Boeroer

Indeed. Very short ranged, but still ranged. This also means it works with Driving Flight which makes Rager an appealing multiclass. The poison DoT doesn't suffer any dmg malus like the initial, direct dmg does with projectile jumps. No - but imo Eternal Devotion lasts a pretty long time for a 1-point ability. The Bleak Walker's FoD attack is keyworded with fire and acid and thus also gets +1 PEN from Scion of Flame and also Spirit of Decay. It has nothing to do with the lashes themselves. The ability attack or the weapon itself must have been keyworded with the fitting elemental words in order to protif from such PEN abilities (and also from PL boosts such as Otto Starcat pet or ACC boosts such as from the Ring of Focused Flame). Putting simply a lash on attack does nothing in that regard. So subsequent attacks after the FoD attacks will all have a burning lash, but they will not work with Scion of Flame unless you use a weapon that is keyworded with fire (not Cobra Strike) or use a fire spell. By the way: Eternal Devotion of the Bleak Walker only gives you the burning lash for some time as buff. The Black Flames' corrosive lash only gets applied to the initial FoD-Attack itself. The following lash buff of Eternal Devotion is burn-only - like with any other Paladin. So your spells will have burning lash only, not corrosive. You can get a corrosive lash on spells only with the help of Blightheart (bound to Wizard class). Iirc Cobra Strike doesn't have the acid keyword itself. Meaning auto-attacks with it will not profit from Spirit of Decay - but I am not 100% sure. I'm pretty confident that the DoT it does is keyworded with "poison" - which means that certain enemies will be immune (mostly undead and constructs, but also some Naga stc.). So all in all you will get +10 ACC from the Ring, +1 PEN from Scion oF, +1 PEN from Spirit oD when you execute FoD (Bleak Walker) - but none of that if you auto-attack just with the burnung lash of Eternal Devotion on you (unless Cobra Strike is keyworded acid, then +1 PEN - as I said: not sure). If the poison DoT is keyworded with poison (again: I'm pretty confident that it is) then it will work with the Mask of the Grotto Deep's PL bonus. For me this would be a must-have iem - not necessarily for the mechanics but 100% bc. of thematic reasons. Same that all Arcane Knights have. Can't think of anything special. Just thought that pairing Brand Enemy with Cobra Strike's DoT should work well. By the way: the poison DoT doesn't stack like Bleeding Cuts or Deep Wounds do. But new hits will prolong the duration. But in general dps-wise it is benefical to hit multiple enemies one after the other with the DoT instead of focusing on a single one. Also AoE-attacks with it would be great. But nothing comes to my mind except Driving Flight as a kind-of AoE (not really, but you know what I mean). Due to the high base dmg Streetfighter would be better than Assassin (unfortunately, theme-wise). Assassinate or Backstab only work during invisibility/stealth - and that will break as soon as you hit with the first cobra strike. Streetfighter's bonuses apply as soon as you are either flanked or bloodied. Both can be achieved fairly reliably if you use some movement abilities (Escape into crowds) and/or self damage (see Blood Sacrifice). A spellblade will never be as sturdy as an arcane knight. But you can always use invisibility or Escape to get away - for a damage dealer that's acceptable imo. A Bloodmage/Streetfigher will do considerably more damage than an Arcane Knight. Downside would be that he will be more squishy. Pick your poison (pun intended again ). You could go a more safe route with a Spellblade and take Trickster instead of Streetfighter or Assassin. :shrug My pick would be Streetfighter. Or maybe either Arcane Archer or Stalker.

Stalker/Monk with Swift Flurry and Heartbeat Drumming is great. ACC of Ranger and Monk sides will stack nicely (only beat by Ranger/Cipher) - and every proc of Swift Flurry and/or Heartbeat Drumming can proc the skipping of recovery. So with every crit the chance of actually receiving 0 recovery is much higher. Imo this is the best class combo for Stalker's Patience. Subclass of the Monk depends a bit I guess. All of them will work. FF grants a nice alternative dmg type without the need of an actual other weapon, Helwalker has the higher MIG and therefore also higher fortitude, once you use Instruments of Pain and poke from range the Nalpasca + Enduring Dance has great "passive" wound generation and so on. I personally used the Stalker/Nalpasca variant and it was good - but only because I played the other subclasses a lot before that and wanted some change.

