Boeroer

Megabosses are a pain in the rear for me. I only did them once or so and then steered around them. The gain is too little for the pain in my opinion. SSS is not that hard for a high level party. Maybe players have to adapt a bit because some of the fights require you to NOT burn through your resources asap - but to be very patient and use resources in a meaningful way. For example the fight against the hordes of guls: it's very ineffective to mop the floor with the first wave while burning through all your resources - because there will be so many more waves. You have to keep your resources for the times where you really, really need them. Classes with replenishable resources like Cipher, Chanter, Monk and Bloodmage have an advantage in those fights (like with Megabosses, too).

Effort's raw DoT doesn't stack with itself - while Bleeding Cuts do (Saru Sichr's slow ticking poison also does). That's why Bleeding Cuts (or Saru Sichr) is a lot better if you are hitting some high HP foe for a longer period of time (most bosses etc.). Same problem with Stalker's Patience (which even has a higher raw DoT. Still great weapons though. If you are facing more than one enemy it also doesn't matter too much that the DoTs don't stack: you can simply alternate your targets and make sure you get the most out of the DoTs (which again: are indeed quite strong).

If you want a more forgiving (sturdy) druid who's still dealing good Spiritshift melee damage you can pick the Boar form. It regenerates during Spiritshift (heals you over time) and it also has an automatic wounding lash on its attacks which is very strong (and even scales with MIG, so I would raise that). MIG also scales the healing in general. You can then pick "Veteran's Recovery" as talent which stacks with the Boar form's regeneration, giving you decent healing over time (better than a Fighter). This helps a big deal in the early game where you don't have that much healing spells to cast. In the late game the healing effect alone isn't as impactful anymore - but the wounding lash keeps being awesome until the end (because your natural weapons scale very well and the wounding lash is a multiplicative dmg bonus). Shod-in-Faith boots help further with the self-healing of this druid. You can raise Survival and pick the bonus "healing received" effect from camping and then also wear gear that raises "healing done" and "healing received". Those all work with the boar regeneration and Veteran's Recovery and the boots. It's a way to "scale" the healing up for later levels. It also all influences your own healing spells like Moonwell of course. If your health bar starts dropping low you can rest (obviously) or drink potions of Infuse with Vital Essence. It's a well-rounded druid approach for a druid in my opinion. Every spiritshifter should get the Wildstrike Belt. Its mechanics are a bit weird. Suffice to say that it's way better than it's description suggests.

Flame Nagas have extra low burn armor so that you a) won't underpenetrate with burn damage and b) get tricked into thinking "Haha - low burn AR! Let's roast them!" Dorudugan is the same. Tanking him in melee leads to him healing up from his own burning AoE attacks. Rekvu's Scorched Cloak does the same for you if you suffer from an injury. BUT: if you step on fire traps (e.g. in Sandswept Ruins) you will still get the Serious Burn Injury. Three of those and your run will be fried. I reported that illogical mechanic in the early days after release but I think it never got fixed.

Everything that pulses should trigger it with every pulse (that hits): Chillfog, Wall of Flames, Tanglefoot, Wicked Briars and so on.

Why unlike PoE1? There it's the same: you cannot play the DLCs after the main game since there's no return from jumping into the pit in Twin Elms which leads to the endgame.

Yes, that's indeed why I like that build. It's passively draining + dazing while offensively casting. Eternal Devotion works with damaging spells. I used Arcane Veil, Mirrored Images, Llengrath's Safeguard (stacks with the others) as self buffs mostly, also infuse. Later Wall of Draining of course (because of Hands of Light). Also Inspired Beacon and Sacred Immolation. Spells: I didn't pick a lot because I try to use grimoires for spell portfolio and thus get more points for passives etc. Citzal's Corrosive Siphon, Death Ring, Combjsting Wounds, Torrent of Flames and such stuff. Depends a lot on the enemies. Minoletta's Piercing Burst is also great.

Yes, it's also helpful to be able to unstealth when the crowd gathered and then "escape" right amongst them in order to engage as many enemies as possible. And the deflection bonus of Escape makes the first blows miss a lot even before you can trigger Refreshing Defense + Mirrored Images.

Hello, if you use Bounding Boots's Leap ability to get to chests/persons undetected with even low stealth then you're smart. But it's only 2/rest while the Barbarian's Leap ability allows for the same shenanigans unlimited times (out of combat). What if there was a way to use Bounding Boots unlimited times though? That would be cool. Luckily there is: Stealth while unseen. Pause game. Target the place where you want to jump to and click. Unpause for only a fraction of a second (basically hit space two times very quickly). Your char will jump up and you'll have paused again while the char's in the air. Repeat until your dotted circle appears at the point of destination - but your char model hasn't landed yet. Now abendon the Leap (click the x button). Combat log will say "XY abandoned Leap". Your 2/rest uses will not get used up, but you char will still land in the dotted circle. From there you can loot/pickpocket etc. The timing with unpause/pause is crucial but not that hard to do. Not useful for ultimate runs since you can't pause, but very nice if you want to sneak effectively without investing in stealth. You can even jump past enemies and then pass the boots to a party members. Works since it's out of combat. Enjoy!

