Kaylon

You can enchant Cladhaliath solo now because you don't have to stand on the symbols anymore - you just have to walk over them and they stay activated. However for a chanter I don't think it's such a great idea. With the Vile Loner however you can build a very strong interrupting build once you have the buff giving +50interrupt.

The problem with resting isn't the cost, it's the time spent on useless travelling and loading times. Also a party without big resting needs can keep up to 3 resting bonuses (inn + wilderness + brothel) active for a long time, which isn't possible if you have to rest after each fight... As an anecdote, some people even got stuck in a dungeon and had to cheat because they finished their camping supplies and weren't able to fight their way out of the dungeon...

Do you mean bash doesn't hit twice when Taste of the Hunt procs? Or bash doesn't hit twice with HoF (as in each hit, doesn't generate a single additional hit on a different target)? Or just that you're not seeing the bash bug altogether. As both Loren Tyr and I tested the bash bug it would be weird if you couldn't replicate it, however perhaps with another effect in play the bash effect behaves correctly than it does in your average attack (which seems bugged, as mentioned). In fact I didn't see the bug at all, but I was focused mostly on HoF. However from what I read about the bug it doesn't seem to happen all the time...

You may look badass with a great sword but in the end you can do the same damage with a sabre while swinging faster and being also a tank... You don't see many 2h weapons builds because they are mostly situational - used for their unique enchantments or because they can have longer range...

I don't know what happens but the Firebug proc seems to be bugged and almost never triggers (just like Vent Pick)... Taste of the Hunt works like it should, bash doesn't hit twice and overall the results aren't very impressive. The problem with the shield is it lowers accuracy (which already isn't stellar for a barb), bash has also low accuracy and Taste of the Hunt isn't a guaranteed hit either. HoF has a pretty small radius and Combusting Wounds even smaller... In the end I think a double Bittercut is the most damaging combo for HoF.

Yeah, I forgot that wounds don't trigger combusting wounds anymore...

The hardest is Raedric of course...

I think the best combo for HoF would be Unlabored Blade+Drawn in Spring. The gazillion of wounds you get combined with Combusting Wounds will be hilarious. I have to test it myself...

The little details can make the difference - that means finding the best equipment as soon as possible, change your weapons to adapt to your enemies, use the survival accuracy bonuses, etc... Most enemies in ch.1 target deflection and if you add a potion of wizard's double you can reduce all their attacks to grazes. Before going to Eothas temple or clearing the courtyard of Caed Nua you can first stealth and pick the sword from the entrance of Caed Nua for example. The bear is the second toughest monster in the ch.1 and can be tanked easily at lv4 (you can reduce his dmg to 5).

Llengrath is very easy even if you can't tank - you run around with enough speed and plink everyone with arrows - 99% of the encounters can be won using this tactic.The adra dragon can be rooted in place with blind spells (from armor/necklace) and you plink her with arrows while standing out of her range. The trickiest is the alpine, but some people managed to kill him with a bow just by tanking his minions (they stand in his way and prevent him from attacking you).

Focusing on DPS when solo doesn't pay off as a melee. And I'm not sure the classes with Yes, that's the best way to do a TCS with any class - you basically do a pacifist run until you reach a high enough level and then you return and stomp all the low level encounters with minimal risk (I have a playthrough with a solo rogue who's lvl8 in Defiance Bay with only 4kills - the hunters from the prologue) - and of course you don't scale the content. At lv16 you have basically a few tough fights left if you want to go for the ultimate, otherwise you go directly and stomp Thaos who's 4lvls lower than you. But of course skipping content and doing it later is just another way to trick the difficulty... That's why all that matters in the end is if you're able to solo the dragons and the WM2 bounties.

Potions?

To get the hatchet you have to kill Brynlod first...

If you make your own priest he can start with 20int and add +4int from ring, +3int from resting and +2int from whore - that's 39s for withdraw which is more than enough for most fights considering your offensive power - and you can have that every encounter with spell mastery. On top you can have 5 more uses or spells like Crown for the Faithful or Minor avatar which can increase the duration even more. Basically you don't have to rest anymore once you get Defensive Mindweb. You can have at the same time +20%dmg against flanking targets (from survival bonus) for your damage dealers and specialize the priest in mechanics.

