Boeroer

I just always use it.

3.8K focus rofl. I love Watershaper's focus. Ondra's Wave also generates focus, right? I mean not that you need that with 3.8K - but still. Ondra's Wave used to proc off itself. That was patched out at some point but it is still such a fun weapon (even without Blade Cascade).

Yes, that is the main thing indeed. THat's also why - in a party - you shouldn't cramp all the synergistic stuff into one character. It absolutely hurts the action economy of your party. It's cool if a character X can do A, B and C, but it will take thrice as long as if char X does A, Y does B and Z does C at the same time. That's also why single classes shine in a party more than solo (generally speaking) because it's easier to cover all necessary "roles" with 5 chars. The individual chars may look more "boring" - but you will simply be faster imo. But that's why I love the Barb/Chanter debuffer so much - because he can stagger + weaken with a phrase (Spirit Frenzy triggers from phrases, too) and can focus on hitting stuff with a morning star and Ben Fidel (or whatever invocation). And the repeating phrases make it easy to eventually hit. Against Dorudugan Ngati's Tusk is great because its debuff is auto-hit and there's no duration or immunity (RES is useless). That's already -10. Afflictions don't work well because of resistance/immunities. Miasma and Psychovampiric Shield could help with the high RES though? I didn't fight him that often so I don't remember how long the Body Blows lasted - but maybe against Doru I wouldn't really want to play the debuff chess game anyway. I'll just hit him with a Gouging Strike from Lover's Embrace and say Sayonara. Superannoying dude he is...

Shared Nightmare works like INT (and other stuff like Overseeing etc). It may feel like it's not because it comes on top of a big INT bonus often. Area has the quadratic function π * radius². You won't see that much increase in radius the bigger the area. AoE increase/decrease in Deadfire is different from what it was in PoE. In PoE the INT modifier was directly multiplied with the radius - which lead to ridiculous AoE growth as soon as your INT reached certain numbers (because of quadratic growth): AoE = π * (mod_INT * radius)² Let's do an example for PoE: base radius of 5m with 30 INT --> +100% modifier; AoE = 3.142 * (2*5m)² = 314m² Let's assume Shared Nightmare was a thing in PoE and add +200% from focus: 3.142 * (4*5m)² = 1,257m² (quadrupled) In Deadfire INT and stuff like Overseeing and Shared Nightmares directly affects the area, not the radius: AoE = (π * radius²) * mod_INT Same exemplary numbers in Deadfire (5 base radius, 30 INT): AoE = 3.142 * 5² * 2 = 157m² With Shared Nightmare at +200%: AoE = 3.142 * 5² * 4 = 314m² (doubled) So naturally when you already have an AoE bonus of +100% then another +100% will not be that visible because the radius won't grow much (because a tiny increase in radius will already have a bif effect on the size of the area). Still: the area the circle will cover is doubled. In PoE the returns were increasing. Now looking at the circles in Deadfire one could think that the returns are diminishing - but mathematically they are linear. It's debateable though if they are kind of diminishing in the scope of the game - because enemies have a rel. fixed space they occupy. Even if the the area is growing in a linear fashion and you'll double it... it's the growth of the radius that's more "obviously important" to reach new enemies and not how much m² you actually cover. But radius will only crawl forward with already big AoEs - even with huge additional gains of area. You'll see a bigger increase in radius with cone-shaped AoEs (which are actually cicular sectors and not cones, because a cone is a 3D body - but whatever) because they use the formula for cicular sectors: AoE = radius²/2 * (α - sin α), where α is the angle of the "cone" which is usually listed in the tooltip. Therefore cone AoEs will grow more visible with high INT and also Shared Nightmare. Also here the radius will increase less and less with more stacked bonuses - but the "decline" of radous-growth isn't that steep as with circular AoEs. Also AoE effects with already big base radiuses will feel a lot better with high INT and Shared Nightmare than AoEs which start with small base radiuses. Check out Amplified Wave (5m base) with 30 INT and Shared Nightmare vs. Soul Shock (2.5m base) for example. If you want to have Shared Nightmare to have a big visual an practical effect you should use it with a Cipher who has 3 or even 1 INT. Not kidding, I played one quite some time ago. Only picked abilites that don't care about INT (beams, Mind Blades, Mind Lance etc.) or even were better with low INT (Disintegrate back then) and then after PL9 retrained and got the ones with AoEs, too.

