Boeroer

You can also loot the hoard of the Alpine Dragon without fighting: the bug of the Cape of the Master Mystic is still active (despite OBS saying differently in the patch notes). When it occurs, travel to Longwatch Falls, go into that cave and just steal everything. The dragon will not notice you. All later dialogue will be the same. By the way the "cast Seal on crit" from Black Sanctuary is only 1/encounter. At least it used to be.

Yeah - especially if you have high defenses and thick armor it can take some time until you get some wounds. A few cc attacks at the beginning could make fights a lot easier if you lack other CC options.

Defensive Devil with Badgradr's Barricade, Godanthunyr and lots of Full Attack Abilities is just awesome. All those Thrusts of Tattered Veils flying around that work with Deathblows. That base damage is quite high - so a ToTTV plus deathlows becomes a Thrust of Sledgehammers. However - this can't compete with a melee ranger who uses a wounding weapon (Tidefall or Drawn in Spring) who flanks with his wolf pet which is build for dps. Stunning Shots works in melee now - the damage and CC is just awesome and I think it surpasses most (if not any) melee dps rogue builds. Add Aspirant's Mark and Stalker's Link and you will crit all the time.

I'm so happy that tough Metzla only wields that weak Forgotten Tear of the Beloved. Imagine her with an exceptional sabre... ouch!

You will have two 25%-lashes. It's a bit sad. I'm running this build at the moment with Zahua and it's great - but I have to say I really miss my Force of Anguish. With very high attack speed and lots of wounds it's just so much fun to send 10 enemies prone for more than 10 seconds in quick succession. I'm thinking about building a monk who accumulates lots of disables and CC - FoA, Stunning Blows, Skyward Kick, Girdle of the Driving Wave for another Knockdown (? maybe not needed), Lavender Hippiething, Binding Rope, Glittering Gauntlets, Enervating Blows. That way I could start with CC right at the beginning of the fight and use wounds whenever they occur. Should be nice. Maybe instead of fists I will use weapons with on hit/crit effects - since it's not about damage? But sorry, I'm drifting off...

No - those don't work with any DoT effect. Only plain, direct damage. THis includes damage from Chill Fog, Sacred Immolation, Malignant Cloud and so on - since that's not DoT but comes in "pulses" of direct damage. Summoning? Depends what you want to do. Ogres are really great for blocking: big feet and lots of endurance. Against monsters with AoE (fire) damage a drake is great (most endurace of all summons, lots of fire DR). The Swamp Spore is surely great on the backrow to confuse an domnate foes - but it takes forever to summon it and the fight is over most of the time by then. The Phantom can be summonued very quickly but at higher levels it just dies instantly. But you can use it to cast Ectopsychic Echo on it.

Tough is one thing, (hopefully) bugged abilities are another (that's one FoA from one Brawler here):

That's where the Ring of Unshackling comes in handy, my hard rocking amigo. It's duration also get's prolonged by Spelltongue - but every time it does that it also supresses new afflictions. It's like a re-appliance after every hit. No annoying afflictions (that can be supressed) at all. At least this was the case before the latest patch. Don't think they changed that - too specific. You can still be stunned of course. Like when they stun you and you can't hit anymore - I think then you also can't remove the stun affliction. For that situation I prefer the following setup: the shield you get from the drake in the Endless Paths lvl 5 (forgot the name, Brysomthing's Solace) + any other preservation item (like Blaidh Golan). Those stack! If you get stunned, switch to that shield setup (switching still works) and you will have +100 to all defenses. Same with prone. On top of that you can wear another item that has Break Out (-50% stun and prone duration). You will get stunned, but not for long and you will niot get hurt a lot with +100 to all defenses. This doesn't work with paralyzed and petrified. Against Lagufaeth (who paralyze, not stun - sadly) you can use that shield Alia Braccia that you get from the monks in Twin Elms. It turns 100% ranged Grazes to misses and reflects them back. You just need to make sure that your deflection is high enough to let them graze. Use a Scroll of Defense and Stalwart Defiance, then it should work. Then they are paralyzing themselves all the time and it's a cakewalk. And then tehere's allways scrolls against affliction that grant immunity and... also get prolonged by Spelltongue! @Raven: yes, seems bad at first. But on the other had it also crits now - which is quite aweseome if you have some means of debuffing deflection without paralyzing (like Binding Rope, Aspirant's Mark and so on) and buffing ACC. I would say it's even better in a party - if you're not using dumped PER and don't fight against monsters that are too high of level. For soloing this is bad, I agree. The good thing with the barb is that he can possibly stack 5/4 retaliations (that cause damage) a once (5 if he's a fire godlike): Battle Forged + Potion of Flame Shield or Mantle of the Wreathing Flame + Garodh's Chorus or Coat of Ill Payment or Hiro's Mantle or Vengiatta Rugia + Sura's Supper Plate. With high MIG, Greater Frenzy, One Stands Alone and Vulnerable Attack you can accumulate a pretty high retaliation damage. And then think of all the new items that do something when you receive hits/crits, like Binding Rope, that Laveder thingy, Swaddling Sheet and so on. I think it could be viable in solo mode - combined with carnage and the buff-prolonging setup that keeps up Savage Defiance and Frenzy and all other buffs all the time... But I never did a solo run, so who knows for certain? Also - to get to Spelltongue you will have to do beat a good amount of the game without that effect.

