Kaylon

I really don't understand why the penetration was not changed to a percentage that scales linearly... +1PEN should reduce DR by 10%, +2 by 20%,... +10 by 100% and anything above +10 will increase your damage instead. The new system is actually worse than it was in PoE1. I'm under the impression they sacrifice logic/realism just to make choices harder for the players. I hope they will focus more on the enchantment/crafting part (which was pretty lackluster in PoE1) and is a better way to increase complexity...

What's the cost of Shadowing Beyond? Your Guile increases with your level or it depends on the number of the abilities you pick from the rogue class (for a multiclass)? Example: Let's say a pure rogue has 15 Guile points. A multiclassed rogue of the same level will have less Guile points; but it's always the same number of points or it varies depending on your spec choices?

I was thinking about an assassin-sharpshooter build. You can use the pet to distract or as back up while you're sniping with an arquebus from stealth/invisibility with Wounding Shots. I don't know however what's the modal of the arquebus and if it's useful for this build. Also you don't need to switch weapons because you should have enough time to reload during Shadowing Beyond.

How many times it's possible to use Shadowing Beyond during a fight? If you can kill an enemy using only attacks from stealth/invisibility and then reset the encounter it can become a great tool for people who solo...

Maybe it's not intended anymore to use ranged weapons

The reload penalty is for real? I can not check this, since I'm away from my gaming PC, but that would suck. Does it show in the description or did you find this by comparing it to Aedrin's? Well, the description says -50% reload which means penalty (because for Swift Aim it says +50%) and if you compare it to a normal arbalest you really feel the difference. But maybe the guy who designed the item had in mind a reduction (because I don't see the point in making bad items).

The pirate uniforms look awesome (but it's strange they have less DR than a robe). However the arbalest has 50% reload penalty which IMO was not intended (because it's worse than Aedrin's Wrecker). The belt and the cap give both +2dex and I'm also suspecting the idea was to cover all the stats and the cap should have got +2per instead.

Despite the huge speed boost the reload time is still very long even for a ranger with Swift Aim and Gunner. PS. I'm suspecting the devs made a mistake and instead of reducing the reload time they increased it. Right now the new soulbound arbalest is inferior to Aedrin's Wrecker in every possible way.

Here are a few tips: - pick the best items - worn buckler, hermit's cap, plate armor (npc in Gilded Vale), blunting belt, ring of minor deflection&protection, torc of the falcon's eyes/rimrgrand's mantle, fulvano's boots&gloves, fine arbalest, fine sword; go to raedric's hold and pick the gauntlets of accuracy, the boots of stability, the gloves of manipulation ASAP - increase your deflection - get first the talents/abilities increasing your deflection and choose the right dialogue to boost faith&conviction ASAP - always pull with using your ranged weapon and fight enemies 1 by 1 when possible (learn to split/use choke points) - against strong/multiple enemies use potions/foods/scrolls/resting bonuses/traps

The barbarian is clearly the class having the best synergy with humans because of their ability to inflict high burst damage during the short duration of the buff. He has also the greatest endurance pool and dropping under 50% endurance is the safest with them. Blooded, which triggers under 50% endurance, adds also more utility to the requirement. Basically you wait until your endurance is under 50% before triggering Heart of Fury and you keep Vengeful Defeat+Second Chance as back up.

Well, if you consider the gods some superior entities who created the men then indeed they don't exist. On the other hand you have some powerful beings created by men which are now worshiped as gods - it's up to you to decide if they should be considered gods or not.

50% duration for a chant isn't as good as for the normal dots because it affects only the lingering phase. For dragon trashed that means only 2 more seconds which is only 17% increase over the initial duration...

If I remember well, if you switch your weapon set, the enemies will lose their buff.

Criticals extend dot's duration by 50%, they don't increase the damage. Also with 30int and maxed Brisk Recitation it's possible to completely overlap 3 chants, dealing dps comparable to a 2w barbarian with carnage...

