Boeroer

I strongly favor Offensive Parry over Blade Form - but it's very dependent on the build (mainly deflection). If you don't want to put a lot of emphasis on deflection (like letting RES sit at 10 for example) and rather whack around as fast as possible then take Blade Form (and all the other speedups you can get like Devil of Caroc Breastplate + Helm of the Falcon and the right pet etc). If you want to switch weapons as seldomly as possible I would pick Run Through. It does quite a lot of damage (profits from all dmg bonuses normal attacks would also get and has very high base dmg) and can finish a single foe quickly. So instead of switching to a normal great sword in order to deal with a remaining annoying single foe you can just use Run Through instead. If you like to stand in the midst of it all and deliver a round swing then take Spinning Assault. Spinning Assault is also better for Ciphers since it generates a lot of focus when executed against a lot of attackers. By the way: WotEP has lower base damage than normal Great Swords; players often think this makes it terrible against single targets - but it also has a build-in crushing lash (which is a multiplicative dmg bonus) and +1 PEN compared to other Great Swords. This can mean that it actually does more dmg than a normal great sword against single enemies who have pretty thick pierce and slash AR. Nevertheless - make sure to bring a backup weapon (e.g. Effort or so) for tough single targets because usually WotEP is indeed better suited for mobs and not for singular foes. Pallegina is good as Herald. Aloth could play a Battlemage and use WotEP for Clear-Out-Magic. Wizard buffs (Mirrored Images etc.) and Vigorous Defense do stack their deflection. Also Infuse with Vital Essence does boost INT which is nice for the cone size. So Aloth could do Offensive Parries while casting some spells - and then also do AoE-Mule Kicks etc. There is a unique grimoire that has an awesome melee spell called Zandthu's Draconic Fury. I think it unlocks at PL 7. Also as Spellblade that's a nice combo because he can apply stuff like Arterial Strike within the whole cone. Also Riposte does stack with Offensive Parry. Also Riposte does a cone attack unlike Offensive Parry iirc. That would allow you to play an Inquisitor and still do all that WotEP stuff. For a two-handed Inquisitor I personally do recommend a Morning Star, more specifically the Willbreaker. Every party shouls have a Moring Star because of the very good modal it has. It makes landing Disintegrate and several other spells so much easier. Also the Willbreaker lowers Will which is good for any Cipher. It also as some special enchantments that work when enemies ave certan mind afflictions - and ciphers have an easy time applying these...

You'll get up tp +10 MIG from Helwalker. 15 is absolutely fine. MIG gives you "only" an additive dmg bonus while for example the higher attack/reload speed from DEX is a multiplicative one (for most attacks). And you want PER as high as possible because of Stunning Surge (crits do refund the ability cost which is important). Also very high PER on an MC is good because most companions don't have it that high - and one in the party needs high PER for finding all traps and secrets (unlike PoE where you needed high mechanics). I would say Devil of Caroc, Hiravias or Kana (not Aloth unless you don't want his armor, then Aloth is fine, too).

You'd only have to fire them, not build them. Debonaire/Beguiler with single handed pistol (+modal) is not bad. Scordeo's Trophy with Opening Barrage and Critial Shot, Eccea's Arcane Blaster for backup. Charm enemies and get 100% crit conversion against them (also for Disintegrate). If you shoot charmed enemies you won't get focus, but the crit dmg from Scordeo's is usually very nice. It's also very nice to later use Ringleader ad shoot some of the charmed enemies while the dominated one attacks them afterwards. Rogue/Sharpshooter with Red Hand. Assassin/Bleak Walker with Dragon's Dowry, Ring of Focused Flames and Ring of the Marksman. Ascendant or Ascendant/Helwalker with Kitchen Stove's (Thunderous Report). Usually instant ascension after Thunderous Report. Shared Nightmare also embiggens the cone of Thunderous Report - as does Healker's Duality of Mortal Presence (INT) Bloodmage/Bleak Walker with Blightheart. Eternal Devotion and the Blightheart corrosion lash not only stack on gunshopts but also on spells which is awesome. All buffs includng heals can be prolonged (endlessly as long as enemies are there) via Wall of Draining. Bloodmage/Black Jacket with 4 weapon sets full of blunderbusses. Cast Combusting Wounds and then unload all blunderbusses on enemies.

