MaxQuest

I probably wouldn't change it. Yes, there are some problems with the current system. But the way everything is intertwined, it would take a lot of time to find the optimal state such that it really feels great. And even then it might either get too complex, or require manual AR/PEN changes to some of existing enemies. I haven't sorted my thoughts on this topic yet. But here are some of them: - AR is way too important. Because being just 3 points over enemy PEN (while not getting crit), decreases damage taken by a factor of 4. And the thing is this doesn't check for the absolute damage value; so it's effective vs xaurips and dragons alike. - Overpenetration is weird. Where is the edge between penetrating someone's armor and overpenetrating it? - Overpenetration is weird #2. With 10 PEN you can easily overpen someone with 4 AR in the early game. Fastforward to legendary weapon and armor, and it becomes 15 PEN vs 9 AR. You can no longer overpenetrate, but... what changed? - Additionally if you crit, but you are still 3 PEN below enemy AR (even with x1.5 PEN bonus), how is that a crit? - Another thing that is slightly uncomfortable is that CritDamageMult had to be reduced from 1.5 to 1.25 (and is even treated in additive manner) because there is also that x1.5 PEN bonus. But that bonus quite often does not result in overpenetration, especially on PotD where enemies have +2 AR, and iirc additionally get +0.25 AR per upscalled level. At the same time, without that +2 AR the game would feel much easier. But it also feels that Deadfire was mostly balanced around Normal and Hard when looking at weapons viability. That said I like that we have Penetration and relative AR as concepts. But I also like the absolute DR from PoE1. And would rather see them combined. Such that: - each weapon has: damage, penetration and damage_from_penetration ratio - each armor has: AR, DR, and penalties For example a rapier deals close to no damage if it can't penetrate the armor. While some two-handed war-hammer doesn't really care if it penetrated or not, since there is still damage going from it's kinetic energy. At the same time a rapier would greatly benefit from criting - read hitting flesh under joint of an armor. The pros of heavy armor being it's great effectiveness vs enemies that don't hit hard and don't crit often. But it's weight being a limited factor for user's agility, lowering his ability to deflect or evade incoming stuff. P.S. But.. that would be a total overhaul.

Btw, if you are resting with no food, you would have to rest twice in order to get rid of hangover.

Exactly) because it's a spell that deals crush damage like your fist would.

Oh, my bad then Here's a good example by baldurs_gate2 regarding buying time For 30s straight Nery can't cast that Entropic Shield because is being continuously interrupted and can't get out of previous recovery.

He probably forgot that it's not a PM thread) And regarding meaning: he wanted to say that it is unpleasant to get hit by that Siphon. And even more unpleasant if it crits ----------- Btw CritEffectDurationMult is 1.25 in Deadfire) And if I am not mistaken it is treated additively with INT, just like CritDamageMult is taken additively with MIG (and other damage modifiers). Btw, wizard's Corrosive Siphon is a rank 2 ability that deals 8 damage per 3s, for 10s. With 7 base penetration. Neryscirlas' Corrosive Siphon is also a rank 2 spell, but it deals 15 damage per 3s, for 20s. With 13 base penetration. Can't check this ingame atm, but at 18 MIG / 14 INT, that should 18.6 damage per tick for 24s. And on crit, that would be 22.35 damage per tick for 29s. Or approximately 238 total damage againt 1 target. Do note though: I haven't taken into account bonus from PL. Mainly because I don't know if it is even applied to someone with IsPlayerClass = false. But if Dracolich was considered a single-class wizard... at level 18 that would be PL 9, or +0.35 to rank 2 ability damage and duration... or a total of ~359 dmg vs each affected enemy.

