Griffonheart

And which Mage sub-class, if applicable? I saw so many articles on Spirit Lance but also diversity on which sub-classes are the most suitable. One said Helwalker is good but you can't get wounds as quickly as Shattered Pillar would, but SP only has a max of five wounds, and Blood Mage's ability could add wounds should you pick Helwalker, but losing empower is not worth it, etc etc. Base on the knowledge above, it appears the optimal choices would be Helwalker/Blood Mage and Shattered Pillar/Base?

I guess tank is the wrong word. I want to know if Xoti could melee with some level of survival that my healing could keep up. For those who wear lighter armor, Aloth seems to tank better with his spells than Xoti's.

Can Xoti tank as Monk/Contemplative? She can also use a shield, too, so perhaps doable? EDIT: My Watcher is a Troubadour/Scion with healing/summoning focus.

I've been growing rather accustomed to having a Cipher or a Cipher subclass somewhere on the team. XD

Sorry to interrupt, but is this a "range Paladin" we're talking about?

Something along this line:

Thank you very much! Sounds like it's a combination worthy of several characters of its own!

How does Obsidian look at players utilizing this patch, if I may ask? Do you have a list of favored abilities for your Psion/Troubadour build?

What's a community patch? I found a thread from Novemeber on dpsing with Cipher, where you mentioned the Psion/Troubadour combo. XD

So while Ascendant and Soul Blade have the best burst damage, Psion offers persistence and is unhindered by weapon, so long as you’re away. My experience being that most mobs can be easily CCed/Debuffed by regular Cipher, boss fight however is the core issue. I think I’ll start with an elemental weapon first and see where it goes. Thx much for all the help!

I thought Psion is unpopular because it generates focus so slowly?

No weapon damage no focus, that’s what I’ve been experiencing on big boss, especially dragons. What would be a good SC Cipher weapon?

Haven’t played much, but I heard good words on Herald. A tank itself, passive healing, infinite resources, and the summons; the less damage your team takes the less healing you need. Not to mention, tank+healer in one means you can create a party however you like, be it extra debuff or extra dps. Can a Cipher/Chanter be a viable healer/buffer?

Thanks for all the suggestions. So your Helwalker approach is to not use wound abilities but accumulate them to empower Cipher spells? The +5% damage taken per wound is a little worrisome however... I suppose I can test SC Cipher on my Serafen for the time being and see how it goes. I was advised to use Hunting Bow modal to speed up the attacks, but the damage had been rather unimpressive. When I tried Blunderbuss modal, I think it damages my teammates too? Would love to hear some options on weapon choices here.

So abilities such as Time Parasite and Death of 1k Cuts are not worth going full Cipher for dps? I was hoping to stick with pure Cipher because I like how their abilities aren't the traditional mage pew pew, but it appears that multi-class is the way to go. *slightly sad*

So spamming it on the tank, yes? If anything, that's probably easy to program an AI for it. Is it wise to create a single class Cipher with 4~5 dps spells (as a striker), or is it preferred to multi class with something else, like Chanter?

Heya, fairly new to the game here. I've been managing Cipher AI for cc/support and it's tons of fun, though I also realize that I rarely consider any of its dps spells. I did some research online and most of the dps methods with Cipher involving multiclassing or weapon damage, rather than blasting people with brain cells. Can anyone clarify how useful (or not) Cipher dps spells are?