Cyrus_Blackfeather

Alright, thanks!

Quick mechanics question. If you're using a conjured weapon skill and you have proficiency with that particular weapon type, would you be able to activate the chosen weapon's modal ability while you have it 'equipped'? Also, follow-up question. Does a conjured weapon override the current bonuses/spell-like abilities of your equipped weapon? Say I wanted to use Citzal's Spirit Lance as a Sage with the Chronoprismatic Quarterstaff. Would I be able to use the Pike modal if I had proficiency, and would the Quarterstaff's action speed bonus per Metaphysics carry over?

That's actually pretty cool! I imagine she'll probably have a role to play in the Archmage focused DLC as well.

So, I'm working on creating a custom legacy for the character I want to play through PoE2 with as my 'main' so to speak. He's a Pale Elf knowledge plunderer, which basically means he has a thirst for information gathering and experimentation without much of an ethical compunction regarding how best to use this information. Now, it's been a LONG time since I've done the conversation with Llengrath in PoE1, so I'm a little in the dark about what exactly the context behind "Sharing knowledge" with her is. What I mean is, I've gathered enough from the wiki to know that Llengrath wants to prevent Concelhaut's phylactery from falling into the wrong hands, because someone could easily use it to become immortal, like he was attempting to do. I also know that Llengrath himself has achieved a sort of immortality by personally grooming a successor to pass on his title to, along with all of his knowledge. But then, I'm not really sure about the whole "Sharing knowledge" part. What knowledge is shared, does it have an effect in Deadfire, and do the two of you part on better terms? Or is it like the Adra Dragon conversation I asked about earlier (Because I know she rocks up to your meeting with her with two Bog Dragons) where it's like "I'm content that I can control you so I won't have to kill you?" I know a lot of people kill her because, hey, tough fight. But A: Roleplaying and B: I was never able to, so I'd feel bad saying I did.

Heyo, So, I know I want to sacrifice a companion to the Blood Pool in PoE1 for my Monk/Wizard playthrough. The issue is, I'm not sure which. I'm torn between Durance and Grieving Mother, and I'm not sure which stat boosts would really serve me the best. Durance - +1 Con/+5% Max HP (So, essentially +2 Con as far as Max HP goes) Pros: With Gift of the Machine giving another +5% max HP, that's +15% essentially. Cons: Unfortunately, I'm a Monk/Wizard, so I only have something like 230 max HP at base Con anyway, so that buff doesn't really bring it up by much (Only to around 250 or so). Grieving Mother - +1 Int/+5 Defense against Intellect Afflictions (I think?) Pros - Charmed and Dominated are the absolute worst afflictions to be hit with in a party setting, and with my Intellect being close to max with Duality of Mortal Presence (+30 with this buff), I'm looking at +40 Will from Intellect alone, plus that extra bit of defense. Plus, from a roleplaying perspective, the likelihood of her coming back again is pretty slim. Furthermore, since she's glamoured, no one knows you did it. So you essentially get away with murder. Cons - ... Honestly, I can't really see many drawbacks. The additional buff is meh, but then all of them are, really, they're either incredibly situational or minimal. Intellect is a good stat to have both for build purposes and thematically. What are your thoughts?

Also, I sacrificed Grieving Mother to the Blood Pool for an extra point in Intellect, which brings me up to an even 30 with Duality of Mortal Presence.

Alright. Guess I'll kill her, then.

Hey guys, So I'm working on setting up a PoE1 Game State for my Pale Elf knowledge hunter/loreseeker type character (Basically, think of him as a sort of hoarder of knowledge, who is willing to go to some pretty suitably shady lengths to gather new information. Most of the decisions are pretty obvious, but one is proving to be pretty difficult. What should I do with the Master Below? Or rather, what's the context behind the conversation with her/Falenroed as a character? My character isn't exactly above sublimating Falenroed's soul to let the Master be free, provided there's a give and take outside of "Do this and I won't kill you." Basically, does the Adra Dragon offer you any good reason for letting her possess Falenroed outside of "I'll be out of your hair if you do"? Is there an exchange of knowledge hinted at, or the idea that she might be a powerful ally we could call upon later?

Made some more edits to the abilities by the way. Swift Flurry at level 7, then Combat Focus at Level 8 and Arcane Dampener OR Expose Vulnerabilities at level 9. Also, I swapped The Dichotomous Soul for Heartbeat Drumming to synergize better with Citzal's Spirit Lance, especially since The Dichotomous Soul is a four wound cost skill in a wound hoarding build. I'm leaning toward Arcane Dampener over Expose Vulnerabilities.

