Braven

Not very long. I think 12 seconds? And has a small activation action time, which wastes some of the gains of higher speed. Not worth it, if running low int. Like everything, best with spelltongue cheese. I think the +50% speed potion is base 30 seconds. Much better for a long or particularly difficult fight.

I love, love, love wound binding, if you are able to keep up endurance regeneration with incoming damage. With the right build, it can be the best talent of all. With so many ways to regain endurance now... Draining weapons, class powers, items, massive healing multipliers, second wind, etc, Health is more of an issue than endurance. I bet most people who hate on it have never picked it before, or at least not since it was buffed in patch 2.0. It is much better than resting because it can be used during battle. You can't rest during battle. Also, helpful if you are just pushing your luck against trash mobs and conserving resting supplies. The whole game is easy on any difficulty if you rest after every encounter, except the toughest battles, and those benefit the most from wound binding. Field triage though is only half as good. Why heal 20% when you can heal 40%?

So, as long as you also use vulnerable attack or cautious attack, you still benefit from outlanders frenzy along with swift aim or swift punches active (they cancel each other out)? I really wish the stacking rules and math (additive vs multiplicative) were a lot more consistent, or at least explained better in game. Without massive amounts of testing, it is really hard to compare different combinations. An ability could either be worthless or OP and have the exact same description text.

With a +2 stat, you are limited to "exceptional", but I am fine with that. By the time you are able to get anything higher, the game is almost over and your endurance and defenses are so high that the DR doesn't really matter anymore. The +2 survival is really nice, I agree. Makes it much easier to hit the "third tier" rest bonuses... It is really like 20 skill points at that point.

on a related note, does swift aim (ranger modal) stack with frenzy? I wonder if fighter is the only class with a stacking speed boost, albeit additive (armored grace).

There is an item that allows making a copy of an item. Finding it is random, but I managed to get it early on.

I will play around with 2x spell tongue, for fun and science, but ultimately it feels "cheap" to abuse spell tongue like that, so I will probably stick with unlabored and one of the speed weapons. That should be good enough. This guy slaughters everything so quickly that longer durations are not really needed at all. Also double rapier doesn't look as good as other weapon combinations. Speaking of style, I wish cloak of the tireless defender looked nicer. The flavor text description says it was found completely undamaged but it looks like it has a hundred holes in it. Someone did not take care of it very well. It does fit the theme, though. Taking hit after hit (not even bothering to dodge) and still standing despite gaping wounds all over and scars of past battles.

Ohhh! I need to find the scars helmet. Are the new helmets all in WM2?

Not seeing health is pretty annoying. I like it mainly for "max attack speed" builds, assuming Sanguine armor is not being used (doesn't stack). The thing with attack speed is that it is better the more of it you have because of how the funky math works. If you are already slow and have Nothing else that boosts attack speed, you probably won't notice the difference. It is also best for classes that "want" to have low defenses in order to trigger items that have "received a crit" abilities. Finally, you want it on a character with high Intelligence so it lasts a good, long time. I like it on some fighters since they have regeneration abilities and "unbroken" which mitigate the negatives. Doesn't matter if your health is hidden if you can't actually die. If you don't have those synergies, I think it is pretty lousy. By the way, does anyone know how "temporary con" works. Is damage you take first subtracted from the bonus endurance and health, effectively making that "free health"?

I put on some, inferior mail armor just because it looks better than Sanguine (not a huge fan of the unnatural red). It is also green. Does have endurance regeneration, which is nice, but I feel like mail class of armor have the worst damage type DRs. The soul bound armor makes my fighter a little sad since it gives away his hard earned abilities to others and he can't even wear it himself for some reason. Maybe I will try a monk fighter-want-to-be sometime.

Superb + lash deals a lot more damage (and frankly +3 Accuracy from Legendary isn't really a big deal.) Not sure I agree with "the best weapons are the ones with a single enchant that can support both legendary and a lash." There are unique enchants that make a lot more difference than +3 Accuracy / +10% damage, which is what Legendary brings to the table versus Superb. I meant the best among those you would ever enchant to legendary. I agree, the best weapons probably don't have the enchantment space. My main point was that it is not worth skipping a lash for a quality enchantment.

