1TTFFSSE

on what difficulty? potd upscaled with deadly deadfire - just use a bunch of items like griffon blade when casting (+10% spell damage), Kuaro's Prize (+5% spell damage) baubles of the fin (+3%), xoti's lantern (+5%) etc on your party members and it eventually adds up to nice damage. definitely take hearth orlan for minor threat to get more crits.

Single class cipher at level 13 aoe wide 100-113 damage on crit (amplified wave) - spammable four times in ascendant state (1x borrowed instinct +4x amplified wave). no cheese just using correct items I would use on any spellcaster nuker. granted that is with champion of barath stats but if I was pre buffing with a certain helm and lightning damage can push up those numbers to 150 damage from 110 easy.

Some Vailian Bounty ships drop more. The higher level onces *2nd or 3rd bounty in). I know I was able to get 4 total Vailian Hullbreakers in a playthrough. For what it's worth though I find the range a bit too restrictive - not a problem as most times ai is dumb. If ai were smarter it would be a problem as they'd immediately board you. FYI I like wyrmtonges with their 0-400m range and cool look. Or double bronzers because their 350m range overlaps with the long range gun and you can do jibe tricks while maintaining distance flexibility. Fun fact: Dhow is still my favorite ship because the 2 turn jibe aligns perfectly with double bronzer reload times. I like 3x double bronzer on one side and haefric+2 aedyrs (all 4turn sync) on the other. Edit: But if you don't care about range 3x double bronzer one side 3x Vailian Hullbreaker on other side is probably highest ship dps setup on a dhow.

In 1.2 all two handers will get +1 PEN. So it's 7+1. For a Druid/Bleak Walker it's 7+2 PEN on Flames of Devotion with Scion of Flame and also Spirit of Decay. Or a Devoted with 7+2+1 PEN of course. But since I'm alread playing a Devoted atm I think I will go for the Bleak Walker. What I like most about Firebrand atm ist that the Ring of Focused Flame works with it. FoD gives you +10 ACC, the ring another +10 ACC... it's quite nice and you don't need to enchant anything. A nice gun as backup weapon maybe? I also thought about multiclassing with Ranger and use Accurate Wounding Shot + Ring + Rending Smash. +30% dmg with +20 ACC and raw damage...? Hm, still like Bleak Walker better. Yeah I have a Bleak Walker/ Lifegiver in my party currently - it is a beast of a class (modded Xoti into it put can be hired as a custom adventurer). Take all the "aggressive" Paladin abilities and all the defensive healing/buff druid abilities and set ai accordingly and watch it tear stuff up. I run that class currently with Magran's Favor/ Sungrazer equipped though. Will see if eventually Firebrand becomes a better weapon than those two.

base penetration at 6 even 6+1 with scion of flame seems low. Is that an issue? edit: unless it is like 12 penetration at high level.

shipwreck or plagued ship don't know which but north east of the map around magran's teeth

UPDATE in 1.2 The unique Arquebus "The Red Hand" which fires two shots before reloading will be made available. It should be found in Ernezzo's Storeroom if the patch notes are correct. It is a very high dps weapon when it comes to "plain" auto-attacking with a unique attack type (double shot) - this makes it a perfect weapon for single class ranged gun cipher especially ascendant because the double shot gives an extra burst / frontloaded damage with extra penetration from arquebus. I was running it on a cipher right now with about 20 dex and with Maia's Robe (which provides gunnery perk), Acina's Trihorn and the Aegor's Swift Touch Gloves which provide another +5% action speed with weapons and the results add up. Broken down you get 2x Arquebus shots each dealing about 40-50+ damage every 4.6-4.7 seconds with this setup. And they are at high penetration 13-15 depending on if you have the marskman ring and if the weapon is still exceptional or you have upgraded it to legendary which you should. This will be the new meta for ranged cipher. The only downside is it is pure pierce damage so I would recommend having Aamiina's Legacy Bow in offhand if you run into pierce immune monsters. In fast hunting bow mode that particular bow is the best in the game and provides a mix of slash, crush and pierce damage. Both weapons are two-handed so they benefit from the two-handed style damage perk. -Kitchen Stove blunderbuss is still great because of Thunderous Report ability which of course fills your focus to max with it 1/encounter. Problem with Kitchen Stove is that once you use Thunderous Report 1/encounter the weapon becomes pretty inferior even with its fast reload speed to Red Hand or Aamiina's Legacy.