Relentlessly indeed. I had to have a lil' surgery last weekend (hernia) and before getting shipped to the anesthetist's table the nurse asked me some questions. When she came to the point "regular medication" she said: "Ah well, you are young, I guess you don't have to pop pills regularly?" Me:

There is no hard cap. This article is still up to date afaik: https://pillarsofeternity.fandom.com/wiki/Explosives Since the skill governs PEN and ACC I would (at least on PotD) either not use it at all or go all-in (sort of).

it's a mystery...

Uh... I was very sure but now you are giving me doubts.

Dance of Death caps at +12 accuracy. Cipher's Borrowed Instinct shouls also be nice (+20 ACC). Do you know if the Helm of the White Void/Rymrgand's Influence does add +10 ACC to grenades that cause an affliction?

I guess that statement does contain the assessment of all the unique arquesbuses, arbalests and crossbows. And indeed the unique crossbows come late and/or are not accessible if you take the "wrong" route with the factions. You have to be pro Furrante to get Fleetbreaker. It is a nice weapon... I don't know why they did that, but it sucks if you want to play with a crossbow and do not like Furrante and what he wants from you. If you don't care about that then Fleetbreaker is a good weapon choice imo. With Sure-Handed Ila it will be pretty fast to reload, you can add a fire lash with Mith Fyr which works well with the Sneak Attack dmg bonus and so on. Yes, best summons are the Ancient Instruments of Death (animated Pike + Warbow + Great Sword).

