dgray62

I think he must be, since it is fire keyworded. All the more reason to go with Theurge then, since Greater Maelstrom is the main reason for going with SC druid I think.

This sounds like fun. How did you integrate spell casting with the mortar fire? Would you open with a mortar volley to get Heating Up, and then cast some spells? As for the con, having companions eat Captain's Banquet doesn't sound too bad, since it will also make them immune to your chill fogs, particularly if they're Pale Elves.

Theurge can be really good. As Watershaper Tekehu gets some great spells, and as a Stormspeaker he'll have renewable resources. But as always, you'll miss out on great PL 8+9 abilities like Avenging Storm and Greater Maelstrom. This the classic SC vs. MC dilemma.

Ranndar, I'm playing in a party, as this is my first time playing a SC priest. I might try solo later, perhaps as a Priest of Skaen. But I'm also considering a solo run as a Thaumaturge, for the nice interaction Boeroer mentions. You can also use the Grimoire Imprint exploit to steal the Skaen lvl 2 spell "Escape" from the Celebrants in Fort deadlight. It's nice to have infinite casts of that "spell."

Yes, I agree, that is a noteworthy feature of this spell! It's also much more effective in battle than I realized by its text description. It really seems to melt non-fire immune foes.

Although Beggar Winfrith is only level 3, I think, the pirate ship battles are dangerous because of their large number of firearms users. There are different ways of dealing with them. First, boost your pierce AR. The right armor can help a lot. If you have a druid in the party, have them cast woodskin on your party. It's a fast cast and the +5 pierce AR will really help. If you have a chanter, have them cast Killers Froze Stiff. It works well on the pirates as they tend to be rogues and have low will def. Also, if you've earned any Berath's Blessings points, the Infamous Captian blessing works wonders with ship battles. If you are able to terrify half the enemy crew at the start of battle, you'll receive a less overwhelming opening volley, and will have more room to maneuver and buff. Lastly, a priest can cast Watchful Presence, which provides automatic emergency healing to whomever the volley focuses on, preventing that character from being knocked out. This is a great but somewhat under appreciated spell that I like to cast before any dangerous battle.

Thanks for answering, Thelee. I picked devotions and triumph per your recommendation in your guide. You didn't mention Shining Beacon, however, so I wondered if it has any shortcomings. But indeed, as you say, it does not. I picked it up when I leveled up and haven't regretted it all.

I am playing a SC priest currently, and have reached level 9. I've already selected Devotions for the Faithful and Triumph of the Crusaders, which are great spells IMO. I was wondering if Shining Beacon is worth selecting too, given priests' limited ability points. It seems great as a DOT that targets will and reduces defenses, although the duration (10s) is rather short. I suppose it will get better as you gain PLs. Any advice regarding the use of this spell would be appreciated.

It's a great weapon, and it's a lot of fun when you crit and set off the stacks of static thunder in a big, impactful AOE explosion. The key word here is crit, of course, so you want to boost your crit chance as much as possible. This is the reason why you want to go with berserker, and the brute is probably the best build, so you get the intuitive inspiration as well. You may want to also use either luminous lobster or captain's banquet foods, or svef, to make you immune to berserker confusion and also to resist distraction from pesky rogues and bosses with persistent distraction, who will otherwise kill your intuitive inspiration. Monk is fun however when you get swift strike/heartbeat drumming cascades, but the brute is a bit sturdier and reliable IMO.

I think that the Dragon Pendant and Cloak of the Theocrat are the only unique items that you can only find by searching loot sites on the world map. You can also find other items like the Trollhide Belt, but those items are also available from stores, pick pocketing and dropped loot from kills. Cloak of the Theocrat is a great early game item if you can find it, since it gives +1 to INT and RES. It is attainable by saving before searching and reloading (ad infinitum) if you have the patience for this. You can also get the spyglass from these sites, although that's not unique, since you can buy one in Neketaka.

Yes, the general consensus from past posts is that the best builds for AOE mayhem with the Voulge are berserker/devoted, berserker/tactician or berserker/monk. In any case, you'd want to bind it to barbarian for the static thunder upgrade. Otherwise, it's great as a stat stick for druids, as you know.

I agree, Beguiler is probably the best subclass for 95% of the game, particularly if you want to play the CC role. I really like how it regenerates focus by successfully landing deception powers. Witches are great, with fury shaper/beguiler being my favorite and most played combo for NPC hirelings. It's great how the cipher side extends the afflictions you cause from your barb abilities. But as a main character, I really like Berserker/Soul blade.

