Boeroer

Yes, but with Ondra's Challenge they only get +1 to rank (meh) and might sail faster (don't care). The rest stays the same. You don't need to decide quickly, cannons don't degrade as weapons do and so on. Monstercheese tactics aside: If I had to decide between a "real" fight with all the additional god challenges or a ship bounty fight in order to progress I would nearly always pick the ship fight (when properly prepared). Of course if you can avoid fights altogether and still progress: even better.

They are rel. risk-free at a certain point (even at lower levels bc. only the sailor/crew experience matters and not the character level), especially if you invested in some equipment and crew. Won ship fights will give you a lot of XP and loot.

Do you count ship fights (not boarding) as fights, too?

Still viable.

The beauty of Black Jacket in TB mode is that you can use an offensive weapon setup for offensive actions and then, with the free action, switch to a defensive setup before your turn ends.

Yes, Terraria.

Soul Annihilation gets applied to most enemies in the cone (the number of raw dmg varies though, the initial target gets all the normal raw dmg, the 2nd one nothing iirc, the 3rd one gets some, the 4th even more and so on). If you can expand the cone size a lot (items such as INT+, Ring of Overseeing and stuff like Smart via Minor Avatar or a Litany etc.) then it might be worthwhile to use a Soulblade. Also spamming the focus gained from Offensive Parry into Soul Annihilation is good. Soulblade gets +max focus for some time after killing an enemy. This can be prolonged with Salvation of Time, too. Don't know if it's worth it though.

Hands off the substances!

That's Eccea's Arcane Blaster. It's a great pistol and worth using it all the time imo, not only as backup weapon.

Depends a bit. Imo "Many Lives Pass By" nonstop is the most universally useful phrase with Brisk Recitation, but stuff like Ancient Memory if combined with Exalted Endurance is also nice and good for the party, too. If you have another healer then Mercy and Kindness is very good, too. If you have high defenses and armor and only tend to get minor damage from attacks then Her Courage Thick as Steel is very good, too. The 10pt damage shield gets refreshed every 3 secs then which nullifies all the grazes that might otherwise hurt you. If you have ranged-heavy party with reloading weapons (firearms and crossbows) then Sure-Handed Ila is very good, too because it applies -20% reloading time AND -20% recovery time to those weapons, making the reloading very fast. It stacks with the action speed bonus of Sasha's Singing Scimitar.

Yes, you could use Sasha's in the second weapon setup and use it for an empowered summoning (summons last a lot longer then) and then switch to another weapon setup. Since your main roles are supposed to be tank and summoner I would pick something that helps your defenses/sturdyness and/or engagement. Examples: Kapana Taga with All Comers and Champion's Relic Pukestabber with Numb and usage of the dagger modal Bardatto's Luxury Squid's Grasp Duskfall with Drawing Parry Griffin's Blade with Hound's Resilience Gladiator Sword

I guess as a Shieldbearer you will use a shield. So Sasha's Singing Scimitar is the best option imo (besides using Grave Calling to kiull your own Skeleton summons which is ver potent but also very hacky). If you use the enchantment "Companion's Prelude" you will give a nice action speed bonus to your party + summons based on the number of your held phrases.

Steel Garrote is an excellent choice when you want to use Whispers of the Endless Paths with Offensive Parry. The reason is that the Steel Garrote Paladin has a passive that lets you drain health from enemies if they are afflicted with something. Offensive Parry not only hits enemies who miss you in melee, it also applies the Dazed affliction if you do so, automatically unlocking the health drain. You need high melee deflection though. So that means high Resolve, Cloak of Greater Deflection (very early item with Berath's Blessing: Merchant in Port Maje), later Bracers of Greater Deflection, Deep Faith etc. and also an armor that gives you deflection bonuses. I would recommend Nomad's Brigandine. It gives up to +10 deflection against melee attackers and it also makes you immune to disengagement attacks - meaning they will miss 100% of times. So you can basically disengage, the disengagement attack will miss you and you will instantly do an Offensive Parry in return. This also means you can roam the battlefield freely while doing damage passively and draining health in the process. The Brigandine is also a heavy armor which is good for a melee character who will most likely get hit a lot but can compensate with high AR and AR passives (see Barb+Paladin passive around armor). Enemies' underpenetrarion is every frontliner's underappreciated friend... This is also one of the few builds where I consider casting the Paladin's +40% dmg Beacon is worthwhile. Because your offensive parries will also get +40% dmg and this will also drain more of the enemies' health for you. Blood Thirst also triggers from Offensive Parry (if it kills). Barbarians suffer -10 deflection when frenzied. That's not so cool in this case but it's manageable. Berserker is nice because not only does he crit more frequently and gains +2 PEN - but also because he gains +2 AR via Frenzy. The self damage is substantial bit can be countered with the health drain, a pet that heals on kill (see Abraham) and Lay in Hands + Exalted Endurance. But I think I personally would go with the Furyshaper because the Fear Ward is very strong, it will afflict enemies (more health drain) and it will make you more sturdy because terrified enemies don't attack. It also fits the Steel Garrote vibes imo. For a single class Barb I would def. recommend Furyshaper because the Blood Ward is just awesome for you and the whole party. Especially in combination with Barbaric Retaliation and Dazing Shout. It's more difficult to use offensive Parry as an SC Barb because you will lack the deflection bonuses of the Paladin, but you can combine disengagement-parries and Babaric Retaliation (it attacks with the sword's cone AoE). With WotEP, Carnage and Dazing Shout you want highest INT and also items that raise INT further as well as items that raise AoE size directly (Ring of Overseeing for example). A pet like Loki also helps with that, but maybe something like Abraham is better for a Berserker after all.

