Haplok

That's true. A significant number of items was overnerfed into uselessness IMO. For example? Some examples: Baubles of the Fin Keybreaker Scepter Gatecrashers Ngati's Girdle Boltcatchers Aegor's Swift Touch Okura's Kettle Copperhead's Helm Boots of Stability Rotward Amulet Sungrazer also became very unimpressive and rather niche. Protective Eothasian Charm was also overnerfed IMO

It never made sense for me to keep the unique properties of a weapon after switching to another (same as Red Hand damage bonuses).

But even then a melee / pistol or BB combo is competitive with much faster Recovery.

Backstab is rather weak post-nerf though, and not really worth building around IMO. Backstabbing Assasins can be made to work and are quite flavorful, but even that is frankly a lot of effort for not very impressive results. Seems like the best use for an Assassin is to cast evocation spells from stealth. Rogues use their resources much more efficiently as ranged characters, flankers, offtanks and even main tanks.

That is an.. original build. Not sure I like it, bur certainly very interesting. One thing you mentioned bothers me, though. You wrote noone is taking Paralysis on Grave Calling... I most certainly do. If you use Grave Calling to create party friendly Chillfogs (by slaying vessels - enemy or your own, if you have a chanter with skelly summon), the ticks of the Chillfog add Grave Calling stacks and can Paralyze also... in a party friendly aoe! Furthermore multiple instances of such Paralyzing Chillfog can be stacked on top of each other (one for each slain vessel). If you're a Cipher, the fogs even generate Focus for you. Both the Chillfogs and Paralysis last a good deal longer with ~30 Int, though.

2) Also Amira's Wing Horrid Wilting. I think its per rest, though.

Good suggestions were already provided. I'd only add that, other the Willbreaker, you're mostly listing low base damage weapons. I would probably not use them on a primary melee damage dealing character. As offhand, sure, but not as single arms.

And Crippling Strike 2 PEN bonus certainly helps a lot with BB low penetration.

Indeed, I did cast Salvation of Time all the time on my Unbending Swashbuckler.

That's true. A significant number of items was overnerfed into uselessness IMO.

+25 Accuracy, +4 Pen and +50% critical damage on (often Empowered) spells cast from Stealth. Some encounters end before they really start. Also you can re-stealth a few times to drop another nuke... Edit: Ninja'd by our Blue Master Ninja!

I agree with most of the above, except Sharpshooter. I really like the bonuses, particularly on a low penetration weapon like a blunderbuss. More crit conversion is always welcome as well. So it might be not an obvious pick, but I actually think this one of the best balanced subclasses - win some, loose some. Does not make vanilla ranger obsolete and that's a good thing.

Monk / Streetfighter is deadly... but squishy in melee. However if you do a helwalker / streetfighter dual blunderbuss mortar build... that one rocks.

Indeed, Shattered Pillar is a bad choice after the nerfs. Either Vanilla Monk, Nalpasca if you don't mind the drug reliance or Helwalker if you don't mind living on the edge. Heavy armor till you're confident about your character's durability is sound advice. Even moreso for a Helwalker.

Mostly the tank should be inside the PB radius. And his Armor should grow higher then the Penetration. Tends to be a non-issue. They can add a nice chunk of damage vs certain enemies though (and work great proccing stuff like Combusting Wounds). So IMO you should not disable them. Particularly as a Streetfighter.

Well, with monk you'll have tenacious for +2 Pen. Rogue tends to spam Crippling Strike for another +2 Pen. Usually shouldn't be a problem. But sure, its much better vs certain enemies. Not sure you noticed, but mortars target Reflex rather then Deflection! So you tend to crit large, slow enemies a lot (and thats +50% Pen). On the other hand they tend to be weak VS roguish targets.

Go with Bear. He has higher Armor Rating and I never had issues with the Bear surviving the Powder Burns barrage. Accuracy => more hits/crits => more Penetration and damage. Driving Flight: 'splosions, 'splosions everywhere (although the damage gets a hefty penalty for each bounce => might be better to get the non-bounce upgrade on Fire in the Hole). Note each bounce also seems to trigger Powder Burns... lots of damage ticks. Other best contender is probably monk, due to aoe Stunning Surge and Helwalker might bonus. I agree about the fighter anti-synergy. Ascendant / Streetfighter is quite strong, but MaxQuest's warning is a very fair one: the gameplay is pretty boring after a while. Also apart from recovery speed, Streetfighter doesn't really buff the spellcasting aspect. On the contrary, you debuff Perception and accuracy. And the martial damage you do as a Streetfighter makes the damaging Ascendant powers kinda obsolete.

Sharpshooter / Streetfighter is dope. Driving Flight will make your mortar 'splosions (and Powder Burns!) bounce again. You get some speed boosts. Plus lotsa single-target accuracy bonuses. You also get another meatbag to flank/protect your rear.

Well sure, but Obs implemented a significant damage penalty to those dual full attacks. Nothing is stopping you from dual wielding blunderbusses or pistols. But Full attacks are not the focus of the ranger, some of his skills are primary anyway. Instead he gets stuff like Driving Flight and eventually Twin Shot.

Viable - in case of Barbarian or better yet, monk - yes. But before you get to the high level abilities, its very suboptimal. At low-to-mid levels multiclasses are vastly better. Also single classes are less fun to build.

Yes, but IF you do like to play with Grave Calling, the option to have double stacks of paralyzing Chillfogs IS pretty tempting.

The Eager Blade is a great early alternative. It's only slightly weaker. Though not nearly as cool, of course, and does not provide healing/raw lash. There is also the Lord Darryn's Voulge which oozes flavor.

Because the OP will of course spam those Whispers of the Wind at levels 4-7, when the most difficult fights and most dangerous damage spikes happen. Low level monks aren't tanky at all. Not that great at damage either.

Good advice already given. If you're an Assasin, pick Run-Trough for strong alpha strikes from stealth

What is the most important role for your paladin? We can better advise you based on that info. Probably primary healing, and tank secondary. I'm not a tactical master at PoE, so unless a character is doing something *really* stupid I let them do as they please. But I've noticed leaving the Xoti as a CPU controlled priest leaves a bit to be desired in the healing aspects. Plus I've always been a fan of healing in MMOs and DnD. For lots of healing you don't even need a multiclass. A Kind Wayfarer spamming White Flames with dual weapons provides a lot of healing. Add the healing aura and occasional Lay on Hands and he's multiclass can focus on other functions. Many good suggestions were already provided. I'd avoid a Paladin/Fighter, as it's defensive overkill IMO.