Boeroer

AoE-CC is strictly worse because the AoE splash on crit doesn't transport CC effects like hand mortars, blast or Lance/Minor Blights do. Single target CC is better because you have 3 chances to apply the afflictons. Like normal blunderbuss basically but with higher range and higher ACC. If you crit a lot and also use Combusting Wounds a lot the AoE dmg is very decent. If you're just plinking around it's rather unimpressive. Other bows are better then. When I'm doing Heart of Fury with dual mortars or Frostseeker the damage output on dummies is almost the same (because dummies have very low defenses and that leads to a lot of crits which helps Frostseeker).

Maybe they are. It's rel. difficult to determine. Single classes get some of the good stuff a lot earlier and some high level stuff that is really powerful. But multiclasses' synergies are often pretty front-loaded which also helps a lot. I also ask because I don't know how "best" is defined: best at a certain "peak" or best over the course of a whole playthrough (then I don't think that one can beat Soulblade/Rogue as melee dps for example). For example the single class monk with Whispers of the Wind + Resonant Touch is doing so much dps (even if you substract the casting time) at highest levels that I believe not much can compete with that - ranged weapon or melee. But it comes superlate of course.

That's why his name is Konstanten: he's constantenly there...

Urgs.

If I thought that my word was law I wouldn't want to discuss the matter, would I?

Why no single classes?

Thanks for the info. Was it maybe 120° in PoE - or why did this vague idea of a number pop up in my head?

But you heard Kaylon: no need to argue - since his word is law. So let's not waste our reasonable arguments here.

As I said before: a good example is Arterial Strike with mortars: you can lure enemies to a spot with Arkemyr's Dazzling Lights and then hit them all for 1 Guile from stealth. They will run towards you, bleeding like crazy while you Espace behind your buddies. Stuff like that makes mortars excellent. Kitchen Stove has no passive bounce afaik, only through Wild Shot which is 1/rest. Driving Flight will usually add one bounce in a 120-degree cone (I guess - don't know if 120° is correct). But iirc Driving Flight adds no bounce if Wild Shot is active. Didn't test though, may be outdated. Fire in the Hole also can be upgraded with one bounce (that works with Driving Flight - last time I checked with the Deep Leap build).

Questionable if that is "best" for somebody's overall party performance though. Extreme example: a tank who can't die but gets ignored by enemies and can't prevent enemies from engaging over party members (basically a withdrawn char). When he can block a chokepoint that's great. For all other situations that would be a useless character. As useless as an extreme glass cannon that goes down after one attack. Having both in the team just blocks 2 character slots. That would not meet my definition of "best tank". So maybe if one wants to know what the "best tank" is he/she should define what he/she means by "best". For example for me a good tank for a party is one that not only can survive but also contributes to the performance of the party in some other way, be it healing, support/buffs, CC or damage. Binding lots of enemies is a CC effect for me. A strong one.

Assassin/Priest of Skaen is very enjoyable for me.

If Obsidian games will stop making games for Linux and selling it via Steam or GoG they will also stop seeing a Blue Orlan. Well, maybe that means I will be doing healthier things in my free time. Always look on the bright side!

No. Kitchen Stove and Xefa's Empirical Explication are also very nice. But mostly against single targets. Serafen's hand mortars are the only AoE ones. Blunderbusses allow for some cheese because they use multiple projectiles which leads to multiple hits (or hit rolls). All stuff that works with x on hit or y on dmg (like Combusting Wounds, The Shield Cracks or Confounding Blind) are great in combination with a blunderbuss. Or two blunderbusses. Or even more through switching. But when it comes to the appliance of DoTs the mortars are king because of the AoE. They don't have multiple projectiles though.

Yes, fighters can be a little boring.

It would be nice if it also triggered on some grazes though. Getting misses on a SC rogue is kind of hard.

It's an active ACC or Deflection buff. Those don't stack with other active ACC or Deflection buffs (like Devotions or Shields for the Faithful). It stacks with +5 PER inspirations of course. And with Vigorous Defense (for some complicated reasons). But since I nearly always bring a Preist...

Hehe - I just realized that I recommended a combo that I tried out with the help of the console: Arcane Knight with Riposte is not really possible... Was fun nonetheless. Well Conquerer Stance doesn't stack with other ACC or Deflection buffs so I never use it after the early game. Mob Stance however not only gives you more attack speed but also a free Full Attack on kill. If Riposte kills it triggers another Full Attack and so on. It surely is better for my playstyle than Conquerer Stance or Defender Stance. Although the dmg reduction from Defender Stance is nice as well.

