Boeroer

Glad I didn't participate in that discussion and spend my time on something more enjoyable.

Cool!

Yes, that's viable. Crusader (Paladin/Fighter) is a very durable combination and can have decent offense, too. Some say it's boring, but for a first playthrough I think it's a good pick because it's easy to play and so reliable.

The variance in those attribute spreads will make almost no difference in combat. If I had to pick one it would be the rightmost because INT influences the AoE size of White Flames. RES 16 is enough for most dialogue (and you can add an intem with bonus RES, too). Estoc and Pollaxe is generally a good pick for Paladins, especially if you also take Coordinated Attacks and later get the Blade of the Endless Paths (unique Estoc) and Spectacular Spetum (Pollaxe). Both have Marking which stacks with Coordinated Attacks. So you can give stackable +20 accuracy to a party member who attacks the sme target as you which can be really helpful. In case of Kind Wayfarer however dual wielding is a good alternative because every strike of Flames of Devotion + White Flames (it's a Full Attack, so both weapons will strike) will trigger a healing. That's two healing procs instead of one. It's not that important though - Flames of Devotion has only 2 uses per encounter.

TL;dr: the cone might not hit where you thought it would hit. This is different from other cone-attacks (for example Chanters' invocations) which are targeted on the ground (and not on enemies). There the spell will exactly hit where the indicator says it would.

where I wiggle the cursor a little in the middle of that circle: that's the point where the attack will actually hit and a line from that point to your center will be the bisecting line of the cone:

The INT was 23. You also have to watch out with the AoE indicator: it changes direction based on where you put the mouse cursor on the target - but the actual attack will target the middle of the enemy's circle and the AoE will be placed accordingly. So it's often the case that you think the cone will hit where the indicator suggested, but in reality it will not because you didn't point in the middle of the enemy's circle and the AoE indicator was off because of that. Try to hover/click on the middle of the enemies' circle to get the best idea where the cone will indeed hit.

@Darab Masood did that help?

For sure Deadfire has deeper mechanics than PoE, even if some features of PoE got streamlined (health/endurance for example, less party members). More subclasses and more levels means a lot more abilities per class, multiclassing and the new enchantment system with individual enchantments as well as weapon modals/proficiencies lead to a lot of variety and complexity. And then PEN vs. AR (which is more complex than dmg vs. DR), new (more complex) interrupts...

Oh?

No, it did not get nerfed. I don't know what you are missing but I just tried it out, look here: First I hit with a normal WotP attack (and gain some focus), then I use Soul Annihilation on all dummies and apply some raw dmg to them - as you can see in the combat log. Here's a screenshot with some highlight as to where you can find the raw damage part in the log:

I mused about the initial post for about 20 hours but still don't understand what the specific problem is. Soul Annihilation can hit multiple enemies with one strike - if you use a melee weapon with an AoE (for example Whispers of the Endless Paths or Citzal's Spirit Lance). But it doesn't apply the full damage bonus to all targets in the AoE. Instead the first target receives the full amount, the second may receive nothing, a third receives a bit bonus damage again and so on. It's not really predictable in a practical way - but it's not zero. Using an AoE weapon gives a higher amount of raw dmg than a siongle target weapon. Weapons with multiple attack rolls (Sun & Moon, Saru Sichr, Wicked Beast and so on) don't profit. Soul Annihilation only applies to the initial attack roll. A second attack roll however may already generate new focus. Stuff like Swift Flurry also doesn't work. Don't know if that answers the question - maybe a more elaborated explanation/question would help.

Let's say it wasn't worth the ability point (imo). "Totally useless" was an exaggeration. Would have been good if it was per encounter, but 2/rest seemed pretty meh for what it does (mostly overkilling ;)) 5/rest makes it quite interesting. Burst a hurt Thaos into pieces! Don't know if 5 is too many uses - but on the other hand Rangers get 5 casts of Thorny Roots per rest - which can be spammed in a similar way (but fast cast).

