Boeroer

I agree that high DEX helps wizards/druids/priests' a lot atm. The casting times for most (offensive) spells are so long that you can really feel the difference between 15 and 20 DEX.

The blunderbuss also got an additional nerf: now it's 5 pellets instead of 6. But now can dual wield pistols and blunderbusses which makes them good for full attack abilities - also for Backstab theoretically. With 3 weapon slots and dual blunderbusses in each slot you can combine Combusting Wounds with 30 hits. This should annihilate most foes in theory. Can't recall the casting time for Comb. Wounds though. I wonder what would happen if you combine the blunderbuss modal with Backstab...?

Nice testing.

Awesomest so far! :D But does Blade Turning reflect damage back to enemies? I had the impression it also hits allies...?

ABerserker/Skald works even better for me than Devoted (+50% hit to crit, +4 PEN not only for weapons and +4 armor while using frenzy). The raw damage of Sweet Winds of Death adds up nicely in theory with the raw damage of Carnage. You just have to make sure to bring a priest or somebody else who can cast an inspiration that removes confused. Because not only the friendly fire sucks, but especially the INT debuff. I agree that the Hel-Hyraf invocation is too good - or other AR reducing abilities are too bad. Compare it with Expose Vulnerabilities: a lot faster cast and recovery and -5 AR instead of -2. Also not limited by a resource pool.

I can't say how many times I had to correct my auto-correct because of that - until I finally put "durgan steel" into my phone's dictionary. :D

MIG is now a multiplicative damage boost (like DEX always was - sort of). I don't know if it stays that way, but BMac confirmed that it is no longer additive in the current beta. That explains why chars with very high might combos (Ogre/Frenzy/Helwalker/priest buffs) are doing so much damage right now - especially when overpenetrating because that's also multiplicative. Best combo to show this I think is Helwalker/Berserker because he not only gets very high MIG but also +PEN from Tenacious. Add a weapon with a good dmg/pen ratio and behold the Schlachtfest.

Good question. I believe they only share the same level as the summoner. I was level 9 and the skeletons also got "leveled" to 9.

Speaking of a tank who's summoning: did you guys realize that summoned creatures scale with level now? I didn't until I wondered how those weak skeletons managed to murder everyone in Tiki Toe Taka village after I finished a beta run.

Still think best Assassin multiclass combo is with Soulblade. Initial Backstab kills enemy and lets explode your focus, then Soul Annihilation kills the next. Use Shadowing Beyond, repeat... and so on. But the blunderbuss/Confounding Blind combo is very neat. Speaking of blunderbuss: I soon will test a Black Jacket/Wizard with 3 blunderbusses (well actually 6 because dual wielding), Quick Switch and Combusting Wounds. Maybe it can work like it did in PoE where it was lots of fun.

Do engaged enemies try to turn or even disengage your tank if you flank with your scout and attack them with a reach weapon?

Maybe having Guardian Stance's upgrade makes the enemies stick to you because disengaging would be too painful. Then it wouldn't be useless. Imagine the ability name was "Superglue Stance" and the description would be "enemies won't disengage" - then you'd say that it's a very nice upgrade. So - maybe just the name and description don't fit atm.

Nice idea. At the moment you can achive the same with a Berserker/fighter: 100% hit to crit. I'm pretty sure though that Swift Flurry is nor working as intended. A bonus crit should not proc another bonus crit and so on.

Why not? You get it early and the next good unique stilletto is Bleak Fang which comes quite late. By the way, if you meet perice-immune foes there's a neat thing with stilettos: the Lagufaeth from White March use stilettos that do slash damage instead of pierce. Those are good as backup weapon set.

Maybe at lvl 10...

Rogue will alsways be squishy in the early game and you can't do much about it. Picking Veteran's Recovery, skilling survival to 8 at least (for he healing bonus) and using Fulvano's Amulet + having decent CON helps though. Later on, with a bigger health pool and more dmg bonuses, draining weapons are also not bad in order to keep your rogue alive. I once did a 1 INT 1 RES / max CON and max MIG rogue with Tidefall and its draining was enough to keep me alive behind the enemy lines. Since Veteran's Recovery and stuff is bad without INT that was the only source of healing I had and it was sufficient in most cases. Other than that I also like to use a shield rogue who aims for Bargradr's Barricade. Its ToTV proc works with Deathblows. It's a nice combination of tankyness (for a rogue) and offense.

Not a problem if you can spend it at once with permanent Lighnint Strikes/Swift Flurry and Stunning Blows (quite fast with Long Pain), is it? However - this is under the premise that chants and so on get you wounds. Or make Helwalker/Wizard with dual scepters+modal + Alacrity. Wounds all the time beause of selof damage all the time - while being superfast. Too bad Shot on the Run is now ranger only.

The ability will always cost the same. Your resource pool will get bigger with level (but not as fast if you are muticlassing - but then you have two pools to draw from. Doesn't help to increase the uses of Shadowing Beyond though). So with more levels you can use Shadowing Beyond more often per encounter. If you build around (basically choosing Assassin) you get a lot more out of it as in PoE, which I like. There are special abilites that reduce the cost of an ability or refund its use. Corpse Eaters for example have Flesh Communion which will heal you and fill up rage again. But as far as I know there's no way for the rogue to get used guile points refunded (?). Yet...

Please: I'd like simple and clear information about how every ability (basically all mechanics) work. Best if there are one or two examples how it works as well (examples help you understand). It doesn't have to be in the game itself, but then please include a digital handbook or set up a proper wiki (not that unfinished and unmaintained stuff we had in PoE). But even in the game it's sooo annoying to read something like "Bestowes a continous healing effect on all allies in range"... Yeah nice, but what are the numbers? Healing done per tick, range in meters, duration? Come ON! It's all in the game. It's not too hard to write it down. Now I have to level a character and see how that suff works in combat in order to know what it really does - then I have to write that down so I don't forget. MEEEHHH!! Sure, sure: I know this is the beta and so it would be twice the work to write this down and later change it. So I totally understand that the beta doesn't have explicit descriptions sometimes because everything might change a bit and nobody wants to do the same work twice. But... I fear that we are left with the same obscure and sometimes wrong description of abilites/items/mechanics as in PoE. It took us years to figure out how some stuff works. It's also very hard to track down bugs or understand unexpected behavior if you have no idea what's going on "under the hood". As much as I love PoE that's the biggest complaint I always had: the generally bad, really bad descriptions and how poorly the fairly complex mechanics were explained.

As I said: two-shotted him with an Assassin/Soulblade. That says it all.

Did anybody check if spell-like or AoE stuff also generates wounds with a Shattered Pillar? Like Soft Winds of Death or Dragon Thrashed? I imagine a mid-ranged Shattered Pillar/Troubadur with the Long Pain who gains wounds through Dance of Death, chant and dealing the usual damage. If this works he would generate more wouds as he could spend. Stunning Blows work with ranged weapons as does Lightning Strikes. May it's like in PoE where Long Pain also worked with Torment's Reach despite being a ranged weapon. He could also alternate between damaging chant and Sure handed Ila when he can't spend the wounds as fast as he gets them. While not having Long Pain he could use dual Scepter or Wand for the stunning shots... Or even dual blunderbuss with Poweder Burns? Is tehre a way for the monk to remove the distracted affliction passively?

What about paladin with retribution + Helwalker as alternative? Lightning Strikes works with ranged weapons and stacks with FoD, and you'd get +MIG while hurting yourself on top of the retribution. Stunning Blows also works with ranged weapons and is a full attack.

I feared so. Thanks for testing!

Nice idea!

Cool stuff!