SaruNi

Was also able to add priest of Woedica "soul power" ability: +1 all power levels, not an Inspiration so it should stack with Acute. Obviously goes well with Transcendant Suffering.... Would it be so shocking if Xoti had the option to switch from Monk/Priest of Gaun to Monk/Priest of Woedica?... maybe her stats will be bad enough to balance it. Could bring up Priests of Woedica and Watershapers using the console and attack them to try to infer their full range of abilities....

I'm hoping at least paladin or priest watchers will be able to switch to Steel Garrote or Woedica respectively at some point in the game. (If Pallegina switched from Five Suns to Kind Wayfarer to Steel Garrote it would be kind of hilarious....)

Was able to add the Watershaper versions using the console. They are the same as the wizard spells, except worse, because power level bonus is calculated by the difference between your power level and the spell's power level; Chill Fog goes from a level 1 wizard spell to a level 3 druid spell, and Kalakoth's Sunless Grasp from level 1 wizard spell to level 5 druid spell. Maybe Watershaper gets a passive that boosts these spells? +100 percent frost damage or something?

power level 3 - Watershaper Chill Fog Power level 5 -Watershaper Kalakoth's Sunless Grasp (omg he gets a level 1 wizard spell! and not just any level 1 spell, the worst one!... or is the "Watershaper" version different?) Power level 7 - Watershaper Blast of Frost Power level 9 - Watershaper Ninagauth's Freezing Pillar

For generating focus, berserkers can use Barbaric Blow (+25% damage, +50% crit damage, +30% hit to crit, with later upgrade to get raged refunded or recovery set to 0 on kill). With Blooded that's +50% before adding +crit damage or frenzy Might bonus, and with One Stands Alone (which will apply most of the time) it's +70%. Whereas Bleak Walker FoD is +50%, with Eternal Devotion +70%. Assuming FoD accuracy bonus is balanced out by hit to crit conversion from Frenzy and Barbaric Blow, they're equal before factoring in Berserker Tenacious and +50% crit damage (not to mention additional +15% from human Fighting Spirit once blooded). OTOH Barbaric Blow is 2 rage vs. 1 zeal for FoD... so multiclass won't get that many uses at least until the level 13 upgrade that refunds the rage cost on kill. And requiring Blooded for the bonus is a major obstacle. It's ridiculous that Bleak Walker gets the best defenses and easy access to the second-best alpha strike (right after backstab), they should get a major defensive nerf (would be strategically interesting if each use of FoD dropped all their Paladin defensive bonuses---maybe do the same for Kind Wayfarer...).

Steel Garrote Paladin's "Lay on Hands" upgrade can be added to Paladins using the console. "Choking attack that applies paralyzed to the target. Paralyzed for 8 seconds Accuracy vs fortitude"

Description of "One Stands Alone" says it increase "melee damage"---doesn't specify melee weapon damage. Soul Annihilation is a melee attack, yet One Stands Alone doesn't apply to its damage. I'd prefer it if One Stands Alone actually did apply to non-weapon melee damage, but if "melee weapon damage" was intended, the description should be changed.

Didn't consider Might bonus before. Assume 20 base Might, level 9.... Blooded berserk PL 3 (2*0.05 PL bonus): 1.35*1.45 = 1.9575x Cipher PL 5 (4*0.05 PL bonus): 1.2*1.3 = 1.56x But Blooded also triggers human's Fighting Spirit: 1.45*1.45 = 2.1025x And with wilder hunter: 2.465x And that's not counting the penetration bonus. I'd guess crit to hit conversation on the primary attack also results in crit bonus for Soul Annihilation---it crits if the primary attack crits? "One Stands Alone" says "melee damage"---doesn't specify weapon damage---but sadly doesn't seem to apply to Soul Annihilation damage, even though it's a melee attack. Probably did mean to say "melee weapon damage" though....

