Boeroer

I would compare Maelstrom to Meteor Shower because I think that those two are more similar/comparable in size an "feel" - and also Meteor Shower is potentially more devastating than Missile Salvo (bigger base and proc AoEs, higher base dmg, longer duration, more potential for PL boosting than Missile Salvo). At least when I was testing and comaring both Missile Salvo and Meteor Shower the latter was able to kill groups of random high level enemies with one cast while Missile Salvo could not.

Also Clear Out hits the initial target twice which makes it even pretty useful against single targets. The circular AoE of Clean Sweep is bigger than HoF's. Clear the Path has a broad, long line as AoE (del. longer than the 5m the wiki notes) which is not affected by INT - so you can use that with a dumb fighter and not lose AoE size. Clear Out + Morning Star is nice, but I don't like that Clear Out itself already targets fortitude. So you have to overcome fortitude in order to lower fotitude. In that regard HoF is better because it targets Deflection (or Fortitude if it's lower with Brute Force).

I forgot that CP added the ability and that it's not in the vanilla game. I'm not the only one it seems: it's even in the official wiki: https://pillarsofeternity.fandom.com/wiki/Vielo_Vidorio

As @Constentin Lévineshowed: they stack. But keep in mind that the AoE of Shared Flames i pretty small. Your AA/Bleak Walker shouldn't stand too far away from Pallegina if she's using Shared Flames. Her ability "Vielo Vidorio" stacks with other reloading/recovery buffs if I'm not mistaken and has a bigger base AoE than Shared Flames. And imo 20% recovery bous is better than +15% burning lash (with a smaller area of effect).

You could open combat with a mortar shot with Gouging Strike + modal and then switch to the melee setup. That way you will apply the neverending DoT on a bunch of enemies, not just a single one. In solo fights I find this very useful since they usually last a lot longer than with a party and the endless but low-ticking DoT pays off its cost. It works best from stealth when you first lure many enemies to a spot with Dazzling Lights (Guile gets refreshed if you don't start the fight too soon after casting it. Don't hit anybody with the AoE, just place it somewhere the enemies should go to). Basically enemies are hitting each other. It ends when you run - NOT when you use Escape or Flagellant's Path or Bounding Boots. You can prolong the base duration of 3 with INT and Power Levels and so on. The redirected attacks don't count as misses. It will prevent Ripostes entirely but can be a lifesaver if you can keep it up long enough.

Not gear, but the biggest impact would have a Chanter in the party with Sura-Handed Ila. It will add 20% recovery bonus AND 20% reload bonus for the arbalest (yes, both things from that one phrase will stack for reloading weapons). This makes a huge difference in reloading speed. A friendly Troubadour (or another chanter with really high INT) could even run Sure-Handed Ila and Aefyllath with no gap for you, which would be the perfect chant setup. Aefyllath stacks with Eternal Devotion (or Shared Flames). Gear: Acina's Tricorn imo is the best headgear for reloading weapons. It's easy and early to get. Ring of the Marksman is also very good for you and is also easy and early to get. You will crit a lot, so the Necklace of the Harvest Moon might be interesting to you (also easy to get /early item). Aegor's Swift Touch for the hands Sash of Judgment for the waist The first two are most impactful I think. A thing about any arbalest: When stacking eough reloading bonuses (see above) you can perma-knockdown enemies on hit with the arbalest's modal despite its reloading malus - which is extremely useful against nearly all bosses and nasty casters.

Hi, normal difficulty lets you get away with all sorts of characters, so no worries. The official companions are build in a way that a normal diff. playthrough is possible with not much trouble even if your main character was a complete disaster. Attribute point distribution is not as crucial as in many other RPGs. It can make a difference of course, but a few points here and there won't have an effect on the validity of your character. Other than that you can totally be a diplomatic Paladin focusing on roleplaying and dialogue and story - but still play a good supporting role during fights. There's one tip for a supporting Paladin that I found to be super helpful in fights: it's the combination of a marking weapon (you should automatically get one when you pick the faction that I think you will pick naturally as a Paladin) with the Paladin ability "Coordinated Attacks". Both do the same: they give the nearest ally who also attacks the same enemy as you +10 accuracy (big bonus). Since they stack it's in fact +20 accuracy (huge bonus). This alone can make the Paladin very helpful in fights "passively" without him even doing much damage by himself - and it doesn't cost much in terms of money or ability points. I made a little character build for such a diplomatic Shieldbearer paladin who is pretty useful in fights, too. It might be a bit too detailed and riddled with special terminology - but maybe it will give you ideas:

Helwalker's MIG bonus is a passive. So Thunderous Blows + Helwalker's MIG bonus should result in +15 MIG as well. If you have two Willbreakers (for example by using an Essential Phantom or Watery Double) you can even apply the stacking Will debuff of Willbreaker twice as high. Also important to say that weapon modals are not passives (unfortunately) - and chants aren't either (you said that) althoug they stand on the passive side of the ability tree (which is very misleading imo).

It's also great with Driving Flight + Twinned Shot with a SC Ranger. The high ACC of the Ranger paired with four attack rolls per shot makes a chain reaction on a bunch of enemies a lot more likely than high ACC or crit conversion alone. It's helpful to have maxed INT, INT gear, Rings of Overseeing and Aloth's Leather Armor as well as the Loki pet. Becoming smart/acute/brilliant also helps of course.

