Boeroer

Yes. In the code. In this case in some JSON files. But that's not necessarily visible in the game. Inthe game often enough an ability will tell you that it's a melee ability. Sometimes it even says it only works with weapons (like crit conversion of Berserker Frenzy or Steel Garrotte's draining). But in other cases like with Forbidden Fist or Soul Annihilation there is no info whether the ability itself is considered a melee weapon attack or just a melee attack. You can't see it. So either you test that stuff out or you take a look into the code.

If I'm not mistaken the Steel Garrotte passive only works with melee weapons.

I would also like to buff Concelhaut's Draining Touch. Currently it disappears after the first successful hit/crit. Which is way too weak. Why would you spend a spell use for that? My suggestion would be to either give it a number of hits before it disappears or a rel. short duration. It is a powerful weapon after all, but only one hit? Nah...

I don't think that is how Draining Touch with Swift Flurry will work. It's a summoned weapon that usually disappears after a successful hit or crit (not graze). So I guess it either disappears after the Swift Flurry hit roll - or it doesn't (immediately) and will only disappear after the last hit roll.

Oh plenty. Cutthroat Cosmo is pretty good though m Have a look: https://pillarsofeternity.gamepedia.com/Pillars_of_Eternity_II:_Deadfire_pets

There is no list. And the "tags" are mostly internal. You have to test.

I did an Arcane Knight with Concelhaut's Parasitic Staff as main weapon. It was fun but in general I have to say that the draining is a bit underwhelming. Wizards have a lot of spells for applying afflictions. E.g. Chillfog. But their weapon dmg isn't too high even with FoD. Maye a Steel Garrotte/Trickster would be one of the best combos. It has plenty of affliction causing stuff, high defenses, Riposte and high weapon dmg (and thus higher draining). And it has Persistent Distraction which means auto-drain basically.

You can count on it that it's not intentional.

Cutthroat Cosmo only provides reduced recovery penalty from armor - for the main player. And +5% additive gun damage for the party. Otto Starcat provides +1 Fire Power Level for the main player and +5% AoE damage for the party. The reduced recovery penalty from Cosmo is pretty strong though. If the gun damage is of any use: no idea.

2) - good point about kith meat. Note to self: fix Soul Annihilation not triggering Cleaving Stance's Full Attack on kill.

Unfortunately Forbidden Fist doesn't gain wounds from self damage. And Berserker Frenzy would only give you one wound once it expires. Every other Monk besides Shattered Pillar and FF would get a ton of wounds from Berserker Frenzy. So in my opinion Berserker/FF or Shattered Pillar are inferior to other combos. As Powerotti said: Enervating Blows works totally fine. Combine with Spirit Frenzy. My personal preference for a Berserker/Monk is (as I maybe already said) a Morning Star (Willbreaker most of the time). Other weapons that proc effects that count as melee weapon attacks (and thus should proc Swift Flurry and HBD) and that come to my mind: - Grave Calling's Chilling Grave (Chillfog). Every hit of the Chillfog counts as melee weapon damage. - Engoliero do Espirs' Blade Feast (Ghostblades): same. Both feels very cheesy though. I wonder what happens if you proc SF/HBD with Concelhaut's Draining Touch.

Hi, the best way for a first playthrough is - in my opinion - to go with the official companions. If You pick them up one by one in the "natural" order you will quickly have a Wizard (Aloth), a Fighter (Edér), a Priest (Durance) and a Chanter (Kana Rua). From there on you can pick up a Paladin (Pallegina), a Ranger (Sagani), a Druid (Hiravias) or a Cipher (Grieving Mother). In the DLCs you can pick up a Rogue (Devil of Caroc), a Monk (Zahua) and a Barbarian (Maneha). Since Wizards and especially Priests are among the most powerful classes on PoE (at least once you leveled a bit - the early game is a bit rough with them) it's great that you can get them so early. If you want to play in a party without having a class twice I would suggest Monk, Rogue or Barbarian as main character. But actually it doesn't matter much. Even two Priests in one party are great. Good early game abilities/talents: Wizard: Chillfog (damage and great debuff/CC), Concelhaut's Parasitic Staff (great weapon damage and spares you a lot of spell uses) Priest: Inspiring Radiance (stacks with everything), later Devotions for the Faithful. Buffs accuracy of your party by 30 (combined) while it debuffs the enemy. Fighter: Knockdown (good single target CC with decent damage). Chanter: Phantom summon (it is insanely strong in the early game but takes some time to build up. Can be a life saver though). The general rule in every encounter is: Buff your party's accuracy (ACC), then debuff the enemies' defenses with your raised ACC (often includes CC/hard CC), then deal damage. You will waste a lot of damage potential via spells or abilities if you just blindly attack the enemies as soon as you see them. If you follow this simple pattern "buff-debuff-damage" you will get a lot more mileage out of your abilities/spells. Nothing is more annoying than to miss with an expensive spell.

