Boeroer

Defensive Mindweb is the best spell in the game, it turns every party member into a tank. Amplified Wave is the best spell in the game, it causes prone on every enemy in a big AoE and does a lot of damage at the same time. White Worms is the best spell in the game, it can be used to one-shot whole groups of enemies. The Dragon Thrashed is the best ability in the game. It damages all foes in a huge AoE for a ton of damage every 4 seconds just by standing around and it uses zero resources - unlimited per encounter, unlimited per rest, no wounds or focus needed. You even get phrase points for invocations and and it works while you are withdrawn. Blast is the best talent in the game, it works with on-hit and on-crit effects like carnage, but from range. It works with Envenomed Strike so it does it's huge raw damage in an AoE, it has 10 DR bypass and interrupts. And with Kalakoth's Minor Blights you will have a wizard's baby Heart of Fury. Which makes Kalakoth's Minor Blights the best spell in the game by the way. Cleansing Flame is the best spell in the game, because you can kill Thaos easily with it. Holy Radiance is the best ability in the game - it can one-shot most vessels in a huge AoE while stack-buffing group's ACC and healing. Rot Skulls is the best spell in the game. Because it's AoE works with Envenomed Strike and all those DoT effects stack, making it the perfect DPS spell which melts whole groups of bounties in no time. Withdraw is the best spell in the game - because you can use it on a chanter who will still chant - while it stuns him which will trigger stacked preservation so that he gets +100 to all defenses. Useless you say because he is withdrawn anyway. Until you cast Defensive Mindweb and make your whole party invulnerable for nearly a minute. Which again makes Defensive Mindweb the best spell. Chillfog is the best spell because you can have it from level one and it's damage stacks while it blinds. It works with Combusting wounds. Which makes Wall of Flames the best spell when I think about it because you can melt a dragon with it when you combine it with combusting wounds. Fireballs is the best spell because it's fast and does lots of damage and you can pile up 18 uses per rest as a wizard which makes it the ultimate win button for every encounter without fire immune enemies. Whisper of Treason... I could go on all day... Sure, Relentless Storm is very strong, but it also has drawbacks. You can't have it per encounter, it takes hours to cast, it's centered on the caster. It doesn't last that long (not long enough on PoTD some might say). There's a lot of "best" things in the game when you ask different people and it also depends on the encounter and party composition. You don't gimp yourself without a druid and also not without a priest. It's not helpful to state such things as if they were the ultimate truth. I can remember when you asked your first questions in this forum some weeks ago and didn't know a lot about the game - which is totally cool. Most people really like to help newcomers out in this place. But would you have appreciated an answer like "Lol - don't play your dream party unless you want the game to be superdifficult" back then? As I said - it's not helpful in the best case and frustrating, confusing and demotivating in the worst case. And I mean no offense by this. I just want to point out that another approach might be better.

Yeah, it would make more sense if hatchets would generally cause "interfering" (-5 ACC) on hit like some unique weapons do instead of having another form of interfering that just adds +5 deflection.

I'm soloing with a 3 RES 2 DEX 20 CON dual wielding meatshield barb at the moment. Since I got Shod-in-Faith and Veteran's Recovery plus Savage Defiance I can take a beating without going down for minutes. Especially with healing-received bonuses from items and camping. If I think about this tanking power that works with high DR and high (rehealed) endurance alone I wonder how good he would tank with high RES, a shield, Stalwart Defiance (+10 to all defenses) and the things around frighten/daze/terrify/causing fatigue you mentioned. I once made that leech barb with Spelltongue and I still think that can be more powerful than causing fatigue. You can prolong all self buffs for minutes - even the ones from racials and scrolls and potions. I imagine a wild orlan barb (+10 after will attack) with Stalwart Defiance (+10) which will endlessly heal, too and some potions like Llengrath's or something and then add the ACC debuffs. Should work pretty well. Only thing is you have to hit stuff in order to debuff it. Paladin's and Fighter's defense bonuses work even with 2 PER.

I feel the same as DreamWayfarer.