Quickest way right now sort legit without using "bugs" to finish the game quickly is probably -take all money upgraded on Berath blessing, -stealth as fast as possible through starting island, -buy galleon or junk with the blessing money and get a few double bronzers. -Now sink every other ship on map and sell the loot to upgrade your ship. If that money is not enough steal some high valued items and sell them back basically you want to upgrade your ship. -sail to Ukaizo hit guardian with a poison attack and stealth out, wait for it to die. -finish the game. pure rogue for an easier time or use invisibility potions. Edit: in next patch it will be a bit harder because cost of Junk/Galleon is doubled but I guess you can still do this with a Dhow

In general, I agree as I think single class toons should be more proficient with abilities they use than multiclass versions. So +1 powerlevel at 20 seems about right. But single-class wizards though if that is the case will be really strong even more so than now.

Keep in mind you have to "dump" your reflex to get hit by these "reflex" based spells ... so I don't know how viable that is solo where in general you want to have as high saves as possible.

hmmm...what's the hardest hitting lightning ability proc the helm (something that does 80-120 lightning damage) ?

I used unity mod to change companions now except sort of kept the classes I choose for them to fit their personality, ie I changed Xoti to Druid/Paladin from Cleric/Monk etc. Really fun party without stacking classes: Tank/frontliner - Cantor Helwalker/Skald (I like my tanks to do damage and cc in addition to just "tanking") -ai is pretty straightforward just set everything to aggressive while adding a few monk defensive abilities like blade turning to the ai script yourself. Yeah I live dangerously with the Helwalker choice but I think it combos well eventually with Chanter chants. Healer +semi buffer - Liberator so Paladin (choose your favorite spec)/Lifegiver!!! Druid. Lifegiver druid is a must on healer druid but is very good, The Paladin side is more aggressive attack abilities though. If you want to go overboard choose the paladin spec with the 10sec undying lay on hands though. Generalist - Do everything class and superman - Thaumaturge Wizard/Priest of Skaen - yeah I set ai on both specs to aggressive here and use the priest class heal when I need it myself Uber Damage Dealer - Marauder Streetfighter/Zerker - nothing comes close at the moment to dps output of this class Secondary damage dealer and a bit more cc (Thamauturge is more above debuff not pure cc) - so Cipher or some combo of Cipher/Devoted or Seer Cipher/Ghostheart Notes: Cantor is great as he does a lot of things at once, chants buffs for the whole party while monk component does damage and cc, Liberator class is also really strong I made my a Bleakwalker though to take advantage of more corrode damage+sickened which combos nicely with druid spells eventually. Thaumaturge is just a monster of flexibility and marauder a monster of dps. And the cipher is nice to throw charms cc while doing nice secondary damage. This is early level(6or 7) test of docks fight in Fort Deadlight on Potd with deadly deadfire hardcore installed.

With Barbarian Zerker it is currently one of the strongest if not the strongest in terms of numbers dps You pump con and armor rating (from all your passives) to be survivable. If you pump alchemy and use say armor spirit potion on top of those you can solo the game with it it becomes that tanky. stats would be to leave dex and resolve at around 8 points and pump strength, con, perception and int

Aamiina's Legacy - drops from a bounty quest Acina's Tricorn - shop merchant in Tikawara Arkemyr's Grimoire - drops from Arkemyr Blackened Plate Armor - in Splinterred Reef sub boss fight drop Blackened Plate Helm - in Splinterred Reef sub boss fight drop Boltcatchers - drops from a bounty quest Cauldron Shard - in outcast's respite Chameleon's Touch - drops from a bounty quest Cloak of Berath - from scavenger hunt dlc Cloak of the Obsidian Order - nit sure???? Cowl of the Piercing Gaze - oathbinder sanctum drop from the inquisitor Defiant Apparel - preorder item Deltro's Cage - berdatto quest Devil of Caroc Breastplate - nekataka armor merchent if npc died in first game Effort - bekarna's folly Endre's Flog of Obedience - bounty item Fenan's Finery - ????? Fleshmender - bounty item Gaun's Pledge - preorder item Gipon Prudensco - pirate faction drop if you anger pirates enough Great Sword - ????? Humility - bounty Ibis - bounty quest Iron-Clasped Grimoire - cancehout drop Kana's Hat - ???? I assume if Kana died in first game this is somewhere Lance of the Midwood Stag - bounty Nomad's Brigandine - bounty Onepahua's Strength - ???? Orishia - bounty Precognition - bounty Ring of the Solitary Wanderer - bounty Saint's War Armor - Eder Salve of Dissolution - if you sided and fulfilled Rymrgand request in the first game you should get this but apparently not Sharpshooter's Garb - Maia Skullcrusher - - drop from catacombs under Temple of Barath Soul Void - bounty Street Sweeper - bugged drop from bounty Tears of Saint Makawo - bounty The Iroccian Calendar (Rare) ??? The Maker's Own Power - bounty The Red Hand - ????? Violet Redemption - endgame drop from VTC on Ukaizo Wahaki Tua ??? Wicked Beast - I believe merchant in Sayuka or somewhere there but I know I got it normally in a playthrough

