Boeroer

No, it does nothing for your speed. There's no "negative penalty" or something like that. That part is just wasted on clothes. The rest, like crit-to-hit conversion, works.

You get the Barricade quite late anyways. But in my experience it was a great shield to use with a rogue. Thrust of Tattered Veils with Deathblows was very deadly (high base damage). As you said, it was mainly better than a normal shield because of the Full Attacks of a rogue. In 90% of all Full Attacks like Blinding Strike the target was blinded + stunned (which triggered Deathblows) and then crit by the bash which triggered Thrust of Tattered Veils on Deathblows which also did a crit most of the time. That was enough to kill Lagufaeth with one Full Attack. The bash itself is total crap of course. I don't understand why OBS didn't improve bash at all. It clearly has bad mechanics. Imagine if bash would automatically cause disorienting on hit or a short stun on crit - or even push back a little like Knockdown. Or it would give you the Knockdown ability 1/encounter or 2/encounter like the Girlde of the Driving Wave. Then it would make sense. But I just remembered one thing: before the latest patch the Thrust (which has unlimited procs per encounter) was triggered twice each time. After the latest patch it's only one Thrust. That is a hefty drawback and may be the main reason why I found it to be awesome and you think it's not so great.

Yeah, I would never spend durgan steel on clothes. But most of the time I don't have enough steel for all the armor and weapons, so the ranged glasscannons (if any) who are not supposed to get hit will wear clothes for max attack speed.

I don't think that more CON is needed. But more RES to prevent interrupts will help - some more points in PER would also be nice for the early game. So maybe take away some points of MIG and INT, also DEX (when RES is higher and after taking Two Weapon Style you can put it to 10). So basically a more balanced stat spread. Self Healing is also useful here. I would go into melee, maybe catch some disengangement attacks. Don't get myself suppounded. As soon as I had >6 wounds or so I would retreat, cast The Long Pain and Swift Strikes and use Torment's Reach and Force of Anguish (depends on the enemy) until no wounds are left. With Boots of Speed + Long Stride you can kite everything even when you are blinded or hobbled. When I'd run out ouf wounds I would keep on firing flying fists if there are not too many enemies left. If there are, I would go back in, gain some more wounds, retreat and repeat. I would also maybe not choose the hater talents, but more useful ones for soloing. I mean the additional damage is nice and good for a dps party build, but as a solo guy you might want to take something else like Veteran's Recovery, Bear's Fortitude and so on. Eating a long disable will be your death. Maybe things like Graceful Retreat, Fast Runner and a Cape of Withdrawal (= +32 defense against disengagement attacks) would be nice for this special guy, because all that retreating can be painful if all disengangement attacks crit you. But basically it would be "back and forth, back and forth". The cape of the cheat may also be nice for this build: Escape 1/encounter can be pretty useful when you get surrounded.

Too bad it comes so late. How does Riposte with 2 reaping knives while under Defensive Mindweb sound? You can run around to provoke disengangement attacks as hell, triggering tons of ripostes and generating tons of focus while doing it.

Godansthunyr is crush/pierce and Thrust is crush. The thing is you can stun+Thrust a single enemy while you can deliver the same via riposte to others who attack you. If you wear the binding rope your riposte-Thrusts have a good chance to be deathblows. I think it's great for riposte. Helps you to tank even more enemies. I mean most people don't want to be attacked at all - but if it happens, it's good to have a chance for riposte. I don't want to generate as many ripostes as possible. That would mean - like you said - that you want the enemy to attack you all the time. I think that's not optimal for a rogue, even one with a shield. For me, Riposte is still not powerful enough to be seen as good DPS source. But it can be good to punish enemies who dare to attack you. That's why I would prefer a disabling weapon for ripostes, not a DPS one. Maybe it's just a different approach.

For me it's mainly to spare resources. And of what use is DR for a ranged char anyway?

Yeah, a rogue with shield and Adept Evasion can stand in the midst of a Fireball rain and won't get hurt much. I used my shielded Devil of Caroc together with my wizard - she's immune to all poison spells, so you can drop Malignant Clouds and Noxious Burst on her head like crazy while she enganges mobs - and also Fireballs and all the other reflex based spells didn't do much to her either. It's a nice combo. I mainly use Gadansthunyr because it makes it easier to set up Deathblows after the first hit of a Full Attack (like Blinding Strike) and makes it very likely that the following bash will crit, triggering Thrust of Tattered Veils which works with Deathblows, critting and destroying the enemy target just with one Full Attack. Unlabored Blade can't do that if it doesn't trigger Firebug. We Toki can do it as well, but it only has prone on crit - stun is better. The main reason though is that that hammer is one of the few weapons that look good with Badgradr's Barricade. It's difficult to find a fit for that blue/white/red/golden pattern.

