Lonlon

I didn't know Divine Retribution proc'ed on summons' death. Seems quite effective indeed considering the healing potential of a dual wielding KWF. Quite a late game thing but definitely cool Also for the ranger option I was thinking about Maia but I dont know if you can have Tekehu + Maia in the grp for all the DLCs etc (can't properly remember when some choices have to be done ie: if it's viable to have 2 different "faction" companions in your party for the long run). If I chose to recruit a Cipher/Ranger what subclasses would you advice ? (I cant tell what is highest-maintenance between Ascendant and Beguiler, one is doing Soulwhip Damage all the time but has those Ascended "phases" i'll have to manage, the other is gonna stop soul whiping when full focus... idk ). Maybe i'll pick a full Cipher (Psion ? Beguiler ?)... Maybe Ydwin, never played with her. We'll see. I'll prob start my run tonight ! I'll come back when I need advices and to let you know how it goes Cant thank you enough for all this insight

Thanks a lot for the insight After spending some time reading about the Sage multiclass I think i'll go that route (Helwalker/Bloodmage). I couldnt find any proper guide so I may have some more questions about a few things. - Regarding Draining Touch, do we agree that it doesn't have any weapon type ? Does it scale with MuT or any weapon modal ? - I understand why club modal is very strong but what about Tuotilo's ? Is it ok to use it when I wanna tank a bit more for whatever reason ? (I guess with the def/reflex per wound enchantment). I also guess +5 ACC enchant is better than +10% damage, am I right ? - What weapons modals are "safe" to pick at character creation then ? Club + ? Is there a modal working with Spirit Lance ? Is it relevant ? - For party comp i'm quite set with : Eder (fighter/rogue tank) and Xoti (full priest) but still undecided for the 2 remaining slots. Do you see obvious includes that could fit with this core composition ? My initial thought was Tekehu as full chanter or multiclass because I kinda like him and I also like chanter (or maybe Aloth but thought 2 wizards could overlap/ask to much micromanagment), + a custom recruit that would fill the gaps in my comp, something easy to manage but still helpful (I was thinking about a Ranger/Cipher: ranger cause it stays far and do not need a lot of management, and Cipher just because it could be a nice thing to have probably, but I'm honestly not sure about this one...). I already did the Troubadour/Psion sidekick in one of my playthrough and I want to innovate a bit - For attributes I was about to go something like this : 8/13/16/19/18/4 (as human, BB should be added on top of that). I bet it's ok to dump RES because of all the defensive buffs Wizard features. I kept MIG low so i dont oneshot myself with blood sacrifice all the time. what else can I say.. is 13 CON (+2 BB) enough for Helwalker wounds + blood sac not beeing cringe ? Also human seems good to me but maybe there's some obviously stronger pick ? - While leveling I was about to pick mainly monk skills or wizard passives and let grimoires give me access to all the wizard spells repertoire. Is it a good plan ? If I need to pick some wizard spells i'm sure to use all the time, what those would be ? - And lastly : what important gear should I aim for (appart from those already mentioned in this thread) ? again any obvious things I should not miss out on ? Thanks again for your anwsers, helps me a lot

The Gambit refund can happen multiple times if you do multiple crits with it ? I remember back in the days (in 2022 when I was planning my last playthrough), Notsoclever hound told me that it was possible to steal Vatnir's Spiritual weapon with a Wizard's Grimoire Imprint (I mean permanently with the grimoire swap trick). I thought about that and, even if it's some sort of exploit, I still think it could be fun because there's no other way to get this ability in the game (I think). If I do that, will this weapon scale with my PL or Wizard lvl (idk) ? Do I need to be a priest for it to scale properly ? (Also what about disposition scaling for the frost Lash ? does it work ?) Also because I cant decide yet what build i'm gonna pick for this run, I'm still exploring different stuff. I thought if I give-up the rogue part of the build I may also go Wizard/Monk. IIRC it's one of the best combo with wizard for melee enhancements and would synergize quite well with Draining touch + club modal too right ? Is it better than Vatnir Spiritual Weapon though ? Both could work I guess depending on the situation... Bloodmage/Helwalker would be a bit scary but I guess not more that Berserker/Helwalker :') Monk would also open strong possibilities for Spirit Lance or Tuotilo's/multi attackroll weapons SO, if you know stuff about Sage multiclass and have some advices I'd be interested too (or anything that could go along with Wizard as a strong versatile multiclass basically) Anyways, thanks again, looking foward to read you guys ! Cheers

