Boeroer

If I recall correctly, fast casts have 32 frames base recovery. With an armor (melee wizards often wear a thicker one) you should see a noticable difference when casting with or without the speed bonus of Alacrity. Instant casts have no recovery (Disciplined Barrage, Savage Defiance...).

The problem is that if you cast all those things before Alacrity then it takes a lot longer until you can really start with the fighting. I think it's better to finish the casting more quickly than to have a bit more Alacrity left. Especially in a party you want to be done quickly because else the rest of the party already killed half of the enemies while you are still casting. Solo is another story of course.

Clearing the stash helps a lot on my case. Also with the speed of quicksave.

Oops - I forgot Alacrity. Cast that first.

Yes - it's not that something magical happens if you get from very short to zero.

If you don't use mind control in your party then a fighter's "Take the Hit" is actually very good and better than Zealous Endurance - when you combine it with high self heals and max CON. With mind control involved it's totally bugged and bonkers.

Basically you cast Citzal's Spirit Lance, Wizard's Double or another defense buff and then Martial Power, then use Arcane + Hardened Veil. It's like an untouchable pike barb on steroids. Usually the duration of Arcane Veil is enough to kill most groups with the lance.

You could try a duelist monk with Torment's Reach and the weapons I mentioned. Torment's Reach + two speedy weapons that also give +5 ACC each is perfect for Torment's Reach. Tons of AoE damage. And Force of Anguish is the best single target CC ability in the game. It also profits from the +5 ACC of the weapons and the speed because you can send several people onto the floor in seconds. It's a lot of fun. Also monks have huge endurance and health pools and therefore don't struggle as much when they are used as shield-less frontliners.

The burst damage (there is no burst dps) of the fighter is shice. Well not too bad, but he only gets +25% (+Confident Aim) more base damage than the paladin while the paladin can deliver two attacks with +120% lash (against 0 DR) Until the fighter gets Charge, then he does superawesome burst "AoE burst" damage turns into one of the best "alpha strikers" in the team I'd say. Paladin is better in terms of burst damage or "alpha strike", especially if he uses arquebuses. No running around - just fire from stealth, switch, fire again. But on the other hand the figher has a nice single target Knockdown which can be reliably used to disable annoying enemies. That's a good alternative to burst damage. When the enemy lies on the floor the fighter has an easy time finishing the job because he does better auto-attack damage and is usually faster due to Armored Grace.

Def. speed weapons because most speed boni multiply. If you are about twice as fast (with DW, Two Weapon Style and 2 speed weapons) you do twice the dps. While annihilating only adds +50% to weapon base damage. This is not superpowerful. In case of a sabre it's only 6,75 damage per hit. Rimecutters are both annihilating and speedy, so it's great. I would alway buy two of them. Bittercut is better if you can get to 0 recovery (with durgan steel + gloves for example) because it has +40% base damage with all grazes/hits/crits compared to +50% on crit on Rimecutter. This alone is better. Then Bittercut has two damage types which is a huge advantage over axes and other sabres. Then you will also automatically get a 30% corrosive lash because you want to take Spirit of Decay anyway. And on top of that it has some nice Spell Bindings. But the main reason for me is dual damage types. And there are also builds who don't need to look at recoery so much but want to have higher damage on hit - like a dw barbarian using Barbaric Blow, Vengeful Defeat and Heart of Fury for example. Or a paldin who only has 2 FoDs and wants to maximize the damage on hit to get the most out of it and not nec. dps. Same with Fighter using 3 Knockdowns and Charge. Rimecutters allow you to reach 0 recovery sooner and also pick Vulnerable Attack later and still be at 0 recovery while wearing thicker armor.

Maybe - depends if you can get other ACC buffs or enemy debuffs (then you won't need any WF) or if you have to rely on your ACC entirely (like a solo barb or so). At least Weapon Focus stacks with everything while alternatives like Gallant's Focus do not. Or if the weapons demand max ACC or not - for example for We Toki + Godansthunyr it would maybe better to have +6 ACC each. Honestly I never took two different WF on one char. By the way there is a pair of speedy weapons that is in the same weapon group, can be obtained very early and also look good together: Sword of Daenysis (rapier) + March Steel Dagger. Both have WF Noble, both give you +5 ACC and both have speed (Sword of Daenysis is also rending). It's a pretty great setup for any fancy duelist build. With 20 DEX, the speed of the weapons, Two Handed Style, some durgan steel and a speed ability/talent/potion like Outlander's you can wear a Breastplate and pick Vulnerable Attack and still retain 0 recovery (0.6 frames which gets skipped I believe). With Vuln. Attack + Ryona's Vambraces the rapier will have 11 DR bypass and the MS Dagger will have 8. It's viable end-game gear. Although you have to be a bit of a douche to keep the March Steel Dagger.

