Kaylon

Yes, an assassin using SoF to stack every buff available is invincible and can kill even Dorudugan in a few hits... The assassin in the video uses just a few buffs in order to look less outrageous.

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The armor becomes very good if fully upgraded (comparable with Magnera's Chain). The aura allows Pallegina to become basically the best tank in the game (while the ranged ones are less squishy). The easiest way to improve companions disposition (besides doing their quest in the best possible way) is to make compatible parties using people sharing the same trait - light hearted (Eder, Xoti, Serafen, Tekehu) or dutiful (Aloth, Pallegina, Maia) and adopt clever/rational attitude to get their approval.

If you allow extending buffs between fights (using SoT, WoD or SoF) or just finish the game then any class can do it. If you want to be able to finish the entire content without buff abuse, then the Changeling's Dance quest is another limiting factor besides the megabosses.

Bleakwalker/assassin is nice for big strikes from stealth/invisibility, but in a party it has limited utility. A better choice would be steel garrote/trickster which has much better versatility and survivability as a melee damage dealer.

Yes, you can't avoid cleave. But cleave is manageable if you don't have too many stacks and heal fast enough in order to avoid one hit kills. High resolve and the Ring of the Solitary Wanderer are mandatory to reduce its duration. Monks can also use Clarity of Agony. PS. Cleave does the best of slash/burn damage, but even if you make it switch to burn, the damage won't be absorbed by Rekvu's cloak.

Yes, I forgot about Wall of Draining... But if I remember well it's more tedious because you have to spawn a Fire Blight before the fight...

If we talk about MC without party support then : paladin/troubadour paladin/bloodmage paladin/forbidden fist forbidden fist (using BT) priest/anything (using BDD & SoT) With passive help from the party there are of course more... Pallegina can also tank him with a little help but she won't be able to attack since without Rekvu's helm she will be interrupted most of the time.

A troubadour with Brisk Recitation activated, chanting Many Lives Pass By... is enough to keep Dorudugan busy (a monk summoning the Dichotomous Soul works too but is more tedious). After that, if you pick the right buffs/equipment and ranged weapons (Essence Interrupter, Eccea's Arcane Blaster, Fleetbreaker, Amaliorra,...), Dorudugan will go down pretty fast with minimal micro and without any cheese. And, contrary to the common belief, it's also possible to tank Dorudugan at melee with some builds.

Anything with a green circle is considered ally (ie party members, summons and charmed enemies).

The same is true for Grave Calling (and probably Hel Beckoning too) with the advantage you can freeze/paralyze any enemy without immunity to dex afflictions (even Dorudugan). Works well on SC rogues but also on any monk crit builds because the freeze/paralyze will increase the hit to crit chance. (It makes a great combo with Scordeo's Edge because of the accuracy buff and Blade Cascade...)

The ideal way is to recruit new companions only when you want to use them and preferably when you're near max lvl (that way they will scale with you and will require less xp to reach lvl20). Basically explore and do side quests/bounties with your main party until you're high level and after that start doing main/factions/expansions quests and recruit the others...

Yes, the dot is applied to every target but it doesn't stack and if the targets die in 2-3 WotW it doesn't make a big difference. However if you can't hit a target continuously it helps (like vs obelisks). PS. There are many good headgear options for WotW: Helm of the White Void (helps CCs), Cap of the Laughingstock (helps melee), Acina's Tricorn (helps AoEs) and Thaos' Headdress (helps all attacks if enemies are affected by Blinding Smoke).

Best summon are by far the animated weapons because they're very sturdy, their accuracy/pen/damage scales and have also useful abilities. And if you're using summons often then the Animancer's cat is nice to have.

Yes, I'm ok with the PEN reduction since it follows the rule of dual damage weapons. Also I see no reason to treat Caedebald's Blackbow differently and not give it dual damage. Personally I consider the secondary effects separate from the damage and should be separate from the main attack. In other words Sunbeam won't burn someone immune to fire, but will blind him because of the powerful light. Same with the Freezing Pillar - if you're immune to cold you don't take damage but the ground gets freezed and you're still hobbled. The Blights are maybe a bad example because they float and should be, in theory, immune to ground effects.

In both situations I would expect to pick the most favorable damage type, ie pierce. Giving all elemental weapons dual damage seems, for me too, the most logical choice in order to have a single clear rule. Personally I also expect an immunity to protect only against the respective part of an attack not the entire attack. For example Rot Skulls vs crush immunes should apply only the disease, while vs disease immunes it should just deal crush damage. For that reason I consider also the damage immunity a much better solution overall, instead of keywords. To solve the situation 2 a solution would be to increase the specific elemental damage above the other resists and also increase the healing part to compensate for the lower damage received.

I never realized the duration can be refreshed. That means a rogue with brilliant could keep it going forever.

I think the wounds take in account all the lashes, the only difference is the physical ones generate separate wounds.

I don't understand, there's some hidden advantage (maybe due to roundings) of having multiple small DOTs instead of a single big DOT? PS. Drake's Legacy gives only 5% slash.

You have basically two options: Sun and Moon + Toutilo's Palm (which allows SA spamming and combines high defense with the dps of a dual wielder) and the 2H option with Whispers of the Endless Paths which gives huge AoE damage with SA and passive focus recharge with Offensive Parry.

FF/helwalker/nalpazca, soul blade, stalker, bloodmage are also great choices for MC.

If I remember well all dots are considered ranged attacks and are affected by pets with ranged damage bonus (Harley, etc).

You don't gain wounds between hits, you gain them at the end. I think 30+ resolve is enough, however you need at least Clarity of Agony and the Ring of the Solitary Wanderer to shorten the effects. That way it's possible to reach 2.3-2.5s duration which ends at the same time with WotW recovery if you don't have other speed buffs.