dgray62

Yes, I think you are right that larger enemies are immune to this effect.

You might try a skald/mageslayer wielding Effort and wearing the Heaven's Cacophany helm. Your invocations and chants (those that roll against enemy defenses) will afflict enemies, proc Avenging Storm, and give them stacks of Spell Disruption. It's a fun and powerful combo IMO.

In my game push/pull effects often cause one to be ragdolled, and unable to move or attack, melee or ranged. Spell casting is also interrupted, although it continues when the effect ends, so it does seem to be a "soft" interrupt. I assumed that this was normal but perhaps it is not. It is one of the reasons that Pull of Eora is so impactful.

The same is true in my game, which is one of the reasons I always equip items that make on immune to push-pull effects on my MC. While technically not "stunned", but ragdolled with the prone icon, one cannot do anything at all while being thus affected. So I'd say that @Constentin Lévineis correct about this effect's OP nature.

I believe that StSotR counts as an attack from the priest, not the companion or summon on which it is casted, which means it would proc hemorrhaging, etc. from Effort and so forth wielded by the priest, as well as proc inspirations from Least Unstable Coil.

You might consider trying blood mage, so that you can continue casting spells throughout the battle. While blood sacrifice can be painful, if you cast a Corrosive Siphon it will help you quickly regain the lost health. BTW, the best build IMO for DoT/pulsing spells is a sorcerer. If you're interested, check out @Not So Clever Hound"Thundercat 2.0" build.

Chill fog is a fantastic spell, useful from beginning to end, although technically is is a pulsing spell, not a DoT. When I play wizard I often start off casting chill fog, followed immediately by Combusting Wounds, which is an incredible damage multiplier, doing additional damage whenever DoTs tick to pulsing spells pulse. On the wizard side, Concelhaut's Corrosive Siphon is a great DoT spell since it does corrosive damage that few creatures are resistant to, and also heals you as well. Other great wizard DoT/pulsing spells include Ningauth's Freezing Pillar, Cloak of death, Wall of Fire and the ray spells. As for priest spells, see @thelee's great FAQ. Priests have less than wizards and druids, but Shining Beacon and Storm of Holy Fire are great so long as your INT is high enough to prolong them. The symbol spells are of course fantastic, as is Magran's Might if you chose her subclass.

I strongly recommend that you invest in Reny Daret's Ghost Spake, "I'll Catch You, Ben Fidel" and it's upgrade. Being able to frighten foes and debuff all their defenses is fantastic. While At the Sound of His Voice is great for the paralysis debuff, there's no point investing in the upgrade if you're also going to get the former invocation.

Are you interested in a zealot build? If so, I'd recommend that you check out @theleeUmezawa build. This is a streetfighter/priest of wael build, but you could adapt it and pick priest of berath. You should note, however, that priest of wael would be much sturdier, since Arcane Veil and Mirrored Image stack. I heartily recommend thelee's build. It's very versatile and fun to play.

It could be that Ikorno knew the spell. When you steal spells from a companion like Aloth or a hireling, you can steal either spells that they know inherently (from leveling up) or spells in the grimoire they have equipped. If you steal spells from the weather mages on slaver ships, for example, you can get several spells from them that aren't in their grimoires. As soon as I hit lvl 7 or 10 when playing a mage, I head toward Crookspur to battle slaver ships to steal spells from the mages on them. Thanks for the hotkey tip; I didn't know that.

Really? It seems I always get at least a few this way. But I usually have a rogue with max stealth in most parties, to make the most of this blessing. For some reason I've had the best luck getting Adra Ban in the poorest part of Neketaka and the Delver's Row areas below it, as well as in Dunnage. Maybe it's totally random, but I seem to find gems most often in pirates' pockets.

You're right, Psion is probably best for a pure caster. But I'd probably match psion with wizard for a greater range of buffs, debuffs and damage spells. I think for a mystic P. of Wael/Soulblade would be great.

Not necessarily. If you pick the Loaded Pockets among Berath's Blessings, you'll have a chance of getting better loot every time you pick pockets, including gems. Once you reach about lvl 10 you'll also start getting the rare gems, including Adra Ban and Sapphires, which are otherwise very rare in unmodded games. I've often been able to get several adra ban gems on a single map. It's random, yet I often find the same loot repeated 2 or more times on the same map for some reason.