Nomad's Briganine has an enchantment that gives you immunity to disengagement attacks. But it's not an immunity to engagement - it's an immunity to the attacks you receive once you disengage. It's implemented in a way that those attacks will still get executed when you leave - but they all get converted to misses - a 100% of them. In combination with Offensive Parry that means that as soon as you disengage and the disengagement attack fires it will miss and trigger an Offensive Parry automatically. So it not only gives you the ability to walk around without havuing to fear disengagment attacks - it also gives you a lot of free attacks. It's like turning the disengagment attacks of foes against them. Cleaving Stance can trigger off of Offensive-Parry-kills by the way.

Using Offensive Parry with 10 RES and without Bracers and Cape of Great Deflection is sacrilege for me. I'd also use Nomad's Brigandine (immunity to disengagement attacks) to leave potitial flanking situations and at the same time provoke 100% Offensive Parries (which generate focus) as soon as I break disengagement. I could roam the battlefield freely and gain focus just from Offensive Parries and casting lots of Deceptions - no need to actually attack with WotEP (if I didn't want to). If I were a Fighter handling WotEP I would def. prefer Clear Out over Power Strike. It's cheaper, it procs a cone attack from every attack roll of the AoE (multihits follow) and it interrupts as well so lots of discipline regain should follow. Power Strike doesn't do this. Maybe the higher costs isn't a big issue with a Brillant Tactician though. You decide...

