Boeroer

I pledged exactly 100$ and I didn't get anything - no nessage, no survey, no badges or anything. Maybe I'll write Aarik about this... Don't desperately need anything of the above, but maybe there's a general bug that prevents others from getting this as well.

I like LoH. With enough INT it lasts quite a while. The trick is to cast it before the recipient gets pummeled too hard. I cast it in foresight. And if it was wasted who cares? It's 2 per encounter. And better waste one use of LoH than being too slow and a party member bites the dust. High DEX shortens long casts of course. So it helps with the casting time of LoH. And it's the only thing that does. Recovery shouldn't be your problem (if you don't spam your useless auto-attacks all the time right before you need to cast LoH). Once LoH is out it's not a big problem if a huge chunk of recovery follows. The casting time is what prevents you from using it as an emergency button. And that is not altered by plate or anything. Only DEX. But it's true: once you do the things Natures Bounty mentioned you don't need LoH a lot. Regenerating is basically healing with no casting time and no recovery which makes it so effective. The downside is a bit of wasted healing here and there.

You might want to skip Vulnerable Attack. Sabres have enough base damage to overcome DR. In most cases it will cost you dps. Infestation of Maggots should have been fixed with the 3.06 patch. Maybe Bittercut's variant was skipped accidentially. I would take Backstab as soon as possible because it's very helpful in the early game where it can oneshot enemies. It works best with auto attacks (=you'll get two backstabs). If you use a strike ability you'll only get one backstab. As a dual wielder I would pick as many Full Attack strike abilities as I can get. Sabres are slow and Full Attacks speed you up a lot. And you get two chances to apply the affliction. With a strike ability the offhand hits first. So I would place Resolution there. I also wouldn't drop CON and RES below 8. Because that would result in a melee rogue who does 0 damage - because he's unconcious all the time. By the way: Bittercut's spellbindings have instant cast and 0 recovery for some reason.

Savage Attack doesn't work with Reckless Assault. Fast Runner stacks with everything. If you find Boots of Speed you don't need it though. Persitent Distraction is very meh. Distracted doesn't Trigger Sneak Attack or Deathblows. Interrupting Blows are not really needed because rogues' victims die fast. For Backstab: you'll get two consecutive melee auto attacks if you attack from stealth or invisibility. It doesn't matter if you unstealth on the way to the victim. It's only important to start the attack (click on the target) from stealth. So it's not too bad. Obviously it favours hard hitting weapons. Finishing Blow it totally useless in my opinion. Since rogues can crit a lot, weapons with Annihilating are nice: Resolution, Shatterstar, Battle axes and so on. A nice weapon is Bittercut: works with Spirit of Decay (+20% damage) and if you put on a corrosive lash you will profit twice from that talent. This will be as mich damage as with Resolution or Purgatory, but it will also have two damage types - what sabres and Battle axes usually Lack. Highest dps is Drawn in Spring, but it comes so late that it's not worth it to build everything around it. The best early setup for max attack speed and thus also great dps is Sword of Daenysis (Rapier, Defiance Bay, Salty Mast) plus March Steel Dagger (Def. Bay, Gordy quest). With thin armor, Two Weapon Style and those weapons you will reach zero recovery quickly. Later I would pick Vulnerable Attack with this setup because it lacks a bit base damage since it's fast/light weapons. Also looks nice - Duelist Style.

Most likely Sneak Attack will not work with the blast of the lance. But maybe Deathblows does like in PoE1.

There are some ways how to "deal with" large shields: 1.: Put more points into PER and lower RES. Extreme example: put PER to 18+ and RES to 4-. That way you will still have normal accuracy - like with a small shield with 10 PER - and your deflection will be the same as with 12 RES and a small shield. This in itself isn't an advantage, it's just shifting some points. BUT - you will also get a higher reflex bonus (+16 instead of + 8 ) than with a small shield (plus weapon & shield style). Basically you trade concentration for reflex. Since a chanter who's focused on chanting doesn't need concentration that's a good thing. 2.: Switch weapon sets. One setup with a small shield, the other with a large shield. Switch to the large shield when you're under heavy fire and back to the small shield when it's save. You can add a third weapon set to this: a single one handed weapon. When you use Dragon Thrashed and don't get attacked you can switch to the single weapon and get +12 ACC for that phrase. Since chanting doesn't get influenced by weapon switching and its recovery you can switch all the time and won't experience any drawbacks when it comes to your chanting. Same goes for your defensive values. They will change immediately after switching. If you take an Island Aumaua (Kana) you will already have three weapon sets and can do this right from the beginning: start the fight with the single weapon, once you get attacked switch to small shield, if you feel you get punished too hard switch to large shield. You can combine 1. and 2. The +12 ACC bonus from single weapon usage and the maxed PER work very well together. and will get you more crits while you are not threatened.

I think there's too much formatting in order to make things look fancy and medieval. A small table in the top right here (weapon pages for examples), a picture there, things like that. You have to put a considerable amount of effort into editing and especially into creating a new page in order to have a consistent formatting. I really like the Dokuwiki approach better. It doesn't look like much most of the time, but it's very simple and quick to edit an create.

