Boeroer

Your observations are correct. With every dmg bonus (Biting Whip, Savage Attack, weapon enchantments and so on) the problem with stilettos not to be able to overcome DR properly will get smaller. But in the early to mid game a two hander is benefical when it comes to high DR, right. And later with Time Parasite it's again the two handers which might be the best option. You can only do the following things in the early game in order to speed up your two hander: - wear thinner armor - boost DEX - pick Outlander's Frenzy - wear Sanguine Plate which tirggers Frenzy (if you want to wear plate anyway) And later you can choose a speed weapon like the Blade of the Endless Paths. For the stilettos you can pick Vulneable Attack. The higher speed of the light weapons, paired with the +5 DR bypass is benefical in most cases. If you also pick Two Handed Style you will have +5 DR bypass with the same speed as before. Wearing a shield works for a melee cipher. You can add Vampiric Shield for even more deflection. Note that his is castable out of combat. You can even cast it outside of combat onto a party member who already has bad RES or doesn't need deflection and then enter combat. That way you spare the focus costs. A bit cheesy though... . Of course the dps will be a bit lower because you are not as fast as with two weapons. But later in the game you can put durgan steel on your shield and that speeds up your attacks, too. With Time Parasite you can reach 0 recovery that way.

One handed usage is good in the early game because it prevents misses and grazes which will kill your dps. Later on it starts to get weaker and gets surpassed by the alternatives because enemies defenses will not be that high any more in relation to the ACC you can achieve. Then even later, once you can get durgan steel and maybe find some Gauntlets of Swift Action, it again is better than dual wielding (from a pure auto-attack-dps perspective). That's because you can achieve nearly 0 recovery with a one hander with speed (like Sword of Daenysis, Rimecutter, Strike Hard, Unforgiven and so on). As soon as this is done there is no difference in speed to a dual wielder. The things that the dual wieder can then do better is doing Full Attacks with rogues' Crippling Strikes (and so on) and using Vulnerable Attack without speed loss (which is good). While the one hander guy will have 12 more ACC and +15% crit conversion. It's debateable which is better - depends on the weapon and the enemy. For example when fighting an enemy with very high defenses the one handed option will be better while against a high DR target with mediocre defenses the dual wielder will have the upper hand because of same speed but additional 5 DR bypass. So - early game: fine - mid game: meh - late game: fine It is viable. Especially if you get Merciless Hand from Doemenel and Dungeon Delver. Weapons with on-crit effects like overbearing and stunning are not underwhelming for a rogue. With the high crit rate of a rogue you will cause prone or stun quickly, this will unlock Sneak Attacks and make the next attack more likely to crit, causing the affliction again. It can be very benefical for a rogue to cause one or two afflictions passively by himself. It's then a lot less fuzz to activate Deathblows for example (easy: flank an enemy and cause prone or stun on crit: Deathblows - no spells needed, nothing). By the way: all battle axes are annihilating. An axe like Rimecutter is good for a one handed rogue. Nice options for a one-handed crit-rogue are (my favorites with a *): Hammers: Shatterstar (two damage types, annihilating and 1.0 secs of interrupt) Godansthunyr* (two damage types, stun on crit and higher interrupt value: 0.75 instead of 0.5 secs) Axes: Rimecutter* (speed, annihilating) Edge of Reason (draining, annihilating) Wodewys (spell chance Nature's Mark, annihilating) We Toki* (overbearing, annihilating) Flails: Unforgiven (realiable, speed, extra 10% burning lash) Starcaller* (reliable, extra 10% burning lash, stunning, Minor Missiles on crit) Spears: Cladhaliath* (+5 ACC, stunning + vicious or coordinating - if you flank a lot the latter is better) Rapiers: Sword of Daenysis* (+5 ACC, rending, speed) Stilettos: Bleak Fang (spell striking: Touch of Rot, rending, 3 DR bypass) Azureith's Stiletto (spell striking: Jolting Touch, 3 DR bypass) Sabres: Resolution (reliable, annihilating, sharp) Purgatory (drainig, annihilation, sharp) Small, light weapons will do the best dps in the game over the course of a whole playthrough with a rogue. They are not good early on because you'll have few dmg modifiers and will face high DR but they get better and better compared to heavy one handers like sabres. Even in the early game they will do more dps against soft targets but stink against armored foes. Lateron you have so many dmg mods as a rogue that you will still do more dps with a light weapon than with a heavier one handed. The reason why they do more dps is because they are a lot faster and speed is a multiplicativy damage bonus while most of the other bonuses are only additive (except lashes and wouding). Highest dps in the game does Drawn in Spring because it also has wounding. Let's look a the Sword of Daenysis that comes with speed and is rending. With Outlander's Frenzy, Gauntlets of Swift Action, Durgan Steel and Padded Armor and 15 DEX it will strike every 30 frames with 3 DR bypass. At the same time Purgatory will strike every 57 frames. The Sword of Daenysis will be twice as fast! That's 100% more strikes or +100% multiplicative damage. Even with higher base damage damage per hit and the additive damage bonuses like annihilation that adds 6.75 damage per strike and sharpness which adds 2.7 damage Purgatory will not reach that dps unless you meet foes with very high DR (I guess 20+). But as I said: in the early game it can be frustrating because you don't cfrit that often and also your low damage compared to solid DR will result in whimpy numbers. But if you hang on you will see that it's good. Here another comparison of one handed Sword of Daenysis and one handed Resolution with Padded Armor and 15 DEX in the early game without any speed buffs: Sword of Daenysis: 48 frames Resolution: 82 frames Still a significant difference, but most of it will be eaten by DR unless you crit a lot (here one handed style comes in very handy), have DR bypass (like this rapier has) and/or target squishies, then the rapier is a lot better in terms of dps althoug it doesn't seem like it. My favorites for a one handed rogue would be: 1. Sword of Daenysis (because a single handed rapier looks cool, has +5 ACC, fits a rogue, you can get it very early and it's one of the best dps options) or 2. Starcaller. Since that comes very late I would use Gaun's Share first (helps with survivability), then Unforgiven (maybe the best dps option for a rogue in the game if you ignore crush resistant/immune enemies). I just think the stun on crit of Starcaller, paired with high attack speed, is great. The other options are also nice. That's just my personal preference