Being rather fond of the cipher class, I must say that I have enjoyed playing all of the subclasses, each of which has their strengths and weaknesses. Beguiler is "best" for spamming deception spells at mobs. It doesn't do quite as well, however, against tough bosses. Psion on the other hand, with their continual focus generation, shines in the boss fights, particularly in parties or solo with good summons to take the aggro. Ascendent is great if you like the DPS caster approach, spamming damage powers while ascended. Their weakness is having to regenerate focus when ascension wears out, but this isn't too much of a problem, since they gain focus so quickly, as Elric Galad pointed out. Soul blade is great if you like the melee approach. I'd say it's "best" simply because I like this play style the most, but this is a personal decision of course. Soul blades can get godlike DPS with the seeker's fang and their potentially very high max focus, which can be extended with the Strand of Favor by those fond of cheese.

If you wield a melee and a ranged weapon, then you will automatically use only the melee weapon when in melee range, and only the ranged weapon when at ranged distance. Whichever weapon is used will still get the dual wield recovery bonus.

There aren't any abilities that do this, I believe. However, the soul bound helm Survivor's Tusk has the once/rest enchantment "Aspect of the Boar," which revives with out injury. It's only usable by chanter, druids, monks and priests, however.

Often I'll go to Queen's Berth first, do the quests there, and then go back to see to complete the Biakara and Meryl the Mad bounties, go back to Queen's Berth, etc. You can advance really quickly completing the low level quests in this manner if you're playing solo.

In my experience FF monks can be wound starved early on, but not later. To maximize wounds, get your RES as high as possible and re-use the FF attack as soon as the curse expired. Also fire up clarity of agony as soon as you have the curse, and refresh it as soon as it expires. Although it costs two wounds, it's worth it. First, you'll get a wound back immediately as the curse will expire as soon as you cast it, and then the subsequent curses will be significantly briefer, letting you accrue wounds more rapidly. Next, get Hylea's Talons as soon as you see the merchant ship where it can be bought. It gives you a lash, and when you get the raw DOT effect, it won't last long, and will give you a wound and heal you as soon as it expires. Lastly, get Parting Sorrow as soon as you hit PL 6. It gives you a wound not only when enemies break engagement, but also when you knock them back (if you took Force of Anguish) and when you kill them. Wounds will add up quickly with the right gear and abilities.

Devoted only gets penalties when using weapons for which they lack training. So this includes everything aside from the weapon type you chose at char creation AND unarmed strikes; it's usually worthwhile to pick up monastic unarmed training so as to use fists as a backup when playing a Devoted build. Have you considered selecting pikes? Citzal's Spirit Lance is great with Clear Out. You can use fists to excellent effect until you can cast this spell. If you mainly want to cast spells and use stat stick weapons, you might consider going with warlock, for the nice barbarian speed boosts to casting. Battlemage is better, IMO, when you actually want to focus on magic enhanced melee. For this it's great. With Wall of Draining and Unbending you become virtually immortal.

Tuotilo's Palm is great for monks, giving a big boost in defense with a relatively small dip in DPS. While you do less damage with the shield than you would with most weapons or an unarmed strike, the shield's damage and accuracy scales with transcendent suffering, making it not bad at all. It also gives you a +5 boost in accuracy upgrade for unarmed attacks, which will largely make up for this, especially if your main hand is unarmed. It also gives you +1 deflection and reflex per wound when upgraded.

For monks, I'd suggest axes, small shields, sabres and flails. The reason for this suggestion is there are some really great late game weapons of these types that you'll probably want to use, excluding the shield, which you can get really early in Neketaka. Until you get them, unarmed is of course great.

Powerotti posted a Stalker/Nalpazca build some time ago that was very fun to play IMO. It makes use of Griffin's Blade to keep enemies permanently-dazed so that they'll under penetrate when they hit you and your pet, a bear, chosen due to the higher AR, which is important for this build. Might be worth perusing before you start your wanderer run. That said, I personally prefer FF, as I'm not very keen on using consumables regularly. When I play Nalpazcas, I tend to hoard the drugs, always saving them for "later," which means playing a gimped monk who loses wounds before I can use them in the present.

SC Ancient is nice for solo given the strong summon you get right at the beginning of the game. The bonus for beast and plant spells is nice too. But Fury has some advantages too, as Not So Clever Hound has pointed out. What food are you using? I'm always torn between Captain's Banquet and Crusted Swordfish for casters.

Does Unflinching downgrade all afflictions? That would be a major discovery!

Thought so, thanks! I look forward to seeing your full build later. Do you use Captain's Banquet for the speed boost and boost to spell damage?

Or you could select monastic unarmed training, which will also give you the devoted bonii, and use fists as a backup for slash immune enemies.