Boeroer

What Dream Wayfarer said does work well. You can also use Veteran's Recovery and buff your deflection as well as the other party members ones. As I said: as soon as you get Triumph of the Crusaders and kill things yourself you can be very good in the front line. I soloed high level content with such a priest (also with Tidefall - and Sanguine Plate and Shod-in-Faith) and it's great. With high MIG and high INT Envenomed Strike becomes also very nice. Especially in the early game it helps a lot against tough foes. A nice thing about Tidefall: it causes wounding which is a damage over time effect. Try to use Envenomed Strike with Tidefall, then cast Cleansing Flame and keep hitting. That spell doubles the tick count of DoT effects. Most enemies - even high level Ogres who have tons of endurance - are dead in seconds. Didn't test if the wounding also gets doubled (but I guess), but it adds to the poison of Envenomed Strike and that is so powerful that the enemies die anyways.

Which are? And please don't say Little Savior...

Yeah that's pretty much it. However, fighters and such can be better at specialized tasks - like long lasting, pure tanking for example. But generally speaking all the "per rest" casters' progression curve (concerning power) is steeper than that of others.

Moon Godlike's racial ability is really strong - especially with high MIG and INT - which I recommend for a priest anyway. But it only triggers if you loose endurance. So for a priest in the back row it might be suboptimal. If you plan to go into melee it can be one of the best racial abilities. You can combine this with Shod-in-Faith boots which you can get in Defiance Bay. Those will also add a lot of party wide healing power to a priest who's going melee and has high MIG and INT. There are few helmets or other headgear which can compete with Silver Tide. And since you have a full party I doubt that you can find 6 helmets/hats that are of equal power. BUT: Moon Godlikes are somehow connected to Ondra, not to Eothas. So from a roleplaying perspective it's a little odd. Not that it's impossible or so, just a little weird. But I'm sure one can come up with an explanation which explains this. There's no rule or lore of which I know that a godlike has to be devoted to the god who "touched" him. Another approach for a priest as main character is taking a priest of magran, a race with high MIG (dwarf or aumaua), Living Lands AS cultural backgr. and max MIG, PER and INT and aim for max MIG with items and spells. With late game gear you can get +4 MIG from a helm and +4 from a weapon (that weapon is connected to Abydon, who is connected to Magran). You can add +10 with Champion's Boon and 2 more with Aggrandizing Radiance (only lowers your own healing you receive from Holy Radiance, not the party's like it says in the description). Aggrandizing Radiance stacks with everything (I also add Inspiring Radiance to the mix). At the start of the encounter I will cast Champion's Boon (or any other +MIG spell I have until I can have Champion's Boon), then Aggr. Radiance. This means +12 MIG. With those items I mentioned you will have +20 MIG. Add the 21feom race and You can also add resting bonuses +3 and food (+2 cheap, +3 expensive). So... with about 40 to 45 MIG imagine the healing power, the increased damage of your damaging spells and also the damage your Holy Radiance does to vessels. You can one shot most vessels with your radiance later on. It profits from your answers in dialogue checks and it scales with level. It's healig power and especially it's vessel killing power becomes so awesome that vessels become a joke for you. Your spells like Shining Beacon will be super powerful. If you combine this with Triumph of the Crusaders you can become a walking Nightmare for your foes.

Yes, the flail has the "draining" enchantment. It is a nice weapon for a priest of eothas because it has a relation to that god. It's good in the early game but not that much later. But that's OK because later on a priest will cast more and more spells and will use his weapon only seldomly. That's also the reason why I don't use those god related talents which boost weapon accuracy a lot - only if I plan a priest who will still use his weapons a lot after the early game.

You have all the casters on board, which is a good decision because they all make those tough encounters which can end your game a lot easier. The only thing I would change is dumping the fighter and take a paladin - and not only because of Sacred Immolation. You will also be able to wear the Outworn Buckler which buffs your party early on. And I would strongly advise not to go for glass cannons with your ranged guys. You can make a good tank from chanter, paladin and even druid (he has 20 starting deflection which is top of the casters). A cipher with shield and Psychovampiric Shield is also sturdy. And if you combine Chanter's Ancient Memory + Beloved Spirits + Veteran's Recovery for all your chars your defeat becomes less likely. Also look at Triumph of the Crusaders from priest and Barring Death's Door - those can be essential for not loosing a team member.