PER 10 is ok if you can debuff enemies with other chars. At the beginning a bit more PER would be nice, but I used 10 and had no problems. You could switch to a one-handed setup every time the Dragon Thrashed starts anew - because the +12 ACC also applies to the chant. Don't ask me why, it's stupid, but it does. And since your chant does all the damage, the increased action recovery from switching is no problem. Stats look good. Make sure to pick up a Ring of Overseeing, the Hermit's Hat and the Voice of the Mountaintop asap. The bigger your chant AoE the better.

Too bad Defensive Mindweb comes so late.

Defensive Mindweb lasts for 30 sec with 10 INT. So 45 with 20 INT. Withdraw only lasts 20 (30) sec - but you can have it as Spell Mastery by then. You can turn your cipher into a supersquishy glasscannon who harvests focus like a boss and cast Reaping Knives and Mindweb all the time. There's also the Black Sanctuary which has Spell Binding: Withdraw. I think it's enough to beat any fight. YOu can turn your glasscannons into supertanks who even rip dragons apart while only getting grazed at best.

You could easily use this build and play it as a Drake's Ambassador (without the Mind Control and no Scion of Flames and Fireballs and so on). I mean the essential part of the Ambassador is The Dragon Thrashed - and the stats are nearly the same. Focus on things like Ancient Memory and Veteran's Recovery and survival. Once you can get Seven Nights you can buy Secret of Rime and turn you chanter into this version.

There are certain criteria like low DR and deflection or if it's a caster - things like that influence which char the enemy will attack. When you are withdrawn the enemy will act as if you weren't there. As if you were an obstacle in the environment. So in open fights this is not as useful as with a chokepoint. But it still can prevent your chanter from going down while he still causes damage and accumulates phrases. One of the best tricks at high levels is this: make a tanky character (like said chanter) and put on either the Solace shield from the Drake or Little Savior plus another item with the preservation enchantment. Those will stack and give you +100 to all defenses while you are stunned or prone (minus the affliction). This will make you untouchable while you are disabled. Good enough... but now cast Withdraw on that chanter plus Defensive Mindweb: Withdraw counts as a stun effect and your chanter will get +100 to all defenses. Defensive Mindweb makes sure all the party will have his defensive values. It's "Hahaha try to hit me, puny dragon"-godmode.

A nice breakdown.

Sorry for being direct, but I think that's not true. Edit: Eh, I should elaborate - but I'm too tired. Edit 2: If you want the game to be as difficult as possible, you can run with a lvl 1 solo barb and never level up...

Thanks. Which one do you want to use - the one with the shield or the one with the Estoc? I have to say in a party with more sturdy frontliners the estoc guy is more fun. Because oif his higher DEX he can dish out invocations faster (DEX reduces the recovery after an invocation which will stop your chanting). So his dps will be better and you might not need the high deflection of the shield version. If you need extra tankyness then I would use the first one.

If they say a ranger can out dps a rogue they mean the combined damage of ranger + animal companion. And as long as both are alive and hitting that might be true. Don't forget that rangers can shoot not only two arrows per shot (which is like Deathblows against 0 DR) all the time while the pet can punch through almost any DR, but you will also always stun with every shot - with Driving Flight and Twinned Arrows you will stun up to three enemies per shot. Your pet will crit then and do Sneak Attacks and you will crit a lot, too. That forms a good synergy with Apprentice's Sneak Attack for persistent 15% damage increase. Also, with Twinned Arrows I think it's smart in some cases to use Penetrating Shot. It will give you the equivalent of +10 damage per shot. As I said, I don't think DEX is better for dps on a bow ranger, but power does not necessarily equal high dps. With a bow ranger is it more important (in my opinion) to shoot as fast as possible in order to stunlock enemies and/or to proc as many Returning Storms, confusions and whatnot as possible. This is way more important than a few % dmg from MIG in order to punch through DR. But as Kaylon said: normally a bow ranger dumps CON and RES and has plenty of points for both MIG and DEX (and PER). And if you already are near 0 recovery (higer levles) I would go for MIG since DEX doesn't do as much for you as in the beginning where you hadn't that much speed buffs.

You are right. Same with Rose of Salthollow. You can send a party member to get those items. Also in the WM where you can save the two villagers (Kaylee and Lurgolder) from the burning house you can send party members.

