aweigh0101

below is a MSG i sent to MaxQuest but I also want to post it here in the thread in case anyone else can help me figure out what to change.

https://www.reddit.com/r/projecteternity/comments/313m5k/unofficial_bugfix_how_to_drasticaly_reduce_your/

chanter frost traps were "nerfed" because the game engine wasn't erasing them from the MobileObjects.save file and causing loading time bloat; this is the reason the traps overwrite each other now. This very same reason is also why chanter summons were "nerfed" and made to expire after a set amount of time on the field; the game engine wasn't erasing instances of summons from the MobileObjects.save file, which is where all of the current game information is stored, and causing massive loading time bloat. who knows how many more "nerfs" were actually made due to how crappy Unity is versus supposed "balance" reasons? food for thought.

it's probably true; i doubt josh would overlook something like this especially after tweaking the ability so recently. it's worth testing pilferer's grip though to see if that one is also coded to flag itself only when the armor slot is occupied. (it probably is as well) otherwise these could be used to offset the recovery penalty from vuln. atk and caut. atk regardless of armor worn... which would be a leeeeeeeettle OP. just a bit :D

mel gibson also uses a freakin pair of nunchuks in BRAVEHEART along with a wooden hook p. sure mel loves inserting unorthodox weaponry into his movies hehe well before he went crazy

from what i understand there is only recovery penalty, and all abilities that slow down or speed up modify this value and armor recovery penalty is simply another modifier to the recovery penalty. we need someone to confirm tho, but i'm p. sure. UNLESS they specifically coded armored grace to only flag itself is the char is wearing armor. a naked char with vuln. attack has an armor recovery penalty of: 1.0 * (unspecified global modifier linked to animations) * 1.20.vuln.atk therefore a naked character CAN have an armor recovery penalty.

well, it's not wasted if you pick a talent like cautious attack or vulnerable attack with add a 1.20 % recovery penalty to your recovery penalty. (sentence is correct lol)

you can even have a druid cast Returning/Relentless Storm and then have your priest cast Withdraw while blocking a chokepoint :D :D

yah for me the key detail that really sold me on gallant's focus is that it boosts by +4 ALL abilities and spells. EVERYTHING. it is literally +4 to the character's base ACC. That's basically a "Fine" enchantment and since it stacks with weapon focus, marksman AND distant advantage you can really go crazy. it ESPECIALLY shined on a distant advantage elf, since their trait also affects spells, so we're talking +9 to spells and a +20 ACC to weapons (+30 if priest and deity ACC talent). +9 to spells is nothing to sneeze at

I agree with all of your summations EXCEPT on gallant's focus. I will never understand why people always say "take it if you don't have a pally"! +6 from weap. focus +4 from gallant's focus (which, btwb, affects EVERYTHING, including spells, which is reason enough to take it on casters every time) +5 from Marksman +5 from distant advantage this is just an example of how you can have a ranged elf shooting guns with built-in +20 ACC.... of which 9 of those 20 pts affect his spells too (gallant + distant advantage) gallant is also very good on priests. My durance has 75+ ACC with his arquebus by late-game thanks to... +10 to arquebus from magran +6 from solider +4 from gallant (which affects his spells, we simply CANNOT forget that) +5 from Marksman this durance is packing +25 ACC on his arquebus shots, as well as +4 ACC to his spells that he normally would NOT have. and if the magran priest in question is created then make him a distant advantage elf for a whopping +30 ACC to his arquebus shooting and a +9 ACC to his spell casting.

thanks for pointing that out! I edited my post and forked the build into a Barbarian centering around Towering Physique. The final tally of 18 Res is to help mitigate the -10 Deflection from Frenzy. That can REALLY hurt you if you find your Barbie getting focused. I can definitely agree that it's perfectly servicable to then swap 13 might / 15 con and do it 15 might / 13 con, rest of the stats same. My rationale for the RES i believe is solid. EDIT. 15 might / 13 con is definitely a better distribution, the more i think about it. thanks. Could also leave con at 10 and do 13 int, ending at 15 int with the helmet. ----------- Towering Physique Aumaua 15 -> 17 Might (bracers of all-consuming rage) 10 -> 11 CON (bracers of all-consuming rage) 10 -> 12 DEX (+2 dex enchantment on Aru-Brekr armor) 15 -> 18 PER (lilith's shawl) 13 -> 15 INT (+2 INT from helmet) 15 -> 18 RES (+3 res from stalwart village ring, it's actually on the corpse of the ogre chief you defeat in theintro) ------------- helm: dunryd demon neck: lilith's shawl armor: aru-brekr bracers: all-consuming rage rings: +9 deflection / +3 res ring boots: shod in faith belt: belt of stability race: towering physique aumaua key talents: Body Control selling points of these choices: - barbarian with above-average stats in every category, capable of DPS'ing and CC'ing and thanks to high RES and shod in faith boots off-tanking - stacked +40 defense versus being knocked Prone or being Stunned due to Towering Physique + Body Control - if/when knocked prone or stunned the Aru-Brekr armor boosts his deflection by +20 points - belt of stability decreases duration of prone affliction by 33% - while no over-the-top strengths this barbarian also features absolutely NO weaknesses or holes that could spell doom for him when focused.

