Natures Bounty

All classes are overpowered, especially from Level 11 on. So yeah, rogues are overpowered too. There has been several threads about power comparisons and there has been consent, that the answer depends on your play style as well as playing and party mode. There has also been quite some (although not perfect) consent among the experienced players, that rogues are among the weaker classes in the game (in relative comparison to other classes) because they lack AoE Damage and AoE CC effects (plus some consider them squishy). I still like playing rogues over many other classes although I consider them the weakest class by far (or should I say I like them BECAUSE I don't consider them as overpowered - but still overpowered - as the other classes). It does not make you a bad person if you love a class that many others consider weaker than other classes (but still overpowered). It's totally fine to say that. So please continue to love the rogue - it's about enjoying the game and liking your characters, not about relative power.

Maneha's armor can be good in endgame on melee chars that rely on endurance regeneration. +25% healing, +1 move speed and only 25% recovery penalty are quite good for a monk, e.g. for the monksterlasher or witch hunter builds by boeroer. the lower DR values can also be quite beneficial for a monk.

all abilities get +1 accuracy per level. i think that might be the reason for the higher accuracy compared to auto attacks in your case. I cannot tell why combat log and char sheet calculate with +12 though. but some of the very experienced players have hinted that combat log and char sheet infos are not always 100% correct.

I haven't tested this on an ally, but according to combat log the lashes from torment's reach, turning wheel and lightning strikes still don't suppress each other. By the way, combat log damage numbers were in line with the amount of damage displayed in red over foes' heads. Nothing spectacular, but as I read somewhere on this forum that turning wheel and lighting strikes suppress each other, I just wanted to confirm they still don't.

first, you do not need an optimal build for potd, just a viable one. fortunately, there are a lot of viable builds in poe. have a look at the class build board, you will find 3 good to optimal builds there. if you already know game mechanics, potd will not be that difficult. if you are not familiar with mechanics, I suggest normal difficulty. besides those builds on the list, a pure casting druid with 18-3-18-18-18-3 attributes plus heart of the storm, scion of flame, weapon and shield style and bears fortitude plus whatever you like will be ridiculously powerful from midgame on. in the early game though, use spiritshift + higher CON and RES to survive and deal damage, because you will not have many spells per rest then. for a pure casting druid, I would suggest a boreal dwarf or wood elf to somewhat compensate lowish accuray.

@ Raven Darkholme: I haven't looked up your stats or equipment, but wouldn't Aspirant's Mark be of advantage? It lowers reflex by 8 for quite a long duration, so in theory it should help to hit and crit with the dragon chant. and it targets will so it should hit most of the time. Or doesn't it apply for the dragon chant for some odd reason?

I read somewhere that the fire lash from torment's reach and lightning strikes don't stack anymore, that the lightning lash gets suppressed. Is that true?

LoH is just painfully slow, no matter your dex. i know that this is a matter of taste, but i think that LoH is one of the worst abilities in the game. i would go for passive healing sources: take veterans recovery on your tanks, if they have enough might and int. choose ancient memory on your chanter. if you combine that with items that increase healing rate, or take the survival bonus for the healing rate, you will regenerate endurance very quickly. if you play a kind wayfarer paladin, strange mercy can be quite good and is also a passive apassive talent

And you can also cast Mental Binding outside of combat. That is almost cheesy in my opinion - whereas casting psychovampiric shield pre-battle sounds good, but not too powerful to me.

High might is very beneficial for barbarians without a doubt. Your build looks totally viable. It seems like a good idea to try Grey Sleeper for HoF - never experimented with it. At the same time, I´d say that there is some room for optimization - if you want to strive for it. I would suggest dropping - brute force (overall, most opponents have higher fortitude than other defenses - often even by a big margin) - threatening presence (as a solo barbarian, you probably don't have that much use for the -10 Fort, -10 Will sickening effect; and from the middle of the game on, -10 Fort won't be enough to acticate brute force on a regular basis) I would suggest to choose instead: - One stands alone (you will always be surrounded, so the +20% damage bonus will almost always apply) - Blooded (HoF will almost automatically activate this passive +20% speed bonus, helping you to reach zero recovery more often. Before you get HoF, its also beneficial because you do not have any teammates who steal your kills, right?) For solo barbarians, I like Argwes Adra as armor for several reasons: you get second chance which is very nice to combine with vengeful defeat; +2 Lore is always good in solo play; and not to forget the high damage reduction. Last but not least - I just like the colour! But for more details on Barbarian solo builds, it's probably up to Boeroer I guess ;-)

Now that is a pity! It must be quite frustrating to go down like this. I'd be very interested in a class build and run review too. And I'd be interested in your opinion whether this might be doable with other races.