And the barb doesn't provide burst damage - at which the paladin can be really good. People always talk about dps here, dps there - but it's also very important to take out high priority targets that can screw you really fast. 2 FoD attack can do that if you use the right talents and items. If a Battery Siren paralyzes your whole crew your potential dps is very unimportant. Better to blast her out of her socks at the start of the fight and finish the rest of the enemies with the AoE guys. It's the mixture... That said: barb with carnage can have so many quirky albeit and effective setups - it's fun to play a barb.

Don't know if you know: Transcendent Suffering's ACC bonus does not translate to Torment's Reach - while the ACC bonus of weapons does. So if you use Torment's Reach a lot it's best to switch to weapon use soon.

It got fixed. It is on as long as you chant. So - while you use an invocation and after that while you are recovering you are not healing.

Holy moly - Quoteception...

They also give a bonus to DEX, so they are not too bad if you just leave them on.

I would use a Priest of Skaen with Firebrand this time. The combined Sneak Attacks, Dire Blessing and Minor Avatar should be pretty cool with that sword. Paladin: Island Aumaua Bleak Walker with 4 arquebuses for 2 FoDs and 1 Runner's WS, then Pliambo per Casitàs for marking + Coordinated Attacks and the occasional Envenomed Strike. Please try an Island Aumaua wizard with 4 blunderbusses and Expose Vulnerabilites + Combusting Wounds, usind DR bypass as much as possible with Pen. Shot and Ryona's Vembr. It's a great single target shooter and still can deal lots of AoE damage with spells.

Yes, gets suppressed. Same as the Colored Coat's "sly" enchantment. Also, Hirbel's Protective Skin's crit-to-hit conversion gets suppressed by durgan steel as well.

A melee ranger with a two hander is actually quite ok in the early game - mostly because of Wounding Shots (is better than the standard Flames of Devotion and also works in melee) and Swift Aim (also works in melee - Vicious Aim only works with ranged weapons). The improved speed and the raw damage let him do good damage early on. The best part is obvioulsy Stunning Shots which also work in melee. Funnily enough Driving Flight + Stunning Shots will also stun the enemy behind your initial target (without doing damage). You have to decide if it's worth it (I mean Driving Flight). With Stalker's Link and Stalker's Torc (random loot item) you'll also get +10 ACC and +20% damage, stacks with Savage Attack and Apprentice's Sneak as well as Two Handed Style. So, the melee damage can be comparable to a fighter's with the addition that from lvl 11 on you will be perma-stunning enemies - a bit like Xaurip Skirmishers or Phantoms do. And never forget the pet! With Predator's Sense, Merciless & Vicious Companion, combined with a wounding weapon like Tidefall on the ranger it will do tremendous damage per hit. It hits slowly - but who cares if it one-shots squishies, right? On top of that the pet can flank with you, giving you both the equivalent of +10 ACC and triggering Merciless Companion, Apprentice's Sneak Attack and also survival's flanking bonus for you. It's quite fun.

Critical hits with annihilating two hander. And only on Firebrand I'm afraid. In the late game with Durgan Steel, superb or legendary enchantment and a burning lash Hours of St. Rumbalt will be better (also because it will crit more often). I also like Runner's Wounding Shot a lot on a paladin. It also works in melee and adds some nice raw damage that can double your damage for one strike. And because it also gets +1 ACC per level it crits more often than auto-attacks. It gives the paladin an additional strike that's not a boring auto-attack. Great with Sworn Enemy!

As far as I know armor penalties don't affect reloading, only recovery. So Armored Grace and such can't have any effect here.

Get Kograk the ogre and other prestige-suckers and try again. Those hirelings are good for raising the defense but keeping the prestige low - until you want it to be high.

Technically FoD (especially of a Bleak Walker) is best with arquebuses against high DR (average base damage of 30) or blunderbuss (7.5 times 6 = 45) against low or zero DR. Not so great with melee weapons like two handers (average base damage of 17). Even things like Savage Attack + Two Handed Style cannot close the gap. Except of course with Firebrand which has 25 plus Annihilating - it does tremendous FoD damage with a Bleak Walker or Goldpact Knight on a crit. Over 200 crit damage on an average damage roll is possible. It's my favorite melee weapon for FoD besides a durganized Hours of St. Rumbalt (usually follows Firebrand in the late game). I know: it's only 3/ rest. But I tend to rest after 3 tough fights anyway. In the easier ones I can still use a regular great sword. I lust love that fiery sword... also great for ciphers (hello focus overflow), monks with Turning Wheel and Lighting Strikes (whooha!) and rogues with invisibility + Deathblows + Backstab (Mr. One-Shot). Bleak Walker with Executioner's Hood, Sanguine Plate and Firebrand is so... fiendish.

Rodriguez, who is dual wielding Buttercut, just called: he wants his Direballs back! Sometimes really good stuff comes from typos in these forums. I would love to see some artsy pictures of a peg-leg dragon, standing on a deck of a ship, holding a harpoon, shouting and slapping sailors to their senses while chasing a big white sea mammal...

Actually "to whale" can also mean to hit or thrash somebody. Totally fits! That - and sea dragons...