Boeroer

As long as he is using a damaging chant most enemies should stick to him. Always send him in first before the others unstealth. In my opinion, everything related to engagement (Hold the Line, guarding, Defender etc.) is pretty useless.

Lvl 10, not 11. The fight gave me the xp for the level-up. Tough encounters are always easy with casters. Rest before, unleash all spells and win, then rest again. Chanter or paladin at lvl 10 would take some time to kill him, bit less risky for sure. With a barb it took like 1 minute, but it's more risky. Especially because my barb is dual wielding hammers and has no shield. RES is 3. Good thing is that a barb with decent CON can take a lot of beating at lvl 10 - with enough self healing capabilities. A caster will die quickly if he gets surrounded (shouldn't happen, but might) because his health will run out. Ever tried Cail solo on PotD with a level 10 character - no kiting, no pulling? A paladin could do it of course, but it'll take forever. Now at lvl 11. I'm doing WM I - and the Craig Ogres in Stalwart, including Darzir, were a cakewalk. I sneaked Godansthunyr from the Sky Dragon's place and now also carnage's ACC leads to some stuns every now and then (exceptional enchantment). I carry the stunning hammer in the offhand because that's the hand that attacks first with Full Attacks. HoF will first stun most enemies and then comes Shatterstar with the high Interrupt and the annihilating crits. Works pretty nicely so far. Also, Battle Forge now starts to really do some serious damage. Next talents/ability will be Blooded and Scion of Flame I guess. Since I'm below 50% endurance all the time (and only drink potions or activate Savage Defiance once I hit around 20% endurance) this should be OK and add +45% damage to Battle Forged and +25% to Barbaric Retaliation.

It works like so: The marking character ("marker") has to click on the target with an attack (auto-attack or special targeted attack. AoE attacks that use the ground as possible target don't work). As long as the marker keeps attacking the target the party member who stands nearest and attacks the same target gets +10 accuracy for any type of attack (here, AoE attacks also profit, examples below). Reloading, recovery and so on don't interrupt marking. As long as the marker is in the usual attack cycle he will provide the bonus. If the marker uses healing or any other action that interrupts his attacking, the marking will be lost. It will work again as soon as the marker clicks on the target again with an attack (or if the AI chooses to attack). This seems like a lot of hassle, but the great thing is that marking stacks with any other accuracy bonus and won't get suppressed. If you handle it in a smart way, you can give a single party member +30 stackable accuracy with marking alone: dual wield two marking weapons and pick Coordinated Attacks. Those all stack and will further stack with Zealous Focus for example. If you're a Darcozzi paladin you can even stack +10 ACC with Inspiring Liberation on top. If you have a priest you can add Devotions and Inspring Radiance, too. A few examples: - Pallegina with Shame or Glory and Coordinated Attacks attacks a dragon with auto-attacks. - Edér stands nearest and tries a Knockdown on the dragon. He has Disciplined Barrage on. - Edér's Kockdown will have the following bonuses: +20 Disciplined Barrage, +10 marking, +10 Coordinated Attacks, + Edèr's level as ACC bonus for Knockdown (every ability based attack, including spells, have this, stacks with everything, too) and + Weapon Focus and weapon enchantment and whatnot. - Edér will most likely knock down the dragon even though dragons have +10 resistance to Knockdown - Pallegina (same setup) attacks a Xaurip High Priest. Around the priest stands a bunch of other xaurips. - Durance stands nearest and casts Shining Beacon on the whole bunch. - Durance hits all xaurips with the usual ACC and the High Priest with +20 ACC (resulting in a crit most of the time) and so on. Also note that as soon as the character that benefits from marking stops attacking, the marking bonus will go to the next nearest party member who is attacking the same target. Example: - Pallegina attacks same Xaurip High Priest. - Durance stands nearest and casts Shining Beacon (same result as above). After casting he switches to idle mode. This is automatically done if AI is off. - Aloth stands a bit farther away and starts casting Freezing Pillar. Freezing Pilllar hits the xaurip bunch after Shining Beacon, Durance is already in idle mode. Aloth will get +20 ACC for the Xaurip High Priest. It is the time of the hits that count, not the time when the attacks are started. So it's enough if Durance turns idle just a fraction of a second before Aloth's spell hits and the marking bonus will go from Durance to Aloth. Since it's very difficult to hit at the exact same time with two casters' spells (and luckily so), most of the time all casters will benefit from marking - if AI is off and they all hit the marked target at some point - with any kind of attack. Marking can't be applied in an AoE (carnage doesn't work, Torment's Reach doesn't work and so on). It only marks a single target. Thus, it's a great tool do quickly disable or kill dangerous single enemies. While makring from dual wielding stacks, it doesn't stack if you use two maker chars on the same target (don't ask me why, it's just like that). You can also do something like this: - Priest casts Inspiring Radiance and Devotions of the Faithful (+30 ACC for paladin no. 2) - Paladin no. 1, Darcozzi, with two marking weapons and Coordinated Attacks, Liberating Exhortation and Zealous Focus attacks dragon and casts the exhortation of paladin no. 2 (+46 ACC for paladin no. 2). - Paladin no. 2, Bleak Walker, Remember Rhakan Field, Firebrand, Sworn Enemy, Merciless Hand, Azalin's Helmet, Dungeon Delver, Weapon Focus whatever, Savage Attack, Two Handed Style, Intense Flames, Scion of Flame, Beast Slayer attacks dragon with Flames of Devotion (+44 ACC + lvl + lvl*3 ACC + 25 base ACC). So, the Bleak Walker will attack the dragon with an ACC bonus of +120 ACC + lvl + lvl*3 + 25 base ACC. He will deal a crit 100% of times and do +150% crit damage bonus, + all the other damage mods I listed above (including Sworn Enemy's +20% bonus and so on). He will deal massive damage to the dragon. Best would be if a wizard would have cast a petrifiy on the dragon first (also profiting from priest's buffs and paladin No. 1's marking stuff). As you might guess marking + coordinated attacks is one of the best ways to deal with dragons, charm them, knock them down, stun them... whatever. I tested all this (again) two days ago for another thread, so i'm 100% sure it works this way.