Badgradr's Barricade procs Thrust of Tattered Veils on critical bash. It works with Deathblows and is the best shield for a riposte rogue in my opinion. I played such a rogue without Riposte (was too bad back then), just Godansthunyr and the shield and he was great. Blind the enemy, stun the enemy and proc the Thrust with Deathblows (and usually also crit). Normally that meant death. At the same time a very sturdy character - I mean for a rogue. I can only imagine how the new Riposte would add even more awesomeness with that stunning + Thrust of Tattered-Veils full attack everytime a riposte gets triggered. I forgot another approach for Riposte: stack as much defense against disengangement attacks as possible: Graceful Retreat (+12), Fast Runner (+5), Cape of Withdrawal (+15) or Night Runner (also +15). You will have +32 defense against disengagement attacks. Now you can use dual sabres (or maybe still even better hatchets) and fight like usual. But every time you run away and provoke disengagement attack you will have a +32 bonus against them, making it more likely that they will graze or miss, triggering riposte. What I didn't test but what would be very cool: Put on the shield from the Drake in Endless Paths lvl 5, stack it with another preservation item. Now, when you get prone or stunned you will have +100 to all defenses, making you nearly untouchable. Maybe Riposte gets triggered although you are prone or stunned. Somebody needs to test this. You can switch to that shield once you get stunned or go prone. You can switch weapons sets in this game at any time, even if you are disabled.

Riposte is only worthwhile if you have high deflection. Because rogues have very low starting deflection, they normally need shields to reach a value where enemies graze and miss them a lot (Riposte only triggers on grazes and misses). Or they need party members to buff their deflection (paladin's Reinforcing Exhortation for example). Riposte is a Full Attack, so it would be best to either dual wield weapons (which does noch much for your deflection, thus limiting the chance to do ripostes in the first place) or use a shield with bash. There is a shield that is perfect for this. It's called Badgradr's Barricade and it's the best option for a riposte build in my opinion - but it's in Durgan's Battery - so very late for a solo rogue. Another alternative might be dual hatchets, they will give you +10 deflection and allow full attacks. If you can manage to rebuff enemies' ACC it could also work.

Yes, that's right. Sadly only invisibility works with Firebrand, not stealth. I used it with the Cloak of the Master Mystic: used stealth to do a Backstab with my normal weapon (Hours of St. Rumbalt, also annihilating and prone on crit), then every now and then summoned Firebrand. When I received a crit I countered it with a mighty burning backstab from invisibility. That was when the cloak still had this endless invisibility bug. But I think it would still work. Hours of St. Rumbalt with a Doemenel rogue is a lot of fun by the way. You quickly set up deathblows just by using one Blinding or Crippling Strike and then disable with prone. I used him for taking out single priority targets such as casters and so on.

With a wizard, on every spell level there's at least one spell that is superawesome - from lvl 1 on. Even without WM. Chillfog, Combusting Wounds, Alacrity and Kalakoth's Minor Blights, Pull of Eora and many more. I love the wizard's spells. Such a big variety and for every build idea you can find something that fits - from tank to glass cannon, from melee to ranged. Druids and priest also have awesome spells, just look at the Storms or Shining Beacon and such - but sometimes I have the feeling that they have some spell levels where there are only mediocre or circumstantial spells.

Ok, did you take Turning Wheel? It works with Battleforged retaliation, adding a fire lash to it up to +50%. Both work with Scion of Flame, boosting the retaliation damage even further. I did a monk build on that as well which can solo even PotD WM bounties. Look for "Monksterlasher" in the build index if you are interested in the mechanics of Battle forged+Turning Wheel+Scion of Flame.

Yeah, that can be fun. Then you don't need Torment's Reach. Force of Anguish is nice when you have very fast attacks (lets you put down a lot of foes in quick seccession) and also a lot of wounds so you can keep using it. I once made a special monk build for this when patch 2.0 was out. Look for "Fulmineo Prondroni" in the build index. I guess you also have The Long Stride and/or an item which speeds up your movement? Because Force of Anguish gets really powerful if you can run very fast and reach foes quickly. And I also would favor Boots of Speed over Shod in Faith with a monk who is focused on Force of Anguish. A very good alternative (or even addition) to fast running is to use The Long Pain (ranged fists) - because Force of Anguish works with them. So you don't even have to run towards enemies to knock them prone or to follow them to finish them off. You can protect your teammates while standing in the center of the battle. Look at my Witch Doctor build when you anre interested how th Long Pain works. That abilitiy is awesome for a disabler monk.

