Boeroer

Hidden nerf I guess. I think that also means that Citzal's Spirit Lance + Envenomed Strike and Rot Skulls + Envenomed Strike doesn't work any more.

I don't want to sound c0cky, but your rogue disagrees about what? Those stats only prove what I said. Compare your "max damage" to a solid shapeshifting druid who will deliver crits above 200 dmg regularly. And compare your "total damage done" to a HoF-barbarian or a monk. Both will laugh at the total damage done. I have two screenshots here from my last playthrough with the Golden Dragon build (barbarian tank, not optimized for damage - since he's a tank) and an unarmed shapeshifting druid (boar, focused on survivability rather than highest possible dps): Those are lvl 16 though. But they are just two examples from one of my playthroughs where I didn't even focus on damage dealing. I even looked up my Counselor Ploi's stats (pure supporter paladin, totally not dps oriented) and even he has a higher max damage value. My melee priest in that run has "only" around 100 max damage hit, but his overall damage is way higher than the rogues (with very few crits). As you can see, theay are all better in their own ways while contributing to the party's performance in so many other ways at the same time: tanking, supporting, buffing, CC. And all of them provide a lot of survivability - I'm pretty sure they are way better at staying alive than any rogue. The rogue can only deal single target damage - and even at that he's bested. That's sad. I would like the rogue to be better. Some damage dealing things don't even get logged - like ranger's animal companions or chanters' Dragon Thrashed. If you count ranger+pet as one char, they also clrealy win against any rogue. The rogue is not the best single target damage dealer nor is he best at anything else - except hurling AoE spells with Deathblows - which is quite funny. They need a complete overhaul in my opinion. Either give them better single target damage without all that affliction fuzz (something around poison maybe or special talents/abilites around short blades or allow then to re-enter stealth?) or give them more AoE possibilites.

I don't know. Double damage with spells is more powerful than more ACC in this case, because as a rogue you can always use a Scroll of Valor or a Potion of Eldritch Aim and nearly get the same ACC as a fighter, but a fighter can never get +100% damage with spells. The rogue can have additional hit to crit conversion, too. And he has Deep Wounds which work with all spells (also AoE) that do crush, pierce or slash damage - like Bounding Missiles or whatever. Besides Disciplined Barrage the fighter has no talent or ability that boosts spells directly, except maybe Confident Aim. For spell bindings which don't have anything to do with damage a fighter might be better though - for example Whisper of Treason.

Rogue with Deathblows and lots of spell bindings is really good though. Sneak Attack doesn't work with spells, but Deathblows do. So try to grab every piece of equipment with spells (Sun-Touched Mail, Amulet of Summer Solstice, Flames of Fair Rhian and so on). But in terms of single target damage he's inferior to druid, ranger and later on also fighter (if the fighter is skilled for dps and has Charge). And you always have that fuzz with the afflictions and also have to be very careful so he doesn't get knocked out after being looked at.

It never was. It's a simple misconception. And now players finally realised that it's the weakest class in the game. That's also because some other classes got nice buffs and great new abilities with the expansions and rogues... only got crap. Rogues are only good at the beginning of the game.

But with FoA they fly away and stop hitting you. Then you can't gain or spend any more wounds. Flagellant's Path also stops the Rooting Pain fest. Pushing against a wall is a bit circumstantial. I meant Torment's Reach is the best in this setup. The enemies have lower MIG and don't hit you as hard any more and they won't get disabled.

Sure. I always use potions of spirit shield with low resolve chars when I meet numerous enemies - until I can get some item that buffs concentration.

I'm looking forward to reading your reports. Small addition: since Soul Ignition is a DoT power, it doesn't get affected by Scion of Flame. It's still good for burn lashes and Battle-Forged.

Outlander's Frenzy won't stack with Time Parasite - but it's a nice way to fill the gap until you have enough focus for Time Parasite. And of course you can take it way earlier.

Haha - but then Rooting Pain's AoE will be very small. Take Torment's Reach: there's nothing better to spend wounds really fast. Or cast Dichotomous Soul early. But maybe you don't even need to do that. With 10 wounds you won't have any more Rooting Pain, but see it like a bridge to a maxed Turning Wheel: as long as you don't have 10 wounds, you don't have 50% burning lash for retaliation via Battle Forged, item retaliation, Potion of Flame Shield and so on. But you can balnce this out with Rooting Pain. Once you reach your full "lash" potential, Rooting Pain might stop, but your burn damage will be very high. Once a wound expires and Turning Wheel's power decreases a bit, you gain Rooting Pain back again. It's a quite effective setup. Iron Wheel also fits really well into this: when you want to get wounds really fast your DR is low, but once your wounds reach 10 and you only want to get MIN damage and retaliate your DR is +10. Nice. If you can manage to cause more than 10 damage per Rooting Pain (it's very difficult, maybe a ton of MIG and Expose Vulnerabilities helps - did anybody test if the bracers that give you +10% spell damage work with Rooting Pain?) then Resonant TOuch also may be really good. Imagine you receive a crit of 100 damage, causing 10 times Rooting Pain which each causes 10 damage on all surrounding targets. This might give them all 10 Resonent Touches which you then can trigger, giving them a lot of raw damage.

