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I just wish we could make the old men in charge fight each other to the death

Greetings Watchers! We've updated the Public Beta branch for the Pillars of Eternity Turn-based Mode! It is now live on all available platforms. Thank you for your continued support and feedback! Combat and Mechanics Initiative has been reworked so that the first turn initiative will now always correctly match the displayed initiative value on the character sheet. The new formula for Initiative is: Base RTwP Recovery * 2 + 1 All modifiers to initiative happen after the above calculation. First turn initiative values will now more closely resemble initiative values seen on subsequent turns. The minimum initiative a character may achieve can never be below 1. Initiative now displays positive and negative values of contributing modifiers in its tooltip. Adragan can no longer take multiple turns with 0 initiative between them. Patients in the Sanitarium should now correctly take actions in TBM combat. Changing active modal within a modal group should now update immediately in TBM instead of on the following turn. Second chance should now work correctly in TBM. Guardian Spirit ability on Ancestor Pendant now works correctly in TBM. Pŵgras now properly move into position when casting Autumn's Decay in TBM. Chanter's Chants now go on cooldown as a group when a chant is switched. Resolved an issue where drakes summoned by chanter invocations could sometimes freeze the client when the drake despawned. Summons created by a chanter will now properly despawn any prior summons in TBM. Fixed an issue where repeatedly re-summoning summons in TBM combat could cause them to become unable to move. Master's Call will now correctly break engagement in TBM. Visage of Concelhaut now works correctly in TBM. Cleansing Flame will now jump to a new target it its current target is killed in TBM. Many spells and abilities that deal unscaling damage indirectly (through status effects and other means) now properly receive increased lethality while in TBM. Fixed an issue with Kalakoth's Minor Blights incorrectly granting immediate subsequent turns after attacking in TBM. Fixed an issue that caused enemies with ranged weapons to sometimes become stuck when needing to move closer to their targets in TBM combat. Characters now properly consider their reach distance when moving into range in TBM. Fixed an issue where patrolling characters could sometimes become stuck instead of properly engaging in TBM combat. Using quick items or disarming traps while spiritshifted in TBM will no longer cause the turn to become stuck. Initiative is now accounted for on attacks made from outside of combat. Overlapping Unconscious and Prone effects no longer allow a character to move freely. The Firebrand spell is now a free action. Push/pull spells outside of TBM combats will no longer prevent characters from being responsive. Fixed a case where teleporting creatures could become invisible and untargetable in TBM. Cancelling a cast action and re-initiating it no longer calculates incorrect initiative values. Cast actions can no longer be cancelled outside of a character's turn. Being interrupted while pending a cast action will now properly remove the target icon from the world. Fixed a case where characters knocked out by DoT damage at the start of their turn could cause combat to be stuck waiting. Grimoire swap cooldowns are now respected in TBM. Fixed a case where ranged attacks in TBM would sometimes fail after execution. Many creatures that were not using spells and abilities in TBM should now make greater use of their arsenal. Potion of Major Recovery no longer adds duration to hostile effects instead of reducing it. Delaying a turn no longer triggers pulsing (and similar) effects when starting the delayed turn. Abilities that require a certain amount of time in combat before being available/unavailable now track TBM turns properly. Heart of Fury will now properly consume action points in TBM. Enemies that trigger second chance mechanics in TBM combat will now properly stand back up. Several ticking or bouncing effects no longer focus the camera when triggering. The Fighter's Charge ability now animates and repositions properly in TBM. Engagement now properly breaks when using the charge ability. Delayed Fireball now resolves properly if combat ends before it detonates. Ray spells should now behave more correctly in TBM. Visual and Audio Ground targeted pulsing FX will now display a persistent effect in-between active pulses in TBM combat. Cipher focus HUD FX are once again visible. User Interface and Interaction Added a keybinding and HUD button to toggle TBM freely while outside of combat. Spacebar is now the default key to end turn while in a TBM combat. Added keybindings for Delay turn, End turn, and the Combat Speed slider. Smart camera may now be optionally disabled. Accuracy tooltips can once again be viewed in the inventory screen. Instant speed spells and abilities now correctly display as Free Actions in TBM. Camera will now properly center on the start of a characters turn when pulsing effects are present on the character. Many remaining bugs where spells and abilities mention durations in seconds instead of rounds (in TBM) have been squashed. End turn and delay turn HUD buttons now have proper tooltips. Select All and Scouting UI buttons should no longer be partially unclickable. Burial Isle cutscenes no longer prevent future actions from being cancelled or other strange behaviors. Initiative value in character sheet will no longer overlap DR values in cases where many unique DR values exist. Several enchantment descriptions now display correctly in TBM. Fixed an issue where the combat log would display erratically on certain resolutions. Duration of summoned creatures is now displayed in rounds. Targeting indicators for bouncing spells should behave better in TBM. Added breakpoint markers to combat speed slider in TBM. Displayed endurance pips will now match across different UI. Localization Resolved translation errors with Wizard's Wall of Draining spell on Polish language.