Tht is not correct. Offensive Parry only executes a single target attack. Nevertheless, the dazing and the fact that it triggers 100& on enemy melee misses makes it quite awesome... ...IF you can raise your deflection high enough. I wouldn't try to build around that with only 10 RES though. Deflection (like all defense stats) has increasing returns: the higher the value the mor impact every additional point has. If you want to reach really good deflection you should max out RES. +10 deflection (20 RES instead of 10) is a bid deal if your deflection is already high (e.g. from Paladin passives + Vigorous Defense and items). Wouldn't say nothing. Clear Out (Fighter ability) still procs all weapon effects in an AoE and is accesible for multiclass characters. All other abilites that do that (Heart of Fury/Barb, Whispers of the Wind/Monk, Whiring Strikes/Ranger) are PL8 or 9 and requite a single class character. Clear Out + Whispers of the Endless Paths is a pretty killer combo because all AoE attack rolls of Clear Out do proc an AoE cone of WotEP which results in a ton of hits once enemiey stand close together (e.g. when you are in a doorway and enemies trying to reach you). WotEP also has reach (1.2 meters) which means you can attack an execute Clear Out from behind a tank or so. Yes, besides them having higher base damage (unlike PoE where heavy one handers had the same base damage as all tow handers) they also have +1 PEN compared to their one handed counterparts (compare Sword to Great Sword, one handed Battle Axe to two handed Battle Axe and so on). PEN is one of the most important offensive stats in the game. Underpenetrating means a big loss of damage. The Full Attack dmg malus of dual wielding is pretty substancial, too. Note that dmg maluses are not additive like in PoE but work a bit differently (they pass through something called double inversion which is pretty severy if you have any dmg bonuses - and most chars have). If you are underpenetrating and at the same time get the Full Attack malus then your damage will be pretty crappy. This was done to take away the huge advantage of dual wielding over two handers when it comes to Full Attacks - and it works quite well an achieved that. If you use some items with damage reduction (see Voidward and food like Rice etc.) and use Lay on Hands on yourself you can manage. If you add some regeneration items (Greater Ring of Regeneration etc.) and Exalted Endurance then even more so. Also Constant Recovery and Unbending will help immensely. If I'm not mistaken then high RES also shortens the duration of tha harmful self damage part, but I'm not 100% sure about that. Sacred Immolation has quite high PEN and thus is often very useful againt everything that's not immune to fire damage. It def. boosts your dps potential if you can manage to stay alive (which is not that hard but needs some care as you can see). Troubadour can stack two phrases in parallel very easily without enormous INT and thus can stack Ancient Memory (great passoive healing for everybody which stacks with Exalted Endurance) and another phrase like Mith Fyr (nice multiplicative dps boost for everybody, stacks with Flames of Devotion and Shared Flames of Paladin) or Her Courage (damage shield for everybody) or whatever. Which turns the Kind Wayfarer/Troubadour into an awesome passive healer/support. And from time to time you can dish out an Invocation, too. If you use Sasha's Singing Scimitar (awesome for Chanters) you can even empower an invocation 1/encounter "for free" (no need to rest). Paladin/Cipher work well together. Here it's especially nice to use Whispers of the Endless Paths because the Offensive Parry will generate focus while you are doing something else. You just have to provoke misses from enemies. You can do that by stacking paladin defenses, high RES and Psychovampiric Shield as well as Borrowed Instincts - and also by debuffing enemies' ACC. Also Pain Block is an awesome support spell for party members. Ancestor's Memory is super-impactful if you have casters in your ranks. In general Ciphers have some good support abilities. WotEP is especially good with Soul Blades because Soul Annihilation (works with Eternal Devotion by the way) applies raw damage to ALL enemies int the AoE cone of WotEP which is pretty great. All other attacks beside Soul Annihilation will also generate focus with the AoE cone. Crusader is an uncomplicated combo. It's very straightforward and "solid": hard to bring down, sustained good damage (not breathtaking damage but not shabby either and very reliable) until Sacred Immolation arrives (which makes things more complicated but surely raises your dmg output). The highih-level stuff of Fighter can bring more damage to the table (Clear Out for example). Also Fighters can get several "passive" speed boosts that cost no resources which translates directly to more dps: Armored Grace (great if combined with Devil of Caroc Breastplate, Helm of the Falcon - great visual combo, too - and a pet that reduces armor recovery penalty like Abraham or Cutthrout Cosmo) & Mob Stance. --- PS: One additional thing with WotEP: It's the only reason why I would pick Glorious Beacon-->Inspired Beacon. Because the blind leads to less ACC on the enemy which leads to more misses which leads to your Offensive Parry getting +40% dmg output which is nice. A nice Great Sword alternative that is obtainable rel. early (if you don't mind making a beelin to a certain island and come back later for quests) is Krabörü. It's very cool with Clear Out (Fighter) als well as focus generation of ciphers (the AoE on crit generates focus). The Twin Eels - which you can get later in the game - may be a great weapon for a Kind Wayfarer who also has offensive abitions. Another good one is Effort (Maiming is strong).

Stats are fine. A Kind Wayfarer/Fighter can def. be a damage dealer/support hybrid and be very tough at the same time. Fighter has some nice passives and active abilities that can substitute that playstyle. Look at Armored Grace, Cleaving Stance, Disciplined Strikes or Tactical Barrage and so on. The healing of White Flames scales with Power Level. So it always stays viable. You must decide if 2* healing via Flames of Devotion is enough for you to give up two handers or if it's ok to only heal once per FoD use. Paladins have other sources of healing as well: Exalted Endurance, Lay on Hands and so on. If you decide on dual wielding and pick Devoted as fighter subclass: choose a weapon that has good uniques and has two damage types. For example swords (pierce/slash damage). If you take Monastic Unarmed Training then you will always have fists a crushing backup. Devoted have one weapon proficiency and also they always have fist proficiency - so you can cause three types of damage (what fits best at any given time) without running into the "Devoted-gets huge malus" problem. If you plan to use a lot of different weapons (which is more effective but a lot of players don't like to switch weapons according to the enemies' weaknesses) then I would pick Black Jacket as Subclass. Another good multiclass for damage/support with a Wayfarer is Kind Wayfarer/Trickster by the way. Can be very tanky (due to Mirrored Images etc.) and can heal as well as deal good damage and even dish out CC. Whispers of the Endless Paths is an awesome weapon still. But you have to know how to use it properly. For example it has the enchantment Offensive Parry which is extremely good if you have very high deflection. It's also very good if you have high INT and can dish out afflictions (for example Crippling Strike) since special attack effects apply to all enemies in the cone. It's not the best weapon in 1:1 fights though.

