Boeroer

Of course not, at least for me. As Gouging Strike and Brand Enemy, True Love's Kiss works exactly as intended by the developer. It's not a weird side effect that can be used to your advantage which the designer didn't see coming (see Strand of Favor etc al., endless use of Bounding Boots, persistent Draining Touch, stacking Beast's Claw into heaven by save/reload, stacking food bonuses with save/reload, permanently stealing free spells with Grimoire Imprint and so on and so forth). Imo there's no difference in the level of "cheesyness" between applying a nerverending DoT and then hide vs. hiding and then sending a neverending stream of damage (summons). In both cases it's just having a source of damage that won't run dry while staying untouchable at the same time.

I don't use Pain Link much (dare I say "never"?), so this might be false, but since Pain Link doesn't seem to do raw dmg, maybe it has the same PEN value as the original attack and has to go through AR again? Could it be that the dmg of Pain Link underpenetrates due to the high AR of D.? Also, if the calculation is done like "let's "substract" 70% of the dmg in order to retain 30%" then - if the usual double inversion mechanics with maluses get applied - the remaining dmg portion would be way smaller (see Underpenetration, Grazes and dmg reduction in general). Just two random ideas that came to my mind to explain the low numbers. You can defeat D. without massive cheese with Lover's Embrace from Stealth and then hiding. I don't think BPM nerfed that. It takes many hours though - but you can just go elsewhere and return later. Make sure to make yourself immune to pulling (fitting helmet or belt) to not accidentially get pulled out of hiding. Also D. hitting himself with fire attacks repeatedly prolongs things a lot as you suspected.

Yes, although I think the Rogue class is one of the weakest (or let's say most unfun) for PotD difficulty I really like the Devil of Caroc as a companion. She was the one I gave Badgradr's Barricade and Godansthunyr to (the first time I tried that combo out), but she was also fun with Tall Grass. Her immunities can be exploited with some friendly-fire AoE spells (mostly from Wizard iirc) where you can place her in the front line to bait enemies and then shower them with spells which won't affect the Devil. I once made a "team of two" for that purpose: Devil oC & Bilestomper, one of the builds I posted here in the forums back then.

No problem. Tagging is a good practice imo. Especially since I usually don't look into this subforum frequently. I didn't mod much myself so I can't say what the problem is. @Elric Galad, @Noqn - any ideas?

Yes, I agree. I think Ghost Heart is neat in special cases, but I generally prefer the normal animal companion. It "stacks" with summons, it cannot suffer injuries so you can revive it infinite times and it's a good bait/decoy right at the start of the battle that doesn't need any action time or resource. I'm just a bit mad still that Ancient's Wild Growth doesn't work with Animal Companions. That would have been so cool...

Immune to engagement: It means that enemies cannot engage the (Ghost) Boar. The Boar can engage just fine once he gets an engagement slot (with the help of the right abilities - animal companions don't start with an engagement slot).

Hehe, define "old". I'm 46.

We could tag one of the devs from the community realm who are always happy to help, like for example @Shyla? If that doesn't help then maybe try to hit @jesawyer on Twitter (in a nice way ;)): He's not active here on the forums anymore but he is very active over there. I often see him answering reasonable questions, especially when it's about the Ultimate. But his feed and notifications are quite crowded I guess (he has a lot of followers) so there might be a chance he misses it. The chance could be even higher if you try it on Tumblr, he's anwering there very frequently and posts the answers on Twitter, too - but I have no experience with that platform: https://www.tumblr.com/jesawyer

Getting the Fear Ward takes some levels. Same with Spirit Frenzy. Before those the upsides of a Furyshaper aren't that obvious and you might think "well... why did I take a Furyshaper in rhe first place?" But once all the pieces of the "synergy-puzzle" fall into place I think it is a very rewarding combo. It doesn't take much fiddling to lower enemies' Will and Fortitude completely into the ground and disabling them hard before hitting them - and this is not only making things easy for you but for the whole party, too. Imo if one thinks at some point in the early game "well this doesn't feel spectacular" it just needs a few more levels. The Fear Ward, if used right - like... debuffing Will of enemies beforehand with RES-/INT-afflictions, Willbreaker, clubs, spells (Miasma of Dull-Mindedness from a buddy wizard is your very best fried by the way!) is a devastating tool to have combined with all the other goodies. Once it works you can (if you want to) also build your party a bit around the effects of the main character - like giving a melee damage dealer more engagments to profit more from the terrified enemies breaking engagement, favoring spells that target Will (see several chanter invocations, priests' offensive spells, Cipher stuff etc.) and Fortitude (lots of Wizard and Druid spells) and so on.

