Boeroer

I didn't read all the posts leading up to this now, so forgive me if I say something that was already dismissed as not working or stupid. I like that you can play around with Firebrand - which isn't a superpowerful weapons to begin with (and you need to be a Druid who isn't the most awesome two-hander user) - and make it cool with an additional item. On the other side I don't like that certain attacks which don't do direct elemental damage get an elemental keyword and then work with Ring and Scion of Flame et al. And then also get those immunity issues despite not actually dealing the kind of damage the enemy is immune to. Example: Dragon's Dowry. It only deals pierce damage but has a burning lash and fire themed fluff and enchantments. Why do its attacks have to have the fire keyword though? I get it with weapons like Essence Interrupter, Draining Touch, Firebrand etc. because they deal elemental damage directly, not via lash only. I mean if I slap Mith Fyr or Turning Wheel on attacks they also don't become fire-keyworded attacks, so... just keep it consistent with the direct damage/lashes lending keywords. So I guess I'm in favor of 3: make Ring of Focused Flames work with attacks that deal direct fire damage (of course Firebrand... but also see Keeper of the Flame's AoE? St. Drogga's Skull's additional burn dmg which is not a lash? Is there another weapon attack that deals direct fire damage? For example Sungrazer's AoEs?) and remove fire keywords from attacks which don't do direct fire dmg. Don't know if that distiction between original attack and additional fire attack (see Keeper of the Flame etc.) is even possible though. Maybe that's too complicated (also see Magran's Favor which deals slash damage but has an enchantment that applies elemetal fire DoT: no keyword for the slash but keyword for the DoT? Possible? Reasonable? Don't know...). That would be consistent and systemic imo - also for enemies(!): attacks that deal direct fire damage get the keyword, others don't (lash is not enough). If that's too wild to implement then I'd go for 3 as suggested I believe. 2 would also be cool with me if the immunity issues can be avoided.

If it's about damage output then def. stick to the Streetfighter. By the way: a Troubadour/Streetfighter can also deal awesome damage with an arquebus once you get the upgraded Wisp summons. You can let them target yourself, their attack does little damage but distracts, unlocking the Streetfigther passive. This stacks with Sure-Handed Ila (which grants 2*-20% reload time for reloading weapons, so it's a must-have for a reloading dps chanter, blunderbuss or arquebus). With the Red Hand this combo deals incredible single target DPS. You can combine with Deltro's Cage Helmet for some easy shocking lash (the Wisps deal shock dmg). Blunderbusses also work of course, right from lvl 1. The arquebus only has the advantage of longer range and higher PEN as well as the excellent modal should you need it (Harbinger doesn't come with particularly high Accuracy). Disadvantage would be that you cannot summon other creatures than Wisps if you want to keep triggering the Streetfighter passive. Blunderbusses have the advantage of multihit or even AoE (both nice for CC purposes), but the Powder Burns modal (which unlocks your Streetfigther passive) also hurts your friends and summons. And Range/PEN are pretty low. Anyway, for best weapon dps pick Troubadour and use Aefyllath Ues Mith Fyr + Sure Handed Ila and turn off Brisk Recitation. This will slow down your summoning but allow you to keep the burning lash and the dual reloading bonus up at all times which both contribute to your and your party's weapon dmg output (best if someone else also uses reloading weapons, too - for example an Arbalest or so which then becomes a great tool for interrupts).

I usually go with only mediocre MIG, DEX and CON. Most important to me in this case are RES and then INT.

Oops - forgot the "melee" part of the question.

