Dead Optimist

Oh, thank you for this. As my Chanter builders usually run low might (being buff / summon engines) this changes things a lot. Hmm, well it is still really useful to know. Thanks again.

I did not know it applied to spells. Does it adds burn damage to all spells? (pure debuff for example) And by DoT, do you mean just DoT in the traditional sense (apply an effect) or do you also mean spells that apply themselves over and over (e.g. fire wall)? And is the burn damage increased by the Chanters talents (+fire damage talents) or the casters talents? I.e. who would need Scion of Flame for the boost to take effect? Sorry for all the questions, but the wiki is rather poor and I cannot test myself atm. Thanks for the responses! Yes it adds fire dmg to all spells, not just fire spells. Dot - spells that apply debuff on enemy that deal dmg over time. Firewall dont apply debuff but deal dmg in intervals so it should work on it too. Probably casters talent but need testing. You can test things by console. Thanks a lot for the information here. One last one: where do I find out about console commands? Also, I say I cannot check atm as I am at work xD

I did not know it applied to spells. Does it adds burn damage to all spells? (pure debuff for example) And by DoT, do you mean just DoT in the traditional sense (apply an effect) or do you also mean spells that apply themselves over and over (e.g. fire wall)? And is the burn damage increased by the Chanters talents (+fire damage talents) or the casters talents? I.e. who would need Scion of Flame for the boost to take effect? Sorry for all the questions, but the wiki is rather poor and I cannot test myself atm. Thanks for the responses!

Does anyone know if the burning effect of "Aefyllath Ues Mith Fyr" (lvl 3 chant) apply per hit? Would the 6 hits from a blunderbuss apply the damage 6 times?

Attributes are in the first post, here are abilities and talents, but consider this a theoritical build - I'm only level 4 in my solo game with this. Biggest problem is that hardest part is before Caed Nua and until then this build doesn't have its main pros Maybe I am just clueless, but I can't seem to find your attributes are posted. I am very curious what your starting stats were at character creation. I would very much like to try this build. Aww, my bad. Sorry I took Aumaua, max Might, Resolve, Perception. Put the rest in Condition. Dex and Int are dump stats. So, 20 might 18 resolve 10 in the rest ? or go under 10 in int/dex for increased perception ? Dump usually means drop to the lowest value. So 20 MIT, 18 RES, 18 PER, and 13 CON with 4 in INT and DEX, I think.

Maybe there is an element of lore than ties it all together. However, I do not know that. I only have my own understandings. I come into this game, and my Warrior in full plate armour, with a massive shield is there with 2-4 might and is able to consistently dodge out of attacks while in close combat, while my wizard is there with 18 might and when we come up to an old wall I am told my wizard is able to push it over (not explode it, push with his body). As I said, balance and game play wise the stats are fine. I find each of them very useful, and I have MAXed and MINed them all and used them all to various degrees. I just wish there was some way to distinguish physical power from mental power. However, it seems in the world of PoE there is not and my mages will continue to pick people up and push over walls. It is hard to divorce your mind when the text boxes that pop up continuously imply that might = physical brawn. If they added the option [MIGHT X][Wizard etc.] _____ and [MIGHT X][Fighter] _____ for some of the dialogue options, it would be appreciated. Some way to differentiate in game between someone who is physically capable and someone who is magically capable.

There was an extended discussion on Wood elf vs Orlan bonus (+5acc vs 10% hit to crit) which concluded with +5acc being superior in almost (if not) all situations (as the increased accuracy resulted in more crits and less misses). While the .3 multiplier is different than the 10% hit to crit, I would think the same logic applies (it is better to, overall, hit more). But maybe you could build a character to take more advantage of the .3 modifier. A crit focused build.

Yes, it would be nice if there was a staff/orb/something that gave a mild passive boost to spells while equipped (like more accuracy, fasting casting speed, minor damage increase of a certain type). Something to focus your arcane energies with.