It's the same with all casters: the beginning is difficult. Later on you will be amazed I guess. It's because you will have very few spells per rest and also a very limited range of spell effect when you start. Later on you can have a spell for every situation, with more powerful effects - and a lot more uses per rest. A priest is also great when he's alone - just use his awesome buffs and healings on himself. Of course it's more effective to have a party, but even solo he rocks. I'll give you an example: if you combine Shining Beacon with Spark the Souls and Triumph of the Crusaders you turn from a wet noodle into a sturdy DPS monster. Shining Beacon does a lot of damage - like Spark the Souls - while you can do other things - like hitting stuff with a two hander. You don't care for defenses but you concentrate on killing foes because Triumph of the Crusaders heals you completely (more than 300 endurance usually) once you kill - which happens every few secs because fire and shock fry your surroundings. You wouldn't believe it when you look at your puny little lvl1 priest, but he can turn into something very powerful. Monks on the other hand start off very strong compared to other classes because their starting stats are the highest in the game (ACC, Deflection, Endurance, Health - all top notch) and one of their most powerful abilities, Torment's Reach, is there for from lvl 1 on. That's also a reason why fighters feel powerful when you start the game: high starting stats like a monk (even higher deflection, but less endurance) and a powerful passive self heal, paired with either CC per encounter (Knockdown) or a significant boost in ACC (Barrage). Priests have very poor starting stats and you can feel it immediately in the early game. And because they can't make up for that with spells (yet), they feel inferior and weak. But they are not if you look at the whole game. In fact they are a very, very powerful.

Actually you can hit close enemies up to 3 times reliably with Seven Nights, which is pretty neat. When doing bounties with chanter builds I had the following impressions: - low DEX lowers your invocation rate a lot - The Dragon Thrashed feels superior to everything else if you only look a the chanter's damage - Come Sweet Winds - as every lvl1 chant - only takes 2 seconds to chant at lvl 16 and stacking it will do good AoE damage until you finish with Seven Nights which is castable very quickly. - with low DEX this approach can't reach the DPS of Dragon Thrashed, but you are more flexible because you can choose whatever invocation you like every few seconds. You can also fit in one long lasting chant for different effects - for example Old Siec or Damage Shield - without loosing too much time. - With high DEX and low armor you can chain cast The Killers Froze stiff at lvl 16, stunlocking everything while damaging it. That is very powerful CC while doing OK AoE damage at the same time. Concerning dps: Getting the most out of Seven Nights is difficult because you can't stand in the midst of a mob with max DEX and no armor. But if you could - for example with the help of buffs from party members - I think the DPS of a high DEX chanter with Come Sweet Winds + Seven Nights can be as good as The Dragon Thrashed. It's a lot more fuzz and the playstyle needs a lot more micro, but is of course a lot more versatile. For my Chillfog chanter I still chose low DEX and a tanky approach because it was easier to play - less knockouts. And when being alone it doesn't matter that much if fights take longer as long as your defenses and DR are high enough. But I also made a version with more DEX because it's more fun to play that way. I think the "beauty" of a Dragon Thrashed tank is that it combines a no micro tank with tons of no micro AoE damage. So it's super effective to have one in the party - just sitting there, drawing aggro, giving AoE heal aura and burning stuff at the same time. Can also be superboring of course - but in a full party you have to do a lot of things all the time, so that's not too bad.

Big success I'd say.

Wow, I totally missed the part where you said it's a solo run. Then sure, wait till lvl 13.

One Stands alone got changed. Instead of being engaged by two enemies they now only have to stand near you to trigger One Stands Alone.

I guess on normal you will find that any build (that is not heavily gimped on purpose) will work. You can concentrate on roleplaying and the story. And Loren Tyr is right that you don't need certain things when not playing Path of the Damned. I only play that difficulty nowadays and sometimes forget that others don't - or what it's like to play on normal, sorry for that. Some abilites or even classes are better for PotD but they are not necessary or even good for lower difficulties. Like Veteran's Recovery on a barb who already has Savage Defiance. It's most likely a healing overkill on normal. Generally speaking I also think that lvl 6 should give you a good outlook at how your build will perform. Other nice MC classes are paladin (but you don't want that again) and priest (very powerful but you need to know his stuff), because they benefit from the right dialogue choices.

I wouldn't do it a lvl 16 - it's all too easy then. Rule of thumb after the first 4 to five levels is that your character level should match the Path's level. Then it's all OK if you don't want to Rest a lot. The last three levels are also doable at lvl 12.

Ok, I understand you guys, but OP wanted: - a barbarian as MC - who is not too wild or brutish - can use most of the dialogue options which are mostly determined by RES, PER, INT - to think out of bounds I think I described exactly such a character, thus delivering what the OP was asking for, didn't I. It's ok if everybody else doesn't like it or if it's not what OP was looking for - but it isn't wrong or bad in itself. It's good to show what different approaches can work. It's not my wish that everybody plays a barb this way. Concerning minmaxing: as I said (two times now) you don't need to dump DEX. 10 also works. I would dump it, but I'm not your boss who can tell you what to do. Following the recommended stat spread all the time would lead to pretty boring characters. But for beginners it's ok of course. The more traditional approach also works very well. I would then give him high MIG and CON, low DEX, high PER, high INT and low RES. Take Veteran's Recovery as soon as possible. Also Frenzy and Savage Defiance. Use dual wielding and in the early game the thickest armor you can find. Survival 12 or even 14. Search for Shod-in-Faith boots. But RES checks are not working then. High lore is also not an option then. Such a barb is more suitable as a normal party member than MC (if you want a lot of dialogue options I mean).