It doesn't count towards Sneak Attack and Deathblows - that's my major criticism.

- yes - yes - yes - it's weapon & shield, not dual wielding - the monk (with Torment's Reach) is one of the few classes where it can make sense to pick a bashing shield (which has no special procs like Badgradr's Barricade). It doesn't matter if you are using your fist or a weapon.

You are right. And besides that the Distracted affliction isn't very potent, too. Completely useless ability.

Marking weapon + Coordinated Attacks + Sworn Enemy + Enigma's Charm + Zealous Focus + Outworn Buckler + Weapon & Shield Style.

The fists (or better: Transcendent or Novice's Suffering) have some issues. First of all their accuracy bonus doesn't translate to special attacks like Force of Anguish and the cone of Torment's Reach while weapons' accuracy bonuses do. You can't use single weapon style with fists to increase accuracy, too. Secondly, they solely deal crush damage. Lastly, you can't enchant them. Lashes and durgan steel are powerful things and your fists can't have them. This means that your fists will be superior weapons at the start of the game but weapons catch up and overtake at a certain point in the game. If you'd want a CC specialist monk who uses Force of Anguish to its full potential you would be way better off if you'd use a single dagger, spear or rapier than using fists for your FoA attack. If you want your Torment's Reach to crit a lot you'd be better off with dual daggers, too. The damage of the cone of Torment's Reach doesn't have anything to do with your weapon damage. It has its own base damage. But it uses the accuracy of your weapons. Your fists' accuracy bonus doesn't get used.

It does nothing for the time in between the two strikes of TR, but you can spam TR even faster with it because it reduces the recovery between every use. If you are already at 0 recovery because of Swift Strikes and durgan steel it's obviously pretty useless (unless you want to wear more armor or use Vulnerable Attack).

Playing one last party playthrough for PoE2 at the moment and thought I should do it with my first PoE char again (Boeroer). It used to be a rogue - but after Act II I restarted and took a monk instead (with a rogueish attitude) because monks are much more fun.

Exactly!

Unfortunately, Rot Skulls don't work with Spirit of Decay. The initial hit is crush damage and the corrosive AoE blast is a DoT effect (which stacks) - those don't profit from the elemantal booster talents. But of course (Greater) Wildstrike Corrode cries for Spirit of Decay. Rot Skulls used to work with Envenomed Strike, delivering deadly AoE poison via the blast. But since wizard's Blast and Spirit Lance were nerfed in that regard (they did the same) I guess Rot Skulls were, too.

The items with the best on-kill effects are the Tempered Helm, the Executioner's Hood and the Mourning Gloves. Still, I would never pick Bloody Slaughter (if it triggers at 10%). There are so many other talents which are better. It's even more beneficial to take Scion of Flame solely for your burning lash.

Monks start with the same ACC and -5 deflection compared to fighters while having more health. I'd say they are even in terms of starting values. But the monk has better abilities, I totally agree.

