Boeroer

On monks and barbs higher CON is nice because they already get more base endurance and health than other classes - this means the +5% from every point of CON leads to more endurance than on a fighter or chanter or so. A monk with maxed CON can easily reach 500 Endurance at the end of the game. If you add self heal like a boss you become unkillable by the usual mob - even if your deflection is crappy. Another good thing: your fortitude will be very good, which prevents nasty things like petrify. Becoming a stone pillar will get you killed - no matter how high your endurance is.

Empored Interdiction doesn't give a bonus to the weakening part by the way - only the dazing one. It's a bug that never gets fixed. Besides that, Painful Interdiction is nice. It's important (if you want the maximum effect of debuffs) that you buff your ACC before trying to apply debuffs. Because of that, my usual buffing/debuffing procedure is (if those chars/abilites are in the party, only a few examples): Phase 1: Buffing ACC - Priest casts Inspiring Radiance (+10 ACC stacks with everything) - Fighter casts Disciplined Barrage - Wiz casts Eldritch Aim - Cipher casts Tactical Meld (+20 ACC which stacks with everything) - Paladin with Coordinated Attacks & a marking weapon attacks an enemy whom a debuffer wants to hit later (+20 ACC which stack with everything). - Paladin with Inspiring Liberation raises a debuffer's ACC by 10 (stacks with everything) - Paladin with Sworn Enemy and Munacra Arret cast Swoen Enemy on the target he wants to charm - Priest casts Devotions - and so on... Phase 2: Debuffing and/or CC - Priest still casts Devotions - Priest casts Painful Interdiction - Wizard casts Chillfog or whatever debuff that fits - Druid casts Returning Storm or whatever debuffing spell - any char with high ACC casts Aspirant's Mark - Cipher casts Phantom Foes (if he has focus, else he shoots with hightened ACC) - and so on Buffing other stats than ACC (like defenses or DR) can be done after that. Only then do I start with damaging attacks. This way every fight - even dragons and bounties - become easy. If you have good timing you don't need to wait with casting the debuffs until the ACC buffs finish: the ACC bonus counts if it hits you before you hit the enemy. That means that even if the Inspired Radiance hits you after your debuff spoell went off, but before it reaches the nemey, it counts for the hit roll. So you don't lose as much time as you think. Debuffing with high ACC is great because it leads to a lot of crits which means *1.5 duration... which can spare you spells and a lot of hassle. Some special tricks how you can raise a debuffers ACC to the sky so that he can then crit with his debuff, in this case the enemy is the Alpine Dragon: A paladin with Coordinated Attacks (+10 ACC), a marking weapon (+10 ACC) casts Inspiring Liberation (+10 ACC) on a cipher and then attacks the dragon while a priest casts Inspiring Radiance (+10 ACC). The cipher casts Tactical Meld on the paladin (+20 ACC). The cipher now can hit the dragon with 60 bonus ACC, let's say with a cheap Whisper of Treason. Usually that means a crit. The Alpine Dragon gets charmed for over 20 secs (if your INT is good). By the way: charm is a hefty debuff. He could also have used Eyestrike or whatever. Same game with a fighter with Disciplined Barrage and Charge, followed by Knockdown. It's very easy this way to cause prone on dragons - even if they have resistances. 3 Knockdowns are usually enough to keep the dragon down till it's dead (if you INT is good). A weapon with overbearing or stunning helps a lot of course - and also procs on dragons with such high ACC values - even upscaled dragons.

Yeah, that makes dual wielding kind of mandatory with charge. That additional Full Attack without recovery and all is the real advantage of the ability which makes it really strong. It may be that this is a bug, but I would vote for leaving it in even if it is - because Charge comes so late and the fighter has few really strong dps abilites besides Charge.

Yeah, with a corrosive lash and Spirit of Decay it's one of the best one handed weapons in the game. The dual effect of Spirit of Decay (raising weapon damage itself and also the lash damege which is based on the weapon damage before DR) makes it way better than it first looks on paper.

