Seerdecker

I agree with Daemonjax. For pure DPS characters, perception, resolve, intelligence and constitution are largely dump stats currently. With accuracy thrown-in, there'd be real tension between the attributes and that would open the road for some dilemmas. For example, accept a lower DPS for a better chance to land non-damage crowd-control spells.

In my current game, I made a custom party of 1 paladin (tank) and 3 ciphers. I figured that the ciphers would synergize well together. My plan was to use them for crowd control and slowly kill off the enemy. At level 5, I just got my hands on Ectopsychic Echo and I realize that my plan was very flawed. Not only do ciphers excel in crowd control, they also deal immense amounts of damage if played tactically. My conclusion is that one cipher alone is overpowered, much less three of them. Looking at the skillset, I find that's it's difficult to play a cipher if I skip the OP skills (Mental Binding, both beam spells, all mind-control spells, all accuracy-boosting skills, Amplified Wave). I could play them as pure rangers, but that's pretty boring. I decided to restart the game without using hirelings and without using retaliation items to keep things interesting. My main will be a rogue, which I feel is not overpowered if Shadowing Beyond is not used. I plan on recruiting Aloth, Eder, Durance, Kana and Pallegina. Those characters have a diverse skillet so I'm hoping it will lead to interesting and diverse tactics. From what I've read, the game keeps getting easier as it progresses. My question is, will the late game still be challenging with this setup? Should I consider some additional restrictions? I'm not interested in the triple-crown challenges, it's too hard/frustrating for me. Thanks for any tip!

My info comes from this post in this thread (I've seen similar information elsewhere). https://forums.obsidian.net/topic/72272-combat-mechanics-attack-speed-recovery/?p=1627132 2-mins testing suggests that it does behave that way. My rogue does not have its damage multiplied by 0.5/2.0 when it grazes/crits. That said, no, I'm not absolutely certain.

Hi guys! Thanks so much for your collaborative spreadsheet! It was very useful to see how the different parameters interact. I was interested in finding out whether it is true that a 2H weapon such as the estoc is optimal for a rogue. In fact, my analysis suggests that a rogue dual-wielding sabres is actually better by a significant margin. Here's my rationale. I'd be happy to be corrected if I'm wrong. In general, DPS = (BaseWeaponDamage * DamageMod - DamageResistance) * AttackSpeed. The base weapon damage is the number listed by the game as (base X-Y). A sabre got base damage 13-19 (average 16). An estoc got base damage 14-20 (average 17). *Nothing* affects the weapon base damage (not might, not enchantments, etc). It's a well named concept. The damage modifier (DamageMod) is a pure additive multiplier of the form (1.0 + bonus1 + bonus2 - penalty1 ...). The base modifier is 1.0. A graze adds -0.5 to the modifier. A critical hit adds 0.5 to the modifier by default (some effects change this value). Might at 18 adds 0.03*8=0.24 to the modifier. Superb weapon quality adds 0.45 to the modifier. Savage Attack adds 0.2 to the modifier. Reckless Assault adds 0.2 to the modifier. Sneak Attack adds 0.5 to the modifier. Death Blows adds 0.5 to the modifier (*warning* that's from what I've read). Crippling Strike adds 0.25 to the modifier. etc. Let's consider a normal attack under some scenarios. Best case scenario: crit with Death Blows. DamageMod = 1.0 + 0.5 + 0.24 + 0.45 + 0.2 + 0.2 + 0.5 + 0.5 = 3.59. Worse case scenario (excluding a miss): graze without Sneak Attack. DamageMod = 1.0 - 0.5 + 0.24 + 0.45 + 0.2 + 0.2 = 1.59. Average scenario: hit with Sneak Attack. DamageMod = 1.0 + 0.24 + 0.45 + 0.2 + 0.2 + 0.5 = 2.59. I like to pair my rogue with a cipher to attack paralyzed/hobbled/blinded/weakened enemies, so I expect to get an average damage mod >= 3.0 for a sabre by the end of the game, accounting for special attacks like Crippling Strike, might bonuses, etc. An estoc would get an additional bonus of 0.15 from 2H style, making the damage modifier 3.15, and a DR reduction bonus of 5. From the spreadsheet, assuming an attack/recovery bonus of 0.2 from 2W style, I get a speed ratio of 2.14/1.35 = 1.58 for sabre vs estoc (for 1 full attack). Assuming DR 15, for one weighted full attack, my expected damage is (16.0 * 3.0 - 15) * 1.58 = 52 for the DW sabres and 17 * 3.15 - 15 + 5 = 44 for an estoc. Lower DR values would favor the sabre more. While an estoc got a slightly higher base damage, damage modifier, and DR reduction bonus, it's not enough to offset the speed difference. Incidentally, accuracy seems to be less important for a rogue than say a caster, since the damage modifier is fairly high in any case. A graze/crit doesn't modify the damage that much. Summary: in theory, beware rogues wielding two sabres running around naked.