MadDemiurg

Priest have protection spells from every affliction, but you have to cast them before you get hit and they don't give a guarantee (still the bonus is huge).

Painful empowered interdiction is extremely helpful for a caster party, it's a hefty 3 talent investment though. Still, being able to debuff will and fortitude by 20 at +25 accuracy in each encounter seems invaluable. Barb will love it too.

It doesn't stack. Would be quite op with dual wield if it did. I think damage needs a buff though.

If it worked per description it would be broken as hell. Maybe it was in some pre release version.

All ranger with bears. On a more serious note, it can work, but 6 is an overkill and far from optimal. SInce they're all melee they won't be able to engage properly often. I think 2 close range barbs + 2 reach weapon barbs + 2 ranged support (priest + x? (chanter? ranged paladin? 2nd priest? cipher?)) would work much better.

Does petrify spell count as cheese?

If that's not bugged then its really unbalanced, lol. It's not even unbalanced. Barbarians are designed that One Stands Alone is a mandatory must take ability, but even though that one single ability increases their damage output by about 50%, it doesn't make the class stronger than Druid/Cipher/Rogue/Chanter etc etc. What is broken is the fact that One Stands Alone has a terribly written tooltip that doesn't explain how good it is, so players can miss it, and if you don't take it your Barbarian is going to be very weak. No way +20 dmg is not a bug, It's the only ability in the game that gives flat damage increase rather than percent. Actually some of the abilities probably did this too previously (and still have wrong tooltips), but they were changed. It should be 20%. Also battle forged counting as melee attack is also ridiculous and in no way intentional. Yes, It doesn't make barb better than the casters because of how the game is designed, but it makes all other martial classes obsolete for dps.

Well, you don't need the buffs really, it's just a demonstration of how much you can improve your dps if you want to. Normally summon + blights would do it and still do tons of damage. I don't enjoy having to cast four spells in order to do something decently. Even in clothing and maximum dexterity, it's going to be a challenge to get off more than one or two attacks before at least one of those spells expires. Even if one could manage to do all of that, the battle would probably have already ended, or at least decided by the time it comes to fruition. Practicality matters. Most of these spells last very long actually, all of them are fast, If you cast haste first you get them out even faster, and as I said, you don't need them to be decent, it's just for maximum devastation when you want it. Fireball is fast. That's why it has less dmg. Noxious burst deals more damage and has a a debuff. Also, druid is supposed to be a bit better at aoe and wiz at cc/utility.

I think it's 1 deflection and 2 all saves per point. I haven't maxed it out though, but if the pattern is the same it should be this way. So theoretically +13 deflection and +26 all saves. Not bad at all.

Hit to crit is not as good as you think. Taking both talents gives you 20% conversion so assuming 50% hit rate it is only 10% chance to crit. +10 Accuracy would do the same, also boosting your to hit and to graze chances (so much better overall). One thing it has is that it gives you some crit chance when your hit chance is low and your base crit is zero effectively. But that's not what you're building for. It doesn't matter that ciphes buffs are temporary, they last long enoough. As for sneak attack, yes it's good, but ciphers have biting whip that is almost as good and both ciphers and wizards have spells that hit quite hard. Barbarians have aoe with their attacks (carnage crits are spectacular) + if you count in currently bugged once stands alone no other physical class can compete.

CC is not the only thing wiz does well. Summon minor blights and your double that bombards with electricity and watch things melt. Some of the better damage druid spells have FF too. Ultimate sniper combo would probably be eldrich aim + minor blights + haste (whatever it's called) + martial prowess. Aoe attacks at +55 acc and 174% attack speed are kinda fun. Needs some time to buff up tough (but most spells are fast)

One stands alone is bugged to add +20 flat damage. It doesn't work in all fights but when it does it's quite devastating as you might imagine. Still it doesn't mean auto win and is useless in spellcaster fights. It probably will be fixed soon too. Wiz isn't worse than druid, just takes a bit longer to take off. Some wiz spells are amazing. Both are top tier imo as they can do almost anything. They're more useful than cipher tbh with exception of very early levels or endgame.

