Boeroer

I just consoled it into my game and shot it with a lvl-20 char wielding the Red Hand (with Double Tap) and it didn't explode. Tried several times. So I guess the answer is no. Either its level is too high (above 20) or it got some immunity against this effect. It is a vessel though. Yuu can hit it with vessel-only abilities like Screaming Souls or Light of Pure Zeal.

No, not at all. You can only cast the spells that are in the active grimoire you carry. If you have more grimoires in your quick slots you can have a broader portfolio of spells. Imagine you have a grimoire active with only ice spells - and suddenly you meet an ice troll: oops. But you have a second grimoire with fire spells in your quick slot: hooray! Swap your grimoires from ice to fire (there's some cooldown which can be shortened with a talent) and you are able to melt the ice troll. How many spells per rest you can cast doen't change at all. Grimoires "only" give you a bigger selection of spells to choose from during an encounter. You can write grimoires yourself. So you can taylor yourself the perfect grimoire/spell selection to be prepared for anything. That - and the retraining/learning "trick" I mentioned above which makes it possible to learn all wizard spells in the game. The whole grimoire mechanic is very powerful. No other caster class will have that big of a portfolio of effects because of it. And it only costs money (which is plenty after a while).

If you completely free him: I don't think so. But iirc if you make that compromise (dragon can go but he leaves enough essence for the Watershapers) he will not help you later and thus you should be able to fight the Guardian of Ukaizo. I did that apporach some time ago and several other (completed and non-completed) playthroughs have passed, so I may be wrong. The needed dialogue checks for achieving that compromise can be found here: https://pillarsofeternity.gamepedia.com/The_Shadow_Under_Neketaka

If you retrain (before that) you can simply write all the spells you currently know into grimoires. Then retrain, but cancel the level-up process and re-learn all the spells you wrote down first. Then level up: you will only be presented spells you don't know yet. That way your spell portfolio grows like crazy. Unique spells will not be forgotten during retraining, so don't worry. Write down a nice collection of grimoires (e.g. one for fire damage, one for CC and so on) and put them into your trinket slot and quick slots. Now you are prepared for everything. Only costs money.

Ah. Too bad. What does get affected (besides poison consumables)? Stuff like Cobra Strike maybe?

I didn't test that but I guess it should work. For example Plague of Insects or Venombloom should get +1 from Mask of the Grotto Deep (or Nature Godlike), +2 from Spidersilk Robes, +3 from Spine of Thicket Green and +1 from Ancient - so +7 PL.

Yes. Especially stuff like Power Level and Accuracy and PEN damage based on MIG will chance while the spell is still ticking/pulsing.

How come? Her Animal Companion is even immune to engagement. You can retreat the bird at any time. As I asked: wouldn't Vengeful Grief + Revive Companion be a good thing? The bonus might last ('cause it has a 15 sec base duration) even though the malus is gone because the AC is back up again? If you have a SC Paladin in the party: even more so... Edit: nope... Vengeful Grief gets removed as soon as you revive your companion.

@fuzelogic?

All this talk about DoT effects. Now I want to play a Rogue/Ancient with Arterial Strike, Gouging Strike, all the DoTs and Whispers of the Endless Paths (+ Taste of the Hunt).

