Boeroer

Imo it is not worth it. It's only a (lowish) additive dmg bonus and you can use skillpoint for something better like Arcana - unless you want to play a supersneaky ranger of course. Stuff like Xoti's Sickle which grants up to (and in extreme cases even more than) +60% dmg (via Religion) or Keeper of the Flame which also scales with Religion (but its burn AoE) are more worth the skill investment I think. Stuff like Religion, Survival (St. Okamu's Mercy) or Metaphysics (Chromoprismatic Staff, Essence Interrupter) are not competing for points with Arcana, Mechanic etc. so it's not that much of a either/or situation with the other useful "active" skills (like mechanicsm arcana etc).

In Turn Based Mode I guess the Smoke Veil variant is more attractive than in Real Time with Pause. Not because of dmg output or attack speed or so (which is also a factor but let's forget that for now) but because in RTwP the whole "turn invisible to deliver an attack" routine means more micromanagement and that becomes annoying after some battles. It's also difficult to automate this effectively. In the early game it's very good to use Smoke Veil - because the +25 ACC is so impactful then. If one uses Breath Blessings to start at lvl 4 you can even start with Smoke Veil right away.

Smoke Veil does cost 2 Guile, not 1. You forgot to factor in the Powel Level scaling of Crippling Strike. It gains 5% base dmg (meaning multplicative dmg) among other bonuses like more PEN and ACC. Auto-attacks do not scale. Because of that it is not really worth it to use 1 Smoke Veil (2 Guile) and then auto-attack instead of using 2 Crippling Strikes. At least at higher levels. One could compare 1 Smoke Veil + 1 Crippling Strike from invisibility with 3 Crippling Strikes - but I guess the outcome would be even worse. Crippling Strike is a PL-1-ability (even when upgraded it counts as PL 1). At char's PL 7 (that's at max level of a multiclass without any further PL boosts) it will get a bonus scaling of 7-1 = 6 Power Levels. If you use stuff like PL-food or other power level buffs it's more of course. Power Level scaling mechanics are here: https://pillarsofeternity.fandom.com/wiki/Power_levels#General_effects That means at PL 7 Crippling Strike will have 30% more base damage, 1.5 more PEN (+2 PEN it already has by itself, so 3.5), +6 ACC and the affliction will last 30% (base) longer. It's worthwhile to use Smoke Veil + Assassinate if you can use the Assassinate bonus on multiple enemies at once (e.g. with a spell) and/or in order to make sure you really hit something which is otherwise hard to hit (for example if you need to apply Gouging Strike to a really tough boss and then hide and let it bleed out). For the average encounter this tactic isn't very effective in a party setup - just as Kaylon said.

Yeah, but instead of using it for a bit more (single target) damage it is - in my experience - often better to use it with hard CC. Especially on PotD where defenses of enemies are higher and health pools are bigger. A hard CC does "take out" a certain enemy right away no matter the health pool and buys you a lot of time. In case of mind control (dominate for example) you not only take out the enemy for some time but also gain sort of a summon. Sure, the added crit damage and PEN from assassinate won't matter at all - but the higher ACC (maybe even combined with other ACC buffs) makes it so much more likely to actually hit even high defense targets (and those are usually the most worthwhile to turn). So I would argue that Assassin itself is very useful - but in this example (Maia as Ranger/Assassin) it's not that impactful. You might be able to take out the first threat a bit earlier - but what about the second and third? PEN aside imo it's more impactful to use all that Guile for 3 Crippling Strikes (300% all-multiplicative dmg) instead of 1 Smoke Veil and 1 Crippling Strike (+50% additive dmg, +200% additive if Backstab is used from point blank). There's one thing about assassinating with something like an arquebus though: high numbers per hit are just fun. And fun is important, right? I can see Assassinate on a target with Takedown Combo be really cool. Use Dragon's Dowry from stealth/invisibility after you AC used Takedown Combo and the target should be in real trouble. But thinking about a fun and more effective way to use a Ranger/Assassin... what about using it with Thorny Roots? High Chance of immobilizing a whole bunch of enemies right away for a rel. long time and doing decent AoE dmg, too (+4 PEN might be what this ability needed). Stop them, then shoot them. Doesn't sound too shabby to me. Has anybody tried?

I know you can't from Barb's Carnage - but does Riven Gore also not generate focus?

Chromoprismatic Staff maybe? The "hit 5 times in a row to trigger AoE attack" enchantment might occur quite often. Amra with Bleeding Cuts and 25+MIG? Time Parasite even stacks with Amra's Frenzy. Nope, no pull or push effect triggers disengagement attacks in the game. Only thing that can force disengagement attacks is terrify (e.g. Haunting Chains).

The Assassin subclass is absolutely not worthless. For example the Assasinate bonus also works with spells. +25 ACC can make a huge difference for a hard CC spell that gets cast from invisibility (e.g. with an Assassin/Bloodmage). If you are solo (or park the party out of combat range) Assassin is very good, too. Just the "use weapon from invisibility to get a little more damage" approach is not that great in a party setup.

