Boeroer

Rofl

Another thing for the MC: Fires of Darcozzi Palace is awfully weak. Unless it's not intended to be a retaliation + Combusting Wounds build I would not use it. I also see that you only list 7 talents and abilites for each char. But you will have 8. Since you want to wield Shame or Glory and also picked Inspiring Liberation (great one) I would recommend also taking Coordinated Attacks since it stacks with the marking enchantment. That way you can provide +30 stackable ACC to a single ally. Very good against stuff like dragons or other high defense targets. You can buff your CC-guys ACC by +60 stackable ACC with your priest (Inspir. Radiance + Devotions) and a marking pala who has Coordinated Attacks and Insp. Liberation. Imagine a petrify-crit on a dragon. also Knockdowns on dragons work wonderfully this way.

Barbaric Retaliation does not work with Carnage. It is not needed when you focus on Heart of Fury. It can still be ok if you get disabled and can retaliate a bit if you get pummeled, but it's not an effective use of an ability point. It is great when you focus on a retaliation build as I said. But then your focus is not on maximizing HoF. Veteran's Recovery will make your barbarian less squishy in the early game and it also scales with level. Barbarians have the biggest health pools, even with 10 CON, so I wouldn't worry too much about health loss. Better drop because health runs out than dropping earlier because endurance is zero. Consecrated Ground and Savage Defiance don't scale with level - and while both are really good in the early game they are quite neglectible later on. The Lost Periapt comes pretty late. Both stack with Veteran's Recovery. Second Chance only triggers 1/rest by the way. And using multiple Second-Chance items does not work. A Second-Chance item will give you a passive ability that triggers 1/rest. If you switch out the items the 1/rest use is still gone. But you will have a priest with Revive the Fallen and a Paladin with Reviving Exhortation, so you can play around with Vengeful Defeat a bit until you get Heart of Fury (if you turn off Knockout Injuries in the game options). In this case maybe Vet. Recovery is a bit counterproductive. But in this case (abusing Vengeful Defeat a bit) I personally would use Blooded as well. Because I see you also want to use Ryona's Buckle. Bloodlust is a very good pick by the way. After the use of HoF you will have killed at least 2 enemies which will trigger it immediately - and it stacks with Frenzy. So you can afford to use Vulnerable Attack. Mourning Gloves' attack speed bonus doesn't stack with Frenzy. But Gauntlets of Swift Action do stack. Also Gauntlets of ACC are good with a barb. Also Glittering Gauntlets (the dazing works with Carnage) or Celebrant's Gloves. --- The +4 MIG on the priest work as soon as you bind the hammer. Also your Weapon Focus and Inspired Flame work with the hammer since it's souldboun and soulbounds are universal. Cast your ACC buffs + Minor Avatar and maybe also DIre Blessing and hack away. Eyeless will die quickly. Also you don't need to destroy the Eyless with the hammer to upgrade it. They just have to die afaik. --- You can also play the ranger with a war bow no problem - however the Rain comes failry late and Persistence pretty early. DOn't focus too much on endgame gear. 90% of the run will be done with other items. The idea with Badgrad's Barricade on the ranger is nice - also because the Thrust of Tattered Veils works with Driving Flight and it's a great teamup with Stunning Shots and Starcaller's Missiles. Both also profit from Penetrating Shot. So maybe just keep Starcaller? By the time you get it you will maybe already have Stunning Shots. Those work in melee as well and then ACC and crits are not a big problem? Also you might work with a flanking pet when in melee? Other than that: hatchet is fine as a backup weapon. On a bow ranger I like regular cloth that I will enchant - no need to durgan-reinforce that. A berathian robe from Raedric's Castle is also great because it has the best DR/speed penalty ratio in the game. Also no need to durganize that. Angio's Gambeon is also nice because of Alacrity. Seven Skuldr's Worth is ok if you don't use Boots of Speed (which I like best on melee dps chars since they are the only boots that improve melee dps). But most of the time I will use this: or this: on a bow ranger. This might attract certain rushers though.

