Boeroer

Yes, that was the irony when I first supposed that class for an Ultimate run.

Yes, afaik Rapid Casting also stacks with Martial Caster - and it def. stacks with Swift Strikes (which not only speeds up casting because of its action speed bonus but also because it gives you +5 DEX). Unlike PoE the returns of stacked action speed buffs are not increasing but "only" linear instead. Still good to have.

Eh, now I read it correctly. Singe weapon bonus, not the +10 fire bonus. Sorry for the confusion.

Very interesting. Does the crit conversion of One Handed Style work with the frost head? Does the frost head have a biggere chance of repeating its attack than the burn head (see enchentments)? Sun and Moon is truly a very weird implementation... I have not a very well educated idea why it procs crit chains that often - but it does for me. I toyed around a lot with different setups and it just procs more ofhten than most other stuff. Same is Stunning Surge by the way: the -10 deflection can't be the only reason - wonce I use Stunning Surge I get crit chains a lot more often than when using other abilities. This could be wrong impression or simply bad/good luck since I didn't write down the results of all the console sessions.

Now with the Strand-of-Favor cheese I'm really musing about letting my intitially ironic idea to complete the Ultimate with a single class Mage Slayer become a reality...

I forgot that you can't pause or even slow down an ultimate run. That makes it obviously a lot harder to time the leaps properly so that you don't deplete the uses.

They are separate attack rolls, one with keyword fire, one with keyword frost - so I guess the implementation is correct? Good point about the Ring though, I forgot about that.

Ah, but the -5 PL applies to all rejuvenation spells that are still active immediately, including the moonwells etc. you cast before (suddenly lower duration, less and less potent ticks etc.). So better to not switch at all (unless you are using a healing that works immediately like Cleansing Wind) and enjoy +2 PL at all times. Or cast the spell and only shift when you need more oomph temporarily (because this also works in the reverse way where active spells will profit from the increased PL immediately while they still run). Ah sorry, I meant Martial Caster, not Quick Summoning, you are right.

Yes, Livegiver can summon Firebrand. Only creature summoning spells are excluded (and afaik only the ones from the druid class - the Dichotomous Soul of Monk would still work). A Lifegiver has +2 PL to all Rejuvenation spells in general which is good. However the nicer bonus is his ability to gain +5 PL while shifted (but suffer -5 PL after the shift ends). If you don't shift at all because you want to use Firebrand 24/ I'd say it's a bit of a shame. On the other hand the Livegiver gets all the great healing spells as auto-picks - which will cost you no abilits points and would free up points for some other stuff. So yes: I would pick Livegiver I think. Thematically a Fury would make perfect sense. Too bad the passive(s) won't do anything for you. I just checked again in the game: no increased PEN with Firebrand. I forgot how long Firebrand lasts in Deadfire. It has a base duration of 60 seconds which scales with Power Level and INT. At level 20 with 20ish INT you will have durations of over 120 secs. Nice. Also checked whether Firebrand scroll would work while shifted: it does not. Afaik there's no way to combine Wildstrike lashes with weapons (other than the natural spiritshift weapons). So you don't need need to pick those wildstrike talents if you won't shift at all. Quick Summoning might be good though. Taste of the Hunt is actually a very good melee "spell". Especially with a Monk as second class because the increased INT of Turning Wheel will make it last a long time (doing lots of raw dmg). Would be even better with a Helwalker because of the higher MIG. Helwalker also seems to be a better combo with Lifegiver because not only is the Helwalker more in need of healing but also because the healing spells will be a lot more potent with his bonus MIG. Nalpasca is still fine of course. More constant and independent wond generation. Just beware getting hit by Arcane Dampener at all costs - it's really nasty against Nalpascas because they'll lose the benefits of the drug and suffer the crash maluses while Arcane Dampener lasts (including no healing!). You can throw in a new drug though if that happens I believe... I personally would pick Turning Wheel instead of Iron Wheel and Lightning Strikes instead of Swift Flurry (except when playing below Path of the Damned. with Ring of Focused Flame and a difficulty below PotD Swift Flurry might be good). As Kaylon said: keep some backup weapons like Morning Star and such. Enemies who are resistant to pierce an slash are common so a crushing Morning Star is a good thing. Also the modal of Morning Stars works really well in combination with Force of Anguish...

With Smoke Veil + Lover's Embrace + Gouging Strike + Brand Enemy I could kill almost everything as an Assassin/Bleak Walker in a solo run at lvl 8 or so without sweat. You just need patience. Lots of it.

