Boeroer

I think it will work well. But maybe it will not be as awesome as I imagine when I have PoE1 mechanics in mind.

Yes, people think it's bad because its description says "27% of damage". But it's 27% of the higher crit damage: 100 (normal damage) + 50% (crit) = 150 150 * (1-0.27) = 109.5 So, a bit less than 10% bonus damage you have to soak up instead of 50% It worked really well on a solo PotD priest of Berath with dumped RES who used Tidefall and wore Sanguine Plate + Shod-in-Faith.

The Chillfog chanter can be build exactly like the Ambassador build - you just switch the chants basically. But the Chillfog build was mostly done with a party in mind, so maybe I would stay with Dragon Thrashed all the time. I also soloed PoTD with Dragon Thrashed (Ambassador), but not with Mercy & Kindness (Chillfog). I did some PoTD bounties solo with Chillfog and it worked well, but I can't say anything about a "real" solo playthrough when it comes to that build. Wizard can be really great like firkraag888 said. The good thing is that the wizard has not only one, but several good beam spells. And he can stack movement speed - for example Boots of Speed (+3) and Alacrity (+2) or Fleet Feet (+3) do stack, giving you absurd movement speed which is great for beams - because the wizard's beams have a lot shorter casting range than those of the cipher. But once it's anchored it doesn't matter. The best part may be Kalakoth's Freezing Rake - which is really awesome in solo late game. Solo priest has the advantage of Triumph of the Crusaders: as long as enemies die he won't need any additional healing. A priest of Berath can work around the whol fire problem, but only at level 8 he will have a good corrosion spell. However, you can use Tidefall with maxed MIG which then does good damage even against high DR foes while Triumph otC keeps you alive. But watch your health. Trashmobs are no problem at all, but the tough bounties like Brynlod and Magran's Faithful are, well... tough. If you make a mistake you will be dead quickly. Too many spells will get dropped on your head and if your defenses are not supergood you're screwed.

Another thing is that you can easily take the threat out of crits that result in your low deflection. Just put on a Girdle of Mortal Protection and enemies will only do +10% crit damage instead of +50%. It's a great way to ensure that your spell holding gear triggers but you don't suffer too much damage at the same time. Combined with concentration buffs from gear, spells or potions you can easily work around low resolve.

The one you are looking for is the Drake's Ambassador build (also in the build list) with a few adjustments. The Chillfog build can be played the same until you get the Mercy & Kindness chant. Note that Dragon Thrashed and some other chants and invocations get +12 ACC if you wear a single one handed weapon. So if you have problems with missing just start to kite and switch to a single one handed weapon. Chanters don't stop chanting when they are prone. A great way to ensure survival when meeting enemies with knockdown abilities is to use a preservation item (like Blaidh Golan) + preservation shield (like Ilfan Byrngar's Solace). Both will stack, giving you +100 to all defenses while stunned or prone. While prone, you will still do damage. Scion of Flame does not(!) work with DoTs like Dragon Thrashed. The phantom makes the early game easy. White Worms is perfect for big areas with a ton of enemies and lots of choke points (see Raedric's Castle). Turn off gib options and pile up bodies in a doorway. Corpses explode unlimited times. If you pile up enough corpses without resting and reloading you will one-shot Raedric and all his minions for example. Mind Control is strong CC - a reason why Munacra Arrest is great in a solo game.

Skewer the Soul is a nice watcher ability. The rest is pretty meh, I agree. They should have made several watcher talents which you could choose from, that would be neat. You could pick the ones which work est with your character idea.

Actually the official companions are more powerful than your own hirelings - because in the early game until mid game they are one level higher. And in the late game those few stat points which are not in the optimal places don't matter anyway. So for powergamers they are the better choice most of the time. And some of the companions do have special, unique abilities or talents, too. Pallegina has Wrath of the Five Suns, Devil of Caroc is a vessel with all the immunities vessels usually have (immune to charm, poison and so on), Zahua can become the Anitlei which will give him +10% stackable attack speed. Hiravias has the Staegar Spiritshift form which is unique and Sagani has a fox as animal companion.

