Boeroer

Torment's Reach is also nice for a tanky monk because the AoE cone's crush damage doesn't rely on the damage of the weapon. So with Torment's Reach + Weapon & Shield Style you should use bash shields. Higher defenses plus Full Attacks with Torment's Reach are a nice combination. For me it'S on of the few setups where bash is a good thing. Also I think that Badgradr's Barricade triggers Thrust of Tattered Veils with the cone, too - like barb's carnage does.

Too lazy? By the way: does Sacred Immolation count as spell? If it does, I think it would be better to use the hand slot for the bracers that do +10% spell damage and use arquebuses or dual sabres for FoD damage instead of using Forgemaster's Gloves.

Absolutely excusable because of all those little changes that won't be mentioned in the patch notes... or the wiki.

Barbs were and still are one of my favorite classes. No frustration for me. They alwys were great meat shields if you provided enough healing and good AoE damage dealers (>500 endurance and 3000 health at lvl 16, CC with carnage, Barbaric BLow was good when dual wielding). Since HoF is 1/encounter the barb wins every mass encounter on his own just by jumping into the fray and trigger HoF. If you have Combusting Wounds even bosses melt from all the hits it generates. Bloodlust and Blood Thirst are also very nice additions. When frenzy runs out you normally get a speedup from Bloodlust and when you kill one foe after the other with carnage the 0 recovery from Blood Thirst kicks in after every hit - at least it feels like it. And Blood Thirst (=0recovery after a kill) also works with spells or things like retaliation. Did a PotD solo run with a 2 DEX 3 RES barb and it was viable. Rogues' defensive abilities got buffed a bit. Escape gives you +25 deflection for quite a while. Now you can use it to dive INTO the battle with a deflection buff. With that, a shield and the newly buffed riposte he can be tanky enough to be a good offtank now. With Adept Evasion an the reflex bonus from shields he's nearly untouchable for enemies who target reflex. Then he can feign death and get up invisible which grants him sneak attacks and even some Backstabs for more than 6 seconds. I'd still say he's one of the weakest classes.

As far as I know they apply to recovery universally - like DAoM - and they stack with everything.

Wizard can use Citzals Martial Power and use spell bindings or scrolls then (still work). He will also have +8 DEX. Only 2 less than the priest. Not "strictly" worse. And you can factor in that he could call a duplicate which also could cast - doubling his casting speed sort of... for a short time.

A cipher with Time Parasite can be as fast as a wizard - but later in the game and you have to pile up some focus first - it lasts longer than DAoM though. He can also pile up his DEX into the sky with Wild Leech if he's lucky. It stacks. Had a MIG value of 56 at one point while I was only casting Wild Leech while my team mates had my Reaping Knives - should also be possible with DEX, but it's all random. So I think a cipher can be the fastest caster out there. By the way you can add Spelltongue (+15%) and Gauntlets of Swift Action (+15%) to the mix. A priest could also add Aggrandizing Radiance. And A Nature Godlike priest with Aggrandizing Radiance under 50% endurance could even add another +2 DEX. But in theory a cipher could still be faster if he's lucky with Wild Leech. A barbarian with 9 fireballs from spell binding (2*Flames of Fair Rhian, 1* Taluntain's Staff) and some scrolls can quickly get into a 0 recovery frenzy. After some fireballs or Fan of Flames he starts to kill enemies and once that starts there's no holding back. It's still worse than dual wieldung + HoF + Combusting Wounds though.

Have a look at the build forum - first sticky thread.

Actually, fighters can do a lot of damage with the right abilities and talents. Disciplined Barrage alone leads to a big increase of damage. Combine that with Savage Attack, Knock Down, Appr. Sneak, Weapon Spec & Mastery and Armored Grace and you'll have a really good single target DPS guy with lots of standing power (for a DPS char). But I still consider monks to be more powerful.

Yes, it targets deflection like any weapon. Was kind of a nerf some time ago. Killstealer paladins don't need any weapon for endgame because of Sacred Immolation.

Especially in the early game I find more ACC to be way better than more damage - at least when playing PotD. And it has other drawbacks compared to great swords: As I said you have to use up a per rest spell, it runs out after a while and is only has one damage type compared to the usual great sword which has two. I also consider it to be better than the usual great sword of course, but not better than a Hours of St. Rumbalt with a simple elemental lash for example.

