[Best one handed weapon recommendation for Fanatic]

49 minutes ago, Boeroer said:

Oh plenty.  Cutthroat Cosmo is pretty good though m

Have a look: 

https://pillarsofeternity.gamepedia.com/Pillars_of_Eternity_II:_Deadfire_pets

Hmm...looks like Nalvi or Peter could be good choice as well. Nalvi provides -0.08 recovery for all party members, which seems rly good as well...idk, pretty hard to decide. What would you recommend? My party is: Dual wielding Fanatic (my main), Full tank/healer bot/summoner Pallegina, dual blunderbuss cipher (ascendant/streetfighter with powdered burns), DPS/CC Tekehu and Aloth.

 

thanks again man

[Best one handed weapon recommendation for Fanatic]

9 hours ago, Boeroer said:

Cutthroat Cosmo only provides reduced recovery penalty from armor - for the main player. And +5% additive gun damage for the party.

Otto Starcat provides +1 Fire Power Level for the main player and +5% AoE damage for the party.

The reduced recovery penalty from Cosmo is pretty strong though. If the gun damage is of any use: no idea.

 

Oh, I must have misunderstood it then. I have dual blunderbuss cipher in the party, but no1 else is using guns. Seems like the Starcat could be even better. If I gonna assume the increase damage from FoD might more or less offset the loss of recovery bonus, the increased AoE damage will benefit basically the entire party as opposed to increased damage for guns just for the cipher...or are there any other pets worth considering?

[Best one handed weapon recommendation for Fanatic]

2 hours ago, DozingDragon said:

If you decide to try out Boeroer's advice, then you should also consider using Otto Starcat as your pet, as he adds an additional +1 Fire Power Level that stacks with the ones listed above.   

I mean it would be a nice boost for sure, but only for this one character. I dont think it would be worth to give up Cutthroat Gizmo for this, since it provides recovery bonus for entire party.

[Best one handed weapon recommendation for Fanatic]

Super helpful as usual, thanks a lot guys

[Best one handed weapon recommendation for Fanatic]

Hi everyone,

I havent seen many posts with this topic, except the Ansalons Tier list (which doesnt seems to be that great honestly), so I am curious what would be the best one handed weapons for my character. I am following this build, so Berserker + Bleakwalker and I am currently running Magrans Favor (seems like obvious choice), but I am kinda split on the second weapon. I am using Grave calling atm, but are there some better options? I was thinking about Last Word, but honestly I am not sure if its worth it since the damage bonus is only for engaged enemies (and I always try to take aggro with Pallegina - my main tank), so not sure if it would work. What would u guys recommend? thanks everyone

 

[Chanter mechanic explanation]

19 hours ago, Boeroer said:

I actually don't know if Ancient Memory stacks with itself nowadays. But if it does I would only use that single phrase with Exalted Endurance. Winds of Death is weak if you are not solo. 

If it doesn't then I'd maybe combine the dmg shield phrase with Ancient Memory.

Tekehu has foe-only Chillfog which targets fortitude. So I would maybe only use the Long Night's Drink with him. It's a strong phrase anyway - and if it overlaps you are more likely to keep most enemies weakened 100% of times. Or Mith Fyr since it's strong as well.

Dragon Thrashed is really bad without a mod.

 

Which damage shield phrase do you mean? "The silver knights shields..." or "Her courage thick as steel"?

[Chanter mechanic explanation]

24 minutes ago, Boeroer said:

The phrase will be sung for 6 seconds. If it's a support phrase that means its effects will be up for 6+lingertime seconds.

But if it is an offensive phrase it will try to hit enemies within those 6+x seconds. And once it hits it applies an effect to the enemy (e.g. Long Night's Drink applies a weaken affliction) which has a duration of 10 seconds base (I believe).

I you use an invocation your chant "pauses". It stops where it was and then it resumes there. 

@Enoch: Hm sorry, I didn't really understand what you were suggesting. 

So all in all, what would you say its best to use for tank/healer/summoner Pallegina for "standard" battles? Maybe a mix of Soft Winds + Ancient Memory or only run Ancient Memory?

And what would you suggest to use for offensive orientated Tekehu that uses mainly water/shock damage and also provides minor healing? Maybe Dragon Threshed + something else?

