Boeroer

With beta you mean the beta branch for patch 1.1?

I would wait with that until you are sure that it's bugged (which doesn't seem to be the case).

I just did that - and even in pre 1.1 it was not the case that the armor has a lower recovery penalty but it gives you a recovery speed buff instead! SO the penalty doesn't change but your recovery gets a boost of 15% (10% with patch 1.1). So it's totally normal that you can't see it on the armor's recovery stat. Not pre 1.1 nor after.

Look at your weapon's recovery (during combat - else you will have a 85% speed mod from stealth) - what does it say?

SA's damage was retuned several times during beta. It was ridiculously high at the beginning and then got nerfed. It now gets nerfed again with patch 1.1. The behavior I described above was taken out of the beta code base (decompiled), so that was indeed the mechanic in the beta. I don't think they changed the underlying mechanics for release, but it may be. The calculations are usually done as floats. Rounding only happens in UI (I believe).

No, why? I tested the WotEP with several class combos (Swashbuckler Eder, MC Berserker/Devoted) as well as with Aloth as Battlemage and also as Spellblade. The above is a summary what works and what not. FOr example I also tested if misses on Disengagement attacks proc the Offensive Parry of the WotEP. They do not. So my plan to stack defense bonuses against disengagment attacks (Fleet Feet, Fast Runner, Tumbling for +45 deflection on Disengagment) and then running wild around the battlefield doesn't work. It works with Riposte (from Rogue - only 20% of misses though) but not Offensive Parry. May be better - this would have been extreme cheese and would have been nerfed anyway. What works really well is using an Assassin with Shadowing Beyond to get to an attacker, use "Run Through" to deliver a devastating Assassination+Backstab (the base damage of Run Through is rel high and profits from weapon enchantment and Two Handed Style etc.) and then have +50 deflection for 10 seconds (base) because of Shadowing Beyond. If anything rushes you in that time (which is crucial for any Assassin) you most likely will trigger Offensive Parry and maybe even Riposte and damage + daze the attackers, then deliver an Arterial Strike to them so that you hen can get away while they follow and run themselves to death.

It's even so that Persistent Distraction will allow you to engage mutiple enemies in the second row because of the reach/cone of the WotEP. I just had Aloth engage and distract/flank several dummies in the second row after I gave him Defender Stance and Hold the Line. So any Swashbuckler can cause Persistant Distraction on several enemies passively with the WotEP as well as applying Deep Wounds, Arterial Strike and Gouging Strike in an AoE, interrupt and prone groups with Knockdown/Mule Kick and totally overpower groups with Clear Out. I just let Aloth hit a group of CRE_TIgers with Arterial Strike and then escaped. They all tried to follow and died because of the DoT when moving.

So I just tested what Clear Out does with WotEP: it will apply the AoE cone attack to every enemiy that is hit by Clear Out - which resulted in 30 attack rolls when I could reach 5 enemies (18 INT + Overseeing). All of them got interrupted and lay prone. Nobody should complain about hat nerf. It's still one of the best weapons in the game if you use it right.

It's quite easy if you are not the tanking guy but the guy who flanks (who has decent INT and other AOE mods like Overseeing). The cone shape is not very good if you are sourrounded. For that the pollaxe (or Clean Sweep or Heart of Fury) or the enchantment of the WotEP that lets you attack in a circle are way better. But for anybody who flanks while the majority of the mob gathers around a tank (or is pulled together by Pull of Eora) it's very good. For example a Skald who first casts Killers (cone) and then attacks with the WotEP can land several crits with just one strike. I didn't test what Clear Out (cone) + WotEP will do...

Yes. I'm using Aloth as Spellblade with the WotEP and it does apply afflictons like Confounding Blind over the whole cone. Same with the (kind of) AoE pollaxe (Wahai Pōraga) which will affect multiple enemies with its swirling auto attack.

If you hover over your barb you can see that the color of the question mark (that replaces the number) changes. Green = higher than 75% endurance and so on until red = under 25%. That helps. What also helps is stuff like Veteran's Recovery, Shod in Faith and Savage Defiance (which you can trigger once the question mark is red). Same as Second Whind. Also being Moon Godlike helps of course (since it triggers automatically at 75%, 50% and 25% endurance.

Of course you can - but then you won't get +12 ACC AND the shield's accuracy malus (if medium or large) will get applied to your chants. So in case of a large shield you'd have a difference of 20 ACC compared to a single weapon in the main hand (and nothing in the offhand).