How about this Barbarian setup/gear... 13 Might (to increase both damage dealt and healing received) 15 Constitution (planning on gearing the unit with regenerative equipment; the larger the endurance pool the more bang for the buck) 10 Dexterity (will be more once you acquire a specific +DEX cape) 15 Perception (Barbarians have Medium base accuracy; Carnage ACC is ass. It is key to enchant the mail-armor I have in mind for this Barbarian with +2 Perception) 10 Intellect (this will become 12 INT once you find one of the +2 INT hats/capes) 15 Resolve (reach level 6/7 make a quick trip into Stalwart Village and do the Burning House so you can get the +3 Resolve ring) Head: Dunryd Demon Helm (+2 INT; can be bought in Copperlane Market) Neck: Finneah's Grace (+3 DEX; can be bought in Brackenbury from the Doemenel merchant) Armor: Mail-Armor "Lost Meadow" (+1 Endurance Regeneration, no time-limit, already Exceptional. Enchant it with +2 PER, the only Attribute we won't have an item enhancing)) Arm: Bracers of All-Consuming Rage (+2 Might & +1 CON; can be bought from Dozens merchant in Copperlane) Ring 1: Ring of Deflection +9 Ring 2: Ring of Ever-Changing Heart (+3 Resolve; acquired from Burning House text-adventure in Stalwart Village) Boots: Shod-in-Faith (can be bought from Crucible Keep merchant in First Fires) Belt: Troll-Hide Belt (+1 endurance regeneration, no time-limit; can be bought from Tyrgil in Dyrford Village) Main Weapon: Tidefall, or Tall-Grass. All of that equipment can be bought before even reaching the midway point in the game with the exception of the Lost Meadow, and none of it is random. I don't like planning builds around random loot. Stats after fully equipped: 15 Might 16 Constitution 13 Dexterity 17 Perception 12 Intellect 18 Resolve In terms of abilities and talents take Veteran's Recovery early in order to realize the regeneration capability and complement the armor and the belt. * Veteran's Recoery (this has no time limit) * Weapon Focus: Soldier (for Tidefall/Tall-Grass) * Superior Deflection * Stalwart Defiance (great heal) * Interrupting Blows (Barbs shine with AoE interruptions, all the while draining/wounding with Tidefall. triple affliction per swing!) The rest as you please EDIT: In terms of race, I recommend either -- a) Moon Godlike for the Healing, or b) Towering Physique Aumaua for the +20 Defenses versus being knocked Prone or being Stunned. If Moon Godlike, gear up exactly as I described above. The Moon heals perfectly compliment the regeneration from the Lost Meadow, the Troll-Hide Belt and the Veteran's Recovery. BUILD FORK!!!! If Towering Physique Aumaua ditch the Troll-Hide Belt and the Veteran's Recovery and exchange them for the following: + Belt of Stability (decreases duration of Prone affliction by 33%) + replace Veteran's Recovery with Body Control, to further shore up defenses against Prone and Stun + replace Lost Meadow mail-armor with the Aru-Brekr Brigandine, already Exceptional, which can be bought in Crucible Keep from their merchant. This Brigandine grants +20 boost to your Deflection once you've already been knocked Prone, perfectly complimenting the Towering Physique and the Belt of Stability. This guy will be one "sturdy" barbie.

all i know is that I've roflstomped WM areas with 3 martial units using 0.75 sec interrupt weapons each, and all three units with 18+ Perception plus Interrupting Blows ability and the mechanic works exactly as you think it does based on the Cyclopedia information. the Ice Trolls would get almost permanently stunlocked by my 3 interrupters as well as the Ogres; versus the fish people interrupts didn't enter into the equation since they just paralyze your units regardless of whatever the player input is (there is no player agency involved). the only reliable way to defeat them is to clog up their affliction pipelines with units while laying down your own CC/AoE's, but this is a whole other discussion. Interrupting Blows + 18+ Perception on casters is even more succuesful in stunlocking enemies when combined with spells. As for how you can more "actively" control Interrupts all that's needed is manual timing of your units attacks and also what weapons they use. The best way to interrupt an enemy is to hit them DURING their animation, be it an attack or a spell, therefore sometimes it is recommended that you not just left-click > gang-attack but actually stagger your units' blows on the enemy so that each one catches the mob just as the previous interrupt is wearing off. An easier way to manage this staggering of interrupting attacks is to have the 4 interrupt durations represented via each unit sporting a different weapon with a different interrupt duration. Personally I prefer using 0.75/1.0 sec interrupt weapons and simply micro-managing the blows. When in doubt, buff Perception on a caster and give him interrupting blows and watch AoE's debuff and interrupt while your martial units begin to control space. it IS an underused mechanic, and it ISN'T explained well in-game: it's taken me 3 full play-throughs to even begin to utilize it beneficially, and it has absolutely crept into my meta-gaming power-builds. Right now I finished a 4th play-through, and in this last one (and in every playthrough onwards) I picked interrupting blows on every single unit and think it is 100% essential to any build.

