Boeroer

Monk and Druid are good picks in my opinion. Both classes have powerful and - more importantly for me - fun-to-play aspects.

Which ones come to mind? Imo PL8/9 for Ciphers isn't super spectacular when it comes to spamming spells as an Ascendant. Good thing about the Arc.Archer-Ascendant combo is that he doesn't even have to cast spells while ascended. Since his soul whip dmg bonus doesn't turn off he can also just keep shooting and continue to do great weapon DPS - if he wants. Or spam stuff like Amplified Wave or whatever fits in the situation.

Yes, Pain Block helps a lot. Good point. I think for offtanking it's pretty fine. You don't want to send you animal companion into the field to set up Stalker's Link or so - where you shower everything with friendly-fire imbue shots.

No, not really. They die quickly without support. They are still great as distraction, setting up flankings, increasing accuracy and so on - but they don't last long if you use them like a tank. I almost never have more than one tank with lots of engagement slots (usually Swashbuckler Edér) and I'm doing totally fine. I just make sure he's presenting himself first to the enemy. But I also seldomly use supersquishy glasscannons that fall over after one or two hits. If every party member can survive a few strikes (like mine usually can) then a few rushers/jumpers/escapers (like enemy Barbs or Rogues) into the backline aren't a big problem most of times. One can also use the Animal Companion for intercepting such annoyances. Offtanking if you will. That is if you don't plan to use the animal offensively a lot. Not building superglassy chars also helps with the dread of all squishy backlines: enemy shooters. No tank can help your squishies if they catch Finishing Blow arquebus shots with their faces. If you have a caster it's often not a bad idea to give them a small shield and weapon and shield style. Doesn't hamper your accuracy or casting speed but makes getting shot at and die instantly less likely. It's of course a matter of taste and preference, too. Sometime I like the challenge of keeping a glasscannon alive. Also: the more reliably you can CC/debuff/disable or even turn enemies (see stuff like Chillfog, Killers Froze Stiff, Miasma but also Whisper of Treason and Puppet Master) the less tankishness you need. Summons do the same. They are basically walking CC effects that shift the attention of enemies away from you. Charmed and dominated enemies are even better because they work like summons but at the same time you also take an enemy off the field. A potent mind controller (e.g. Cipher) with a potent summoner (e.g. Chanter) can make tanks almost obsolete on most fights. Good tank is still very useful for prolonged fights against tough single enemies though.

The shot itself does, the following spell effects do not. Arcane Archers can have enormous ACC due to Arcana. If you pair that with Cipher's Borrowed Instincts and Frostseeker you'll have a crit beast that deals tremendous AoE Dps and also awesome CC (for example with highest-ACC Imbue:Web + Imbue:Eora, pulling enemies together, keeping them there while frost dmg rains on them). Essence Interrupter also profits from high ACC a lot (modal has reduced ACC, crits create summons). Both weapon have elemental attacks so the Arcane Archer never gets a malus with them.

