Shai Hulud

Yep... my last run I did SSS, then FS, then BW, and all of that content made up like 10, maybe 15 percent of the run. If I'd done SSS last then it's like 2% of the game when Least Unstable Coil is done. Also FS is by far the best IMO. But yeah some more DLC would be nice, especially a lower level one. Somewhere you could go like L10, before having progressed through most of the story. Agree about the late game item builds. If those items are the meat of the build then you are going to be sneaking around most of the game until you get your items because you won't be able to handle fights beforehand. For difficult runs (solo POTD for example) you often sneak around until L16+ anyway, and you level up faster, so it isn't as big an issue but for most people builds that don't come together until the last 10 to 20% of the game are not going to be appealing. Single classes are much better in parties, which is how the game is usually played. It takes a long time to hit L20 in a full party, so getting crucial abilities tens of thousands of XP earlier allows you to actually fight things in the intended order. Like taking on the cave grub when you do Cornett's Call, rather than sneaking past for the goodies and coming back to stomp him when you're high level. Single class mages, priests, druids, ciphers, chanters, anything that requires hitting certain spells or abilities to be effective tend to work better in parties than multiclass, plus there are some really cool high level spells for most classes. Other classes like fighters, paladins, rangers...doesn't matter quite as much. That said I usually do play multiclass because of the breadth of abilities available across two classes and the various subclass interactions. But I usually solo. When soloing, breadth is more important than depth (usually).

I've been having problems posting too. I've made a couple long responses in various threads that just disappared. So now I'm copy pasting everything first. I thought I was the only one who used those obscure spells like Jernaugh's Equalizing Burst! I like that as a pre combat opener then switch to llengrath's martial mysteries. But yeah the book costs like 13k which is absurd...Unrelated but I also really like the spell "Nannasin's Cobra Strike" which is weirdly sold by the map guy in Snakeskin grimoire. Hard to tell from the description but it basically gives you a 1.8m unarmed two-weapon attack that does massive amounts of poison damage over time. Unfortunately lot of enemies are immune to both piercing and poison so I use the other weapon spells more but it is really cool vs kith, particularly as you can cast it earlier than Citzal's and it has longer duration. But once you get Citzal's there isn't much reason to go back. If I could memorize the spell I probably would but at that point it isn't worth hanging onto the grimoire. Maybe you're right that the mechanics are better in Deadfire. IDK. Haven't played the first one in a few years but it seemed like more classes were viable. There was a bit of an issue where parties could just center around making huge alpha strikes I guess. I liked the 6 vs 5 though. More forgiving in selecting the party. My biggest issue with Deadfire though isn't the mechanics so much as how disconnected everything is. When I first played it when it came out I couldn't get into it because I didn't know where I was supposed to go. I thought the Old City in Neketaka was really cool, though it took me absolutely forever to get through it because I did all the fights and I was bad so lots of reloading. After that though it's like do I go to Hasongo or Motari o Kozi or Poko Kahara or what? Also feels less traditional an RPG, no proper dungeons. I like it a lot more now. The multiclass system is what really shines. With the various subclasses and tons of items there are so many possible builds. Just started playing it a lot a few months ago so I'm late to the party. But like Ngati's Tusks is kind of emblematic of what I'm talking about. I didn't even know that weapon existed. You can't get it until super late game, you have to go way out of your way sailing across the Deadfire for the quest (though not as far as the other SSS quests)... Hunter of Hunters looks like a really good debuff but it requires two antlers. Most playthroughs I'm lucky to get ONE. No enemies drop antlers as far as I know. Only place where you can get two is either get really lucky at Cuitzl's or the scripted interaction on Neketaka Island where you get the Garland's Breath. So like 99% of players are never going to get to use that weapon. -------- Let me ask you a question @Boeroer as you seem super knowledgeable about the game. How do items with "immunity to X afflictions" work? LIke Effigy's Husk with immunity to might or Cap of the Laughingstock immunity to resolve afflictions? I've used these items a lot and sometimes I *still* get might or resolve afflictions. Don't recall where exactly besides Sigilmaster Auranic, I know one of his obelisks seems to bypass the immunity to resolve affliction. Merry christmas everyone

I've only gotten the chime amulet once and it sucked on the build I was using. That is a super specific use case but cool nonetheless. So you get enemies down to 100 health and they just explode when you walk by them? Too bad even mook enemies at that point have like 600 health...