It's not a disadvantage. In PoE's "per-rest-system" you could cast 4 spells in every spell level in an encounter if you were fully rested. In PoE2's "per-encounter-system" you can only cast 2 spells in every spell level. This makes PoE1's priest better for tough encounters and less useful for trash fights (if you want to minimize resting) while PoE2's priest will be worse in boss fights. But at the same time you don't have to hold back in trash fights. However, for boss fights the PoE2 priest will also have empower uses. This will not give him more spells (I guess), but make some of his casts a lot more powerful. I doubt that you can compare a fighter/priest to a paladin. Paladins are too unique in PoE and different from a fighting priest. I also don't think that the synergies between fighter and priest are especially good. Not like monk/druid or maybe cipher/barbarian or whatever. But that's just speculation to be honest. By the way: a lvl 20 paladin in PoE2 will have 11 uses of Flames of Devotion per encounter. Pretty awesome...

Did you look it up on the character sheet or did you check the combat log? Because sometimes the UI of the char sheet has a glitch where different ACC bonuses don't get displayed - but the ACC value will still be applied when fighting (see combat log).

That's an UI glitch that happens sometimes. The accuracy bonus of the weapon's quality enchantment (fine/exept./superb/legendary) sometimes isn't shown on the character sheet. You can check the combat log after an attack roll and you'll see that the accuracy value of the attack is calculated correctly.

I assume the Naasitaq ranger is your main character. Because those checks only use the main character's values. If your main char's PER is 17 or higher the check should work (if it requires a value of 17). Your other party members will not contribute anything to this check. Items' bonuses like the one from Lilith's Shawl will work. Resting bonuses, temporary buffs from food, prostitutes or spells (if there's any that lasts outside of combat, can't remember) will also apply. Basically your PER value at the moment of the dialogue counts - no matter how you achieved it. What exactly do you want to achieve with the perception check? Because the PER check will not solve this encounter peacefully. It will just give you hints. Even if the PER check doesn't work for some reason (bug or whatver) you don't need it to move forward peacefully. To solve the encounter without fighting you have to read the logbook that you can find in the same room, then go to the woman who gave you the quest (Niah). She's waiting for you right outside the lighthouse. After that go to the Charred Barrel (upstairs) in Brackenbury and talk to Maerwith the pirate captain. Then return to the lighthouse and talk to Niah again.

Sneak Attack doesn't work with Carnage? Booh!

The spell summons a wand that "shoots" the blights when you attack with it. It's very simple and straightforward.

Like all summoned weapons (and soulbound, too), Kalakoth's Minor Blights is in the weapon category "universal" which means that it works with any weapon focus. You can check that while you have the char sheet opened (key C) and hover over your accuracy value. Whatever weapon focus you took, it will be applied to Minor Blights. Edit: druids' natural weapons when shifted don't count as summoned weapons and thus only work with Weapon Focus Peasant.

You can also run through the area with a lot of movement speed bonuses. You will have to lead the following Bannermen into the Alguls and Deathguards and while they fight you can run to the entrance of the tower and wait till encounter stops, then enter. Maybe you also have to use summons to stop followers. However, I only did this solo and I think it's nearly impossible with a whole party if you don't want to give everybody Fast Runner and use a party wide Zealous Charge or potion of Fleet Feet. And even then it will be a chore. But solo it' OK. Boots of Speed and a potion of Fleet Feet stack. Even if you get hobbled or blinded by a ranged attack you still will be fast enough. Just don't get engaged.

You know what? Now I got the joke!

Yes, it's because some cipher powers are really awesome and too good to not use them. Like you said: Mental Binding and Amplified Wave are two examples. But since mind control (confuse, charm, dominate) is one of the strongest CC effects in the game (and it's really cheap with ciphers) I use Whisper of Treason a lot - even at high levels. In fact I find charm so useful that I value Munacra Arret and Spirit Spiral as some of the best items in the game. With a rogue, paladin or fighter you can crit-charm a lot and it makes tough fights a lot easier if you can spam that on a per-rest-basis.

Nope. It's always fighting as far as I know. Maybe there is a way with a ton of RES, but I don't think so.

I think Torm meant the Witch's Hat and confused the creatures. As far as I know there is no item that summons a banshee nor is there an item or ability that lets you shapeshift into one.

Yeah - but you can use both. They are not mutually exclusive. But people treat them like they are.

MIG also makes healing via Ancient Memory, Beloved Spirits and Veteran's Recovery more powerful. And with a Dragon Thrashed chanter there are basically no "Oh sh!t"-moments.

Which innocent man?

No, being a godlike does not entail worshipping the corresponding god. Maybe some godlikes even despise the god who "touched" them - because usually being a godlike comes with some hefty (social) disadvantaves.

Why didn't I think of that?

@dgray62: No problem at all. Glad that you like the build. @hansvedic: You are welcome. Surely a hearth orlan would work. I honestly can't say if if it would be better or worse (it really depends on how you play your char and which targets you pick - like dgray62 said), but the difference would be marginal I guess.