Elric Galad

Why am I thinking about Mowdyr right now ?

It's not the most Cheesy of all cheese. "The prolonge your Empower by casting the same spell again" is a good universal way of abusing Empower I guess. Can you prolonge Toxic Strike the same way ? (as a dual attack, it shouldn't be too hard to reapply)

"let's take a sword in my left hand so I can fire faster"

I tend to forget about cheese that breaks my immersion. Leaping in luminous bath as barbarian can be seen as RP

Oh I don't say it's bad or that you can't play around. It just seems to me that under rather optimal conditions (coupled with Plague of Insects or other DoT), it does about half the damages of a Tier 5 ability while not having its utilities. It's the combination of "under good conditions" + half the damages+ no other utility that make me feels it underwhelming. It should be worse than PoI as a tier 3, just a bit less worse Then I'm comparing it to Plague of Insects that is a top tier spell (which I don't pick so often because druid Tier 5 has so many great options). We're just talking about value adjustment here. The spell is viable, I just think it should have been a bit better on its own. But I love insects druid, like I love Storm druid... Like a promise from BG serie that wasn't fulfilled until PoE The absence of poison tag is sweet, but since the best way to make it optimal is Plague of Insects... It also doesn't help that I start 95% of my battles as a druid by a quick cast of Nature Balm while the party is still close that leaves only one use of Tier 3 EDIT : but if everybody thinks it's good, maybe setting it to 0-15 raw damages was overbuffing. Still I can't prevent myself from thinking it's a bit weak, so I might tune down my buffing to 0-12 raw damages.

I personally like Animist spell selection the most. You really have a bit of everything But shifter selection best part is getting Pollen Patch on Tier 9, so you can pick Maelstrom and Prestige and still have some room for something else. Granted that "something else" is pretty meh without BPM.

I knew that Leap enabled taking a bath in the barbarian way, but I didn't know this one.

I think the drake is fine now. It can fly all over the place and apply its Fire DoT everywhere, and knocking down people a bit. It seems to be able to target quite well, maybe that's the key difference with the adult dragon whose cone attack with friendly fire can be harder to use (that plus duration, and the mate from the upgrade). Well, not that much. Its breath is a level 9 ability, so even with its 20ish INT, the duration is still reasonable (20s) because PL is missing. I'm not completely set about the dragon. It has to be the best at tanking and dealing AoE (albeit less conveniently, and for less time than the Drake), so I think emphasizing its specialty could be a good way. Maybe Tail Lash should push and Interrupt. Maybe its single target KD ability should do more single target damage (as a spike, meanwhile Weapons keep the static part), or maybe it shall come with a debuff... I thought it was pretty to have Drake and Dragon with the same number of breaths, but the former stays for twice the duration, so maybe it is normal if it gets more...

I plan to change Pain Link to 30s and 30% damages reflected back. It is generally less useful than dealing 30% more damages to a specific target, but with twice the duration as Recall Agony (it also costs more), it will have time to cause some pain. I also tweaked a bit Chanter Summons. Ghost upgrade now lasts for 120s (a summon you can forget until killed). Drake and Spore lasts for 50s (twice more than Ancient Weapons and Ogres who come in groups). Drake and Dragon can use their breath 5x times instead of 2 and Dragon breath now has the same DoT as Drake's. So they are very strong AoE. Drake is still somewhat fragile as a lone summon and Dragon can be seen as a SC buff (but the 4 ancient Weapons are still crazy enough to be the most well rounded choice). (BPM nerfed the Dragon HP a lot, even if AR was raised) Everything is done for players not to pick Ancient Weapons every time

In general, the first question is indeed your party comp. Do you have other healers (I like to have 2-3 healers, Paladin or Priest are good healer, Cipher and Chanter can help a bit) ? Do you have other characters with resurrection abilities (I like to have 2, but scrolls can help if you have only one) ? If you plan to use lots of DoT, you'll have big INT and MIG, which is also sweet for Healing over Time. Druid healing is so sweet that I wouldn't pick Fury unless my party is already saturated with healers (but in this case, Fury is quite good in their role). BPM made a lots of change to Spiritshift. Shark hits for more damage, Stormblight has some uniquely fun features and Animist has choice between a lots of forms (Cat is less of a must pick). As SC Druid, you may want to profit from Wildstrike Frenzy. Stag Spiritshift + Entropy leads to double AoE on Crit, this can hurt a lot. Summon Blights are much better since I remove the randomness (beware the change is in the non-buff package). Freezing Pillar is sweet, but Maelstorm is just so broken that it's hard not to use it. BPM Wildstrike allows bonus PL for the corresponding element. It is not better that what you get from weapons, but it allows specializing in 2 elements : picking Fire weapons with Axe of Magran and+2 Decay/Acid PL = from Wildstrike can be quite versatile. Example : Corrode Wildstrike Stag form + Entropy. I would say that because of Spiritshift rebalance and Wildstrike bonus PL to the corresponding element, even if you go Animist, you will still be able to personalize your build quite a bit. Note that you can also go Shifter. Shifter is a full spellcaster, don't think too much about the melee side. It helps but is just an additional feature. With the Form rebalance, it adds another layer of versatility.

