Boeroer

Solo runs with Assassin tend to be hit-and-run (or hit and vanish) approaches. In the vanilla game I think Assassin/Tactician with Dragon's Dowry the way to go because you'll become Brilliant as soon as you use Smoke Veil - which means you can use Smoke Veil every time after a shot to reload in peace and get back the Guile needed for the next Smoke Veil. No running needed. At least it used to work that way. No idea if invisibility triggering Brilliant was patched out but I think not. Against pierce immune foes you might want a backup weapon - e.g. Eccea's Arcane Blaster or Essence Interrupter or whatever. Ranged Assassin/Bleak Walker is very good in the beginning but I find it to lack dmg output in the later game. You won't be able to one- or two-spot most enemies rel. early which means you'll have to resort to DoTs like Gouging Strike + Brand Enemy eventually. Might as well switch to melee then and use Lover's Embrace, too. Assassin/Skaen is cool thematically but overall not overly exciting, Shadowing Beyonds of the Priest is implemented quirkily and breaks on DoTs which is meh. - Besides that it's just a Priest + Assassinate who has to vanish from combat to survive. Except if you abuse Barring Deaths Door + Salvation of Time + Brilliant of course. Then it's a bit like God mode. Or "Major Avatar"... Use a Death Godlike for thematic and PG reasons. You can then use invisibility all the time for highest DMG output. Assassin/Bloodmage with Arkemyr's Brilliant Departure can CC enemies into the stone age without getting revealed and then finish with high impact DMG spells + Shadowing Beyond or Smoke Veil. With Healing Gloves and Wall of Draining you'll have enough health for Blood Sacrifice. All in all the Assassin/Tactician way may be the most easy to play and straightforward. I didn't try it myself for long (only until mid game) but I saw an impressive video by @Kaylonwho introduced this combo some while ago.

Unless you can make them permanent I won't rise from the couch.

Yes, it said good bye a week ago or so.

I don't know if retraining will remove them. Maybe not... It's pretty cool to be able to permanently get Wizard-, Priest- and Druid spells though. A bit like supermulticlassing. And who needs Bloodmage then?

I happens if you cast an imprint spell from a grimoire, for example Major Grimoire Imprint (and didn't learn that spell) and after casting that imprint spell you switch to a grimoire without that imprint spell in it. Then the spell in the action bar that you stole (and which has unlimited uses) will stay forever. Mechanically it works exactly like the Draining Touch trick (don't learn, cast from grimoire, switch to a grimorie without Draining Touch in it). I guess the imprint spell manages not only the "stealing" but also the removal of those temporary stolen spells. When you switch grimoires that imprint spell with its management ability gets removed from your character (since you haven't learned it) - and that means said imprint ability can't manage (=remove in this case) the stolen spells anymore.

If you're not against using IRoll20s in the console you can simply remove them by typing RemoveAbility <player_name> <spell_name>

I noticed that enemies killed by Riven Gore of Amra (destroy enemies <50 health) get completely removed from the battlefield (no corpse, no fancy animation, just *plop* gone). Does anybody know if this prevents oozes from splitting like Dinsintegration does?

Shouldn't Ball and Chain work as well? It knocks down on crit which should interrupt the Oozes. Grave Calling also sounds like it should work.

It's funny that this works out of combat while you are in stealth mode - but not when you're standing still without stealth (out of combat). Anyway: it works and is a great way to start the fight with a lot of AR for the initial onslaught your character will face once combat starts. Also great for party tanks who reveal themselves first.

If you pick a Wizard (with the Phantom) you can also equip it with Effort (Great Sword) which has an enchantment that does an AoE weapon attack on Knockout. Since the weapon also has a 15% raw DoT this is quite nice. Besides the Mantle of the Seven Bolts there's also armor (Effigy's Husk for example) that causes dmg on knockout. And a few other items iirc. You can build a nice "bomb voyage" Phantom that way. Monk summons have the drawback (in this case) that they don't get your weapons - so no Effort. But but there are two of them so I guess that evens out.

Yes, with a different weapon setup it will be no problem I think. A simple non-unique battle axe would have been enough. But I wanted to do the Bronlar's Phalanx + Gladiator's Sword setup because of the looks and throw different enemies at it. It's not bad at all (one use of Gilded Enmity lasted for over 15 minutes because I got barely hit - and when I was hit it was 2 dmg or something, haha) - it's just not good enough offensively when soloing healing enemies.

Ouf... it becomes really tedious with this one once you face enemies who can heal each other without limit (e.g. Rathun Fanatics). Battle Unending indeed.