Hi! A class that complements a Kind Wayfarer very well is a Chanter, more specifically a Troubadour. Of the classes you were considering (and with Whispers of the Endless Paths in mind) I'd pick Fighter. Crusaders are very tough and are a good pick for first-time Deadfire players. If you want to stick to Great Sword at all times I would use the Devoted Subclass. Note that White Flames (the Flames of Devotion from Kind Wayfarers that heals allies) triggers twice when you are dual-wielding weapons. So Kind Wayfarers with two weapons (or weapon + bashing shield) will do twice the healing compared to a Great Sword (or any other two-hander or a single one hander).

Min CON and RES, max DEX, PER and INT and rest to MIG. However, this will make your character quite prone to getting one-shotted by arquebus and arbalest shots in situations where you can't control the initiation of combat (e.g. boarding fights). Especially in case of running with Helwalker. For those cases a large shield (+modal!) is very useful. You can then easily withstand a few gunshots or AoE spells at the beginning of a fight and then switch to dual guns again. Also the amulet "Precognition" is very useful. You also need to initiate combat with tanks/frontliners first and keep the Monk in stealth until most enemies settled on one of your tanks to attack. Once you get Stunning Surge this becomes less of an issue because you can stunlock so many enemies at once for a long time.

SC Mortar Monk is rel. straightforward: since you don't want top pick melee stuff a lot of abilites already fall aside. I picked a Coastal Aumaua (but race doesn't matter much) and a Helwalker (because as ranged char you don't get attacked that much and the bonus MIG is neat). Nalpasca would have a more steady wound income but suffers from hostile Arcane Dampener (removes drug effects and sends him into a drug crash). Both are totally fine. Stats should focus on MIG, PER, DEX and especially INT since you want the AoE of the mortars to be as large as possible. I personally then like to wear Aloth's leather armor (because it gives you bonus AoE size), the Ring of the Marksman and a Ring of Overseeing (same, stacks) and INT gear like Heaven's Cacophony (+2 INT and the sweet Avenging Storm 2/rest). Ajamuut's Stalking Cloak causes stun from WotW (because invisible). Used the Charm of Bones for another +2 INT or Stone of Power (for more Power Levels - if you have two you can stack them in the stash after each fight which resets the per-rest charge). Mortification Bindings for the hands - Gountles of Greater Reliability are also ver nice. Bounding Boots can be cheesed: if you cancel the ability while your guy's still in the air but the green circle is already at the target location then the char will land there but no per-rest use is substracted. Later Rhakan Field Boots are best. I used the Upright Captain's Belt for some concentration because hte worst thing is getting interrupted while casting Wispers of the Wind. My favorite pet was Loki (another 15% AoE size) but pets like Harley or Cutthroat Cosmo are also nice. Recommended abilities: Swift Strikes, Dance of Death, Mortification of the Soul, Two Weapon Style, Long Stride, Lightning Strikes, Stunning Blow, Duality of Mortal Presence (use INT), Thunderous Blows, Enduring Dance, The Long Pain (good alternative against tough single foes where mortars don't shine, also good backup weapon for enemies who are vulnerable to crush damage), Stunning Surge, NOT Turning Wheel (doesn't work with ranged weapons unless you install the Community Patch mod), Flagellant's Path, Resonant Touch, Razor's Edge, Whispers of the Wind, Prestige - rest as you like (if there's any rest, didn't 100% corss-check witgh available ability points). One important thing is to squeeze as many foes as possible in a tight space. You can do that with a tank (so that enemies gather aound her/him) or use a chokepoint - or you lure them with sparkcrackers or a spall like Arkemy's Dazzling Lights from stealth or you use Binding Web + Pull of Eora - whatever works. This will make sure your monk can hit as many enemies as possible with one (or two) shot. If enemies are spread out it's better to either switch to a normal blunderbuss (works well with Resonant Touch, too) or use the Long Pain (it's very strong against single targets).