Imo the best build for dual mortars is a single class Monk. Everthing else comes second, although Streetfighter has a great synergy with Powder Burns + Heating Up. So naturally my second pick would be Monk/Streetfighter. Mirke can do both - so instead of using a voiceless hireling I would recommend to give her a shot (pun intended) - she can be SC Monk as well as Monk/Streetfighter. She doesn't have the perfect statline - but she's always drunk so that makes up for it. Berserker is bad for your party with all that AoE unless you get rid of the confusion. Then ok. If you have a Chanter in the party with Many Lives skeletons then that confusion can be turned into something very good, see below. Barb in general works but isn't the optimal class for it imo. I value mortars over normal blunderbusses in general so I will cocentrade on good builds with those and leave the multipellet-blunderbusses to other commenters (see Combusting Wounds+pellets or Kitchen Stove's THunderous Report for massive focus gain). Following list is in no particular order, althoug most likely the best ones/most fun ones will come to my mind sooner. SC Monk, main reasons: AoE*(AoE hand mortar + 2*AoE Fire in the Hole +2*AoE Powder Burns) with Whispers of the Wind, in combination with: Resonant Touch - if the mob's not dead after WotW alone it will be after Resonant Touch (those two points are so incredibly powerful that it's really hard to beat) Stunning Surge: almost always a crit against multiple enemies, hence no cost. Long stun in a big AoE bc. of Duality oMP (INT) huge AoE bc. of Duality of Mortal Presence +2 PEN bc. Thunderous Blows Summons that help to deter enemies Ajamuut's Stalking Cloak works with Whispers of the Wind (invisibility doesn't break: all enemies stunned on the fly) Monk/Streetfigher: always heated up (-50% reload, +50% Sneak Attack dmg) lots of Full Attacks + afflictions in an AoE with Crippling Strike, Blinding Strike, Stunning Surge and so on huge AoE like SC Monk +2 PEN Summons SC Assassin or SC Streetfighter: Gambit with dual mortars is very good against multiple enemies. Its damage scales internally with Guile refund per crit - it is capped at 4 but while executing the "internal guile counter flows over and you get dmg bonuses up to 200-300% until the refund cap is applied. Also lots of crits bc. of multiple hit rolls and thus often full refund. Vanishing Strikes + AoE: works with Assassinate and Backstab(!) - Escape into the crowd, turn invisible with 1 Vanishing Strike (its invisibility never breaks until duration runs out) and follow up with Gambit and deal AoE Assasinate+Backstabs with mortars. Devastating AoE dmg. Also works with Ajamuut's Stalking Cloak. Streetfighter/Arcane Archer: more ACC Driving Flight + all the Rogue's Strikes = more AoE dmg and more debuffing and raw DoTs and stuff Imbue Shots' effects get triggered thrice(!) bc. of Fire in the Hole's jump + Driving Flight. So for example 3 Fireball procs from one imbue shot with Fire in the Hole. Or three Pull of Eora with one imbue shot. You get the idea. Wounding SHot doesn't work with AoE - Concussive Tranquilizer does. SC Stormspeaker (Tekehu) double reload bonus from Sure-Handed Ila (-20% from recovery bonus AND -20% from reload bonus) Watch out: Mith Fyr doesn't work on Thekehu (gets cleared periodically by his Wavewalker passive)! Avenging Storm invocation: the lightning triggers from every AoE hit (including jumps) and also the Blinding Smoke effect of Hand Mortar which procs an AoE cone from every mortar crit(!) --> thunderstorm of lightning strikes SC Druid: Avenging Storm mayhem like above basically but limited to 2/encounter and no Sure-Handed Ila. SC Barbarian: Heart of Fury and Barbaric Retaliation both work with Hand Mortars (and AoE). Works great in combo with spamming Dazing Shout in between. Blood Surge can get you Rage back pretty nicely. Before that it's a bit lame though. Frenzy helps, Bloodlust and Bloody Slaughter, too. But Blood Thirst doesn't work which is a shame. Berserkers can stay confused and blow up inside mobs - if there are Many Lives Skeletons that run towards the enemies of the Berserker automatically he can kill them "accidentiually" and get lots and lots of kill procs for Bloodlust, Blood Surge and heal on kill (pets or Thriumph of the Crusaders). Makes him early unkillable - but you cannot go near him with party members. Furyshaper can use Blood Ward and profit a lot from Barbaric Retaliation doing AoE dmg to fill up his health gradually all the time. When big chunks of healing is needed trigger HEart of Fury. SC Arcane Archer: Whirling Strikes will work if you put a melee weapon in one hand and leave Fire in the Hole in the other. You will get AoE(melee)+AoE Powder Burns + AoE*(AoE FitH + AoEFitH jump + AoE Driving Flight) with it which not only does tremendous AoE dmg right on but also puts that nasty DoT on everybody. Before that a bit lame except the already described imbue-jumps mechanic which is very good. Hunter's Claw etc. does work with mortar also if you keep that melee weapon in the main hand. You'll get multiple stacks of Hunter's Fang/Claw etc. with a single shot. Streetfighter/Fighter besides the known Streetfighter stuff, fighters get Penetrating Strike for great PEN and Tactical Barrage for more AoE Clear Out works with the mortars if you put a melee weapon in the offhand to unlock the use of the ability but execue it with the mortar. The result is AoE Powder Burns +AoE*(AoE FitH + AoE FitH jump) and violent pushes of all enemies in al directions like bowling pins. SC Fighter: Clear the Path or Clean Sweep are both very good with the setup above. Before that pretty lame Berserker/Troubadour: Ancient Brittle Bones and Many Lives Skeletons killed by your mortar AoE does stuff for you (mostly healing on kill which counters your self damage - Blood Thirst doesn't work though). Sure-Handed Ila + Mith Fyr summons galore Most fun above all I had with the SC Monk, in my case Helwalker. Here's an impression: But I guess Mirke as Monk/Streetfigter could also be mad fun.

Yes - you could also use a mobility ability to move even though you're officially stuck. Stuff like Escape, Evasive Roll, Charge, Leap (also from Bounding Boots) and so on will enable you to change position.

