Kaylon

What exactly is PoE 2's resistance system? Are there no 100 percent immunes any more? My first main is a using swords, because of the dual damage, but now I am wondering if sabres are better. You should keep in mind that lashes>speed>other bonuses from a dps perspective, in other words Modwyr (which has both a great lash and speed) is hard to beat. Also, unlike PoE1 where DR crippled them, fast weapons have actually slightly higher dps than the large weapons and are better for auto-attacking - Sungrazer for example is another great weapon.

Yes, in this case it's not good as a main weapon (unless you like gimped characters ), but nothing prevents you from being smart and keeping it in your 2nd slot to use it at the start of each fight - that's what I do.

Personally I wouldn't recommend Sasha's Scimitar to a skald. The empowering ability is nice but it works once per encounter. The other ability however is based on the number of phrases you have and if you're using offensive evocations often your bonus will be very small. To generate phrases through criticals there are 3 weapons I would consider: Rannig's Wrath (highest accuracy), Min's Fortune (chance to crit is increasing with every hit) and Sun and Moon (hits twice). PS. I know you said you want to play single class chanter, but maybe you should also consider a chanter/monk for their great synergy (the monk adds 10int, fire lash to your offensive invocations and has a chance to hit twice with melee attacks) which helps the skald more than another 2 PL as a chanter. The monk can equip also a small shield which uses his fists accuracy for hits giving you the chance to generate more phrases on top of higher defenses.

What accuracy has the boss?

The PL bonus is multiplicative for both spells and martial abilities, there's nothing different for SI.

Your focus is depleted only when you hit single targets. When you hit multiple targets the focus can replenish at the same time and it always worked like that.

The damage is lower than on the main target but certainly higher than what other classes can do. Also since you can apply afflictions in an AoE (using rogue abilities or cipher spells) the raw damage is further increased by sneak attack/deathblows. It is not higher then (sneak attack boosted) Amra aoe damage, Eager Blade aoe damage or Engoliero Ghost Blade damage. While those alternatives have the benefit of killing the primary target much faster and less worry about optimal positioning. Of course you can't trigger those effects on every hit, but with a Rogue you probably shouldn't spam SA on every hit either, as that would be a damage loss. Sorry, but those weapons don't come even close to the AoE damage of the WotEP. And yes, a cipher/rogue will be able to spam SA every hit against multiple enemies. My experience is different. And if you spam SA every hit, you're actually lowering your damage output by not taking advantage of Crippling/Devastating Strike. SA damage at 10-30 Focus is entirely unimpressive. If when you hit multiple targets for 30-40 damage you get only 10-30focus then your entire game should be different...

The damage is lower than on the main target but certainly higher than what other classes can do. Also since you can apply afflictions in an AoE (using rogue abilities or cipher spells) the raw damage is further increased by sneak attack/deathblows. It is not higher then (sneak attack boosted) Amra aoe damage, Eager Blade aoe damage or Engoliero Ghost Blade damage. While those alternatives have the benefit of killing the primary target much faster and less worry about optimal positioning. Of course you can't trigger those effects on every hit, but with a Rogue you probably shouldn't spam SA on every hit either, as that would be a damage loss. Sorry, but those weapons don't come even close to the AoE damage of the WotEP. And yes, a cipher/rogue will be able to spam SA every hit against multiple enemies.

The damage is lower than on the main target but certainly higher than what other classes can do. Also since you can apply afflictions in an AoE (using rogue abilities or cipher spells) the raw damage is further increased by sneak attack/deathblows.

WotEP applies SA to all targets - right now the rogue/cipher does the best AoE damage and replenishes focus at the same time against multiple enemies. Second is the monk/rogue with the WotEP because it hits twice pretty often against multiple enemies.

Tbf pala/chanter with Eld Nary is not even close to single class chanter with the upgraded Eld Nary. It is still better than summons tho, since summons lack Pen. Eld Nary is strong but it has big drawbacks - long cast time, targets fortitude and is rather expensive. The best solo build for me is the Darcozzi/Skald spamming Thrice Was She Wronged - a rather effective and cheap AoE spell. Deltro's Cage/Black Plate for armor, Sun and Moon with modal to debuff reflex between casts, the medium shield with health regen, ring of greater regeneration, etc... Basically unkillable with endless AoE attacks and able to deal with any encounter without abusing consumables, kiting or splitting enemies right from the beginning. This is exactly what I think a solid melee solo build sounds like. I personally don't want to deal with the cheese of kiting or splitting enemies at all, I don't want to take Svef every encounter. what race would you choose and what are your starting stats? Pale elf with max mig, int and per. Dex is left to 3, while the res/con depends on what you're comfortable with - personally I go with 3 con and max res while using Hylea's bounty to max my defenses and later stack all the bonuses/rest since I don't need resting. Start with flail and medum shield modals (which stay activated all the time) and best armor. That's a pretty nifty set up! And a rare build in which Skald might actually be better than Troubador... I'm tempted to try it! (By the way, did you find going with Skald instead of Troubador to be worth it?) While the skald/troubadour need the same time to gain the resource for a cast, there are some advantages to the skald: - the starting phrases of the skald will allow him to cast twice as many invocations at the beginning compared to a troubadour - you can keep 2 chants at the same time (while the troubadour needs brisk recitation to be able to cast fast enough) - crits with the weapon can add more phrases from time to time allowing more casts.

