Boeroer

They are not entirely - if I look at the Black Jacket fighter for example. So I guess subclasses will spice things up a bit. Nowadays a fighter in PoE is a good mixture of offense and defense. He/she will contribute more (at least to fun factor) when not build defensively. I think that's a good thing. And then comes Charge. Unfortunately this comes too late to build a fighter around it - but it sure is effective as hel.

Yes. At least paladins will give support even if they are build superdefensively.

That's the main reason. You stun an opponent if he attacks your will defense. Once per encounter for a short time. Meh...

You said that fighters get the highest hit points per level and all the armor. I said they don't in PoE. My statement was absolutely correct. Don't know what else there is to say.

A ranged chanter works nice with either with (Killers Froze Stiff) or summons. For a dmg chanter (Dragon Thrashed or Seven Nights or so) you'd have to be in the thick of battle in order to reach as many enemies as possible. And I guess you want to use the Sure Handed Ila chant as well. With Sure Handed Ila and a lvl 1 phrase you can actually chain-paralyze enemies with Killers Froze Stiff at higher levels. And the lenght of the cone is pretty impressive, too. And if you want to drop a summon that's also no problem. Keep in mind that invocations trigger a recovery phase which can be quite long if you're wearing armor and have low DEX. In this recovery phase there's also no chanting.

I wouldn't say a chanter doesn't pull its weight 'till level 9. He has the phantom which trivializes most early game fights, he has White Worms which can be used with chokepoints and can be a very powerful tool in fights with many enemies and he has the paralyzing cone which is also very good. All those come on top of his AoE regeneration healing and his damaging or supporting chants. In my opinion it is ALWAYS better to have a frontliner who trades a bit of tankyness for more overall usefulness instead of having one supertank who can do nothing but survive. In a full party that is. Doesn't matter if beginner or veteran.

Well, in PoE they don't.

Very nice!

Usually it stacks. But it's a bit buggy. Most of the time you'll get +100 (minus the debuff from stun/prone) but sometimes nothing happes. It should be displayed in the char sheet though.

First of all, you can bribe her in the Charred Barrel. She will not switch immediately but she will turn against her master once it's obvious that you will win (which will be very obvious if you have all possible reinforcements). I also guess that you can talk her into it with very high RES, but I never did that.

Paladin: Your paladin will be ignored by most enemies. And since he will hit like a wet noodle he can't do anything about it. You will also gimp your Sacred Immolation if you leave your PER at 4. Also, your reflex defense will be really bad - and that's an important defense against dragons for example. You want your defenses to be balanced (not necessarily your attributes). In a full party, your tanks really don't need RES 18 and CON 17. One single tank also doesn't work in PoE. There is not taunting or aggro system. If the paladin is too tough, enemies will not attack him but focus on the squishy damage dealers first (as you do with them) - see ranger (supersquishy). Edér can help - but even two frontliners may not be enough. Use the paladin for healing, not Durance (I mean not primarily). Ranger: He would be fine if you have any means of protecting him (CC, more frontliners or so). Once he gets engaged it's game over for him. And a dead ranger deals zero damage. I know that from experience. Rogue: Your rogue is ok. But I wouldn't go for dual wielding (although it's totally viable and powerful) but instead grab Tidefall asap. It's wounding enchantment is so good with high MIG and low INT, you will be amazed. Combine it with Runner's Wounding Shot (only if you are not dual wielding). It also profits from low INT and also works great with an arquebus. However - this rogue will be fine with two weapons as well. I guess you will be using sabres... Durance: If you want to use a priest to his full potential, use him for buffs mostly and not so much for healing. Priests' buffs are the best. Devotions for the Faithful alone is a good reason to bring a priest. Also, later, use him for dealing damage and let Aloth do more CC. Priests have awesomest high level damaging spells.

In my opinion you lack (sturdy) frontliners. Those druids are relatively squishy in the early game, so is the priest. Same with the rogue. They will get sturdier with more levels and then it's a good setup, but in the beginning thoese guys will be falling apart regularely. I mean that's fine if you can handle it. It is totally doable - but you have to know what you are doing. That's because all those classes lack health and you can't prevent hits and crits in the early game. It's common that it's not the lack of endurance and healing that kills you, but the lack of health. If you'd build your chanter as a support tank in the beginning and later retrain to ranged support that would make things a bit easier I'd say. Another variant would be a paladin frontliner. You can do awesome things with a paladin + priest. Marking Weapon + Coordinated Attacks + Zealous Focus + Devotions of the Faithful can raise a single team member's ACC against a single foe by +46 and the whole party's ACC by +26.