It may be that Griffin's Blade only affects the recovery of that weapon itself and not the pistol reload, but I'm not 100% sure. In the party a Chanter with Sure-Handed Ila can provide -20% recovery AND(!) -20% reloading speed for all reloading weapons. Both apply to those which makes reloading so much faster. So if your party has some reloading weapons it is very benefical to add said chanter. Not initially. It's just so that reloading weapons have a floor when it comes to reloading time - they can't be accellerated any more as soon as they hit hat floor. I guess it has something to do with the animation not being able to be played any faster. So you can stack pretty much anything on your list no problem. Nothing supresses each other if I read correctly. It may just hit that floor at some point and you have to find out when that is. With enough stacks of Scordeo's Trophy you will def. hit that floor at some point. No, action speed and recovery buffs have linear returns, not diminishing. What you described above is linear. So - mathematically it is worth to stack as many speed/recovery buffs as you can. The only dimishing thing is the floor that reeloading weapons will hit at some point - but that's outside of the actual recovery/reload maths. Don't think so - but it also doesn't really matter. Resulting reloading time will be the same no matter in which order they get processed. No matter the reloading bonuses etc. the red hand will always be better in dps than other arquebuses because it profits from those reloading buffs just the same as the other reloading weapons and on top gets two shots for one reload (which doesn't take longer than a normal arquebus to reload). If it's better than a pistol build depends on other factors as well. For example the bonus of Scordeo's Trophy applikes to all actions you take so it can improve the character in other ways than just shooting. Again, no diminishing returns. But imo a hybrid melee/ranged setup ist almost always inferior to a dual ranged or dual melee setup on a scout (or almost any class combo hoestly). You will hamper your Full Attacks (only one weapon will hit) - and the only valuable thing you get is: you will attack with one weapon alone while still getting the dual wielding speed bonus. If it's about wanting to restrict the attacks to Scordeo's only in order to stack the speed buff as fast as possible, then imo single pistol + modal is as fast as a dual wielding setup and has comparable accuracy and on top you can have a lil crit conversion from one handed style (scordeo's can have higher crit dmg). You could also add Eccea's Arcane Blaster as second pistol and profit from the raw dmg and the elemental dmg and also use Full Attacks (Crippling Strike, Wounding Shot and so on) to the fullest effect. Eccea's Arcane Blaster does really good damage with the right enchantments (not Bullet time - it doesn't work for example). But then stacking the Scordeo's buff will take a lil bit longer.

The Forbidden Fist wound trait has a serious quirk (also with CP since this was not known when the CP was done): As soon as you downgrade an affliction with a resistance it doesn't give you wounds once it expires. So as a general rule: resistances on FF Monks are bad. Better to catch all afflictions unresisted, no matter how severe - but make sure it only last a very, very short time. You can do that by countering via receiving an inspiration - or via "-x%" or "-y of secs hostile effect duration" effects like Clarity of Agony, items, lots of RES and so on. That way ou get all the wounds but don't suffer the debuff for too long. Not passive resistances and no chanter phrases with resistance etc. I suspect you resisted/downgraded the "stuck" from Binding Web to hobbled in the hope to only suffer a mild affliction and get wounds for that, am I on the right track with my guesswork? That wouldn't work well because the downgraded stuck->hobbled wouldn't give you wounds unfortunately. Maybe in the future this can be fixed with CP, no real idea if it's possible to fix though. Sounds more like a hard-coded mechanic that's hard to mod. Luckily the Tangefoot only comes with hobbled - so that should be a nice source of very short-lived afflictions that grant you some wounds. Best for this singular trick would be to go low on INT and max on RES and -hostile duration effects. But going low on INT also hurts several other good abilites of the Druid so maybe a more balanced stat line is better overall for such a character. This one little synergy of Tanglefoot and FF doesn't make a great build alone I'm afraid.

This also works without the CP. The Forbidden Fist attack scales like Transcendent Suffering with or without the Community Patch. The only difference ist: without CP the Forbidden Fist attack gets treated as a melee "spell", the main drawback is that it wouldn't generate focus that way nor work with Swift Flurry, Heartbeat Drumming, Enervating Blows (redundant since enfeeble, but still), Turning Wheel (I think) etc. The Community Patch just changes the type of attack from melee spell attack to melee weapon attack (as it should have been in the first place - twas likey just an oversight from the devs). The scaling from Power Level etc. is untouched. The Druid side of this idea isn't even touched since the Druid has no special sauce that would only work with CP's FOrbidden Fist implementation. So for this partial build idea it doesn't really matter if CP is installed or not. The only thing you wouldn't be able to do is use stuff like Swift Flurry. But a Druid/FF isn't an ACC monster in the first place so going for Lightning Strikes (I believe that does work with FF attack even without CP) is the reasonable route anyways. Still would consider the Community Patch. It doesn't fundamentally change mechanics and doesn't make them cringy powergamey. Imo it doesn't impact the "feel" or experience of the vanilla game even if you played it the first time. It's just the better version of the game. I'm also not very fond of modding games right away and most mods are kind of over the top generally - this one is not imo. It actually improves balancing in a nin-intrusive, enjoyable and sensible way. Little improvements here and there, removing things that don't make sense, fixing lil bugs and oversights that were ackowledged but couldn't get fixed during the patch cycles of the game. Nerfing too wild stuff here and there so that it works as intended without nerfing it so much it isn't fun anymore... Besides that you can turn on/off any singular change of the mod indivudually if you don't like them. I also do that with two or three options (for example I deactivate the little Avenging Storm and Resonant Touch nerfs because I find the original behavior more fun). Then you'd also get unique icons for every passive ability. That alone would make me install it because I find it annoying that upon level-up you have to mouseover the passives to know what hey are since they all share the limited set of icons. And I don't say that because I drew all those new icons. But of course: if you want to enjoy the first run unmodded that's obviously fine with me, too.

