Boeroer

Hello Librarians, tell me how you're doin'...

Totally not OP : (watch out: rather big gif file...)

How can you die when being invisible? Usually you can spam WotW - for example as a Nalpasca + Enduring Dance - and stay invisible until it's time to trigger Resonant Touch. Also with Whispers of the Wind +blunderbuss (not speaking about mortars here, normal blunderbuss) the enemies don't need to be standing close together. As long as you have two enemies and let's say 10 jumps of WotW you will do 42 hit rolls to them. Let's say your Resonant Touch does 20 raw damage - that's 800 raw damage on top of your pierce damage on two enemies. And when meeting packed mobs just switch to mortars. THis will not kill all enemies (for example pierce immune ones) - but it will kill most enemies quickly. A LOT more quickly than fists would do. But we are not speaking about solo. In solo you need a lot of other things, first of all survivability of some form. A good solo character isn't necessarily a good party character. In a party other members can keep the enemy busy while you prepare the one-shot-cheese. And while those chars couldn't function solo because they would get killed while trying to set up their special move - they are certainly OP in a party. I played FS with a blunderbuss SC Monk with a party (as you can see in the one vid where I am in an FS map) and Librarians, Luminous Spore, everybody - they just die. Especially when also adding Avenging Storm to the mix. The other party members just stand around after initial buffing. With Grave Calling's Chillfog it's even more OP: It profits from all weapon enchantments and dmg bonuses (including Sneak Attack, Deathblows and even Backstab if you put yourself into the midst of a group while being invisible from Vanishing Strike). You will only need some skeletons and you will do more than 60 freeze dmg per pulse + paralyzing the enemy with every crit (Grave Bound - remember: all weapon enchantments). And once you meet freeze immune foes grab Hel Beckoning and do exactly the same with Will o'Whisps + Noxious Burst. If they are immune to both they will still get paralyzed with every crit. And if there are enemies you can't be beaten by it - that doesn't mean it's OP. With a SC Monk it even gets more weird: Chilling Grave/Grave Bound not only paralyzes the enemies but also adds Resonant Touches... You can't tell me that both things are not OP. They trivialize more than 90% of encounters. They don't need a nerf in my opinion though because few people will actually enjoy cheesing that much. As I said with Monk it's usually ok since you only get there at the highest levels. So the road to the cheese reward is kind of long until you can enjoy it and feel satisfied. Only thing I would remove id Blinding Smoke triggering Avenging Storm. That also can be abused superearly in the game and trivialize most encounters. Will it win you all solo challenges? Maybe not - but that's not a criteria for being OP. OP means it's a lot more powerful than the usual. And that both things are. Hell I just killed Fyrgist's crew in a boarding fight in less than 20 secs with Chilling Grave. Being Lvl 8...

They stack. In general all item enchantments in Deadfire stack (contrary to PoE).

Grocery street! I love it!

Afaik a new Bellower phrase bonus overrides an older one if still active. But for the second invocation the Weyc's bonus + Bellower PL phrase bonus should stack I guess. I would still go with Refreshing Finale. You'll get back the Empower point back and also +3 phrases. Since the Weyc's bonus lasts for 20 secs base it should be possible to use the next Invocation with maxed phrases and the Weyc's bonus. Takes all a bit longer but you won't have to rest for Empower points. If you rest frequently anyways then of course your suggestion is way better.

Avenging Storm + Hand Mortar + Fire in the Hole + No Quarter is a nice "surprise" AoE attack for every close standing mob. Since it skips reload (and stealth gives you 85% recovery bonus) you can follow up with two additonal AoE shots right away. Also not very risky since most enemies will be stunned (or dead).

Yes, it tends to become a one-man-show. Same with Berserker/Beckoner with Grave Calling (Chilling Grave): everything gets automatically taylored towards that guy sinc he can end most encounters in an instant as soon as he gets his skellies out... It's too good to be fun. With SC Monk you do at least have to take a longer path until you finally get the big reward (Resonsant Touch and then Whispers of the Wind) - but with Berseker/Beckoner you can go wild as soon as you buy/steal Grave Calling and do the rel. easy/cheap enchantment: That's lvl 9 only and I could've done that way earlier, too. It's fun for a short time but I can't do a whole playthrough with that sort of cheese. It's too good and gets boring pretty fast. Besides that it also kills the framerate.

