FluxWing

Blackjacket/X with Fleshmender, Quickswap and 4 single wielded pistols/blunderbusses. You could call it the Galleon build, first you fire 4 guns, then you "Jibe", and then you fire again IIRC a few of the firearms have nice on-crit effects. Like Thundercrack's paralyze on crit(Overload enchantment), or Xefa's Empirical Explication Matter Repulsion? Permanent paralyze Chanter with Ila nocked her... Or perhaps a DoT applying build. Assassin/X with Alchemy. Do the Axe modal DoT increase in Damage/Duration?

Slightly off-topic, but I recently tried a Troubadour/Evoker. And I found it to be a very good mix, due to Troubadour is a very passive class kit and while an Evoker is a very active class kit, and both classes are very strong on their own. Troubadour either wait for phrases to build up, OR as you have seen in this topic they provide 2 buffs: ex. Either: Resistance to Might/Dex afflictions, AND Resistance to Perception/Intellect afflictions. -20% ranged weapon reload AND +15% fire damage to all weapons. You also start every fight with enough resources to summon your highest level summon each fight, so while the mobs are gathering around the front-line melee, you can spend time casting a summon. When the fight has moved to a more stationary phase, you can spend time chain-casting Fireballs or similar. So the two kits do not directly compete for time to spend resources, and Evoker's increased power-level makes up for the lower level for being a Multi-class, so the spells are still very potent. And the Chanter's lower armor Incantation is very welcome in every PotD party. And tanks are in many people's opinion better Multi-classed with Fighter/Paladin and damage-dealers Multi-classed with Rogue/Monk/Barb for their respective buffs, so you are not lowering their potential by "forcing" the physical damage dealers to be a Chanter.

Compared to PoE1, maxing out might to squeeze as much damage per hit past the enemy's AR seems less important since any weapon-type can get 25,50,75 or 100% damage done. And I always feel the damage bonus from Might-attribute seem insignificant compared to what you receive from the sneak-attack bonus. For these reasons, in PoE2 I have come to prefer more a "mid-spread" for any Rogue or Rogue/X -multiclass. By mid-spread I simply mean how the stats are allocate from top to bottom, keeping Might,Con,Res near 10, while prioritizing Per, Dex, and for casters multi's more Int. ex.(without blessing) Might: 10 Con: 10 Dex: 18 Per: 19 Int: 12 Res: 7 But perhaps for PotD with Berzerker, I would put a few more points from Dex/Int into Con. But this is just my lazy subjective opinion, while I wait for Beast of Winter to download...

I think this has been posted on various forums, but some bars(ex. Wild Mare) and vendors sell an item that is called: Wael's Wind (cost: ~60-80 cp) Usually vendors have 2 in stock at a time, but it replenish over the course of the game. Stock up on about 10 of them. 5 for Famp cave, and 5 for the Foggy island in the South East. The item gives the following effect: Immunity to Intellect Afflictions -1 Dexterity (like all alchoholic beverages in the game). Beware the buff doesn't last forever, since afterwards you get the usual hangover debuff until you rest again. But it should last longer than clearing a dungeon given that you do not rest. Focus on the Rogue types first, since they hit like crazy. Their casters usually run out of spells and are less dangerous. They all keep using a Draining Touch type ability, which is what makes them so resilient, and IIRC does Corrode damage and heals them for the damage dealt. Apply some Constitution afflictions on them to lessen the healing (Sickened, Weakened, Enfeebled). If allowed they will surround and focus down your squishiest party member. Best way to counter this is to minimize the space. Group up in a corner, narrow corridor with ranged weapons, focusing on one Fampyr at a time, while keeping the rest occupied with a tank/summons from a chanter.