The VPs you speak to at the end of the Mystery of mental modulators have vanished The quest icon takes you to the room they should be in but the room is empty on arrival. Even when loading previous save games There’s a few new posts on Reddit about it with others saying it’s a fresh new bug that is likely a result from the most recent update

Just found this is listed as a known bug on https://outerworlds2.obsidian.net/issue-tracker "Executives at ACHQ cannot be found at their office when trying to turn in Indisposable Agent for Hire AR-130353"

Hi! I have the same problem - I'm at the "Now Hiring: Invaluable Disposable Agent - Inform the Executives of Your Success" - when returning to the office the VPs aren't there. I loaded an old save and it worked ok but then had same bug with the next mission (bringing back the mental refreshment info). Hopefully will get fixed!

Have you found a way to fix it? Because I’m also having that problem as of last night.

You can change the setting so that clicking the title of the thread brings you to the latest post.

Yeah I'm having the same issue. I know it's a known issue but with no idea how long it'll be until it's fixed, I may just have to do the Archive and not get to see what happens if you can work with both factions. My other option would be stop playing OW2 until it's fixed but knowing myself that probably means I just would get into a different game and forget to ever come back.

Just here to add my disgruntledness to this pile. Looking forward to this being fixed; please and thanks.

I'm having the exact issue. Ormsby and Pendergrass are NOT in the room. The entire aunties questline (and their cooperation with the order) is now broken for me. I don't have an earlier save to even try since I first visited too long ago.

The U.S.-Iran Conflict Has Had an Unexpected Impact on China’s View of American Power - The Debrief

I finished up Tainted Grail. It was a fantastic game, really kept my interest and I enjoyed the story quite a bit. I was level 64 by the end and was uber strong. I went sword and board. I'd be curious to play again using magic. I got the good ending where you cure the red plague, although I did have to look up a couple dungeons I had missed to get that one. I also never did the expansion. I paid for it, but when I got to the temple entrance, I just didn't have the motivation to do that extra bit. I still ended up with a ton of hours in the game, about 55 in a few weeks, so it was well worth the price. Now I'm playing Indiana Jones and the Perfect Circle. It's pretty solid, although a bit more combat heavy than I'd expect. Maybe I'm just not sneaky enough.

Yahoo NewsTrump Officials Now Want Ukraine's Help To Counter Irania...Trump was calling Zelenskyy a "dictator" who "does not have the cards" in the Ukraine war just a year ago.This circus can't get any worse, can it?

Over the weekend, after seeing a video of "The Catch", I somehow ended up down the rabbithole of watching full, 80's 49er Superbowls, then 49er championship rounds etc. That I haven't seen since they aired. I remember watching that '81 season/SB with my father, good memories. Edit: the SB XXIII vs. Bengals was one of the most nail-biting/fun to watch live, too. After all that, I decided to look up NFL 2025 highlight videos. I probably have watched zero US football for 20+ years (maybe a few news highlights here and there). The outfit designs/patterns seem even more weird/garish then before and in the wide shots those current helmets make players look like short bobbleheads. I chuckled. I'm sure one gets used to it (and hopefully those helmets are better protection), but 1st-sight caused amusement. :D It was interesting tho because I guess rules have changed a lot - the stuff I was seeing in the 2025 seemed a lot more gentle, so to speak, vs 1980's. I mean the tackles/hits. More safety reasons I presume. The long run catches or long scoring drives are still exciting tho.

