Cheshire_Khajiit

Hmmm, interesting idea @NotDumbEnough. I guess the root question, then, is whether it's best to have the highest attack speed or have high attack speed and passive extra attack chances (assuming of course that those extra attacks proc the lash stacking). The reason I went with a streetfighter is that it combines high attack speed with the possibility of getting riposte for passive extra attacks. Another option would be to go single-class barbarian for the passive barbaric retaliation attacks, but that incentivizes going low resolve which in turn incentivizes a heavy armor/slow action speed build. Could certainly be good, assuming it still procs the lash stacking.

@Boeroer yeah that's a combination I've been considering. My main concern with barb/streetfighter is survivability. I'm assuming the barb frenzy deflection debuff stacks with the flanked status meaning a total of -20 deflection. Since streetfighter seems like a class that wants to get itself damaged to a certain degree and then stay at that hp level, I'd be worried about being hit too easily. As @thelee points out, the illusion spells that come with Wael priest give a "toggleable" deflection boost when you need it. Granted, what you suggest does exactly what I created this thread to ask about, so I appreciate the comment either way. Tangentially related - do you happen to know whether riposte full attacks count for stacking the lash on Grave Calling/Hel Beckoning? Barb frenzy has anti-synergy with riposte but it may not matter if riposte can't stack those effects to begin with...

Hi peeps, Having done my own digging, I wanted to revisit this topic with a build recommendation for anyone else who may be seeking a similar concept. @thelee has written an incredibly detailed guide for a Wael-Priest/Streetfighter he calls the "Umezawa" (coincidentally, named after one of my favorite Magic the Gathering cards, Umezawa's Jitte). I think this build could very reasonably be combined with dual-wielding Grave Calling and Hel Beckoning to achieve something close to what I describe above, though I suspect the result would be less powerful than @thelee's weapon recommendations. Here are some useful descriptions of the build for anyone that's interested: https://gamefaqs.gamespot.com/pc/227477-pillars-of-eternity-ii-deadfire/faqs/76599/case-study-1-umezawa I also highly recommend reading through @thelee's amazing FAQ - the first link I shared above is part of it. - Cheshire_Khajiit

Hi all, Been trying to come up with a build that can rapidly build up the stacks of Grave Calling and Hel Beckoning through high attack speed and/or mechanics like riposte (assuming riposte actually does add stacks in the first place). The idea would be to charge into melee and hit for relatively low damage but with a flurry of attacks that build in potency due to weapon buff stacking - death by a thousand cuts in melee form. I'm already aware of the incredible cascading effect of Monk crits and would like to avoid it for this build, as Monk completely trivializes PotD imo. Was considering a Streetfighter/Blood Mage Spellblade for controllable self-damage, high deflection, high action speed, and flexibility. Would appreciate any thoughts and/or tips!

Indeed - but it does seem like the "target: affected by marked prey (not)" condition (which I could have sworn was a vanilla condition in the ranger-specific conditions section) checks ALL possible targets and that's why it spams mark prey. In other words, it seems to me like the game scans all possible targets for mark prey and the condition is satisfied as long as it finds at least one that remains unmarked. Either way, thank you for the excellent animal companion suggestion! Too bad we can't set AI targeting for animal companions beyond "aggressive."

Yep, that's exactly right! The idea would be to cast marked prey, focus that target until it dies, then recast marked prey on the next target (at least until getting the marked prey upgrade).

Hey folks! Long-time forum lurker getting back into the game and looking to build a Seer hireling that I don't have to manage super carefully - my biggest obstacle currently is that I can't seem to find a way to get the behavior settings right for marked prey. Namely, I've found that even if I use "Target: affected by marked prey (not)" as the condition and place it below an action set that commands auto-attack on marked prey targets, the Seer still spams marked prey on all targets. I'm guessing that's due to the game considering ALL possible targets without marked prey as satisfying the marked prey action set conditions and NOT satisfying the auto-attack action set. I'm aware of the action set cooldown option, but this seems like a really lame way to work around the issue. Basically, I just want the character to cast marked prey if NO target with marked prey exists. FWIW, I am currently using the expanded AI conditions mod. Does anyone have any suggestions for me? Nothing I've read online has answered this question specifically, and it's quite possible that it's a lost cause but I figured I'd ask here just in case there's a workaround. Thanks! - Cheshire_Khajiit