Is superb and a lash better than legendary? I think so since lashes multiplies damage instead of just apply yet another minor additive bonus and slightly more accuracy. That said, I think the best weapons are the ones with a single enchant that can support both legendary and a lash. I like the idea of enchanting The March Dagger, as a second weapon to speed up a different, more powerful primary. It has speed, lash, legendary possible, and flick of the wrist for even more accuracy.

For the absolute highest proc rate of spell tongue, two could be dual-wielded. Twice the spell tongue hits = never ending durations? Lower damage, but if immune and frenzied forever, does it matter? Could be good at least for weapon set 2. Sadly shield + spell tongue is not quite fast enough since two-weapon style is lost. This setup uses lighter armor, but maybe that would actually be best for triggering immunity. Can armored grace cover up the malus from vulnerable attack? Or is it truly only armor. The other speed rapier (or March dagger, for slash damage and the fact it can reach legendary + lash + flick of wrist) and unlabored in set 1. Or maybe Steadfast sometimes? (If the speed of unlabored is no longer needed). Targeting will instead of deflection sounds pretty good and fear immunities could be situationally useful.

Good ideas. I forgot about the Soulbounds. 1.20 is better than 1.15 so it might help the math a bit more than other non-speed weapons with Durgan when I am running a tad short. Fire bug would provide some much helpful AOE the fighter completely lacks and the "mythic" quality is nice. Keeping Noble weapons for the sake of spell tongue makes sense and in theory would require no retrain, if planned out well from the start. Guess the wax is not needed. Maybe it can be used to copy the best figurine, or other per-rest item. Does firebug do something weird like use penetrating shot (5 DR ranged bypass)? Does the spell tongue speed buff stack with frenzy completely? When I hit level 15, I will experiment with extending immunity.

Why take Cautious Attack????? +8 deflection with -20% attack speed is a bad deal. better to take Superior Deflection for +5 deflection and no malus. Another +3 deflection is not worth -20% attack speed. If you are fast enough it is better to take Vulnerable Attack as it will add +5 damage per attack, much better when you are fast. I'd look at dual Rimecutters which you can sometimes just buy and save the wax. If you had only one speed weapon, both Durgan and frenzy you'd get (1.15*1.15*1.2*1.25)+0.2 = 2.18 you could use Durgan scale mail or leather or if you added Armored Grace you could go with plate. One speed would be easy to get, two in the same group is harder. Also Armored Grace will help you from level seven onwards, fully durganed up gear will not happen till near the end. I meant vulnerable attack - I typoed the talent. I agree that is much better. Had it since level 4. Deflection is also not needed, since low defenses are better for triggered immunity and for my boots/armor. I have never, ever found the guy who sells Rimecutters, so that is sadly not an option. He doesn't seem to like me or ever want to visit. The one speed weapon only works if I don't take vulnerable attack (since it effectively cancels out two-weapon fighting) or take lighter armor, though the scars armor is quite good for this build. The non-speed weapons are a lot more interesting, though, and likely does more damage then the additional speed. Another option could be sticking with Sanguine armor, keeping deflection low, and relying on the 1.33 modifier frenzy it provides on crit. Also triggers twice per encounter instead of just once. I think I found it was slightly under 100% with vulnerable attack and one speed weapon and plate, but maybe that is "close enough". Finally, the armor activation time is instant, while outlander frenzy takes a small bit of time.... Action I could use summoning a creature or using Aspirant's mark. I have also considered sundering blows instead of charge (though charge is so good!). I am not sure I need vulnerable attack with that and I need to retrain anyways for weapon specialization. Also, though a bit cheesy since it is super buggy still, keeping spelltongue might actually be best. Wonder if two spelltongues would be even buggier at stealing buff duration. Having spell tongue is like having + 10 INT since is makes durations so much longer. Though I do tire of the rapiers. Feels a little cheap abusing it. Also does funny things like suppress Aspirant's mark sometimes.