Try out Firebrand (summoned weapon from Forgemaster Gloves, you can buy them in Definace Bay at the smith of the Crucible Knights after solving their first quest). It's great for backstabs. It has a huge base damage, which is good for backstabbing, anbd you can get two backstab swings instead of one gunshot. It also works with Scion of Flame (boosting damage further) and does burn damage - most enemies' burn DR won't be higher than their slash/pierce/crush DR. In fact there are a lot of enemies whose burn DR is lower. It also has Annihilation, meaning it add +0.5 to your crit damage multiplier. Since rogues crit more often than any other class, this is also nice. And it works with every Weapon Focus - so you can easily choose any Weapon Focus you like - Firebrand will work with it. There's no need to build your rogue around it. You can keep it's uses for backstabbing or for enemie weak to burn damage and fight with any other weapon of your choice in other fights. One example is using Tall Grass for normaly fights and having Firebrand for pierce immune/resistant foes. But watch out: this combo doesn't work against Flame Blights.

Hehe - I find it funny that your title says "effective way to win" - and then you don't use chanters because they are too effective. Force of Anguish is nice, that's true. And very effective. Using +15 endurance boots instead of Shod in Faith is not the most effective way either. The +15 don't get influenced by MIG or INT or healing-received bonuses or whatever. +15 is also like nothing on higher levels. One point of CON would give you way more than +15. Shod in Faith on the other hand will give you a lot more endurance - usually between 10 to 15 per pulse while pulsing over a long time if you have a bit of MIG and some healing-received bonus from camping and/or an item. Do I see it right that you don't use Torment's Reach? I mean you can play monk like that, but either it's a build for a special purpose (more focused on single targets) or you're gimping his performance - especially because you are dual wielding. Torment's Reach is a Full Attack with a huge AoE. But if you're happy with his performance that's great. Everybody plays this game differently and there are lots of ways to be successful.

For the barb there's a late pollaxe that has Overbearing. If the wizard's using blast: take Envenomed Strike (I know, I repeat myself). For your rogue: there are slashing stilettos instead of the normal piercing ones. Lagufaeth drop them. They look like daggers. Great choice when you meet pierce resistant/immune enemies and don't like to use sabres or clubs. First charming item is Munacra Arret. You can also try Enigma's Charm - it's quite nice for a high ACC rogue. Next item is the Ring of Changing Heart from Darzir with 2 dominates per rest. For your fighter there's Waage's Hat of Leadership. I think it can be bought from Vincent Dwellier, but I'm not 100% sure. I guess I would like Edge of Reason best. Priest: The only thing that looks a bit like a sling with it's animation is an implement.

Wait a minute, are you saying that I can envonomed striked multiple enemies with only 1 charge because of the Blast aoe splash? If the answer is yes, can a priest do the same somehow? I want to abuse that + cleansing flames soooo hard now... The answer is yes. But as far as I know there's no way to do it with a priest. Only splash damage from implements (Rot Skulls counts as one) seems to do this.

When you take a wizard or druid who use implements: Take Envenomed Strike. With a wizard, take it as soon as you get Blast, because it works with Blast's AoE. It's great. If you want to play a druid and you want to use Rot Skulls, take it as soon you get that. Env. Strike works with the AoE of Rot Skulls. Both Variants are powerful and make certain encounters like bounties way easier, because you can cause about 100 raw damage per foe in an AoE - 3/rest.

Ok - so, what exactly do you do with those?

That's because Fearless and Overbearing Guard are lvl 7 abilities. GameBanshee: Fighter's abilities Pillar's "official" wiki says it's lvl 5, but it's often outdated and sometimes just wrong.

Go ahead an do it.

Moon and Fire can be worth it in my opinion. Moon starts strong but becomes a bit weak later on - but it stays to be good in a party. Fire is the opposite: starts weak but becomes very powerful with the right talents and abilities. I scales with level and it's the only godlike racial ability which you can directly influence with talents (Scion, Vulnerable Attack, Savage Attack...) and abilities (all universal damage buffs like Deathblows, One Stands Alone, Blooded and so on, melee lashes like Turning Wheel...).

No, but Deathblows do.

A barb with HoF 1/encounter is not very item dependent. Give him any 2 sabres and he will be great. I'm playing one solo (PotD) atm and he's very much endgame viable.