Boeroer

I basically do agree with firkraag888. One exception is Stormcaller. I think it's one of the best bows in the game because it has the -6 shock DR reduction on hit which is really good, it works with Heart of the Storm (weapon damage as well as the Returning Storm proc) AND it has two damage types. But the weapon is not OP. If you look at pure dps then Persistence might even be better, but many people don't know how powerful (and weird) wounding is. For CC Sabra Marie would be better. But still Stormcaller is one of the best overall, also because the shock DR reduction is very helpful for team members. The Gyrd scepter is quite nice, too. Enormous acc bonus which is great for the everyday implement user, raw lash and domination are pretty nice features. What I like about soulbounds is that they have an universal weapon focus. What I dislike is that you can't give them a lash and also no durgan steel. That's the main reason they generally fall behind in the late game if their enchantments are not really awesome. The "problem" with all spell chances (x% spell proc on of all hits & crits), spell striking (100% spell proc on crit) and overbearing and stunning (100% prone/stun process on crit) is that those are really powerful with all the abilities that help to generate several weapon hits or crits with one attack, namely Carnage, Heart of Fury, Torment's Reach, Blast, Twinned Arrows, Driving Flight. With those it's rel. easy to proc all the time while single target specialists like rogue or fighter are not able to do this. The nerf of the Unlabored Blade was only done because barbs and monks would proc Firebug all the time. But now the weapon is useless for single target damage dealers. There's one approach that doesn't have this problem and that's proc on kill (forgot the proper Name for that). But this was implemented in a way that it's too weak: 25% of all kills is bad. 100% like Inspiring Triumph would be appropriate. Stat bonuses from weapons and shields always stack with everything by the way. Also most enchantments of weapons stack, for example herald (+5 to all defenses aura), wounding and so on. Exceptions are disorienting (-5 to defense on hit) and interfering (-5 to acc on hit) because it was too powerful to let them remain stackable. I partly blame one of my threads that showed the game breaking features of disorienting for that nerf. I reduced the defenses of whole mob crowds to below zero with a barb and made screenshots...

I would say lvl 16 because spellcasters might want to use all spell levels.Picking a level in between might be tricky because some abilities are peaks of power (like Heart of Fury, Sacred Immolation, Deathblows and so on) and picking the max level would be the easiest way to determine every class build is fully developed. If we wanted to be superthorough we could do encounters at lvl 4, 8 and 16 for example. But you can already see that this would be bad for chanters. Maybe 5, 9 and 16 - would be bad for rogues... And the finer the grid the more work and fuzz. It's tricky. So I would suggest lvl 16 - seems to be the most easiest way. Nalrend encounter has a TON of endurance to reduce, a lot of damage and ACC and low defenses. It favours sturdy builds with high damage potential but not too high accuracy (like Dragon Thrashed chanter for example). But I still like it. Just saying. It's my number one testing encounter for builds, so maybe that's not fair. Ok, maybe you right. So, what rules and win conditions? Maybe time - the winner is one, who defeat Nalrend gang faster?And, just sayin' - if we play one encouter then every caster class (exept cipher, maybe) will outdamage any of melee build, blowing in all high level spells, becose no need to bother about camping supplies. Yeah - true. But that's why they are considered to be the most powerful classes in the first place.

I would also say that the max MIG & INT priest is the most powerful build. Doesn't even need to be "fire priest" - which basically just means picking Scion of Flame. But that is the best pick if you want an elemental booster talent of course.

I would say if you crit more than 50% of your swings (not counting misses) you could think about resolution or purgatory. Besides that Bittercut also has nice spell bindings.

Hours of St. Rumbalt = one of my favorite weapons in PoE. It has a great combination of enchantments and also looks very cool. And you can get it early.

It was always this way. That's one of the reasons why it's good with barbs and monks. Not only because they have high endurance, but also very high health.

I would say lvl 16 because spellcasters might want to use all spell levels. Picking a level in between might be tricky because some abilities are peaks of power (like Heart of Fury, Sacred Immolation, Deathblows and so on) and picking the max level would be the easiest way to determine every class build is fully developed. If we wanted to be superthorough we could do encounters at lvl 4, 8 and 16 for example. But you can already see that this would be bad for chanters. Maybe 5, 9 and 16 - would be bad for rogues... And the finer the grid the more work and fuzz. It's tricky. So I would suggest lvl 16 - seems to be the most easiest way. Nalrend encounter has a TON of endurance to reduce, a lot of damage and ACC and low defenses. It favours sturdy builds with high damage potential but not too high accuracy (like Dragon Thrashed chanter for example). But I still like it. Just saying. It's my number one testing encounter for builds, so maybe that's not fair.

A monk with a shield is unusual but cool. Once you find Badgradr's Barricade please give it to the monk and try if it still procs Thrust of Tattered Veils with the cone of Torment's Reach, will you? It used to be very nice. Oh - and the shield Aila Braccia is very nice for a monk who also has the missile reflection ability. Try it out against Lagufaeth! You will reflect every graze and a lot of misses. They will paralyze themselves and also Cleansing Flames of Thaos and Lagufaeth Broodmothers will be reflected.

