Kaylon

The great sword, the pike and the quarterstaff have all the same base damage 18-24. (WotEP is an exception because of the AoE). Voidwheel comes with 15%dmg from modal, 20% lash and a powerful proc with 25% chance to trigger. The Chromoprismatic Quarterstaff has 15% dmg/spd fom enchantment (with 20 metaphysics) and a 12% lash. You could argue that Voidwheel has an accuracy penalty with the modal activated, but even without the modal the damage is superior and most of the time your accuracy is so high that it won't matter. But for normal use the staff is a better weapon because the speed and the damage reduction are both great. Dragon's Dowry is a great weapon because it has high penetration, a big lash, it's very safe (you shoot from range and you have no recovery with it) and it's probably the best assassin weapon if you don't play a soul blade. The soul blade with Voidwheel backstabs for instant full focus and the next Soul Annihilation hits for 600dmg without counting dots or Necrotic Heart (which can add another 200 dmg when it procs and also instantly replenishes his focus).

The melee weapon with the highest damage potential is Voidwheel because it has two lashes (10% raw + 10% corrode) and has also 25% chance proc Necrotic Lance which gets all the weapon bonuses. And the class with the highest damage/hit is the assassin/soulblade - with full focus you can deal 600+dmg/hit without counting the dots.

I recommend picking Darcozzi instead of Goldpact because the long lasting damage shield will add to the damage dealt by your weapon/spells and will shorten the fights considerably. Brand Enemy with high strength will deal 10+dmg and will add nicely to your overall damage. Your main offensive invocation should be Her Revenge... You can use Sun and Moon as weapon to debuff reflex on enemies. You should get also Bardatto's mace because it gives robust inspiration each time a summon is killed (works best with Many Lives Pass...). Another great weapon for solo is Keeper of the Flame which deals great AoE damage with high religion (with your armor/defense you will take just minor damage from it). You should lower constitution and resolve a bit and max intellect instead because you want to keep your buffs/summons as long as possible. The only summon you should get are the Animated Weapons because they're the only ones scaling with your level. The ideal is to have the damage shield, Eternal Devotion up the entire fight and Brand Enemy on as many enemies as possible.

I recommend you ascendant/ghost heart with bear pet (the pet can become a burden sometimes). Elf with 19mig/dex/per, 15int, 3con/res (if you feel confident) or 19per,15mig/dex/int, 11con,3res if you want to be a little sturdier and background Scientist/Mystic/Scholar. For bows you have Frostseeker (main weapon) and Essence Interrupter (second weapon). (Veil Piercer and Aamina's Legacy are also worth mentioning because they can give better results in some fights. ) For the rest: - armor - High Harbinger Robes/Fleshmender/Changeling's Mantle - head - Acina's Tricorn/Thaos' Headdress (Horns of the Aurochs*) - neck - Torc of the Falcon's Eyes/Charm of Bones/Elewys' Locket - back - Three Trolls Stiched (Rekvu's Scoarched Cloak*) - rings - Ring of the Marksman + Ring of Prosperity's Fortune/Chameleon's Ring - belt - Sash of Judgement (Belt of Magran's Chosen*) - boots - Boots of the Stone/Footprints of Ahu Taka - pet - Harley * Using Frostseeker will summon very often a fire elemental if you wear the Belt of Magran's Chosen. If you have Rekvu's Cloak activated the elemental will heal you instead and also give you another 10% cold dmg (Horns of the Auroch). The fire elemental can be used also to buff yourself (Borrowed Instinct, Body Attunement, Wild Leech...) For skills pick metaphysics (For Essence Interrupter) and arcana (for Avenging Storm). For abilities Eyestrike+Marked Prey, Lingering Echoes, Fast Runner, Marksman, Biting Whip, Two Handed Style, Phantom Foes, Hammering Thoughts, Evasive Roll, Marked for the Hunt, Psychovampiric Shield, Pain Block, Protective Companion, Stalker's Link, Resilient Companion, Driving Flight, Borrowed Instinct, Tough, Tactical Meld, The Empty Soul, Survival of the Fittest, Improved Critical, Disintegration, Echoing Horror, Evasive Fire, Ancestor's Memory.

I don't understand how people get killed by his AoE - you just need 10 shock AR to reduce its damage by 75%. With high reflex defense you can even resist it or reduce the damage even further. Also if he uses mostly his buffs you won't even feel he has Wild Mind.

The Wheel was called the cycle of reincarnation. In PoE2 it turns out that engwithians built a machine in Ukaizo which helped regulating the cycle of reincarnation (which always existed) and also allowed gods to receive souls. The destruction of this machine means the gods won't be able to receive souls anymore, losing their power and influence over mortals (that's what Eothas wants). The problem is the Wheel was heavily affected by the machine and can't return to the initial state without help. For that reason the mortals will have to find new ways to restore the flow of rebirth or they will also disappear.

You have to lure the dragon close to them.

You're right, even if it has no logical explanation. Because Borrowed Instinct or Judge don't stack with Hunter's Claw or Marked Prey, I assumed they all suppress each other.

