Boeroer

Oh - I have to retrain my Tidefall-Ranger into a Drawn-in-Spring-Ranger now.

Thanks for the testing - it's highly appreciated. Same goes for Kaylon's research.

I played this build and it was fun: Druid tank You can just adapt the stats. Maybe take away some MIG and CON and put it into PER. If you dump DEX completely casting will be very slooooow thooooough.

Maybe single weapon usage (one hander with and without shield, two handers) has an inherent speed penalty? Could it be that using two sabres (even without two weapon style) is faster than using only one? Then it would make sense.

Ah - so it reduces armor recovery penalty or makes things like Vuln. Attack faster (kind of)? I see I have to think about a new build that exploits these things to a maximum. I also wanted to do a monk build that focuses on reflecting ranged attacks like you wrote the other day. Now I'm torn... maybe that's a good thing since I promised not to touch this game until WMII.

Nice build. Your statements concerning Gallant's Focus and Apprentice's Sneak Attack totally make sense. You could also get Flick of the Wrist from playing "Orlan's Head" in the Gref's Rest in Stalwart. It also works for all Soulbound Weapons. But there's a bug at the moment: it doesn't stack with the Pale Hand (or any other +ACC talent from the other gods). Hopefully this will get fixed. The talent from playing "Dozens" in the cellar might also help a tiny bit with survivability. Mechanics don't have any effects on priest's seals anymore. But maybe the Coil of Resourcefulness (quick switch belt, +15 ACC on traps) still works with seals. Seals have a very high ACC by themselves because they are seen as hazards - hence the high chance of hitting/critting. But since you want to have mechanics in a solo run anyway it doesn't really matter. P.s.: I would really love to see an enchantment called "anti-perforation". Lovely. It's like my "Wuthering Strike" I posted the other day or AndreaColombo's "Buttercut". :D

Great! Thanks a lot.

The mobile version of the forums has a white background. Yellow on white is a bit hard to read.

I like!

How is it going? Where's my picture of 12 ogres jamming and slamming?

Small shields don't cause a penatly to ACC. Yeah, that's why I said "omnious". It says "-15% attack speed penalty". Since shields don't cause such a thing I'm really wondering what it truly does. Who wants to do some tests? Hm? Hmmm?

So what about adding dual wielding (+20%) to the mix? If you had two speedy weapons which are both durgan refined? Would you end up with 1.2x1.15x1.15x1.5x1.2 = 286 (186%)? And what about the durgan reinforcement for shields? Does this omnious -15% attack speed penalty also improve your attack speed (1.2x1.15x1.15x1.5x1.15 = 274 = 174%)? Because then it would be somewhat stupid to take Two Weapon Style. Nearly as fast as dual wielding while having lots of deflection and reflex? Deal! Only exception would be all the special attacks that work with "Full Attacks".

Quite a lot - for a tank. Maybe because he's a caster and his DR is not superhigh. But as I said: there were three sturdy dudes with him - so maybe it would be different if he would team up with more squishies.

I also thought it stacks additively - but I only had the impression - I never did any real tests. I read somewhere that the reloading buffs (Gunner + Swift Aim) stack multiplicatively. Don't know if that's right.

Sweet! Wait... what does this "|Accuracy" thing mean?

Well - a paladin with 3 DEX and 3 PER and the right abilities and talents can tank really well - but besides giving support and heals he can do nothing else. If he's the last man standing: don't waste time - hit the reload button.

