Boeroer

I did a solo barb run on PoTD without retraining. Not ToI though... During an ultimate attempt I retrained once but it would also have been possible without. I died at lvl 16 during a non-boss fight, so...

Dammit stupid phone! Double post...

Looking at all of my numerous playthroughs (where I didn't use the random loot table) - I got them twice.

Like they do with Novice's Suffering. The Long Pain with Deathblows might be quite awesome - if the boost from Deathblows is higher than the power_level scaling of Long Pain. Since the Long Pain works with all sorts of "melee only" abilities (even Knockdown from the Girdle of the Driving Wave) maybe it also works with Carnage? One can dream...

Heh... There are still people voting on this.

You can place any character with the console. But I guess it might mess up quests and stuff if you go wild. I don't know if you can "reset" quests, including npcs. I don't think so.

Yes, they do. They also work with weapons that do elemental damage primarily, boosting the weapon's base damage by 20%: - Firebrand - Stormcaller - Bittercut - Cadebald's Blackbow - Kalakoth's Minor Blights Maybe I forgot one... Bittercut is a unique case because Spirit of Decay will boost both the weapon base damage as well as the lash damage (if you choose a corrosive lash). The other weapons are all summoned or soulbound ones which can't have lashes (except the burning lash from a chanter's phrase Myth Fyr - which also works with Scion of Flame). However, those talents do NOT work with spells and abililies that do damage over time (DoT). So, things like Dragon Thrashed (chanter), Holy Radiance or Shining Beacon (priest), Enduring Flames (Goldpact Knight), Soul Ignition (cipher) and so on will not work with Scion of Flame for example. The druid's corrosion spells all suffer from this since they are all DoTs.

No, but also powerful - like all vancian casters. Viable in trash mob fights becuse of their per-encounter stuff and devastating in boss fights because of spell spamming. But why did you swap Hiravias in for Sagani when looking for a restless party? Especially the animal companion is perfect for a restless party because it doesn't have health. It doesn't matter if it takes a beating: as soon as the encounter is over it's as good as new.

My thoughts are Cipher with Carnage, Monk with Turning Wheel, Flames of Devotion and Intense Flames plus Scion of Flame, Monk with Turning Wheel and Wildstrike Burn, Rogue with Priest of Skaen, Barbarian with Citzal's Spirit Lance, Monk with Rooting Pain, Battle Forged, Turning Wheel, Barbaric Reatliation and retaliation gear, Wizard in plate with Armored Grace, Fighter with Take the Hit and Her Courage Thick as Steel, Druid with Rot Skulls plus Blast and many more thoughts. So many thoughts... A lvl 20 Paladin will have 11 uses of Flames of Devotion per encounter by the way (in PoE II). I guess there's a sweet spot where you can have a good synergy between FoD uses and other classes' abilities like Wildstrike or Carnage or whatever.

Yes, it has to be applied before you can use some other ability else. Auto attacks are fine. The game gets hickups otherwise. It's the same with all instant casts. For example Savage Defiance (barb) has the same problem. Press it, then do an autoattack or wait (Disc. Barr. will be applied), then use Knockdown or Charge or whatever active ability you have.

And as I said: charm! Confuse/dominate also work wonders. It's quite easy with a wizard + confuse, a cipher with all sorts of mind control and so on. Charmed Ogres will get destroyed by Plague of Insects & stuff, too.

Sure you can combine it. It's an instant cast, so once you are free to take an action (recovery phase is over) it immediately starts and you can do something else without recovery phase. It's best to use it right away when combat starts. It will last for quite a while and will give all your attacks +20 accuracy, including your Knockdowns.

Haha - yes, that may be.

Sure, why not. Or is there a place behind your front line for a Tall-Grass-Devil? Pike with Backstab and high Stealth is actually pretty fun from the second row. You let the enemies engage the front line (you won't get noticed with decent stealth), let them catch afflictions and then you'll have two free Backstabs with Sneak Attack and Deathblows. It's not very micro intense and effective. A quick switching blunderbuss Devil with Runner's Wounding Shot is also nice. Herr, Backstab is also devastating even if you only get one shot instead of two pokes with the pike.

Great work Fluff, keep on ruling!

Wait until you want to split stacks!

Ogre Druids don't use Relentless or Returning Storm as far as I know. If you charm one then the others will unleash their spells onto him instead of you. Also works if you charm a normal Ogre. Their will defense is bad. Don't use spells against them that target fortitude. It's their highest defense and if you graze the duration of the spell is halved. It's better to use CC that targets the will defense (if you have).

