Haplok

I believe Metaturtle used the Wisps in his Sweeper Agent (Troubadour/Streetfighter) build...

If a Witch can be considered, Berserker confused + Phantom Foes? Edit: Sorry, that's not a Streetfighter then. Well, but would be nice to have such a Witch in the party - when not going solo.

Mindblades are very good for its level/cost - when there are 2-3 enemies around/left to bounce between. Also nice to trigger effects, such as Combusting Wounds. Obviously can't compete with Amplified Wave - which is 4 power levels higher, 3 times as expensive Focus-wise and takes twice as long to cast+Recover. Good luck with the Corpse Eater. I think you're gonna need it. My personal favorite is Transcendant (note it is a bit of a late bloomer, meh prior to level 10 and so-so before you get to the GOOD powers). But after level 10 with Duality of Mortal Presence and dual hand mortars stunning huge groups for a long time with Stunning Blow/Surge and debuffing the whole screen already feels good. But Trickster/Soulblade is nice also - mainly for single-targets though.

Plus there are armors with Recovery penalty Reductions. The infamous Devil of Caroc Breastplate comes to mind (availability depends on PoE1 story choices/chosen history). That one is excellent for most characters, particularly ones depending on non-spell resources. Miscreant's Leather has a recovery penalty reduction too, I believe - if you prefer your armor light.

Soul Shock is too slow IMO. Particularly for a melee SoulBlade. Those 3 Ascendant bonus PL means 1-2 extra MindBlade bounces for example... Anyway as a SoulBlade you typically end up just spamming Soul Annihilation.

Most armors don't provide Deflection, they give Armor Rating. Meaning they protect you from Overpenetration (30% increased damage) and, in optimal conditions and heavier/buffed versions, can also reduce incoming damage. Each AR point above enemy Penetration rating reduces damage by 25% (capped at 75%). It's not very easy to cause underpenetrations on Path of the Damned, where enemies have boosted PEN, but even there its possible - if you work on stacking AR. Barb Thick Skinned is +1, Unbroken Fighter with Shield +1, Fire Godlike is +1 when wounded. Paladin can raise it too, by quite a bit. Goldpacts get temporary high armor boost (works best combined with high defenses, so it lasts), there's also a high level Pally ability that stacks up to +3 for standing still, I believe (you can still use mobility active abilities, such as rogue Escape). Then there are Wizard buffs, such as Spirit Shield and Ironskin. As for action economy... its a tradeoff, sure. Some classes are less affected, for example Chanters, who gain new phrases regardless of armor recovery. There are pets which significantly reduce the penalty (Abraham dog, Cutthroat Cosmo the pig). Fighter gets Armored Grace ability to further mitigate it. And you can sorta counter it with Recovery boosts: using dual weapons, Barbarian Frenzy, Monk Flurry or the ultimate recovery reduction: Streetfighter Heating Up/On the Edge bonuses (but you have to trigger those first).

Triggering Streetfighter bonus isn't THAT difficult... and you often have it when it counts. Also it's the best way to use two-handers IMO, which are slooow otherwise. But barring Streetfighter, I second the Trickster advice. You loose very little sneak damage, almost nothing, but his FREE spell like abilities are VERY potent. If nothing else, the Trickster buffs will make your defenses shoot trough the roof (and provide lots of Riposte opportunities).

IMO a Fighter / Paladin multiclass is extreme overkill. Both of those classes are more then tanky enough by themselves.

Blunderbuss modal is an additional aoe (friendly fire) fire attack. It does not replace the main shot, which is still single-target. Well, unless you use the special pair of hand mortar blunderbusses, which actually are aoe - regardless of the modal.

Rogue perhaps. Streetfighter for carnage, Trickster for high defenses. I like Estocs. But many weapons are viable. Depends on what you like.

