Boeroer

Herald: If you don't concentrate on weapon dmg but dmg with invocation (mainly Her Revenge) with Eternal Deviation (burning lash applies to invocation) and Sasha's Singing Scimitar (shocking lash applies to invocation, too - also 1* empower per encounter) she will do well as damage dealer. With Beta's Toothed Blade in the other hand and decent ACC with the help of Eternal Devotion and Ring of Focused Flame you can apply -2 AR to the targets with hells with dos, too. Eternal Devotion's lash lasts pretty long as some point, so you can substitute your dps by casting Brand Enemy on a lot of enemies right at the start of battle. It's an instant cast and has no recovery, only short animation time. So dropping it on 5+ enemies doesn't take long. I guess 2 or 2.5 secs. --- SC Paladin: Other alternative for the later game is to use her as SC Paladin and have a party member with the Many Lives Pass By chant. Pick Devine Retribution, get +2 Zeal for every dead skeleton and spam FoD endlessly. If you can lower DR and/or raise PEN in the party (for example via Cipher, +8 PEN) you could also spam Wrath of the Five Suns endlessly. If you have a Priest with Triumph of the Crusaders and a "on-kill" pet as well as self-damage reducing items like Voidward and +RES bonus you can also use Sacred Immolation a lot. --- Crusader: As Crusader you can not reach superhigh dps normally - but you can build a very sturdy, reliable dmg dealer with pretty impressive dmg per hit which is usually a menace for backline enemies. With a Great Sword+modal and Ring of Focused Flame, Sworn Enemy, Inspired Beacon and the other offensive stuff from Fighter and Paladin you can land high dmg strikes reliably because the acc malis of the modal gets countered by FoD and the Ring. You can get away with light armor bc. of Constant Recovery and Lay on Hands and also decent enough defenses (Refreshing Defense + Paladin passive for example). Benweth's Armor + Armored Grace + Abraham pet makes you faster than wearing no armor. Devil of Caroc Breastplate + Armored Grace + Abraham also makes a great combo.

One-Handed Style doesn't get applied to chants, only the generic +12 ACC bonus. I actually never tested predatory items but I suspect they alo don't work with chants.

Yeah... unfortunately lashes don't add or alter the type of "keyword" the original weapon attack carries. If it's not an elemental attack in the first place a lash will not change that. Only attack-abilities like Flames of Devotion can do that. But as you said: the little AC malus gets more than compensated by the bonus from Arcana.

Nope - I don't know about any place on he internet where you could find that. His website k4zz.com is also down.

Yes, that's how importing works. It becomes very expensive to hire an exported char as adventurer if there's multiple unique items in the inventory though. Ridiculously expensive. Best to export the char almost naked with only that one unique item you really want/need.

You usually also can reach Sam here in the forum when tagging him: @SChin (hello Sam ).

Cool, I'm happy that it works for you. Yes, the Knockback can indeed be annoying. Frostseeker's AoE does work with Energized (interrupts on crit). All rolls (weapon attacks, spells, chants etc.) that can critically hit will work.

By the way: the chants that give resistance to whatever can be used to make your party quasi-immune against those afflictions if you use a Troubadour with Brisk Recitation. Every time the chant "hits" your party it will remove 1 tier of affliction that's on your party. So let's say your whole party is enfeebled and the chanter sings "One Dozen Stood" with Brisk Recitation. He will then reduce the enfeeblement to weakened, then after 3 secs that will get reduced to sickened and 3 secs later reduction to nothing. So I like to have those three resistance chants up my sleeve. Not if ability points become scarce, but if there's room I will consider them.

I focused on interrupts and CC. My goal with this character is to shoot the arbalest + modal really fast. Sure-Handed Ila (2* -20% reloading time for reloading weapons) and Gunner do help of course - and so are item that reduce reloading/recovery time and buff action speed (Acina's Tricorn and whatnot). Since Spearcaster with high Arcana (goal to max it with Arcane Archer anyway) has incredible accuracy you can interrupt-prone everything with your shot. For example I managed to prone-lock Neriscyrlas for the whole fight: she had no chance. Myth Fir is good. But against bosses I value stuff like "Stumbling over words" more because it removes all concentration which can be crucial when trying to interrupt a lot. Invocation-wise I liked Killers Froze Stiff and Ben Fidel's Neck best. Both have a pretty big cone - so you don't have to be so near to the action as with other, shorter cones. Later I also use the Champion invocatiuon a lot because as you said: you can interrupt via Binding Web or other imbue shots but also with yout chants (see Stumbling over words - it can crit and thus interrupt it self while energized). I didn't actually use a lot of summons because I was so busy shooting all the time and use Killers/Ben Fidel. Also the animal companion got a bit neglected - because I don't want it to run into my imbue areas I mostly used it as a bodyguard who could intercept enemy rushers. I think it only had resilent companion and Stalker's Link. I like Takedown Combo - but with this char I didn't bother because the AC was only used in emergencies as I said. That freed up more abilities. Also since I used the arbalest modal I didn't use stuff like Concussive Tranquilizer a lot. I first took it but later retrained becaue I realized I almost never used it (because arbalest + modal is sufficient and doesn't cost anything). So nearly all my Bond could be used for Imbue:Pull of Eora and Binding Web. Other abilities from the Ranger side: Marksman, Gunner, Driving Flight(!) and so on.

