Boeroer

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.

The shifted form has the same defenses as the druid minus bonuses from weapon and/or shield. If you go for deflection items and other deflection buffs then investing in Resolve can be worth it. If not I would focus on AR and healing. Armored Grace does nothing while shifted. For a shifter who can be shifted way longer than a normal druid I consider it a waste of an ability point indeed. At least in a party. May be different when going solo (never played a shifter solo besides doing controlled test fights with it). Raising engagement on a Paladin/Shifter is indeed difficult since you can't use special weapons or armor which have engagement bonuses. If you initiate combat with the shifter it's often not a problem because enemies will first swarm the tank and not let go too soon (plenty of time to use CC) , but in fights which start without you being able to be stealthed it can be a problem (e.g. boarding fights or fights after scripted interactions).

Or you are not very good at it (yet).

A quite sturdy melee char with good dmg output can also be a Paladin/Rogue, especially Paladin/Streetfighter. I would prefer Steel Garrote/Streetfighter but it's not everybody's cup of tea with the kind of evil dispositions. Kind Wayfarer or Goldpact Knight also work nicely. As Streetfighter you profit a lot from being flanked and bloodied and the Paladin side makes sure you can stay at lower health long enough and heal up once you don't feel safe anymore (Lay on Hands). Devoted/Streetfighter with a dual weapon setup and Monastic Unarmed Training is also nice. If you play PotD then classes with refreshing resources (like the Monk) have an advantage in the late game though because fights can become quite long with all the additional and tougher enemies thrown at you. I personally like Monks a lot so I think you can't go wrong with them. Attribute distribution for monks depends on the subclass. Helwalkers don't need high MIG (bit are squishy). In general I prefer high DEX over high MIG, good PER and good INT. CON and RES can be lower. I wouldn't dump CON but RES can be brought down unless you play a Forbidden Fist Monk. I like Nalpasca because the wound generation is great. But you have to consume drugs in most fights. There are enough of them - I never had to buy or craft them because you can find and steal so many - but even if: they are cheap to buy and make.

Nobody has the buffing power of a Priest. That's where they are best. They can also heal, but Druids are even better healers. Druids have some buffs, too - but nothing as good as Priests have.

Troubadour is never bad. It's def. the most versatile Chanter subclass.

There are many good melee setups. One that I like is a Barbarian/Streetfighter (no need to pick Berserker) with dual daggers (dual stilettos or clubs or flails as backup) can be an extremely fast and good melee damage dealer. Use Pukestabber + Marux Amanth and Devil of Caroc Breastplate and use Frenzy (upgrade to Blood Storm, then Escape or Leap into a cluster of enemies to get flanked and do some very fast attacks with passive Damage over Time effects (Deep Wounds, Blood Frenzy), jump elsewhere and do the same, then return later to finish up with Barbaric Smash (for free if it kills). Tough foes like Steelclads can be brought down with a combo of Blood Storm DoT, Gouging Strike and Ring the Bell DoTs. This will eat up your Guile quickly but it makes short work of high AR enemies in no time.