1TTFFSSE

It was PotD in expert mode.

Playthrough Videos - updated as I go Setting are PotD upscales with 2.1 version of Deadly Deadfire mod Drake fight early game: Gorecci Street pulling: Fire Dragon Magran's Teeth No Poison cheese version ... the power of the Voulge! https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=b2PTeYUKJ8k

First of here is a video of the build and it in action: Updated 6/24/18 after playthrough complete (solo). Name: The Lightning Sphinx - because it jumps, disappears and re-emerges anywhere on the battlefield for devastating strikes and uses lightning weapons like Lord Darryns's Voulge to benefit from Berserker Frenzy + Deltro's Cage Helm synergy Class: Barbarian Berzerker and Rogue Assassin Multi Race: Human (Blooded benefits) OR Pale Elf (extra elemental defense) Stats unbuffed recommended: 17 Might, 13 Con, 7 dex, 17+1 Int, 18 Perc, 7 Resolve With Barath blessings (optional) and some class sacrifice talents, it should be no problem to max str and per, have Int at 10 when frenzied and put the rest into con. Full List of Abilities at Lvl 20 (Updated) Actives in Red Rogue: -Assassin -Assassinate -Sneak Attack -Backstab -Escape -Dirty Fighting -Gouging Strike (Upgrade from Blinding Strike) -Persistent Distraction -Shadowing Beyond -Deep Wounds -Devastating Blow (upgrade from Finishing Blow) -Slippery Mind -Death Blows Barbarian: -Berserker -Carnage -Blooded -Thick Skinned * Can be replaced by Bloodlust if you are confident with you defenses -One stands Alone -Bloody SLaughter -Wild Sprint -Savage Defiance -Barbaric Smash (upgrade of Barbaric blow) -Interrupting Blows -Blood Thirst -Spirit Tornado (upgrade of Frenzy) General: -Two-Handed Style / Two-Weapon style depending if you are taking on a map with lots of small enemies (Two-Handed) or a boss fight like Nemnok or Ukaizo (Two-Weapon) Notes: With a lot of Items providing concentration, which is very important, like a certain belt as well as Potion of Spirit Shield, I could use more offensive abiities and perks and not use stuff like Combat Focus perk. Also this allowed me to take Spirit Tornado upgrade of Frenzy (shaken cc) and change Eliminating blow to Devastating Blow for a more potent single target finisher. Skills: Alchemy minimum of 10, Mechanics minimum of 8, Athletics minimum of 6, Arcana minimum of 5 Maxxed Intimidate early game to force talk encounters, History maxxed late game for the special cloak Drugs: -Whiteleaf -Deadeye These two I used a lot Scrolls: -Moonwell -Shining Beacon both only need 5 arcana to use but are very good on this or any melee build because moonwell is an excellent heal over time spell which boosts defenses, and shining beacon is an excellent damage over time on enemies in aoe spell which also debuffs their defenses Potions/Poisons: -General Healing Potions -Potion of Spirit Shield!!! - who needs a shield when you have this -Piercing Strikes (extra penetration) -any +crit chance potion like Merciless Gaze -Stone Joint (use causiosly or it will break your game it is too strong at the moment) Items the build uses: Head Slot: Deltro's Cage Helm!!! -under Frenzy you damage yourself...so if you have a weapon that does lightning damage this thing is really good and it gives you a lightning shock lash. Works very well with Lord Darryn's Voulge Chest: Devil of Corac Breastplate - yeah it is standard for this per encounter builds but there is a reason for that Hands: Boltcatchers (offensive setup) Bracer of Greater Deflection (defensive setup) Burglar's Gloves (When disarming traps) Rings: Entonia Signet Ring Ring of Greater Regeneration Amulet: Precognition Boots: Bounding Boots Boots of Stone Rakhan Field Boots (Endgame) Belt: Upright Captain's Belt (provides Concentration in combat) Cloak Cloak of Greater Protection The Gifbearer's Cloth (Endgame) Food: I just used Hylea's Bounty and did not rest - that is what I recommend as you want boosted HP as a Barbarian. Anything that boosts HP basically. -Sacrifice Durance for more HP Weapons: Slot 1 - Lord Darryn's Voulge - Aoe/ mob control weapon Slot 2 - Mordwyr + Aldris Blade of Captain Crow (Dps single target) both legendary - Mordwyr or Aldris + Griffin's Blade - since Giffin's Blade does daze on crit it is a good cc wepon to use against say Fanpyrs. Strats: General Attack 1.) Attack with a debilitating strike from stealth 2.)Frenzy 3.)Savage Defiance + (Spirit Shield) 4.) Barbaric Blow 5.)Improvise from there - stay mobile and dance around the enemies - once their health is low you can spam barbaric blows under savage defiance Skipping mobs is really easy: 1.) hit sprint 2.) hit shadowing beyond 3.) run anywhere you want With Consumables there is no problems soloing PotD with Deadly Deafire (Normal version) installed: Fampyr Cave, no op poisons used just scroll of moonwell + sprit shield potion mainly Cheers and Enjoy!