It's ok-ish. Bring Low lowers defenses by 10, that's quite handy. If you attack flanked targets mainly it's a good weapon. But if you want more reliable CC that triggers on every crit then Ball and Chain is better I think.

Spirit Tornado only lets out that freeze damage and Terrify when you cast it, yes. The staggering keeps working for the entire duration of course.

Maybe we can do a simplified example: Let's say you have 10 sec recovery time. Now you add a 10% recovery bonus. You are at 9 sec. Now you add an additional 10% recovery bonus. You are at 8.1. And so on. Not twice as strong. But you become 10% faster than before with every step. But you can't reach 0 that way.

Yes. Yes.

In PoE stacking rules are different to Deadfire's. Item bonuses do not stack unless it's from a weapon.

I know that Spirit Frenzy/Spirit Tornado's Stagger effect works with spells, yes (which is quite nice). I think Blood Storm doesn't but I didn't test lately. Brute Force also works with spells.

Yes, that is correct. Don't 'minmax' everything towards retaliation right from the start. Else it will get supertedious before reaching the higher levels.

What lash? Turning Wheel doesn't get applied to spells anymore (patch). Lightning Strikes never did afaik (?). I mean when we talk about casting only. Sage with Citzal's Spirit Lance is still great and works with Turning Wheel etc. And Helwalker is always great for a caster anyway because of the +10 INT and +10 MIG. A Berserker (remove Confusion with Devil's Breastplate, Svef, Captain's Banquet or Modwyr) also gets +2 PEN for his spells. Besides that you get high casting speed through Frenzy, Bloodlust and most notably Blood Thirst. Blooded can boost spells' damage as well. An alternative can be Furyshaper with the Frenzy Ward which adds even more speed.

Question on the Morningstar. I’m assuming you used Willbreaker? Do you have to avoid the DOT upgrade because it can interfere with the 100% damage on next attack? I am not familiar if DOTs can take precedence and consume the buff. Yes, Willbreaker (lowers Will besides Fortitude). Also because I used Essential Phantom with Draining Touch (targets Will) a lot alongside my animal companion. DoT-ticks don't interfere with Takedown Combo. Only attacks that go through attack resolution will count.

Hey!

Also have it

I also don't know. Not piratey enough I guess.

You wouldn't believe but there is a thread already that answers your questions (I guess): https://forums.obsidian.net/topic/108495-need-help-with-weapon-choice-blunderbluss/

I used Serafen, so vanilla. Berserker with Savage Defiance can still be good. He gets +2 AR from his Frenzy which can be very important. You will get crit a lot so you need all the AR you can get. Maybe don't push MIG so high. Furyshaper could also be good. With Blood Ward you would at least get back some good health with every Retaliation + Carnage. By the way: Retaliation also works with ranged weapon (no reload) e.g. Hand Mortars or so. When fighting against Kith/Wilder Corpse Eater is nice. You can retaliate while doing Flesh Communion. But against all others...

Eternal Devotion is only 10% - and I think yes. At least it works for Imbue shots of the Arcane Archer. Yes, you can do Ripostes while casting. It is a non-animated "passive" attack.

Thanks for this Boeroer. What do you think is the best weapon for a monk DPS wise if I'm looking to go swift flurry and heartbeat drumming route? On the other thread, someone told me fist + scordeo's edge will offer the highest dps if you can crit most the time. Or is there anything better? ^^ for single target damage by the way. I would guess Grave Calling (with Grave Bound --> paralyze --> 25% conversion) + Scordeo's Edge (Blade Cascade + Adaptive). There may be other weapons that give you a bit more additional ACC than Grave Calling - but it comes legendary, has a lash and you can get it early. And Grave Bound is an easy enhantment and with Torment's Reach the 10 stacks are done in a breeze. And you also want to deal good damage when Swift Flurry doesn't trigger. I also like that you'll have two sabres for all slash damage and two fists for crush as alternative. Another alternative (I can imagine) is Rapier + modal (+25 ACC) & Scordeo's or Scordeo's + Azure Blade (+15 ACC). But I like that Swift Flurry + Heartbeat Drumming are more satisfying with the high dmg per proc. And that the paralyze works for Scordeo's Edge and Adaptive works for Grave Calling as well. By the way I tried a Debonaire/Helwalker Shadowdancer because of the 100% crit conversion when you attack a charmed enemy and with Swift Flurry + Heartbeat you have a 50% chance on your first attack that one of both or both proc. Sometimes you get a long chain of crits this way.

Just keep in mind that attributes are capped at 35.