Depends what cloak. If it has +5 to all defenses like Cloak of Comfort (stronghold adventure) it stacks with the ring of deflection. If it's a cloak of minor deflection with +5 to deflection it doesn't stack. Annihilation gives you +50% weapon base damage (= the damage a generic sabre has without any modifier) when you do a critical hit. A crit with annihilation adds 100% of base weapon damage instead of 50% - like deathblows would. A weapon with 10 base damage would get +10 damage on a crit in that case instead of 5. I wouldn't say that it's massive, but it surely is a good enchantment - especially on sabres with their high base damage (will get nerfed in 3.04 into a mere +20% dmg bonus) and also for characters who can expect to crit a lot. A melee wizard with Eldritch Aim + Merciless Gaze + Martial Power can be such a character. Those sabres are nice unique weapons and the fact that you can get Resolution that early is another plus, I agree. They would work very well on a melee wizard. But I think TIdefall is equally good because of wounding. Wounding is the best dps enchantment in the game because of the way it gets calculated. It not only profits from MIG but also does raw damage. And it gets calculated based on the whole damage you do when you hit - not only weapon base dmage. It's basically like a raw DoT lash. You get way more damage per hit and buy that with slower attacks compared to dual wielding. By the way the best one handed dps weapon is still Drawn in Spring because of Wounding - if you have enough MIG. So - if you want, you can stick to Tidefall. Besides its great enchantments it has two damage types, which is great, too. It's one of the best weapons in he game. Bittercut is better than Resolution and also Purgatory in my opinion. It gets +20% damage with Spirit of Decay (which is kind of nice and somewhat balances out the Annihilation of Resolution & Purgatory, although you need to pick a talent for that) - but the real advantage is: it's the only sabre which has two damage types (corrode and slash). Many enemies in the game are resistent to slash, so you lose a lot of dps when attacking them with a "normal" sabre that only does slash damage. The only enemy you can't hurt with Bittercut are earth blights. For any other enemy you'll never need to change the weapon again when you use Bittercut. Another plus: it has some nice spell bindings. Maggots (get fixed in 3.04 - doesn't do anything atm) and Vile Thorns. Vile Thorns is 3/rest - and in this case it is an instant cast without recovery - not like the original druid spell. Don't ask me why - I think it's a bug because the description says something else - but it's like that. Wth two Bittercuts you can spam 6 * Vile Thorns in a few seconds if you want to, killing most foes in an arc in front of you. It can make tough encounters really easy. A drawback is the -10 defense to poison attacks! If you duplicate Bittercut you will have -20, which is hefty. So watch out if you meet vessels with poisonous spells and such things! IN this case - you could switch to Resolution & Purgatory. A thing about spell bindings: they work even when you use Martial Power. Normal spalls are deactivated, but spell bindings/chances and spell holdings (and also scrolls) are not!

That's likely - he said he just finished Act II. The first time he posted he was lvl 8.

You can also leave CON as it is and put more efford into "virtual endurance" - meaning self healing with healing bonuses. Veteran's Recovery + Shod-in-Faith + >80% healing bonus from MIG, items and survival makes up for a LOT of missing CON. Of course you can combine both high CON and great self heals and have an even bigger wound pool.

Trust me: Citzal's Spirit Lance needs no enchantment. If you take Spirit of Decay I would stronlgy recommed using Bittercut + corrosive lash instead of Tidefall. Bittercut is a sabre in WM I (early find) and causes corrode damage. This corrosive weapon damage also gets boosted by Spirit of Decay, not only the corrosive lash. You can even dual wield it once you get the Helwax Mold via Strongold adventure - which lets you clone any item except soulbounds. With Alacrity and Two Weapon Style a wizard can reach 0 recovery in plate armor pretty easily. Or you just take a shield and become even more sturdy. Another really nice weapon for a melee wizard is Spelltogue (WM I, a bit later than Bittercut). Its hits steal 15% attack speed as well as durations from enemies' buffs and put them onto your own buffs - prolonging them.

Yes, the buffing needs time. It can be annoying in trash mob fights - if you normally don't use a lot of buffs like with priests of so, it can be a bit tedious. Good thing is that most of the wizard's buffs are fast casts or even instant casts like Arcane Veil. Even faster if you cast Alacrity first. The spells are a necessity until you outlevel enemies. After you get some spell mastery uses it all gets easier of course. Less resting and so on.