I also use that.

Ah, good point, good point!

Right. It only wanted to spell out that he can be a viable main tank. Hm, usually I don't need strong healing to support him (although I prefer to have it) - and I don't even pick Unbending because I don't need it for him either. I picked it a few times at the beginning but at some point realized that I rarely activate it in the first place. That made it feel like a waste of an ability point. It also competes with Edérs other active abilities for Discipline... and I have to say Discipline is pretty scarce at most times for my Edér. I make use of Gouging Strike because it is great in the earlier game against overleveled high AR enemies (Steelclads for example) and I also use quite some Discipline for Into the Fray. It can be pretty fun bc. it has instant casting time and 0 recovery, so you can draw in a lot of enemies into engagement in no time - with a little bit of damage. Sometimes I even spam Into the Fray just to kill a particular enemy asap (like those a**holes who try to abduct party members - which to me is just a huge annoyance). So everything that also needs Discipline and isn't needed too often is a bit unattractive for me (even if it's a good ability when you need it). I also don't feel forced to take Tekehu. I like him over Maia and Pallegina, but I don't pick him because I feel that Edér cannot survive without him. Since my Edér is maxing Athletics bc. of Cadhu Scalth he has a potent second wind for emergency situations. And then Xoti's few healing spells (I like to use Iconic Projection) would usually be enough to help him stay alive after he gained some more levels. I don't even use consumables like healing potions (besides food for resting). I do make use of strong CC though and that of course helps a lot. But it seems that with Cadhu Scalth's and Death's Maw's damage reduction is enough to reduce the incoming damage enough so that his Constant Recovery + Second Wind is sufficient in most fights. If I also have Lay on Hands in the party then I often don't even need Xoti for healing. As I said I use Riposte with a large shield + club setup - not with dual wielding or two handers or so - mainly as a tool for distributing Bewildering Blows (club modal) around him. Basically as a nice-to-have addition to the Persistent Distraction, not as dps improvement (although it does improve dps of course, but that's not really what I'm looking for). That being said: that is true for all content except the Megabosses. I usually skip them because I find the fights against them pretty annoying nowadays. For those few fights my Edér is def. not tanky enough and cannot withstand them for a very long time without hefty support.

DId you know that Inspiring Radiance completely stacks with itself (if you have two or more Priests)? Very funny if you do a 6 Priests run. +60 ACC for the party that early in the game is... potent - even if it doesn't last that long.

That is correct.

Erm... both at the same time. I use him as main tank swashbuckler with a large shield and lots of engagement items (Hold the Line, Reckless Brigandine, Kapana Taga, Cadhu Scalth), Riposte, Mob Stance and a pet like Abraham for example. It makes him rel. fast when he's engaging a lot of enemies which makes him more reactive while still being able to engage 5 enemies - more is not practical imo. With Persistent Distraction he will passively debuff and afflict those 5 enemies automatically which is nice. With Kapana Taga and his attacks and Ripostes he will debuff enemies' Will for my party. I also pick Adept Evasion - because in combination with the modal of the large shield and the enchantments of Cadhu Scalth you cannot really harm him when you cast friendly-fire spells on him + the enemies he's holding - if those spells target reflex. I also give him an item that makes him immune to push/pull effects (usually the Upright Captain's Belt) because I like to make heavy use of Pull of Eora in the area where he is holding most enemies. He will skill Athletics and Metaphysics bc. of Cadhu Scalth. He will not do great amounts of weapon damage nor will he be the tankiest of tanks - but he's really useful for me that way. He is and was totally fine for lots of my party runs as the only tank. It takes some levels until he can withstand all sorts of enemies alone - but at some point it just works. Maybe because I usually don't use glass cannons so there is always a bit of support at the front line. And lots of debuffs and CC from the second row which of course helps with survivability of the front line. The biggest gripe I have with him is his lowish INT. It's not so bad when taking Tactical Barrage - but I would still like my tank to have more INT. I would also have liked him to be an Unbroken instead of a no-subclass Fighter. But it still works.

I don't mind a Wiedergänger thread. I just wouldn't expect the addressed users to actually respond if their quoted post is like four years old.

