Boeroer

Very nice! Thank you for this comprehensive guide.

The spear that was mentioned is named "Stalker's Patience". So I highly recommend to play a Stalker. Also because it's easy to flank an enemy if you have an Animal Comparion.

Both afaik.

Multiclass characters always have more resources in total but less per class. SC chars have a higher max pool and of course higher Power Level (= more bang for the buck). I wouldn't do anything.

It got changed. In the early version of the DLC you could pick the chests and get all the items (like you still can) and then sink the ship and get the same items again. So after looting and sinking you'd have two Slippers, two Talons etc. Nowadays I'm not sure what you get when you sink it. I didn't try for a long time. With "good" characters I usually don't sink neutral ships like merchants and the Deck.

Slippers of the Assassin for example are pretty good (for the right character). Also the Cap of the Laughingstock is quite good if you know what to do with it. Hylea's Talons are very nice for Monks. But yes: nothing breathtaking a la Carsomir +5 or so.

Yes, that's why I wrote the replenishment depends on the class:

You are right. Fire weapons always use the same (burning) shot but the UI fails to communicate this. Chanshot etc. have no menaing whern using flame/fire based cannons. For me the best ship (cost-benefit-ratio) is the starting Sloop. I can sink every ship with it (needs a few upgrades to safely tackle stuff like Deck of Many Things). The key are master cannoneers and cannons like Iron Thunderers which reload within Jibe + Hold Position. The Voyager comes next for me. Because you can equip her with two long-to-mid-range cannons on the bow and a Flamethrower on the stern, combined with palm sails. Just sail towards the enemy, then, when nearly ramming him, turn around and sail away while firing the flamethrower all the time. It works against every ship. Sometimes they have Vaillian Hullbreakers and that can end badly while you apporach though. Also against Rathûn this tactics might fail more often. But for the money it's an excellent ship. Junk obviously has the highest firepower, but it's way too expensive for what you get (in my opinion). Usually I just use the sloop and give it good upgrades (like Red Dream Hull).

You are right. It was as I said some time ago but it already got nerfed. I simply forgot. Still I find the onetime replenishment with higher PL a good solution. Capping duration etc. is kind of counterintuitive since it would be the only inspiration which would have such a cap. So basically: --------------------- INT Inspirations --------------------- Smart: +5 INT Acute: +5 INT, +1 PL Brilliant: +5 INT, +x Resources (depends on class, can be higher than original Brilliant for all I care) onetime, +3 PL (or +2 - I'm not set on this). --------------------- Classes like Tactician and Cipher's Ancestor's Memory can still be cool with this if the onetime replenishment is good/high enough. E.g. spending lots of focus for Ancestor's Memory and then giving your fellow Barb 2 Rage back (+5 INT + 3 PL) is obviously meh. Since the Tactician is designed/balanced around Brilliant (not around the abuse) one has to make sure that class doesn't tip over the edge. A poll would be my favorite method. Don't want to press anything onto the community. I'm just trying to make my position clear on this and why I think it's not good in its current state. This doesn't affect the Ultimate because you can't use mods anyway if you're doing that challenge.

Like he said. Since Brilliant is applied per class and multiclass characters have two classes they'd each gain their resources respectively. I mean I guess... That solution is also fine with me. The baf thing about (prolonged) Brilliant atm is not replenishing Discipline, Zeal or Guile - but endless spells. Some spells are a LOT more powerful than other abilities - but more scarce (uses) which balances spells vs. other abilities. Brilliant removes this balance and even turns it upside down because you gain 1 spell per tier per tick while the other classes gain some meager points for their pool. Nomatter how many levels you've got: a Fighter always profits the same from Brilliant while a caster gains more and more spells the more unlocked spell tiers he has. The whole reason why I think Brilliant is broken is because of this single mechanic. If it would work like Blood Sacrifice (restoring one single random spell use per tick) it wouldn't be so broken and comparable to the other classes' gains. Or make the ticks for casters a lot slower like @Phenomenum said. Also helps - and if that's easy to do then be it. The gap should be longer than 10 secs so that you can't prolong Brilliant endlessly with SoT. Wall of Draining also has to be considered. That'swhy I liked @ocelotter's idea better: if you get a higher (but one-time) replenishment at the start and a higher PL bonus (+3 instead of +1) then SoT and Wall of Draining etc. are no problem anymore. Still a very useful inspiration and powerful (+3 PL is big), but not as abusable when getting endless duration.

