demon72

maybe a little bit misleading - enough in the sense of "it is not worth reducing other values for this".

nobody knows?

with Company Captain’s Cap and / or Ring of Thorns and Dex Resting Bonus you will have 19-20 Dex, this should be enough...

I would try something like this: RACE: Coastal Aumaua BCKG: Old Vailia - Drifter CLASS: Wizard Starting ATTS: MIG 16, CON 09, DEX 14, PER 12, INT 19, RES 8 SKILLS: Mechanics 12, Athletics 1+, Lore 2, Survival 7 ABLTS: Arcane Assault, Towering Physique, Minor Arcane Reflection, Second Wind MASTER SPELLS: (1st) Parasitic Staff, (2nd) Mirrored, (3rd) Deleterious, (4th) Llengrath's Physical Shields (retrain might be necessary) MEMORIZED SPELLS: (1st) Chillfog, Staff, Ghost, Double, (2nd) Bewildering, Blackened, Infuse, Merciless, (3rd) Expose, Blights, Displaced, Visage, (4th) Shadowflame, Physical, Confusion, Tentacles, (5th) Blast, Lance, Safeguard, Cloud, (6th) Hex, Martial, Gaze, Blunt, (7th) Doom, Image, Bolt, Orb, (8th) Rake, Bulwark, Wall, Wind TLNTS: Arcane Veil (R)*, Hardened Veil (R)*, Weapon and Shield (R), Vets Recovery (R), Weapon Focus (whatever you use as main weapon in Act I), Savage Attack, Two Handed, Bull's Will *if you retrain: you won't need Arcane Veil much in the later Game WPS: Steadfast + Little Savior / Adydon’s Hammer ITMS: Blaidh Golan (R) or Wayfarer’s Hide (chest), Company Captain’s Cap (head), Master Mystic (back), Guantlets of Swift Action (hands), Boots of Stability (R) or Vietto’s Footwear (feet), Looped Belt (R) or Royal Deadfire (waist), Ring Thorns & Ring of Protection (fingers)

Wizards are by far the best class for a melee-fighter build in PoE!

...is tempering Abydon possible, if you...? didn't finish Act II before, means... no "animancer hearings" Aloth doesn't made enough progress (not sure what is needed, just had a short conversation in the temple below copper-lane so far) if your party doesn't contain Pallegina (can she support without starting Act III?) Maneha (let her forget) Aloth (does he needs to be part of the party?) ...as you don't even have the chance to get enough arguments - not even talking about winning them! Besides the fact, that I bound the souls to the White Forge, I didn't do anything wrong so far, but did I do enough to temper Abydon?

you should be able to change phrases

why you don't use a trader?

I use it on my Cipher - and that was a good decision. But I always start battles with "weapon and shield" until my priest has finished buffing... ...in the later game "Defensive Mindweb" has the very nice effect, that only the build with the highest (or at least high) Deflection and Reflex values stays with "weapon & shield" while all other builds can switch to a two-handed weapon without loosing any Deflection and Reflex boni.

Boeroer has definetly much more experience than me, but what I wanted to say (based on my limited experience): Tier-1 Classes: Wizard Druid Priest Tier-2 Classes: Paladin Cypher Tier-3 Classes: Chanter Monk Barb Tier-4 Classes: Fighter Ranger Rogue at least from my experience. Never tried it, but it's obvious that "two bodies" will definetly be helpfull in the very early game. And as the very early game is the hardest part of PoE, you could argue, that the Ranger is a very good choice, but in the later game the additional "body" could even be a handicap, as it will block your way and "pathfinding" / "movement in battle" is programmed really really bad!

Stalker's Link is great for a Ranger... ...but on my experience the Ranger is one of the weakest (if not the weakest) class in PoE.

I use the Company Captain's Hat for my Paladin... ...and the Belt of the Royal Cannoneer for my Cypher.

yes, as the chanter doesn't have anything to do until the bad guys are closing in.

is very nice if you use a ranger (what I wouldn't recommend).

1x for the "mechanic"-build (just to put them on if you need them) 3x "Girdle of Eoten Strength" and 4x "Boots of Stability" are also very good "finds" if you already "found" 3-4 x "Gauntlets of Swift Action"... ...at least for my party.