Boeroer

Real Rotghasts are. However, cre_dummy (which is a vessel and looks like a Rotghast) is not.

Using both on a Ranger/Wizard with Wall of Draining maybe. First you fire shots into the crowds to gain the pistol's recovery bonus (which will stack without limits then) and at some point then go into high-speed melee with the sabre in the hope of triggering Blade Cascade asap (which will also never end then).

Don't actually know about the PEN of the ticks (does it stay at *1.5...?) - but at least you'll get bonus duration from a crit - so that's always great on a DoT. By the way: the PL scaling of the attack you use (e.g. Arterial Strike) will not only scale up the DoT from the ability itself but also scale up the poison damage of Cobra Strike. So with an auto-attack you will deal lesser dmg ticks than with an ability attack that has some PL scaling.

I personally would pick Streetfighter if there's a reliable and convenient way to trigger Heating Up (for example a Chanter with upgraded Whisps). The high base dmg of Cobra Strike goes so well with the increased Sneak Attack-, crit- and speed bonuses. Heck, with all the wizard buffs you might as well just Escape right into a mob and get flanked, cobrastrike everybody around with Arterial Stikes and escape elsewhere. Cobra Strike's poison doesn't stack with itself - so it's best to shoot at a lot of different enemies and not focus on a single one (just generally speaking). It's a ranged weapon - so it would work with Driving Flight... (just saying ). You also can't use Persistent Distraction (bit Chillfog etc. is good enough to trigger Deathblows). High INT with Cobra Strike + Toxic Strike is a death sentence if the target is not immune to poison.

That's if you constantly igonore the Animal Companion of course. Players tend to forget that you get two bodies for the price of one. And that additional body doesn't even have a health pool, only endurance - so it will never force you to rest even if it goes down a lot. Nobody would call a class weak if it had a summon that costs nothing to call forth and even can be revived as often as you wish (with the right party member(s)). I value Rangers a lot higher than Rogues - at least on PotD difficulty and when you look at a whole playthrough. Stunning Shots + Driving Flight + Twinned Arrows (multiplicative +100% dmg) is better in the late game than most stuff a Rogue has to offer (also because the ACC can be higher) - and the Animal Companion comes on top of that. It can do tremendous damage per attack for a "permanent summon". And even if it attacks slowly it's useful against highly armored enemies. I attempted a very early PotD playthrough (didn't finish) with 6 Rangers and it made at least the early game a whole lot easier (just because of the 6 additional bodies). I also did 6 Rogues and it was pretty bad from beginning to the near end (where I also abandoned that run). Granted: Rogues are not a top tier class either in my book. And the impact of a class strongly depends on the party composion, role, build etc. - but if you'd force me to rank Rangers in general I'd say they are above Fighters and Rogues. Anyway: since all classes are fairly balanced compared to other games (that is if you don't rest after every fight to refill spell uses) it doesn't matter that much anyway. Stalker's Torc is a cool item for a Ranger, I agree. other random loot I personally find interesting/useful: - Belt of Bountiful Healing (great in combination with high survival and the resulting healing bonus + Veteran's Recovery and other "passive" healing) - Blunting Belt (very good in the early and mid game) - Bracers of Spiritual Power (since there's not much you can do to boost your spell dmg besides MIG, +10% is nice to have) - Rugged Wilderness Hat (just equip before camping to get access to better survival bonuses without skilling survival that high) - Rymrgand's Mantle (superb in the early game for the temple of Eothas: shadows/shades deal freeze dmg - makes fighting them a lot easier) - Stag Helm (great if you are using a lot of "stuck" abilities, for example Binding Web - of always against spiders etc.) - Boots of Speed (for obvious reasons)

Gauntlets of Swift Action. Best random loot item imo because its speed bonus stacks with everything. Makes it way easier to reach 0 recovery because speed bonuses that stack often do so with increasing returns.

There are two files named accordingly (something with Avenging Storm and something with Resonant Touch) in the mod folder which you can delete or rename (you have to rename the file extension behind the dot, too). That will remove those changes from the mod. I prefer renaming because it's reversible. If you need more info just say so - I can give you spefifics when I'm home (which might be in 2 hours or so). But even with the Community Patch's cap on Resonant Touch stacks: dual mortars are the best option for Resonant Touch imo. You then just have to trigger it in between Whispers of the Wind to set the stack back to 0. Key is to get enemies form tight groups. I do this by luring them with traps or a spell from stealth or unstealthing the tank first - also I like to combine a Mortar Monk with an Arcane Archer with Watershaper's Focus who can pull enemies together like crazy with Imbue:Eora and keep them there with Imbue:Web. With the Community Patch nerfs removed the stacks of Resonant Touch know no limit. So even if enemies are still standing after Whispers of the Wind usually you can just finish them off with Resonant Touch. It's not necessarily more devastating than let's say a Great Maelstrom - bit it's mostly foe-only, does enormous DMG right away, stuns all enemies and it's limitless as long as you can collect wounds. With Blinding Smoke triggering Avenging Storm it's def. more devastating than the usual PL 9 powerhouse spell. As I said: key is enemies standing near each other. If they are standing further apart then the mortars aren't that effective of course because each Blinding Smoke cone and each blast AoE will hit fewer enemies. Same is true if you want to use melee AoE weapons like Keeper of the Flame + St. Drogga's Skull or something: pull'em tight!

