Boeroer

I wrote in some other thread that you can also build a damage-oriented Crusader who does good damage (iirc I did some 170+ dmg hits with a Devoted/Bleak Walker with great sword bc. of the combination of lashes and Inspired Beacon - not to mention Sacred Immolation) and is still very sturdy (not main tank level of sturdy but very sturdy for a damage dealer). That's not boring at all imo. Sure, if you put everything into defenses it becomes a very passive character - but still very useful imo.

Yeah, good point. Maybe next time combine with Blightheart (+Sure Handed Ila +Mith Fyr)? Single target damage will be good then (-20% reloading speed twice and a lash) and you'll get +1 phrases for any kill (weapon or spell). Sure, the Skald's "phrase-on-50%crit" passive won't trigger, but I think it doesn't need to. Tried this weapon setup with a Berserker/Skald and it's fun. Brilliant + phrase on kill might be really nice for spamming stuff like Her Revenge...?

Bit unusual, but why not. Mirrored Images/Displaced Image could counter Frenzy's -10 deflection. You'd still need some external healing source bc of Frenzy - at least until you get Savage Defiance. Or use potions.

Bellower can do that on their own. The additional Power Level from Brilliant is negligible and the phrase generation from Brilliant isn't that good - at least that's what I "theorize". Imo Brilliant isn't very attractive for Chanters because they regain resources anyway. I think the best synergy with Tacticians are classes that normally wouldn't regain resources. But on the other hand I never tried a Tactician/Bellower, so maybe my thinking is wrong and it is good synergy. Maybe the Tactician can not only deliver phrases and Power Level but also fill the gap between invocations with useful actions from his refilling Discipline (like Clear Out or something). Whispers of the Endless Paths with Mule Kick could be a good tool, too. It causes flanked and interrupts which might regain you Discipline and also might trigger Brilliant. And it's cone-shaped like your invocations, to targeting is the same with both classes' actions sort of. But what first comes to (my) mind when thinking about a powerful Bellower combo is Helwalker/Bellower. High MIG for more invocation damage, high Accuracy from Enduring Dance, high INT for better linger time, bigger AoEs and longer durations. And refilling Wounds. For Tactician imo the best multiclass partner is Wizard. Can flank a lot of enemies on its own from level 1 on (Chillfog) and the regaining spell uses are very valuable.

I guess it depends how you like to play. Some players like slow encounters and some like it fast. Crusader tanks cater to the first group.

Rangers also have an Escape-like ability named Evasive Roll. It comes a bit later though. It not only lets you move over the battlefield but also makes you quick (+5 DEX) which directly translates to attack and reloading speed. So a Ranger/Chanter can shoot even faster (not only because of Evasive Roll's DEX bonus but also due to the "Gunner" passive Rangers can access) and the accuracy will be higher, but the dmg per shot will be lower than Rogue's. With Driving Flight you can hit two enemies instead of just one with one shot. Actually I'm playing a Ranger/Chanter right now (Arcane Archer/Troubadour).

Berserker/Skald or Furyshaper/Skald are great imo. Very nice "on the fly" fortitude debuffing with The Long Night's Drink + Spirit Frenzy (substituted with Morning Star + modal - Willbreaker is great). Together with Ben Fidel's Neck (stacks with all individual defense debuffs) you can lower enemies Fortitude by 55 points which is not only good for your party but also for your crits because you will pick Brute Force. Nice complementing weapon: Pike for the deflection debuff (Ngati's Tusk with max Survival is a supergood debuffing tool, too). You can always attack the lower of the two defenses, deflection or fortitude which leads to a lot more crits.

I wouldn't say that. Once you reach SSS you will most likely be happy about your Crusader who can endure very long fights.

Most are not ranged passives, but some (Shot on the Run, Gunner, Marksman...). But there are enough passives that don't care about ranged or melee (all Animal Companion passives, Stalker's Link, Defensive Bond etc...). Some actives are melee only (Hunter's Claw, Whirling Strikes) although both can be tricked to work with one handed ranged weapons (as long as you carry another melee weapon or bashing shield). Melee SC Ranger can be very potent due to Hunter's Claw + Whirling Strikes. The latter is better than Heart of Fury (Barb): more dmg, less resource cost. It's especially devastating with any kind of AoE weapon (Keeper of the Flame, offhand mortar etc.). However: where the SC Barb or SC Rogue might be able to regain some resources (Blood Surge, Gambit) the SC Ranger has no integral means to regain Bond.