Pure ranger is not recommended as it alone does not bring enough "juice" to the table imho. Strengths of each class choice when picking: Ranger: accuracy, consistency and low micro I guess and a pet initiate aggro and give time for your party to prepare for a fight Cipher: moderate to good extra dps, cc, some party pure support but only a little bit like Pain block - support is a tertiary role on cipher however and mostly they are decent damage and decent crowd control and party support should be given to a paladin priest or chanter Devoted: mirrors what ranger brings in a way because it mainly accuracy/ proficiency buffs to yourself, survivability is lower priority on ranged Rogue - best dps boost, best burst dps to kill stuff like mages/ priests quicly Paladin (offensive subclass) a bit like Rogue in an offensive setup with less burst pure damage but more party support (they are good multi-specs for a ranged dps though) Barbarian (Zerker) - more dps (Frenzy speed and penetration bonuses) and good kiting and dmage mitigation tools (sprint+savage defiance) con - you are not using barbarian though to its full potential though on ranged because of how carnage only works in melee, but still the class kit brings enough with it to make it a very good addition even on a ranged dps. The penetration bonus from Zerker frenzy is particularly good for low penetration weapons like hunting bows. Monk - damage and cc Those above are more pure "weapon" specs. My point is that just because with "Ranger" one naturally thinks that is the top spec for a ranged dps it is not really so in PoE2. From the list above I would not stack two classes with similar strength like Devoted and Ranger because they are too similar in what they bring to the table. Also I would not stack cipher and monk although that combo is strong but still those classes duplicate each other in terms of cc and you don;y need cc from both monk and cipher in one class imo.

I kind of like politically neutral npcs with interesting backgrounds so I would like them to expand on: -Ydwin -Rekke -maybe Mirke Play as a blue orlan watcher and bring along Mirke and Serefen with you on drunken high seas raids. With Rekke. Question is who will be the "clown" of the party? Edit: make an achievement that you have to complete a playthrough 100% in a drunken state.

Paladin/Druid is like high octane Devoted-Druid. Those can solo the game because of unbending+plage of insects The whole point of efficiency though in character creation is you want to buff defense through offense like I like the Paladin passives that buff the whole team while the paladin is killing stuff. But it is really strong. I hate playing without companions because PoE does not "feel" like a game where I should just go to a tavern and hire custom tailored adventurers but I found that with unity console editor I can pretty much customize any companion to any class I want and tweak their base stats for that class. Like with custom difficulty tables I want to run through with a totally optimized party and test how various "op" classes do against each other in combat - who comes on top in the end in damage done etc. Right now I am thinking I will make Xoti Paladin/druid because I can. Probably offensive though bleakwalker lots of poison acid damge etc. Gonna do this because it still sort of fits the npcs. Gonna run a party of Thamaturge Skaen/ generalistWizard Aloth, Paladin-Druid Xoti, definitely a Marauder, a Cipher single or some multi, a Monk-Chanter probably. Set everyone on offense and do a free for all. Yeah.

Reviving Exhortation is only viable in a run where you don't care about resting a lot when injuries are not a concern. Then you can design builds in your party that are glass cannons like that barbarian suicide bomb build which will probably die in the middle of combat but they are so efficient in doing damage that you use exhortation on them because in the next 15 seconds they can be doing even more damage and it does not matter if they die, sometimes dying is ok if they have items which do aoe damage on death/wear the skaen light armor etc.

