Kaylon

https://pillarsofeternity.gamepedia.com/Amra https://pillarsofeternity.gamepedia.com/Oathbreaker%27s_End

Here's the video with my herald tanking Dorudugan for 30min. Special dedication to @giftmefood who managed once again to ridicule himself. https://youtu.be/9xo8n4xhbd0 Now here are the explanations for why it works: Dorudugan does 4 types of damage: burn (his fireballs - which heal me), crush (shield - 15 pen), pierce/crush (main weapon - 18 pen), slash (AoE - 14 pen). Like it can be seen in the video I have 21 pierce AR, 20-21 crush AR and 19 slash AR - which means I have almost all the time 75% damage reduction vs his melee attacks while his cleave (AoE slash) is reduced even further by the shield's modal. Ancient Memory+Exalted Endurance heal me for 20+hp every 3s, while Her Courage absorbs another 10 dmg every 6s. In other words there's absolutely no chance for Dorudugan to kill me... ever. The tricky part of my build is of course my armor. Magnera's Chain is probably the best armor for a tank because it has no weaknesses - it gives 12 crush/slash and 14 pierce AR with mythical enchantment. Akola's Apex Ward, Stoic Steel and Exalted Endurance add another 5 AR. I have also 1 crush AR from the belt which puts me at 17 slash, 18 crush, 19 pierce AR at the start. Inspired Defenses will give me another 1 crush AR most of the time (because Dorudugan will deal only crush damage to me). The final piece of the puzzle comes from Bardatto's Luxury mace which procs the Hardy Inspiration (+2 AR, +2 Con) every time an ally is knocked unconscious. This buffs stacks with everything because it's a weapon proc - making this mace the ultimate tanking weapon for a herald. The little skeleton I summon every 30s (you can have 10 phrases in your chants - you just put Many Lives, then alternate Ancient Memory/Her Courage until you reach the phrase limit) ensures the buffs stays forever offering me the ultimate protection. PS. From another thread, special explanation for @giftmefood, the "smartest" person on these boards: Cleave can't be affected by Blade Turn - it's an AoE attack.

This is wrong for Dorudugan. Even a highly min maxed herald will die to Dordugan in a solo melee fight. You can cheese it by distracting him with skeleton summon chant while you poke him at range for 28 minutes straight. But no you can't go toe to toe meleeing Dorudugan. The herald can tank Dorudugan with the right build, however most of his fireballs will land near and heal him - that's why it's better to stay at range. Wait, have you tested this? I would love to know that build actually! Also, I just realized you are the guy on youtube I watched fight Dorudugan. Wow! haha Also will that tank herald build be able to kill Dorudugan or is it just a case of not dying but unable to kill Dorudugan either? The build is nearly the same as the one from the Sigilmaster video, but using Rekvu's Casque & Cloak instead. The only tricky part is to get all your melee resists high enough (without relying on potions) - maybe I will post a little video to show how it works. PS. In the FS expansion I think there's also a new pet giving +1 armor which would make things even easier. Nope, it won't work. Don't say stuff when you haven't even tried it yet. You could have said you know a build that MIGHT work. Not a build that works. Now you just look stupid. Because I can tell you now, I've done that and it's impossible to do it solo. The herald can't tank Dorudugan even with your "right" build. However with a duo healer, it's doable. I never make such statements without testing. When I'm not sure or I don't test I would say "I think" or 'it might work". If you were smart you would have found by yourself by now with the clues I have given and instead of posting crap you would have said "I wasn't able to find a way" instead "you can't do it". But after I will show how it's done it's you who will look even more stupid.

This is wrong for Dorudugan. Even a highly min maxed herald will die to Dordugan in a solo melee fight. You can cheese it by distracting him with skeleton summon chant while you poke him at range for 28 minutes straight. But no you can't go toe to toe meleeing Dorudugan. The herald can tank Dorudugan with the right build, however most of his fireballs will land near and heal him - that's why it's better to stay at range. Wait, have you tested this? I would love to know that build actually! Also, I just realized you are the guy on youtube I watched fight Dorudugan. Wow! haha Also will that tank herald build be able to kill Dorudugan or is it just a case of not dying but unable to kill Dorudugan either? The build is nearly the same as the one from the Sigilmaster video, but using Rekvu's Casque & Cloak instead. The only tricky part is to get all your melee resists high enough (without relying on potions) - maybe I will post a little video to show how it works. PS. In the FS expansion I think there's also a new pet giving +1 armor which would make things even easier.

This is wrong for Dorudugan. Even a highly min maxed herald will die to Dordugan in a solo melee fight. You can cheese it by distracting him with skeleton summon chant while you poke him at range for 28 minutes straight. But no you can't go toe to toe meleeing Dorudugan. The herald can tank Dorudugan with the right build, however most of his fireballs will land near and heal him - that's why it's better to stay at range.

