Mack

Have you tried Defensive Roll? I was surprised at how often I used it to dodge sidewinders' attacks. Hmm, come to think of it, it could be handy. Does intelligence affect the duration?

Which is more likely hit overpenetration - a high pen weapon, or a normal pen weapon with two damage types? I've been thinking the latter, but input from beta players is appreciated.

In my head, Gromnir is the director of a lavishly funded lab of lovably eccentric roleplaying gamers, and nobody will convince me otherwise

The fighter talent Tactical Strikes provides a +1 boost to PL (along with the Acute inspiration). It's confusing to me because Tactical Strikes is presented as equivalent to Disciplined Barrage, and yet on first blush it seems far weaker. What, really, can a mere +1 to PL do for a fighter? Could it be more powerful than it sounds?

More varied combat animations. Attack, block, dodge, stagger from a big hit, etc. A few new weapon types and/or skins would be cool. Darts, blowguns, short swords, falchions, scimitars, tridents (just brainstorming). They have things pretty well covered already but why not throw in a few unusual variants that still fit the setting.

Thanks for your insights. It sounds like with this single weapon, crit-fishing devoted, Confident Aim is still integral to the build, because it's handy and there's a lack of choice at the lower levels. But! if you multiclass and have other compelling options, Confident Aim is perhaps not a must-have. That's very interesting. Now, since I AM planning to multi-class with rogue, it sounds like the pay-offs for Uncanny Luck and even for Dirty Fighting are unimpressive. It's probably smart to take a good defensive perk like Determination over Dirty Fighting. The robe thing is counter-intuitive. I would have thought that medium armour with Armoured Grace was the way to go with this build. I was already considering dumping a couple points each from RES and CON, but with no armour that might make him too fragile.

It would take more information and mathematical ability than I have to work this out, but just looking at the basic numbers I feel like a single sabre-wielding devoted/rogue with the right perks could do impressive single target damage. Very high accuracy already skews your miss-graze-hit-crit curve way towards hits and crits. Add the relevant perks and (if I'm not mistaken) you have 100% graze-to-hit, and 85% hit-to-crit. Devoted crits add 50% dmg, and your odds of another 25% (is that right?) from overpen are quite decent. Then another 50% from frequent sneak attacks, and 150% from occasional backstabs. Throw in a 20% DoT from deep wounds for good measure. I mean, I don't have the beta, but to me those numbers feel pretty high.

Another thing I've been ruminating on. You're a fighter. Say you take an accurate weapon, so you have +17 ACC total. Then you put a point or two or more into PER, and you take Disciplined Barrage. And then you take Warrior stance for the sweet +5 ACC modal. So now you've got about +30 ACC, give or take At that point how important are miss-graze, graze-to-hit, and hit-to-crit perks like Confident Aim, Disciplined Strikes, or even Single Weapon Style? (Or, in the case of multi-classing with rogue, Dirty Fighting, Uncanny Luck, etc.) You're already an accuracy machine. My sense is that with this build a fighter could at least leave out Confident Aim, and maybe either Single Weapon or Disciplined Strikes, while a swashbuckler (I keep mentioning it because it's my pet project) could also maybe leave out Dirty Fighting and definitely Uncanny Luck. Ordinarily these would be considered good perks to take, but with accuracy coming out of your ass maybe you could spend your points elsewhere. Or you could take them all and almost guarantee hits and crits on every attack.

A lot of these suggestions, though not all, seem backstab-centric. I think we should bear in mind that the rogue's flagship ability is sneak attack, not backstab. Frequent backstabbing is a certain build and playstyle (no doubt it will be a popular one) but if the class needs a rework it shouldn't be in service of better backstabs. edit: I'm not saying the suggestions are bad but trying to encourage a wider perspective on reworking rogues

On my second playthrough of PoE I built a fighter around the ideas of mobility and disruption. I guess he was a bit like a light cavalryman without the horse. So he had fast runner, boots of speed, graceful retreat, extra knockdown (with high INT for duration), some other stuff, and when he finally acquired charge he came into his own. He could be wherever he needed to be: charge the backline to instagib a caster, run off to intercept an enemy, land a 10 second knockdown, sprint over to support the tank, maneuver to line up enemies for another big charge, and so on. Not a build for soloing POTD but a fun playstyle that was reasonably effective in a party. I want to reuse that in Deadfire and was thinking a Fighter/Rogue (even more fun, mobile, and disruptive) with a single wield, fast weapon (though I would consider a sabre too). Do you have any suggestions on subclasses, talents, weapons, etc. that would optimize this build while fitting in with the concept/aesthetic?

That sounds great. Maybe my high INT, SW devoted assassin won't be gimped after all!

Thanks for confirming. Have they kept +12 acc? Any thoughts? Has anyone tried it out?

I don't have the beta but the latest patch appears to have One Handed Style giving +20% hit-to-crit. Could someone confirm?

That's a good idea. I mentioned adding Interrupt before, but high Interrupt is a feature of two handed weapons, so that bonus arguably would dilute the styles. Your suggestion keeps them distinct and also makes intuitive sense.

If I'm not mistaken, 15% miss-to-graze is how the One Handed Style started out in POE before being patched for balance. It's strange that they would revert to something they had already decided was under-powered. I hope they at least bring it up to par with POE 1, but I've been thinking they could also add to the +12 ACC, say, +5 or +10 to Interrupt. Or some other bonus that would add just a bit of effectiveness and spice without diluting the different styles. Ideas? I like the aesthetic of single weapon fighting but it's hard to justify those builds to myself when I also want a powerful character.

Has single weapon fighting been made more tempting in Deadfire? In POE the general consensus was that while it was useful during lower levels and some other situations, overall it didn't hang with the other styles. It was viable but if you had any powergame tendencies you would probably steer clear. Quick rehash: in POE wielding a single 1h weapon with no shield gave +12 to accuracy. The 1h Style talent (by the later patches) then converted an additional 15% of hits to crits. How does it currently work in the beta? And do you think it's better, worse, about the same?