The different armor types are also useful because they have different values for different damage types. Leather for example is really bad against corrode, but great against slash while being relatively light. Plate is great against pierce and slash, but really bad against shock and slows you down. The most effective way to use armor is to know which enemies await you (so scout) and which damage types they are using. Then pick your armor accordingly. Same with your weapons and the enemies' armor.

ROFL

Sure, that works nicely. But why do you want to dictate how I or others should play barbs? The tank approach works like a charm and it's fun that way - as is the opposite approach. If you want to limit yourself to a that "cliche" barb then that's ok. To each their own. Concerning role playing and "low CON on a barb makes no sense": why stick to the usual? I can imagine several reasons why a barb (especially one from the Vailian Republics) would only have 3 CON (Sickness maybe, old war wound etc.) and why he chose a different fighting style than his "brothers". Maybe the low CON was the main reason he chose to hide behind a shield and yell at his enemies. I mean vailian barbs are smart with their high INT. Why not adapt? I only wrote what I would do with a barb at the moment - doesn't mean everybody should do it. It's just an example of what works.

You're most welcome. You might miss some new abilites which were introduced with WMI & II and are accessible from lvl 7 on - even in the main game. But you can always take them ona later levelup of course, when you installed the expansions. The expansion maps should be entered from lvl 8 on I'd say. So... if you don't play beyond lvl 7 you're save.

It's true - if the target dies, the jumping stops. It's the same for all "jumping" spells.

Paladin: take Scion of Flame and Intense Flames. Take Tidefall and put on a burning lash for more kills. It is the two handed weapon with the highest dps because of the wounding enchantment. For even better damage per hit, if you don't know yet what weapon to durganize, you can try Forgemaster's Gloves which summon Firebrand, that burning great sword with huge base damage. Scion of Flame buffs it's base damage. When you use FoD with this sword, your damage will get buffed a lot because of Scion of Flame. But I guess a durganized Tidefall is still better. Another good option is Bittercut + Outworn Buckler. The Buckler's heraldic enchantment stacks with Little Savior's - giving your Frontline +10 to all defenses passively (stacks with everything). Take Spirit of Decay on top of Scion of Flame. Spirit of Decay works wth Bittercut. Enchant it with a corrosive lash. The damage is as good or even better than with a 2hander (except Tidefall and Blade of the Endless Paths) and you'd have more defenses. Using Durgan Steel on the Outworn Buckler also makes Bittercut faster. You can't do that with 2handers. Or take Drawn in Spring if you don't give it to Zahua. Kana: does Cladhaliath's marking apply when you do a bash with a shield? or does it get cancelled? I would check that and maybe take another shield if not. Like Little Savior. Zahua: keep one weapon slot for fists and the other can hold something else if you meet crush immune foes. Or, as a good alternative, take any dual weapon set you like and then The Long Pain. You can summon the Long Pain when you meet pierce or slash immune foes, they do nearly the same amount of crush damage like your normal fists, work in melee and also ranged (also woth Force of Anguish, Torment's Reach and such), have even more ACC as your "normal" fists and because they are summoned weapons they are universal, meaning they also work with weapon Focus Noble or whatever weapon focus you have. Maneha: Heart of Fury. You can solo the whole game on PoTD with that ability. Give her two durganized sabres (like Resolution + Purgatory), let her jump into the crowd so that she can hit as many enemies as possible and then trigger HoF. Should end most encouters... Dragon's Maw works with carnage and also HoF - it is great (Badgradr's Barricade, too). HoF with it will heal you completely and kill a lot of foes with Taste of the Hunt. Unlabored Blade's Firebug enchantment is bugged (firebugged ) and only triggers 1/encounter atm - also with HoF - but it's still a great weapon. Using two weapons (or a shield with bash) for HoF is bettr because HoF is a Full Attack, meaning both weapons will strike. It doubles the damage output of HoF. If you give Drawn in Spring to Zahua I would also give him the Unlabored Blade for dual dagger aweseomeness. Durance: try this: give him Abydon's Hammer, Bartender's Ring, Bracers of Spiritual Power and the Maefolk Skull. Cast Aggrandizing Radiance + Champion's Boon (or Minor Avatar) on himself. This will lead to +20 MIG (=34 -> +72% damage and healing, +82% damage with the bracers, +102% against vessels and spirits). Then cast Shining Beacon + Cleansing Flame. Most things will be dead then. When you meet vessels only cast Holy Radiance with that prebuffing and most vessels will be dead or nearly dead. Give Little Savior to Kana. Aloth: I also like the Golden Gaze + Blast and Alacrity. It triggers Expose Vulnerabilities very quickly beause it has 2 projectiles instead of one - then you can switch to another implement like the ones you mentioned (which are great). For max dps summon Kalakoth's Minor Blights. That's how I would do it. Might not be the best way though.

