mosspit

So previously, you had the choice to use slicken because you can but OP so it's bad. You can avoid using it but requires self control so it's still bad. And now, you will not use it against prone-immune critters so it's good? Isn't the end result the same, aka not using it? Well technically you can use it on prone-immune critters and see "immune" pop up just for giggles I acknowledge that lack of self control can be problem. But I can't agree that it forms the basis for the decision for cc immunity, especially since slicken doesn't exist in a vacuum. It's a psychological thing

There is already a Witch Hunter in the game. It's called a barbarian wielding St Ydwen's Redeemer. Can even be called a Wicht Hunter

Well if slicken was that overpowered, don't use it? For my past 2 playthrough and this current one, I have not been casting slicken. Not the best arguement I know, but it seems that with slicken ppl are saying like they were "forced" to use it... Anywho, I almost solely use fighter's knockdown to target kith spellcasters (for the hard interruption to spellcast) and for now, those are still effective. Maybe the occasional cc to help another char who is taking too much heat to move away without triggering disengagment. With the buff to disciplined barrage, maybe slightly more so (I always use disciplined barrage before activating knockdown). Otherwise, Im using knockdown because there is nothing better to activate lol... PoE is one of those games that has very good replay value imo, so in that vein I generally don't like to see things that take away variety and options. But whatever, it's done so just make the best of it.

Moreover, blunderbuss does not work with twinned arrows (along with all other ranged weapon with reload mechanics).

My latest 2.03 playthrough I am running a companion Death Godlike melee Cipher with WF Ruffian. The way I built her is very similar to a rogue I made on previous playthrough in terms of stat distribution (M:10 C:11 D:16 P:16 I:12 R:13). Base might is due to how Soul Whip %dmg increase works and I will be getting Apprentice Sneak Attack later. And I focus on getting spells that augments her stats to power her melee offense. So far, it felt very different... but I still need to wait and see since Im only lvl6. Oh, I just thought of something - Azureith's Stiletto... Force Lightning go go!

If you are early in the game, you probably met the Forest Lurkers in Black Meadow. Forest Lurkers generally are tough for an early (~lvl 3) party in comparison with the normal enemies you will meet in the same map. You can go back to fight them once you gained another level or 2. Otherwise, they have piercing resistance and are weak against fire.

Gwisk Glas is indeed nicely designed. Green robes with dragon motifs... wonder if they were fashioned after China Emperor robes. I really like the Wayfarer's Hide from WM1. Assuming one starts WM1 content around act2, Wayfarer's is likely the earliest Superb armour one can get. Being light armour (25%) they are suitable on casters or offtanks... They look really good on a Monk Fire Godlike imo.

Yeah grazes do help. Reminded me of my last playthrough against Thaos. That playthrough I wanted to avoid taking Mental Fortress on everyone for a change. Well, my party ate a Confusion from Thaos and 2 of my party members got crit'ed for 25+ secs of confusion. I was genuinely impressed

Yeah I agree with the Wild Orlan. It reminded me of a build for pallys that is meant to face-tank Adra back in pre-2.0. Rationale is that the terrifying aura was a perpetual source for defence boost.

I know, it is almost shocking. It's true though. I'll also reveal something you're perhaps unaware of, but you actually need to sell items from your stash to get in the 500 000 range. No, I have not slaughtered Dyrwood's settlements and Twin Elms. Well, I loaded up an old save and tried selling all non-uniques. I think I managed to get something like 100k. So yeah, I still can't reach half a million. How about not selling every piece of equipment then? Cause the end result is the same, having less fluid monies. It is either you impose restriction yourself or the game does it for you.

Personally, I have not found myself in riches in game to the level described by the OP. Close to end game, I commonly find myself having about 50k in fluid funds (albeit without selling every single piece of unused equipment). More than half a million seems like a hyperbole. When vendor weapons cost around 10k, I think the situation feels about right. Moreover, monetary resource management already exists in the first parts of the game. I find myself figuring out the best quest sequence to complete in order to afford certain equipment pieces when I hit Defiance Bay, such that my builds can come into realization with enough content remaining to utilize them.

@Amegani Those are gorgeous! You are really talented!

The gameplay direction that the developers wants seems to steering away from "tank-and-spank". Simply put, most of your party should have some degree of survivability, and your tanks will also need to at least do some amount of dmg. You can of course figure out the sweet spot in stats spread and deflection manipulation to make your tanks as sticky as possible. But I feel that they will ultimately be short term, as they go against the above mentioned direction. Meaning to say the "formula" to determine whether enemies will stay engaged to the tank can easily be changed as it already did.

Good thing I beat the Adra Dragon before this patch then, because I have no idea what kind of strategy I'd use with all those immunities. Paralysis (fetid caress, hold beast - dragon is a beast), stun (storm or ranger double shots)... maybe confusion... stil a couple of tricks can work. I only eyeballed the bestiary but for most part the cc immunities seems to be thematically applied. For eg., Dragons are Behemoth-sized creatures so hard to imagine them being knocked prone, undead are immune to sickened, floating apparitions are immune to prone. Heaviest hit are prone afflictions. Upon eyeballing, it seems to be the most common cc immunity. Also what this implies is that one will not be able to lower saves of enemies like before in order for "normal" dmg dealing to be dealt consistently. This is not limited to hard cc like stun, but the general save reduction that every afflictions can provide. This basically means more leverage on the opposite of cc, aka buffs. So yeah priests will be favoured. Personally I am someone who can impose self restrictions and tailor my own difficulty beyond what is offered by the game. This patch seems a little restricting in that regards. Anyhow, I will still need to make a proper playthrough using this patch to have more complete idea. Even then, it is still my personal take on the situation.