Streetfighter subclass seems really strong indead. Do we agree that appart from their recovery time, all of their bonuses only apply to weapon combat ? (not spells) I mean even if it's weapons only + 50% damage + 100% crit damage - 50% recovery time is nuts Maybe recovery alone would make streefighter a more versatile pick compared to assassin ? I mean if I want to land my spells maybe I'm better going SF, getting recovery buff and using it to prep enemies faster with miasma and all that good stuff ? SF would also open the possibility for melee efficiency with Spirit Lance i guess (or any weapons really) ? I kinda want to have a hybrid MC (potent with spells but still able to strike with weapons). On the other hand I dont want one of those build that play Wizard either to bug-exploit the game or just to buff weapon combat potency. Do you think SF is a safer pick for someone looking for versatility ? I was also looking at Bloodmage/Cipher (mostly Soul Blade for the melee synergy), is it any good ? I'm a bit afraid it'll be too much of a melee centric build as soon as Spirit lance is unlocked. There is also Psion but I'm pretty sure there's no melee synergy whatsoever here... Or maybe full Trickster was a good pick regarding what i'm looking for after all ? Even without Grimoires Thanks a lot for all you answers. That's helping a ton

Yes, the existance of this grimoire/spell was one of the main reason I went for this build

Honestly I couldn't tell. I read a lot about assassin/bloodmage crowd control from stealth build, that's why I considered it as a replacement for my original build idea which involves a mod that does not exist x) From what I understand, Streetfighter would be more about melee capabilities than slinging control spells all the day ? Right ?

Thx for the answer Boeroer ! In that case maybe i'll go for a more standard route like Assassin/Bloodmage. I'm pretty sure Bloodmage is a good way to experience intensive spellcasting (and enables the possibility of spamming spells like trickster does) and with Assassin I'll stick with my rogue/stealth initial plan. Is there a guide you (or someone else) did for that build ? I'm interested by the CC potential of Arkemyr's Brilliant Departure + Assassin for landing spells while stealthed but did not find a proper guide about this route, just read here and there about it (mainly stuff you wrote on this forum now that I think about it ). Regarding Spellblade, I'm kinda overwhelmed by the different possibilities I read about : Spirit Lance, Chronomatic Staff, the snake weapon grimoire thing I cant remember the name, etc.. In a way it gets me very excited to test those possibilities but also I dont know were to strat. So yeah, I'll take any advices Also I never properly played Wizard so I wont even be able to tell what control / buff spells I should aim for (early and late game). Also bloodmage should have some CON for spamming bloodmagic I guess ? RIght ? In short: so many questions.. Thanks again ! Cheers !

Hello there, I'm planning a 3rd (or 4th, can't remember) Deadfire PotD upscaled run before a certain game comes out (I got hyped I have to admit..). In my previous runs I mainly played melee/brawler builds (bersekers/monks/fighters...) so this time I want to try something a bit more subtile and different. I thought a SC Trickster would be cool but maybe a bit limited/restricted for someone who knows as little about the game as me. So I was thinking it would be nice if my trickster could be a little bit more of a Wizard than he already is by allowing him to use a grimoire thanks to of a mod or something (guile costs would scale with PL as trickster native spells do...). Adding some diversity to a SC rogue sounds fun to me, and also I never played a Wizard MC before so it would be a way to experience engame caster gameplay a little more. Because you guys now the game way better than I do, I have some questions regarding this project : - Firstly : do you know if such a mod exist ? - Do you think it would completely break the game ? (I dont really care if the game gets easier cuz I finished the game several times already but I dont want a spoiled/broken experience neither) - Do you know if there is a way to improve Trickster's fun by adding spellcasting diversity without modding my game ? Also I kinda want to be a SC Trickster so I can reach high PL and high level spell (I feel like trickster is a fun SC pick) - Also, am I completly delusional about Trickster not beeing fun enough and willing to add more features on top of what it already has ? I play with community patch if that matters, and also I like going no rest. Thanks in advance for your advices, and as always sorry for my mediocre english. Also I have to say it's always a pleasure to find this community alive everytime I dive back into PoE, I will never thank you enough for that guys (without you I definetly would not enjoy this game as much as I do ) Cheers !