Right. It will be quite the challenge. Barbs + solo is a bit like sawed off shotgun + elephant.

Swift Strikes is *1.25 actually. And everybody could take Outlander's Frenzy for *1.25, too.

Nope - will do as soon as my cipher gets reaping knives. It can't be long. I have Zahua and Meneha in the party so comaring monk and barb will be easy.

You forgot Firebrand. But Durane's Staff with Scion of Flame on a rogue is not bad at all. If I recall correctly, the 20% bonus of Scion of Flame applies to the damage dealt. So it's not a lame +20% dmg mod like Savage Attack and others, but it's a bonus that multiplies the damage you dealt instead of adds +20% to base damage. Spirit of Decay works with Bittercut (and you can have 2 of them). This maybe the best combination since you can also put a corrosive lash on it. A dual wielding figher, rogue or Bleak Walker with this can be quite the show. Heart of the Storm for Stormcaller. That one is obvious.

If I wanted to do a solo run with a Barb I would still use The Leech build. I tested it yesterday on Maneha and it still works like a charm. Only change is I combined it with multi retaliation from Sura's Supper Plate and Garodh's Chorus, Potion of Flame Shield and Barbaric Retaliation. Scrolls and potions are all buffs like Alacrity, Valor and so on. Key item is still the Ring of Unshackling. You can keep up all buffs with Spelltongue as long as there are enough enemies around you and you don't get CC'd (which doesn't happen if you cast Suppress Affliction first). Damage is good, tankyness is awesome. Only problem are enemies that are immune to pierce damage. But you can use a mace or dagger for the second weapon slot and switch when your buffs' durations got prolonged a lot.

Well, the initial question got answered pretty fast, so I thought there was no need to further elaborate on that. The rest was only silly jokes and a bit of theorycrafting around lashes. No Trolling intended. However - comparing me to brindle really hurt. Never do that again please.

Withdraw working with chants is a bit weird - because Withdraw also should stun the ally (at least they get stun symbol on top of their portrait). And normally stunned chanters don't chant. I don't know why a withdrawn chanter is an exception.

It's like the Force of Anguish from that Brawlers there: It hits multiple times in an AoE: If it's intended it's stupid - if it's a bug it's also stupid. So either way it's not smart...

Special gauntlets/gloves for unarmed attacks would be nice. Like the Pitfighter Gloves from Legend of Grimrock.

Yes, Brisk Recitation really helps.

Actually - the missiles thing is quite ok if you have a character that uses Penetrating Shot and maybe also Ryona's Vembraces anyway. The damage is quite good then - and it has two different damage types. Also works with Sneak Attack and Deathblows. And the range ist the highest in the game (15m). And it's 1/encounter - like a weaker Spell Matery for Minor Missiles - just lass damge. But you can have this at lvl 1 alreay. I often use it out of stealth as an alpha strike to weaken a squishy target like a caster - from a great distance. Aspirant's Mark is great. Especially on characters who have high ACC from the start. It is a great alpha strike debuff for every encounter. Outlander's Frenzy is good - especially for ranged chars. 25% Speed boost 1/encounter, including 12% more dmg. Great for bow or implement users. It can be used to negate the speed loss of Vicious Aim for example. Together they give you a little bit of bonus speed, a lot more ACC and +32% ranged damage. Enigma's Charm is ok. Although I never used this because there are enough items with Whiper of Treason or Dominate. But I can see how you could build a nice "mindbender" char who isn't a cipher. Veteran's Recovery is good. Solid choice for a frontliner. A chanter for example with this and his own regeneration talents (Ancient Memory, Beloved Spirits) can get a crazy high regeneration. But also any other class can combine an item like Belt of Bountiful Healing with the Resting Bonus and get great regeneration. Apprentice's Sneak Attack's bonus could be a bit higher. 25% would be nice. Gallant's Focus is ok - it stacks with Weapon Focus. The Radiance heals a least and scales with level. And against vessels it does good damage. I can imagine a vessel-bane build where this is useful. Novice Suffering is just lame.

That's a good point. Or maybe that bonus get's applied universally like other speed buffs. Someone has to test this. @Elric: I can feel you!

Right! I don't know - can you also spawn the death guards' helmets via console?. Cecause I want to become a death guard in my next playthrough. I will need that armor (will use the console once I beat my first Death Guard) and the Maegfolc Skull (if the death guards' helmets are not obtainable). Or maybe I will use the Blackwarden's Breastplate...? What class to take? Priest of Berath? Chanter with Sweet Winds, Skeletons/Phantom, White Worms and so on? Melee Wizard with appropriate spells? Don't know yet...

Absolutely right. Transcentend Suffering is nice because fists become viable and you don't have to pick a weapon as a monk to be good. But nothing more.

It depends how much damage you're doing with your weapon. Fast weapons can also do enough damage to make lashes good if your talent/ability choice allows it. But basically it's right that lashes are more effective on hard hitting weapons like two handers and guns and so on.

Oh - you need to get the diving helmet from WMII I don't think there's a faster way to get those items. You can spawn multiple item clones with one single command - but not different items I'm afraid. That fampyr thing is pretty cool by the way.

Either it's bugged or the enemy's corrode DR eats up all the corrode damage. Maybe the burn DR of that foes it very low?