DigitalDemon

@mookzung: fantastic, thanks a lot, mate!

I have a slightly unusual request here I found a custom portrait I like in a pack I downloaded from nexusmods: The author was kind enough to include watercolor versions of the portrait, but unfortunately they are done in a style which is radically different from everything else in the game: If anyone could redo the watercolors to make them match the regular in-game portraits, it would be greatly appreciated Here's an example of what I mean by "regular":

Same problem with swashbuckler. Just downloaded the beta patch and tried respeccing my protagonist. Got reset to level 1 and kept my skill points from trainers (i.e. loss of trainer points was fixed), but the problem is that I only got 1 ability point when leveling from 1 to 2, and there are NO ability points already allocated either under fighter or rogue. So it appears that the ability point allocated during character creation got lost somewhere.

It's an armor for off tank I'd say it's an excellent piece of armor for your primary damage dealer Gives you decent protection without sacrificing action speed. And +2 to all resources (which translates to +4 for multiclasses) feels almost OP.

Currently debating that myself. My Swashbuckler already has resistance to dexterity afflictions due to being a wood elf, and immunity to intellect afflictions from Mordwyr. So whichever enchantment I choose, it will inevitably overlap with my existing resistances/immunities Although I can balance them out with fighter passives such as Body Control etc. As for the other enchantment choice, I went with heal on crit because my char has pretty decent accuracy (currently 83 for both main and off hand at lvl 12) and crits quite often. P.S. Is it actually available for purchase at the shop? Because I stole it from a chest in the shop before I even checked the vendor's inventory It did require 14 points in mechanics, though.

Interesting, this is the first time I've seen Veteran mentioned. People are mostly complaining about PotD Which basically means there's no point in playing above Classic atm, as both Veteran and PotD will be rebalanced in the future...

So, after abandoning my first attempted playthrough with a Mindstalker, I've almost decided on rolling a Swashbuckler once the hotfix scheduled for this Tuesday is released, but one thing bothers me. I want my PC to specialize in mechanics as primary active skill, and stealth as secondary active skill. Unfortunately, Swashbuckler only gets 1 starting point in each. Will it be sufficient to keep up with the checks in the game, assuming I'm going to level mechanics first and keep stealth trailing by a couple of points? Based on my initial exploration of a couple of starting areas, it seems that the game expects you to start with at least 2 in mechanics. It's achievable for the Swashbuckler, but does require picking a background that I'm not particularly happy with, and then I'll be stuck with only 1 starting point in stealth anyway. Does it mean that I absolutely have to roll a single-class Rogue who starts with 2 mechanics and 2 stealth, or will I be able to catch up with the check difficulty curve later with my Swashbuckler? Any advice from people who have already completed the game or progressed far enough in it would be greatly appreciated Don't want to waste another playthrough by picking a class that won't be able to fulfil its intended role.

Swashbuckler remains very attractive IMO. You'll lose out on damage, but the Fighter has sooo many nice buffs, both active and passive. And picking Devoted looks like a no-brainer. But sneak attack scaling definitely makes a case for a single-class Rogue.

I'll probably wait until the hotfix arrives on Tuesday before rerolling But I'm considering doing something entirely different from Cipher. It seems that in PoE2 the devs expect caster Ciphers to stand back and generate focus using ranged weapons, and this playstyle just isn't for me. Maybe I'll roll a Swashbuckler, I haven't decided yet As for Soul Blade/Assassin who doesn't use any Cipher abilities except for Biting Whip and Soul Annihilation, I believe it was one of the archetypal builds that people played successfully in beta, so you might as well try it, maybe it'll suit you.

