dgray62

MaxQuest, do you favor Cape of the Master Mystic for the +12 deflection, to avoid attacks, or for the 1/encounter invisibility, to get her/him in place without being targeted or engaged, or for both reasons?

Rangers have high accuracy, so your DPS would be higher I think if you took the Doemenel's quest to get the Merciless Hand talent. The soulbound Stormcaller bow is most powerful with a ranger, and it has the added bonus of dual damage types, and also being one of only two weapons in the game whose damage is boosted by an elemental talent, in this case Heart of the Storm. This is the basis of builds such as L4wlight's Storm and Plague Caller ranger. A stormcaller ranger is great if you have a druid in the party, since the bow also lowers shock DR, making spells like Returning Storm and Relentless Storm even more devastating.

That's a great question, but unfortunately I don't know, as I haven't gotten any minor adventures yet on this play-through. If I get one I'll try to save-spam to get the sacred skin quest, and I'll try them out and report back.

It's true that in this game casters are rather OP. One strategy is to bring your own casters, preferably ones with high MIG and INT. It also would be easier if you level up a bit, and come to Pearlwood bluffs around level seven. A wizard can open up with either confuse or shadowflame; fireball is overrated IMO, and is really only useful against foes with low fire resistance, such as most vessels. A druid alone can handle these foes with a well placed driving overwhelming wave followed by returning storm. A cipher could throw in a few whispers of treason or a silent scream. Also, some tough front-liners with good endurance and health can handle an insect storm. Paladins are great for alpha strikes to take out those pesky spell casters, and are also great for their high saves and hence resistance to enemy CC effects. Monks can be built as great mage killers as well. DOT effects are amongst the most deadly in this game, as DOT bypasses damage resistance. The easiest way to deal with foes that inflict DOT effects is to disable them ASAP, and then kill them quickly. Opening combat with disabling spells such as driving overwhelming wave or Shadowflame is a good way to handle these tough encounters. [edited for accuracy]

I've been playing the Boar druid with high MIG, CON and INT that you recommended in another forum, and I've noticed that every time I shift when Consecrated Ground from Shod-in-Faith is active, the Consecrated Ground pulses immediately cease. This is not the case for other spell-holding effects such as Frenzy from Sanguine Plate. For this reason I put Shod-in-Faith on my Pally or Chanter, who are likewise front-liners. I never tried Shod-in-Faith on a druid before, so I am not sure if this is a recent change or not.

I believe that no bonuses from equipment carries over to Spiritshift, with a few exceptions. One is, as you note, any INT bonus from equipment. This is simply because INT affects the duration of Spiritshift, and this is based on your INT when you activate it, prior to shifting. Secondly, if you are wearing items with spell holding that are triggered prior to shifting, you keep those affects in shifted form. This is why it is often recommended that spiritshift druids wear Sanguine plate. The idea is that you cast a few spells or autoattack, catch a hit or crit to trigger frenzy, and then spiritshift. That way you'll be frenzied in your spiritshift form, which is pretty OP. One exception here is the shod-in-faith boots. For some reason, the consecrated ground effect disappears when you shift. Probably best to give them to another front-liner. The same works for items that activate when you kill something, like the mourning gloves or tempered helm. These items are pretty great for spiritshift druids as well. The only item that directly affects your spiritshift attacks is the Wildstrike belt, which gives a 10% bonus to your elemental lash while shifted.

I believe that you are talking about the 2nd level invocation, Rejoice, My Comrades! Two Fingers of Daylight! It's available to all chanters, not just Kana.

With a melee cipher you might consider getting the Apprentice's Sneak Attack talent, since you'll have so many CC powers that can make sneak attacks possible.

I would make one druid boar. The dps of the slower, but wounding tusks is better against mid to high DR while the cat is faster and better against low to mid DR. And for the sake of diversity. It's also nice to stack self healing buffs on the boar (his shifted regeneration effect stacks with Veteran's Recovery and also works with healing bonuses from survival). I've been playing a spiritshift boar character per Boeroer's suggestion. He's very tanky with the multiple sources of regeneration, and he hits like a tank, especially once my chanter reached lvl 9 and started running Mith Fyr. His "hits" range from about 70-110 damage, and his crits, which are frequent, range from about 120-150 damage. The 25% boost to overall damage on top of all of the lashes spiritshifted druids have is really noticeable. And the wounding damage is very significant when land hits or crits in the triple digits. Moreover, it appears that the Boar tusk wounding stacks; I've seen enemies with afflicted with multiple Boar tusk DoT wounds.

That's where I go as soon as I buy Twin Sting! But of course there are many gold nameplate NPCs out there.

There are also three gold nameplate NPCs in Madhmr Bridge, located on or near the bridge. You can kill the three of them with Twin Sting without reputation loss, and can thus unlock the next level there.

Actually, after a bit more thinking, I came to the conclusion that this is really smart - and I never thought about this. If you want to prevent rushing you simply put your druid into plate armor and give him a large shield and hatchet - and when enemies are setteled you shift for better casting speed and accuracy - even if you don't want to use the shifted form for melee. Man, why didn't I think of this sooner? Thanks man! Boeroer, you may have never thought of this consciously, but the heavily armored (with sanguine plate) boar spiritshift druid you suggested in another thread definitely benefits from this. As you recommended, I run this druid into combat (with a hatchet and shield), and then shift once frenzy is activated. He can cast spells much faster while shifted without the speed penalty from the plate armor. I like to cast spells like returning storm, however, at the start of battle, to benefit from the longer duration and area of effect from items that boost INT, which are lost when you shift. I keep a GHS in his other hand, and switch to it when spiritshift expires. It doesn't take long to proc restore spiritshift, and with luck you'll get hit again and proc frenzy one more time. This only happens in the harder battles, however. Most end long before spiritshift expires. So it's probably best to give GHS to a priest if you don't have a druid.