basically, it makes it that you have to use consumables...stuff like deadeye for accuracy, that one potion that ups weapon penetration

On PotD upscaled + deadly deadfire hc mod the only fight so far where I felt like I needed to bring out my really big guns and "broken strats" - specifically scroll of meteors/+ power potion/incredible food was surprisingly the Lucia Rivan fight because my full lvl 16 party could not brute force it. like the other fights. Have not done Nemnok though yet. new stats upscaled with mod: 114 deflection, 162 for, 120 reflex, 144 will , AR: 16 / 19pierce old stats: 90 deflection, 138 for, 96 ref, 120 will, AR: 12 / 15 pierce

It is funny considering those two items are arguably the best heavy armor in the game and the best melee weapon in the game.

Subclasses are easier to break down: generic cipher - ok nothing special totally viable ascendant - generally considered strongest type of cipher now as with draining whip perk you can get ascended really fast + you have a naturally larger focus pool than a vanilla cipher so you can cast spells quickly without needing too much extra focus in a pinch when not ascended - so RECOMMENDED generic rogue - strong class nothing wrong with it streetfighter rogue - if you want to be more in you face front liner type of character, also synergizes well with blunderbus modal, better than assassin rogue to take on groups assassin rogue - single target dps is unmatched by any class as for firearms - eh in PotD dual wielded pistols are better than blunderbusses as enemies have lots of armor and many are pierce immune in general making pure fire-arms not optimal. you are better off with scepters actually or the unique hunting bow that does slash/pierce damage.

-make things look more visually cool (more robes, armor, ship look customization options) -make PotD+ version for brath blessing/ hard core party min-maxers, basically a version that is no way "balanced" but just stupidly unfair so all the complainers who say this game is too easy have something to do.

Fun is definitely seeing any reasonable mob - especially enemy mage or priest - the types that can wreak havoc on your part explode in lots of blood in 1-2 active ability hits so dual-wield rogue or assassin is still the most fun for me.

^ same only I went zerker/cipher. in hardcore deadly deadfire upscaled the longest fight I had was the boss on Hosango ie waves of adds. Here is the video. in such a fight persistent charm/ summons really shine. feel free to fast forward the boring parts. also only about 60-65% complete on the run but already at 125k/90k/65k damage between my 3 damage dealers lol.

Might 13 Con 9 Dex 18 Per 18 Int 10 Res 10 CIPHER: Mind Wave, Whispers of Treason, Draining Biting Whip, Psychic Backlash, Hammering Thoughts MONK: Lesser Wounds, Force of Anguish, Swift Strikes, Two Weapon Style, Dance of Death, Torment's Reach Those are core essential abilities Also Play ascendant and not soul blade is my recommendation - you have more focus that way and can take biting whip instead of draining whip. Also I see you mentioned dying a lot. Well use heavier armor and wepon+shield early game on PotD if you insist on going melee. It helps. Later when you have really great abilities to keep him up with your support classes you can go pure dw or two handed.

