Not So Clever Hound

But then you could also go Assassin/Druid for the +25ACC and +50% Crit DMG bonus. With Inspired Beacon + Takedown combo that's a one shot spell probably on par with Thunderous Report from Mythic Kitchen Stove. It's single target, but you have two casts. A Shadow Druid casting Sun spells, how ironic.

I should have double checked before posting, I just tested and it does break Brilliant Departure. It doesn't completely invalidate the strategy above (Brilliant Departure can get a long duration especially with WoD), but it limits quite a bit. Thanks for pointing it out!

@thelee I recently discovered that too, it's a real bummer for certain strategies (e.g. if you want to briefly switch to the Snakeskin Grimoire to cast Draconic Fury on a spiritshifted Sorcerer about to go nuts in melee). Spiritshift still has a number of bugs and oddities attached to it. But when you think about it, would a 9-feet tall were-animal with giant paws and claws like daggers be able to juggle between tiny grimoires? I know it's not a great explanation but personally that's how I've come to terms with this particular bug. EDIT: In order to have the benefit of different spells across grimoires, I'm thinking potentially this could work but it requires a lot of micro and a Blood Mage (also won't work for switching offensive damage spells). I'll try later. 1) Start combat in Kith form with Arkemyr Illuminating Discoveries and cast Brilliant departure. 2) Cast WoD from learnt spells or another grimoire on standing enemies to prolong duration of invisibility. 3) Continue to switch between grimoires to cast different buffs or potentially CC/debuff spells (invis shouldn't break) keeping the WoD up and replenishing spells if needed with Blood Sacrifice. 4) When ready, switch back to primary grimoire, turn on Spiritshift and yallah! 5) Once you're out of invisibility you can use Blood Sacrifice if Blood Mage to replenish spells, keep WoD up etc. otherwise as @Haplok pointed out below Blood Sacrifice will break invisibility.

Did you mean us on the forum or your actual kids? Maybe both. I've been sucked into home/garden improvement business too but I don't think I'm as successful as you with my endeavors. Let's say my Upscaled PotD Solo toons manage to die less than my real-life salads...

Thanks for sharing @dgray62. I had seen it and liked a lot all the creative work behind, but didn't want to use it right away since it's so transformative and seems quite OP indeed. I don't think it's something you can install in modules right? You have to install the entire mod (e.g. you can't just extend the duration of Spiritshift)? Probably once I'll feel like I've exhausted non-modded Druid I'll give it a shot .

That's fair but with high INT and Infuse with VE the Storm spells will have quite a decent duration. Actually you're making me think that while I'll want Nature's Terror Active for the DMG and the Frightened effect to shut down offensive abilities, I won't want to use Terrify effects (at least not in the beginning). In the beginning of the fight I want enemies to agglutinate on my WoD to supercharge the duration of all my beneficial effects, so I don't want them (yet) to run around in terror. But, of course I'll have all the storm spells active including Nature's Terror . EDIT: also, since I'm using DaoM only for the DEX inspiration, I can just use Fleet Feet (slaps himself in the face).

This is exactly what I'm trying Lifegiver/Bloodmage with Cat Form. Trying to bring the PoE1 Thundercat build in PoE2 with a twist . It's more like a Blood Druid actually. My objective in terms of synergy is that: WoD + Cat Form + Cat Flurry + DAoM + Captain Banquet (stacks if you save/reload like Luminous Potion) + DEX Items will bring crazy speed which will shake up typical action economy The crazy amount of spells that BM with Vaporous Grimoire + Druid can have becomes really great because you can non-stop cast like an arcane machine gun Stack Moon's Light + Moonwell + Nature's Balm in Lifegiver Spiritshift form with Dawnstar Blessing + Footprint of Ahu Taka etc gives you stellar permanent HoT = fuel for Blood Sacrifice I've fool-proofed the initial concept with a hired toon but now I'm trying the solo playthrough on upscaled PotD. I will make sure to report my findings . Please let me know if you can think of something else that can help! EDIT: of course I know that the +Action Speed from DAoM won't stack with the Flurry buff but I'm using DAoM for the DEX Inspiration.