I wonder how you will do it - monks have especially high Fortitude & Will defences (up to 150) when upscaled, and all Will debuffs targets... Will of Fortitude. Seems like lucky roll to me. Am i wrong? Fighter with Disciplined Barrage or Paladin with Sworn Enemy + Zealous Focus, then add a priest with Inspiring Radiance, Crowns and Devotions. Whisper of Treason from Munacra Arret has +10 ACC and gets +1 per char level. At lvl 14 this would result in +20+10+20+6+10+14 = +80 ACC on top of your base ACC. Cipher can do the same with Tactical Meld (+20), then on top Borrowed Instincts (+20) for a total of +100. If you want to go totally crazy you can add a paladin with Coordinated Attacks + Marking for another +20, even +30 if it's a Darcozzi. That would mean +110 for a fighter with Munacra Arret, +111 for a paladin with Munacra Arret or +130 for a cipher with his own WoT. On top of base accuracy at lvl 14. Base accuracy at lvl 14 would be 72 for fighter and 67 for paladin and cipher. PER bonus comes on top. One could add Distant Advantage (Wood Elf) as well. So if you want to charm an enemy you can do it reliably.

If you want to make your melee cipher more durable you should invest in decent MIG and INT (not unusual for a cipher to have those high anyways) but also good CON and pick Veteran's Recovery at lvl 2. Then put on Fulvano's Amulet (it's in the South of Magran's Fork map on a corpse that is guarded by a troll). Also skill survival to 8 asap and take healing bonus 40% when camping. This way you will be more durable. If you want to wear thick armor you might want to use dual wielding in order to balance out the speed loss. High DEX also helps (also lets you cast faster) but dual wielding will have a great impact, too. Buy a Blunting Belt from the smith in Gilded Vale. Then you can focus on dual flails or stilettos if you want (I'd go with stilettos). Because there is a draining flail very early (Gaun's Share in Eotha's Temple in Gilded Vale) or a draining stiletto in lvl 1 of the Endless Paths (Oidreacht, under your own Stronghold, carried around by a giant spider). The good thing about stilettos is that they are fast and have 3 DR bypass which is neat with fast weapons, and that there are two unique ones in the early game (the other one you can buy from the smith of Gilded Vale). But the flails have the better uniques later on (Unforgiven + Starcaller). Tidefall is also a nice option (but its wounding does not generate focus). Later buy Shod-in-Faith Boots from Dunstan of the Crucible Knights, too. If you want you can also wear the Sanguine Plate. It will give you Frenzy when you get a crit and that speeds up your recovery and gives you nice MIG and CON (beneficial for damage, self healing, fortitude defense and also health). Of course it looks better with a two hander than with stilettos. Dual flails might look cool with it, too. If you want to boost your DR further use Body Attunement on the enemy you want to hit. It will lower his DR (which is great when using stilettos or flails), this more focus for you, while you gain the DR you took away. This should lead to a pretty solid cipher with good survivability as well as damage/focus gain.