Unbroken/Trickster is one of my favorite party tanks. You get enough engagement (Unbroken+shield+Persistent Distraction + Hold the Line = already 4) without the use of Defender Stance but can take Mob Stance or Warrior Stance instead. Good mix of tankyness and dmg (especially on disengagement) and impervious to ranged and AoE attacks thanks to Large Shield modal & Adept Evasion. I like how you can still move on the battlefield with the help of Escape (despite being immobilized from the modal). And you also can terrify. The cherry on top is that he can lure enemies to a spot with Dazzling Lights easily before unstealthing. This usually makes sure he can engage even those enemies who would otherwise sit in the back rows and shoot/cast. I personally like lots of engagement slots because unlike PoE it makes a tank really sticky. 5-6 slots is def. enough though.

Bloodmage/Steel Garotte with WotEP is one of my favorites. Soulblade/Trickster is also great with it.

Right. Berath's one is also nice. Is it still the case that Firebrand's duration is twice as long as Spiritual Weapons'? Never checked after the buff to Firebrand (which had no lash initially but was only a scaling Great Sword that did burn damage with a base duration of 60 secs).

No idea. Indeed good question. Also can't test right now (my whole household got packed into boxes).

I'm in the middle of a move from Bucharest to Berlin. Whispers of the Endless Paths is of course not nerfed to the ground. It's one of the best weapons - with the right setup. Stuff like Mirrored Images or Arcane Veil stack with Vigorous Defense and Llengrath's Safeguard - add several ACC debuffs (Devotions, Despondent Blows, blind, Miasma) to enemies and Offensive Party will trigger a lot. And by the way WotEP has +1 PEN in comparison to all other Great Swords which is often overlooked. But yeah - it's a very defensive approach so maybe not anybody's cup of tea. Also not great against casters and ranged enemies obviously. But you can always switch. Voidward has the highest single target damage potential of all Great Swords. Its Necrotic Lance profits from the weapon's damage enhancements and it has a raw lash which is always awesome. If you can handle the self damage you should take it (in my optionion). Rel. hard to get by early though. If you want want to use the modal you could look at Firebrand (Druid or scroll). It always works with the Ring of Focused Flames so that you won't have an ACC malus bus get the additional damage. You could also use a Paladin and spam Flames of Devotion which also works with the Ring and has its own +10 ACC on top. You get the best Great Sword if you exchange it with a Morning Star right before each fight.

Don't forget that Arcane Veil stacks with Vigorous/Refreshing Defense. Afaik multiple "second chances" will get all used up on first knockout.

A few years ago I was in the hospital for one week because a thyroid tumor (benign) had to be removed. I personally paid nothing but iirc the bill was something around 20k EUR (and that was with private insurance where the hospital can charge more than if I had universal healthcare). It included everything: the stay, the medicine, the surgery, getting treated by the chief physician and a single bed room and so on. Don't know what you are doing with your healthcare system in the US - but your doing it wrong.

Yes, all abilities (that deal damage) do get a 5% multiplicative damage bonus per Power Level. Multiplicative because the base damage gets increased by 5%. Forbidden Fist (the ability) is no exception. In the unmodded game the Forbidden Fist ability is a bit quirky because it doesn't count as weapon attack but works like a "melee spell with attributes of fists" ;). It generates no focus and doesn't work properly with Swift Flurry. I don't know if it even profits from Sneak Attack and Deep Wounds (since those only work with weapon damage). Worth testing I guess - or maybe somebody knows the answer. I can't test it because my PC is in a box, ready for moving.

Those builds are not necessarily outdated. Anyway: both weapon you are listed are good, but they requite different builds. With Tidefall you want to maximize MIG (because the wouding lash on the sword scales with MIG). Wounding and Draining work with Carnage, too - so make sure to have a big radius (=high INT). The draining makes the Barb more tanky but he needs a few levels so that his health pool is big enough to withstand getting hit (which removes endurance and health) and healed up again (which only raises endurance back up as nearly all healing effects). A dowside is that if you kill an enemy with the wounding (which is a damage over time effect) it will not trigger Blood Thirst afaik. Hours of St. Rumbalt causes prone on crit and has an extra +50% additive dmg bonus on crits. You don't need high MIG here but high PER (for more ACC). Both effects wotj with Carnage. Also Accurate Carnage is good here. Carnage starts with very low accuracy (-10 compared to your normal accuracy) BUT it scales: +1ACC per char level. With Accurate Carnage that means that at char level 5 your Carnage has the same accuracy as your initial attack roll and from there on it gets better and better (at lvl 16 your Carnage has +11 ACC compared to your initial attack). This can lead to quite some crits. Against mobs it's not uncommmon that they mostly drop to the floor and can't get up again (especially if your party members also debuff their defenses). The more "hands off" apporach would be with Tidefall. It's reliably good against any enemy while Rumbalt shines against weak mobs but is nothing special against tough foes. Also woth Tidefall the offtanking is easier because of the draining. A great backup weapon against any vessel is St. Ydwen's Redeemer: its "destroy vessel" enchantment trigger Blood Thirst which makes short work of any group of vessels. Since it's soulbound it works with all weapon focuses (no need to pick soldier). Tall Grass is also a good weapon for a Barbarian. It basically works like Hours of St. Rumbalt but has reach - so you can stay behind the front line and still hit which is often great to a) place the center of your Carnage more effectively and b) to attack from behind your tank when he/she is holding a chokepoint (like door.) Llawran's Stick is also a good weapon because it comes very early and has one of the best dps enchantments (speed). It also has reach. But maybe a quarterstaff is not what you are looking for. Mabec's Morning Star is also very good for a Barb - but you have to be lucky because Azzuro will only sell it ramdomly. What also works quite well is Drake's Bell: you need to stack up DR bypass (which also works with Carnage and leads to very good Carnage dmg. It already comes with +8 DR bypass. You can add Vulnerable Attack (+5). Ryona's Vambraces (+1) and drop Devil of Caroc into the Blood Pool (+1). That will give you 15 DR bypass which is incredibly good against anything with thick armor. And against enemies with mediocre armor you just switch off Vulnerable Attack.