Didn't try for a long time. But I don't think it was fixed with a patch, at least I cannot remember any patch notes that addressed this. It's still true that offhand melee crits will trigger Swift Flurry/Heartbeat Drumming attacks with the main hand only - and I'm pretty sure it still works if the main hand holds a ranged weapon. But I'm also sure that those ranged Swift Flurry/HBD crits cannot proc additional attacks.

Of course: Wall of Draining on a Bloodmage/Monk would make it all a lot easier. Prolong Blade Cascade, prolong Adaptive stacks endlessly, prolong Swift Flurry and so on. But I find that pretty boring, same as using Salvation of Time.

+10 INT will prolong the duration of Adaptive - and every proc of Swift Flurry and Heartbeat Drumming will add a stack, too. Blade Cascade will also help to collect 20 stacks quickly. You are right that you have to switch weapon sets for +40 acc - I thought with two Edge's that wouldn't be necessary, buit it is. But as you said I could put a weapon copy into the second weapon set and it works (as you did): I could stack 2*10 Adaptive for +40 ACC. It then is very easy to reach 40 acc (with plenty of duration). The only problem I can see is that the enemies are all dead before you can reach +40 acc. See below behind the spoiler tags the short animated gif I made from a test encounter (it's 66MB, so it may load for a while):

Two Scordeo's Edges means 2*Adaptive (2*+20 accuracy). Since it's from two individual weapons it should stack. Maybe Ranger/Monk with even more accuracy bonuses, using Swift Flurry and Heartbeat Drumming. Stunning Surge should also be nice: bery high chance to crit, giving you a Mortification refund often. The more you proc Swift Flurry/HBD the more likely to trigger Blade Cascade and so on.

Have you noticed that the animated weapons each have a lot of uses for special attacks? Pike has Knockdown, Great Sword has Flames of Devotion, Bow has Wounding Shot. If you don't use them and only use autoattacks with the weapons then you are missing a lot of potential damage output.

btw: one problem of the upgraded White Worms is that you can sometimes "miss" the corpse. It seems that White Worms does a hidden hit roll against the corpse's reflex defense (don't ask me why a corpse has any reflex at all, not interested in that discussion ;)). And sometimes this results in a situation where you cast the spell and... nothing happens at all. Fortunately the many-lives skeletons have truly abysmal reflex - so you won't miss their bones.

Yeah well. It's a Herald. Edit: briefly forgot it was a solo Herald. Here are some things that you can do to improve damage output: Lose the large shield. Or better: make a weapon setup with a small shield. -8 accuracy is a bad drawback for damage output. I'm sure with your regeneration capabilities you can do with a small shield, too in many situaltions. If you want to stay astanjy as possible all the time you will have to accept that your damage output is less important than your survivability and that you simply have to outlast your enemy. You can use Brand Enemy, put it on every enemy (auto hit, fast cast, no recovery). The damage bonus of Sworn Enemy also works with everything. It's Zeal well spend imo since the DoT will last until the fight is over. It obviously doesn't work on fire-immune enemies. It even heals fire Naga and Dorudugan. So in that cases don't use it. Besides those situations it's a great smash tool for somebody who needs to outlast enemies (and has low DEX). Increase DEX with items and consumables. DEX is the most impactful dps attribute in the long run. Use Eternal Devotion every once in a while. The +15% lash applies to almost everything (except damage over time ticks), including invocations such as Her Revenge but also Sacred Immolation. With more DEX and high INT even Inspired Beacon's +40% dmg can be useful. But I personally would spend the Zeal on External Devotion and Brand Enemy. It's a waste of Zeal if you are solo imo. Use Sacred Immolation. With Sacred Immolation usually a Herald's damage output will go through the roof compared to before. With your high RES and some "-x secs/-y% hostile effect duration" items which are great if you are solo you can make it so that the annoying self damage part runs out a whole lot sooner than the fire aura itself. Prepare a chant with Come Soft Winds + Dragon Thrashed. As soon as you feel that healing isn't needed as much: switch to that chant without(!) Brisk Recitation. Check if the enemies suffer from both DoT effects after both phrases have passed. If the enemy have both, switch on Brisk Recitation. You will have a lot faster phrase generation, but the hostile effects on the enemies will get refreshed enough every 6 secs that it won't run out. You will deal chant damage as if Brisk Recitation was still off, but you'll have the benefit of faster phrase generation. Come Soft Winds Wil heal you a bit, too. You can add Blackened Plate (Death in Life) for a little more raw DoT. But I suspect you might be inclined to use the healing enchantment instead. If you want to add even more DoT damage to your chants and other actions: pick up the Great Sword Effort and enchant it with "Hemorrhaging". You don't need to skill anything for the great sword, it's just a tool for chanting/casting. Pick up Hylea's Talons (Gloves). The Hemorrhaging attack (hobble/sicken on crot) gets triggered by offensive chants and invocations as well (if they crit). The hobble/sicken attack of Hemorrhaging counts as a weapon attack so it will trigger Hylea's Talons potent DoT on enemies (but on you, too unfortunately). Make sure to out heal the gloves' damage. If you combine Dragon Thrashed, Come Soft Winds, Blackened Plate and Effort+Gloves you can already melt foes without actually doing anything. Add Brand Enemy, Her Revenge + Eternal Devotion and later Sacred Immolation and you should be a terrifying damage dealer without even striking much, so the low DEX doesn't matter much. The good thing is: you can switch from healing/tanking mode (weapon + shield + healing chants) into damage dealing mode (Effort + Gloves + damaging chants, Sacred Immolation etc.) in an instant. And switch back if needed. This adds a lot of versatility. And versatility is always good. For example if you can place yourself into a corner or choke point you might be able to switch to the offensive mode. Or if you have Animated Weapons out which should be able to tank for you for a little while.