If you're using mods, I'd reccomend the Arcanist. It can raise DC and caster level on demand which is pretty great for a caster, but you need a mod that adds Quick Study for it to be where it needs to be. There's also Ley Line Guardian Witch as an alternative to the Sage Sorc, imo it's got a better early game with hexes and by the time you start spellbook merge stuff you're just ****ing everything up with busted Lich spells and not needing the better sorcerer spell list.

"Evangelion 30th Anniversary Special Commemorative Showing", or "Asuka + Asuka, Episode 26 + Episode 1", or... I was skeptical for the first few minutes, but I liked it, even with Mari showing up for a few seconds.

Is the right one?.. https://outerworlds2.obsidian.net/issue-tracker#yKoN8dYX-executives-at-achq-cannot-be-found-at-their-office-when-trying-to-turn-in-indisposable-agent-for-hire-ar-130353 Just asking because tracker listing names quest "Indisposable Agent for Hire" (likely a typo of 'Invaluable Disposable Agent'); instead of "Mystery of Mental Modulators". Are multiple quests involving those NPCs affected?

Trump fires Homeland Security Secretary Noem after mounting criticism Another one under the bus. Not a surprise really.

Yeah, that article is a bit... over positive, perhaps even verging on Hegsethian. Draws some very long bows both in how well things are going and for the interpretation of statements. “The US retains formidable economic strength and possesses unparalleled military power globally,” Zheng Yongnian, a Chinese political scientist who has advised the Chinese government at different levels, was quoted recently by the Hong Kong-based South China Morning Post. “Despite numerous issues within its political and social spheres, we absolutely must not underestimate America’s capabilities.” That statement essentially states that the analyst thinks the US is in decline- 'retains' is, after all, a term used for something that is diminishing, not increasing or being maintained at the same level. He doesn't say it specifically about the military, but then you can find plenty of US analysts who think China is catching up there even if the US is still a decent amount ahead.

You've obviously never lived in Australia 😂 The same game could be almost 100% more when purchased through Steam, if your geo-location was Australia. I think that was when I decided to get a commercial VPN solution. Also, at the time, there was some heavy censorship in games sold in Australia, because and old law forbidding the selling of 18+/R rated games in the country. Every attempt at repealing the law was met by one religious nutcase individuals veto until he eventually was forced out due to age. Aussies can now buy games with boobs and violence just like most other western countries (except Germany where blood is copper based instead of iron based) Arenanet are bastards too when it comes to their cash shop for Guild Wars 2. The cash shop currency, "Gems", has a price that is the same in Euros and Australian dollars. I.e. the exact opposite of Steam. I can buy x number of "Gems" for either 50 AUD or 50 EUR. Guess what my VPN says on the rare occasion i actually spend money there? Hint, 50 EUR os roughly 80 AUD, so I of course chose to pay 50 AUD instead Edit: A different consequence of regional pricing is the existence of cheap game keys from resellers. They get large shipments of otherwise legit keys redirected to them from low income regions and sell them at a markup to high income regions. The keys are valid, but also means low income regions regularly get deprived of the option of buying legit software at affordable prices

Completed The Medium, took just under 10hours, quite enjoyable for the most part. Gameplay-wise the most similar game I can think of would be SOMA, but with Resident Evil's camera/perspective (and then I'm talking about the OG) I do wish they hadn't done the "cliffhanger" at the end though. Game has some technical issues as well, I suffered two CTDs and it seriously stutters when switching to/from cutscenes, which kinda sucks when you need to react quickly. If you like these types of games definitely worth playing through, though I'm not sure I'd pay the full price for it.

