Not So Clever Hound

If you're Confused, cast an Intellect Inspiration, or better, go have a whisky in real life, and then come back. I promise it will all make sense. Seriously, it is about the fact that being Confused can make you cast beneficial stuff on enemies etc. (i.e. it lifts certain targeting restrictions) which opens up a lot of tactical shenanigans for those interested.

I think that it's OK either way. Nature Godlike +1PL would always hit with the Quick Inspiration, then you will get Prestige +1PL as SC, then you can eat one of the foods that grant +1PL... hard to pass über-post Mythic Fists IMO if you want to use those hands or also Tuotilo's palm, that's really good. But I like no rest runs. If you're resting a lot, then maybe Heaven's Cacophony has more net impact. EDIT: reading better this thread well as FF anyway you will probably want to eat Mohora Wraps so just scrap what I said. You don't have to work so hard to get to PL12 when you can very easily get to PL10. PL11 will give you nothing due to how monk fist scaling works.

@thelee already gave a pretty definitive answer but just to confirm: I just tested it against another truckload of vessels and everything worked fine. More precisely, the combat log showed: Graze/hit/crit attack resolutions for the damage component on all Vessels All Vessels that were Hit/Crit were interrupted as they should be All Vessels took damage corresponding to attack resolution All lower level Vessels were subsequently destroyed forever All higher level Vessels remained in the encounter (i.e. The Usher Incarnate and The Pallid Knight Incarnate that I summoned for testing)

....And do even more unspeakable things to all those poor skeleton summons while no one notices as the world turns upside down. You're a sick man @Boeroer! If all your party is Confused, maybe you can cast Ancient Memory on a Dominated enemy caster (already under FF curse so Dominate lasts longer), then cast SoT on them just for the right duration, then spam their own most powerful spells against their party. Then Dismiss Withdraw them right at the end.

Thanks, @dgray62. @Hoo if you're interested:

Ah my friend, you're in for a treat . But it's a bit of a game abuse. Still you can use the Imprint spells to copy most spells in the game for infinite uses, from any traditional spellcaster (Wizard, Priest, Druid). Please see this thread for details:

Haha true, especially if the emphasis is on the + in 2+. A Berserker/xx under Frenzy with high Arcana can be very fast. Even if Withdraw scrolls have a longer base casting time than the spell itself (1.6s vs. 0.5s) it can still be chain cast to quickly remove 3 or 4 annoying enemies for a very long duration in a big fight. And those scrolls are dirt cheap. It can also be used reactively because of the short cast time (like invisibility, but more offensively). "Oh look, Brian is trying to cast Arcane Dampener on my party! Let's Withdraw him for a bit." Actually now that I'm thinking about it... couldn't it be an amazing way to defeat Hauani o Whe??????? When it first splits, you soften the 2 Gigantic Oozes, then withdraw one before they start merging. Destroy totally the one that remains and its offspring. Then when the other comes back, deal with it knowing that it can't go back to HoW form! EDIT: the cheese lover in me is starting to envision a Berserker/Bloodmage that uses Minor Grimoire Imprint to steal an infinite-use Withdraw spell from a random Priest. EDIT2: I'm testing on Hauani right now but yes, at least the first form can be withdrawn. Also, this could work with a Tactician under Tactician Dilemma (gets Shaken and Confused). If you're in a party, you can also have a rogue hit you with Sap to get Confused. EDIT3: Confirmed, this is a new way of taking out Hauani o Whe. You can withdraw one Gigantic Black Ooze while you focus down the other and its offspring, preventing the merge without needing to devote attention to interrupts, paralyze etc.

Yes this makes it so much better than Stasis Shell especially since this kind of ability used offensively has the best impact at the beginning of the fight. So the fact that Withdraw heals is a non issue. When I think that Stasis Shell is one of just 3 PL7 abilities, LOL. Especially since another one is Screaming Souls, which we just discussed doesn't work as it should. And the last one is Ancestor's Memory! I guess the Devs were very clear on the one PL7 Cipher power they'd want players to pick .

It works, and it can be interesting in certain very specific situations. However, a confused Priest healing enemies is the worst, so once you've used this trick you might want to switch to Modwyr or use an INT inspiration to get rid of Confused...

You're right! I feel silly for having just assumed so before. I tested it in real combat situation in the Old City Overlook against a truckload of vessels. So to begin with, the ability doesn't work as intended as it doesn't proc at all off multiple vessels.

Yeah Withdraw is very good. As @Powerotti or @Boeroer mentioned you can also use it on a Furyshaper ward to protect it. Nice! I don't think so, but if you have space to maneuver, invisibility is even better (e.g. Smoke Veil). Go give a death sentence to something with a ton of DoTs, Smoke Veil to safety, repeat. With a Mindstalker I was regularly handling tough enemies by opening with Gouging Strike Arquebus shot, Then Toxic Strike Arquebus shot (immediate reload at combat start) then Disintegration, using Smoke Veil at the end and sometimes in between attacks. Very very few enemies can survive that for more than a few seconds. And at the end, Gouging Strike always wins .

