Boeroer

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).

Let's say it gets suppressed by everything that also supresses Zealous Focus. There are better talents than this for a party. If you don't have a priest or a paladin it might be ok though. It's true, you don't have to cast it - but Aspirant's mark can be cast at a long range and your party members don't hasve to stand near you to benefit from it. And it's duration is over 40 secs - it's quite the spell for early levels because it's like a spell mastery, but from lvl 1 on. But you can of course take Gallant's Focus AND Aspirant's Mark - then you will basically have +12 against deflection and reflex.

Eh sorry - I did write an answer yesterday but apparently I didn't send it, oops. For information on items use Gamebanshee instead - it's complete. You have to decide yourself which weapons you like best. At the moment you are using mainly soulbound weapons - so no durgan steel there. Using it on armor is usually a good idea. Luckily there are no "oh my god" armors late in the game. Ao using durgan steel on the ones you have and like is relatively safe. Using durgan steel on a gun is quite pointless. The best thing about durgan steel is it's +15% speed, aka "reducing recovery phase by 15%". This does not much for guns because their limiting factor is the reload, not the recovery. It's not a total waste because of the imprived crits, but it's better to use durgan steel on weapons without reloading phase. Great weapons to use durgan steel on (you don't want to use the ones that come superlate - of what use is durgan steel if only one fight is left? My favs with a *): Bows: - Persistence* - Borresaine (if you're not a ranger, becausethose have stunning shots) - Sabra Marie (if you're not a ranger, because those have stunning shots) - and basically all the other unique bows - they are all good Implements: - The Golden Gaze* (when you are a wizard) - Curoc's Brand (dito) - Engwythan Scepter* (dito) - Rod of Pale Shades (dito) - and other which have on-hit or on-crit effects Two Handers: - Tidefall* - The Blade of the Endless Paths* - The Hours of St. Rumbalt* - Mabec's Morning Star - Llawran's Stick - Tall Grass* One handed: - Bleak Fang - Blesca's Labor - The Unforgiven - Starcaller - Godansthunyr* - Shatterstar - Strike Hard - Cladhaliath* - Vile Loner's Lance - Danulya - Resolution* - Purgatory* - Bittercut* - Edge of Reason - Rimecutter - We Toki - Drawn in Spring* - March Steel Dagger* - Sword of Daenysis* - Spelltongue* And there's shields. Here I would say that Outworn Buckler, Little Savior and also Aila Braccia are worth durganizing as well as Old Gerun's Wall, the Last Tower and also Badgradr's Barricade if you like it's mechanic (I do). As you can see, you have a pretty broad collection there. There are not many uniques that stand out a lot. The most generally powerful or useful enchantments in my opinion are those of Drawn in Spring, Persistence and Tidefall as well as Spelltongue and Bittercut. That doesn't mean they are the best weapons for you though. It depends on your tactics and playstyle. For example a paladin who is a marker would maybe use Shame or Glory (not in the list above) or a marking Cladhaliath and durganize that. It's also not bad to use durgan steel on weapons which are already speed enchanted. Because that way it's supereasy to reach 0 recovery and an insane attack speed even in full plate armor. For example the Sword of Daenysis plus March Steel Dagger don't look like much, but when durganized and dual wielded they already give you the fastest attack speed there is. Add Two Weapon Style and you can even use Vulnerable Attack without penalty, add Gauntlets of Swift Action or something like Swift Aim, Swift Strikes, Frenzy or whatever speeds you up and you can even wear plate and you sill would be hitting with 0 recovery. That's powerful and way better than the weapons themselves would suggest.

Here's the thread I was talking of: http://forums.obsidian.net/topic/74505-penetrating-shot-spells/?hl=%2Bpenetrating+%2Bshot+%2Bmind+%2Blance&do=findComment&comment=1623449 I don't like Gallant's Focus too much (except when soloing) because it gets supressed by every active ability that raises ACC except Inspiring Radiance and also by Zealous Focus - and it's only +4 and nothing else which is really neglectible at higher levels. Aspirant's Mark for example gives you +8 against deflection and reflex and is a much better choice for the early game in my opinion.

@Loren Tyr, thanks for clearing that up. As I said I wasn't sure. @Nemesis7884: A rule of thumb is that all spells that are ranged and hit a single target (so, no AoE circle and no cone) like Necrotic Lance, Minor Missiles, Thrust of Tattered Veils and so on work with Penetrating Shot (also includes "jumping effects"), AND all spells which AoE has the form of a thicker line, like Rolling Flame, Mind Lance, Crackling Bolt and so on. Those work with Pen. Shot. There may be exceptions to this rule. Fo example it may be that Ghost Blades work despite being an AoE cone (?). There was a thread where we all tested and posted those spells, but I can't find it atm and it's also a bit old. Maybe some things changed. Loren has insight to the code, so mabe (if he has nothing else to do and we send him rauatai cookies) he could make a list of spells which work with it.

Concerning DEX: If you take quick switch and don't reload and also dual wield in melee you don't need a lot of DEX. Dual wielding itself gives you +50% attack speed. And later, with TIme Parasite you will easily hit 0 recovery where DEX doesn't do anything for youzr recovery phase. But don't dump it completely because of spallcasting. Some spells take awfully long when DEX is dumped and you will get interrupted a lot in melee if your RES is also low. With a tank with high RES it's ok, but a relatively squishy dual wielding cipher shoudn't do it in my opinion. I would leave it at 10.

Maybe you still want to take Penetrating Shot: if you like Amplified Thrust, Mind Lance and Mind Blades for example. Those work with Penetrating Shot. Mind Blades without it is pretty meh, but with Penetrating Shot (and also Ryona's Vembraces) it's good for a kind of AoE damage. Those are also really good for Blunderbusses. With Lead Spitter you can have a maximum of 4+5+3+3 = 15 "passive" DR bypass. That's great for most targets. For ones with even more DR you can always cast Body Attunement - because it's also a good spell for prebuffing before you go into melee. I'm not sure anymore but I think the beams also work with Pen Shot.

A good approach is to use an Island Aumaua plus Arms Bearer and Quick Switch (or the Coil of Resourcefulness) and have three guns + a melee setup. With that setup you can either fire three fat shots for lots of focus at the start of an encounter, disable enemies and then finish them off with the melee weapons. Or you can do things like start with gun - fire - CC - switch to melee - kill - switch to gun - fire... abd so on, It's avery versatile and powerful approach but it takes a lot of micro. But ciphers need a lot of micro anyway because you constantly switch from casting to attacking and threrefore the switching doesn't add as much pain as it does for classes like fighters or rangers. What I also did - and which worked pretty well, is to take Stormcaller (weapon focus doesn't matter here because soulbound items work with any weapon focus) with Heart of the Storm, fire a few shots to get focus, buff myself with Psychovampiric Shield and do some CC and then go in with melee weapons which have a shocking lash. This will give you good focus, too. The shocking lash will hit harder because of the -6DR from Stormcaller.