Tbf pala/chanter with Eld Nary is not even close to single class chanter with the upgraded Eld Nary. It is still better than summons tho, since summons lack Pen. Eld Nary is strong but it has big drawbacks - long cast time, targets fortitude and is rather expensive. The best solo build for me is the Darcozzi/Skald spamming Thrice Was She Wronged - a rather effective and cheap AoE spell. Deltro's Cage/Black Plate for armor, Sun and Moon with modal to debuff reflex between casts, the medium shield with health regen, ring of greater regeneration, etc... Basically unkillable with endless AoE attacks and able to deal with any encounter without abusing consumables, kiting or splitting enemies right from the beginning.

The paladin/chanter using summons is the weakest version, not the strongest.

Hmm, ok; how about Paladin/Rogue instead of Fighter/Paladin then? I want both of my front-liners to be able to simultaneously tank and DPS. Paladin/trickster is a very good offensive tank and can make also good use of the WotEP for AoE damage

The helwalker/streetfighter might have the highest burst if you're using full attacks+scrolls and if you like to micro manage your character more than actually fighting. However for steady dps the best ranged weapons are Red Hand/Aamiina's Legacy. Also I don't see the point of using Wahai Poraga/WotEP at range when their AoE stays always near you. Instruments of pain works only with Citzal's Spirit Lance but it comes very late and isn't really required. PS. Also I'm not sure if most people are aware, but while Citzal's Spirit Lance does normal single target damage, its AoE damage isn't better than what WotEP does.

With high metaphysics the Chromoprismatic Staff is the 2h weapon with the highest dps. For AoE damage the WotEP is the best if you don't play a wizard.

The bosses themselves are pretty straightforward and aren't very hard to beat with any class. What makes the difference is how you deal with multiple enemies (melee+ranged) when you don't have the possibility to split them or to end the combat (with invisibility/running).

Would you duel wield or sword and shield, two-handed? does it matter? I'm so confused... Without sword&shield you won't survive high level bounties or ship battles which are harder than bosses.

Mind control when solo is harmless because enemies will stop attacking you when you flip sides. However I agree that Will is a better investment because it helps also against damaging spells/attacks (also there are many items/consumables which help against CC).

There was already an achievement in PoE1 which involved limited resting. The challenge could involve a limit to the number of rests per level/game or maybe a time limit to finish the game. The consumables can easily be limited by giving vendors finite quantities of ingredients.

I would like to see challenges where the consumables and resting are limited because right now abusing charges/scrolls makes the game very easy. Also I would like to see some kind of reward after completing a god's challenge - maybe some boons (similar to Magran's) which can be selected at the start of a game.

Deep Wounds + Sneak Attack + Deathblows + Various Bleeds >> All monk bonuses (without mentioning that Sneak Attack + Deathblows helps gaining focus much faster and also increase SA damage).

Well, you didn't try it at all as a rogue/soulblade because obviously you don't understand from where comes the damage... The Riposte has nothing to do with it.

Well, personally I'd not use the WotEP. I mean it's okay for a Trickster riposte build and that 360 deg. attack can be nice to fill Focus 1/encounter, but going for riposte is a rather slooow playstyle. And base damage of WotEP is awfully low for a two-hander. It was okay, nice even, when it used to strike the primary target twice. IMO now it's pretty meh outside of some niche applications like aoe DoT distribution (but ranged aoe weapons are still far superior for that IMO). Dual wield is probably still a superior option for a rogue. SA doesn't care, it's damage is flat. If you really want to go with a two-hander, I'd rather go with one which has some aoe capability WITHOUT sacrificing base damage. Eager Blade, Engoliero, the new Amra Axe. Obviously you never tested it.

Sorry, but that has nothing to do with rangers. Any class can do massive dps using scrolls. Scrolls are expensive, some of them require very rare resources and using them every fight isn't realistic. Also most videos are showing convenient melee enemies with low deflection/armor which can be easily pulled together giving the false impression the build will wreck anything when it's clearly not the case.