Boeroer

As we already discussed in another thread: Gotta love my cipher-barb. Soul Whip + Heart of Fury = Whoooohaaa! Or my druid-monk-paladin: Wildstrike Burn + Greater Wildstrike Burn + Turning Wheel + Lightning Strikes + Flames of Devotion + Intense Flames + Scion of Flame. Such things need to get balanced or the whole game will be a joke even at "Supertricky Pothole Path of the Uberdamned".

Sadly, you can only have one wall. If you cast a second one the first one will dissipate. But you could use Chillfog, Malignant Cloud (or druidic equivalants) and so on to cause more AoE hits for Combusting Wounds without doing anything.

Yes, Doemenel would be the best faction for this build I guess. Unarmed crits get calculated properly, it's just that the small base damage is taken into account and NOT the bonus of Novice's or Transcandent Suffering. Those bonuses get added AFTER the crit damage got calculated with the whimpy base damage. That's the case why crits don't do a lot of damage compared to hits. It's the same with things like Savage Attack, Weapon Spec. & Mastery and all other +x% dmg mods. So you shouldn't waste points on those when you are using Transcendent or Novice's Suffering all the time. Better to go for speed and/or lashes instead (Lightnig Strikes, Turning Wheel, Blood Testment Gloves or Gauntlets of Swift Action and so on). But on the other hand, this is also true for grazes: they do nearly the same damage as hits or crits would do. So, it's kind of balanced. You can use this for gimmicky build - like a char with 3 Perception or so - because it doesn't matter that much if you hit or graze. The only thing that raises the bonus damage of Novice's and Trancendent Suffering is might. So, as a fist fighter you want to have very high MIG - but you don't need that much PER. TLP however are considered summoned weapons and therefore work like all the other weapons, not like Transcendent Suffering. Because their (already high) base damage scales with levels, all +x% dmg mods work really well with them. That's why I suggested the hater talents and also items which raise ranged damage. Crits work like all other +x% dmg mods, so the same is true for them as well.

Yeah, the stronghold hirelings are more like low level summons. They cost money, sure, but it's better than being targeted by all attackers. If I do no "pure" solo runs (meaning that I will take in the official companions to do stronghold adventures, but don't add them to the party) I always take the hirelings with the most prestige. Don't know if this really helps with the stronghold adventures and Azurro, but I like to believe that.

Grab a stag helmet. When you autosolve you will have to rebuild structures every time. It's expensive. If you hire mercenaries with the barracks it's not that hard to win those battles.

Erm, never bothered to check that.

Pin Link is supercool. If you want you can use Sura's Supper Plate, Potion of Flame Shield (also gets prologed by Spelltongue), Garodh's Chorus and Barbaric Retaliation and use Combusting Wounds with The Ring of Searing Flames. Because of Pain Link + quadruple retaliation via shield + helm + potion + barbaric ret. foes will absolutely melt when they strike you, catching 5 hits when they hit you. And your carnage with Spelltogue is pretty fast, too, adding more hits. Not to speak of HoF. This trick also works with March Steel Dagger. You'll lose one retaliation out of 5, but 4 is still great and your attacks will be much faster and HoF will be executed twice. Dragon's Maw is good - also with HoF. My Golden Dragon build used it and carnage/HoF works really well with Taste of the Hunt. It's good for survival as well as for damage - while Badgradr's Barricade may be better for damage, but doesn't add any survivability besides the usual deflection/reflex. And to be honest once you have HoF attack speed doesn't matter that much anymore because most foes are dead after HoF. With HoF it's best to reach the highest possible damage per hit while dual wielding. After HoF with Spelltongue while being surrounded by mobs your durations will be so long that it will last for the rest of the encounter by the way. I think it's more a matter of taste which setup you choose. They are all good, fun and viable.

Here you go: Treat them well.

Character's left hand of course. Glad it worked out. If you already have the March Steel Dagger (should be very easy to get if you didn't give it to the kid named "Gordy" already) then try out dual wielding. If you don't mind that dual wielding two rapiers looks kind of funny then you could also buy the Sword of Daenysis from Vincent Dwellier in the Salty Mast. It has speed + rending is is one of the best rapiers besides Spelltongue in my opinion. And it doesn't look too weird if you dual wield with it because it's a bit shorter then Spelltongue - looks a bit like an offhand weapon then. The speed enchantment + Two Weapon Style will make sure that you will hit even more often with Spelltongue. Another nice option would be Mosquito: it has draining and a nice, long interrupt. Draining with a barb is always nice, even if it's low because of low weapon damage. Later on the Unlabored Blade would be nice. It's proc got nerfed to 3%, but now it works properly and combined with Carnage or even HoF it's great. Or Drawn in Spring later on. Plenty of options there. With durgan steel, dual wielding, the speed buff of Spelltongue and Frenzy + Bloodlust you can achieve 0 recovery in plate and with Vuln. Attack on. This means you could use the Sanguine Plate and skip Frenzy as an ability, sparing one ability point and use it for something else. The Frenzy from the plate not only gets prolonged as the rest, but it also takes no time to cast. Using a durganized shield is also a good option. Especially if it's Badgradr's Barricade.

For me, fortitude is the most important defense - generally speaking. Nearly all of the most dangerous disables like paralyze, stun, prone and petrify target fortitude. Then comes deflection, then reflex. Last one is will for me. But it also depends which classes/builds you use. For example you don't want that your Dragon-Thrashed-chanter or your Sacred-Immolation-paladin get charmed or dominated. Because that's very painful for your whole party. And if you have a priest most afflictions are less threatening and suddenly deflection is my no. 1 concern.

