Boeroer

I don't remember all too well but afaik there should be two rolls only: one vs. deflection (that's the physical dmg roll) and one vs. fortitude (the hobbling part). The wounding doesn't do a seperate attack roll since it should get applied automatically. Lashes and lash-like bonuses never need a seperate attack roll (but might have to overcome seperate DR values - obviously not raw lashes though). It may be that you have a passive, an item or a weapon that does a seperate attack roll on weapon hit. For example you could have used the Great Sword "Hours of St. Rumbalt" that does prone on crit. Could that be? Afaik it's the other way round: your physical attack vs. deflection gtets +10 ACC but not the hobbling roll against fortitude. But maybe I'm wrong here. My last PoE game lies years in the past and although I put a ton of hours into it, some details start to fade... Anyway: yes, it's not implemented all the way through - which is an oversight that never got fixed unfortunately. Priest's Intderdiction/Painful Interdiction/Powerful Interdiction has the same problem. Hm, iirc wounding shot's DoT is NOT increased by MIG and is truly fixed at 100% of weapon damage (also high INT doesn't increase the overall dmg but just stretches it out). On the other hand the Wounding enchantment on weapons will indeed scale with MIG and thus this DoT will proft twice frm MIG. Wouding Shot does not (but again, mayne memory fails me). But if you take Tidefall as your Great Sword then it shouldn't matter since you will have two sources of wounding and at least one of them will profit twice. By the way: wounding weapons like Tidefall, Drawn in Spring, Persistence and Acuan Giamas are ideal for unlocking Predator's Sense. I even made a melee Ranger build that uses this synergy as one of its cornerstones:

either/or, based on the lower armor value of the enemy.

I actually never played FF/Berserker - but I would assume that the bonus AR of Berserker Frenzy (Hardy) won't stack with Iron Wheel's. Both are active. FF/Berserker is an odd choice because of the two sources of self damage and because Berserker's self damage doesn't even generate you wounds (like it would with vanilla, Nalpasca or Helwalker). Monk/Berserker can be a great combo because you gain lots of wounds from Frenzy, the crit conversion of the Berserker (+Bloody Slaughter) leads to more frequent Swift Flurry/Heartbeat Drumming procs which in turn procs Blood Thirst more often. A little overlapping speed bonus doesn't really hurt (at least you get the +5 DEX on top of Frenzy which leads to more speed, too) and you don't need to pick Thunderous Blows (which is one ability point spared). Once you get Instruments of Pain you can even use Enduring Dance of Death and stay out of the fray which is helpful for not dying all the time. I played a Helwalker/Berserker and of course he died frequently if I didn't pay close attention - but he also had a tremendous damage output. Also Rooting Pain is pretty great with such an abundance of wound generation, combined with Interrupting Blows.

I didn't look that up for a very long time but now did. You can check stuff like that here: https://forums.obsidian.net/topmembers/?filter=member_posts or under the menu point "Leaderboard" in the top bar of the forum under the Obsidian logo.

Looking at my post count I haven't reached that point yet, hehe

When in armor (I would aim for plate, even the Blackened Plate, because you know: Breath ;)) you want high DEX. Else your reactivity is too bad. MIG can be mediocre bc. Helwalker, PER doesn't need to be super high (bc. Blessings and Devotions). From a roleplaying perspective I would have highish RES. It also helps with shrugging off afflictions and other hostile effects faster. As a Helwalker too low CON isn't great. If you pick the Iron Wheel path you can go lower. As a Helwalker I almost always pick the "Tough" ability no matter the route I take with Duality of Mortal Presence. Also if you start with Breath Blessing points and the merchant you can have a Greater Amulet of Health which helps a lot in the early game with a Helwalker (and not stellar CON). All in all I wouldn't minmax this guy much in terms of attributes. Something like 14 to 16 as higher values and 8 to 10 as lowest ones. With Berath Blessing points it's of course a lot easier to achieve a good balanced attribute spread (I mean not going below 10 but still having some high numbers) bc. of the +2 to all attributes. PS: don't feel like you are bothering anybody with your questions. If we wouldn't want to answer questions we would either just not reply - or not be active in these forums in the first place.

Then why not use the Spiritual Greatsword that a Priest of Berath can summon? It totally fits the theme of course - and with Lightning Strikes and the Spiritual Great Sword you'd have two elemental lashes on your blade which is good (multiplicative dmg bonuses). And if you feel that it's not so hard to stay alive after all you could still use Turning Wheel (instead of Iron Wheel) which would add another lash to the weapon, leaving you at +15% shock, +20% burn (at 10 wounds) and up to 30% corrode iirc. That's +65% multiplicative dmg which is a great dmg bonus, especially when combined with +30% dmg from the higher MIG. If you feel that he's too squishy you can still use Iron Wheel. I would still use a backup weapon - Effort is good if you enchant it with Hemorrhaging. Because the sicken/hobble effect even works with ypur spells - and the wounding enchantment is good, too. Another fitting two handed weapon is Engoliero do Espirs (Berath-themed). Blade Feast also works with spells (kills from spells I mean). Voidwheel is also nice, but a bit of a suicidal tendency as Helwalker. Twin Eels fits 100% of course, but it would come a bit later. Its heal on kill also works with spells and all sorts of damage you deal.

