dgray62

I'd add FF/cipher (preferably soul blade) as a solo viable multiclass. As you note, Not So Clever Hound, the FF subclass adds a lot to the survivability of the character, with its powerful enfeebling attack that can be infinitely spammed that also heals you and generates resources. It doesn't work as well in the vanilla game, but shines with CP and the BPM.

There are so many fun options with SC wizard. It's definitely worth purchasing a skaen priest hireling to steal these spells with ease. I also like to steal Taste of the Hunt, for the nice heal and raw DoT effect.

I like Captain's Banquet for casters, for the combo of the action speed bonus and the +20% spell bonus. Since I always have someone spamming chill fog, and since the AI always causes someone to run right into them, the immunity to intellectual afflictions is great too.

Story of my life......I have restarted countless times to try new builds. One of the joys of this game are the endless possibilities for character development. I'd recommend that you try them out and see what you enjoy playing the most. BTW, while paladin/barbarian isn't a powegamey combo, I agree that it is a lot of fun, and has nice synergy from the defensive and offensive capabilities that the two classes bring to the combo.

I had no idea, until I searched to find out how to access Magran's Fires. Until then I thought it was purely decorative. Also, I assumed initially that you would access this menu from the New Game menu, where you make all of the other decisions regarding a new game.

Indeed. I just recently learned that you need to press on the demon head in the opening screen to access the Magran's Fires screen.

Don't all abilities, both spells and martial abilities, scale with PL, gaining bonus accuracy damage and PEN? There's nothing special about WotW here I think. But it does get extra jumps, like a spell or a cipher power like mind blades.

Very funny! I agree, monks do have an amazing late game evolution that few other classes can match. Yes, instant, multiple reloading of ranged weapons while invisible is a 40 year old Gorgonzola drenched in Grappa!

While I would never invoke the nerf bat, this is a very curious case.....how do you reload so many times so quickly while invisibly transiting from foe to foe?

Ah, another great use of the shield switching trick! I think every solo build from now on should have at least 3 weapon slots, with the Outworn Buckler in one and Lethandria's Devotion in the other.

I agree. Druids have some great spells, but they are not very well distributed across the levels. PL 5 is ridiculous with so many great spells; mention also might be made of PoI, NT and WoT. I'd say the Embrace the Earth Talon would be a fantastic PL 8 spell if you boosted the AoE to 2.5m radius and made it foe only.

One might note that a SC wizard could also cast this spell, having stolen it via Grimoire Imprint from a Watershaper.

That's funny.....scaring people with an illusory appearance while invisible.

This is a great find. It's nice to start combat and buff without the enemy seeing you. But you definitely have to be fast to make it work. I think I'll start a run with Berath's challenge on with a SC bloodmage MC, and four hirelings: SC priest, SC beckoner, tactician/ascendent and darcozzi/troubador (for the quick switchings of the shields for debuting and healing). No need for 2 priests if you have a SC wizard, since the latter can steal Salvation of Time.

A warlock could do this, simply by casting Deleterious Alacrity of Motion, since swift makes you immune to engagement.

Isn't it the case that miss-to-graze and hit-to-crit conversions on spells also apply to all abilities, including spells, cast while wielding them? This certainly is the case with the crossbow bonus crit chance effect.

One might note that you can also get Blightheart relatively early, around lvl 8 or so, after you first visit Neketaka. With Sasha's Singing Scimitar and Blightheart you can have loads of fun empowering invocations and spells and getting phrases quickly restored for most of the game. Then the expansion items are icing on an already very nice cake.

These are important considerations. However, with a couple of chanters you can flood the battlefield with summons, mitigating the -5 acc/-1 pen problem. And it's even easier to mitigate the flanking problem. You can either acquire one of the gear items that make you immune to being flanked, or you can just use luminous lobster, captain's banquet or svef to make you immune to the lowest tier of mind afflictions. Getting immunity to flanked or low level mind afflictions is pretty much a requirement for any tactician build, with the exception of those that want to make creative use of the confused affliction.

If you go with Tactician/skald you'll want to maximize crits, which, I'm sure you know, are harder to get on PotD. Fortunately you'll have good tools for getting them, such as disciplined strikes etc. Being a tactician you'll definitely want a cipher companion to cast Phantom Foes. Not only will this help you proc brilliant, but it will also lower deflection and help you farm crits. This would be a solid build, and an excellent choice if you want more of a melee focus. That said, I'd second thelee's suggestion that you seriously consider bellower. When I play chanters I typically spend more time casting invocations later in the game, and on PotD especially bellower is a solid choice. With brilliant you won't have to worry too much about phrase generation.

Thanks for the clarification! I'm trying another run as a SC bloodmage, fully buffed with the grimoire switching trick. I'll be sure to try out this spell too, for the cool blue color as well as the untargetable effect.

I've never before used this spell; is it the case that it can normally be cast only on enemies? If so, you have to be confused to cast it on an enemy or yourself, right?

I tried this in the past when using squid's grasp. I had my MC wield squid's grasp, and then hired a berserker/cipher, who would get confused from frenzy, and then cast Puppet Master on himself, dominating itself. As soon as the toon is dominated, my MC would get Intuitive and Swift from Squid's Grasp, for as long as the domination lasts. It's important to use Puppet Master; once dominated, the toon will stand around and do nothing initially, but you can command it to do whatever you want. Don't use whispers because if you do all they'll do is stand around and do nothing until the charm wears off. It's pretty fun but is micro-intensive. You'll want to dump RES for your witch to keep their WILL low. If it's too high they'll often miss or graze with Puppet Master, which gives you no or a low payoff for all of this micromanagement.

I strongly recommend Soulblade for a melee cipher. The starting lower focus sounds bad, but it really isn't a problem at all, since you actually generate focus very fast with a melee cipher. Also, you can get the highest possible focus as well as multiple stacks of concentration with a soul blade, since you gain max focus and concentration with each kill. You can also extend the higher starting focus with the Strand of Favor if you are so inclined, with can enable you to have a starting focus as a high as you wish. The high max focus of a soul blade is great when you get the Seeker's Fang, a weapon that is ideal weapon for a melee cipher, since it inflicts raw damage over time when you crit, a mini disintegration, and the greater your max focus, the more damage this attack does. You might consider trying a soul blade/assassin. I have played it before and it is great. A soul annihilation backstab from stealth will destroy most foes.

If you're using Community Patch, Soul Blade or Beguiler would probably be more optimal. This is a very clever idea, dumping INT to have the shortest possible enfeeble so as to repeatedly re-inflict it. But melee-ing with a major injury sounds very risky. I presume that you also play this character in a party with a cleric to repeatedly cast barring death's door?

Rain of Holy Fire is PL7, so should be blue on this list.