About have Durgan steel now, and am thinking about different ways to get max attack speed. My current favorite is this (if my math is right). Double speed weapon, Durgan refined, two weapon fighting, and outlander frenzy: 1.15 * 1.15 (Durgan) * 1.2 * 1.2 (weapons) * 1.25 (frenzy) + .20 (2W fighting) - .20 (cautious attack) = 138 - 35 (durgan plate) = 103 With that combination, Armoured Grace is not needed which is great since there are more good fighter abilities than the build has room for. The downside is that it relies on the limited frenzy duration, though even after it will be pretty good from DEX. Second possible combination is purely passive but require swift action gauntlets (don't have yet), armored grace, and a drop to a breastplate... The multiplier of frenzy is so much better than additive bonuses. Second question is what speed weapons? I have the wax, so I can duplicate. Spell tongue is good for durations, but is a little slower and less damaging. Rimecutter is good but hard to obtain. Strike hard is easy, but the debuffs it has does not stack. There is a hatchet with hit-to-crit, but other bad enchants limiting potential...

Yeah, I found it annoying that amplified thrust was soooo slow traveling to it's target. Kind of defeats the purpose of being a "fast cast". Since you have to wait for the spell to hit anyways. Maybe a low DEX cipher would work better because you actually want a long recovery time?

If "damage" means burst damage, sure casters are the best for groups and a glass cannon melee built for max attack speed vs single targets. But the fact is, "burst damage" does not matter if your character cannot die due to massive health, defenses, and endurance regeneration, or ability to stun-lock everything without limits. A damage dealing Mage can die due to a simple mistake. A properly built martial can solo most encounters with no risk of dying and no per/rest or consumables.

I think it still hurts martial a little more since a caster can just choose a difference spell and loses nothing. A charm focused cipher might be a little sad, sometimes. Good thing they have OP non-charm powers that work against everything. A fighter's knock down, however, become useless if an enemy is immune to prone. That said, I have not found it to be an issue since the enemies that are immune are usually weak anyways, or are mixed with enemies that are vulnerable so you can still use it in the encounter. Finally, it is still useful even with immunity because it also increases damage and is a full attack (more damage for dual-weapons). So basically, nothing important has changed that should influence your ability choices. Not sure about stun immunity.. If your whole plan is to stun lock everything with weapons, will you run into problems? Maybe a barbarian with super high accuracy and max attack speed and intelligence. Guess you could have a backup weapon set (maybe 1 sec. interrupt rating weapons) for those situations. With max accuracy, you also will have max interrupt and I don't know of anything immune to that.

Are there any actual benefit to stronghold defenses? Battles are just easy-to-win minor annoyances and the gold from taxes are pretty meaningless (and helped by both). Even the "bad visitors" seem to actually be good visitors because they somtimes grant permanent prestige increases now. Prestige helps get quests which provide really powerful one-of-a-kind items. Seems like a no-brainer. Makes hirelings, like the ogre, completely useless and a massive negative.

As with all spell casters, if you don't mind resting often, you can be very powerful nuking with spells. I haven't used Druid much, But eventually wizards can fireball everything to death within seconds. It is a fast-cast spell with a large radius. Just be sure to get a lot of Intelligence, Might, and Perception (one of the few things that help spell accuracy).

Did you find boots of speed? One nice thing about white March is the easy access to +3 speed boots (assuming you can beat the ogres).

A lot of creatures have immunities. Added in patch 2.03. Kith always have none, generally. I think charm-like effects is the most common (undead).

Patch 2.03 "stealth" nerfed it to 20 (was not in patch notes). Before that it was 25. Same patch increased fighter from 25 to 30 deflection. So paladin is now 10 less deflection compared to fighter.

Is it only ones you placed (aka, not the unique ones)? Do they all get removed? Is it suppose to happen every time you sell?