I don't know if it's intended that charge is followed by a weapon attack when you arrive at the target - but it sure is fun and takes out most normal foes. It may even be that the hit that follows is a full attack - didn't test that. That would call for dual wielding. With a pike for example you only get one additional hit. I use Disciplined Barrage + Aspirant's Mark before I charge with Tall Grass atm - so usually an enemy who's prone or dead is the result. The only tiny downside of Charge is that weapons on-crit effects like prone or stun don't work - except on the final target.

A good level to start WM is from 6 (tough!) to 9 (rel. easy). After the initial fight in the town things get easier, so don't be worried. As AeonsLegend said, some cross class talents are good and some are so-so. Keep your hands off of Rhymer's Summon for example, it's so bad - but Aspirant's Mark and Veteran's Recovery are really good.

Some people look at things like Charge, Clear Out or Into the Fray and think it's bad that they don't use weapon damage but their own. Because all your fancy weapon's damage mods and enchantments don't get applied - not realizing that it's actually better because the base damage of those abilities is much higher than that of your puny weapon - resulting in a lot more damage with crits and high MIG.

Lashes do profit from every damage modifier, also crit bonus damage. Lashes get calculated with the whole pre DR damage that gets rolled - not only your base weapon damage. So - everything counts, even bonus from might. A +25% lash (like from Lightning Strikes) usually means more damage than a simple +25% to weapon damage (like from Weapon Spec. + Mastery). For example: a 25% shocking lash on a weapon with 10 base damage, with Savage Attack and 20 MIG that crits (=20 damage) would add additional 5 shock damage while a +25% damage mod like Weapon Spec + Weapon Mastery would "only" add 2.5 damage. But this is with 0 shock DR. A 25% shocking lash will get reduced by 1/4 of the enemy's shock DR. Lashes work with the according talents like Scion of Flame by the way. Also: you don't add base damage with things like Weapon Mastery. You only add a bonus that is derived from the weapon's base damage. A crit does the same thing - it does NOT take the whole damage you rolled and does *1.5 - it merely adds +50% weapon base damage to the roll. You can't influence weapon's base damage at all. Charge is powerful with crits because it doesn't use your weapon's base damage but it's own - which is way higher than most weapon's base damage. When you crit with charge the effect is much better than with weapon effects.

See the Witch Doctor build for a boreal dwarf + monk combo. One of the most powerful non-caster setups in my opinion.

Charge comes very late. Until you take it (or Clear Out) your fighter can only deal single target damage and CC - and even that, let's face it, the monk can do better with fewer talents & abilities as long as you gain some wounds and are willing to invest more micromanagement. You need to have wounds to make a monk worthwhile, but then he will *always* outperform a fighter n sheer dps - even in one-on-one. He has no per-encounter limits for most of his abilities like the fighter. And with Lightning Strikes and Turning Wheel he can pile up +50% burning lash +25% shocking lash with just 1 abilitiy and 1 talent, where the fighter needs to take 2 abilities to get +25% damage. But this is true: the fighter can start right away because he needs no wounds - and he needs less micromanagement because of that. Flagellant's Path is the same as Charge by the way, only that it comes earlier, with a debuff and you need wounds first. Maybe Charge's range is higher, can't say atm. The best thing about a fighter compared to a monk when it comes to offense is Disciplined Barrage: this makes him very good against very tough (boss) foes. He can reach ACC values the monk can't. But generally: go to the Abbey of the Fallen Moon or to Crägholt Bluffs and tell me: which kith enemy did annoy you most?

