the field while also triggering some free Ripostes (not sure if Hearbeat Drumming/Swift Flurry works from Riposte).

If you get your RES high enough (i.e., 18 at start and then boosted by items and buffs up to around 30) and use clarity of agony, you won't need to worry about healing, as the FF curse will be so short you'll only get one tick of raw damage and then heal by a lot more, so you'll get a steady stream of healing from the ability. So a SC FF monk is totally viable. That said, a brute would be even sturdier from start to finish, and pretty much indestructible once you get unbending. You might also consider a ravager. Leap is by far by favorite mobility ability.

This Forbidden Fiat rolls over enemies even on difficult terrain and hits like a truck... It's a real trickster too: you never know what's gonna happen when you turn on the ignition.

How about Forbidden Fiat/trickster? You have flagellans path, escape etc. And that build is sturdy enough to tank a little bit with good defenses. or maybe sc monk and use all the fun abilities (skyward kick, raised torment, launching kick) and finally whispers of the wind?

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