Now that is interesting! I'd have thought instruments of pain would have replaced the summoned weapon and used your "equipped" weapon. Good find! Yeah, I'm really excited to give it a try.

I have not! More of a reason not to go Evoker, then! I'll go ahead and swap out Gaze of the Adragon for that. And by proc effects, do you mean things like Swift Flurry and Heartbeat Drumming? Should I swap out The Dichotomous Soul for Heartbeat Drumming and something else for Swift Flurry, or just leave things as they are otherwise?

Thanks! I swapped out Ironskin for Pull of Eora.

Hey guys, So, I've been making a lot of little tweaks and adjustments to my Sage build based on the feedback I've gotten from these forums, and I think I've come up with something that I'm really proud of. Hence why this is a "Final Draft" and not a "WIP" anymore. Of course, the Final Draft still has room for revision, so I'd appreciate any suggestions that could be offered. I've done my best to make it a little less opaque, and to trim down the fat, so to speak. This will just be stats, race, background, and abilities. The intent of this build is to use the Monk subclass to create a ranged caster that benefits from high Might (from the Helwalker) as well as high Intellect to rain down massive destruction on his enemies. Pale Elf was picked for the thematic flair as well as extra armor against elemental attacks. The Difficulty... PotD with Deadly Deadfire Installed and Story Companions The Race... Pale Elf The Faction... VTC The Class... Helwalker/No-subclass Wizard* The Background... White that Wends/Aristocrat The Skill Focus... Stealth (Active)/Diplomacy and Metaphysics (Passive) The Stats... With all bonuses from PoE1 imports, as well as the Chameleon's Touch ring, racial and culture bonuses, permanent +1 attribute potion, and Berath's Blessings factored in. Might: 17 (13 Base + 1 Gift of the Machine +2 Berath's Blessing + 1 Permanent Stat Bonus) Constitution: 10 (8 Base + 2 Berath's Blessing) Dexterity: 18 (14 Base +1 Pale Elf +2 Berath's Blessings +1 Chameleon's Touch) Perception: 20 (16 Base +1 Pale Elf +2 Berath's Blessing +1 White that Wends) Intellect: 20 (16 Base +2 Berath's Blessing +1 Chameleon's Touch +1 Effigy's Resentment) Resolve: 10 (8 Base +2 Berath's Blessing) The Abilities per level... Abilities (Per Level) Primary Offensive Grimoire - Ninagauth's Teachings Secondary Grimoire - Grimoire of Vaporous Wizardry Level 1 - Swift Strikes/Chill Fog Level 2 - Lesser Wounds Level 3 - Thrust of Tattered Veils Level 4 - Two Handed Fighting*/Bulwark Against the Elements** Level 5 - Mortification of the Soul Level 6 - Merciless Gaze Level 7 - Llengrath's Displaced Image/Swift Flurry Level 8 - Combat Focus Level 9 - Arcane Dampener OR Expose Vulnerabilities* Level 10 - Pull of Eora/Duality of Mortal Presence Level 11 - Secrets of Rime Level 12 - Scion of Flame Level 13 - Rapid Casting/Tough Level 14 - Blast of Frost Level 15 - The Long Pain Level 16 - Citzal's Spirit Lance/Turning Wheel Level 17 - Martial Caster? Level 18 - Arcane Reflection Level 19 - Heartbeat Drumming/Tayn's Chaotic Orb Level 20 - Instruments of Pain *I've considered running Evoker with this build, but that would make my spell selection at certain Power Levels very 'meh.' That said, this build is designed to be more of an Arcane Artillery, so specializing in Evocation might be worth it. The chosen Grimoire gives me Curse of Blackened Sight as a second level spell to give Blind without Chill Fog. The only issue is, some Evocation spells require running into melee range and detonating. Right now, I'm about 90% for no-subclass, 10% for evoker. Can someone give me the over-under on why +2 Power Level is worth shutting myself out of two schools of magic? **Bulwark Against the Elements is taken because Infuse With Vital Essence is obsoleted by Duality of Mortal Presence later on, and until they fix respec, I'd rather not rely on it. Can anyone confirm whether this stacks with Ironskin, or does Ironskin's flat +5 armor rating override it? The Long Pain and Instruments of Pain are selected so that I can wield a wider variety of weapons at range, even if it's only available at Level 20. This character is designed to mesh with the DLCs pretty well, especially the Archmage-centric one, so I'm hoping I'll still have a lot to do even after hitting max level. I'm also still taking buffing spells because it seems prudent to do so. Even with Eder and Pallegina both tanking for me, enemies are probably still going to swarm us. The Problems... The biggest problem with this build is going to be friendly fire. Fights at melee in this game tend to turn into disorganized messes pretty quickly, and even with the safe zones of AoE spells there's no guarantee I won't accidentally nuke Eder and Pallegina to death because an enemy pushed them/they moved into the danger zone of a Fireball/Shadowflame. And I can't really hold them in reserve because then the enemy will just charge right up to us, and they won't be properly able to grab engagement on lots of enemies. So I'm left in a situation where I can't use some of my best spells for fear of hitting my companions. Compared to Cipher in particular, there's very few AoE spells that are "Foe only" and most of those don't do that much damage. Last bits of feedback... Pretty much everything is set in stone right now, but there's still some aspects of the build that are subject to change. I'd like some last thoughts regarding the ability selection. Is there anything glaring that I missed? Anything that's worth taking earlier, compared to something else? For a multiclass character, I've definitely noticed that it's half what you take, half when you take it. How stifled am I going to be by the whole "Accidentally nuking your party members" thing? For a few fights, I can use chokepoints and that helps a lot, especially with Eder and a Paladin/Chanter Pallegina serving as a frontline for enemies to bash themselves to death against. But then there's others that are much less controlled. Final thoughts... Those minor concerns aside, I'm honestly really pleased with what I've been able to come up with here. I know X/Monk multiclasses aren't anything new , and I also know that Monk/Wizard probably doesn't have t he greatest class synergy as far as ranged Monks go, but to be honest, most of the "optimal" builds are kind of boring, so I wanted to try something else for a change with a little more potential for character building, rather than just "Unga bunga damage" or "Haha, your attacks mean nothing to me you puny mortals, now watch as my army of minions slaughters you." That said, there's a difference between picking something that's not 'meta' and picking something that has absolutely no synergy at all like, say... a Priest/Druid or a Priest/Monk. If Sage falls into the category of "Absolutely no synergy at all" I'd like to know. The little bit of testing I've done so far has shown promise, though I'll admit I do miss my Marauder's skill at the whole "Killing people thing" sometimes. Edits... Swapped out Chain Lightning for Citzal's Spirit Lance and Gaze of the Adragon for Martial Caster Added Swift Flurry as my Level 7 Monk pick, have to pick between Arcane Dampener or Expose Vulnerabilities. Leaning towards Arcane Dampener, because shutting down some of the more potent buffs on enemies seems like it has more utility. Swapped out The Dichotomous Soul for Heartbeat Drumming and Two Weapon Style for Two-Handed Style for more synergy with Citzal's Spirit Lance/Chronoprismatic Quarterstaff/etc.