If it's mainly about retaliation I think not much beats a Fire Godlike's Battle Forged at high levels since it scales so well. All the other retaliations don't. I think the low health of priests could make this concept challenging, especially because you need to receive at least a graze in order to retaliate (contrary to riposte). That's why I wouldn't drop CON. I guess you know this but similar forms of retaliation don't stack unless they are from a passive (Battle Forged) or a weapon (see Sura's Supper Plate). So for example it's either armor, helm or cape (see Hiro's Mantle) + Sura's. How about Swanddling Sheet and Binding Rope? They kind of retaliate, too. Iirc they do have stacking issues with normal retaliation though - but I am not 100% sure anymore.

Hi! Nope. The spell effect (here: Minor Missiles) will not proc any weapon effects (here: Missiles from Spearcaster). Driving Flight will lead to two procs of the imbued spell (here: Minor Missiles) - one for the initial 1. hit and the second for the projectile's jump->2. hit. You can even make it to 3 if you use a weapon with a built-in projectile jump in combination with Driving Flight (see Fire in the Hole+Chain Shot or Watershaper's Focus). So the jump of Driving Flight + using Spearcaster will give you a second chance to proc its Run Bolts - but again the spell effect of the imbued missile shot doesn't interfere with the weapon effect (doesn't proc it).

The Fury is a Druid subclass. Based on what we talked about before I assume you mean the Furyshaper (Barbarian subclass). A few attribute points here and there aren't too important imo and also depend a bit on the player and how he approaches combat and even more on the party composition (like what is the exact role of the character and how does he go about it). But my tipps align pretty much with those of @Not So Clever Hound: INT: I personally value INT a lot. Besides that a Furyshaper/Beguiler is - for me - first and foremost a debuffer. Damage dealing is the secondary concern. So INT is great for that (long durations but also big area of effects - including the Carnage area). Hittig more enemies with Phantom Foes and Secret Horrors means (a lot) more focus generation, too. PER: Also nice in this case - because you want to hit enemies reliably with your debuffing tools before finally whacking them. Also, when playing with official companions noe of them has a very high PER score, and since PER is used for searching traps and secrets it's benefical to have a main character with a high PER score who can do that. Once spotted, traps and so on can be dealth with by a different character (the one with the highest mechanics skill). So you can totally split the searching and the disarming between two party members - no problem. DEX: It's always nice to have good DEX, especially when casting/summoning is involved - because it not only shortens your recovery from actions but also the action/animation times as well. And casting spells/summoning wards usually takes much longer than executing a weapon attack. So high DEX not only makes you do stuff faster, it also makes your character more reactive in combat and also more versatile: he can react to unforeseen situations more quickly. This has more impact than it seems at first (imo). It also looks less sluggish (=better). MIG: That wouldn't be very important in this case for me. A mid score is fine. You'll also get +5 from Frenzy. Don't go below 10 though because this leads to a damage malus that is calculated in a way that it hurts more than one would think. CON: As a melee guy without stellar defense against weapon attacks I wouldn't drop CON too much. But since it's a Barbarian with access to high base health and Fit from Frenzy (+5 CON) and also some armor abilities I wouldn't raise it high either. Going high CON def. can make the fights for a non-tanky melee guy less stressful, but you will be able to charm/dominate enemies, paralyze them, terrify them and so on so in the long run you shouldn't receive too much punishment on the battlefield. In the early game I would grab an Amulet of Greater Health if I could find it and tha should make things cool . If not needed: even better. RES can be great - in this case I would either dump it completely or just keep it mid. Furyshapers seem to have anger management issues and this would explain low RES to me, hehe. I personally would maybe go like this (high doesn't necessarily mean maxed): MIG: mid (not below 10 bc. damage malus does hurt a lot because it's not additive) CON: mid (can go below 10 - health malus is additive and not that bad) PER: high DEX: high INT: high RES: low For active skills I'd prefer athletics - but I almost never use consumables (which can be very strong). So if you want to use potions and scrolls etc. you should invest in Alchemy or Arcana. Passive skills I always give a good stretch so that it fits the character. This is best for dialoge options and scripted scenes. There are some items that scale with passive skills (see Giftbearer's Cloth, Captain Samelia's Legacy and more) - if you want to use those it makes sense to max that one particular skill. Sorry, don't have one. I think there's othing here in this forum that's more than some theorycrafting. I have successfully played such a character but didn't write it down in detail. Most precious abilities for me would be (Spirit) Frenzy, Fear Ward (automatic pick), Thick Skinned, Barbaric Shout, Brute Force, Blood Thirst, Secret Horrors, Phantom Foes, Whispers of Treason and Puppet Master. Also later Leap (so nice bc. you can use it out of comat from free for some cool movement actions and "sneaking" past guards etc.). You want some engagement slots (see Barbaric Shout and Thick Skinned) because once enemies become terrified (for example from your Fear Ward) they will often disengage - which will give you free disengagement attacks which really hurt. But in order to get those you have to engage first (there will be a green "arrow-line" to indicate engagement). Good luck! PS: sometimes your summoned wards will get targeted by enemies because they have rel. poor defenses and health. When they get destroyed it's quite bad for you. This can become annoying. Best solution imo: a Priest in the party who can cast "Withdraw" (spell lvl 2) on the ward. The ward will become untouchable/invincible - but it will still work just fine like it's supposed to. Second best option imo is to summon them in a place where enemies won't get to them so quickly. But that's no solution against ranged enemies. There are also other spells that might work (Pain Block or so). PPS: charmed enemies normally flip back to enemy status if you hurt them. However, if you only apply a damage over time-effect like Disintegrate or Soul Ignition they do not! Both of those target fortitude - so it's cool to cast Scret Horrors (sicken: -10 fortitude, frighten: -10 will) and then hit with the Morning Star + Spirit Frenzy (another -35 fortitude, +3 Will from Willbreaker), then charm (another -10 Will) and then cast Disintegrate agaisnt the low fortitude. The enemy will stay charmed and fight for you, but it will also die so after the charming it will most likely fall apart. This takes some casting time ad fuss so I wouldn't do it against the easy enemies - but some tough nuts can get cracked pretty nicely that way.