It's not so easy to answer what is best. It also depends on your level and your progress in the game. Some combos start really strong and become boring afterwards while others start slowly and take of at higher power levels. If we look at the endgame then SC Mortar Monk. Because of the combination of Whispers of the Wind which will trigger three AoE explosions for each enemy it hits. All those AoEs will produce Resonant Touches which will end every normal enemy who has been caught in that storm of shrapnel (rel. big animated gifs behind the spoiler tags): If you are wearing Heaven's Cacophony you can add some Avenging Storms (2 per rest) for great effect: Mid game is also good because of Stunning Surge (great with mortars) and Flagellant's Path (it uses the mortars AoE effects but skips the reload - but has its own recovery which is much faster). But I think a Streetfigher or Streetfighter/Arcane Archer is maybe better in the early/mid game due to the frontloaded nature of both classes. In the late game a SC Streetfigher can pull off Vanishing Strikes + Gambit + Backstabs which is also an awesome combo, but it isn't as devastating as Whispers of the Wind (the vid is from an SC Assassin, but a SC Streetfighter would work nearly the same): SC Fury is superfun after PL8, but before that it's not really a gunslinger so maybe it's not for you (have no vid). There's also SC Barbarian with Heart of Fury (works with mortars) and SC Ranger with Whirling Strikes (requires one melee weapon though) as well as SC Fighter with Clear the Path or Clean Sweep. They all become relaly good with mortars but they are not very fun to play until they reach higher Power Levels. It's material for hirelings mostly I would say - or for companions after a retraining session. By the way: Tekehu works also very well with mortars - no matter if Druid or Chanter - both his subclasses get access to Avenging Storm...

Fists are among the strongest weapons in the game for a single class Monk. Totally viable. You still want to have some backup weapons for enemies that are very resistant or even immune to crush damage. Forbidden Fist can generate wounds with (Enduring) Dance of Death while using Whispers of the Wind. Mortification of the Soul also works. Combined with Hylea's Talons there shouldn't be too much downtime between WotE uses. Keep in mind that you are invisible when using it so you won't get attacked a lot (thus Dance of Death works well). For the same reason the "normal" Monks who gain wounds via received damage have no big advantage over the Forbidden Fist since they don't get damaged a lot either while concentrating on WotW spam. If you have a Druid in the party you can cast Tanglefoot where the Monk will use WotW. Once he catches one of the short hobble effects it will almost already be over and he will get a wound. If you are wearing Nomad's Brigandine (no DLC item) and enchant it with immunity to Disengagement Attacks you can always disengage from enemies (--> 100% miss due to immunity) which will grant you a wound from Imagined Pain.

