Boeroer

The last thing is important. I would love to see a complete ability/talent tree or something like that (I know most skills stand alone) when I level up. So I could plan what comes next and what requirements I have to meet (lvl, ability) and which skills don't work together (e.g. Swift Aim and Twin Arrows).

Depends on the base damage of the weapon. On a dagger it's not so big. On Firebrand it's really noticable. It's also good for an alpha shot from a gun or arbalest, combined with (runner's) wounding shot. That way the dot is even bigger and you get sneak attack bonus anyway, since you started the encounter (preferably from stealth). I never tried sneak attack + backstab + runner's wounding shot. That should be a pretty awesome alpha strike. Theoretically you could also add deathblows to that, now that indiv. stealth work, or with shadowing beyond - but that's not very likely to happen a lot of times.

I can also imagine that Veteran's Recovery combined with Beloved Spirits and a Trollhide Belt vor something like that could add up to a nice effect on a chanter tank

Cheesy easy peasy Rogue with Cloak of the Master Mystic - get critted a lot by fear aura and never turn back visible because of that bug - cut the dragon to pieces while beging invisible... But you are right - normally you wouldn't get that bow very early. I forgot that I cheesed (accidentially). But with two priests and a lot of summons you might win even if you're not of high level.

You can't say which weapon is the best for a certain class, as you can build every class for different purposes. For example an interrupting/stunning barbarian built would need war hammers or morning stars, since there are some unique weapons that combine high interrupt with stun effect. If he wants max DPS he would need Tidefall. Another thing is: how early can you get a certain weapon. Some weapons are so good because you can pick them up very early. What overall use is purgatory when you get it after 90% of the game is done? That's why I think the following weapons are "best" for building a certain idea around it: Tidefall, Tall Grass, Hours of St. Rumbalt, Mabec's Morning Star (if Azurro shows up early), Shatterstar (later combined with Godhanwhatsoever), Borresaine, Sabra Marie, Bittercut, Hold-Wall, Firebrand (from Forgemaster's Gloves), Outworn Buckler, Cladhaliath, Lead Spitter, Stormcaller.

Ha! Yeah - you're obviously right. But besides that?

Runner's Wounding Shot is also OK if you have somebody who wants to do arbalest or gun alpha strikes but has no special abilities for that - like chanters or priests and so on. By the way: does the dot effect generate focus? Never tested that. And why is Novice's Suffering worse than Transcendent Suffering. I never used it - but it seems to produce nearly the same numbers. So why is a monk with fists OK but a rogue or a fighter is not?

But that's the point: you can get all the gear I mentioned (sanguine plate, shod-in-faith, Tall Grass/Hours of St. Rumbalt) at the beginning of act 2. Most of them you just can buy. You can pick up Tidefall very early too - theoretically - the fight is quite tough when you just started into act 2... and you need mechanics 10 to discover the weapon. If you have all this, then a barb is really great, combining aoe dps, aoe cc and tanking. Monk is totally awesome nevertheless.

Most fun melee classes for me are Barb and monk. Barb really makes fun if you combine high int and per with sanguine plate and shod-in-faith boots plus a weapon that causes afflictions on crit (or hit/crit). Because of carnage he disables so many enemies at once and the shod-in-faith keep him alive. My favorite weapons so far: Tall Grass/Hours of St. Rumbalt/Mabec's Morning Star/Tidefall. Tidefall because then he never goes down and applies a lot of wounding. Helps with a ranger's pet. One handed stunning weapons would be even better, but you only geht them late in the game - except Cladhaliath, which I also renommend. This is also great together with the Vile Loners Lance and dual wield. With enough ACC you will have a stunlocking tank. Monks are so much fun because of Force of Anguish and Flagellant's Path. When you punch the enemy and he flies away - that's so satisfying. At the same time he's very sturdy even without special items. My tip for the later game: the two duplicates combined with the padded armor that gives Alacrity. Your Duplicates will hit so fast - and that works every encounter (if you get enough wounds)!

Or you produced a lot of grazes with carnage?

Carnage worked with the Grey Sleeper's enchantments when I used it so I can't think of a reason why the Redeemer shouldn't. But that was with version 2.01. Maybe they changed that? Don't hope so...

Save, try, reload?

Marking works great when you have a tanky character that marks and another one that flanks. It gives +10 ACC as long as you attack the same target. That's basically +10 ACC for the marker (because -10 deflection is the same as +10 ACC) and +20 ACC for the flanker (-10 defl., +10 ACC). This turns a lot of your flanker's attacks into crits against "normal" enemies and is very useful against hard to hit big ones. I tested it myself a couple of times and it works. Can't say anything about experiences with the paladin's coordinated attacks, but I read that it stacks. I never ran into problems with the range but I admit that my marking/flanking tactic only used melee attacks so far. You can also combine that stuff with coordinating weapons on the flanker (another +4 ACC for him) and hearth orlan's minor threat. So the optimal flanker would be a hearth orlan rogue.

You can only make superb weapons from sky dragon eyes. You geht 3 of them: two from the sky dragon and one form Concelhaut's desk. Adra Dragon scales are only good for armor.

