Boeroer

Let me repeat myself once more: After release we had some forum users here who filled whole spreadsheets with data about rolls, enemies and so on and concluded that +1 ACC is roughly a 2% dps increase on average. This is an apporximation and doesn't look at specific enemies, builds and situations. It's just a number so you can quickly compare stuff. At the beginning of the game +1 ACC has a higher impact than +2%, later is has lower impact. But that doesn't contradict that the overall increase can be roughly estimated at 2% just in order to have a simple value for a first quick estimation. Maybe that's your personal definition, but dps is simply a value per time unit. I can look at a long time sample or a shorter one. If I'd average my dps over the whole playthrough then even a one-time damage spike leads to an increase of overall dps I did over the course of the game. And be it even so tiny. I didn't oppose your statement about the negligibility of +3 Accuracy at higher levels at all. Why are you arguing about this?

Let me repeat myself: It's a game, not a simulation. You could also argue that an arquebus should at least have 20 PEN or that swords and axes usually are sidearms and not main weapons. You could argue that the rapier is the better sword and should simply have better stats or that daggers and stilettos should be inferior weapons on the battlefield. You could argue that leather armor is not really a thing and that actual padded armor is way tougher than some fur armor. And that plate armor doesn't really slow you down that much and is always superior. But what would you get if you put too much realsim into a game and make it a medieval simulation? A boring game.

But if you flank an enemy - why should only you get the bonus and not your buddy? You are both in the same position. What if a third party member joins? So I would argue everybody who attacks the flanked enemy in melee should get the bonus. Your idea may be more realistic but it comes with several mechanical complications like the one above. That means it's more difficult to implement. Besides that there would be other issues, for example: Sneak Attack gets unlocked by flanked. With your solution that couldn't be done anymore (without altering the Sneak Attack logic quite a bit). How would Streetfighter unlock his passive? How would you implement Phantom Foes? Wouldn't it be better if the enemy still got he flanked status but only characters that attack in melee would profit from it? Anyway I guess Obsidian went with the more abstract but easy solution that is in line with the other afflictions and more systemic. You can argue that a flanked character is distracted in general and has to take care of two or more attackers in melee which leaves him more vulnerable. At some point you have to scrap realism and go with the easier yet still imaginable solution.

Over the course of the whole game 1 point of ACC translate to (very roughly) 2% dps increase. So +3 ACC would mean 6%. +2 DEX will give you +6% Action Speed. While this is not exactly the same it's sort of comparable. So with the +2 DEX alone you're somewhat on par when it comes to dps - not even looking at stuff like better reactivity, better Reflex, better chances of unlocking dialogue options through increased DEX and so on. It's also less dependend on enemies' stats. Then, if you are using Evocation spells, the +1 PL alone is better than +3 ACC. PL will give you +1 ACC, +5% multiplicative(!) dmg bonus, +5% multiplicative duration and +0.25 PEN for your Evocation spells. So I would always prefer the Firethrower Gloves unless I'm doing a very specific build tha needs all the dps it can get (e.g. something with Swift Flurry or a Skald or whatver).

So what you mean is that not the victim of flanking should ge the affliction "flanked " but the character who flanks should instead get a buff named "flanking"? Or do you mean that the flankig status should still be on the victim, but only the flanking character should profit from it (basically like Marked Prey or the Marking mechanic in PoE)?

This build will work in Story Mode. If you feel that you can't generate enough wounds because enemies can't hit you: use the ability "Mortification of the Soul".

You have to complete quests or advance in them. One turn = one advancement in (or the completion of) a quest. It doesn't matter which quests.

Hm... didn't notice.

Yeah - you can't run into the fray with him in the early game unless you skip Frenzy and/or use a shield. -10 deflection from Frenzy, low starting deflection with the rel. low health of any lvl-1-char is a bad combo. Reach weapons from the second row work well with Frenzy until the higher health (I mean the starting health + the rel. big gains at lvl-up) starts to make some difference. Savage Defiance also helps (Robust adds some AR and healing over time).

Skeletons have swords. Weapons don't scale with difficulty level. Swords have a base PEN of 6. Poor does -2 PEN. And thus they are stuck with 4. I mean without any buff like animancy cat etc. Incidentally just did an Ancient-Brittle-Bones fight on PotD with a lvl-20 Troubadour. I don't know about the tentacles.

Byebye Priest of Skaen then.