One reason why I like bringing a Furyshaper/Skald or Troub with Willbreaker. The "on the fly" Fortitude and Will debuffing + the individual Body Blows are so great against imo. I used to enchant Willbreaker with the DoT but found that you don't need it at all and that the "Make them Flinch" enchantment that gives 25% miss to graze is much more useful - it stacks with the Gauntlets of Greater Reliability (25% as well) which makes it quite easy to debuff enemies' fortitude by 25 initially even if you wouldn't otherwise be able to graze them (which isn't likely to happen a lot - but just for showing how good and overlooked those enchantments are). Then cast Ben Fidel's Neck for another -10 to all defenses and enemies' fortitude is at (-25-20-10=) -55. And that's achievable before your buddy even gets to Disintegration iirc. Later combine with Brute Force of course. You can stack it with a party member with Ngati's Tusk later with max survival. The defense debuff is an auto-hit aura. I also employ one char with a club + modal and one with Draining Touch (trick). In various setups, doesn't matter. Often the club bearer is a fighter because Clear Out = AoE Will debuff then. Add a nice Miasma on Top for massive Will reduction (-40) and good deflection debuff (-10). You'll then have a party who can debuff Fortitude and Will off to never-neverland which is both great for any cipher (but also Barb, Furyshaper, Trickster, Wizard, Priest, Chanter and Druid). Yeah I love to play the debuffing game I have to admit.

Imo if going for terrify effects nothing beats casting Miasma of Dull-Mindedness before. Of course that can be done by another party member.

I don't know actually but I don't think so. Doesn't seem to be considered a melee or even weapon effect because it doesn't generate focus, right? Shared Nightmare is very nice with Watershaper's Focus (in combination with Time Parasite to counter the +50% recovery time from Blast) and mortars (obviously). Whispers otEP does apply Soul Annihilalation in the whole cone AoE. The bigger the better. And since it's a cone its length grows quite a bit with Shared Nightmare. It's also very good with Current's Rush. That scepter's AoE proc can trigger itself so the bigger the AoE the more likely is a deadly crit-chain-reaction that kills all enemies in range. It's already very good with a high INT SC Ranger with Driving Flight + Twinned Shot (maximizing proc chance per shot) but It may be equally good with huge AoE. And the AoE proc does generate focus iirc.

Ascended + Frenzy + Bloodlust + Blood Thirst is a great combo imo. Speeding up casting times + recovery as well as removing recovery on kill is nice while ascended in order to squeeze a lot of spells into that time window. If you pick spells with short casting time and long recovery (Mind Blades, Amplified Thrust and Mind Lance for example) it can be so much fun because you can squeeze a lot of them into the ascended time eventually. Mind Blades works quite well with Bloody Slaughter by the way because it can hit the same enemy multiple times. Edit: I would either pick Furyshaper (even faster casting with Frenzy Ward which stacks with other speed bonuses) or Berserker (+2 PEN for your spells as well and faster Ascension).

He swallowed his pride and fought like a kite.

I did a solo SC Furyshaper and it went pretty well (Blood Ward draining life from all sources of dmg is just great). SSS and FS gave me trouble though and I didn't even try megabosses. Blame my unwilingness to use resting bonuses and consumables. SC Furyshaper in a party is even better imo. Just because of the Blood Ward.

Hi! Unfortunately PoE has no refined system for AI settings. Just what you can see there. It's very basic. The only way to reduce micromanagement is to choose builds that work more reliably with those basic AI settings. For example a Monk with Torment's Reach needs a ton of micromanagement because of the optimal positioning of the cone - but one who uses Force of Anguish as main attack skill works relatively well if left alone. Same with a tanky sword & board Kana who mainly uses Dragon Thrased vs. a ranged Kana who uses support chants. The sequel Deadfire has a build-in tool for creating custom AI settings which is quite detailed and allows for elaborated "scripts".

