Boeroer

It was a SC Monk in my current playthrough. I added the multiclass with the console for testing purposes. That lowers the Power Level autimatically but doesn't remove any abilites.

The reason for your shorter DoT is in the post I wrote before (see bold part in the quote). Shifter gets unique Spiritshift forms (Spiritshift_Boar_Shifter instead of Spiritshift_Boar) - I guess because of the healing but I don't know for sure what lead to that decision. The Boar DoT is attached to the spiritshift ability, not the tusk weapons. Somehow Obsidian made an error (Copy & Paste Error? Forgot to give a duration in the first place so it inherits the partent ability's duration? I don't know) : instead of the original short duration it has the same as the whole Spiritshift.

Unmodded game with INT 28 (first FF and then Stunning Surge) :

Shifter or normal Druid? Of course enemies' RES will play a role, too. I achieved over a minute on dummies who don't have high RES.

Roleplaying, giving your char a unique face and mentally investing in the (back)story does indeed help a lot. Even if you're doing your umpteenth playthrough. Berserker/Paladin is indeed a nice combo. And there also is the Goldpact/Shifter who can achieve enormous AR with 0 recovery penatly which makes him sturdy af but at the same time a good damage dealer. Err... I guess I'm not helping...

One can't mod new models into the game afaik. If the model of the Spiritshift forms are seperated (like - individual objects for head and body) it might be possible to assemble the shifted body with a godlike head - but it wouldn't look right I think. The models can be tinted iirc - so at least the colors could be brought to match...? But the portrait would be no problem of course (given you find someone who has the skill).

Right - I checked again yesterday because seem to have missed to uncheck one mod when I was doing the test. And I found out that FF works with Wildstrike in my game because of the Community Patch (which I somehow must have doubleclicked or misclicked when turning off mods). CP turns the FF ability into a "proper" melee weapon attack so it is able to generate focus, trigger Swift Flurry/Heartbeat Drumming and Enervating Blows etc. (and profits from other melee weapon passives in muliclass combos) which it didn't before and which was kind of a bummer, especially for FF/Ciphers. Because of this "little" change Wildstrike lashes will get applied to the FF ability attack. Boar DoT also gets applied bc of that reason (I guess, it's not tied to the tusk weapons in the first place but to the spiritshift modal). So indeed this interaction is NOT in the vanilla game (I suspect, didn't do an additional test yet) - but it works with the Community Patch. It's not gamebreakingly good - but def. very good. The very long Boar DoT I mentioned is not a product of the CP though but should also occur in the vanilla game: Enfeebled + Shifter Boar DoT (in vanilla game you might need two attack rolls for that: fist FF and then another "real" melee attack) will naturally lead to a very long DoT time because the Shifter Boar DoT has a quirk (vanilla game, too): it seems to have the base duration of the Spiritshift iirc - not the intended one which the non-shifter Boar DoT has. That's why Enfeebled + high INT from Monk leads to very long DoT times with a FF/Shifter.

If you have a Chanter in the party then Berserker/Shifter will be a lot better (in most encounters) because his confused Carnage will kill weak summons like the skeletons from "Many Lives Pass By" which will trigger Bloodlust and Blood Thirst as well as healing from a pet (there are some which heal on kill) which makes him attack and cast so quickly it's mind-blowing. Also prolongs Blood Storm. Confused Berserker using AoE healing and stuff like Relentless Storm is super tricky though! Prepare to use Svef to end confusion or use Devil of Caroc Breastplate or Modwyr to end the confusion when shifting back (or prevent confusion in the first place by casting Frenzy before shifting). Vid (spoiler tags to allow browsing the forum without having to load the vid every time):

You are focusing on the initial strike. Sure, that's nice, especially bc. of the higher accuracy. Gouging Strike is good against big bosses, no doubt (but you can always do the same with Lover's Embrace and Leap and a potion of invisibility). Also with a well-placed CC from stealth or invisibility you can have a big impact. But against mobs the Berserker/Shifter will have a clear "fun" advantage due to Carnage and attack speed - and at least once you get Blood Thirsty and combine it with a well placed Plague of Insects + Infestation of Maggots (or Nature's Terror + Relentless Storm to use the Tenacious PEN) before shifting you will see what I mean. It also depends on solo vs. party. Solo I would prefer Assassin no doubt.

"Überkäse"... we should establish that as an official term.

There is no such thing as a last playthrough with Deadfire.

It is a bug. It occurs very seldomly but it's still there. It is not 100% confirmed but to prevent it from happening again you need to uncheck the "gib" option in the game options menu (I am not joking). If your gib option is already deactivated... I never had this bug during a lot (lot) of playing hours - and I'm playing without gibs. No proof but maybe another hint. You can get back the original helmet by reloading to a state before that happened (obviously), by using the console to give you the helmet again (will deactivate achievements) or by hiring an exported character as adventurer in a tavern to whom you gave the helmet in another playthrough. So if you have another savegame (can be the same run from before) with that helmet you can export a character with nothing on but that helmet, reload your actual game and hire that character at lvl 1 with items. It will cost a bit of money but you'll have your helm back without "official cheating".