I can't say anything about those guides since I didn't watch/read them. I can only tell you that from my exprerience the most fun non-solo dual-wielding gunslinger builds are: - Single Class Mortar Monk (Stunning Surge, Resonant Touch and Whispers of the Wind are awesome with dual mortars). Nalpasca or Helwalker. - Streetfighter/Arcane Archer (Pull enemies together with three Binding Web + Pull of Eora imbue shots because each jump triggers one instance, then blast the crowded group with Crippling Strikes or whatever. - Single Class Streetfighter (the goal is to unlock Vanishing Strikes and then use Gambit with Backstabs while standing in the midst of the enemies). - Single Class Fury (goal is to get Avenging Storm - every hit of the mortars produces a lightning and also Blinding Smoke, the enchantment of the Hand Mortar, produces a lightning with every hit roll). SC Monk and Streetfighter builds are fun from an early stage while the Fury needs a bit time - but can be used as normal nuker in between of course. Streetfighter needs to use the Powder Burns modal to unlock his passive which might leads to more misses in the early game. But he will get there... Monks can use Dance of Death for lots of ACC and a good stream of wounds. I'm sure other players have several different opinions about this (using Devoted or SC Ranger etc). But I guess most of them agree that SC Mortar Monk is a lot of fun to play. I absolutely advise people to pick the noble voice set when going with mortars. With most crits this voice set will laugh and the laugh sounds a bit like Barry White which I found very entertaining (combine with Konstanten for a Barry White laughter duo). And mortars can crit a lot if you are targeting a lot of enemies.

Does it have to be pistols or would hand mortars or blunderbusses also work? Pistol is often better when used with one-handed style + modal (in most cases). Since it only loses 3 ACC then bit is much faster than dual-wielded.

Enfeebled. When using Forbidden Fist a lot Enervating Blows seems to be a bit redundant, yes.

Ha - no, I meant Enervating Blows. Yes, as I said most monks players wouldn't want to give up WotW and stuff just for Inner Death which has several shortcomings. Thinking more about it I also suspect it will not even trigger Enervating Blows because it's implemented like a spell and not a proper melee attack. Like Forbidden Fist - which has the same problem in an unmodded game.

Empowered Strikes didn't work with WotW when I last tested (but that was not too long after release, so maybe somebody check again). I reported that but got no answer if it ever got fixed (just something along the lines of "Oh really? That's not cool" ;)). I tested it with Inner Death an there it works (which leads to a reliable crit --> great dmg). Of course most Monks (especially solo) prefer WotW over Inner Death. Too bad that the endgame has too many enemies that are hp sponges so that even a 400 dmg crit with Inner Death doesn't mean much if you can't repeat it several times... If you combine it with Swift Flurry it can trigger some more main-hand attack rolls iirc - but that's it. With Envenomed Strikes you will cause Weakened and if you used the Weyc's Wand in the offhand you can immediately follow up with a second Inner Death (if you have the Mortification left). It would be a good alternative to WotW if it wouldn't use Mortification but Wounds instead.

