SaruNi

Assassinate + will debuff is the equivalent of +50 accuracy. Almost guaranteed dominate, even against many enemies with high defenses. (Besides, it makes it easy to *initiate* combat with a spell cast before combat starts, without having to try to time it so one of your party members lands a shot---and initiates combat---right before you finish casting.) Dominate the strongest possible enemy....

Have you tried using assassinate with the charm / dominate abilities? Of course they don't benefit from damage or penetration, but they get the accuracy boost, which means they're almost guaranteed to hit.

Solo beckoner/ranger (any other than ghost heart) can have pet initiate combat while beckoner remains in stealth. Summoning and buffing doesn't break stealth....

So strongest scroll/item user may be Ranger-Assassin... up to about +250% spell damage. Edit: On second thought, looks like the +100% damage applies to an attack from any party member. So in a party you could get higher +% spell damage by having blooded Assassin/Berserker cast after a Ranger applies this. Not to mention Barbarian speed boosts....

Well consider the math. Before applying empower: Meteor Shower 36-58 + 12 burn damage per 1 second for 4 seconds = 36-58 + 48 = 84-106 total Highest damage level 7 spell: Delayed Fireball, 65-95 With +30% sneak attack, +50% deathblows, +50% assassinate (assuming crit) for +130% damage: 65-95 * 2.3 = 149.5-218.5 Note this is underestimating actual Sneak Attack damage, because it scales with level up from minimum 30%. The +25 accuracy and + penetration from Assassinate also make it more likely to crit and overpenetrate. (Granted, it needs to crit to get the damage bonus.) Even if we don't include deathblows and keep sneak attack at its minimum 30%, sneak attack + assassinate Delayed Fireball yields a minimum 117 damage. Or do you mean that empower increases the duration of the DoT?

I empowered one of Aloth's AoEs. It erased everything it hit. It made me want to reroll. How does assassin/caster compare with pure caster at level 20? Do empowered PL 9 spells outperform empowered assassinate PL 7 spells (assuming they crit for the assassinate damage bonus)?

Bit off topic, but Barbarians can get +5 dex from Wild Sprint (as well as Nimble, which is better than Swift Flurry's Quick, and also immune to engagement). Though Blood Thirst is the biggest speed bonus by far... were you using that to calculate DPS? (It's power level 7 so available to multiclass at endgame.) As I mentioned I compared damage, not DPS, but I agree that on paper Swift Flurry/Wild Sprint + Frenzy + Bloodlust + Berserker passive offers a lot more DPS. Berserker/Bleak Walker would be fun At PL 7 Blood Thirst allows you to recover immediately for 10 seconds after each kill. That's a tremendous DPS boost. Once you reach 0 recovery, two-handed should surpass dual-wield. (Especially with the great sword modal....)

Increased spell duration for summons/summoned weapons/effects.... Conjuration also includes damaging spells that benefit from PL.

"The one standout improvement: PoE 2's appraoch to loot. [...] a bewildering number of unique items---poisoned swords, flaming axes, spirit-reaping scythes, all with names and backstories." https://www.pcworld.com/article/3270945/gaming/pillars-of-eternity-ii-deadfire-review.html

Bit off topic, but Barbarians can get +5 dex from Wild Sprint (as well as Nimble, which is better than Swift Flurry's Quick, and also immune to engagement). Though Blood Thirst is the biggest speed bonus by far... were you using that to calculate DPS? (It's power level 7 so available to multiclass at endgame.)

Are you sure about that? In the beta shifting forms' weapons/armor scaled with character level, not power level....

Do you mean you can hit with Soft Winds of Death without leaving stealth? The attack roll doesn't bring you out of stealth?

Quick from Swift Strikes grants a speed bonus that stacks with Frenzy. More importantly, you need to take Swift Strikes in order to get Swift Flurry (or Lightning Strikes). So you could replace Swift Strikes with Wild Sprint later in the game, but you wouldn't want to because Swift Flurry/Lightning strikes are so good. OTOH single-class Monk gets Thunderous Blows which grants Tenacious, same Might and Pen bonuses as Beserker Frenzy. But Berserker Frenzy hit-to-crit goes well with Swift Flurry. Wait so Swift Strikes stack with Frenzy or not... I am confused now :D Two activated abilities that directly boost attribute x don't stack. However, if one of them boosts attribute y that indirectly increases attribute x, that increase will stack with another ability that directly increases attribute x. So the direct speed bonus from Swift Strikes doesn't stack with Frenzy, but Swift Strikes grants Quick for +5 dexterity which boosts action speed indirectly, and that stacks with Frenzy. Barbarian also has a passive (non-activated ability), Bloodlust, which grants a speed bonus that stacks with activated abilities.

Quick from Swift Strikes grants a speed bonus that stacks with Frenzy. More importantly, you need to take Swift Strikes in order to get Swift Flurry (or Lightning Strikes). So you could replace Swift Strikes with Wild Sprint later in the game, but you wouldn't want to because Swift Flurry/Lightning strikes are so good. OTOH single-class Monk gets Thunderous Blows which grants Tenacious, same Might and Pen bonuses as Beserker Frenzy. But Berserker Frenzy hit-to-crit goes well with Swift Flurry.

Did you just test using console? Might be items that boost backstab damage....