From my experience running a party with two ciphers, a heavily armored DPS melee cipher and a ranged CC cipher, WoT is by far the superior ability. I can't speak to the relative cast time, but this is because I no longer use the Dominate abilities, due to the bug. Many times I landed a crit and scored a 20 or 30 second dominate, only to have it break after a second or two. WoT is far more reliable in my experience, and as a bonus the remained foes usually swarm their comrade afflicted with it, since it debuffs as well.

Chanters are great for damage once they reach lvl 9, but they're not that strong in CC. For CC, it's hard to beat a druid past level 9. Recently I cleared out Durgan's Battery by stunning the groups of enemies (battery sirens, wraiths, ghosts, etc) that congregate in there with a Driving Wave, running up while they're stunned to unleash a Returning Storm, which would stun them repeatedly and while I Spiritshifted and finished off the tougher foes still standing with strikes that would range from 120-150 damage per hit, i.e., crits, since they were stunned and thus thoroughly debuffed. A party with 2 high level palllys and 2 chanters will tear through foes so quickly, however, that the CC wouldn't be necessary! It does get a bit boring, however, since it becomes so easy!

It seems that the game sometimes bugs out with per encounter abilities. I've had several cases in which the game thinks my Paladin has no more uses of FoD, even at the very start of an encounter. Only reloading resolves this bug when it arises. I've had it happen several times.

One of the reasons I like ciphers is I like resting until the party's health is low. Wizards and druids are powerful, but once the party gets powerful, say, by level 9, I often find I have to rest just to restore the Vancian spellcasters' spells even though the party's health bars are all still green. I probably shouldn't let this bother me; there's certainly no shortage of camping supplies in the game. But I think I prefer the cipher way, i.e., start a battle with a low level CC power, attack a debilitated foe and build up focus, then use a high level power like silent scream or amplified wave, attack again, etc. If you do this correctly you don't lose much health, and can keep going for a long time without resting. It does take some micromanagement but I enjoy the routine. Obviously, you can always go with chanters, monks, etc. if you just want low maintenance mayhem.

Is it worth investing in weapon focus for a melee cipher? Ideally it would be nice to have it, but ciphers get so few talents, and as WF doesn't boost their powers, it seems like it would make more sense to debuff enemies with powers rather than boosting their weapon accuracy. Since MasterCipher doesn't recommend a WF, I take it that this would be a sound strategy, right?

I agree that it fantastic for a druid if you have one; it's the only way, to my knowledge, that you can get a second spiritshift in an encounter. Otherwise, it might be best for a priest, since it will employ the accuracy bonus for whatever weapon focus and deity talent you pick. The best implement for blast Wizards, IMO, is golden gaze.

Boeroer, I am playing the druid build you recommended earlier in this thread; he is now level 6 and is really powerful. I have him use Gyrd Haewanes Stenes as I mentioned earlier, and it is really useful once it is fully upgraded. I typically have him cast tanglefoot or nature's mark followed by returning storm, and then shift. For longer battles, once the shift wears off, it doesn't take long to proc Restore Spiritshift, since there's a 20% chance on hit or crit, and he crits alot given the high accuracy of this weapon. Then he shifts again, and finishes off any stragglers. The only thing one has to be careful to do is NOT use Gyrd Haewanes Stenes before you spiritshift, as the Restore Spiritshift will uselessly proc before you need it. So I have him go into battle dual wielding hatchets, and then switch to Gyrd Haewanes Stenes when needed. Thanks for this suggestion!

You can always bring your ranged cipher in closer when fighting drakes, etc., to make sure they get backlashed.

I'm running a similar party now, with a chanter, priest and paladin, although following a suggestion Boeroer made in another thread (I forget which one), I'm using a Moon Godlike Kind Wayfarer paladin to get big waves of passive healing going for the party. If I'm lucky I'll get a minor adventure and get St. Borragia's Tears to make the healing totally crazy.

True, but I think that Spiritshift would be OP if you retained item bonuses. As Boeroer suggested, it makes sense to use spell-holding items on Spiritshift druids, like Sanguine Plate and Shod-in-Faith, and then shift once you are hit, and the items activate. A frenzied boar radiating consecrated ground would be a sight to behold, I'm sure!

Boeroer, I just tried out this build as an MC and ran it through the opening sequence to Gilded Vale. It was loads of fun, and one of the lowest maintenance level one characters I've played, due to the high DPS output while in Boar mode plus the endurance regeneration. Thanks for the wonderful build! My only tweak was to the stat spread, as I do not like reducing RES so low, so I ended up with MIG 16, CON 16, DEX 10, PER 14, INT 16, RES 6. I was thinking of giving him Gyrd Haewanes Stenes to switch back to after shifting for long battles, for the extra 3 RES as well as the chance of an extra shapeshift when hit with a crit. Do you recommend taking the talents in the order you list them? Usually I'd take WF Peasant earlier. Taking Veteran's Recovery earlier boost survivability in the difficult early phase (i.e., Caed Nua), right?

Thanks for the suggestion. A fire godlike barbarian sounds interesting!

I've always been a bit reluctant to play a barb since it seems that they really need all of their stats, and I never got a sense of an ideal build. I've tried out the high perception interrupt build, but I'd like to try a barb with higher might for more DPS; a hammer wielding barb sounds great. How does the following stat range seem: MIG 15, CON 10, DEX 15, PER 15, INT 15, RES 8?