Amazing - also that stuff like this still emerges after so many years after release.

The speed bonus only applies to the recovery of the weapon's attacks.

Hah, I used that while testing.

Hi! I tried a little new idea: combining Skald, Blightheart and Ancient into a death & decay-themed build. The core mechanics are: using Wicked Briars etc. to "accidentially" kill weak summons such as Ancient Brittle Bones and later Many Lives Pass By (Venombloom doesn't work bc. skeleton are immune to poison) Blightheart grants +1 phrases per such kill (and killed enemies, too of course) use those phrases to cast White Worms (and later the upgrade Putrid Stench) which only costs 2 phrases, has a huge AoE and does incredible base damage only drawback: White Worms needs a fresh corpse for every cast. But here comes the fun part: Many Lives Skeletons actually leave a body when they die. This body can be used for White Worms (and other things such as Garden of Life). The Skald's 6-sec gap between each skeleton is enough to provide sufficient phrases for spamming White Worms constantly, killing enemies very quickly (and being able to use their bodies then, too) I tried it out with a "consoled" character in SSS: it works remarkably well. Being able to nearly always use White Worms "on demand" is a gamechanger imo. The build is also very versatile, being a Theurge and so on. Besides the core mechanics/spells you can pick whatever spells/ invocations sound great and fitting. In general special gear besides Blightheart does not matter much, which lets you "dress up" more freely to match the theme. I used the Horns of the Bleak Mother because it looks cool and fits this build because of the Pwgra story attached to it. But the White Void helmet would be better because it gives the White Worms Upgrade (Putrid Stench) +10 ACC (because there's sicken attached to it) and of course it's great for Venombloom etc., too. Nature Godlike or Death Godlike would be fitting as well I think. But what do you think?

Imo the best "power gamer" option is to go single class Druid. This way Tekehu just gets the best selection of spells, including the foe-only bonus spells he gets on level-up and also Great Maelstrom (which is incredibly powerful). The most potent item choice (from Power Level 8 on, but it's aöso great before PL8) is to use the Great Sword Effort, enchant it with "Hemorrhaging" and use it to attach Avenging Storm procs to all your spell crits. Here is an encouter where I cast only Tangelfood + Avenging Storm: And here I cast Avenging Storm + Great Maelstrom: If you want a detailed explanation why/how this works you can read it here: Another good option is to use Lord Darryn's Voulge as a "casting stick". It gives you nice power level bonuses to all storm spells.