Boeroer

If the devs used the code base from occasional hirelings such as Brutish Warrior for Korgrak (why wouldn't they?) - and didn't adapt it, so that he's a one-time hireling only - then that might happen.

Does "never used before" mean - never before in that fight against Huani or - never before during the whole playthrough ?

I don't think anybody here knows that for sure. 🤔 But the hireling Korgrak and the cave Korgrak are two entirely separate entities (game logic wise). So unless the devs keep tabs on cave Korgrak's status after you hire him (which I doubt) it should have zero effect on hireling Korgrak. My hireling Korgrak never got killed, so I don't know if you can re-recruit him in a way how you would be able to recruit a Brutish Warrior etc. Given that Korkgrak is a unique character I would say no - I would assume he's permanently gone then. I also don't think you can go back to the cave and recruit him again. I would assume that if he's still there in the first place (never checked, doubt it though, if it were me who implemented that quest I would have removed his game object once you leave the cave) he should still have the dialogue status he had after recruiting him - where he would just not initiate dialogue but just give some sentence and that's it. But as I said: never tried that so I cannot be 100% sure.

Iirc Wall spells break invisibility of Smoke Veil and Shadowing Beyond but not Arkemyr's Brilliant Departure. And yeah: they are a total mess. Like half stationary summons, half pulsing spells. I really don't know why. Imo mechanically there is no reason why they couldn't be implemented like all the other pulsing spells (just not with a circular AoE but a line - and 1 sec pulses instead of 3 secs).

In general, abilities which deal damage and also have a duration (DoT or pulsing spells mostly) scale best - because not only the damage per tick/pulse goes up but also the duration/number of ticks. Also low level spells with already high base damage scale pretty well. One example is White Worms (Chanter). It's cheap yet has great base damage and AoE size. The only drawback is that you need a corpse to cast it on, but that can be circumvented with Ancient Brittle Bones or Many Lives Pass By (both leaving skeleton corpses).

1. Nope 2. As long as you are under 50% health It has no duration on its own (that's the case in PoE, but not Deadfire) - and it has no limit in terms of "X/encounter". It has the same requirements that "Blooded" of the Barbarian or "Heating Up" of the Streetfighter have: as soon as you drop below 50% health it turns on - and as soon as you go over 50% it's off.

I mean race doesn't make a big difference anyway. Orlan is totally fine. Little guy, big fists is cool. 😉

I believe it wasn't possible to fix this with a mod. Iirc the problem is located in a part of the game logic that's hard-coded (so to speak). But maybe I misremember. Anyway: it's not fixed with the CP afaik. Imo human is the best race for a Forbidden Fist. You get bonus Resolve and you will drop below 50% health often enough bc. of the FF curse etc., so Fighting Spirit gets triggered often.

Argh, Murderous Letdown

Yeah, nice.

Yes, something like that. Of course I would be very happy if that's not what happened and we'll get PoE3.

I personally would do a quarterstaff user since implements like rods are only really good for Wizards imo (in PoE). Priest in PoE cannot have Blast - they can use Dangerous Implement, but that self damage is not too cool to have on your party's priest. The priest talent that raises quarterstaff and rod acc by 10 lifts Priests' accuracy to that of Fighters. And there are two nice and early quarterstaffs in the game: one with Speed (Llawran's Stick) which is the best DPS enchantment besides Wounding, and one with dual damage (Durance's Staff) which does crush/burn dmg - so it's the perfect backup against enemies who are immune or very resistant to crush damage. Having a quarterstaff also allows you to attack from the second row which is nice for a priest. Besides those weapon talents there isn't much distinction between the priest subclasses I'm afraid. With the +10 acc talent you can also use all soulbound and summoned weapons since they are universal, meaning they accept all weapon focuses and priests' weapon talents (except the soulbounds from the deadfire pack which are not). Stuff like Firebrand, Grey Sleeper and so on. So you are not limited to quarterstaff or rod.

Iirc those tags are used in Deadfire, aren't they? I assume some (inhouse?) tool might add those tags nowadays which it didn't back in the old PoE days - and since they didn't patch PoE for a very long time it might be that the updated tool just automatically added those in the scope of the newest patch?

Yeah your mistakes began with "iPhone".

I do not follow. What's the exact reasoning? Adding GenderNeutralText tags to an XML file and adding Turn Based Mode to PoE is a hint for PoE3?