Hey guys, So, quick question. I'm making a character who's a bit of a... seeker of knowledge, so to speak. Almost a pirate, one might say. He's a lorekeeper, very interested in collecting loose bits of information from all over Eora and gluing them together with his own discoveries, not necessarily with the permission of those who originally possessed the knowledge. I was wondering which of the four factions would best serve this sort of philosophy? Here's my thoughts on each... - Principi: Sounds obvious, right? Pirate of knowledge teams up with pirates of... everything else. But I've played a bit of their story, and while I really like the politics involved, I'm not sure it fits. -RDC: I haven't really done much with their questline and, honestly, they seem kind of... impenetrable, if that makes sense. The RDC comes off as a bit too militant to really care about academic pursuits - well, academic pursuits that don't further the colonial militarist effort, at least, and where's the fun in that? -VTC: The one I'm leaning toward the most. Apparently, Director Castol is one of the more interesting faction contacts, and considering the Republics' support of animancy, it's a good fit for my high Metaphysics character. -Huana: Again, another obvious choice. Worm your way in to the indigenous culture and then abscond with their secrets and lore. The issue is, I'm not really sure if there's a way to play the Huana story in that way. Foist out the evil colonial oppressors so that you can essentially appropriate the Huana culture. Right now, I'm heavily leaning toward VTC, but I'd be interested to hear arguments otherwise.

