TheMetaphysician

Can you explain exactly how Static Thunder works? How do stacks get applied and triggered, exactly? I'm trying to understand all the synergies here, and I think I'm missing some.

Can you guys explain to me how static charge works? Do stacks of it get applied by carnage? Or does it get applied to everyone around you? In other words, why does it work with carnage, as you said it does?

The Healing Wall build on these forums, with a focus on summoning, would be good.

This build looks like a total blast, to the point that I really want to play it. One problem, though, is that it seems to really depend on Nemnok's cloak, which is really late-game, isn't it? I suppose I could drag Xoti along for a couple of casts of Barring Death's Door. How do you play this build early-game? And what level did you get Nemnok's cloak? Can you sneak past all the enemies and get the cloak without having to fight? What would you do to turn it into a solo build?

There are a couple of items that give Dex affliction resistance (a pair of boots and the necklace Serafen gives you), and the Wood Elf race gives Dex affliction resistance (so Aloth has it). Shark soup gives immunity to all Body Afflictions, so that's the best option if you need total protection. To keep that up all the time, you'd probably need to do the no rest strategy though, which means you can't rely on per-rest abilities for the build if that's the way you go.

Amaua, with the mod that allows beards, pick the biggest, bushiest Harden-style beard you can get, pirate hat, saber, Nomad Brigandine, biggest shield you can find, Stoic body language.

OP, I love this build, and I'm using it myself for Eder. Would you be willing to put it into the format that is needed to have it on the Builds thread? I'd like to see it there. By the way, another weapon that works really well with this build is The Last Word. Between that weapon and the two you mentioned, you can have one all-pierce weapon set (Stalker's Patience and The Last Word) and one all-crush weapon set (Kapana Tanga and The Last Word), or you can go with the mixed set you recommended. Gives some extra versatility. The ring that gives you deflection per enemy that engages you is also good on this build.

I have now added a seperate line to every build entry so we can add companions that work with that build. You you tell me which companion builds are out there so that I can add their names to the build ar add the whole build to the list? I already added the Pallegina build, but I guess there are more companion builds? The other one I was thinking of was the Engaging Eder one, but it isn't put into the format that the rest are. I'll post on that thread to ask if the poster will put it into the proper format, and if he isn't willing to, I'll try to do it myself.

Is this still bugged with the current patch? No, I think it is fixed.

Boerer, could you include a section for companion builds? There are a few floating around, and that's something I'd like to see.

Given that rest-spamming is so powerful, any limitations on the no-rest strategy just amount to pushing the player even more to rest-spamming. Which is the more abusive strategy anyway. What the devs need to do is come up with incentives to do NEITHER rest-spamming and no-resting. So anything like a fatigue mechanic or automatic resting need to be balanced by limitations on resting in dungeons or something like that.

Totally awesome. We need more of these companion builds, and this one is perfect because it uses distinctive abilities that Pallegina has. I love it!

Empower is a mistake and a crutch and not necessary at all. None of the per rest abilities from items matters at all, drugs are supplemental, and you should be trying to get through fights without people dying anyways. Scared of traps? There shouldn't be a single trap in the game you get hit by. Why should I be trying to get through fights without people dying? Why shouldn't I be using the various resurrection abilities the game provides? This is not a helpful comment. My point remains: by doing the no-rest strategy, there are a number of powerful options you are giving up in exchange for the benefits of not resting. Just consider how powerful it is to spam rest, to the point that many people have complained about how powerful it is to do so. Spamming rest allows you to just run over traps without worrying about perception or mechanics and just rest it off; spamming rest allows you to use empower in every fight; spamming rest allows you to use per-rest abilities from items in every fight (including once-per-rest summoning items, which are very powerful); spamming rest allows you to use resurrection abilities as a core part of your strategy without any long-term negatives. Using this no-rest bonus-stacking strategy is balanced by the fact that it requires you to give up the very powerful rest-spamming strategy. Here's another way to ask the original question: which is more powerful, rest-spamming or no-rest bonus-stacking? I think the answer is at least not obvious, and it may well be that rest-spamming trivializes the game more than no-rest bonus-stacking. Edit: One interesting observation that might be made: it may be that it is optimal either to rest-spam or go full-blown no-rest at all to stack bonuses. And it may be that the game is designed to be played doing neither of those. But the mechanics as they've designed them really encourage going full-on one or the other, and that is interesting. One advantage of not going full no-rest, but only MOSTLY no-rest (resting just a couple of times) would be to be able to use the food bonuses that are most valuable at the time. But mostly it seems best to go all the way toward one or the other.