So I decided to go for Devoted/Berserker, currently level 12 and I have to admit this is sweet so far. I'm really pleased with the AoE and debuffing capabilities of the build. For my party composition I went with : Eder : Swashbuckler Engagement Tank Xoti : Defensive Support/Healer SC Priest Aloth : SC Wizard (CC/Nuker) and Custom Character : Kindwayfarer/Troubadour Offensive Support + also strong Healer. I definetly think Xoti is the flex spot here, I could replace her with someone else but for now, Triumph of the Crusader and BDD seem too strong and synergise a lot with my build. In most cases, once my main char secures his first kill, he becomes unstopable, and those spells help a lot with that strategy. For my devoted/berserker, I was wondering what gear I should pick : Helm : Helm of the Falcon Neck : Precognition (?) (Also help securing a first kill) (or maybe Bone Setter's Torc later..) Armor : Devil of Caroc (I think it's a no brainer here.. immunity to confusion, more ressources for both classes..) Ring 1 : Chameleon's Touch (?) Ring 2 : Voidward or Ring of Greater Regeneration maybe (for now, self damage it's not that big of deal) Feets : Footprints of Ahu Taka (?) (i'm not sure, maybe it's better for my healers) Cape : Two Stiched Trolls (?) nothing else comes to my mind Gloves : Boltcatchers (?) (fit the theme ) Belt : No idea here, for now I use Ngati's girdle Weapon : Lord Darry's Voulge obviously What do you guys think ? Also for my KWF/Troubadour, I have no idea what gear I should use. Should she be melee ? For now I use double scepters to keep her safe from my main character, and dual wielding makes the healing from light flames proc twice, which is super strong... Any suggestions here ? Thanks again everyone, really enjoy this run so far

And now I'm tempted to roll monk again damn you, though I dont like Nalpazca so I would go for Helwalker instead Wow.. this information opens an all new world in the thirst-for-fun-and-intricate-builds part of my brain.. maybe for another run Ok so confusion is "needed" with this strategy to be able to cleave the skellies right ? So no Devil of Caroc BP with this Do you mean the dot instance is considered a hit and can crit therefore proccing SF/HBD ? Seems strong indeed. Monk again... I think it's quite the flavor i'm looking for. I want the barbarian theme for sure and this weapons fits it. Also the debuffing and elemental damage part of the weapon (and spirit frenzy) goes along the savage Barbarian aspect, I like it. I'm still just a bit hesitant on the devoted part : playing with the same weapon all the game could be boring maybe.. But Fighter feels nice, and I'm not sure I want to go monk again.. Thanks everyone for the insight. So it will be Devoted/Berserker (with Voulge) or Helwalker/Berserker (with Amra/Voulge/or any strong weapon that could fit in).. Any sharp pros and cons before I take my decision ? Also I'm now wondering how I should build this regarding attributes, do I need high INT and high MIG as a devoted/berserker ?