Sure. Silver Flash is a good late game gun for a Ranger for example.

Like baldurs_gate_2 said, Guns are indeed inferior to bows on a Ranger in PoE - for different reasons (mostly Twinned Arrows being better than Powder Burns). The best single target ranged weapon is the hunting bow Persistence (especially with high MIG because the wounding lash scales with it). Other bows like Stormcaller and The Rain of Godagh Field are also very good. Persistence is also great because you can get it very early (and don't even have to make a beeline for it, it's the one baldurs_gate_2 meant in the Endless Paths of Od Nua lvl4). Its wounding DoT unlocks your Animal Companion's Predator's Sense at all times (if you both attack the same enemy) which can be very convenient. Brutal Takedown only has to overcome 1/4th of enemies' DR (most fixed dmg abilities have than - like Iconic Projection, too) which makes it a good additional dmg tool for your wolf. Since the Animal Companions' base (!) dmg scales with level all dmg bonuses (like Predator's Sense) work very well with it. Adding DR-bypassing dmg on top of it via Brutal Takedown lets you crack open tough nuts like Animats etc. like they don't even wear armor (kind of).

Yes. The 50% reload time reduction from the Rushed Reload modal is faster than dual wielding + Two Handed Style. The accuracy is only -3 and with One Handed Style you'll also get a decent crit conversion. So for auto-attacks and primary attacks it's better than dual pistols. Only drawback is that Full Attacks are better with two pistols.

Have you enchanted it with Blinding Smoke? Are you using the Community Patch? Lol?

Boar and Bear are okay. Both are quite sturdy if you give them Resilient Companion + Pain Block. They are all okay with Resilient Companion + Pain Block tbh. But they are no tanks by all means.

Yes. No Bonded Grief, less defenses and AR. Cipher powers that require an ally can be cast on a "normal" Animal Companion as well as on the spirit version of the Ghost Heart. For some powers it might be even beneficial to be able to "drop" the summon somewhere behind enemies. A Stalker's animal companion must move there first. And if it's farther away than 4 meters you'll suffer Bonded Grief. Stalker's passive is good - but I think Ghost Heart is more versatile with powers in mind that need an ally. Just keep in mind that you need to sacrifice a little bit of action time and a point of Bond to summon your companion.

Class: Debonaire Race: Bleached Elf Profession: Dentist's Wife Culture: The White that Grins

Help me real quick here. When talking about Grimoire Imprint: what's the point of confusing yourself in a solo run? Hm... I suppose you can still create high-level hirelings with certain spells which will the directly go to the ship where you could then steal their spells...? Or wait... can you cast Imprint on yourself while confused (don't think so but you never know)?

I think it is indeed so that solo Ranger/Cipher can reach the highest ACC of all solo classes.

You can get Hand Mortar by killing him and looting. Fire in the Hole: nope. But Mortar Monk is also fine with Hand Mortar alone, Blinding Smile loool Smoke is enough. Note that Community Patch caps the number of Resonant Touches and removes Avenging Storm procs off of Blinding Smoke. You can manually remove those changes if you want and still keep the mod. Equipping some other weapon with Hand Mortar also works well. E.g. Keeper of the Flame (and wear Edér's armor with the Reflex immunity + Imagined Pain to evade all AoE hits from Keeper of the Flame and come out with full wounds after Whispers of the Wind. Don't forget Rooting Pain). In general I wouldn't dismiss companions when going solo. In solo mode they will automatically go straight to the ship when recruited and they will help in boarding fights - and you can kill them later if you need their gear.

In general (without cheese) you just cast Minor or Major Grimoire Imprint on any Priest, Wizard or Druid - and if it doesn't miss it will give you a random spell from that caster. That's it - nothing else required. As @Not So Clever Hound said: in order to steal a spell from a hireling you have to be confused (you as the one casting Minor/Major Grimoire Imprint). Because usually the Imprint spells are foe only spells and you can't cast them on party members. But when you are confused you can. This lets you control exactly which spells will get stolen (no randomness anymore) because you can just create a hireling with only the spell(s) you want to steal. The cheese then works like @Not So Clever Hound described.

I wrote that, too.

