Kaylon

The way you put it sounds like an automatic hit once you proc Chillfog. The megabosses don't need to be immune to it because you have to crit against their fortitude first, for a hardly spectacular effect...

I guess it can be confusing because there are some paralyzing spells which target Will (like At the Sound of his Voice... or Mental Biding), however it's still considered a Dex affliction because it debuffs Dex. The paralyze from Reforge the Flesh doesn't debuff any stats so it's clearly not an affliction.

If you look at the logs or how the effect of Grave Bound appears when it hits it says "freeze". Freeze is a tier 4 dex affliction (like petrify) and exists as a proc on Frostfall too (Encroaching Frost). Like I explained in the other thread the Grave Bound's description you quoted is misleading because the real effect is Freeze and not Paralyze.

Paralyze has nothing to do with mind afflictions because it's a body effect, it affects dex. There are various effects labeled stun/paralyze which are not afflictions and aren't affected by resistances/immunities to afflictions. Reforge the Flesh, the effect from Withdraw are some examples.

The Chillfog proc just blinds enemies and is resisted normally, however because it retains the properties of the weapon it will also freeze on crits (which can also be resisted and is downgraded to paralyze) - there's nothing strange about it.

Dorudugan is only resistant to body afflictions, so petrify and frozen can paralyze him even if it is for a very short duration. Grave Calling is freezing enemies (despite what it's said in item's description) and will paralyze Dorudugan like it should. On the other hand Dorudugan seems to be also immune to knock downs (but not knock ups), however the knock down from Rakhan Field Boots is working on him.

You should go there with your mechanics skill as high as possible in order to disarm as many traps as you can for easy xp gains. Now it's probably better to go to Dunnage, respec and invest everything in mechanics, get Elias Zelen's Training, Irwena's Mature Experience bonus and then return to Sandswept Ruins. You should also have a Thief's Putty unguent from Vilario's Rest if you need to increase your mechanics even further.

For me there are three different things: cheese/cheap - easy way (unfair for the enemy), but perfectly legit exploits - using bugs, loopholes or unintended behaviors in the game to gain an unfair advantage cheating - using external means to alter the game and gain an unfair advantage Using 2 and 3 in MMOs is, of course, bannable. In the case of SoT/WoD, using them during the encounter in a normal way can be considered cheap, but it's of course perfectly legit. On the other hand, exploiting the AI and buffing before fights or even carrying those buffs from a fight to another is obviously an exploit (it gives clearly an unfair advantage never intended by the devs).

All combinations are viable in a party, however if you look for a tank with good dps it's not the best choice. Steel garrote/ blood mage is maybe the strongest combo in the game. You have the best tank with unlimited magic and the possibilities are endless. The melee part can become also very strong with Draining Touch trick or Spirit Lance (if you want melee AoE).

For me, using a ranged weapon with a melee skill is also an exploit... Trying to find real life excuses for some exploits when that suit you in a fantasy game is a very weak argument. If I want to play the Devil"s advocate I would go even further and claim that Strand of Favor does exactly what it says. And in fact it uses the same principle as another "accepted" exploit which consist to switch Lethandria's Devotion over and over for infinite healing. What you imply is like saying that people who steal just for eating shouldn't be considered thieves. Once you accept an exploit you opened the door to all exploits, that's simple.

That statement was made before any buffing abuse exploits, not just Strand of Favor. At best there can be a discussion about playing the game without using any exploits (no buffs abuse, no hiding out of sight while doing damage, no unlimited Draining Touch, no charged items stacking, no Bounding Boots or pause stealing, etc...). Bashing one exploit, while advertising the others doesn't look very serious.

Arcane Dampener can be resisted rather easily and Arcane Cleanse removes just 1000s of your buffs (ie less than 3 hours) which is not big deal when you have thousands of hours duration.

I don't put Vanishing Strike in a different category because you can already achieve invincibility and huge damage in many other ways. The main advantage is it can't be dispelled, but it doesn't matter much at this point. For the damage it's the same thing - once you can already one shot most enemies it doesn't matter if you do more damage. But overall I agree that assassins can be considered the most powerful class once fully buffed.

I was talking about food stacking (ie stacking multiple food effects), not stacking resting bonuses. Obviously there's nothing wrong about using spells/abilities during a fight in a normal way. However if it's ok for you to exploit the AI to stay out of enemies sight and do damage continuously, then you can't blame those who do the same to increase short buffs to infinite durations using SoT or Wall of Draining. And when you have classes who can abuse these methods you can't blame other classes for using Strand of Favor either. Anyway, it's a single player game and everyone can play it the way he enjoys it - using mods, cheese, exploits, cheats, etc... There's no competition here and judging others it's pointless.

I understand your way of thinking, however by Obsidian rules not only it's not cheating but it's even considered to be "in the spirit of the game" (since those methods are the foundation of all the "ultimate" runs). In other words, if the game allows it, there's no cheating and you can't blame the others for using it... PS. I suppose we could also mention food stacking for the people who want even more power.

Some fights are like puzzles and you have to figure how to approach them. The dig site encounter is indeed pretty hard if you don't make good use of the explosive barrel in the arena.

Troubadour/paladin and bloodmage/paladin at least, can solo the entire game without any buff abuse, infinite dot cheese or fight skipping. Monks can also trivialize everything once they get WotW, but they're not strong from the start.

Monastic Unarmed Training adds penetration and accuracy to its riposte too (since it's also a shield attack) and yes, it generates focus. As for the damage it's comparable to stilettos. Maybe not great, but it's free and doesn't cripple your damage or your defense. Anyway, the WotEP hasn't great damage either (it hits like a dagger) and I would never use it as main weapon since its dps is below average if you hit less than 3 enemies. PS. Other weapons worth using as a soul blade are Engoliero do Espirs and Grave Calling (their procs can refill your focus very fast vs multiple enemies, allowing quick kills with SA).

One of the best weapons for a soul blade is Sun and Moon. With it you can spam Soul Annihilation without interruption (the second hit of the flail will recharge your focus lost) which will increase your dps greatly since the PL bonus will be applied to all your hits. If you add Tuotilo's Palm you can have the dps of a dual wielder and the defense of a shield user at the same time. On top you also get double healing from White Flames and free ripostes for more focus.

Dude, please give other examples (if you can...) instead of quoting yourself and arguing for nothing. As for your build it's completely irrelevant - the only resting bonus mentioned in it is some drink (and I doubt you were even aware about stacking resting bonuses at that time). Here's the thread for people who care more about facts and less about semantics...

Really it's the first time I hear something like this. I played without resting since the beginning of the game and they always stacked. There was indeed one of the latest patches which introduced some bugs - Adra potions +skills bonus not always stacking with the one from Hylea's boon and +penetration from weapons modals not stacking reliably with food. Stacking resting bonuses is such an old thing and for me it's just common knowledge. I don't care if it was intended or not, or if some people consider it a bug - the fact is it always worked like that...

Food/resting bonuses were always considered passives and always stacked with the active abilities. There's also a thread somewhere where you can see which bonuses can be obtained and how to keep them as long as possible.

Yes, you have to plan ahead what items you want to enchant. Here's a topic about their known locations...

Sapphires, rubies and adra ban can only be looted.

Her Courage is great for tanks. High armor and grazes/misses can reduce damage greatly and those 10p shield coupled with 20+hp passive healing can make you immortal.