MadDemiurg

I haven't called anything "cheap", I called it a bug because it is clearly a bug. I also don't consider myself a scrub, I was skilled enough to solo the game at least.

And what if it is in the game and IS a bug? Is infinite stat stacking ok too?

Since when is it less damage? If we're talking vs. a large group and vs. Barb? Perhaps, but I think that's balanced that Barb is ideal for the groups and Monk vs. the fewer, singular targets. As for less damage than Rogue? Torment's Reach = Guarenteed crit. A crit is 50% additional damage, Torment's Reach is 50% crush damage. If you get a Monk with multiple wounds, you can "crit" every half second. It's very hard to outdo that. Rogue matches that damage for as long as an ailment like Blinding Strike is up, but loses out once that advantage is gone. Monk on the other hand can save up and utilize it's extra damage whenever it pleases. Sorry, but if there are AT LEAST 2 enemies OSA plus Carnage plus Retalitation will out DPS monk in first few hits from enemies- it goes like-> (enemy) Hit, hit, hit, hit (2x per enemy and lets say you hit one if them ONCE of them and you have ONE retalitaion item): you see damage to enemies 30-50, 30-50, 30-50, 30-50, 30-50, 30-50, 30-50, 30-50 and 20-40, 20-40 (your one hit plus Carnage proc), even if half of those won't hit (but they do most time) the DPS of barb is insane. And you can use Animancer boots to it if you want and just insta-kill ANY ENEMY group in game or 2 enemies. Monk is better in 1v1. But when at least 2v1 barb out DPS him, simple becasue of Carnage: EVERY hit proc two times. I don't think bug abuse should be brought into this disussion Sorry, but as long as devs do not confirm that OSA is bugged or OP (and they didn’t in any thread or patch notes), which I don’t belive it is, for me this talent is perfectly fine and good. You see thanks to OSA barbarian does best what he should does best- annihilate group of mobs in melee combat better than any other class. That is his mechanic- Carnage and OSA. He should be MUCH more capable in dealing with group of mobs. Even loading screen information gives you tip to do that- “send barbarian on group of mobs”. It is Retalitation enchant that imo is bugged, since it proc from every melee/damage bonuses in-game and stack with 2 items configuration: Shied+Armor and Shield+Cape. Same as Jolting Touch spell is considered a melee ability. Those are true bugs. We are after 4 patches to Phillars and some skills were already fixed by simple number tweaks (Mind Blades to not look far). OSA tweak would require just changing a number of bonus it gives to 1.2. However it wasn’t done so far, and it is matter of minute to tweak- so I assume that OSA I perfect fine and berserker-like skill. It is retalitation enchant that devs imo did not think through and instead of being nice support for tank (so he do some more damage) it is meta-gear for most solo builds: especially Rouges, Barbs or Ciphers (Focus generating- that is bugged imo). There are plenty of glaring bugs that haven't been fixed yet. That's a matter of discovering and prioritizing bugs by devs. Retaliation stacking, Carnage + touch spells and OSA are all bugs whether you admit it or not and will be fixed eventually. Nothing in the OSA skill description suggests that it should work like it does if you want to look by the facts. Now, what you are describing is achieved by abusing all 3 bugs simultaneously.

Since when is it less damage? If we're talking vs. a large group and vs. Barb? Perhaps, but I think that's balanced that Barb is ideal for the groups and Monk vs. the fewer, singular targets. As for less damage than Rogue? Torment's Reach = Guarenteed crit. A crit is 50% additional damage, Torment's Reach is 50% crush damage. If you get a Monk with multiple wounds, you can "crit" every half second. It's very hard to outdo that. Rogue matches that damage for as long as an ailment like Blinding Strike is up, but loses out once that advantage is gone. Monk on the other hand can save up and utilize it's extra damage whenever it pleases. Sorry, but if there are AT LEAST 2 enemies OSA plus Carnage plus Retalitation will out DPS monk in first few hits from enemies- it goes like-> (enemy) Hit, hit, hit, hit (2x per enemy and lets say you hit one if them ONCE of them and you have ONE retalitaion item): you see damage to enemies 30-50, 30-50, 30-50, 30-50, 30-50, 30-50, 30-50, 30-50 and 20-40, 20-40 (your one hit plus Carnage proc), even if half of those won't hit (but they do most time) the DPS of barb is insane. And you can use Animancer boots to it if you want and just insta-kill ANY ENEMY group in game or 2 enemies. Monk is better in 1v1. But when at least 2v1 barb out DPS him, simple becasue of Carnage: EVERY hit proc two times. I don't think bug abuse should be brought into this disussion

Solution would be: Shadowing beyond 2(maybe 1)/encounter. Doesn't work if there are no other party members standing.