Well, I mentioned high level of micromanagement in my suggestion. If you don't like it, yes you can mix in some auto attack dps and still do just fine. I like having 2 strong aoe casters in the party though. That means wizard + druid or 2x wiz or 2x druid since cipher doesn't do as much burst for important fights (at least before high levels). it's fun to cast several aoe nukes in a boss fight and proceed to collect the loot. 1 caster doesn't always cut it. Quite easily. And you stated this discussion yourself, I wan't even replying to your post initially. As for OP's question I would go with a safer option, smth like Chanter + Fighter + Cipher + Druid + Wizard + Priest if you don't mind learning and using a lot of spells. Rangers/rogues do not contribute anything that vital in my experience for big parties. Priest can still shoot trash mobs just fine, but his spells are much more effective in big fights etc. Train the chanter or the cipher pick locks to be the "thief", both get mechanics 1 at start. I am not giving up the Ranger's pet! That thing makes fights so much easier, I just pull things where I want them and trigger fights on my own terms without risking characters dying. In Raedric's hold I used a pet to talk to him, the pet died, then pulled them few at a time where I wanted them. Pet can be quite useful for nuking indeed. I usually just nuke the fighter if I have one, they have good chances to survive it and if they don't... well, sorry buddy . I still recommend taking 2 nukers, so you can swap chanter or cipher for a ranger I think.

Ranged rogue is a gimped ranged cipher when it comes to party play. I won't even compare it to wizard and druid in important fights.

You've spent like 4 talents on ability that you can use twice per encounter and that can easily miss. Not that wise imo.

Quite easily. And you stated this discussion yourself, I wan't even replying to your post initially. As for OP's question I would go with a safer option, smth like Chanter + Fighter + Cipher + Druid + Wizard + Priest if you don't mind learning and using a lot of spells. Rangers/rogues do not contribute anything that vital in my experience for big parties. Priest can still shoot trash mobs just fine, but his spells are much more effective in big fights etc. Train the chanter or the cipher pick locks to be the "thief", both get mechanics 1 at start.

Well, the most crit happy classes are those that have high accuracy or can lower defenses and attack more than 1 defense. Rogue doesn't have amazing acc buffs (Reckless assault is the only one I think) and can't attack anything but deflection. Hit to crit conversion talents are not bad, but not super impressive either in practice. Both of them together are worth like +10 acc in terms of crits and less in terms of overall dps buff. Barb is pretty good crit class, because he can attack fort and deflection and can lower fort with his aura. Ciphers get crazy acc bonuses with proper spells (up to +40) and can attack any save pretty much. Wizard with eldrich aim, minor blights and level 6 transformation (forgot the name) crits like crazy too. Rangers get +20 ranged accuracy with aim + stalker's link, although they'll still deal less damage than a rogue I think (but more crits).

Not really, if you have enough aoe you can demolish stuff very fast. 1 tank still might be useful to help with clumping up enemies, but not mandatory. It's much more micro intensive than a setup with a tank though.

Tbh you can play without tanks at all. But it all depends on playstyle and preference.

Won't say it's unpopular. 1h battleaxe is probably the best option for a crit build. Rogues are not the best class to do it though.

Wizards quarterstaff is also a summoned weapon so it gets outscaled, while druids have an enchant. Also wizards get standard 20% lifesteal while druids get 100%. Low health on wizards is not a problem atm with infuse with vital essence spell bug/feature later on, since they effectively have unlimited hp from level 11 on.

High might chanter can do a lot by just kiting with fire rain chant I think. Middle levels feel a bit hollow though.

Druid also gets petrify on 5th level of spells. It's no as potent as wizard's but it can be enough to ruin the day for tougher bosses and you get it earlier. In terms of LL - well, wizzy has aoe drain spells and can increase his max endurance by 50 in a single fast cast (which atm is bugged and can permanently restore health), so it's not as one sided. High level wiz defensive spells are quite good too.

I think cipher is more like rogue/mage than fighter/mage btw. Would love to see some fighter/mage like class in PoE too.

Not exactly, its about trying to minimise the effect luck can have, its supposed to be the hardest achievement in the game and given that paradox helped to develop this game and the three mountains achievement is supposed to be impossible in EU4 (its only there for the clinically insane), I wouldn't even assume that three crowns is even meant to be possible. To put a bit of context on this from EU4, a game ive played much more: I had a Three mountains run that had a play time of about 80 hours, unluckily when i used the EXACT SAME technique as DDRJake, an infamous game breaker I failed and that was that run over (his exploit involved attacking a small western nation and forcing them to accept you as a protectorate, protetorates cant get aggressive expansion which is one of the main ways that the game limits how much you can expand (everyone gangs up on you if you are too aggressive)) However when I tried to land my troops they got terrible dice rolls and they all died, keeping in mind I had sailed from china to the Mediterranean with an army I had been building up since the start of the game and i lost it. If it wasnt iron man I could have reloaded the battle until I won... THAT is why trial of iron is so difficult because you have to do everything perfectly and EVEN THEN you might still lose. Well, I played EU too and got some of the harder achievements, although not three mountains admittedly. EU still gives you more chances to recover from bad luck than PotE, so your tactics matter more. Although like with all rng, yes, you still can easily get screwed by it.