Every SC Rogue subclass with Gambit is very good. You just need more than 10 Guile and decent accuracy so you don't miss or graze (too much). That's very straightforward. You will be at 100% crit conversion and can spam Gambit quasi-endlessly. Streetfighter is better than Assassin with a party imo because no invisibility is needed (no "park and fight" ). Works with melee or ranged weapons, but of course dual blunderbusses/mortars is best imo (first of all bc of Streetfighter passive and then it's very difficult to land only misses or grazes with those multihit shots). I also find SC Trickster worthwhile. Wall of Flashing Steel (passive +10 deflection when scoring a crit, stacks with Mirrored Images etc.) + Gambit is very nice. Crits galore as usual but quasi-permanent +10 deflection because of that. Combine with deflection gear and you'll deal lots of damage while being able to "dodge" lots of attacks. Debonaire is only nice for the additional tier-3 body inspiration for your charmed kith enemies I guess? Althoug iirc that's bound to char level, not Power Level? Don't remember. Anyway - if you charm the "right" enemy this can really mess up enemies' order. Suddenly the best of them comes at them with up to 3 body inspiration, charmed for nearly a minute... Not enough to justify SC alone though (even if it's unlockes by PL) - but you also get Gambit which would be the real motivation to go SC I think. What I really don't know is why anyone would pick vanilla Rogue though - SC or MC. Imo there's not much (maybe zero?) motivation for that (Barbarian, Monk, Ranger and Fighter, too - but most of all I feel like that for Rogue). Anyway - I think SC Rogue is on another level as SC Fighter or Paladin for example (niche builds aside of course - I mean who doesn't love endless Zeal from sacrificed Skeletons etc. )

Generally speaking a Harbinger (Chanter/Rogue) has greater effect if you are using reloading weapons (except Pistols). That is if you run Sure Handed Ila (if not forget what I'm saying). Reason is that Sure Handed Ila grants -20% ranged recovery bonus and -20% reloading bonus. One would think the recovery bonus applies to bows and rods/wands/scepters and the reloading bonus applies to crossbows/arbalests/firearms - but for whatever reason reloading weapons get both(!) bonuses. So with any reloading weapon you'll get -20% twice. Pistols + Rushed Reload (modal from weapon proficiency) won't stack with it. Also Hunting Bow's modal doesn't stack. Both will suppress Sure Handed Ila. So best to use something else (be it another chant or another weapon). If you had a Streetfighter (?) then I would highly recommend dual blunderbusses/hand mortars + modal. They would keep you distracted (which entails flanked) which would trigger the Streetfighter passive "Heating Up" at all times, granting you a stacking -50% recover bonus which also applies to reloading. That would stack with dual wielding, two weapon style and Sure Handed Ila, giving you insane reload speeds. Also two weapons are better for all the Rogue's "strikes" which are nearly all Full Attacks, meaning both weapons will be used. With any other Rogue subclass you could use arbalest or arquebus to great effect (rod as backup). The Red Hand arquebus is one of the best ranged weapons in the game when it comes to single target dmg output (because ii is double barreled an only has to reload after every second shot). If you skill Arcana then Spearcaster (arbalest) is also a great pick. Both can be obtained rel. early. A good rod is Watershaper's Focus for pierce immune enemies. What else you might want: If you pick arbalest or arquebus look at Maia's Padded Armor (Sharpshooter's Garb). It has an enchantment named Gunnery which gives another stacking -20% reloading bonus. Just take Maia into your party and unequip the armor. You could also kill her to get it... Ring of the Marksman you also want to have. A good pet would be Harley (dog). You can buy it in Serpent's Crown in the upper left corner from a vendor. Cutthroat Cosmo also isn't bad (should be in your stash from the start). For amulet etc. I would prefer +INT stuff (Charm of Bones for example). As Chanter you can never have enough INT imo. Boots of Speed would be my pick. Always good to be able to outrun melee enemies.