@thelee: You can double-check as well. I already did with Ironclads. Ironclads are both immune to disease and poison and they get affected by Insect Swarm and Maggots just fine while they are immune to Plague of Insects. BUT I have the Community Patch installed. I don't think that it changed Insect Swarm - but just to be save it would be cool if you also ran a test. You won't see a poison keyword in the ability description that often. If there's any hint then it's the "Antidote" after the "Counters" caption. But even if that is not there it might be an ability that is secretly tagged as poison or disease. Sometimes the description gives a hint as well (see Wall of Thorns: its description mentions poison). Unfortunately it's a bit of a (UI) mess. Maybe even all damaging "plant" spells also have a secret poison keyword? I will test now all abilites of the Druid (skull if it's poison and vomit for disease) against an Ironclad... Touch of Rot: nope Vile Thorns: (Antidote tag, not in description) Insect Swarm: nope Taste of the Hunt: nope (by the way totally great with Whispers of the Endless Paths' cone AoE) Autumn's Decay: nope Spreading Plague: (no visible tags, "Disease" in description) Infestation of Maggots: nope Wicked Briars: nope (Plant keyword) Wall of Thorns: (no tags, but description mentions "Poison") Rot Skulls: (no tags, description mentions "Disease") Venombloom: (obviously - Antidote tag and mentions poison in description) Rusted Armor: nope (didn't think so, but just to be sure) Lashing Vine: nope (the Vine does its pierce dmg just fine) Call to the Primordials: depends - some of the secondary effects of the oozes are disease based. The direct attacks work though. One of the best summoning spells by the way. Entropy: nope Touch of Death: nope So,,, not all plant spells are poinon or disease (see Wicked Briars). So there doesn't seem to be a pattern and you'd have to test every ability seperately. Well now I did taht so you guys don't have to I guess. Maybe we can put in those keyword in a coming version of the Community Patch (if that comes in the first place). Keep in mind that this is done wit the latest CP. Still: I can see a lot of options here with a DoT basewd Druid. Plenty plenty to be honest.

Maybe if you play a lot solo you can get the impression that the AC is dying often. Not the case with a party though. At least not generally.

Same for me. Still get logged out quickly - like if nothing was changed.

Did you guys know that Hunter's Claw can be used with ranged weapons as well? Just put a bashing shield in the offhand (or any 1h melee weapon). The trick is to use an AoE weapon like Fire in the Hole or a Blunderbuss to generate a lot more hits than you could do with a melee weapon (even Sun & Moon). Driving Flight does work as well. I knew this for long but didn't actually use it in a playthrough. Now I just managed to get 11 stacks from one shot with Fire in the Hole. Haha. @Elric Galad: I always wanted to try if Vengeful Grief + Revive Companion is a good combo. Vengeful Grief has 15 sec base duration which isn't too bad. And if you AC goes down anyway you can at least prifit from that - and get it back up. Luckily enough ACs don't get injuries. And somthing I just remembered: they nerfed Evasive Fire which was a really good ability. Now it's just meh. Binding Roots, even Thorny Roots is quite cool. Very long lasting CC. You can use it together with Vion-ceth hatchet to always unlock its 30% dmg bonus. Which is cool. Hatchet Gang Ranger...

No. It is a pulsing spell like Chillfog or Wicked Briars or Nature's Terror. Main difference is that a DoT does one initial attack roll and then applies its damage over time while a pulding spell does an attack roll on every pulse and applies all its effects anew. I mean... it also is "damage over time" of course. But I guess that doesn't count as DoT the way most people mean it. But valid question: would the OP also consoder those "pulsing" spells? As a kind-of DoT? Then he'd have many more spells to choose from.

@Wotcha: That is correct. I was mostly answering to the statement that it's a problem of DoT builds in general. What I don't think is true. It's a problem of some DoT abilite

Hm, I used Insect Swarm on Ironclads and Steelclads in Arkemyr's manor a few minutes ago. Seemed to work fine. Edit: just checked again with a consoled Ironclad: works just fine. Plague of Insect actually has the poison keyword. It's also noted in its description that it uses venomous insects.

It already is. You can do that - only with Twinned Shots as an active. The real spank is Hand Mortar with BLinding Smoke though: the cone counts as weapon attack and thus triggers Avenging Storm... By the way: since when is the Stalking Cloak no longer working from invisibility? It only works from stealth now. RIP Shadowed Hunter's last resort.

A lot of Druid DoTs are not poison or disease. Touch of Rot Taste of the Hunt Autum's Decay Insect Swarm Infestation of Maggots So - you have plenty of alternatives.

It's this guy: https://twitter.com/Ionfujur He knew me - so I guess he's either using a different username here or a long-time lurker.

