mosspit

I tried Wodewys / We Toki and Strikehard / Godansthunyr. Basically, 1 weapon to debuff and the other to provide the crit effect. You can kinda stunlock enemies around the barb which can be fun to watch. Your stat spread looks good. For the crit variant, just note that it will be realized only after midgame. In the meantime, you can maybe try for an interrupt build. Of course, you can try the dps route. Rimecutters or Sabres (Bittercut, Resolution, Purgatory) are nice, especially once HoF is accessible. I plan to try out Firebrand in my current playthrough based on recommendations.

How about S-Tier? PRIEST - Buffs do not need ACC to apply and this class has some of the best party ACC buffs in the game. Which make those tier A-C low PER more manageable.

Hmmmm, why is Hiravias DW'ing though? His Staelgar form is weapon independent. And once you progress further, you will get so many spells that might fare better than just auto-attacking out of Staelgar form. Plus he can also summon Firebrand. Yup, you can. But to be safe, clear the initial quest for all the factions before doing the secondary quest for the faction you wanna side with. This had me curious and I did a test. You are correct about WF Peasant, it does improve the shifted form attacks. For Pallegina, the 2H choice it will likely be Blade of the Endless Path or Tidefall. Both are really good, but in the event you want her to anchor your Frontline, Tidefall's draining effect can help with her staying power. No idea on Doemenel's Merciless Hand affecting chants though, never tried to main a Chanter yet.

On Reviving Exhortation, there are some aspects of it being better. - Fast cast compared to Revival Scroll. There are instances where those seconds matter. - Good range - Endurance Heal. It heals more than the Revival Scroll. The scroll will leave the revived character(s) with about 20-30% endurance but Exhortation can potentially heal the character up to full/near full endurance. Just a little background - this spell used to remove a large amount of endurance during the 2nd phrase. So much so that it can actually kill the character again. It's pretty hilarious Since then, the skill has been patched to be more usable. But if there is a situation where multiple characters are downed, scroll might still be more effective. On Barbarian, dual sabres are still good for HoF triggers. So maybe have another weapon set with more interesting effects on swap. Also, Firebrand via carnage effect is said to be good for carnage dps (need to try it myself). The other points are valid to me. Ryona's boob-plate is a bit too unreliable for me though. I like certainty - in life and in games! Well, I am just stating a fact that Paladins can get access to the said skill. Can't really say which scenario is better though.

Did you factor in Vigorous Defense? It alone can exceed the Faith & Conviction plus Deep Faith boni. Of course, it's temporary - so if you cannot burn down the encounter quickly enough, you'd need to sink more level-ups on stuff like Superior Deflection, Bear's Fortitude, and so forth. But anyways, I think a Fighter out-tanks a Paladin, if he goes full bore on taking every available defensive Fighter Abilities/Talents. Of course, then he'd be a total gimp masochist - which brings us back to our mutual agreement about the Fighter being a better off-tank/DPS. Also, Ascaloth, Clear Out is rather great with high Intelligence (which I tend to boost on most characters anyways, since I tend to take a lot of hybrid classes like Paladins and Chanters who need the duration and the area of effect boosts). I'd really try to sacrifice something else and incorporate it. Great thing about Paladins they can also get access to Vigourous Defense via Ryonna's Breastplate. And a possibility of triggering it more than once a battle albeit rng controlled. I think it is almost unfair that Unbending, Triggered Immunity and Vigorous Defence is accessible to other classes. Both Fighters and Paladins tanks can function at about the same level I think.

Yeah, I though about that combo before.... But both are level 15 abilities

While on the topic of Monks and Aila Braccia, how did you manage to make it work? When I was planning for the Monk build for my recent playthrough, I was stuck in a dilemma which the Monk had to be defensive enough for Soul Mirror and Aila Braccia to be effective, yet weak enough to take dmg in a consistent way for Wounds in order to power his other abilities. In the end I forgo the idea as I was planning a retaliation based character but I am guessing it could work if the Monk is built as a defensive tank? Also it means not getting full attacks from Torment Reach?