Lowering fortitude is useful for grimoire imprints. But most spells that lower fortitude target fortitude... So that's actually really cool that writ of consumption and writ of engagement target will. And I can steal them with my hierophant. Are there any priests of woedica in the wild or is it just a player thing? The 4.5s and 6s casts in wizard / priest / druid really annoy me. A few of the spells are good enough to cast anyway but often it makes more sense to cast a bunch of .5s spells. At least in a cheesefest ultimate run like I'm currently employing. Recovery time can be eliminated so it is hard for me to justify casting a ton of wizard spells that otherwise seem cool. Cipher and chanter have lots of .5s offensive casts, whereas wizards don't have any, though that handicap is more than made up by certain spell interactions and imprints, plus all the great defensive casts. I even skip Divine Mark as a free steal because it takes too long to cast, and it's a single target debuff. Stole it last playthrough thinking it would be useful on bosses but never used it. Devotions I would steal because it is a huge buff + AOE debuff and if you're a priest you can just SOT everything so the cast time isn't as big an issue on buffs. I don't recall POE1 spellcasting being so slow...though I admit it has been a while. But like 6 second summoning is insane. Solo you're often dead by then unless it's your first cast. On my cipher/chanter only time I'd use summons was right when combat started before I had a dozen enemies threatening me. That's why arkemyr's brilliant departure is so good because you can cast summons while invisible. Same with shadowing beyond I guess.

The main reason the writs don't look that appealing to me is they are all lengthy casts, so I'd mostly be using them as alpha strikes. Assuming I can cast them out of combat. Probably great in a party though if you have other people to do the damage.

Sacrifice / Worthy Sacrifice I guess? But you still have to get him down to near death first, I assume? I haven't had much trouble with Huani o Whe. It can take a while if you don't interrupt or zerg the oozes trying to merge but they don't threaten my character much. Probably the worst megaboss is Sigilmaster Auranic... I get hit with Arcane Dampener or Cleanse at the wrong time it can be bad. Or if I get terrified by the Obelisk of Terror (or is it Mystery?). That one puzzles me as it happens sometimes even when I'm wearing the jester hat with immune to resolve afflictions... I haven't played POE1 in a while so some of the details of the mechanics I didn't recall, like I forgot about the DR / AR. In almost every area I prefer the POE1 mechanics I think. The multiclassing in POE2 is so good though. Opens up all kinds of possibilities you didnt have in the first game. Wizards got nerfed hard from POE1 to POE2 and yet somehow emerged even more broken lol. Priests got mega nerfed for no good reason. Same with druids. Don't recall them being particularly powerful with access to the whole spellbook. The most broken build I used in POE1 was a barbarian. Did the ultimate using a high int low dex barbarian that used quick switch to attack absurdly fast (I had a macro on my mouse that just paused and switched weapons twice really fast so it looked smooth) and that time siphon rapier to extend buffs forever (including the invisibility you get from cape of the master mystic). Barbarian got nerfed to hell too. Some of the strongest classes like ciphers and chanters didn't receive any meaningful nerfs I don't think. Besides ciphers having god awful high level spells. Actually chanters seemed to get even stronger as they have some good high level spells now but lost brisk recitation (unless you're a troubador, which why not). Also prefer the interrupt system in POE1. There were some decent builds centered around high interrupt frequency. Proning was an actual debuff instead of a long interrupt. And no idea why they got rid of a lot of the universal and cross class feats. Like why can't I take quick switch unless I'm a fighter? Or why can't I take deep pockets unless I'm a rogue? I guess mechanically the one thing I like is that Petrify does not basically insta-kill you anymore. Fights in POE2 take way, way longer IIRC. Even lot of mook fights are grindfests because there's 20 enemies with 500 health for some reason. I like the companions in POE2 slightly better. They're a bit more fleshed out since you're almost forced to take them at various points. ---- I keep trying to reply to things and it doesn't work. Thank god the forum saves my post in the editor...