 

thanks a lot man

[Chanter mechanic explanation]

3 hours ago, Boeroer said:

It depends.

If you use offensive chants (I mean those who do attack rolls like Dragon Thrashed or The Long Night's Drink) it doesn't matter much if your phrases overlap without a gap. Because the duration of effects that those phrases produce are not based on linger. Most of those effects last 10 seconds (plus INT bonus). It doesn't matter much it there's some gap in between the phrases as long as the durations you apply to the enemies are long enough (and they usually are with 10 secs base).

Once you want "gapless" support with stuff like Ancient Memory or Mith Fyr you might either want 30 INT or pick a Troubadour (in order to have 100% uptime with two parallel supportive effects) or stick to one single phrase. 

Pallegina may be best with Ancient Memory only and Exalted Endurance as Aura for example. I don't remember: is she a Troubadour or vanilla chanter? Haven't used her for a long long while...

She is just standard chanter (without subclass). I modified her attributes a little bit so she is more suitable for her role. This thing is certainly more complicated than I originally thought xD So if I understand it correctly, it works like this (correct me please if I am wrong): At the beginning of the battle the first phrase gets activated and it will last 6 (or 10?) seconds. After this second phrase starts immediately. Since she has 18 int, there is gonna be time internal of around 4-5 second where both phrases will be active at the same time and after this period the first phrase will stop and only the second one will be active. If we have 2 phrases in the chant book, the first one will start after this again and whole process repeats itself. Is this correct?

So if I use more than 2 phrases, there is gonna be much bigger gap between the first and the last phrase, so its prolly not a good idea to use more than 2 (unless some very specific circumstances?).

If I use invocation (lets say I summon ogres), the chanting will stop for some period and then it will resume from the first phrase?

[Chanter mechanic explanation]

5 hours ago, Boeroer said:

You sing a chant. A chant is composed of one or more phrases (the things you pick on the passive/right side of the ability tree at level up). 

A chant loops. That means it starts with the first phrase you set in your songbook. Every phrase takes 6 seconds and then it's the next one until the last phrase is sung and the chart starts again.

Phrases have a linger time of 3 seconds. That means that the effect of the phrase will keep working for 3 seconds although you stopped singing that phrase. Like an echo basically. 

Since the linger time is only half as long as the phrase time it's difficult to overlap two phrases so that their effects are always active without any gap.

Linger time is influenced by INT. In order to keep two parallel phrase effects active without a gap you would need 6 seconds linger time - or in other words an INT score of 30 (3sec linger base*(1+20*0.05)=6). 

Chants do get paused: several afflictions like stun, paralyze etc. cause a pause of chanting. 

Also using an invocation will cause a chanting pause. This pause is not affected by anything (neither stat nor armor etc.). 

Chanters can compose several chants in their songbook and during encounter switch between those chants. There's a pause when switching chants. 

A Chanter starts combat with a filled phrase counter. The max phrases you can accumulate is determined by the invocation with the highest cost you have(!). So it can make total sense to pick a very costly invocation even though you don't plan to use it. Example: Skalds pay +1 phrases for non-offensive invocations. If a Skald picks a non-offensive invocation which usually costs 6 phrases to cast - and 7 for the Skald - he will set his max phrase counter to 7. He will then be able to collect up to 7 phrase points during combat and start combat with 7 phrase points(!). Not many players realize this since it's unintuitive and obscure.

A Troubadour has the automatic effect that his linger is longer. He can easily have two parallel phrases going without any gap. With investment in INT even more. The downside is that his invocations are more costly (+1 phrases). His modal ability "Brisk Recitation" makes phrase time a lot shorter (3 sec instead of 6) and removes linger time completely. This means no parallel phrase effects whatsoever, but double the phrase point generation. It basically means you can switch the Troubadour from "passive phrase mode" into "active invocation mode" with that modal.

A Bellower gets a Power Level bonus for his invocations based on the number of phrases he holds, but his chant radius is halved.

A Skald works pretty much like a vanilla Chanter when it comes to chanting - but can get additional phrase points by doing melee crits.

A Beckoner's chants/phrases are like vanilla Chanter's (even the skeleton summoning one).

