Boeroer

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.

You can post your build in your own thread. If our name it accordingly with "[CLASS BUILD] xy" it's easy to find. Usually I then would go and include a link to that thread of yours into the build list (page 1/post 1 of this thread). Unfortunately I am unable to edit that post since the forum update. It introduced a new time limit for edits: if a post is older than 8 days you can't edit it anymore. Thus I am not able to alter the build list. I hope this gets changed. If you want to support this then write a PM to @SChin and explain why you want that limitation to go away. Thank you!

That would be my next approach if the others agree: I would like to create trinkets for all other classes that are not swappable (I think... maybe that changes) that alter certain core abilites of the classes. A bit like adding new subclasses, but more subtle and "equippable". I already gave an example for Fighters: Constant Recovery could heal in an aura (allies) but not the fighter (for creating a support fighter). Ciphers could have their buffs (Pain Block and so on) cast only themselves but not on allies anymore (egoistic cipher), Chanters could get a trinket that makes phrases 12 secs long but get +100% AoE, Rangers could suffer -20 ACC but their Animal Companion gains a high amount of base damage and maybe AR (focusing the build on the AC) and so on and so forth. Not too many for each class, maybe 2 or three. THey wouldn't add the power of the class but rather change some mechanics so that if plays differently but also insterestingly and opens up new build options). If people like that idea of course. But it's just too much work to come up and implement 10+ trinkets for every class and let them add new abilites per PL and stuff. That would take ages and the game already is quite old by now.

Not in these forums. Sadly I can't add any builds atm because the forum doesn't let me edit my own posts that are older than 8 days or so - thus renderng me helpless when it comes to adding something to the build list. You can write a PM to @SChin maybe - if you think that "feature" should be changed.

No idea. @Phenomenum and @MaxQuest seem to be very busy atm - and same is true for me. I will have more time after July 25th or so. Maybe the others will be more free before that, but I don't know. Anyway I'm just writing down stuff from the forum that maybe needs a fix - and doing trinket descriptions atm and nothing else. I only have like an hour of free time every day currently. It's hard to do more than typing some stuff into the forums here and there. Maybe I will also do the corresponding icons (at least some mockuops for starters). Phenomenum and MaxQuest do all the heavy lifting with the modding itself. But with the trinkets I personally also would like to do a poll on all the stuff I suggested once I'm finished. So that only the trinkets get included that everybody (or most players) are comfortable with and like to have in the game.

Again: trinkets (as I/we want to do them) are not about power or buffing but about enhanced versatility when it comes to spell choice. Just because a class has more spells to choose from doesn't necessarily mean they are more powerful (in an ideal system where all spells are equally useful). Priests have less spell choice than Druids have less spell choice than Wizards. Per se - without grimoires. That means that wizards already are a lot more versatile when it comes to possible/feasible/fun to play build options. This has nothing to do with their level of power - but all with the spell choice. IN that regard, Druids are better than Priests (more spells to choose from) but worse than Wizards. And then Wizards get a huge, huge amount of additonal spell choice via grimoires on top. Thus it's no sursprise that the biggest complaint about Priests (that was voiced very early - even during beta and right after release) is that they feel so "railroaded" when it comes to spell choice at level up. Not only do priests choose from the most restricted spell pool - but also it is the spell pool with the biggest proportion of rather circumstancial spells, some of them even a bit redundant (Blessing vs. Dire Blessing for example). An early suggestion (see @Gromnir's early posts about that but also mine and others'), after the horrible restrictions of the first iteration of Priest subclasses were lifted (restricted access to spells because of subclass choice) was to give Priests trinkets that add spells (not as spell uses but as spell choices) just like grimoires do. Wizards are supposed to be "researchers" of magic and thus is makes sense that they can choose from a huge pool of spells via grimoires. So, I'm not aiming to give Priests the exact same amount of "freedom". Priests already gain a "free" spell choice at evey power level, so giving them two spells per PL like grimoires do is not fair. I personally think giving them even 1 spell choice on every PL with every trinket is too much - thus I also thought of trinkets that only add one ot two spells in total (besides some which do indeed add 1 per PL). On the other hand I don't want to create trinkets that feel too boring or generic. Adding a slight PL bonus for the spells that most players deem "useless" (see Prayers/Litanies for the Body/Mind) seems like a good idea to promote their use. Also adding one ot two trinkets that not necessarily make the character more powerful but give him some "cool" build options (see Deathguard) might help. Arguing that Priests are more versatile than Wizards even with less spells... well... I guess 90% of the forum would not agree with you. Depends what you mean though. If you mean "they can heal, deal damage and buff while Wizards only can do self buffing, deal damage and CC" then maybe I could understand what you want to say, but I'd still say that's not really the case. Anyway: the spells with which they fulfill their roles in a party/situation (healer, buffer, damage dealer) are nearly always the same while a Wizard can pick from a huge variety of spells to achieve the same outcome. Thus a wizard can pick from a huge list of spells that fit his player's idea of a character/build and still can do his thing reliably (e.g. pick either Noxious Burst for dealing damage or Fireball or Malignant Could or Freezing Pillar or whatever) while for a Priest's... it's always Shinging Beacon here, Pillars of Flames there. It's kind of boring. Because of that I (and others) argue that Priests need trinkets that widen their spell choice a bit. Same with Druids, but to a lesser extend. Druids have some really nice items and subclasses that boost certain keywords (elemental in general, shock, storms, beast, plant, rejuvenation) but none for decay for example. Thus the first impulse is to build an Ancient (Beast/Plant), Fury (all elemental+storms) or Livegiver (Rejuvenation). Few people would pick an Animist who specializes on decay spells (if it's about power) because it's inferior. So in order to open up that direction I would add a trinket with a few decay spells and a PL bonus to decay. This wouldn't make a decay druid more powerful than a beast druid. So no power creep. It would him make a bit more powerful than before, sure. But he wasn't on par in the first place.

We really have to watch out that the trinkets don't turn into a power creep fest. I mean the priest does indeed need more versatility when it comes to spell choice. But we have to be careful with the bonuses. Maybe put in some backdraws if it gives you a bonus besides spell knowledge (look at Vaporous Wizardry which interrupts you on every damage you take but gives you +1 spell use per tier - which is too good in my opinion but you get my point).