Attributes are general, might/dex/perception/int works with weapons, wizard, druid spells alike. Worse in BG1/2 when you had to have almost all stats Str/Dex/Con + Int/Wis/Cha. And none of them boosted both roles of a F/M or F/T/M or even a C/M. And buffs and debuffs are still crossing over, Wizard self buffs, Mirror Image, still helps a Priest/Druid/Cipher/Chanter survive better. Chanter and priest have good AoE buffs, Devotion of the Faithful -> +4 Might, +10 Accuracy to sub-sequent spells cast Cipher/Wizard debuffs help the other type of spells to land. Ex. Mental Binding -> Fire Ball (or any other Reflex spell) Secret Horros -> Killing Bolt (or any other Will/Fortitude) and countless other combos. Sorcerer has Mirror Image + Spirit Shift, definitely no push-over in melee. And some power-levels are just super-weak, Wizard power level 4 is a quite notable one where you wish you could use the resources on power level 3 spells instead. Spend that time casting good spells from the other class instead of fiddling going *plink*, *wiff*, *wiff* with a ranged weapong. Ex. on the same power-level: Druid's Moonwell, Priest's Devotion of the Faithful or Shining Beacon Ciper's/Chanter's anything really. Why doesn't this make you inspired to fill in the gap. Play it, make it work, then tell us how by posting your experiences. We would love to hear about it. The next player who logs in to these forums feels the same way as you do now, "I want to try a Caster + Caster Multiclass, who can give me advice?" And we simply reply, go read Melusina's guides, she always know how to make them work. So, go fill those gaps, we know you can do it!!!

Well pretty much every ability have the following, which is what I guess you are seeing (from abilities.gamedatabundle): "PowerLevelScaling": { "ScalingType": "Default", "BaseLevel": 0, "LevelIncrement": 1, "MaxLevel": 0, "DamageAdjustment": 1, "DurationAdjustment": 1, "BounceCountAdjustment": 0, "ProjectileCountAdjustment": 0, "AccuracyAdjustment": 0, "PenetrationAdjustment": 0 }, Which from what I can only guess at this stage, (from trying to get an overview of how the system works, while sketching a re-work of the Ranger-class. ) means that it get: PL gives +1 Dmg, and +1 sec Duration to all the abilities with this modifier. This bonus is applied every strike. And since the damage doesn't scale with resources spent, I guess instead of. Y = ((X + PL)*1.25 ), [3 Crippling Strikes (Guile cost: 1) ] vs Y = (X + PL)*1.25, [ 1 Withering Strike (Guile cost: 3) ] Which could have been Y = (X + PL)*1.25 * GuileCost, [ 1 Withering Strike (Guile cost: 3) ] = (X + 3*PL)*1.75 Where Y is resulting ability damage before other modifiers such as might/sneakattack/mitigation etc, and X would base damage. But I personally think there are several other issues at play here causing higher level abilities to be less effective. Only anecdotal experience from playing on PotD though so take it with a large pinch of salt. In the lower-mid (lvl 1-14) levels Your party are unable to reliably hit your enemies: 40% hit rate was high in my experience. Which in turn means a majority of your hits will be a 'Graze' or (-50% dmg) That together with enemies high AR, being in 10-12 for the squishy 'Rogue Type' enemies, and steel-constructs with their 19 AR is just.... Which means your attacks get another stacking -25% to -75% damage per hit. In the mid-high levels (+14) Your party will have around 60-80% hit rate, so you can count almost strike the -50% dmg modifier. But AR is ever increasing. And if we look at the Rogue as an example. Its first tier ability Crippling Strike: +25% ,+2 penetration All other strikes, instead of +2 penetration get +10 Accuracy. Accuracy which in the end-game is a thing you already have in abundance compared to penetration. And what adds even more is the new Affliction tier system. Which doesn't match the progression of the Abilities received by the Classes. The lower image shows that this currently rather counter-intuitively scrambled seemingly at random. A lower level Rogue aught to be able to not more than distract/hobble their foes. And a higher level Rogue should be more capable, which could be better reflected by being able to cause Blind/Paralyze Wizards and their Chill Fog is probably the most notable example from the other classes. Where at Power level 1(!), you have a spell that provides a Tier 3 affliction, AoE, and pulsating. TLDR: I think that the issue is a combination of high level abilities, both not scaling adequately, no pentration bonus, and NOT providing higher Tier afflictions. At the same time this gives you more incentive to try out one of the game's numerous Multi Classes, so perhaps Higher level abilites do not need to be urgently fixed? (Edit: fixed resolve in the affliction-tree image)

