Verde

Yeah Soulblade Mindstalker with high Mig, Per, crit perks, dual sabers or longswords (Min's Fortune, Duskfall, etc.), and Deception spells.

How'd they buff Trickster? Added an Illusion spell for every PL (as opposed to every other), reduced Guile required for some spells, and reduced Sneak Attack penalty to -10% (essentially the only negative).

Great discussion in here! Also I love Mind Blades for the reasons others stated. Ciphers have gotten quite a buff with decreased casting times...let us have our shiny things pls Obsidian:(

In my very biased opinion, Cipher and or Rogue make for great RP. Mindstalker I recommend Trickster/Soulblade. Trickster has been buffed significant and Soul Annihilation is just a beastly ability.

Lazily designed BG2 throwback. Should have had more layers. And isn't the reward the same regardless?

Trickster/Vanilla Rogue + Ascendent/Beguiler

she seems to be the most effective damage dealer for me. Try a Rogue or Monk.

Well overall Witcher 3 has a much more engaging main conflict and story. Sure it got bogged down in the middle, but one of the main story quests early on was as one of the best quests I've ever played (won't spoil it for you, others prob know). And the story really picked up interest and suspense as it went on. HOWEVER, Witcher 3 has some serious, serious clunk issues. Like the gameplay is straight awkward most of the time. Maybe one of the worst menu systems in a quality AAA game. Constant menu swaps, constant menu-ing. Combat is serviceable compared to the terrible combat of W2 but it's not great. Not even good really. Overall, game play is clunky and feels less precise. Now, Deadfire's main story is mostly a joke, but damn are the side quests really fun and engaging. Witcher 3 is similar, but Deadfire is just so much more fun to PLAY - i.e. the gameplay is a ton smoother. So in regards I give Deadfire the major edge. Both have great worldbuilding so lets call that a tie. Lastly, Deadfire's bugs in some instances are inexcusable. Key dialogue not triggering? A FINAL BOSS NOT TRIGGERING?! Yes that's right friends, I did not fight the final boss on my first playthrough. So regarding polish W3 wins. Overall, and very biasedly, I give the edge to Deadfire, but Witcher 3 does have a great main story and characters, something Obsidian can learn from. In time polish will really help Deadfire, but time will tell if it will be remembered as much as W3 with all of it's acclaim, some due and some undue. But really the King is still BG2 sorry had to throw that in.

Well, if I understood Serafen right, we have to obtain either flag or spyglass to make sneaky appearance. Am I wrong? You can accomplish that (sneaking in) without either a flag or spyglass yesAnd with the spyglass you are able to roam about same as if you docked with the flag?

On my third playthrough and was excited to spec Maia is a Scout...sheesh she is still underwhelming. Fix loading time for Arquebus...its wayyyyy too slow. Or maybe just improve Gunner. Either way I feel at a severe disadvantage with Maia in my group.

ME1 has one of my favorite stories and endings in any game.

On my 3rd playthrough now. I highly recommend mixing in bounties during your travels.

Couldn't have said it better myself.

I always get a warm fuzzy feeling when I start them.

Ahhh great pt, forget it applied an affliction. Thanks!

Well, it depends on what your build is like. If you're going for high defenses and don't have other ways of buffing attributes, I'd say Wild Leech; as long as you don't get the resolve one (can get the resolve boost from Psychovampiric shield), you're essentially getting +10 to a particular defense. If your build isn't a high defense build and you don't have another active way of adding armor, I suppose Body Attunement would potentially be better. I'm a Trickster/Beguiler with Riposte so my deflection can reach crazy levels. So with that said Wild Leech is prob better?

Which is a better combo with Borrowed Instinct, Wild Leech or Body Att?

Great question and no, you can't:( I recently just tested.

44 hrs. Each subsequent playthrough is about 10 hrs more.

True but you're not going to have enough Svef to satisfy that constant addiction;)

Haha what? Why both tho, Trickster is all the Illusionist you need

Isn't confusion a major downside?

Re #2: If you can close the distance (such as with a rogue's Escape ability), Ryngrim's Repulsive Visage is probably better than Secret Horrors. Still, Secret Horrors can be cast as many times as you like, so it has that going for it along with being a ranged attack. EDIT: Still, we're talking cipher spells here, so I'll go ahead and throw out Whispers/Dominate/Ringleader as useful stuff. Agreed. Visage is really powerful. Only minor downside is cast time, but high deflection usually makes it a non issue.

So now is a great time play a Cipher due to buffs to casting speeds and durations. I've been playing around with Mindstalkers and a few spells really stand out to me: 1. Borrowed Instinct - really fast and powerful, both as a buff and debuff. Really is a game-changer for martial builds. 2. Secret Horrors - fast and good AoE. Effectively shuts down casters. Maybe a bit too powerful for a PL3 spell 3. Mental Binding- ahhh nostalgia. The single most OP low level spell in PoE1. Alas we may never see low level AoE-paralyzes again but recent buffs return it to a portion of it's former glory, making it useful again. What about you? Any Cipher spells really stand out to you?

Honestly just go Trickster if you want to be an illusionist. It's a vanilla Rogue with -10% Sneak Attack (not a big deal) for an excellent collection of Illusion (and Transmutation?) at EVERY Power Level. Mix with a Cipher for crazy high deflection and CC.