If you take a Beguiler you don't need to use a weapon. His focus "refund" with Deception spells is so high that you can generate lots of focus while casting CC spells and also use enough damaging spells in between. You can use a bow of course for the times when there are only few enemies left (=less focus refund via Deception spells). A Beguiler can even multiclass with a caster like Wizard (Miasma is a great spell to cast before using Deception spells and anything that targets Will). Since Beguilers don't depends on weapon damage that much this is a valid option. Psion also works with this combo. Stats look fine. Edit: oh my I was in the PoE1 forum. Sorry - forget what I was saying - until you play Deadfire. For PoE stats also look fine. War bow or hunting bow are both viable for generating focus. You might run into problems when facing very high DR targets. Maybe bring a firearm for those, even if your ACC will suffer. Do not use Penetrating Shot. Switch weapons instead.

For Flames of Devotion Magran's Favor + Sun and Moon (offhand) is one of the best setups. Not only because of the +4 Fire Power Level which means +20% base (multiplicative) dmg. But also because FoD is a Full Attack that omits the main hand's recovery. So you can use Bleeding Cuts with the axe without suffering the recovery malus of Bleeding Cuts and use the fast recovery of the flail. That leads to a substantial damage increase (Bleeding Cuts stacks with itself). Also you will have three chances for applying sickened instead of two (since Sun and Moon hits twice). Combine with Ring of Focused Flame and Scion of Flame for +10 ACC (on top of the +10 FoD already gets) and +1 PEN. Can't say if this is the best combo (that depends on so many things like build, party and enemy) but it surely is a good one. Maybe that axe + flail is not everybody's favorite aesthetic option though.

Sounds like a glitch.

Didn't test that. Scordeo's Edge however is one of the best weapons for Swift Flurry/Heartbeat Drumming nonetheless because of "Adaptive".

Helwalker/Berserker is doable but it surely is a very delicate combo.

That is correct. You will only see it happen more often in a given time (because you do more attack rolls in that time), but the increase of dps (percentage wise) should be the same. I think Berserker/Monk has great synergy since the Berserker Frenzy generates a ton of wounds while not breaking Enduring Dance. But as I said: something like Monk/Soulblade is also very nice. Shadowdancer also works well in general and also with Swift Flurry/Heartbeat Drumming. You just have to use you mobility and focus on low defense targets like casters and so on.

Everything that is tagged as melee weapon attack will work. This excludes stuff like Forbidden Fist - that is a melee attack but it is not considered to be a melee weapon attack (doesn't generate focus either). Whispers of the Endless Paths used to NOT trigger it with its AoE - but tehre have been some implementation changes so maybe it's worth another test. However, those additional attacks are never AoE attacks likethe original one. Just the individual attack rolls on that target get repeated. Best way to trigger Swift Flurry (and Heartbeat Drumming) ist to stack ACC and crit conversion like there is no tomorrow. For example early game: One Handed Rapier (later Rännig's Wrath) with modal on (--> +20+12+4+5 = +41 ACC, +15% hit-to-crit conversion). Also nice combo as Monk/Soulblade to make sure your Soul Ahnihilation does (almost) never miss. Also increasing the number of hit rolls is a good way: Sun and Moon rolls twice per attack, Clear Out rolls against a lot of foes if you aim it well and so on. Another very good way is to use a Morning Star, Enervating Blows and multiclass with a Berserker (for Spirit Frenzy's stagger effect, Brute Force, Barbaric Blow and Blood Slaughter) - because you will lower enemies fortitude by 45 points with Body Blows modal (-25), weakened (-10) and staggered (-10). This is a virtual raise of you ACC by 45 points (against fortitude). Endunring Dance can give you up to +12 ACC. At the same time the Berserker has a lot of crit conversions (Frenzy, Barbaric Blow and Bloody Slaughter). One/two-shotting enemies with low fortitude is a common thing with this setup.

