Boeroer

Yeah, the PL scaling from 1 is nice (both for ACC and also damage). And I particularly like the CC effect that switches off most single foes immediately - and that it feels so affordable. And the additional Carnage trick is pretty cool, too and sort of free additional (raw) damage. But I guess the best part is that Efficient Anguish is fueld by wounds - which are potentially an inexhaustible resource. Imo there is no other martial attack ability that gives you so much impact for the (non-scarce) resource you are investing. Since I like the combo Berserker/Helwalker so much I have to say that the cost of 1 wound almost feels like nothing - because the wounds keep piling up so damn quickly from the synergy of Frenzy self damage+Wound Trait that I cannot spend them all with Efficient Anguish alone. Being able to spam Efficient Anguish with no pause is maybe a big part of why it feels so powerful against most singular foes to me (even enemies like Neriscyrlas usually go perma-prone with the help of a fellow priest for some more ACC). BUT this might not be the same for other Barb/Monk combos, so maybe it feels more expensive then and less good - I don't know. But still it's way more affordable than let's say 1 Guile for Crippling Strike, 1 Discipline for Knockdown/Piercing Strike, 1 Zeal for FoD or even 2 Rage for a Barbaric Smash (without refund) or so. Since I only use Barbaric Smash as finisher (it's total overkill but just too much fun) I seldomly pay anything for it. I find it way too expensive to use it as a regular attack.

But I wasn't talking about Brute Force. As I explicitly wrote the combo Barb/Monk with Efficient Anguish lets you deliberately target Fortitude or Deflection based on what's (potentially) lower even without Brute Force: Simply because Efficient Anguish targets Fortitude (and stuff like Stunning Surge or Barbaric Smash do not). But that wasn't the main point why this combo is good against single targets. It just adds virtual accuracy in most fights which is good. Main point: since Efficient Anguish adds Carnage damage to the main target (and that adds viability against single targets) and because its one of the best martial attacks against single targets in the first place (PL1 scaling, CC/interrupt on the fly) you want to use it against single foes. But it targets Fortitude and thus using a Morning Star, Spirit Frenzy and Enervating Blows is the smartest approach for exploiting this additional damage potential against single foes. Additional benefits of the Morning Star: in combination with Saru Sichr and Swift Flurry/HbD it also helps to make the DoT of the weapon land crits (because it always targets fortitude). Making it more likely for the DoT to crit greatly increases the chance to trigger crit chains with SF/HBD which significantly improves the performance against (weaker) singular foes (for example casters). Yet another advantage is the stacking DoT which is powerful (if not immune). I don't use BPM so I don't know what details may work there or not. Wasn't aware that Saru Sichr works differently there.

You can pick human as race and Monk as second class, pick a Morning Star (preferably Saru Sichr) and primarily use its modal Body Blows in combination with Efficient Anguish, Enervating Blows and Spirit Frenzy as well as Swift Flurry/Heartbeat Drumming. The advantages are that the enemies' fortitude gets lowered by up to 45 points on the fly which usually means a virtual accuracy increase. There are few enemies that have 45 points of fort. over deflection. And those who have usually have crappy deflection in the first place (then use Stunning Surge or Barbaric Smash). Being able to pick between two defenses for your melee attacks (even without Brute Force) is very advantageous imo. Then Efficient Anguish (besides it being a PL1-ability that is cheap and scales very well) has a nice synergy with Carnage: it pushes the enemy into the Carnage AoE before it gets rolled. This means the initial target not only gets knocked down and pushed but also suffers the normal weapon damage PLUS the Carnage raw damage. Saru Sichr has a second weapon attack roll attached (vs. fortitude) which can trigger Swift Flurry/HBD as well as Enervating Blows and Stunning Surge refunds. It is substantially easier to trigger Swift Flurry chains with Sari Sichr than with weapons that only hit once. Also because both single attack rolls will proc two rolls again. In addition to that the DoT of Saru Sichr does stack with itself which is very strong against singular foes. It is poison however - so against some enemies it doesn't do damage (but still procs crits iirc). Thunderous Blows does also help if you aren't a Berserker. Hylea's Talons will help to gain woundsas well as add damage. Their DoT gets triggered by both attack rolls of Saru Sichr. All this makes the Barbarian/Monk excellent against singular foes. Against bosses with stellar defenses one might want to pick Instruments of Pain and Enduring Dance of Death in order to gain and keep a decent accuracy bonus on top. Barbarian/Monk with Morning Star is one of my favorite multiclasses. I personally like the razor's edge that is playing a Berserker/Helwalker, but it works well with any subclass combo. Another way to make a great single target Barb, especially against single casters, is to pick Ranger and pile up accuracy bonuses and crit chance (Marked Prey, Stalker's Link, Survival of the Fittest, Bloody Slaughter and so on) and use Wounding Shot with dual battle axes plus Bleeding Cuts + Barbaric Smash as finisher. Barbaric Smash does tremendous damage once it crits - especialy in combination with Bloody Slaughter. With Evasive Roll the Barb/Ranger is super mobile even before getting Leap and can reach enemies very quickly. In this case the ability "Master's Call" isn't bad if you are a Stalker because it ends Bonded Grief very quickly and also is a useful CC tool. Of course Bleeding Cuts unlock Predator's Sense which also help with single target damage. Your AC is a part of your character after all... I found that Barb/Rogue, while doing great weapon dmg on paper, is usually not as effective as those two options. I can see a Barb/Paladin doing well against single targets, too. Using Eternal Flame + Ring of focused Flames as the main source of weapon damage and finishing with Barbaric Smash while using Brand Enemy, Blood Storm and Bleeding Cuts (or other weapon DoTs) to bring down tough nuts. SC Barb and especially SC Furyshaper is great against mobs but imo lacks the tools that would make him good against single (tough) targets.

