Elric Galad

Most likely this saturday. Sunday at most. Probably not for Xoti. It isn't the most optimal subclass, but as a Companion, Xoti benefits from +2 total attributes from BPM 1.4.5 which is probably enough to vaguely counterbalance suboptimal aspects of her build. (Serafen subclass has already been tweaked). I could give her +3->+5 wounds on kill though. Would be more fun but I don't want to alter her too much. One could repeat WotW for a while as long as one gets at least 1 kill.

Funny thing isthat in PoE1, they could add Deathblow to spells (+100% damages vs at least 2 afflictions). They didn't have spell, but using scrolls and items, the could become temporary casters.

Gambit does not allow to gain ressources, though. It is at best a potentially free attack (which is great). I can imagine that Gambit + Dual Mortars is pretty much guaranteed to get 2 crits every time. All you have to do is to switch to single target weapon set and spam Vanishing Strikes when necessary. And Blood Surge is... her... a bit meh for a Tier 9 (especially vs boss). Sounds too much like a win more for me, and kills are limited. The biggest advantage of SC Barbarian for me is what they can do for 1 freaking rage point. Driving Roar and to a lesser extent Dazing Shout are just that good, everything else is icing (barbaric retaliation is arguably a bit more that just icing). Now, I would say Chanters, Rangers and Fighters are arguably the hardest to make work as single classes. For chanters, I got the strange feeling that every crowd was able to reflect Eld Nary's bounce to my own party, and MC chanters can have most of chants and 3 Animated Weapons are good enough to spend your phrases anyway.

That's true. Barbarian relies on picking one of the Shout upgrade (preferrably Driving Roar). Cipher is borderline with the casters because PL is really good, but still favors heavily some subclasses, picking Shared Nightmare, etc... If not, it won't be that much better than your usual Ancestor's Memory + Disintigrate spamming MC Cipher.

Ishiza, best pet at fleeing.

I would say teleporting is probably not necessary. Skipping first cavern and Dig Site is the most critical part, also Port Maje town would be appreciated (+ whatever trigger the access to DLC). Basically, as long as you can directly sail to the island, it's good.

Yup, but : - You have to pick assassin - You have to put a lot of points in INT for vanishing strikes, or PER for Gambit etc... - Many MC (Mindstalker, Swashbuckler) can have more impressive auto-attack due to stacking passives from 2 classes. Upgraded Clear Out + WotEP or Sundering Blow vs bosses are really quite convenient. Fighter has his own god mode through Unbending. SC Chanters have Eld Nary's and Animated weapons upgrades. SC Ranger has... Melee + Mortar Whirling Strikes ? SC Paladin has to rely on dying friendly summons, but has access to INFINITE ZEAL. Being niche doesn't mean being inferior, it is just saying that there are a smaller number of builds that can be considered top tier. That's exactly what I meant when saying you have to know what you are doing (therefore the definition is a bit subjective)

Druid, Priest, Wizard, Monks : SC is very good, MC still worth it. Cipher, Barbarian : MC is usually better, but SC can be very good without too much effort. Fighter, Paladins, Rogues, Rangers, Chanters : MC is much much easier, SC still has niche builds but you really need to know what you're doing.

Ok, some news : - Same problem with Survival of the fittest. Marking Prey seems the only "passive" (it has a hidden passive part) stated to apply to both ranger and pet that works correctly. - Based on the progression table, it is literally written in the code that pets should benefit from all these abilities. Except... it doesn't. - I've found the source of the bug and a correction. Just tested it for Superior Camouflage and Survival of the Fittest and it works ! (EDIT : works also for defensive/strenghtened bond) Except it impacts directly the Progression Table file... Basically what should be done is to append the 27+ ranger progression tables were they appear (numerous NPC tables) with the 4 modified ability (technically adding 4 working ones in addition to the 4 non-working). @Noqn could be the kind of person who can do it (with a script ?) without becoming crazy. I have not this kind of skill for now I'm a bit sad, because it shows clearly these abilities simply haven't been tested. Like the most elementary tests were never run. I heavily suspect another bug to Defensive/Strenghtened bond because pet gets a copy of ranger abilities : in the code, pets should benefit from the bonus if they are within 4m... of their pet. EDIT : also another bug : defensive/strenghtened bond applies even when pet is down, provided it is within 4m... (which is not the case for Stalker bonus)

Maybe you only got the bonus from Empower, as it affects duration.