A tanky ego paladin that clips casters/archers: http://forums.obsidian.net/topic/83338-class-build-the-dull-runner-caster-clipper-paladin-tank/?hl=%2Bthe+%2Bdull+%2Brunner A nice, tanky supporter: http://forums.obsidian.net/topic/83526-the-darcozzi-forward-observer-could-use-some-input/?hl=%2Bdarcozzi+%2Bforward+%2Bobserver Tanky fighter who also does good damage: http://forums.obsidian.net/topic/83612-class-build-the-engineer-shocking-dps-fighter-artillery-tank/?hl=%2Bthe+%2Bengineer One of the best frontlines I ever had was two paladins - one with Zealous Endurance, the other with Zealous Focus, both with FoD, Quick Switch + guns, Coordinated Attacks and Marking Weapons (Shame or Glory, Cladhaliath) and both with heraldic shields (Outworn Buckler, Little Savior) plus a chanter tank with Redfield: http://forums.obsidian.net/topic/83491-class-build-the-drakes-ambassador-searing-mesmerizing-chanter-tank/?hl=%20drake#39;s Even on low levels these three guys could easily hold the line and clip some damgerous enemy squishies while the back row would deal damage. Then, after the chanter got the Dragon Slashed, the front line also did a lot of damage. After lvl 13 (two times Sacred Immolation plus Dragon Slashed) it was game over for all foes.

Thanks for the quick answer. I also thought it was Durgan Reinforcement but was not 100% sure. I saw that they didn't stack... and never used them again.

I would also vote for Paladin. First of all you get the chance to boost you defenses just by "roleplaying" his order correctly as the main character. Then - as Raven said - the stats you want fit very well for a Paladin. But you could also take a Fighter. Some people don't give their fighters INT, bt the truth is that some of their abilities do profit enormously if you build a high INT fighter. High RES and PER are always good for a frontliner. To be honest you could use every class. A melee ranger would also be possible or a monk. Even a tanky rogue who focuses on crits. Don't gimp yourself if you have a favorite class. You can make it work with those stats in this game - even on PotD difficulty. For example I did this druid tank and he nearly has these stats (just swap MIG and PER). He turned out to be great.

Nice! Pilferer's Grip doesn't stack with Durgan Reinforcement (or Armored Grace, not sure which one) though. It gets suppressed if you have a fighter with Armored Grace and durgan reinforced armor (as I used to have). I was really sad. Speed from abilities (Frenzy, Swift Aim, Swift Strikes) doesn't stack with each other nor with +speed from potions or spells (Potion of Power, Alacrity and so on). E.g. Frenzy suppresses Potion of Power, Alacrity suppresses Frenzy. Outlander's Frenzy suppresses Swift Aim and Swift Strikes. I never tried if Alacrity suppresses Swift Aim - but it should.

Pure tanks don't work as intended (only with chokepoints), but since you asked for it: Class: Paladin (main char), Shieldbearer (hard to kill as long he has Lay on Hands uses left and is not completely CC'd) Race: Wild Orlan/Moon Godlike/Pale Elf Culture: Aedyr Stats: high RES, high INT, high MIG, normal PER, low DEX, normal CON Abilities: Lay on Hands, Zealous Endurance, Righteous Soul, Liberating Exhortation, Deprive the Unworthy, Healing Chain, Reviving Exhortation Talents: Weapon & Shield, Superior Deflection, Cautious Attack, Deep Faith, Shielding Touch, Bear's Fortitude, Snake's Reflexes Special items: Outworn Buckler Class: Fighter (hard to kill as long his recovery works) Race: same Culture: same Stats: same Abilities: Vigorous Defense, Unbending, Unbroken, Critical Defense Talents: Weapon & Shield, Rapid Recovery, Cautious Attack, Sup. Deflection, Bear's Fortitude, Snake's Reflexes, Bull's Will Special items: Cloak of the Tireless Defender, Belt of Bountiful Healing

