Boeroer

If you look at the Blinded affliction you will see that it also applies -4 Perception. Every point of Perception grants +2 Reflex. If you subtract 4 Perception from the enemy, the Reflex defense will drop by 8 points. Direct Reflex debuffs stack with debuffs of a related attribute (Perception and also Dexterity) 45 - 20 (Blinded's -20) - 8 (Blinded's -8 via -4 Perception) results in 17. Aspirant's Mark get suppressed and has zero effect in your case. It's just an unfortunate coincidence (unfortunate if one wants to figure out what's going on just by looking at the numbers) that the -8 Reflex debuff from Aspirant's Mark and the -4 Perception debuff result in the same number of Reflex that's substracted which might let you think that Aspirant's Mark stacked with Blinded - which it didn't. PS: the same would happen for Deflection if you combined Blinded's direct Deflection debuff with a Resolve debuff - for example Blinded (-20 Deflection...) + Terrified (-4 Resolve...). Only that Resolve just adds/substracts 1 Deflection per point, not 2.

What's your Intellect?

Yes, it works.

All active/offensive abilities such as offensive spells (but also Carnage for example) get an accuracy bonus based on character level (+1 per level): https://pillarsofeternity.fandom.com/wiki/Accuracy#Abilities

In PoE, everything that says anything about "speed", "attack speed", "action speed" and so on only affects recovery. Deletrious Alacrity of Motion is that same. What it is actually doing: it sets recovery time to 50% or in other words: it halves your recovery time. There is nothing that affects "action animation", "casting time", "action speed" or "action time" in PoE - except Dexterity. DEX affects those AND recovery at the same time. That's why it's even worth investing in DEX if you already have 0 recovery. If you want to know what exactly happens with all the different "speed" bonuses and also DEX, you can use this tool which is implemented with the same algorithms as in the game: https://naijaro.github.io/poe-speed-calculator/ PS: in Deadfire there is indeed "action speed/time" and r"ecovery time/speed" as separate stats - those can be influenced by different buffs in different ways. But not in PoE.

You can't. As soon as combat ends (which is the point when you would be able to pick up loot) you will leave he map. I know no workaround for that. Hitting the pause key like a madman doesn't work. Auto-pause options also won't trigger. But since they are only standard enemies the loot won't be exciting anyways.

I just remember that the Titan with those numerous annoying ads was pretty tough and the inside of the ruins also wasn't a walk in the park.

Currently the forum keeps logging me out every few days - despite me visiting the forums every day. This is new and it's a bit annoying tbh. This happens on mobile (Chrome/Android) as well as desktop (Chrome/Linux).

Thanks a lot! ❤️

Celebrating my 50th birthday. 👴🏼

Servus!

I'm pretty sure that's a vanilla game issue. You can also keep summoned or "natural" weapons with the help of Spiritshift/Form of the Fearsome Brute, Draining Touch and Minor Blights*. So something with the implementations of "switching forms" and "switching weapons" along the way is not 100% watertight. * for example cast Minor Blights, then shift into an Ogre, then the right Ogre Fists weapon gets replaced by a minor blight - bc. they rotate elemental types and this will summon a new form of blight weapon every time, even when you are shifted and cannot cast, then when the fight ends before the Minor Blights and Fearsome Brute spell runs out you will transform back into your normal form - with an Ogre Fist in your weapon slot which you can use like any other weapon (it's auto scaling). They are actually pretty good because they always interrupt on crit. And they make a funny boink sound when striking with them. Same can be done with spiritshift weapons or the one handed Great Sword of Citzal (PL9 wizard spell). That's all without any mods.