And battle-forged used to work within the carnage AoE (geht hit by one foe, burn everyone around you). Does it still? If yes, I have not doubt that it is the optimal race for a solo barbarian, even with ToI on. Do you plan to wear an item with second chance and take vengeful defeat? I thought it might synergize quite well with Battle-Forged because you wouldn't have to worry too much to stay below 50% endurance for longer periods. Because if you go down, you would again hurt everebody around you, plus revive with low endurance, so battle-forged would be on again. It's a very risky strategy for an ultimate run, but possibly very powerful if you don't mind resting a bit more.

Can you get the Forgotten Quest without picking up Pallegina? Is it sufficient to talk to her after the At all costs quest without picking her up?

a great combination of power on the battlefield and dialog options is the classical chanter build around the “dragon thrashed“ phrase. you can dump Dex, max Mig, max Int, max Per. that way you have a lot of dialog choices. if you also go 11 Res (base), you will have 14 Res after the first fight at stalwart (due to that ring from the ogre boss), which is enough to get some resolve based dialog options too. and that fight is still quite early in the game. with a chanter, its also easy to get to 12 lore. that another plus in terms of roleplay.

I chose Taena, but still could not find the hidden ingots near the iron flail fort with 16 mechanics (yes, I was definitely checking at the right location). As we know, 14 mechanics is enough (maybe less?). Is it possible that you have to read Owynna's soul or use Galvino's apparatus on her during that WM 1 quest for opening the battery to be able to find those durgan iron ingots? Unfortunately, I cannot go back and read her soul. This is not possible anymore in WM2. I used Galvion's apparatus though, but the iron ingots did not appear afterwards. Still, that does not exclude the possibility that you have to do that during WM 1. These ideas came to my mind because I am quite sure that I did not read Owynna's soul, nor use the apparatus during WM 1 because I chose her as recluse in a previous playthrough and therefore I had already decided to choose Taena this time, before I came to Stalwart. Or is it possible that the durgan iron ingots near the fort are now a random loot that does not appear on every day / in each playthrough? The devs could have done that silently, as they have done it with random loot items and the change of their cycles at different locations (see this thread: https://forums.obsidian.net/topic/92165-gauntlets-of-swift-action/). Does anyone know something about it or even checked it?

well but htis is somewhat subjective. i would say that fortitude is by far the most important defense overall. it protects you from the most annoying afflictions, particularly from being stunned. and there is no aoe priest spell or scroll that protects your whole party against it. being stunned, paralyzed or petrified is far more annoying than just being hit by normal weapon attacks. and you can easily get enough deflection to not be hit all the time even on potd and even if you do not max resolve. there are even manifold builds that evolve around items that require being hit! this is why i would consider fortitude the more important defense overall. in my opinion, you do not need more than 10 resolve on any kind of build, but that may be due to my dislike for pure tanks.

I think nobody stated that rogues are not viable to play and no one stated that they cannot be fun to play. You can totally solo the game with a rogue. If you like them, I think it says something good about you, as you seemingly like playing a class that most others find more difficult than other classes. And there is also a lot of truth to that: Rogues do not provide a lot of AoE damage, AoE CC, or powerful self-buffs, but those are more important aspects to determine the power of a class than single-target-dps or single-target-CC provided by a weapon. On PotD, there are so many foes that you have to beat - that's just easier if you can CC and damage several foes simultaneously. Don't get me wrong: If you love rogues, that's a good thing, please continue to do that. But if you really believe they are more powerful than chanters, ciphers, monks etc. you have to show that on a video, because most people here would not believe that. @ Boeroer: Or could you not just start the challenge by yourself and post a video? I'm very curious to see you play and learn from it ;-)

You can also play a fighter with charge with low or zero recovery. That way, you can either charge behind enemy lines and immediately charge back, or charge behind enemy lines and then use into the fray to draw 2 foes back from the frontline, or charge behind enemy lines and then clear out the front line from behind. I like to use these three options to somewhat compensate for that problem. It's a lot of fun. But you should have some sources of "weakened" in your party, as charge, knockdown, clear out all target fortitude.