First of all thanks for all the answers and advices. Do you bind Lord Darryn's Voulge with Barb or Fighter with this build ? (Barb = AoE disoriented effet, Fighter = Random Storm spell 1/encounter when going under 50% HP) I'd be curious to know what build(s) exploits this mechanic the most. How does it work ? Does every application of the DoT add its damage to the existing ones while refreshing the duration ? I dont know a lot about DoTs in this game... I tried, do not work it's a shame Woedica's Fists have no weapon type. I guess it would have been way too strong with Monks. but no proficency cuts a lot of build possibilities (especially with Fighter involved) Sweet, hope it does ! But I think I will dodge Monk for my next playthrough I begin to figure it out. That be the kind of info I was looking for here, thanks ! Seems real fun - To avoid perma-killing your friends, is it possible to use Wanton Gore instead of Riven Gore ? 33% weapon damage seems almost equivalent to 50 dmg in a good case scenario. Or am I missing something ? - Would you use weapon modal with this build ? - Also, how do you go over 25 MIG consistently without sacrificing INT, DEX and PER ? I'm sure it's easy if you do the maths (did not bother yet) but... is it ? - Comparing to Lord Darryn's Voulge, what would be the pros and what would be the cons ? Many thanks again for all these answers guys Much appreciated

With Enduring Dance (the upgrade of Dance of Death), you can take 3 hits before it cancels. Also by the time you get hit you will prob be at max wounds already so you will lose the accuracy bonus but still benefit from your Helwalker/Duality of Mortal presence - Mind passives (+1 MIG&INT / wound) so it wont matter that much. Anyway, if I understand the goal of your build correctly, yes : you better not geting hit at all, you're an assassin after all, you cant have assassin/sniper-like big shots from stealth + being able to endure sustained damage When I returned to Deadfire, I also found that this particular part was a little bit harsh for a "begginer", especially in PotD difficulty. I figured that (because at this point of the game you only have Eder and Xoti) recruting a Druid (Ancient) and maybe a Cipher or a Chanter (or both, in my case it was a Psion/Troubadour which I kept all the game cuz it was an insane support for my grp btw) for those fights solved a part of the problem. Druids have very strong spells to deal with beasts early on (Charm Beasts / Hold Beasts), and Ancient subclass has strong summons (also Chanter can summon skeletons as "meat shield" for those tricky fights). Lots of reloading but clearly easier with a full party Hope you'll find the build that suits you

Thanks for the ideas ! Juste wondering, what does trickster do in this build ? Defensive skills ? Also i'm afraid not having mob stance will harm the cleaving purpose of my build.. Maybe i'm overvaluing the benefit of mob stance comparing to carnage. I dont know what is the strongest between those two regarding my aims. Do you think fighter/barb wont be enough for reliable damage ? Also i feel like you need engagement in order to reliably cleave enemies. What do you think ? Thx again