Sorry - I stay logged in (no need to log in all the time anymore).

Now that I let third parties track me (on this site) I stay logged in.

After more testing I can confirm that blocking tracking sites (Google and Microsoft, see below) I will get logged out as soon as I close the browser. If I let them do their thing I won't get logged out. That wasn't the case in the past. --- (Formerly) blocked tracking sites: microsoft.com googletagmanager.com google-analytics.com google.de

No - and I didn't change any of my browser/cookie settings. It's weird... yesterday the session ended as soon as I closed the browser. Just now I visited the forum again (first time today I believe) and I was logged out again. But when I clicked on "sign in" I suddenly was logged in again and didn't have to do anything. Edit: this is superweird: I now tested it again and closed the browser and opened if back up, went ot the forum site: it says I'm looged in (cool). THen tried to edit this post and the edit option is not there (huh? logged out secretly?). Reload the page and I'm logged out. I'm using 2FAuth - maybe that's causing a problem? No idea... I am also blocking 3rd-party cookies and use Disconnect to block third-party tracking - but there's only 1 content request from Microsoft and a bunch from Google afaict. In the past that didn't cause any problems with the login process. I can try without those and report. Edit 2: deactivated the Disconnect addon and now I keep being logged in. OKay, I can live with that. It's just weird that this worked in the past an now it doesn't. Is the session cookie from a different source now or something?

nope

Hi @SChin - it seems I now get logged out as soon as the session ends. Have to log in (with 2FA) all the time... Am I the only one?

I don't really understand. Blinding Smok is an enchantment of Serafen's Hand Mortar. I don't see how one could combine Xefa's Blunderbuss with Blinding Smoke. Blinding Smoke has an AoE in the form of a cone. It procs from a crit from Hand Mortar rolls (AoE crits included). You can proc a lot of Blinding Smoke cones with just one mortar shot (the more enemies the better). It is indeed devastating with Avenging Storm. That's why I sometimes use it in combination with Fire in the Hole (Chain Shot) on a SC Stormspeaker (Tekehu) or SC Druid.

Good question. Blinding Smoke counts as weapon attack (for example it can trigger Avenging Storm) - but I'm not sure if it also transports the properties of the Clear Out attack (pushing and kockdown/interrupt). Chain Shot (the +1 bounce for Fire in the Hole) does def. transport those effects (its AoE, too) so I think it's the save bet to use it over Blinding Smoke... I mean if you are only looking out for max. interrupts. Chain Shot is also the better option for damage per use of Clear Out. However - Chain Shot does not cause flanked when used with Clear Out while Blinding Smoke does. I believe a SC Tactician can harvest more Discipline from triggering Brilliant + fewer interrupt chances (Blinding Smoke) than he can from not triggering Brilliant + higher interrupt chances (Chain Shot). But I may be wrong. I didn't try and compare both weapons thoroughly enough to make a def. statement. Should Blinding Smoke transport the interrupting, too then I would use Blinding Smoke/Hand Mortar I guess. Then... in a party with enough potential to cause mass flanking (see Cipher with Phantom Foes for example) Blinding Smoke might be the inferior choice anyway because the disorienting/flanking effect of Blinding Smoke isn't really needed. So, it all depends I guess - as most of times with this game. Best would be to try both options during some proper fights, compare the results and then decide.