They should add a new Berath's blessing - increase lvl cap to 30 and another Magran's Challenge - gain only 50% of the normal xp. That way everyone would be pleased...

I've never seen that item. What it does?Or do you mean Hearth Defender's Scale armor? (if yes - do agree, it's a really powerful item). Yes, this one... Trickster is great, but soulblade is a bit too greedy for him. I mean: soulblade wants to squish as much damage as he can, dump the resulted focus in annihilation, and he won't be spending his time on crowd-control stuff. How about a soulblade/assassin with assassin's boots instead? For me the main advantage of the trickster are his self buffs (Llengrath's Displaced Image, Ryngrim's Repulsive Visage) which add to his survivability. An assassin can work also of course, but he's more squishy...

Pick a MC who's able to max reputation with every companion or else you will lose the benefits of one of the most powerful items in the game (Hearth Defender's Scale) - thus I don't advise playing cruel characters. Personally I would replace Serafen with Xoti (priest/monk for max duration/radius for spells/auras while wearing Heart at Home). For MC one of the best damage dealers is trickster/soulblade (Sun and Moon + Tuotilo's Palm/Whispers of the Endless Paths/Red Hand).

The reality is the stats matter very little for your overall dps (you gain maybe 1dmg/s for every 10p invested in a stat...).

Ranger/chanter is probably your best bet.

Can you elaborate? Example: Whitleaf's drug crash reduces all defenses (except deflection) by 8 with 1 in alchemy and this penalty will decrease with every point you have in alchemy (I think it will be -2 instead of -8 at 20 alchemy). A nalpazka monk can even have a positive effect for drug crash (+1-2 bonus instead of penalty).

On top of the Balefire Beacon I think you can also kill the (respawning?) guards with no consequences for more easy reputation loss.

19AR means you have probably 15 crush/shock. The Black Plate and Sungrazer can lower crush to 13 which can be penetrated rather easily with Hot Razor Skewers without needing any modals or debuffs. With 160 deflection let's say half of the attacks will miss/graze you while you're healing 20hp every 3s (Ancient Memory + Exalted Endurance) - a party shouldn't have any difficulty to kill you just by using crush weapons...

Arcana can be strong if you plan to use high level scrolls for some tough fights. However scrolls are expensive and the best ones require rare ingredients - thus you can't expect to use them every fight. Personally I would respec for arcana only if I feel I really need it and put my points in a skill I'm using very often (or if my items benefit from it). Mechanics/athletics/alchemy would be my first picks. PS. High alchemy also allows to use drugs with almost no side effects (alchemy reduces the effects of drugs crash).

Each time I try this method Mad Morena becomes hostile and I have to kill her too - maybe if you do it after you finish her quest it's ok, but then you have to gain reputation with the principi first.

Here's how you can solo him - you can try to adapt this strategy for your party. Basically you have to keep him at range using summons while using shock (Essence Interrupter, spells) or crush damage (scepters) against him. To reduce the fire damage use high burn armor, large shield modal, Rekvu's cloak, etc... https://youtu.be/lbvf0x5PbFk

Yes, you have to reach -3 reputation first then do their quests. If you have more than +1 reputation and try to reach -3 the ship won't spawn anymore.

It is enough against most enemies, but not against all of them. Also you have to check the AR for each damage type because enemies dealing crush/shock damage will have no problems to penetrate your plate. For example Dorudugan in potd has 18 penetration (I think) and deals pierce/crush.

You can get another one from Berath's blessings, however in my case I had many more because before 4.0 it was possible to kill Belranga multiple times. The important ones are the armor and the main weapon (and for this fight neither one is really required).

I would love to know your Herald build details and gear if you care to share. You can see here the video and my build. https://youtu.be/RPNZS98rvdA

If you play with the companions you should always try to max their disposition for Hearth Defender's Scale.

The main issue with the cipher is his dependency on the duration of his afflictions. Enemies with high resolve and high defenses (like mega bosses) greatly cripple the effectiveness of a spell oriented cipher. Also the ascendant should be played as a ranged caster (to use as many spells as possible while "ascended") which means he's not a tank and he's not suited to solo the bosses. Soulblades are better for a tank role and for solo. I think the inquisitor soulblade is also able to deal with all mega bosses (Dorudugan might be the hardest one however).

You can also kill guards in Neketaka.

It wasn't very hard with a herald (for me she's the weakest of the mega bosses). As long as you destroy the sigils first there's not much you have to fear...

Pyrite is one of the rarest ingredients and often you have to wait many days in a row before it appears in vendor's inventory. I think there's also a vendor near the animancers tower who also sells pyrite and where it spawns more often.