taek

TR won't be affected by weapon speed because weapon speed is just how many frames of weapon animation: swing, overhand, stab, etc.. TR has its own animation, which is the spin kick. This is why TR is affected by speed modifiers, but it doesn't play the quick stilleto animation or the slow greatsword animation, it plays its own anim. Since it's more of an effect and not an attack, the only way I've found to increase TR damage is to equip a battle axe (+50% crit damage). The TR seems to inherit that property although I'm not entirely sure...something else might have been going on that I wasn't accounting for. These are battle axe TR crits, for 50-52 damage. I don't get TR damage that high with other weapons or fists equipped. Character is level 4, naked except for battle axe.

Personally, I wouldn’t pick up the +20% one element talents over just picking up extra spells to use. Let’s take the best case scenario, you use only 1 spell, Fan of Flames. Early on you can use L1 spells 4x. 4x FoF, +20% per cast = 80% damage of one FoF spell. An extra 1st spell = 100% damage of one FoF spell. And if you have any spell diversity at all, the value of those +20% single element talents goes down tremendously compared to an extra spell. The other thing is that Wizards are notable for their powerful self buffs and debuffs/CC. Buffing yourself with the +50% speed buff will wipe out the enemy much faster than a +20% to one element talent. The +20% elemental talents might make more sense on a Druid, since they don’t really self buff at all and their debuffs are built into the nukes. I’d probably still take extra spells however.

I don't even mentally compare Ciphers to Wizards or Druids. Wizards require careful management of their spells and pacing. And you do tend to save them for big encounters, or time the use of your camping supplies. They're fine on 2nd playthroughs but I had a terrible time w/ my wizard on my 1st playthrough when I had no idea when a big encounter would happen and my wizard would often be caught with his pants down. First playthrough is all that matters. This isn't an MMO where you grind the same content over & over again. The vast majority of players will play once and be done with it. In that context, the flexible nature of Ciphers makes them more useful. Readiness is more important than raw damage potential. A grenade launcher has more power in a single application than an AR-16, but the AR-16 is a far more useful weapon overall in more situations.

I honestly see little change in the Cipher performance early game. The loop where a very low level Cipher can 1. paralyze an opponent 2. opponent cannot harm you 3. opponent has -40 deflection, easily hit or crit 4. cipher gains focus from hitting/critting 5. cipher uses focus to paralyze, go to step 1 Is still useable infinitely as long as enemies are left alive. Seems like the only real nerf was using a blunderbuss for insane focus gen, which always felt like an oversight on their part.

Yeah but he has level 2 phrase earlier than he should, so he's not all bad. Not to mention he's packing some nice gear for the very beginning of the game.

Monks benefit from Might more than other damage dealing classes. Might increases fist damage, just like everyone else. But Might also increases the Transcendent Suffering buff, which buffs fist damage. So Monk fists double dip from a high Might score.

Yeah, but how does that work? I'm on the beta and haven't found the option. I would especially like to redo GM, since her faculties really aren't up to scratch. Took me a while to find as well. It's not in an intuitive menu. OPTIONS -> DIFFICULTY -> Uncheckmark the "Auto Level Companions" box

BTW, what's the reason for the Estoc having a DR reduction of 8 on the Pillars Weapon spreadsheet instead of 5?

The Parasitic Staff buff helped majorly with this issue of melee wizards, that they are late developing build. I restarted a 1.05 game w/ a melee wizard and he is happily blowing things up in the very early game with a 38-58 damage staff on most encounters, since it's L1 spell.

I'm trying a 1.05 melee wizard as well, since this seems to something Obsidian is really pushing. I think there may have been an undocumented buff to Parasitic Staff? At level I have a top damage of 52 with the staff, and I'm hitting that hard in actual combat. Was it always this powerful at level 1?

Seems like they're really pushing Melee Wizard with all these buffs. Did Parasitic Staff get buffed as well as the Pike? I'm doing 52 damage on non-crit staff hits at level 1.

