dgray62

Thanks! I noticed that the strikes from stealth seems to sometimes generate focus but often don't. This being the case, vanilla makes sense.

Not So Clever Hound, I tried this and found it very fun, even at level one at Vilario's Rest. I had a question about your choice of no subclass cipher. I was wondering if it might make more sense to take the ascendant subclass instead. The reason I ask is you do so much damage with your alpha strike that you pretty much max out your focus right at the start. With a no subclass cipher, this turns off your soul whip, requiring you immediately use cipher powers to get back your +20% weapon damage (+30% with biting whip). This seems like a problem since you are not investing in too many powers with this build. With Ascendant, you'd start out with slightly lower bonus (+10/20%), but you'd ascend right away, so giving you an extra +20%. You'd never have to worry about the lash turning off, and with your toon's high INT you'd stay ascended for a long time. I was just wondering if you considered this. I usually prefer Ascendant so as to not have to worry about the last turning off.

This looks like a lot of fun, Not So Clever Hound. Thanks for sharing this build.

I've enjoyed playing a Forbidden Fist monk/Ascendant cipher multiclass. Like you, I enjoy playing melee/caster hybrids, and there's great synergy between these subclasses since with forbidden fist you get a really powerful attack (which enfeebles, one of only a few abilities that can impose this powerful debuff) that you can use again and again, and which lowers fortitude (along with the monk's stunning surge), making it easier to land Disintegration, one of the best offensive cipher powers. Forbidden Fists need high resolve, and fortunately as a cipher you can boost that stat. Soulblade is fun, but I prefer Ascendant, because you can easily ascend after landing one or two forbidden fists; once you're ascended, you can buff up and then jump back into the fray with an additional 20% damage boost so long as you're ascended. I like never having the soul whip bonus turn off; if gives you one less thing to have to keep track of. Generally, I mainly take defensive cipher powers like psychovampiric shield and borrowed instinct; the only offensive ones I take are Mind Blades (which is great against mobs) and Disintegration, for tougher foes once you've debuffed their fortitude and resolve. There's good reactivity for ciphers in the game generally, which makes them a bit more fun to play.

This is a great discovery, Boeroer. Thanks for sharing it. I was thinking of trying a Ranger/Chanter MC (stalker/bellower or stalker/skald, maybe?), and mainly going melee, but it might be great to empower Old El Nary and then switch to Blightheart as Jayd recommends, and then jump back into the fray with one's phrase limit maxed out again.

I agree. You could buff, cast WoD (for the tougher fights), then shift and wreak havoc.

With buffs from priest spells and the chanter's invocations you could engage in melee; the priest spell Champion's Boon is particularly effective for this. However, this build would be primarily a caster, so you'd want weapons that could boost casting, namely Sasha's Singing Scimitar (definitely) and also Sun and Moon or Griffin's Blade, and later Magran's Favor and the Weyc's Wand. Late game, you'd want to start with Sasha's Singing Scimitar and the Weyc's wand, empower Her Revenge, and then cast Salvation of Time to sustain the inspirations and the PL boost from the Wand. Then you would switch over Magran's Favor and Sun and Moon in your second weapon set, and start casting the priest's fire spells. As for attributes, you'd want high STR, DEX, PER and INT, and could have relatively low CON and RES. I'd probably go with 16/7/14/17/18/6, 18/9/16/19/20/8 with Berath's Blessings.

I found that a Magran/Bellower Celebrant is a lot of fun. You get the great priest firepower as well as two really powerful chanter nukes that complement them, Her Revenge (lightning) and O'Eld Nary (cold and crush) which are really powerful. Her Revenge in particular can annihilate mobs, especially with the bellower's PL boost. It's also great since you get it so early, unlike most of the priest nukes. Plus, if you get Sasha's Singing Scimitar and the Least Unstable coil, you can empower Her Revenge every encounter, get multiple tier-3 inspirations, and extend them with salvation of time.

I can attest that this build is insane, but don't try it unless you have a really good graphics card. If you don't, your game will slow to a snail's pace due to the many, many procs of foe-only chill fog.

It would definitely be viable. But for variety I'd probably go with an unbroken/trickster tank with sword and shield for maximum engagement, a steel garrote trickster with Whispers of the Endless path as a retaliation off-tank, a forbidden fist/trickster for serious debuffing and a debonaire/beguiler for even more debuffing and charm-crit madness. I've never played a Harbinger, but I imagine that a skald/trickster would work well. However, if you feel you need more healing, you might consider replacing one the above with a priest of wael/streetfighter, such as thelee's Umezawa build. It's loads of fun to play and very powerful.

Just out of curiosity, are you planning a melee run again with your planned Streetfighter / Ascendant run, AndreaColumbia? If so, will you go the two-handed route again, or dual wield?