Maybe I'm misunderstanding - but you can't summon Firebrand while shifted. You can't summon any weapon while shifted. You can't even get Reaping Knives from a Cipher while shifted. So my understanding is that Wildstrike bonuses shouldn't affect Firebrand at all - since they are only active while shifted. Unless I'm missing something. Scroll maybe works while shifted? Didn't try that... Iirc the Fury's PEN bonus does not apply to the Firebrand Great Sword. Scion of Flame and Ring of Focused Flames (+10 ACC) do apply at all times which is great. But Scion of Flame applies +1 PEN instead of 20% dmg. This is even better than in PoE since penetration is the most important station a weapon (because underpenetration is the most severe dmg loss). So a Fury does not give you a lot of benefits if you want to focus on Firebrand. You will lose Rejuvenation spells which would be very beneficial for a Monk with the usual wound generation mechanics, especially Helwalker but also Nalpasca. Unlike PoE's Firebrand the Deadfire version has no increased base damage. But it has a burning lash instead. You could also skip Druid and go for something else (e.g. Bleak Walker, Devoted, Rogue, single class and so on) - using scrolls of Firebrand instead. In my opinion Firebrand-builds are less impactful in Deadfire than they were in PoE. Mainly because there are no items besides consumables that summon it (so you limit yourself to Druid or scroll) and because the enormous base dmg of the PoE version was reduced. It's still viable though because of Scion oF and Ring of FF imo.

Blade Cascade aside (it always wins): I tested most melee weapons for use with Swift Flurry/HBD and Sun and Moon is def. one of the best. I mean it highly depends on the enemy, your class(es), abilities and buffs... but still. For several reasons it procs crit-chains more reliably than Rännig's Wrath for me, despite its lower accuracy. Keep in mind that the Rapier modal doesn't stack with other active universal accuracy buffs like Enduring Dance and such. I just think that (with decent crit conversion) the repeated chance of S&M outperforms higher accuracy. Of course Rännig's Wrath is still a good pick here. I also had excellent results with the Willbreaker + Body Blows + Stunning Surge (or Spirit Frenzy) + Enervating Blows on a Monk/Berserker because of the -45 fortitude/Brute Force synergy, combined with the highly increased crit conversion. A Sage with Concelhaut's Draining Touch in the main hand with a club + Bewildering Blows in the offhand + Miasma + Merciless Gaze is also very good for producing crit chains with Swift Flurry/HBD because the DT targets Will and that defense will get reduced by 65 points which is enormous. Works even better as single weapon if somebody else wields the club of course. Since offhand crits only proc main hand attacks(!) (and those will determine whether crit chains will follow with Swift Flurry/HBD) I guess Sun and Moon in main with Scordeo's Edge in the offhand or even single handed Sun and Moon works better than two Sun and Moons. Maybe even Sun & Moon + Rännig's Wrath in the offhand is better. Looks odd though. By the way: using Sungrazer with Swift Flurry/HDB is a great way to trigger Extinction Event often since it only triggers on crit-kill. It will proc chains less often but when it does it nearly always kills with a crit which means Extinction Event will follow (which is very strong). Another nice weapon for Swift Flurry/HBD is Stalker's Patience. While the raw dmg won't stack with crit chains those will make the triggering of the recovery removal (enchantment) more likely which then results in fast rates of attack which in result leads to more crit chains. Works very well in combo with Blood Thirst. Also a Battle Axe + Bleeding Cuts in the main hand and Scordeos in the offhand will lead to excellent results. It will not chain crits as often as some other combos but Bleeding Cuts do stack with themselves. Since SF/HBD always procs main hand attacks without any animation or recovery this is a substantial dps increase. My personal favorites are Draining Touch and Willbreaker.

What @Gromnir said. The rather naive (and some would say potentially dishonest*) point of "no politics in games please" aside - it seems you are mixing up personal preference with objective quality (which is difficult to measure with art or entertainment stuff like games in the first place). What you are feeling is that those two games are the ones that you enjoyed most. But you are expressing that they are the greatest games Obsidian ever made (or at least I get that impression when reading your title and post). It's very hard to argue with the first statement while the second will be challenged by a lot of people. Tyranny wasn't bad, it has some really nice ideas - but it also has some serious flaws which prevents it from being one of the games I cherish. *) because you most likely wouldn't complain about that if those games touched your political views and embraced your worldview.

Josh said the he (and others on Deadfire) were pretty bummed and burned out after Deadfire sold poorly. He also said that he didn't want to do another pillars game in the forseeable future (because PoE + Deadfire was a lot of that) - but instead tackle something smaller as director. Besides that he's the studio's design director and provides feedback on all projects so I guess half of his day is filled with meetings and such anyway. Also Avowed is and was Feagus' "baby". I guess Josh isn't so much into directing contemporaty first person RPGs - although he seemed to have enjoyed Skyrim quite a bit. However - Josh is still working on the TTRPG of PoE. Every now and then he shows some of the stuff he wrote on Twitter (last entry: Paladins of the Steel Garrote). I like what he does with it! So he's not completely off the pillars hook maybe.

Did anybody try if Ascension will stay active after combat so you could prolong it with Strand of Favor? +3 PL, no focus cost (but max focus), +20% damage (universal I guess) sounds not too bad to have 24/7. Disintegrates and Ringleader for free at all times and such. Edit: nay, it gets removed.

How to screw up an otherwise decent post. No wait... Tyranny?