She can be a Herald. That alone makes her a great option for most parties. Tankyness, support and (passive) healing as well as some spike damage. Her subclass options are a bit unexciting though and not worth taking imo. But then just spare those ability points and put them somewhere else. Paladins have plenty of good abilities to pick from - so that shouldn't cause headaches. While her subclass isn't too nice her godlike race is pretty good I think. Getting two resistances (INT, PER) right away is useful, you can spare 2 ability points for the paladin passives which do the same that way.

Yes, they will have additional +15% dmg, +4 ACC and +1 PEN. Besides that of course all abilities will also profit from the added PLs. I didn't mean to spiritshift. I meant to hold the Lance of the Midwood Stag in my hands to get the +2 PL - which scales Transcendent Suffering up one step - but still be able to use the FF attack which does scale with Transcendent Suffering. So the Lance would indeed be a stat stick only that gives my FF attack +15% dmg, +4 ACC and +1 PEN. I just picked Druid for the most convenient unlock of the enchantment (you need to have a plant or beast effect on you). Woodskin and later Form of the Delemgan. It's also nice to gain wounds from your own Tanglefoot (also unlocks the enchantment - it's a hostile plant effect - but a plant effect on you nonetheless). The Lance also looks nice with a Nature Godlike and fits the druidic theme...

Hi, you're welcome. You mean in general? Not really. I think my (currently) favourite melee class combo is Berserker/Helwalker with the Saru Sichr Morning Star. But if you ask me if I like Brute over Crusader then yes. Main reason is that I really like Barbarians (and Monks) and at the same time I'm not a huge fan of fighters and also paladins. It's not because of power or anything, it's just a matter of taste. If you combine Body Blows (-25), Spirit Frenzy (-10) and then some CON affliction from the party (also -10 - e.g. a sicken from Secret Horrors) you will lower enemies' fortitude by 45 points. There are not many enemies that have 45 points fortitude over deflection. And if they do then usually their deflection is pretty low to begin with and you can attack that instead. So: no loss. But I would say that in over 90% of cases Brute Force gives me an advantage. Often a big one since often enough enemies raise their deflection with buffs (like enemy Wizards) - but seldomly they raise their fortitude as much. It's extremely easy to kill a Rogue who's under the effect of Escape (+50 deflection) if you can just target his fortitude. But a Crusader can do the same debuffing with a Morning Star and the help of party members and then use Knockdown to target fortitude - or use FoD with +20 ACC against deflection - which is lower. Not as convenient as Brute Force, but still nice to be able to choose.

The reason why I thought about Conjurer etc. was to get to +6 PL, Tactical Barrage: +1 Stone of Power: +1 Conjurer: +1 Wellspring of Life: +1 Lord of the Forest: +2 But I tested the Lance and as I feared the Lord of the Forest effect (+2 PL) disappears as soon as you switch to another weapon set. So I personally would just use Tactical Barrage, Wellspring of Life and 2 Stones of Power to conveniently get to +3 in every fight. But the Lance gave me an idea for a Druid/Forbidden Fist.

Unless you have one or two very special builds (where Wahai Poraga's friendly fire can be used to your advantage) it's just crap unfortunately.

See the other thread.