Yes, I considered only half of the damage of Dragon Thrashed - it should be 39.8 dmg every 3s to all the enemies in range... However it faces 50% DR compared to Aeffylath... Aeffylath isn't the clear winner anymore in the long run, but it still does a huge difference for Heart of Fury. Starting with Aefyllath and then switching to Dragon Thrashed only might be better depending on the situations.

With 25mig/int and max Brisk Recitation, 1xDragon Trashed deals on average 19.9dmg (14.5x11/8) every 3s to all the enemies in range. Aefyllath adds 7.5 dmg to Sacred Immolation every 3s too. If there's also a 2h barbarian it can add another 10 dmg to carnage (which hits easily faster than every 3s). If we consider Heart of Fury and the damage of the other party members then Aefyllath becomes clearly the best choice even if Dragon Trashed might affect 1-2 more enemies. Thus for a party with carnage and Sacred Immolation the most offensive combo is Aefyllath+Dragon Trashed...

Yes, having a rogue is a good option damage-wise, but a fighter is more durable, so I like him more In my party, both the fighter and the barb are offensive off-tanks, while the latter is somewhat more squishy during the beginning of the game. BTW, what ranged weapon do you use with your rogue? I think, having a ranged rogue with durganized weapon who can switch to Nightshroud/Unlabored Blade/Reaping Knives is not a bad idea. And what reason is in using the Dragon Thrashed? After the nerf? IMO, 13 pierce/13 fire dmg with 20 Mig, considering this is before DR, is rather underwhelming. I didn't do exact math, but I feel that If your party does considering damage, Aefyllath is much better, unless you fight some fire immunes. Especially if you run a ranged rogue, then Sure-Handed Ila+Aefyllath would be great. IDK whether Aefyllath's damage boosts the cipher's focus generation, but an Amplified Wave or a Sacred Immolation buffed by a chanter are quite devastating. Not to mention barbarian's carnage attacks with Tidefall... The rogue uses Persistence. I don't think there's a clear winner between Dragon Trashed and Aefyllath. Dragon Trashed can stack with itself and against multiple enemies it starts adding more dmg than Aefyllath.

Your party/builds are very close to my own optimal team, but I use a rogue instead of a fighter with the barbarian being my off-tank. I use the rogue as the second ranged attacker (while later under Defensive Mindweb he becomes also a melee beast) with the cipher. My second line are the tanky chanter/priest - used for support/assist. I hate resting in PotD and since I don't like too much micro either I stay away from casters as much as possible (with the priest I limit myself to per encounter spells, unless it's a tough fight ). And once you have Sacred Immolation, Dragon Trashed and Heart of Fury who needs CC anymore?

1. Drawn in Spring/Persistence/Tidefall 2. Gauntlets of Swift Action 3. Looped Rope 4. Maegfolc Skull 5. Little Savior

Yes, the ranger is with the pet. Without alacrity DW is king because of the way speed stacks and affects DPS (multiplicative and non linear).

Here's the Persistence ranger (top) VS dual Bittercut rogue (bottom) comparison (without buffs - no alacrity/resting bonuses/etc). With 2xDrawn in Spring the rogue has an even greater advantage. Of course this is with 0% armor recovery for both - realistic for the ranger, but harder to manage for the rogue. ranger vs rogue.pdf

I think in the first versions of the game backstab and petrify bonuses were multiplicative and it was possible to reach higher numbers than now. Right now only a rogue has the potential to reach 500dmg with a single hit (backstab, critical, deathblow on a petrified target).

Well, you can always compare the ranger's dps with any of the other two... But dual wield will be always behind because it's just 1h dps with 0% recovery. Maybe I will make a comparison without alacrity and without resting bonuses and see which one comes on top.

Fully buffed (30+mig/int), with a critical Disintegrate you should be able to deal over 1k dmg which can kill any dragon...

I tried first with a png file and it was impossible to zoom, then I changed it to pdf...