Barbarians have a huge health pool. In the early game that doesn't help much (because in flat numbers it's not that much at lvl 1), but every level adds more and more "meat". More than other classes get. I once had a Barb with around 6000 health. It takes a lot of time to reduce that to zero. Usually it's enough to endure several encounters and other party members will force you to rest earlier than this guy. If you feel it's too much you can use Potions of Infuse with Vital Essence. They will give you back health. I did an Ultimate Playtrough (solo on PotD difficulty with expert mode and several other rules) with a low deflection/high healing barb and low health wasn't a big problem after some levels. Barbs (no matter the build) are always a bit squishy in the first few levels. If you can endure this you will be rewarded.

No active armor boost stacks with other actives. Active abilities don't stack in Deadfire (as general rule). You need to stack AR from gear and passives (all stack) and then add the most powerful AR passive (Iron Skin or Llengrath's Safeguard or Gilded Enmity and such). Paladins have the highest passive AR bonus I think (Inspired Defense + Stoic Steel) and thus can reach the highest amount of AR with Gilded Enmity. Correct me if I'm wrong. You can combine Paladin with Barb (Thick Skinned - passive) or Stalker (+1 AR if pet is near - passive) or Unbroken to go even further, but you'll need a lot more levels to reach Stoic Steel.

And you can't translate them because...? Rauatai Cookies would be great to do with my kids I guess. Then they can bring them over to Grandma for Christmas.

As a multiclass wizard you don't need to pick a single spell at lvl-up if you carry a good selection of grimoires with you. Put everything into the other class and pick some passives if you are forced to pick a wizard ability. You can still cast all spells you want while having lots of other awesome abilities. Played a Sage like this - all the monk goodies with the spells from the wizard. Other casters need some cool trinket effect, too. I wonder why we don't see priest-only trinkets that add some spell uses or something. This can't be hard to do.

Toxic Strike builds up damage with every tick. And steeply so! If you have high INT it's a death sentence for most foes (a faster death sentence than Gouging Strike). Also if you want to stack DoTs you might need it since DoTs from the same rogue ability don't stack but stuff like Gouging + Toxic + Ring the Bell do stack. Withering Strike is too expensive, Toxic Strike is not. Especially not if you can apply it in an AoE. Then it's a great damage tool.

Mirrored Image stacks with Llengrath's Safeguard or Vigorous Defense. It's possible to get to 150+ Deflection with a Trickster/Fighter while using Mirrored Images and Refreshing Defense and Mob Stance (instead of Warrior Stance). With several engagement slots and Persistent Distraction and Riposte you can be a great tank who also passively debuffs 6 enemies and deals good damage. In such a setup Riposte can add good dps to your build. Arcane Knight can work as well but has less attack speed bonuses and engagement. A more risky approach but also more satisfying I tried out is to use an Arcane Knight or Battlemage with Citzal's Spirit Lance and Riposte. You might need to get Bracers and Cape of Greater Deflection. High Intimidate and that scarred Breastplate I forgot the name of is also nice. Riposte is obviously worse on PotD.

I can't like D:OS. It pushes all my eww-buttons somehow. That's kind of weird since I really like the original Divine Divinity. I'm still happy that Larian has success with it. The genre needs success. I even backed DO:S2 although I suspected it's not my thing. A few hours very much confirmed that suspicion. I can't even say why. For comparison: I liked Blackguards. Blackguards over D:OS - can you believe it? Deadfire (for me and despite its flaws) is a league above D:OS.

I have no typical party formation. I just don't play "main tank + squishies". One glass cannon is ok since you can manage to keep him/her alive without too much hassle. Enemies will look for certain values to decide whom they attack. For example low AR, deflection or health. If you present them a party member with low AR, low deflection and small health pool there will be a guarantee that every enemy in an encounter would like to attack Special Ed. I try to give the backline guys either a shield, powerful healing or good AR. That makes all that rushing and "escaping" to my backline somewhat manageable. Enemies are more likely to stick to my front line even though they are not engaged. Xoti as pure priest is a front liner in medium armor for me by the way. Works well enough if she's not the first to stick her head out of stealth. The "useless" Litany for the Mind gives her Concentration every 6 secs.