Hey guys, So... this is a bit of a weird one, but after polishing up a build that I think is gonna take me through PotD, I've noticed that I don't get a lot of the things that I think will be really fun to use with it (Instruments of Pain, The Dichotomous Soul) until level 19/20. But by then... how much game is there left to play? Assume I'm playing on PotD with level scaling turned ON. What are the major "endgame" areas of the game in terms of difficulty? I know any area should count, but I also know that you can still outpace the level scaling as is, without modding the game first. I've heard tell of the Drowned Barrows and Splintered Reef (Drowned Barrows actually has one of my ideal weapons to kit out my Wizard in it), but not much else besides that. Are there any other cool fights that remain relevant at level 20 with good gear? Essentially, it's the problem that I run into with a lot of RPGs - You hit max level, get really good gear, and then there's just nothing left for you to do except clear the critical path... which is much too easy anyway. I've also considered installing the Deadly Deadfire mod, but then I worry that that might make the game 'too' hard. I have difficulty clearing Port Maje as it is on PotD, and I don't want to put myself through too much pain. Would it be possible to install it and then only toggle it on after I clear the arena, so I can tackle it with better gear/more party members?

Yes but OP is not playing solo, I think, and in such case, they are not essential. Could even go Nature Godlike and function like debuffer and burst damage dealer. IMO function or playstyle is the first thing player should determine, then pick class and abilities accordingly. I'm not - though admittedly I do want to play with Wizard story companions and my pick of that litter is Aloth (Who's kind of a jerk to everyone, really) and Fassina (Who's a sidekick, though one with two quests that feature her, so that's kind of cool I guess). I can have either of them make up for the losses, spell-wise. My only issue with it is the fact that the grimoire I want to use (Ninagauth's Teachings) has one unique Evocation spell you can't get anywhere else (Ninagauth's Shadowflame) but offers the other spells I listed as options at their respective Power Levels. Bitter Mooring is kind of meh, but Freezing Pillar, Ring of Death, and Chill Fog are all pretty potent spells, especially Chill Fog for early game Blindness. Tayn's Chaotic Orb is also a Conjuration Spell. So I guess... Does a 15% chance to Echo a spell = extra casts of some really potent crowd control/damage spells?

Monk/Wizard?

Hmm. Yeah, I suppose that's a problem - unless you make use of bottlenecks and checkpoints whenever they're present, and they aren't always. I'll stick at range though, that seems to make the most sense. Probably swap out Thrust of Tattered Veils for Chill Fog as well. Any thoughts as to the Helwalker/Dance of Death ranged question, or should I go ahead and stick with druglord Monk?

Hey guys, So I'm testing out a Sage in PotD right now (Helwalker/No Subclass) and I'm having a lot of fun with it from a roleplay perspective (Lots of points in Metaphysics and History) as well as a gameplay perspective (It's not just "unga-bunga damage"). That said, I kind of feel like it's a little slow (Which I know is kind of funny, considering it's a Monk) and I fold like a paper bag if an enemy so much as coughs on me (Which, I get, is part of the point of being a Helwalker). I can get through Port Maje just fine like this, but I had a few questions for people who have played Sage or similar Monk/Caster DPS (Well, Monk/Cipher or Monk/Druid). 1. Should I attempt to go melee with this or just stick at range and cast spells? I've been trying to play this class as something of a mixed melee DPS/spellcaster, and I don't really think that that's working out too well. Trying to weave in a cast of each spell as I hit the enemy with my sword is more clunky than anything. Would it be better to just act as a speedy Wizard with bonus damage and attack from range/with reach weapons? 2. Is the spell damage at least respectable later on? This is a bit of an objective question, but coming from a Marauder, who does amazing single target damage and ridiculous AoE (Though less so now with the nerfs to Lord Darryn's Voulge), I'll admit I'm a little spoiled when it comes to damage dealing classes. That being said, Wizards seem capable of dealing out decent AoE damage in their own right, it's mostly just the fact that none of them have a Perception of 20 or over, like yours truly. I know this isn't an MMO, and I'm not expecting DPS timers or parses or anything like that. Just... Will my Fireballs make the enemies go 'boom'? 3. How many casts at each Power Level will I get by level 20, and is there a way to increase the number? I know there's items that give you extra casts of first level spells, and resting bonuses that do the same, but nothing beyond that. Basically, how many times do I get to blow people up per encounter, would I have more fun playing this at range (I'm beginning to think 'yes'), and will I be able to dish out respectable damage compared to the rest of my party? Also, is ranged Helwalker with Dance of Death a viable way to hit 10 Wounds without sticking your neck out too much, or should I just reroll to Nalpazca?