Not really that easy. Iran doesn't have anything specialist that has the range and numbers, assuming the US isn't stupid enough to park their carriers a hundred or so km from Iran's shoreline at least. No oniks/ zircon, no YJ## except maybe some old silkworms. Some home grown stuff with unconfirmed claims and details is all. Indeed, if you want a reason for Trump's 'vibe' that Iran was planning to attack the US them nearing a deal with China to buy something that could hit carriers (CM-302s) is a decent bet. It would certainly have made them far more vulnerable That leaves drones of various types, and ballistic missiles. Even though ballistic missiles are fast a ship may have moved multiple km in their flight time, if you even have an accurate idea of where they were at launch. Giving them the guidance and manoevrability needed to hit a moving target is also Difficult. Drones are slow and typically don't have much payload. Mostly though, if the US actually does attempt to escort ships through the Straits they'll have plenty of targets, and in a far more vulnerable position. Don't think there's any doubt that Netanyahu lied to Trump, extensively. From his pov even if Trump woke up to the fact- unlikely, he's hardly the sort for self reflection- once it's started it's started. Even if Trump wanted to he can't back out now without antagonising everyone.

The fundamental problem with evil choices is that they're so often just chaotic stupid. Not even moustache twirling cliché (alt keys back, I can once again let my pretentiousness run wild), just out and out psychopathy for the sake of being able to say there's choice. No doubt it's partly due to developers knowing that most players will never pick evil choices, so putting less effort in, but still.

Luke Stephens video mentioned a person in the room that got stuck on a puzzle for like 30 minutes. I guess we know who it was, now. The four preview vids I've seen, my takeaway is: no "yellow paint"/hints on puzzles/you have to use your brain or (non-puzzles) try several things before you figure out something (I say yay, some will hate it), massive amount of controls (combat)/large learning curve for that, but combat is still kinda simple, don't expect sweeping/expansive or multi-options RPG story (I wasn't), good performance is real (relatively speaking for the era), non-main quest stuff is more expansive than MC and varied/discovery-cool or fun. So basically, one of those games where one is probably going to like it a lot, or one is going to find learning/control curves too much/not guided enough etc. The preview I liked the most was the one below - or Luke Stephen's (he claims he got the farthest in the MC/chapt 3), but his yapping style can be a bit annoying and it was extra long. My main concern as always is frustrating (to me) comabt, but eh. I'll risk it this time. I mean, at least I can steal a goat, toss it over my shoulder, and run away with it. Cute. There's apparently eventually some kind of small npc-settlement/animal husbandry stuff.

I used to be able to do it when I was younger, these days I can't. I can still do it when it's just numbers, ie eating all sapient life in the galaxy in Stellaris.

Universal Vaccine Blocks Viruses, Bacteria, And Allergies With a Nasal Spray : ScienceAlert

Im about 15 hours into Atomfall and its time for my first review Its a great game, really fun with some excellent design mechanics It doesn't have the vast narrative choices, game world size or factions of Fallout or the horror and survival excitement of STALKER or METRO but it delivers in other ways. It obviously had a limited budget so the developers worked with what they could which is fine The best part of the game is the exploration mechanics, you find notes and general advice around quests and then you have to explore which I love I have avoided using almost any gaming guides or tips because the maps are not that vast where you cant put the effort in So for example one quest was about finding a missing soldier and you end up tracking his notes between 3 maps and you find him because they mention a location, like " he was heading to this Manor X" The combat is simple but fun, you cant block or dodge in melee but you can kick to stun enemies Guns are well done and the physics work, you cant just blast every enemy because ammunition is scarce . So I have ended up using a bow and cricket bat as much as possible. There are only a few enemy types but its fine because combat is always strategic and engaging so you never get bored by "quick wins " I have fought 2 robots and it requires a specific strategy to defeat them which is never easy And then they have implemented a very good skill system, you need to find books\manuals to learn skills and to advance skills so you always motivated to explore or you can buy certain skills but they very expensive The barter system is also clever and unusual, you dont have money but you trade goods and the merchant has a scale so you can see when they will accept your offer. So again you have to explore and find things if you want to trade You also have limited space in your inventory so Im constantly aware of what I need to keep, drop or trade. You cant hoard items Overall, a really positive experience and the game definitely delivers on no quest hand holding and open world design. You can go anywhere on any map you want I will do another review after 30 hours or so

Sage sorcerer, I think, uses intelligence. There's always wizard but I don't like juggling spell slots but maybe cruoromancer would be the most thematically appropriate with a Dhampir.