A bit weird, but his "Shark Teeth" are treated as one handed weapons and thus he is dual wielding (and should pick Two Weapon Style) :

Multiclass character caps at the base Power Level of 7 (Single Class can reach PL 9 and also take Prestige -> PL 10). You can add further "temporary" Power Levels with potions, items, inspirations and so on. For the Rogue part in a multiclass that means Sneak Attack climbs from 30% (PL1) to 60% (PL7) additive damage. That's +5% per Power Level. Monk's fists have a base damage of 14-19 crush (average 16.5) and 7 base PEN - but start right away with a bonus of +5% dmg (additive like Sneak Attack), +2 ACC and +1 PEN and then scale every even PL with +15% dmg, +4 ACC and +1 PEN: PL1: +5% dmg, +2 acc, +1 PEN PL2: +20% dmg, +6 acc, +2 PEN PL4: +35% dmg, +10 acc, +3 PEN PL6: +50% dmg, +14 acc,+ 4 PEN ..and so on. It's a bit like like enchanting a normal weapon with fine/exceptional/superb/legendary etc. Note that nearly all damage bonuses besides lashes and PL-Bonuses for abilites (more about that later) are additive. That means you just take the base damage of the weapon (here 16.5) and multiply it with the added damage bonuses. A Monk/Rogue at PL 7 would calculate his damage for auto-attacks like so: DMG_1auto attack = 16.5crush *(1base damage itself + 0.6Sneak Attack + 0.5Tanscendent Suffering) = 35.65crush Let's say you have MIG 15 and land a crit, then it looks like this: DMG_2auto attack = 16.5crush *(1base damage itself + 0.6Sneak Attack + 0.5Tanscendent Suffering + 0.15MIG + 0.25crit) = 41.25crush With a 20% lash from Turning Wheel and a 15% lash from Lightning Strikes: DMG_3auto attack = DMG_2auto attack + DMG_2auto attack * 0.2Turing Wheel + DMG_2auto attack * 0.15Lightning Strikes = 41.25crush + 8.25burn + 6.19shock An abilities gets a +5% dmg bonus per PL (over its native one). That +5% is multiplicative. It raises the base damage. So if you are at PL7 and attack with Force of Anguish for example (native PL1,) your base damage will not be 16.5 like with an auto-attack but instead 6PL*5% = +30% base damage --> 16.5 * 1.3 = 21.45 base damage So with Froce of Aguish at PL 7 the above calculation from DMG_2 would now be: DMG_2Force of Anguish = 21.45crush *(1base damage itself + 0.6Sneak Attack + 0.5Tanscendent Suffering + 0.15MIG + 0.25crit) = 53.63crush with the lashes like above: DMG_3Force of Anguish = DMG_2Force of Anguish + DMG_2Force of Anguish * 0.2Turing Wheel + DMG_2Force of Anguish * 0.15Lightning Strikes = 53.63crush + 10.7burn + 8.04shock Hope that clears it up. It looks more complicated as it actually is I guess.

Afaik there has been a successful Monk run - but it wasn't send in because the same user also completed the challenge with another build. Another user (or the same?) did a run which ended prematurely because he chose the wrong dialogue option with Rymrgand (=instadeath). I believe that was also a SC Monk but I'm not sure about it.

@Raven Darkholme: Monastic Unarmed Training scales every 3 PLs while Transcendent Suffering scales every 2 PLs. But MUT always uses single class progression even if you are multiclassed (TS doesn't). @thelee wrote about it in length in his Deadfire gamefaqs: https://gamefaqs.gamespot.com/pc/227477-pillars-of-eternity-ii-deadfire/faqs/76599/monastic-unarmed-training

I think @daven meant the original post.

Quite a good alpha strike - but then a fatal Spiritshift into: ...which is the weakest form one could choose. Lol noobs...