summatsupeer

Definitely tempting, the Frenzy and Fear Wards add something early on to the SC Barb. I was just clicking around looking at abilities and thought of: Nature Godlike Barb (Furyshaper) Druid (Fury) The Barb has easy access to Might Inspiration to trigger the Nature Godlike and has "Fury" in both classes... it just seems to fit! Never really enjoyed Spiritshifting so as an alternative was looking at Ancient since they get the Beast and Plant bonus which fits well with Nature Godlikes plant aesthetic. Not sure how good either would perform or how to fully build them, just throwing out ideas.

I did SC Barb as my very first POE 2 run, but it wasn't a Furyshaper. Was a Retribution build but if I remember correctly didn't work great, mainly due to lack of experience on my part. The main thing that makes me question playing SC Barb as main character is how late there "key" abilities come that can build around. Though with DLC's there's still plenty of fights left if i've not got bored of the run yet. At least as MC you get the key abilities of the other class and Barb is adds its attack speed buffs to the mix.

Planning my pro-Huana run, I think the only constraint is to have Tekehu always involved and avoid anti-huana or companions that won't get on with Tekehu. I think that rules out Aloth, Pallegina and Maia Rua. I think a Aumaua character would make sense, which makes me instantly think of Barbarian. I've never played a Furyshaper but not sure if should try one as MC or SC. Rangers and Druids also come to mind when I think of Huana, I tend to always use Tekehu as a Druid but could use him differently if my player character is a Druid. Any fun ideas?

Went with Inquisitor (Darcozzi Paladin + Soul Blade Cipher). For main weapons got the Rapier + modal as recommended but duel wielding currently with Mins Fortune. Blunt weapons in set 2 are Sun and Moon flail as "accuracy weapon", it gets the Focused Flame ring +10 accuracy when not using Flames of Devotion such as when using the Soul Annihilation, I thought I was being clever and getting +30 when using FoD+SunAndMoon but its just the +20 if I remember correctly since the ring doesn't apply twice (weapon + ability). Got Eder using WotEP as Swashbuckler with Morning Star as backup that he can also switch to as prep with weapon modal for my Ciphers (Ydwin) single target raw damage abilities. That means Pallegina is the main tank as Herald and its been a bit of a struggle but just got her into Reckless Brigandine and Cadhu Scalth to up her defences. I think the main issue is my Inquisitor is the only other character that can heal another and Pallegina was getting interrupted constantly when she's was trying to self cast. I think I'm through the worst of it, maybe I got a little over levelled compared to gear

Reassessed what I want to play, not going to rule out rogue or cipher as long as its a subclass or MC combo i've not played. Trickster for Rogue is definitely interesting as never used. I've used a Soulblade Cipher once or twice, though not with a Rogue (that I remember) so might try your earlier suggestion @Boeroer. Any other suggestions for fun Trickster (SC or MC) build that fit the theme and crew? Thinking of a Shadowdancer.... which was my last run! But with two different subclasses and melee. Trying to figure out if Forbidden Fist would work well

Cheers. Am I right in saying Might and Int increase the damage and time of the curse? Like how Might increases the damage a Beserker inflicts on themselves... I dislike that so much . If so I assume I will want to avoid Turning Wheel's extra Int? I'm a little confused, how does Devoted have a Small Shield modal and Rapier modal? Aren't they limited to one weapon proficiency? Ahh thanks, I thought there was some obvious weapon I should be giving Eder that I didn't know about.

Yeah some of the choices are for RP reasons and will make things not as good as they could be. What is Eder with Fair Favor about?

This is interesting though I used Devoted recently i've never used Forbidden Fist. The ability sounds fun but the switch to wound system kind of puts me off, more due to lack of knowledge and experience of using Monks in melee. Any recommendations on attributes or key abilities to make it work? Rännig's Wrath being a Rapier I assume means using its modal for more accuracy to get more crits with things like Swift Fury, Stunning Surge, Heartbeat Drumming?

Oh thanks for the correction, I get the categories mixed up a lot Combusting wounds was just silly with dual mortars in my last run.