Everybody seems to play Soulblade as Soul Annihilation spammer - and of course that can be pretty boring. But a Soulblade also gets more max focus for a melee kill and (more importantly imo) has a discount for shred spells. You don't need to use Soul Annihilation all the time. For example you can play a shred caster with a ranged weapon in one had and a melee weapon or bashing shield in the other, shooting/casting at range and only using Soul Annihilation as soon as he is engaged in melee to get rid of enemies. By the way: you can extend the duration of the Soul Blade's +10 max focus buff with Strand of Favor - meaning you can stack an absurd amount of max focus for a very long time if you want. This can be pretty hilarious with Shared Nightmare (and of course with Soul Annihilation).

If you export characters with items you can later (in another playthrough) decide at which level you want to import those characters and also if they should come with items or without. It becomes (a lot) more expensive then. So basically it's like buying that item from a shop - only that the shop is a hireling. And yes - that way you will have duplicated those items. You will still be able to get the original one in the current game. I sometimes use this method to get some items earlier for a special kind of build I want to play - which otherwise would only be possible to experience very late in the game. Usually there is not that much power difference between early and late game items except the quality (fine/exceptional/superb and so on). So it's not breaking the game. For example I like to have Ngati's Tusk earlier than normal. But since its best enchantment (-x to enemies' defenses except deflection) scales with survival it's not that OP at earlier levels. With charged / per rest items it's a bit different obviously. Those can break the game balance, especially figurines. Calling forth some powerful summons without any resources multiple times per encounter is very powerful. I used two Rings of Reset for a quirky Barbarian suicide build with Vengeful Defeat and gear that triggers on knockout (Effort Great Sword, Effigy's Husk and so on). Fun but weird. Works well with party members who profit from friends' knockouts (Crown of Woedica, Divine Retribution and so on).

Nope. Only the actual Paladin class counts.

You can also see the dmg bonus in the console if you open the entry of the charmed enemy hitting somebody. It's a cool bonus. It's just a bit of a shame that the charm doesn't last very long. I once tried some "recruiter" builds who charmed/dominated all but one enemy and calls lots of summons ("all against one") - and Troubadour/Forbidden Fist (enfeeble + INT + charm) was among the test subjects. Another was Kind Wayfarer/Troubadour bc. of the combo of Shared Flames + Inspired Beacon + Mith Fyr + the 30% dmg bonus. Edit: I discovered on that occasion that Shared Flames doesn't work with charmed enemies.

Ring of Reset is very good if you have two. You'd have to export/import it though since there is no way to get two during a normal playthrough. Obviously figurines, too. The ones (with per-rest or charged uses) you can get multiple times during a normal playthrough are (afair): Missile Gloves, Necklace of Fireballs, Stone of Power, Bounding Boots and Dragon Pendant. I think Stone of Power and Dragon Pendant are decent as amulets. The first also gives +1 INT and the latter has +slash AR and a summon.

The item you clone with the Helwax Mold will be an exact copy of the one you put in. If you put a legendary Little Savior into it you will have two legendary Little Saviors. So it's best to enchant your stuff as much as possible before cloning it. There is no easy way to calculate/view the attack speed in the game but you can use this tool (it works very well): https://naijaro.github.io/poe-speed-calculator/

@freddfrancais not playing solo PotD as far as I know but party based on Veteran. I usually sail to Neketaka, grab some quests/bounties and then make a tour to Fort Deadlight, then Dunnage (but beware of Eamund the Fox, he will ambush you if you give Harker money for the dancer - that encounter can be brutal if you are underleveled) and back to Neketaka. On the way to Fort Deadlight I will do the Meryl the Mad bounty (quite easy) and on the way back Oathbinder's Sanctum (not that easy but doable because you'll have gained a level during your tour - most likely). But since the game world is open you can go wherever you like. Just beware overleveled encounters (shown with skulls). One skull if often very manageable, but above that it's öfter too hard for new players.

