Elric Galad

I think weapon stats bonus have a very big opportunity cost. It costs damages. Weapons are by far the most critical items for damages. So I think it is balanced as it.

In case someone wondered, Critical Defenses works with any defense, not just Deflection. I believe it is a nice addition to Fighter's defenses.

Let's go for my personal class top : Super God Tier : 1 - Priest : the answer to all your problems. You can't replace priest, except with ton of scrolls, and you still won't get Crown of the Faithful or Devotion of the Faithful. Best buffer, best healer, very nice AoE damages only a bit inferior to wizards and druids. Priest has mediocre CC for a caster, but that's about it. 2 - Wizard : Most of the best CC, crazy AoE DPS, especially with alacrity. As powerful as Priest, maybe even more, just a bit easier to replace. God Tier : 3 - Druid : AoE on par with Wizard. Can bash everything in melee on basic encounters, which makes him very suitable in balancing your party. Moonwell is crazy as Buff/Heal. But his strongest card are Storm spells, especially relentless storm. Relentless storm makes crowd fight so much easier, especially against all the trashes that likes living in dragon's lair... "I really like to have these guys in my party" tier : These guys don't have the raw power of casters, but makes party life a lot easier. 4 - Ranger Best martial DPS overall. Pet does very good damages and ends with very nice DR that makes it decent as offtank. Twin arrows and, to a lesser extent, driven flight makes ranger's distance figthting really above anyone else. He can snipes casters, and do reliable damage against everything else. Icing on the cake : Crowd controls. Binding roots and Stunning Shots are 2 excellent sources of Single target CC. Did you already face binding roots ? Then you know how annoying it is to have your melee guys Stuck for 30s. 30s "half-hard" CC as fast cast... and it is just 1 relatively minor card in the ranger's deck... 5 - Paladin Best single target heals, sturdy against about every spells and attacks. Zealous endurance will make early game far more stressful. And immolation because AoE DPS is cool. The ideal frontliner that buff everybody, saves life and does AoE damages... 6 Monk Monk can do about everything : hold the frontline, deals very good DPS (with some AoE), on-demand CC and even powerful summons. You just have to manage wounds accordingly. Which is not always easy. That's the limit to his potential. The good point is that he has the most potential when it is the most needed. 7 - Cipher You want a mix of martial DPS and caster ? Here comes the cipher. His single target CC are probably the best. Are you an archer ? Aren't those guys running to you annoying ? Cast Puppetmaster and now they are yours for 20-30s. Slight weakness against boss cause focus generation will be a bt more limited... Okay Tier : Not as much key members as the ones above, they have less potential in my opinion. But there is currently no bad class IMHO. 8 - Chanter Dragon slashed hard, but Dragon was a bit one poney trick. Still powerful enough to justify the class. And in case Dragon won't be efficient, you can just change your trick. Invocations are rare, but some are very powerful. Ah, and chanter can hold the frontline very easily, which worths noticing. 9 Fighter Fighter may not be the most powerful class but they are very reliable. He hits as hard as Cipher, and hold the front as no other, as they have a couple of "immortality tricks" (triggered immunity and Unbroken). Charge really added decent AoE potential. 10 Barbarian Rather weak abilities. But carnage is godly. Barbarian will probably end up with the most damages. Surprisingly, they are very nice offtank with their endurance, health and instant cast self-heal. In most cases, they will hold your flank wihout any problem, especially with a draining Weapon (who said Tidefall ?) Heart of fury is probably the most damaging AoE of the game by the way, even if slightly situational. Their downside is that they have close to zero utility when facing single targets. Which happens. 11 Rogue Single Target damages. And that's about it. Current rogue's problem is that they are in my opinion inferior to Ranger in this role. Twin Arrows outdamages Rogues ranged capabilities, and combining Ranger and pet attacks will come at least very close to rogue in total DPS (rogue can achieve zero recovery with sky-high Dexterity, lashes, crazy and bonus damages, etc..., so they are probably above... but Ranger can have 2 arrows and a pet, which means 3 attacks per swing as multiplicator...). But Ranger, as mentionned above, have other cards in his play, like Double Endurance Pools and infinite Single Target CC, and, well, ranged superiority. Let's face it, the pet itself is at least as sturdy as the rogue, so there can't be too much arguing about "yes but pet is too fragile". Yes, but Rogue too, and Rogue does not have around 25 DR... Probably the most convenient skill monkey, but that's about their only use apart Single target DPS.

Yep, and suddenly, your chanter paralyses the battlefield, summons 3 ancient weapons or even more crazy, resurrect half of your team with "Rise Again, Rise Again, Scions of Adon !", my favorite situationnal invocation. Do you know what ? Classes are balanced now

Mmm Lucca is not a cipher gunner, in my opinion. She's just a wizard with a gun, and scion of flames. Druid Crono is probably the less bad choice for him here.