Good info all around. I've heard about the druid spell too which seems like a great "start of the chain" to debuffing tough opponents down into the beatable range (talking about POTD here, as hard isn't really hard enough to warrant that level of tryharding unless you are fighting way overleveled content). I think that another good good debuff starter is painful interdiction (priest talent + expanding talent). Weakness is a huge debuff on typical spell resist stats, and interdiction is huge AoE, fast, one-pr-encounter, and also has +15accuracy (with another talent,empowered interdiction, possible to buff that even further making it crazy accurate). Short of the unresistable druid spell I think this is one of the best "defense breakers" I've seen in the game that gets you a way into landing further spells - and being able to use it once pr encounter is really powerful for any party that uses spells. I will have to think about carrying around a few eldritch aim scrolls... Those could be real clutch in a tough fight. -Stigma Druid's Spreading Plague attacks fortitude with a +10 accuracy bonus. Where did you get the impression that it hits automatically? Yeah, the spell itself indeed has a check. Rotfinger gloves though have a different version of the spell it seems, which doesn't allow a save. Probably a bug tbh.

And where that edge comes from? Well, barb has only frenzy (+33 atk speed for quite short duration), blooded (situational, +20% dmg) and one stands alone(presumably +20% damage once it is fixed, right now it is in the "don't take if you don't want to break the game category", and also a bit situational) for single target. Monk has swift strikes (+25% atk speed, likely larger uptime than frenzy) and torments reach (+50% damage, needs wound) or alternatively turning wheel (+5% dmg per wound passively, can easily be 20-40% in each fight). Monks bonuses look a bit weaker but they are less situational. Plus this ignores the fact that fists, while universally being bashed on these forums, are the highest base dps weapon in the game on monk, and are only lacking in special properties. However, for a large part of the game you won't have a better weapon tbh. So all in all, I think monk has a small edge. With carnage barb still does more total damage though.

Gonna chime in. With bugs -> barb no contest Without bugs -> Overall still barb, but monk has a small edge single target I think

Eldrich aim spell/poitions or scroll of valor give +15 accuracy. They don't stack (and they don't stack with most of the weaker spells). There are certain things that increase your accuracy when focusing the same target as an ally, like a marking weapon or cipher's tactical meld. These stack with spells. All resist debuffs technically can be seen as spell accuracy buffs. Druid's level 3 plague debuffs all resists by 20 and can not be resisted itself. All abilities also passively get +1 accuracy per level, so +12 @ level 12.

Priest has +50 defence vs specific affliction prayers. Don't see the problem. Game is already easy enough, please don't ask to make it even easier with these requests.

Wizard: Empowered spell - can put a lower level spell into a higher level grimoire slot, gaining +20% damage per level moved Extended spell - can put a lower level spell into a higher level grimoire slot, gaining +30% duration per level moved Widened spell - can put a lower level spell into a higher level grimoire slot, gaining +30% aoe per level moved Quickened spell - can put a lower level spell into a higher level slot to reduce casting time by one category Focused spell - can put a lower level spell into a higher level slot to gain +3 accuracy per level moved Cipher: Hungry void - deal 5 raw damage to the attacker and gain 2 focus each time enemy attack misses Overcharge - Modal. Take raw damage equal to focus cost of the spell, duration and damage improved by 50% Priest: Divine intervention - 1/rest. Cast spells without consuming per rest/per encounter uses for 10 sec Conduit of divine power - spells granted by deity specific talents become at will Druid: Dire spiritshift - +1 DT, +1 melee acc, +0.5 damage, +2 all defences per character level when spiritshifted. Spritshift abilities become per encounter Extended spiritshift - Double spiritshift duration Elemental wrath - after casting a spell dealing elemental damage gain damage shield retaliating for 20 points of corresponding damage in melee as well as +5 to corresponding DT for 5 sec Chanter: Requiem - gain +1 to phrase counter for each enemy killed by the chanter Lingering song - +50% linger duration Paladin: Burial fires - regain 1 use of flames of devotion on kill Improved paladin's aura - +50% aura aoe Double aura - can use two auras at once Challenge - targeted enemy has -25 accuracy if not attacking the paladin. 1/encounter Monk: Path of Pain - Modal. Lose 3% endurance per second, gaining +3 move speed and +33% attack speed Deep reserves: Health improves from 5*endurance to 7*endurance Barbarian: Relentless force - crits have a chance to prone Most of these are probably OP though

I can probably make a vid with duo wiz, although I would prefer to wait till I get there solo. If you want to minimize risk you'll have to kite/split as normal. Otherwise you can just CC upfront. Have you seen Gaze of Agradan spell? If it at least grazes you win.

Interrupt check is smth like (if you look in the logs): Interrupt rating + d100 > 75 + Concentration. It triggers only if you hit and only if you hit during action animation (not recovery). So 10 Per vs 10 Res has 25% interrupt chance assuming 100% hit rate (which is ideal ofc). 21 Per vs 10 Res is 58% chance. In practice I couldn't make it work so it would be worth it.