Not the same guy. Easy mistake to make since even the Danish royal family has a more imaginative and varied naming scheme than the Pahlavis. Reza Pahlavi (I, long dead, generally referred to as Reza Khan/ Shah for reasons that will become obvious) got into power in a coup and got chucked out by the Soviets and British during WW2. He got succeeded by his son, Reza Pahlavi (II, died 1980?, generally referred to as Muhammed Pahlavi to distinguish him from his dad and son) when he abdicated. He was the Mossadegh coup, SAVAK death/ torture squads etc guy who managed to convince Iranians that Khomeini was a better alternative than him. His son Reza Pahlavi (III) is the current iteration currently wandering around praising Bibi and Trump for blowing up his countrymen.

I'm cheating a bit. My best friend during my university years was from Iran. He survived two years at the front in the war between Iran and Iraq, after which his family had saved up enough money to buy him a fake passport and ship him off to northern Europe. Awesome guy. Even better chef 🤤 He married a Danish girl, had kids, Danish beer and pork sausages was his own favourite food 😅 Shared a lot of stories too, about the clergy, the Shah, and what he knew about Iran from before those times

Iran once had an elected president, Mossadeq. Secular too. He was removed by the US and the UK, because he was more concerned about Iranian interests instead of US and UK interests. He was replaced by Rezah Pahlavi, being a good puppet to control the country. Unlike Mossadeq not objecting to the US and the UK taking ownership of Irans oil reserves. A bit like Allende in Chile. Can't have those elected leaders when people vote wrong! Reza was originally forced from power by the UK in 1941 because he was a Nazi sympatiser. Go figure, better get that guy back in power again instead of the elected one :P

There is no organized opposition in Iran and Iran's army and political structure is created to endure war, so regime change is unlikelly. I would guess it is more fear and terror that was goal so that other countries don't dare opposite US. Also it distrupts local politics both in Israel and US. Which allows unpopular moves like giving Oracle access to medicare data and allowance to use X's grok ai to use it as training data.

I dunno how this is supposed to go from shooting missiles to regime change and I don't think Israel and the US do either.

The combination Unbroken/Wizard is especially fun imo if you are able to cast Ryngrim's Repulsing Visage and Ryngrim's Evervating Terror*. Illusionist covers that (sine both spells are Illusions), but the Enchanter subclass will make you lose access to all Illusions spells, including both Ryngrim spells. Besides that there are also several Illusion spells which provide nice defense bonuses. So I personally would not pick Enchanter. Illusionist would be cool with me, but honestly I would rather pick the Bloodmage subclass because the combination of Constant Recovery and later Unbeding with Blood Sacrifice (get back spells, pay with health) is pretty neat. You cannot use the Empower mechanic then, but in my experience players new to Deadfire forget about Empower anyway (or don't forget about it but try to save its uses for the perfect time - which seldomly comes because you have no meta knowledge yet). ;) Your attributes could be pretty balanced. I woudn't go below 10 with any and put a focus on INT, PER and RES. PER mostly because if you play with official companions, most of them have not very high PER - and PER is what determines whether you discover traps and secrets in Deadfire (NOT Mechanics like in PoE - in Deadfire Mechanics is only for opening doors and containers and disarming traps). INT for your spells and RES for more dialogue options and higher deflection as well as shorter hostile effects on you. If you pick a Bloodmage there's benefit in picking the human race - because you can regain spells with health (Blood Sacrifice) you might get bloodied in the process. You can use that to unlock the human "Fighting Spirit" passive (higher accuracy, more damage output). If you pick Illusionist it's not that important which race you pick imo. There's a cool and rel. early large shield for a Battlemage spoiler: name of item which scales some of its defensive enchantments with Athletics (active skill) and Metaphysics (passive skill). It's best to skill those two from the beginning if you plan to use that shield. But you could also retrain with some money when you find it and decide to use it. )* the reason is that both spells terrify enemies. And terrified enemies will crouch down and move around randomly, potentially triggering free disengagement attacks (if you had engaged them in the first place). The Unbroken has paritculary strong disengagment attacks to that's a nice synergy.