Talking about building a tanky Druid in Spiritshift mode, Furrante's Breastplate can be a great armor. The "First to the Fight" enchant gives +10 All Defenses at the beginning of the fight that stack with other passive + All Def effects and one active + All Def effect like Moonwell etc (and of course all other specific +Def buffs). It's triggered once at the beginning of the fight and is not removed if you remove the armor (i.e. if you Spiritshift). It can be great if you prolong the effect with SoT or WoD which will also prolong Spiritshift, Cat Flurry, Moonwell etc. I'm building something around this right now, if it amounts to something interesting I'll post about it.

I can't resist the throwback-PoE1 appeal of posting Bilestomper's little pic

For certain builds it can be a pain indeed (e.g. Melee Assassin + other class). But in those cases you can just throw a first Gouging Strike attack (which will prevent combat to end before the afflicted target is dead) and then you have your own self contained Berath challenge That's how I prefer to play Solo Rogue personally vs. having Berath's challenge on, because often the abillity to end fights prematurely actually speeds up the game. (kill, reset, kill, reset).

Agreed! But I think you refer to Eothas challenge (i.e. time limit for critical path quests)? Berath's challenge prevents combat to end if you flee/go invisible. But that is irrelevant with Doru. Combat will not end anyway unless it or you die.

Gouging with high Power Level + True Love's Kiss gives a lot more DoT. You kill him faster at lvl 20 than at lvl 8 .

I like this phrasing. "Hey enemy, you laughin'? Ok let me go park my party over there and come back to you and gouge your eye out, then we'll see who's laughin'." In the case of Doru, in 3 or 4h real life hours

Feel free if you'd like to post about a time (there are probably many) when Boeroer un-stuck you from a difficult situation in Deadfire, or opened your mind to new possibilities with a fantastic new build/combo of mechanics. For me I must say it was back in PoE 1 with his adorable Bilestomper build. What a delight this little dude was! @Boeroer here is a cake made of cheese for you on behalf of this community:

Sorry for the multiple posts there is also a bit of debate on whether being able to put infinite DoTs on a target, vanish and retreat somewhere while the target is just standing there like a turnip until it's dead is an abuse of the game AI. My humble take on this is that one way or another if you want to solo the game on PotD, you'll have to rely upon one or two mechanics that are let's say "unconventional". Then it's up to each player of course to decide what they like and dislike for their own playthrough. Rogues give you a new set of options (exploits?) besides extending cannot-die effects or the shenanigans of SC Monks.

Not to self promote or anything but if you're interested in playing a Rogue type, I've posted somewhat recently 2 builds (one ranged, one melee) that could be fun for you to look at (they are not exploiting Strand of Favor or anything).

You are absolutely correct. Ranged Assassin (single or multi) is IMO one of the strongest classes in the game if you are OK to play a stealthy character and if you don't have Berath's challenge on (but it's still ok then with Tactician/Assassin). You assassinate your enemies 1 by 1 or several at a time at higher lvl, then vanish with Smoke Veil, rinse and repeat until everyone is down. If on top of that, you are willing to use Strand of Favor to extend duration of stuff (this is an exploit/abuse that is quite controversial but that definitely exists) then Assassin is without a doubt the strongest class in the game because you can be permanently under Vanishing Strike effect. Which also then make the game a complete yawn-fest because there will be absolutely zero combat challenge from then until the credit roll.