So, I'm making a Sage for a more "Lawful Neutral" playthrough compared to my Marauder's "You bad, me smash" playthrough. I was wondering about a subclass for the Wizard. Right now, the majority of my spells are either of the Evocation school or the Enchanting school, so I was considering picking up the Evoker subclass for the Doublecast and bonus PL to Evocation spells, and the... really no consequences to Enchantment or Illusion spells (Since the ones I want have negligible recovery times). The only concern I have is losing out on two whole schools of magic. My chosen grimoire (For Ninagauth's Shadowflame) has a few conjuration spells, namely; -RIng of Death -Ninagauth's Bitter Mooring -Ninagauth's Freezing Pillar I was wondering if those are worth not taking a subclass, or if I should just stick with Evoker since I'm using mostly Evocations and Enchantments anyway.

So that's one vote for Nalpazca. I'm probably going to stick with that since, again, it's thematically appropriate for what I'm going for with this character.

Of course there's also Shattered Pillar I'm overlooking. I'd want to drop Duality of Mortal Presence for that, since I'd be playing more of a Wound spender rather than a Wound hoarder, and pick up some abilities that'd allow me to spend wounds more freely. I've heard that it's a better subclass for frontline fighters, but I'm not sure how that'd apply to a mixed melee/spellcaster like this. I'd appreciate some thoughts/theorycrafting on that, since I obviously can't pick my subclass again. So far, I've tried being as objective as possible... 1. Helwalker: Very much risk/reward. I have to get hit to gain wounds, which kind of means I have to stick my neck out more than I might want to, but I get some pretty nice benefits. 10 Wounds max - 20% Burn Damage lash from Turning Wheel - +10 Might/+10 Int/+5 Dex (From Swift Strikes/Swift Flurry) - Favors a wound hoarding playstyle - 50% damage received 2. Nalpazca: Thematically appropriate for a Sage, and reminds me somewhat of Lantry from Tyranny (Who was honestly the only companion from that game I liked). Uses Drugs to gain wounds (Though can still gain wounds from getting hit, I think?). 10 Wounds max. - 20% Burn Damage lash from Turning Wheel -+10 Int/+5 Dex/+Whatever drug bonuses - Favors wound hoarding - Bonus PL to Drug duration -Drug crash when effects wear off (Through Arcane Dampener) means no healing. 3. Shattered Pillar: I mostly see this thrown around for pure melee Monks, but it might work here. 5 Wound maximum, but gains wounds by dealing damage rather than by taking it or by using drugs. - Lesser Wounds heavily benefits this subclass, as it lowers the damage threshold required to gain a Wound. - Doesn't benefit from Duality of Mortal Presence or Turning Wheel, consider replacing with Infuse With Vital Essence for equivalent results - Favors wound spending, but can only gain wounds from auto-attacks now, not from spending resources. - Benefits from Rooting Pain (AoE interrupt on Wound gain vs Fortitude). These are, at least, the benefits/drawbacks as far as I've been able to see them. I'm leaning toward either Helwalker or Nalpazca, but I'm not sure. As I said, further insight into this from people who have played with similar builds would be greatly appreciated.

Hello, So rather than carry on this debate in my Sage build thread, I wanted to ask it here. What's the preferred Monk subclass for a hybrid melee/spellcasting Sage? I'm trying to decide between Helwalker (For more Might in addition to more Int from Duality of Mortal Presence > Turning Wheel) and Nalpazca (For something more thematically appropriate as well as more constant Might generation through drugs with lower risk). Granted, I've heard lots of reports about how, in the most recent patch, all drugs except Svef are useless, but I'm not sure how true that is. I'm fine with either, especially since I obviously know I'm not a tank. I'm just curious to hear the pros and cons of both so I can make an educated decision.

Hey guys, So, had a quick question regarding naming conventions for the White that Wends. Does anyone have any info regarding etymology of those names? The only ones I think we really have (Assuming they're both from that region) are Glasvahl and Ydwin. I tried doing a little bit of research for the origins of both of those names, but I wound up just getting directed to the wiki pages and dozens of threads wondering why Ydwin isn't a full companion (Well, I'd gladly trade her in for Serafen any day as a Cipher, but maybe that's just me). Considering that I'm in this for the roleplay, I like coming up with names that are appropriate for the setting and, specifically, the culture my character is representing. So I'd appreciate any input.

Hey guys, So I'm curious about the "Maker's Own Power" belt item that you get for completing a particular bounty. The flavor text seems to suggest that it requires killing the Eyeless and not allowing them to restore Abydon. Is this the case, or can you get it on a save where you allow them to restore him?