arkane83

Cipher pairs best with martial classes: ranger, rogue, barbarian, fighter, monk or paladin (in no particular order). Mixing with priest, wizard, druid or chanter isnt necessarily terrible, but generally not optimal. Druid shapeshift should help generate focus and gets boosted by soul whip. Wizards, druids, and priests all have conjured weapons which can help as well. Wizards actually may be a good pick with some of their aoe conjured weapons, (blights and lance). If you find a combo you like, post a build

Because he doesn't have Chanter summons, and Druid summons are inferior. Foe only chillfog. Tekehu is arguably the best companion in the game if you play a rogue or a beguiler

I think arguments can be made for no-sub, skald, and beckoner being "weakest". Troubador is way too strong compared to the other three options. IMHO Skald needs the most love. I would give them +1 pen on offensive invocations and/or a modal to change them from cone to caster-centered foe aoe

A roguish berserker who is so terrifying, he can scare himself unless stoned on svef. Best. Synergy. Ever.

Eder - at least one subclass for his class options. Unbroken / Trickster for powergaming tankiness or something more lore friendly like a no-sub fighter / streetfighter Xoti - I think a Helwalker would be a great replacement for her monk subclass since healing scales off of might Aloth - Maybe an Arcane Knight option instead of battlemage? I love paladins... Serafen - I have mixed feelings about his cipher subclass, but it is kind of hilarious when you turn the last enemy invisible in an easy fight. I would definitely make sure all three of his options include cipher! Maybe dump pure barb for ghost heart / wild mind or trickster / wild mind. The other main characters are pretty good. Tekehu is amazing with his foe only chillfog. I love Maia's bird, and she makes a fantastic geomancer or scout. Pallegina also makes an incredible Herald. I don't bother with sidekicks. IMHO just hire an adventurer if you don't want companion quests and dialog...

This thread should be titled: What cipher abilities would you like nerfed in 1.3?

One of my little gripes with skald is how cone attacks work. Fighting in melee range puts you right in the thick of your enemies. Cone attacks tend to hit you are fighting and who is behind them, often missing plenty of proximate targets. The ideal range for those cones always seems to be either ranged (no skald bonuses) or reach two hander (lower crit chance). A mid to short ranged troubadour using brisk seems to use those cone shaped offensive invocations about as often and much more effectively than a skald.

Considering that he can be multi barbarian skald, dual wielding may make more sense. Barbaric smash will give you hit to crit conversion and is likely to kill the target and refund cost.

Consumable that let's you instantly repair hull, sails, and injured crew.

They are selected when you level up, the same way a fighter would pick between their abilities. Wizards also can equip a grimoire that gives 2 spells per level. The grimoires let you use spells you dont know, but not ones that are restricted from your subclass. Some people multi a wizard with another class and get away with fewer points spent on wizard spells and use different grimoires for different situations.

Sounds like a bug since bonuses are different.If the + all stacks with any of the specific + defenses it would be an oversight. They are not supposed to stack. Everything else that's active and has an overlap in part of its effect suppresses that part. Do you have a source of this information? I'm asking because those buffs would stack under PoE1's rules.Active effects that buff the same stat, ie deflection, do not stack. Edit: but the stats that don't overlap, such as will defense from VD, are no problem.

Character 4 is a blend of 1 and 2 (Crusader or Herald) takes 5 damage per hit, heals 5 per turn, and trivializes all of the content in the game. Just wanted to bring the conversation back to: Paladins are overpowered as a multi class and are also slightly underpowered as a single class. I think they need some love on the higher tier abilities

No thanks. Getting caught stealing is already a game mechanic which can cause reputation loss or outright hostility. You should not suffer those consequences anyway if you manage to beat that mechanic. And it would just be tedious to unequip items when visiting the merchants you stole them from. I am just shocked that we dont even get shady reputation for being dirty rotten thieves and flaunting our stolen goods in front of our victims. In particular, UNIQUE items where there is no rational explanation how you got their missing item without being a thief or buying from a fence.

I would love to see a justice system in place where you get some sort of penalty for stealing. Right now, stealing everything that isn't nailed down is a no brainer. Devil of Caroc's breastplate is insanely overpowered and easy to get. My Holy Slayer (Streetfighter / Goldpact) got this as soon as he got to Netekata and it was a game changer. I think when I use sworn enemy I end up with over 15 armor. That was around level 6 or 7 Don't make it harder to steal or make these items unavailable. Give us something negative for doing this (reputation maybe?). Or if the merchant sees you walking into her store wearing her missing armor... I don't know.. maybe you get attacked?

The Jedi were a religious order with martial training. They are very much space paladins. Edit: actually a VOTARY would fit for an Anakin type. If you want something like Emperor Palpatine you would have to go Fury / Bleak Walker just for the lightning feel (and being a cruel / aggressive character).

Raw damage gets no benefit from penetration. Bleak Walker Cipher and name him Skywalker

Sid Meier's Pirates! game (the old MSDOS one) did exactly that.

Sounds like a bug since bonuses are different. If the + all stacks with any of the specific + defenses it would be an oversight. They are not supposed to stack. Everything else that's active and has an overlap in part of its effect suppresses that part.