That's almost exactly what I played in PoE1 - a dual-saber Moon Godlike Cipher. I enjoyed that character so much that I was dead set on playing some Cipher variant in PoE2. Initially I chose the Mindstalker, although a slightly different one from yours (Ascendant/Rogue), but I ended up abandoning him after I explored a couple of starting areas. Not only is this type of build quite squishy, but micromanagement gets really messy. You literally CAN'T cast spells in melee because of interrupts, so every time you want to cast a Cipher spell, you need to disengage using one of the Rogue's abilities (and thus spending guile), then try to get off the spell hoping that ranged enemies won't interrupt you (and they will), and then go back into the melee to replenish your focus pool, wasting a lot of valuable time in the process. This just doesn't work well in practice. A melee Mindstalker might be viable if you abandon ALL Cipher spells and take Soul Blade just for the Biting Whip, Soul Annihilation and the passives, but I can't give you any advice on that. Trust me, I really wanted to reconstruct my dual-wielding hybrid melee/caster Cipher from PoE1, but with changes to the game mechanics introduced in PoE2, this doesn't seem to be a good idea anymore. On a side note, backstabs (and, therefore, the Assassin subclass) don't seem to mix well with dual-wielding because only the first weapon hit gets the damage bonus. So you might want to reconsider either your weapon preferences or your subclass

Got it. Then I guess I'm gonna be a Raider from the Deadfire Archipelago Update: But hold on a sec... Just hit my first level-up, and got 1 active and 1 passive skill point. Will it continue like that every level? If so, then there seems to be no point in having TWO primary skills with both in the Active category, as there simply won't be enough skill points to properly level them both. Sorry if it's a stupid question, but there's no info on the skill point allocation per level in the PoE2 Wiki, and I haven't been able to find it anywhere else on the Net...

So, I'm planning to roll a Mindstalker, and it's going to be my Stealth and Mechanics specialist, just like my plain Cipher was in the first game. However, I'm still undecided about the background. Is there any point in picking up backgrounds that provide bonuses to my non-primary skills? For instance, Mindstalker already has 2 points in Bluff, 1 in Streetwise and 1 in Sleight of Hand. If I choose the Drifter background for roleplaying purposes, I'll get a bonus point in each of those skills... but I'm not planning to invest any more points in them, at least not until I max out Mechanics and Stealth. So, will those points be completely wasted past the early game, or will there be any practical use for such skills in late game? IIRC, PoE1 was all about min-maxing skills, so I'm wondering whether anything has changed in PoE2...

Which also makes a case for a single-class rogue vs. multiclassed one. Interesting

So it looks like my original idea of rolling a dual-saber Mindstalker and using Cipher's CC spells to set up sneak attacks is going out of the window. The 30% damage bonus just isn't worth the trouble. And since dual-wielding isn't really compatible with backstabbing, a non-casting Soul Blade/Assassin with a pair of sabers will be suboptimal, too... And there's no way in hell I'll ever play a rogue with a two-handed weapon, this just feels wrong on all levels :D I guess one last option is to try an Ascendant/plain Rogue (no subclass), and alternate between generating focus in melee and then dodging out of the fray (Escape, Smoke Veil etc.) and spamming Cipher spells for free while ascended. This might work, but it's pure theorycrafting on my part. Not sure how sustainable a dual-wielding Rogue will be in melee if the enemies aren't already debuffed...

So as far as I understand, a dual-wielding Assassin (whether single- or multi-classed) doesn't make much sense in the current build of the game because only the first attack will receive the bonuses when coming out of stealth?

Most likely . If you've seen Cohh's stream he shows that Sneak attack with Trickster subclass only deals +10% damage because of the penalty: https://youtu.be/hNqM6B1w4AE?t=2575 On Wiki and in the beta it was +20%. So it's not far cry to say that Sneak attack was nerfed in general. It looks like devs were so afraid of broken multiclass builds they nerfed rogues to the ground. Couldn't even give them decent and varied high level abilities to make an incentive for singleclassing. A single 9th level active ability for a rogue, while other classes get like five? And even that single lvl9 ability isn't particularly impressive. I mean, just a full attack plus the vanishing act? No bonus damage or anything? All the more reasons to still go multiclass

Can someone confirm that sneak attack bonus damage has been indeed nerfed from 50% to 30%? PoE2 Wiki still lists it at 50%, but maybe it hasn't been updated yet...