You can for example use a Mindstalker, apply True Lover's Kiss + Gouging Strike + Toxic Strike + Pernicious Cloud + Disintegration + maybe Plague of Insect Scroll on an enemy, then use Scrolls of Withdraw with high Arcana to let the DoT's do their job. I solo'ed a portion of the FS Oracle Fight that way, to soften the Oracle while conserving some Guile. Any toon with high Arcana can use Scrolls of Insect Swarm/Plague of Insect etc then a Scroll of Withdraw. Of course, you can try to do that naturally with a Priest/Druid too! EDIT: you could also use a Forbidden Fist to apply the curse before landing all those DoTs for even greater effect! E.g. Toxic Strike with extra duration = ouch.

Yep, also: Rakhan Field Boots work nicely IIRC. But you may have to reload a couple times.

Well, it didn't. Good talk though. Seriously though, have you seen it actually work? I tried with Dichotomous Souls and a Vessel spawned from Charm of Bones. I'm not talking about landing the initial ability, I'm talking about the spell proccing off the other friendly vessels in the vicinity for add'l damage.

It isn't optimal against the Sigilmaster if you can't take out the Sigils fast enough. Taking damage triggers Auranic to be a lot more agressive with the Sigils whether she sees you or not, then at certain thresholds she's Brilliant, then her "Final Trick" is when every remaining Sigil goes fully ballistic on you wherever you are. If you were trying to just take her out with Lover's Embrace without caring about the Sigils, this "Final Trick" is a jaw-dropping "oh sh*t" moment . Then you're dead. In my experience it's better to take advantage of the fact that she can't move, take out the Sigils guerilla-style, and keep Auranic for last. Lover's Embrace is best with Doru, can work with Belranga, situationally works with Hauani (if you have a Cipher to Disintegrate/Marux Amanth it at Near Death) and is very risky with Auranic. By the way, the last time I used this on Doru, he didn't do anything (no magnetic overdrive etc) even at Bloodied/Near Death. He just stood there and died. I think Doru has seen me too many times with Lover's Embrace, now he's given up on life. He's like "oh, here is this little dude again with his tiny dagger, crap. This time I'm not even going to give him the satisfaction of trying."

Thanks @Elric Galad! You rock. I would personally think this option is the best and most in the spirit of the ability: if you can cast it on your own summons, why can't it proc off them as well? It would feel specialized but worth it if you have eg. a Beckoner with a ton of skeletons + Dichotomous Souls + Phantom etc. holding the enemy, your team retreats, the cipher fires off the nuke... To me this sounds like a high risk/ high reward, satisfying gameplay loop. EDIT: now that I think about it... if the Cipher is Confused, e.g. Berserker/Ascendant does the spell proc off friendly summons? I don't think so but I will check now. EDIT2: no it doesn't.

This is more of a minor thing and maybe widely known but: you can stack Shattered Vengeance's Shards of Woedica curse on yourself or your companions, and it doesn't go away. Why would you want to increase damage received by +25% will you ask me? Well, if you like to use Deltro's Cage Helm lash shenanigans. This can stack with Assassin +15% dmg received, Helwalker +50% dmg received, The Red Hand's +40% dmg received... Potential applications: Solo Strand of Favor abuse runs, with Rakhan Field Boots and Lord Darryn/Essence Interrupter to get a better permanent lash. More legit use in a party, already well known: get a Helwalker/Streetfighter wearing Deltro's Helm, the stuff above that will incur +115% dmg received. At the start of the encounter: give him BDD+SoT, Crit him with Chain Lightning... and unleash this horrible one-shotting beast unto the enemy (he can attack with ranged weaponry or Instruments of Pain). For example he can dash to an optimal spot to reach all enemies with AoE shots, apply Gouging Strike that will proc Powder Burns+Blinding Smoke with Hand Mortar, now he's On the Edge and surviving enemies are Sneak/Deathblow enabled... then switch to Fire in the Hole and boom, Thunderous Report. End of encounter. Add +% beneficial effect duration items/food for optimal use. Note that you can probably also increase dmg recived on your toon with the Pally and Ranger +% dmg inflicted abilities if you Confuse them but that becomes very complicated to pull off .

I'm not totally sure but the SC Furyshaper Bloodward could be useful to your entire party if you can multiply damage tics to generate a lot of passive healing? Have you tried that? But yeah generally the SC Barbie is really good in fights that are the exact opposite of Megaboss encounters .