I think it boils down a lot on how one like to play. I for once don't use Xoti as Monk, Pallegina or Aloth as Battlemage. I find those options suboptimal - for my favorite party compositions and mechanical synergies at least. I would argue that late game SC Priest Xoti, SC Wizard Aloth and SC Watershaper Tekehu are more impactful in most encounters than multiclasses of them. That's the case in my playthroughs anyway. Xoti as SC Monk doesn't generate wounds from killing with ranged weapons or spell-like abilities which I don't like. As many may know I love mortars on Monks - and Xoti is not good with mortars because of this. I also don't like that her wound cost is higher because it limits the usage of both Resonant Touch and WotW a lot compared to other Monk subclasses like Nalpasca or Helwalker or even vanilla Monk. You can get around that and use Keeper of the Flame + Saint's War Armor for endless spammage of WotW - but that's pretty engame-ish items. I usually prefer to bring another Monk (if I want a Monk in the party in the first place). Xoti as Priest/Monk is awful for me personally. Tried it and didn't like it at all. Mirke is "only" a vanilla Monk (still better than Sisters of the Reapong Moon imo) - but also a Streetfighter. This is a great combo imo with Mortars. Not 100% official companion and she doesn't even have DLC-based Dialoge which Konstanten, Fassina and Ydwen have, but still... nice options imo. Aloth as SC Wizard reaches important spells earlier and gets to PL 8/9 where he can use spells that eliminate whole groups of encounters alone. While Battlemage stuff like Unbending+Wall of Draining is nice, you don't need that when you can have any form of buffs & healing over time for him + Wall of Draining. And that kicks in way earlier as SC than as MC. Fractured Casque + Vaporous Wizardry and later Least Unstable Coil + empower. Any other SC Wizard could do it equally well of course - I just like Aloth. SC Watershaper Tekehu will reach Great Maelstrom which is not only deadly in itself but with the recent discovery of Effort's Hemorrhage effect is just mindblowingly strong in combination with Avenging Storm and pulsing spells. And his foe-only spells like Chillfog (which you will have access to a lot earlier as SC bc. it's a PL-3 spell for him) are so nice. Also brings good healing + buffs. Also works very well as SC Stormspeaker by the way, but not as brutal. Stormspeaker/Druid is the worst option to me. Maia as Scout is nice - but I found that I don't really need her. Monks or Rogues or Rangers in most combos, shapes or forms are capable of delivering reliable and sustainable single target damage - and I value reliable disables and debuffs over dmg and Maia isn't that great in that regard. But the Scout option is the best pick for her imo. I used Pallegina as Herald a few times - Heralds are good but they don't bring a lot of improvement to my parties in general. Must be the way I play. I see the benefits on paper and they are there, no doubt - but if I swap in Pallegine for somebody else it almost always feels like a net loss. Offensively she's not that great compared to what other OCs can so, initially she lacks engagement and thus cannot tank for my party well enough, she doesn't have enormous CC/debuff potential and I don't need the support she gives (because Xoti Priest + Tekehu Druid can deliver enough of that). But: I don't use (multi)summons a lot because they add a ton of micromanagement and I just tire of bringing them on a regular basis. I endure an Essential Phantoms bc. of its interesting mechanism with gear but that's all I can endure for the most part. Summons are super useful in general though - so maybe that's why I don't appreciate Herald Pallegina a lot. Also if you want to abuse Many Lives or Brittle Bones with a Grave Calling setup or use Sasha's Singing Scimitar for constant empowerment etc. or have a Berserker in the party she can be really nice, even for me. But... I just prefer to do that with somebody else I guess. :shrug Also I usually don't side with the Vaillians so that's a problem. The other class options for her are inferior. So that's my assessment for my usual apporach to the game. But there are party setups where I deviate from my usual routine (which is something like "buff up, round them up, debuff them, control them, destroy them"). For example when I try to build a group that doubles down on Mind Control... or fear effects... or debuffing everything into the ground with little effort while having no tank at all (like I do try atm) then of course all of a sudden other OCs and combos of them seem better than before. --- Anyway: what I will say once again about single classes: players seem to underestimate what a difference it makes when you can get access to certain abilities earlier in the game. Sure, reaching PL8/9 is also great in most cases, but it seems most players think it's only that - and on the way there SCs will be inferior to MCs. But imo they will not be (necessarily) because they can access certain abilities earlier which are so useful for the char and/or a party. Examples are Devotions ftF, Stunning Surge, Gouging Strike, Duality of Mortal Presence, Moonwell, Many Lives Pass By, Ring Leader, Ancient Memory and so on. Sure, MCs will get those, too - but they will only have access to them later... when they are fighting tougher enemies. This makes a noticable difference and I think you only really appreciate this if you've experienced both (maybe several times): for example when comparing Priest/Monk Xoti with Priest Xoti. Still: for most players MCs are more interesting still bc. of the self-contained synergies I think. And if it's more interesting you'll put more effort into it - and of you put more effort into it it's more effective.

The Beguiler has excellent focus generation which is not dependent on weapon damage (but can still have that, too) and is great with Mind Control - while the Soulblade is the better melee Cipher. So if it's about melee dmg I would pick the Soulblade.

Bashing shields like Tuotilo's Palm, Magran's Blessing or The Best Defense profit from both abilities: "Two Weapon Style" and "Weapon and Shield Style". This is unlike PoE where only weapon & shield style worked with bashing shields. So what happens is that you get faster recovery and also defensive bonuses which is neat of course. Especially Tuotilo's Palm synergizes very well with this because it can give more ACC or dmg AND higher defenses based on wounds. So it's boosting both offense and defense - just like Two Weapon Style + Weapon & Shield Style do.