 

Thx so much, very good explanation So if I understand it correctly, for a vanilla chanter its probably not a good idea to have more than 2 phrases in 1 chant since only 2 can be active at the same time and will overlap only partially anyway unless we have 30 INT. So I guess best choice is to prolly make like 2 different chants (one with offensive phrases and the other with defensive/healing phrases) and use them depending on the situation? If I can be more specific, in my party I have Pallegina as a Herald who basically serves as a tank, healing bot and summoner and also Theurge Tekehu following this build https://forums.obsidian.net/topic/104571-companion-build-tāwhirimātea-the-god-of-storms/. 

So should I just use 1 chant with Pallegina with Ancient Memory + Soft Wins of Death and Dragon Threshed + some other offensive phrase with Tekehu so I get the best of both worlds?

[Chanter mechanic explanation]

Hi everyone,

could anyone explain to me the chanter mechanic? How many of those passive phrases (Ancient Memory, Dragon Threshed etc) can I use at the same time? When I click "edit chants" and get 4 different ones there, will they all active during the fight? If so, will they active at the same time/or one after another? Do they reset during a fight? I was browsing multiple forums but couldnt really find an exact explanation of this mechanic (and game doesnt rly tell you anything).

 

Thanks in advance

 

[Bounty - Oheiro problem]

Hi everyone,

I got this bounty from Barati and the ship is suppose to be near southern end of Kua o Rikuhu island chain. I sailed in that area for 5 mintues and this ship never shows up...is this a bug? Is it possible to spawn the ship via console somehow?

 

Thanks in advance

[Family pride quest question]

Hi everyone,

I need the Deltros Cage, so it looks like I have to side with the Vallera family and kill the Barddato family (or both). Is there any way to do this without Pallegina leaving your party?

 

thanks in advance

[Need help with ranged ciper build]

9 hours ago, Boeroer said:

He chose Streetfighter because a bunderbuss + modal will distract you with each shot. Distracted contains flanked. That means you always suffer the penalty of distracted but get the Streetfighter's "Heating Up" bonus Wich lets you reload with a 50% recovery bonus and deal a lot more Sneak Attack dmg. If you also become bloodied: even more dmg, but it's not necessary to be a top notch damage dealer. The recovery bonus also applies to your spell casting. Since ciphers have some spells with short casting time but long recovery the synergy is a very nice one. 

Thanks very much for the explanation. So would you say this is optimal combo for ranged cipher? Or are there some better choices?

[Need help with ranged ciper build]

Hi everyone,

I am trying to make a ranged cipher build, but cant decide on the multiclass. My original thought was mindstalker, I saw some build here

But honestly I am not sure about the synergy here. I mean why streetfighter? It requires to be on 1/2 hp to activate the bonus, isnt that kinda suicidal for squishy backline? Is there some rogue subclass that synergies better then streetfighter? Or maybe completely different multiclass like transcendent? I dont know why but I wasnt able to find any other builds outside this one. Main purpose of the character is DPS/CC. So what would be the best subclasses, recommended abilities and weapon of choice? (Arquebus/Blunderbuss/Pistols)?

 

Thanks in advance

 

Aerin

[Need advice for POTD party comp]

Hi Aerinqq,

 

in my current playthrough (PotD, not upscaled) I variated this build: https://forums.obsidian.net/topic/98968-class-build-the-healing-wall/page-2

(TheMetaphysician, post 35)

 

1. Problem: Palleginas stats. MaxQuests Marvellous Mod   "Spoils of Caed Nua" makes Pensiavi mes Réi (amongst other goodies) available: +3 MIG on one ring.

 

2. Problem: Engagement slots. Last Word (warhammer; + 1 engagement) in a second weapon slot together with Shining Bulwark); Reckless Brigandine before you get your hands on the Blackened Plate; a mod that gives the Cloak of Berath +1 engagement, +1INT, +1PER.

 

Last Word & Shining Bulwark are available early in the game; Reckless Brigandine - not so.

 

Great tank build with constant party healing - maybe you should give it a try.