The Blade of the Endless Paths is the best of them. It's superb, has the speed enchantment and is giving +10 to an ally attacking the same target - that's very good when you use Eder to attack an enemy and then use your rogue with Tall Grass to flank. He will get a +10 ACC bonus which will trigger even more crits and prones. Very good when you meet high deflection enemies. The speed enchantment is nice for a heavy armored fighter. Together with Armored Grace and that one item from White March that gives another 10% recovery bonus plus durgan refined armor you will be a heavy armored guy who is very tough AND is hitting fast. You can even afford to take Vulnerable Attack - that would give you a crazy 10 DR bypass and that would just negate your speed bonus from the Blade.

Heh? Sprit Lance has an aoe blast itself and does lots oft damage to mobs around the primary target.

You don't need to minmax your stats. If you want some good dialogue options you can always go with 15 or 16. There are so many items that give +2 or +3 to stats so that even in the few dialogues where you need 18 you can have it without resting bonus and the like. Then you have some more points for the other stats. That's why I used the ">" and "=". You don't need exactly that one special value for this and that attribute. Not even in PotD. It's more like a priority list for me.

Depends: Torment's Reach = lots of micromanagement, very high dps Turning wheel + Lightning Strikes = less micro, good dps I did both! ) Boring fights with lots of mobs: Turning Wheel autoattacker Challenging fights: Use Torment's reach and Force of Anguish here and there There are a lot of different builds for monks out there. I like the one with high int, long stride (or flagellant's path) and Force of Anguish plus Enervating Blows. With a crit you prone the enemies for over 20 seconds plus they are weakened - making it easy prey for your deathblow-rogue or barb with brute force/threatening presence. Or finish them off by yourself, especially if you also have Apprentice's Sneak Attack. It's a lot of micro, but very powerful an long lasting CC plus good damage.

Maybe it works - thanks a lot for testing - but I wasn't really happy with the results when I tried last time.

What can I say? I'm a powergamer - and I'm proud of it. I can only play when my two little kids (and my wife) are sleeping or they are all gone to the zoo or something like that. So I need to be as effective a possible. On normal you can try a lot of things without being punished. Maybe you don't even need to retrain. But the weekend is nearly over...

So, for your cipher, do this: - Retrain your cipher at an inn or in your stronghold (if you have already rebuilt the Brighthollow mansion) - Decide if you want to play a melee oriented cipher (a lot micromanagement, more risk, probably more DPS and focus, play like a rogue) or a ranged cipher (less micro, less risk, more tactical flexibility, play like a ranger). -Anyways, distribute your stat points like so: PER>DEX>INT=MIG>CON=RES Perception should be high so that your CC spells and your focus building attacks hit. For abilities/talents: Biting Whip, Draining Whip, Weapon Focus, Apprentice's Sneak Attack For melee: Vuln. Attack, Two Handed or Two Weapon Fighting. Ranges: Penetr. Shot, Runner's Wounding Shot, Marksman Powers: Mind Wave, Mental Binding, Phantom Foes if you took Appr. Sneak Attack or have a rogue in the team, Ectopsychic Echo, Tactical Meld & Borrowed Instinct, Amplified Wave. If melee also Antisomethin Field and Spirit Lance are good. Gear: Melee: Dual wielding sabres (Bittercut/Resolution/Purgatory) or two handed weapons: Greatswords (Hours of St. Rumbalt or Tidefall), Pikes (Tall Grass), Estocs (White Spire, Blade of the Endless Paths) Ranged: War Bows (Borresaine, Sabra Marie) or Hunting Bows (Stormcaller) or Arbalests (Hold Wall or Aedrin's Wrecker). The bows provide a consistent stream of focus and the two war bows both cause afflictions on critical hits. If you like arbalests instead, take also the gunner talent or consider taking quick switch to produce a lot of focus at the beginning of the fight since your rate of fire will be slow otherwise. Start with Aedrin's Wrecker, fire, quickswitch to Hold Wall, fire, cast Powers and keep firing with Hold Wall. Arbalests always cause prone on crit.

My Sacred Immolation pally tank had 8 con and it worked without any problems. Where's the problem? If you don't get hit, you don't need superhigh endurance. And every point of DR is more valuable than 10 of endurance. High con on a light armored monk or low defl. barb - that's where you need it.

I tried a wiz build in 2.01 and the minor blights aoe hits did not trigger blasts. So that was either a bug (as there was a trillion in 2.01) or they nerfed it. In White March the blights itself were also quite stupid because there are a lot of enemies that are immune (or have very high DR) to certain elemental damage. And the blights just switch from fire to ice and so on. You have no control what kind of element will be used and so a lot of shots just end up in an "immune" message. I retrained the wiz to use Tall Grass and an arbalest and to summon a spirit lance when fights got tough. That was way more powerful.

Had a tanky fire godlike paladin with min dex and only 8 con. Per, res and int maxed like above. Rest went into mig. Was my main tank in a PotD run and it worked fine.

The Paladin is a nice class for your desired stats. There are also some dialogue options for paladins. A priest would also be good - special dialogue options as well (especially Skaen or Magran or Eothas). Barbarian is also ok with that stats - especially if you use a stunning or overbearing weapon. If possible, take laborer or clergyman as background, that will also give extra dialogue choices. Dex doesn't need to be high if you choose paladin or priest, same for con. Might should be a little higher for better healing and damage. Race doesn't really matter. For a more tanky build, you can take wild orlan. That will also give some bonuses on res and per and will open up a special dialogue option in the crucible keep, but it's not very important.