Boeroer

Right, was just doing wild brainstorming there without looking stuff up. Hitting yourself with KotF is great if you have Rekvu's Scorched Cloak...

Hahaha - good point. Myself? Than that misses again and *pooof* universe explodes.

I think that Engoliero procs its Blade Feast on non-weapon hits is an oversight - but a nice one nontheless. It's especially great on a Barb/caster due to Blood Thirst. Used it with a Warlock - ouch.

Same with Nalpasca and drugs + Dance of Death (and Hylea's Talons because they are great anyway ). But still: "abusing" Keeper of the Flame's friendly fire with Saint's War Armor and Imagined Pain is pretty smart. I wonder if Tuotilo's Palm would proc its retaliation effect if you get "missed" by KotF's burn AoE due to the armor? That would be kind of cool as well. Not that it does a ton of damage, but still nice, would generate Resonant Touches en masse I guess? Also it should trigger the small shield modal (which doesn't stack with Dance of Death, but still...)

Whispers of the Wind with Stalking Cloak and all sorts of AoE weapons is really strong (and that has been known for a while now), same with Scordeo's Edge being one of the most OP weapons, BUT your combo of Imagined Pain + Keeper of the Flame + Saint's War Armor is something new, clever and really neat. Never read about that here and also never thought about it myself. I think offensively the same setup but with Hand Mortar (+Blinding Smoke) + Fire in the Hole (+ Chain Shot) has more damage potential due to being able to use Poweder Burns and more importantly Avenging Storm (Blinding Smoke cones - which will trigger hundrets of extra hit rolls with enough enemies around - trigger Avenging Storm as well!) which you can't do with Keeper of the Flame (because for some reason it messes up Avenging Storm) and thus more Resonant Touches being generated: However: the constant wound generation from Imagined Pain + Saint's War armor should be very handy - especially vs. bosses. I also didn't take Swift Flurry into account - no idea if that makes a huge difference since it usually doesn't proc the AoE but only the discrete flail/crush attack roll...? You could also try Sungrazer + Keeper of the Flame. Sometimes the two (pretty hefty) burn AoEs of Sungrazer proc multiple times (especially when Swift Flurry procs) which then do craaazy dmg. Another nice candidate for WotW is Current's Rush (scepter). It's very potent if its "High Tide "procs - because High Tide seems to be able to proc off itself which can lead to a deadly chain reactions. High Tide also procs Avenging Storm. I also had good effects with Watershaper's Focus + Blast and Ondra's Wrath (+Avenging Storm). By the way: Keeper of the Flame + Scordeo's Edge is my most favorite combo for Ranger's Whirling Strikes. Really powerful. The only (albeit huge) disadvantage compared to Monk is that Ranger's can't get Bond back (besides Brilliant) - so no spamming against Megabosses unfortunately (all by yourself).

Generally I agree that some good spells are competing with each other on certain power levels while other power levels are a bit meh. But on the other hand: we would complain if every PL had a single "best" spell, too (because that would make the pick almost mandatory).

But... that's what I said right below the sentence you highlighted.

Yes, unfortunately that would count as a cheated game then and achievements would get disabled. You'd have to either use the Unity Console mod (instead of the build-in console) or obtain the item for the exported character the "proper" way.

There's also a Berath's Blessing (+2 to all attributes) which could be used to even out the DEX (from 2 to 14) while keeping the rest of the attributes the same. Or DEX 10 and giving MIG and CON +2 each or so.

He would be incredibly slow at first, especially in heavy armor. I'm testing a 3-DEX Furyshaper atm and it's a real slog. But with Alacrity (+5 DEX and speed bonus) as well as fast casting (casting speed bonus) it should be alright.

Normal Full Attacks usually also only use the melee weapon (if at melee range) afair. But there are exceptions like Clear Out, Heart of Fury and Whirling Strikes that use both. Also Riposte will use both and I think (?) Cleaving Stance as well. Barbaric Retaliation, too. Flagellant's Path may also work with both weapons but I'm not 100% sure. Streetfighter could use high deflection against Disengament Attacks with Riposte or trigger Riposte with out-of-reach misses I guess.

Huh? Never had a problem with retraining. Granted I didn't use it on a regular basis.