No idea

edit: I don't know what is wrong with this forum... I can't post some texts without it freaking out completely, so I will add my reply as a picture instead (admins, please do something about this, it is a recent problem): Cheers!

Tactical Barrage does synergize with Cipher pretty well imo - esp. since Ciphers have no own reliable way of getting an INT inspiration. Tactician/Beguiler makes for a nice synergistic combo bc. of Phantom Foes imo. Making it fairly easy to become Brilliant and refresh your Discipline. That can then used for Clear Out which is an awesome focus generator if applied to a bunch of crowed enemies (and higher INT = bigger AoE). Even if the Tactician gets confused (from getting flanked) you can use that to your advantage with the Cipher side - because it allows you to cast certain Cipher powers (see Amplified Thrust and -Wave or Ectopsychic Echo for example) on enemies instead of allies only. In case of Amplified Thrust the enemy target will get hit twice(!) by the thrust, which makes that spell a nice single target damamge tool and really worthwhile all of a sudden. Unfortunately the defense buffs of Borrowed Instincts and Refreshing Defense don't stack - but maybe one should just look at this and see it as two spared ability points (for not needing to take Vigorous + Refreshing Defense).

The modal alone makes Hunting Bows very good ranged weapons in terms of damage-dealing. Against enekmies withweak deflection the modal raises the dps considerably - and you can turn it off at any time should you meet enemies that hard hard to hit. The alternative damage type of Essence Interrupter makes it very useful and the shoking lash which can be increased up to 10% is nice, too. This all makes it a great choice. The "summoning" part is superannoying unless you go for Soul Diplomacy though. Summoning an Ogre Pirate in the midst of battle can totally mess up your fight. Damage-wise Amiina's Legacy is better though, and the CC aspect is nice, especially for a Dwarf with Driving Flight. But of course this one is only obtainably later when you can take on the Uamoru bounty (who is lvl 16). It makes the early to mid game a lot easier because the exceptional quality (+8 ACC) combined with the modal (-15 ACC) makes it so, so much better than any other ranged weapon at that stage. You'll suffer from a virtual -7 ACC loss copared to a regulat hunting bow but will fire twice as often (roughly speaking). I like to keep Essence Interrupter around even if I did get the Legacy - and if it's only for the aternative dmg type. I also often use it on Wizards and Wizard/something (esp. if they are geared towards using the Blackbow lateron) in combination with the Essential Phantom - because my Wizards tend to have high Metaphysics anyway and two Essence Interrupters (with Soul Diplomacy) on the battlefield can have a huge impact once the enemies start dropping and summoning friendly creatures as decoys.

Hi, unfortunately I can't remember the exact post in which I talked about Arcane Archer/Paladin for the first time, but here I have two posts hat outline the build well enough I think: Since then I also played an Arcane Archer/Troubadour with Spearcaster and found that even better that the Paladin variant, especially if you use multiple reloading weapons in the party - but the roles are slightly different (Troubadour is obviously less sturdy than a paladin but more versatile. Paladin has better healing and higher accuracy, Troubadour has better shooting speed and so on... If you have further questions then please ask.