To be honest last boss is pretty much an auto win with wizard, its the smallest of his problems. High level wiz has 58 base acc + 12 from level + 10 innate spell acc + 15 eldrich aim + can lower resistances by 20 with rotfinger gloves no save allowed. That's 110 effective accuracy. Some racials/items/additional debuffs can get you even more. Headsman has 70 will. Go figure... I did't solo with a wiz to that point yet, but I tried to duo with my main and wiz at level 12 and wiz wins the fight without even trying and no need to actually tank (not that you can't with proper spells). You don't even need normal solo tactics for that fight like traps etc (You have gaze yourself). Actually it's lower levels that are more problematic since spells are few and a bit random at start.

Uhm, for crit builds Arbalest are the best, as they have a passive chance to knockdown on crits. In fact, outside of niche conditions, Arbalest are still the best ranged weapon hands down. Depends on whether you want CC or damage. Plus there are stun on crit unique bows and ranger has stunning shots.

Well then, it is still blunderbus vs low DT, or arbalest/arquebus/pistol for high DT, depending on your weapon focus. Ruffian gets blunderbus & pistol. For high accuracy crit builds arbalest & firearms are bad because of -0.3 crit multiplier, so crossbow.

Recovery penalty also does not affect reload speed. 3 DEX arquebus fullplate chanter ftw!

Define "sniping"

I agree with this. Right now they get (at the start of combat) 10 focus + 5 per level. It is clearly too much. Maybe 5 starting focus per odd-level would be a good amount. Then they should also change the greater focus talent to apply to starting focus, making it potentially useful instead of useless. Some other cipher changes desperately needed: -Ectopsychic Echo should have its damage cut at least in half. Duration should probably be reduced as well. Average total damage should be well below soul ignition since it can hit many enemies and it targets reflex. -Mental Binding should probably have average casting time. Ectopsychic Echo deals a lot of damage, but it is tricky to use. I see it as a high risk high reward spell. Halving its damage would mean it would be worse than antipathetic field and largely mitigated by DT. No good. It can use a nerf, but not this big. Soul Igntion actually needs a buff, it's crap atm. Mental binding clearly needs a nerf, but I kinda like its niche as an emergency CC, ciphers don't have any other "oh ****" buttons. So I'd say just remove the stuck aoe on it so it doesn't freeze groups in their tracks. It would still be a good single target spell, but not as strong. And I still don't see a need for starting focus change, balance the spells instead. On a side note, I think it's ridiculous that fighters start combat with 2 or even 3 knockdowns. They should start it with 1 and gain access to the 2nd one after 15 seconds.

Wizards ARE experts at killing things. Not so much at surviving things, but with the right spells and abilities that is also not much of a problem. Their performance is not as stable as chanters, so they are riskier for Ironman, but they are still one of the better classes to do this. Later on you can get enough accuracy to have 100% hit rate with appropriate spells, so luck reliance is negated too for the most part.

Vicious/Swift aim and the piercing shot one (don't remember the name) ARE good for guns, just not as good as sneak attack. Ranger would probably start from vicious aim and switch to swift aim when initial shots are done. 3 (good) blunderbusses is still a lot.

I didn't suggest a buff to the wizard/cleric/druid. What I proposed was a CHOICE to reduce their ceiling for an increase to their floor. If you don't choose the talent, then what I proposed is a straight up nerf to their ceiling. Baking the Cipher's starting focus into a talent isn't a "huge" nerf either. Theres an opportunity cost associated with it. You either choose to take the talent for a one time burst of focus at the start, or choose to take a damage talent that not only improves your DPS, but also increases your focus gain per second. Its still a nerf, but its not "huge". Well, your suggestion was one of the more sensible ones, although that talent would become an auto pick then, which is bad. I'm speaking about suggestions like "remove starting focus AND reduce focus generation AND nerf the CC". As I said, I don't think removing starting focus would improve gameplay of the class, it would make it much more dull if anything. If some spells are OP, nerf these spells (not to the point of uselessness though). Some cipher spells indeed are OP, but there are not that many OP spells if you go through the spell list. Some are outright bad, and need buffs on the contrary.

It is similar in a way PoE priest is similar to D&D priest, but mechanics are somewhat different. You can call it an adaptation. But that was the inspiration, yes.

Funny again how people are suggesting HUGE nerfs for cipher and buffs to wizard even though the later has much more impact on difficult fights in my experience if played right. Really, cipher gets a lot of its "OP" fame only because most people don't know how to use caster properly and cipher with his spells looks better than auto attack classes (with proper optimization the difference is not as huge as you might imagine though, L6 spells aside). It's like D&D warlock vs D&D wiz/cleric/druid. The former doesn't hold a candle to the later. It's better here, since pure casters are not as OP, but even now are more important overall, and if per encounter spells continue to progress like that in expansions cipher will be garbage tier compared to them by level 15.

Might add Carnage working with spells to that as well.