In the Black Hound tavern in Gilded Vale: "I saw something weird the other day in Elmshore: A gang of ogres was loitering in front of the cave where I use to pluck herbs when I return from Twin Elms. I quickly hid behind a bush when suddenly a wild orlan came along. He walked right into their midst and yelled: 'Hey guys! I'm batsh!t and you're chickensh!t!" "What? Was he nuts? How did it turn out?" "They are all dead" Badshid Krayth was a young druid from the Ixamitl Plains who lived a peaceful live. But one day, while he was spiritshifted and chased some hinds just for the fun of it, he met a big white Stag. The Stag didn't like Badshid chasing the hinds too much, so it chased Badshid instead and knocked him prone. Badshid's head hit a rock and made a cracking noise - *crack* - ouch! When Badshid woke up he was at home in his bed, his head wrapped up in bandages. He didn't know why, but he felt an urge to talk to somebody, so he got up. When he saw his mother in the kitchen he wanted to say something nice, but instead a stream of scatology emerged from his mouth so that his mother paled and fainted. Years of ascesis, training and meditating were needed so that Badshid was able to talk like a halfway normal kith again. But every now and then he blows his stack and has to flee the angry mob - making him a nomad. It doesn't help that everybody understands "Batsh!t Crazy" when he introduces himself. He's had more angry outbursts than a common barbarian and got more beatings than a ranger's mongrel because of that, but this turned him into a cast-iron warrior who giVES A STINKIN' SOGGY SHEEPSH*T, YOU HEAR ME!?! =================================== Badshid Krayth aka Batsh!t Crazy =================================== Difficulty: PotD v. 2.03 -------------------------------------------------------------- Class: Druid -------------------------------------------------------------- Race: Wild Orlan -------------------------------------------------------------- Background: Ixamitl Plains - Scholar -------------------------------------------------------------- Stats: MIG: 17 CON: 13 DEX: 08 PER: 10 INT: 15 RES: 15 -------------------------------------------------------------- Skills: Stealth 1, Athl. 2, Lore 10, Mech. 0, Surv. 11 -------------------------------------------------------------- Talents (a=auto, r=recommended, !=important) Weapon & Shield Style ® Snake's Reflexes Bear's Fortitude Bull's Will Deep Pockets Superior Deflection Body Control Heart of the Storm Abilities Defiant Resolve (a) Spiritshift Stag (a) Druid Stag Carnage (a) Druid Stag Defenses (a) --------------------------------------------------------------- Items (*=additional echantments by me; !=important, r=recommended): Weapon set 1: Exceptional Hatchet & Ilfan Byrngar's Solace (*Durgan Reinforced) Weapon Set 2: Forgotten Tear of the Beloved & Medium Wooden Shield (*Exceptional) OR Scath Gwannek (if you can buy it from Azurro) Boots: Boots of Stability Head: Stag Helm Armor: Blaidh Golan (*Durgan Reinforced, *Exceptional) Neck: Spellward Amulett Belt: Broad Belt of Power Rings: Orlan's Bramble Ring, Ring of Protection Hands: Bracers of Deflection Quick slots: Defensive Scrolls (Protection, Defense, Prayers), Potion of Spirit Shield, Potion of Alacrity, Ashwood Cameo Figurine --------------------------------------------------------------- Hoi - this one is quite easy to explain: this guy is supposed to walk into a mob and disable them. Since druids have fairly good deflection from the start, it's not impossible to turn them into ok tanks. They get a lot of offensive spells but very few class talents that are worthwhile (if you're not willing to invest in spiritshifting). So you can build a very tanky character who still can dish out lots of damage and cause massive CC via spells. In order to do this, I chose a stat distribution that leads to very balanced defenses. At lvl 14, (with gear and talents I mentioned above), Badshid has the following defenses: Deflection: 111 (121 against spells) Fortitude: 102 (112) Reflex: 103 (113) Will: 102 (112) On top of that he has +15 defense against Stuck, Hobbled, +25 against Paralyzed, +10 against Stunned, Petrified, Sickened and Weakened, +30 against Prone, +15 against Push, +30 to all defenses when stunned or prone, -50% stun and prone duration. If his Will is attacked, it's all +10 because of Defiant Resolve. It's really funny if you meet foes with terrifiy- or frighten-auras beause then it's always on. DR is 12/15/17 against slash/crush/pierce - that was enough. I think we can say that he has pretty good defenses without any buffs - especially as a caster. You can choose which one of the defensive talents to