I did some testing with the console and such a MuT-Tuotilo's Palm Unbroken/Goldpact (max RES, Ring of Solitary Wanderer, Patinated Plate, Blunting Belt, Dragon Pendant and so on) and it's rel. easy to stay at 20+ AR for most of the fight (in this case Sworn Enemy and not Brand Enemy). The dmg output isn't too bad actually. I opted for Guarding Stance bc. of the damage reduction (stacks with the one from underpenetration) and added the Death's Maw as helmet to stack even more dmg reduction eventually. I did not use Pale Elf but I guess that could be nice to complement the AR coverage without having to juggle items around too much. Everything I threw at him was no problem. DMG output wasn't that bad actually. Two Weapon Style + Armored Grace + Abraham made Patinated Plate bearable. Against foes with mostly crush dmg I would switch to Nomad's Brigandine or Magnera's Chain + Ngati's Girdle or something I guess. Leap does not end Stoic Steel. I think none of those mobility abilities does. Everthing that lets you move with The Wall will also not end Stoic Steel (I didn't use the Wall in this case of course). Speaking of The Wall: I would like to try a verision with Bronlar's Phalanx and the Gladiator's Sword. I will be a lot slower offensively and better defensively - but maybe I can then get away with an optically more fitting, lighter armor. I like the vibe of those items a lot.

Maybe Brand Enemy instead of Sworn Rival would be good to give an additional offensive tool.

Yes, the self damage of Berserker Frenzy and Deleterius Alacrity cannot be shortened by RES since hostile and benefical effect are not separated it seems. Looks like one effect that has pros and cons. Iirc you also don't get a dedicated "hostile effect" entry in your list of active effects. With Sacred Immolation you do - and you can shorten it with RES without shortening your "benefical" burn dmg output. I never noticed though that Sacred Sacrifice is different (I honestly never took it). Good to know.

Yes, Torment's Reach - it has to be said - is too good.

I'm actually too lazy to create an account anyway.

I guess I will create a reddit account and downvote you because it's totally possible to apply Body Blows in an AoE: with Whispers of the Wind, Whirling Strikes, Clear Out, Clean Sweep, Clear the Path and Heart of Fury.

Just checked in game to be sure: doesn't work - as expected. Not with Gouging Strike anyway and of course not with Body Blows. I guess he used some weapon with Gouging Strike that could have applied it in an AoE. Maybe Amra's Wanton/Riven Gore does this. Checked: nope. And Body Blows just seems to have been speculation. Or... I didn' check Accurate Carnage... wait a sec... Checked: nope. Maybe a mod?

Maybe he used WotEP...?

Unlike PoE1 Carnage in Deadfire did never apply any on-hit effects. If that's different now it must be a recent change or it's just some rare exception with Gouging Strike (or Rogue Strokes in general?).

I'd say Casita Samelia's Legacy with maxed Intimidation.

It's rel. esy to perma-CC dragons if you have a Priest, a Paladin (preferably Darcozzi) with a marking weapon (or even two, dual wielded) and Coordinated Attacks and a Cipher in the party. Priest casts Prayer against fear and Devotions of course and Champion's Boon on the Cipher (can also add Inspiring Radiance), Paladin casts Inspiring Liberation on Cipher and attacks the dragon with one (or dual wielded) marking weapons. The Cipher has to be nearest to the Paladin and cast Tactical Meld on the Paladin. The Cipher will get +20 ACC from Devotions (+10 from Inspiring Radiance as a spike), +10 from Coordinated Attacks, +10 from Inspiring Liberation and +10 from the marking weapon (+20 if dual wieding) from the Paladin - and +20 from Tactical Meld. That's up to +100 accuracy (80 long-term I'd say). He can then use a weapon with prone on crit against the dragon (e.g. We Toki, Hours of St. Rumbalt, Tall Grass etc.) to generate focus an have a chance of causing prone (iirc no dragon is immune to prone) and cast Whisper of Treason or whatever CC works on the dragon (all but one can be charmed). The rest of the crew just takes their chances. A Monk can also be used instead of a Cipher in this setup with Force of Anguish - that already causes prone on a graze and when paired with a proning weapon you can make double sure the dragon stays down. A Fighter also works but unfortunately his uses of prone are quite limited per encounter - yet if you only use Knockdown as a failsafe when the crits won't fall often enough it can work well. Combined with the Chanter/Priest/Cipher trick above (+100 defenses with Defensive Mindweb etc.) it's pretty easy to win all dragon fights. The key is having enough time to set stuff up at the beginning of the fight. This can be done with summons and charming - to keep the enemies occupied with themselves. Or by kiting and pulling with a suitable character while the others perpare.