Same with the PoE rogue: easy to skip the last levels, you won't miss anything.

It can be stacked, that's why I ask. You can get lucky and leech DEX three times and get +30 DEX. I don't know if this works if you cast it three times on the same person but it surely works if you cast it on different ones. I once did the Battle of Yenwood Field with over 50 MIG and 30 INT... Just for the fun. So if you'd had a 1 INT 1 RES guy in the party chances would be higher that you'd leech a stat that is already at the minimum.

As far as I can remember it used to shoot out in several directions. But maybe my memory fails me or it got changed. I haven't used it in a long time because I never got the adventure in my recent sessions.

I'd rather say this is necromancy...

The problem is the monks. They get stronger and stronger the more you hurt them. You have to use crazy ACC buffing via priest (Crowns + Devotions + Inspiring Radiance = +36 ACC) and then use disabling CC spells and/or mind control so that the monks can't use their wounds on you. Else you will just get obliterated. But some good Whispers of Treason can make those fights a lot easier already. Also, when it comes to dealing damage, pick off one single monk and finish him, then off to the next. Do not attack several of them at the same time (except if you can keep them disabled).

And most important: it's foe only and spreads into several directions - while the original druid's spell would only have one broad line and also stun allies.

If you use a 3 RES character (like a Tidefall rogue or something like that) and put on the Ultimate Hat of Alluring Perfection (-2 INT, -2 RES. +2 MIG, +2 CON) you will have the ideal "victim" for Vampiric Shield. Now I wonder: does Wild Leech work out of combat and on party members? Never tried that...

Huh? How did that post slip in? Ach - I guess it first had to be unlocked by an admin because you're a new user? I totally missed it. Druid 0 recovery: With Dual Wielding, Frenzy and Two Weapon Style you would have 0 recovery without armor penalty. But if I recall correctly the natural armor of the shifted druid has -25%? Anyways, the remaining recovery is pretty short (like 8 frames or lower I guess - check MaxQuest's awesome speed calculator) - but more importantly your attack cycle is shorter than that of dual sabres with 0 recovery. That's because the natural weapons are faster than the heavy one-handed weapons (but hit even harder AND have innate DR bypass). Skaen priest with Firebrand or stilettos When looking at dps: in the long run stilettos would be better - but only from late midgame to late game. But this would need enchantments, finding decent stilettos, probably use some durgan steel on them and so on. Since priests usually tend to spend a lot of their time casting I always feel that's a waste of resources. Also, the very high base damage of Firebrand works very well with the good damage bonuses of the skaen priest - and Aggrandizing Radiance + Minor Avatar will ensure a lot of summon duration and also a lot more crits (which is great for Firebrand). And in the early to mid game there's nothing better. You can later retrain for stilettos if you want to improve your dps in the later game - but I usually want to spend the good stuff on characters who make more frequent use of their weapons. But yes, stilettos are also a good alternative. See my old build "Sheemer's Needler" in the build section for that (it is old and has no WM talents if I recall correctly, but it gives you an idea). Rogue with TIdefall and recovery No, he will not reach 0 recovery without potions. He is more focused on hefty spike damage to possibly one-shot enemies (works pretty well) and survivability rather than boosted dps and dropping unconcious all the time. With 20 DEX and Gauntlets of Swift Action and Scale armor + durgan steel he would have an attack cycle of 85 frames which is good. If he gulps a potion of Alacrity or using Angio's Gambeson he would have 0 recovery and thus would deal a lot higher dps than a dual sabre rogue. Also, Backstab with dual sabres will give you teo hits - Backstab with Tidefall also teo hits. Tidefall is the better option when using Backstab because of that. Wounding with 1 INT and +300% damage bonus is really devastating. Also Runner's Wounding Shot + Deathblows + Tidefall is a death sentense. Way better than Finishing Blow when using two handers in my opinion. The good thing is the good survivability with the awesome damage per hit and the overall tactical approach with Backstab. For some this is fun, for some it's just tedious.

I'd like to add that priests' special accuracy talents like Hope Eternal, Inspired Flame, The Pallid Hand and so on which will give you +10 accuracy with two different weapons work with all soulbound and summoned weapons as well.