While Xoti's passive (+3 wounds on kill) only works for melee weapon kills(!) her lantern restores +1 wound an 1 motification for any kill, no matter how. This can be important for Contemplative (e.g. Blessed Harvest kills will not trigger the passive, but the lantern's refund) and if you want to use Inner Death and Resonant Touch. Kills by those will not trigger Xotis "+3 wounds on kill" passive. I know, Inner Death: unpopular choice... but it's actually pretty fun if one builds around it, has the lantern and adds Empowered Strikes, too. Like... if you grow tired af spamming WotW with Monks. Since Inner Death costs Mortification it isn't affected by Xoti's increased wound cost. And with the lantern you can reuse it for every 3 kills you do. Be a little backline hunter, palm casters to death and so on. I liked to combine it with Skyward Kick. With Community Patch Inner Death is properly tagged as melee weapon attack, so you even get the +3 wounds on kill for Xoti. Made alternating between Skyward Kick and Inner Death easy. That's a pretty amusing combo against weak but dangerous enemies you want to get rid of asap. Of course not as overwhelmingly potent as WotW is.

Perhaps, perhaps not - I liked Durance, too. What's really off though is your timing. ...

@Achilles like:

Right - totally forgot about that.

I wouldn't nerf casters just because Rougues are a bit lame on PotD difficulty. First of all I would give Persistent Distraction's "Distracted" the feature to unlock Sneack Attack (as in Deadfire). Currently it doesn't (in PoE) and tha means Persistent Distraction doesn't unlock Deathblows by itself. Then I would scale Sneak Attack with level or make it a raw lash (less than 50% though I guess). This would mimic the ability to slide a weapon into the gaps of the enemy's armor when nobody's looking - sneaky. Raw lash would make Sneak Attack a bit less potent in the early game but much better over the course of the game because it's multplicative instead of additive dmg improvement. Would be a great combo with weapon quality, Deathblows and Backstab - and Finishing Blow, too. However, it would make Deep Wounds less effective compared to additive dmg - because raw dmg doesn't trigger Deep Wounds. So maybe alter Deep Wounds, too so that it gets triggered by pierce/slash/crush/raw dmg.

Hey no problem. We've all been wrong before and I will be wrong many times after. The MIG discussion - besides the mathematical question whether increasing the dmg bonus has what sort of returns - is more complex imo because it also contributes healing and Fortitude (which I consider to be the most important defense beside deflection). I personally don't consider MIG to be really worthwhile if it's solely taken for dmg - but I often raise it anyway - not only bc. of defense or healing but because it would feel weird to play let's say a two-handed axe swinging guy with 10 MIG...

I also almost always use Edér's pet slot. There are a lot of nice combos in it. For example +20 healing on kill pets and +10 healing on kill (party wide) pets also do stack. I mean that's not really surprising since healing sources never suppress each other. So if you have a offensively strong glass cannon character this can be a nice form of "passive" healing without wasting any time or character resources. The healing scales with items and so on as usual. But I guess my primary Berath's Blessing is the combo of the Port Maje dealer + 50K. On the other hand: I have maxed out Breath Blessing points long ago so it's hard to tell what I would pick first nowadays if those points where scarce. Maybe lvl 4 now that I think about it. I start a new run so often and it really helps to speed the early game up. It would be more like a convenience thing. As a player who only aims to play once or twice I 'd probably pick attribute points because they feel the most special.

You should only speak for yourself about what is easy to believe and what is not. To me there is no difference in ridiculousness whether a Chanter causes burn and slash damage by singing a phrase, a Wizard summons a big crushing hammer out of thin air - or if a Monk punches enemies with flying fists that also do additional shock damage. It's all bananas - but it's fun and that's all that matters in a game. And of course there is a reason for that feeling you describe. And it's noted that some players don't like monks. But what should the developers and players who enjoy monks do about that? The solution for your problem is very simple: if you don't like the monk class - for whatever reason, it's your taste - you don't pick it. If you don't like spaghetti you don't order them in a restaurant. What would be your suggestion? Remove the monk so that players who don't like it won't be offended by its existence as a playable class? Ask the chef to remove spaghetti from the menu? That doesn't sound reasonable.

IIRC it's not flagged as an melee weapon attack but like a melee spell attack (similar to vanilla Forbidden Fist attack or Inner Death) so a lot of those items do not work with it. And iirc futher the Mage Slayer's spell disruption works if it's just tagged as melee (and doesn't need the weapon part) - but I may misremember. I will look it up again and then follow up. Edit/follow-up: I misremembered. But the outcome is almost the same. So the on-crit attack from Frostseeker is a melee weapon attack. But it's not the damaging AoE itself. This intermediary melee attack is triggered by a crit of Frostseeker's projectiles and it then triggers the AoE (don't ask me why it's implemented with that step in between, I have no idea). This melee attack is an auto-hit, so no separate hit roll that can crit. That is the reason why on-crit stuff like Boltcatchers, Swift Flurry etc. won't work. Mage Slayer's spell disruption works because it works on any hit quality (not misses of couzrse). And Hylea's Talons work, too. Anything that works on melee weapon hit should. No fancy accessory comes to my mind besides Hylea's Talons atm but maybe there is something.