Bummer. Hmm...is it worth the side trip to get Savage Cunning? Just +1 perception, though +2 survival is also nice. One of the more useful skills and it allows us to put more skills into areas that scale with gear like History. Also some nice gear on Sayuka. Mahora Tanga in Cignath Mor, Xefa's Empirical Explication, Stalker's Patience. Though I don't need any of these. I did use the Bear Cub quite a lot though, best pet for boosting fortitude (+8). Guess I'll swing by if there is time. Only decent gear on Poko Kahara is the Adra Ban... Beza's Tooth Blade is a decent saber but there are a thousand decent sabers. If First Blood could be extended and was a general action speed boost it would be amazing, but it only works with the weapon. I mean Marux Amanth is decent for priests and rogues I guess. Thundercrack is a decent pistol but pistols...meh. Nothing for a hierophant. The worst thing about POE2 is how far apart everything is. I don't mean just for the ultimate challenge. The areas feel really disconnected. It's like a great RPG interspersed with this crummy minigame of sailing across the ocean...Also where are the dungeons? Not a single proper dungeon in the whole game. The Forgotten Sanctum is the closest thing I guess. I really enjoyed the Endless Depths. Now that was a good dungeon. Not approaching the level of Durlag's Tower or Watcher's Keep but pretty damn good. Definitely preferred POE1. But I've played it a million times. Only thing POE2 does better is have multiclassing. And slightly better gear selection. Adding multiclassing to POE1 would be really interesting. And why the cut from a party of 6 to party of 5? Six is way better. Five really limits who you can take since you generally need a wizard, a priest, and at least one tank. Leaves maybe 1 character you can rotate. Ah I'm rambling again.

I agree with Skaen and Wael, but why Woedica? I've never used one but the writ spells look kinda meh. Besides writ of sorcery, which would be great to shutdown spellcasters. Maybe write of war. Either would make an excellent pre combat cast, assuming they can be cast pre-combat... I haven't encountered many (any?) Woedica priests out in the wild though. Inquisitor Lodwyn is a paladin, but maybe there are Woedica priests with her. I never fight them because I tend to do that encounter early. Then there's the Woedica cult in the subterranean temple north of Poko Kahara. Usually skip that too, kinda out of the way. But I'm not sure any of them are priests of woedica. The leader Gulfaryc is a paladin. Checked the wiki and there are four companions. It says two of them are wizard and ranger, one is unlisted but gear looks like a fighter, last could be a priest but there is no link. Have you seen any priests of woedica roaming around, and if so where? Skaen priests are the best and I've run into a couple. The Beina encounter is great for stealing spells. You can pull the enemies one at a time with traps and the Goldpact priests have withdraw and other standard priest spells, while Beina is a priest of Skaen and has Escape and Barbs of Condemnation, both good steals (but mostly escape). A pure mage with major grimoire imprint could presumably steal Shadowing Beyond (amazing), plus presumably Spiritual Ally and Minor Avatar. Heck, then you could just cast Spiritual Ally while invisible. Fun stuff... Quite a few Wael priests out there, though I can't recall where exactly. Arcane Veil and Llengrath's Displaced Image add a ton to their survivability and Gaze of the Adragan is great CC. Confusion to a lesser extent. I miss the confusion of POE1... as far as I can tell the confusion of POE2 doesn't cause enemies to target each other, their AOE spells and abilities just hit everyone. Yeah I kinda regret taking Blessed Harvest already. It is spammable but doesn't hit that much because enemy fortitude tends to be high and my weapon accuracy buffs don't apply. Also doesn't seem to do more damage on a crit. Does good damage on graze. IDK why the devs changed the formula for accuracy and deflection on POE2. In the first one perception got you 2 accuracy per point, and resolve got you two deflection. Same as will/fortitude/reflex. Now those get double but not accuracy and deflection, meaning for most enemies the easiest thing to do is target deflection. I seem to get hit with debuffs less often though. That's probably it... enemy accuracy is also relatively lower so they can reliably hit your deflection but it is harder for them to crit you with paralyze or something that ends your game like in POE1. I don't regret slaughtering the temple though. Was a relatively easy way to grab withdraw and restore from Saewyn. Vatnir has some good spells yeah but nothing unique that I can steal. I do want his High Harbinger robes though. They're the best way to damage yourself with lightning attacks. Can get like +200% lightning damage if you have all of (deltro's cage helm, high harbinger robes, kuaru's ring, chameleon ring, sash of judgment, water lily sandals, milx or boras for pet (so you can crit), enough lightning penetration so you overpen (the heart of the storm feat helps, can also intentionally kill yourself with chain lightning for system shock), ogre might gloves, and griffin's sword). Not a good cloak to improve spell damage as far as I know. On my last run I managed to get +210% lightning. I used the Scroll of Maelstrom though, that does more damage than any spell if you max arcana and use the listed items except swap gloves for the left hand of the obscured. It is really really risky for an iron run though. You have to time great maelstrom so you're hit with ideally just one lightning bolt. And you have to web vela so you doesn't wander in and die during the 6 second cast. Also if you have an injury you can easily kill yourself, if you get hit by crush/freeze then shock, that kills you, then you wake up and get hit by another lightning bolt that does +150 to 200% lightning damage and that's 2 more injuries right there. Safer to use chain lightning but doesn't do quite as much damage unless your might is stupid high. Whoa, big tangent there lol.