Priest still needs might for his healing. After my (limited) play time with PoE, I find my characters rarely fit one role. Well, I guess you could roughly divide all classes between RANGE and MELEE, where range focus on attack speed and power, while melee focus on defence and maybe something extra. But outside of that, classes usually do a combination of things. For example, Chanters can be either tank-support (with stuns and debuffs) or support-range damage (with the reload chant and other buffs). Paladins are in a similar boat as Chanters. Then there are Wizards and Druids who are crowd control-damage dealers etc. etc. for each class. This usually gives you different ways to build a character. So for Wizards, you could give up some might for max INT and DEX in order to maximise your AOE and casting time for the CC element, or max MIT and either INT or DEX for the damage dealer focus. For Chanters you can go max INT, PER and RES for tank (dumping MIT and DEX) or go MIT and DEX (dropping PER and taking less INT and CON) for the range support. And so on. This means when you think of a tank, while INT might not be the first thing you consider and while it may normally be dumped for Fighters, it might be needed for a tank Chanter, Barb or Monk. So I find it hard to say, as an overall rule, which stats are good for which arch-type, without being very, very vague (not so useful for a guide).

I find it funny how you can have a fighter with a might of 2 be an incredible tank that takes beatings for days. Sure, he can barely life up his fork to eat, but boy can he take a punch and dodge like hell in that heavy full plate armour and full body shield... I understand why the stats affect what they do, and I think it gives fine game balance, but I do think there should have been a clearer divide between the magical and the physical generally, for RP/immersion/lore/etc. reasons.

I have no idea, but maybe when it "steals" the spell the enemy wizard loses access to it? So it acts like a spell block + giving you another option. Again, I do not know if this is fact or not.

I presume it is the same effect with the Rogues Deep Wounds? (raw DoT on pierce damage)

When you have a weapon that hits multiple times, like the Blunderbuss, does each hit get considered for interrupting the opponent? The Blunderbuss says it fires 6 projectiles. and the PoE wiki says "When a character is hit while performing an action ... his action is interrupted if he can't maintain his Concentration", which leads me to believe the Blunderbuss 6 hits would each be counted. I am asking because of a utility Rogue build I was thinking of. I saw another post saying the Blunderbuss counts 6 times for stuff like Envenomed Strike, so I thought a Rogue with high Interrupt stat, Envenomed Strike, and Deep Wounds would be very effective. High might would not be (as) needed, as you would inflict heavy DoT with DW and ES while stalling the target. Anyway, if anyone knows how interrupt and the blunderbuss works together, I would be greatly appreciative.

Attack rolls are Accuracy-Enemy defense + d100. If the end result is less than 16 it's a miss. If less then 51, it's a graze for 50% damage. If less than 101 it's a hit for full damage. If it's more or equals 101 it's a crit for 150% damage. I just modified this with the racial passives and weighted them with the damage. Basically if you multiply your average damage with the end result you get your average damage per swing. It also bears noting that there are ways to push up the critical damage multiplier. Which is a possibility for both races. The only time where it would matter for midget only is when the accuracy is so low that crits are impossible - even with the 5% bonus for the elf. Which is extremely unlikely since we are talking about DPS characters - accuracy is something you want to push as high as possible. If somehow your accuracy was still too low, for example in the first scenario the crit multiplier should be 300% instead of 150%. Which is not possible. There are a few abilities that increase crit damage IIRC (just saw that new thread on Bloody Slaughter): Would these be more beneficial for the Orlans due to higher crit chance? (I'm not really fully clear on how the hit-to-crit thing works in connection to higher accuracy).

I am reading through this to try and get an idea about the best way to do things (I like trying to min/max over RP), and I was interested by your ranking of the Fire Godlike, as it is so different to what others have put. What is your reasoning for this? EDIT: also, how does the Orlan crit chance influence AoE spells, and CC spells? Would it increase the duration of CC spells?

Probably Kind Wayfarer, with the Endurance replenishing abilities.

I am not really qualified to talk about balance, as I have only gotten to Act 2 on hard, but as far as enjoyable game play goes I really agree on moving some spells from casters to "per encounter" as opposed to "per rest". Maybe when you unlock the next level spells, X number (1/4 for example) can be marked as "per encounter". Like the first spell listed in your wizard book (forgot its name) or even just pre-selected spell for the others. Really, this whole "per rest" thing doesn't actually change anything balance wise, other than requiring me to spend some copper coins to recharge my spells (camping gear is just like a mana potion), but it does make you feel gimped for a while (IMO at least), and really drains the fun from using that class.