Yes, I would never skip Thunderous Blows unless I'd only do CC or summoning or so. As soon as you want to deal damage (be it with weapons or spells) the +2 Penetration will be very beneficial. It's not even about the +5 Might. Also in case of Thunderous Blows you are not combining "+dmg received" with "+Might" like with your Helwalker Wounds which boosts self damage twice, you "only" add more Might and you take away wounds in the process which isn't nearly as bad for self damage. Also your healing power goes up the same amount as your self damage goes up. If I didn't mention it before: a pet that adds "heal on kill" like the cat Cajux can be very helpful for a build that has lots of self damage (you can even combine this with a pet like Abraham on Edér. It adds a smaller heal-on-kill effect to all party members. This is only doable though if you have unlocked some Berath Blessing points and use them to give Edér a pet slot. You can also unlock Berath Blessing points with a little cheating/altering the file. Or you can just replace the file with one that has all the Berath Blessing Points unlocked..). Anyway: a Helwalker/Bloodmage can kill weak enemies pretty quickly and the heal-on-kill numbers scale with Might. That can spare you a lot of other healing options which might cost some resources (spell or ability use, potion etc.). Also if you have a Priest (highly recommended) then Triumph of the Crusaders is an excellent spell to put on an offensive Helwalker/Bloodmage like yours.

I wouldn't skip Stunning Surge because it's usually free in combination with the Spirit Lance and several enemies. You only need one crit roll and that will give you back the 2 Mortification.

Novice's Suffering is very special because the base damage stays very low (an that's what all the damage bonuses like crits and maluses like graze use as base) but it gets a big, flat damage bonus that isn't influenced by any damage bonus/malus except Might. This leads to very consistent damage with no real high or low rolls. Since this Barb doesn't use a lot of damage bonuses and has very high Might, Novice's Suffering is indeed a viable option. While it doesn't do much more damage with crits, it also doesn't suffer much from grazes which happen more often with a large shield. So actually a decent pick I'd say.

I said "early game" a lot, didn't I? 🥴

Hi. I wouldn't use any bashing shield before getting either Dragon's Maw or Badgradr's Barricade. Before that a non-bashing shield works better. Also in the early game the -8 accuracy of a large shield can lead to many misses. I would check if it works with a small or medium shield first and use the thickest armor in the early game. It won't be great in the early game though. Barbarians are notoriously unimpressive in the early game, and being slow and inaccurate doesn't help at that point. But it will get better quickly.

Hi, I have no experience with Turn Based Mode so I cannot say how the build performs there, sorry.

Just checked in game with the latest game version: still works. It didn't get patched.

If you learn the spell it doesn't work. You have to cast it from a grimoire without leaning it at level-up. I might check if it got fixed, but it would surprise me.

In Deadfire, firearms and crossbows/arbalests don't have a recovery phase. Instead, they only have a reloading phase. Bows - like all other weapons (besides firearms and crossbows/arbalests) - have a recovery phase. Reloading phases are usually longer than recovery, but unlike recovery you can always choose to stop the reloading and do something else - for example cast a healing spell. Afterwards you can resume the reloading. Running around also stops reloading. While you move you cannot reload. A recovery phase cannot be stopped. It always has to pass until you can do something else - except running around. Running around does not stop recovery, it only makes it last a bit longer. The advantage of reloading weapons is that you can react a lot quicker in combat. Imagine you're a Paladin with Lay on Hands and you just attacked an enemy. Suddenly your companion is near death and you want to cast Lay on Hands asap. If your attack was done with a weapon with recovery you will have to wait until the recovery is over until you can cast Lay on Hands - the companion might go down in that timespan. If your attack was done with a reloading weapon you can immediately after the shot cast Lay in Hands. For pure weapon dps characters this isn't an advantage, but for versatile characters with a variety of abilities (CC, healing, support...) it's really nice. Of course it's also possible o have very short recovery (like with light armor, dual daggers and two weapon style for example) which makes you almost as reactive as with a reloading weapon. But dual pistols also pack a good punch with Full Attacks (high damage per shot - for a one handed weapon).