I'm pretty sure it is Magran's zealots bounty. How much I hated those guys, it seemed they never ran out of healing...

So it's basically 60 damages against 150% DR per 4s chant with 15 Int (for 9s total) at level 16. Plus Might bonus of course. With a friendly AoE. And chanter can do something else in the mean time. With immolation, paladin does 25 average damage per 3s against 100% DR. Wich means 33 average damages per 4s against 133% DR. I really wondered how Dragon slashed compared to sacred immolation. Apparently, a Dragon Slashed focused chanter will do much more damages than paladin (not to mention the increased ranged.). But of course the paladin can do a lot of other stuff in the meantime, heals nearby allies too, etc...

Abydon's hammer for me. +4 mig is huge for healing, immolation and stupidly high fortitude. Pallegina decent intelligence and perception are nice for its CC effect too (at least a bit better than other martials).

Nobody mentioned Shadowflame yet ? Best level 4 spell by far. Big AoE, good damage. AoE Paralysis. Crazy. And to make it even more crazy... it is fast casting...

Why modding people just can't avoid throwing the balance out of the window ? First, fire godlikes are OK as they are. At high level, their special just does tons of damage. Then death godlikes just need a slightly bigger buff to their special. I don't even know which is exactly "low HP". +20% damage when ennemies are under 25% I presume. +50% under 25% would be enough, powerful but still circonstancial. Nature's godlike is meh. +3 all stats would be OK.

Jan Jansen : Illusionist/Thief would fit cipher rather well. Minsc : he is more a barbarian or fighter with nature related talent than a ranger. Ranger's PoE concept is too far from Minsc. Mazzu : Some kind of ranged paladin

That's because original sneak attack itself worths far more than constant recovery or frenzy... Sneak attack is the reason why you bring a rogue with your party in the first place. Apprentice's sneak attack is a totally balanced talent IMHO.

Scion of flame is only 20% bonus on 25% chanter lash, which result 5% damage. I would not say it is a no-brainer. Of course, with an fire lash on your weapon, fire godlike racial, various abilities, or even just for the 5DR against fire, it is a nice talent. But I usually only take Scion of flames on my casters and on my paladin.

Does the Immolation self damages also dispell charm on paladin ?

Sword of Elemental Planes ? Did you find it ?

I still believe a little buff would be nice. After all, it has already been buffed since 1.0. Anyway, it is probably not the rogue ability that requires the most Love&Care. I just realized that coordinate positionning was apparently set to 4s. I have no clue when it happened. It is pretty satisfying now. It was set from 2.0 to 2.5m in 2.01 (just found the patch notes). I guess they upgraded it several times.

It seems to work with blast as well... I'm pretty sure Aloth Domination worked on a secondary target... What usually works with blast ?

Do you think Grey Sleeper rogue would be a good idea ? Or 5% Twin Stones is too low to be reliable ?

So they are god-likes? Makes sense. Balrog must be a fire-godlike. Sauron is probably a death-godlike. Balrog is indeed a fire spirit/angel. But Sauron was actually a smith spirit/angel. Which makes sense given that he created most of the Rings. Tolkien's mythology is a mix of Christian and Polytheist mythology. There is one unique God called Eru Illuvatar. He created angel-like beings called the AInur. The most powerful Ainur are called Valar (more or less Archangel). They moved to Earth and created a kind of Pantheon ; each Valar has his/her own Portfolio. For example, there is a local Hephaïstos called Aulë who was Sauron's former master. Their servant, the lesser Ainur, are called Maiar (more or less angels). The most powerful of the angels was once called Melkor (more or less Lucifer). He betrayed God and fell. He became Morgoth, the Dark ennemy (basically Satan). He corrupted several Maiar like Balrogs (Durin's bane is only the last Balrog, not the only one) and Sauron, who became demon-like beings.

I found the Soulbound Scepter to be extremely baddass. The Domination effect lasts for a while and the class related abilities seem rather convenient. Nice bonus : I realized you can use it with a Skaen Priest and get the accuracy bonus.

Gandalf, Sauron and Balrog belong to the same race. They are basically angels (or fallen ones).

And then, cipher casts mindweb.

Everything else is linear addition except various lash (weapons, fire chant, turning wheel, flame of devotion, wounding shot) and finishing blow multiplier (finishing also has an additive component.)

I still believe a little buff would be nice. After all, it has already been buffed since 1.0. Anyway, it is probably not the rogue ability that requires the most Love&Care.

Burst high crit is not what bows allow. Chanter won't help. Or more exactly: the fire lash chant won't help you more than if you have been melee. The ranged speed chant is inferior. What chanter would bring is hit & run capability, with frost trap and movement speed chants. By the way, Ranged rogue are inferior to ranger. I'd rather use a thicker armor and stick to melee. My melee PotD rogue works fine, but maybe paladin aura and moon godlike traits do help...