Monk/Ascendant is a good combo because Monks get +5 DEX and +15% Action speed via Swift Strikes, +10 INT via Duality of Mortal Presence, up to +12 ACC and wounds via Enduring Dance and +2 PEN and +5 MIG via Thunderous Blows - besides two summons. The increased INT and higher speed are the main reasons why they are great for Ascension because you want to squeeze as many spell casts into the ascension phase as possible. More INT means longer ascension and more DEX and action speed means more spells in a given time. Besides that the higher INT means bigger AoEs and longer hostile effects duration (stacks with Lingering Echoes). All Monk subclasses work well with an Ascendant if you have CP installed bc. of the reasons above - and melee isn't such a big problem imo... however I think Nalpasca or Helwalker are the best picks. But Forbidden Fist can do some cool things with Enfeebled + high INT + Lingering Echoes. For the same reasons some players like Barbarian/Ascendant: because of Frenzy, Bloodlust and especially Blood Thirst an Ascendant can squeeze a hell lot of spells into the ascension time. Same is true for a Streetfigher if he's heating up or even on the edge (e.g. Streetfighter/Ascendant with blunderbusses+modal). But as Kaylon said: Ascendant wants to spam spells when asdended. I actually like other Cipher subclasses with Forbidden Fist more than Ascendant. Forbidden Fist/Beguiler for example is a nicer combo in my book. No need to do the "collect focus then spam spam spam spells" cycle but instead focus on manipulating single strong enemies. For example Enfeebled + Lingerung Echoes +10 INT and then casting Puppet Master for cheap is a hell lot of fun. You will turn a lot of tough enemies into long-lasting allies, you will have enough focus most of times (cast some Phantom Foes and Secret Horrors at the start of the battle, then go in an generate focus with FF attacks which usually is enough to pay for Puppet Master or Whisper of Treason). I played a Shattered Pillar/Soul Blade (also CP installed) because I liked the idea of filling up both resource pools with the same action - and it worked well. You will just be less effective in fights against single tough foes and very effective in fights with lots of weaker foes. Soulblade/Trickster is a very effective combo if you want to focus on Soul Annihilation and not cast spells so much. Use Sun & Moon in order to be able to spam Soul Annihilation non-stop and use a bashing shield to double down at the defensiveness of Mirrored Images, use Riposte and also get the speed of dual wielding without actually using the shield bash (because Soul Annihilation is a primary attack only that doesn't use the shield bash ever - ans since you can spam it with Sun & Moon you seldomly have to do auto-attacks). Also works with Monks to a certain extend, but they lack the defensive buffs. For a build that uses Soul Annihilation mostly Trickster is better imo.

With the Ring "Drunkard's Regret" you can circumvent the penalties of hangovers and this also means Pukestabber will have no downside. First of all you onle get a hangover if you stop resting with alkohol. If you keep using any alcoholic drink as "resting food" there will be no hangover. If you use something else when resting - that's when you will wakre up with a hangover effect and this triggers Pukestabber's vomiting etc. So if you plan to use something else than alcolhol you can put on Drunkard's Regret right before resting. You can remove it after the rest, you don't have to wear it all the time - only when resting.

Sword of Daenysis + March Steel Dagger are nice for reaching 0 recovery a lot sooner. But Frenzy doesn't stack with Swift Strikes - and I think a few points DR aren't very impactful after the early game. For the same reason I almost never took Resilient Companion. AR is really important in Deadfire, but DR isn't that much in PoE imo. Brutal Takedown and Takedown in general are fun - but I could do without them. I could also do without Savage Attack though... 🤷‍♂️ On the other hand Rapier and Dagger have +5 ACC which would help to counter Savage Attack's ACC malus... hm...

INT doesn't need to be that high because you will get Duality of Mortal Presence (+10) or Enlightened Agony (+5). MIG doesn't need to be that high because you get Frenzy (+5). CON doesn't need to be high because you get Frenzy (+5). High PER isn't mandatory either (but not bad as player character). Besides maxed RES I think a rel. balanced attribute spread would work just fine. It's a pretty suicidal combo bc. of Frenzy self dmg + Forbidden Fist self damage AND you don't even profit from self dmg like vanilla Monk/Helwalker/Nalpasca would - until you get Footsteps of the Beast. Berserker/Chanter is cool as well. Skald profits a bit from the increased crit rating of the Berserker and the low-cost offensive invocations, Troubadour is better later, once you get Many Lives Pass By and can combine confusion with skelly-kills for Blood Thirst and Dispersed Suffering (from Frostfall) etc.

