Boeroer

As @Chaospread said: the more Resolve the better on a tank. I mean that's true for all attributes of course because all defenses have increasing returns and all attributes contribute to a defense value, but Deflection is the one that gets attacked the most and is only influenced by Resolve. High Will is also not bad on a tank because it's really bad if your tank gets flipped by mind control (although you should probably prevent that with a Prayer from the Priest in the first place).

PS: That only becomes available once you are out of the "probation period" that all new forums users have to go through (anti-spam/anti-bot measure). During that phase, every post of you has to be vetted by a moderator to make sure it's okay. And you cannot edit posts during that phase because a new user could write something harmless, the post gets vetted an then that user could come back and edit the harmless post, changing it in into something nasty. I believe this phase ends after 5 vetted posts. So just keep writing - then you can edit your posts soon.

I also think using guns is fun in PoE and Deadfire. Indeed. Most impactful class in PoE imo.

Hi and welcome! MIG and DEX do the same things for bows or guns: more dmg per hit or faster hits. Because DEX - unlike other general speed bonuses - also does shorten reloading time (as well as recovery time). MIG has an additive effect, DEX has a multiplicative effect on dps. Usually DEX is better BUT if you don't do enough dmg per hit you will struggle against enemies with thick(er) armor. Since reloading weapons usually have the higher base damage it's actually a bit better to invest in DEX than in MIG - and for bows it's the other way round. But on the other hand: if you concentrate on shooting the "softer" enemies in combat anyways (casters of example) then high DEX/not so high MIG on a bow is still great. Having both reasonably high is best, like you did below. Yes, that will totally work. I personally would go for a bit more DEX (17) and take those points from PER (16), but that's not making a big difference. Whisper of Treason is very impactful - but you have to get relatively close. In general Mind Control (confuse, charm, dominate) is the most impactful stuff a Cipher can do. What's also very good is Amplified Wave. Borrowed Instincts and Time Parasite are also very good. "Marksman" is good. Weapon Focus, too. Over the course of the game imo the best ranged weapon for a Cipher is the warbow. But the differences in "power" are almost negligible. It's more important imo what feels cool (and is still valid and good). You only need "Gunner" when you use a reloading weapon (obviously) - but then it's very good. Just note: Time Parasite is a really good dps tool because it allows a Cipher to shoot much faster with bows, but it doesn't do anything for reloading time, only for recovery time. If you do not plan to pick up Time Parasite but prefer to cast CC stuff instead (which is a totally valid approach) then guns/crossbow types for Ciphers are fine. A single shot grants a nice bunch of focus. Usually not recommended often, but don't dismiss arbalests: they have a feature that knocks enemies prone on crit - and that can be very helpful in addition to the damage they cause. They also share the Weapon Focus with arquebuses, so you can always switch between those (if you find let's say a better quality arquebus than your current arbalest for example). There's also a superearly unique arbalest in the game. I do not recommend blunderbusses by the way. On paper they do a lot of damage per shot - but they are really bad against foes with thick armor. And that means that your cipher will really struggle against most bosses and other tough enemies. And that can be frustrating. Other talents you might want to have: Weapon Focus (best impact if it's picked up asap in the early game) Outlander's Frenzy (instead of Time Parasite, only bows) Heart of the Storm (if you pick up the soulbound bow Stormcaller, not before) Shot on the Run (with additional recovery bonuses/speed the recovery when running is actually shorter than when standing, only bows) Arms Bearer & Quick Switch (you can cycle through 3 gun sets at the start of combat and shoot 3 times in quick succession and thus gain a ton of focus, only guns/crossbows) Apprentice's Sneak Attack (always useful for a Cipher who can apply afflictions to enemies easily himself) Cheers!

I think Dazed still doesn't trigger Sneak Attack. Same as Sickened or Distracted.

I usually rename the file so that its type is *.old_gamedatabundle

[banter voice="Kana_Rua"] Hellooo! Hello? [/banter]

I have to say it got better one I reached the later stages of the game. There were some cool enchantments on uniques I found recently.

I do think there is the danger that removing all cheesy things and balancing everything can make the game less enjoyable and more bland overall. For example I absolutely enjoyed the Hemorrhaging+Avenging Storm cheese in a recent Fury playthrough. I also enjoyed unlimited Resonant Touch stacks on a Mortar Monk. At the same time those things didn't compell me to only use them for future playthroughs - and nothing else. So I really do believe balancing too much/removing every little cheesy option can hurt the experience - as much as overly cheesy and obviously overpowered stuff can hurt it. But that's very subjective I believe. BUT: if it's optional and placed into a dedicated package (which you can simply turn off) I see absolutely no harm. Players who want all cheese removed will like it - and the others (like me) don't have to use it: perfect.