I agree that a lot of my builds are not necessarily great for beginners. Some of them might be, but most of the time I just want to present something interesting, entertaining and unique (that works), not something foolproof. Having said that, I think a Dragon Thrashed chanter tank is relatively foolproof. Tankyness combined with great AoE damage - you can't go wrong with that. Even before lvl 9 you can heal in an AoE with Ancient Memory + Beloved Spirits and deal ok raw damage via Winds of Death or raise party's fortitude/reflex/will defenses by 10 and move speed by 1 which is great, too. If you want to make sure that Edér also gets targeted, you can put him in lighter armor and use a dual wieding setup (great for Knockdown and Charge anyway) or use a two hander. His Constant + Rapid Recovery, stacked with the chanter's Ancient Memory + Beloved Spirits will make him sturdy enough even thugh he has less deflection and also less DR. Different enemies have different priorities. Some like to attack low DR (archers), some go for low deflection (barbs) and so on.

You can gain the help of an Ogre Matron with her clan in WM I and the help of a Readceran army in WM II. This only reduces the enemies on the battlefield. You can also fight right away without Veterans and whatever if your party is really good. It's not even very hard if you are solo with a good build and of high level. But I think it's more fun and feels better to gather all the reinforcements you can get. You can even win your enemy's captain over to your side.

Against Lagufaeth you can use Aila Braccia (small shield, Celestial Sapling, monk leader). It turns 100% of ranged grazes to misses and reflects them back to the origin. Also works with targeted spells like Cleansing Flame from Broodmothers if it grazes you (targets deflection). It also works with the blowgun-darts and so on. If you use an amulet that gives you +10 to spell defense and also use Moonwell this makes some hefty encounters a lot easier.

No, the bonus from MIG works with the base damage and also Novice's Suffering's bonus damage - but EVERY other damage modifier doesn't. So things like Savage Attack or Apprentice's Sneak Attack are bad with this. Also crits only do marginal more damage. At the same time grazes do nearly the same amount of damage as hits and crits. So this has pros and cons. For a barb for example it's quite cool because the 34% damage malus for carnage doesn't matter as well as the acc malus. So, if you have tremendous MIG and want to do consistent damage even with lowish accuracy then Novice's Suffering is good. I did a monkish wizard with Citzal's Martial Power which worked quite nicely. I also did a monkish druid (boar) with high MIG and it was also good. Jojobobo did a barb and was pleased. Even a priest with Champions Boon should be viable.

That can be a problem in the early game with PotD. If your chanter is not only the main tank but also the only one. But in the early game you have to rest a lot anyways if you have two casters with you. However, on Hard this shouldn't be too much of a problem either. By the way: use the paladin for healing mostly, not Durance. Use Durance primarily for buffing.

Chanter tank is absolutely viable. Despite Gromnir's advice ( ): pick The Dragon Thrashed as only chant. Use Veteran's Recovery and also Ancient Memory and Beloved Spirits as well as Sword & Shield Style and other defensive talents. Pair this with high MIG, PER and INT and you everything will be awesome. Weapon damage will be puny of course, but who cares if you can burn & slash everything just by standing around?

Sure does. All passive enchantments on weapons stack with everything. Annihilating+Durgan Steel = +0.8 crit damage mod.

Multiple hits combined with Combusting Wounds is quite nice, yes. And it keeps working for you even if you get disabled. The terrifying part of Nature's Terror also helps with surviving. Also works great with a retaliation item plus Sura's Supper Plate plus potion of Flame Shield. You will trigger 3 Combusting Wounds on everyone who hits you in melee.

By the way: did you try to use some pulsing spells like Wicked Briars and then Nature's Terror + a ring of Searing Flames against the vessel group?

Yeah it's all-in or nothing.

In a party, spiritshift is really great. The best single target dps tool there is. More melee damage than a rogue but still able to cast. But for a solo run it's just too short.

That fight is supertouch compared to the rest that dwells in Russetwood (the Lagufaeth + Trolls are also a bit tough). They are so tough because they can be used to attack the Ogre Cave if you're getting the right dialogue options. Anyway: you can lure the Lagufaeth to the Fampyrs and let them fight - you kill the rest then. This only works if you don't talk to the Fampyrs first. You can still talk to them later if some of them survive (usually they take out the Lagufaeth). Actually you can lure any hostile being to that group - but the Lagufaeth are near and they are also the most powerful ones on that map (besides the Fampyrs).

Those are perfect stats for a Dragon-Thrashed-Chanter with great recovery. Actually his regeneration will be so good (better than a fighter's with Rapid Recovery) that you don't necessarily need to take weapon & shield. But honestly it's the tbest synergy you can have since you need no weapon attacks at all once you have The Dragon Thrashed. That stacks as well (with itself) by the way.