The drunk orlan is a pain in the back because of Rooting Pain. If you surround him and then hit him hard he will react with so many Rooting Pain flashes... Yes, it triggers for every wound, not hit. It triggers multiple times when you get hit hard. I also like the talent that lowers the damage you need to get a wound in combination with Rooting Pain. Without Rooting Pain I don't think it's worthwhile, but with it it helps you to trigger Rooting Pain more often with every hit you take. If your wound counter reaches 10 you don't get any more wounds. Therefore Rooting Pan stops working. You can test it of course. But unless OBS didn't change the behaviour lately it's like that. Rooting Pain also works if you inflict the wounds yourself. Don't know if this is of any use though.

But you have to spend your wounds quickly because after 10 your Rooting Pain won't trigger any more. Rooting Pain has a nice synergy with Combusting Wounds (Ring of Searing Flames) by the way. It gets even better when you can add Pain Link via cipher.

Yes, it's a nice side effect. Given enough enemies, HoF with Spelltongue also prolongs all currently active timed effects, even from potions/scrolls and so on for... like... forever. It's debateable if this is more powerful than the sheer damage or massive CC you could cause with other weapons, but it's nice nonetheless. Hm, I actually never tried out HoF + Spelltongue + Potion of Infuse with Vital Essence. I can't remember if it has a healing over (very short) time or if it's instant (haven't played for some weeks now). If it's the first, a trah encounter could restore your whole health...

It should be applied every time. Every new hit prolongs the time the spped buff lasts. Normally you can see it in the character sheet under active effects.

+45% to damage is not bad of course (maybe added by +20% from higher MIG from Frenzy), but a lash should be better if the burn DR is not ridiculously high. Maybe the raw retaliation helps. Blood Thirst and Bloodlust ould be a good addition. They also trigger when retaliation kills stuff, making your attacks very fast even in the fattest armor with a two hander like Hours of Saint Rumbalt (I love that thing on a barb).

That sword is quite mediocre anyway.

What makes this special monk very good at retaliation is Turning Wheel + Battle-Forged + Scion of Flame + Blood Testament. But I guess that Battle-Forged + Blooded + One Stands Alone + Scion of Flame + Barbaric Ret. is also a nice combo. One should try and post a build.

Abydon's Hammer doesn't work. A priest is mandatory. A cipher could use Wild Leech, a wizard Martial Power and so on. But Pallegina doesn't have any self buffs for MIG nor do your other team members have sufficient buffs for her. And also Pallegina's MIG is quite low. They raised it a bit in a patch some time ago because before it was even impossible to upgrade Steadfast with Pallegina even if you had a priest.

By the way the wood elf racial not only provides bonus acc when fighting from a distance, it also gives you higher defenses against ranged attacks. Stacks with everything and works with the shield, too. Besides the obvious high deflection classes like fighter, paladin and monk, a melee ranger with Alia Braccia can have +15 defense against ranged attacks and +15 against AoE attacks (stacks with everything) which, combined with the deflection and reflex bonus from the shield and gives him fairly high defenses against everything that doesn't hit him in melee. And those guys you can pulverize quickly with your animal companion.

Erm, but why would you want to fight him? He will give it to you if you deliver the undamaged missive from the dying monk in Elmshore. Anyways, that shield is the best item if you are annoyed by Lagufaeth. Even the Broodmothers fry themselves from time to time with their Cleansing Flames.

Or the wise wouldn't throw good leftovers away if you can turn them into a tasty casserole and spare some money.

You'd have to raise DEX and wear light armor to reduce the recovery after invocations (those can be long and also prevent you from chanting phrases). So if you want to cast invocations as fast as possible, you have to reduce your recovery time. You can then for example use a reach weapon in order to stay behind the front line and don't get knocked out too often. Most invocations have a chone shape and their range is not too big, so you won't want to stand too far away from your friends and foes. Reach weapons seem to be good for that. Your Dragon Thrashed chant will also reach enough enemies that way. I can also imagine a bow chanter with Sure Handed Ila. It stacks with his "Champion" Invocation and turns him into a gatling gun. This guy, too, shouldn't run too far away from the front line. With his very high attack speed he may also be a nice candidate for Stormcaller. It triggers a stunning invocation by chance with chanters and the faster you shoot the better.

Yes, exactly. You could wear the Sun Touched Mail of Hyran Rath and the Amulet of Summer Solstice and gain 6 Sunbeams per rest. It's a nice starting spell because of its blinding component. The armor is one of the best looking pieces in my opinion, too. The char's name would have to be Jerry Lee Lewis of course...

Druid = no. 1 single target melee damage dealer via shapeshift (NOT rogue) and also great at doing AoE damage via spells. CC is also very good. Great class, not my personal favorite though.

Characters who need micromanagement and are versatile while having the ability to nuke are monks, melee ciphers, melee wizards and shapeshifting druids. The monk has an ability called "The Long Pain" which makes him extremely versatile because it lets him use his abilities in ranged and melee combat, while tho othes have nice spells/abilities/talents for melee as well as for ranged damage. Most fun for me are the monk and the melee wizard. Even a melee priest is fun, but he needs more time to bloom. With the exception of the monk all these chars have in common that they start a bit weak but grow very powerful after some levels because they are spell dependent. You need levels for more spells or more focus. The monk starts strong and keeps being strong - although he has no spells to add, but his abilities make up for this.