Sanctuary

The hammer is the most powerful (per hit) weapon in the entire game. It's also odd that some are saying it doesn't have a high DPS when it still has the highest DPS in the game. 11K damage or higher per swing divided by the time it took per swing and to get to enemies is still more than anything else in the game. You should be using the hammer's power attack, not doing the normal swings if you want to see its real damage potential. That being said, it's also overkill and not the most efficient way to mop up the screen. The mind control gun is simply OK, but it's better on a companion than the player due to targeting issues, and similarly with the shrink ray. The companions tend to lock on to moving targets, and don't miss. The real reason to raise Science is not for the Science weapons though. It's a) plasma and corrosion damage and b) drastically reducing Tinkering costs. Any weapon converted to plasma or corrosion will deal even more damage with an investment into Science than in its kinetic form. By default, the plasma rifle is one of the most powerful weapons in the entire game. Also, putting 60 into Inspiration and bringing Sam and Max along for their passive buffs to Science will make you do even more damage. More than grabbing Lone Wolf...

Did you really need to bump your own post by starting an identical thread less than fifteen minutes later? Regardless, I had a similar suspicion that fights would just drag on unbearably long, especially trash fights that eventually don't really need that much player input when using RTwP and cutsom AIs.

You don't have to move. You can just force that character to stop and then cast the spell again, even while paused. Unless you literally mean hitting the stop button, for certain spells (especially personal AoE spells like Returning or Relentless Storm), simply trying to recast doesn't work. But if hitting stop allows them to actually cast when you try it again, why was this an issue in the first place? There wasn't even really a target, since it's just a radius around the caster anyway. I've had this also happen with stuff like Arcane Veil and a few other buffs. It's pretty rare for this to happen, but really annoying when it does regardless. @Srulz: My current party all have some kind of caster component, and three out of five of them load up on buffs every encounter. I've seen the issues with the AI consistently throughout my current playthrough, and it does, in fact completely ignore cooldown timers with some buffs. Doesn't matter what qualifier is used either unless it's one of the "not" inspirations. On my Battlemage, I kept wondering where the hell all of my early casts were going and they were being eaten up by Spirit Shield. Timer, doesn't matter. It also didn't even follow the logic to cast it IF I had Infuse with Vital Essence up. I have fit/smart, so cast? Nope, completely ignores it. The only thing that it seems to reliably work with is not having concentration. Same thing with Ironskin. It will actually cast when it meets the qualifier, but it will simply recast it again once it wears off, despite having a 30s - 60s cooldown. I've actually been having more issues with the game now than when it was first released. My game essentially never crashed at release, and it's been a crashfest with the more recent updates. Some kind of bug in the temp folder would cause me to crash 100% of the time when exiting any given zone to another. The only way I figured out how to get around this was to enter a different area than the one I originally intended, and then proceed to the original destination. Very tedious. I recently found a post here describing the same issue and the solution was to delete the Temp Obsidian folder each time this would happen, and that's so far been the "fix". I've even uninstalled and redownloaded it, but it's something in the current build.

Pretty sure you just don’t know how to use the system Dude. This never happens to me. Hasn’t since my first playthrough. Watch a YouTube video or something. Seriously? I've been playing off and on since launch (200+ hours at launch), and I've set up plenty of fully automated fights that work pretty well. The problem--that has been here since launch--is that certain buffs ignore that they are already applied, especially those that don't have the "has inspiration XXX" with the "not" checked. For example, Disciplined Barrage used to cast, and then the AI would not recast it if you put a cooldown on it. Then it randomly started ignoring that, and you had to add the "not" requirement. Circle of Protection RANDOMLY follows the logic set for it as well as the cooldown, and other times it simply casts one directly after the other. https://forums.obsidian.net/topic/103335-bug-102-ai-action-set-cooldown-dosent-work/ Good luck ever getting Spirit Shield to work correctly at the start of a fight if you happened to take the Combat Focus skill too. The only way I have managed to get this to NOT spam cast (it completely ignores the cooldown timer) is with the "not" concentration option, and not have Combat Focus. Most of the buffs can be set up to work correctly, but not all of them. It gets even worse when you encounter any Arcane Dampener caster, and PotD is plagued with them. Theirs works 100% of the time too unless you're a gimmick build that gouges Will, yet yours works on almost nothing that really needs it. Besides that, there's no accounting for being hit with it via AI. You have to simply set the characters to attack only if they are hit with it. Then there's the problem where sometimes your characters just get stuck permanently trying to cast something, because the game acts like there's some random targeting issues, even when it's an ability that targets the caster. You then have to move them, even if it's just a pixel and then force cast it again to get it to actually cast.