I would say that a Brute is pretty tough, too, especially if you don't dump your CON but instead raise it. The combination of attack speed (Frenzy, Bloodlust, Blood Thirsty) with Cleaving Stance + Carnage is great. Also Clear Out + Carnage is very good because the push effect of Clear Out pushes the targets into the Change AoE so that even the initial target (who usually don't get hit by Carnage, only the bystander) get hit by it which is some nice free damage upgrade. Especially with a Morning Star + modal a Brute has very good "virtual" accuracy because he can lower the fortitude of enemies by 25 with the modal alone and then by another 10 points with Spirit Frenzy (staggers enemies). First this makes Knockdown very easy to land (it targets fortitude) and later with Brute Force you will always automatically attack the lower of the two defenses (deflection or fortitude) - except with Clear Out which also targets fortitude (never deflection). Barbaric Smash is an awesome finisher that costs nothing if done right (best combine it with Bloody Slaughter). Works very well to plan Cleaving Stance procs better (needs bystanding enemies). Another way to play an offensively impressing Brute is to use Amra (2h Battle Axe) with 25+ MIG and combine Carnage with Riven Gore (the extra Carnage of Amra if you have a crit at 25+ MIG) with Blood Thirst and Cleaving Stance. It is super effective if you use a Berserker/Devoted and use the confusion to Carnage-kill your party's skeletons from a chanter who sings "Many Lives Pass Bye" or summons Ancient Brittle Bones. Every accidental kill of a skeleton will trigger Blood Thirst and Cleaving Stance, attacking another skeleton which will nearly always crit (and kill) triggering Riven Gore which will kill more Skeletons and so on. Very good with a pet that heals on kill, too. It's like the enemies are caught in a meat grinder. But never send allies near that kind of Brute! They will insta-die if they go below 50 HP because Riven Gore not only kills, it outright destroys the ally immediately (and removes them from the party, never to be seen again). A Morning Star is way more controllable. Or Amra without the Berserker combination. Dual battle axes are also very good with the modal and especially once you get Blood Thirst. I personally prefer the Morning Star route. It is already very effective in the early game when you use Knock Down, making encounters mich easier because you can reliably prone all sorts of enemies. For me a Brute is significantly more impactful on the offensive side but also on the debuffing/CC side. Of course a Crusader has party support and healing. And he can be tougher. Crusaders are steady and very reliable, that's the plus. However, most players complain that it's a boring class combination. I don't think it's that boring, but certainly less exciting than the Brute. Imo a Crusader can be a nice offensive-minded offtank who brings both reliable offense but still very good additional tanking capability and he can always help the party out with strong single healing and support - but it's not an exciting DPS character. The Brute is less tanky, but still tanky enough to fill the offtank role, while better on the offensive and debuffing end. Yet he offers no healing or support for others. If it's primarily about DPS I would recommend the Brute.

Since you are planning with a pike anyways check out the Lance of the Midwood Stag. You can get +2 universal Power Level from that one enchantment. I don't remember if that buff stays if you switch from that pike to fists. If it does then that's +2 stackable PL for your fists which would be nice. Then think about farming 2 Stones of Power (necklace). It can be used once per encounter for +1 universal PL for the whole fight. If you stack the depleted one with the full one in the stash both will be full again, turning it from a per/rest item into a per/encounter item. Also that PL bonus stacks with everything. Then maybe read the following article from @thelee about the scaling of Monastic Unarmed Training so you can make a well informed decision when it comes to stacking PLs (if it's necessary to take Tactical Barrage or not and so on): https://gamefaqs.gamespot.com/pc/227477-pillars-of-eternity-ii-deadfire/faqs/76599/monastic-unarmed-training Essentially what you want is +3 PL at all times to take the fists to an additional scaling which makes them very good. +3 with a Fighter is rel. easy: Tactical Barrage (+1PL), Nature Godlike (+1PL) and Stone of Power (+1PL). Of you could reliably stack another +3 PL (see Lance otMS above and then some other source of PL) the fists would become really, really good compared to most other weapons. But the first +3 PLs are pretty easy to come by. Could also think about a Death Godlike and go near death for a huge boost of PL, but I think that's not reliable at all. Another source of PL could be the Conjurer's familiar summon (the bonuses of the familiar stay even if the familiar is gone for whatever reason). Not 100% sure if it stacks with Tactical Barrage/Acute though. So Conjurer instead of Blood Mage I mean. The +1 PL of the Blood Make is for wizard abilities only unfortunately.

Speaking of Miscreant's Leather Changeling's Mantle (doesn't touch Rekke, lil' offtopic): with a confused Berserker/Troubadour or Beckoner you can make great use of the Primal Carnage enchantment. Confused Carnage hits against your summoned wyrms will give you more action speed (up to +15%) in any fight. Not gamebreaking or anything but maybe cool for a themed build or something.