My favorite party comp today: Paladin (for the stackable single target ACC boost and the good burst damage) Monk (for the awesome single target CC and AoE damage) Barbarian or Chanter (for the great AoE damage without needing resources) Priest (for the stackable AoE ACC boost, the prayers and the damage spamming if needed) Wizard (for the good CC and good AoE damage spamming if needed) Druid (for the awesome combined AoE CC/damage and the insane single target damage in the backline if needed) Besides the obvious synergies between things like priest's ACC buffs + casters' CC and paladin's ACC buff + monk's Force of Anguish there are also those hidden gems like Combusting Wounds + Heart of Fury or priest's Withdraw + chanter's Dragon Thrashed. Another plus: all those classes can be effective in melee as well as ranged (with the exception of the barb who is awful in ranged combat). So you can vary the formation as you see fit. That's my ideal party when it comes to pretty standard class builds. But I also like to play other (sometimes gimmicky yet great) class builds like that 1-INT-rogue with Tidefall or a high INT rogue stuffed with spell binding gear to make use of Deathblows + AoE damage or a quick-switch-cipher or a dual flail fighter with 3 PER.

Persistence has woundig which is the best tool against high DR on a weapon (besides DR bypass). Damage gets calculated like so: damage roll including all bonuses PRE DR * 0.25 * 1.[MIG bonus] = raw damage. So against dragons it may be that the wounding damage is as high as the pierce damage that goes through.

Abydon's Hammer is also great on a priest (who would have thought). Profit from stackable +4 MIG, put on INT and MIG gear as well and cast Aggrandizing + Inspiring Radiance + Minor Avatar and then Shining Beacon and behold the combat log... I wouldn't give it to the barb. Another thing about barb: try the Redeemer + Blood Thirst on a group of vessels. I bet we'll see a big smile on your face.

If you want to make the best use of Heart of Fury then your barb should dual wield. So your two sabres are fine. Target the toughest enemy in the pack and trigger HoF. You will do two whirls instead of one if the target is not dead after the first swing. The only problem with the annihilation sabres is that they only do slash damage. Using Bittercut is the better option, preferably with Spirit of Decay and a corrosive lash. When using Heart of Fury it's beneficial to get Vulnerable Attack. You can pick this instead of Bloody Slaughter. Savage Attack is an ok pick for the later game for a barb. His Carnage will get +1 accuracy per level and with your Accurate Carnage that makes +11 accuracy compared to your main attack's accuracy. So Savage Attack is ok. I personally would not use Interrupting Blows once I have Heart of Fury. Most enemies will be dead after HoF. Instead I would totally recommend Veteran's Recovery asap. Instead of Barbaric Retaliation (again, not needed when most enemies around you die from HoF anyways) I would take Dragon Leap. It's the best way to reach the center of a mob without disengagement and to then trigger HoF. Barbaric Retaliation is great when you do a retaliation build, but this is none. Vengeful Defeat is occasional but it's still great. I would leave it in. Sometimes you get disabled when trying to trigger HoF and die - then Vengeful Defeat kicks in and does great damage.

I want to add that Bloody Slaughter is one of the worst talents in the whole game. It triggers when the enemy has 10% or less endurance. Usually the last hit will kill the enemy anyways. The few exceptions like trolls, ogres and the like don't justify a talent point for a talent that increases crit in my opinion. The bow with the highest single target dps is Persistence. It's also great against high DR targets and targets with high defenses. Also works great with Predator's Sense...

Afaik Chanter's singing only stops when he's stunned, paralyzed or petrified or when he uses invocations.

Yeah, a lot of healing is always bad. Better die sooner from loss of endurance than to die later from loss of health.

In order to summon me, one has to whisper "Bueller" three times in a dark closet full of polyester morning dresses with a reversed underpants on the head and a handful of shrimps and a tablespoon of mayonnaise as a sacrifice. Or write something positive about rogues...

Depends what you want to do. If you want to kite it's better. If you want to stand your ground then not.

Aila Braccia turns 100% (!) of ranged targeted grazes (also spells like Broodmothers's Cleansing Flame) into misses and reflects the attack. It is supergood if your defenses are high and yiu get attacked by ranged spells or stuff like those paralyzing blowdarts. They will paralyze themselves... Ranged misses will still miss with Aila Braccia. Actually it's a great shield - especially for monks because those can also reflect ranged misses via Soul Mirror.

Against Lagufaeth you should really get Aila Braccia. But you have no shield user in the front line... And Fenwalkers boots! Also the Wayfarer's Hide and Tempered Helm are good. Longwatch Falls is pretty hard compared to Russetwood and Durgan's Battery.