Talents: Bears Fortitude and Body Control - I just don't like to be stunned or paralyzed Abilities / Spells: Druid: overwhelming wave + relentless storm combo. It's very, very unfair to almost perma-stun your foes. Turns a lot of bounties and tough fights into a cakewalk. Great CC, that Druid! Also nature's bounty, its perhaps more of a gag but that is why I like it. And twin stones, because the AoE has such a strange shape, it makes it fun to aim at your foes ;-) Monk: the long pain - another way of being very unfair to your foes. Throw your hands up in the air! Fighter: combo of defender, overbearing guard and into the fray. Making it possible to go 3 Resolve with the rest of your party (on PotD, and even when there are no bottlenecks). Charge is a lot of fun and powerful at the same time. Cipher: Ectopsychic Echo and antipathetic field - not always easy to apply, but powerful and fun

As already pointed out, with 6 paladins you can have enough accuracy buffs to take a crit-oriented party apporach. If you do that, the main work will be to figure and balance out which Paladin gets coordinated attacks plus a marking weapon, and which paladin gets a durganized weapon, another weapon with bonus damage on crits (e.g. edge of reason) or a weapon with debuffs on crits. From level 13 on, you won't need any healing spell except Sacred Immolation (thus respec). Before level 13, strange mercy on 2 DD paladins plus probably sword and shepherd plus lay on hands on 1 or 2 paladins might be enough, as Faith and Conviction should now scale with level on adventurers. So your defenses will be quite good, you won't need that many healing spells. Don't emphasize on that aspect just because you can. I would recommend FoD on 4 to 6 paladins. It is far superior to lay on hands, as the extra accuracy and damage will debuff or kill foes early, thus making healing dispensable.

Let me be honest - I am a bit lazy to test it myself, but I'm sure someone knows a quick answer to it: Does the racial accuracy bonus of boreal dwarves work with a chanter's chants, e.g. "come soft winds...", "dragon thrashed", etc.? And does it work with spells, or only with weapon attacks? Thanks!

thanks for reminding! Single ally spells are quite uncomfortable though, if you compare to preacher against imprisonement and preacher against treachery (AoE immunity).

All the good RPGs have one thing in common: you can't perfectly plan or foresee the consequences of all your actions, not even of those actions that may seem somewhat casual or insignificant - e.g. exploring the whole map first before entering the tower. And look at it from a relative perspective: the bonus is barely noticeable - the bonus "gift from the machine" is comparable to eating a piece of savory pie during midgame (although the gift is permanent, I know). If you'd do that with only your main char (not the whole party) without knowing, I guess you would not notice any difference in battle.

I agree with you and I have a follow-up question: Am I right that there is no priest spell or scroll protecting your party from getting stunned? I thougt so, but now I'm not sure. That's why I considered the coastal aumaua race bonus as one of the best and had the impression that "stun" was the most annoying affliction in the game. There are scrolls and a priest spell that let you gain immunity to paralyze and petrify. But I never found a spell or scroll that made me immune to stun. ...Please tell me I haven't overlooked this scroll for all that time ;-) If not, the stun affliction would a legit reason to still take bear's fortitude and possibly body control, even if you have a priest in your party. Especially in ToI games. On the other hand, as you have already pointed out, there are other ways to push your fortitude defense, and thus, defense against stunned + all the other nasty disables.

Form the roleplaying perspective and from the way her character is written, I personally find it hard to imagine Pallegina as a tanky build. A feisty frontliner yes, but maybe not a tank. But thats of course just my personal point of view and flavor. And I don't remember her attributes.