Furyshaper/Soulblade or Furyshaper/Beguiler with Morningstar is a really nice combo. I think I'd prefer Beguiler because it's more versatile in terms of focus generation. Cipher has no summons - so there's no problem with the Furyshaper's wards. Also Iron Will of the Chipher balances out the drawback the Furyshaper has (lowered Will). Secret Horrors (frightens and sickens) in combination with Spirit Frenzy (dazes) lowers Fortitude of enemies by 20 points which stacks with the Morning Star modal (-25 Fortitude) which is great in combination with the Barbarian's ability "Brute Force".

In Deadfire I can lower the difficulty from PotD at any time:

Not liking it is one thing - and voicing that dislike, too. And indeed you can experience a raise in difficulty if you don't level up enough during the main game first or if your party is somehow not very well suited for the specific tasks at hand in the DLCs. But feeling you have to stop to play the game altogether instead of lowering the difficulty is something else. Like... injured pride?

"DLCs want me to bin this game instead of lowering the difficulty setting."

Ah sorry, I must have skipped that part.

In theory this works and it will also work in real fights from time to time - but usually fights are always a bit messy. It makes them even messier if you scatter a whole group of enemies that you would rather have assembled in one spot. So, using Clear Out with a wall in the back or so will be a lot more convenient than doing it in the open field. But of course it's better to apply a debuff in an AoE instead of doing it to a single target only. So Clear Out (and upgrades) can ideed be a nice debuffing tool. It's jsut not that easy to use a Black Jacket and then switch through your weapon sets and apply those debuffs to a group of enemy one after the other. There will be some micromanagement involved in order to hit the same enemies again. It can make the whole process a bit tedious and less fun to use as one might have anticipated. Just saying... I find with Clear the Path it's less of a problem because the enemies usually get thrown into the same direction which is less messy than having them fly into all kinds of directions (Clean Sweep) or at least fly away in a cone (Clear Out). By the way (this is an obscure mechanic, not mentioned in the game description): Clear Out is very good as a single target damage tool, too. It's not expensive and it will attack the initial enemy (the one you click on) twice(!). On top it knocks them prone of course which is always useful if you want to interrupt them. Now if you use a Morning Star + modal then the first attack roll will lower the target's Fortitude - and the second attack roll will already profit from that debuffed fortitude (bc. Clear Out itself targets fortitude). So basically if the first roll grazes/hits/crits the second one has the equivalent of +25 accuracy. Another trick: Clear Out and upgr. with a weapon that does AoE damage by itself (Whispers of the Endless Paths, Keeper of the Flame, Citzal's Spirit Lance for example) will do tremendous damage to a group of tightly packed enemies and also send them sprawlng even more wildly. Because every graze/hit/crit of Clear Out on the enemy will trigger the AoE attack of the weapon. Tons of interrupts and hit rols are the result. So a Fighter/Wizard with Spirit Lance can be a lot of fun. However: if you use a summned weapon you will have trouble switching your weapon sets. So maybe Black Jacket with the intend to switch a lot during a single fight + summoned weapons is not a good choice. But something like Whispers of the Endless Paths + Clean the Path with high INT can be really funny. Imagine your Fighter already debuffed the enemies and now just wants to deal great AoE damage and the enemies just happen to line up perfectly for a Clear the Path use: switch to WotEP and whip them across the screen for great damage, then switch back to another weapon ad finish off the scattered individuals which have survived. And it's foe-only, too (unless you are confused).

During the early game/low levels combat feels especially tedious because you will miss and graze so much. My advice is to focus on accuracy a lot more than on damage numbers. Also always flank enemies if you can (attack an enemy from opposite sides in melee). This makes the combat a lot easier in the early parts of the game. Later the ratio of your accuracy vs. enemies' defenses becomes higher and the fights become less of drag. In general I would favor casters over weapon users. Casters start pretty weak but become a lot more potent later on than your usual fighters, rogues etc. A Priest is extremely valuable because he can buff up the party's accuracy like no other support class. That directly translates to smoother fights. If your accuracy gets boosted by 20 points or so it's much easier to land debuffs and CC spells that reduce the enemies' defenses. At that point the fight is already won most of times. PoE [edit]Deadfire[/edit] did some major changes in order to make the combat less of a tedium. I don't kow about any mod that tries to put those things into PoE. But you coud try if disabling the engagement mechanic (game options) does anything for you?

Shattered Pillar... Soulblade, too. Paladin/Soublade is actually quite nice imo. And who is flirting more with Death herself than a Berserker/Helwalker? But seriously: I like that combo very much. Especially with Saru Sichr. Maybe my most favorite melee class combo. The synergies are great and plenty and the challenge of living on the edge can be fun, too.