I always liked the Furyshaper because of his very useful Fear Ward and didn't pay much attention to the Blood Ward because you can't multiclass with it. I just assumed it was the same as Old Siec. Had I known that it works with DoT ticks I would have played a SC Furyshaper as kind of "support" earlier (since I Iike SC Barbs anyway but preferred Berserker so far). A retaliation Barb with axes is much better as Furyshaper+Blood Ward than as a Berserker though. Only watch out for the Ward...

5 meter radius - there's a marking on the floor that shows the AoE at any times. Enemies don't have to be in the circle - only the party member who wants to profit from the draining. If you combine it with Old Siec (Chanter) you can have double draining. The AoE of Old Siec is usually bigger although chants only have 4 meter base AoE. But usually chanter have high INT. The AoE of the Ward is always the same even if the Furyshaper himself has only 1 INT. But then the summoning duration is very short of course.

At higher levels the Blood Ward has good health. But yeah - if it goes down then that's bad. Luckily it gets healed by all non-targeted healing effects such as Exalted Endurance, Moon's Light, Consecrated Ground, Restore and so on and so forth. You can even buff it with spells like Shields for the Faithful and whatnot - so it's pretty easy to keep if alive even if you let it alone. Lay on Hands doen't work though. Targeted buffs do work. E.g. Barring Death's Door. As Powerotti said Withdraw also works (just tried). Which is hilarious. But you can also guard it. I just placed the Furyshaper in front of it and blasted every enemy who came near with Driving Roar. And everybody else as well because Driving Roar has an insane range. Was supereasy with every encounter I tested it so far. The AoE of the Ward is good and it is incredibly useful for everybody who deals consistent damage. You can basically spare a dedicated healer for glasscannons as long as they can deal enough damage. Tried it with Ancient + Plague spells now and also Wicked Briars. WotEP with Taste of the Hunt was impressive (healing from the spell itself + strong DoT in an AoE). Bloodmage with Concelhaut's Corrosive Siphon heals twice. Steel Garrote with Offensive Parry... Barb with Retaliation... althoug those also work fine with Old Siec. It's the DoTs that separate the Ward from the Chant. Pretty wild... Before getting Blood Ward the Fear Ward is also very powerful. It just terrifies(!) everything that has not enough Will to resist. Because of that it gets attacked very seldomly. And you can buff its ACC with Blessing and Devotions and so on.

I guess it is not intended. But you can use it to your advantage: equip Deltro's Cage Helm and profit from a good shocking lash after casting Ball Lightning.

5 base PEN is pretty me though. Good that it scales. By the way: Skeletons' poor swords stay at 4 PEN for all of the game. 4... ...four!

Hi, As you may know Old Siec and Blood Ward both work with spell damage which is very handy for offensive spell casters in the party who suddenly don't need other sources of healing anymore (most of times). So I fiddled around with Steel Garrote/Skald and a Furyshaper and then tried Blood Ward + Old Siec in combination with Dragon Thrashed (because you never know, do you?)... --> Old Sic seems to trigger only once (when the DoT is applied), Blood Ward triggers on every DoT-tick! Tested further with different DoTs like Blood Frenzy, Deep Wounds, Bleeding Cuts, Disintegrate and whatnot and it's all the same: Blood Ward heals 15% of every tick damage (you can imagine with Disintergrate or Toxic Strike it's pretty awesome). Now... Is that new somehow or was is just so that this was missed by everybody? This makes Blood Ward extremely good and shifts SC Furyshaper to the top of my personal Barb ranking. Just for laughs an giggles I made a Barb with Bleeding Cuts + Panther's Leap + Barbaric Retaliation + Blood Storm + Blood Surge + Blood Ward and my... he refuses to die. Added an Old Siec Steel Garrote/Skald with Offensive Parry (crits from Offensive Parry can refill phrases) and a Bloodmage with Concelhaut's Draining Touch and Concelhaut's Corrosive Skin. I would say this is totally bonkers...

Yeah - I reckon if you already have a good CC option then Aloth may feel a bit redundant. Especially if you have some "preferred" chars whom you invest a bit more micromanagement on and then Aloth is just an addon. Some classes or builds don't work so well if they are supposed to work on their own mostly. Concerning Chillfog + Combusting Wounds: it works even better if you cast two Chillfogs over each other. Then you'll have twice the pulses for Combusting Wounds (obviously). Granted: this takes more casting time. In the early levels I try to cast Dazzling Lights to lure (will get refunded because our of combat), then engage with a frontliner or two to keep the enemies where they are while casting Chillfog out of stealth so that the tank(s) are in the foe-only zone. The second Chillfog can follow immediately because of stealth mechanics. Naturally Combusting Wounds then takes some time because of the recovery from casting the second Chillfog. I cast CW last because of its shorter duration. If you have spell shaping then you can adapt to a lot more situations because sometimes there are only few hard enemies and sometimes a ton of trashy ones. I find it quite weird that Combusting Wounds works with Chillfog at all - since it's freeze vs. fire - but it does. Concerning friendly fire: that's why I like tanks with lot of engagement slots, large shield + modal and resistances or immunities. I don't care about Pull of Eora if I'm wearing Upright Captain's Belt or Slicken when I'm wearing Rekvu's Fractured Casque - and so on. Also Adept Evasion is great on a Swashbuckler tank with large shield if you have a Wizard in the party (I often use Edér like that).