I want to make a boar druid/monk if the abilites of both work similar to PoE1 (what they most likely will not... ). Torment's Reach + Turning Wheel + Lightning Strikes + Greater Wildstrike Shock + boar tusk wounding = 50% crushing lash + 50% burning lash + 50%+25% shocking lash + 20% wounding. That's +195% (and more with MIG >10) to your damage roll (not only weapon base damage; against 0 DR). Would be very very awesome... in PoE1. Since abilities will scale in PoE2 it will most likely lead to similar damage if you just level your monk or druid without multiclassing.

Awesome. I can imagine a lot of great multiclass synergies with this.

With math...

Yes - and you can enchant the breastplate - so it's not too bad even if you put her into the back row. But she is better in the front row I'd say.

Because those people have no idea what they are talking about. Or to say it in a more friendly way: they don't know the mechanics of the game as well as they think they do. What Phenomenum said is true. Attribute scores have minor impact on the game. If you go to extremes (like piling up MIG up to 50 or something like that) you can really feel a difference - but 5 points here and there don't have a big effect. Besides that: Devil of Caroc is especially awesome because she has immunities. She can't be mind controlled and she is immune to poison. She is the only character you can play who has this. You can do awesome things with that - for example go in first and draw fire on you when fighting Lagufaeths with blowguns, when meeting Vithracks, you can walk right into your wizard's Malignant Cloud and your druid's poison spells without being harmed. I once build a poison/disease based wizard just because he works so well with the Devil (Bilestomper build in this forum). And even besides the immunities: give her a stunning or overbearing weapon like Godansthunyr, put on the binding rope and Badgradr's Barricade and see how "useless" she is.

It depends what you want to do. It's as slow as a two hander (if you use the larger one handed weapons like sabre, sword and so on) but has less damage. The +12 ACC are great in the early game and the one handed style (hit-to-crit conversion) is great if you plan to use a weapon with on crit effect like Cladhaliath. Especially for barbs with their lower base ACC this can be a good approach since their carnage also starts with a malus to ACC which gets reduced (so to speak) with each level. That's when you focus on AoE stunning or prone with a barb. Another class which can make great use of wielding a single one handed weapon is the chanter. Several chants and also invocations (not all of them!) get the +12 ACC. This is the only class that has this "feature". However, the one handed style talent bonus (hit to crit conversion) doesn't apply to chants and invocations, only weapon hits. In terms of DPS I'd say it is inferior to dual wielding and two handers after the early game.

Calm down guys. I'm also short on time at the moment. All cool.

This is only true without any speed bonuses. If you reach near 0 recovery a two hander will always be better because the dual wielding setup has no speed advantage any more. If you can reach 0 recovery even with Vulnerable Attack then the dual wielding setup can gain another advantage again. So it depends. If you are using a lot of Full Attacks then dual wielding is a no brainer over two handers indeed. For example I really like dual wielding on fighters with 3 Knockdown uses just because of the double chance per use to cause prone. @Kaylon: true, Tidefall is way better at higher levels and with high MIG - even Rumbalt does more DPS compared to Firebrand with all enchantments. But nothing beats Firebrand from early to mid game.

Firebrand with Doemenel rogue does indeed very impressive damage. It's base damage is a lot higher (I guess around 10 points or so?) than that of other two handers and it's annihilating.

Actually the speed of "average" one handed weapons and "slow" two handers is the same. Look at MaxQuests big Attack Speed thread. So there's no difference in speed. Sabre's base damage: 11-16 (average 13.5, after nerf) Greatsword's base damage: 14-20 (average 17) The difference in base damage is 3.5 (average one handed weapons do about 20% less base damage). That means a lot better outcome of all DMG mods that work with weapon base damage. Sneak + Deathblows + crit on a sabre: 40.5 damage Same on great sword: 51. Now with dual wielding you will have higher dps with average one handers like sabres against low DR because of speed but lower DPS against high DR because a higher percentage of the damage will be eaten up by DR. The more damage mods like Savage Attack, high MIG and so on you add the more the two hander profits. Also: you can find one handers with overbearing and even stunning, but a lot L A T E R - as I already wrote in my previous statement.

I wouldn't like it if they removed all spells from PoE. For what reason? Some meh spells like Sunless Grasp and Thrust of Tattered Veils can go away or be changed all right. But stuff like Chillfog, Relentles Storm and so on were so awesome I would totally miss them. But I wouldn't complain if they invented an equal amount of new spells.

