Alesia_BH

Scion of Flame helps, but you're looking in the wrong place. Since the effect is additive, proportionate to base, not multiplicative with total damage, the effect is less noticeable, not more, as you stack on damage multipliers. Your rogue has Sneak Attack and Firebrand has Annihilation. In a sneak attack crit, the additional 20% of base would be hard to notice, in light of the size of the other modifiers and the range of variation. If you collected data you would notice an average difference, albeit a small one. The effect should be more noticeable in non-crits that are not sneak attacks. You should be able to see it there without recording numbers. Best, A.

It's a great enchantment- especially when intersected with other speed buffs. Some of the earlier numbers, now deleted, overstated the benefits of Speed 20, due to the aforementioned error in the spreadsheet's speed formula, but it's still great. It's possible to reach zero recovery without Speed 20. It remains relevant, nonetheless: 1) It increases the number of party members who can achieve or approach zero recovery 2) It makes it possible to achieve zero recovery in heavier armor Attack speed is but one variable in the DPS formula. Slow heavy weapons can do as much damage, or more damage, across time depending on the details. I'll suggest that you may be underestimating the merits of slow weapons. Faster/weaker isn't always better than slower/stronger. Pistols are competitive early. They underperform against low DR but are preferable against high DR. The question becomes whether you'd like to emphasize DPS against low DR targets or high DR. Later, and with speed buffs, pistols start to lag. The issue is that reload speed is not as amenable to reduction as recovery. Recovery reduction affects pistols, too, naturally, but it accounts for a smaller portion of the pistol speed formula due to the presence of the reload variable. Consequently, recovery reduction disproportionately benefits weapons that do not require reloads. The earlier calculations did not assume use of Sure-Handed Ila, since it is, by the midgame, usually crowded out by Dragon Thrashed. Yes. I'll acknowledge, though, that I fear that it would be problematic at zero recovery. One needs to understand the numbers and experiment with DPS maximization before deciding how important they are or aren't. I did the same in BG. By the time we got to know each other, I had moved passed the DPS concept, since I had concluded that it accounted for very little variation in combat outcome. In BG it's pretty rare that you die because you've done fractionally less damage per second. You're far more likely to die because, say, your aura was clouded when you needed to quaff a Potion of Clarity. Nonetheless, people talk about DPS all the time and rarely talk about defensive micro-tactics. It's understandable, but odd-ish. I'm merely trying to understand one aspect of gameplay. I can't yet say how important that aspect is or isn't. My guess is that I'll find DPS far less interesting/important once I've gotten better at PoE. Agreed. It's a good system. Best, A.

Quick Note on Alyssa's Game: Alyssa, Phantom Foes->Amplified Wave; Alora, AoE scroll is performing well in early testing. Phantom Foes + Amplified Wave quickly creates a large area in which to trigger death blows. First test, in a safe environment. Not bad for a cheap L1 scroll. In combat test with Twin Stones. Interestingly, Twin Stones triggers Deep Wounds, which I suppose makes sense, given the description. Best, A.

Btw, some comments taking casting into consideration. With the Gauntlets of Quick Action + DAOM and Durganized armor, it's possible for a cipher to cast at zero recovery while wearing scale. Happily, while using Durganzied Rain it's also possible to reach zero recovery in scale armor. All things considered, that may be the best configuration: Durganized Rain + Durganized scale + Gauntlets of Quick Action. That would give you fast focus generation, fast casting and protective armor. If you wanted to use Borresaine rather than Rain, for the stun, you'd need to wear a robe to maintain zero recovery. My call is Rain + scale. Even if I were comfortable in a robe, I'd still use Rain, since that would allow me to send the Gauntlets of Quick Action to another party member without incurring a recovery penalty. Best, A. EDIT: Upgraded Aloth's leather is tempting for the +10% AoE.

NW: Upon review, the spreadsheet's speed formula is incorrect. Recovery frame values turn negative if too many speed enchants are stacked. It's an easy fix, but be mindful of the problem.

Good point! Attack and recovery speed are included, at least in respect to DPS, but not as they affect casting speed. I concur that casting speed is relevant, too, and worth considering. Best, A.