If you want to start strong and keep being strong then use a monk. Best frontliner class in my opinion if you don't mind micromanagement. Bilestomper casts really slowly, yes. You can take more DEX if it's too annoying. But more important: wizards need some levels to be really effective as frontliners. Until then things can be a bit frustrating. Monks start with the best starting values of all classes and they also start with some of the best active abilites in the game (Torment's Reach, Force of Anguish). If you want to hit more often with the Torment's Reach cone then don't use fists but weapons at some point - because the cone has it's own base damage anyways and the fists accuracy bonus doesn't translate to the cone attack for some odd reason. Same for Force of Anguish. If you want to specialize on that then in the early game it's great to use a single weapon, preferably dagger, rapier or spear because of the +5 ACC. For Torment's Reach I would always recommend dual wielding or weapon + bashing shield (the only time where bashing shields are good because their whimpy damage doesn't translate to the cone's damage but they still allow for Full Attacks).

You can make a decent implement druid. He can use the soulbound scepter - and even if you don't need the additional spiritshift it gives you, it still is a great weapon that early in the game because of the raw lash and also the superhigh accuracy. The Golden Gaze is also a good option but comes later. Your goal would be to use Rot Skulls at some point. This summoned weapon is way stronger than the description suggests. It's the best ranged weapon in the game in my opinion. Sadly, it comes quite late (spell lvl 6), but once you have it it's totally worth skilling your druid around its use. That means Marksman, & Dangerous Implement. Rot Skulls has big base damage and therefore the +25% of Dangerous Implement works wonders. Same with Apprentices Sneak Attack (you have enough spells that cause afflictions). Things like Cloak of the Frozen Hunt or Archer's Gloves work well, too. Everything that gives you damage bonuses.

Besides all that asian/monastic/martial arts stuff which is more a matter of taste: The monk is the most powerful non-caster class in PoE. If something's broken, it's that they are superior. Best starting values of all classes, great single target damage, great AoE damage, great disables, sturdy as hell, great "natural" weapon which need zero resources, they can even reflect missiles and targeted spells like a boss (try a monk with Alia Braccia + Soul Mirror). If somebody has issues with the lore and stuff - fair enough. But if one says that monks don't work in terms of mechanics and power in PoE then this person simply hasn't got much savvy (when speaking about monks).

Yeah right. Aloth's starting class is wizard only. Sorry. A post of Josh where he gave some examples got stuck in my brains the wrong way.

I'm sure we can develop something that looks similar but doesn't violate any legal stuff. Of course we'd have to confirm that.

Do ciphers gain focus from overkill? That's new to me. Good to know. Don't forget that a x% bonus to lashes is multiplicative while a crit bonus is only additive. I think that this talent is way too weak (with 10% trigger) because it combines a higher crit damage modifier with low remaining endurance as a trigger. With a slow, heavy hitting weapon you don't need this once the enemy is at 10% - because the next hit will most likely end the enemy anyways. With light weapons a +0.5 crit damage boost will not add a significant amount of damage (+5.5 damage, meh). So it's unlikely that this will end the foe a lot sooner. This is not enough for a talent point. It might still be useful against enemies with a lot of endurance (dragons, drakes, eyeless, ogres), but for the rest it's a wasted talent point in my opinion. At 25% it would be nice though.

Aloth's dodging has improved a lot.

Did you not read or watch any of the fig updates and twitch streams/transcriptions? Because nealry all your questions and assumtions already got answered (he's a MALE orlan, dual wielding pistols and so on ). Also "cipher/barbarian" in this case doesn't mean that he starts as a multiclass character, but his starting class has to be either cipher OR barbarian. You can multiclass with everything else then if you like. So, the chances that we see a barb with focus in ranged combat didn't increase because of this companion, but I would still welcome such an approach. He also starts with a hand mortar by the way. Edér will be either rogue or fighter, Xoti either priest or monk, Blue Man Dude has to be chanter or druid. Funny thing: Aloth can either be wizard or barbarian (hello Iselmyr!).

I know that he said that about Death's Usher (Death Godlikes' racial ability). I never saw this about Bloody Slaughter. @MaxQuest: can you check? That would be worth knowing. Death's Usher + Bloody Slaughter for the win!

Had to look up what "to teabag" means...

In solo, it's a great advantage of the monk over the barbarian that he has a cone-shaped attack rather than a circle shaped. It means that staying in corners not only lets you survive more easily, but also helps your damage output (all enemies will line up in a cone-shape) while with a barb it will lead to less damage.