Clear Out does a primary attack only, so it is mandatory to hold the ranged weapon in the main hand and unlock the ability use with a melee weapon in the offhand (which won't get used). Whirling Strikes is a little bit different because it is a Full Attack and I think (like 63.5% sure) it doesn't matter in which hand you hold the ranged weapon.

Yes: Acina's Tricorn and Ring of the Marksman are two very good items for ranged combat.

That is what I hate most about Battle Brothers: that the music keeps on going even if the game is in the background. If it would be an option (in the game options menu or so): sure, why not?

Oopsy, I thought that was not so arcane knowledge. I knew this a long while now and even assumed I was one of the later persons to discover that.

Hi, sorry it took so long. First I was sick in bed (had a weird one-day fever that went very high and then just vanished ) and then the forum broke down for a bit. Anyway, what @thelee said basically. SC Fighter isn't very interesting in general because multiclasses with fighters fulfill most roles better due to nice synergies. And what makes some SC of other classes interesting is often some devastating damaging effect (Meteor Shower, Maelstrom, Whispers of the Wind and so on) which the Fighter doesn't have. That's not really a problem of the fighter alone: SC Rangers, Ciphers, Chanters and Paladins also don't have many fans. For me a SC Fighter looks appealing when I look at Clear Out and then either Clean Sweep or Clear the Path. And most often it's about debugging with a weapon modal (more me mostly morning Stars or clubs with the -25 fortitude or will debuff). For example I once played a hireling Black Jacket SC with high DRX and high INT who had a morning star setup, a mace, a club and a flail - so that he could debuff fortitude, armor, will and reflex with Clean Sweep in a wide area. This is very helpful for fellow AoE casters. I mean to drop a certain defense by 25 and do what Clean Sweep does at the same time is very nice. You could also do that with a multiclass and Clear Out. But it takes forever to get there and you will be confined to the cone - while the circular AoE covers so much more area. Yet... it's still pretty boring. I didn't even play the Tactician I mentioned above in a real playthrough. I merely tried out an idea I had and stumbled over the effect I mentioned above. But if you want to go SC Fighter I would focus on Clean Sweep or Clear the Path and try to combine an AoE weapon with it. This has a devastating AoE damage potential like a very powerful spell and also does good CC. With a Tactician something like Hand Mortar+Blinding Smoke would make a lot of sense because you can distract a lot of mobs (often all of them) and then not only get 1 discipline because you maybe interrupted an action but also because all enemies are flanked from Blinding Smoke. This might grant enough discipline to fuel Clean Sweep or Clear the Path a lot more times. Note that Clear Out and upgrades hit the first target twice. So even against single foes it's a good damage tool.

I think 20% raw lash is okay. I think for most ciphers who are not mainly into damage dealing, draining whip will always be the preferred choice - but on the other side of the spectrum: if you pick a Soulblade/Rogue or something like a Ranger/Ascendant with Frost seeker for highest acc and then pure bow damage (and don't even use the ascended stage for casting but just keep firing because your soul whip doesn't turn off but gives you extra dmg) Biting Whip is the correct choice. And then there's everything in between. 20% raw lash is a multiplicative damage bonus which works very well with all the other damage bonuses. So for a build with focus on weapon damage it seems like a must. But I don't think that making it even stronger would convince me to use it - because I personally almost never use (non-Soulblade) Ciphers as damage dealers primarily. Well, maybe I'm the wrong person to ask in the first place since I found myself first drawn to Beguilers and now Psions - subclasses for whom Biting Whip is not optimal (or not even available). So I'm clearly in favor of Draining Whip anyway - no matter how much damage Biting Whip did (exaggerating). So for me it would have to be so tempting that it would be objectively unbalanced.