Click on the sword symbol in the action bar, then on the skeleton.

Facetanking dragons is hard. I've had some main tank chanters in the past but they didn't tank a dragon all on their own. I guess if Kana went with defensive and healing phrases and used summons a lot and combined it with defensive gear and consumables it could work. @Raven Darkholmedid a solo Chanter run against dragons iirc. So if that's possible without kiting it should be no problem in a party. Just don't know any particular builds for that.

I almost never use the vanilla Devastating Blow because it's a waste of Guile when you can have 2 Crippling Strikes for the same amount of Guile. In an AoE - like with mortars - Arterial Strike is fantastic. Interrupts, has high PEN, bleeds out moving enemies. I wouldn't even think about using vanilla Devastating Blow with mortars. Adding a prone effect feels weird somehow, but it wouldn't make it too powerful imo. Edit: 2 ideas instead of prone: refund on kill (see Barbaric Smash for reference). Rogue suffers from having no refund mechanic besides Gambit. Would make the high initial cost bearable if you use it as true finisher and would make overkilling less costly (or even free). short-lived but hefty bleeding that's higher the less health the enemy has (see Infestation of Maggots for reference). Would help to truly "finish" an enemy if the initial direct damage couldn't do it. This would encourage to use it on enemies with lowish but not superlow health (where it most often leads to overkilling). Just because I don't picture Devastating Blow as a brute-force attack that would topple even healthy enemies over - but an attack that's aimed at the most vulnerable spots of an already struggling target.

Abilities Predator's Sense: it's very good because the base dmg of the Animal Companion scales with level and +50% then leads to attacks that hit like trucks, ripping through DR with ease - if I use my AC for damage it's a must-have imo. Very convenient if you use a wounding weapon such as Tidefall or Drawn in Spring - or if you have party members who deal DoT constantly anyway (Rogue with Deep Wounds for example or a Druid etc.). Stunning Shots! It's named "shots" for some reason - but it works with melee weapons nontheless and is very good with fast melee weapons such as daggers, rapiers, hatchets and so on, stunlocking enemies completely. Talents I personally wouldn't pick Vulnerable Attack as long as I'm not able to reach 0 recovery. Because most of times it would be detrimental for dps then. An Animal Companion and a wounding weapon will take care of high DR enemies well enough most of times. But as soon as you can reach 0 recovery despite using Vulnerable Attack - for example with the help of dual wielding + two weapopn style, durgan steel etc. - then of course it's a nice pick. Savage Attack: it's a bit counterproductive with Stunning Shots, especially if you also pick Swift Aim. IIRC the AC maluses of both will stack. Maybe Swift and Steady would be a better pick if one has to choose. If they don't stack their ACC maluses (not 100% sure anymore, maybe Swift Aim supresses Savage Attack's ACC malus) then it's a good pick imo. Bloody Slaughter is really bad in PoE since it only applies to enemies with 10% health left. Most enemies will die with the next strike anyway, Bloody Slaughter or not. And Bloody Slaughter doesn't even guarantee anything - it's just an added chance to deal a bit more crit damage. It's a little bit better with fast, light weapons which don't do very high dmg per hit - but still bad imo. Apprentice's Sneak Attack: you will flank a lot with your AC so this is a reliable way to gain additional dmg without any drawback. I would pick it. Veteran's Recovery: can help with the sturdyness, I like it in the early(ish) game. Later it doesn't make a lot of difference because it doesn't scale so well. Maybe retrain out of it at higher levels. When using Bittercut one wants Spirit of Decay, if using Firebrand then Scion of Flame. Pretty niche, but then the effect is good enough to pick them over something else. Attributes When using Wounding Shot and/or a wounding weapon then low INT raises dps because the amount of wounding dmg doesn't increase with longer duration but is only stretched thin over time. In that case maxed MIG is also benefical because wounding scales with MIG. Because of Stunning Shots I would want high DEX. Because of Swift Aim (and eventually Savage Attack) I woud want high PER. Both are also very benefical if you use a weapon that has prone or stun on crit until you get Stunning Shots. Items I guess my personal dual wielding melee Ranger would use durganized Ravenwing + Drawn in Spring, durganized Wayfarer's Hide and Gauntlets of Swift Action. And stuff that raises MIG bc of wounding. Then I could achieve 0 recovery even with Vulnerable Attack on and always have Predator's Sense unlocked, too. Drawn in Spring with good MIG is the best dps weapon in the game anyway so this is a nice synergy. Comes rather late though, but maybe one could make a beeline for it (never tried)? This weapon setup is fast enough to stunlock enemies - and the crush+slash+wounding setup will have no problems with DR, also because Rending (mace) and Vulnerable Attack stack to 8 DR bypass and woundign bypasses DR completely anyway. "Coordinated" is a nice enchantment on a weapon for a Ranger because he will flank with his AC most of times anyway and the +4 ACC and +25% dmg are nice bonuses then. Cladhaliath with Marking + Coordinated would be even cooler imo, especially for a Ranger - but it's in a different weapon focus group than Drawn in Spring and I wouldn't want to give that one up. Addendum: Thorny Roots is a cool ability/talent combo imo. It's not melee of course, but 5/rest and fast cast means that you can spam it in tight encounters in a very short amount of time, killing weak/low health enemies on the spot and immobilize the rest for a long time. In addition the dmg is fixed (15 pierce + 15 slash): fixed dmg in PoE only has to overcome 1/4 of enemies' DR (same with Priest's Iconic Projection and Ranger's AC's own Brutal Takedown) which helps against high DR targets, too. Aspirant's Mark is pretty good on an okay-INT Ranger if you don't have a Druid. Rangers have naturally high ACC so using this to debuff deflection and reflex even further is benefical. It's a like a mini spell mastery because it's 1/encouter.

