dgray62

Yes, this certainly is a bug. I actually gave up trying to use healing potions in battle some time ago due to this. I usually just rely on passive healing, and healing spells when necessary.

Perhaps I'll give Durganised Blade of the Endless Paths a try; thanks for the tip, Livegood118. There are certainly many good options to try.

Thanks for advice, Livegood118. I think I'll go for Spirit of Decay at level 8, and Weapon and Shield at level 10, and then respec to Two Weapon Style after level 15, and once I have cloned the fully upgraded Bittercut.

This may very well be a bug, but I imagine that in reality, quaffing a potion in the midst of combat would not be easy, nor should it be. Ideally this would be an action that is subject to interruption, although I'm not sure if this is how game mechanics actually work.

Boeroer, you are right about the soulbound scepter being the best ranged option for an Eothasian priest. In my current game, with a melee cipher MC and a ranged cipher, monk, paladin, priest & wizard, I gave the soulbound scepter to my priest and am having Aloth use Golden gaze. To return to the cipher weapons topic, my MC is currently level 7, and is dual wielding Bittercut and Resolution. He already has the Biting Whip, Draining Whip, and WF Ruffian talents. I presume that Two Weapon Style would be the best choice to maximize DPS at level 8, right? I am also toying with going for Spirit of Decay at level 8, and having him use a shield instead. He's been sturdy so far in Sanguine Plate. I'm just not sure if would be better to dual wield or go with weapon and shield in the long run; I fear he might be bit too squishy to handle the hordes of nasty creatures in and around Durgan's Battery. [Edited to correct spelling mistake]

Boeroer, what I meant is that if you're playing an Eothasian priest, and probably using a flail and shield for your main weapon combo, you have two nice possibilities for a ranged weapon for your other weapon slot, warbows or wands. The former may be better in most cases, but there are also some interesting wands out there, which your wizard (with noble weapon focus most likely) probably won't be using.

I always found it a bit strange that rods, wands & scepters do not share the same weapon focus. It seems counterintuitive; once you specialize in one type of implement it should be pretty easy to use any type of implement. But I'm sure all of the Eothasian priests out there are happy that wands share the Adventurer focus with flails!

Aren't rods Noble weapons, like scepters? I thought only wands were different, Adventurer, I think.

I would like to confirm that Boeroer is absolutely right that charming is the best way to deal with Ogre Druids. Playing a party with two ciphers made the Endless Paths of Od Nua level 3 a stroll in the park.

I agree that that Inspiring Radiance and Aggrandizing Radiance are both great. However, Brilliant Radiance seems rather pathetic to me. It affects all enemies, but the damage done to non-vessels is so small it doesn't seem to be worth a talent point.

A melee cipher will benefit from the heaviest armor you can find, and should focus on CC abilities IMO. You really don't need damage abilities, as you'll be able to dish out a great of damage to foes once you've paralyzed them, knocked them prone, etc. It would probably be a good idea to have companions who could also dish out some CC, such as a wizard, a storm druid, stormcaller ranger, or a second cipher. In my experience, as Boeroer stated, Greater Focus is useful early on but ultimately unnecessary; once you hit level 7 or so you'll have more focus than you need. If you do invest in GF, you'll probably eventually want to respec the character to get another talent. Ciphers, after all, only really get 6 talent points overall, since biting whip and draining whip are pretty much your essential level 2 and 4 picks.

I'm personally not comfortable with MIN/MAX builds. If one doesn't drop CON and RES so much, how does the following stat spread look for a melee cipher? MIG 18 CON 8 DEX 16 PER 10 INT 18 RES 8 I usually play on hard difficulty, so I don't think I need PER about 10. Any suggestions would be most welcome.

Thanks, Boeroer. I gather that a melee cipher with Bittercut might get some extra benefit from Spirit of Decay, aside from the 20% boost in direct melee damage.