****. I should have written "the sword is less clumsy than the finger it cut off." Missed opportunity really.

*Elric wearing Boots of Evasion confirmed* PS: lol at perplexing sap

I genuinely read "roasting party members" the first time and became really curious...

Well, getting hit by Terrify is super annoying and the same goes for frighten (can't use FF ability then etc.) so it's not too bad of a tradeoff I think. There's plenty of other stuff that you can catch. And as said the main source of hostile effects should be your FF ability. The rest is cherries on top. Add Hylea's Talons and you will experience noticably more wounds for example. And do more dmg.

The auto-hit part that governs the bonuses and which gets prolonged, too is the most cheesy part imo. PS: Toxic Strike: jes

Everybody knows the saying "the sword is less clumsy than the finger".

I think it's a good spell. Not fantastic like some others the Druid has access to, but solid. Targeting fortitude is always annoying, but having some AoE-MIG- and CON-affl. in the party does help (e.g. Howler with Long Night's Drink + Spirit Frenzy, best if paired with Ngati's Tusk/Hunter of Hunters) and so does AoE Morning Star (one reason for me to bring a SC Fighter for the sweet Clean Sweep with Willbreaker or Saru Sichr). Since raw DoT spells and abilities usually don't stack with themselves it's a good way to stack some more raw ticks on (a lot of) enemies. Even the weird mechanics are not a problem then because you will cast it as the last one of the AoEs anyway, when the enemies already suffered some damage. The obvious combo is with Plague oI because the AoEs are both huge as was already mentioned. What's also huge (besides the mess on my desk) is the AoE of White Worms - so I like to combine those two as well. It has a nice interaction with Toxic Strike (preferably done with an AoE weapon like a rod+Blast or so from stealth to get rid of recovery): the ticks of Toxic Strike grow with time and the ticks of Maggots grow with lesser health - which snowballs a bit more than usual.

Whoa sweet Cheesus

That's why I didn't recommend Wild Orlan above. Resistances don't only prevent wounds from tier-1 afflictions but from all tiers. It's a little quirk of the FF's wound trait - so no resistances is best. To gain more wounds use Hylea's Talons. They will put a rel. short-lived hostile effect (DoT) on you that will give you wounds when it expires. Shooting with a Blunderbuss+modal from time to time will give you wounds, too. Once you get Parted Sorrow you will get a wound from every enemy you engage and kill (because dying apparently counts as disengaging, too ). If you need more wounds and mortification you can switch to Xoti's Lantern right before killing somebody. It doesn't matter how you kill (spell or weapon or DoT or whatever): it will give you 1 wound and 1 mortification per kill. In general the main way to produce wounds is using the Forbidden Fist ability. With maxed RES and the usual -hostile effect duration gear and (Enlightened) Clarity of Agony you should be able to spam it. If not you can use heavier armor and balance the recovery in a way that it's slightly longer than the curse duration. Nomad's Brigandine is nice because it gives melee deflection (and/or ranged - see Soul Mirror in combination with Riposte) while also being a heavy armor with high recovery penalty. If that's not slow enough you can check out the Patinated Plate. If you do it right you can spam Forbidden Fist non-stop, which nets more health than the curse will cost. All other afflictions and hostile effects (see Hylea's Talons etc.) will come on top. If you have a Druid or Wizard on the party then stuff like Tanglefoot or Binding Web are good sources of friendly-fire, short-lived afflictions. You can walk into the area where the foes are struggling with those spells and get some wounds in the process.

I tend to forget about immersion that interferes with my cheese.

Really? I must have written about canceled Leap about a dozen times. Leap works out of combat, so a canceled Leap is the perfect tool for sneaking, stealing and pickpocketing.

Ohh. I use Bounding Boots like that all the time but I never thought about canceling Hunter's Pounce. I have one dude in the party who uses it atm and could really use some more movement capabilities bc. I have too many melee chara. Nice!

If you use Swift Flurry you can try Sun & Moon. One can buy it early (if there's money in the pocket ). It's also a lot more likely to give you crit chains. It all starts to really go off as soon as you get Heartbeat Drumming though. Before that there will be the occasional mini-chain from SF alone, but only the combination makes it go like "holy ****" from time to time. Swords are cool with a FF imo bc. they give you pierce and slash - and crush comes from the FF ability. Very versatile and useful against all sorts of enemies. For raising deflection (for a time) there's also Duskfall (easy to get and for free). Players often overlook the Gladiator Sword. But it can get +1 PEN (which can make a huge difference offensively), +5 deflection when worn with a shield (see Tuotilo's Palm: +15 deflection with both when at 10 wounds) and +10% dmg (not the world - but still cool). It's not the most potent offensive weapon, but for a character who already has high deflection it's really nice imo - increasing returns and so on. I did a Streetfigther/Unbroken main tank with the Gladiator Sword + Bronlar's Phalanx and that dude was the silent star of the show both in terms of defense and offense. Not flashy though.

Fingers crossed!

Mechanically I think Priest of Woedica is great. The later writs are very useful. Writ of Mending is an AoE enfeeble that targets not fortitude but will (like all writs). Combined Writ of War + Sorcery is great - there is no immunity or resistance to that unlike vs. RES afflictions.

oops, double post sorry