SC Rogue - Meh, lacking resources. Multiclass better in pretty much all aspects. Monk: Weaker early on, eventually becomes godly. Barb: Weak early on, very painful to level, strong at cap. Cipher - Ascendant: Good, gains access to important powers fast. A bit weaker then MC at cap.

Paladin / Fighter is overkill IMVHO. Each of those classes is very tanky on its own. At least make him a Devoted for a little more damage, as advised. Also Darcozzi is the worst Paladin subclass, by far. I'd go Goldpact for sturdiness, Kind Wayfarer for healing or Bleak Walker for damage. But in general I'd go for a Swashbuckler (with Rogue Trickster) for all my tanking needs. Holy Slayer works too, but has less engagement slots then Fighter with Defender Stance, so needs specialized equipment with bonus engagement slots for full tanking duty.

Bear IMO. Has higher Armor Rating, which should let it shrug Powder Burns damage easily (as well as be more resilient overall). Note I do not recommend charging with the AC, but rather protecting the rear and flanking the already established front line.

Nope. But it does apply to spell Recovery. Nice for many Cipher spells with 0.5 second cast, 3 second recovery.

But a blunderbuss Streetfighter needs no babysitting :D. Powder Burns automatically triggers his special all the time.

Yeah the game was much easier when I played him. Whiteleaf were very strong then It's still a very powerful build! Indeed. Although mortars are beggining to use a Streetfighter instead of assasin for more carnage

Probably rarely useful for multiclass builds... but a cheap full attack for a pure fighter build... if there are such out there.

Then you were unlucky. Normally they do drop their flags.

It comes online rather late, though and you can't do it very often. The sneaky playstyle is costly Guile-wise.

To add to that, even though Estoc is single-type damage, it's high Pen base plus modal bonus plus Devoted bonus leads to frequent Overpenetration for +30% damage - even without special food (which I've yet to use). IMO a high-pen single damage type in Deadfire is superior to moderate dual-damage. You Overpenetrate or fully Penetrate more often, as usually enemies are weak against only 1 physical damage type (so its possible it is not 1 of the 2 you cover). Meanwhile you Penetrate everything short of full immunity. And skellies were never a problem. Switched to Spine of Thicket Green (which has +5 vs Vessels, so only a loss of 5 Accuracy, AFAIR). Or any other weapon, like a morningstar, I guess.

It's difficult to compare the survivability of a swashbuckler (or holy slayer) with a pure streetfighter. That is a whole another level. Actually IMO rogues gain very little from staying pure. But if you like living dangerously and plan for strong party support, you could also go shadowdancer (monk/streetfighter) for ultimate damage monster.

It isn't; but I only really like Engoliero do Espirs, that would be my selection if I was an Estoc guy (and I would build around it), and it would feel like it took forever to finally fulfill my weapon slot in my character template. I never really thought of estocs as a good weapon (in totality) since I (almost) always go for two damage type weapons. The base weapon is better than a base greatsword and overall the greatsword itemization is such that there are more good choices available. My point of view is different. You get clear upgrades trough various stages of gameplay (okay, actually 2 very early and one rather late) and when you finally get the ultimate weapon, earning it trough an epic quest chain, you feel properly rewarded. But honestly, I also prefer Engoliero, but mainly due to the coolness factor (and 10% Raw lash). It also has a large aoe for the GhostBlades, which is a plus. In typical applications though, Eager Blade is almost as good. And has higher Accuracy and speed (plus 10% for double attack). In practice, when playing my swashbuckler, I prioritized this quest and got Engoliero (and Fonferrus! ship - saves a good deal of money!) at level 15, before doing most of the quests from other factions and before even visiting Poko Kohara/Tikawara.

I'm glad you enjoy the build! And sorry about that mistake. Please pick Clear Out and Adept Evasion at level 16 and then Refreshing Defense at 17. Thank you for finding the error!

How is Eager Blade late?

Yes, with levels, abilities, legendary mods you can eventually overcome that low Might. Then again, if you didn't start with that penalty, you'd be in a better place still.