I personally value Make them Flinch (25% Miss to Graze) over the alternative for a Brute. Make them Flinch is great against high defense enemies if you combine it with Gauntlets of Greater Reliability (also 25% Miss to Graze) and Saucco (the food, or better drink, additional 20%) which gives your Brute a whopping 55% miss to graze overall. 25% interrupts on hit is not that valuable with a Brute because he gets Knockdown, Clear Out and also Interrupting Blows. So tehre's enough interrupting going on already. The second enchantment is more a matter of taste and party composition really. our Brute doesn't use the shouts it seems, so if your party likes to toss around shaken, frighten and terrified then I guess the DoT from "The Mind Makes Real" is preferrable. Otherwise the 10% crit conversion is cool, too. Leap is absolutely worth it because you can use it for free out of combat which makes "sneaking" so much easier. And you can also cancel it mid-air and spare the Rage cost. You will then do no dmg and no effect on landing - but you'll also have no recovery time and paid no Rage, yet you moved. But you can substitute that with Bounding Boots as well and just spare the ability point if you wish. This last mechanic is a bit cheesy and def. unintended by the devs. Still very nice to have. Also makes stealing from crates etc. supereasy with no investment in stealth. The DEX from Wild Sprint is cool - but imo the duration is way too short. I have a unorthodox solution down below when it comes to armor recommendation. Reckless Brig. i good, especially combined with Mob Stance and lots of engagement. But that would require Hold the Line and Barbaric Shout for the bonus engagement. Then it's a fast option for that type of armor and the added AR enchantment is also nice. But yes, the looks are special and tailored towards a Huana Mataru, not really Rekke I guess. If it's too painful to watch then maybe check out the Bloody Links (either fast or added AR when bloodied, also raised defenses), Miscreant's Leather (faster than being naked, 1 less AR than your current option) or Magnera's Chain (not faster but defensively a top item). Coming back to Wild Sprint: if you like the freedom of running around unbothered by disengagement attacks you could also check out Nomad's Brigandine. Firstly: it looks like a normal Brigandine (cool imo). And then: it not only raises deflection or adds hit-to-graze, its one enchantment "Tactical Withdraw" makes you immune to disengagement attacks. You will still trigger them when breaking engagement, but they will all(!) be converted to misses. Add Boots of Speed and you basically have Wild Sprint permanently for free (without the DEX bonus unfortunately). Of course you cannot wear the Helm of the Falcon then. I mean how does that look? I like Death's Maw for Brutes. Not only the looks, but the damage reduction is actually more impactful than the numbers suggest. Damamge maluses mostly work in a multiplicative fashion so it really does something for you (once you stand near a slain enemy). But Thaos' Headdress is also good. I almost never use Accurate Carnage because Carnage scales its values with Power Level, even when it procs off of auto-attacks - and the added +5 ACC doesn't mean much later in the game, especially because Carnage cannot critically hit but is limited to miss/graze/hit. This may be different with some mods like Blance Polishing Mod, so my point is only valid for the vanilla game - but also valid when using only the Community Patch. Refreshing Defense is great and I would very much use it with any melee Brute. You will get hit frequently anyway due to Frenzy - and the refreshing +20 to all defenses buff stacks with individual defense buffs - like +20 to deflection or whatever. If you picked Magnera's Chain you will be a defensive powerhouse (except deflection). Note that defenses have increasing returns - so once you start stacking them up in a serious manner the outcomes become nicer and nicer. --- By the way: for Unflinching it can be very useful to have alternating health that drops/raises below/above "Hurt" all the time. Because Unflinching only triggers when you are above above Hurt it will get removed when you are under. This can be used to become quasi-immune to all DEX/CON/MIG afflictions: Let's say you get hit by a paralyze at full health: you are resistant due to Unflinching so it gets downgraded to stuck. Now your health drops below "hurt" status and unflinching is removed. Howeverm the affliction already got downgraded so nothing happens with the stuck (it doesn't get raised to paralyze again or whatever). Now you heal back to full: Unflinchng returns, adding resistance again. This resistance will now downgrade stuck to hobbled... and so on. This pairs very well with Unbending because you will get damaged but retrieve the damage as healing over time (so it's like an up and down - perfect).