The priest accuracy issue becomes a non-factor once they get their damage spells. The accuracy on priest nukes are far higher than anything on my other nukers. The seals in particular seem to operate as traps and it's not uncommon for every target to be crit. The priest also have access to the best Might buffs, which is what a spell user wants. - Holy Power (+3 MGT) - Aggrandizing Radiance (+2 to all stats per encounter) - Champions Boon (+10 MGT) Combine that with priest nukes and you'll be doing plenty of damage, but a nuking priest is a late developing class.

They didn't for me, but I didn't exhaustively test this w/ a number of spells. Some spells count as melee attacks, some behave differently.

Wizard has the best buffs in the game...with the caveat they are self only. So the conditions you describe actually favor the Wizard. I actually the find the Wizard nukes kinda whatever...their CC + buffs is what makes them so powerful. Druids are 2nd best buffers? What buffs do they even have? They're mainly offensive nukers.

I'm not going to max INT on my tank to give a few more people 6 accuracy. There are small auras in the game worth it, like the Priest 2nd level spell. +3 Might + 7 Resolve is worth staying close, it's +10 stat points. And Priests naturally have a high INT anyway. To ask a tank to max INT, it needs to be very valuable.

I'd really like the devs to look at the aura range. The fire godlike (far left) paladin's aura doesn't reach the moon godlike on the far right. If the buffs were almighty powerful perhaps they want the extra restriction that the party must cluster around the paladin, but for 6 accuracy or a few DR that's simply not worth it. In many fights my paladin's aura ends up only affecting herself.

So you want a tank class that tanks on equal level to pure tanks while at the same time does damage at equal level to pure damage dealers.

Great to know. I've been poking around with a melee wizard (the devs seem to certainly want it to happen given the spell choices), this is a nice guide. OP, did the 3-7 CON impede your durability? Any grazes will still do a min of 20% damage vs any DR, I'm wondering how you survived when multiple mobs attacked.

I use a ranger for one of my games and the bear has a natural DR of 13 (talented). I generally buff everyone with the L1 priest armor buff, so the bear is DR 18 for most fights. To say he gets 1 shot at the start of battle is pretty much the opposite of reality. And in any case, the bear's job is to die. He runs ahead of the tank line, draws melee enemies, and the nukes all center around it. The best ability of ranger pet is that their health never decreases and can die every fight without issue, unlike characters. If people are trying to think of the bear as a 7th character, that's not how it works. The bear is just 1 ability that comes with the Ranger class, much like the skeletons are part of the Chanter class. Disposable summon for tactical purposes.

War Bow + Penetrating Shot is still as good or better than the heavier ranged weapons all the way up to plate mail. Creatures tougher than that and yeah, you'll want something specifically built to punch through armor like firearms. Hunting Bow is not ever really worth it, more of an enemy weapon you find and sell. You also have to balance the higher punch of slow ranged weapons vs ability use, they significantly reduce your ability to react quickly with an ability.

I think the obvious answer is 6-rangers-with-every-pet zookeeper run. Rangers must all be melee, of course.

Reason #256 why Monks are awesome. They perform better when you hit them with friendly fire.

Soloing feats might be a poor way of gauging a Paladin because the very nature of the class as described by the devs is a combat class that is best when fighting along with other classes. That being said, I don't feel like the overall buffs a Paladin brings moves the needle much for my party. I've played groups with & without a Paladin and don't notice a difference. I certainly notice if a Priest is or is not present. I certainly notice if a Chanter is or is not present. I agree w/ everyone else, the only slot a Paladin really fulfills for me is Tank. As for its support abilities...you could probably replace the class with some consumables.

I use 1H all the time, with the Jolting Touch stiletto that procs on Crit. I admit i do switch to DW once it procs however.

Against tougher enemies, sure. On Hard a Shadow has 60 deflection & 8 DR. A 2H Sword vs 8 DR has 1.70 DPS. The Shades I believe have 16 DR, as do plate wearing paladins. Against 16 DR a 2H sword does 0.77 DPS. A level 3 Cipher has 31 accuracy. I'm not sure of the stats of POTD Shadows & Shades. A ranged character won't die if the enemy isn't CCd. A 3 CON Cipher at level 3 standing next to the tanks upfront will take a beating if the CC grazes/runs out. Smartly using ranged when it's not safe and melee when it's safe will work, but that's nothing new or different. That's normal Cipher and normal Rogue gameplay.