I've been running basically this build since 1.1 dropped, but with a focus on summoning (as a replacement for my Shieldbearer/Beckoner from before 1.1). It is great; you are right that once you get Exalted Endurance at level 10 to pair with Ancient Memory, your healing is awesome. I have some suggestions for gear and race: - Might really helps this build, so using Coastal Amaua for the +2 might (and the Might affliction resistance) is a great fit. The +2 might gauntlets from the peddler in the Brass Citadel are helpful too. - You want all the +healing gear: there is a belt, a necklace, and boots. And the +healing pet (which I gave up to use the Baldur difficulty-scaling mod). - This works especially well with the no-rest strategy detailed here, because of the +50% healing boost you get from the Blessing of the Dawnstars in Port Maje (don't get it before you are ready to never rest again). That is a build-making buff; by far the most important thing you can get for this build. - I also added the concept of getting as many party-boosting buffs on gear as possible: the Baubles of the Fin, the Companion's Prelude upgrade to the chanter saber that boosts action speed for companions, Pallegina's armor until you find something better. The chanter saber also has an upgrade that refunds an empower point when you use it on an invocation, so you can use an empowered Fingers of Daylight once each fight even if you are doing a no-rest run (it doubles the number of beams shot out) to further take advantage of the healing theme and boosts you have. - I just found the perfect late-game armor for the build: the Blackened Plate Armor. The Life in Death upgrade gives you yet another healing aura that does basically the same amount of healing again as each of your other two (from Ancient Memory and Exalted Endurance), because it also benefits from might and the +healing gear and buff, as well as intelligence boosting the aura range. It only gets to that full amount of healing when the character being healed is low health, but even when they are high health it does some. You can add to that the Usher's Visage aura, which debuffs armor and causes raw damage (also benefits from Might). - The shield from the Dark Cupboard with the healing aura doesn't really add much to this build, since that healing doesn't benefit from might and the +healing gear the way the Blackened Plate armor's aura does. My Blackened Plate and Exalted Endurance auras are each at about 9 hp per 3 seconds, Ancient Memory at about 3 per second, for a total of about 9 hp per second. The Dark Cupboard shield only does 1 per 6 seconds, or 1 per 3 seconds at night when upgraded. That doesn't amount to much. So I use the shield from Crookspur that has an aura that gives +1 armor. EDIT: I was wrong! The Dark Cupboard shield does benefit from might and healing boosts; I can get it up to 2 hp per 6 seconds or 2 per 3 at night. I still think I prefer the +1 armor, but the healing shield fits the build concept better. When you add all that up, you have the ultimate party leader and supporter: summons, lots of party-support auras, tons of healing both passive and active, and you look like a badass because you are an aumaua with a huge shield. Add the mod that allows facial hair on Aumaua and pick the biggest, most bristling beard available. I'm loving it. I'm using the Baldur the Difficulty-Scaling pig mod and the Deadly Deadfire mod, and this character is completely carrying my party despite doing basically no damage himself. I can outlast anyone, despite not having any healing on anyone else in the party. It works better the more melee characters you have, so that they are all within aura range. I can usually keep Maia in aura range, but it is tricky sometimes.

So, I need Mohora Meat to do the Harpooning upgrade for the Mohora Tanga spear. Anybody know where I can find or buy some? The food vendor in Sayuka doesn't have any.

So, I've gotten farther in my second playthrough than I did in my first, but I'm not using Xoti nearly as regularly. I'm well past the point where I had triggered the end of Xoti's quest in the previous playthrough, but I haven't yet. I understand I need to find a certain number of souls for her to shepherd. Does anybody have like a list of opportunities to find souls for her, so I can bring her along to those? Anything you remember will help.

Does anyone know if there is a console command to advance a quest? My Xoti quest isn't progressing, and I can't figure out why. I have a suspicion that it is because I am doing a no-rest run and that you need to rest to advance it.

This one does what you are looking for: https://www.nexusmods.com/pillarsofeternity2/mods/83 I haven't tried it, but it seems like it would work pretty well. There are some downsides: it costs you your pet slot, and you have to avoid rests or items that give your active abilities stat boosts, because that's what the accuracy penalties are tied to (as an approximation of character level). But you are right that no other mod does what this one does.

Sin Tee's Witch build for Serafen is (roughly) what I'm using, and it is good and fun: https://steamcommunity.com/sharedfiles/filedetails/?id=1399216139 I switched out Sickening Horrors for Whisper of Treason, just because charm turns fights on PotD like nothing else other than summons. Also, the soulbound mace goes really well with the build.

To answer my own question, in case anyone is interested: on the first floor of the Poko Kohara dungeon, there is a room full of 10+ traps, all of which cause the injury "wrenched knee," which only causes -25% stride. (There are a few more in a room on the second floor too.) If you don't disarm those traps, you can go back whenever you want and give your mage that injury, to trigger the synergy. That's what I'm doing, and it is great. The penalty is not very noticeable, and easily offset by the spell Fleet Feet or Boots of Speed.

I'm not sure this strategy is unbalanced. There are sacrifices you make when you don't rest: you can't use empower, per-rest abilities from items, drugs (unless unlimited), and you have to avoid injuries or else use a very expensive, limited potion. That means avoiding resurrection abilities, which are powerful. I've been doing this, mainly for the +50% healing done buff on my healing tank build, and it is powerful, but I am more scared of traps and characters getting knocked out than I was before, which seems about a fair tradeoff.

So, I can't for the life of me find a place to buy a pelt and an antler in Neketaka. I have a vague memory of seeing a vendor with those kinds of ingredients, but as I'm working my way through the vendors, I can't seem to find one that has related materials. Can anyone help me out? Edit: found pelts at the food vendor in Delver's Row. Still haven't found an antler.

I've run into a number of other semi-forced rests. There are a couple of events with your crew on your ship where some of the options you choose (often accompanied by "X hours passed") make you rest, and there are a couple of other map events (including one on the isle you get the Wael scepter) that remove all your resting buffs. There are always other options, but you should make sure to check your buffs.

Lots of us had that experience. I had to come back with Aloth, and it was still really hard. If you go outside the city, and then go to the Street from the outside, you'll come out on the bottom of the map, and you can stealth past the fight and make peace with the boss.

I don't think that solves the balancing issue though. Constantly spamming summons was already the optimal strategy for Beckoners, so increasing the cost of all other invocations wouldn't hurt them at all. This is right, and the key problem. That's why I thought the only way to go is to impose a penalty to phrases rather than invocations -- it is the only thing other than summoning that the Beckoner actually relies on.