They don't suppress each other because Sworn Enemy gives bonus damage (for your MC only, not the AC) while Marked Prey gives bonus accuracy. Marked Prey does stack with everything afaik (including Zealous Focus). Brand Enemy unlocks Predator's Sense by the way. Which is cool because it's an autohit, has good range, fast cast, no recovery and is quite cheap.

Right. There are some melee only attack abilies that do allow to circumvent that restriction by using a hybrid weapon setup. Clear Out (ranged main hand), Whirling Strikes (like Heart of Fury but melee only restriction), Cleaving Stance & Riposte (ranged offhand), Hunter's Claw. Some of those will use both weapons (Cleaving, Riposte, Whirling Strikes, Heart of Fury) because they are implemented differently than let's say Flames of Devotion or the Rogue's strike abilities. Clear Out is only a primary attack so naturally only the main hand gets used (but you unlock the use with a ranged weapon by putting a melee weapon into the offhand). In case of Hunter's Claw iirc you put the melee weapon in the offhand like with Clear Out to unlock the use with the ranged main hand. And only the main hand will execute the attack like with others Fill Attacks using hybrid setups. But because using Fire in the Hole/Chain Shot or Hand Mortar/Blinding Smoke with Driving Flight gives you a lot more stacks than 2 - which would be the normal melee DW outcome - it's still better (normal blunderbusses don't work that way).

Fire in the Hole with Driving Flight is not only great for Whirling Strikes (it's spectacular actually). It also gives a lot of stacks with Hunter's Claw with only one shot (jumps add stacks, too). The Full Attack of Hunter's Claw allows to use a ranged wepon in the offhand. So - melee + mortar def. works. If you use a melee weapon in the main hand you also keep engagment. Mortar in main hand + melee weapon or Tuotilo's Palm in offhand would also work, but then you'd have no engagement (bit of a bummer imo). Note that Concussive Tranquilizer does work with the AoE of mortars which is great (AoE interrupt and stripping off buffs) - but Wounding Shot does not.

Imo Maia is best as Scout with the Red Hand. Her longer range with arquebuses counters the Red Hand's shorter range and the build-in interrupts from her subclass make Stunning Shots a bit redundant. Twinned Shots with the Red Hand is great as well - but again that costs a lot of Bond. I'd prefer to use Takedown Combo more and raise the dmg with the Rogue's passives (Sneak Attack etc.) that cost no resources instead of investing Bond. I also like to be able to flee with both resource pools. Even if either Guile or Bond are empty you might still have the other one and can use either Escape or Evasive Roll. Also Escape's deflection bonus in combination with Maia's Armor (Return Fire) makes sense. Use Gunner and her armor in combination with Acina's Tricorn and she's great. Also - and that's maybe even more important for a companion - she needs rel. little micro for a Scout (also her bird cannot be engaged and is free to retreat whenever it gets damaged too much). Of course it might be that you already played her as Scout and are looking for something new...

By the way: Stunning Shots with a SC Stalker could be a cool passive I guess? Best used with fast weapon though like daggers or hatchets etc. If you cast Binding Roots on enemies and then use Vion-Ceth you can get a +30% dmg bonus. With max Religion (pretend you worship Galawain) you can also use Xoti's Sickle to great effect. It doesn't matter how you kill enemies (doesn't have to be with the sickle) to get the bonus dmg stacks. And it climbs up to +60%. So one hatchet +30% dmg, the other with up to +60% and good attack speed which might let you interrupt with Stunning Shots often. Also a bit more defense. Sounds good? Lover's Embrace + Pukestabber is even faster than hatchets and more accurate. If you hit a target from stealth you can apply True Love's Kiss which unlocks Predator's Sense. Dual Battle Axe with Bleeding Cuts is pretty great with Whirling Strikes (makes the most out of the Bond in terms of damage). Bleeding Cuts unlock Predator's Sense. A dual wielder can also receive Reaping Knives from a fellow cipher and be good with them. And of course the omnipresent Morning Star is good because the AC's "Takedown Combo" targets fortitude. Takedown Combo works best with a two handed weapon - if you want to profit from it yourself (you don't have to though). Saru Sichr's poison DoT unlocks Predator's Sense, too. Stalker with Ngati's Tusk sounds nice as well (Hunter of Hunters with max Survival is really, really good).

-10 deflection.

SC Stalker is fine by me. Whirling Strikes is very good but also expensive. Having a Cipher in the party would make an SC Stalker way better because of the source of Brilliant. I personally must use Stalker's Patience as my main weapon when using a Stalker - obviously. I played a Stalker/Monk (don't remember the subclass, probably Helwalker) because I wanted to combine the recovery skip of Stalker's Patience with Swift Flurry/Heartbeat Drumming. Crit chain and high ACC lead to lots of recovery skips. With the late Instruments of Pain I could also make good use of Enduring Dance which stacks with the Ranger's passive ACC buffs (and Hunter's Claw etc.). Also the wounding of the weapon is very nice. It was fun. Didn't play an SC Stalker in a real playthrough but only did test sessions with it (mainly fiddling around with Whirling Strikes) so I can't say how much fun it is before reaching he high levels. But I learned to not underestimate how impactful and nice it can be to be able to reach higher Power Level abilities a lot sooner.

