Clerith

I personally greatly enjoy playing my missile god wizard (the new spell effects are amazing), and once they get some levels, wizards are definitely one of the strongest classes, at least single classes.

Three Fighter/Monks and two Fighter/Chanters maybe? Lol. I don't even know what's the strongest character or build, too many builds can easily do PotD and are completely broken at high levels, immortal, insta gibbing screens, etc.

On my second playthrough, since tier 3 spells, my wizard has been the strongest character in either playthrough. Enough said.

I imagine whispers of the endless paths is better than dual wield for a psyblade until you have a high level chanter giving you infinite resources?

For those who manually set up world states, use this console line to get the fragments until they patch the bug: giveitem MISC_Fragments_Blade_of_the_Endless_Paths

You want single class Cipher, and Ascendant subclass. You can shoot with bow or guns and even do some weapon set swapping with a bunch of loaded guns, then when you get to max focus, you unleash your powers and go insane for a good amount of time. Cipher right now is basically Ascendant for actually casting Cipher spells or Soul Blade for multiclassing with martial classes.

That's amazing. Also curse you. I just finished my dw devoted/soulblade, and am in the middle of my evoker wizard run, but you made me want to start a new devoted/soublade, despite me already having a berserker/bleakwalker planned...

The Dragon's Dowry speed buff is only -43% ("only") on my Aloth after dex and rapid casting, but it applies for both cast speed and recovery time. Switching weapons is annoying, but... it's super insane.

Glad to see this make a return. Props for the AI list. Health amulet though, really? :D How about the early +2 resolve ammy instead? There's a pretty clear lack of dps rings in the game, so anything goes there, really. I had random minor protection and minor deflection rings abound.

Pretty sure it says it's an ability you get, not a proc on hit.

Shiiit. RIP my Chromoprismatic Quarterstaff Wizard. Since Wizards don't get action speed from their own spells anymore, this seems completely insane.

The ice cone (tier 5) is about same as in PoE1. Freezing Rake was nerfed by a lot (it shoots from you now, hard to aim), Adragan is okay but nerfed compared to PoE1 (what with pertify being nerfed too).

The best classes for companions imo: Eder - Fighter/Rogue Xoti - Priest Aloth - Wizard Serafen - Barbarian/Cipher (this is the most arguable one imo) Tekehu - Druid Maia - Ranger Pallegina - Paladin/Chanter

Let's see which subclasses see play and talk on the forums... Barbarian: Berserker Chanter: all Cipher: Ascendant, Soul Blade Druid: Fury, Lifegiver, Shifter Fighter: all, though mostly Devoted Monk: all Paladin: most/rp choice Priest: rp choice Ranger: Stalker? Unpopular class Rogue: Assassin Wizard: Evoker Would you look at that, every class has at least something. There are some good, some bad, but choices for every class.

I pushed Xoti towards the dark three times, and I got to upgrade the lantern to Threshing Aura no matter what I did with the souls - free them, keep them. I reloaded and checked the enchants.

https://imgur.com/a/xZi6I9o Take a look at the picture. During your conversations with Xoti as you progress her quest, you'll see choices like that pop up. Keep pushing her towards the dark.

Persistent Distraction, debuff chants are the easiest ways. Since knockdown isn't an affliction in this game, and the game is rather lacking in cc weapons, it'd be pretty hard to find gear that'll do it for you.

PoE PotD wolves in the second area are scarier than anything in PoE2 except random high level gun squads at low level.

Serafen gives you a hat with 15% hit to crit and 20% crit dmg for swashbuckling weapons (dagger, sword, rapier, sabre, stiletto), there's the 2h attack speed helm, +2 stats + some minor extra stuff helmets are quite a few.

When looking at the best weapons - crit damage on weapons stacks (both weapon attacks benefit from the extra crit dmg) but attack speed is local (only benefits the weapon it's on), right?

Paladin + Chanter = infinite resources, can make yourself perma immortal with right subclasses, op and broken af Paladin + Fighter = extremely high defenses from both passives and actives, amazing tank Paladin + Barbarian = fast, strong, tough, a balanced and powerful melee character in all respects Paladin + Rogue = usually Bleak Walker + Assassin, crazy damage from stealth Paladin's cheap FoD and great defensive talents make it great for any melee character really.

Someone tell me how to intelligently set up wizard self buffs (spirit shield, vital essence, displaced image) once at start of combat.

Tier list, huh? It's complex because of all the multiclasses, but I'd go about it like this, for combat effectiveness: 1) Pure monk, pure chanter - both are op in their own way 2) Martial multiclasses (any of fighter, paladin, barbarian, soulblade, can mix chanter and monk in too) 3) Pure wizard (stronger than martial multiclasses at high level, but much weaker at low levels) These would be in the strong category. Then for the mediocre: 4) Rogue, solo or any multiclass, while there is rogue/paladin build that's good, it's kinda gimmicky. Pure rogue is good at high levels, but rogue abilities are overcosted. 5) Pure fighter, paladin, berserker - okay, these are arguably stronger than rogue, but multiclassing just makes all of them SO much better. 6) Cipher casters - weak early game, a few insane gimmicks late game. 7) Druid - I was really disappointed by druid, well by Tekehu. Druids are flexible, but seemed nerfed in every way from Pillars 1. Then the weaker: 8 ) Priest: what happened to spells beyond 4th tier? All garbage, you say? Well, there are a few good ones, but wow, talk about a nerf. Honestly, I think I still want one in a party because of the aoe buffs and aoe heals, but not a strong 'solo class' in a vacuum. 9) Ranger - what a garbage class. I'm sure you can make it work if you want, though. ...I think I'm mostly echoing common sentiments here.

Quick question. Do I let her go to the dark side during her quest for her to get Threshing Aura? Full dark side.

Threshing Aura because +24% damage aura for the rest of the party is insanely good, while the spell resistance can block buff spells from your priest.