Hello guyz, I almost finished my 2nd Deadfire playthrough (the 1st one beeing 4 years ago not long after the game released), this time with DLCs and exp-packs. I'm currently going through the DLCs. During this run, I learned a lot about the game and its mecanics (mostly thanks to you guyz ) but I feel like I have a lot more to learn so I aldready want to plan a 3rd playthrough. I already have some ideas about what I want to play but also a lot of questions. I apologize in advance for the length of this thread and the modest quality of my english. First of all, my run setup : PotD, RTwP, Community Patch +, All Berath's Blessings, PoE 1 Histories that allow me to get all the good stuff in Deadfire (Gifts, Effigy's Resentment, Legacy items etc.) In my current playthrought, I chose to play a Berathian Priest/Helwalker as my MC and enjoyed it a lot. I play with Eder as a swashbuckler Tank, Xoti as buffing Priest, Aloth/Tekehu as ranged nukers, and I also have a Psion/Troubadour CC/buff/debuff bot custom character I bring everywhere cause it's really strong and a lot of fun to play with. My MC kinda play the role of the single target assassin of the group, and use mainly Spiritual Weapon with all the Monk's goodies (and also single target spells with high Might thanks to Helwalker) to do a lot of single target damage. I loved this hybrid build a lot but it my next playthrough, I want to go for a more melee/weapon/brawler focused build (even though I liked the hybrid part of my previous build...). Here are some ideas illustrating what I want/like : - A reliable hitter : Not especially a heavy hitter but a MC that can reliably land things into a brawl. I hate when I spend ressource (and talents points) on a skill that often misses of doesn't do much in a fight (I have the feeling that I better use my points into passives that do better than active skills that often under-penetrate or miss... if you understand the feeling..) I know I have a lot yet to learn about numbers in this game but sometime I feel like some abilities (or even subclasses) are just not worth the investment.. - A kinda fast hitter: I liked Swift Flurry/Heartbeat Drumming combo a lot, but I found recovery time a bit too long with my build, I'm thinking about more instant recovery/faster recovery/action speed mechanics like the Barbarian ones maybe ? Chromoprismatic staff maybe ? Maybe Mobstance could fix that ? - A Brawler: It means I want: ---> Extensive cleave capabilities. Things I like: Mob Stance, strong On Kill effects (Barbarian again ?), effective AoE abilities (Heart of Fury but requires SC and comes late), Carnage ? is it good though ? ---> Acceptable survivability: I dont want to take Eder's Tank role (I like Eder an definitely want Eder in my group) but I need to be able to sustain a bit, tough I'm ok with BDD/Salvation of Time strategy so.. I could be a bit squishy... - Still a reliable single target hitter: I dont wont to be useless on bosses or priority targets even if I'm kinda AoE/cleave effective. - TLDR: I want to trade the caster part of my Berathian Monk for 1) melee AoE capabilities, 2) a little more action speed, 3) maybe a little bit of tankiness I know the character i'm looking for is somewher between a Fighter, a Barbarian and a Monk but I dont know the good combos with these classes. Maybe a Wizard could fit too (enchanter ?) (martial enchantments seem really strong, also Draconic Fury Book...). Also Streetfighter seems really strong too, for action speed (and damage). But I can't fit all of these into one caracter. I need help Explicit Questions : - Could I be Devoted with Chromoprismatic Staff ? Is it a good endgame weapon to achieve what i'm looking for ? - Is Devoted worth the subclass ? (I understand how the crit damage could synergies with Berserker but.. is it good ?) is +2 PEN a good buff ? - I read that dual wielding Battle Axes would be good too (maybe because of full attacks and modal), what do you guyz think ? I dont know a lot of Battle Axes in the game (except Magran's Favor obviously) - Playing Priest taught me the power of Spiritual Weapons an lashes in this game so, I was wondering, could Devoted/Priest of Woedica be good regarding the fact that you have proficiency with fists automatically ? Does it work ? Are Woedica Fists actually fists ? - More open question : what kind of MC would you guyz suggest to achieve what i'm looking for ? Also, even though I like playing with companions a lot (I kinda need this in a cRPG), i'm now ok with the idea of bringing a custom sidekick with me as I did in my current playthrough, especially if it synergies well with my MC. (I loved having my Psion/Troubadour around during this run, was also a lot of fun to discover Cipher and Chanter, two classes that I had never played before.) (Psion is really good btw, for me : one of the best addition to the game so far) Thanks a lot for reading Read ya

Hello, I just remembered about the Berath's ability you unlock during Eotath/Gods interactions. i'm wondering if those abilities matter in the end game...I found that Chorus of the lost could be quite impactful (-> AoE Immobilize), but is it ? Also if you make the "good" dialogue choices, you can end up with a rank3 inspiration on PER/MIG/INT on the Death's Herald ability... Seems quite strong.. Are some of them stronger than others ? What do you think ? Also, because of my Histories from POE1 (I think), I received no Gift of the Machine after the completion of Distant Light in Hasongo (i dont remember if I made a bad choice in POE1 or not..., can you explain this to me ?) Thx

@Boeroer Question regarding Spearcaster : What upgrades should I pick ? If I understand correctly the Elemental Bolts (+3% Damage as Burn, Corrode, Freeze and Shock) would negate the malus from arcane archer subclass (because elemental keyword ? right ?), but Arcane Bolts (15% chance to cast Minoletta's Minor Missiles at target on scoring Hit) seems strong too. I'm not sure what to chose here. Also Pinning (20% chance to Immobilize target on scoring Hit) seems stronger that Skewer (Grants Skewer: Fires a bolt through multiple targets, inflicting 25-30 , pushing them back 5m and setting Immobilized for 10.0 sec if successful. Uses: 2 per rest.) Am I right ? Also I do not remember if items enchantements can be reset in deadfire ?