Everything. It's universal. It also stacks with all other speed buffs which makes those gauntlets very desirable/valuable.

You can either use a Paladin and give him spellbinding and spellstriking (maybe even spellholding) gear to emulate spellcasting (or use scrolls) and then pick "cross class" talents like Prestidigitator's Missiles and Nature's Mark. You can get a lot of spells from spellbinding gear: Sun-Touched Mail of Hyan Rath, Amulett of Summer Solstice, Ring of Searing Flames, Flames of Faîr Rhian, Thaluntain's Staff, Animancer's Boots, the White Spire and so on). Or you use a Wizard and give him the cross class talents "Gallant's Focus" and maybe even Veteran's Recovery. Then gear up with paladin-esque equipment. Arcane Knight (Paladin/Wizard) in Deadfire is a good combo by the way.

Definitions of blurry made-up terms aside: I think most players who don't want to use some tactics that make the game too easy will say that it "feels cheesy" for them - even if it's intended behavior. Or they will say "it feels like cheating" even if they are not actually using cheats. Imo players can call it whatever they like - as long as they don't judge people for using it in their single player game.

Hi. There was no comprehensive build description, just some mentions here and there. This works best of you have Berath Blessing points and spend them on the vendor in Port Maje and extra attribute points. You take a Steel Garrote and a Bloodmage. You maximize AR and deflection (Resolve, Cloak of Greater Deflection from the vendor, else a normal Cloak of Deflection, Rings of Deflection, later Entonia Signet Ring, Mirrored Images or Arcane Veil, Llengrath's Safeguard (stacks with deflection-only buffs), Deep Faith, Inspiring Triumph and all that stuff). For armor I would recommend Nomad's Brigandine because it gives you up to +10 deflection in melee without any skill shenanigans and at the same time has solid AR and the enchantment to become immune to Disengagement attacks. Your late game gear should include Bracers of Greater Deflection and Mask of the Weyc. The Mask's deflection bonus is awesome because it stacks with your spells' deflection bonuses(!). And like all other timed buffs and healings you currently have you can prolong all that, including the Mask's buff, with Wall of Draining. Get Whispers of the Endless Paths and enchant it with Offensive Parry. At the start of the fight you buff up and take on the melee enemies. You can then use Inspiring Beacon and then follow up with all kinds of spells like Corrosive Siphon and later Wall of Draining and then stuff like Shadowflame and so on and so forth. Wall of Draining also prolongs Lay on Hands by the way. Great synergy with Blood Sacrifice. It's not primarily about the melee dmg with Offensive Parry (it's not superhigh because Paladin + Wizard lack good weapon passives) - although it gets better with Inspiring Beacon of course. It's more about being able to cast while dazing and draining life from melee attackers as Steel Garrote so you can use Blood Sacrifice often without the need to heal up yourself manually and just keep casting spells. Use Eternal Devotion early on so that your spells will get that 10% burning lash, too. Use Lay in Hands or Hands of Light (you might want the Courageous buff) to heal yourself if parrying is not enough. Sometimes you'll start a fight right away with a lot of focused gunfire against you (e.g. boarding fights) - or lots of casters, ranged beasts or enemies whose accuracy is just too high for Offensive Parry to be very effective. In such situations I would switch to a more defensive setup with a large shield (+modal) until the situation is better suited for Offensive Parry again. For example with boarding fights it often helps to start with a large shield + modal to survive the first salvo of shots and then move and switch to Offensive Parry. This was not "invented" as a main tank - but it can tank melee attackers pretty well nonetheless.

If you mean the Monk's fists then yes.

It's only the Digsite. After that the difficulty drops noticably.

Good point! Also there's more to decide when playing a multiclass while single classes are usually more straightforward (because the pool of abilities to pick from is smaller I guess). So naturally - besides the fact there's a lot more MC than SC option to begin with - there will be even more discussion about multiclasses.