Ayee, I remember that flexing icon)Didn't know what it means at the time, but have checked later, and it is called Entropic Shield. It grants 3 layers of Concentration (which can stack up to 10), has a 30s cooldown (in dragon's AI behaviour), and has no cast / recovery time (just like Disciplined Barrage). I doubt it's possible to interrupt it (unlike Safeguard which has 3s cast time). But yeap, knocking-up (or hard-disabling) are good enough to buy some time. And striping all concentration layers in one go (via the mentioned 'thick grew', 'insect swarm/plague of insects' and also 'echoing shield') is really effective when dealing with it. P.S. And for Neryscirlas other abilities, their cooldowns are: - Safeguard: 120s cd - Tail Swipe: 20s cd - Dragon Leap: 45s cd - Oblivion's Call: 45s cd - Cloak of Death: 75s cd - Expose Vulnerabilities: 90s cd - Corrosive Siphon: 45s cd (is cast if there are 2 or more hostile targets in AoE)

Well... disliking the whole DLC and considering it a waste because of one boss fight seems strange. But OP already seems to be out from the thread. Yet, I remember that I didn't like that fight in my previous playthrough either. Although that was because I jumped into it having zero metagame knowledge about BoW, and with a party that was created during v1.2 before the release of DLCs. And that party was not ready for such HP bloat (6600hp) at all, and had means to overcome AR only vs vanilla enemies (with +2 extra via potions, and +4 via Rust Armor scrolls if enemy has low Fortitude/Resolve for those to stick) but could hardly deal with Dracolich' armor. I still downed Neryscirlas, but it was only on the 3rd try and the fight lasted a whooping 15 minutes (on normal speed, with pauses), which is very long by my standards and denotes a BIG issue with that party being suboptimal for the task; and indeed it was, because I literally auto-attacked the thing to death, with my cipher and priest spell damage dealers not casting a thing, because it was resulting in less effective dps than swinging battle axes. Now though, knowing this encounter mechanics and the boss' AR, HP and defenses in advance, I can build a party that will have a much easier time and will likely be able to aim for a sub 3 min fight time. And tbh that's a whole different level of satisfaction. P.S. Mildly interesting: on my second attempt, I've went for the interrupt route. Stripped Neryscirlas of all concentration levels being ready to interrupt it's Safeguard, but when the dragon gets to 50%hp and starts casting it, BAM it has it's concentration layers restored plus I have 2 characters mid-recovery. And after Aloth missed twice in a row with Arcane Dampener and I've remembered that emergency AD scrolls I carry no longer benefit from Perception... I was like: naah, reload, battle axes it is then.

Yes. That's why if you go for Kind Wayfarers, it's better to make the dual-wield. What kind of gear would be good or anything goes? Also what armor are we looking at here heavy medium light? Also which stats anything goes or do they all need high int or? For armor go for they heavy one. Of the highest importance is Blackened Plate armor, because of the -1 AR aura. And the rest Kaylon has already listed. Also you have to decide, do you want 5 exactly the same heralds, that do the exact same thing, or if you are ok with slight specializing. And speaking of specializing I mean: - you can have only one herald to use Lay on Hands. 5 x White Flames should provide more than enough healing, so this 1 paladin will use LoH for emergency cases. And because it has low range, you might want to give him Nomad's Brigandine for dissengagement immunity. - the amount of items with +healing done, is very limited, so you will have to designate one herald who uses ONLY Flames of Devotion and doesn't spend zeal on nothing else. Also this one will be the one with Exalted Endurance and Ancient Memory. And Blackened Plate (if you choose the healing upgrade) - speaking of weapons, I would recommend something along following lines: > Magran's Favor + Sun and Moon > Slayers'Claw + Kapana Taga > Matakau + Shattered Vengeance | can start the fight with Xefa's Empirical Explication + Kitchen Stove (you want that cone Daze from Thunderous Report) and switch after initial opening > Magistrate's Cudgel + Keeper of the Flame > Beza + Tarn's Respite | with Willbreaker in offset You can almost always keep battle axe modals on; and see for yourself when it makes sense to have offhand modals on as well.

Understood) I was basically looking for a cause that could interrupt the current action. And it seems that dunehunter has posted a plausible one back in september: link. And there have been no answer from the devs since that. It's also unlikely that they will fix it, if they fail to replicate it \ So, for now the workaround is: if the character was running, press X before issuing a new command.

