Ivanfyodorovich

I suppose the intended design is that Monks don't get Fast Runner, they get to choose between two stronger skills that split the functionality. It does seem quite weak, though it comes 2 tiers before Tumbling, and you can get both. Instead of flat +Defense, how about 50% Graze > Miss vs. DIsengagement attacks? Similar to Adept Evasion, but for disengagement, and less strong, because Tier 2. More thoughts on the other parts of this, but will need to reply a little later.

Hmm. Now I'm seeing it on this save when I just picked it up after leveling. The other save I had it already when I loaded it. Edit: Closed and reloaded and same effect - apply to regular hits. Also confirmed in vanilla.

I just tested and it showed in the tooltip, but did not apply to the attack. It correctly applied to the carnage hit, but not the main attack.

Lucca update: dead to the Valeras when the mediation with the Bardattos went bad. It has me a bit stunned, considering I’ve resolved this peacefully almost every previous play through. I checked the wiki to be sure I got it, and something went wrong. Maybe I didn’t go through enough of their dialogue trees beforehand? I asked Pallegina to quiet them down, and the easy option from Ezzali wasn’t there. I tried for the “let’s make money” option, but I hadn’t set it up correctly. I was level 7 and the whole Valera house attacks (all 3 skulls). It’s gonna be a little bit before I can do another PoE1 play through. I force quit during the fight and will finish this play through as if I’m still on a NR. It is trial of iron still. I’ll update here as it goes, but less thoroughly, since this is not a legal NR run anymore. Update: I went back and was successful. I needed to use the intimidate option (ENOUGH) and then a high RES option.

Lucca, Moon Godlike Darcozzi Paladini: Deadfire Introduction Game Version: 5.0.0.0040 LAX123ABCDEFGHI[TB] (All DLC enabled) Difficulty: Veteran Settings: Real Time With Pause; Expert Mode: Off; Trial of Iron: On; Berath's Blessings: None; Level Scaling: All, Only Upwards Mods: Community Patch: Basic, Extras, Keywords, Typos; Balance Polishing Mod: Buffs, Nerfs, Summon Rebalance (Minus Blunderbuss nerf, Chain Heal rework, Strike the Bell rework, Brilliant nerf); Carnage & Powder Burns Indicator; Enhanced User Interface Main Character Description: Lucca, Darcozzi Paladini and Watcher, has spent the years since Thaos enjoying all that life has to offer. She returned to visit Old Valia, but found little there to hold her loyalty or interest. The spirit of the Valian Republics now holds her attention, with their advances in animancy and bold action reaching towards the future. With no noble house to serve, Lucca spends her days serving her chosen family, the friends she has met along her adventures. This is just the kind of life she could get used to . . . Our chosen party this run will be Pallegina (Herald), Konstanten (Howler), Ydwin (Cipher), Fassina (Loremaster). A Chorus of Valian pride awaits!

Lucca Act IV I brave the Adra dragon and make it through the conversation without mistakes. We do the amulet trick and come back to loot the hoard. Totally unnecessary, but feels good to finish it out. Everyone is now level 14. I don't have the energy to clear all the bounties and any remaining side quests to get to 16. I planned to get Ryona's Vambraces for Pallegina to complete her Missile Commander build, but I don't need the extra firepower with everything on Standard, and I don't want to take the risk of a misclick at this point in the run. We clear through Sun and Shadow faster than I've ever seen. I feed the team all the food buffs, including dragon meat dish, and everyone pops a snowcap. Thaos is down in record time, though Pallegina barely gets off her FoD blunderbuss shot for 200+ damage on him right at the end. I thought took a screenshot, but must have goofed, because it didn't save. We trap Thaos in Sun and Shadow and scatter the souls across the Dyrwood like we promised Galawain and Magran. On to the Deadfire!