If you have a previous completed save, just load that up and refer to the bestiary. The entries should all been updated. (for beta) For example you should be abke to look at Adra Dragon and see that it has immunity to Fire, Shock, Petrify, Stuck, Frightened, Terrified, Prone.

Looking through the cc immunity list of enemies in 2.03, in my next playthrough I better have every one of my party get enough lore to cast Scrolls of Paralysis. Er... so.... next will be to nerf Scrolls of Paralysis?

@OP: This is relevant because generally Might adds dmg in an additive way. For rogues, many of their skills involve dmg modifiers (which are also additive) which will make the added dmg from Might less significant than other classes. In my last playthrough, I have a Might 10 rogue which still I consider as effective.

Around the time this thread was created (May), Perception added to Deflection not Accuracy.

Oh, I do not think that difficulty and flexibility in party composition are completely mutually exclusive. By definition, being "difficult" would mean that not EVERY party composition will succeed. However, a line can be drawn. One need not depend entirely on the developer to impose difficulty, instead the player can impose his/her own restrictions. There are ways to make a playthrough more difficult. Simply doing a ToI, or imposing a rest limit can lead to a very different experience even with a full party. The way I see it, it seems that your decisions for your current playthrough is more externally driven than otherwise. Wizard chosen because you haven't seen someone else solo with it. Elf chosen because everyone is using Moon Godlike. I guess everyone have their own reasons for doing a playthrough a certain way.

Yeah the material for Superb enchanted is both rare and limited. For the weapons, you need eyes and if I'm not mistaken, you can only get 3 of those in the game. And 2H weapons needs 2 of those. Weapon-wise, there is some content left to make use of those enchantments after they are gotten. For the armour, it will be as the previous poster said - Not much content left to make use of it. Another thing is that some weapons gives Accurate 3 or Damaging 3 mods which cannot be crafted. These essentially match up to the bonus of Superb but for their respective categories. It might be more practical to retain those mods if your build is more inclined towards accuracy or damage dealing.

There are also ways to have difficulty with a full party too. In the form of party composition and possibly other restrictions. I just completed a triple crown playthrough with non-casters and I didn't use a single cc scroll. I like the flexibility of running a themed party through PoTD in which the player can add all sorts of restrictions. And solo is a form of restriction too. The "Difficulty" that you mention seems to imply that only certain party composition can make it through PotD. It also boils down to what kind of gameplay you are comfortable with. PotD simply isn't balanced for solo gameplay and so to get through certain encounters, it will involve pulling and splitting up groups in addition to what you said. For me, I can't associate that with fun but to each his own.

@AndreaColombo: Yeah if you ever used a Barb and a Rogue in the same team, your thought process should arrive at combining TP and SA/DB at some point (and realizing they don't match up). The condition to use HoF effectively is to get surrounded by as many enemies as possible, which Dragon Leap is good at as it bypass body blocking. HoF will hit every enemy around the barb and EACH of these hits will proc it's own Carnage. Meaning to say if the Barb is surrounded by 4 enemies and does HoF, each enemy can get hit by a full attack followed by multiple carnages (up to 3 sets). That is the fundamental mechanism difference between HoF and BA. HoF is a skill for good spike dmg and, due to overlapping carnages, high proc chances. As for worthiness, it is a matter of reserving HoF for key encounters. Otherwise both abilities are essentially once per battle.

I am not getting the synergy of Threatening Presence with Apprentice's Sneak Attack, at least on their own. Sneak Attack needs Weakened to trigger whilst Threatening Presence only inflicts sickened. And a while back I saw discussions that Threatening Presence and Brute Force is not as attractive as it seems, as enemies with high deflection usually have have high fortitude. That being said, I really like carnage and the way on-hit procs propagate through it. And with Dragon Leap, you can jump into the midst of a group and activate One Stands Alone for both the dmg boost and difficulty to be flanked (Eye of the Storm is meh). Add in a Heart of Fury with proc effects and enemies start biting the dust.

The thing about CC is not only about applying the effects, but it is also about lowering the saves of the targets. Some bosses already have high saves and deflection so CC is one way to lower their defence so that regular attacks can at least hit them. Seems to me CC immunities will lead to a situation that is more luck-dependent on attack rolls... Combat is getting gradually more asymmetrical now. I would rather see encounters being more interesting (eg something how the final boss battle is done with different phases) than just simply taking options away. There is nothing innovative about it...

The other thing about spelltongue is its ability to, as I previously said, apply the speed debuff. Of course you can apply the debuff with another char who can better make use of the stolen atk speed, but the most defensive tank will almost always engage and keep the attention with the strongest enemy from the start. At least in my case. Lowering the atk speed, and hence dps, of the high dmg bosses reliably will simply increase the survivability of the defensive tank.