10 might 8 con 14 dex 20 per (elf racial +1 to per; white that wends background +1 to per) 18 int 8 res that's my preferred pure wizard/druid stat spread

these look beautiful. I wish we could play without the oppressive fog of war in locations where it makes sense.

you can all thank me for spamming mr. sawyer via twitter about making fighter's knockdown a full attack btw :D or he had that change in mind all along... and just never ever mentioned it. since no one has advocated for that specific change to knockdown i'll just take the credit for it now

You'd think after hundreds of hours playing this game that I'd know these things lol I literally just found out you can assign one or two or more NPC's to the alphanumerical keys 1-9. Select the character you want to assign to the 1 key, for example, hold CONTROL and press the 1 key and release CONTROL. Boom, that NPC is now always assigned to the 1 key. The exact same process hotkeys multiple NPCs. Select your two tanks, for example, and while holding CONTROL press the 1 key on each of their portraits, then release CONTROL. Now whenever you press "1" you will have the two tank NPC's selected. You can do this with more NPC's btw, and obviously I reference the 1 key as an example only. And another thing I randomly just discovered is that when you perform an attack that has multiple hits, like a Blunderbuss attack, if you want to view the attack information on each individual shot simply left-click on the Blunderbuss info-group in the log window! I know, I know... but it's news to me

i've been trying like crazy to find a good use for the DMS boots but maaaan they kind of suck! The most you can hope for is one of the following: 1) Your character performs 1 more/last Attack. This is sorta cool. Basically one free attack that cannot be interrupted by ANYTHING, be it friend or foe, before falling unconscious and triggering second chance or unbroken. 2) IF and only IF the character wearing the boots was in the process of actually casting a spell when he receives the deathblow then he will finish it, and then fall unconscious. It's pretty iffy though. Honestly these boots are kind of useless. Max Endurance Bonus boots would be better lol

One really cheesy thing you can do when using a melee cipher is to start off by shooting your laser-beam "Antipathetic Beam", the very first one you get, and quickly engage the enemy in melee. Oh, this is with Retaliation gear equipped, be it Garohd's Helm, Hiro's Mantle or that one unique shield you get somewhere. Grab the Utility Talent that gives extra Corrode damage to enhance the beam and you'll be doing tons of 1v1 damage on any enemy you engage. With pumped Intellect the beam'll stay on for quite a while, enough to do 50 damage or more all while you're hacking away at the enemy and Retaliating. Works great with the Retaliation shield + W&S-Style + the Draining Sabre. It's super cheesy though... also it's really funny when your companions glitch out pathfinding and run through your beam before you get a good lock on the enemy haha. The retaliation thing is to build focus btw.

How exactly do the DMS boots work? Do they delay falling to the floor once you reach 0 endurance or do they stand you back up for 3 seconds after you fall to the floor, like a 3-second-second-chance? Second question, do they cancel out second chance?

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Jp5ewk4B6Mc How you can use two simple Priest spells to win a very tough Bounty; i.e. a video showing how I defeat Nalrend the Wise without any special buffs, preparations or foodstuffs: only Durance's Repulsing Seal and his Shining Beacon. I also want to point out how I started the encounter using Durance's Iconic Projection. It is the best spell for "pulling" enemies even while they're obscured by the Fog of War! Just chuck the hadoken into their general direction and get ready Difficulty is Path of the Damned. All party members are level 9. Footnote: Things didn't go as planned and I could've lost the fight but proper use of the Watcher Abilities saved the day. These go under-used a lot of the time but here you'll see me scrounging for anything that'll stick, including one nifty foe-AoE kill near the end of the video using the Watcher Ability that drains endurance LOL. Also note that I probably would not have won if it i hadn't been for Eder's Constant Recovery + Rapid Recovery + Troll Belt. Watch how ridiculous his health regen can get in the end. https://youtu.be/Jp5ewk4B6Mc

if anyone has played Wizardry 8 i think that is the best custom NPC + personality template ever made in a cRPG.

i really like that visceris background. er, not that the man died, may he rest in peace, but that obsidian made his backer NPC extra-special. he IS tougher to fight than any other backer NPC, and the first time I decided to kill him for his backer-Loot he almost whooped my ass and I loved him for it. thanks visceris for making PoE even more memorable PS: no wonder his shapeshift form is so strong! LOL

whoa, wait a minute, you can enchant items by placing them in altars?

yes, what i've been doing is i simply remove the extra talents after levelling up. open console FindCharacter Companion -> lists in output log window names of all copmanions RemoveTalent Companion_etc TLN_Graceful_Retreat_Talent RemoveTalent Companion_etc TLN_Free_Runner_Talent so on and so forth takes less than 2 mins.