Boeroer

Inner Death might be an explanation. It's pretty devastating when it lands properly - and you're only 5 so they don't need to spare Mortification.

Hm, I tried once with upscaled FS at lvl 20 (normally I don't play with scaling) but it wasn't noticably more difficult so I assumed - since most enemies are of same/higher levels as/than me - that not much was scaled in the first place. Maybe I was wrong and it was just the build that was overpowering everything anyways (SC Nalpasca with dual mortars, heavily relying on Resonant Touch + party). Maybe some of the encounters there are again set as lvl 1 internally for the purpose of scaling - instead of their actual level? There are some other encounters that have this problem as well (see one late thread about the upscaled Talfor fight). If that's the case the scaling would be adding a ton of difficulty. If not I don't really grasp how a few levels should make such a huge difference like you reported.

Search for abilities that cause interrupts or prone (basically an interrupt+). For example Thrust of Tattered Veils or Slicken (Wizard, ToTV is even an auto-hit ability), Knockdown (Fighter), Crippling Strike (Rogue) and so on. It's mentioned in the description if the ability/spell does cause an interrupt or not. Normal auto-attacks will not interrupt anything unless you have a weapon that can interrupts by itself (uniques or some modals). You can also use weapon proficiencies or in other words weapon modals such as crossbow or arbalest to cause interrupts. Note that Concentration will counter an interrupt. If you hover over Neriscyrlas in battle you can see the layers of Concentration she still has (she has a lot). You can completely remove all Concentration with a chant (Thick Grew Their Tongues) or with something like Plague of Insects or Insect Swarm. Or you can remove the layers one by one with interrupts (a few hits from Slicken, some hits with a crossbow + modal etc.). Once the Concentration is gone your interrupts will stop her spells and abilities from manifesting. If you manage to hit her with a terrify effect (for example Fear Ward from Furyshaper, Ryngrim's spells from Wizard etc.) she will become "only" frightened - but that's still enough to prevent her from using any offensive abilites (including spells) against you as long as she is frightened.

Having no visible cloaks/capes (you can equip them and nmechanically they work just fine - just no visible model) is not a bug. Obsidian chose to use a commercial Unity3D-plugin for the cloak/cape physics - unfortunately that plugin only works for Windows but not Linux or MacOS. Thus it can't get fixed by Obsidian (otehr than discarding the plugin and developing cloak physics themselves which was not feasible back then). So yeah - no cloaks for MacOS (or Linux). I always played the native Linux version - maybe I could see cloaks if I tried the Proton version from Steam (I doubt it but maybe...) In Deadfire this problem doesn't exist aymore because Obsidian chose to use their own cape physics etc. right from the start which works with all platforms.

Bererker/Druid is way cooler of course.

Scaling doesn't do much for FS as least since enemies are already lvl 20 or beyond I assume so they won't get leveled up anymore. SSS might have enemies that get scaled up a bit, don't remember their exact levels. I mean you can try and always change settings if it's too hard.

Ha - I was about to link to the same thread. Confusion is not an affliction, it's an inspiration!

Upscaling has a cap afaik. Def. raise the difficulty. Normal is pretty easy - scaling doesn't change that much. You are already overleveled for Beast of Winter (hopefully scaling does work well there). But Seeker, Slayer, Survivor and The Forgotten Sanctum should be challenging enough.

Got you. I recently discovered that several Druid spells that get countered by "antidote" (and thus are poison/disease spells one would presume) won't profit from poison power levels anymore - and so I assumed it also wouldn't work for Wizard poison spells anymore. I just checked ingame again and indeed the two Wizard spells Noxious Burst and Malignant Cloud do still profit from the Poison PL of both items. They have "poison" displayed in the description. I then went again to the druid spells and the only spell that still profits from poison PLs is Venombloom. It hasn't the keyowrd poison in the description. There's the antidote keyword and then there's the poison keyword and some druid spells lack the poison keyword while they still get countered by antidote effects and immunity (vessels etc.). Bit messy... Maybe something to fix with the Community Patch @MaxQuest? Maybe the workings are correct (disease spells could get countered by antidote but wouldn't profit from poison) - but maybe then an improved descripion or descriptive keywords (poison & disease maybe) would be useful? It seems that "poison" is considered a wizard-only keyword so they left it out of the druid tree. But imo that's confusing as heck. Right, I misremembered Urgent Harvest's workings, my bad. Chromoprismatic Quarterstaff is nice of course. True. Only the description of the spell mentions it iirc - but it isn't described in the weapon's description I think. Yeah, it's pretty cool - also that this means that the Helm of the White Void is so useful then. But something like Acina's Tricorn would also work I guess (sometimes looks a bit funky though, especially with robes). Of course the Mask of the Grotto Deep is also a cool fashion piece sort of (and the INT is also nice). Well you proved me wrong above so I don't know about that, hehe. --- Had I known about the combo of Helm of the White Void + Caedebald's Blackbow I would have played Fassina differently in my last run with her I believe.