Amen to this idea. I think my least favorite thing in Deadfire (with being turned into a piglet) is to run out of Spiritshift time right in the middle of a tough fight. If anything, a Spiritshifted Druid that is being pounded in combat should turn feral (some kind of Frenzy effect) and stay in Spiritshift mode rather than shifting back to his lame human form (could be a nice risk/reward mechanic like Streetfighter for example). Anyway... Hey, my dear Druid class: Your iconic transformation feature is once per encounter with a *hem* 15 sec base duration Most of your strong iconic spells have a ridiculous fast-cast scroll version One of your strongest storm spell that could be fantastic with a Martial multiclass is PL8 (and exists as a scroll and even as an ability in a helmet). Your strongest absolute nuke is PL9 and can only ever be casted once per encounter without Brilliant ( SC Blood Mage with Grimoire of Vaporous Wizardy, Blood Sacrifice... and for good measure a few stacks of scrolls of Great Maelstrom laughs demonically). But you know what, even if you may not have received all the love you deserved in conception/implementation, players will always love you.

And against Doru, you still need to wear the Upright Captain's Belt with this strategy because even if you've retreated to the furthest corner of the screen, the periodic pull attack will still get you - that is, unless you're immune. I've done a Mindstalker playthrough where I defeated all Megabosses with Gouging Strike one way or another. The one megaboss that is a bit more intricate is Hauani o Whe (I used Disintegrate + Marux Amanth when it was at Near Death from Gouging Strike). Even against Auranic I used an Empower point to have enough Guile to Gouging Strike her and each Sigil. It also worked on Neriscyrlas, on the Fire Dragon, on the Porokoa, I even destroyed the Oracle of Wael with it among other things... the Guardians, Gorecci Street, the Dig Site... it trivializes many things. It's always a nice effect to apply and then you supplement as needed with other offense if you are in a small enclosed area and can't just go hide somewhere. You can also let something die form Gouging Strike while you stay in the safety of Withdraw scrolls but you'll need a lot of scrolls .

Let's also not forget that Wizards are so beloved (by me included) mostly because of the Blood Mage subclass which is a huge favor Obsidian did to their (IMO) flagship Wizard class. Roll an SC Druid on Solo Upscaled PotD and try to build towards high level DLC boss encounters etc without permabrilliant, perma-whatever... Maybe some geniuses can pull it off, but I've systematically failed because I can't extend my non-existent buffs, and because I can't regenerate my spells at will. And of course Spiritshift is over before you know it. I love casters in the Unity Engine. I love what Obsidian did with Wizards in PoE1 then in Deadfire, and how they implemented the Blood Mage for power playing and to answer the ridiculous challenges that the game can throw at you. I feel like Druids could have been amazing for Solo with the same kind of love from the developers. It's still a great class of course - but I have an itch for some kind of Blood Druid .

And that's what you get for becoming a role model for an entire generation of players, Dear Sir. People live by your approval. Or maybe I'm exaggerating a bit. Anyway, I'll bake a cake and eat it in your honor.

@Boeroer unrelated note but in 11 posts you'll officially be at 20,000 posts. I feel like we should throw you a little party. Something classy, but rustic.

Of course all the combos you cite are super creative and bonkers, but I especially like the simple elegance of this one. It also reminds me of that horrible fight against Uariki and her animated weapons in PoE1 (one of Concelhaut's apprentices). Yikes. Nice to turn the tables a bit, with shocking aura as an extra surprise.

Exaclty, @Boeroer that's why I thought it could be an important distinction to make especially if the OP is looking for more potentially exotic builds - the difference party/solo may be even stronger.

Just personal opinion here: I think it's important as well to specify if builds are viable/tested Solo or not. You can find a lot of fun synergies and oddities between many classes that are not very popular, and have a real blast in a party (where any class is viable as long as your party is somewhat balanced). But Solo-viable synergy is another matter altogether and I think it would be good to add that perspective too when people post builds. The builds that tend to rise to the top in the forums were often made popular because they were Solo-friendly builds (except for some very beloved Party builds like SC Fury or Fury/Helwalker). Maybe that's actually a thing to reiterate too even if somewhat obvious: one doesn't have to play a Solo-capable build to be in a party, on the contrary it can be more fun to play something different and creative. That might also give a bit more love back to certain SC classes which are absent from your list .