I would always say that accuracy is king. Not PER and certainly not DEX or even INT (although I value INT over DEX a lot). But accuracy itself. Or let's be more clear: your chance to hit. This also includes enemies' defenses (and the debuffing of those). If your chance to hit is low then all the DEX and INT in the world will not help you much. Try to play a Soulblade with low accuracy (3 PER + Large Shield) with 20 DEX and 20 MIG, miss 80% or soue Aoul Annihilation attempts and you'll see what I mean. On the other hand: one problem with the Ranger - as damage dealer - is his lack of good AoE. Even his accuracy bonuses often only work on one single target. Marked Prey: one single target (I mean you could apply it to all enemies in range seperately, but who does this?) Stalker's Link: one single target. Wounding Shot: one single target (doesn't work with AoE weapons and not woirh Driving Flight!) On PotD this is a problem. Not so much if you want your Ranger to be your single target specialist, but a big problem if you need an AoE damage dealer. This narrows his role down quite a bit: Single Target Damage Dealer(TM). Meh... I agree that most players don't seem to be able to process and acknowledge the contribution of the AC correctly. I also don't find it hard to keep the AC alive. I currently have two of them in the party (wolf with melee Stalker/Bloodmage with Willbreaker and boar with Trickster/Sharpshooter with Watershaper's Focus). This is my first boar AC and I'm actually pretty suprised by its tankyness (it basically has endless health). Of course you can't send the ACs into the fray where they get pummeled relentlessly. That doesn't work. But they are easy enough to handle on PotD. It's true though that they can get into the way. Especially the bigger ones (Lion, Boar, Bear) tend to block my way because they don't fit into gaps where kith could pass. My biggest gripe with the Ranger isn't his power - it's his lack of intereresting abilites. Somebody at Obsidian really loves Monks. Ciphers and Rogues, too. You can tell by the awesome abilites and subclasses they have. Rangers have rather boring subclasses (Arcane Archer could be an exception if it would scale properly). They have an overnerfed Wounding Shot (it was totally OP in the beta but the current state is bad) and the have several unexiting passives. And PL 8 and 9 are truly a disappointment. Who decided to turn Twinned Shot from a modal into an active ability deserves a spanking. Shadowed Hunter - huh! Turning invisible without any other means of profiting from invisibility - weird. And of course the enemy gets -10 Deflection if same enemy misses my AC. Which has a lot of ways to stack up defenses. Not... Only two exceptions: Takedown Combo and Driving Flight. Now those are cool. I would say if they made Stunning Shots doing actual stuns again (if you hit the enemy which is also attacked by your AC like in PoE) and Twinned Shots a modal we wouldn't have this discussion - at least not for SC Rangers. I personally find Hunter's Claw etc. rather boring. More of the same (+ACC). Also depends heavily on meta-knowledge. Again: if it would be a passive or modal (woth pro/cons) it would be fine. But the current mechanics of it are not to my liking.