If you pick Spirit of Decay then I'd say Bittercut. But it depends on your crit rate. +50% on crit (+6.75 damage), slash only compared to +20% (+2.7) in all cases, corrode/slash. A difference of 4.05 damage on crit. You woul need a crit rate of 67.5% (crit:(hits+grazes), that's not the crit rate in the char sheet, I believe that's only crit:hit). And then you'd have to factor in the single damage vs. dual damage. If you take Spirit of Decay for Bittercut but no elemental booster for the other sabres then clearly Bittercut because the +5% more multiplicative lash damage will deal more than 4 damage in most cases. Anyway - the difference is marginal. Dual Annihilation is good as well. The best option in my opinion is using Bittercut + Resolution and later Purgatory. The draining on a barb is nice und I think the advantages of Bittercut are not big enough to justify the use of the Helwax Mold in this case (coolness aside). Also: abysmal defenses against poison with two Bittercuts.

Understandable. It's a huge pile of text.

Time Parasite jumps from enemy to enemy and thus can have a very long duration. The duration that's listed is only for one enemy. 6 enemies * 12 sec base = 72 seconds with 10 INT. 108 secs with 20 INT.

True. I wrote about that in the last paragraph.

THE Temaperacl please! Always misspelled, often overlooked, seldomly picked.

Also, stuff like Frenzy + Bloodlust + Blood Thirst favors Two Handers (HoF aside which favors heavy one handers in dual wielding mode). And then of course special enchantments (that are on two handers or heavy one handers) that you can get early are important to. Tidefall is superb and wounding, Hours of St. Rumbalt is annihilating and overbearing (great combo) and comes with ACC III, Tall Grass is predatory and overbearing (also great combo), Llawran's Stick has speed, Durance's Staff comes with a lash and has two damage types. Those are good reasons to settle for a two hander. Same with the Wizard's melee weapons. Then Shatterstar has double Interrupt value, is annihilating and guarding (good combo for fighter), Resolution is annihilating and reliable, Cladhaliath can be made into the perfect weapon for your needs and so on. Compared to that the most light weapons you can get early are a bit meh when it comes to interesting enchantments (besides Sword of Daenysis, March Steel Dagger and Unforgiven - which all have speed).

Try barb with Novice's Suffering in the early game.

Yes, I thought of early to mid game. I also think that the experiences in the early game (where light weapons underperform) don't help. An example is the barb who can't deal damage at the beginning when he uses light weapons. The damage malus of carnage (-36%), paired with the very low ACC always leads to whimpy MIN damage if you hit at all.