Ah interesting. Might have to fit Fassina into the group, though i've never really used her. As a conjourer she'll have limited debuffs and be mostly self buffing and summoning a weapon for damage (black bow etc)? That make the group: player character (TBD) Pallegina (Herald - Off-Tank Debuff ) Ydwin (Mindstalker - Damage) Fassina (Conjourer Wizard - Damage with few debuffs like Chill Fog) 1 more spot, likely Eder as tank or Konst maybe unless player character is the tank?

Yeah thats the idea, someone from there and would get on with Pallegina. My builds typically aren't min/max, if I wanna wear a tricorn hat i'll wear one even if a helmet would be better for the build I've not really seen this type of build before to of considered it. I use the Cipher or Rogue classes a lot so hoping something different with interest me. As above contains both Rogue and Cipher. Never played a melee Ranger before so could be different, whilst involves Cipher it could be different enough. I have planned to try a melee wizard but thats an interesting combination. This sounds interesting, whilst just had Monk as part of my last build i've rarely played them in POE2. My only concern is having Pallegina and another Paladin together as I always seem to end up Fire heavy then struggle against enemies immune to them. Especially if Pallegina is a Herald so has option of Aefyllath or Dragon Thrashed though could just user her as debuffer & extra heals. Uh Oh... never saw that coming! Thanks for sharing these ideas.

Finished my Príncipi Monk+Rogue Mortar run so whatever I do next has high standards to follow and after some ideas/inspiration. POTD with upscaling. Rules for this run are: Pallegina must be in crew since siding with Vailian Republics. No characters/classes Pallegina won't get on with. No Xoti, Maia, Tekehu, Vatnir and player character shouldn't be Druid/Priest. I'd like Ydwin in the crew since don't use her often. Preferably a melee player character. I think Pallegina and Ydwin have some good synergies (Morningstar + Herald debuffs for Ydwins Fortification/Will cipher abilities) though not sure how great Ydwin will be as damage dealer since her Might is 10 so thinking Cipher+Rogue to help boost the damage? Interested in ideas for player character and rounding out the crew, my "go to" would be Eder and Aloth but could mix it up. If I went with them then i'd be looking at a more off-tank type class but i'd like to avoid using Rogue as part of a MC this time. Could be fun to try something a bit more mobile, I don't tend to use Charge/Jump etc except for Escape to get away when needed.

Yep Nalpazca/Streetfighter using Ripple Sponge. Gear: Miscreants Leathers Heavens Cacophony Ring of Marksman Chameleons Touch Boots of Stone Protective Eothan Charm Cloak Of Greater Protection Had these items for ages - not really thought about changing (just hit level 20). I did try Acina's Tricorn though but prefer the option of Avenging Storm for harder fights. I don't think Devil of Caroc Breastplate is an option cos of the story option I picked from POE1. Does Ring of the Focused Flame work cos of the Blunderbuss modal? I gave it to Herald Pallegina until I realised she will leave when I side with Principi. Brought Priest Xoti back in mainly as healer but buffs and more pulls with Call of Rymrgand. Swashbuckler Eder as tank and Wizard Aloth are doing great. Witch Serafen doesn't seem to be doing much except nearly dying all the time but does help when killing boss enemies by lowering Fortitude and Disintigration, it is funny when he blows himself up next to a crowd though. If wasn't siding with Principi and wanting to keep him around I might of switched him for someone else with more single target damage, I think a lot of the best Barb abilities to increase attack speed rely on kills but he doesn't really get any since he spends so much time healing/interupted and my Shadowdancer pretty much takes them all.