Streetfighter has very high dmg bonuses when bloodied. So as long as you deal damage with weapons mostly you don't need MIG. It's even benefical to lower MIG because the Blood Sacrifice will hurt less - which In turn lets you use it more frequently and more safely to not accidentally kill yourself while trying to become bloodied - which is the basis for this build. If you use your spells for buffing and CC mostly then high MIG would be wasted points. For the same reason (getting to bloodied reliably and safely) raising CON is not a bad idea. With low MIG your fortitude drops considerably. Using CON to get more wiggle room with Blood Sacrifice but also to get fortitude up is reasonable. And should you get hit: half of a big health pool is way better than having half of a small one. This build drops to bloodied in order to achieve Heating Up asap and then stay there without getting harmed. High deflection and short-lived afflictions on yourself are very benefical then. Having high deflection also makes Riposte a lot more useful, and Riposte makes a lot of sense with Bleeding Cuts. Raising RES has increasing returns for deflection and also the reduced hostile effect duration is great. Even if you are immune to afflictions: RES even works against durations of Arcane Dampener and other stuff that knows no immunity. Long-lived Arcane Dampener would be really bad for a build that relies on self-buffing so much. Luckily the Will defense is stellar due to high INT and RES - so Arcane Dampener will mostly graze and then get its duration reduced by high RES even more. 10 PER is manageable, especially if you mostly attack with weapons and don't use offensive spells too much but prefer self buffs. Enchanted weapons, party- and self buffs provide more than enough accuracy. Reflex isn't needed that much because large shield + style + modal provides excellent protection against reflex-based spells and all sorts of AoE spells in general. So, in the scope of this build the attribute allocation makes total sense and isn't way off. Besides the general self buffing: at tier 7 I personally would use Wall of Draining + Zandethu's + Citzal's Martial Power (and use Blood Sacrifice to allow that) because WoD would make sure you don't need to recast buffs. And I would use Abraham instead of Cosmo because that way you retain the reduced recovery pent but get a heal on kill (even if it's a bit low bc. of low MIG it can still be good for somebody who needs to use Blood Sacrifice from time to time). And I would use another armor for even more defense buffing instead of Blackened Plate (like Nomad's Brigandine or Gipon Prusensco or so). I would also get a Magnificent Escape Cape as soon as I have access to Wall of Draining because the +50 deflection buff of this special Escape stacks with all Wizard deflection buffs and can be prolonged with WoD, giving you stellar deflection (+50 on top). But the attributes I wouldn't change much.