pick based on the enemies that will await you in the near future. Then you get most out of level ups. Another good thing is that druids have some healing over time abilities. That way we don't need Veteran's Recovery and stuff to survive all the grazes that will rain down on us. Moonwell is a great spell for this. His casting takes some time, but luckily he can take a lot of beating before going down. And once Returning & Relentless Storm are both on the fight is basically over. A Potion of Spirit Shield might help against too many interrupts that would prevent you from casting. But that's only for big mobs with high ACC and interrupt (ogres etc.). I chose Deep Pockets because I never did that before ( ) and because of Nature's Bounty (since the other two level 7 spells are somewhat useless). That way I can have lots of scrolls/potions and still have room for this nice summoned potion. You can switch that for any other talent - even more defense would be nice. Cautious Attack can make a difference in tough fights for example. I had some other tanky guys in the party (see doen below), so I didn't feel the need. Speaking of tanks: druids can also summon blights. These things can be very tanky too - if you face enemies that do a certain kind of damage that your blight is invulnerable to. It's really funny to see some xaurips trying to pierce your flame blight. And another good thing: blights don't have durations... Since druids get all their spells per level up you're very flexible. You can cause stun, prone, lots of DoT effects (hello Combusting Wounds!), different elemental damage, raw damage, you name it. And because you're standing in the middle of the mob, you always touch them all with your spells. His ACC is not his best part (not abysmal, but not very high), so it's a good idea to team up with a paladin (Zealous Focus) or any other buffer and/or use another char to debuff the mob until the druid casts his storms. If you feel - while playing the early game - that he's still too flimsy and not yet tanky enough to survive in melee, you can always retreat and use him from the back row like any other druid. I don't know if he's 100% able to play the role of an antiquated "main tank" - I used him together with three other sturdy frontliners (Engineer fighter, Leech barbarian and Drake's Ambassador chanter) and two flimsier chars (Hurtstacker wizard and Needler priest) and his performance was great. I just looked up the record sheet and saw that he got knocked out zero times. Zero! Well, maybe that's because I had a lot of tankiness in this group AND was very lucky - but still. When you get Avenging Storm you might want to reequip: put on Sura's Supper Plate and Garodh's Chorus. That's because Avenging Storm works with Retaliation. Which is superpowerful. It boosts retaliation from meh to wow (see doen below for detailed instructions). Ok, this is the last build for now. I'll see what WMII brings up. Until then: hands off PoE! At least for me. Edit (24.06.2016): As I said above, there is a neat >3.0 combination of items and late game spells that work great with this build: - Put on Sura's Supper Plate and any other retaliation item. - Sip a potion of Flame Shield - Cast Avenging Storm: the three retaltion effects from above will ensure that you will not only retaliate with those but also Avenging Storm will be triggered. Once because you got hit - and three times because retaliation works with it. In addition it also triggers when you hit with your weapon. - Cast Nature's Terror - If you have a priest: cast Spark the Souls of the Righteous on this druid - Tank the enemies while you cast Returning- and the Relentless Storm (if needed) All foes who surrounded you should be dead by now.

But until then he could do a whole playthrough. Then, after WMII is out, he's totally fit and trained for a PotD run.

I just discovered that Amplified Thrust (cipher power) still generates focus (that I knew before) AND benefits from Vulnerable Attack! That's quite powerful. I'm just playng a party of 6 with my "special" builds (Dull Runner paladin, Backlash Beldam cipher, Riptide ranger, Fulmineo monk, Mad Hornet rogue and Hurtstacker wizard). The Beldam is also wearing Ryona's Vembraces because of the multiretaliation-focus-effect. So it's a 8 DR bypass for Amplified Thrust. If you hit a low DR foe with it and have Draining Whip and a +x% focus item you will have way more focus after the Thrust hit. And it is fast and does pretty good damage, too. Also good for rescueing your squishies since it pushes foes away and thus breaks engagement.

Funny - never tried that. I always run inside and turn everything that moves into minced meat.