Well, they have Stormspeakers (Storm pose no threat as long as a tribe has one), plumbing wasn't a thing in most western civilizations until fairly recently, Huana invented the Voyager which is not a canoe (and it is said that the war canoes of the Wahaki are a frightening and impressive thing to behold) and are scattered around the Archipelago since some foreign dudes came, build some wheel and annihilated their ancestors who build the largest and most advanced empire on Eora and fed them to soul constructs they now call "gods". Also that's the same argumentation that was used by colonisation forces in Earth's history - and look how well that turned out. If other people have it worse than you (in your opinion first of all) it's a reason to offer help (not to force it on) - it's not a justification to dominiate. Of course this is a rather progressive viewpoint in the scope of the history of man. Surely you made that statement from the perspective of the RDC.

With a normal blunderbuss (instantly applies four stacks of Resonant Touch on a single enemy) or the Long Pain. Normal fist attacks also still work of course, it's still a Monk after all.

Yes, it does. Turning Wheel doesn't (without community patch). Yes, Whispers of the Wind will do AoE-attacks (+ Powder Burns) with both mortars on all jump points. You can have more than 6 jumps - they scale with Power Level. If you for example use Empower you'll get more jumps. If you use Avenging Storm from Heaven's Cacophony you will also create an unbelievable number of procs due to Blinding Smoke triggering all the time. This works extremely well with Resonant Touch as one might guess. Every hit will add a stack of Resonant Touch. So if somethings still standing afterwards you just rigger Resonant Touch and that's is usually: Those are CRE_Dummies who have very high health. Usually "normal" enemies don't survive this. THe more crowded the enemies are the better. Best to lure them with a spell from stealth - or let a tank engage them.

Unfortunately a marking Darcozzi doesn't work in Deadfire because a) Inspiring Liberation is no more, b) Coordinated Attacks is no more and c) marking weapons don't exist (at least not like in PoE). Also Darcozzi is maybe the worst Paladin subclass in Deadfire. Bilestomper would still work - kind of. Other items of course - but you can still follow the principle of raising fortitude and defenses against disease and poison into the sky and make you basically immune to such spells. There are still spells like Fetid Caress, Noxious Burst, Malignant Cloud and Death Ring. Due to multiclassing there would be a whole lot of options. For example you could combine Helwalker-Monk with Wizard. Helwalkers can get +10 MIG and +10 CON at 10 wounds which would mean +40 Fortitude. If you already start with 20 MIG and 20 CON (Mountain Dwarf) it's even +80 at ten wounds. Or you can go Paladin/Wizard and use the paladin's resitances and especially Righteous Soul to make you completely immune to such spells. Wizard/Chanter could also be a thing. There are "Bile"-themed chants and invocation that fit pretty well. I guess Paladin/Wizard would be the most straightforward combo. It's also awesome defensively so that you can still tank very well while casting. Then you have items like Cauldron Shard, Voidward, Rakhan Field Boots, Mundane Shell, Cadhu Scalth, Iridescent Scale and such things. You could use Concelhaut's Draining Touch as summoned weapon: if you cast it from a grimorire and the switch the grimoire to one which hasn't that spell it will stay with xou for the rest of the fight (drains health and does corrode damage and targets will instead of deflection, also weakens enemies on hit).

Cool.

Sorry but that name's taken by Wizard/Rogue.

Steel Garrote/Skald. Do boom-boom and sing-sing.

I have not tested it lately though. Best to try it out before casting it aside. You can use your early game, open the console, type "iroll20s" and then "giveitem great_sword_u_whispers_of_the_endless_paths", "addexperiencetolevel 20" and level up your monk and equip him with WotEP. With "spawnprefabatmouse cre_dummy" you can spawn a non-moving enemy with lots of HP but nearly no dmg output. If you use arrow-up (on your keyboard) in the console you can repeat that last command so that you spawn lots of those. That trigger Swift Flurry and hit them. Don't overwrite your savegame with this session because calling iroll20s cancels achievements/berath blessing points and you don't want to save that over your original savegame.

Nope, it does not, only the initial attack roll afaik. Also Swift Flurry/HBD only repeat the actual single attack roll, not the whole AoE attack.