Blaidh Golan is good in combination with Little Savior or Ilfsn Byrngar's Solace. The two preservation effects (+50 to all defenses when prone or stunned) stack and will give you +100 to all defenses. This makes surviving a ton easier should you have been hit by either prone or stunned. Because of that Blaidh Golan was one of my favorite solo run armors. Higher dmg reduction is not very impactful in the late(ish) game because dmg rolls and health/endurance pools scale much more quickly than armor. So I would look out for benefical enchantments on armor rather than the DR value. For example the Wayfarer's Hide has some nice defensive enchantments, too. Later you might get something like the Hunter's Mail or also Ryona's Breastplate or whatnot which also have nice effects. DR isn't that important then. In the early game high DR is very benefical though because the ratio of DR:incoming damage is much bigger than later in the game.

When going solo I would recommend leveling up to the max first, yes. Fighting dragon can be easier if you use charm/dominate (Munacra Artet, Spirit Spiral, Ring of Changing Heart). Only one dragon is immune to that - and he comes with a dragon bro who is not. So you can buy precious time to buff up and take out annoying ads while the dragon is even helping you with that. Afterwards you can face the dragon 1:1. You need do buff up accuracy for that, but imo it's a rel. reliable way besides kiting (which always works except if you have no room - like against the Alpine Dragon). And of course use summons like there's no tomorrow. Also prayer scrolls (against fear and stuff lie petrification etc.) are nearly mandatory.

You can re-enter Defiance Bay as soon as you visited Twin Elms for the first time. By that time the riots will have stopped and you can go back at any time and as often as you want.

No problem for the achievements, just ignore. Steam synched an old cloud save game with your computer. It's an error of steam, not PoE afaik.

The other suggestions here are all cool and fun to play. But I will always recommend single class Monk with dual mortars because it's still my favorite ranged combination after thousands of hours played. Not saying that other combos aren't very nice, too. Just my personal taste I guess. You'll get Stunning Surge a lot sooner bc. of faster Power Level Progression of single classes. Same with Duality of Mortal Presence (INT). Stunning Surge with huge AoE due to +10 INT is extremely good with mortars because you will nearly always get a critical hit if you target several enemies, giving you back the Mortification points. Then you will get Resonant Touch at some point - and that is extremely potent with Hand Mortar+Blinding Smoke & Fire in the Hole+Chain Shot. Blinding Smoke can produces a lot of additional attack rolls which - although they deal no damage - will apply a Resonant Touch. Fire in the Hole will jump one time including the AoE, adding even more Resonant Touches. And finally you'll get Whispers of the Wind which is absolutely fantastic in combination with mortars and Ajamuut's Stalking Cloak. WotW makes you invisible which allows the cloak's stun to work. Also a scroll of Avenging Storm or the Helm Heaven's Cacophony are absolutely insane with Hand Mortar + Fire in the Hole because of Blinding Smoke and Chain Shot. With WotW you do an AoE attack with AoE weapons, result is either instant death of enemies - or they are left with so many Resonant Touches that you only have to trigger it and then they die. Against single targets just summon the Long Pain fists (they are very good backup weapons). Or use normal Blunderbusses. You'll have two summons with Dichotomous Soul which help with the survivability. I've played two full runs with Mortars Monks now (1. Helwalker, 2. Nalpasca - prefer the Nalpasca, the faster wound generation lets you spam WotW non-stop) and it has been a blast both times. It is very benefical to build a party around the mortar monk who can keep enemies in a group instead of spreading out. This can be achieved by simply using a tank who unstealthes first and get swarmed by enemies and who can pull enemies in with Into the Fray or so. Spells like Pull of Eora are also extremely helpful. The Mortar Monk also works well without that, but it increases the devastation considerably when enemies are standing near each other. I used Edér with a Large Shield + modal and a belt that makes immune to push + pull (so he is not influenced by Pull of Eora) and Aloth with Pull of Eora or an Arcane Archer with Imbue:Pull of Eora. Not mandatory but as I said: improves things a bit. Few impressions (attention, huge animated gifs, may take a while to load):

Harley also applies to all sorts of direct damage that's not melee, including most spells etc. Cool thing to know about Sharpshooter. 👍 Never noticed because since Arcane Archer was out I never played another subclass (except Stalker for melee).

Edér nearly always uses Cadhu Scalth + Kapana Taga in my runs with official companions. Raising Metaphysics with Edér feels odd, but the shield is so good for his swashbuckling health that I decided that Aloth just rubbed off on him.

Yes, that's how it works. AoE rolls don't proc Carnage. Same with Spirit Lance. Even if they did: multiple Carnage hits from the same excecution will suppress each other (you will see something like "similar effect already applied" in the combat log).