This would hint toward my pet theory. A big part of 3D Isometric RTwP CRPG crowd is people in their 30ies+. And we simply don't have that much time to play all of games. There was a good number of 3D Isometric CRPG when PoE2 was released, while PoE1 was the first. Even I have just bought and finished Tyranny and Disco Elysium even if basically planned to buy them for years. I bought PoE2 semothing like 6 months after release. But I eventually bought all of them

I would say it's rather bad, but not terrible. Let's say it has an average of 5 raw damages per tick (average between 0 and 10). It would be inferior to Insect Swarm damage from Tier 2, lower duration, without additional effect but the AoE indeed compensates. The issue is that I find "average of 5 raw damages per tick" super optimistic because it is an AoE spell. In a group of foes, you usually like to focus vs one at a time. That's not 100% true but still. A couple of foes would be on their way to Death (so <50%) while the others would still be in their 75%ish+ health. In practice the average damages is more around 3 base raw per tick, which isn't enough. Later on, there would be more foes around blooded, but a couple already down. Damages would be better and rather good then, but at this stage the spell is basically a Win-more. It doesn't help that some abilities just destroys foes when Near Death. Bonus damages vs Near Death is often mehish for this other reason. In a nutshell, even if the spell has its merits (large AoE, no Poison tag, as the others said), but I found it disappointing in practice (BPM increased its base damages to 0-15 raw per tick).

It was my initial idea but I discarded it. - For fan of flames, it would have been nice - For ray of fire, it still wouldn't have been good enough for Tier 3 (compare with Ectopsychic level of ray damages...) - For Pillars of Flames, it would have been super tedious to implement (since it is an actual priest ability, not a magran specific one ; it would have required a replacement by a NEW ability. Replacing ability is just painful to do) - For Torrent of Flames, it still wouldn't have been good enough for Tier 7 (compare with Minoletta Precise Burst on Tier 6...) In addition : - It wouldn't address Magran problem vs Fire Immune - It wouldn't be that much Magran fluff. I don't think she hesitates too much before causing Litteral Friendly Fire Well, not anymore in next BPM version. I've added Frost immunity instead of AR to Flame Shield. Still not broken (and those nagas will get it too ). It makes no sense that a mid-level fire buff is weak vs Ice foes. Note that Water attack would still extinguish Flame Shield. But that's absolutely legit IMHO. Darcozzini version does not have this problem, as the status isn't fire tagged. Well I changed 60s of +10 fire AR to 45s of 10% Fire Absorb (Now go face Dorudugan with a Potion of Enlightenment) I have to keep the healing, so Rebirth from Flames isn't poor vs non-fire foe. (also I'm pushing a bit high Constitution builds) I'm trying to make this spell work vs Fire foes and non-Fire foes, so I couldn't go for a big Fire Absorb without self-healing. Sure you could use your own fire spells to regenerate too, but that would make Rebirth from Flames too much combo-oriented (broken with the right build, meh vs the rest). So you'll have it

By the way, BPM Tactician is also Confused while under 50% health. (It also causes them +50% Recovery malus.) This is supposed to be a nerf, but I guess it allows some specific cheese without involving Distracted (which BPM blunderbusses don't cause ; streetfighter nerf)

It took me time to realize Distracted from Blunderbusses causes Confusion on a Tactician

But don't you need Confusion to cast SoT on foes in the first place?

You sure ? That would be weird (even by PoE obscure rules standard) Priest of Magran Symbol is nothing special IMHO. Eothas is way better in my opinion. +15 all defenses is really a great bonus, and it's pretty rare. Everyone and their grandmother can inflict Blind. Meanwhile Circle of Protection is meh due to low duration (unless BPM) and not benefitting from PL, so Symbol of Eothas can carry the role of the "all defense buffer" spell. Cast Shield for the Faithfull and Symbol of Eoaths, and you will be standing at +40 Deflection while your foes die. This topic made me reconsider a couple of previous decisions about BPM priest subclasses. First I will set all incarnate to 35s even the duo (Berath) and trio (Eothas). Eothas subclass only has this for it, and Berath, while well-rounded isn't that special either. Skaen, Wael and Woedica are the 3 subclasses that brings something fresh, while having a bit average symbol and mehish incarnate. Magran has always been a concern for me. It's all about fire damages and the subclass even get fire spells at later level. Ray of Flame is subpar for a Tier 3 and Torrent of Flames is bad for Tier 7. Previously I buffed Magran's Torrent of Flames to foe only and +15 Accuracy but I feel it wasn't enough. Fan of Flame is okay Tier 1 and Fire Shield is good enough for Tier 5 (Priest Tier 4 is crowded anyway), at least it brings something unique (and a bunch of Ice AR). So I basically gave Magran 2 new spells : - Divine Ray of Fire : basically the same, but range 5m->10m and duration 10s->20s. I could have just buffed the damages but increasing range and duration is meant to make the spell feels a bit different and the 20 potential Hits can help for some combos (such as combusting wounds) - Rebirth from Flames : basically a friendly Torrent of Flames but also fully heals the caster (high Constitution will like) and gives +10 Fire AR for 60s (as much as Fire shield gives Ice AR). The later is important because it is meant to address Magran Priest weakness vs Fire based foes. You won't hurt them much with Rebirth from Flames, but you will fully heal and be resistant to them as well. So Magran is a Fire damages specialist, but at least you get something unique to do for those battles where fire damages won't work.

