Boeroer

Sure, I'm not recommending Psion for a melee weapon user either (I mean if the intention is to actually attack with the melee weapon and not only use it as stat stick). Beguiler is perfect for this I think. Good luck and lots of joy with the character! A pleasure! 🤗

Yeah, because I dislike the "normal" Soul Whip mechanic and its shortcomings I favor Psions (and then Beguilers). It's a matter of taste I guess: does one like the spells/weapons hybrid playstyle or not.

Hi! I personally - in the scope of your ideas - would prefer Beguiler/Trickster: thematically very fitting and also works well mechanically. What I like about the Beguiler (and even more so about the Psion - but that subclass doesn't fit the play style you're aiming for) is that weapon damage is not the only way to generate focus. In fact, as soon as you have Phantom Foes and Secret Horrors you will generate a lot of focus and often don't even need any weapon damage as long as you can reach enough enemies at once. And if it's against singular foes you can still rely on weapon damage as focus generator. Also the synergy of Deception spells with the several Will-based passives is great. The best thing about the Beguiler mechanic is that you don't need to afflict the enemies beforehand in order to generate focus with Phantom Foes or Secret Horrors: the afflictions they bring already count because first they get applied and only after that the game checks whether you generate focus with that same spell or not (which you do unless you missed). Which is hilariously good imo. Also those spells easily unlock Sneak Attack and Deathblows of course. Since Guile (the resource of Rogues) is limited, the danger of Trickster powers overshadowing Cipher spells is non-existent imo. You also need guile for Rogue strikes, maybe the occasional Escape or Invisibility etc. While multiclass Ciphers have a lot of charm/dominate potential, they don't have terrify - which the Trickster can provide. Also the all-defenses bonus of Borrowed Instincts stacks with the deflection-only buff of Mirrored Images for example - which makes a Cipher/Trickster surprisingly sturdy. Also makes sense to pick Riposte then. Even with a dual wilding setup, the combo of Mirrored Images and Borrowed Instincts make it worthwhile. --- Streetfighter is very strong once flanked/bloodied, but imo it's most fun on either blunderbuss users (who can automatically unlock the SF passives with Powder Burns) or if you play a main tank who still wants to dish out great damage despite tanking - because in that case you'll be flanked all the time anyway. --- For a Soulblade I personally like Assassin a lot. Just because it's so frustrating to miss with Soul Annihilation (all focus lost and all I got was this stupid "I miss you" t-shirt). Soul Annihilation profits from all weapon damage bonuses, so from invisibility you'd get the assassinate accuracy bonus (+25) as well as bonus PEN (doesn't matter for the raw damage but matters for the physical weapon damage) and also bonus crit damage (matters because with +25 accuracy from assassinate and maybe even a one-handed Rapier + modal which gives + +37 accuracy on top - all in all +62, jeez). Hard to miss with that one... On top of that Sneak Attack and even Deathblows bonuses apply to the raw damage portion, too: deadly strike from invisibility indeed. Add Backstab (also applies to Soul Annihilation) and that's pretty hefty stuff for a single strike from invisibility or stealth. Single handed Rapier (check out Rännig's Wrath) is perfect for this because of the modal and the inherent +5 accuracy bonus of Rapiers. --- The best late game weapon for a Cipher of your playstyle is Seeker's Fang, no matter the subclasses. Its raw damage is very strong and stacks with stuff like Deep Wounds and Gouging Strike/Ring the Bell/Toxic Strike. It comes late though. --- My pick as I said would be Beguiler/Trickster though. It's more versatile with focus generation, sturdier and has more stuff it can do to impact combat in different ways. Imo that is more fun to play than a somewhat one dimensional build that focuses on a single thing too much (such as hefty strikes from invisibility - although depending on the player that can be a lot of fun, too). Soul Annihilation usually leads to a behaviour where you spend all your focus for the attack and almost none for spells. It sounds like that isn't what you want to do.

You can use the Community Patch (Basic or all of it) right away. The changes it makes are reasonable, unobstrusive and improve the gameplay and balance. Also I nowadays would hate to level up without the unique icons for passive abilities from the CP - because I 'd have to mouseover every passive ability to check which one it actually is. Some few standard icons get reused for a lot in the vanilla game which is a bit annoying imo. I would also highly recommend the Enhanced UI mod (by Spherical), I wouldn't want to play the game without it. It just adds some additional UI bits for more info and tooltips which is really useful without messing with the game mechanics at all.

