Darkpockets

Hey there! While this board game me some great advice on a Mystic of Wael recently that I definitely still might take out for a spin, I'm also wondering about the viability of an old(-ish?) Herald build that Nerd Commando cooked up on the Steam forums. The basic gist of his idea is that a Herald can dump DEX and still get by as a solid damage dealer & support because of how many instant-ish casts they get -- and with Brisk Recitation on, chants are growing rapidly in a way they obviously wouldn't for, say, a slow Skald. It seems really neat, and I was wondering if I could get input on some very slight tweaks to the original idea. I'm especially curious about these things: 1. Would having the self-buff of Courageous (from Hands of Light) really be frequently available enough in the late game that the long cast of Seven Nights could still be viable? 2. Does Brand Enemy really do decent damage? Does Come, Come Soft Winds? And apart from that, I'm curious about any general reactions to the build. Do the quick casts really obviate the godawful recovery? Would this be boring on a main character? Totally subjective, I know, but I'm curious to hear folks' reactions! Herald (Human) Chanter (Troubadour) / Paladin (Shieldbearer of St. Elcga) MIG - 18 / CON - 8 / DEX - 4 / PER - 18 / INT - 12 / RES - 18 1 - Sworn Enemy / Thrice She Was Wronged / Come, Come Soft Winds of Death 2 - Deep Faith 3 - And Hel-Hyraf Crashed &c. 4 - Zealous Aura / Weapon & Shield Style 5 - Divine Purpose 6 - [not sure what I'd take here!] 7 - Brand Enemy / The Shield Cracks 8 - Her Revenge Swept Across the Land 9 - Hands of Light 10 - Exalted Endurance [or Focus???] / Aefyllath Ues Mith Fyr 11 - Liberating Exhortation 12 - [The Long Night's Drink?] 13 - Practiced Healer / Seven Nights She Waited &c. And so on from there!

I appreciate the tips and tricks RE: Psion! Definitely wouldn’t have known a lot of those angles. Much to consider. On the subjects of both Psions and Beguilers (since neither focuses on weapon damage), do people have a particular “stat stick”-esque weapon they’d advise using? Honestly, now I’m just wondering if I should go single-class Cipher after all. So many good spells. Gotcha! Thanks.

I'd considered Psion, but I think I prefer the flavor of Beguiler, as well as having a bit more control over when and how I use my Cipher spells. Part of the appeal to me is that flexibility, and the Chanter-esque slow buildup of Psion seems like it loses that. Especially since the Priest abilities seem more like situational casts that I'll want to hang on to for the right moments, as opposed to the Cipher casts which I'll want to be tossing out consistently. I hear you on the Ascendant feelings, yeah. I definitely think I'm leaning Beguiler. As for rolling a separate priest... eh, it's possible. I might run with Vatnir, for instance. For the most part, though, I want to lean on the full story companions. One of the many non-ideal stipulations I'm bringing to this conversation. Gah, you're making this so hard! So many possibilities! I do plan on running with Swashbuckler Eder and Persistent Distraction, which does mean a lot of Perception debuffs should be getting tosses around -- at least at my melee opponents, and by the early mid-game. Tenuous Grasp... does look pretty decent, now that you mention it. Confused definitely seems less useful than Charmed, but throwing in Shaken is also a pretty good PL debuff, and... yeah, that combo of extremely good range and 20 sec duration is certainly appealing. I guess I could see taking either one as my early-game single-target CC. I like everything about Interdiction except for the crummy duration, really. Kind of ruins it for me. Restore I'll probably pass on just because I'm foisting healing duty on Tekehu, but the versatility of Suppress Affliction does seem nice. I'll probably go with Holy Meditation at some point, yeah. The annoying thing about AL2 is that the passives aren't even that great for this character -- it's almost all just weapon styles, and this Beguiler Waelite doesn't seem to need much weapon damage at all. Though I guess I could always use one of those picks to reach back and nab Lingering Echoes/Penetrating Visions.

