Boeroer

While we speak about not spending resources for abilities: A Priest can use his seal spells out of combat. So he can just place a seal on th ground, wait until the spell use gets refunded and only then start combat. That way you can even use empower twice for the same encounter: empower a seal spell, then start combat and empower another spell.

That's right!

Tuotilo's Palm with the right enchantment (+1 deflection and reflex per wound) is better than a large shield. It's very good with fist as main weapon especially. But also great with any other one handed weapon. Later you could pick up this Brigandine: https://pillarsofeternity.fandom.com/wiki/Kāhako_Nihi Also Aloth's Armor isn't bad when it's fully enchanted to +2 crush AR . It's not heavy armor of course - but it's better than a Robe but looks like one. And the enchantments are pretty good. After the +2 crush AR it becomes a very well rounded armor without weaknesses. Maybe that's as far as one can go with a robe-looking armor compromise. Another option might be the Garari Cuirass. It is a leather armor but has the base AR of a breastplate basically. And it comes early and legendary. Nomad's Brigandine is nice, too. It looks like a normal Brigandine (which don't shout "heavy armor" such as Plate Armor does) but has great enchantments for a tank (especially bonus deflection). An SC Monk can even use it to willfully disengage and get wounds in the process (Imagined Pain).

Yes, or extremely high defenses. The Humility Robe would be cool if its pierce/crush/slash resistance enchantments would scale with wounds (or Metaphysics or Insight or whatever).

Why not. There are several great sabres in the game. It's not tank-ish though. You can achieve better tankyness with the small shield "Toutilo's Palm" that's made for monks. That would also look cool with sabres imo. Quarterstaff + modal is an option for a more tanky monk as well. Chromoprismatic Staff comes rather late though. But any quarterstaff + modal would work before that. You could also place a sabre in the offhand and be a dual wielder (while looking like a one-handed guy). You would attack with your main hand fist and the offhand sabre then. That option would be the only one if you wanted to use St. Drogga's Skull (can only be equipped in the offhand since it works like s torch, too). Back to one handed sabre: If you pick up the Animancer's Blade at some point you would look like a Jedi. And they are monks, too (sort of).

Funny. I only knew that Wall spells are "hazards" like traps and the Priest's seal spells (the ones you can put on the ground out of combat and which will stay there for a long while - like traps basically). Hazards seem to be a "character" of their own. At least in several situations the game will not treat them as spells that were cast by the character. They don't break the invisibility of Arkemyr's Brilliant Departure, they don't profit from lots of benefical effects the caster might have an which would apply to other spells and so on.

Yes, it is very weird ability once you start using "non-standard" weapons.

Yes, you can also pick either Tactical Barrage or Enlightened Agony and get Smart at nearly all times (+5 INT - doesn't stack with Duality oMP's INT bonus) and pick Iron Wheel instead. Fortitude is an important defense (more important than deflection in the late-ish game) and thus raising CON and AR is good for a tank. Non-fluctuating, stable +5 INT will be as good as +0-10 INT based on wounds imo. Besides that Clarity of Agony is great for a tank since it removes afflictions so well. I personally would pick Devoted's Disciplined Strikes for Swift Flurry/Heartbeat Drumming and Enlightened Agony for +5 INT and go with Iron Wheel. You can go Helwalker for additional fortitude (and healing and damage) via MIG if your defenses and AR are great. Damage reduction via AR (underpenetration) and other sources of damage reduction (Death's Maw for example) have a lot more impact than the Helwalker's increased received damage. The first ones work a bit like multiplicative reductions while the Helwalker's increased dmg received is "only" and additive dmg bonus for your enemies. Still might hurt, but the additional fortitude defense and healing power shouldn't be neglected either. I personally would use Forbidden Fist though (if Community Patch is used). Just because the synergy of Forbidden Fist punch + max RES and the whole unique wound trait is so good.

Reading my post again and thinking about Hunter's Claw while doing so. I think I now understand why mortars always gave me other outcomes than I expected. If not the hit rolls count but only "attack launch" - and initial Attack, every AoE blast of mortars and also Blindikg Some cones count as separate launches - the mechanics of Hunter's Claw seem to make more sense to me now... I mean I knew Blinding Smoke is OP in the right hands (see Resonant Touch and Avenging Storm) but maybe it's even more OP than I knew. That also means that maybe Arcane Archer's Imbue effects not only proc off of jumps but also Blinding Smoke procs? I think I only ever used Fire in the Hole...

They don't.

Right...

Or you get the Grog pet. It removes engagement from the game completely. It will also outright kill any party member that gets knocked out. But that's a small price to pay, right?