Troubadour/Berserker with Amra: min RES, max INT and 25 MIG, add AoE size gear and a pet that adds 20 health per kill. You will kill Ancient Brittle Bones and Many Lives Pass By skeletons "accidentially" via Carnage and Amra's Riven Gore which gives 20 health, Bloodlust, Blood Thirst and so on. Do not remove Confusion! Once you get Blood Thirst never turn off Battle Axe modal and just melt everything. Streetfighter/Berserker with Amiina's Legacy (great if you are a Dwarf): Unse Hunting Bow modal to fire at high speed. Use Berserker Frenzy to get to Blooded quickly which triggers Streetfighter's "Heating Up". Now shoot with awesome speed and pile up Blood Frenzy DoT, Deep Wounds, Arterial Strike and whatnot. Finish with Barbaric Smash. Use all the shooting gear. Pro: insane attack speed, great dmg modifiers (high Sneak Attack + Deathblows + Blooded) + good PEN (Tenacious + Crippling Strike). Con: accuracy could be better. But great at taking out high prio targets such as enemy casters. Makes the early game pretty easy because all the main components for insane speed are there from lvl 1. Berserker/Skald with Blightheart. Summon Ancient Brittle Bones and later Many Lives Pass By and then use Berserker Frenzy for confusion and cast Her Revenge onto enemies while skeletons get in the way. Every kill (skeletons included) will give you 1 phrase (see Blightheart's Hymn of Decay). Since Skald's Her Revenge only costs 2 phrases you will be able to cast it in very quick succession. Skald or Troubadour/Furyshaper with Willbreaker. Kind of self explanatory. Use Willbreaker + modal + Spirit Frenzy (NOT Spirit Tornado) + Ben Fidel's Neck + The Long Night's Drink to lower enemies' Will and Fortitude into the ground. Use Brute Force to gain significant virtual ACC by attacking the superlow Fortitude instead of deflection. Great for the rest of the party while crushing bones. Also works very well with Ngati's Tusk instead of Willbreaker, but you need maxed Survival + the enchantment "Lord of the Hunt". Berserker/Monk (better not Shattered Pillar or Forbidden Fist): use Saru Sichr + Swift Flurry. It does multiple attack rolls because its DoT does a hit roll which seems to trigger Swift Flurry (and Heartbeat Drumming). Use modal and Enervating Blows + Spirit Frenzy + Stunning Surge + Brute Force and attack enemies with low starting fortitude. The chance to crit will be very high and the multiple hit rolls of Saru Sichr will lead to a lot of crit chains (both target fortitude). Also the DoT works like Bleeding Cuts: they stack and pile up. PRO: Saru Sichr is early stuff. CON: doesn't work as well against poison-immune foes.

Yeah right... I thought it could be that this part of the wiki might be not correct (anymore? there were quite some patches - and some of them went pretty silently) and maybe nowadays traps could give you less and less XP the more you disarmed that kind of trap? I mean instead of full/nothing which is a bit "unrealistic"™. Doesn't sound too stupid... but it's just a short in the dark. Hi there! We are about to do a trip to Leipzig (and Dresden, too) during the summer holidays.

I think all enemies who don't have a proper "getting pushed or pulled" animation* don't suffer from the effect like kith etc. do. )* which looks a bit like they were about to jump headfirst into a pool and are geting held back by somebody who grabbed them at the waist - which is quite hilarius if enough Pulls of Eora are lined up

No idea if this explains the trap xp thing - but maybe this page explains why? https://pillarsofeternity.fandom.com/wiki/Experience_and_advancement#experience_modifiers See the point "experience modifiers" and "Quest experience" as well as "Mechanics experience" I guess. For example the last passage of the Mechanics experience section (under "Deadfire" of course) sounds as if it might explain things.

Arcane Archer's Imbue: Pull of Eora with a bouncing weapon + Driving Flight can be handled like a hard CC effect. In theory the enemies could still attack - but it happens so seldomly that one might as well call it hard CC. Good thing is that there are very, very few enemies with immunity to push/pull effects.

Yeah nice. Unfortunately kills from Darcozzi fire shields are quite rare because the damage is so paltry.

So an empowered Darcozzi's Lay on Hands + Least Unstable Coil will grant several inspirations to the Paladin because each proc of the fire shield counts as a separate empowered action of said Paladin - no matter onto whom he cast Lay on Hands? Cool - also because it isn't a high PL ability so it's more open to multiclassing shenanigans.

Yes - the Skald can only gain 1 phrase from any melee offensive action - no matter how often you actually crit within it. So 10 crits in a row with the help of Swift Flurry/Heartbeat Drumming will not give you up to 10 phrases but only 1. But of course the chance to get that 1 is a lot higher than 50% then. Skald/Trickster also works well if you use the Whispers of the Endless Paths with Offensive Parry. The parry counts as separate melee attack which can give you 1 phrase if it crits. Iirc Riposte does not provide crits for whatever reason, but it doesn't get supressed by Offensive Parry either - so you can deliver two "Ripostes" every time the enemy misses you in melee. You need high melee deflection in order to pull this off - luckily the Trickster has some tools for that.

Correct me if I'm wrong, but are attacks from StSotR not counted as attacks from the character who benefits from it (who emits the sparks)? That would mean Shadowed Hunters would get canceled with the first spark - and Blood Frenzy on the Priest wouldn't actually do anything? Or does StSotR not work like that in Deadfire (it did in PoE and although I used it in Deadfire I never did test its behaviour a lot).

Ha! He's back at it again!

That should work well enough. I see no problem with that combination. Trickster isn't a tank class by any means, but it's way sturdier than a regular rogue. It is worth to take a shield imo. Defenses have increasing returns - and if you use defensive buffs like Mirrored Images etc. in oder to be more sturdy you might as well double down on the defense and pick up a shield. Works also in favor for Riposte. A nice weapon for a Skald/Trickster is Sun & Moon - mainly because it has two chances to crit per attack (two flail heads which each do a separate attack roll per swing) which gives a lot higher chance to get a phrase. Also you get two chances to apply Rogue's Strike afflictions. I personally would pair it with Tuotilo's Palm - because the bash would be another chance to land a crit and it works with Rogues' Full Attacks, meaning that Crippling Strike etc. will do three attack rolls (2 flail heads + 1 shield bash). But stuff like Rapier (see Rännig's Wrath) or so would also work.