I agree completely, provided of course that you want a more melee focused build. For a pure caster, ascendent would be the optimal (along with psion, for focus generation when casting), especially given the fact that the 20% damage bonus when ascended applies to the priest spells as well. You would have action economy issues, but the bonus damage would be worth it IMO.

I agree with your assessment of Steel Garrote. It's a great subclass combined with another class that can dish out afflictions via renewable resources, like FF monk, chanter or cipher. But I almost never use the garrote ability, since it is not so easy to replace zeal. What cipher subclass did you use? My inclination for a melee build would be to use soul blade for the concentration as well as the occasional soul annihilation. Also, I would be inclined to use Whispers of the Endless paths; since your defenses are high, you'll generate focus and heal from offensive parry while casting spells. Personally I never dump RES when going solo; the extra deflection, will and more rapid expiration of hostile effects really comes in handy when soloing IMO.

Generally weapons that have AOE components are great for ciphers since they can gain focus whenever they proc. These include weapons like Keeper of the Flame (paired with the Frostfall Mace by @Constentin Lévinein his Wit of Entropy build), Sungrazer, Magran's Favor and Grave Calling. The latter is particularly great for ciphers when fighting vessels since the chill fogs it produces will build focus for you. But for a melee oriented inquisitor, I'd recommend Magran's Favor in your main hand and Sungrazer (with the Extinction Event and Meteoric upgrades) in the off hand. For an Ascendant or Soulblade Whispers of the Endless Paths would also be great. For the Ascendant, you can proc Offensive Parry when attacked while casting, which will heal you and afflict your attacker. It's also great for a soulblade as you can proc soul annihilation in an AOE, hitting multiple opponents if you set it up well. For melee oriented builds, I prefer biting whip (with CP) for the very nice 20% raw lash. But I always pick Draining Whip with beguilers and ascendants.

Very true, especially given the fact that the damage of each head was nerfed since it is a multi strike weapon. I like the idea of switching them to fire/crush and cold/crush. The drain should be linked to the total damage done of the respective head, which still would be relatively low, rather than absurdly minimal.

I usually have two chanters in most of my parties. While the chants generally don't stack, I have them chant different chants, as there are so many good chants, more than enough for 2-3 chanters in a party. Inspirations also don't stack as you note. If you have two chanters, however, one can cast Each Kill, and the other Set to Their Purpose, giving the whole party the whole set of inspirations, which is nice. Each chanter should also get Their Champion (if MC) or Far from Defeated (if SC) to get Energized, and one should chant Thick Grew Their Tongues to strip away concentration stacks. With it, all of the chants that roll against enemy defenses, like Thick Grew Their Tongues and The Long Night's Drink, will be interrupted every time the chant crits. Chanters are just so useful given the way their chants work. Another nice things about chanters is their unique relationship with Sasha's Singing Scimitar, which allows you to empower and invocation every encounter. Blightwood is also great for chanters due to its +1 phrase per kill enchantment. If your Beckoners is SC it's definitely worthwhile to invest in arcana and explosives, which gives you other things to do aside from auto attacking while waiting for phrases to accumulate.

Yes, with a Loremaster I would definitely go with vanilla wizard. Otherwise, I personally prefer BM.

This is true. Personally, if I wanted to empower spells I would go with vanilla wizard because you lose out on too many great spells with a specialist wizard. But bloodmage's fantastic ability to regenerate spells outweigh the loss of empowering spells IMO.

Have you considered the possibility of an Assassin/bloodmage combo? The renewable resources from BM is really great, IMO, and the downside (reduced defenses against bloodied opponents) is not a problem since you can go invisible when threatened.

Doesn't "the regrowing" feature of the armor imply that the armor loses AR when hit, but then regenerates this? I have no idea if this works on the abydon challenge, as I've never tried it.

That makes sense, thanks; fists are clearly one of the best weapons in the game.

I'd be curious to know which weapons and armor you used. Did you really stick with club and shield the entire game? Since you took MUT I gather you probably also fought unarmed for a good portion of the game.

Thanks! I was searching for "Man of Mystery"! Also, if you missed @Constentin Lévine's discovery regarding the Effort great sword check out this link. A theurge would make great use of this weapon and the mayhem it can inflict with the right build.