Race doesn't matter much - Wild Orlan, Moon Godlike, Island Aumaua, Human, Pale Elf - it all works. Take what you like. Wood Elf may not be the best option though. As I said I wouldn't start with dumped CON, but leave it at 10. At the beginning the low starting deflection of a barb has a big impact - later on it's neglectible. But later, with Glittering Gauntles, Barbaric Yell or even Shout, Stalwart Defiance and Threatening Presence, a plate armor and Thick Skinned and so on plus a large shield your "virtual" defenses (defense combined with ACC malus of the enemies) are so high that you don't need CON - you just need self heals and buffs. You stack dazed (-10 ACC), Frightened/Terrfiied (-10/-20 ACC) and even Minor Fatigue(-10 ACC - if you have that hatchet Captain's Viccolo's Anger) together with Stalward Defiance +10 to all defenses. That's like having +50 to all defenses. Add that on top of your maxed RES, large shield, Superior Deflection and so on and you can imagine how tanky he is. Another thing is that with 3 CON he still has a lot of endurance and health - a bit less than a paladin with 10 CON. He doesn't need that awful lot of endurance and health like a dual wiedling dps sabre barb with 3 RES and 20 CON (who also works very well - he would have nearly 2.5 times more endurance and needs it because he gets hit/crit a lot). I recently killed Nalrend the Wise with this guy and as I said I did not even lose 5% health of my 3-CON pool. Self heal with Veteran's Recovery and Savage Defiance is enough to even out the grazes. For Heart of Fury I recommend switching to Badgradr's Barricade or Dragon's Maw shield (if you don't want to switch to a double sabre setup just for that single attack).

Right. That's why I don't do it. I actually skip most PotD playthroughs with a party after Act II because it gets too easy - why would I want to make it even more easy with cheesy things?

I would use a barbarian with a tanky approach. That means normal MIG, normal CON (or maxed MIG and 3 CON later), dropped DEX, high PER, high INT, high RES. At the beginning he will be a bit squishy and not good at tanking alone, but after some levels he will be great. Use defensive talents, a shield, use Barbaric Yell & Shout, Threatening Presence, Savage & Stalwart Defiance, Glittering Gauntlets, Veteran's Recovery, fat armor. I'm at level 13 atm with such a barbarian and I have to say he's awesome. Great Tankyness, but good AoE damage, too. In the White March look for the rapier Spelltongue and you're complete. I just soloed the Nalrend bounty on PoTD (aka annoyingly difficult) and lost about 5% of my total health (and in this case I even had max MIG and 3 CON). Dialogue checks are also good: he has high INT, PER and RES - all the things you need for most dialogue options. And it doesn't matter if you switch from "aggressive" to "diplomatic" - it doesn't influence your stats like paladins'. You can play him as the noble savage - you don't need frenzy, so that's plausible. Go for Bloodlust and Blood Thirst instead. I did a lot of playthroughs so far and I have to say this simple approach is one of the best (for a barbarian as main char). Nearly all the dialogue checks, low micromanagement, few knockouts (all in the early game) and enough damage - even good damage for a defensive char. One of the best things about him is that he not only tanks well because of his frightening/terrfying/sickening and dazing skills (which all stack), but he also makes his fellow teammates more tanky because of that.

Quick Switch + Coil: I also think it's a bug. It also works with melee weapons. But exploiting it is painful because of all that manual switching you have to do. You can use let's say Tidefall + Hours of St. Rumbalt and switch directly after the hit, before the recovery bar appears = no recovery. Often it also skips reloading - so with a little practice you can cycle through your guns like a Hollywood action star, never reloading.

You never noticed a time delay without quick switch? I can't believe that. If you want to shoot all three guns (if you took Arms Bearer with an Island Aumaua) at the start of the combat you will notice a big difference. Also if you are in melee, kill your foe and want to switch for a quick shot so you don't have to run to the next. The difference is huge. I agree that Psychovampiric Shield + weapon & shield (I really like Bittercut with Spirit of Decay as main weapon) is a nice alternative. Makes melee less complicated and is good enough for focus gain while using good things like Antipathetic Field to shred your foes (also works with Spirit of Decay).