What about a Corpse eater/ascendant witch multiclass? I suggest this only because you'd get a really big PL boost (+2) from foods like Forbidden Flesh Pie as well as the +3 PL for cipher powers when ascended. If you went with Nature Godlike you really could get a serious PL boost, which would mean better ACC, etc. when you spam powers. The +1 rage for barbarian abilities is a bummer, but you'd mainly rely on barbarian passives for a witch build I think. I've never played a Corpse Eater so I have no idea how well it would work, but I think I might try it. Should be fun at the very least. [Edit. I just noticed Boeroer's reply to another recent post, and saw that the +2 PL from kith meat food only works with barbarian abilities. I guess this is not as good a combo as I initially surmised.]

Thanks for the additional clarification!

Thanks, maybe I'll try it.

How about a Votary using Magran's Favor, Sungrazer and the necklace of fireballs? The addition of 8 fireballs/encounter would help make Voltron's old Burn Baby Burn! build viable again.

I have never played Deadfire solo yet, and I would like to try this for the first time using your build, Not So Clever Hound. I was just wondering how you handle healing while playing solo? Do you rely primarily on potions, popping one when needed? I tried this build in a party and was delighted to see how sturdy it is, so I'm sure it's not a big deal. Maybe you could just keep a grimoire with the corrosive siphon spell to use when needed?

You're welcome! I spent months on and off trying to figure this out, until a comment by Boeroer pointed me in the right direction. I'm glad that you figured it out. There are some great mods, which really liven up the game. The mod manager makes it easy to turn them on or off as you wish, too.

yogaman28734, are you playing the game via Steam, or did you purchase it via the Apple appstore? I went the latter route, and it took me awhile to figure out how to install mods. This is how I did it: First, open your applications folders. Right click on the Pillars of Eternity II icon, and select the "Show Package Icons" option. Open the "Contents" folder, then the "MacOS" folder. Then once again right click on the Pillars of Eternity II icon, and select the "Show Package Icons" option, and open the "Contents" folder. In this folder, create a new "override" folder, and then place into it the folders that you download and decompress from the Nexus Mods website. This worked for me. If you have a problem decompressing some of the archives from Nexus mods, such as the .rar format, I found that The Unarchiver app available on the Apple appstore works fine. Good luck!

Thanks! This makes sense, given the belts small chance of proccing the blight.

Thanks for the tip, Powerotti.

What exactly is this exploit, Powerotti?

If you are going with a transcendent, I would recommend an Ascendant/Forbidden Fist if you are using the Community Patch mod (which turns the forbidden fist attack into a weapon attack, so you can build focus with it), or a Beguiler/Forbidden Fist if you are playing the vanilla game, since a beguiler can gain focus just through using cipher powers on sneak attack vulnerable foes. The synergy of the Forbidden Fist subclass with a cipher subclass is tremendous. The forbidden fist attack enfeebles foes, which is a tremendous affliction which prevents healing and extends the time of all other afflictions. It is enhanced by Lingering Echoes, and it will also extend the duration of disintegration. It is also a very sturdy build; a forbidden fist monk with high resolve (to minimize the length of the forbidden fist curse) has strong defenses, and as a cipher you can further bolster it with psychovampiric Shield. For a witch, you might consider a furyshaper/beguiler, which gives you so many ways to debilitate a foe. Here you'd want to go the two-handed style route, using Lord Darryn's Voulge (for lightning mayhem) and ultimately Willbreaker, which, with the modal on, can simultaneously debuff fortitude and will, the two key stats cipher powers need to overcome, and with Brute Force means lots of crits as well. Your defenses will be lower, but if you keep the enemies sufficiently debuffed this won't matter much, especially if you have Xoti and Tekehu healing you.

Thanks for the detailed feedback. I see that you have analyzed the injury types in depth. Indeed, the very high reflex defense on this build would make hitting yourself with a fireball pretty much impossible. Perhaps the cloak is best for dual wield or two-handed build, for which the reflex defense would be much lower.

Thank you for sharing this build, Not So Clever Hound. I have never played a SC wizard for very long, perhaps due to the complexity of choices that the class presents. But your build is appealing, so I think I'll try it. I had once question, though. Considering that you are using the Grimoire of Vaporous Wizardry and Rekvu’s Fractured Casque combo, I wonder if it might be a good idea to use Rekvu's Scorched Cloak as well instead of the Giftbearer Cloth, and take the severe burn injury instead of the acute rash.?While you'd lose some defenses, it has a nice harmony with the Belt of Magran's Chosen, since the summoned flame blight would not only help set up Wall of Draining shenanigans, but it would heal rather than harm you in the process of doing that, making the tough battles where this strategy is needed somewhat easier. Maybe it would be worth switching out robes as well when you're using the belt?

Yes, wall of draining extends all of your beneficial effects, including the six seconds of invulnerability.