Bows benefit a lot from very high accuracy, either to compensate Swift Shots penalty (hunting bows) or to trigger procs (war bows). The combo with the highest accuracy in the game is the cipher/ranger. The cipher provides the best accuracy in the game (Borrowed Instincts + Tactical Meld) as well as debuffs (Eyestrike/Phantom Foes + Psychovampiric Shield) and as an ascendant you can benefit almost all the time from 40% dmg bonus (Ascended + Biting Whip). Last but not least, the cipher has very good synergy with the pet which can become a much better tank/damage dealer, without mentioning CCs and Disintegration 😀. VS multiple enemies the best bow is clearly Frostseeker which can proc the AoE up to 6 times/shot with Driving Flight for incredible AoE dps (you can use the Ring of Clenched Muscle to apply for multiple easy debuffs). VS single targets the best dps bow overall is the Essence Interrupter because of its shock damage (which ensures easy penetration almost always) coupled with Swift Shots. Also as an archer you should absolutely invest in Arcana and use scrolls of Avenging Storm for mass destruction.

Ascendant/barbarian is also my choice and you can pair Modwyr with Watcher's Blade for very fast focus generation/kills. However the berserker is hard to keep alive because the cipher doesn't provide any self healing and I don't recommend it. The ascendant will benefit from all the speed bonuses (Eager Lover + Frenzy + Bloodlust + Blood Thirst) to cast lots of spells very fast while ascended. Make sure to max Athletics and get the Undying Burden belt for 2 free insta heals per fight and Abraham pet for Health on kill and armor recovery reduction. For attributes max might (it helps with damage and healing), constitution at 10 (a few points to survive one more hit is not worth it), dex at 10 (a few points will make very little difference with all your speed buffs), resolve can be left at 10 or lower and the rest of points can be spread between perception and intellect.

In PotD high level enemies have over 100ACC and it's really difficult to maintain your defenses over 150 for very long. The riposte is just some free damage from time to time, it helps mostly vs trash mobs and in the end it will represent maybe 10% of your own damage. If you want to tank in Deadfire you need to have good defenses and passive healing, while your armor should be always higher than enemies penetration.

Hunter's Claw doesn't stack with Marked Prey. For that reason Nature's Resolve + Marked Prey/Devotions for the Faithful is always the better option because you can have the same accuracy without restrictions. I usually pick Hunter's Claw just to get the bonus accuracy/dmg vs vessels ( always good to have against skeletons, animats, vampires) and then respec out of it.

The weapon with the highest damage per hit is Stalker's Patience. Upgraded it does 15% dmg per tick (3 times with 10int). The dot doesn't stack with itself, but for riposte it doesn't matter.

Even if all faction have flaws, I consider siding with Huana the most satisfying ending because it solves most of the problems (Neketaka/Gullet improved, huana's life&traditions preserved, VTC continues research in a reasonable manner, trading continues with RDC and pirates become a transit company). Not the best ending for Tikawara, but not the worst either...

I think you're definitely missing something

The rogue has Gambit which allows to recover the spent Guile and spam it multiple times. The ranger has nothing comparable. Another possibility would be to change Twinned Shot to get back the resources on crit, like the rogue...

The encounter ends when Auranic AND all the sigils are destroyed. If you kill Auranic and some sigils remain closed the encounter wouldn't end.

For rangers I consider Distraction Training complete garbage (only weak enemies miss the pet and you don't need more accuracy against them). My idea was to change it to restore 1bond when the AC is missed by an enemy.

He asked what are the most beneficial stats... Constitution won't save you from gunners, defense and armor do. Instead of spreading stats between mig and con it's better to max might - same fortitude but more dmg and healing, as you level up you'll have more than enough hp. Shared Flames/Lay on Hands have very short duration and investing 5int just for 1-2 more sec isn't worth it.

I wouldn't put more than 10con on any character and I'm very generous... 😁 Also if you don't plan using exhortations I wouldn't recommend more than 10int either (with auras/Brand Enemy/Flames of Devotion you don't need int). Personally I would recommend to start with 18mig/res and the rest at 10, but in the end stats don't matter very much and your character won't be ruined either way.

Not really... The duration/damage/number of projectiles doesn't scale either. The less affected by all this is Pull of Eora, but it comes late and is pretty expensive. The only thing that makes all these drawbacks feel less painful is the ability to trigger a spell 2-3 times using Driving Flight or/and weapons with bouncing attacks. But, if I remember well, every bounce reduces the damage not only for the arrow, but also for the spell... PS. I'm not sure if the Imbues get the hidden accuracy bonus/lvl like casters spells, because if it's not the case then you're forced to invest in Arcana just to keep their accuracy viable at higher levels...

The best class is obviously the bloodmage who can achieve higher PL and can cast unlimited fireballs (or any spells) compared to someone using a necklace. You just multiclass him with a paladin (Exalted Endurance + Lay on Hands), a chanter (Ancient Memory + Old Siec) or a priest (Barring Death Door + Salvation of Time) to be able to sustain the damage from Blood Sacrifice...

Semi-permanent bonuses: - Nature's Bounty - 10acc - Alchemic Guile - 2per - prostitutes - 1per - resting - 3per Permanent effects: - Savage Cunning - 1per - Cauldron Brew - 1per - Berath's Blessings - 2per - Effigy - 1per - Racial - 1per - Background - 1per Items: - gloves - 3acc - necklace - 2per - ring - 1per - helmet - 1per - cloak - 1per - pet - 3acc Depending on the weapons it's possible to reach even 140acc...

I haven't found a method to stack them reliably either. Sometimes it just works and sometimes you can do whatever you want and it gets suppressed. There is some glitch that happens during the play that allows them to stack, because normally they don't stack...

There's Magran's Blessing - the shield and Magran's blessing - the buff (but I'm not sure it's implemented). Irwena gives +1 to all skills, maybe they changed the name...