I have been playing Dead Island 2 for about 25 hours and its still entertaining as a typical Zombie apocalypse killing game The crafting is excellent and well thought out and so are the weapons you find and use To use weapon mods and other improvements you need to constantly scavenge for resources but your weapons dont level with you so even a good weapon you like you will find it becomes ineffective and degrades quicker as you fight higher level Zombies You do have an option to level up your weapon but thats expensive So this creates a reality where you motivated to constantly explore and find new weapons on your level and then upgrade them with mods And then the game has a good balance between when you use guns\ranged weapons and melee weapons, certain apex Zombies I can only defeat using guns so you have to be strategic in many battles. You also encouraged to use the environment in combat, blowing up oil barrels to kill Zombies is very rewarding Finally the game gives you skills when you find these cards and there are several dozen combat cards so you can customize your slayer by using different cards These types of mechanics make Dead Island 2 a really fun game and well worth playing 🧟‍♂️

Heck yeah!

itch.ioNo ICE in Minnesota by jesthehuman and 651 othersNo ICE in Minnesota: 1439 items for $10.00 There are a few interesting titles, though also surprisingly many TTRPGs. https://hempuli.itch.io/baba https://hthr.itch.io/extreme-meatpunks-forever - beat 'em up action + VN, which I liked. https://peachykeengames.itch.io/calico - boring, but functional https://bucketdrumgames.itch.io/bitrat https://tngineers.itch.io/mudborne https://linker.itch.io/elephantasy - played the sequel, it was a somewhat difficult platformer-Metroidvania https://pd-cgt.itch.io/somnabuster2024 https://knifedemon.itch.io/brush-burial - my Steam wishlist, im-sim/stealth-action https://rocketadrift.itch.io/psychroma - my Steam wishlist, horror-puzzle https://devonwiersma.itch.io/lofty-quest https://zorkie.itch.io/quality-dreams-reasonably-priced - my Steam wishlist, management VN https://standing-cat.itch.io/nekomancer-of-nowhere https://glitch-creative.itch.io/optica https://crawlabeegames.itch.io/ale-aftercare

Finished MIO and did not like it. Started Ender Magnolia and the game is fantastic - the map is helpful, the bosses are diverse and challenging enough (the first ones at least; the difficulty is adjustable, though the default has been comfortable), the exploration is satisfying, the weapon NPCs and abilities are varied. It is also much lighter on platforming, which I appreciate, and the controls are comfortable (the targeted hook points are clearly highlighted and the hook ability is reliable). The visual design might be a bit less coherent - the MC's sprite is conveniently very bright and visible (the #0000FF coat is great), thus, clashes with the more detailed and grey NPCs and foes. Also started The Knightling. For some reason, the game has noticeable FPS drops in the city without any obvious visual indicators why, aside from more NPCs around.

Love to crush, maim, and kill? Surrender to the warp and become a new Chaos Mutilator

I recommend drinking while playing.

If you want to compare two daggers vs. two stilettos then I'd say two daggers are better. Mainly because Pukestabber + Lover's Embrace is a very good combo when it's about attack speed. Both weapons' effects apply to both weapons which makes you very fast. But Rust's Poignard (stiletto) is also very good, especially if you critically hit a lot (Bring Down is good), also because it comes in legendary quality which is very nice. With Azure Blade in the offhand you can also have a nice stiletto setup: if you fight near your party members it gains a lot of accuracy (Cloak and Dagger: +15 accuracy if near 2+ allies, but only for the Azure Blade). I would simply do a weapon set of dual daggers and one with dual stilettos. You want a backup weapon set with alternative damage anyway: should you meet enemeis who are very resitant or even immune to slash damage (daggers) you will be happe that you can switch to the pierce damage of stilettos.

Correct. Main or offhand hand makes no difference for Pukestabber.

