dgray62

I think it is an amazing spell that I always pick for druids in my party. While Teheku can't pick the insect spells he can select IoM for some reason. As a druid I'll usually cast plague of insects/ relentless storm/ nature's terror (maybe 2 of those 3) followed by IoM, then shift and go to town. It's amazing how quickly enemies disintegrate under that spell barrage.

Thanks! I was under the mistaken impression that they did.

I really like the idea of giving Magran priests healing from fire damage. That would be a fun and interesting buff IMO.

IoM is a DoT spell, with damage done inversely proportional to the enemy's health, such that the damage of IoM increases as an enemy's health decreases. It does no damage to healthy foes, but does substantial damage per tick to near death foes. Needless to say, it's not so great on its own, but it's fantastic in conjunction with other DoT or pulsing spells like Plague of Insects or Relentless Storm. I always cast it after casting one or two of them. In conjunction with them it will really melt most foes. I also use it, in conjunction with Insect Swarm usually, to take out sigils.

Priest of Wael adds a ton of survivability, since the deflection bonuses from Arcane Veil and Mirrored Image stack, giving you +80 def for non-veil piercing attacks.

Sorcerers work very well, and are a lot of fun to play IMO. You lose out on the PL 8 and 9 spells, of course, but you get a lot of great spells that work together fantastically, such as Combusting Wounds and the various pulsing and DoT spells from both classes. Druid brings great healing, which is especially good if you go with the bloodmage subclass, and you can spirit shift and prolong it indefinitely with Wall of Draining. Wizard, on the other hand, brings great buffs to the table. You can also steal both wizard and druid spells using the grimoire switching trick, allowing you to take select passives rather that spells at level up, at least for the first 9 levels of the game. For more information on a possible build see @Not So Clever HoundThundercat 2.0 build.

I think your plan looks good. Maxing PER and RES is what you will need. STR and CON can be 10. I usually have INT for a FF shadow dancer around 15, which is all you will need, given turning wheel. Even though INT will eventually be high, with high RES and clarity of agony you can keep the FF curse very short and use it frequently. I would add crippling blows (no need for the upgrade) and Confounding Blind (although you'll want Gouging Strike if you go solo). Escape is also nice for mobility. Those are all of the rogue actives I would take, along with Toxic Strike, which you definitely want, since it's devastating when prolonged by enfeebled. It would definitely be viable solo, although then you'd also want smoke veil to escape battle when necessary.

This would easily work with Ball Lightning, since it moves rather slowly. You could cast it and then shift, and have plenty of time provided the enemies aren't too close.

Yes, I meant the character's abilities/spell list.

Since these are considered evocation spells, am I correct that I am assuming that they are wizard spells, and thus will be added to your wizard "spell book" after you steal them, save and reload?

Yes, TotH is great with minor imprint, since there is no PL loss like you normally have when stealing non-wizard spells. The ACC, damage and PEN is all based on weapon quality and other modifiers as noted above. I haven't played a spell blade in a while. I think I'll try it again!

Fassina is pretty great as a sorcerer, too, IMO. You can cast Concelhaut's Draining Touch then Essential Phantom, and then cast lots of pulsing and DoT spells along with combusting wounds, which will quickly wear down even the toughest foes. And you can spirtshift if she takes aggro. High level sorcerers almost never run out of spells in my experience.

You'd think it would work, since regular unarmed attacks proc carnage.

Indeed, you would. With CP another subclass would be better, since you wouldn't have SF/HBD proc chances when using the FF attack in the unmoved game. But the FF attack is a bit weird. Even when playing with CP, I've noticed that the FF attack doesn't do any carnage damage when playing a ravager, despite the fact that it is counted as a weapon attack.

FF might be good for the added tankiness when you max RES, and the devastating enfeebled affliction from the FF attack. In my experience FF really works wonders on tough foes. Doesn't work on those immune to CON afflictions tho.

Monk/stalker is a better combo IMO, with the tankier bear AC. Using a weapon like Mohorā Tanga with a wounding DoT effect is great for the AC too.

I always assumed that the ACC bonuses from Borrowed Instinct and Enduring Dance don't stack, for which reason I never invest the two ability points for the latter with Transcendents. If this is not the case, please let us know.

Yes, the Voulge going only to superb is another reason that it is best used with mobs. In agree that Sara Sichr is probably the best end game weapon for a ravager, for the reasons you described.

Wow! Now I wonder which weapon is best for a ravager, the Voulge or Sara-Sichr. I suppose that the latter is ultimately better due to its long lasting DoT and paralysis effect, but the former is probably still best for mobs.

Creative use of the wild mind effects! Thanks for sharing this.

Clearly HoF is overpriced in the game, making it usually not worth selecting. But thanks for pointing out a creative use of it, @Constentin Lévine! As for godlike MCs, just invest in arcana and cast AS from a scroll. While scrolls seem expensive, for most of the game you'll have plenty of money and can afford this if you wish. I personally prefer doing this, as it is much faster (the cast time for the helmet is long), and arcana gives you a nice boost to the spell's power.

The hostile effect durations from multiple items/food/abilities do stack, but not additively. Due to negative inversions (which I don't understand) the stacking effect is smaller than you might expect. So -10% plus -10% doesn't yield -20%, but something more modest, like -12% or something like that. But keep in mind if you do rapid weapon switching with outworn buckler and the game paused you can remove any hostile effects completely, at the cost of recovery due to weapon switching.

You don't even need to be in an inn. You can do this at any safe locations (city or town) by accessing the map, and pressing the tiny little button on the map. This brings up the generic shop for the port as well options allowing you to swap party members in or out or re-level them up.

I used to believe that Avenging Storm in Deadfire was nerfed compared to POE1, but I was totally wrong about that!

I have had this happen, but only very rarely. I assumed this was a bug, because usually they are not permanently killed when knocked out in ship battles. I even had a sailor permanently killed once.