Hi, your Scout should work well. As backup weapon you can take a bow at first and then use one of Serafen's mortar blunderbusses or Eccea's Arcane Blaster. If you'd want more sustained damage potential instead of a few high accuracy hits from stealth/invisibility you could swap Assassin with Streetfighter and mainly use dual blunderbusses (AoE and regular) with the Powder Burns modal. This added cone damage also distracts you - but this unlocks the Streetfighter's passive which leads to -50% recovery/reloading times and +50% Sneak Attack damage which leads to pretty crazy DPS output.

Yeah, when people with no clue use AI for gathering "knowledge" about specialized and/or obscure stuff it can lead to absolutely bizarre outcomes. I guess arcane video game details, scattered all over forums etc. are pretty difficult to compose into something that's remotely decent info - and language barriers add another layer of potential weirdness. I like to use AI for generating graphs and diagrams from data - for publications and presentations and such. It's pretty good at that and spares me a LOT of time. But it's easy to spot when it screws up (which happens occasionally) because I know what it's supposed to do (because I could do it myself if I took the time). I also used AI to collect certain posts on social media which could contain disinformation from malign actors - because that's much faster and cheaper than letting a bunch of people do it (who also hate it). But it's just giving you alerts and the link to the content in question so that an expert can have a look and maybe act on it (which they like much better). I would never trust AI to do something I couldn't assess myself.

That's wild. Did they maybe mean advice for Pallegina as a shield user? Could also be they just mixed up the sublcasses. I cannot find any statements (AI or not) about an official Shieldbearer (of St. Elcga) companion either. Surprisingly, Gemini and ChatGPT even tell me that there's only an official companion from the Frermàs mes Canc Suolias when I ask them about an official companion of the Shieldbearer order. 🤷‍♂️

Hi, single class Shifter isn't super appealing imo because the PL 8 and 9 abilities for Spiritshift aren't that great. In my experience the Shifter is more enjoyable when multiclassed. Here there a a lot of options which all work well and are fun to play, usually it's a combo of Shifter+martial class because of the spellcasting restriction when shifted: Shifter/Goldpact Knight - great AR with zero recovery penalty because of Paladin passives + Gilded Enmity (which is kind of free if you combine with Sworn Rival) + natural armor (especially Bear form). Eternal Flames stacks with Wildstrike lashes, Ring of Focused Flames gives extra +10 acc, Sacred Immolation + Nature's Terror is fantastic late game AoE dmg while in melee. Also nice with Steel Garotte but needs afflictions on enemies then to unlock life drain. So cast some affliction stuff before going in (Relentless Storm or Tanglefoot etc.). Shifter/Helwalker - higher speed and shocking lash from Lightning Strikes, burning lash from Turning Wheel, both stack with Wildstrike, +10 INT prolongs Spiritshift, +15 MIG (Helwalker's passive + Thunderous Blows) boost dmg and self-heal (pets, inter-shift), +10 INT/+15 MIG are fantastic for the Boar form because the shifter variant of the board form has a Wounding DoT lash that has the base duration of the spiritshift, not the usual one. Also great for any spellcasting between/before shifts (Relentless Storm or Plague of Insects and especially Moonwell - or whatever). Stunning Surge is a great attack ability and so are Efficient Anguish or Torment's Reach. Shifter/Trickster or Streetfighter - simple synergies due to high dmg bonuses from Sneak Attack etc. combined with Wildstrike lashes, no e Full Attack strikes sich as Crippling Strike and so on and nice mobility bc. of Escape. Streetfighter has a lot of potential with dmg (but has to be flanked AND blooded to unlock fully, pick human race to profit even more), Trickster with defense. Shifter/Furyshaper or Berserker - fast attack speed, some melee dmg bonuses (Blooded, One Stands Alone), added engagement via Barbaric Shout, added DoT with Blood Frenzy or terrify with Spirit Tornado, AR bonus (Thick Skinned), nice finisher Full Attack (Barbaric Smash), awesome mobility with Wild Sprint and especially when Leap becomes available. Berserker has higher dmg potential but also self dmg (use human race and Blooded to profit) and Furyshaper has nasty CC (Fear Ward). Shifter/Stalker - very high accuracy, added defense and AR, Boar form unlocks Predator's Sense of the Animal Companion automatically, nice Full Attack abilities (Wounding Shot but also the Hunter's Claw stuff) and of course an additional body on the battlefield which you can use to always flank enemies and thus apply -10 deflection and -1 AR to them (as well as Stalker's Link). During or before shifts you can use the awesome single target dmg combo Takedown Combo (+100% dmg for the next attack) + Sunlance. Shifter/Bloodmage - despite the spell casting restriction this works nicely in the early and mid game where you cast lots of the fast self-buffs with the Wizard, then shift and do melee. Late in the game it's extremely good because you can combine Wall of Draining (prolongs Spiritshift and all buffs and benefical effects, including healing over time and stuff like damaging aura spells - so you don't have to pause shift ever) with Zandethu's Draconic Fury (use Blood Sacrifice to get back the highest tier spell uses) and Citzal's Martial Power at last (cannot cast while shifted anyway). For lulz you can also use the Transmuter subclass and trade a bit of power for an additional shift form: into an Ogre. :)

These days it might take some time I assume. Maybe we tag @SChin (hi Sam) for a quick nudge to know if the submission was received. Cheers!