I made some modifications to some cipher abilities to make ciphers a good addition to a PotD team for people who liked how the class functioned in PoE1 https://www.nexusmods.com/pillarsofeternity2/mods/122/?tab=description nerfed charm durations somewhat but mildly improved some shred spells as well as made class staples like Mental Binding, Defensive Mindweb, Psychovampiric shield, Wild Leech useful. All in all made using a greater variety of abilities more appealing and thereby making single-class cipher not run into a bottleneck of becoming a one trick pony. I recommend the mod with deadly deadfire hardcore version on PotD upscaled to boost enemy defensives and hp to make fights longer, more epic and make cipher persistent casting more desirable than per encounter abilities of many other classes (which you can still use if you want immediate cc or damage without focus generation in between). https://www.nexusmods.com/pillarsofeternity2/mods/43/ use the "hard core" version. - you will be needing to maximize enemy debuffs, damage and healing efficiency of your party.

Here I made the mod with the slight tweaks I felt right for a single-class cipher: https://www.nexusmods.com/pillarsofeternity2/mods/122/?tab=description Of course I wish obsidian would give us cooler and better level8/9 powers and don't mess with time parasite.

I think poison power level affects anything with corrode damage as well as raw damage from a view "plague" spells from druid, the later part being an unfortunate thing at the moment because stuff that does raw damage over time in aoe is already really good.

endgame actual dual-wield mindstalker cipher/rogue either soulblade/ascendant+assassin or streetfighter will probably have the highest dps capability of any class especially single target with deathblows+soul whip .... but that is at level 18 or so, before that time in terms of Melee dps a Barbarian Berzerker (Frenzy gives extra attack speed and penetration and is there from level 1) or some combo with Monk will do more damage before that Mindstalker get deathblows and hits a tier above the rest. That is why Barbarians (zekers) monks and ciphers are still really good damage dealers throughout the game, they get strong core passive abilities that boost their damage from early levels.

check the Hasngo kill, against fights with multiple adds this build was very strong....lightning shock lash from Deltro's Cage Helm usually bulds to between 20-100% extra shock damage when charged up and Socaretes pet for health/per kill as you kill mobs in an aoe in 1-2 barbaric blows. Highest single target was 370 from 1 yes 1 not 2 saber attacks on an ability actually after my helm was charged up with +100% lash and I used deathblow from stealth. So actual damage in that hit was like 350+370 or 720 damage with one two ability. two to be exact: shadowing beyond+finishing blow. Streetfighter could have been better objectively than an assassin, but I used assassin forflavorr considering I wanted the big hits from stealth. I can probably optimize the non-poison kill of Ukaizo guardian, I just went in knowing I would skip extra mobs with shadowing beyond and just play defensively vs Ukaizo.

Overall Ciphers need a slight buff but nerf to charm. I would -decrease Whispers of Treason base duration by to 12 sec -increase penetrating vision bonus to +1 spell penetration as base and another +1 above cipher mastery (level 20 single class cipher) -hammering thoughts should give +1 weapon penetration and +5 accuracy with proficient weapons -decrease draining whip focus gain by 25% -psychovampiric shield should give +10 deflection as a buff -mental binding duration should be increased to 10 sec base -puppet master base duration down to 15 sec from 20 -wild leech instead of tier 1 inspiration just give +8 to a random stat - makes it funny but hardly worth using still -mind lance base damage should be increased by 25% - high risk reward as it will do good damage but enemies not always in a strait line -silent scream base damage should be increased by 15% (raw damage>pierce) -body attunement should be -4 ar on target and +2 ar on self -base damage of detonate should be increased by 15% -ring leader base duration should be decreased to 12 sec!!! -keen mind should be increased to +20 focus from +10 -Mind Plague base duration should be increased to 15 sec -Amplified wave base damage should be increased by 15% -Screaming Souls cast time should be reduced to 0.5sec -time parasite should be capped at +200% action speed (double) but increase your action speed at 40% per target affected and not be stackable -Defensive Mindweb should be changed to "if critically hit" from "taking damage" to cease to work on said party member -Haunting Chains should be a small aoe like ring leader

MC - Any Strong AoE dps class Ydwin - Ranged mindstalker/cc Maia - Scout Pallegina - Herald Summoner Healer, support Eder - Swashbuckler a tank that can do some dps thanks to swashbuckler alternative version: MC -strong aoe dps Ydwin - dw rogue Maia - Geomancer Pallegina - Herald Summoner/ healer Konstanten - Howler Tank+CC