 

Thanks, might give this a shot. Yeah, companion stats were always a problem since POE1. There was a way how to modify them https://www.reddit.com/r/projecteternity/comments/490vwk/good_news_everyone_theres_a_way_to_permanently/, but idk how to do it in POE2

[Need advice for POTD party comp]

Quick thoughts:

 

Theurge Tekehu and Wizard Aloth are staple characters. Single class wizard (no subclass on Aloth; could be Evoker or Blood Mage custom) is really flexible with lots of good options. Theurge Tekehu is a bit less flexible given the subclasses but the guide you link is solid for building around his strengths.

 

Two weapon Fanatic will be solid. This is your primary engage in this composition. There is a bit of cross purpose between the two classes, as the dual wield works wonders with Flames of Devotion but less amazing with the Barbarian's resets. Still a good call, wants to wade in deep and should be pretty survivable.

 

WotEP Herald Pallegina is tricky. As you caught it is not a main tank - Herald takes a while to become naturally durable, and in so will be work to make tanky enough to go wild with Offensive Parry procs. You also lack natural damage adds to make those WotEP parry procs sing. Also as an off tank recognize that you lack engagement here. None of this is to say it's bad and this character will do a lot of work, but be prepared to focus your tactics around it to make it work.

 

On the bright side Pallegina Herald is a versatile character with a lot of good builds, and if you find WotEP isn't worth trying to make work it's easy to equip a different weapon and fall back to a lot of different patterns.

 

Mindstalker ranged is a popular build, strong and pretty simple. Something to keep in mind is that melee (flanking) and ranged mindstalker builds are nearly identical, with the only real question being whether or not you take persistent distraction. So even as a ranged character it's easy enough to put melee weapons in the other weapon set and swap / push escape when you need another melee or if you want to dive.

 

It's true that you lack a high engagement tank to handle aggro, but you have a lot of summons (Pallegina can chain summon; Aloth and Tekehu will have a summon up a lot of the time late) and a lot of CC to pull weight there instead - which I personally think is a better option. The Fanatic will likely end up being built pretty tanky given that it is your primary engage while your other control comes online, but after that is up you have plenty of tools to keep your casters safe.

 

Biggest question mark for me is the Pallegina build. The build you linked is pre-WotEP nerf I believe, and the payoff may not be there for the effort anymore. If it isn't no big deal, she is easy to pivot to a different build, but she's definitely the attention focus of this composition.

Thanks a lot for the input. What do you mean "Teheku and Aloth are staple characters"? Could you elaborate on that?

Also, I am not crazy on summons (never really liked that playstyle)...cant imagine summoning multiple pets with multiple characters, the battlefield would become way too chaotic for me I am afraid, but I am willing to keep 1 summoner.

 

In regards to Pellagina, do you think it would be better to just turn her into a pure tank? I tried this approach in PoE1 and it worked ok for a while, but after some point the game became so easy even on PoTD that I didnt need a dedicated tank, so I made the tank much more offensive and it worked out much better in the end.

 

In regards to the Mindstalker, I thought that when going melee I would be better of using Soulblade, but if I want to stay ranged Ascendant will be better right? I dont wanna swap between ranged and melee constantly, its just not my playstyle.

 

Also, which char would you make your main? The Mindstalker or Fanatic?

 

thanks again

[Need advice for POTD party comp]

Hi everyone,

 

finally going for my first playthrough. After a lot of reading Ive come up with a party comp I would like to try and I would appreciate if someone experienced could chime in. I am following some guides here, but I am not sure whether theyre still viable after so many patches. I chose this party following certain criteria like using different types of weapons, different classes that I played in PoE1, must have a good mix of melee/ranged, tankiness/enough sustain/dps etc. So my suggested party looks like this:

 

1) Herald with 2H Sword (Pellagina) https://forums.obsidian.net/topic/102541-companion-build-tuono-e-fulmine/ Is this build tanky enough? If not, should I rather multiclass with fighter or chose different skills?

 

2) Fanatic with 2 weapons https://forums.obsidian.net/topic/104764-class-build-the-imperial-fanatic-berserkerbleakwalker/

 

3) Ranged Mindstalker - this one I am not sure about. Is Ranged inferior to melee here? If I would want to go ranged, should I got for dual blunderbuss/pistols or 2H (Arquebus/Bow/Crossbow)? Also what subclasses should I pick? I found this build https://forums.obsidian.net/topic/103781-roleplay-build-the-company-man-mindstalker-ranged-streetfighterascendant-for-potd-not-a-solo-build-warning-lots-of-reading/ but I am not sure how viable it is.