Speaking of cipher "weapons" and elemental talents, does anyone know if the damage from Antipathetic Field is boosted by Spirit of Decay? I presume that it is, but I've never checked to see if beam spells/powers are boosted by elemental talents.

Yes, this is why Bittercut and Stormcaller are so good; their corrode and shock damage are boosted by Spirit of Decay and Heart of the Storm, respectively. In fact, these talents boost the damage even when they deal slash or pierce damage. For reasons that aren't clear to me this is not the case with weapons like Durance's staff and Curoc's brand. If I recall correctly Boeroer previously explained in another thread that this is because the elemental damage comes first, i.e., corrode/slash for Bittercut, rather than crush/burn for Durance's staff. So, while Curoc's brand is a great weapon, only its fireball spell will be boosted by Scion of Flame. [Edited for grammar]

Curoc's brand is pierce/burn, so its regular attacks with it won't benefit from scion of flame as you point out, Boeroer. Only the 1/rest fireball cast will benefit from this talent, so it's probably not worth the talent point.

Thanks, Boeroer. I look forward to trying this build.

Boeroer, I am intrigued by your wood elf archer chanter proto-build. I've been thinking of ways to flesh it out a bit. Obviously you'd want max DEX and high PER as you indicate, but you'd still need decent MIG for damage, and INT for the duration of chants, buffs, and CC (stuns, etc.) But you could drop CON and RES since s/he would be a backline ranged attacker. How does the following sound as starting stats: MIG 15, CON 7, DEX 20, PER 18, INT 15, RES 3? S/he would be somewhat squishy, but could dish out Killers Froze Stiff when pesky melee types get too close.

I've very much enjoyed playing L4wlight's Storm & Plague Caller ranger build. If you follow L4wlight's build you start off getting essential pet buffs and then move to offensive talents and abilities. It's a great build and much fun to play, and results in both the pet and the ranger being great damage dealers. The ranger is a bit squishy if you min/max it, but you can also use it with Sagani, who is less squishy but slower, and hence does less DPS.

I prefer using Sanguine Plate with my Paladin. It looks cool and the Frenzy proc is great; paladins have so many great talents I prefer not to get Outlander's Frenzy for him or her. And it's faster than Ryona's breastplate once you durganize it.

This is a great guide, indika_tates, thanks! I love priests and always have one in every party, but never Durance, as I can bear his slow casting speed due to low DEX. I agree that DEX is key! You indicate that Scion of Flame doesn't affect Shining Beacon since the latter deals DOT. Wouldn't the same be true of Holy Radiance? It deals DOT as well. Also, has the bug been fixed that caused Painful Interdiction to fail to apply the ACC bonus for the weakened effect? I read about this bug earlier last year, and then noticed that the weakened effect hit far less often than the dazed effect. So I stopped taking interdiction and painful interdiction. With the more powerful weakened effect bugged, it seemed like a waste of two precious talent points. But if this bug has been fixed, I would start taking them again.

Hmm, sometimes the duration is very short, when you graze I think, but sometimes it lasts quite a long time, when you hit or crit. Do you mean that you notice it has a long duration, say 20 seconds, but lasts for a much shorter time? I have noticed this with a Cipher's Puppet Master power in the past.

The last time I ran this quest I killed the outside Ogres (who really can't be avoided, I think), but didn't kill any inside, and I got the shop. I think it's the one's inside who count. I don't know if you can kill a few and still get the shop. But it's easy enough to sneak to the ice chute (and grab Golden Gaze on your way down if you can), kill the Lagufaeth, and then climb up the stairs to the Matron's room and resolve things peacefully. Then you can leave and buy the Tempered Helm, and score a second one in the mines under Durgan's Battery.

Yes, Torment's Reach is still a great ability for monks, but since they fixed it (in 3.05, I think), you no longer get those insane chain reaction procs that can just explode along a line of foes.

No problem whatsoever! It is always good to clarify such arcana of game mechanics. I went on for weeks with my monk wearing the Mourning gloves, not realizing that their speed bonus was suppressed every time I activated Swift Strikes.