Okay, everyone! Since I was uncomfortable with the lack of precision in regards to the cipher weapons discussion, I decided to do some spreadsheet work. These calculations were conducted specifically for Alyssa, factoring in her stats, talents, item choices and habits. Some may find it interesting. I've compared the 6 weapons that have caught my attention: Dulcanale, Forgiveness, Rain, Borresaine, Stormcaller and the Engwithan Scepter. Which one is best? It depends. A few comments, before we begin: 1) My instincts are better than I thought. The impressions I was under were born out. 2) I see why Semiticgod likes scepters, while most people hate them. Simultaneously, I think most people are underestimating scepters, although for reasons that differ from Semiticgod's rationale. 3) The weapons are pretty close under normal conditions. Differences only become significant in very specific circumstances 4) I have even more respect for weapon balancing in PoE now, following this exercise. Okay! Let's begin. We need to talk about Alyssa first. Alyssa typically has a Dex of 20 and a Might of 14. She has Merciless Hand, Dungeon Delver and Apprentice Sneak Attack, in addition to Biting Whip. Her ACC v Def differential is typically extremely high due to her Survival points, Zealous Focus, Devotions for the Faithful and Tactical Meld. She wears hide or padded armor and has the Gauntlets of Swift Action. The spreadsheet found on these forums allowed consideration of all those factors. She doesn't have Durgan steel yet and she's a little lazy about taking speed buffs, such as DAOM. We factored that in, too. Following some experiments in the White March, I was beginning to suspect that: 1) Stormcaller was at least as good as Borresaine for Alyssa, pre Durgan; 2) Dulcanale, however, seemed competitive, and arguably better than both, to my surprise, due to her sky high effective ACC, intersected with Annihilation. The numbers bore that out. Here's our first condition. No Durgan steel, relative ACC/DEF bonus of 15, no DAOM or other speed buffs. I'm assuming Gunner for pistols and Penetrating Shot for bows/scepters. Stormcaller beats Borresaine, albeit slightly (and without factoring in Stun); Pistols beat both, at least at high DR, with Forgiveness in the lead. Next, No Durgan steel, relative ACC/DEF bonus of 25, no DAOM or other speed buffs. The extra 10 ACC allows Dulcanale to pull ahead. That lead will grow as the ACC differential grows. For Alyssa, it's typically high, due to her buffs (her effective ACC is usually ~135, sometimes higher). That's why Dulcanale has seemed so good for her. Now we add Durgan steel. Since speed bonuses are multiplicative, the speed weapons are pulling ahead. Rain is in the lead now. And the Engwithan Scepter is competitive. Stormcaller is becoming irrelevant, at least from a Focus generation perspective. So, Semiticgod may have been on to something with scepters. But he never did White March and did not, as far as I'm aware, make extensive use of DAOM or other speed buffs. So why did he like them so much, whereas others poo-poo them? I simulated Semiticgod's conditions, taking away Alyssa's Merciless Hand + Dungeon Delver, upping Might and removing Alyssa's armor. Disregard Rain and Stormcaller, because Semiticgod never acquired those. As you can see the Engwhithan Scepter is in the lead, at least at low DR. And if you were to subtract out Penetrating Shot (I don't think he used that), it would look even better, at least at low DR. His instincts weren't entirely off. What's the upshot of this? Weapon balancing in PoE is exquisite. Different weapons have comparative advantages at different times and for different characters, depending on build details. Be skeptical of general arguments. Instead, go slow and do the math. Details matter and while our instincts can serve us well, results can be counterintuitive.. Best, A. Btw, don't generalize from Alyssa's results: crunch the number for your character specifically. The spreadsheet can be found here: https://forums.obsidian.net/topic/92293-a-dps-spreadsheet-calculatorwip/ EDIT: As mentioned below, upon review, I've concluded that the speed formula is off. Recovery time turns negative if you stack too many speed buffs. It's an easy fix, but be mindful of it.

We're not considering it for our lists. Runs have to be posted here, as they occur, to qualify. A video of a run, completed in the past, with unknown standards, clearly can not. This issue was whether a solo rogue has been NRed on PotD. The answer is we don't know.

Noted! Was the Ultimate Rogue a no reload, by our definition? I've refrained from judgement on this for lack of information. There is a distinction between Trial of Iron mode play and no reload play, as we define it. The latter requires players to see through difficult battles without force quiting. The former does not- at least not by definition. The author of the video claimed to complete a Trial of Iron run, not a no reload run. I'm not inclined to speculate on whether the run met our standards. The author made no claims to that effect, as far as I'm aware, and it would be difficult to discern in any case. I do see your point, however, and had noticed the same. In any event, it is an informative video, one that helps point the way for those of us interested in solo rogue play. I look forward to studying it further. And I look forward, too, to seeing more solo attempts in our thread. Best, A.