There is a shrine on Poko Kohara where you can meditate for a +10 accuracy +2 resolve party wide rest buff. It is op considering it is better than devotions of faithful now? Anyways with that buff + Paladin defensive aura (since you don't need accuracy aura then anymore) thing can get a bit too one-sided I imagine in a vanila playthrough. With added difficulty/stat mods it helps a ton though.

In terms of when you can get it and how good it is it is definitely the sabre Grave Calling which is a legendary weapon located in cookspur slaver town in the merchant crate because you just need your ship and you can get it immediately when you get off the starter island and it will serve you until the end of the game.

With PotD in Mind Eder : Swashbuckler, but really his place is on the bench as you there are better tanks than fighter now and his rogue is subpar to Ydwin, sword and shield works fine Xoti : Priest/Monk you can make her a combo I guess too as you get all the nice priest healing/buff spells and can use monk abilities to dps. Whatever Pallegina is a better healer/ support imo Aloth: pure wizard if you are powergaming and want a have decent story companion who is a wizard, mix if you want to have fun. Crossbows and Scepters work best here as weapon Serafen: I am leaning to pure cc cipher with him, just give him good weapons and accuracy but in general I go Aloth or Tekehu before I choose him for my ranged ccer or even better Maia as Geomancer - mdps I think the other companions are stronger than his barbarian Maia: She makes excellent ccer mixed with dps as Geomancer - I am biased as I think Geomancer is more versatile and has more perks for the team than Scout in this case, soulbound Blightheart is a + to as you go Wizard Pallegina: Herald, the strongest support class behind Pali-Priest, you can build her ranged if you want to buff a strong ranged dps backline if your party is ranged oriented or as a second tank next to Konstenten, have her be the creature summoner and Konstanten the ccer among chanters though Tekehu: since I think going chanter is strong on Pallegina and Konstenten I go pure druid here and have him on aoe nuke/ cc duty if I need that. Just give him a crossbow arbelast or hunting bow - rods suck Side kicks- Konstantine- Howler - seriously he has so much hp, spec barbarian with the more buffed abilities to his defenses and chanter into offensive cc invocations as hp restoration chants and you have a perfect tank. he hardly ever dies, eventually, you can get the invocation that revives others too so now you have an unkillable tank who can revive everyone. Fassina -multi her with druid, I agree she needs more spell variety rather than pure conjurer Ydwin - any option she is strong. if you are playing a mdps consider making her a cipher, if you are rdps/ spellcaster yourself make her a dw rogue or mind stalker. give her good weapons and she will be top of the damage charts ahead of Maia and only behind your mc if your mc watcher is a dps. I have no opinions on the others as I have not built them yet.

-In multi-class form they are strong throughout the game if built and played right - sure I agree that powers are schezo at the moment with some being really good and others trash but that is why you multi and just take the good stuff -in single form they suffer from having too little strong powers and too many mediocre but even then once you hit higher levels they are very good with the parasite -biggest weakness in single class is accuracy is a problem potentially until higher levels unless another party member buffs them -biggest overall strength made relevant now in 1.1 and with health mods is fights can last a good minute or 2 two now making them overall at least as useful as per encounter casters: the way I see it is a cipher is a "sustain" dps spec while something per encounter (rogue etc) is a burst dps spec. same with cc/debuffs. you have sustain - monk, chanter, cipher and you have burst ie wizard, rogue, druid whatever is per encounter. you need both on tweaked higher difficulty so there is a place for them in the party.