Hello, doing an ultimate run and in the past always did Poko Kaharo but I really get nothing from going to the island and doing the quest besides a fairly small amount of XP... I do have to go to Tikawara for the Nature's Resolve upgrade, but still, sailing to Poko Kahara and back, plus going through the Engwithan Waystation probably costs 3 days? And I don't get any items relevant to my build. 3 days is significant with Woedia + Eothas challenge. So I'm wondering what happens if I don't do the quest. Will I be able to do the Sayuka quests after Ashen Maw, or does it jump to The Final Maneuver? I want to do Overgrowth because of the Savage Cunning boon, but it is a large time investment for a questionable payoff sailing to Poko Kahara first... Thanks

That's pretty nice. Though the only tier 3 inspiration I can't consistently proc is intuitive. Anybody know if I have to do Dim Prospects to do Overgrowth at Sayuka? I don't really get anything from going to Poko Kahara (none of the items are used, not that much XP). But the Savage Cunning buff is pretty nice and I have to drop by Tikawara. Poko Kahara is about a 2 day detour I guess? I mean will RDC eventually offer me A Matter of Import if I skip it or does Ashen Maw lead right to The Final Maneuver?

Well, got me a temple to slaughter! Bwahahahahaha

Okay something is messed up with the game's reputation system. I just killed 6 or 7 people in the temple on a parallel run (minus iron / wael) and the text said I took minor reputation loss for each one, but I still had a 5 rep with them and at this point on that run I'd done nothing but fix the wagon on maje and get the blessing from waenglith. Anyway I guess that answers one question...doesn't seem to matter if I slaughter them. Though Adaryc is even higher level than I thought. Couldn't tell with Wael but my L14 char showed him red with 3 skulls. Pretty hard to put down, and his buddy the Iron Flail gunner has 3 white skulls. Saewyn is a Priest of Eothas. You can steal withdraw (and sunbeam) but lots of priests with withdraw, not hard to get.

Doing a ultimate run, xoti needs to die so I can get her lantern. I can just kill her on my ship but I was thinking I want to steal Blessed Harvest with minor grimoire imprint (hierophant). I told her to piss off in Port Maje. About to leave Neketaka and she's hanging out in the Gaun temple. Seems the only way for me to get this spell is to attack Xoti in the temple (on Maje not high enough level to have minor grimoire imprint), which aggros most of the named NPCs including Adaryc and one or two iron flail buddies who are pretty tough. I've cleared them out before to see if I could get the spell (yes), though I didn't continue with it on that playthrough since it seemed super evil and I don't like the reputation loss even though it probably has zero consequences...(i've already done their quests). I've run into every other subtype of priest except maybe woedica (guessing that masked woman at oathbinder's is one though, probably more at magristate's cudgel place). Haven't found any harvesters of gaun. Maybe because they don't attack you. There's Waenglith on Maje and Pitl in the Gullet, but I don't think either one has Blessed Harvest... they might be marked as Eothas priests IDK. Saewyn too, but that triggers same fight as Xoti. Then again I take a hit to power level with stolen priest spells, maybe it is not that good. Though a spammable cast that does massive single target damage is pretty nice. Good for when a soul annihilation doesn't finish off an enemy... that would be main use case, or against enemies with lower fortitude than deflection but that seems pretty rare. TLDR, where the harvesters at, any consequences of slaughtering the dawnstars, and does this spell stay good at later levels? Haven't used it much as I only played once with a party but it seemed like the only way I could get Xoti to do any damage... might fall off steep at higher levels though. Not sure how it works with crits and whatnot.

Ah. Duhh... lol. Was so hyperfocused on finding the reagent that didn't occur to me

Wow I didn't know it procced multiple times like that. And for a skald that costs 2 phrases so that's a lot of inspirations! The description of LUC says a random inspiration--it's always tier 3? So SSS Refreshing Finale returns 1 empower point, but that is procced multiple times for abilities like that? Anything that hits multiple times? So Singt Thy Biting Winds would be another. Yeah I gotta try a Loremaster now...