PoE has the best iteration of bards. PoE has the best iteration of Paladins/"Dark Knight". PoE has the best iteration of druids. PoE has the best iteration of rogues. PoE has the best iteration of barbarians (more in PoE1 maybe, carnage has lost a bit of uniqueness). PoE has the best iteration of monks (though I like them more in PoE2, more ways to get wounds).

For your information, contrary to their descriptions, Superior Camouflage and Defensive/Strenghtened Bond don't apply to the pet, only to the ranger...

Thanks !! Yep and it's keep going on. Just corrected a bug that caused Spirit Frenzy (and Spirit Tornado with the mod) to cause Staggered on your teammates when "hitting" with buff and healing... With BPM mod, yes. Proportionally as much as other Spiritshift. And healing also benefit from PL scaling. Not 100% sure about Beetle Shell. It applies a shield barrier but prevent you from doing anything. It can be a life saver, but overall is a cheap Sanctuary spell (albeit greater range and more flexible). There are probably better other source of damages mitigation. I would say Goldpact Paladins goes well with High Con Fire Godlike. You can stack Armor Rating from Spiritshift, Goldpact's special, Fire Godlike below 50% and Stoic Steel. Or Darcozzini for the additional fire shield (and still stoic steel).

More or less. Skeletons are not the best summons, but the mere fact that they give you more "bodies" can be exploited in various fashions. For example, Single Class Paladin gets a passive that grant +2 zeal on downed ally, which synergizes extremely well with skeletons. Beckoner is a plus to have even more numbers and because his summons are easier to be killed (they only have 1/4 health), which generates a ton of on-death effects. Killing "1/4 health" skeleton with grave calling to generate foe-only chillfog (with this character or another) is a well-known combo. Combos based on on-death effects is one of the most "MTG black" thing I can imagine in PoE2.

Just ran a few tests with Hunter's Claw & friends and it is definitely bugged. I'm not the first one to run into it : [4.1.2] hunter's claw is extremely busted in all sorts of ways (topic originally was "weird weird bug: different kinds of 'beasts'") - Pillars of Eternity II: Deadfire Technical Support (Spoiler Warning!) - Obsidian Forum Community Arguably "strand of favor" level of broken. But given th "per rest" way it works, I haven't use it much until now. After testing again a bit, the ability is indeed completely corrupted by save/reload cycles. It seems to work fine in a single battle, even with different "types" of "races" (tested with zombie, animat, skeleton). So basically, the only clean way to fix it is to alter it so it wear off at the end of combat (and change the values accordingly). I know it wasn't the initial philosophy of the ability, but I can't think of another way. So Hunter's Claw & upgrades will be : - 1 bond per use - +2 Accuracy (resp. +2 all defenses, +2% damages) per hit, lasts until end of combat against the first targetted type of creature. - Up to 10 stacks (same total of +20) In case both weapons connect, it would be +4 accuracy until end of battle per use (on top of a full attack giving a bit of extra damages). Not much, but the "last until end of battle" enables some grinding (and acc/defenses provide increasing return). Upgrade makes it much better. What do you think about it ? Note : apparently, Sun & Moon still enables it to get an extra charge per cast.