If you feel that a Helwalker is too squishy at the beginning you can take another subclass. The only noticable things the Helwalker does is giving you up to +10 MIG (which is up to +30% additive dmg which isn't that impactful for a weapon user in the first place). The higher starting wound count doesn't matter that much later on as well. Helwalker is superb when combined with casters or anything else that uses damaging abilities that don't rely on weapons - or healing abilites as well. Because there are not many other ways to boost spell damage/healing power besides MIG. But for a SC melee Monk it actually doesn't make a ton of difference in terms of dmg output if you take a Helwalker or something else. The only SC Monk variant where I would recommend Helwalker is a Mortar Monk (or any other ranged monk really). Because you'll get attacked rel. rarely Enduring Dance helps a lot with wounds and then the added MIG is nice (because you won't feel the incresed dmg received a lot). A Nalpasca is better suited for the early game as a melee monk (if you buy a decent amount of drugs at the Kraken's Eye first and search all surroundings for more you won't run out of drugs ever). Because the early game makes it hard to gain a ton of wouds via received damage - since the ratio of "overall health":"dmg needed for one wound" is very high (it drops with every level because you gain more health but the wound threshold stays the same). So in the early game the Nalpasca's drug-infused wound stream is highly useful. It never ceases to be somwhat useful because you'll find better drugs and they will last longer with every point of Alchemy you take. Only problem is if you get hit by Arcane Dampener which might happen several times later in the game... Forbidden Fist is an excellent subclass that can be quite good in the early game because of the way the Forbidden Fist is played best: melee with tons of RES and tanky. Also the Forbidden Fist ability is quite impactful with its tier-3-CON affliction so early in the game. Shattered Pillar can be nice in the early game as well (especially when using the Community Patch since that removes the superfluous max wound cap of 5 and sets it to 10 like all other monks'). No need to get damaged for wounds means it's a lot easier to use abilities like Force of Anguish every now and then without having to take damage at all. For any SC melee Monk I recommend* taking Parting Sorrow (it not only gives wounds on enemies' disengagement but also gives a wound on kill - because the killed enemy somehow counts as disengaged) and also Imagined Pain - and then use Nomad's Brigandine with the immunity to disengamgent attacks enchantment: every disengagement attack you cause is counted as a miss (100%) which will give you a wound. If you are a Shattered Pillar you can even combine this with Whispers of the Endless Paths (Offensive Parry) and trigger a riposte attacks that gives you even more wounds AND adds Resonant Touches. I mean you can use that as any monk but the SP gets additional wounds from this. *I mean besides Resonant Touch and Whispers of the Wind which are must-haves. Once you get Whispers of the Wind you won't get attacked a lot anymore (because you are invisible). So I also recommend Dance of Death / Enduring Dance - even if you don't use it before PL9(!). Else you won't get any wounds between WotW executions. You'd either have to gain wounds the usual way or use Mortification of the Soul - which will slow you down. Nalpascas can still gain wounds from drugs passively in addition to Enduring Dance (almost no downtime between WotW uses) and Forbidden Fists can use short-lived hostile effects (see Hylea's Talons for example) which shortens the downtime. I don't know if Parting Sorrow triggers on kill if the enemy wasn't engaged at all (see Whispers of the Wind's invisibility)??? They all can use Edér's armor (with the reflex-immunity enchnatment) + Keeper of the Flame + Imagined Pain to generate a ton of wounds during WotW (because the AoE of the flail has friendly fire and targets reflex which will miss 100% on Edér's armor - which will trigger Imagined Pain).

Nope, it's impossible to "single-wield" fists. You have the following options for the offhand (weapon-->bonus-->fitting passive): nothing (but in case of fist in main hand it always counts as fist, too) --> dual wielding (30% speed bonus) --> two weapon style (15%) melee weapon --> dual wielding --> two weapon style ranged weapon --> dual wielding --> two weapon style shield --> weapon & shield (nothing special besides shield bonuses) --> weapon & shield style (bonus deflection & reflex) bashing shield --> dual wielding & weapo & shield --> two weapon style + weapon & shield style The only "fist" that can profit from one handed usage (+12 ACC) and One Weapon Style (15% crit conversion) is Concelhaut's Draining Touch. I'm only half joking because you can use it as a Sage to great effect (especially with Swift Flurry since it targets Will instead of deflection and Will can be lowered easily via Miasma and Dazzling Lights - and you can stack crit chance with Merciless Gaze). If you don't learn the spell at level-up but instead cast in from a grimoire, then switch to a grimoure that doesn't have the spell before hitting somebody... then the Draining Touch will stay with you for the whole fight. If you summon an Essential Phantom it will also have that weapon and it will stay forever (I mean until the phantom disappears).

You got mixed up some stuff. Raedric is the lord of Gilded Vale and surroundings and has nothing to do with Readceras. Readceras was the nation the Dyrwood was at war with during the Saints War (the war Edér fought in - where Eothas marched as Waidwen against the Dyrwood, leading the Readceran army). In order to get the support of the Readceran Pathfinders you must resolve the Iron Flail quest in the White March II expansion in a certain peaceful way.

Well... "keeping your oath" applies to nobles as well as peasants. If a nobleman breaks his oath to protect his peasants: "Nobody expected the woedican inquisition - with a few skaenite henchmen!"