I don't know if Timeless works while paused with the normal pause interface (it should), but it definitely works if you go to your inventory and just switch weapons back and forth. I think that's kind of janky though so I scripted it. Can clear a 40 second arcane dampener hit in like 3 or 4 seconds real time. It's weird to me the game doesn't have any defense against magic besides arcane reflection, making arcane dampener like the most deadly ability in the game IMO (vs the player anyway). For that matter why doesn't suppress affliction work on arcane dampener? This level 3 spell can just remove ALL of your buffs for a very long time and there is no legit defense besides super high will, and even with super high will you get hit sometimes. Oh well, got the outworn buckler swap strategy to counter.

I understand the interaction between Least Unstable Coil, Sasha's Singing Scimitar, Robes of the Weyc, Weyc's Wand etc but how does Her Revenge Swept Across the Land return all your empower points? It's just a lightning attack right? Hmm. I'm attempting an ultimate run with hierophant atm. Thought it would be easy but I forgot what a bitch the early game is. I'm taking a different route that levels up more rapidly (Maje => Sandswept Ruins => Deadlight) but this requires I have 11 mechanics when I get to Sandswept Ruins for max effect. Which is possible, if you're lucky. Should be level 6 on arrival, hierophant starts with 1 mechanic, my artist background has 1 mechanics, hylea's bounty is 2 mechanics, so if I put 6 levels towards mechanics I get 10. Which is enough with thieves' putty. But this means I invest nothing in stealth, just have 2 points effective from Hylea. Port Maje is possible with 2 stealth but not at all forgiving. So the luck part is finding a reagent in Port Maje. There's 2 luminous adra at the engwithan waystation in the luminous adra pool and there's a solution in one of the waystation rooms, but the reagent seems to spawn only in Rinco's home in the northeast chest, and it spawns at most half the time. The other half you get gunpowder and pyrite. So if I get a reagent, I can put points in stealth then use luminous adra to clear Sandswept Ruins and get a couple levels more XP really fast. But I've gotten gunpowder my last like 4 attempts. Really annoying. I kinda wish the game used random loot tables like the first one did. I don't know how the randomness is seeded in this one. I've just been quitting when I see gunpowder (about 15 minutes in). Anyway. Maybe I'll start a non-iron loremaster run. Iron really adds layers of frustration...I hardly ever need to restart in combat, it's the unintentional misclicky crap, like whoops I was 1/4 second late dropping this trap and now I've pulled 20 enemies instead of 2 and oh Vela's dead, neat.