Ancient Druid fits your needs 100%. Helwalker/Ancient or SC Ancient is both good. Helwalker/Ancient gets its dmg potential from increased MIG and INT and also higher ACC (Enduring Dance - important because lots of DoT spells target fortitude which is very high on most hard enemies) and a boost to PEN (Thunderous Blows - althoug not needed for most of the DoTs which are raw dmg) - while SC Ancient does it with Power Levels (and earlier access to the good stuff). Best race would be Nature Godlike (easy to unlock Wellspring of Life with a Druid or Druid/Helwalker) for +1 PL. I mean not only mechanically but also style-wise If you find two Stones of Power you can wear one and put one into the stash (not inventory!) and stack them after a fight, then separate them again: you get your per-rest use back (little cheesy trick to turn 1/rest to 1/encouter with items that are not unique). Grab the Spine of Thicket Green from the Dark Cupboard and enchant it with +3 to Beast Power Levels. With Wellspring of Life (Godlike), Power Surge (Stone) and Spine your Beast DoTs will have +5 PL which is (besides ACC and PEN boost) a multiplicative 25% dmg increase. Qaurterstaff also has a useful modal for casters. In the end the SC Ancient might be a tad stronger (you get important stuff earlier and you'll end up with +3 PL compared to multiclass) but the Helwalker/Ancient will be more interesting to play I'd say. With maxed wounds (10) he has very strong casts. But you will not always be at 10 wounds - especially if you want to avoid getting targeted. Having said that: Rogues can also make great AoE DoT characters. You just have to use an AoE weapon like Whispers of the Endless Paths, Hand Mortar/Fire in the Hole or simply a rod + Blast modal (Watershaper's Focus). Funnily enough I just happen to play my old "Deep Leap" scout build from the forum's build list again (just to see if it's still good. And yeah it is). For example Arterial Strike, done from stealth to a group of enemies, followed by a Toxic Strike is pretty devastating. I'm killing most stuff right on the spot while retreating behind my frontline. It's def. more micro than an Ancient though. Also, the AoE size of an Ancient/Helwalker is kind of unmatched. Just try out Plague of Insects at 10 wounds with Duality(INT). Maybe even add two Rings of Overseeing and Aloth's Armor and Loki as pet - for a whopping +50% AoE size. That's like adding another 5 points of INT. Besides that your focus should be on MIG and INT - both raise DoT damage. Just remember that the attribute cap is 35 - you can't go higher. Helwalker at 10 wounds already has +10 MIG (stacks with MIG inspirations) and +10 INT (does not stack with IN inspirations). So if you go for max MIG you don't really need +MIG gear. +INT gear and food is preferable. By the way: what also works really well with an Ancient as a multiclass is a Barbarian. First of all you'll be strong and casting very fast because of Frenzy (and Bloodlust maybe), but most importantly Blood Thirst triggers from every kill you do with the DoTs. Since those often have big AoE they tend to "kill-steal" a lot from your buddies while they attack those enemies. You can then skip recovery while casting which is very powerful. Also certain other things like Blooded work with spells. Make sure that you have somebody in the party who can lower fortitude for you - or you will have a hard time hitting with your DoTs when it matter most. Some guy with a Morning Star, somebody who can apply CON + MIG affliction (like a Cipher with Secret Horrors - awesome spell) and a Wizard with Dazzling Lights (also great spell - can also be used to lure enemies like Sparkcrackers - use it from stealth to pull enemies together before dropping spells on them). CON and MIG afflictions on targets already lower the fortitude by 20 points. If you can also apply Body Blows then (e.g. Fighter with Morning Star + Clear Out or Barbarian with Heart of Fury or Ranger with Whirling Strikes) you will have stacked -45 points of fortitude in an AoE. DoT-crits galore then, One of the best "all-in-one-class" fortitude debuffers is a Devoted/Skald with a Morning Star (like Willbreaker): Use the weakening chant to apply the CON-affliction in a big AoE passively, use Ben Fidel's Neck to drop all defenses by 10 points, use Clear Out to apply Body Blows in an AoE and land crits in the process, use The Thunder Rolled to apply stunned. Enemies might now suffer -55 Fortitude while your Ancient/Helwalker already got to 10 wounds and +12 ACC with Enduring Dance, then he drops the DoT-bombs. Of yourse it's faster and easier do the debuffing with several different party members. But still: the Devoted/Skald is cool. This is quite tactical but can actually be a lot of fun, even when not playing with Turn Based Mode. And if you manage to reliably hit with your Raw DoTs nothing will be safe. Also you can afford to drag a fight because you also have plenty of healing spells - yeah.

For whom? Players with trackballs or itsy-bitsy mousepads I reckon?

As I said: nearly one second (0.8) less recovery in heavy armor (with heavy one handers or two handers equipped which have 4 sec base recovery). That's pretty significant.

I personally can't stand the smart camera in the first place - so that was an easy decision for me.