Current changes being tested : Hunter's Claw & upgrades : Set to 1 bond, making the ability much more usable on a single battle. => See below for more changes Smoke Cloud & Upgrades : - (already set to interrupt on graze from previous BPM versions) - Recovery 4s -> 3s - Smoke Grenade : added damages (25-35 corrode, 7 PEN), added Acid KW The purpose of this change is to make this line of ability slightly more convenient and buff Smoke Grenade which does not benefit from Pernicious Cloud great AoE nor damages. It does not buff Pernicious Cloud too much (the ability is nice but not really super strong for 2 Guiles, so changes to interrupt range and recovery should not break it. It is rather ). Spamming Grenades should be nice to stunlock a crowd, but they still cost 2 guiles and damages are not that high, so I think it will remain nice at most. Fire Godlike : - Slight fire damages increased (applied from 100% with BPM) to 3-5 (+20% damages and 0.5PEN per PL scaling) Reviving abilities upgrades improves : The idea is that reviving abilities are often great to pick, but upgrading them is meh since it costs an ability point and is quite situational. Therefore I've improved the upgrades a bit : - Reviving Command and Rebirthing Exhortation give 999 health back and cause only 50 health loss when wearing off. The point is that committing an additional ability point to them will help mitigating Reviving Exhortation main drawback AND will support super high CON build (in addition to the existing inspiration buff). Edit : - I went for giving all Reviving Exhortations and upgrades 999 health back. This is not intended as a Reviving Exhortation buff but a Constitution buff : current value of 300 already get to full health any character with "normal or a bit above constitution". Provided Paladin has a bit of MIG, a couple power level above Tier 4 and Practited healer, you are already at 400-500 health back.... which basically exlcudes only High CON characters. Edit 2 : - I eventually preferred not to lower the health loss value as it is basically the only drawback of Reviving Exhort. I went with increasing the duration of the buffs to 25s (only for the upgrades) which also delays the health loss. Basically the upgrades helps buying more time before the health loss which makes the ability drawback easier to deal with but still don't avoid it. - "...and face your foe" : +20 all defenses -> +33 all defenses. The bonus is relatively short lived (10s, probably around 20s with PL and good INT) but is meant to prevent the resurrect target(s) to be killed again. +20 all defenses felt a bit weak toward this goal, so I raised it. - Vengeful Revival : set to +30% damages for 30s. OK that's big, but we're speaking about a pet. +30% vs sneak attack target cost an ability point and is arguably less conditional than being revived by your ranger pal. Please not that Infinite duration extension with SoT is not possible with PBM Please tell me if you see something that sounds broken Also, don't hesitate to post your opinion about this idea on Mod subforum

No in this case, this is just a name given by another user (I don't remember who).

The best thing with Arena content from BG serie was arguably that it enabled creating a party specifically for them. A CRPG being around 100h of play, being able to experience a party for much shorter runs was great. Slayer Seaker Survivor does not allow it. It is well integrated to the base game (as well as an arena game could be) but it is still the least good of the 3 DLC for me. Prolonging a run with another series of mere battles isn’t that fun. It is a pity because the huge diversity of builds allowed by PoE2 would probably make it great. So what about making a mod that would allow such an experience ? What gave me the idea is that I remember a mod, probably by @Noqn, which allows the player to start at max level with every item. Basically the closest thing from a direct access to SSS as you can steamroll Port Maje and access whatever after it. Still probably not ideal for the purpose. Such a mod would require : Changing the necessary quest counters so you can go as straight as possible to SSS island Giving enough xp (maybe not lvl 20) so you can face the first SSS encounters and ends at lvl 20. Maybe xp gain could be adjusted to give a more satisfying curve (like start at 16, get x4 xp, I don’t know, it would require testing) Same thing with gold, taking into account you might have to hire a "lvl n-1" team and buy a couple of basic equipment. Supplying SSS sellers with most items and consumables so you can adjust your build. The gold gain from encounters might have to be tweaked around it too. Giving all items unlocking additional encounters on SSS island so you won’t have to run the archipelago just to catch ‘em all. (NB : The initial quests requiring you to aventure on SSS island to unlock Boar/Spider/Stalker might be kept for fluff ; they are quite short anyway) What would you think about it ? PS : Sorry, but I won’t be able to find time to work on it myself.

Any variation of the Holy Grenade barbarian (use nearly insta-cast Spirit Tornado repeatedly until your rage pool is depleted for an instant damage AoE spike) is for me the most Red feeling you can get. Maybe with Sacred Immolation on top of it.

Fun fact : you can "counter" (replace) a Low Tier high duration Inspiration with a High Tier low duration inspiration. Similarly, you can "counter" (replace) a Low Tier high duration Affliction with a High Tier low duration Affliction. I don't know if it can be done intentionally in some cases, but I'd rather be Stun 3s than Dazed 20s Which makes Relentless Strom sort of annoying when cast after Dazing Shout