I meant the recovery penalty. I just tested with my L2 save where I had no buffs fighting a boar. One weapon set is club and torch. Other is pike. Takes about 4 seconds in slow mode to go from club attack to torch attack or vice versa. Takes about 6 seconds to do pike attacks. If I switch weapons though it takes about 5 seconds. Yeah they don't stack but later on I can greatly reduce recovery time or even remove it with Blade Cascade, except it doesn't apply to weapon switches. Weapon switches still take 5 seconds (I'm guessing that's 2.5 seconds real time) even if my weapon attack takes .2 seconds real time with no recovery. I didn't know effects stacked infinitely though... Assume I can't pause. I did try to write a macro to switch weapons really fast to test out the Lethandria's Devotion thing. Very inconsistent, often ends on the wrong weapon. So next I tried an AI script, late game. Simple on hurt, do weapon set 2 then weapon set 1. Amusingly that does actually work. Heals 2 health at a time (with my healing modifiers) and it is pretty fast, but takes about 10 seconds to heal 100 damage assuming I'm not taking more damage (slow mode). Interestingly, it takes about the same time on normal speed and fast mode. I guess the engine is getting hung up on the weapon switch animation and can only do it so fast. Cool, but, doesn't seem very useful since I can just steal restore (and did steal restore), which is a .2 second cast and heals about 60 per cast. Outworn Buckler's Perseverance is more interesting. Could script that to do the same whenever I'm afflicted. Hardly ever get afflicted though, and as a blood mage I can end every affliction but strength and resolve afflictions with .2 second casts. For resolve I have psychovampiric shield though, also a .2 second cast. Testing this with Sigilmaster Auranic, I got paralyzed with fetid caress for like 22 seconds, strangely the AI would not switch weapons even though I could do it manually. I can even go to the inventory screen and just manually switch weapons until paralyze is away, but that really breaks game flow... Where Outworn Buckler's Timeless would be *really* useful is non-affliction hostile effects, particularly when I get hit with arcane dampener, which is the only real threat anyway. Unfortunately the scripting engine is too stupid for me to tell it to do things based on being hit with specific effects, so I have to manually go to the inventory screen (which does pause the game) and either change weapons there or switch AI instructions. My will defense is super high so his arcane dampeners are mostly missing though. Gotta get one to proc... Finally got one, and yes it works. Awesome. But I need a better way to script this. Maybe...if I lose all my inspirations at once? Nope, that didn't work. For some reason Energized doesn't have a time duration so that only gets removed by affliction. I'm thinking that's because I procced it with Slayer's Claw, and that made it permanent somehow? After about an hour of testing, I managed to get a script block that works to kill arcane dampener without activating at other times (like arcane cleanse, or out of combat, or early in the game when I don't have any inspirations) Self - Has Inspiration - Con - NOT Self - Has Inspiration - Dex - NOT Self - Has Inspiration - Int - NOT Self - Has Inspiration - Perception - NOT Self - Has Inspiration - Resolve - NOT Self - Has Summoned Weapon - NOT Self - At Least 90 Focus Weapon Set 2, Weapon Set 1, Cooldown 0 This mostly works but it can get messed up by Arcane Cleanse if I've already lost brilliant. My script is 30 blocks long but still really, really simple compared to what you could do in the old Infinity Engine games. Wrote a script for BG2 that was 3000+ lines long but could get me through every battle on insane with all the increased difficulty mods. All I had to do was click to move the character. Yeah that's what happens when you play a game 100 times. POE script is so so limited. I can't even check how much armor I have, wizard spells, focus if focus > 90, can't prioritze enemy targets beyond some very simple conditions, can't skip blocks, can't tell my character not to target invulnerable obelisks, can't even use an OR in blocks. Like for Infuse with Vital Essence I have to make two blocks, can't tell it to cast if I have no con or int inspiration. I can't even script anything around Vela. Tried getting it to cast withdraw on an ally but she isn't considered an ally apparently, and I'm limited to ally/enemy/self/animalcompanion. Also tried animalcompanion, doesn't work. Tried a lot of things, pretty sure she is unscriptable. Guess I shouldn't complain, the scripting for POE is better than most games. But all this desire to make everything nice graphical logic blocks is really limiting. There's probably a way to access the underlying scripting language but I bet it requires modding... Sorry, got a bit rambly there. Anyway, finished the game last night and this build should easily get through an ultimate run. Don't think I had to reload any in combat. It's basically invulnerable and shreds bosses and mooks in seconds, but I've accidentally killed Vela a few times. She sometimes hangs directly underneath the character. So like when I was trying to proc Deltro's Cage Helm and cast chain lightning on myself, that was one time I killed her. Another problem now is I want to try a different build. Loremaster seems fun. I wonder if blood mage / skald gets phrases from Citzal's Spirit Lance...if so could totally spam the charm/paralyze/stun cones.

That's good info, but I like cheese. It's delicious! Also switching weapons twice without cheese (unless you're a black jacket, or at the least have quick switch), takes a while, doesn't it? Also does Lover's Embrace consider monsters male/female? Never used it tbh. Thank God for Scordeo. Seriously though has anyone done the ultimate without cheese? I think I could maybe solo POTD without, possibly even do some of the megabosses, but those pesky God challenges (Woedica, Eothas, VELA!) make that pretty much impossible, no? Granted I haven't watched all the ultimate runs but I've watched portions of *nearly* all of them and as far as I can tell they all use some combination of SOF, SOTP, brilliant tactician proccing when it shouldn't, potions of final stand, salvation of time, etc.

Hmm yeah Blood Mage / Soul Blade doesn't have any good sources of strength as far as I know unfortunately, leaving items. I mean one can cast Citzal's Martial Power or just cast Wild Leech until you get strength but neither is a great idea just to proc strength, and I don't think these effects carry over out of combat (maybe wild leech, I've never used it). I could steal Holy Power from a priest but I'm pretty sure that ends on combat's end so you can't upgrade it. So items...I like Resounding Call because there's lots of destructibles in most areas (plus it grants Tenacious). Amra is also a really easy source of strength, 25% chance on kill to proc Frenzy without the deflection penalty, I just kill Ishiza until I get it. I prefer that to True Love's Kiss though I guess True Love's Kiss is even easier to proc. Might be irrelevant for me though, does Citzal's Spirit Lance interrupt on crit? It sure looks like it but it isn't mentioned in the description. I'm using that for 90% of encounters. Kind of unrelated question to you or anyone, how does the "immune to might affliction" on Effigy's Husk (for example) work? Like say I have Energized up and am wearing Effigy's Husk, and I get hit with Stun. Does that cancel the might inspiration? I assumed initially it would not, but wearing "immune to might" or "immune to resolve" items I've still lost the inspirations...so either they're implemented incorrectly or the way it works is hit with stun => lose energized => hit with stun again => immune Like it doesn't proc the immune until you've lost the inspiration...I think that's what actually happens but not sure. Makes keeping up Courageous or Energized more difficult (not that a soul blade needs Courageous). EDIT: Realized I think you're saying Slayer's Claw upgrades might inspirations IN COMBAT on weapon switch? If so that's pretty great. Can just steal Holy Power and get it easily. When I read that the first time I thought you meant out of combat weapon switch. Would be especially powerful effect on a Black Jacket...can switch weapons instantly (can even script it), so any source of might gets bumped up to energized.