Heartbeat Drumming used to work like Swift Flurry in the early days of the game. As soon as the community found out how easy it was to produce crit chains with both Swift Flurry and Heartbeat Drumming the devs patched it. I never bothered to look into the code, but it was noticeably harder to proc crazy chains afterwards, but still possible. Your post makes it clear why that is, thank you! 😃

Not if you use (Enduring) Dance of Death. But if you want your Priest to mainly buff and only occasionally fight then I'd pick single class Priest.

A single class Priest can absolutely fight in melee. It's just so that his damage output with a weapon would be better if he multiclassed with a class which added some melee prowess. But in general you can stand in the front line and swing a great sword. I place Xoit as SC Priest at the front line all the time - often with a Morning Star - and it works fine. Will she be tanking many enemies? No - but that's not her role. But she can stand her ground against an enemy or two for long enough. In Deadfire, a Priest of Berath can summon a spiritual great sword for himself which has a nice corrosive lash that grows if your reputation matches your god's dispositions. It can become quite powerful. That way even a single class Priest can contribute with weapon damage. If you are okay with giving up the highest tier spells you can multiclass with not much regret. I personally love to multiclass a Priest with the Helwalker Monk because this has two main kinds of synergies: better melee output: with stuff such as Lightning Strikes + Turning Wheel and some attack abilities such as Force of Anguish or Torment's Reach you can do some serious damage, especially when paired with the spiritual great sword (resulting in a shocking lash, a burning lash and a corrosive lash on the sword). Also the high MIG of the Helwalker leads to more weapon damage. the Helwalker can offer +15 MIG (+1 MIG per wound and +5 from Thunderous Blows) and +10 INT (Turning Wheel) which are both fantastic buffs for casting: INT enlargens the AoEs and prolongs all durations, MIG raises damage and healing power(!). Spells like Shining Beacon profit a lot from +15 MIG (higher dmg per tick) and +10 INT (a lot more ticks) and so does healing over time such as Consecrated Ground. Aso you can be a bit faster (Lightning Strikes add +5 DEX and +15% action speed) and get some other goodies. The Monk is a great multiclass choice for a lot of classes, Priest is no exception.

Enduring Dance gives you wounds per second and accuracy, too. If you stay hidden and only use Dichotomous Soul to send summons out from hiding it can last forever.

No, you'd have to kill him unfortunately.

Hello, welcome and thank you! 🤗 Same 😉

Offensive Parry from the Whispers of the Endless Paths does drain health with a Steel Garrote. Iirc Riposte does, too.

Against Belranga it's good to have summons (like Dichotomous Soul) so she can destroy them instead of you. For Huani you need interrupts such as Force of Anguish in order to prevent the merging process. If you use Edér's armor with "Veteran's Maneuver" and also use Keeper of the Flame as weapon and have picked "Imagined Pain" you can farm wounds while doing Whispers of the Wind and thus spam it endlessly. You will gain wounds because Keeper of the Flame's AoE does friendly fire and targets reflex. Because you will be immune to reflex based attacks (Veteran's Maneuver) every AoE roll against you will miss, granting a wound via Imagined Pain. If you can spam Whispers of the Wind you can mostly stay invisible. If you use Ajamuut's Stalking Cloak then all attacks made during Whispers of the Wind will stun enemies. This is very good in the Belranga fight to kill a lot of little spiders fast in order to drop the defenses of Belranga quickly. If you put Keeper of the Flame in the main hand and Mohora Tanga in the offhand like we described above you can do a lot of single target and AoE dmg + CC with Whispers of the Wind. Not necessarily against the mega bosses themselves (unless you brought Belranga's defenses down a lot) but the weaker spiderlings and the smaller split oozes. Against Belranga you can also just hide behind some rocks, use Enduring Dance and send Dichotomous Soul summons to Belranga & friends from hiding - over and over again. You can also resort to that tactic in the middle of the fight if you have a potion of invisibility.