Went with Monk + Rogue... if its at 9/10 build (since Boeroer prefers SC Monk) then my next best build is like 5/10. Its so strong and can do so many different things. AOE Blind that also lowers deflection AOE Hobble that also causes damage when moving (which they will if companions use push / Pull of Eora type abilities) AOE Stun Self buff Might + Pen Self buff Int (or Con) Self buff Attack speed Fire damage (from Blunderbuss modal) Lightning lash Thats without items / scrolls etc. Most fights don't need to bother with drugs either. Just send Eder (Swashbuckler) in to tank, have aloth/others push/pull/debuff opponents whilst the Shadowdancer kills everything. Whilst I wanted to give Toxic Strike a go, everything except the highest DR enemies die before its damage would build up and so many enemies are immune to poison I rarely use it. For 3 guile, i'd rather have 3 uses of Arterial Strike, or 1 of Confounding Blind + 1 Arterial Strike than just 1 Toxic Strike. Even when against high DR enemies you can chip away constantly with Tenacious active to give +2 pen and a companion lowering DR by 2 its usually good enough, especially with crits. Its probably better to just take Pierce The Bell for this build than Toxic Strike. Plus a companion with a high DR weapon to help or raw damage, Serafen as a 2 handed Witch in my game. Now i'm not sure when Toxic Strike would be worth taking in a build...

@Boeroer definitely seen those before, looks really strong! Probably because its not trying to do everything in one character which I think i'm making the mistake of. I am kind of interested trying it, partly because my version probably won't be as strong since i'm not as good and never had a player Monk in POE2 . I might give it a go as my Blunderbuss build whilst thinking/researching more about how to do a Toxic Strike build. One thing i've thought about is Rogues with high INT hurt there damage in POE1 since they were typically "X damage for Y seconds" not "X damage per second for Y seconds" and INT increased Y so just spread out the damage. Is that's still true in POE2? Its mostly "X damage per 3 seconds for Y seconds" for DOTs now? What about Deep Wounds or is it not worth worrying about? It would mean debuffs are applied for longer though . Are Mortars even the best way to apply Toxic Strike / Confounding Blind?

Just finished a Fanatic run so rather not play Barbarian or Paladin. Some interesting options there @Constentin Lévine. Thats got me thinking: Chanter + Rogue - I was just thinking about this, main reasons being summon tank help, then -DR invocation to help with damage. Plus reload chant and add fire lash (something else vs immune enemies) to add to the damage. Probably trying to do too much in one character though and will get blown up easily being short ranged. Wizard + Rogue - Got the option of protective spells, plus can do some debuffs/CC. Pull of Eora, Expose Vulnerabilities and Combusting Wounds all spring to mind initially as combining with Mortars really well. Druid + Rogue - Doesn't really spring to mind, but does add some good survivability and other DOT abilities and need to be able to last for Toxic Strike to build up. Priest + Rogue - I always mix up Druid and Priest, but did like idea so can buff and help survive longer. Monk + Rogue - If doesn't get stupidly OP and boring its an option. Adds to survivability plus abilities like Stunning Surge (as @Kaylon just pointed out) that synergize with the Mortars. Out of these options Wizard + Rogue is the most interesting to me. It would make a change as I tend to use Cipher or Chanter more as I seem to always run out of wizard abilities too fast, so favour the classes who can regenerate them. I've also tended to avoid the subclasses that require you to have negative effects, i'm not great at managing them without getting myself overran or blown up, but I might give Streetfighter a try @Kaylon. Would you only recommend running Streetfighter with a more tanky 2nd class like Monk? Thanks for pointing out my memory fail with Maia's subclass!

That sounds like one i've read previously. Its partly why i've not really used Monk in POE 2, they've always sounded super strong and I know i'd get bored. Many topics I read about it are 2018 so i'm unsure if patches have affected them.

I did consider Paladin + Rogue to get the passive that would remove the Powder Burns modal penalty but I use Paladin so much I want to avoid them. No subclass really stand out to me for a Blunderbuss build, Sharpshooter for the extra pen is interesting but being close range and having less deflection and slower rate of fire (when stacking on-hit effects) seems pretty bad. Hence I think Maia might be better to use for a Scout Blunderbuss build so still considering other classes to combine with Rogue as i'd like to give the Toxic Strike ability a go as I didn't understand how it worked until I started researching for this run.