Those are weekdays in Eld-Aedyran: https://pillarsofeternity.fandom.com/wiki/Anni_Iroccio#Days

It's Bluesky: https://bsky.app/profile/boeroer.bsky.social/post/3llceskzdbs26

@thelee check this out:

Offensive Parry doesn't do splash damage but only single target damage. And the base damage of Offensive Parry is pretty low. For that Cipher/Ascendant (and any character I think) it would be more effective to keep standing there and attack with some ability - and use high deflection to trigger Offensive Parry and/or Riposte on top of that. This would yield way more focus in the same time than trying to force disengagement attacks by running back and forth. It's also a lot less annoying to do. A more excessive abuse I can see is to use a Keeper of the Flame + Fire in the Hole weapon set + Riposte in combination with immunity to disengagement attacks but also when immune to engagement: run through mobs and trigger either disengagement attacks - or force misses by moving out of attack range by running past enemies too quickly (Boots of Speed, Alacrity etc.) - and the Ripostes would happen with an AoE mortar shot + bounce which would not have any reload time. And I cannot see atm how this could be fixed. And I don't know if it must be fixed. I'm inclined to say no. It's just not an appealing way to play - nobody uses that. At least I never read about it.

Isn't there a difference between "being able to engage enemies" and "immunity to getting engaged by enemies"? How is stuff like Threatening Presence implemented? You don't lose your engagement slots but enemies are still unable to engage you. However (Riposte and Offensive Party aside), being immune to getting engaged is more powerful than being immune to Disengagement Attacks. Especially if you play with AI - because engagement also stops movement. If you are immune to getting engaged your character can roam freely without having to stop (except when blocked completely). It's easy to pass through mobs and reach vulnerable enemies, it's easy to kite any enemy - and also to sidestep melee attacks easily: you wait until the enemies' recovery bar is down and his animation starts, then you step back and enemy misses 100%. I didn't try it with Offensive Parry, but since WotEP has 1.2 reach this could also lead to an Offensive Parry (if the parry inherits the reach). Maybe it even works with Riposte and a reach weapon (didn't try that either)? If you are "only" immune to the disengagement attacks, your character will still be stopped by any engagement that happens. Kiting etc. is not really possible. Sidestepping is possible but it works less "smoothly" and you have to click around more. Last but not least: while forcing Disengagement Attacks and converting them into damage via Riposte and Off. Parry sounds like a nasty exploit - it isn't really worth doing as a core build concept. I tried it and it's just not worth the hassle in my experience. It takes a ton of micromanagement because you get stopped all the time and your movement commands get cancelled by engagement. Therefore, I personally would leave it as it is: a cool little gimmick but not really breaking game balance. Characters can usually do a lot more damage/have more impact by just using their abilities properly - instead of forcing disengagement attacks in order to reflect them all the time. If that's not an option I would try to find out how Threatening Presence does it and implement it that way which the -of-lower-level restriction (immunity to getting engaged, still being able to engage). Removing engagement completely (like having the Grog pet) is more like a drawback than an advantage for most melee characters imo. PS: Entonia Signet Ring will be useless then (not getting engaged = no defense bonus).

Hunting Bow + modal is a great option because -50% recovery is a massive bonus (or better: reduction), making the recovery very short. And the -15 acc isn't so bad with the hunting bow's build-in +5 accuracy bonus and the Ranger/Cipher's combined accuracy buffs. Also Essence Interrupter is a fantastic unique weapon. Aamiina's Legacy, too. The best option imo is Frostseeker, but that's a War Bow. But its "Blast" on crit also generates focus and it will proc very often with high accuracy and Driving Flight, due to it's three projectiles (each of them having the chance to crit and release an AoE blast) without slowing you down like a Rod + Blast will (+50% recovery 😱). Al in all I would say that Frostseeker is the best ranged weapon for a Cipher/Ranger. It combines good single target damage but also deals good AoE damage. Another great option for ascending almost immediately with only one shot is Kitchen Stove (blunderbuss) with its special enchantment "Thunderous Report". That long cone attack does massive AoE damage. If you can hit several enemies with it that often results in instant ascension.

I never tried if Murderous Intent works with the Trickster's Kalakoth's Freezing Rake. Could be great if that worked. Eye of Wael for +2 PL, White Witch Mask +1, +1 from Prestige, +5 from the Empower and then +100% crit conversion and +100% crit damage against bloodied or worse enemies... Ouch. --- Could also see a SC Trickster maxing deflection and using Whispers of the Endless Paths w. Offensive Parry + Riposte and pick Wall of Flashing Steel (the first time I'd use that tbh).

This is usually the result of using the Divine Thorn ability (melee crouched stealth attack triggering the Godlike ability Divine Thorn). All enemies which don't dissolve into rainbowy petals will end up looking like this.

Ah, sorry, my main takeaway was "where is the file?". Are you sure you altered it yourself? Because it sounds as if you got a an altered file and used it to replace your original one. You can use the Unity Console mod to alter the file. Unfortunately I don't know another (easy) way to make the file contents readable and editable. Or you could replace the file with one that has no Blessings - or only ones you think you originally had before editing it. Maybe there's someone here who has the Unity Console running (I don't) and could manufacture a fitting file?