The thing is it wasn't even illegal. The head of a control instance like BAFIN (federal control instance for the financial industry) is allowed to trade whatever he wants. The problem was that BAFIN and several high-ranking politicians didn't do anything against Wirecard although everybody was screaming "FRAUD"! Now thousands of "normal" people lost their pensions etc. And you might wonder what the motivation behind this inactivity was *surprise-surprise*. But it wasn't illegal. Might become illegal now (I hope so). It's also not illegal for our former Minister of Environmental Affairs to become consultant for a gas pipeline project afterwards - or for a former German Chancellor to become board member of Gazprom. Or for a former Minister of Transportation to become CEO of Deutsche Bahn. I mean hello? What is this? Some kind of reverse undercover organized crime movie? People are like "What the eff?" - but nothing is done because the people who profit from this are the same making the rules. It should not be allowed that politicians trade in stocks or otherwise hold shares of companies they influence (unless non-profit maybe). It should also not be allowed that they take jobs with companies they had influence over after they quit politics. There has to be a looong moratorium at least. Because... corruption. In exchange just pay them very well and give them a high, livelong rent after their service. Oh wait, we're already doing this here... oh well... By the way my wife is working for the German government and thinks the same. But we don't want her to get into trouble so please hush! Edit: of course this isn't the US so please excuse the excursion to German politics. I just thought it was a good example that might work universally. Look at that Senator Perdue maybe.

This year the head of German BAFIN had to go because he traded with Wirecard stocks: a company which he was supposed to control and which was one the biggest financial fraud in German history which the BAFIN didn't investigate even though there were hundreds of journalists, activists etc. who shouted "look into Wirecard!" I'm pretty sure some politicians will follow. And rightfully so.

Did you use a torch or lantern like Cori's Lantern or St. Drogga's Skull? Those areas are intended to be dark.

There are some nice helmets out there that can help a lot when soloing. e.g. Tempered Helm or Iverra's Diving Helmet, the Company Captain's Hat and the Maegfolc Skull. Silver Tide is strong in the early game but I find it not that impactful later on.

The Thundercat build is still perfectly fine. But if you are looking for more sturdyness and less falling over I would recommend Veteran's Recovery (and other sources of healing. The Cat form does better dps against normal foes because it's the fastest form - while the Boar shines against the touzgh nuts the most (because his raw lash cuts through armor nicely) - he needs a lot of MIG though to get the most out of his wounding attacks (because the wounding lash does scale with MIG). Another way to ensure your melee guys don't get attacked too fiercely is to ensure that you use a lot of "hard" CC - e.g. stuff that stuns, paralyzes, charms, causes prone and so on. What also helps a lot is to only unstealth your tank when starting combat and unstealth your other guys only once the enemies gathered around the tank.

Even if it may fee like a defeat it's most reasonable to lower the difficulty to normal. This game's mechanics are not trivial but you learn a lot while playing it. As soon as fights seem to be too easy you can switch back to hard. The early game of PoE is the hardest part for most players. After reaching Defiance Bay (beginning of Act II) the difficulty drops significantly (if you don't rush certain tough encounters in this semi-open world). Moon Godlike Druid is a good start actually. If you had/have picked the Boar form(?) even more so. Its regeneration would stack with Veteran's Recovery which I would recommend taking. Boar's wounding does very good dps. Cat form is also very good for dps. Also pick up Shod-in-Faith Boots later on. This will give you enough passive healing to not get pummeled to death too soon. It's not enough for tanking but helps a ton with staying alive. All items will work while shifted except armor and weapons. Besides Veteran's Recovery pick Two Weapon Style, Weapon Focus, Wildstrike/Greater Wildstrike, the fitting elemental booster talent (Scion of Flame, Spirit of Decay or whatever Wildstrike element you picked). Outlander's Frenzy can be a good pick, too. The best spell for melee Spiritshift dmg is Avenging Storm later on. With it you can outperform a Rogue in melee single target dps. Items that can be cool: Sanguine Plate (shift once Frenzy got triggered). You won't need Outlander's Frenzy then. Wildstrike Belt: it's a must. It's mechanics are weird and way better than the description suggests - but what it does is adding a lot of dmg while shifted. A Ring of Searing Flames is also a good way to increase dps, especially with Avenging Storm later on. Things the party can use to make the early game significantly easier: Inspiring Radiance + Blessing (or Zealous Focus), Disciplined Barrage, Chillfog, Chillfog, Chillfog.

I'd say Wild Orlan because Defiant Resolve is great in all dragon fights (Dragon's fear aura constantly triggers it and keeps it up even if it doesn't hit).

Maybe, once the devs recovered from their Deadfire burn-out (some already stated on Twitter that they would be ready and willing to tackle another PoE) they will go and gather all criticism about Deadfire. And maybe they will also read threads like this. Especially in retrospect (I mean looking at the game again some time after it was released - or after one did play it for the first time) criticism is often more constructive. At least that's my impression.