I can also very much recommend @thelee's GameFAQ guide. Sometimes, with complicated things, it's just better to get another explanation that's worded a bit differently: https://gamefaqs.gamespot.com/pc/227477-pillars-of-eternity-ii-deadfire/faqs/76599/action-speed-recovery-time This is the page about action speed/recovery. If you want to read the whole thing start here: https://gamefaqs.gamespot.com/pc/227477-pillars-of-eternity-ii-deadfire/faqs/76599

Ah - and I think it's good. I just think -2 AR is better if you can make sure to crit often enough. You get the -1 AR anyway without further enchantment and in order for it to count you have to behave in a certain way - might as well double down on it imo.

They do stack. If you know how: make yourself a big coffee and read this: If you're suddenly not interested in the details anymore (who could blame you? ;)) you can see the results of the bonuses when you right-klick on your weapon during combat (over the portraits, down left with the standard hud config). A popup will display attack and recovery time (among other info). If you hover over those numbers there will be a list in a tooltip window with the effects that currently influence those stats (in percentages):

I guess in a party Takedown Combo + Call to Slumber + Disintegrate would be a fun combo against tough foes. Or even Takedown Combo, Call to Slumber and Concelhaut's Corrosive Skin.

Yes, Blackbow + Phantom is very nice to have and fun, too. May I ask why you are using the Mask of the Grotto Deep and the Spider Silk Robes? Do they synergize particularly well with something you are using (like poisons)? When prioritizing DEX/Action speed items - wouldn't an armor like High Harbinger's Robes for example be the better choice? And instead of Griffin's Blade maybe Xoti's Sickle or so? What do you think about Blightheart? It would give a 10% corrosive lash to all your direct dmg spells - and the healing effect can be prolonged with Wall of Draining (along with Healing from Hands of Light gloves for example). What's your opinion about Ring of the Marksman when using the Blackbow? It would give you +2 PEN for the bow in combination with Spirit of Decay - and the Phantom +1 PEN. The added accuracy would also be nice to have on yourself and the phantom. For that reason I also use the Helm of the White Void: it would grant you and the phantom +10 ACC with shots of the Blackbow because it comes with terrify and thus even the initial attack roll always gets the +10 ACC. And course +10 ACC for all spells that apply afflictions (like Chillfog etc.).

In the early game you can't - but once you leave the starting area you can go wherever you please and also fight enemies that are weak compared to you. I suggest to go to where the game points you first and do some non-violent quests to gain some levels - then it's easier to find underleveled enemies after. If you also own the DLC "The Forgotten Sanctum": here finally the enemies are of max level - so overleveling isn't possible anymore in these parts. If you follow the main questline instead of doing all the side quests first you can also overlevel more quickly. The main quest line gives a lot of XP. If you complete a step of it (as soon as you can) you will most likely be able to level up more quickly - and then do a lot of the side quests overleveled. An easier way to make sure to make enemies piece of cake is to simply turn down the game difficulty. Less hassle with finding enemies of lower level than you. Another way to make enemies piece of cake is to employ a character build that is very powerful - or even cheesy.

I went with Nomad's Brigandine iirc. But anything with high AR would be good. The Wizard's AR buffs (Spirit Shield or Iron Skin - or even better Llengrath's Safeguard) stack with the Stalker's passive bonus. I picked Nomad's Brigandne because it also leads to +10 melee deflection while having decent AR. The deflection also stacks with the Stalker's passive. And it lets you disengage without regrets.

@crdvis16It takes some time but imo it's not too bad. If you play it with Aloth it's even better because he can get a passive through his quest that reduces the grimoire switching time.

Cool! That's in line with Takedown Combo - its 100% dmg bonus also doesn't go away with pure DoT effects. The ticks get +100% dmg but the effect doesn't get removed after a tick.