I am not gonna lie, you will probably find the "noticeable" difference if you look for it. My experience is contained within the frequency of Strange Mercy and Inspiring Triumph triggers which I really cant notice any difference. Chalk it up to difference in perspective and qualifying conditions if you will. Moreover, I brought the pally in for mid/late gamer contributor of AoE dmg so to me the single target melee dmg is less of a concern. My Cipher is the character with the best single target dps potential. I did use FoD alot in the early to midgame as I took Strange Mercy and Inspiring Triumph when they became available. When I can, I try to finish off enemies with FoD and even then it was not perfect. Late game, SI trigger SM and IT without me trying hard. So I used FoD just for the sake of using up per encounter abilities tbh. Maybe I should have bother more but meh. About 5 melee, it is more like 4 melee. Early game my priest was a ranged wand wielder. But as game progress, he spent less and less time doing autoattacks. In fact, I had a dual stiletto Skaen Priest in my previous failed run, but I abandoned that build as it is difficult to synergize autoattacks whilst casting buffs at the same time. After mid game I just make her wield Nightshroud and Little Savior. Little Savior rationale is already explained. Nightshroud is for the emergency invisbility (Shadowing Beyond) when needed. I alway liked my Priest to use Nightshroud for that purpose. She did very little melee combat. I always find myself skewing towards melee as I enjoy it, so chalk it up to personal preference. To add, Chanter and Pally technically can do dmg even if they cant engage in melee so it isn't so bad.

I did it for a few reasons 1. Sacred Immolation - Boeroer is correct in that regards. I mean I didn't make the switch immediately at lvl13 so I did have some experience with a GS (Tidefall) until I got my desired 1H. In my experience, there was no noticeable difference in dps. Because main bulk of dmg came from SI, the actual melee dmg contributes relatively low. 2. Itemization - I planned to have my pally wield Steadfast and Outworn Buckler. In particular, the shield can only be wield by a pally. You are right in the improvement of sturdiness - early to mid game I had my retaliation monk as the anchor tank (5dex, 3res inspired by Dr <3 Anvil build). But late game, it is a little inconsistent in tanking bosses so thats when a Pally who can take over as the anchor tank. Also note that the game mode has Trial of Iron. So consistency is something I value over other aspects of combat. Steadfast is a good tanking weapon due to my playstyle and Outworn Buckler is just a good passive defence AoE buff overall. Note that as mentioned, there is no noticeable downgrade to the dmg output from the switch due to SI. Near endgame, I had my priest wield Little Savior for even more stacked passive AoE goodiness. 3. Best Deflection and Reflex - Since I am using Defensive Mindweb, it will be good to have a character that can push individual saves as high as possible. Pally can push these 2 saves without much difficulty - Weapon and Shield talent coupled with Faith and Conviction. 4. Tidefall... just Tidefall - I love this weapon so I had my Chanter wield it. I got enough shield wielders anyways. Tidefall has draining so while the Chanter will suffer from reduction in deflection, he will gain regen from the weapon. So little impact in his staying power overall.

1. Just to clarify, you should not need pulling playing PotD. At least not in a full party setup. One thing can help is stealthing when exploring. And when you encounter a group you wanna take on, scout the edges of the group to (1) see the possibilities of accidentally pulling another group, (2) finding a best attack point. Eg attack the side with the exposed spellcasters. The steathy approach might seem excessive but I will always use on Trial of Iron playthroughs. I have many playthroughs ruined due to careless engagements due to extra pulled groups. 2. Guess others can help with that? Might wanna post your rogue build as well.