Yes, it does. The idea was to make Stag more focused than it was. Regular carnage has not much combo potential (apart with BPM barbarian ) In comparison, cat has more attack rate so can generate more crits. But Stag splashes.

CP transformed it into a Barbarian style carnage. BPM transformed it into a pseudo Wildstrike Frenzy AoE on Crit à la stag pet.

But they are (as Knockdown). I may have expressed poorly. I think Force of Anguish isn't used much because it requires your character to walk a lot, and Skyward Kick requires re-targetting (and compete with other Tier 7 abilities, which is a concern for Multiclass)

Somehow, I never realized they target different defenses. Indeed Skaen is great for this reason, and Eoathas targetting Reflex isn't bad either. Targetting Fortitude isn't great but Symbol of Berath causes Weakened, which means it will cancel CON Inspiration buff to Fortitude and cause Fortitude loss for next hits.

To be more specific : - Passive effect from weapons benefit from Weapon Enchantment level - Active effect (such as run through) from weapons benefit from both Weapon Enchantment level AND Power level scaling (as if they were level 1 for most abilities). That's why passive effect are quite good and active effect are often crazy good. Usually, having an active effect on your weapon isn't your priority (one should prefer general DPS stuff or repeatable effects), so I think it's good this way. As @Constentin Lévineis adding, the effect from other passive depends on what tag they have.

My favorite is Berath because Symbol with Corrode damages is great and AoE Weakened is usually quite useful. The double Incarnate is also sweat, and you get a few other good spells from other classes. Eothas looks meh (not much spell from other classes) but the Symbol is great (AoE +all defenses on top of damages ; it is arguably the strongest in raw power, even if fire damages is annoying) and the triple summon is arguably the very strongest (you basically summon 2 lvl 20 priests and 1 lvl 20 fighter). The later require the BPM bug correction (without it, one of Berath incarnate does not work). BPM also decreases Eoathas Incarnate duration, because it will be broken without it. You still need a Tier 8 backup in case you face some foes resistant to your Symbol damage type. The healing/fire beam is great (unless your symbol has fire damages) and Spark the Soul of the Righteous can be super strong with a few summons. I find Wael and Skaen symbols inferior (and well, Woedica too) but because backup tier 8 spells are far from bad, it isn't that bad as it sounds. They have great bonus abilities from the first tiers. Magran isn't versatile enough for my tastes, but once more, it is not very critical. SC Priest really requires backup spells when facing fire resistant foes. They have some, it is just that some subclasses won't work well as damage dealers when facing such foes (once more, for SC it is mitigated by Spark the Soul of the Righteous). So in conclusion : really anything works. So just pick the flavor you prefer.

Finally, I went with 20s Shaken and Disoriented for Deadly Surprise (so 15s with pet's 5 base INT). I also reworked Takedown a bit. I felt weird to me that it caused Prone on Hit only, as it is supposed to be the primary objective of the ability. Since it also targets Fortitude (often quite high), I thought it was meh as an Interrupt. Previously, I modified Brutal Takedown to cause Interrupt on Graze too since it felt meh compared to Takedown Combo. For next version, I have changed all 3 Takedown abilities to interrupt on Graze, as for similar single target abilities from other classes (Force of Anguish, Skyward Kick, Knockdown). And Brutal Takedown is getting a 20s Staggered effect on top of its increased PEN. Staggered isn't the best affliction, but it is nice and one will still get the bonus PEN vs MIG Resistant foes. Overall, the pet can now act as a mini-rogue (feels good since it has a passive to get +30% damages vs Afflicted target), so you'll be a bit more tempted to pick pet abilities (outside of Takedown Combo, which always had potenial).

Since you will be starving for PL and you will naturally have a very wide spell repertoire, you might be interested by picking some more specialized subclasses. The most obvious is Lifegiver since you can rely on WIzard Summons anyway. Lifegiver's Healing on Time requires a lot of Might and Int, which are the same stats as required by DoT such as insect swarm. BPM tweaked a lot Wiz subclasses. Transmuter has poor synergy with druids, but the others are fine. You might have a look at them. Conjurer is nice to compensate for missing PL through Familiar +1 Passive PL bonus. Enchanter and Illusionist have cool passive too. Fast casting wiz spells (generally selef-buffs) are really great for this multiclass since you have so many spell slots that you will be more interested in action economy than saving your ressources. Druid will adore the +5 Int from Infuse Vital Essence or Swift/Action speed from DAoM. And a Shifted druid under Llengrath Safeguard will have a crazy Armor (19 Armor vs all damage types for a Bear Shift).