You should at least take one invocation of the highest level. If you don't, your phrase counter will stop at the higest invication level you have. If you only have tier 3 invocations, the counter will stop there. If you don't plan to use Fireballs I won't recommend Scion of Flame. The Dragon Thrashed is a damage over time ability. Those don't work with Scion of Flame. You still gain +4 burn DR though. With the Drake's Ambassador I used Fireballs a lot so it was ok to use Scion of Flame - and it also was fitting the theme.

One of the best things about the Devil is that she's a construct. She can't get mind controlled (nice if you go against Dank Spores, Vithracks and all that stuff) and she is immune to all poison spells (there's a lot of that. Many vessels do that for example). You can use her to attract foes and then drop Noxious Bursts and Malignant Clouds and whatever AoE freidnly fire poison spells you have on her head. She won't feel it. Also great for tanking enemies who do poison damage like all the blobs and whatnot. She was a great team with my Bilestomper wizard. Standing side by side an bathing in bile while the mobs melted... awesome! You can also give her dual sabres. You want a bit or armor on a dual wielding frontliner or flanker anyway. And her high RES helps against interrupts. Also: Bittercut's poison defense malus won't do anything to her. I even once gane her dual Bittercuts with the Helwax Mold. Vile Thorns come out like an instant spell (despite the real druid's version) and works with Deathblows. You can dish out 4 quick Vile Thorns that way in a blink and clear whole groups if you need to. Or you pair Bittercut with FLames of Fair Rhian and get 2 Vile Thorns and 3 Direballs™ per rest. With Aspirant's Mark she will be like a powerful rogue/caster hybrid. Edit: Just watch out when you have a caracter with St. Ydwen's Redeemer who gets mind controlled. He might hit the Devil and then there's a chance that she's instantly dead - I mean like removed from the party, not k.o.

Just a suggestion: maybe you want change one fighter for a chanter? With Ancient Memory, Beloved Spirits and Veteran's Recovery as well as Rise Again he can be really useful and will prevent party wipeouts. He will have the same regeneration than a fighter but also heals in an AoE and deals more damage at the same time. Great trick is using chokepoints and cast White Worms over and over again (turn off the gib option in the game options) until you get The Dragon Thrashed. This makes the gameÄs beginning - Act I basically - very easy compared to using a fighter (also because you already have one). Once you hit lvl 13 I would retrain the paladin intoi a Sacred Immolation monster (max MIG and INT, high PER). I had a Dragon Thrashed chanter team up with a Scared Immolation Paladin once and the game got way too easy on PoTD. Anopther nice trick is to use the chanter with a damaging chant (first Come Sweet Winds, later The Dragon Thrashed), blocking a chokepoint with him and cast Withdraw on him. He will be invulnerable but won't stop singing, damaging foes. Mad Hornet will go down very quickly if you don't watch out. I mean it's ToI after all. Maybe give him a bit more CON? Or Fast Runner...

Right, like if you want to get the Rose of Salthollow in Cliban Rilag(CON >= 16) or The Golden Gaze (I think DEX >= 16). edit: I think if you want the dwarven prostitute to join your stronghold you need to have CON >= 18. But I never did that myself.

I think it's always like that: after level 9/10 or so the difficulty starts to drop significantly. Bounties and dragon excluded.

ROFL! I like your love letter and also like the animal companions. Nice trick with the Shieldbearer by the way. Did you know that wounding weapons trigger Predator's Sense of your wolf? So an early weapon like Persistence (hunting bow) is perfect for that. Your pet's damage per hit will match that of rogues then. Makes it even more awesome. Another nice combination: a char with Shod-in-Faith boots who's standing next to the wolf. Once the spell "Consecrated Ground" triggers the wolf will live much longer. What else? A wolf can be a great tractor for your Ectopsychic Echo, too. And with a paladin who knows "Behold the Martyr" even a dead wolf can be of great use. Reinforcing Exhortation also works on the animal companion. A Litany against Minor/Major Afflictions is also good on your pet if you like to send it in first. One of the best things for me is Triumph of the Crusaders - combined with a high dps pet build. It kills fast enough that it gets healed all the time and can't die (unless the target is very sturdy). Your ranger can also help with the killing, just let the pet do the last blow. When you focus on weaker targets and have a Litany on the pet it won't go down as long as it can kill (aided with Persistence). If done correctly, it turns into a supertank with superdamage. You can put Champion's Boon on top if you fell like creating an even more awesome wolf. Edit: By the way: doies anybody know what will happen if you cast "Barring Death's Door" on an animal companion? I suppose nothing...?