Lucca Act III, White March II Things go fast in Act III, and again I do not scale up the difficulty to keep it quick. I like to do all of the god quests. This time we let the elves go through the frost hewn breach and convince Rymrgand that he's cool with it. The Sky Dragon goes down very quickly to our level 12 party. We clear down to the bottom level of the Endless Paths, including a peaceful resolution with Od Nua, but I decide to wait to talk with the dragon until I have an actual chance at beating it if I click the wrong dialogue options. I'm not sure I need the loot from her, either, but I hate to leave it undone. We take care of Raedric again, and Kana snags some new armor. We also complete a few of the other Twin Elms quests (Hunter, Brother; Sagani's quest; collecting the 3 birds (don't worry, we didn't let him eat them)). Next, we head back to Stalwart for the fastest WM2 run I've ever done. We head straight to the fort and bust through the front door. I didn't look up what options were needed to peacefully negotiate with Adaryc, so we end up killing him. C'est la vie. From there off to the Monastery. We get in peacefully and drown the sad people in the basement. High Abbot goes down pretty easily, though I still convince a few of his people to change sides for the fight. From here we reforge the Hammer and give it to Kana. Onward to Cayron's Scar. The Kraken goes down faster than I expected. Thanks Pallegina! Pallegina with Caed Nua resting bonus and the +4 CON ring hits the crystal and survives. We return Abydon's memories to him. Take that Ondra! Now to finish with Thaos.

Let's leave both as disease, and do some smaller polish here. I think Boeroer and Thelee have a good point that the ability as it exists now is pretty strong, even with the disease KW on both the base and upgrade. There are only 2 other disease abilities in the game, so it's a cool flavor/niche. Making it auto-hit fixes most of the problems with it. Keeping both disease removes the upgrade being inferior, as Boeroer pointed out.

Gotcha. Please do add the KW. I wouldn't think of it as a nerf, since it's already flagged that way internally.

I tested, and it already is flagged disease. It seems good to leave it.

If we can't separate the debuff from the damage in terms of disease flagging (as it seems based on this latest test), I think we should buff the upgrade slightly or it will be a case of the original ability being stronger than the upgrade. Corrode DoT (9 per 3.0 for 10 seconds) or dual debuff (Distracted or Hobbled) is my vote.

Lucca Act II & WMI We head to defiance bay at level 4 and quickly build up to level 6 doing as many nonviolent/low level quests. We are going to ally with the Crucible Knights, though we complete Osric's Breastplate to get access to the Dozens shop. At level 6 we go back to kill Raedric. A bit easy, as expected, but that's my plan with this run. No level scaling, stay a few levels ahead of the content to reduce the risk and speed up the playthrough. I have done enough PoE1 runs now to not miss the challenge. Back in Defiance we do Catacombs, Brakenbury (including Aloth's quest) and some in Ondra's gift. Then head to the Endless Paths to clear through to Persistence. Back in Defiance Bay, we do Heritage Hill. I went in through the left side in Valtas Manor, pulling the whole house at once. Things got a little interesting for a moment. In Ondra's Gift, I fight Lillith, thanks to a careless dialogue choice with Maerwith. This fight also poses a challenge with no Prayer Against Imprisonment. We speed through Dyrford, peaceful solution with the ogre, kill our way through to Wymund and have Grieving Mother wipe her (drop GM after the quest). Tie up the loose ends in Defiance Bay, and Head out to the White March. I do not enable level scaling here - I want to make this go as quickly as possible. I'm also playing a lot in the middle of the night in between feeds for my newborn baby, so it helps to have things be a little more forgiving. Here, I'm really trying to not get caught up in side quests. I do not pick up either companion in Stalwart. In Russetwood I snag the Bear belt for Pallegina, who is now rocking Leadspitter and a Pistol. We grab Bittercut, though no one is set up to use it. I make peace with the Ogres, snagging Golden Gaze for Aloth, and we head to the Battery. I grab the other half of Stormcaller for Sagani. I have to double back to start the Giftbearer quest in order to have Urthal spawn to pick up St. Ydwen's Redeemer for Pallegina. This is really just for another instakill proc on the Eyeless and the Thaos fight. It will be easy to level it up as we clear the battery. Back in town we awaken the woman in the inn, and return to clear the Battery. Things go smoothly here, though I make the classic mistake in the corner fight where spirits spawn inside the room and aggro along with the vessels in the hallway. Thankfully my priest doesn't die in the initial salvo, and I'm able to stabilize. For most of these fights I have the AI on and just spot check as needed. It still takes so long to clear through. The final fight went smoothly, and we durganize Pallegina's armor & Leadsplitter, Outworn Buckler, and Sagani's armor. Onward!

Look at Withering Strike, maybe? It is not poison, but Toxic Strike is? I'd be glad to test a file, too!