Well, yeah, definitely overkill to even use this weapon in this manner, and in the past when I've tried using Mahora Tanga with other on-crit weapons it crashed the game. I was just wondering about it... But...3/16 of the SF DOT is dealt immediately, and added to the initial damage from the rapier, so you kill most regular enemies in one hit if your focus is high, nearly all within 3 seconds. Also the Swift Flurry 1/encounter cone can gib multiple enemies at once, it is pretty funny. I just tested it in the arena and it exploded the guards and Naga. The damage isn't accurately reflected in the log (the DOT doesn't even show, just appears above enemy heads per tick) so it is hard to be sure but it looked like Swift Flurry procced it multiple times. Was wondering if RFF would do that or if it just resets the timer. If it resets the timer but procs the first tick that would still do a ton of damage.

Went to do SSS first. Don't have Trial of Iron on so I tried Seeker path first, it forces a rest. Reloaded and tried Slayer path, which does NOT force a rest, assuming you can pass the various checks (survival and athletics mostly). The Seeker rapier would have fit better with my character but the axe looks good too, if I dual wield with Resounding Call I can get Energized any time I break a destructible, which is pretty nice even if I can't use the soulbound crap. If I saved SSS for last then having the Seeker rapier wouldn't matter much anyway I suppose. Better to keep my Hylea's Bounty, Nature's Resolve, Alchemic Wits/Brawn/Guile, Dawnstar's Blessing, and Rikihu/Amira's Blessings. --- EDIT Just for fun I consoled in Seeker's Fang and leveled it up and holy crap is that weapon broken on a soul blade! It does current focus damage over 16 seconds with ticks every 3. And with soul blade and SOF shenanigans you can pump your focus to over 10000 pretty easily, so one stab (if it crits) can do about 3000 damage. It's basically the damage of a soul annihilation stretched into ticks over 16 seconds, and it doesn't remove focus. Unfortunately the damage ticks don't add focus so you're stuck with whatever your starting focus is plus the measly damage of the rapier itself for focus generation, but still...pretty absurd, especially if combined with Blade Cascade and various action speed buffs, where you can attack 5 times per second. The damage doesn't stack, it just resets the Spider's Patience DPS so you'd want to set the AI to attack highest health enemies then just run off and wait for them to die. You could dual wield this with Mohora Tanga's Red Flag Flying and people would just explode (or your computer would). Might be worth taking the hit on the rest, though gameplay is pretty reductive with this thing. Plus I've enjoyed using summoned weapons and not worrying about weapons breaking every fight. But the weapon turns soul blade / anything into god-tier.