I don't think that Frenzy gives wounds (because of the -10 deflection?). Maybe Berserker Frenzy, but I never tried because Frenzy's self damage + Forbidden Fist Curse self damage sounds too masochistic to me. Also a Berserker Frenzy is a way better wound generator for monks with normal wound generation (Nalpasca, Helwalker, vanilla). A Druid/Forbidden Fist can step into his own Tanglefoot and get short-lived hobbled. Later Wall of Thorns maybe. A Wood Elf Wizard/Forbidden Fist could use Binding Web to immobilize enemies but only get hobbled himself - stuff like that (see Chillfog etc.). A blunderbuss with Powder Burns can be used distract yourself. With high RES the distraction is quite short.

Forbidden Fist is my preferred Monk class. To me it's absolutely awesome. However, it kind of forces you to play with high RES (if you want to be effective). The higher the better. Combined with items/food etc. that shorten hostile effects. Because besides Dance of Death, Mortification of the Soul and the late passives like Parting Sorrow and Imagined Pain you only gain wounds when hostile effects expire. And the shorter those effects the better. Hence high RES etc. With high RES and stacked buffs that reduce hostile effect duration your Forbidden Fist curse usually lasts < 3 secs no matter your INT. Also you can use Clarity of Agony to end hostile effects and shorten incoming ones tremendously. The Forbidden Fist ability is just great because of the Enfeeblement it causes and the damage it does. I usually don't use any other offensive stuff until Whispers of the Wind. Since it's implemented like a spell (it still uses your unarmed stats and scaling) you can even use it when you are using another weapon. So you alsways have a crush damage backup without using a second weapon slot. Everything that puts an hostile effect on you can be turned into a wound generator. Look at Hylea's Talons. The duration of the DoT it applies to you becomes extremely short and when it expires you get a wound. The mechanic enables you to play a very tanky monk without starving for wounds. There are even tricks like stepping into Tanglefoot to get wounds. One guy made a Berserker/Forbidden Fist and wore the Footsteps of the Beast so he could hobble himself all the time with lots and lots of short-lived drop traps of frost --> tons of wounds. For focus on the early game you shouldn't raise MIG too high because the self damage of the curse can be very punishing without the right gear. So better keep the self damage down a little by not adding too much MIG. High PER (helps best in the early game) and max RES, normal DEX (don't be too fast with the cursed punches or else you kill yourself) and INT. Not too low CON because of the curse. I would pick a small shield in the early game. Later Tuotilo's Palm is great. Also pick Mortification of the Soul because in the early game you can experience a shortage of wounds. Good combos are anything where you can exploit the Enfeeblement of the Forbidden Fist: for example Cipher/Forbidden Fist with a Morning Star (note that Forbidden Fist ability doesn't generate focus without the Community Patch mod): apply enfeebled and Body Blows and then cast Disintegrate --> Disintegrate is most likely to hit or even crit and lasts 50% longer (100% on crit). Also Charm and Dominate will last a lot longer. It pairs very well with Trickster as Shadowdancer. Use Mirrored Images + Riposte and also Repulsive Visage etc. 50% longer Toxic Strikes are devastating - same as 50% longer Arterial Strikes. Forbidden Fist/Bloodmage can also be very good, but maybe only after a few levels. I think for the early game a Forbidden Fist/Trickster, a Forbidden Fist/Beguiler (no need to cause dmg to gain focus) or Forbidden Fist/Steel Garotte (superprolonged Garotte ability) may be most fun. Everything that's front loaded with good abilities right from the start.

ROFL. There are plenty of patches left. No worries. There are even some (3 iirc?) slots left for a plaque on the Wall of Honor at Obsidian's office (12 max).

No, resistances don't stack. You either have it or not, but there are no tiers. Would have been cool, but it ain't so. I guess it was done on purpose so that you can't "emulate" immunities by stacking resistances. Or to not diminish the value of high defenses (which prevent catching a hostile effect in the first place). That's why certain effects (on items or abilities) that grant immunities to afflictions or other hostile effects like interrupts can be very good. I mean resistances are also good, just not as good.