Lampros

Two questions: 1. Can I dual wield - that is, is the shield set-up necessary here? 2. How about getting the armor that adds Deflection with Intimidate for higher Deflection and foregoing the History cloak for a simple Cloak of Greater Deflection? I was initially thinking of a Paladin/Fighter to do this, but I can see this could potentially add far more DPS.

So an update? Also, I've never seen Bracers of Deflection in any of my playthroughs.

Is it popular to use different weapon types in each hand while dual wielding to cover all damage types as the OP did here? Perhaps I should try this lazy man's route?

Posts here are almost making me want to try out a Cipher!

This weekend, I am going to start another PotD run with 3 Rogues, so I will definitely test soon. But yes, 3 Guile is pretty prohibitive. It has to be on the Devil of Caroc armor character. Yeah. Ancestor's Memory from a cipher fixes that problem as well. I've also heard that SSS has some items that can help, too. I just noticed this. How frequently can you cast this in a normal fight? I've never played Cipher, so no idea. (I made Serafen a pure Barbarian until I recruited Maia.)

The priest is a caster and that's a huge advantage compared to a pure melee class like the unbroken/pally. But don't neglect the permanent +4/+1 AR you receive. Few monsters have 16/17 pen and with the absurd amount of deflection you have they can't crit you so no overpenetration is possible. And it doesn't matter if you have 120 def or 250 if they can't hit you. Grazes are nothing and constant recovery deal with the pitiful damage mobs can do. Another thing you are forgetting are the engagement slots. +3 from fighter stance, +1 from unbroken +1 from shield, +1 from hold the line. I don't know other players but I abuse this from partial party stealth to grab the highest amount of mobs I can before starting the real combat. If you talk about theorycraft of the highest def tank you can build I agree with your post. But it's a fact that the crusader is the toughest class in terms of prolonged tanking. I'm not saying a pally/priest is not a good class. Every class with paladin + whatever you like has good defensive capabilities. And if you can heal/buff at the same time you tank it's quite a good combination. But as I said it's not deflection what makes you a good tank or not, it's the amount of mobs you can disable from attacking your squishies and in this role the crusader is the king of kings. This discussion has also inspired me to run a pure tank - instead of 2 melee DPS/off-tanks - to see 1) if I do save others from damage; and 2) if fights are longer with dedicated tanks or not.

Are Serafens two blunderbusses the only useful blunderbusses?

Yup, optimization seems worse than PoE 1.Dude, you sniped my update!I am a gunslinger! More importantly what do you think? Not bad am I right?Unfortunately, I don't really understand how to multi-class melee/caster or anything about casters, as I do not use them except Chanter multi-classes for a pure support role. Also, zero experience with soloing, too Guaranteed this will work as your MC. Since you want to have you companions all scripted. You only have to focus on the one. Trust me, you'll love it. My testing today was amazing. My devoted got downed 6 times in the Ukaizo fight, this character made it through first try...I generally dislike casters though - or caster hybrids. My main is pretty settled; I really love Paladin/Rogue; it's really the other slots I am experimenting with. I also really need to keep my Paladin/Rogue as a sort of a "constant" so I can compare the respective DPS of the other DPS characters in future playthroughs.I’m the same as you. I ALWAYS pick sword and board or two handed. But this game makes casters fun... to me anyways. I hear ya; and I may change my mind once I try a decent caster or caster hybrid build. But my experiences with casters in other games have been bad: Fragile, needing tons of preparations and consumables, requiring micro-management with every attack sequence, and having to deal with constant downtime, etc... Of course, I do understand that this game eliminates or lessens some of those glaring issues - especially if you multi-class.

Trickster is definitely easier to play in my experience - and more powerful if you do not want to micro-manage overmuch.

Yup, optimization seems worse than PoE 1.Dude, you sniped my update!I am a gunslinger! More importantly what do you think? Not bad am I right?Unfortunately, I don't really understand how to multi-class melee/caster or anything about casters, as I do not use them except Chanter multi-classes for a pure support role. Also, zero experience with soloing, too Guaranteed this will work as your MC. Since you want to have you companions all scripted. You only have to focus on the one. Trust me, you'll love it. My testing today was amazing. My devoted got downed 6 times in the Ukaizo fight, this character made it through first try... I generally dislike casters though - or caster hybrids. My main is pretty settled; I really love Paladin/Rogue; it's really the other slots I am experimenting with. I also really need to keep my Paladin/Rogue as a sort of a "constant" so I can compare the respective DPS of the other DPS characters in future playthroughs.

Yup, optimization seems worse than PoE 1. Dude, you sniped my update! I am a gunslinger! More importantly what do you think? Not bad am I right? Unfortunately, I don't really understand how to multi-class melee/caster or anything about casters, as I do not use them except Chanter multi-classes for a pure support role. Also, zero experience with soloing, too

Yup, optimization seems worse than PoE 1. Dude, you sniped my update! I am a gunslinger!

Yup, optimization seems worse than PoE 1.

The problem is cost though. 3 Guile is really prohibitive - even at level 20. Also, for melees, you might not want to spend so much time casting if you want to start the fight with Charge/Shadow Step, etc. to interrupt dangerous casters. Anyways, it's amazing how all my questions are answered in prior threads. But it takes forever to search for them!

I see. I am also seeing a ton of posts claiming that Mirrored Image causes FPS drops (though that could be an old problem now fixed). So I guess I will cast Llengrath's instead.

Then I guess the extra Reflex plus conversion of a percentage of Hits to Grazes would make it closer. I guess then Llengrath's is better?

No clue. But I am leaning toward Mirrored, because the Deflection is higher, and I rely on it for Riposte - and it's also my lowest defense in the Trickster multi-class builds. I know it is reduced upon getting hit, but doesn't it take about 4 hits to get to 10 Deflection (Llengrath's level)?

Cry

If you don't have resources to cast both, which is better: Mirrored Image or Llengrath's Image?

This weekend, I am going to start another PotD run with 3 Rogues, so I will definitely test soon. But yes, 3 Guile is pretty prohibitive. It has to be on the Devil of Caroc armor character.

LOL, Withdraw is hilarious

This is the reason why I stopped using Ciphers - or the soulbound rod that turned enemies into allies - in PoE 1. They'd sometimes make fights actually harder by doing nothing but ultimately giving enemies my buffs. So is this still the case in PoE 2?

Well, there was a chart somewhere, on which day you could get which "random" loot in that chest, like the gloves of mechanics. Link?

Really? I did not realize it doesn't stack with other buffs. Damn, what's the point then?

Yeah, that's why I prefer to test in the context of an entire playthrough, because then every factor is taken into account. Of course, that's very time-consuming, and still not without distortions