 

4) Theurge (Teheku) https://forums.obsidian.net/topic/104571-companion-build-t%C4%81whirim%C4%81tea-the-god-of-storms/

 

5) Pure Wizard (Aloth) - for a classic CC+dps mage, which subclass should I pick? I was thinking about evoker, but I am honestly not sure if its worth losing 2 schools of magic...

 

So basically I have 2 frontline "off-tanks" (or should I make one pure tank?) that will take some punishment, heal and still be able to dish out solid damage. Then 1 ranged dps/cc (mindstalker), heal/dps (theurge) and another cc/dps (wizard).

 

I hope this team comp should provide me with enough healing that I wont need a priest. Which character should be my main? (in terms of companion availability for particular role).

 

I know that you dont need 100 % perfect team comp to finish POTD, but I rly like to min/max and make the best possible party (without playing gimmicks like 5 characters of the same class etc). So is this party good/how should I improve it?

 

Will appreciate any advice

 

thanks guys

 

Aerin

[Help with optimal frontline late game itemization/build]

Ach dammit - I meant "Tidefall (with LOW INT)" - sorry! But you already figured it out.

 

No, with a fighter I consider INT to be very useful - so I wouldn't lower it and I also wouldn't take Tidefall I guess (unless I do a very special type of fighter with no Disciplined Barrage and other stuff that profits from INT). I was just talking about Tidefall's dps potential in general and didn't meant it as a recommendation for your fighter.

 

BotEP should be great.

I did some quick testing with Tidefall with 10 INT, max MIG and 15 PER and DEX. The dps seems to be almost identical to BOTEP and Rumbaldt. I also saw the "Lady of Pain" build, where Andrea recommends the Tidefall as best option (playing it with 10 INT). I am honestly not sure anymore, but I am gonna assume it doesnt rly matter as the difference in DPS is going to be miniscule, so just pick either I guess (preferably BOTEP or Tidefall as they come superb already and my party has many ways to inflict massive CC).

[Help with optimal frontline late game itemization/build]

Tidefall (with high INT) might be the number one dps two hander (I'm pretty sure it is). You have to realize that the wounding damage is calculated before DR and then gets applied as raw damage. This enchantment is a lot stronger than elemental lashes. Not only because of the raw damage, but also because high MIG buffs the wounding damage even more (this is special and doesn't work with the usual lashes). So, it adds a second lash that totally circumvents DR. And if you INT is really low then the complete wounding damage gets applied very quickly (under 5 secs) and it stacks, too.

 

I'm playing a high-MIG-rogue with 1 INT + Tidefall + Backstab at the moment and I have to say the damage is so good (even with grazes) that it's jawdropping. At the same time the draining numbers are so good that this guy is almost sturdy even without any other self healing. I reached 1 INT by dumoing it to 3 and then putting on the Ultimate Hat of Alluring Perfection (+2 MIG, +2 CON, -2 INT, -2 RES). Now I have 1 INT and 1 RES and a reeeally crappy will defense.

 

 

Sparing Sky Dragon Eyes is a good point. Since BotEP comes superb this is an advantage. If you nuke everything into the ground with Shadowflame then you certainly don't need prone.

 

Hmm, so in the end Ill end up using a sword which I wasnt even considering before:) But using Tidefall, as you said, requires low INT, so the DOT is applied in shorter amount of time, is that right? But with low INT, knockdowns will be almost useless, also worse constant recovery and also Clear Out...or just leave INT at average say 10 value?

[Help with optimal frontline late game itemization/build]

I like the BotEP, but I would never trade my Hours of St. Rumbalt for it (if I have a class/build which is capable of having high ACC, decent INT and is not too slow).

 

Here are my reasons:

 

- two damage types: huge advantage over any weapon with single damage type

- prone chaining: after the first crit your target will most likely suffer from prone, lowering its deflection even more, which leads to a higher crit chance.

