SirMirrorcoat

I use him with Mortar now. not yet 'dual-'Mortar, as I have yet to do Fort Deadlight for the second one, and he works great. I changed his subclass tho (Beguiler instead of Wild Mind, and Furyshaper), so I don't get TPK from using Whisper of Treason Wild surge bull****. He has a Morning Star for melee engagement, but most fights so far are decided before that becomes an issue. The thing about mortars is, even if I run out of Focus to cast deception spells, I have a strong source of focus gain via mortar spammage. But your problem is the other way around I just read again... Yeah, Cipher is even more micro-intensive than a full caster imo. 1/3 of a battle is usually me picking targets for Serafen's attacks and spells. Tekehu I can just cast 3 spells and then let him do his thing on his own, Xoti is a buff-bot anyway. Serafen is micro micro micro.

Oh yeah Avenged Sevenfold could be really lovely here as well. Arcana then. Intimidation is already on my list (just not maxed) for RP purposes. A kind-hearted, passionate, but also impulsive and aggressive former raider who wants to change her ways and be a better person, but has a hard time not threatening people if they annoy her or stand in the way of her idea of morally good.

Can't decide for my final active skill between Explosives (flavor), Sleight of Hand (flavor) or Alchemy xD Edit: or even Mechanics to easy Eder's burden a bit ...

Seriously? That seems a bit like a bug...

Do poisons affect AOE weapons? I think about going for Alchemy or Explosives for the Tankbuckler, and poisons affecting WotEP would definitely make me favor Alchemy, even though Explosives have a bigger Cool-Factor.

Unless some bug, they aren't supposed to...

Xoti on Buff-Duty for all eternity

Thanks, that is all very helpful Guess I can dump dex down to base and boost Resolve to 18/20 for that build

That sounds really neat. I will go for an Unbroken/Trickster main with Great Swords. Switching to Shield if I feel like I need the bonus engagement slots. Thanks @Boeroer

Would swords be a good weapon choice for Devoted/Rogue? Thinking about making Eder a Mage Killer. Jumping into the backline, Mule-Kicking a mage to death, rinse repeat.

So, DA is good on a shield/2handed char, while Riposte is always better than DA. More reliable, higher damage on DW. And Cleaving Stance is great on DW as well. Nice. Leaning towards Holy Slayer now with Riposte build, only, I fear that it is quite difficult to manage Engagement without the Stance bonus of Fighter... From my experience, Eder can keep aggro easy, Monk or Barbarian are often ignored and have to work hard to avoid my squishies from being targeted... Is Whispers otEP good for a Retaliation build?

Could a Shadowdancer be made tanky enough with Trickster? Should be, but I dunno for sure...

Thanks! That was an interesting read As you have played that build as well, how does it fare at the frontline alongside 1 Tank? Because I would prefer a melee unit for flavor. A Swashbuckler or Holy Slayer (which I just looked at before seeing your post) would be a lot sturdier afaik while still dishing out great damage. Of course, missing out on the lovely Freezing Rake, which would be a bummer. I just checked how Ryngrim's Repulsive Visage works in triggering Disengagement attacks, and that seems really great for an Unbroken/Trickster. Relatively reliable DA-on-demand. Though for some reason I cannot find any info on whether DA count as FULL or PRIMARY attacks. The former would make a dual-wielding Unbroken quite interesting. And MonasticUT gets into MYTHIC quality at PL12??? So, even on a non-Monk, fists are great And is there a list as to what items boost engagement slots? Shields or course, Kapaha Tanga or whatever the name, spear modal, what else? If I can get a decent amount of engagement slots, Holy Slayer is a lot more appealing than Swashbuckler. Spear and Rapier could also look really cool together...

Reading up on the potential secondary classes for a Shifter, I am now inclined to make a Trickster build. I would like to stay in the fray all the time, work my damage up with sneak-attack enabling and Riposte. Dual-wielding Rapiers for flavor. Freezing Rake was one of my favorite high-level spells in poe1, so that alone draws me towards SC a bit... On the other hand, as easy as it is with 3 sources of flanking to trigger Brilliant Tactician, I also consider having essentially 2 Swashbucklers (me and Eder) in the party, 1 Tactician, the other Unbroken or Devoted. Aaand another one would be Shadowdancer, simply because monks are epic. Last but not least would be Pathfinder-Shifter after all. Huge spell-selection, Shifter-forms on masse.

Because every weapon has PEN, low-dmg weapon types are a lot more viable than in poe1. Not that they weren't in poe1, but it was mostly specific weapons and not the type in general.

I love Serafen consoled into a Beguiler over Ascendant. On paper, Ascendant seemed far more appealing to me, but once I tried Beguiler (thanks to Boeroer), I was enamoured. To gain casting resource by casting is pretty dope imo. With Phantom Foes/Secret Horrors cast at the start of combat, I have enough Focus to cast 2 offensive spells AND cast another PF/SH to repeat the process. From what I could gather, Ascendant seems better as a martial/cipher julticlass for better focus gain and premium damage while ascended.

Thanks for the TLDR, @thelee. I should have just checked the link Now I have more to read in that guide

Imma hijack this thread because that seems interesting What is the difference (in execution) of damage on tick vs damage over time? Why is MIG less relevant for dmg over time?

For Helwalker it seems pretty much mandatory, unless you like high-risk melee. Also holy **** what was up with my grammar there...

Ability progression question @Boeroer With the Nalpazca Wound gain, is Dance of Death even recommended? At least early game I don't think like I gain much from that, but maybe late-game that changes?

Though the mod page makes it seem like a SC Shifter Druid could be quite good now...

ye, Imma install the balance mod now xD Not even finished the game once and already modding much. How deep I have fallen...

Reading through the mod notes, I am a bit confused as to how drugs and AD work together in the base game. Does Arcane Dampener make drug crashes last even if you take a new drug afterwards? Because that would seem like a bug... Pretty interesting mod in all tho

@Boeroer As you seem pretty well-versed in Monkology So I will circle back to Monk, as I tested FF at level 10 against some bounties instead of just against the early Young Drake, and it is really freaking great. Now I just wonder how hard it is to keep Arcane Dampener from screwing over my Nalpazca, as I still find that one more appealing than Forbidden Fist? I have yet to encounter Wizards with this spell, but if they essentially 'break' a Nalpazca, I will go for Forbidden Fist instead...

I usually get burned out for a week before I restart one more time and finish the game then.