dgray62

If you're going to go for Turning Wheel for the +INT and fire lash, you don't need enlighten agony, since it won't stack with Turning Wheel's bonus, so long as you have another way to avoid confusion, which svef gives you. You may want the Devil of Caroc breastplate too if it's available in your game; it great armor for martial/martial multi classes.

Wow, this has been a very informative thread. I can see the benefits of going with brawler. One of the nice things about the votary is that with the renewable courageous inspiration you could keep the RES at 30, and boost other stats (DEX and INT) a bit. The 10% fire lash from eternal flames is nice too, since it also boosts the FF attack. Does weapon spec. & mastery work with the FF attack if you have CP? I assume it doesn't since it only works with proficient weapon attacks, but perhaps I'm wrong about this. Also, the SG votary gets the soul power +1 PL that stacks with everything if you sided with Woedica in POE 1, which makes up somewhat for tactical barrage.

Excellent point, thanks!

I wonder how the healing on the fighter side compares with a steel garrote paladin for a FF/SG votary build? Can it match the healing whenever you strike afflicted foes as well as the pretty awesome healing from exalted endurance? Paladin also has the innate bonus to all defenses that never goes down and requires no zeal, plus great armor boosts. I'm not saying that a votary would do better than a brawler. I was just interested in some comparison about their relative survivability playing solo on PotD upscaled. I haven't yet tried the brawler, but I know from experience that the votary is very durable.

If you switch to another food, you could always pick thunderous blows to make up for the PEN loss?

Thanks for sharing this! BPM's Evergreen Vigor is indeed nice for any build with significant healing. I was very curious about this when you first mentioned this build in another post. At first I thought you'd go with devoted, until I realized that the Devoted bonuses don't apply to the FF attack. Am I correct in assuming you chose Unbroken for the +1 AR?

I just downloaded the new BPM version, and tried out a FF/shifter. I must say, the dual weapon damage when shifted is great. Thanks, @Elric Galad!

That's a tough call. I'd say overall your probably better with the barb for the reliable and nice CC whenever static thunder procs. As for the fighter, it's a bit less reliable since in many fights you'll never dip below 50% health. On the other hand, it will be better if go with zerker on the barb side.

I'd love to hear a bit about what you're doing with a FF fighter, @Not So Clever Hound. FF is one of my favorite subclasses, but I've never tried that combo. I see another playthu on the horizon..... Regarding @Boeroer's suggestion of the devoted/berserker brute wielding Amra, it's an absolute monster so long as you have companions summoning skellies for you. But be sure to keep your companions ranged and at a distance, and be extra careful on ship battles, as you can permanently kill companions and ship crew with this build.

Or you can switch over to essence interrupter to deal with them.

Assassin/devoted is great fun. @Not So Clever Hounda great build for this combo, but it's a melee build. For ranged, I think you'd be better off with the Mindstalker. Cipher gives you extra PEN, a great boost to defenses and accuracy, and great CC and single target damage powers.

Or you can use the Bounding boots, leaping over to the item to steal while in stealth. If you act fast you can grab the item before you're seen.

It should be noted that if you are playing a roguish character, many of these items can be achieved via the five fingered discount, that is, stolen. The items that can be stolen on this list include the Whitewitch Mask, the Grimoire of Vaporous Wizardry, the Ring of Focused Flame and Scordeo's Trophy. I would add to this list Tuotilo's Palm and the Devil of Caroc Breastplate (presuming your choices in POE 1 allow this) from Marahi's Metalwork and the Spine of Thicket Green from the Dark Cupboard. These items can also be stolen.

I can attest that The Soul Sniper is a great stealthy gun slinger build. Cipher adds a lot to the mix and gives you great tools to deal with all sorts of tough foes, including mega bosses.

I'd recommend an arquebus wielding assassin/bellower. An invocation like Her Revenge or Her Tears, cast from stealth, is absolutely devastating with the assassin bonus and the extra PLs from the bellower. And there's a great weapon, accessible around lvl 8, that is perfect for this build, Blightheart, which gives you phrases every time you kill, which you'll do very often. This build is better in a party IMO than most assassin builds, since you can't open a battle casting an invocation as you can with an assassin/wizard for example. But with a party, you can maneuver invisibly while the enemies are preoccupied with your party, and then pick them off with your gun or your invocations. (But it's viable solo if you pick summons invocations). Just don't pick chants that directly affect enemies, as this will break stealth. You could have Pallegina as a Herald pick those chants. The best for you would be Sure Handed Ila, Aefyllath Ues Mith Fyr and/or Old Siec. This is a very fun MC combo in my experience, and not too micro intensive, unlike assassin/wizards.

You might consider going with a devoted fighter, which only has two weapon specializations, the one you chose at character creation and unarmed attacks by default. You could then select monastic unarmed training at level 2 (unless you multi class with monk), and just use fists, which are arguably the best weapon in the game that scale as you level up, and you won't need to worry about weapons. For your other specialization, you could just pick a slash or pierce weapon as backup for the rare crush immune foes. There are a lot of multi class options you could pick, depending on the type of build that interests you. Brawler (fighter/monk) is great, as is brute (barbarian/fighter) or swashbuckler (fighter/rogue). There are plenty of builds available for all of these possibilities.

This is the reason that FF monk/cipher is my favorite multi class. There are many ways that enfeeble enriches ciphers. Of course, if you have BMP you don't need the FF monk, since that mod boosted Fractured Volition from weakened to enfeebled.

The nice thing about Red Hand is it will destroy any lower level vessel, even if they are pierce immune. You just need to enchant it with Double Tap, which is better than the other option (knock back) IMO.

Please don't reduce the Spiritshift duration. It's already too low IMO. Raising the cool down period would be preferable I think.

Antipathetic field is a great spell, and deals damage every second so it really can hit hard if you set it up right. The challenge is the set up. You need to cast it on another enemy, with the one you want to target between you and the enemy your casting it on. Like POE1, it doesn't affect the enemy you cast it on, but affects everyone in between, including allies, so care is needed. For the blind, as @NotDumbEnough indicated, you'll need a PER inspiration to counter it, which is why you want a priest. You difficulty harming it may be mainly due to being blinded. You might consider using weapon modals to debuff its defenses as well.

Thanks! I think I got confused about this because I never remember to use these abilities.

Thanks. How exactly does this conversation choice impact you?

When you first talk to Eothas below the arena, you have the choice to either reach out to the lost souls or push past them to find your soul. I was always under the impression that you have to chose the latter "selfish" choice to get back the gift of the machine and effigy resentment bonuses in Hasongo. But maybe I am wrong about this?

Yes, you need to make the cruel choices in POE1, but in POE2 all you need to do is push past the lost souls to find your own soul in the first interaction with Eothas in Port Maje, which has no impact on your dispositions. You also do not need any cruel disposition points to get the bonuses later.

I usually go for intuitive, simply for the reason that it is the hardest inspiration to get late game, unless you use least unstable coil. Brilliant can be gained from a cipher companion, and energized is easy to achieve once you have access to slayers claw. But intuitive is not possible for non-fighters without using the coil and abilities that proc multiple inspirations with it.