Ah okay. I just wondered. Yeah, enfeebled + Cipher powers is a reason why I like Forbidden Fist/Cipher so much (without BPM).

What do you use to enfeeble enemies as a Steel Garrote/Soulblade?

Then it won't.

Iirc the fire shield of Margran's Blessing generates focus and also drains life (if enemy is afflicted - see Steel Garrote) - because it is treated as melee weapon attack. That's only small numbers though I guess, but it's rare to find things that give you something while being defensive (doesn't work against ranged attacks). Whispers of the Endless Paths with Offensive Parry also generates focus and drains life with a defensive action: the Parry itself (100% on enemy melee miss). Since Paladin/Cipher can reach pretty good deflection via passives + RES inspiration + Borrowed Instinct (even without a shield) this might be nice against groups of mostly melee enemies (doesn't work against ranged attacks). Grave Calling with Chilling Grave is an awesome weapon as soon as you go against vessels. The Chillfog is treated like a weapon attack and will generate focus. I didn't try if it also drains life for a Steel Garrote (I guess not because not melee?).

If it can handle a solo PotD run it will not let you down in a party.

You never know what happens behind the scenes, money or not.

Saw today on Twitter that an alumni of Josh (nowadays history professor specialized on medieval medicine and religion) consulted on Pentiment: to the Tweet

Llengrath's Safeguard is a "+x to all defenses" ability. Those do stack with "+x to one (or two) defense" abilities - because internally those are handled as different buffs (I know, that's obscure, but that's like it is). So L's Safeguard will stack its Deflection bonus with individual Deflection bonuses of let's say Mirrored Images. Same is true for Vigorous Defense and Borrowed Instincts as well as Circle of Pretection which both also raise all defenses. Those will NOT stack with each other though, so Circle of Protection will not stack with L's Safeguard or Vigorous Defense.

It's normal to feel underpowered in the early game. The encounters there are often very hard and one level can make a lot of difference because we're dealing with overall pretty low numbers - so that impact of one level (which adds some fixed numbers) is a lot higher than later. Same with DR - so the heaviest of armors is best used in the early game, not later. Same with Accuracy bonuses of a somewhat fixed range: big effect in the early game, not so much in the late game. Example: one handed weapon usage (+12 ACC). He has high(ish) Resolve. If you give him a shield and use him for buffing/healing mostly the lower accuracy from a shield doesn't matter and you can then give him light or no armor which balances his low DEX out a bit. I think he's a very interesting character and imo it's a loss to not bring him. You could still bring a Priest as main character - Priest of Eothas fits nicely. Two Priests are very nice as well. First of all you cut down buffing time in half - and also "Inspiring Radiance" (+10 ACC to everything) stacks with everything, including with other Inspiring Radiances, meaning two Priests can boost the party's accuracy by +20 in every encounter which is a huge advantage that early in the game. I personally really like Monks in PoE. They have awesome starting values which makes them easier to play in the early game, they can be sturdy (good offtank), have nice CC options, summons paid with replenishable resources (wounds), dish out a lot of melee (or ranged) damage and their "power curve" doesn't fall as flat as that of most other martial classes (while casters' start flat and skyrockets at some point). Also good class to pick as main character because an official monk companion would come pretty late (White March DLC). That last point is also true for Rogue and Barbarian.

The early game is actually the hardest part. It's smart to try to do all non-combat quests first - but in Act 1 those are rather limited so you will have to do some tough fights. After Act I, when reaching Defiance Bay, there will be a ton of non-combat quests and therefore the encounters will be easier if you solve most of the non-combat stuff first. Sounds solid. Summons are very impactful and mind control (charm, dominate and often also confuse) as well. I never use consumables unless I do a PotD solo run. So youcan totally do without. But they can help of course. I guess you will feel when it's time to use some. Correct. In the early game the higher level is an advantage. And yes, the added quests give a bit more XP for the party. But there's plenty of XP in the game, more than you need to bring the party to max level. Companions are more interesting imo. They have quests and also banter. Some quests give the official companion special abilities that custom adventurers cannot get. Also correct. I personally prefer the official companions because they are absolutely viable even for PotD difficulty and they bring some special vibes you can't get from mute custom adventurers. This would be a very solid party composition. But honestly all kinds of party compositions work. A Priest is a very useful party member. Not taking one is a bit like nerfing yourself. Can still work of course, but it will be harder without a Priest.

Nice. Glad that stuff I said was of help.