I found that Showing Beyond with the first Godlike ability (Divine Thorn) is a pretty cool thing. The weapon you carry doesn't matter, so I can shoot at incoming attackers, turn invisible with Shadowing Beyond to avoid getting mauled - and if the attacker already suffered enough health loss while he was approaching me, I can deal the finishing blow from safety with the Thorn. Also Shadowing Beyond's cooldown is pretty short and the overall essence cost is low (especially at rank 3). I even retrained out of Arcane Veil because I didn't use it anymore once I got SB. What you cannot do well is power attacks straight from invisibility. The invisibility breaks as soon as you press the left mouse button unfortunately. But you can remove yourself from combat while you are invisible, so enemies are unaware of you - and then deal a power attack from range. All in all Shadowing Beyond improved my personal combat experience as an archer a lot.

Hey, I'm currently about to finish Emerald Stair and am having a lot of fun after a bumpy start with the game (motion sickness mostly ). However: the more unique items I find the more disappointed I am when it comes to the enchantments of the unique items. I understand that adding a lot of fancy enchantments which would require additional visual and sound effects may have been out of the question due to cost - but I could imagine several enchantments that wouldn't even require much investment and still be more interesting than most of the stuff I currently see in the game (and the wikis etc.). It's not that the stuff I see is bad - it's just that what those enchantments do is kind of similar or not very exciting. +x% (elemental) damage here, a bonus attribute point there... hm. There are exceptions - for example the Ogre's great axe that can reflects projectiles (sweet) or the beetle shield that can summon a spirit beetle (awesome) - but they are either scarce or I didn't find them (yet?). When I look at my collection of unique items so far, I feel a bit disappointed (and I didn't even pick up the Disappointer, hohoho). Having said that: I really like that some enchantments can be used to interact with the world outside of combat, too (burning brambles with a fiery sword, powering opening mechanics with electricity-infused shots from a pistol and so on). But also that shock + water does cool things in combat and things like that. That's neat. I understand that the variety of Deadfire's enchantments is maybe out of the question, but I believe the enchantments could be more interesting and exciting than they currently are - with not that much more investment. What do you think about that?

As I said before elsewhere: A near perfect RPG for me would be Avowed's (and Skyrim's etc.) first/third person exploration, map/area design and interactions with NPCs - but with the more sophisticated and well balanced RPG and combat mechnics of Deadfire. As soon as combat starts, the game zooms out into top-down perspective and it's either turn based or rtwp (I don't mind which one). I guess the camera cannot be fixed then bc. of the area designs etc., but I think I could live with that (I usually prefer a fixed camera). I think this isn't super difficult to make (speaking from the technical perspective). Now that I think of it: the top-down combat could be an option besides the current combat style, couldn't it? I believe those two could coexist in the same game. You will stay in the same 3d environment and use the same game objects, not matter the perspective and whether you have turns, pauses or real time action. Changing the camera angles and introducing turns/pause and point+click mechanics and switch between different UI features, indicators etc. should be possible (and not too expensive given how it could expand the potential player base)? That way Obsidian could please players like me (who find the combat and also the RPG and ability options are a bit shallow) and also the action crowd. It could be the successor for Avowed and Deadfire within the same game.

I understand the motivation, but wouldn't a (far) better solution for players and the game itself be: "Offer as much gear that benefits casters/rangers as gear that benefits martial characters"?

Yes, Skaen with its Baby Sneak Attack + Apprentice's Sneak Attack is like having a Fighter's base accuracy (with Stiletto, Club or any summoned or soulbound weapon that can be bound to a Priest) plus a Rogue's Sneak Attack basically. Firebrand works very well with a Priest of Skaen because of its high base damage and being a "universal" weapon (all weapon focus talents and also all of the Priests' weapon talents apply - but of course multiple weapon focuses won't stack). The resulting dmg per strike on average is pretty much the highest you can get with a Priest of Skaen. Although a huge flaming great sword is not really a subtle weapon - but on the other hand: great concealment. "But Mr. guard sir... Which weapon do you mean?" *poof*

I'm usually not one to rant, but this is not only unintuitive and obscure, it also seems stupid. I would love to hear the reasoning for this. Or maybe it's not intended? Even if one designed it like this for whatever reason: why not communicate it to the player? I'm baffled... PS: having said that - so far the weird quality-tier- and scaling mechanics have not kept me from enjoying the game, it gives me a great time so far despite me being really bad with those controls.

That was actually what I was hoping for: FDP drops out BSW gets in Merz is forced to form a coalition of CDU,SPD and Greens

That is correct. Usually I bring a Wizard with Chillfog, so the blinding is covered right from lvl 1 on - while it's not so easy to get a long lasting "+20 to all defenses" buff for the whole party. But it honestly doesn't matter much which Priest you pick. They are all great and the little differences of the symbol spells and other talents/abilities hardly make a difference overall - unless you want to go for a very specific build... like a great sword melee Priest or something like that.

Obsidian is a Microsoft Company, Justin Bell works at Sony Entertainment. I'm pretty sure they couldn't.

I'll take a wild guess and say: because he left Obsidian years ago and went to Sony.