Only base, huh? Noted. That's a difference maker. Thanks, Serg! (Ok, since elemental talents are additive, and lashes are multiplicative, Stormcaller is not a great choice for a cipher. I see the argument now. It's a fun weapon, though. I look forward to trying it on a ranger)

Ok. We just got Stormcaller. It's better than I expected, due to the best attack, including an elemental option, and the +6 DR bypass against shock. We'll use it, at least until we get Durgan Steel. A question on best attack: How does the engine determine which attack to use, exactly? If we were to take Heart of the Storm, would it factor in the +20% to shock when determining which attack to use? Does it take into consideration the -6 to shock from Stormcaller? Or does it just select based on the innate DR values of enemies? Best, A.

I haven't noticed it with FoD; I have noticed it with Crippling Strike. It happens when I ambush an enemy with Crippling Strike, prior to the beginning of PoE's "in combat" condition. The hypothesis I'm working with is that the engine resets per encounter abilities at the moment combat officially begins. So, if you use an ability prior to "combat" it will be restored. That's just a hypothesis, though- I don't really know. In any case, it's clearly a bug, to my mind. 2 per encounter doesn't mean 3 per encounter, it means 2. If that happens, I try to refrain from using my final Crippling Strike to balance things out. Best, A.

When would be a good time to do Bounty: Captain Muarumi? Right now we have Durance standing next to Alyssa, using St Garam's, to stack an additional +10 on Borresaine and increase the frequency of stuns. Ideally we'd use Pliambo per Casitas instead, for use with Inspired Flame.

On Alyssa's weapons. I think I see the approach I'd like to take. The enemies that are resistant to piercing are vulnerable to crushing and they are, with few exceptions, either vessels or spirits. So, we're going to take Weapon Focus: Adventurer, use Borresaine as our primary, and then have two custom wands, one with vessel slaying and one with spirit slaying. That should offer excellent coverage with a minimum of talents used. Best, A.

@Serg. Great work, once again! @Ivanfyodorovich. That was an excellent first submission. I'm glad to see you're enjoying NR play, and this thread. I look forward to seeing more!

Makes sense. I suppose we could bring both. Borresaine for stun-able enemies within our crit range and Cloudpiercer for stun immune enemies. Best, A.

Good to know! I was wondering if I was the only one who was all: "He was a bad husband, you say? Abusive, you say? Well okay then: I get it. Safe travels, you crazy kids!"

That makes sense to me. I like Rending, though. I haven't tried either yet, but I'm inclined to see Borresaine as the best general use war bow (with the possible exception of Rain, pre Recovery elimination) and Cloudpiercer as the best cipher specific war bow. Best, A.

Ok. Comparing Grudge Keeper + Dangerous Implements and Cloudpiercer, both at Exceptional with a lash + cipher bonuses, but without Might bonuses and before DR I get. Non-flanked: Grudgekeeper = 31.725 Cloudpiercer = 34.65 Flanked: Grudgekeeper = 39.5 Cloudpiercer = 40.25 Their speeds are the same. So, even against Flanked enemies, Grudgekeeper would only be better if the Slashing to Piercing difference were large enough to offset Cloudpiercer’s Rending. Also, to make the comparison fair, you’d have to factor in the lost talent and Jolting Touch. Grudgekeeper can, however, take Superb + Lash + Kith slaying, where as Cloudpiercer can not I’m leaning toward Cloudpiercer.

Hunting bows are faster, but war bows do more base damage. Further, by the end game recovery can be reduced to 0. Considering speed, base damage, and additional damage, Persistence and Stormcaller can exceed war bow DPS, but only via the DoT damage from Persistence and the lightning from Stormcaller and those do not contribute to focus- hence the hunting bows for Rangers/Rogues, war bows for ciphers consensus. With the exception of wizards, via Blast, implements are not considered competitive. I'll acknowledge, though, that I'm not convinced that the benefit of Best Attack has been fully considered. We'll be using Phantom Foes extensively to facilitate Deathblows via AoE scroll from Alora. Given the large AoE and long duration of Phantom Foes, it's perfect for the task. We'll get a lot of damage out of Phantom Foes that way. Given that our foes will frequently be flanked, it makes sense to consider Bonuses v Flanked. We will take Accuracy v Creature type when possible, of course. The +20% from Vicious would still apply. The Bonus v Flanked survival bonus will be used against Kith. Assuming that you have enough points in Survival to take Accuracy v Creature type, equipping Jack of High Waters will push you to Bonus V Flanked. We could equip Jack of Wide Waters prior to sleeping on the eve of kith fights (although that would be insanely metagamey). Best, A.