I'll certainly consider it, especially as Eyestrike also has that nice Wael-y theme going for it. Hm. Now I'm a bit confused about which Cipher spells benefit from Hammering Thoughts, and which benefit from Penetrating Visions. Does the latter only apply to spells that deal Raw/Elemental damage, or does Hammering Thoughts just uniquely apply to Mind Blades because that spell targets Deflection? Seems like building around one or the other +PEN passive would definitely have an effect on my spell choices, but at the moment I'm not clear on which choices I ought to make. What else would you suggest for a damage spell, Boeroer? It seems that Amplified Wave is incredibly good, but that's an endgame ability for a Mystic. For the lower levels, would you take Soul Shock over Mind Blades? Or one of the weird Antipathetic/Ectopsychic beams, perhaps? Man, AL3 & AL4 have some really good spells! Tough choices, there. Thanks for that Disintegration trick. Definitely appealing. As for Psychovampiric Shield, I'm planning on running with Serafen as a Witch, and giving him those good buff/debuff combo moves: Psychvamp Shield, Body Attunement, Borrowed Instinct, etc.

Thanks for weighing in with some tips, Boeroer! How would you say this looks for the first 10 levels of a Beguiler Mystic? Doesn't include all the free Wael spells, of course. If I'm missing any really rad picks at these levels, I'd love to know. 1 - Blessing & Whispers of Treason 2 - Eyestrike 3 - Iron Will (or Penetrating Visions?) 4 - Spiritual Weapon & Mind Blades 5 - Phantom Foes 6 - Prayer for the Body (not that sure about this one...) 7 - Divine Mark & Secret Horrors 8 - Dire Blessing 9 - Psychic Backlash (or Hammering Thoughts, for when I'm falling back on the Wael-Rod or a gun against a boss?) 10 - Devotions for the Faithful & Pain Block (or Mind Lance...?)

Hey, all. I'm gearing up for a Deadfire playthrough, and I'm really interested in playing a particular class combo from a roleplay perspective: a Mystic (Cipher/Priest) of Wael. Now, from everything I've read this seems to be fairly non-optimal, but I'm okay with that. I do have a few questions, though, and would love input. 1. What's the state of Beguilers at the moment? A while back there was some talk of them being a bit broken, due to regenerating a lot more focus with Deception spells than it maybe seemed like they should. I saw something about that getting fixed, but I haven't been able to locate any specifics on how the subclass ended up. Is it still possible for Beguilers to basically ignore weapon attacks and generate all their focus with their Deceptions? 2. In general, do people think Beguiler/Priest or Ascendant/Priest is a more engaging/rewarding combo? The former certainly has more of that Waelite flavor, but Ascendant makes enough sense to be worth considering -- especially since Salvation of Time seems like it would make for some pretty badass ascensions in the endgame. 3. What are the crucial early-level spell picks for both classes? Especially for that first level choice, I'm unsure of what to go with that will be good for the whole game. Whisper of Treason, or Eyestrike? Holy Power, or Blessing? And for Ascendants in particular, are there any spells that are worth throwing out early in combat before ascending (like a Whisper of Treason on an enemy gunner), or should you always start by DPSing until focus is full? 4. What would the best Priest spells to round out this build be? I imagine mostly just the buffs; Cipher probably has debuffs and damage covered, right? Or does Priest have some spells in those categories that are good enough to still take? Divine Mark does seem solid... 5. Okay, last one. There's a good chance I'll just end up playing on Veteran, but would this Watcher be able to perform someone decently on PotD? I plan on using the story companions, I should note. Thanks, all.

So, how are people building Serafen? I know I've seen murmurs that he's not the most effective little dude, but I'd still like to give him a spot in the party. I'm particularly interested in any mid-to-front-line Witch builds for him. Very curious to hear what people have tried.

Thanks for the input, you two, it's very helpful. I'll probably end up modifying the "Healing Wall" build to be a flanking Skald with the same auras and chants, but who focuses on Killers Froze Stiff (obviously) and dual-wielding when he's not dashing around to Lay on Hands. On that note, what are some other good Offensive Invocations for a multiclass Skald? Thrice She Was Wronged and The Thunder Rolled seem to have such low damage... Does that scale up at all later?