Played POE1 a lot and completed POE2 a few times (PotD + Scaling Up) but always melee characters. Planning my next run and want to use firearms (siding with Principi) . I've used Maia a lot with a Arquebus so would like to try to use Pistol(s) or Blunderbus(s)/Mortar(s). I'm trying to find something with an interesting synergy, but nothing overly complex to setup and avoiding weapon switching builds. My current thought is Mortar(s) as Scout (Ranger+Rogue) but i'm not sure what abilities/effects work with the AOE of Mortars. Concussive Tranquilizer + Confounding Blind + Toxic Strike abilities look like they could work well for Dual Wield Blunderbus if all the hits stack on a single target or with Mortars if the AOE applies it to everyone? Throw in Driving Flight from Ranger abilities to add to the AOE. Do these abilities work as I'm hoping? If so i'll want the usual Dex+Per for damage but rather than Might would Int be 3rd most important? I was thinking having set 1 as Blunderbus' and set 2 as Mortars though would struggle vs high slash + piece DR enemies, especially with low-ish Pen but could take the pen ability of the Rogue? I've not ruled out Pistols but looks like there's less synergies? The raw Damage pistol looks handy since it has multishot, assuming the abilities I mentioned above get applied. Having said all this, I could just use Maia to try this out. Her extra range is probably better than a subclass so easier to get into range for Blunderbus/Mortar. Any other SC or MC fun builds? I see Monk is popular in builds when i've searched but probably the class I understand least.

I was thinking Riposte would work like a Retaliation build but I overlooked that Riposte is chance based so not only do you have to roll for the miss/graze you then only get 20-30% (i think) of those as Riposte attacks rather than 100% that retaliation does. That really killed it as a center piece of the build as Boeroer rightly said "You should see Riposte as a nice addon, not as the centerpiece of your whole build.". By time level 10+ enemies tended to try to avoid due to defences being so high so extra help wasn't really needed and I found myself just wanting more damage, probably because i had too many off-tank frontliners (paladin + barb). It was pretty simple since I stacked mostly passives and avoided active abilities since most were only ~6s long due to min INT. I'll probably use that kind of build on Devil in future but doubt i'll do a player character like that again.

Yeah early game is an issue when it comes to tanks as Eder is the only natural early tank unless your PC is. At that point I'd have kana take a shot with his gun then switch depending if he needed to tank. Not having shield helps his accuracy. My PC reposte rogue would also help engage in melee but like kana cant tank multiple enemies. Playing 2nd line using scrolls and spells on top of his chants and invocations I find is quite flexible talents wise since dont need offensive talents. Early on I'll ha e him in the heaviest armour I can and typically will get Weapon and shield style to act as backup tank until I pick up Pallegina in act 2. I tend to rush through wildend plains (think that's the map) avoiding fights to go get her. Even after got her its useful on wide open areas to have the extra help to protect the back liners. Same! Depends on the group. I've just completed kana story so wont use him again this save so Palaginas getting that armour. She's going to be my fire specialist in that group, dont like having too many for when fighting fire immune enemies. One run I had PC barb (cauterizer), kana dragon thrashed, pallegina and durance all using fire then realised my error, thankfully wasnt an iron mode run!

Pretty much the same as I do. I tend to try and keep him as 2nd line, especially early with his CON and RES he isn't tanky. I tend to focus on making sure Priest is immune to CC and mind control but yeah having a dragon thrashed chanter turn on you is painful. With his MIG + INT scrolls are great. I like the reach 2 hander weapons rather than ranged weapons, especially the staff with 3x fireballs per rest. Sun-Touched Mail of Hyran Rath is the typical armour I use for even more fire spells! Typically I'll use the 1st level damage chant then add a higher level chant at end so get a quick paralyze type invocation or 7 nights etc. Lots of options depending what group needs, CC, buffs and debuffs! The worms invocation does work well but some enemies dont leave corpses and I think enemies who should leave a corpse sometimes don't or it's just a UI bug and doesn't highlight them when aiming worms. The level in endless paths with all the skeletons and the 3 coloured symbols to open the locked door, you can kill the initial enemy group near the narrow entrance and pretty much one shot the next group if you pull them to the piles.