1. Pretty normal. Longwatch Laguafaeths is one of those places to watch out for, and incidentally was the cause of more than 1 of my failed ToI attempts. The 2 groups overlap near the top left corner and they contain multiple Sidewinders (low hp but has high damage and sneak attacks) and Broodmothers (Tanky Priests). It is easy to get debuffed as the group have paralyzing, blind and hobble attacks. After that, sidewinders are capable of dealing 60-80dmg to a debuffed character. Another place I can warn you about which you can lure multiple groups is in Elmshore bottom left corner. This group is nasty as they have multiple Adragons and Wind Blights. Unprepared and accidentally aggroing more 1 group will be tough due to the debuffs - Domination, Petrification, Stun. The ogres group at the top near the cave entrance is no push over too. Especially upscaled. Technically only a single group but there a large number of them. Plus there are multiple Ogre Druids and 1 or 2 Matrons. They pack a punch per hit and are capable of chain proning. Plus they can chain Insect Swarm which can be devastating. I did encounter a near game-ending (for my Frozen Crown run) bug at Cayron's Scar though. After defeating the first Kith enemy group at the north, encounter couldn't end. Tried to go elsewhere in the map but my party still was stuck in combat. Then I went to defeat the Kith group at the north west area. Still combat stuck. At this point, my party has already used up most per-encounter abilities and I got 2 revived characters with injuries. I went to engage another group further south. This time there were Kith enemies mixed with Eyeless and downed my scout fast. After that a paladin broke off from the group and ran over a distance to engage my remaining characters who are in bad condition. Managed to barely defeat him and only then the combat ended. 2. Not sure where is the issue, Rogues should get high crit rates by the manner of naturally high acc plus hit-to-crit conversion skills. Plus you would want to debuffed enemies before engaging due to added dmg from Sneak Attack/Deathblow and most debuffs reduce deflection as well. Maybe you are not engaging enemies optimally? Melee crit rogues tend to require support from the party to take advantage of those dmg mechanics though.

Yeah Cipher is my debuffer, but I dont use hard CC as my general strat as I want my Monk to get damaged. I did used things like Whispers of Treason in the early game or to even up odds if they are too many enemies in a pack, or Mental Binding if an enemy is wailing on my priest. Early game Cipher favored Psychvampiric Shield to reduce enemy's deflection and improve her own deflection early game. Late game it will be Defensive Mindweb, Time Parasite and finally Borrowed Instinct. I didn't even bother doing hard CC on the dragon fights at all, this party is study enough to take the dmg and regen through it.

Yeah I tried Sagani/Itumaak for an entire playthrough with Itumaak as a dps wolf and Sagani was a tank/support. It is pretty awesome, wolf type also has the added advantage of having the fastest atk spd of all other pets based on a breakdown table posted by a vet in these forums. My personal experience is 70-90 dmg per hit post DR at endgame which is not bad considering that it is pretty darn easy to build. Just pickup all the pet dmg talents. Resilient Companion has level scaling too. Will it get downed if completely surrounded? Yes, which is similar to any other non-tank characters. But it can still handle a couple engagement on its own. The best thing is a lot of pets level pickups are talents and not class-specific skills (at least from how I remembered). So you can still enjoy things like Twinned Arrows and Driving Flight without eating into the effectiveness of the pet.

@OP I just completed a Frozen Crown (PotD, Trial of Iron, Expert Mode) with a 5 man party too. Inspired by the 5man party change in Deadfire. My party setup is: 1. Cipher main with dual sabres 2. Fire retaliation monk (barefist with dual hatchets on swap) 3. Kind Wayfarer Pally (start with greatsword, end with sword board) 4. Chanter (start with sword board, end with greatsword) 5. Priest (mace and shield) It has good regen and a mix of strong AoE and single target damage. A little less spammy on CC effects through. But it is pretty effective. Was able to recover from bad decision during the game due to the strength in combat

I guess I had more time during the weekend then. I already cleared all quests and bounties before fighting Lenegrath. Good luck nonetheless

Welp that's that, Thaos is defeated and I got the Frozen Crown achievement on a 5man party (in the spirit of Deadfire). Did at least 3 ToIs previously but never liked Expert mode restriction. But this time I got many Foe only abilities so I figured why not? Torm I trust yours is done too?

Agreed, I mean with Scion of Flame, SI and decent Mig, Per and Int, one can already create an offensive paladin that melts opponents with SI. After which, the pally go a few directions whilst still competent in dps department. My sturdy pally has Hig Mig but just average Res. But my party is built around high regen so the characters can afford to take a lot of punishment.

And since we are on this topic, I just killed Lenegrath on my TC run too I had 2 sturdy characters in manner of a fire retaliation monk and a pally. Pally engaged the land dragon and monk engaged the flyer. No fuss, just held position and tanked all the dmg

Afaik, you need to read the notes from each apprentices. You will be notified via quest update that you can proceed to Concelhaut.

@OP Congrats on your win! Well I mean killing Thaos is just a formality at this point. GG on using npc companions too.