A Brute without a Morning Star isn't a proper Brute imo. Knockdown targets fortitude, Clear out Targets fortitude, too. A Morning Star lowers fortitude by 25. Spirit Frenzy lowers it by 10. Later with Brute Force not only Knockdown or Clear Out will profit, but every attack that targets deflection will. The combination of Blood Thirst and Mob Stance is pretty nice. Best to use a hard hitting 2h weapon at that point imo - so Morning Star fits this, too. But imo Lord Darryn's Voulge is also good - so I approve your weapn choice very much. With a Morning Star one seldomly needs Penetrating Strike. I wouldn't pick it. Wild Sprint: nah Armored Grace is a must-have for me. I like to combine that with Devil of Caroc Breastplate (already very fast Breastplate due to enchantment) and Helm of the Falcon for more speed. Willbreaker already has more speed - so all in all it will be a fast combination for a 2h-Brute. Also looks rad imo.

You can use Sharpshooter - but I consider it to be one of the weaker Ranger subclasses. The recovery penatly is hard to compansate with that little crit conversion. Assassin doesn't work well with Frostseeker because it is is multiprojectile weapon and as soon as the first projectile hits the invisibility is lifted and the assasinate bonus will be gone. Projectile 2 and three and the AoE on crit will get nothing from Assassin. --- One of the strongest class combos for Frostseeker is Arcane Archer/Ascendant. Or Ghost Heart/Ascendant if you don't like having the animal companion around all the time. Reason is the highest potential accuracy in the game (Ranger passives + Imbue Shots + Arcana + Borrowed Instinct + Tactical Meld) paired with the Ascendant's Soul Whip and its dmg bonus which doesn't turn off when focus is full (like it does with the other cipher subclasses) but instead does even more weapon damage. And you get all the nice Cipher spells on top of that. For example Pain Block on a bear companion with Resilient Companion makes for a pretty good offtank - contrary to most other approaches to let the animal companion tank. --- A more obsucre but also good combo is Ghost Heart/Mage Slayer. The Frostseeker Bow creates a hidden melee attack roll when its projectiles critically hit. That hidden melee attack does no damage but triggers the AoE the bow does. This hidden melee attack does work with the Mage Slayer's Spell Disruption. Since Forstseeker has multiple projectiles you can shut down a caster pretty quickly - which an be very valuable. Also works with Arcane Archer of course but it just feels so wrong thematically. Mageslayer also brings more action speed via Frenzy and Bloodlust, either stagger on hit (Spirit Frenzy) or raw DoT on crit (Blood Frenzy), Barbaric Smash as a good finisher (can be cost free if it kills) and crit conversion and high dmg against near death enemies with Bloody Slaughter. --- Another good combination is Arcane Archer/Helwalker. In the unmodded game Turning Wheel will not work with ranged weapons (Lightning Strikes does), but the increased INT of Duality of Mortal Presence will enlarge the AoE of the bow, Eternal Dance of Death will give you +12 accuracy, up to +15 MIG and +2 PEN (Helwalker passive at 10 wounds + Thunderous Blows) do help with the damage of course. You also get a good summoning option on top of the animal companion (Dichotomous Soul). --- Yet another good option is Devoted/Arcane Archer or Ghost Heart. With Penetrating Strike you get awesome +5 PEN wit your warbow shots, could even get +6 if you use a Sharpshooter and get close (I don't recommend that though). Better crit dmg and then some of the other Fighter goodies like more accuracy and so on. --- Streetfighter + Frrostseeker could be unlocked with a Chanter (most likely Trobadour) as second class. As phrases it would be Aefyllath Ues Mith Fyr + Sure-Handed Ila and you would use the phrases to summon upgraded Whisps which you target at yourself. Those hits will distract you and unlock the Streetfighter's passive -50% recovery time and bonus Sneak Attack damage. It's a little cheesy but works very well. However it doesn't have the best accuracy. If you let the Whisps shoot you enough you can become bloodied which then unlocks the next stage of the Streetfighter which results in a lot more critical damage. If you take human as race this will also unlock Fighting Spirit (+ accuracy, +dmg). Another way to use a Streetfigher with Frostseeker is to pick Berserker as second class and let the self damage of Frenzy get you to the bloodied state - unlocks Streetfigher passive. This combo is shooting very fast but also doesn't have the best accuracy. Note that all combos without Ranger will lack the ability Driving Flight - which is very good in combination with Frostseeker. I'd say it is too good to pass on it.