The phrase Many Lives Pass by generates skeletons that don't scale so they are supereasy to kill. Because of that a Troubadour+Brisk Recitation (a skeleton every 3 secs) is actually better than a Beckoner for such a Chilling Grave build (once you get Many Lives Pass By that is).

Totally normal und useful to tag users imo. 👍

Most "do x on y" weapon effects do that. Since they originate from the weapon they count as attacks from that weapon. Def. less stressfull for the hardware but still OP I fear. Yes, since the Chillfog hit rolls count as weapon attacks they also not only count for the number of stacks but also paralyze enemies themselves. 😄

Berserker/Beckoner with Grave Calling is pretty bonkers. Have Modwyr in the second weapon slot. Frenzy (confused), kill a skeleton with the sabre --> procs a Chillfog which counts as weapn attack which kills the other skeletons --> they all proc Chillfogs and so on... switch to Modwyr and back to get rid of the confusion and then walz in (else you will die). Usually the fight is over in seconds. But it may fry your graphics card because of the multiple chillfogs all pusing at once...

Or you play a Berserker/Fury, bind it to the Druid class and still be able to have Static Thunder with the Barb's Carnage. That is actually a pretty fun combo if you have a good healer becaus your elemental spells can get tremendous penetration. I obtained it several times when being underleveled but I don't recall the exact level. Those fampyrs are pretty hard to beat though. It may be quite easy with a solo Assassin/Paladin using Lover's Embrace + Gouging Strike + Brand Enemy. You could just bring an Assassin/Paladin hireling for that purpose and then dump him afterwards. Once Gouging Strike and Brand Enemy can be picked it shouldn't be too hard to sneak to individual fampyrs, deliver a Gouding Strike with Lover's Embrace from stealth, follow up with Brand Enemy and use Smoke Veil to retreat out of sight and wait until one fampyr is dead. Repeat until all are dead. The Assassin's ACC bonus from stealth (+25 ACC) as well as the single handed usage of the Dagger (+17 ACC) should help to reliably hit them. You could already try at lvl 4 I guess without Gouging Strike but with Flames of Devotion + Ring of Focused FLames + Lover's Embrace. ACC should be comparable but the process will take a bit longer because lot less damage over time. And you will be having bad stealth which might make it difficult to approach the fampyrs without being seen. When it's strictly about crits maybe Necklace of the Harvest Moon or Precogntion for the neck slot. For a Berserker a Ring of Greater Regeneration isn't bad. By the way I would use a pet that heals on kill. Some do +20 health on kill for you only and some do +10 health on kill for the whole party. Abraham is such a pet for example. It can help to manage the Berserker's self damage better. For long fights against high-defense foes it's especially interesting. But even in short fights it's good because the marking effect works right after your first crit and helps to crit even more. It's mostly everything skeletal and also some spirits (flame blight). It's one of the most common immunities unfortunately. Pierce-resistant foes (ones with very high pierce armor) are usually not a problem because Devoted + Berserker + Estoc leads to pretty ridiculous penetration. There may be some foes like Steelclad constructs taht have higher AR than you have PEN - but not really that many. But against the pierce-immune targets you should either use your fists + Monastic Unarmed Training (no drawback, but you need to invest an extra ability point) or a backup weapon, preferably with crush damage (like Quarterstaff or Morning Star). You will have reduced accuracy with that weapon but it still helps... and you don't have to pick up Monastic Unarmed Training.

Eh? Against high AR enemies you'll have plenty of PEN (+4 from Tenacious and Devoted and +1 compared to normal battle axes). Against a bit of underpenetration Bleeding Cuts does help. Bleeding Cuts is also very good against tough single enemies. There aren't a lot of tough enemies that are immune to slash damage. Why would one struggle with fists (having taken Monastic Unarmed Training of course) in those rel. rare cases? Anyway: LD's Voulge is also great for this class combo. Dual dmg - with one of them being shock - is useful. If one knows where to get it then it's obtainable very early and it's even free. The upgrading process is pretty easy, too and costs no resources which is an advantage. You cannot upgrade it to the quality levels you could enchant Amra to though (or other unique weapons). But I think that's just a rel. minor drawback. I like it even better on Berserker/Monk or Devoted/Monk though because a multiple occurance of Swift Flurry/Heartbeat Drumming often has pretty spectacular chain reaction effects. Another nice weapon for crit builds with Berserker/Devoted is the Willbreaker. With Brute Force + Body Blows you will potentially generate more crits (and also when using Clear Out and Mule Kick), it has a crit conversion, potential DoT and dual damage as well as good base PEN - and the fortitude debuff is very useful for your whole party most of times. Since it's not obtainable super early (but not too late either) one can use the nice Saru Sichr from Arkemyr's basement until one can get the Willbreaker. Saru Sichr's DoT is pretty funky and more potent than it seems (it stacks with itself like Bleeding Cuts and has the same trigger mechanic on hit which makes Bleeding Cuts so effective) - but it doesn't work against poison-immune enemies. I often use both at the same time in a party because they are so useful to me. I also like the Blade of the Endless Paths in its Deadfire iteration. The combination of raising accuracy and deflection debuff leads to a lot of crits, too. Of course pierce-only damage - although ultra high PEN - comes with a price...