Haha - dat stoopid mod!

Today!

Yeah, there is a reason for this:

I didn't meticuloulsy compare the durations of high RES vs. low RES enemies but remembering my test from yesterday vs. different targets (not Huani though), RES doesn't seem to matter at all. I tried it against cre_dummies (low RES) and against Neriscyrlas (high RES) and iirc the duration felt the same (in hindsight - didn't even think about it to be honest - but I guess I would have noticed if it had lasted much shorter). I think it doesn't matter because it's supposed to be a benefical effect - and those don't have to get through RES normally...?

He purges himself regularly from Aefyllath Mith Fyr. The passive doesn't distinguish between benefical or hostile fire effects it seems.

Clarity of Agony is great, Dance of Death is not worth the investment when going solo imo - unless you make heavy use of the Monk summons at some point and use Instruments of Pain - and/or use Xoti's Lantern for Mortification refunds.

There is one special fun combo (imo) with Trickster/Soulblade which I really like: go max deflection (high RES, Mirrored Images + Borrowed Instincts + Psyvhovampiric Shield sometimes + gear) and use Whispers of the Endless Paths with the enchantment "Offensive Parry". Those parries will generate focus! In addition to that the raw damage of Soul Annihilation will get applied to all enemies in the cone AoE (the amout of damage to each enemy varies, the initial target gets the normal raw dmg, the next only a bit, the next more and so on). It's not for man tanking - but you can stand sourrounded by melee enemies for quite a long time and gain focus "passively" be just parrying and then take out the enemies with Soul Annihilation. Riposte stacks with Offensive Parry (meanikng you can "riposte" twice from one single miss)! Riposte itself doesn't generate focus but it's an additional source of damage. Offensive Parry is not an AoE attack (oly hits the enemy who missed) but Riposte does the whole cone attack. Against tough single enemies you can switch to another weapon with better single target dmg.

Huh, I always thought it's kind of a waste that Monk/Druids can't use Transcendent Suffering in any form for their spiritshift attacks (could have been a weakened version of TS or whatever) - but I never thought about the Forbidden Fist ability in combination with Spiritshift. Just slept on that combo. Does the ability get Wildstrike bonus in the vanilla game, too? I reckon Shifter Boar's DoT with Enfeebled + Turning Wheel might be insane on its own...? Edit: jeez, FF ability indeed gets the bonus of TS and all the Wildstrike goodies in the vanilla game, too - including Boar's wounding DoT. That's awesome! ...Lol - the Boar DoT lasts for nearly a minute then. What a beast... I also love about the FF/Druid that you can walk in your own Tanglefoot and get <1 sec afflictions all the time (=plenty of wounds).

The critical path is indeed short (partly due to criticism that PoE1's was too long - which it was imo). But if you do all sidequests and explore the whole map and on top do the three DLCs (?) it's huuuuge. I don't understand how you can do everything in Neketaka and not much else - there are a lot of quests there that require you do sail elsewhere...? I can't say how many % are left. That also depends what you mean by "all of Neketaka", how you resolve some quests, which faction you want to attach yourself to, if you have the DLCs etc. I can level my party up to level 20 and still have nearly 50% of the content left (if we speak about hours of game time - with DLCs). For example in my current playthrough I reached lvl 20 before some last stuff that was originated in Neketaka , , Beast of Winter, Seeker, Slayer, Survivor and Forgotten Sanctum.

Beckoner with Ancient Weapons does plenty of damage while you can totally dump MIG and PER and go the tanky route. Also in the beginning and mid game you'll have stuff like 6 wurms which also do a lot of damage. They are bad later on but then you can retrain and pick a better summon (like Ogres or Ancient Weapons).

A Chanter - either Troubadour or Beckoner - in whatever combination. SC Paladin gets +2 Zeal via Divine Retribution from dying summons, too - so he will have enough Zeal to give Exortations, Lay on Hands etc. to everyone at PL9. *Singing with Freddy Mercury voice* "This could be Hastening for everyone my dudes could be healed my dudes could be fun..."

I suggested a long time ago that it's only one animal form and the shifting made a true modal (so that you'd be able to switch it on and off with a little cool down like other modals have). Keep the "no casting while shifted" thing. But nobody listened.

The Assassin/Tactician doesn't need to hide and wait. Invisibility leads to brilliant (for some dubious reasons). At the same time you can prevent combat to end when you are invisible with Gouging Strike. That means the Assassin/Tactician can attack (for example shoot with an arquebus), turn invisible which makes you brilliant and returns Guile, shoot (makes you visible), turn invisible and so on.