- survivability: prone enemies don't hit you or others

- very high crit damage: it has Annihilation, which will give your crits +50% damage (additional to the usual +50%). Add the Merciless Hand (+30%), Durgan Steel (+30%), Dungeon Delver (+10%) and Azalin's Helmet (+10%). Your crit damage bonus will be +180%. Combined with the high base damage those crits are devastating.

- the higher the level, the more crits: as shown, crits with Rumbalt are better than crits with BotEP. The more you advance in the game the easier it is to score crits.

- great enchantment composition: Annihilation and overbearing is a great combo as shown above. And Accurate III is quite cool because it gives you a lot of ACC early, but you can still remove it and put on better quality like superb and so on. So Accurate III doesn't block enchament points like Marking of the BotEP does.

 

BotEP has Marking, which can be a very strong enchantment, but it doesn't do anything for your own dps but takes away enchantment points that you could invest otherwise. So, for me it's a nice weapon for a paladin with Coordinated Attacks for example or any other support char who also wants to deal good damage, but the composition of enchantments and the single weapon damage type doesn't seem to be too great for a dedicated dps guy - even though it has speed. 

 

To be honest, I would even take Tidefall before I would consider BotEP for my two handed dps guy. Especially if my INT is lowish but my MIG is high.

Heh, I was almost sure I am gonna switch to BOETP, now you made me rethink again:)

 

I did some testing and used my barb as "dummy", the dps of BOETP and Rumbaldt is very close actually. The main advantage of BOETP is that I wouldnt need to spend those precious sky dragon eyes and use it on my leadsplitter instead (planning to enchant barbs sabers to legendary). Also the prone is of course useful, but its not as useful for me I am afraid as I open vast majority of bigger fights with Ninagauth Shadow Flame, so my frontliners are mostly attacking enemies that are already paralyzed (or are debuffed with some other effects), and if the enemy is paralyzed I understand it correctly that the prone is pretty much useless, as the "stronger" debuff overwrites the "weaker" debuff?

 

I am lvl 13, playing upscaled POTD, steamrolling through everything. Adra Dragon, Sky dragon, Nalrend The Wise down without single HP lost, u guys gave me too many good tips and now it feels like no challenge xD Or maybe I should stop using that Ninagauth Shadow Flame as it trivializes all fights (unless enemy is immune to paralyze, in that case there is still Gaze of Adragan xD).

 

So to summarize it:

Rumbaldt pros: obviously higher crit and per hit damage, prone effect, dual type damage

Rumbaldt cons: need to spend 2 dragon eyes, slow attacks, cant reach 0 recovery even with DAOM potion

 

BOETP pros: fast attacks, already superb, marking bonus, native 5 DR bypass

BOETP cons: single damage time, less powerful crits

 

I would say the dps of both weapons is almost the same, higher crits compensate for the attack speed loss to an extend. Now question is how big of a problem is that single damage type, are there many monsters that are immune or have high resist to pierce? Also you said that there is less room for enchantments with BOETP, which is true, but I dont plan to upgrade it to legendary (I think it will be better to upgrade 2 sabers to legendary rather than 1 two-handed weapon honestly, not to mention my barb has twice as much damage dealt overall than the fighter xD), and there is place for lash, so I am not rly losing anything.

 

Also I was considering Tidefall, but for me its behind both of those swords for following reasons:

1) Wounding is just not rly useful in vast majority of encounters, normal enemies drop too fast, so DOT cant rly kick in

2) Draining is cool, but again, in vast majority of encounters, I dont rly take that much damage

 

Tidefall seems like rly good boss killer, but for standard encounters its not rly that good

[Help with optimal frontline late game itemization/build]

Anyone? I know I quoted Max, but if anyone else can answer I would be grateful:)

[Help with optimal frontline late game itemization/build]

 

So I will respec the paladin and will use small shield+some one handed weapon (the ones that Boeroer and Max mentioned (Shame or Glory / Strike Hard / The Vile Loner's Lance /  Drawn in Spring). Or maybe Unlaboured Blade or Vent Pick? How much res and con can I dump with the paladin to still be able to survive? What would be a good stat distribution? Obviously high might, high int, what about the rest? I am playing on 3.0 patch so the Unblaboured blade wasnt nerfed, right?