Magran's Favor + Sun & Moon + Otto Starcat + Ring of Focused Flame = also nice with SI and FoD (e.g. Kind Wayfarer). Heal while dishing out Divine Immolation fire dmg and FoD dmg. I didn't test it lately but several abilities profit from Eternal Devotion's burning lash - maybe SI also does. Doubt it, but worth testing. Arcane Archer's imbue spells do profit for example. But I guess they are tagged as weapon attacks.

Just fill up all the left plaques with multiple runs.

Where did you send it? I guess you would get an answer if you poked Josh on Twitter. Maybe...

Damage might come from the Sacred Immolation while you bind the enemies to you. Blackened Plate also has a healing aura. Togehter with Lay on Hands, Exalted Endurance and Voidward (and high RES) the self damage of SI should be manageable.

You can get more engagement slots with armor and weapons. E.g. spears can give you +1, Kapana Taga +2, Blackend Plate +1, Blackened Plate Helmet +1, Reckless Brigandine +1 and so on. For example a Shieldbearer (+1) with Bronlars' Phalanx (+1) with Blackened set (+2) and with a spear (+1) or with Kapana Taga (+2). So... there are options.

How do shields break in combat? Is the mechanic known?

That's right. But with Troubadour and Many Lives Pass By you can maybe spam so many skeletons that you don't even have to withdraw her..?

Thinking about Black Jacket/Troubadour with Soft Winds of Death - just grinding everything down.

Hey ulti-mates! Remember the discussion about Lethandria's Devotion? Andthat it gives the wearer (not party members) 1 HP immediately when you switch to it? Check this out: I mean: Josh said bugs are fair game, right?

You mean with a pet? Or which other ability should give you +20 health on kill? It may be that damage of/death by Resonant Touch isn't connected to your character properly. Does it increase your "overall damage done" statistic when applied?

You can't go over max zeal afsik (the number you start with). But if you spam SI and stuff all the time (e.g. giving every party member an exhortation and so on) you can spend your Zeal pretty quickly. Only thing with dual wielding Dire Talon is that it will then proc wurms less often. If you want to proc White Flames twice and still keep up good defenses then you can use a bashing shield (like Magran's Blessing).

I think that (optional) megabosses shouldn't be a reason for keeping a broken and overpowered inspiration. Especially if that problem mostly occurs when playing solo (which is not the intended way to play Deadfire and not how megabosses are balanced anyway). Better: adjust Brilliant (I like @ocelotter's idea of giving back a fixed amount of resources once - can be more for replenishable resources like wounds and focus, a bit less for fixed pools like discipline and zeal and 1 spells use per tier for casters) AND adjust values of megabosses. For example make them harder to hit but take away the absurd amount of hitpoints. You can work around high defenses but you can't work around a stellar HP pool.

Oh, nice. Never thought about that combo. Using Essence Interrupter also is funny: eventually geting zeal from killing the enemy (Virtuous Triumph) AND getting zeal from the transformed enemy (summon) that gets killed. But of course the bow can be used by any party member to profit from the latter. So Beckoner/Berserker with Grave Calling (kill your skeletons and turn them into imps while they split into two lesser skeletons: three summons for one - cool), a bow user with Essence Interrupter and using Dire Talon on that Paladin should work really well. Nonstop summons and Zeal.

Correct

The Fury attack (when shifted) has an auto-jump. But that doesn't stack with Driving Flight. Taking Driving Flight will do nothing then. But other auto-jumps (Watershaper's Focus, Fire in the Hole) do stack with Driving Flight no problem. The dmg reduction (-20% dmg per jump) does stack as well. So it's not overpowered.