Hehe - good luck!

Especially not after such a short period of time. Most people don't know (yet) what's really good. They just take what they think is good or just sounds cool - because there hasn't been enough time to really determine what's great and what not - apart from the obious game breakers of course.

Maybe the lash now scales as well?

If you have a priest with Barring Death's Door in the party or a Shield bearer with Lay on Hands then a Berserker/Streetfighter is pretty cool. After the "he can't go down" phase you have to heal though - so timing is crucial.

Apparently they are. Have not tested personally though.No they are not. Carnage does not transfer modal "afflictions" like Body Blows etc. What works is Charge (pre 1.1) and Clear Out (plus upgrades). Those are the only two abilities I could find that apply Body Blows (morning star modal) in an AoE. At least that's with game version 1.0.2 Heart of Fury (and I assume the Ranger T8 ability)? Pretty sure HoF was working for me, but my 1.1 Barb doesn't have it quite yet to confirm. Ah,yes. HoF also works. I didn't take it into account because you can't have it as multiclass character (playing a brute with a morning star atm). So I forgot about it. I guess the monk's level-10 ability where he flies (or jumps) around doing full attacks will also work. As well as Flagellant's Path (which I also forgot, Jeez!).

Without taking into account that crits improve your overall PEN by 50%.

Yeas, it feels like that, but that's because the physical damage you do with your weapon's Primary Attack (when executing Soul Annihilation) generates focus - which will then be immediately dumped into the raw damage of Soul Annihilation. The raw damage itself is not multiplicative but only gets calculated based on the focus you have after the physical damage had its hit roll. It's kind of unintuitive. That's the reason why you should not wait with Soul Annihilation until your focus is full - because then you will waste the focus that is being generated during Soul Annihilation itself. When you have Draining Whip you can usually use Soul Annihilation all the time (as long as you have 5 focus min) because you will generate a lot of focus with Soul Annihilation itself before dumping it into the raw damage. However: That was the case in beta3. But I don't think they changed the mechanics at release or even in 1.1.

Yes, it's just a UI bug. At least I could pick it at lvl-up when I played around with the beta branch - if I remember correctly.

Attack animation + recovery time = attack cycle. Your attack animation also takes some time. I guess that's what you are encountering?

Apparently they are. Have not tested personally though. No they are not. Carnage does not transfer modal "afflictions" like Body Blows etc. What works is Charge (pre 1.1) and Clear Out (plus upgrades). Those are the only two abilities I could find that apply Body Blows (morning star modal) in an AoE. At least that's with game version 1.0.2

Just take six priests with six times Inspiring Radiance. PotD = smashed. Cast damaging spells like Pillar of <Whatever> and Shining Beacon with over +90 accuracy for everybody at some point. +60 acc right from lvl 1 on. You will obliterate everything on PotD. First with weapons, later with spells. 6 times Inspiring Radiance = +60 (yes, it stacks with itself) + Devotions = +80 + Blessing = +85 + Crowns = +91.

Best Race might be Moon Godlike because gear doesn't work while shifted anyway, but godlike racial bonuses do. I used a boreal dwarf for my playthrough though. It is possible so solo PotD with almost anything - we even had somebody in this forum who did a complete playtrough with a lvl-1 character ("Noober"). I did an Ultimate run with a Barbarian with 3 RES and 3 DEX - wasn't too hard (but I died from a Battle-Forged/Second Whind bug at lvl 16 in Noonfrost on the way to Thaos - after killing all bounties and dragons). So - a shifting druid should be possible as well (and easier than a barb). With casters it's tougher at the beginning but easier later on - due to the "scaling" of per-rest spell casting (few spells at low levels, a ton at high levels). Druid is a bit easier in the early game than let's say priest, because Spiritshift is quite effective right from the start. You will most likely need high move speed for kiting and pulling. A shifted druid (and druids in general) are not Masters of defense and can't tank all the enemies in an encounter. They have awesome CC and dmg spells, but sometimes you will have to flee. You will need to buff your accuracy somehow against bosses (scrolls for example) because that's what druids lack a bit.

Yes. And every other universal accuracy bonus like Blessing, Gauntlets of Accuracy and so on. What also helps (and this might be a bug/oversight) is a single one handed weapon. This will give your offensive chants (at least Dragon Thrashed) +12 ACC. The one handed style does nothing though.