You have to put Lover's Embrace in the main hand if you want to apply its neverending damage over time effect from stealth (True Love's Kiss, it only works from true stealth at the start of an encounter, not invisibility!). So if you sneak up to an enemy (maybe the boss or the strongest foe of the group) and do a Gouging Strike or Vanishing Strike for example, the main hand will hit first (with Lover's Embrace), it will apply the DoT but also break stealth. The second attack with Pukestabber will already be out of stealth. If you put Pukestabber into the main hand it will deliver the first strike, break stealth and then Lover's Embrace with the second strike will not apply the True Love's Kiss DoT. That's probably not what you want. But that's the only thing where it matters in which hand you put which dagger.

I ll give you a warning before you build around vanishing strike, it may be bugged in community patch. Invisibility brokes after 1 hit. I think its because backstab change(its raw damage with comm). I play with Balance polishing mod now and its works as intended.

Hi! To speed up so you're able to squeeze more attacks into the duration of Vanishing Strike and to maximize the duration of Vanishing Strike's non-breakable invisibility (besides maxing DEX and INT) while looking appropriate for a dagger-type Assassin: Head: Blackblade's Hood (+10% action speed). Heaven's Cacophony (+2 INT) would be good, too - but imo its looks doesn't fit an Assassin at all. You could hide it though. Another alternative would be the Mask of the Grotto Deep - because Shadow Fang (raw DoT from stealth attack) works like True Love's Kiss from Lover's Embrace. Fair Favor can be used to maximize crit conversion for Gambit (I would focus on the duration of Vanishing Strike though). Armor: Cabalist's Gambeson (Arcane Extension, +10% beneficial effects duration), Devil of Caroc Breastplate (bonus Guile influences the crit conversion of Gambit) Neck: Strand of Favor (+10% beneficial effects duration, +1 INT) --> those two "+10% duration" effects work multiplicatively with each other, base duration and INT bonus! Back: Ajamuut's Stalking Cloak (bonus dmg, acc and stun from Vanishing Strike's invisibility and stealth, great for Gambit, too) Gloves: Aegor's Swift Touch (+5% action speed and +1 DEX), Gloves of the Dungeon Warden (bonus accuracy, Lockdown 1/rest can be nice against an enemy you put True Love's Kiss + Gouging Strike on from stealth), Firethrower's Gloves (+2 DEX), Hylea's Talons* Waist: Sash of Judgement (just some bonus dmg) Rings: Drunkard's Regret (only needed while resting with alcohol for Pukestabber to prevent hangovers, you can unequip after resting), Kuaru's Prize (+1 INT, +1 PER), Ring of Prosperity's Fortune (crit conversion for Gambit), Ring of Clenched Muscle* Boots: Rakhan Field Boots (teleport to+full attack + prone target 1/encounter, nice while invisible to spare time with running), Bounding Boots (exploitable as free jumping tool while stealthed/invisible: if you cancel the action mod air you will still land at the target spot but make no sound and roll no attack, great for "sneaking", stealth attacks, and pickpocket), Boots of Speed (it does matter how quickly you can reach subsequent enemies while you are invisible, stack with Fast Runner). Pet: Ooblit (+3 seconds on beneficial effects - it's just a flat 3sec addition to your overall duration, still good), Abraham (mitigate the recovery penalty from Gambeson), Epsilon (same), Cutthroat Cosmo (same), Trixie (+25% stride, see Boots of Speed, crit conversion), Milx (+1 INT, crit conversion for abilities), Levin (+1 INT, +10% stride), give Nalvi, Sheba , Trixie or Pes to Edér (if you have the Berath's Blessing unlocked for Edér to be able to have pets). --- *) the Frenzy from Lover's Embrace stacks with everything and it also procs off of all attack rolls, not only those that come from the dagger - for example attacks from Pukestabber but also spells you might cast (from an item or scroll or so). Because of that it can be beneficial to add additional hit rolls to your melee attacks. That can be done with Hylea's Talons (the DoT it provides will roll a separate attack which can trigger the Frenzy) and the Ring of Clenched Muscle (the affliction it can cause also rolls a separate attack which can trigger the Frenzy). Both of those will also proc Avenging Storm (from Heaven's Cacophony) which will in turn proc Frenzy.

They are ludicrous and silly. That's my opinion.