That's weird. I remember this bug mentioned on reddit last year. But never encountered this myself. I've encountered another similar bug through: use a full-attack ability with AoE weapon and there is a chance that the character will forget about recovery and will enter into a loop. Swinging like an enraged lumberjack. Although iirc this was already fixed. Btw: - did your character get interrupted during his first Stunning Blow attempt? - was mortification consumed? - did the damage of main hand go through?

Do you use an AoE weapon by any chance? Also what AI behaviour do you use for that character, and have you used others?

Do agree with your points of view as in: it's best used on: - heavy armor - if it will allow to consistently be by 3 AR higher than enemy PEN; and it wasn't already. - cipher weapons - because ciphers (except for psion) are very phys. dps dependent. And just switching weapons may either lead to lower dps (be it because of extra time spent on switching; or because cipher was already using an optimal setup and now he has to use a subpar one which just happens to have the right type of damage) - battle axe (if you use them) - as extra accuracy will benefit it's on-crit bonus damage, will make landing the modal's DoT more reliable, and the higher the damage - the stronger the DoT. Theoretically it would also help rogues (if applied to their weapons) to land their afflictions via debilitating/confounding/withering/etc strikes. But enemy deflection is rarely a problem past the early game. Plus there are many ways to decrease it.

- do you intend to do megabosses? - will you be fighting DLC bosses? - what difficulty are you playing? - is Pallegina kind wayfarer or not? - will you be using Serafen as wild mind / barbarian or you are ok with changing him to ascendant / berserker?

Here are some intermediary stats: - So far we have 47 submissions: - Around 40 submissions were made in the first 2 days. And 5 submissions in the last ~24 hours. General stuff: Classes: Keywords: Bugs: P.S. The poll will be open till next saturday. P.P.S. Do you think that this poll should be also linked on /r/projecteternity/ ?

The general idea is clear enough. But I'd like to hear specific examples (конкретные примеры). For example: > (Priest) Book of Prayers: - provides +1 protection PL, +1 inspiration PL - unlocks Prayer for the Body, Prayer for the Spirit, Litany for the Body and Litany for the Spirit * unlocks in the sense that it is like a grimoire with 4 spells. ... can be purchased from Temple Vendor ("Ca-candles and balms!..") > (Priest) Talisman against Evil: - reduces damage taken from Vessels by 20%. - grants "Turn Undead": 1-per-encounter variation of "Halt" that also applies Terrify. But is only usable vs vessels. ... can be looted somewhere inside of Hanging Sepulchers > (Druid) Shrunken Head Talisman: - decreases damage with Decay effects by -20% - increases duration with Decay and Ground effects by +30% ... can be looted from some Xaurip in Poko Kohara > (Druid) Small Rotghast Skull: - grants a 1-per-encounter "Lesser Rot Skull" spell. It's same as rank-5 "Rot Skull" but single-target instead of AoE. - +1 Decay PL and +2 Metaphysics - -1 Plant and Restoration PL ... sold by Dimessa > (Druid) Stelgaer's Fang: - ... > (Druid) Captured Essence of the Storm: - ... > (Druid) Bunch of dried herbs: - ... something like that.

I salute the separate mod approach for priest/druid trinkets. P.S. And I'd like to hear concrete/specific details about 3 trinkets for priests and 3 for druids. What their effects should be. And where they should be dropped or sold.

Speaking of 5 completely the same jack-of-all-trades I do second third? the herald suggestion, since it is also really decoupled from equipment so there won't be any 'fight' for uniques. Specifically wayfarer/troubadour. The party just doesn't die, and has a lot of invocations to cast. And as alternative there could be wayfarer/monk, where you can balance the heals versus wounds generation.