Not sure who you are competing with, nor what parameters are being optimized, but here are some numbers to play around with from my saves at lvl 20: MC, Ascetic, monk(helwalker)/shifter lvl 20, fist base dmg: 14-19 (crush) penetration: 7 Transcendent suffering bonuses: +50% dmg +14 accuracy +4 penetration (speed/recovery unknown since no tool-tip) Druid form: Cat, claw 13-19 (slash) penetration: 9 Attack time: 0.5 sec Recovery: 3 sec (-30% forced dual-wield) Level Bonus: +60% dmg +16 accuracy +6 penetration 12 armor (doesn't stack with regular armor) Special Ability gives +33 % action speed for ~17 sec at MC lvl 20. Alternatives: Stag/Wolf/Boar form horn/teeth/tusk: 13-19 (pierce) Recovery: 4 sec (other stats same) Alternative: Bear form claw: 13-19 (slash) Recovery: 4 sec 14 armor (other stats same) Optional is the +10-25% elemental lash of choice. Single class Monk, lvl 20: fist base dmg: 14-19 (crush) penetration: 7 Transcendent suffering bonuses: +80% dmg +22 accuracy +6 penetration (speed/recovery unknown since no tool-tip) Comparing with how much the monk gains in being pure-class compared to being MC, I imagine the Shifter gains at least a bit more power being single class lvl 20. Although I am not that at home in the .gamedatabundles-files yet, so I can't tell you how much. Although the martial aspect did not synergized the least (as in nothing in Forms stacked with mock passives). But the Druid spells sure are a great thing to have when the monk is too squishy to survive the front line chaos, and a jump-kicking were-raindeer is quite the sight, it should apply the affliction "awestruck" to both nearby enemies and allies....

Hmm, does the multi-class have to synergize in power? Marauder with Sneak-attack Carnage etc? Two classes strengths can also complement each other. Give options/utility. Or like a Holy Slayer, Rogue-side gains survivability, Paladin-side gains damage dealing potential. Or Geomancer, Ranger is great for Single target sniping, but Wizard is better for AoE and debuffing in general. But no real ranged damage booster. For instance playing a pure priest has a lot of downtime with few casts and few decent spells to cast. My merc, Mystic of Wael filled that downtime generating focus with a Warbow, which provided some nice CC that the Priest on its own could not provide. Cleric of Wael felt a lot weaker even if a bit more sturdy. But a Shifter Oracle get a lot of Penetration + Base Dmg from its forms, which should generate tons of Focus to spend, perhaps on that Soul Blade thing. A Hierophant could play like a Battlemage, Mirror Image + Chill Fog would allow the Cipher to safely walk the front line with 2 sabers in hand, which would most likely generate more focus than a pure Cipher would dare to do without starting at range. You also have a limited number of slots in your party. 5 slots with 11 classes. Even if we use multi-class mercs to cover as many classes as possible, we would still need to leave out one class.

Hmm, no replies. I guess too open question, we need to narrow it down to get an answer closer to what you need. But I am sooo booored today so I will try to cover most possibilities... Generally: You play a very support-heavy class. So i would suggest you to gather good targets for your buffs. Devotion of the Faithful etc. makes every front-liner more capable. Phrases makes them more durable so they can chose more offensive gear. Dual-wield instead of 1h+shield. Incantations, the armor breaking I found really useful, refreshes on hits, really low-maintenance. Ogres and the weapon summon are very effective. The Drake felt a lot weaker. So did the dragon, so no loss there for a multi-class Chanter compared to a pure. Hanging sepulcher specific: Some of the skeletons are immune to Pierce, but have quite low Blunt/Crush armor. So use Maces/Scepters/Quarterstaves. Party setup: Companions only? I would go with: Trusty old Eder always works as a tank. (Mirke, Rekke, Palegina are decent substitutes) Aloth, provides Blind debuff. It is a huge game-changer and comes early. Pulsating spells have more chances to hit. Maia, will love you for the faster reload Phrase. Her shot that dispel warrior's/mage's buffs, is quite handy later in the game. Imho, Birdy needs minimum armor, penetration, Takedown to be a decent offtank. Seraphen, cipher brings more debuffs. Mental Binding, Secret Horrors + Pain Blocks is all you need and more. If you need more healing I guess you can use Tekehu or Palegina,(if you can stand either of those two personalities) Party setup: hired Mercenaries? This is what gives such high replay value to BG2 and PoE1&2, the huge amount of different thematic builds and allow you to play around with, and with 5-6 custom characters the possibilities are endless. Add some nice RP backstories that tie these odd-balls together and you are good to go. Ex. current playthrough: Paladin(shield)/Wizard - Watcher, Tank/Debuffer Ascetic (Shifter/Helwalker) - Offtank/debuffer/healer (fyi: +50% dmg taken is not a good trait for an offtank on PotD ) Troubadour - Buffs/Debuffs/Summons Mystic(Wael/Beguiler) - Buffs/Debuffs/healer Marauder(no sub-class) - Gets mad and hits things.(requires a lot of babysitting) Ex 2. previous playthrough: Paladin(Way)/Unbroken, Crusader - Watcher, Tank/Dmg Helwalker - Offtank/Dmg Cleric of Wael - Buff/Offtank plain Wizard - Debuff/Dmg plain Rogue - This class needs no sub-class to be terrifying... And neither of any of my ramble would attempt to be "the best". But even if I would have changed a few sub-classes here and there in hind sight for my own parties, it still worked out in the end. For me, as long as it works, Fun builds are more Fun to play, than builds that are "optimal/best/ultimate/pro...".