That depends afaik. If your inspiration (Acute or Brilliant) comes from an item or a passive ability it should stack with the potion. Also see Bardatto's Luxury with the enchantment "Tribute" which will give you a Fit inspiration that stacks (because item based).

I made three more trinkets: -------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- Cogwheel Appearance: a small cogwheel that fits in the palm of you hand Why: more spell variety, playing a Priest of Abydon "light" (for example a Preist of Magran with sympathies for Abydon). Description: Maybe this small cogwheel was once part of a marvelous machine, maybe it just was used as a pendant. It seems to be made from hardened steel and has seen some use: its surface is scrachted and a bit oily as well. Contained spells: 1. Holy Power 2. Spiritual Weapon Hammer (two handed war hammer, model: ogre_pirate_hammer, downscaled, crushing lash, scales up with stoic and honest, scales down with deceptive and clever) ◦ or one handed war hammer, model: war_hammer_u_resounding_call 3. Desponent Blows 4. Ballista (Mind Lance, keywords: punishment) 5. Champion‘s Boon 6. Burst of Sparks (Firebug, keywords: fire, punishment) 7. Abydon‘s Forge (like Concelhaut‘s Crushing Doom, keywords: punishment, condemnation) 8. Spark the Souls of the Righteous 9. Call the Iron Arm (summon Steelclad Construct - cre_construct_steelclad) Effects: • none -------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- Conch Pendant Appearance: a small-sized conch attached to a silver necklace. Why: bigger spell variety, playing a Priest of Ondra "light" (e.g. a Priest of Woedica with sympathies for Ondra/Ngati). Description: This conch was polished to a glossy finish. Althoug it‘s quite small you can hear mighty waves roaring inside of it – if you hold it really close to your ear. Contained spells: 1. Suppress Affliction 2. The Moon‘s Light (keywords: restoration) 3. Watchful Presence 4. High Tide (Overwhelming Wave, keywords: punishment, condemnation) 5. Low Tide (Call to Slumber, keywords: condemnation) 6. Minor Intercession 7. Moonwell (PL 7, keywords: restoration, protection) 8. Ngati‘s Vortex (PL 8, Pull of Eora, but 15-25 crush dmg per 3 sec, keywords: punishment, condemnation) 9. Drowning (PL 9, like Temporal Cocoon, but 3 raw dmg per 1 sec, keywords: punishment, condemnation) Effects: • none -------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- Chew Bone Appearance: a medium sized chew bons for a dog Why: bigger spell variety, playing a priest of Galawain "light" (e.g. a Priest of Wael/Druid with sympathies for Galawain). Description: This chew bone looks like it has been used recently. There‘s saliva all over it and it smells like a rained upon dog. Contained spells: 1. Holy Power 2. Taste of the Hunt (PL2, like druid spell) 3. Merciless Pursuit (PL 3, like Merciless Gaze) 4. Divine Terror 5. Champion‘s Boon 6. Call the Changeling (like Spiritual Ally, but summon model cre_spiritshift_wolf) 7. Minor Avatar 8. Lord of the Hunt (PL 8, like Citzal‘s Martial Power, but upgrades MIG, CON and DEX inspiration by one level, keywords: inspiration) 9. Aspect of Galawain (like druid spell, keywords: protection) Effects: • none