I tested it: Hand Mortar with Blinding Smoke: I went from 0 to 8 (max) phrases after one shot into a bunch of 5 dummies. Refund at least *3. Most likely Blinding Smoke. Hand Mortar without Blinding Smoke: I only got 6 phrases. Refund *2. It seems the initial shot and the AoE couts as two "procs" or instances of Avenging Storm. Fire in the Hole with Chain Shot: 8. Refund * 3. Most likely the jump. Sun & Moon: got 6 phrases from one swing (two flail heads each count as proc I guess). Blunderbuss: only 3 phrases. Different implementation than Sun & Moon's mutihit obviously. Thuderous Report: only 3. Despite Avenging Storm doing multiple hit rolls. Only couts as one proc. --- So - we both were right and wrong - sort of. You got the exact right idea about the workings (lauches do refund not hits) but maybe didn't know that AoEs and jumps might count as separate lauches (I didn't know that)? And I remembered the multiple refunds from mortars correctly (had that some time ago but didn't pursue) but drew the wrong conclusions. And yet again some weird mechanic we have to keep track of.

Yes, that's why I said that Druid won't empower 1/encounter. I worded that poorly. I meant that certain spells procs multiple times from one cast - I was mainly thinking about Least Unstable Coil. That's what the Reddit quote from you said: Avenging Storm procs with every hit roll of a weapon's attack. But maybe the reddit person, you and me mean something different when we use the word "proc" here. And maybe the Unstable Coil works differently from Sasha's Siging Scimitar. I'm not sure, so time to test... Edit: yep. You were right. It's launch attack. Only that AoEs and jumps count as separate lauches.

Every proc of empowered Avenging Storm will also trigger the Least Unstable Coil (usually leading to all tier-3 inspirations from one cast). For Chanter Thekehu it's not that important to have Brilliant, but still nice. Also SC Druid Tekehu can have Avenging Storm - just not 1/encounter. Usually a Chanter's Her Revenge or Eld Nary also does this (every proc counts as singular spell), so I guess it also works with the Scimitar. Spells that behave the same (every proc counts as singular spell) and might do something with "moar power to empower"-items like Weyc's Wand or whatever: Storm of Holy Fire, Great Maelstrom, Magran's Might, M's Missile Salvo, Meteor Storm... I guess more but these I know for sure. I would look at Freezing Pillar etc. as well. Avenging Storm is very nice because it lasts for so long and you can control when the procs should occur (so you are not "wasting" the phrase refund as much). The above example with SC Stormspeaker Tekehu is especially nice if you use Sasha's + Hand Mortar with Blinding Smoke (without CP because there BS triggering AS was removed: ((1+AoE_circle_HaMo)*(1+AoE_cone_BliSmo) procs) or Fire in the Hole (1+AoE_cirlce_FitH+1+AoE_cirlce_FitH_jump procs) or Blunderbuss (4 procs) or Sun and Moon (2 procs) or Keeper of the Flame (1+AoE_circle_KotF procs). Edit: that's not entirely correct. The procs don't work per projectile but instead initial attacks, any kind of AoE blasts (as a whole) and all jumps work as separate procs of Avenging Storm which refund phrases (see test results down below). Blunderbusses don't yield multiple refunds, but mortars and Sun & Moon do.

Okay, I gave Aloth all three spells and attacked him with Magran's Might (convenient because it's single target, gets reflected and every pulse counts as one spell so I don't have to cast so many spells). The VFX of all three combined look cool by the way. What I found: the reflection spells don't get supressed by superior versions. However, as I suspected, a reflected spell (here Magran's Might) substracts its levels from all three reflections simultaneously by the time it gets reflected. So it's not a "layered" reflection - they don't really stack. Thus it is useless to have them all active at the same time. Better to cast a follow-up once a former reflection spell expired (that way you also get a way longer duration of reflection overall).

Turn off AI during those fights.

As long as you are in a party your Tactician/Druid can profit from other party member's abilities to flank enemies - Ciphers and Wizards mostly. That better anyway because you don't have to cause flank by yourself and only then can regain resources. The action economy is a lot better if somebody else causes the flanking for you while you already start to cast your preferred spells. Solo it's a different story of course.

Good question. I don't know and I also never read about that here. I guess Arcane Relfections don't get used much because they only work against targeted spells (which excludes all AoE spells that you can cast "on the ground"). Given how other stuff doesn't stack (e.g. multiple sources of revival such as Second Chance + Unbreakable) I suspect that they won't stack but every time a spell hits it gets substracted from all three reflection spells (would need testing to confirm). Or the highest one directly supresses the lower ones right from the start (that would be visible on the character sheet). But maybe... maybe they stack. I can try it out when I've time and report...

