MasterCipher

This is a fun 150 focus, boss combo: cast disintegrate then recall agony while the priest casts lvl 5 spell to speed up dots then cipher finishes with stasis (nothing is immune or gets resist bonus - all the pre-damage continues to apply - admittedly you could substitute any number of disables here or add a petrify at the front for more lethality)

I haven't played with enough yet to give a good opinion on how useful it is. In theory, it doesn't cost wounds, it's a large circle AoE will hit more targets than cone from torment. MIG applies to the 10 base damage so 20 MIG = 13 damage per charge that can't be resisted. I don't know offhand if you can score crits or other damage modifiers apply. I don't see it as some ultimate damage dealer comparable to a caster or ranger, but a decent way to finish off multiple enemies and splash survivors.

"Easy" Cipher, silly DPS, spec high MIG, decent PER, crit bonus gear, bonus damage vs flank gear, boots of speed, ranged weapon. Cast Ectopyschic Crush and circle behind. 50ish crush damage every second, AoE foe only, invokes 0.5s interrupts, for the low, low price of 30 focus, available at level 5, and you can move, attack, or use other abilities at the same time after you start the beam. Gets stronger when your chanter is level 9 with fire lash. You can cast antipathic beam to boost the base damage of ecto by 20% and deals its own respectable damage and interrupts, but this requires more micro because this beam tethers to an enemy and can wreck your party. I tried Wiz MC most of my damage was high volume, low hit compared to cipher getting a lot of 100+ hits with amplified thrust, SS, detonate.

Wiz vs Cipher CC Wizard is faster with DAoM, period. Wizard also gets AoE confusion , which is one of the best CC afflictions for preserving party health, and a ridiculously OP summon (for fodder purposes) that you can opt in for spell mastery. Wiz also get petrify. Cipher has superior accuracy, doesn't run out of spells, and generally deal more while CCing (SS and amplified wave). Counterpoint for Wiz is prismatic wall and ninagauth's iceball - wiz is limited by rests unless you camp/inn a lot. They are both superb at CC but I'd say Wiz has the edge. Cipher sustainable DPS via abilities (beams, SS, detonate - cherry pick targets with lowest deflection/DR to build focus) is hard to match, especially if they don't have to juggle CC, which is why Maxquest has been known to keep 2 in his party. He also has a vid soloing Alpo gearless as a Cipher. I've never used AI, but microing you can have both Wizard and Cipher. Wizard can crank out high burst DPS without having to build focus in between blasts.

Honest 2 appears to determine your success when using Deceptive to lie to Nyr the Deft Hand (stronghold bad visitor) to tricking into turning himself in.

Not sure if other were aware already, but I just noticed in the chat box it inflicted 60 damage for 6 marks or whatever, but then number above the enemy was 78. The monk has 20 MIG, so it would appear 30% was applied.

* = optional depending on play style and party composition Aumua w/ extra weapon set MIG 21 DEX 18 CON 3 INT 18 PER 15 RES 3 quick switch* drain whip bite whip psychic backlash scion of flame apprentice sneak attack 2 hander style* savage attack 10 focus: tenuous grasp, mindwave, whispers of treason, eyestrike, antipathic beam 20 focus: mental binding, amplified thrust, pyschovampiric shield, phantom enemies, recall agony 30 focus: ectopsychic crush, secret horrors* 40 focus: silent scream, go between, mind lance, wild leech 50 focus: tactical meld, detonate 60 focus: amplified wave, disintegration 70 focus: time parasite, stasis 80 focus: reaver blades, defensive mindweb Weapon Slot 1*: Llawran's stick (legendary enchantment), The Hrs of St Rumbalt (early-mid game) Weapon Slot 2:* Abadon's Hammer, ranged weapon (early-mid game) Weapon Slot 3: Fellstroke Armor: Vengiatta Rugia Head: Maegfolc Skull Neck: Talisman of the Unconquerable Hands: Rabbit Fur Gloves, Firebrand Gloves Wasit: Coil of Resourcefulness* Ring1: Gathbin Family Signet Ring2: Gwyn's Band of Union Feet: Viettro's Formal Footwear Defiance Bay faction: Doemenal Blood Pool sacrifice: Maneha Council of Stars: Galawain's Boon Inn room: dragon's lair (Dyrford Village) Brothel patron: Lyrinia Camping bonus: bonus damage vs flanked Favorite consumable: goldrot chew

2s to switch weapons There is a talent that lowers the time by 1.5s There is a belt that lowers the time by 1s You can stack both to reduce the time to 0

Brutal does a tremendous amount of damage in the aura fights, but at the same time those mobs are sitting ducks already so IMO very fun and speeds up those fights but doesn't really lower their difficulty beyond what you get with only having psychic backlash. The respec idea above has merit, but it's just not a talent I prefer to carry most of the time.