Yes, generally I like Port Maje, too. But just doing the initial cave over and over again makes you appreciate +16 ACC (and the rest that comes with +4 lvl and fine gear) a lot more. I could skip a lot - but I'm just not the person for that. I always do everything... I have a ton of Berath Blessing points though - so the "competition" of the individual blessings is a lot less that it used to be (when those points were more scarce). lvl 4 costs 12 points which is expensive. Fine gear only costs 5 points though - and you can sell it for good money afterwards. If I had to pick my top 5 blessings I'd say bonus attributes, 50K, "Can I pet him anyway?", Unique Item Vendor and Legendary Crew/Start at Level 4. Depending on the build sometimes Bonus Skill is important to me, too.

Some of the ones you deem pointless are very useful for me, because they speed the early game up considerably. +4 lvl means +12 ACC. Combined with fine weapons you will have +16 ACC which lets me breeze over Maje Island. Which is cool if you start a lot of new runs...

Hey, that is a very good point. I didn't have that specific problem of ability pick during char creation in mind... and just assumed one would take "if their bones still slept" during the first few regular level-ups (which will come pretty early - and since I often pick the Berath Blessing that lets you start at lvl 4 - just to be able to speed over Maje Islad more quickly - I'm so used to be able to have several ability picks before the game even starts... oops). So I, too strongly suggest to not take any summoning invication at character creation but do it at the next regular level up. But then I personally would strongly suggest skeletons for a "Death Knight" kind of char instead of the phantom. And later Instruments of Death. I mean if summons fir into your theme in the first place of course. But imo skeletons do. Also the phrase "Many Lives Pass By" is very good imo and the summons there "stack" with all other summons you might call.

Skeletons (like all summons, but especially because they are numerous and have engagement) - are very useful in the early game because they provide a strong crowd control effect without the need for accuracy and overcoming enemies' defenses. Hence calling them forth just always works and is never in vain like a CC spell might be if you miss the roll or the enemy is resistant or immune. There is no defense, resistance or immunty when it's about getting engaged by a summons or being boxed out/blocked by them. Drop some at the start of fight and most enemies will be under control - because first of all they tend to target the skeletons (because they have weak defenses and low HP) and as I said even enemies who wanted to ignore them and rush to your party will be stopped (if the skeletons are placed somewhat correctly and you actively attack enemies with them which will trigger the engagement which then stops movement). Note that you can individually control each skeleton directly (not the additional ones that come from Ancient Brittle Bones though), those are steered by game AI). A similarly useful lvl-1-summoning spell are the Sporelings of the Ancient Druid. Also very potent in the early game. The phantom isn't bad - but it takes noteably longer to cast (and so to appear), has no engagement and is alone. The individual creature is better than those of "If their bones still slept" though. The wurms (PL 2) are a good offensive tool for some time if you don't need skeletons for CC. They also scale poorly and will have to be replaced eventually (and an upgrade is not worth it, unlike with Ancient Brittle Bones) - but for some time they really help to overwhelm enemies pretty quickly, especially if you focus fire on a single enemy. If you reach a point where better summons become available (for example Ogres or Ancient Instruments of Death or whatever) you can simply retrain the character and skip the lower tier summons then.

The skeleton are numerous and they have engagement. So that alone will stop enemies right in their tracks (because movement stops when getting engaged). Their weapons don't scale with level so their damage will be absolutely pathetic at some point. But they count as allies and vessels which can be used to your advantage. For example: every killed skeleton in the party gives a single class Paladin with Devine Retribution 2 points of Zeal. And with Ancient Brittle Bones you can summon a lot of skeletons... You can also kill them yourself with the sabre Grave Calling and either create imps from them or produce a foe-only Chillfop (depending on the enchantment route).

Isn't that just the "export/import character" UI or something?

Totally normal. Other users are still telling me things about Deadfire here which I didn't know before.

You can either empower an ability with an empower point OR regain resources (like spell uses) with an empower point. Always - it's a build-in feature of the empowerment mechanic. You don't need anything for that. Just click on Empower and then on the portrait pic.

It's what unreflective people do. PS: You think the main story sucked.

As I said: I wouldn't - I would use Grimoire oVW and Empower if I needed more Wizard spells during an encounter. Psion has not much use for Brilliant anyway. A good debuffer/CC Wizard doesn't need to spam as many spells as a nuker. Mostly because the effect he causes last for some while and isn't instantly over (like direct damage is). So you won't run out of spells as quickly as a wizard who spams direct damage spells a lot.