^ Dirty minded aren't you)

Ok. That will do too. Cipher can't really become a main tank. But, he can become tanky enough for non-boss fights. The idea is to have armor with highest DR (usually plate armor, pierce-proofed) and just enough deflection in order to not get crit. This will allow to shrug the majority of incoming damage from low-hitting enemies (which usually are the majority of encounter). At the same time, spot the hard-hitting enemies (like ogres) and use hard crowd-control abilities vs them. This way, you don't really care for damage coming from 'weaklings', and keep the real threats unable to do harm. A good idea would be recruit Grieving Mother, and together start the combat with charming main threats from enemy backline, and paralyzing from their frontline. Hammer and anvil of some sort. A cipher with a shield will indeed have lower focus generation. Unless you durganize your weapon, armor and shield; get gauntlets of swift action and use time parasite / potion of deleterious motion; and use a weapon with 'fast' enchant (e.g: Sword of Daenysis, Rimecutter or Unforgiven). Speaking of spell damage: the most of it comes from: - Amplified Wave - Disintegration - and in the early game: Echo and Soul Shock A glass cannon cipher has enough focus generation to compete with the strongest total damage dealers, these being: dps-barbarian and dragon-trashed-chanter. A more tanky cipher, especially the one with shield will be doing ~25% less damage in the late game; or ~33% damage in the early game. While being tankier by a somewhat similar amount. So just think what you want more. Out of those listed builds, I have full-playthroughs with v1,3,4,5,6. They feel different and I liked all of them. But melee ciphers definitely required more cover from their teammates. And by cover I mean, that if some hard-hitter jumps on your cipher, let your other debilitator disable that enemy asap. And for the role of such debilitator the best is a second cipher. P.S. But in the end, I would say: which ciphers to choose depends mostly on your party composition and preferred style of play. So just do what you like^^

Hehe) So you like it all: somewhat tanky + phys damage + crowd control + spell damage) While this wouldn't work that well on PotD (where one might want to specialize the characters and optimize the stats), this is actually possible on Hard (veteran) difficulty. The thing is: enemies on Hard have -15 lower defences compared to PotD; so having 18 Perception on that difficulty feels almost the same as just 3 PER on Hard Also your characters will feel less squishy, because enemy have also 15 less accuracy. Thus for your needs, I would adjust 18/10/14/12/14/10 in the following way: 17/9/15/9/17/10. Most often your routine will be: start with Wispers of Treason on enemy you don't want to attack. Cast Mental Binding on enemy you want to attack. And when you have enough focus use Amplified Wave (or Silent Scream or Echo, Disintegration, etc). It would be even better if you had a priest to toss Painful Interdiction at the start of combat. And if you have a cc-wizard or another cipher in party for cover, and feel tanky enough, you can switch from sabre+shield to dual-wield sabres. P.S. Also would recommend looking for Shod-in-Faith boots and Swaddling Sheet (cloak) for your party.

^ Well, I was often taking that talent too. But mostly treating it as a kind of: +1 CON minus 2 fortitude but plus multiplicative x1.052% healing taken attached) But this talent wasn't doing much for my dps'ers offence wise. By reading the tooltip one may think that 5% is something worth it, but in common case scenario it results in only 0.2-0.4% dps increase. Also I'll just write Boeroer's quote down again:

Don't twist ^^ As for current data regarding that suggestion, it is: It will be interesting finding the compromise)

Your first stat distribution is fine for a ranged cipher. But melee might have problems due to low Concentration. Also it's important to decide what kind of melee cipher you want. Is it ok if he's only crowd-control oriented; or if you want to also deal spell damage. P.S. You might find these two posts of use: - one - two

^ Aha, so my feeling that something is missing was right Although I don't see the names or emails of submitters I can tell which submission is yours just by the answers ^^ That said I'm mostly surprised by your choices regarding Bitting Whip and all monk related suggestions. P.S. Regarding Aegis of Loyalty: I've checked it in beta, on release and in v1.2. It was working only with unarmed (fist) attacks. P.P.S. Some nice unanimity regarding racial suggestions:

Thank you all for voting We have 17 submissions by now. P.S. I've also noticed that there were 6 submissions done to the Sneak Peek version of the poll, and wanting to note that this poll is a new, separate instance with extra options. So if you placed a submission there, feel free to vote here again. It won't be considered a duplicate. @Elric Galad, I'll take a look later. Judging by current responses, bugs related to afflictions and aoe weapons are mostly voted as high priority)