Hey, all. I'm putting a build together for my first playthrough, but I've come to the realization that I'm not all that interested in the "support" party members. Pallegina was my least-favorite PoE1 companion, Xoti's accent rubs me the wrong way, and Tekehu... well, the wereshark is pretty rad, but I think I prefer Serafen in his slot. Because I'm pretty much set on Eder and Aloth sailing the high seas with me, and the fuzzy little Witch amuses me. (EDIT: Oh, and Maia gets the final slot.) So, that leads me to my question: Herald seems extremely rad, but is it able to shoulder the burden of healing a party like this? Ancient Memory doesn't come around until Level 7, and I've got to wait until Level 10 for Exalted Endurance. Even with Lay on Hands from Darcozzi (I know, I know, but I like them from a roleplay perspective) from the beginning, and various other buffs and CC from Pally/Chanter I'm curious about how the build will hold up. Oh, also, for people who've made a Herald, what's the more fun and effective build for a situation like this: a front-line flanker-type Skald (playing it almost like a rogue, jumping in to paralyze and tear things up after Eder grabs engagement), or a pistol-wielding Troubadour (focusing more on buffs and CC other than paralyze)? I'll likely be dual-wielding either way, to take advantage of FoD (and crit-fishing, in the case of Skald). Thanks for reading.

I've been wondering, recently, if some of the Chanter-related discontent I've been sensing on these forums might be alleviated by tying phrase lengths to Intellect. By which I mean, first of all, increasing linger durations. This is something that seems to have been intended from launch, based on ability descriptions, but obviously hasn't been implemented thus far. What if a high Intellect stat reduced phrase durations by the same percentage that it increased their linger durations? The overall uptime of chant buffs, this way, would stay roughly the same as it is now, and of course any Chanter in a situation where the repetition of one particular buff is beneficial would still be able to riff on a given phrase to his heart's content. But for Chanters who like crafting multi-phrase chants to take advantage of their overlapping synergy, a high INT would now make this an even more viable strategy. Granted, this seems like it might be tricky to code. It also might be too far afield from Obsidian's intentions with the Chanter, as a reliable caster with unlimited but circumstantially restricted resources. But it seems to me that in terms of game balance, it wouldn't be a ludicrous shift. Summons, for instance (which seem universally regarded as the most powerful Chanter Invocations), might enter the fray earlier (if the Chanter in question has a high enough INT), but it's not as if the ability to build up phrases more quickly would mean a battlefield flooded with drakes or ogres; the extant one-per-caster cap on summons has that covered. And the other Chanter invocations, while useful and fun, don't seem maddeningly powerful enough when compared to the abilities of other classes that a somewhat quicker rate of phrase-generation would break anything. Even a Chanter with 18 INT under this hypothetical adjustment would still be getting off a single AoE Paralyze in the time it would take a Cipher to cast any number of similarly crippling CC abilities. It seems to me that all people want from their Chanters is to be a tad more proactive in the heat of battle. This might be a way to give them that without radically adjusting their unique casting mechanic.

Can anyone out there peel back the onion of a particular Chanter phrase for me? I'm wondering exactly how Come, Come, Soft Winds of Death works. As in, does it do the listed damage (something like 4.1, I believe) multiple times at a particular interval over the phrase's duration, or does it just do the 4.1 damage once? And if it's the latter, is the 4.1 damage applied over multiple incredibly small hits? Either way, it leads me to my next question... Does it have a chance of interrupting opponents? I've got a high-Perception Chanter tank in the works, and it seems like -- depending on what's actually going on under the hood, mechanically -- this could be a pretty great phrase for him to pick up. Especially since there's also the lingering effect of Thick Grew Their Tongues, Stumbling O'er Words to consider. Since this tank won't be doing a whole lot of damage, some soft AoE CC available at a very low level is certainly appealing. Anyone able to edify me, here?