ROFL

You said dual melee weapons, hm... How about a "Huana Mataru" Unbroken/Wizard with a spear (Stalker's Patience) and a club (Kapana Taga) plus Reckless Brigandine plus Whitch Mask (later Champion's Helmet)? Sounds weird? Let me explain: Unbroken have a nice passive that grants them a big bonus with Engagement/Disengagement Attacks: +1 Engagement and +10 PEN on diseng. attacks. Paid for with -10% Stride (nobody cares once DAoM is active) and -15 Reflex (counter with a self buff like Llengrath's Displaced Image if you must). Kapana Taga has the will reducing modal (-25 Will), dual damage (crush/slash) and neat enchantments - one that gives you +2 engagement. You are at 3 engagement slots. Stalker's Patience has a modal that gives you +1 engagement at the cost of lesser stride (again: DAoM), it does awesome damage due to the wounding enchantment and you can skip recovery on crit 20% of times (cool, especially with disengagement attack which have high ACC bonuses, also with Overbearing Guard). You are at 4 engagement slots. Reckless Brigandine gives you more dmg, AR and action speed based on health and/or on how many enemies you engage. That stacks with Mob Stance(!). You are at 5 engagement slots. If you take Hold the Line you'll get 6 engagement slots (not really needed but maybe good to gap the bridge until you get all the items). With Reckless Brigandine, Armored Grace, the Pet Abraham, dual wielding, Two Weapon Style, DAoM and Mob Stance you will be pretty fast, especially once you engage a lot of enemies. Now... White Witch Mask, why? It gives you +1 to all Illusions (and looks good with Kapana Taga/Reckless Brigandine and thus completes the "Hauna Mataru" look quite well). Illusions include stuff like Dazzling Lights, Miasma of Dull-Mindedness and the two terrifying Ryngrim spells. Now the Unbroken and Wizard parts come together: You gather enemies around you and engage them. You hit them a bit with the club+modal (-25 Will). You cast Miasma of Dull Mindedness onto the enemies (-40 Will -> now at -65 Will). You cast Ryngrim's Repulsive Visage. Now the enemies get terrified and try to disengage. Often they trigger hefty disengagement attacks which will be executed with Stalker's Patience (chance of skipping recovery). If they die you will get an additional Full Attack from Mob Stance. And so on... Disciplined Strikes + Merciless Gaze lead to a good amount of crit conversion. You can really mess up enemies that way, do CC and damage at the same time. And against fear immune enemies? Well you are still a proper Battlemage so you'll think of something. The most fun part imo is that if you summon an Essential Phantom it will also have +3 engagement from the Brigandine and the club. So you can both deliver disengement attacks. It won't have your modals and passives but it's still a nice addition. If you want you can even summon Concelhaut's Draining Touch and use it als main weapon instead of the spear - but in order to keep it you need to use a game glitch. But even if you don't want to use that glitch: on a phantom the Draining Touch weapon stays after hits and will not dissolve like if would on your own character. And the neat thing is that it has not only huge base damage but it targets Will instead of Deflection (and you reduced enemies' Will substancially before). Icing on the cake is Zandethu's Draconic Fury (spell from a unique Grimoire) at Power Level 7. It lets you terrify on hit and getting hit (and adds two potent lashes). Too bad it's on the same tier as Wall of Draining - so I'd recommend Bloodmage in order to gain that spell use back so you can cast both spells in one encounter. I didn't play this for a whole playthrough though so I can't say if it's fun all the way. I only verified the concept with a hireling during a normal playhtough and with the console + some random encounters. But I always wanted to play that concept.

Affecting party members with Come Sweet Winds if Death isn't too bad though. You'll have more chances to hit which is mandatory for the healing effect and some party members might even profit from the little predictable damage they receive (e.g. Monks, Streetfighter, Barbarian...). The Phrase "Many Lives Pass By" doesn't care at all whether you're confused or not, so that would be safe. But in general it's best to get rid of confusion right away as @Not So Clever Houndsaid.

Miasma of Dull-Mindedness does not cause a "proper" affliction but direct attribute debuffs. Maybe try Arkemyr's Dazzling Lights (Dazed) or Curse of the Blackened Sight (Blind) or something like that.

I think I'd do Bloodmage (besides Berserker/Devoted which is great). There are really nice synergies with Fighter/Wizard later on. Chanter is also nice. Most invocations target will instead of fortitude but Willbreaker lowers will, too. But instead of Troubadour I would pick Skald. The -1 phrase cost is pretty great with offensive invocations and with Mule Kick or Clear Out + Body Blows and Disciplined Strikes you'll see phrases from crits frequently.

Does it have to be strictly melee? Because Streetfighter/Wizard with dual mortars (Serafen's blunderbusses with AoE effect) is very potent. The modal Powder Burns triggers the Streetfighter passive at all times (no need for bloodied or getting actively flanked). You'll have two damage types (mortars deal pierce/slash) and the AoE targets Reflex instead of Deflection (Wizard has lots of debuffs for that). Also Expose Vulnerabilities and Combusting Wounds is great with dual mortars. On top of that the mortars' AoE apply all effects from Rogue strikes - e.g. Arterial Strike's or Gouging Strike's raw dmg components. The recovery bonus is also great for casting spells faster. And the mortars - like all blunderbusses - are rel. short ranged so it's not a super-ranged build either. Summoning an Essential Phantom with your two mortars equipped can be fun, too.

