Mack

What a relief to learn that sneak attack scales with power level. I think I will keep the build I had planned after all.

You won't know exact damage numbers until you start playing the game, mate. Try the game before you give up on your character, at the very least. I haven't given up on it, I'm thinking through adjustments. This is a big change with a number of implications. For instance, I was planning to use a fast, accurate weapon, but now it looks like backstabbing is king and good backstabbing wants high base damage. Without the additional accuracy from the weapon I have to think about raising perception, etc. Have you considered using a ranged weapon (The backstab passive also works with them if you’re close enough) with high base damage and switching wep sets once the fight starts. Or perhaps you can just ignore that passive like me and deal the majority of your damage another way. I plan to make a rogue/ranger (scout) and use the many damage DoTs to cause a lot of raw damage. That’s one extra perk I can use toward a less risky perk imo. Weapon switching is out because I'm dead set on multi-classing with Devoted. My original plan was, a bit like you, to ignore backstabbing, and get my dps from frequent crits, sneak attacks, and DoTs like deep wounds. Like I said earlier though the nerf to disciplined strikes and now sneak attack puts a massive dent in that approach. I think at the very least I need to invest in backstab and shadowing beyond, and also seriously think about taking the Assassin subclass.

Keep in mind that many of the active attacks like Crippling Strike are full attacks, which is still great for dual-wielders.

yeah thats what i kind of thought....... The only viable rogue build i see now is one that takes alot of talents like escape, shadow beyond, invis, smoke cloud and then come in and backstab.............. im not really seeing any other alternative route anyone no more on the interrupt thing?? They made most rogue actives interrupt on hit in beta 4. It's a nice perk, though by mid-game I expect many or most enemies to have at least one layer of concentration.

You won't know exact damage numbers until you start playing the game, mate. Try the game before you give up on your character, at the very least. I haven't given up on it, I'm thinking through adjustments. This is a big change with a number of implications. For instance, I was planning to use a fast, accurate weapon, but now it looks like backstabbing is king and good backstabbing wants high base damage. Without the additional accuracy from the weapon I have to think about raising perception, etc.

For starters if sneak attack is this much worse worse then the actives that cause status effects are correspondingly less meaningful (most of which already were not game-changing, to put it lightly). Backstab is now the key to everything, so assassins suddenly become even more attractive. Finishing/Devastating Blow are also must-haves. If you want crits, consider single wield and Hearth Orlan, especially if you aren't multiclassing.

It seems like Obsidian is pushing rogues into one-size-fits-all backstabbing mold. I had planned a non-backstabbing Swashbuckler but since they nerfed Disciplined Strikes and Sneak Attack I will have to adapt him into more of a backstabbing build, otherwise he just wont be causing much damage. Sad because that wasn't how I thought of the character at all.

tfw they massively nerf the build you've been planning for weeks

If they modify Riposte so it procs more often I can see it being an interesting experiment, but till then I wouldn't bother building around it. On the other hand you could just build a very solid, tanky swashbuckler (Streetfighter/Unbroken jumps to mind), give him Riposte, and see what happens.

I don't think any of us know all of the specifics and I don't think more than a small handful of people will rage quit over something like that.

It was a mediocre build even in POE when riposte was stronger.

Just for perspective, I ran POE okay on a laptop that did not meet the minimum reqs.

Ouch, massive nerf.

Could someone please explain how finishing blow works? I can't understand it from the tool tip.

Isn't that a feature of godlikes? It was like that in PoE 1 too. That could be. If so my bad. I've never played a godlike so I'm not up to speed.

Maybe this is just a feature of the beta but I've seen videos of character creation where a body type was chosen after race was selected. This didn't provide height/weight microadjustment afair but just allowed you to choose, say, an orlan with the stature of a human, an elf with that of a dwarf, vv. etc.

South Korea does want them there, but if North Korea and China want them gone in order to denuclearize, tbh I'm not sure where that leaves things. If South Korea sees sufficient cause to hope in a certain normalization of relations with the North then their attitude might shift. I doubt US strategists would consider it a trivial loss, because I doubt they consider losing any strategic foothold overseas to be trivial, and at the risk of posing a circular argument I don't think China and North Korea would be after it if any party considered it trivial. But maybe the former will consider it a worthwhile trade because, yes, they still have ample options for projection. If they're smart I think they'll work in economic and diplomatic angles that could begin to introduce North Korea into the international community. Otoh this could all go up in smoke.

It seems like the concrete goal is to seek US agreement to withdrawing forces from South Korea. The North Koreans will claim, with a veneer of justification, that if America is sincerely promising not to invade, then surely forces should be drawn down from the peninsula. Of course those forces are there not only to contain North Korea but to 'keep an eye' on China. If that is NK + China's play, I have to say kudos because it looks to me like a smart one. To be fair it is hard to see how they could lose at the negotiation table once they had their nukes and delivery system finalized. With that in mind, it still looks like good agreement, assuming a real denuclearization. But I think the American counter-offer should include the opening of international trade with North Korea, so that as troops are withdrawn a trade relationship is created. Ideally that would wean them off China while gradually improving the plight of the average North Korean.

The big question for me is whether a dual damage weapon with a 7 base penetration is more or less likely (statistically across the game) to do overpen on criticals than a single damage, 8 penetration weapon. Maybe that will only be answered by experience but it does seem plausible.

If it comes to that you can equip a different weapon and take the -10 accuracy in that fight, if necessary finding some other way to boost accuracy. The way I think about it, Devoteds will benefit from the +2 penetration and +25% crit damage very often, and feel the weapon limitation only sometimes, while other subclasses will suffer the effect of their malus in every single fight.

With this build is it important to raise Per, or could you leave it at 10 what with all the extra accuracy and conversions?

I don't have a strong opinion on how much should be voice acted, I just hope the scripts and acting are interesting. Till last week I'd never heard of Critical Role, so when the announcement came I looked them up, and they seem like a very goofy, twee group of people. So I'm worried about this aspect of the game, but I'll wait and see.

Deep Wounds - what's the base duration, and does it stack with itself?

Does knockdown still have a 5 sec base duration like in PoE? Or is it just an interrupt ability now?

Does the loss of engagement also prompt enemy AI to seek another target? How would you rate this ability overall?