@Aarik D, @Shyla - would it be possible to create a subforum for Avowed builds, game mechanics etc. like we have them for PoE, Deadfire and Outer Worlds?

I am def. not happy with the results, but it went as expected. CDU/SPD (which is the only realistic option now) always meant stagnation and hesitation in the past. Something we (and esp. Europe) really don't need right now. But maybe they'll prove me wrong. It also has direct consequences for my personal life because my wife is part of the higher ranks of the Foreign Ministry. Although here it's more important how decent and competent the actual minister is, it's less about the party. I met a lot of politicians in my life because of my attachment to the Foreign Ministry via wife, esp. when serving in foreign countries. Every party has decent people (cannot include AfD here though because I never personally met an AfD politician). Sometimes the politicians I generally agreed with and I thought are decent human beings turned out to be douches - and vice versa. It's the same with personnel and voters. --- My vote: I always consult the "Wahl-O-Mat" (since it's available), which is a website that presents a lot of political questions/demands to assess. Based on your (weighted) answers/assessments it shows you which parties' programmes do cover your views best. I can show you my results: I recommend this or similar tools to everybody who is about to cast a vote in an election. It helps to clear up the absolute chaos the media as a whole and esp. social media is causing and see which party is proposing what and if that's actually okay with you.

Oha, that's very useful info, thanks.

Symbol of Eothas is pretty good because the "+20 to all Defenses" stacks with individual defense buffs like for example Wizard's Mirrored Images/Arcane Veil etc. I like Priest of Eothas best anyway because there's so much Eothas/Gaun/Dawn/Sunshine related gear in the game you can wear (helmet, flail, mail armor etc.) and also there's lots of dialogue options etc. Two Priests are great in a party because you can stack Inpiring Radiance to +20 ACC and you can cut the buffing time for the party in half. A very useful paladin build against bosses is if you combine Coordinated Attacks with a marking weapon and then support your party member with the most reliable and sustainable disable/CC (Monk & Cipher mostly but any build with high ACC and good cc works). You will grant your party member +20 stackable accuracy passively which is awesome. If the party member uses a coordinating weapon then he/she even gets +5 ACC on top. If you flank the enemy it's like having additional +10 ACC. This makes locking up a boss very easy. Best case: your party member is a Cipher with Borrowd Instincts and Tactical Meld and uses a weapon that can prone on crit. There are several marking weapons in the game: Spectacular Spetum + Blade of the Endless Paths is the combination I would recommend most because they complemet each other so well in terms of weapopn focus and damge types, but there's also a pistol, an arquebus, Shame or Glory and Cladhaliath. I made a build that uses this Coordinated Attacks/Marking approach. It has some other features, too, but that is the core idea: Can easily be adopted to work with Pallegina. For example: put her in fat armor and get the Spactacular Spetum asap. Make her an offtank and mark her enemies so that the nearest ally can get +20 acc. againt them. Later add the Blade of the Endless Paths.

Hi! That depends on what you like better. Arcane Veil is limited per rest and can never be a spell mastery (per encounter) spell. So that's limiting. Also there's normal spells that function in a similar way (Mirrored Images etc.) and don't stack with it. But if you are melee-focused and if you tend to rest often then it's great to have. Parasitic Staff and Spirit Lance both have very high base damage (twice the amount of other two handed weapons) and the Staff is of exceptional quality right at lvl 1 - which is very powerful and feels just great in the early game. Also spares you a lot of other spells per rest. The Lance is superb and has an AoE - and it has speed! In combination with Deleterious Alacrity of Motion, some damage bonuses (Two Handed Style, Might, Apprentice's Sneak Attack, Savage Attack etc.) you can reach very good melee/AoE dps. The pinnacle would be to gain Gauntlets of Swift Action so you could reach 0 recovery with the Spirit Lance. Which is kind of bonkers. A melee Wizard has to be more sturdy than a ranged one, even if he oly operates from the second row - so you need to either invest in defensive talents and/or abilities/spells and use them. This can be Arcane Veil, but you can also do without it. Melee Wizard needs more micromanagement. Blast is a passive so it will always be there. It becomes very potent in combination with Combusting Wounds and Kalakoth's Minor Blights (summoned wand-like weapon): because every hit in the AoE of Minor Blights will cause a Blast, you can have a LOT of damage rolls that all trigger Combusting Wounds - if you manage to hit many enemies with Minor Blights+Blast. Lots of damage rolls (no matter how weak) in combination with Combusting Wounds melts all mobs but the fire immune ones. Good crowd control is nice to have (sturdy front line, disables, using choke points etc.) so you can reach many enemies with the AoE. This approach can work with a glass-cannon build. If you get rushed you need a plan B, but you don't have to be somewhat sturdy at all times like a melee wizard would. For a main character I think the more fun approach is the melee way - if you like that in the first place. Because one tends to micromanage the main character a lot more than the others anyways. The Blast Wizard is better for companions and adventurerers imo because you don't have to move and position them a lot.