Kaylon

There are missing shields too...

The ranger/beckoner aka "the pet master" is a very fun build (ideally a nature godlike with 35int and max stealth to maintain the Animated Weapons without downtime). You remain stealthed the entire fight summoning pets, while the animal companion is used to keep you in combat. Chants and auras from Sasha's Singing Scimitar (with Companion's Prelude), Changeling's Mantle, as well as the Animancy Cat will help your summons in combat. It should be possible to play also as a SC beckoner and use traps to trigger the combat.

The self raw damage can be negated using Voidward coupled with self regen (Rapid Recovery, Devil's Due (armor), Ring of Greater Regeneration, Three Trolls Stitched cape) and some healing bonus (the Footprints of Ahu Taka boots fit very well). And of course you have also the heal on kill and Second Wind as back up. To sustain the damage from enemies nothing beats Unbending Trunk which scales with the damage received and with enough intellect can even out heal it. PS. Pick Tactical Barrage to extend the duration of your buffs/debuffs and the AoE of carnage and Spirit Tornado.

Max might, intellect and perception. Might means more damage, faster kills and more healing. Intellect means larger carnage AoE, longer buffs/debuffs. Perception means more hits and crits ie faster killing and healing. Resolve is useless for this build and should be left to 3. You'll have plenty of speed buffs (frenzy, bloodlust, bolting strikes) and a few points in dex will barely make any difference - I wouldn't go beyond 8 (and with item bonuses you can reach 10 to avoid penalties). You're left with 10 con which should be more than enough with the constitution bonuses from items & frenzy. PS. Abraham pet is also an important part of the build for the heal on kill and the reduction to armor recovery.

Devil of Caroc's Breastplate is an essential part of the build for three reasons: resistance to intellect afflictions (which negates berserker's confusion) health regeneration when you land crit hits (ie all the time) increased resources

kind wayfarer/stalker (bear companion) using Stalker's Patience - great tank with strong pet ghost heart/trickster using Scordeo's Edge and Grave Calling/Rust's Poignard - great damage dealer and disabler

A better fix would be to give it normal pollaxe damage and let the second hit unchanged. That way it becomes viable vs single targets and has a little bonus vs multiple enemies.

Wahai Poraga does very poor damage (it hits like a stiletto if I remember well), even lower than WotEP. It has some interesting enchantments which might be exploited (25% of damage taken returned as raw when you're under BDD can be easily abused) but that's all. Lord Darryn's Voulge is one of the best weapons a barbarian can use and does excellent single/AoE damage (you can bind it to other classes too, but you waste its AoE potential). Besides the obvious Static Thunder you have also 10% chance to proc Bolting Strikes on hit (which means it will be activated almost all the time). The only drawback is it can't be upgraded beyond superb. The damage/accuracy isn't a big deal but, depending on your class choice, you might have to switch to another weapon vs some bosses because of the penetration. The berserker/devoted can make it really shine.

I was expecting more from a Grandmaster of Exploits, he struggled too much with the oozes and the obelisks. 😉

I know, but I wanted to keep it simple and legit. 😀

A death godlike (near death) Assassin/Bleak Walker using Firebrand can deal probably the most weapon damage in a single hit, but it's not exactly spammable (Flames of Devotion, invisibility are limited). The only self sustainable is the bloodmage/assassin (buffed with Zandethus' Draconic Fury) backstabbing with Concelhaut's Parasitic Quarterstaff.

If you want to have a pet then ascendant/arcane archer with Frostseeker is both strong and versatile. If you want more of a dps build without a pet then helwalker/ghost heart is one of the best ranged dps builds (both single and AoE) with great interrupting and stunning potential. Ring of Clenched Muscle makes also a great combo with Frostseeker because all the hits can apply multiple debuffs in an AoE very fast. And of course the most fun is when you're using scrolls of Avenging Storm...

I think you should finish the game for the first time, in a serious way, without using any kind of exploits/mods. After that you won't feel guilty anymore and you can play just for fun, pass over the boring parts quickly and explore things you missed the first time.

There are - flame bats, great stelgaer, moon spiders, most nature spirits, wisps, engwithan hierarchs, all vithrack casters, Scyorielaphas - mostly high level enemies. So yes, the paralyze from Grave Calling can be resisted...

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. 😎