Less than half of the character deflection score is attributable to Paladin defenses. See, the thing is with defenses, each new point is more valuable than the last point. I actually have a thread about attack versus defense in the character builds forum. Even though it looks like only 10% of his defense is from being a paladin, the fact that there isn't any other passive that does the exact same thing so that it can stack with wizard double is why there is so much value to those 21 points. Those 21 points of deflection are arguably worth more than any other deflection he gets. if you lose those 21 points he becomes quite able to be hit (grazed) which quickly loses the points from wizard's double. Everyone gets deflection from their class and level. Before you can even begin to analyze the relative value of that buff, you MUST take the base class and level deflection points out of your consideration. Accuracy and deflection are subtracted in the attack roll. That means that the baseline stuff is just a character level gateway. Essentially, the first 77 points of deflection make you a max level character. At lower levels both you and your enemies get less of those points making it a zero sum! He has a deflection of 212 with that build. 77 of those points have little to do with how you actually build your character (most classes have a base deflection of 20). That leaves 135 points from attributes, gear, consumables, and abilities. Abilities comprise about half of those 135 points. 40 from wizard's double, 21 from deep faith, and 6 from weapon and shield style. That is 67 points from his ability selections. The other 68 are from his gear selection, attributes and consumables. Wizard's double is very unreliable if you don't hit that 70 point deflection advantage cap. Putting that build aside for a second, go and browse deflection buffs on the various character classes. 21 is a tremendous amount for a passive. Its even more than some of the active abilities without actually having to use an ability. Oh... and it stacks with those active abilities (thus his build )

This build is from two major patches ago; however, it should give you some ideas of how to stack defenses for insanely good effect: https://forums.obsidian.net/topic/100521-class-build-solo-arcane-knight-what-happens-when-you-have-210-deflection/

No. Vigorous Defense and Arcane Veil are both actives so the deflection bonus gets suppressed (takes highest of the two). A little more complex because arcane veil is weak vs firearms, in which case VD lower deflection gets used. AV fully stacks with paladins deep faith.

Active buffs overwrite/suppress like buffs Example: If you use that fighter buff with mirror images on a battlemage, the game will take the higher of the two deflection bonuses and use that. Passives, on the other hand, can be freely combined with no bonus suppression. Everything on the right hand side of your skill tree when you level is a passive. Those abilities do not suppress each other or actives. Everything on the left is active. Those things do not stack with each other, but stack with the passives. Deep Faith is a passive and way more versatile than Vigorous Defensive because Deep Faith can be combined with any deflection bonus (including VD). Vigorous Defense, on the other hand, gets suppressed by any other active ability that provides the same bonus. Vigourus Defense + Mirror Images does not fully work. You only get one of the bonuses to deflection Deep Faith + Mirror Images does work. Both deflection bonuses stack!

They changed how wizards learn spells and use a grimoire. You dont learn spells from grimoires in PoE2 like you did in PoE1. You are much more limited in spell selection, but the upside is that grimoires let you almost take no wizard spells as you level if you multiclass. They multi very well if you plan which grimoires you will use.

This isnt true at all. Fighters get a very cheap resource cost ability that instantly adds plus 20 to all defenses for a decent duration. There is no point in rolling a paladin. In there current state they have three broken ability skill trees including all there upgrades including: - Hastening exortation is a complete joke. A high level buff that adds +5 Dex?? This is no where near worth using - Reviving exhortation killls the person you revive nearly 100% of the time after 15 seconds. I cant keep them alive longer then that and ive tried numerous times - Self immolation is a complete no brainer to avoid at all costs. Even is you do stack reflex high enough to avoid full hits with it why would you want to do that? A wizard casting a fireball doesnt do himslef damage when he does it WTF is a paladin doing copping such huge damage to himself? All these skill trees involving these three active abilities are currently broken. Flames of devotion is also pretty crappy after they nerfed it 20 times. I stay away from Paladins they suck bigtime The fighter defense boost is an active ability that gets overwritten by other active abilities. Deep Faith is a passive that STACKS WITH EVERYTHING. A max resolve Arcane Knight, Holy Slayer, or Crusader are going to be able to have better deflection than anyone. Comparing an active ability to a passive ability shows that you dont understand the way this game works. Deep Faith is one of the best passives in the game. It let's you safely dump resolve for other attributes without becoming a paper tiger. You can also use it the other way to become a monster of a tank by stacking resolve and other defensive abilities. Paladins are my favorite class, and I actually love being rewarded for roleplaying a certain way. Paladins are a hybrid tank, striker, and healer which makes them extremely impactful in combat. I personally find them so incredibly useful that I almost think they need more nerfs...

Thank you. My calculations were all based upon no damage bonuses or penalties. Kaylon is absolutely correct about damage penalties and bonuses though, which is why I have a note indicating that I am leaving out a ton of other variables. Also, I may revise the value of the point curve to use a different metric to evaluate how much each point actually helps you. I also am thinking of doing a calculator that incorporates some of the damage formula. Bonus crit chance and damage BOTH will influence how valuable accuracy are going to be. The hit to crit, graze to hit, etc. abilities are a bit harder to estimate because, as far as I am aware, they are checked sequentially. 25% hit to crit and 5% hit to crit should be a net of about 28.75% actual hit to crit. If I were to actually make a calculator I would have to do something that uses the real abilities in-game so it is more useful.