I thought the same as you but played multiple PotD runs with them now and they're so strong. Sure, if not doing a theme or min/max there's plenty especially tanky frontliners. Typically to get them really tanky you minimize Dexterity which limits there weapon damage, you can choose to rely more on retaliation which mean's maximizing might+con and not increasing Res or they will never hit you. I used very similar build to Monksterlash and just switched on/off the AI to let it use Swift Strikes and/or Torments Reach. If want it even simpler and not use AI i'd just focus on retaliation and debuffs, will just be relying on rest of group for damage. There's a lot of abilities that are strong and don't require management: 1. Swift Strikes / Torments Reach 3. Turning Wheel 5. Soul Mirror (if using AI then Swift Strikes / Torments Reach) 7. Rooting Pain (damage isn't great but its a passive and can interrupt) 9. Duality of Mortal Presence 11. Iron Wheel 13. Enervating Blows 15. Crucible of Suffering Force Of Anguish is very useful for when taking too much damage but shouldn't have to use it often. Could replace Swift Strikes, Torments Reach, Soul Mirror or Rooting Pain for it. This gives a very tanky character if you've dumped Dex to boost MIG & CON. After that PER, INT and RES depends what you want. I think a retaliation with some debuff build is simple and effective as a lot of good items need you to be hit or you to hit enemies and a couple need crits. Hence would increase PER and/or INT and not increase RES. Race I went Fire Godlike for the retaliation when < 50% health but I found it hard to micro it so i'd just go with a standard tanky race for ease of use. Talents are mostly Defensive. If letting AI use Torments+Swift for you then opens up Offensive talents and Fire+Lightning utility otherwise not worth it. Maybe Vulnerable Attack to help retaliation damage. Weapons have a lot of options, could just use Fists for traditional monk style. If using Torments then can use any good damage options or try Monksterlash. If going more retalation / debuff i'd look for weapons that give "Guarding" or debuff on hit but not chance based and don't need a crit as not stacking accuracy buffs and slow attack speed. Things like Captain Viccilos Anger, St Wygelts Cudgel, The Vile Loners Lance etc. Armour: He Caries Many Scares - High DR plus Extra DR in emergencies and Regen to keep health topped up. Helm (if not godlike): Garodhs Chorus - I prefer Preservation over Retaliation but I used AI controlled Torments Reach for more damage. Tempered Helm - More might and elemental DR, various affliction defence but get hit more from -Def... but if retaliating they're hurting themselves! He Caries Many Scares - +ATH for healing burst if needed and Stun+Prone defence which can't be defended by a Priest. Executioners Hood - Accuracy when missed by attack is wasted but Frightens in AOE which could be useful if no one else in group does it. Belts: Belt of the Royal Deadfire Cannoneer - Flame Shield when your crit so don't have to drink a potion. Firebrand and Torrent of Flame is a bit wasted but also get Might and Int in one item (plus dex). Binding Rope applies stuck and gives CON if want debuffs from belt Rings: Ring Iron Circle for more tankiness from DR in an emergency and CON or the usual +Def or +others. Ring of Protection Ring of Deflection Gloves: Blood Testament Gloves for more damage (applies to retaliation and strikes) Gloves Glittering Gauntlets causes Dazed when you hit them or they hit you and gives Deflection Cloaks Cloak of Protection Cloak of Comfort Hiros Mantle (the only retaliation item i'd consider but rarely) Boots: Shod In Faith - AOE healing Boots of Stability - Defend Prone / Push attacks

Oh wow so many TIL! I was looking at the top left where it tells you what buffs/debuffs are on the selected target and only ever saw one whilst things like Dragon thrashed would appear multiple times!

Oh thats good. I must of misunderstood when I was looking at the log last night, it was very late I was thinking of making INT minimum in my next attempt as I noticed it didn't stack and just refreshed the time, unless i'm mistaken again? Yeah that makes sense, earlier on when companions have less available I guess thats even more important to.