It also seems that many players don't really understand the grimoire mechanics which are a great asset. Not only can you achieve an insane pool of spells for every task that may find you - but they let your wizard pick only passives or non-spell abilities (most extreme case) and still have a broad selection of spells at their disposal. Of course this is not as relevant for single class Wizards as it is for multiclass ones since SC Wizards don't have an overabundance of passives to begin with. But still the grimoire mechanic is a big plus compared to Priest and Druid.

Grimoires though

Did you check if it went away with retraining?

I just guess your whole approach isn't Wizard-friendly. Which is ok. Mine is not Rogue-friendly. I always come up with some nice Rogue or Rogue multiclass - but when it's centered around single target damage it always turns out to underperform due to the nature of my general tactics which often include heavy CC and (friendly-fire) AoE. Since you are playing PotD and don't seem to struggle it seems your tactics work well. If they don't blend well with Aloth then maybe it's time to swap him out. If your encounters are more fast-paced and maybe less controlled and you need some fast AoE CC + damage I'd add somebody like Mirke as Shadowdancer or SC gunmonk with dual mortars or something: great AoE dps and CC via Stunning Surge and Streetfighter's passive via Powder Burns.

Do you mean that Eyestrike (which only does one hit roll and blinds for 12 secs) is better than than Chillfog (which reapplies a 15 sec Blind every 3 seconds AND deals significant damage (not per pulse, but overall 30-50 base dmg)? Don't cast in on you front line I'd say. It's invaluable if you want to shut down enemy casters and ranged units. When combined with something like Binding Web or Mental Binding or any immobilizing effect it will cramp enemies in such a tight space that a) you can hit them all at once with even smallish AoEs and b) they can't reach you. Preferably you'd cast it from stealth after you lured the enemies to one spot with Dazzling Lights. Then shower them with Combusting Wounds + AoEs. I win most bounties way above my level with such an easy approach. Melees just intercept the occasional runner. Nobody's actually doing that much besides the Wizard. Level-4 Wizards have several good spells that can make all the difference, e.g. Chillfog + Combusting Wounds. Regarding all your comments on this it seems you have that problem that I initially brought up: you don't know how to employ a Wizard. Your biggest issue is friendly fire. That only shows that your tactics and maybe your whole go-to party setup is not ideal for a Wizard - it doesn't mean that Wizards have no impact in general. Also players that argue that casting takes too long: if you cast you first spell from stealth it takes no in-encounter casting time. The recovery will be almost 0 then, too (-85% recovery time). That means two impactful spells like Pull of Eora + Binding Web or Slicken in ~4 secs (usually less because Alacrity, DEX and other speed buffs). Besides that all other casters suffer the same sluggishness, including Cipher, so that's not a thing that can be held against Wizard specifically, especially since Wizards do have a good and rel. early speed buff. The main problem seems to be that party composition and general tactics are just not suited for a "normal" Wizard. Same reason why some players complain that Chanters are so slow while others think they are great.

Low level spells like Chillfog, Slicken, Miasma and Combusting Wounds, Repulsive Visage and so on are so strong, I can't understand how a Wizard can feel weak at any power level. Like in PoE (where one of the early complaints were that Wizard are useless while in reality it's one of the strongest classes of PoE) you have to grasp how to best employ a Wizard. Sure, the late Power Levels are especially awesome for a Wizard, but also in between there are some spells that can completely change the outcome of an encounter. For example: if you have several guys with AoE then Binding Web + Pull of Eora is invaluable. If you have beams, walls and pulsing spells or multiprojectile attacks then Combusting Wounds is very good. If you want him to be a simple nuker you'd have to make sure he's getting his ACC boosted and also his PEN. But often I find plain old damaging spells to be the least effective choice for a Wizard. Stuff like Fireball sounds and looks cool - but that one-time AoE damage usually is not a game changer. Wall of Draining or Arkemyr's Brilliant Departure on the other hand...