Until they fix the issues with cooldown timers simply being ignored, and the AI just chain casting the same buffs, fully automatic is going to be problematic unless you simply decide to not use any buffs at all. These have been problematic since launch though, so I doubt it's going to get fixed.

Late reply, but thanks for this. When the game was first released, I finished it twice without a single crash, and then stopped playing in June. I restarted once all of the DLC was released, and it's been a crash fest left and right and always on a transition. The way I "solved" it before was that if it crashed when going to a specific area, I would just go to a different area first, then try to zone back to the area I originally wanted to go to and it would work. I was just stuck in the Hall of the Unseen, so I couldn't do that (of course it crashed when I tried to leave). Deleting the temp folder solved it.

Sort of off topic maybe, but how exactly do you get up to "five" Death Rings with an Arcane Archer using Watershaper's Focus? At most, it only jumps once, giving me two (Driving Flight doesn't seem to be granting an additional Imbue with it either). Twinned Shot doesn't seem to allow you to use an imbue with it either. Now that I'm level 15 in my current game, my Nature Godlike Evoker is pretty far ahead of my Arcane Archer, who is using a fully upgraded Essence Interrupter and Spearcaster, with everything being dumped into Metaphysics and Arcana. That's not counting the pet damage, but my pet has not contributed tens of thousands worth of additional damage, so it's pretty negligible. But anyway, even once I get Death Ring, I don't see how it's supposed to activate more than two times at most, and with a weapon that does pretty crappy base damage compared to the other two weapons I am currently using. On top of everything else, the Archer just feels very lackluster to play. I already played a Ranger/Berserker, and while it was mostly just autopilot, it was still pretty fun when using the prenerfed Frostseeker. Now though, it just feels like I am playing a neutered Geomancer, especially since you can't really aim the imbues to specific areas, but instead have to aim on a target; often having to wait until they've stopped moving, and then have to hope that it doesn't hit your tank. Death Ring should "fix" that issue, but it's still a long road to reach that point, and before then it's kind of like "what's really the point of this subclass?". The additional damage from imbue missle is nothing special for the cost, and the fireball is pretty crappy too. Pull of Eora is also pretty silly since it usually grabs the tank along with it, so the build really just seems like it revolves around Death Ring or nothing. I am pretty confident at this point that a Ghost/Evoker would destroy the Arcane Archer in overall usefulness and damage. You'll have a similar accuracy, yet access to haste, better defense, and spells that actually deal damage and can be aimed and shaped.

Ooh, could you be more specific? I have an Evoker that I could turn into a Spellblade, but I wasn't sure if it would work, or how it might work. It works how you think it would. You're an Evoker that gets the passive bonuses from the Assassin. Trickster/Evoker is another option, but Assassin/Evoker is pretty much the glassiest, glass cannon there is. "it works how you think it would" *video is full of mistakes* Not trying to be an ass, but I want to know EXACTLY, SPECIFICALLY what makes this multiclass work. Sorry I guess. Haven't played them since launch, but it was for the accuracy, crit and penetration bonuses from stealth, which others have mentioned. I never particularly thought it was a great combination for the first ten or so levels though due to your limits with entering stealth. Unless it's been changed since then too, it only works with spells that are single bursts of damage, or at least it only works with the first hit of multi-hitting spells, and then they hit normally (in this case, weaker than a single class Wizard). I think Ass/Evoker is OK if you're a) Empowering (I never do) and b) only care about alpha strikes, and using non channeling and non multi-hitting spells. I think a straight up Evoker is a lot more powerful over the course of a fight and requires a lot less micro if you're focusing on spells. The Ass/Evoker seems to play better as an actual hybrid style, and not just a nuker.

