Boeroer

Since I had me, the Phantom and the Animal Companion who would relentlessly pommel the dragon there wasn't too much "facetanking" involved. The high AR helps to not getting killed quickly, Body Blows lowers Fortitude, Willbreaker + Misasma lower Will into the ground, Draining Touch from Phantom targets Will and weakens (lowers Fortitude), ACC is generally very high - also for hard CC spells. Killing Bolt + Takedown Combo is nice. I didn't even use any consumables against Neriscyrlas... It's a ton of micro though. The phantom often gets targeted - but it's suprisingly sturdy, especially if you are wearing thick armor. And if it goes down: I have 6 of them (3 Essential, 3 Substancial - Grimore of Vaporous Wizardry), so no problem. Also a thing: Shroud of the Phantasm not only duplicates you (six times) but also your animal companion (six times)!

Realism does not apply to things that can't be real and are completely made up. Like how magic, souls, cipher powers work for example. It helps if parts of the game that originate in the real world (sword fights for example) are kept somewhat realistic. Because you as a player can immediately grasp how basic things might work. But to argue with realism when it comes to the rules of magic or soulcraft is nonsense. I mean... Chanters take lingering essence and form it into summons with the help of their songs. And while they sing their song they can totally cast a spell from a Grimoire. THey must have Mongolian Throat Singing. Say hello to my friend realism who just jumped out of the window... Nobody complained about that far-fetched explanation. And that's fine - because it's just some cool fantasy mechanic that sombody made up while she/he was brainstorming ideas for a computer game. Some things like INT influencing Carnage AoE might seem weird. But Carnage is weird itself. It gets explained with soul stuff again because physically/realistically it doesn't make any sense in the first place.

Please name CRPGs that have better ones and try to explain objectively why you think they are better. I'm not saying there aren't - I just don't know any that I would call genius or best. PoE and Deadfire did a pretty good job when it comes to impact and balance of attributes.

I guess they will continue to polish the turn based mode. I mean mechanically. Story- or campaign-wise it's done.

I'm playing on PotD. I even started Deadfire on PotD with zero meta knowledge (just because I knew PoE so well). I didn't/don't have to do that (neither with Gorecci Street nor with Talfor - but often I sneak through Gorecci Street because that's less of a hassle) I didn't/don't usually do that - Edér and Xoti are sufficient I didn't/don't do that unless I want some hirelings in the party anyway - but I skip the skeleton warriors from time to time because they can be really annoying and don't give you anything special. So it's def. not impossible. It is challenging - and that's nice. But I don't have to splitpull or to kite to do it. I do not agree. This is not supposed to be a bowl of cherries. It's totally ok if you meet foes that are too strong for you. Especially if you are playing on PotD, but also below. As long as one can solve a situation without a fight there's no real problem. One mustn't be hell-bent on getting one's way no matter what. I also think that it's totally acceptable if you would need meta knowledge to win every fight on PotD. For example it's already meta knowledge if you prefer weapons with higer PEN because you know that PotD raises AR through the board (which I personally don't like about PotD, but that's another topic).

Hi Sam, would it also work if I link the savegame here? I made a special savegame with Nomu the Marauder in the Old City (used console - bug happens with or without cheats activated). The boreal dwarf character named "Runajasko" has Essence Interrupter equipped (second weapon slot). If you crit Nomu with it (I gave him Ring of Focused Flames - use Flames of Devotion to produce a crit easily with +20 ACC) and then kill him he will spawn a creature. After it is defeated you will not get the original loot from Nomu. If you don't use the Essence Interrupter he will drop his usual stuff (unique ring etc.). For me it's 100% reproducable. Happens every time if "Experimental Souls" gets applied. Here it is: Savegame

Yes, it is.

Yes - if you want to use it most efficiently. But if you are not solo anybody in your party can profit from it - it's not necessary that the ranger executes the attack.

I'm pretty sure that that will work as well. With Exalted Endurance and Greater Lay on Hands the animal companion also won't die so easily. Especially if it's a bear who has +2 AR in the first place. Just watch out when using pulsing spells with Takedown Combo: a pulse will profit from the +100% dmg boost (which will be a very petty dmg increase in flat numbers - and remove it). So you shouldn't cast Chillfog or Wall of Flame or something likethat if you want to use Takedown Combo in that moment.

But you could teach people orthography (spelling mistakes don't have anything to do with grammar) without being douchy. Just reread your last sentence about it: where you causally connect an orthography mistake with stupidity. This is not decent. You got annoyed by his arguments and lashed out. That might happen sometimes, but it's still low and should not be justified. )*And by the way the dot would be correctly placed after the brackets. We all make spelling or grammar mistakes sometimes... No need to dwell on that. I mean unless it's a very funny mistake. Like Buttercut or Grocery Street... Most here can totally differenciate between the ability to write a correct sentence and the abililty to make a solid argument. Heck, if not then the Balthazar would by royally screwed. Sorry Balthazar!

It does NOT break Enduring Dance. Only damage that goes through attack resolution (does a hit roll against your defense and then does damage) counts. So all types of self damage (Alacrity, Berserker Frenzy, Sacred Immolation, Voidwheel etc.) are safe to use with Dance of Death.