Priests are still very good in PoE2. A few OP spells from PoE1 got nerfed (e.g. Devotions for the Faithful) - but there are other spells now that can break the game balance just as well. One example is Salvation of Time, combined with the Brilliant Inspiration. It means unlimited duration for your buffs basically and unlimited spell uses. I didn't mention Cipher because they are not one of my favorite classes (I don't like the "devided" action economy between weapon usage and spellcasting that much). But you can do some crazy stuff with them defensively (involves a Chanter, a Priest and Defensive Mindweb) and offensively (involves a Priest, a Paladin, Borrowed Instincts and Tactical Meld). But imo there's not that much value in having two of them in the party (except casting Reaping Knives on each other - which is focus overflowing fun).

Yeah, it was just a mention for players who do like to use scrolls. I personally only use Heaven's Cacophony. Tbh you don't even need that - Resonant Touch is always enough in my experience.

Priest would be my pick. It starts more slowly but has the most impact after some levels. Also as MC you can max the dispositions which leads to a very strong Holy Radiance (can one-shot most normal vessels at some point). I played a max Might melee Priest of Berath once with the Great Sword Tidefall. That was not only effective in the buffing and healing department but also did impressive melee dmg (not that you have that much time to cut enemies in half because you're so busy slinging spells, but still...). Druid MC can be a lot of fun if build for optimal Spiritshift action. Relentless Storm, Avenging Storm and then let the claws fly. As Wizard I had most fun with melee setups (Concelhaut's Draining Touch and then Citzal's Spirit Lance for the win) or with Kalakoth's Minor Blights + Blast + Penetrating Blast (it's a Blastfest) + Combusting Wounds.

Imo it's 2 Priests. For party runs Priests are considered to be the strongest class anyway due to their absurdly good buffs (and I agree) - but usually they only pick up real pace after the early game. But two (or more) Priests have one little feat that makes them very valuable even early, and that's the talent "Inspiring Radiance". Inspiring Radiance gives you and the party an accuracy bonus of 10 - and it stack with everything. Everything includes itself. So if you have two Priests who cast Inspiring Radiance right at the start of battle you'll have +20 accuracy for the party. This can turn difficult encounters in to cakewalks because you are much more likely to hit enemies with powerful hard crowd control spells or damaging abilities. As a bonus two Radiances on mights priests can make short work of most vessels (undead, constructs and so on). Besides that with 2 Priests you'll basically only need half the time to buff up at the beginning of a fight - and buffing up (especially accuracy) makes most fights a lot easier than starting right away with damage dealing or crowd control. Priest A casts Devotions for the Faithful (+20 ACC) while Priest B casts Blessing, then both Inspiring Radiance (it's a fast cast) and *boom* your whole party has +35 accuracy (which is more than the accuracy you would gain with 11 level-ups). Wizards and Druids are also very powerful. Having two of them is great, too. Two Wizards both stacking multiple Chillfogs on top of each other and then casting Combusting Wounds will have an enormous impact on your early game. Two Druids with Relentless Storm are truly apocalyptic - and so on. I would pick what sounds most fun for you to play. I personally would pick Priest but that is just my preference. If Wizard or Druid sounds cooler to you it's not that much of a difference in terms of power™.

Lots of options. Because of invisibility you don't have to brute-force all fights but can hit the panic button to leave the fight. For example: Streetfighter/Skald or Troubadour with Whisps, Pukestabber + Marux Amanth and Deltro's Cage helmet. Upgraded Whisps shoot at you with a distracting attack which triggers Streetfighter passive (also give you a little lash via the helmet) - and of course they are summons (alsways good for solo runs). Chanter is great to have in a solo run anyway. Trickster/Steel Garrote, same daggers. Good survivability even when flanked. Assassin/Goldpact, Lover's Embrace + Pukestabber. Has all the endless damage over time abilites and thus can kill anything just by using Lover's Embrace with Gounging Strike and following up with Brand Enemy. If thungs go south just vanish with Smoke Veil and weit until the enemy dies. Pretty failsafe in most cases. Trickster/Stalker Pukestabber + Marux Amanth. Good defenses (Beasts Claw), very high accuracy, good mobility (Escape + Evasive Roll). One of the meanests chars in terms of melee dagger dps (speed, crits, dmg bonses) is Berserker/Streetfighter - but it's not suited for solo unless you really force it. It attacks with very high speed and delivers a lot of crits and high crit dmaage (especially against near death enemies). It's a lot of fun imo but it has to be monitored by a healer because it's fragile due to the high self damage of Berseker's Frenzy (or you have to really know what you are doing and employ Voidward Ring and other dmg reduction and auto-healing). Your choices also work. Just prepare to switch to different weapons in some fight because you will meet enemies that are pretty resistant or even immune to slash dmg. And underpenetration is so severe in this game that you def. want to switch to a piercing (stilettos, rapiers, spears, hammers) or crushing (clubs, maces, flails, hammers) setup from time to time. You can also pick Monastic Unarmed Training and use your bare fists (it's good).

Too bad, there's no condition that lets you interrupt an enemy who is about to use an abilty.