@Elric Galad: Buffs: 1) Transmuter: agree (partly). The Form of the Fearsome Brute is not worth a spell cast. However, the armor is there to slow his fist attacks down. They have very high base damage and normal melee speed. Without any recovery penalty (like Spiritshift armor) they would be too good I think. But on the other hand: the current +100% is way too slow. One could tinker around with the recovery penalty and see when it feels "correct". This would be an easy fix I think. I would also argue that Conjurers don't profit a lot from their sublcass bonuses. Summoned Weapons and summoned creatures scale with char level, "only" the duration gets increased by PL. Maybe some feature like auto-fast-summoning (stacks with the passive ability) or "all summons get +1 lvl scaling" or something would be nice. 2) Corpse Eater: I agree that the penalty is too strong. The food is nice, but instead of giving a huge PL bonus for barb-only I would just make the food give universal PL boni. That would be more appealing for multiclassing as well. Maybe I'd also make Flesh Communion faster. I have the same problem (increase of resource cost too strong of a penalty) with Sisters of the Reapng Moon (Xoti Monk subclass). While +1 resource cost per ability doesn't sound like much it simply doubles the costs of the abilites you use most. The granularity of resource pools isn't fine enough. +1 Would be ok it let's say the cheapest ability would cost 4 points instead of 3 points (and the pool was bigger). But +1 for an ability that costs 1 - not balanced. The counterargument is that you can gain back resources (kill enemy - Xoti, eat enemy - Corpse Eater) but both are too weak if you play with a party. On the other hand it's difficult to change that part of the equation, so may just the upsides have to be a bit better. What I don't agree with is that it's a problem if the Coprse Eater is strictly worse against certain foes (non kith/wilder/beast). Because on the other hand he can be way better agaonst those - so... balanced in general? All the subclasses have pros and cons - basically. 3) Mage Slayer: same here - no problem if the Mage Slayer is worse against non-spellcasters than a vanilla Barb. On the other hand he is a lot better against spellcasters. It just has to be so that this advantage is good enough to balance out the downsides over the course of the game. I would simply give him spell disruption with Carnage as well. Not only on initial targets. He can heal himself with Savage Defiance/Stalwart Defiance pretty well. 4) Sharpshooter: +1 PEN is nothing to sneeze at. Once you are in danger of underpenetration the attack speed malus isn't that big of a deal. But it's obviously more important at higher difficulty settings. The crit conversion is meh though - especially for the long range targets. I would have liked a general +1 PEN better than this >4m-stuff. Higher range is a nice idea. Nerfs: 1) Troubadour: totally needs nerf. Don't know though if +2 phrase cost is the way to go though. Because this will also raise your max phrase count - which is an advantage over chanters who can't do that. Maybe change Brisk Recitation so that it does 4 sec phrases with 0 linger instead of 3 sec phrases? 2) Trickster: agreed. The penalty is way too soft for all the advantages the Trickster gets. 3) Streetfighter: agreed. Blunderbuss Streetfighter is boring. The "nerf" should be on Powder Burns as you suggest. Instead of applying flanked via affliction it could apply a flat (less severe) malus that stacks with afflictions and does not get removed by inspirations or resistances. Like -10 Accuracy and that's it. Distracted itself causes -5 ACC, -10 Reflex (via -5 PER) and -10 Deflection, -1 AR (via Flanked). It's more severe but can't be stacked with other PER afflictions while a flat -10 ACC could. Blunderbusses already have lower ACC so the -10 ACC would hurt enough I guess.

It can't be a waste of time if it - takes less time than boarding - yields the same (or even better) outcome

I understand what you mean, but It doesn't really matter if you get access to a spell via trinket or via level up - as long as you are able to cast it. Also, if you are only getting 1 per PL via trinket there usually is something else on that power level that fits and you can pick at level up - because the auto-spell you get at PL will not fit most likely. Even if you'd give players all the "good" spells via a trinket (the ones which they would normally pick at level up because they are best) this doesn't automatically lead to them picking prayer spells (except if there's nothing else to pick I guess). Most people will still go is on the most useful spells - just in case. Then also it makes little sense to provide a trinket that is not consistent with its theme. Like giving a PL bonus to decay spells but adding only non-decay spells with it. We don't want to mod subclasses into the game but trinkets which broaden the active spell portfolio of a priest (and druid). Because that's the need. Subclasses are plenty. We can do that via spells that get added by trinkets that work as Grimoires (light). At the same time we want to make those trinkets interesting and allow (even encourage) some different build directions. The decay druid was just an example. But this is only the secondary effect. The main objective is to remove the level-up "railroading". Those trinkets I posted are only suggestions which the community can vote on. This means I will also present some weird or special variants. And also very plain ones. It's brainstorming basically, but feedback on the trinkets, on their mechanics and community members' own ideas are highly appreciated. What I won't do is throw over the whole concept and start anew with something different like subclasses. The game doesn't need more subclasses. I mean it's nice to have more, but it's not really a pressing concern. Additional trinkets for other non-caster classes that might feel like an equippable different subclass mechanic is just an idea for the future and not set in stone. Not to be confused with priest trinkets.

I wrote "not swappable" in my post. Like trinkets currently are basically. That means not switchable/swappable during combat.