Just thought I would add a few notes from my last PotD with a similar concept tank build based on Wizard buffs, Arcane Knight (Shieldbearer/no-school). Paladin class is another good candidate class for "might dumping" since they have very few ways to boost their dmg capabilities beyond Flames of Devotion. I did the following stat-spread: M: 10 C: 14 D: 14 P: 14 I: 16 C:10 Keep in mind that in Deadfire has a lot of gunners, and those are all "Veil Piercing" which is basically designed to counter Arcane Veil. And early to mid PotD are very slow and grindy fights, so Arcane will not last long enough. Mirror, Double, are not Veils but have charges, and can run out earlier than you expect. But all of the mage illusion buffs were, in my experience a poor substitute for a Brigandine + Large Shield, even though they sure helped. Cloth-armor will be over-penetrated by even the paltry-penetration-poker called swords. That means +30% dmg taken. Best is trade-off for speed is, in my opinion, the Chain Mail variants, since they are only weak against Crushing/blunt damage and very few kits use them. And both brigandine/plate are most likely to be penetrated even when and take 100% dmg. I like using the Magnera's Chain at the end on my tanks. And another big thing. The enemies will CC the crap out of you as the tank on PotD. So many mobs that do any of the following: M: Stun C : Enfeeble D: Paralyze P: Blind I: Dominate R: Terrified All of the above you can become immune to by the modifier: "Resistance to X afflictions". Well it pushes the most sever affliction off the table, downgrading it to a lesser and more manageable form at least, which getting rid of Stun/Paralyze was huge for me in some early encounters. M: Dazed C: Weakened D: Immobilized P: Disoriented I: Charmed R: Frightened There are a few items that provide (Resistance to), spread here and there. But Paladin have quite a rich arsenal against these. (+20 to Might/Dex/Res, Resistant to Con,Int,Per) Even easier is to have a Troubadour(Chanter) backing you up, making the whole party "Resistant to" 4/6 affliction types. The new afflictionare a few things I never bothered learning until I got smacked around on PotD with what I thought would be an "Immovable Object". But so many times that was not enough. But many players have no problem soloing the game, no matter what class, so don't think don't give up, and good luck with your mage tank. Let us know how it turns out.

Aw, I was afraid of that. Well at least that gives an definitive answer on why that build isn't discussed more. And maybe just as well. To be honest maybe the Wizard doens't really need such a boost to their already very powerful arsenal. Odd video-guide, mentions that backstabbing works with spells, the numbers do not seem that impressive compared to base damage, so my guess is that Loren Tyr is more in the know-how on this topic, no offense meant. And so many equipment that boosts spell damage and no mention of them. No Griffin's Blade with Hound's Courage, Magran's Favor or Monochromatic Staff, Firethrower's Gloves, Ring of Focused Fire, Maker's Own Power, Power Stone...etc...hmm.... Well, thanks anyhow. On to the next project instead: The Shanty Bro: Dwarven Howler (Zerk/Troub). Morningstar with modal, slap them with the modal and then win the battle with Voice-based skills. More of a fun thematic build...