Your stats are good. Your defenses through stats are perfectly balanced. Wounding damage like Tidefall's gets better with high might. So - items with bonuses to might + Alacrity + Martial Power is a good combo. Because of Alacrity 10 DEX is enough, too. You can wear plate, too - especially in the early game. It helps a bit with the lower endurance. Combine it with Spirit Shield and Iron Skin. And of course melee wizards - even tanks - are awesome. Wizard's self buffs are very powerful and all the summoned weapons are really good. Superior Deflection is never wasted if you plan to go into melee fights. With high MIG and INT Veteran's Recovery is also a good pick. The lower starting values of the wizard class don't matter after some levels, and you'll have plenty of spells after a few level-ups. Arcane Veil is nice, even Hardened Veil. If you combine Arc. Veil and Wizard's Double (+115 deflection) it's like a "don't hit me" mode. Later on there will also be spells like Rymrgand's and stuff which will use the wizard as centre - those are perfect for melee wizards. I also want to point you to the nice effect of Combusting Wounds + retaliation. You can stack some kinds of retaliation with a wizard, like normal retaliation from an item, Flame Shield and Minoletta's Piercing Sigil. When you use Combusting Wounds on enemies around you, each time you get hit they get hit three times, triggering combusting wounds three times. Another great spell for melee wizards is Concelhaut's Siphon. RES 10 is enough. You have Spirit Shield which boosts concentration and enough buffs for deflection. MIG, INT and PER are the most important stats for you, and you have raised those - stop retraining now! P.s.: Try Citzal's Spirit lance!

Choose monk and take Veteran's Recovery as first talent and Torment's Reach as first ability. You'll have a sturdy melee guy with great AoE damage right from the start. Barbarians are also nice. But he is weaker at the beginning of the game so many beginners think they are bad (which they are not). They become very sturdy characters later on and can do INSANE damage later on, but need quite some levels to shrug off the disadvantage of lower starting stats. Fighters are reliable but can only do single target damage until later levels (and then it's limited). However, they can be build to deal impressive and consistent damage with very high accuracy. They are my favorite class to take down dragons and other bosses. Both barbarian and also monk can't reach such high levels of accuracy. Overall, I think the monk is the most powerful of the three.

I agree. After that discussion I used it frequently with my gunslinging wizard and it's still awesome. I guess the few times that enemies get pushed out of the area (it's not that often and in close quarters it doesn't matter anyway) are bearable. It's one of the best CC spells for me because I like to use spells like Chillfog, Wicked Briars and so on - all those spells that deal damage or CC in pulses. Pull of Eora keeps the enemies in the hazard field and they do... nothing. They just stand around. There's also no immunity against it.

You should have posted this in the character builds forum. You'll get more concrete feedback for you wizard build. Expansions: WM I can be played from ~lvl 8 on, WM II after that. You can always enter the new locations during the main campain - they are not seperated games, but are embedded into the main game. You can always go back and forth. WM I & II truly "extend" the main game. It's not very good to finish the main game and then do WM I - because then the expansions will be way too easy.

Or use Ring of Changing Heart's dominate with Kana while he's chanting "Slay the Beast" and wears the Blackwarden's Breastplate. I know Kana's PER and therefore ACC is not the best but with +45 ACC it should at least graze. You don't have to wait for that until you have focus or enough phrases. Later on you can use the charming invocation, too. Of course the cipher can try it, too - preferably. A nice setup against dragon I use at the moment is a paladin who engages the dragon with a marking weapon and Coordinated Attacks while another char with high ACC and ACC buffs (like Disciplined Barrage or Tactical Meld or the things I said above) tries to land a disabling/CC effect on the dragon. +40 or even more ACC bonus works very well on dragons! You can keep the dragon disabled most of the time because the CC effects often crit even against resistances.

Well - So it's not impossible that Eothas is still out there and just needs to gather (his) scattered essence. Like Dr. Manhattan after he got disintegrated for the first time, but even slower. And maybe he needs new essence for it to happen. Too bad there's no option at the end of the game to try to channel the essence to Eothas in some way - even if it wouldn't work.

I voted for the Stormlight Archives - although they are not finished yet. I seems to be the perfect lore and setup for an RPG. Lots of different orders with different powers, enchanted items, different "races" and so on, while the books are simply awesome.

I didn't notice anything with the Adra Dragon.

I never use them. They are not worth the time you spend laying them out. Not even the ones that do CC. They also nerfed the drop traps of the chanter so hard that the chant is completely useless nowadays. It used to be really good. I once killed bounties with it. Nowadays you can't even cool down your White Yennefer with it.

Turned out it wasn't about character builds.