I meant a fighter instead of the rogue - because you said that he's too squishy. Positioning is easier of course if you add weapons/abilities with more range - and be it only for backup, as an alternative option for these situations where you cannot reach enemies properly. For example give the Rogue a pike or quarterstaff - or a bow. Besides that there's not much you can do. You could use Escape from the Rogue to get behind enemy lines - but since he's squishy he won't survive that I guess. Fighting in the open is usually less effective than using choke points so that enemies don't reach your backline too easily. I'm afraid more range is the only viable option at the moment.

You can use the tab-key to autocomplete the commands. That helps preventing typos. Like: attri<tab> play<tab> mig<tab> 20 This should complete to: AttributeScore Player_<your player name> Might 20 You can press tab multiple times and the console will cycle through the options that match the first letters you typed. Hope that will help you.

Seems fine. If you want to retrain to 2handers later that is of course possible. Good classes for the early game to hire as adventurers are Fighters, Monks and Rangers because they have the highest starting stats. I'd say Fighter is the most solid choice. Doesn't go down easily and does good damage because of the high accuracy (doesn't miss much). At the same toime requires little micromanagement.

I did a playthrough with an offensive-minded Goldpact Knight who used the summoned flaming Great Sword "Firebrand" a lot. It's pretty good for a Paladin who invests in his "Flames of Devotion" ability. You can get two items (a pair gloves and a belt) rel. early that allow you to summon that Greats Sword which is made of flames 6 times per rest. as backup weapon you can pick any two handed weapon and also pick the fitting weapon focus for that backup weapon type. Firebrand is universal, meaning it works with any weapon focus. Another very good approach is to go Darcozzi Paladini and pick Inspiring Liberation, use Zealous Focus and Coordinated Attacks and then first use the Spectacular Spetum (early pollaxe) which has the property "marking". And later add the Blade of the Endless Paths to your arsenal (estoc, also has marking). Marking makes it so that a party member who is closest to you and attacks the same target as you gets +10 accuracy. This stacks with Coordinated Attacks which does the same - already +20 accuracy for your buddy. Add Inspiring Liberation which stacks with everything, too and your firend already has 30 bonus accuracy which is huge and extremely useful against tough enemies such as bosses (like dragons for example). Add the bonus accuracy from Zealous Focus and it will be very hard for your party member to miss at all. This is very impactful if you pair your paladin with your best damage-dealer or disabler. Your paladin himself won't be the best (but decent) damage dealer, a good offtank and amazing support.

With Berath's Blessing +2 to all attributes that's fine I think. Entonia Signet Ring (but it only works if enemies engage you, not the other way round) is a good ring for defense if you go into melee - and yeah, Boots of the Stone.

Solo Priest is a challenge in the early battles, similar to a solo Wizard but even more difficult - even though the Priest gets a little more deflection. The low level spells of a Priest are not as fitting and impactful for a solo playstyle as some of the Wizard are (thinking about Chillfog, Parasitic Staff etc.). Solo bear cave with a Priest is suicide at low levels, no matter the build idea or attributes. As @Chaospread said one should avoid battles at that stage and come back later.

Flanked causes "only" -10 deflection, -1 AR

I you plan to use a Berserker/Streetfighter at range then of course a more squishy build is easier to maintain because it doesn't get attacked so much. I was thinking about melee. I must say that while a Berserker/Streefighter with Essence Interrupter is very good in the early game it tends to become a bit boring later on. Melee is more interesting in this case (imo). SO I think retraining would be good later. But you cannot retrain attributes so I personally would still invest in CON - although you won't need that with a ranged early game and it will actually prevent you from becoming blooded from one Frenzy cast (because in the early game the self damage is low but the health would be quite high). Once you pick "Blooded" on the Berserker you can always see once you hit <50% health which is a rel. convenient indicator. Also your Streetfighter passive will change from "Looking for a Fight" to "Heating Up" as soon as you get bloodied. And then later there are items that activate when you get near death which would add another indicator for your health even though it's concealed. So while it's not possible to see the actual health number it's still possible to (roughly) know how much health there's left. Sure - I recommend Morning Stars: great synergy with the Morning Star modal "Body Blows" and the Berserker's Brute Force, also the 2 (cood) unique morning stars in the game don't come late. Pollaxe would also be cool. There's a nice soulbound pollaxe with a lightning/storm theme that's obtainable early and works well with Barbarians. Both Morning Star and Pollaxe have the advantage of dual damage types and good penetration.