Well it's not really about unlabored blade and counts basically for every weapon enchant, the enchant itself applies to spells/chants, you name it. (Blade and Abydons are just the only Mythic weapons I know of) I knew about 1 handed weapon boosting accuracy for white worm explosion and some chants, but I didn't know about weapon enchantment boosting spell and chant damage. Does this work with Cipher abilities? I just tried testing with a fine 1 hander and fine 2 hander and the tooltips don't change, but I know they lie so I used damaging abilities on with and without and my maximum hit never went above the tooltip, which is what I would have expected if +15% was being added. Does this only work for spells/chants and not Cipher abilities? Or does it only work with Soulbound weapons?

As I recall, penetrating shot works with rooting pain.

I use quick switch and that coil belt for 0 sec switch on Cipher for abilities (+4 MIG), but melee with legendary haste qstaff for focus generation - frankly though I didn't realize the weapon enchant damage was originally just doing it primarily for the MIG.

It's tremendously fun and tempting, but for my high CC, high offense mercenary squad, it would only slightly speed up inevitable victory, and I don't have another talent to spare on my Cipher that is beneficial in every encounter. Too bad we can't donate talents from other characters to the MC.

I'm a believer in this talent now for the stuns. Overall Will isn't invoked often, but when it is, it's during tougher fights or just plain LOL (ie enemy barbarians). Goodbye vulnerable attack; there's no way I can squeeze brutal backlash in but I'm perfectly fine with that.

Pale Elf (10 fire/cold DR is highly impactful and used a lot) Darcozzi I use in heavy melee offensive party - so split a lot of incoming damage. Ranger pet, monk, followed by Paladin takes the most damage, but the Paladin also has the best defenses and DR. Mig 18 Dex 19 Con 9 Int 19 Per 10 Res 3

I didn't know FOD doesn't stack with ZF or Disciplined Barrage, but I still think ZF is great b/c your CC and non-pally alphas don't have to wait on Priest to finally get to bless. My priest ability sequence is typically: +10 ACC fast cast radiant aura, Devotions of Faithful (which stacks with ZF), AoE weaken/daze, 4 DR sometimes depending on incoming damage situation, and lastly Bless sometimes for the 10% damage if there's a lot of combat left.

I never used it b/c I've never seen it proc more than 1/enc. IF it procs infinite, it makes it interesting and niche for some builds, but Ciphers are so flexible there are still too many talents I would take ahead of it - Will is the least common defensed used.

I hardly ever cast psychovampirc shield during an encounter. The devs took away the ability to cast most Cipher and spell buffs outside of combat, but missed this one. If they ever nerfed this, I would likely remove it from the abilities I used unless perhaps, it was changed to fast cast or AoE.

That list is the order I take abilities I probably cast it just as much as Silent Scream. In addition to what Boeroer says, the other perk of Tenuous is that mobs can behave like they are charmed and other enemies will attack them as if they are alliance flipped, BUT they aren't green circled so you can still blast them with your foe only AoEs.