The official gamepedia wiki has all ability icons, too: https://pillarsofeternity.fandom.com/wiki/Category:Pillars_of_Eternity_II:_Deadfire_images_-_Ability_icons Don't know if you can get them as a bunch of files somehow or if you'll have to download them one by one though.

I am playing an Arcane Archer/Troubadour atm. Spearcaster is one of my weapons. Arcane Archer has some flaws without the Community Patch because the Imbue spells Missiles, Fireball and Death Ring don't scale their PEN in the unmodded game. But if you stick to web and pull of eora that doesn't matter. Keep in mind that a solo char often needs to divide his skill points (mechanics, stealth, whatever) so maybe you will not be able to put a ton lot of points into Arcana at all times. I have no idea about solo since my AA/Tr is the party's main CC guy. But high Arcana + Spearcaster means insane accuracy while Troubadour with Sure Handed Ila (applies its bonus twice: to recovery and also reload time) and Mith Fyr grants great reloading speed and good damage. And of course a lot of versatility bc. of invocations. For me the best part about arbalests is the modal. Combined with the reloading buffs and the high accuracy I can interrupt/prone a single enemy all the time. Arcane Archer/Troubadour can be an interrupt monster with Imbue:Web and Imbue:Eora in combination with The Champion invocation. All your crit rolls will interrupt the enemies. That includes pulses of web an eora. Those will have high ACC. This can lead to situations where enemies can't do anything at all because they are not only stuck and pulled around eventually but also interrupted all the time (great when there is enemy concentration, too). Maybe for a solo run with a ranged character you want to get Boots of Speed and immunity to engagement asap? You could try to rush the pet "Grog"...

Yes (also with Stone of Power) and yes. But if you only lack spell uses for one tier (e.g. PL4 spells) you'll get that one back. The dmg is random between three stages iirc.

Yes, something like that. With such high MIG maybe even Mith Fyr + Dragon Thrashed would be good. With enough INT they still should overlap I guess?

I'm not using him as damage dealer. Usually I summon Concelhaut's Draining Touch and then the Essential Phantom, then do cast Misama of Dull-Mindedness on the enemies (followed by other CC/debuff. most often Ryngrim's Enervating Terror because it's supereffective and targets Will which Misama just lowered by 40 points...). That way the Phantom can do some nice melee damage while Aloth casts his CC/debuff stuff. Especially the combo of Draining Touch (targets Will defense instead of Deflection) + Miasma is pretty satisfying. If I give Aloth some engagement gear (for example Kapana Taga for the offhand +2 and Reckless Brigandine +1) the Phantom will also have 3 engagement slots. If you then cast Ryngrim's Enervating Terror on the enemies they will not only be taken out temporarily due to the terrify effect, they will also suffer -50 Will (Misama + Terrify) which makes the Phantom crit a lot with Draining Touch AND they will disengage the Phantom often which leads to nasty disengagement attacks from the Phantom. Takes some casting time but can be very effective. Not against all enemies (there's enough with resistance to Resolve afflictions) - but a Wizard is so versatile you can do something else which is also good in those cases. Once Aloth gets Caedebald's Blackbow I nowadays retrain him as Blackbow user. He and his Phantom can wreak havoc on enemy groups with lowish Fortitude (Blackbow targets Fortitude instead of Deflection) because two Blackbows will hit up to 4 enemies with terrify (12 m jumping projectiles). Even on graze... Of course he will still cast other spells then - unless I feel like using Citzal's Martial Power with the Blackbow (e.g. against single strong targets).

When it's about caster/caster I really like to use a Psion. An Ultimate finisher used Troubadour/Psion but I have no doubt that you can absolutely solo with Bloodmage/Psion or whatever Wizard/Psion if you want to use Empower in every fight with Sasha's Singing Scimitar (the Psion side). Edit: what was I writing in the last sentence? I totally confused Troubadour with Psion, sorry. Forget that.

Maybe because Chanter doesn't have a lot of dmg bonuses which don't work well with Novice's Suffering/Sandals of the Forgotten Friar anyway (because fists have such low base damage, 3-8 iirc). But he has lashes and a MIG boost (Mith Fyr and Champion for example) which work well with it because the bonus dmg from Novice's Suffering scales with Might (and lashes are not calculated with base but overall dmg dealt). Only thing is: why Savage Attack and Apprentice's Sneak Attack then? They would add very little damage to your fists' attacks: 1.1 additional dmg per strike for Savage Attack, 0.83 dmg for Appr. Sneack Attack. So maybe those two talent points can be spend on something more useful? For example Outlander's Frenzy which could be used to gap the time between combat start and The Champion invocation?

With the help of the console (marks your savegame as cheated which doesn't let you gain achievements anymore). Or with the help of a mod.