Just a bit of comments about the classes I have choosen with reference to BPM changes : Enchanter is pretty meh in the base game. +2 enchanting power levels isn't going to change your life since they mostly apply to duration (high level echanting spells are also a bit meh) and the passive is a one-shot that you can't even control. (Of all wiz subclasses, I consider that only base Wiz and Evoker are balanced. Blood Mage is too strong, and other specialist has meh special feat. ) That why I tweaked the subclass so the Dexterity affliction immunity is always applied when under the effect of a Dex Inspiration. Perfect combo with fleet feet and DAoM. Since the bonus is a bit situational I added a small +10% beneficial effects duration as a small but universally useful bonus. 2 bonuses isn't too strong compared to what Evoker gets and given how meh PL bonus is for Enchanter. The reason I picked SC Enchanter is because I initially wanted to pick SC Conjurer and use summoned weapons. I felt it was sad to pick SC Conjurer while I can pick Fassina in a future run so I went with SC Enchanter. The main benefit for it is the access to the powerful Tier IX evocation spells. Nothing special about these class. Debonaire is great vs kiths and benefit a lot from having a Cipher in the party. BPM only allows a bit more variety viability when it comes to Rogue's special attacks. I wanted a Kind Wayfarer Barbs. BPM's Mage Slayer has a -25% beneficial effects / -25% hostile effects. It removes the random factor on friendly spells (because random failure on a critical healing spell is the nastiest thing) and makes it more universally useful than vs casters only. The hostile effect reduction is good with pallies for Sacred Immolation, which BPM makes more attractive by halving the zeal cost (you're already paying with your life) Good old Whirling Strikes dual wielder (most likely weapon + gun), viable without BPM, but BPM provides more tools for SC Rangers (viable Bonded Fury, Heartseeker with infinite duration Enfeebled, and infinite Vengeful grief so you technically can ignore your dead pet). I think I like my version of SC ranger No big changes from BPM, but using Community Patch Psion makes the subclass a bit easier to use.

I spent a big chunk of my life alone (bar friends and colleagues) while trying to find "the right one". Played a lot of video games, probably partly for this reason. I had also had time to read and write. I don't really want to come back to this time. It was a little sad. But it is still part of what made me into what I am. Sometimes, I look at this time with pink-tinted glasses for this reason, but that's an illusion. I'm happy with my family, even if sometimes I would appreciate a little more time for myself (but the girls are going to grow up, so...). (I would appreciate time with my spouse too, but that's another story. It seems that our planned dream trip to Uzbekistan isn't going to be soon ; I'll ask @Boeroer advices when it would happen ) Being on my own for a while is basically a way to actually live again this phase of my life without experiencing the main drawbacks. In addition, I spent more time on creating the mod than actually playing lately. Which is also an issue since I have to use the mod to check if everything feels comfortable with it. Somehow, I can say that I have a kind of "responsibility" to play I would like to find time to write a bit, but to be honest, even if BPM is not the most popular PoE2 mod, it has still a far wider audience than anything I wrote

I faced Dorudugan this weekend, with a quite standard party, without any cheese involved (BDD + Brilliant + SoT doesn't work with my mod anyway). Without a Cipher, with ressource-limited casters, etc. Everybody glouped a Potion of Enlightenment. It was satisfying to have my SC Druid casting Pollen Patch every 30s or having my Rogue able to flee after magnetic overdrive without fearing ressource depletion. Really kept all party members relevant. Satisfying experience. Dorudugan is still a hard and technical fight. It still lasts arguably for too long. But overall, it was an epic fight. What Megabosses are intended to be (not some sort of party forcing conundrum or slow death by attrition).

Rods are sweet indeed. I already picked the proficiency with my Debonaire/Helwalker, it's not like you can't switch. Mortar range is a bit tedious. Better for applying an affliction or to get the refund to a single target. So slightly less situational. And that range is convenient. I haven't checked, but i see no reason why it won't work. Mind Blades would be a good backup. True DoT won't work. The good thing with Ectoplastic is that it is foe-only and has 1s pulse (so hard to top vs few targets). I won't be too sure, as a spell is usually an "ability cast by a caster". The actual "Confusion" ahahahah EDIT : Ninja'd, but I was right. I start to get a good intuition about these mechanics works.

I'm currently planning to give my Debonaire/Helwalker Frostseeker and my Psion/Priest of Wael a Whale of a Wand for "free charms" here and there. Any caster with a Whale of a Wand would work for it though (but Psion is even better because of his own charm, and Ectopsychic is good to generate some spell hits for the wand). But thinking about this Froseeker + Stunning Surge crits in advance is delightful (even without Debonaire Hits to Crits, Frostseeker gives you 3 chances of crits for stunning surge instead of 2 for a DW Full attack).