Penetration is usually not an issue if you are willing to use two weapon sets with different damage types and use the one your current enemy is more vulnerable to. Dual wielding is great for all builds that make use of Full Attacks - and especially the Full Attacks that can get a refund (Stunning Surge, Barbaric Smash, Gambit...) and it's also great for characters for whom attacking very fast (Skald for example). However, it's less good than it was in PoE1 (compared to the other weapon styles). No, they are great actually. A single pistol + modal has -50% reloading time (!) but only suffers -3 accuracy (+12 from one handed usage and -15 from the modal), with Single Weapon Style you can add a nice crit conversion on top. This is great for all ranged characters who don't use a lot of attack abilities (Cipher, Chanter...) but mostly do auto attacks. There are great unique pistols, too. Pistols, like all reloading weapons in Deadfire, have no recovery but only reloading times. Reloading can be canceled so you are a lot more reactive with a pistol than with an implement or bow. I played a single class Kind Wayfarer with dual pistols (no modal then, Flames of Devotion is a Full Attack and procs the White Flames healing twice) and it went very well.

I totally forgot: summoned weapons with an AoE effect (Kalakoth's Minor Blights and Citzal's Spirit Lance) are awesome with Stunning Surge: they turn this ability into an AoE stun that often doesn't cost anything (because you get a refund on crit - and it's easier to crit at least once if you manage to attack multiple enemies).

It's a good multiclass. It can be squishy, but the upside is that Blood Sacrifice not only lets you regain spell uses but also gives you a lot of wounds. I didn't see which race you used (maybe my eye skipped it): human should be one of the best choices because you can drop below 50% health willingly (and get something out of it). As a multiclass Wizard it's most efficient to not take a lot of spells at level up but mostly pick passives and active abilities of the second class (Monk in this case). The reason is that a Wizard can cast all spells directly from a Grimoire, even if he didn't learn them. So you can have a decent collection of a few grimoires with your favorite spells in the quick item slots and not having to pay for the spells with ability points. This also has some cheesy side effects with some spells, namely Concelhaut's Draining Touch and all the "spell stealing" spells. If you cast sich a spell from your grimoire and then switch to a Grimoire that doesn't have that spell, the part of game logic that governs the removal of those effects (Draining Touch summoned weapon or stolen spell) will be not active anymore, and thus you will keep the Draining Touch weapon until combat ends - and you will keep the stolen spells forever. 😲 But that's just a sidenote. However, persistent Draining Touch on a Monk/Wizard as mad fun imo. It not only heals via draining (which is useful for Blood Sacrifice) but it also does a ton of damage, especially with Swift Flurry/Heartbeat Drumming and Miasma of Dull-Mindedness+ a club + modal in the offhand. Draining Touch (the weapon) targets Will instead of Deflection, and Miasma + club+modal lower Will by 65(!) points. Crits are the norm then and Swift Flurry/Heartbeat Drumming will proc often. It's also fun that Draining Touch has the highest base damage of any one handed weapon in the game... Anyways - picking some spells (usually the ones you really, really want to have ready at all times) can still make sense though and also might be more convenient, but in general you should be hesitant to put too many ability points into spells as a Wizard. Cheers! PS.: using Blood Sacrifice at 10 wounds (when MIG gets +10 points, which raises your self damage AND damage received is at +50%) might be a death sentence no matter how high your CON is. Just watch your wound counter before using Blood Sacrifice and make sure you spend some before activating it. Stuff like Blade Turning is a nice way to spend wounds quickly but with meaning. You will get a lot of wounds back via Blood Sacrifice anyway.

You will meet the following official companions in that order most likely (default class|optional classes): Fighter|Rogue|Fighter/Rogue Priest|Monk|Priest/Monk Wizard|Wizard/Rogue|Wizard/Fighter Cipher|Barbarian|Cipher/Barbarian Paladin|Paladin/Fighter|Paladin/Chanter Ranger|Ranger/Rogue|Ranger/Wizard Druid|Chanter|Druid/Chanter Maybe that helps you to figure out which class you want to play as the main character.