Didn't check lately but for the longest time Carnage would only hit, never crit. Anyway: Blood Frenzy's DoT doesn't work with Carnage but with all other AoE stuff that has hit rolls that may result in crits. That includes phrases. It used to not do that back then (only direct weapon hits seemed to work) but got changed some time after release. The whole Spirit Frenzy/Blood Frenzy "tree" is a bit weird. Spirit Frenzy works with spells, Spirit Tornado doesn't (maybe even not with Carnage), Blood Frenzy doesn't work with Carnage but spells... Feels a bit like it was implement with hot glue.

Often you don't need more than one - but in some later encounters you will face quite a lot of rushers (rogues and barbs mostly) who just zip right past your tank buddy and are quite sturdy, too. (looking at the Splintered Reef for example). Or your UB/Trickster gets hit by an Arcane Dampener (say hello to the scriveners in the Drowned Barrows) and he suddenly looses all his tankyness. In situations like that it's good to not have the 1 tank + 4 squishy guys setup.

Carnage cannot crit, so no. But the Amra-Carnage can, so yes (kind of).

Defensively Arcane Knight is more reliable for the majority of the game and is easier in the early game imo. Lay on Hands + Blood Sacrifice is a sweet combo. Even nice later with Wall of Draining (endless Lay on Hands). Paladin passives (don't forget Inspiring Triumph) + Wizard Buffs + Llengrath's Safeguard = enormous defense stacking. AR is top notch, too. Once you get Wall of Draining with a Battlemage: OP due to all active instances of Unbending getting prolonged into the sky. Unbending gives you a separate, short-timed healing over time effect every time you get hit - prolonging every one of them means you'll get hundreds, even thousands of healing points per tick at some point. With decent armor and health pool you cannot get knocked out out or killed - except by one-shots, enfeeblement or more than 3 injuries.

Yes, Blood Frenzy adds its raw DoT on spell crits also. Not on ticks of DoTs of course (because no hit roll), but on every pulse of spells such as Wicked Briars, Venombloom, Relentless Storm and so on. Blood Frenzy's raw DoT doesn't stack parallelly though iirc.

They stack. You'll have two sources of healing.

Superlow micro cipher imo: a Psion with all defensive abilities and item setup (e.g. Brigandine + Gladiator Sword + small shield) and tell AI to spam Puppet Master on everything that's still hostile. Doing it in my current playthrough with an SC Psion and I almost never have to touch her - still very effective. Most of times she dominates enemies who come too close and could potentially screw up her focus gain. And most ranged enemies don't bother attacking her (too much AR, defenses too high). If they do: dominate! My focus gain is fast enough (and the recovery long enough) that I can spam it without pause (apart from recovery of course). She has a club + modal for the really tough nuts with superhigh Will but I rarely have to use it. Helm of the White Void + Cipher's ACC bonus against Will is a great combo for me. The more I played Serafen the more often I made im a ranged SC Barb with a Hunting Bow + modal (pretty awesome attack speed), attacking low defense enemies mainly and aiming for Driving Roar + Blood Thirst + Blood Surge. I once made im SC Wild Mind and gave him items with high shock AR so he underpenetrated himself with the occasional shock burst - and used Shared Nightmare with mortars to fire around with huge AoE blasts. Also kept him away from the party... Super big AoE suicide shock nuke is no joke for party squishies. The chance to trigger one isn't high - but if you spam fast, low cost powers all the times it happens often enough.

For Trickster also Arcana makes sense. For example a Scroll of Circle of Protection works like Vigorous Defense (stacks with Mirrored Image) - can be helpful if your Discipline runs out. Scroll of Moonwell: same thing but with healing. Scroll of Avenging Storm is pretty cool with Riposte + Offensive Parry, too. And so on... Passive skills: you could maximize Intimidation and go for Casita Samelia's Legacy (instead of Nomad's Brigandine or Gipon Prudensco). I looks pretty cool imo and with maxed Intimidation (also check out the Berath Blessing that gives you Infamous Captain). I think Nomad's is best overall - but it looks like any other Brigandine so maybe the looks are important, too.

Ah - right, right. Parting Sorrow gives wounds as soon as an engagement ends - for whatever reason. Afaik anything that ends engagement works for Parting Sorrow. It even gives wounds when an enemy you engaged dies (because engagement ends then, too ). I guess it should also work if engagement ends from afflictions (hard CC of an enemy ends your engagement, too).

Nothing but actively moving out of engagement (which includes moving while terrified) will trigger disengagement attacks. There is no way to directly force them on the enemy. Not even with more sophisticated stuff like pulling enemies away from a party member with Into the Fray or whatever. I tried it all... Don't know where you got that info but this is not correct (tested in game right now to be 100% sure). Nope

I believe Triumph of the Crusaders gives Strong and +80 health on kill while Champion's Boon gives +3 engagement (and other stuff)? But yes, that would work as well.