Ooh, could you be more specific? I have an Evoker that I could turn into a Spellblade, but I wasn't sure if it would work, or how it might work. It works how you think it would. You're an Evoker that gets the passive bonuses from the Assassin. Trickster/Evoker is another option, but Assassin/Evoker is pretty much the glassiest, glass cannon there is.

It also looks like they never bothered to fix (a seemingly simple fix, since pet damage just reads as your name in the combat log) the log tracking pet damage. So my ranger is probably equal to the Evoker right now.

While it seems like it's obviously one of the best, how is it better than Essence Interrupter or Spearcaster? Anyway, right now my hireling Nature Godlike Evoker is dealing about 10% more damage than my Arcane Archer. That's not a whopping amount more, but still more. I don't yet have access to Driving Flight, Twinned Shot, Fireball, and obviously not Death Ring, so I'll more than likely equal, or surpass him later, but not right now. Right now I'm trying to find a way to justify the class over simply being another Wizard.

I don't know if this is supposed to be a direct response to me or just a general statement, because I never implied anything of the sort. I've already played as a Berserker/Ranger and was going to wait until the Arcane Archer issues were patched to play one. I was only asking if the problem was significant enough to not bother with them until after it gets fixed, that's all. If the class is currently functioning worse than intended, then it is weaker than it's supposed to be. And FWIW, I am a firm believer that subclasses should be stronger than the vanilla forms: for specific builds with very specific uses. Otherwise, there's no point in having so many options if they are all the same for all builds in the end anyway, and min/maxing wouldn't even really be a thing. But just generally stronger period? Nah.

I really want to play the class, but is it really worth bothering with over just playing a Wizard/Ranger or even just a Wizard with a bow for whatever reason before the imbue scaling gets fixed? Do the accuracy bonuses and the potential multiple jumps more than make up for the currently incorrect scaling?

My opinion on this is heavily biased, but I did not play a single class Ranger. I played a Barbarian/Ranger, and so I had to split my skills a bit more. Because of that, the pet well and truly sucked most of the time. I don't know if heavily investing into the pet passives would increase its durability and damage enough to make a dent, but bonded grief is awful and this was when the game was considerably easier on even Veteran than it currently is, while also only scaling the critical path up. The only way to get around that was to either always be storing two emergency bond for the pet rez, or simply keep your pet as far away from combat as possible. Ghost Hearted circumvents this problem, and if I could do it all over again, that's what I would have picked. No idea why the class is considered "good" now compared to previously either (as a hybrid, it was already pretty good, but all I heard was grief about single class Rangers). If you don't mind babysitting the pet more than anyone else, then maybe Sharpshooter or simply the basic Ranger would be better for you.

Agreed. I tried the new monk sub with blood mage and dumped str and maxed res. That was the most boring half hour I've ever played. It wasn't tanky enough to survive and brought little to the table other than just a body with hp. If you're going to build a character at least make it better than the mediocre companions. The fury/blood with str and con as the strong suits does more than half the damage of a full party and soaks half the damage of the full party. I'd say that's a bit more effective. You're taking it to an extreme. We're talking about having Might at 10, not dumping it. And certainly not putting the points into Res, the worst stat in the game. The very first post, and then the fourth asks if this is something worth doing. Also... Usually this guy has a pretty decent grasp on RPGs and builds, but sometimes I have no idea what he was thinking. The damage lost, compared to the health being saved is horribly skewed in this build. This is basically the worst possible "Illusionist" build. You pick the Paladin just so that you can be somewhat self-sustaining (this still isn't a solo build), but your goal is to make the enemies helpless, and then use your weak damage (with your companion or party) to whittle them down. Blood Sacrifice is a total waste here. As for your suggestion about having Might at 10? That's a lot better than dropping it as low as you can, and depending on the rest of your group, maybe a good idea, but as I previously said, the health lost even at 14 Might doesn't matter. As you gain levels you gain more casts, and if you focus on Athletics, you can get multiple "free" casts too. You don't even need to spam Blood Sacrifice either. If your main goal is damage, you only need to refresh the buff each time it drops if you still have spells left to cast. For a solo build though? No idea right now. Min Might is awful, but I don't know that max is any better.