You have to disable them before they unleash their spells. Ogre druids can be charmed easily, human druids can be disabled with things that target fortitude, but charms also work well. And Durance knows a litany that prevents stun, but there's nothing against Plague of Insects.

ROFL - I meant WITH somebody else!

Tall Grass and Hours of St. Rumbalt is a nice pair (if you don't plan to use the sword on somebody else).

Grab Godansthunyr from the Sky Dragon's place instead. Strike Hard is nice as well, but for me the stunning enchantment and the longer interrupt (0.75 instead of 0.5) and the +1 to MIG are better than speed in this case. Shattersta also has higher interrupt by the way (1 instead of 0.5). With Godansthunyr you can cause stun all the time with Disciplined Barrage and Knockdown: Knockdown with Shatterstar first, then chain-stun with Godansthunyr, alternating between annihilating crits (Shatterstar) and stunning crits (Godansthunyr).

Barbs with pikes (reach weapon) have one huge advantage that is often overlooked: they can place the center of the carnage much better than with a normal melee weapon. For them it's a lot easier to reach more enemies with a strike. Also, since barbs start kind of squishy but grow sturdier and sturdier with every level, it's a good way to avoid getting attacked in the early game (attack from behind the front line). Later you can be a really great flanker. Once the enemies build a bulk you come from the side and poke right into their middle. If enemies got CC'd a bit (blind is a great affliction) then it's easy for the barb to prone them all with Tall Grass + Carnage. Rogue + pike is also a good option. Herr the main advatage is the avoidance of direkt contact with the enemy. Fighter is better off with dual wielding or a nice non-reach two hander in my opinion. Wizard with pike is nothing special until you can summon Spirit Lance, which is awesome. But you don't have to use a pike as backup weapon. Spirit Lance works with every Weapon Focus. So a quarterstaff or any other two hander (pollaxe?) would do, too. Wind's Arm comes very late, but Zephyr aura (debuffs concentration) and Expose Vulnerabilities (also debuffs concentration) stack.

Official companions start one level above hirelings. That makes them a lot better in the early game. Since the early game is the hardest part of the game, in my opinion the official companions make the game easier, not harder.

Dual wielding because of Knockdown (Full Attack) and Charge (finishes with a Full Attack at the target). Also great to achieve low recovery in thick armor (dual wielding + Armored Grace). A fighter like Edér is sturdy enough without a shield. And 3 Full Attack Knock downs, combined with Disciplined Barrage are good CC- and damage tools when dual wielding. I like dual hammers a lot. Shatterstar with Annihilating + Guarding seems to be made for a fighter. If you put Shatterstar into the main hand and do a Knockdown, the offhand will strike first, most likely causing prone, the second strike with Shatterstar is likely to crit, which is great because of Annihilation. Dual sabres is also nice.

Yes, it is! Especially a barb works great with Nov. Suffering. Just don't take any dmg-mods like Savage Attack or Blooded and so on. Those only raise the base damage of weapons and Nov. Suffering leaves the tiny base damage of fists (5- untouched but gives you a huge damage bonus that is not influenced by those dmg mods. This also means that crits don't do so much for your damage. On the upside: grazes will nearly do the same damage as hits or crits. And carnage has a -34% DMG malus. But -34% of 5-8 isn't so bad. At the same time Carnage suffers from a -10 ACC malus at the start of the game which leads to a lot of grazes. But again: since a graze with fists doesn't gimp your damage as much as with normal weapon it's not that noticeable that Carnage has some serious handicaps in the early game. Nov. Suffering gets boosted by MIG though. So your goal should be to have very high MIG. High INT is always good for carnage of course. And with high MIG and INT I would always pick Veteran's Recovery. Then take Weapon Focus Peasant, Two Weapon Style. As I said skip all the DMG mods, also Apprentice's Sneak Attack. You can take some defensive talents like Bear's Fortitude at some point because you skip the dmg related ones. Maybe in this case even Greater Frenzy is viable, because of the higher MIG. Abilities like Frenzy, Bloodlust and Blood Thirst are great. Even One Stands alone can still be viable because of the defensive part (more foes needed to flank you) - if you get flanked a lot. Search for the Sandals of the Forgotten Friar (bounty in WM I, Durgan's Battery map). Armor depends on your playstyle. If you want to run into the thick of it then thicker armor. If you like to flank then thinner. Everything that speeds you up is nice (Gauntlets of Swift Action for example). Also everything that raises MIG.