Do it! I can even send you my original portrait pics. That guy was my first rogue in PoE. But with Hours of St. Rumbalt and not dual pistols. Blue orlan is totally doable with the PoE char generation by the way. So - nothing too special.

Right. And don't use Riposte.

Thaos is most likely killing you with Cleansing Flame. Give your pure tank Aila Braccia, let Durance buff his deflection and attack Thaos - this should reflect his own Cleansing Flames to him. Use your wizard as CC machine first, then as damage dealer. The statues can be controlled with prone effects. Don't forget to buff your ACC with Durance: Devotions of the Faithful + Inspiring Radiance (also damages statues) + class skills like Eldritch Aim. And use prayers against afflictions. The barb is not very effective in this fight since there are only three enemies and you will most likely not reach them all with carnage. Put him in fat armor and use food and survival bonuses to buff his DR even more, then use him to distract and drink healing potions. If you have St. Ydwen's Redeemer then use it on the statues, there's a chance that they will get destroyed instantly. If you paladin uses Tall Grass (why a pike paladin?) then use ACC buffs and flanking to land prone-crits with Flames of Devotions on the statues. The most important part is accuracy. Buff it first, then use the high ACC to disable the enemies, then deal damage. Don't try to deal damage without using buffs and disables, you will graze or miss all the time.

But don't they just pause & quit the game if the fight goes south? So no problem if you screw the buffing I guess. Also, with Fast Runner and later Alacrity you can run away a bit and buff yourself while undisturbed until the first enemy arrives. But true: self buffing is a bit of a risk. Same with priests I guess.

Huh? I totally missed that question, sorry. Sure you can, no problem! My builds aren't set in stone anyway. If you don't miss the main trick of the build you can change it in many ways. I see the builds more as inspirations than as strict recipes.

It works with wood elf's Distant Advantage. It's a good choice, too. There are three reasons why I chose boeal dwarf: 1. It's one of the char models which doesn't look too stupid with the Maegfolc Skull. 2. Do you remember the annoying little fast bushfolks in Diablo II? I wanted a char that looks like those. 3. I wanted to combine the racial ability of the boreal dwarf (+15 ACC against wilder and primordial) with the Bartender's Ring (+20% damage to vessel & spirit) and some hatte talents (+25% dmg) so that I have bonuses against all enemies (except kith) no matter if I'm ranged or melee. Because I switched a lot from melee (no wounds) to ranged (enough wounds for Long Pain and some special attacks) Distant Advantage (wood elf) and also Marksman would not always apply. But the main reason was the looks.

Kind Wayfarer with 3 guns is cool. Use 2 FoD shots with Intense Flames, burning lash and Scion of Flame and one Runner's Wounding Shot before switching to melee. Independend from class choice: If you still like hatchets you can use Hearth Harvest. It's obtainable quite early and it already comes with a burning lash and has rending, which is good for a fast, light weapon.

I also think that wizard is one of the easiest classes for this. The others might be priest (if you survive the early game) and indeed chanter as you guys already mentioned. Judged on my experience with solo PoTD runs (although I like full parties better).

You missed The Dragon Thrashed chant (lvl 9). It turns Kana from the least damaging party member into the most damaging one. Tanky is good then. Just chain Dragon Thrashed phrase and nothing else. If you buff him with Durance (Devotions of & Crowns for the Faithful, Champion's Boon) he will finish whole encounters alone.

You want to replace the AoE damage powerhouse? Why?

It is very cool. It turns 100% of ranged grazes into misses and reflects them. Outworn Buckler is also very good. No. 1 paladin shield.

Ranged attacks are all targeted attacks which travel over a distance. This includes Necrotic Lance, Missiles, arrows, gunshots, cleansing flame and so on. It also includes the annoying Lagufaeth blowguns. AoE spells like Fireball which you cast "on the floor" don't count. With Pallegina, Aru Brekr and Aila Braccia you will reflect a lot of such attacks back to the attacker. For example the Lagufaeth paralyze themselves and Thaos will cast Cleansing Flame into his own face. It's a very nice setup for certain encounters. I'm pretty sure it stacks. Elusove Quarry is a passive and should stack with everything. Look at the combat log when Pallegina gets attacked by a shot. You can even do it yourself. Her deflection in that roll should be 20 higher than on her char sheet.

Paladins can even get 120% lash for the arquebus shots: Flames of Devotion (50%) + Intense Flames (25%) + Burning Lash (25%) + Scion of Flame (*1.2). It's devastating. Another advantage would be that with Zealous Focus and the +20 ACC from FoD he will not likely miss even when he doesn't take a Weapon Focus for the arquebus. However, a paladin doesn't really fit thematically when I look at the image you posted. If I take that as a basis, I'd say rogue or ranger. The rogue can even take Backstab and do +200% base damage when opening from stealth at point blank. A ranger can reload significantly faster than any other class if you don't like Quick Switch. Later on he could use Powder Burns. Those are the classes that work best with arquebuses inmy opinion.

Ach, my bad. I thought it's Long Tom Saelmonn for a second or two.

Use the cape of the cheat then. One reason why I like builds with Tidefall, Hours of Saint Rumbalt and Tall Grass or Sword of Daenysis + March Steel Dagger and so on is the fact that you can get those weapons quite early but they are so good that you can totally keep and use them until the end. Sadly, the most amazing abilites come at level 7 or even later. You can't rush them like you can with some items.