"Durganized reasoning" - I have to write that one down into my book of awesome phrases.

The best way would be to use the console. Who wants to play through the game every time he wants to try out a new build idea in a certain encounter? All my build ideas are tested with tje console first and if they seem to be good I will put them through the whole game - not the other way round. And a proper way would be to define a ruleset. Else you couldn't compare properly. But if you want to compare single target damage or overall damage - which are pretty narrow things - you can easily define some simple rules and try it out. And if we see afterwards that it wasn't fair game we could still adapt the rules.

Torment's Reach does work with Turning Wheel. But only with the initial hit (the enemy you click on), NOT the cone. The cone has its own base damage and doesn't get the lash bonus. Since Torment's Reach's initial hit will also get a 50% crushing lash, using Turning Wheel with it and also adding Lightning Strikes, maybe even Blood Testament Gloves and a burning lash on your weapon is crazy powerful for your single target damage (a monk with all those lashes and Scion of Flame can hit harder than a rogue with Deathblows, but since he uses his wounds to deliver Torment's Reach he can't sustain the damage as long). The cone is a really nice AoE bonus and works with weapon's accuracy (not fists' accuracy, don't ask me why) and also with spell chance and on-crit effects.

I would like it. If it's possible to make an arena mod: also fine.

I meant it in a way than one tries to solve a given encounter better than the other player. It would be great if OBS would give us a kind of PvP arena in PoE2. Or maybe a mod is possible, don't know.

If you don't know what else to take.

Last time I tried the modal was switched off completely (maybe 3.04 or before). At leastI remember so. I was only testing a lvl 16 rogue with the console for about 10 minutes - so maybe my memory fails me.

Well you had a big part in creating "this crap". I find it interesting enough to read though - no insulting or aggression so far. That's a good thing, even if we disagree completely and you try to evade my challenge. A quite civilized discussion for such an emotional (or so it seems) topic. So it's all cool. I could do a video. Why not? I will come up with something. Maybe it will take some time because today is the day where they start to build my new house and I'm pretty sure there's a lot of hard, back-aching work waiting for me...

You're welcome.

The good thing about Reckless Assault is the +8 ACC, not the +20% DMG. That's just a nice bonus. Savage Attack doesn't work with Reckless Assault by the way. One will switch off the other. All DMG bonuses except lashes (and confident aim) only add % of base damage. It's the stacking of those bonuses that makes your attacks powerful. If you can get them, then favour lashes. Best is to have both.

Yes - skip Vulnerable Attack with sabres. It's good for fast weapons with speed enchant, or if you already have high weapon speed and surpassed 0 recovery. But sabres are relatively slow and there are none with speed enchant and a rogue has no ability other than Outlander's Frenzy which could boost his speed. As firkraag888 said: sabre + rogue leads to quite high damage per hit that should overcome most DR easily. 20% speed loss will hamper your DPS more than the +5 DR bypass can do your good.

Every damage bonus works like this. It's always % of weapon base damage. Exception are lashes. That makes them so powerful.

Hehe - I started a rogue for the same reason (and because nostalgia - it was my first MC class in PoE)... and at lvl 8 I restarted with a monk. Can't tell you in words how much easier and more fun it is with a monk - if you like monks that is.

https://forums.obsidian.net/topic/86684-mechanics-the-big-attack-speed-conundrum/ This one? Yes, exactly. MaxQuest is the master of attack speed and other mechanics stuff. If you understand what is written there you totally know how attack speed works.

Bittercut is also nice for rogues because Vile Thorns will not only work with Deathblows but also deliver Deep Wounds to everything they hit (Minor Missiles, Concussive Missiles and Bounding Missiles do that, too - also Missile Barrage of course). AND the Vile Thorns spell binding on Bittercut has no recovery and gets cast instantly without a fat & lazy animation. Don't know why, but it lets you spam 3 Vile Thorns uses in the blink of an eye - which can totally save your buttocks.

They want to change that in PoE. Enemies will not drop all their equipment as loot anymore.

Josh said that PoE2 rogues will be sturdier. He meant the "vanilla" version. And the new subclass, the Assassin, will focus on single target damage and be more fragile than the normal PoE2 rogue - sounds like the PoE1 rogue. Maybe we will even see a very tough subclass, like a Pit Fighter or something like that - who knows. Or a very nimble thief subclass with evasion and stuff. I like that. That way you can also play something like a burly doorman rogue or a tough bodyguard rogue without the drawbacks (low edurance, health an deflection) all the PoE1 rogues have. I generally like rogue classes a lot. But on PoE1 they are a bit too boring (one trick pony) and too tedious to play as far as I'm concerned. Doesn't have to be the case for other players though. Josh also said there will be pickpocketing and also reverse pickpockting. Now that would be a reason to bring a rogue in every playthrough even if they are not no. 1 single target damage dealer (or whatever they are supposed to be good at). I'm looking forward to Bronteru.