Since I like AoE: Single Class Monk with Hand Mortar + Fire in the Hole. It's superb. Duality (INT), Lightning Strikes, Stunning Surge, Flagellant's Path, Resonant Touch and Whispers of the Wind are key abilities. Also works very well with Monk/Streetfighter. Here Powder Burns triggers the Streetfighter Passive all the time. Duality (INT), Arterial Strike (AoE), Toxic Strike, Stunning Surge, Flagellant's Path. SC Streetfighter with Gambit and dual mortars. Same as above. At PL8 you can spam Gambit endlessly vs. mobs and at PL9 you can use Vanishing Strike (invisibility doesn't break) in combination with Backstab+Gambit. Before that Arterial Strike and such with the AoE is very good as well. Gambit builds up guile per crit and gets then capped at 4. But while it's executed "internally" there's no limit. Gambit's dmg gets boosted by remaining Guile. So gainst lots of enemies with your AoE you will crit a lot which will in some cases lead to +200% dmg bonus for some attack rolls in the AoE. SC Fighter with melee weapon or bashing shield + Fire in the Hole or Current's Rush: Clear Out, Clear the Path and Clean Sweep all work with a ranged weapon if you have a melee weapon equipped as well. Results in AoE*AoE hits which is pretty devastating. Fighter/Ranger with the same concept, but with Driving Flight and only Clear Out. Comes together later but you can make better use of ranged weapons earlier. SC Ranger with the same concept but Whirling Strikes. Very powerful. Ranger/Wizard with dual mortars and Driving Flight, Essential Phantom and Combusting Wounds. Cast Essential Phantom and Combusting Wounds and then shower those enemies with mortar shots from two chars. Self Buffs, Miasma (Reflex debuff), Pull of Eora, Slicken etc: very good to keep them close together while hitting them. SC Furyshaper with dual mortars and Heart of Fury. Blood Ward, Blood Storm, Panther's Leap, Barbaric Retaliation, Blood Surge, Driving Roar (or the other one). Before later levels use Frenzy Ward, then Fear Ward. Blood Ward drains life from DoT ticks as well, so Blood Storm will provide constant healing ticks. Retaliation also works with mortars. SC Fury with Deltro's Cage and dual mortars or melee/Hand Mortar. Shock spells, Heart of the Storm, Avenging Storm (!). Hand Mortar has the enchantment "Blinding Smoke" which triggers an AoE cone with every crit which leads to a lot of hit rolls - all triggering Avenging Storm. Until then (PL8) you can use Taste of the Hunt with Sun & Moon or Spiritshift, focusing on the casting. Later dual mortars with Avenging Storm destroys mobs. Blunderbusses have short range and thus you are kind of forces to be close. One mortar can be exchanged by Current's Rush or/and a melee weapon. Best if used with Heaven's Cacophony (Avenging Storm). Mortars also work with Riposte if you have a melee weapon or bashing shield. So things like Tuotilo's Palm + Fire in the Hole with Monk/Trickster and Riposte or so can be a thing. Or Fighter/Trickster (Magran's Blessing) or whatever has high deflection and Riposte. Especially if you stack deflection against Disengament Attacks and then run around wildly, triggering attacks that will miss which triggers Riposte.

Yes, they would. Generally speaking. There might be buffs with a cap (like Scordeo's Edge's Adaptive) that don't stack above that cap. Bit I didn't test. Also: if you have items with limited charges you can "recharge" them when you stack them in the stash. For example two Rings of Reset can be used to have one in the stash and the other one worn. If the worn one is empty you stack it with the full one, divide them again and both are full. Also works with necklace of fireballs, missile gloves, figurines and so on.

@Lunateric: Yes, Swift Flurry and Heartbeat Drumming can still chain-proc. As said you need high ACC vs. low defenses. Having additional hit-to-crot conversion also helps of course.

You always have the option of retraining in any tavern - and you don't need to be at lvl 20 for any of the DLCs. You need (player-) experience though and I can see that if you kind of rushed through the game or didn't pay too much attention to certain mechanics (e.g. interrupts) then it's going to be very frustrating on higher difficulty levels. It not only doesn't do a great job with that, but really an utter crappy one.