Soul Annihilation only gets +5% damage/power level (as opposed to +10% for many spells), so Blooded Barbarian/Soulblade will do at least 15% more Soul Annihilation raw damage than single-class (40% against Wilders).

In previous patches berserk let you use Mind Blades jumps on single enemy targets provided you were willing to get hit with it yourself (and get closer to Blooded); but now non-confused Mind Blades jumps will keep hitting a single target. Since berserk Mind Blades will jump to allies, it's not good unless you want to kill them. However if Mind Blades reverts back it could be an okay combination. Berserk confusion lets you cast foe-only spells like Phantom Foes and Psychovampiric Shield on allies, so at higher levels you should be able to use Borrowed Instinct too (for an almost guaranteed hit with a character who has minimal defense against it). You can also use any ally-target only spell on an enemy, which generally isn't as good as using it on an ally (since spells like Soul Shock and Ectopsychic Echo don't hit the target even when confused), but gives a bit of versatility. Barbarian does have a bunch of melee-only abilities that increase weapon DPS and soul annihillation is melee only so there's a little bit of built-in synergy. And Blooded (and sometimes Wilder Hunter) should multiply Soul Annihilation damage.

Most wizard buffs don't benefit much from power level---it only increases duration, and many of them have relatively long duration to begin with. And the main drawback to using spells outside of your specialization is +% recovery time, so using enchantment spells with 0 recovery as any other specialist wizard won't have any penalty. Enchanters do get one automatic "free action" per encounter that gives temporary immunity to Dexterity afflictions---good for the old Binding Web combo etc (however all Wizard spells of that type so far are non-enchantment spells with non-zero recovery). So unless it's for RP or party synergy there isn't much reason to pick Enchanter. Though it's nice that they get Evocation spells, since Flame Shield is Evocation and iirc has 0 recovery. It should stack with the Darcozzi Minor Flame Shield. However your Flame Shield will be 1 power level below that of an Evoker, which probably means it does 10% less damage.

Flanked? No. Especially since you can get it using Powder Burns from Blunderbuss (think the devs were giving us a big hint by starting off the mercenary Rogue with blunderbuss). Can also probably get it by letting a berserk (or otherwise confused) cipher cast Phantom Foes. Wizard goes well with abilities that trigger on Blooded because you can drastically boost your defenses after you're Blooded. It's only 1/2 of health. You can hit yourself with your own AoE to get it faster and Deleterious Alacrity reduces health a little too.

Console observations: - There indeed seem to be several varieties of Priest of Woedica and Steel Garrote paladin npc's - The Woedica spells can be added to party priests, so Steel Garrote abilities can probably be added to paladins - Woedica's spiritual weapon is fists

It's weird that Steel Garrote paladins and Priests of Woedica clearly exist in the code (and based on the patch notes for beta 4 are still being actively developed), but aren't player available. Perhaps it's DLC stuff. My guess is NPCs / villains. Will be cool if priests/paladins are allowed to "convert" / change orders based on new cultures/cults they encounter.

Assassinate works from invisibility, and applies to spells too (though sneak attack etc don't apply to spells). But it only does +50% crit damage now (so, +12.5% damage, not counting increased crit chance and possibility of overpenetration). Also Kalakoth's Minor Blights applies rogue strike abilities in an AoE. Streetfighter gets more weapon damage bonuses. If you're mainly using weapon damage it's probably better. More durable too. (Hoping assassin will get a damage boost before launch, the nerf really seems excessive....)

The one teleport / encounter might provide a little bit of synergy, since Skald could benefit from getting in and out of close range quickly. If the strategy is paralyze/stun then attack in melee to crit and get more phrases then the increased range and penetration for Returning Storm could help (especially since iirc it doesn't require you to be shifted to get the bonuses). Strategically placed precast Tanglefoot and Druid defensive buffs might also help---and there's Taste of the Hunt for melee weapon damage. OTOH chanter stun/paralyze and Storm spells might be more redundant than synergistic. And of course there's the glory that is Firebrand (j/k)....