Yeah I find a good fast Breastplate *Devil of C" + regen items are a necessity but once your Rogue has those they can dish good dps in the front line. Once you have a Pali to apply greater lay on hands and or cipher to apply pain block on them liberally they shred stuff without really dying. Ranged cipher melee rogue dps synergy is sick in any party since PoE1 and encourages good mobile tactical gameplay. You send an echto echo at the dw rogue with the cipher and have the rogue jump to the enemy mage back line with it. the rogue proceeds to shred the enemy mage/ cleric backline while the echto echo beam adds dps and hits all enemies between the cipher in the back, the tank holding the enemies off the cipher, and the dw rogue behind the enemies. best of all ai seems to like to use echto echo in that way too.

Wizard - Ghost Heart (ranger) is a cc/ debuff god with good single target and aoe dps options. Currently running Maia that way in my party. unparalleled accuracy to apply crippling debuffs Assasin (but any rogue) - Zerker: sick sick damage Paladin - Priest - your ultimate buff bot - Paladin chanter works too but is second fiddle to pali-priest Pure dw rogue - yeah yeah single class and squishy but these guys tear up any single target enemy like no one else and arte really fun to play and are mobile, I would say although for instance, Ydwin has most deaths currently in playthrough as this she is MVP in the group because she often takes out an enemy mage or cleric by herself and other dangerous targets before those do any damage to my party. (and part of the reason she has highest death count is because of ai - if it is mc player controlled 100% she have many ways to avoid damage)

In general it is I would say except maybe some extra tweaks to enemy ai. For more enemy "stats" I think a mod can do the trick but a mod for ai is not as good as what obsidian can do.

I still use that helmet but unfortunately, you need a second toon in your party to jolt/ apply lightning damage to the toon wearing the helmet. It still provides a good % damage lash but there is no more looping involved where the numbers stack to infinity.

Just did Uamoru the Pretender with a lvl 7 party on PotD + difficulty mod to get the bow early. I did that bounty in beta 1.1 as well and it seemed it was more difficult did they lower the difficulty from beta to official patch? disappointing.

Dhow is my favorite ship just because I feel it provides enough guns (three per side - long range star board, double bronzers port short is a nice setup) to take on any ship in the game but also save a bit of money mid game to get weapons upgraded to superior mid game when cash is still a bit scarce.

Money is scarce until the last 1/5th of the game basically after that it becomes abundant. But not so much that you upgrade every weapon item to legendary.

the way to get rich is to 1.) steal as many ofthe superb and legendary things from merchant's chests you want to use and just use those and don't buy/ upgrade anything until late game and you are 100% certain your will be using that perticular item in your endgame build 2.) get by on your starter ship or a slightly improved Dhow and don't waste money on the expensive ships 3.) barath blessing starting 55K helps for the ship or a few endgame items if you know which you use - but a ship like a dhow is better to finance with that money 4.) sell everything up to and including exceptional stuff and even superb stuff you know you won't use. It is true though there is an economy to the very end - like it is more prudent to use legendary weapons you find rather than upgrading stuff to legendary quality because that gets very expensive

I agree, they should change the current charm abilities of the ciphers. Whisper of Treason should just confuse instead of charm so Puppet master would be the first ability with the charm effect. Ring leader could stay the same. This idea would fit in nicely with the current "just nerf the ciphers" trend :D It's true get rid of the last useful thing ciphers can do.

There is always overpenetration by the way. It is always a balance of penetration and weapon speed and Crossbows and dual pistols are really strong there with the exception of the unique Arquebus which is not acquirable. I always liked hunting bows (with modal on) if you have high base penatration I put the Marksman ring on and did a few tests with the best achievers and here is what I got: Dual Pistols (Scoreo's + Thundercrack) no modal - 37s, 30s, 1:02 fast modal: 1:05, 25s, 29s Hunting Bow (Aamiina's Legacy) No modal - 55s, 57s, 1:05 fast modal: 30s, 30s, 49s Fleetbreaker (Crossbow) 35s, 34s, 32s The Red Hand 18s, 19s 18s Warbows They still blow That ring brings the hunting bow potentially to the level of the dual-pistols. The Fleetbreaker crossbow is a model of consistency though because it always hits with all its accuracy buffs.