I want to like Puppet Master over Whisper of Treason, but WOT has a longer range (at 5m someone usually eats an attack before dominate lands), costs 1/3 less focus, you can cast on more than 1 target, and charm affliction debuffs all defenses by 25, which is nice after they've served their purpose and even when they are fighting they are disposable and I want the hostile NPCs to remove them before charm wears off. Body attunement is only single target, has a high focus cost for what it gives (I'd rather cast silent scream which bypasses DR), targets the highest defense, and the +DR doesn't stack with priest armor spell, pally aura, or druid form of delegman. I'd rather carry a wizard or chanter with AoE -5 DR. Damage/focus wise for single target, recall agony is better on hard targets, especially since it returns 30% damage final original damage (works with raw damage like Silent Scream) - it's not merely boosting the base damage. Wild leech is rarely used, but when it is, it can be an absolute monster - ie open on a dragon and lower it's Health by 50%, +50% to your AoE and durations, +30% ability speed, -30% damage from enemy, etc. Been awhile, but I *think* you can also go cipher avatar mode with it if you have reaver blades focus overflow and cast multiple time on party members/pets/summons/maybe stack on same NPC. AP is great both for it's own damage and +20% damage buff you can use to boost ectopsychoplasmic crush, but requires micro or you wreck your own party. Abilties I use in 6 person group for melee cipher: tenuous grasp eyestrike (replaceable if using druid and/or wizard with blind spell mastery, possibly with soul shock for low levels or low focus) mindwave mental binding whispers of treason psychovampiric shield (for melee cipher, cast on another party member before combat) aoe sicken/frighten (replaceable if using barbarian with sicken aura, possibly with mind blades or the 5 jump confusion) ectopsychicplasmic crush amplified thrust silent scream go between mind lance detonate tactical meld wild leech amplified wave antipathic beam phantom foes time parasite stasis recall agony reaver blades defensive mindweb disintegrate

Human is a fun choice. If you are going max offense, I would prioritize INT (carnage radius and buff-affliction duration) > MIG. After that it's going to depend a lot on your weapon, armor, feat, and ability choices. IF you plan on autoattacking most of the time, you can get away with 3 DEX, but if you plan on using more than 2 abilities every encounter (Frenzy and HOF are givens), you are going to feel the painful slowness and your low RES will open them up to being interrupted. CON goes a really long way on Barbs and fortitude defense is good on front liners to lower time spent stunned and knocked down, so you might want to try: Mig: 20 Con: 8 (kamikaze = 3) Dex: 10 (kamikaze = 15) Per: 18 Int: 18 (choose +1 INT background) Res: 4

Thanks Max! I learned a lot on this and will be replacing soul ignition with disintegration in my build.

Side by side, soul ignition pulls ahead of disintegration in damage per second at 35 Might, because disintegration doesn't appear to benefit from MIG at a certain point. 26 MIG 18 INT Damage Duration(s) DPS Soul Ignition 185 14 13.2 Disintegration 320 21 15.2 30 MIG 18 INT Damage Duration(s) DPS Soul Ignition 200 14 14.3 Disintegration 320 21 15.2 35 MIG 18 INT Damage Duration(s) DPS Soul Ignition 218 14 15.6 Disintegration 320 21 15.2 The major assumption above is that enemy DR is 0, so disintegration still holds an edge. However, this is where the stacking gets weird. With 35 MIG, when I cast soul ignition on my party member, a hit displays 218 over 14 seconds as above. When I cast again, there is still a single spell affect icon on my test subject, but mouse over reveals 2 separate damages and durations (nothing suppressed). Furthermore, when the 2nd hit crit, the the first cast upgraded to 436 over 14 seconds and the second cast displays 616 over 21 seconds. Over my test subjects head, 2 numbers appear each tick 36 and 36.

I removed Pain Link from my original reply because it's a real dud. Max, have you tried comparing Soul Ignition and Disintegration on a high MIG + high INT character? Disintegration starts out well, but ends up doing considerably less DPs. Things get even worse for Disintegration if you stack 2 Soul Ignitions for the same focus cost. Random tidbit: Amplified Thrust benefits from Apprentice Sneak Attack (displays in combat log text). Presumably, it also benefits from Soul Whip and Biting Whip, but I haven't been able to confirm. It used to generate focus but this was horribly overpowered and removed in a patch. Accuracy from Borrowed Instinct does not stack with Priest Devotion of Faithful. Antipathic field does damage itself, and buffs base damage of Ectopsychic Echo by 20%.

You can do both. Prioritize INT, DEX, and MIG This the order I suggest of powers to take. tenuous grasp eyestrike mindwave mental binding whispers of treason psychovampiric shield aoe sicken/frighten ectopsychicplamic crush amplified thrust silent scream go between mind lance detonate tactical meld wild leech amplified wave antipathic beam phantom foes time parasite stasis recall agony reaver blades defensive mindweb soul ignition