Just thinking about how to get a strong party IMHO without changing your roster: With Pallegina as a Herald and Konstanten as a Howler, they can summon and passively heal a lot, the 2 of which combined can probably hold up your frontline nicely while they do other things: debuff fortitude, cast invocations, (Pallegina could still open with Blunder/Mortar/Thunderous Report if you like and be equipped to milk disengagement-miss ripostes with e.g. Nomad Brigandine and WoTEP). If you use summons she might not be targeted a lot, which defeats a bit the purpose of the riposte trick. Or go sword and broad, or 2 weapons for FoD. Fassina as a late-game Sorcerer can rain down Pulsing AoEs, DoT AoEs + Infestation of Maggots/Combusting Wounds which can be great - I would be careful about friendly fire though because things can go sideways quickly when you start amassing Pulsing spells on the battlefield. Being a Conjurer sucks quite a bit... not having access to things like Ringrym's Enervating Terror... and all Evocation spells (!) is sad, but you can live without it. You could also make her a SC Conjurer so at high level she can cast the Blackbow + a Phantom Duplicate of herself - quite powerful. Before her you can pick Aloth and enjoy essentially the same party comp. For the last spots you have lots of options; here is one that could add a lot of power: Your Main Char can be MC or SC Priest of whatever maybe Berath would be nice (preferably not Magran for more DMG flex). If you'd like multi could be Helwalker for example. But SC could be real nice too because... Then Ydwin could be Ranged Cipher or Mindstalker. Too bad she cannot be Ascendant but anyway, she can cast Ancestor's Memory on your Priest who then can cast Salvation of Time, and then just keep casting a lot of great stuff like Barring Death Door + SoT and if your Priest is SC, they could spam things like Symbol of Berath or add the Berath Incarnates to the fight for extra bodies. Caution: I don't know if things would change with many of the mods you use... also, this party will not be an AI autowin, hands-off party, you will need to actively play it I think. Not in every single trash fight, but in many fights you'll have to be careful about actions and placement!

One last argument if we're going down the scenario of an SC Ascendant going bonkers: Screaming Souls is a Shred Spell so if you manage the friendly fire you can take full advantage of Death by a 1000 Cuts on a tough cookie + adds (e.g. using an essential Phantom optimized to have a lot of engagement + Dichotomous Souls to contain the enemy frontline). I agree that the spell is not particularly convenient. But spammable, high base Raw damage in large AoE, targeting Will (which on top of being a typically low defense, can be easily debuffed into oblivion), interaction with Death by a 1000 Cuts when needed... IDK maybe it's just because I was excited by @Boeroer's discovery but I think there is potential for a solid and efficient strategy there. (?)

Good point about SC Ascendant + Time Parasite. I would just be cautious about Screaming Souls + Shared Nightmare because the friendly fire of Screaming Souls can be pretty brutal, and Shared Nightmare will make the AoE gigantic! Amplified Wave... it's very good, sure, but it targets Fortitude. In high level encounters I can't see how this is an autowin button, even with Borrowed Instinct. You still need other tactics IMO.

I tried the ability with Essence Interrupter and it's quite nice when you're able to spawn a Ghoul for example. Kill someone with EE > Generate Focus > Creates a Friendly Vessel that aggroes enemies > Dump Focus on Vessel with Screaming Souls until everyone is dead. Very efficient loop. But you can't summon vessels consistently with EE of course!

For the multiclass I agree with you - if you take this at level 19 (or 20 if prioritizing Ancestor's Memory ), this will feel more like a cherry on top of the cake rather than a game changer in most situations. (though massive AoE Raw DMG is still a huge boon in certain fights on upscaled PotD). If you're playing with a Single Class Ascendant, at level 13 you can Ascend, cast Ancestor's Memory on your SC Priest, who will chain cast SoT on you and him, while a Wizard has summoned a tanky Essential Phantom on the enemy frontline and cast Miasma on top. Then your Ascendant can go nuts with Screaming Souls Crits... it allows to punch way above level 13 IMO. EDIT: with Borrowed Instinct, The Empty Soul and inflicting Miasma, if I'm not mistaken you can enjoy the equivalent of +70 ACC vs. enemy Will!

My Helwalker/Soul Blade can really make some serious damage with this. make sure to spread apart your Duplicates so that they don't injure one another. Targeting enemy will is of course great and you benefit from The Empty Soul +10ACC for all the hits of Screaming Souls. The AoE radius is huge. Not self-contained, but an Ascendant/Streetfighter with Thunderous Report and a companion who can summon a vessel/spirit could make a ridiculously powerful use of that ability... so much Raw Damage potential in huge AoE. EDIT: and I was just ranting to myself this morning about how Upscaled PotD inflates enemy AR up to a ridiculous level sometimes. Now you just give us a new way to deliver tremendous Raw DMG. Sweet! Thanks for sharing. EDIT2: Imagine a Blood Mage that cast essential phantom then Miasma of Dull Mindedness on the pack of enemies, and our Ascendant/Streetfighter, ascended and heating up, chain casting Screaming Souls... Just don't kill yourself in the process EDIT3: it should work on Spiritual Ally too.

Holy Molly, it works on The Dichotomous Soul Duplicates! Helwalker/Cipher says hello . EDIT 1: It works on Substantial Phantom too.