A Monk can raise his defenses quite a bit via Duality of Mortal Presence (+10 INT or CON means +20 Fortitude or Will), with Iron Wheel he can even gain +3 armor. A Helwalker can even add +10 MIG/+20 more Fortitude but will receive more damage. If you can prevent taking damage via higher defenses then his increased received dmg won't matter. If you can't he will feel squishy though. With Swift Strikes your DEX will go up by 5 points which means +10 Reflex, too. Crucible of Suffering is another way to increase defenses further. Especially a Forbidden Fist Monk with high Resolve can be used to uphold the bonus of Crucible of Suffering at all times. Rooting Pain can be a help in order to preveng incoming damage from melee enemies. Blade Turning can be an excellent tanking tool, too. The Dichotomous Soul can help with tanking a lot. Classes that would be benefical for a MC Monk tank could be: Wizard: can raise deflection a lot with self buffs which complements the Monk's raised non-deflection defenses. Can raise Reflex, too and later gain Wall of Draining which is especially good for prolonging buffs and stuff like Blade Turning. AR of spells like Spirit Shield will not stack with Iron Wheel but the increased INT of Turning Wheel is benefical for buff dirations. May lack engagement, needs to gain some with items. Paladin: like always, may lack engagement, needs to gain some with items. Very good AR due to passives stacking with Iron Wheel. Goldpact's Gilded Enmity won't stack with Iron Wheel. so maybe pick another subclass or don't use Iron Wheel. Fighter: like always, lots of engagement. Refreshing Defense stacking with everything the Monk has nicely. I'd use Unbroken or Devoted. Trickster: not supertanky because the use of Mirrored Images etc. is limited by Guile and that might be scarce when getting attacked a lot as main tank - but might work with the right party. In the beginning not much engagement. Stalker: good AR and defenses, additional body for blocking/engagement. Not so cool if Animal Companion goes down. I'm sure there are other combos that work as well (Monk/Chanter for example?) but I haven't tried them as tanks or offtanks.

Never had bugs on a Monk with Whispers of the Wind. It sounds as if you used Keeper of the Flame...?

Race doesn't matter much. For Monks who will mainly use their fists Nature Godlike is a good pick (because the Fists scale with Power Level and a Nature Godlike will gain +1 PL from Swift Strikes - which should be active all the time anyways). Nature Godlike (as godlikes in general) are a matter of taste though. The loss of the helm slot is not that big of a deal. Besides that every race had its uses. I particularly like Humans and both Orlan subraces. Resistance vs. Resolve is good because terrify is such a strong affliction and there are not as many options to get a resistance as for other affliction types.

Inspiring Radiance + Devotions ftF is +30 ACC already. It's increbibly good - it's 10 character levels worth of accuracy. Hard to not take that.

I'm pausing like a madman and micromanage everything into the ground - unless the fight is very easy, then I just select all and auto-attack one enemy after the other. Because of that habit I now want to do a mostly AI-run playthrough where I only have to micro one character most of times. I did that in PoE1 as well but the AI was so bad (hello Benny Hill show) I abandoned that back then.

The perfect Druid subclass would be Watershaper because of the foe-only Chillfog (blinds) which would be perfect for this class combo. You can get that via mod or console. Ancient would have the Sporelings to help with flanking. And Sunbeam can be used to blind enemies temporarily. But those are not phantastic options so maybe you either go with scrolls or explosives to flank (distract/disorient/blind) enemies or you use special weapons: Hand Mortar (Blinding Smoke): can be used with high INT and decent ACC to flank enemies. Every crit of the AoE blast wil trigger a blinding smoke cone(!). This often leads to all enemies in the AoE getting distracted. It even works with Clear Out if you put a melee weapon or bashing shield into the offhand. Then every hit roll of the Clear Out come will proc a mortar blast - and every crit of those mortar blast rolls will proc a Blinding Smoke cone. This is almost a gurantee to distract everybody in front of you while also dealing a lot of damage. Just never use the Powder Burns modal because this will prevent Brilliant. Interrupting enemies with Clear Out might also give you back Discipline on top. Whispers of the Endless Paths with Mule Kick: You can disorient everybody in the cone-shaped AoE of the attack. When interrupting enemies' action that way you'll get Discipline (so it's easy to do this over and over again because Mule Kick is so cheap) but it's also easier to "flank" all enemies with Mule Kick then, triggering Brilliant. Also WotEP is an excellent weapon to use with Taste of the Hunt. Every enemy in the cone will suffer from the strong DoT of Taste of the Hunt (the healing will only get applied once though). Maybe there's other weapons that can do similar stuff which I now forgot about. But the good thing about the two I mentioned is that you can get them very early - so you don't have to wait to play the char as intended. Until getting the weapons you can use Sporelings (later too, of course - Sporelings are great tankers at higher levels because they'll have very long duration and you can apply Wild Growth on them which has no duration). --- So my ideas would be: either try Watershaper or Ancient with Hand Mortar+whatever melee weapon - or with WotEP.