I only find vague comments regarding the topic on how Spells works with Back-stab/Assassinate for the Rogue sub-class Assassin. So as I understand it you receive the following bonuses on the first "attack": + 25 Accuracy + 4 Penetration + 25% crit damage (Does this scale/change with Power Level or Character Level? ) Has anybody tested out what works with Back-stab/Assassinate? As I have read even with the Rogue's own abilities which do "Full Attack", only apply the bonus on the first hit if dual wielding. And casting even offensive spells like Ninagauth's Shadownflame does NOT break stealth. But does so how does the bonuses work with spells? Does it only work with spells that deal weapon damage types (slash/pierce/crush)? (I remember this was the case for sneak-attack and scrolls in PoE1, which Beoroer made a nice build about) a.) How about the range limitation? Is Assasinate the same as with Back-stab? (<2 m), or works even at Arbalest/Arquebus range? b.) How would that work with AoE spells like Fireball? Do you have to be withing 2 meters of the center of the impact, OR is it enough to be 2 meters outside the yellow part of the radius? Multiple-hit spells, like most of the Minoletta's Missile spells? Only first hit gets the bonus just like with the Full-Attacks? I think this combination build has potential to make the otherwise somewhat one-sided Assassin a bit more varied playstyle. Imagine casting Minoletta's Precisely Piercing Burst with +2PL, after the tank have gathered up all the mobs and the Cipher has put a nice blanket of some nice juicy Sneak-attack- + Deathblow -qualifiers all snug on top of them....."Incertus...Pulchra...Imperio... *Poof* "

Oooo, I like the theme of a Liberator: Lifegiver/Bleak Walker(Lifetaker). - Female Pale elf, with black eyes and black hair. - Wield an Estoc and the Blackend Plate. - stoic/rational personality choices - Focus only on Life & Death themed spells/abilities: Rot Skulls, Hand of Light etc... Then whenever Berath calls upon you, you just have a staring contest with her, like: "What have you got to report on your progress?" Call it the "Handmaiden of Berath".

I just threw together this example image from a screenshot. My suggestion is simply that it might help players if something like this exist in-game: NOTE: The spells that have no "defense icon" in their top-left corner, either is a buff/summon or always hits. The purpose of this chart is to helps me decide for instance: Get a better understanding of the limitations of the Wizard specialization choices. What are you opting out of when you pick a certain school? I found it was very difficult to determining which spells you loose at glance. After looking below I feel like I could live without Enchanting and Conjuration. That is great there is a school that gives up just those two, Illutionist. Oh, but wait. Illusion doesn't have a 7th or 9th level spell. So, that was what Josh was referring to in one of the update videos. Not all summoned weapons target deflection, perhaps my Battle Mage should pick up both staves. What spells should I pick at level up? Should I pick the 2nd level spell that causes blind when you already have the 1st level spell Chill Fog. Oh, one targets the opponent's Fortitude while the other targets Will. What do you all say, wouldn't you like to see similar tool in game, or are you all making your own spread sheets, or keep it all in your head? (In the future I might throw together something similar to all the Grimoires and what they cover in the tree, so you can make a Wizard multi-class that relies less on spells picked up during the level-up screen and thus leaves more room for abilities the other class.)

To solve the lack of active abilities, I would like to see something like a combo-system with your animal companion, that rewards a more active play-style if you chose to specialize for it with talents. Simple Core abilities for both Ranger and Companion: ex. (like from Fallout) Ranger: Aim for Leg Aim for Arm Aim for Torso Animal Companion: Go for Leg! Go for Arm! Go for Torso! But when combined they add extra effect: Combinations: Go for Leg! + Aim for Leg = Target Pinned to the ground, (adds rooted X sec) Aim for Leg + Go for Torso! = Lunge (target knocked down) Go for Arm! + Aim for Torse = Ignores target's deflection bonus from Shield. Aim for Arm + Go for Torso! = Go for throat (extra crit chance + extra crit damage) ... So the Ranger and companion acts as a power resource, making each-other stronger. Just like the Cipher builds focus, and Monk receives Wounds, but also more thematically for the Ranger's symbiotic bond with his Companion. Nor does "Aim" overly represent melee or ranged weapon usage. It should work for a Legolas, Aragorn, Minsc or Drizzt type Ranger.