What if you remove the disease flag from the initial ability, but keep it on the upgrade and add something to strengthen the upgrade. Maybe increase the duration, add a corrode DoT, or add a second affliction (Hobbled or Shaken)?

@Elric Galad What if you set the cast time to .5, leave the raw DMG what it is, but increase the corrode explosion to 50-60 corrode?

I like that approach - buff the on-death effect to make it worth casting for 1 instakill. If you get more than 1, you are getting much better than average results.

14 is the magic number, I think. With +1 from gear and any INT inspiration, you can hit 20. That's very achievable. You are probably getting INT from Duality, as well.

Does long pain have summoned weapon scaling or unarmed scaling or both?

That's fair. Maybe a more modest damage increase along with a phrase reduction and cast time reduction would be better to prevent power creep?

I was just looking at the base DMG, so that makes White Worms slightly stronger. Some info for fun below. PL3: Noxious Burst: 32-43 corrode vs. FOR (+sickened) // White Worms: 48-61 crush vs. REF (w/ PL scaling) PL4: Calling the World's Maw: 32-54 pierce vs. REF (+prone) // White Worms: 51-64 crush vs. REF (w/ PL scaling) PL5: Ocean Burst: 50-62 crush vs. REF // White Worms 53-67 crush vs. REF (w/ PL scaling) PL6: Pillar of Holy Fire: 65-78 burn vs. REF (smaller AoE) // White Worms: 55-70 crush vs. REF (w/ PL scaling) PL9: Tornado: 45-72 crush base vs. FOR (+knockup, double the radius) // White Worms 62-78 crush vs. REF (w/ PL scaling)

I do think the damage is low. It seems like the "budget" for the ability was spent on the "on death" effect, which you are right, is a little too situational. Wilting Wind is PL8 and does 55-68 base. Maybe you could tune up Boil Their Flesh to 30-34? 25% increase over current.

I did some digging and the closest spell is Ocean Burst, which is PL 5 and only Tekehu, deals crush, interrupt on crit, same 2.5m radius, but you can cast it when/where you want. You don’t get a higher base damage AOE until Tornado for Druid. For priest Pillar of Holy Fire at PL6 is the first aoe with higher base dmg (though smaller AoE). For Wizard, Torrent of Flame at 5 is the first spell with higher base damage.

Resolve is a funny stat. You either want to max it out, because you want high deflection, and every point gives increasing returns, or you want to dump it, because you gain very little from each point at lower levels of it. With FF and SC Paladin using Sacred Immolation, Resolve has the added effect of hugely mitigating a self-damage component of a signature ability, making it much better. A FF with high resolve can cast their Forbidden Fist ability on cool down, without worrying about the self-damage being too high. The debuff is called Forbidden Curse. I'm not sure how it works in TB, so you may need less resolve to cast Forbidden Fist on cooldown, gaining 1 wound per turn easily (on top of any other effects expiring). You might be able to get away with low resolve and instead just use Clarity of Agony to get it to 1 would per turn (though you have to spend 2 wounds on it every few turns). Forbidden Fist costs 0 wounds if you have 0 stacks of the Curse, and it deals great damage with a very strong debuff (enfeebled).

I think these are reasonable, though the dual damage might be a little too strong (without checking every class, I'm confident this is the highest damage AoE spell at PL2 for any class by a big margin, which means it scales very well with PL). You could reduce the damage a little to compensate, or instead, add a corrode DoT to the upgrade to make it more compelling. Coming back to adding Poison Keywords, to confirm, we want to add Poison to these abilities: Vile Thorns Plague of Insects Venombloom (check to make sure it isn't double dipping, since it already benefits from Poison PL now) Toxic Strike (needs the antidote KW added, too) I'm happy to test these if that saves you time. Let me know!

Yep. Forbidden fist does not gain wounds from taking damage. They only gain wounds when a hostile effect expires on them. That includes their main ability they get at level 1, which puts a self damaging debuff on them. They are the ideal Brawler tank subclass. Make sure you max out resolve, but Clarity of Agony also does wonders. Tuotillo's Palm has great synergy, too (the deflection per wound upgrade). You can add some items to help increase wound generation (Hylea's Claw). If you search Forbidden Fist here, you can find some great discussions on how to maximize their unique abilites.