The thing was my party being trapped in the abbey. I didn't fight my way in so I didn't had a clear route to retreat into the open map. Every battle was difficult that generally left my party in the yellow or red, so I couldn't take more than 2 fights consecutively. Why this is dangerous and exciting was because I had limited camping supplies and it was legitimately game over if I couldn't fight my way out before I used up all my camp supplies. Fortunately, my priest had 12 Dex. So after wearing a +4 dex Viettro Formal Footwear and eating a Rauatai Sweet Pie, I had barely enough Dex to escape the Abbey via the Chasm route.

Imho, Adra Dragon is easier than Alpine, because she: - is very slow, iirc she has move speed of 3 and could be stopped completely via Hobble. - has much lower melee dps: damage (58-88 vs 74-101), no deathblows/finishing strike... and Alpine is "dual-wielding" and attacking faster than the "single-wielding" Adra Dragon. On the other hand, she is immune to fire, has comparable in damage Dragon Breath but of wider (!) cone, and also has the Wing Slam which can insta-kill unfortunately placed squishies. You are right the Adra Dragon is easier. I just didn't play it as carefully and it almost cost me. Wing slam insta gibbed Kana who is a dedicated tank. Still at 16 he only had 116 Fort and I have focused fort gear on him. I really like the chanter so far but the class performance in Dragon Fifghts has not been good. His Endurance is still lower then my Paladin and Fighter and he's been one shotted by the Alpine and Adra Dragon. Maybe I'm not using him right? I couldn't even turn the dragon I ran kana up and he got Wing Slammed to oblivion. Kana has every defense talent you can think of other then cautious attack which is irrelevant against Fort attacks. He's wearing the full White Crest set my Paladin has Ryonas. Still not enough I'm just going to stop tanking the dragons. A paladin can do it. I've got a 154 Fort on the Paladin maybe I should use him more as the main tank against big hitters and have kana pick up adds I just like keeping the Paladin close and not an island solo for Zealous Focus to spells. Need all the ACC you can get in those fights. What kind of stat distribution did you have on Kana? And gear besides armor? Now I am wondering if I want to tank with a Chanter against late-game bosses... Edit: And wow, 116 Fortitude is not enough?! For chanters, you probably need the special tanking skills like Unbending from Maegfolc Skull and Triggered Immunity from Ryonna's Breastplate. But a paladin will still perform better due to nartually higher saves. And since those are mainly fighter skills, a fighter doesn't need those equipment and can wear something else.

Although PotD is widely touted as easy and such, the no second chance nature of this game mode still needs to be respected. And that's the point, if it was all the way smooth and easy, I personally wouldnt have done TC or ToI as I wouldnt be able to retain the necessary tension to hold my attention. Also take into account I imposed restrictions as well The beauty of TC is to also to live with the consequence of bad decision. For example, my current playthrough had me accidentally made the npcs in the Abbey hostile by lockpicking a door I shouldnt. So I was trapped in the abbey with hostiles and had to crave a way out. And the battles were brutal as it was upscaled with paladins, priests and monks. Every battle I won by the skin of my teeth, but it was also pretty darn amazing

I just so happen to down both Adra and Alpine in my current TC run too. But my experience was Alpine is harder the Adra. I think it was a matter of dice rolls and hitting a unfavourable critical will mess up one's plans. My strat for both is pretty straight forward. Pally anchor with Ryonna Breatplate and Steadfast (Terrified immunity) to draw attention and direct the dragon away from main party while the party buff up and take out adds. Alpine had a deathblow on my pally which instantly reduced his HP from near full to less than 50. This is after the pally did Scroll of Protection, Fire Shield potion and Llenegrath Displacement Potion. Somehow managed not to get knocked out. Adra same thing except no spike damage, and the Adragons actually circled around the Dragon to be near my pally and 2 got wiped by Adra Dragon's breath attack, which missed my Pally.

A bit of both, although he'll never hit the crit rate that some melee characters can. Exactly. I mean sure the pally's got FoD and Sworn Enemy for Acc boost to, let's say, take out priority targets via crts, but you will not get the same amount of consistency as a rogue or even a fighter can. Later on, your SI will be doing most of the killing that will pop Strange Mercy and/or Inspiring Triumph without even trying too much. Crit or not, SI is still the main bulk of your sustainable dmg.