Question for the cipher and ranged weapon fans! Now that Kana is approaching L9, and will therefore be switching from Sure Handed Ila to Dragon Thrashed, Alyssa will need to move away from weapons requiring reload. The consensus seems to be that war bows are the best choice for a ranged cipher, but none of the arguments I've read have taken in to account enemy variation in resistances or affliction bonuses. I'm tempted to give Alyssa Weapon Focus: Noble + Dangerous Implement with the intention of using the Engwithan Scepter and Grudge Keeper. That combo would allow us to cover all three damage types. Grudgekeeper would also bring Alyssa's current damage bonus vs Flanked foes (Phantom Foes) to 55% (20% Survival + 20% Vicious + 15% Apprentice Sneak Attack). Is this a terrible idea? Best, A.

Alyssa, Wood Elf Cipher: Entry 7- Defiance Bay, Part 2 After defeating Raedric, we resumed working through the Defiance Bay quests. We we have, by now, completed all of them, save those related to the animancy hearing. In Supply and Demand, we used Ectopsychic Echo for the first time. The conditions seemed perfect for safe use here: small enemy group, large area, all foes engaged with a target. Alora snuck around our foes and received the been without drawing any attention at all. A successful first test. We completed All Hands on Deck with a modicum of damage (not apparent in the screenshots). This was due to a slight positioning/targeting error that prevented Aloth from effectively muzzling our ranged foes with Chill Fog. Our melee foes, in contrast, were handled cleanly, using Curse of Blackened Sight and Mental Binding, followed by Chill Fog + Combusting Wounds, Arcane Assault and Concelhault's Corrosive Siphon. The finish. Next, we returned to the catacombs to complete A Voice from the Past. Letting our melee fighters engage first, and casting Mental Binding on our most dangerous foe, allowed us to defeat the oozes with minimal damage. In the skeleton battle prior to Helig, Alora found herself endangered while completing a dangerous mission. Fortunately, she emerged unscathed, although she did take some damage. We took our buffs and then set Pallegina and her wood beetles north, while Kana went east. Alora, who had beeb sent behind lines to assassinate the mages with a Fan of Flame scrolls, took some damage and required a Withdraw. The skeleton mages are sloppy glass cannons, tossing single target damage first, buffing never, but they do pose a knockout risk. A 70HP crit from Alora's arlabest put Helig on his keist immediately. A Mental Binding from Alyssa insured he would never cast a spell. Durance with the finish, via Iconic Projection. Onto the Sanitarium and The Man Who Waits. We claimed Usgrim's cell, as per usual, and then buffed while our enemies were districted by summons. Durance handled incoming disablers, via Suppress Affliction. Finally, we were ready to open fire. Aloth, Chill Fog; Durance, Iconic Projection; Alora, Sunbeam (via Sun-Touched). Adding Combusting Wounds to complete the formula. Finally, some fireballs. After reporting to Lady Webb, we were ambushed by assassins for the first time. That's a Boiling Spray trap, positioned to intercept any would be backline chargers. I was curious to see if the push effect actually works. Alas, Alyssa's Mental Binding halted the charge prematurely. Our trap never fired. In Clandestine Cargo, we nearly suffered our first knockout of the run. The impression I'm under is that late in fights, when enemy groups determine that they can't win, they seek instead to knockout a vulnerable character. in this case, a adra animat charged Alyssa, targeting her with Corrosive Breath. She chose to stand her ground and disable her foe with Mental Binding, while Durance sough to interrupt. That was almost the right call- almost. The animat cast his spell just before he was disabled. Alyssa was left with but 5 endurance points. Close call. We'll cover Undying Heritage next. Best, A.

That's probably it! I noticed it in the first fight after the Wymund interaction. During the Wymund fight it would have been obscured by buffs. I wouldn't have seen it until later, after the food buffs wore off. Best, A.

Is there a way that characters can get injured in combat without being knockout? That happened to Alyssa a moment ago. I've never seen that before.