Most AoE damage: priest (after gaining some levels). Needs high MIG, PER and INT for that. Best single target damage: druid (cat form or boar form) or rogue (whatever weapon, dual wielding is great for his strike abilites, two handers are better for Backstabs). Best crowd control: druid Best buffs: priest My recommendations (viable and fun to play - at least for me): Moon Godlike boar druid with focus on Spiritshift and self healing MIG: 18 CON: 16 DEX: 14 PER: 13 INT: 14 RES: 3 Or something like that - shift some points if you like. High MIG boosts the wounding lash that the boar tusks have. High CON prevents death from health loss (while endurance gets healed all the time). The goal is to be sturdy despite being an offensive druid and to use spell holding gear that benefits your shifted form. Pick Veteran's Recovery, Wildstrike Shock, Weapon Focus Peasant, Greater Wildstrike Shock, Two Weapon Style, Heart of the Storm, Savage Attack, Apprentice's Sneak Attack. Push Survival to 12. You'll get +2 from Sanguine Plate and will choose healing bonus when camping (+60%). This will boost you Silver Tide (moon godlike racial ability), Boar regeneration, Veteran's Recovery and Consecrated Ground from Shod-in-Faith boots (see below). Put on the Sanguine Plate and Shod-in-Faith boots and also the WIldstrike Belt. When encounter starts use a DR+ spell like Form of the Delemgan, later also Avenging Storm and then use a CC spell like Subeam or Returning Storm or Overbearing Wave or whatever in order to lower enemies' defenses. Then run towards them. Once you get a crit: Frenzy and Consecrated Ground will trigger. Then shift asap and hit the CC'd enemies with your tusks. Once the first is dead: Off to the next! Your self healing will be immense and you will not be easy to kill - however when you get pummeled badly you will lose health. A potion of Infuse with Vital Essence can heal your health without resting! It also profits from the healing bonus. Pick the Doemenel Faction in order to get Merciless Hand and also help the Dyrwoodan looters in order to get Dungeon Delver. This will improve your critical damage from +50% to +90%. When not shifted you can use dual hatchets for better deflection and of course you can always cast spells - preferably shock based spells. This build is not optimal for RES-based dialogue options as you could have guessed. But it is a lot of fun. You could have better dps with a cat form, but nothing is more frustirating than getting knocked out a lot - this won't happen too ofteen with this druid if you don't get too reckless. --- Hearth Orlan Priest of Skaen with Firebrand: The more priests advance the less they use melee weapons because they are so busy casting their awesome spells. THis build takes this into account and pairs the most powerful early-to-mig-game weapon with the damage bonuses of a priest of Skaen. This guy is a flanker like a real rogue. The race is not set but I think orlan background fits both Skaen and also the flanking style. MIG:15 CON:10 DEX:15 PER:15 INT:15 RES: 08 Skill survival to 12 in order to get +20% damge bonus when hitting flanked enemies. Pick Prey on the Weak, Inspiring Radiance, Aggrandizing Radiance, Apprentice's Sneak Attack, Weapon Focus Ruffian, Two Handed Style, Savage Attack, Scion of Flame. Put on an item with bonus damage to flanked enemies (Glanfathan Stalking Boots for example). All items that raise stats are fine. Try not to put too much recovery penalty on the priest - but enough DR so that he doesn't go down too quickly. Use Consecrated Ground if you feel that you are too squishy. As soon as encounter starts wait in stealth until the enemies engaged your front line, cast Radiance and flank an enemy. Later also cast Dire Blessing, Devotions, Minor Avatar and stuff like that. Your damage per hit will be great. You can use this tactic every time you want to spare spell uses. Else spam your fire spells, preferably Shining Beacon. Here you should also pick the Doemenel Faction because of the same reasons. --- Dumbest rogue with Tidefall This rogue will be relatively sturdy comapred to most other rogues while he will do decent damage via wounding. Best thing for wounding is high MIG and low INT. So wie drop INT to 3 and reduce it further to 1 later (this boosts wounding dps to the max). Race doesn't matter that much. MIG: 18 CON: 18 DEX: 18 PER: 18 INT: 03 RES: 03 You can put 4 points into survival for the ACC bonus, rest to stealth. Tidefall's draining doesn't profit from healing bonuses, so we can skip that. Put on heavy armor at first in order to stay alive. You can reduce that step by step later on if you feel you're safe enough. Grab Tidefall asap (needs 10 mechanics), put on a freezing lash (or any other lash), get the Ultimate Hat of Alluring Perfection from Stalwart (INT-2, RES-2, MIG +2, CON+2). Get the Cape of the Master Mystic as well. Blunting Belt is good. Boots of Speed greatly increase the usefulness as well. Pick Weapon Focus Soldier, Two Handed Style, Backstab, Runner's Wounding Shot, Vicious Fighting, Shadowing Beyond (also bind Nightshroud for an additional use of Shadowing Beyond), Fast Runner, Secrets of Rime. Crippling Strike, Reckless Assault, Dirty Fighting, Deep Wounds, Deathblows, Sap, Shadow Step, Feign Death. Wait in stealth till enemies come near and want to engage to your tank or whomever or even better snaek around them to reach the squishies. Place two afflictions on enemies with the party while the rogue still is in stealth (skip that if you don't have Deathblows yet), then engage an enemy with auto-attacks while you are stealthed (it doesn't matter if you unstealth on the way to the target). You will get two backstab-strikes with +300% damage bonus because of Sneak Attack, Deathblows and Backstab. then use Crippling Strike, Runner's Wounding Shot, Crippling Strike. Use high move speed to reach squishies quickly and kill them. Also use Shadwo Step to do so. When you catch a crit you will be invisible and can allpiy Backstab again. While yoi kill yopu will gain a lot of endurance - if it's not enough activate Shadowing Beyond and get Backstab once again. If you seem to go down use Feign Death (very short duration here), get back up and again do a Backstab. It's a lot of micro but a lot of fun. Here Doemenel as well. --- All very offensive builds I have to admit. But those were the rogue/priest/druid I had the most fun with recently. Dialogue choices are overrated. You won't miss a lot of things because of dialogue options. I have to admit low INT and RES remove a lot of (rather pointless) dialogue options, but there are still some with PER, MIG and so on. For the best stat spread for dialogues I would pick a tanky paladin or chanter. THose have a stat spread that fits most dialogue options best. Sorry for the typos. Had to write quickly...

So... did you try?

As said in another thread: I guess things like Concelhaut's Staff + Carnage would be awesome. Also because you can get the Staff so early so there will be not that much waiting to start this combo.

If it's still the case that abilites will not be blocked while using Citzal's Martial Power then I can see some synergies with classes that have damaging active abilites (Torment's Reach for example). Maybe also the spells from another class will not be blocked? A wizard with Concelhaut's Staff + Carnage will also be great in the early to mig game I assume. Both level-1 stuff.