I found the issue with shapeshifting is you give up your hand slots. No shield, no weapon. This means you lose that lovely deflection bonus from shields and damage bonus (enchants possible) from weapons, for (late game) a rather minor bonus. Combined with the Druids naturally low endurance pool and shapeshifing forcing you into combat... it is not really a consistently good option for tank or damage dealer, and provides nothing directly for ranged support. As for spells, I found Druids provided a good mix of support, CC and damage. While the Wizard is better for CC/DD and the Priest is better for support, the Druid gives you flexibility (and some rather good focused healing spells that work well with fights who try and draw everyone to them). Also, while the shapeshifting of the Druid might not enough to let them consistently sit towards the front of the party later in the game, it is sufficient to let them live in those 1v1 situation when someone slips past. So overall Druid does not shine out as best in any one area, but that works in his favour. He is (IMO) a good include if you want a support/CC option that can stand (somewhat) on its own when **** goes down.

This is a slight derail, but I am interested in your perspective (and I do not have enough to say for a full new topic). What about a Wizard tank work? There are a few spells which really help (spirit shield, bulwark against the elements, mirror image), the classes basic attack (the 2 per encounter AoE) causes daze and there are a lot of CC options. So could a wizard, in your opinion, work as a full tank? If not, how viable do you think a wizard as a off-tank / CC hybrid is? (i.e. is it "doable" but worse than the alternative, or a true alternative)

You know in comic books where even the run of the mill background guys can take a beating from super powered super heros, and still be fine after some bandages in a few weeks? Well, that is because in that world a "normal" person is different from a normal person in our world. In PoE there is no magic healing per se, rather the people are just naturally more regenative, a feat which might be considered magic in our world. At least, that's my take on it.

I understand why it exists, and for balance reasons I am fine with it, but it would be good if, you know... the game told you about this limitation.

The main problem with them is that they break one of the fundamental conventions of CRPGs - that those people who are unimportant don't get names and that characters with names should be talked to if possible. In other words, that unimportant background characters whose main job is to be there such that a setting doesn't seem unpopulated are, at the same time, clearly distinguishable such that players don't waste time on interacting with them. By giving them names, even if with a different backlight, you are indicating to players that these are important and should be talked to as. To make it worse, it requires your very special soul reading ability and plays a sound and graphic effect when you do it, you know, just like that very important event right at the start of the game. Players who don't start out knowing that it is a waste of time unless you want to read flavour stories that are irrelevant to the setting and to the game's story are going to spend a lot of time reading/skimming them and activating soul reading just in case this next one is the one that actually does something. Eventually they will eventually learn it, but even then it adds to the time it takes for a player to get a quick view of who are important in a given setting, because the mind is much better at automatically sorting people by whether they have generic names that appear all over the place, like four commoners next to each other, or unique names, than by sorting them by whether their names have one backlight or another. It is a completely different issue with tombstones/testimonials. Those are normally used in CRPGs to list jokes, silly verse, RIPs, and real world references and not to provide useful information except in the cases where there's a specific mission to find some useful information on a tombstone, and they aren't spread out everywhere but collected in a few locations. Fleshing out the game with named characters that are utterly irrelevant to the plot instead of just adding a bunch more generic people with professions rather than names was, as far as I am concerned, a bad idea where gameplay is concerned. It helped rake in the money, though, so there is that. It just makes for an ever so slightly worse game. I totally agree. I came to this game unaware of its Kick Starter history. As I started playing I saw these yellow NPC's and figured I was using my plot related power in some plot advancing way. I thought maybe looking into peoples souls (or w/e) would be linked to the game some way (side quests, future events, what have you). I read a lot of the back stories until I just got bored of it (it was honestly rather boring to read so much about so little). After reading this thread, and finding out what they really are, I am rather sad I wasted my time with this. And they always stand out to me because I like running with tab on to see what is intractable, and now that I know they are backers its a bit, I don't know, off putting I guess. I really would not mind having them hidden or something.

Does it fire off 3 times per encounter, or can it fire off multiple times if you heal back above a threshold? The text only says something like "when you are reduced below XYZ", which might mean if you raise endurance above X it will trigger again once it goes below.

You say: The most important thing about races is not their stat buffs (the effect is negligible) but their specials. And I can agree with this. But then you go and say: but not much tanks need their +2 Might bonus. So it's more about second-line damage dealers Which goes and contradicts what you just said. Stat bonuses are more or less pointless unless you are dumping that stat to the min and trying to raise that stat to the max, thus I do not think the Coastal Aumaua should be limited to "second-line damage dealers" due to their stat bonus. Rest seems good so far, but I am still reading. Also, I am new to these forums and it says I am limited to 5 posts, so hopefully I can still reply here in the future (when does this go?)