I cast self buffs (when necessary), then Draining Touch, then the Phantom right behind the enemy who I will attack as well while the Animal Companion also attacks that foe. Enemy will def. be flanked then. When I hit with Draining Touch it disappears and I start hitting with Willbreaker and may cast a Miasma oDM in between (if the enemy's Will is too high for my Phantom's Draining Touch). As soon as the enemy dies: off to the next one. I usually let the phantom pick the next enemy and then place myself and the AC accordingly. If you are wearing the Helm of the White Void then the Phantom does, too. It gets +12 ACC from one handed attacks and +10 from the Helm (Rymrgand's Influence) because Draining Touch also applies weakened and the whole attack gets +10 ACC because of that. That way the Phantom has pretty cool accuracy with its attacks. And when you bring down Will enough it will crit a lot. Combined with some Takedown Combos the Phantom will deal superb damage (for a Phantom). Or I switch to a defensive setup (for example hatchet & large shield), summon the phantom and send it and the AC to block and tank - while I switch back to another weapon or summon Spirit Lance and cast spells or attack from behind them. As a Geomancer you are pretty versatile. Some spells are quite nice in combination with Takedown Combo (+100% dmg for the next attack). For example Necrotic Lance or Killing Bolt. Those two can also be very nice. Recently played with an SC Wizard Aloth who focused on bows. Also here a phantom is nice because it gets the same bow as you and in some cases that's pretty cool (e.g. Frostseeker or Essence Interrupter). And then at PL 8 you get Caedebald's Blackbow which is very strong because its arrow jumps over 12 meters and terrifies with every hit (targets Fortitude though - but here Helm of the White Void helps, too). With a Phantom you get two of those bows in the field which has serious impact. Cast some Rymrgand spell here and there on top... And of course SC Wizards are super versatile because they have access to so many grimoire spells from the full 9 power levels. I often wear Fleshmender and Giftbearer's Cloth just to get two additional quick slot items for grimoires. Then I don't even learn that many spells but mostly take passives because my spell portfolio is to vast from all the grimoires. Requires a bit of sorting and administration though...

I had a hunch there would be an entry in the urban dictionary

Still think melee Geomancer with Morning Star (both Willbreaker as well as Saru Sichr are useful for multiple reasons) was a fun and overall potent build from start to finish (I did a solo run with it). Both defensively as well as offensively quite capable and also versatile. I often used Willbreaker with the Morning Star modal: it lowers enemies' fortitude by 25, making it easier for the Animal Companion to apply Takedown Combo - and it also lowers enemies' Will, making it easier to land Miasma of DUll-Mindedness which lowers Will into the ground and then it's very easy for the Essential Phantom to crit with Concelhaut's Draining Touch (it targets Will instead of Deflection). Draining Touch weakens the enemy which makes it again easier to land Takedown Combo - and so on and so forth. Stalker's passives in combination with Wizard's self buffs make the char very sturdy. One can't use Ghost Heart because it would remove the Phantom. One can also use Saru Sichr on the char and the Phantom. The strong poison DoT stacks completely and unlocks Predator's Sense of the animal companion. Tough enemies aren't very tough anymore once they got hit by a few DoTs from Saru Sichr with Accurate Wounding Shot.

By the way: you cannot stack Beza's AR malus with the help of a phantom (if anybody had that idea ;)). It seems that only effects that have a certain amount (or unlimited amount) of stacks can be "exploited" with a (or several) phantom(s).

Hm... you can do -1 AR with any mace on graze. Not stackable maybe, but doing something on graze is often more appealing than doing something better on crit - to me at least.

Don't know why it works for anything else but invocations but I found out that indeed Her Revenge will refund +1 Empower Points per spell instance. Like with the Least Unstable Coil some spells/invocations are implemented in a way that every attack roll counts as a separate spell. Her Revenge is one of them. Tekehu's Avenging Storm will most likely work the same. This is pretty cool since it means you can play as sombody who uses Empower with one class in every fight (e.g. Wizard/Chanter empowering some nasty Wizard spells) and then get it all back in another fight using Her Revenge... wild... That this wasn't discovered before...? At least I never read about it. I guess most players who use Sasha's Singing Scimitar only ever empowered invocations?

I used Killers Frozen Stiff for the test. Will try again with Her Revenge... a bit later (so cozy in bed right now and the lazy kids refuse to make coffee).