Then I assume Lightning Strikes is better in that case. Lashes do generate Focus.

PS: Swift Flurry/HBD procs do not generate wounds for a Shattered Pillar. I always forget if they generate focus for a Cipher. I believe not, but I'm again not sure anymore. Blame my reluctance to play Soul Whip Ciphers I guess.

Steel Garrote only drains health from direct damage attacks, not DoTs. Red Flag Flying does no direct damage so no draining. I would have thought that the Swift Flurry attacks however would drain health. If they do not: I learned something new. The order in which attacks appear in the combat log is not necessarily the order in which the attacks are processed internally. Not really. The phrase generation of a Skald is +1 phrase max(!) per attack action or "swing" - no matter how many attack rolls happen during that action. So even if you do 25 crits with Red Flag Flying + Swift Flurry/HBD you will only get +1 phrase point. However: since the Skald only gets a phrase point in 50% of crits, this setup makes pretty sure you get a phrase point every time you crit (and a crit chain follows). That's cool - but not insane. The good thing about the Skald is though: with Killers Froze Stiff you get a really nice paralyze effect (enhanced by the Monk's INT) which causes 25% hit to crit conversion on the enemy (not on you). This not only helps to generate more weapons crits in general but also is one of the few ways to convert a graze to a crit: If your character has graze to hit conversion there's a chance to convert a graze to a hit, but even if that character also has hit to crit: that won't get checked during the same roll where you initially grazed - because only one conversion type of your character is ever checked within one attack resolution. But if the hit to crit conversion is on the enemy this will get checked even if your char already had a conversion check. So the attack can go from char[graze->hit]->enemy[hit->crit] -> ouch! Not game breaking but a nice little detail. Killers Froze Stiff + Ben Fidel's Neck is a pretty good debuffing cycle for Swift Flurry procs if you can generate phrases quickly enough. Note that the most costly invocation determines your max phrase point counter. It makes sense to pick one very costly invocation even if you don't want to ever use it. Just to expand your phrase point maximum.

I think so, but to be honest I haven't looked at it in detail and also didn't test it as much as I did with most of the other weapons we mentioned. Very nice! 👍

PS: if I remember correctly then Magran's Blessing has a Fire Shield which also can proc Swift Flurry because this version of Fire Shield inherits the weapon attack tag from the shield it's attached to. So Magran's Blessing + multihit weapon could also be a nice pick.

I have definitely crashed my game countless times with Force of Anguish on a single-/one-handed Nalpazca/Stalker. So not offhand but main hand, nothing in the offhand. So that might play a role as well. Since Swift Flurry/HBD only execute main hand attacks (even if the offhand crit triggered SF/HBD) it is considered to be safe(r) to use Mohora Tanga in the offhand since that limits the risk of too many Red Flag Flying loops. But this is a theory mostly, slightly backed by some testing results but comprehensively proven I guess. Your observation with offhand auto-attacks may reveal something still. For example it could be that exceptions get caught by the game properly when attack abilities are used and then the loop gets canceled no matter what or are just more robust - but with auto attacks those exceptions might get totally unchecked and get handed up until the game needs to close before compromising the OS's performance due to memory issues. No idea, it's just a guess. But it could indeed be that auto attacks behave differently in that regard and that's why you see more crashes (or any) in the first place. Could also be that your hardware (RAM size, CPU etc.) influence how many loops can be processed until it has to shut down to prevent bigger issues. It might be that players with more RAM will see Crashes a lot less often than players with less RAM. Again: just a guess. But if a player tries out Mohora Tanga and it just works and doesn't crash the game often: that's great. I also made it fun despite the crashes. I just had to find a way that works well for me. In any case it's mad fun to just obliterate an otherwise difficult foe with a series of nasty crits - all in one strike.

found another one from a test session:

PS: found a screenshot where I tested Mohora Tanga with the Monk/Ranger first and one-shot Concelhaut (before doing it in the actual playthrough): 😄 The top part in the combat log is all the Red Flag Flying crits in a loop whith tha occasional non-crit (can only guess why they didn't stop the loop). The log orders the rolls in such a manner that all Red Flag Flying procs are in one place and the Swift Flurry stuff comes after. I don't think they acutally occur in that order. Below come the Swift Flurry/HBD entries which were all triggered by either the looping crits or by themselves. If I had used Boltcatcher Gloves Concelhaut would have been dead way earlier. Mohora Tanga + Boltcatchers alone - even without any Monk/Swift Flurry stuff - is already devastating. Add Swift Flurry and Hearbeat Drumming and stuff gets pretty crazy. But as I said: beware the game crashes.