Well, the rogue has to face the same problems as the ranger when using bows - sneak attack and deathblow have similar requirements and aren't very reliable - besides that bonuses all you can have is 10% from the flanking bonus and 10% ranged dmg from items. If we compare a ranger and a rogue, both with a legendary durganized bow (both with the gauntlets of quickness) we have: - rogue: 100%(base)+55%(legendary)+45%(might)+50%(sneak)+100%(deathblows)+10%(flank)+10%(ranged)+16%(hit to criticals)=386% - ranger: (100%(base)+55%(legendary)+45%(might)+15%(sneak)+10%(flank)+20%(link)+8%(hit to criticals))x2=508% That means the ranger will out dps the rogue vs any target with less than 10DR, while the rogue will start doing more dps vs targets with higher DR. However the ranger has stunning shots which means he will start doing criticals like crazy vs stunned targets, he has driving flight which means even more potential dmg, he has higher accuracy (link) which means more criticals - in practice a rogue with a bow won't out dps the ranger even without counting the pet save vs very high def/DR enemies. Of course the melee rogue can have more dps because he can reach 0% recovery and has access to more dmg bonuses - but if he wants more dps he has to sacrifice survability - he can die more often, he can be interrupted more often, he can't instantly change targets - it's another debate... PS. I didn't count the wounds for the rogue, neither the dmg of the pet - but the pet adds clearly more dps.

He's better with both maxed because as a ranger you can dump con/res. But if you really want to pick you should keep in mind the ranger has very few ways to increase his damage outside his weapon. You can squeeze at best: - 20%dmg from stalker's torc - 10%dmg from archer's gloves (but the gauntlets of quickness are better) - 15%dmg from apprentice's sneak attack - 10%dmg from items with flanking bonus - 10-30%dmg from variuous buffs Without buffs you barely reach 100% bonus dmg (under perfect circumstances - ie attacking a flanked target at the same time as your pet) with a superb weapon. 100% dmg bonus means 16.5 more dmg on average - ie against anything with at least 17DR might is better than dex for dps until your dmg bonus will compensate the enemies DR. The conclusion is dex is good vs trash mobs, while might is always better vs targets with high DR.

In fact in 99% of the situations resolve is the only attribute wich can change the outcome of a quest. The other attributes give just alternate dialogue choices but won't change the result. I think there are only 1-2 quests when you need another stat to open first more dialogue options and be able to pick later the high resolve choice. But you need the other stats also for the scripted interactions...

I never encountered such high checks - from what I remember the highest requirements are for the dragons and neither gets so high (forgot how much you need for Llengrath but I don't think it was over 21)

When a target has 0DR, dex is better than might because you have other dmg bonuses and might has less impact. But when you have less than 100% dmg bonuses and your target has 10-15DR it's like if it removes 100-150% from your dmg bonuses and then might has suddenly greater impact than dex on your dps.

A cipher can have 40% dmg from whip, 45% from might, 55% from weapon (exceptional+slaying) and 15% from apprentice's sneak attack and a corrosive lash doing 30% more dmg (if you pick bittercut and spirit of decay). With an arquebus/pistol that's 100dmg on average depending on DR - which means you can drain 60-70 focus on the first hit - add that to your base focus and you'll be able to cast any spell...

Durgan enchanted padded has 5% recovery penalty. Base recovery for dual wield is 50% and with two weapons style it becomes 30%. Gauntlets and durganized weapons give you 32% attack speed, thus you're left with 3% recovery which is nearly 1 animation frame - almost nothing.

Well, that seems rather useless from me, especially when you look at the buffs of the melee classes.

Stun/prone won't work vs players because items with preservation enchantment will make them nearly immune while disabled.

I would go for human fighter with Bittercut - while both racial abilities are pretty useless the deathlike can't wear helmets (also +2int is meh as a fighter).

I forgot about the chant giving 30%dmg vs beasts - that puts beasts on the top of the list for the highest single target damage. Here are all the bonuses you can have: 55% legendary enchantment 25% slaying (beast) enchantment 25% beast slayer 10% drake's den resting bonus 30% chant 10% ranged damage (cloak of the frozen hunt) 20% death's usher 20% survival flanking bonus 10% item flanking bonus 10% blessing 84% might bonus 50% sneak attack 100% deathblows 150% backstab 50% finishing blow 150% critical (20%base+30%durgan+30%merciless hand+10%dungeon delver+50%bloody slaughter+10%rabbit fur gloves) 30% burning lash multiplicative bonus (with scion of flame) 30% burning lash multiplicative bonus from chant (with scion of flame) 250% multiplicative bonus from finishing blow if target under 1% end (finishing blow+devastating blow) And the maximum damage possible would be 36*(1+799%)*(1+250%)*(1+60%)=1812 (1132pierce+679burn) - that's if you score a critical hit with your max weapon damage on a beast with under 1% endurance left. In practice however (average dmg, beast under 10% end) with the optimal setup you can expect close to 1300dmg with a critical. PS. It seems the 6 hits of the blunderbuss are added together for the final damage - thus it has even higher damage potential than the arquebus. However the blunderbuss is limited by the endurance of the target (a target with low endurance will be likely killed by the first hit, while the others will do no damage...)