Unlabored Blade might work, but not on a pure tank paladin. Because besides high MIG, you would need high DEX to increase it's proc-per-minute. Not to mention that you would need higher PER, in order to remove grazes and misses, and try to avoid hitting creatures with high deflection altogether.

 

Pure tank paladin (with sup weapon): 18/14/6/6/18/16 (early game) or 18/16/6/10/18/10 (late game)

Offtank paladin (with unlaboured blade): 18/8/18/14/12/8

 

Tbh, I would go for a tank route, specifically darcozzi tank-support with 8 in survival for health modifier and rest in lore, for scrolls. Wild Orlan.

 

I will respec the fighter to use 2hander. Should I keep high int with the fighter, or just dump it completely?

Depends on the weapon

 

Also, Tidefall vs. Hours of Rumbaldt vs. Blade of the Endless paths?

All 3 choices are good, but they ask for different stat distribution:

- Tidefall - max MIG as high as you can. Butdump INT, because of how wounding works. Although this mean there is little incentive to learn knockdown.

- Hours of Rumbaldt - to reliably proc the Overbearing and benefit from Annihilation you need high effective accuracy, and high PER + darcozzi paladin will help you at that. Plus you might want above average INT, which will benefit your prones and knockdowns.

- Blade of the Endless paths - doesn't really need high PER, as critting will dilute the benefit from DR bypass. Max MIG and DEX. Keep average PER.

 

So in the end I think the following are optimal:

- Tidefall: 20/14/18/15/3/8 (without knockdown / self buffs); v2: 20/12/18/10/10/8 (with knockdown / self buffs)

- Hours of Rumbaldt: 16/9/15/15/15/8

- BotEP: 18/12/18/10/12/8

 

For difficulties below PotD you can additionally lower RES, by 2-5 points.

 

Edit: updated stats.

 

Hey there. I just got myself the Blade Of The Endless Paths and I am thinking about switching to it from the Hours of Rumbaldt. The knockdown from Rumbaldt is nice, but the attack is awfully slow and I cant reach 0 recovery not even with DAOM potion, armoured grace and durgan enchant on armor and weapon and gloves of swiftness (while keeping vulnerable attack). If I go BOETP I would attack much more faster (speed enchant and I could maybe even disable vulnerable attack on most encounters since Estoc has 5DR native mod). Another thing is I would need to spend both dragon eyes on Rumbaldt, whereas BOETP is already superb. I dont know, still cant decide what is better option.

 

Anyway I wanted to ask, you said to lower the perception and int when going with BOETP, as "crit will dilute the benefit from DR bypass". Can you please elaborate on that? I did some testing using my barb as "test dummy", Barb had 14 pierce DR, I had vulnerable attack and BOETP=10 pierce DR. The crits were still hitting for 55-60 damage, while normal attacks for 35-40-ish. Also I am not sure if lowering perception on POTD is a good idea, as most of the harder enemies have crazy deflection numbers (yes, priest can solve this problem to some degree, but still if you get debuffed it can be a problem).

 

Thanks in advance

[Help with optimal frontline late game itemization/build]

Exactly

I dont want to start a new thread for this, but do you know if its possible to add levels to NPCs through console? I want to respec my main char to fighter and start using Pelagina, but she is severely underleveled compare to my party.

thanks

[Help with optimal frontline late game itemization/build]

You can just add the oroginal item via console and then enchant again:

 

additem <name_of_the_item> 1 <enter>

 

For example: additem hide_armor_blaidh_golan 1

 

(hope the spelling is right)

 

But this is not optimal if you already put durgan steel or things like adra dragon scale on the original armor.

Ye sadly I already durganized it, but I guess I can just add the refined durgan ingot together with the plate itself via console and just "discard" the previous version:)

[Weird damage reduction behaviour from enchanted armor/cloak]

It use the wiki site, it lists all damage types even when they are the same as base DR - this is different from in game.

Armor only displays the base DR and any DR that is different from base. 

So Wayfarer's displays  11 base, 14 pierce, 14 freeze, and 6 corrode. 

When you enchant with crush proof it adds 3 + 11 base =  now displays 14 crush (crush was = 11 base prior to enchant).

So do I understand it correctly that Wayfarers hide for example has 11 crush and 11 slash proof (that is the original value which isnt displayed cos its identical to base DR of 11)?