Probably will start with the Mindstalker. I really enjoyed playing the Cipher in PoE1, and I've always liked playing rogues in RPGs, so it should be a perfect combination for me I'm thinking about dual sabers and a mix of Cipher CC spells to set up sneak attacks and Rogue survival abilities to GTFO when things get too hot. My character will definitely be specializing in stealth and mechanics, and will have high perception. Basically, he's gonna be the party's rogue in the classic sense of the word, scouting ahead, finding and disarming traps, backstabbing enemies etc., but with a spellcaster twist Should be fun.

As far as the story and quests go, I totally agree with you - there's no point in spoiling the fun by reading walkthroughs on the Internet As for the game mechanics, it's a bit more complicated. For instance, I can't imagine playing without referencing Pillars of Eternity Wiki - although the first instalment of the game came with a pretty decent manual, it was simply more convenient to look up ability descriptions etc. on the wiki. On the other hand, it seems like Obsidian have gone the extra mile to provide the players with comprehensive in-game information in Deadfire, like being able to preview the entire ability tree and so on. So maybe it will be possible to plan and build your party in Deadfire without referencing any external sources.

Ah, that's exactly why I was asking for advice from people who have actually played the combo Haven't thought of that. But then, looking at PoE wiki (not sure if it's current or not): - Eyestrike: cast time 4.5 sec, recovery time 2 sec, duration 20 sec - Phantom Foes: cast time 0.5 sec, recovery time 4 sec, duration 18 sec - Secret horrors: cast time 0.5 sec, recovery time 4 sec, duration 18 sec Those spells should provide ample opportunities for sneak attacks, shouldn't they?

So, after playing Cipher in the first instalment of the game, I'm really excited about the idea of rolling a Cipher/Rogue multiclass in PoE2. As far as I understand, there are two basic ways to build a Mindstalker. The first one is to combine Soul Blade with Assassin and focus solely on dealing melee damage through sneak attacks and Soul Annihilation. It's straightforward, but it looks a bit boring to me. The other option is to use Cipher spells like Eyestrike, Phantom Foes, Mental Binding, Secret Horrors etc. to debilitate the enemies with afflictions, and then utilize the Rogue's sneak attacks to deal bonus melee damage against them. This looks a lot more appealing to me, as I'm used to playing the Cipher as a hybrid caster/melee character, but I'm not sure how exactly to approach building it. So I'd appreciate if those who played the Mindstalker in beta could provide some insight, specifically as to the following: 1) Is it worth picking Soul Blade if I intend my Cipher to be a caster as well as melee damage dealer? As I understand, it will severely limit the Cipher's ability to open the fight with CC/affliction spells. On the other hand, maybe it's worth to open with a sneak attack/backstab from stealth, generate focus, and then either cast a CC spell and follow up with sneak attacks against afflicted enemies, or use Soul Annihilation against a particularly dangerous enemy? In other words, how much will Soul Blade hold back the Cipher as a CC caster? 2) Is Ascendant a viable alternative? Will opening the fight with a sneak attack generate sufficient focus to immediately reach the Ascended status? 3) On the rogue side, is it worth picking the Assassin? As I understand, it will pretty much necessitate frequent use of Rogue abilities like Smoke Veil to re-enter stealth and benefit from Assassin's bonus damage. Maybe plain Rogue will be better for this particular build? Is it even worth taking Backstab if the primary modus operandi of the build will be to deal sneak attacks against afflicted enemies? 4) I've heard that casting in melee range has become really difficult in PoE2. Does it mean that my Mindstalker will have to take Rogue abilities like Escape or Shadow Step to break engagement and gain some breathing space to cast CC spells, or can those be cast successfully in the midst of combat? Well, those are just the main questions that came to my mind. If I'm making any incorrect assumptions about the game mechanics, please correct me as I don't have access to the beta, and all my information is based on what I've read on the forums or seen on youtube. Any advice will be greatly appreciated

Does anyone know whether the in-game manual (or "Digital Guidebook" which is supposed to be included with the Deluxe/Obsidian Edition) will be available at the time of preload, or only at the time of release? It would be nice to have something to read over the weekend and plan some builds while waiting for the release