I guess I will send over another batch in April.

It totally depends what you character is supposed to do. You can totally dump RES to 3 if you plan to use items like Sanguine Plate and Shod in Faith etc. If interrupts are a problem, put on items which give bonuses to resolve and use Potions of Spirit Shield, Holy Meditation (priest or item like Celebrant's Gloves) or other items that give you concentration bonuses directly. Other frontliners can have strong CC abilites and don't get hit a lot (e.g. druid with Relentless Storm). Those also can dump RES quite easily and put it all into PER without getting overly punished.

Why are 2handers not suited for rogues? I mean - what are the arguments? Dual wielding has some advantages, but two handers have them, too. Hours of St. Rumbalt for example has high base damage (as all two handers) which is good for all dmg mods such as Sneak Attack and Deathblows which use weapon base damage. You will punch through high DR very easily. Then, Rumbalt has Annihilation which adds 50% bonus damage to crits. Again, this is great with the high base damage of two handers. Most rogues will side with the Doemenels and add another +30% crit damge modifier. And last but not least Rumbalt is also Overbearing, meaning it causes prone on crit. Because a rogue has a high chance to do a crit, this weapon is totally suitable for him. Tall Grass is another example of a weapon that works great with a rogue. If you have other sources of afflictions on you (e.g. wear the Binding Rope) you will have instant Deathblows as soon as the target receives a crit. Tidefall is awesome on a rogue, too, if you max your MIG ad dump your INT (rogues can do that without gimping themselves too much). If you add Runner's Wounding Shot and Deep Wounds you will deal tons of raw damage because wouding and Runner's W. Shot are based on the actual damage roll you did, that includes Sneak + Deathblows + crits and so on (not lashes). Tidefall has great synergies with rogues. The draining also helps a bit with survivability (it doesn't work with +healing modifiers though). There is a sweet spot when fighting high DR targets where two handers do more dps than dual wielding. I don't know exactly where it is, but against high DR targets a two hander will do more dps than a dual wielding setup (now that sabres base damage got nerfed). Two Handers are even better for Backstabs. You will get two Backstab attacks if you attack out of stealth. It doesn't matter if you are dual wielding or using a two hander. You will always get two attacks (if you don't get disabled, go k.o. or get interrupted like crazy). Don't ask me why, it's just like that. Dual wielding is indeed better if you use special abilities which do Full Attacks a lot - things like Blinding Strike and so on. Full Attack means that if you dual wield you will strike with both weapons (also works with bashing shields). If you don't use them a lot, dual wielding is not inherently better. Another advantage of two handers is that you can get very good unique ones with overbearing relatively early while similar one handers come quite late (except you do the Dozens quest line and craft Cladhaliath early in Act II). The Temperacl, Hours of St. Rumbalt, Tall Grass (also great because it's a reach weapon so your rogue can hide behind the front line), Tidefall can be obtained very early in Act II if you want - compared to Godansthunyr, We Toki, Starcaller and so on. Those are in Act III. I did some rogue runs and the ones with two handers were not worse than those with dual wielding sabres or battle axes. One time I had one rogue with Rumbalt and another with dual battle axes, both hearth orlans, work as a tag team. At the end of the game both had dealt nearly the same damage.

There are different DoT effects. Things like wounding, (Runner's) Wounding Shot and others have a fixed amount of overall damage an more INT just stretches the time in which that damage is applied, which is not good. Other DoT effects like Deep Wounds and Envenomed Strike don't have that fixed overall damage but will do more damage with higher INT because more damaging ticks are added. It's stupid that there are different kinds of DoT, but it's like that.

Yes. But 4 ticks with 1/4 (aka 25%) damage each against 1/4 (25%) DR is the same like the whole damage against full DR. So the complete (added up) damage of Enduring Flames had to overcome full DR.

Solo monk vs. Nalrend is relatively easy (Monksterlasher does this without breaking into sweat most of the time) while with a rogue it's near impossible without kiting or heavy scroll use. Since we're not looking for the best solo class things get tricky. I would prefer to use two or four distraction tanks who do nothing else than soak damage so that the tested char doesn't get pummeled to death instantly.

Man, you are a hard nut I can tell you. Why don't you just look at the lost health of a companion you hit? It's not that hard, really.