Thanks for all the responses. I guess my path hasn't been as efficient as I thought. Or I spent too much time pickpocketing people and whatnot. I'm at 2 months 10 days at Deadlight. There were also some bounties and minor quests / item pickups I probably should have skipped. I have way more XP than I need, hit level 20 a long time ago. My path so far has been Maje => Deadlight => Neketaka 1 (do as many quests as I can without fighting) Neketaka 1 => Bekarna (I was going to just snatch the Shroud and come back but went ahead and killed Concelhaut at L13. Was pretty sketchy though, I nearly died and it took a LONG time as I kept getting terrified (should have waited until I found Thaenic for Village Fool hat) => Ikorno / Vessali / Onadere => Tikawara (ran into Thaenic on way, grabbed Nature's Resolve buff on island) => Poko Kahara => Forgotten Catacombs (should have skipped but really wanted that armor) => Neketaka 2 (mostly to get A Matter of Import but also turn in some stuff) Neketaka 2 => Hasongo => Beina => Dunnage (hit L19 @ Dunnage) => Crookspur => Sayuka (did both Overgrowth and Hunting Season, should have skipped latter, L20 by now IIRC) => Cave of Threshing, also happened to be on the island on the 16th so I did the Sanguine Harvest event several times) => Outcast's Respite (maybe should have skipped but wanted the +2 to all stats, just drank Luminous Adra potions if I picked up enough injuries, went ahead and killed everything here though I could have snuck to the pool) => Junvik => Ori O Koiki (just for Kuaru's prize ring, probably should have skipped) => Belranga => Ashen Maw => Neketaka 3 Neketaka 3 (turn in quests, kill Cave Grub, kill dragon, assassinate prince) => Dunnage 2 => Deadlight 2 And that brings me to where I am now. In retrospect there is a lot of stuff I should have skipped, like I didn't even get XP for turning in most of the bounties and I didn't need money by that point. The Hunting Season quest cost nearly a day. And I think fighting Concelhaut that early has a high probability of ending my run. In the future I think I'd do similar order except do Tikawara first, get the Boots of Cheese, and wait to get SOP and kill Concelhaut after Sayuka. Or...steal the SOP, come back to kill Concelhaut during final circuit. Though that way bugs me because of the long walk to the observatory. What happens if I skip Crookspur? Can I still get Scordeo's Edge later? Don't care about Blackblade hood. Not using any of the Crookspur items, though I'd probably use Patinated Plate if I didn't have Reckless Brigandine. --------------- So SSS has a forced rest? Oh that sucks! My Hylea's Bounty food has long since spoiled, but worse than that is losing the Dawnstar's Blessing, Nature's Resolve boon, and the +2 all stats from Outcast's Respite. What's the next best food for a hierophant? Melee focused. Captain's Banquet looks good for immunities and action speed, don't really care about spell damage. I guess the Hot Razor Skewers are good for the bonus penetration. But my CON and RES are really low so I'll be very squishy without Hylea, plus my weapon penetration is already pretty good with Hammering Thoughts and proc Tenacious from Resounding Call. Forgetful Night or Glazed Chops would add to survivability but not nearly as well as Hylea. And I've dumped most of my skill points into History so without the +2 I'm going to fail a lot of checks. Oh well, still have lots of Luminous Adra dust. My stats are 11 / 7 / 18 / 18 / 18 / 3. Fortitude is pretty low, took Bear's Fortitude but it is still way lower than others. Also low deflection but I don't get hit that much with Borrowed Instinct and various blood mage buffs. @Waski if I can do FS, BW, and SSS in similar times that you did then I'd have plenty of time to do SSS last so I don't lose the buffs. Hmmm. Though going that out of the way bugs me, I like your path.

I've been working on a couple builds for an ultimate run, haven't done it yet but have all the trials on except iron, solo potd. In one of my previous attempts I didn't plan well enough and ran out of time doing SSS. I just finished the main story through Honor Among Thieves and am on Fort Deadlight, debating whether to go to Dunnage with Aeldys or not. If I don't go with I'll swing by Dunnage before/after SSS to get the Engolio do Espirs and go it alone to Ukaizo. I shouldn't need to go back to Neketaka. Feel like my route so far has been pretty efficient. I have something like 30 days left I think... Already killed Belranga after Nemnok and just before Ashen Maw so I wouldn't have to sail back. What remains is all the DLC content, Huani o Whe, Dorodugan, and Sigilmaster Alranic. I don't expect any trouble defeating the megabosses but am less sure about the DLC content, have not completed any of them and have no idea how long they take, although I've played parts of SSS and FS. From a time perspective it seems like I should go to Deadlight with Aeldys, do the SSS stuff, head south to Huani o Whe, then far southwest to Dorodugan, then east to BW then FS (or vice versa, maybe makes a day of difference?), then to Sigilmaster Alranic, then to Ukaizo. But I've watched some ultimate runs, last one I watched the guy went (from deadlight) to FS, BW, SSS, then killed the remaining megabosses (had already done Belranga). Seems like you waste about a week that way, but maybe there is some meta reason for that of which I'm unaware, or storywise. IDK, I just don't want to run out of time again, advice appreciated. Dunno if relevant but my character is a heirophant. In a simultaneous run I have a spiritualist.

This is broken for sure but you can one-shot him with a created seer (soul blade / ranger) character using soul annihilation. Will take a few hours of prep and SOF abuse, stacking focus and accuracy (if you really want to be certain, proc Scordeo's Edge's accuracy buff over and over so you auto-hit or auto-crit). IDK how you avoid the frame-drop issues you're experiencing without such abuse.