You can use the minor flame shield on yourself or on an ally or multiple allies (or summons, etc.). It should stack with the regular flame shield too. When cast on another character, the damage etc is still based on the Paladin's might etc. Earliest a multiclass can get flame shield is level 10, just outside the beta. Can't console it in afaik. For the final game there's also the question of whether items provide minor flame shield or flame shield, etc. Personally I enjoy the idea of a Darcozzi paladin giving several summons a minor flame shield to go along with the flaming weapons chant and shared flames. If you *want* to get hit (for monk wounds, Barbarian blooded, or streetfighter On the edge), it's a nice bonus and lets you get a multiclass flame shield early on. There's also a paladin passive that gives up +% damage after being hit up to +25%. Maybe mostly ranged glass cannon / healer using flame shield on ranger pet or summons (or with frontliners who benefit from being hit---retaliation, blooded, etc.)? When last I checked the flame shield didn't seem to discourage enemies from attacking, but that was several patches ago....

Wilder Hunter definitely, Death Godlike iirc (damage against near-death enemies). Blood Frenzy adds a DoT to spells. Most spells have at least +10% damage / power level, and multiclass usually has -2 power level... could use scrolls as single-class though.

Looks like it's actually a Holy Slayer Assassin/Bleak Walker. Posted April 6th so I guess it's the latest patch?

The chart above is out of date. Single classes now get an extra ability whenever they gain a new power level, so that's level 3, 5, 7, 9, 11, 13, 16, and 19. Multis get an extra ability when they gain a power level but they need to spend them in each class, can't put them all in one. So singles get 27 abilities plus first level and multis get 25 abilities plus first level and 6 of them must be in each class. Its not a no brainer choice anymore to go multiclass, and that's a good thing. I am a little confused here. Are you actually saying that single class characters get MORE abilities than multiclass characters??? Because, that is how I read that... They get to pick more abilities, though when you add in level 1, they only get 1 more ability pick: Single-class: 1 at level one + 19 levels + (power levels after first = 9-1 = 8 ) = 27+1 = 28 Multi-class: 2 at level one + 19 levels + (power levels after first = 7-1 = 6) = 25+2 = 27 However, multiclasses get more total ability *uses* per encounter.

Just confirmed that Ascendant power level bonus doesn't apply to scrolls (though there's still the +20% all damage that's almost certainly a bug). So fighters will generally have the highest power level of any class when using scrolls. (Though iirc there's a 5th tier Priest spell that also grants Acute, and Monks and especially Helwalkers should be able to get enough might / penetration / accuracy / intellect to effectively be more powerful scroll users in every respect except a few things like number of projectiles....)

The +1 power level works with scrolls too, whereas iirc every other class +power level bonus only applies to that class's spells/powers. Not huge (10% damage and a fraction of a point of penetration usually) but it can be significant if you're on the cusp of getting another projectile with a Missiles scroll (though the only missile scroll in the beta last I checked was Concussive Missiles). Does it increase the level of summons?...

Hmm. The patch notes do say: "Paladin Abjuration is now at PL 5." However, Abjuration isn't showing up in the Paladin ability tree yet, or in findgamedata abjuration iirc. But it does suggest that Great Abjuration could be a Paladin ability after all. They also seem to have changed the names of some spells/abilities since that list, so maybe Priest "Dismissal" became "Great Abjuration"....

Finally someone tested it and agree with me Cleaving is a free win button in most of fights in beta. With Berserker Frenzy, Cleaving Stance works on your own summons too---just tested it on skeletons, when one dies and splits in two the two new skeletons get hit by the cleave triggered by its death (Carnage with each strike is a nice bonus)... expect AoE Swift Strikes works the same way. So you can use them in every encounter. Could even keep recruiting a low level Beckoner just so they die faster / get crit more easily....

Trickster will get Gaze of the Adragan at PL 7---not bad....