It's ok if you don't try to tank with them. Just don't send them into the fray and they will be fine. I played an Arcane Archer/Bleak Walker with a Bear recently and the Bear seldomly went down. I used it to apporach the flanks and to apply Takedown Combo on weaklings before I shot them with Flames of Devotion (takes no penalty with Arcance Archer's passive). It's a bit like playing an assassin sniper. Of course the dmg boost is very substancial then, especially when combined with a good lash. You'll spent the 1 Bond for Takedown Combo most efficiently if you chose a weapon with high base damage. Like Arbalest (I used Spearcaster) or Arquebus. But it works with any attack. I also played a very good melee Stalker/Wizard with a Morning Star who used Takedown Combo to boost my Essential Phantom's Draining Touch attacks (highest melee base damage). Morning Star was used to lower enemy' fortitude so that Takedown Combo has a better chance to hit. With this Geomancer I could solo all Dragons on PoTD. Here I did the tanking, not the animal companion. It was a Lion by the way (it's the most flexible because it has shorter recovery). I could also cast somme nice single target spells on enemies once Takedoen Combo was applied - like Necrotic Lance and later Killing Bolt. Since spells usually have higher base dmaage than weapons this works especially well. This build was totally focused on tough single targets. And it was very good at taking down everything due to high dmg output, good tanking capability and having two additonal bodies on the field most of the time. If you are interested I could give a short comparison of the build. Atm Essential Phantom doesn'tt work too well because the level scaling of some summons is broken. I hope this gets fixed soon. So - yes. You can totally make it work. It's only 1 Bond and it also has the slight CC effect. I like it a lot.

I once did a Berserker/Fury with Deltro's Cage and Voulge - but it was focused on casting all kinds of shock spells before closing in. Once I got Blood Thirst (of course comes late) it was a lot of fun. Furyshaper/Fury (just focusing on casting speed) could be fun as well. I did two Warlocks with the same principle and they were nice. I actually never touched a Shifter. Edit: ha... that came out so wrong...

Oh hi! Here to confirm that devs will look into this?

This is low. And it doesn't help your reasoning.

Your post is choke full of the "gitgood" elitism that is ruining modern gaming. It was also called Path of the Damned in PoE1 where it was much better balanced. Is single-player gaming supposed to be some kind of elimination contest these days with each new installment being progressively harder until video games are unplayable for everyone but the select few? --- Now for reasonable people: the main issue with PotD in Deadfire is that too many mid-game enemies have 10 or 11 armor when in fact they all should have around 9. Again, I'm talking about regular trash fights, not about bosses. What's funny is that endgame trash rarely has more than 11 armor too and gets completely obliterated. (And before anyone mentions it, no, Grave Calling shouldn't be the "I win" item. Encouraging people to beeline to Crookspur for completely metagaming reasons because other weapons are more or less useless in certain fights is bad design.) So... you want to be able to play PotD (that's the highest difficulty there is) - but you don't think you have to be good (however beeing good is achieved). Very reasonable indeed... That's like saying: "Hey! I want to play in the NBA - I know it's the toughest league and usually you have to be really good to make it. But here's the thing: I'm not good at basketball but I want to be part of this and this elitism is crap so please will you stop blocking my shots already goddammit?!?". To cite Josh Sawyer (again)

I finished SSS some weeks ago with a mortar Monk in the party and is was easy as pie. *ratatatata* Everyone was near dead and *pouf* Resonant Touch and they were really dead. Granted I had my whole party set up for this (Aloth with Dazzling Lights + Pull of Eora and Miasma, Xoti with Sigil of Rymrgand and so on). And I repeat: What is overpowered in solo PotD upscaled in the first place?

I guess so - they said "ASAP". That has to mean something.

This can't be... Heeelllloooo!

I agree. I don't doubt that...

If you are doing PotD solo runs you should know when to use what I'd say. Your own restrictions (no rest and so on) can't be used to judge something in general. That judgement is only valid in that scope then. Anyway - the initial statement (why I posted the gifs) was that those weapon combos are so OP in a party environment that it's no fun because everything only evolves around triggering that certain effect.

I just checked and you can get +10 PL bonus with Monk (so 5 additional jumps): Wellspring + Potion of Ascension + Prestige + Empower = 10 jumps. There you go. It's silly but possible. Why is Empowerment a no-go? Keeper of the Flame cannot do what mortars do because the AoE doesn't jump like Fire in the Hole's Chain Shot, its AoE damage is lower (you have to skill Religion to make it worthwhile and even then you generate a lot fewer Resonant Touches) and it has only one damage type. And it's only one AoE weapon where dual mortars are two. The only good things are that Magran's Wrath seems to bypass AR completely despite it having a PEN value and that it triggers Avenging Storm. But... isn't it bad to have to skill Religion in order to get more AoE damage - in a solo run? At least it was with Arcana. It is the inferior weapon most of the time when dealing with mobs. Also comes pretty late. Also Blinding Smoke from Hand Mortar causes -10 Reflex. And mortars target Reflex... Blunderbusses (mortars and blunderbusses) are most likely the best weapon choice for a SC Monk at high levels. I mean if you want to pick your tools and stick to them.

Yeah that was hyperbole. But with Prestige + Power Surge Potion of Ascension + Empower you can get to 10 jumps I guess. As I said: not necessarily OP when doing a solo game (although for most encounters I would still think it's the best option even when going solo. Use Sparkcrackers and then go...). And which persuable ultimate OP options are there for solo anyway? You always have to adapt to the tough enemies when doing a solo game. Edit: you'll have to add Wellspring of Life or get another passive +1 PL bonus that I don't know of.

Ha - "Unfair" is a smart choice for a difficulty option. "Path of the Noncomplainer" would also work I guess...

Well... "Why is it still not possible?" comes with some entitlement vibes I'd say.