@Boeroer Thanks a lot for your time, just what I needed to dive into a new campain. Any thoughts about a prefered race (if it has any impact at all) ?

@Boeroer I like this a lot ! do you have some kind of guide to learn further about this archetype ? Or some basic advices regarding stats/race for char creation ?

Seems strong indeed ! I'll definitely do that. Thx I'm now wondering how I can fit any kind of chanter into my party composition. I never played with a chanter before and heard it was quite strong to have one... What would be your suggestions ? main char as a chanter (MC or not..) ? Pallegina as a MClassed chanter (will she be some kind of melee chanter, tank ?) Tekehu ? Thx !

Thx for the insight Another question : I like Eder as my main tank, would you advice to play him as pure Fighter, or Fighter/Rogue ?

Thx again I'm wondering about my race choice atm and I like the idea of moon godlike but i'm wondering if the AoE healing scales with anything as my character levels-up, or if it become quickly obsolete. Also I understand that Nature Godlike is always strong but feel like Death Godlike could be very strong in tricky moments (with the +3 PL while near death). Am I wrong ? Also, the downside of not beeing able to wear helmets.. idk what to think about this.. What are your thoughts about this ? Edit : I found out that Moon Godlike's Heal scales +10% with PL with community patch, is it enough to make it viable ? Thx

Thanks a lot for those advices and insights. A question comes to my mind when thinking about MCs : I remember back in the days that MCs could not learn the two last tier of spells/abilities of their classes, is it still the case with DLCs ? Also I never thought about using Konstanten, fassina and the-last-one-I-dont-remember-the-name because I found they where not written as greatly as other companinons. I it still the case ?

I like the idea of multiclassing but always fear I would miss out on some endgame spells/abilities because of the multiclass limitations. I'd like to have multiclasses but also singleclasses characters. Also i'm wondering what is strong and fun as MC, and what is strong and fun as SC.

Hello everyone, I finished the game once in PotD just after the release back in the days, and am willing to plan a second PotD playthrough with all the new content (DLCs, patches, etc). I am not interested in turn-based mode, I'm a BG fan and love the original gameplay as it is. I'm looking for some advices on party composition (I dont want to play solo because I want to experience several classes gameplays and I like the lore tied to companions). Back in the day I had : - a Bleak Walker/Assassin main character (kind of a rogue gameplay with big sneakattacks and all that stuff) - Xoti as a Priest - Eder as a Fighter Tank - Aloth as a Wiz - Tekehu as a water druid - Serafen as a Barb - Pallegina as a Paladin (less used) - Maia as a Ranger (less used too) I used to switch my team comp every now and then to experience different gameplays and different banters/stories/quests. For this new run I want to experience other kind of gameplays (maybe monk or chanter, or even druid : I like Tekehu's subclass but was a bit frustrated he could not use fire spells). At first I was about to make a monk as my main char but I remembered Xoti can be a monk (also I like Xoti a lot as a companion, lorewise, and I find her quite useless as a priest). Also i'm wondering if Tekehu makes a good chanter (since he cannot do summons), and I liked him as a druid... So, idk. Also I figured out there are new subclasses, so i'm kind of undecided and need your advices ! I dont want especially OP stuff (the kind of stuff you look for when soloing the game) but I want kinda strong main char, even if he has to be the support guy at the beggining. Any advices guyz ? Thx

Le problèmes c'est que "Blessure" existe déjà pour les malus après KO.