Unfortunately Charge is a lvl 13 ability. Defender gives you +2 engagement slots and -5 deflection and prevents you from using Savage Attack(!). So think twice. An alternative would be Hold the Line. With Shatterstar + Hold the Line + the normal engagement slot you would have 3 slots which maybe enough. If you like 4 with Defender that's also ok - you just have to skip Savage Attack. Maybe that's ok if you want to have a max crit build.

Before entering Galvino's workshop, go and get the Redeemer! (left of the hut, top of the map).

Yeah, forget it then. It's really good - but so is mind control. Don't bother with Take the Hit then. But wait... didn't you install MaxQuests mod? I believe he fixed that bug with Take the Hit + Mind Control (controlled enemies don't profit from Take the Hit at all). You might want to ask him that. Pew... where to out the fighter? Don't know to be honest. Doesn't matter that much if the fighter has the reach weapon or the paladin. Maybe the paladin is ok in the second row because his zealous aura can reach everyone better? On the other hand the fighter can land more crits with Tall Grass. But then Charge with two weapons is cooler. Also dual wielding Shatterstar + another hammer leads to +1 engagement slot so maybe Overbeasring Guard is nice if you also take Defender. I honestly don't know. I'd say put the paladin in the second row. He will do some crits with Sworn Enemy + Zealous Focus + FoD and Tall Grass.

Fighters with high INT are good scroll users because they can have insane accuracy via Disciplined Barrage (on top of their already good accuracy). Best scroll users in my opinion are rogues, but that's another topic...

If the fighter has high INT: the fighter You can titally do without scrolls on PoTD with a full party though. Also without any other consumables...

Is this screenshot taken during encounter outside of combat. I'd double-check if it works once encounter starts.

You can only put one proofing on an armor. If it's already corrode-proofed then that's it. You can't remove or overwrite it.

Yes, Finishing Blow works with ranged weapons. Still sucks though if you want to one-shot somebody. But at least it will give you +0.5... I think a Runner's Wounding Shot would be way better in this case. It's multiplicative and 80% and likes MIG as well. Backstab bonus is additive, yes. But you forgot Sneak Attack. Deathblows adds 100% on top of Sneak's 50% as far as I know. Aaand you forgot lashes on the weapon. @firkraag888: Stacking DR bypass on a target with 0 DR is moot. But I guess you meant 0 DR after DR bypass is applied. The problem with blunderbusses is that lashes (your best friends when it comes to damage) don't profit from DR bypass.

Yes, having less crits than a paladin and chanter is really weird.

Fighter with Take the Hit on the front line is not optimal because he will get damaged by Take the Hit AND the enemy which will lead to massive health loss. In the second one row however he can heal the damage from Take the Hit and dish out nice reach weapon damage and single target CC with Knockdown and Overbearing. The synergies between healing, Take the Hit and things like Zealous Endurance and thick armor on the front line is great. Chanter's first level phrase that lowers slash and pierce damage is also good with this. Later the 30pt damage shield is even better. Party will get very little damage. But the fighter should not get pummeled too often. And also mind controlling enemies breaks this idea so hard: Take the Hit will apply to charmed enemies and won't go away after charm runs out. So you will kill your fighter when you kill that once-charmed enemy. Or you have to move the fighter out of range or turn off Take the Hit all he time. Very annoying. Without Take the Hit a fighter with a pike is pretty straightforward I think. And in the front line I would give him dual weapons.

Yes. A fighter can also focus even more on regeneration with Constant+Rapid Recovery and the Cloak of the Tireless Defender + survival 8 or even 14 and a Belt of Bountiful Healing. Then go full offense with the rest. I like Hours of SR on a fighter because his very high ACC with Disc. Barrage leads to a lot of crits. But I like dual wielding on fighters even more because of Knockdown's Full Attack and also because of Charge (does an invisible Full Attack at the target additional to the crush damage). Paladins with a two hander are ok, but because of the Outworn Buckler (its herald enchantment stacks with everything) I usually end up with two arquebuses or two blunderbusses and a weapon & OW Buckler setup. Also, dual wielding sabres does more damage with FoD on most cases than using a two hander. A barb with a reach weapon on the other hand can place his Carnage perfectly well in the middle of a mob. And when he kills stuff his recovery is 0 which is great with a two hander. Also, try St. Ydwen's Redeemer + Blood Thirst on a group of vessels... Edit: damn phone... Had to correct some weird sentences...