Darkpockets

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?