Hm... I can't say what's better (dps wise) when you do the math. Kaylon for example will surely know where the break even point with DR is. But for me it feels better if such a ranger has high DEX. Warbows are not very fast - and while you can have one that is speed enchanted it's not the best one overall (it is for dps, but dps is not that important compared to CC/disables and such). There are others war bows which have nice on-crit effects (Borresaine stuns, Sabra Marie cnfuses) so you might want to shoot as fast as possible in order to deliver as much CC as possible. This is also true for Stunning Shots. Stunlocking is very powerful and helps your (and your pet's) dps more than some points in MIG. I would say: if I'd have a chanter with Sure Handed Ila and my items were all durganized and I had the Gauntlets of Swift Action I might favour MIG over DEX. I would have to playtest that (actually never played ranger with war bows - Stormcaller and Persistence are such awesome bows that I never use war bows with rangers - they all go to my ciphers ). But generally I would favour DEX over MIG with a ranger who uses bows and try to stack DR bypass somehow instead.

I would give Aspirant's Mark to the Devil instead to Kana. She has more accuracy an will hit better with it. But it's not too important. The best sturdy setup for the Devil is (in my opinion): Godynsthunyr + Badgradr's Barricade - but both comes quite late. A sabre with a shield would be a good substitute until then. My paladin would get the Outworn Buckler from Gilded Vale's blacksmith (unless I have a very special build) and a marking weapon (like Shame or Glory, together with Coordinated attacks) plus two guns for FoD strikes. Darcozzi Paladini is nice because the special talent "Inspiring Exhortaion" (+10 ACC) stacks with marking (+10 ACC) and Coordinated Attacks (+10 ACC), meaning +30 ACC for one party member every encounter. Or have a look at a thread here in the forum names "Damaging Healbot". It's a nice build idea around a Kind Wayfarer healer paladin. I would recommend a caster in addition to your party. You only have 5 members so far. A priest is always nice. His buffs make the game a lot more easy. The first levels can be a bit lame but once he gets access to spell lvl 2 it's all good. A wizard with Chillfog is also very helpful.

Was Alpine Dragon 17 RES? In order to get the Vembraces? I think it was 17. I think there's a MIG check with 18 somewhere. And somehow the number 19 also rings a bell. But can't say I saw anything above that.

Just turn Kana Rua into your main tank by giving him a shield and weapon & shield talent. Use the chant "Come Sweet Winds of Death" to attract foes and to give them raw damage. Use Whisper of Treason with your cipher whenever possible. It's great to use it before the enemy reaches you - they will turn against each other. Use Chillfog with your wizard. Cast it in front of Kana Rua who tanks enemies so that they have to stand inside the Chillfog. They will get blinded and damaged (even the charmed ones) while Kana's chant will damage them, too (not the charmed ones). Use your priest to buff - not to heal. I mean you should heal with him when things go bad but your primary focus should be buffs and debuffs. Give him Interdiction and Painful Interdiction. That way you will have a strong weakaning debuff 1/encounter which lowers fortitude and will - that is good for your cipher's Whisper of Treason (targets will) and your wizard's Chillfog (targets fortitude). Inspiring Radiance is also very good as an opener to give your whole party + 10 ACC for the initial strike. This game is all about stacking ACC and debuffing enemies defenses as well as disabling them. If you can do that you will always win (against foes that are roughly your level). Your MIG doesn't matter if you can't hit the enemy. Your defenses don't have to be superhigh if the enemy can't hit you because he's debuffed and/or disabled. THe game doesn't work so well if you only run into the fight and start hitting. With those tactics the game should be pretty easy with your gang - even on PotD. I'm playing a solo barb with 3 RES and 2 DEX on PoTD atm and I am in Caed Nua right now. If I can do it you can succeed, too. We also have a guy here who completed the game as a lvl 1 ranger on PoTD. He just used the right tactics. So just try a bit more, you will succed at last.

"Actively" is the keyword here. Like popping your favorite music tape into the toaster, sitting down and listening to the songs. Or going to a Justin Bieber concert or whatever people do who... actively listen to music.