Right. You can't enchant it and it comes with not too powerful bonuses. That makes it less valuable than the good uniques. A main reason why a lot of people say the soulbound weapons are not powerful enough by the way: no enchantments. For example a fully enchanted Hours of St. Rumbalt is also annihilating (+0.5 crit damage), cuases prone on crit, has less base damage but has an elemental lash (which is way better than having just +25% damage) and also has the better ACC enchantment. Then you use durgan steel on it and it has +0.8 crit damage and also gains speed. That's way better than Firebrand. And if you nerf Firebrand you have to nerf most other summoned weapons, too. Rot Skull for example is a lot more powerful than any implement you can find or buy. Citzals Spirit Lance is more powerful than any pike. And rightfully so, because they disappear after a while and you have to sacrifice a spell use for it. In the case of Firebrand you also have to sacrifice an item slot if you're not a druid. So why should Firebrand - which is less powerful than some unique great swords, get a nerf then?

Then why don't you put a weapon in the monk's hands? The char you described would be a fighter or monk. Paladins are not very good dps characters until lvl 13, but sturdy and great supportes as well as good burst damage appliers. Monks can do tremendous single target damage as well as a lot of AoE damage. They don't need to go unarmed. All their abilities work with weapons, too. They get stronger with every hit they take. Barbs are better at dealing AoE damage and become great meat shields after some levels. Fighters mainly do good single target damage and are very sturdy. Rogues do great single target damage but fall apart when enemies look at them (you can build them more sturdy though).

Why? I think it's not overpowered at all. A fully enchanted Hours of St. Rumbalt or Tidefall are way better - even when you take Scion of Flame to boost Firebrand's damage a bit... Other summoned weapons in comparison: Concelhaut's Parasitic Staff is on par with it, and Citzal's Spirit Lance is way better. The Long Pain is much more powerful, too. Firebrand is very good in the earlier parts of the game though.

Ah - the enchantment "Damaging III" now has +4 ACC, too. And that's on Firebrand. So now it has +4 ACC besides the +45% dmg. A few patches ago you would have been right.

Also: blunderbuss + Envenomed Strike = nearly guaranteed critical hit with the poison.

Erm... what?

I can't say where you draw the line between melee and non melee classes. I guess you mean fighter, barb, monk and paladin? Best melee offtank/dps in my opinion: monk... until lvl 13, then barbarian Easiest TCS-PoTD melee class: paladin I'd say

They are great if you like your deflection. And dps wise they are not much worse than all the other fast, small one handed weapons. There's a rending one that comes with burning lash, so not too bad. I you're concerned that they are not good enough for your melee damage per hit, take battle axes instead. Same style, less defenses, more damage.

Well, I think St. Wygelt's Cudgel is pretty nice - especially for a barb - but it comes too late. Blesca's Labour is also good. I really think quarterstaffs and battle axes are a bit underwhelming though. As I said before (maybe in this thread): if they'd make Durgan's Staff burn/crush instead of crush/burn I would be pleased. THe good Battle Axes - like the good clubs - come too late.

I meant Reent. I prefer no certain background. Has to fit into your idea of the character. Stat wise both are ok.

Sounds exactly like the Drake's Ambassador - without the drake part.

Soloing with a chanter who uses the "Kindness" chant followed by several "Come Sweet Winds" for building phrases up for Seven Nights is not that much less dps than with Dragon Thrashed, but at the same time a lot more tanky in combination with self heals like Veteran's Recovery (Ancient Memory after with version 3.04, too) and potions/scrolls and even Wound Binding. Like described in my Chillfog Build. With low DEX and thick armor the recovery after casting Seven Nights takes a bit, but it's still ok. With DT only you don't have any recovery at all, but at the same time it's more boring of course. I don't know if they are going to nerf the +12 ACC for chants that you get when going one handed. It's a bit stupid that only one weapon only makes your songs "hit" better.

Then throw away the sabre and One Handed Style and get arms bearer, four pistols, marksman, gunner and quick switch. High DEX and the gunner talent will keep your reload time short once you fired all four pistols. It's good to have four pistols (or a mix of pistols and blunderbusses) and Quick Switch because you can fire more shots in a quick sussession while enemies suffer afflictions for Sneak Attack. Else the timing of affliction + shot is quite difficult. You don't want to "waste" a pistol shot on a target that doesn't get bonus damage from Sneak Attack.

Yes, it is.