I don't want to convince you to play Helwalker/Priest, Devoted/Priest is fine. I just wanted to say: one can mitigate the "glasscannon" aspect of Helwalker in two ways: a) use your wounds frequently when you think you're receiving too much dmg. Stuff like Blade Turning and Thunderous Blows etc. are good for this. Use Enlightened Agony to still get enhanced INT (and lower hostile effects, too) b) use Iron Wheel and keep the wounds. When doing it right the higher CON and the higher AR will more than offset the higher damage you receive. Get bonus INT via Enlightened Agony. This combo also gives you an absurdly high fortitude defense when at 10 wounds - which is awesome imo. Especially in combination with Enlightened Agony you will only get affected by most nasty disables shortly (if at all).

Yes, it would. Also cool in combination with the least unstable coil because Storm of Holy Fire counts as multiple spell procs, too. So you'll become Brilliant almost certainly.

When going Berserker/Devoted I would look at Amra (two handed Battle Axe). The combination of Carnage + Amra's Riven Gore + Blood Thirst + Cleaving Stance is excellent. You'd need 25 MIG though. Sanguine Great Sword is not bad and so is Effort - but they come rather late. Amra is obtaniable quite early. If you have a Chanter with skeleton summons then this combo is even better because a confused Berserker/Devoted will also kill skeletons with Carnage/Riven Gore which will proc Cleaving and Blood Thirst. Just don't go near him because Rive Gore can outright kill (destroy) your party members if they have less than 50 HP left. A build the does land a bit less crits maybe - but attacks faster and thus generates more crits in a given time AND does tremendous crit damage - is Streetfighter/Berserker. But it's a lot squishier than Berserker/Devoted.

It's great. But I don't know if a Streetfighter/Berserker doesn't do higher dps all in all? A Barbaric Smash crit while on the Edge is pretty common and has a very high amount of dmg bonuses. The combo hits a lot faster than Soulblade and has nice stacking raw DoTs that get applied on the fly (Deep Wounds + Blood Frenzy). Of course squishy as hell and a lot less versatile. But also fun imo. It's "living on the edge" after all. Streetfighter/Soulblade somehow plays more fiddly for me. Don't know why. Maybe because I also feel compelled to use the other spells of he Cipher and not only use the focus for SA. Big plus for the Soulblade is having a refillable resource of course. And the dmg per hit can be a lot higher with Soulblade bc. of Soul Annihilation - which is also very good against overleveled enemies with thick armor like Steelclads.

That is indeed such a good feature. Not related to explosives, but that's something that cinder bomb shares with Thrust of Tattered Veils (Wiz tier 1). Good thing with both is: you don't need to build your character around them at all. They are easy to get and scaling etc. doesn't matter for them. You can just have them for really cheap (using a Grimoire or via crafting etc.). And still they can have great impact in certain fights where you are so much worse off without a reliable way to interrupt.

I guess the comparison between Shea's War Staff/Sun & Moon was about how they fare for a Skald (who can get phrases on critical hits)? I think nothing beats Sun & Moon when it's about melee crits per strike.

You can. The power of grenades scales with the explosive skill. It's not terribly effective but it can be a good additional source of dmg and CC. Just keep in mind that explosives are consumables - so throwing bombs left and right non-stop can be expensive.

Wall of Draining (a tier-7 Wizard spell) works nearly the same in Deadfire. But there is no weapon like Spelltongue.

Haha - all good. Just glad you could fix this. Have fun! 😄

Yes, the Weyc's stuff is pretty cool. Also because you can be a Chanter/Druid or /Wizard or /Priest and empower a cool non-chanter spells in some fights - and then get the empwoer points all back with the Scimitar if you empower an invocation in the next fight. I think they introduced some of the DLC items that focus on empower because that "per-rest" mechanic was mostly unused in the vanilla game (unless you has Sasha's Singing Scimitar as a Chanter maybe).

Hi! Could you post a screenshot of your AI settings? Or maybe describe the settings you use? I created a very simple behavior and it works like one would expect: It is possible that you don't have enough wounds to execute FF? It only costs 0 wounds if you don't have its curse on you. If you have one stack of the curse it will cost 1 wound, then 2 wounds and so on. If you don't have enough wounds the AI will most likely use auto-attacks if you haven't se up some other abilites that don't use wounds (for example Stunning Blow or so). Or maybe you created a special AI behaviour in the editor - but you didn't really put it in the list of behaviours so it isn't actually used when you turn on AI? It has to be inserted here: Are you on PC or console?

Guys, forgive me, I'm tired. My brain tranformed "phrases" into "empower points" everytime I read it - and I totally missed the point OP and the following posters were making from the start. Jeez! Since it's about phrases all of a sudden : Iirc @Elric Galadreported this behaviour of empowered Avenging Storm + Tekehu some months ago. I think he got it from a reddit user or so?