Haplok

Pure ranger? Why not Scout? Possible +160% Sneak & Deathblow attack damage seems totally worth it to me. Plus affliction/DoT bonanza (in aoe with rod modal or dual mortar).

Well, one of the Cipher multiclasses you have considered before, particularly with Ascendant, certainly would have been more interesting/have more to do.

Barbarian Brute Force ability allows to target Fortutide instead - if lower. Multiclass characters can access it at level 16.... Ah, the days of PoE 1 Firebrand before the nerf... Back then you could also target Reflex with regular attacks of that summoned sword... Each attack with Carnage was like a fireball explosion...

Or Ascendant/Monk. Or even Ascendant/Ranger.

Well, but Red hand acts like a double barrel rifle/shotgun. Not multi-hit, though.

You mean like the Red Hand?

The description suggests otherwise though.

Nope, Red Hand has 2 separate attacks (actually, as Boroer explained, it nullifies Reload for every second attack). Only the first one will be affected by Assasinate and/or Backstab bonuses.

Actually the second one is called Fire in the Hole and is significantly better. Has an upgrade, which makes the aoe bounce once at the cost of 15% damage. It's gotten by pursuing Serafen's questline.

I really like this concept... for a single character game. Or for solo play, if one has such inclinations (I don't). I don't think the class works very well in a party setting though. For party play I guess the second option is much better: occasional assassinate bonus for some ranged aoe spells.

But it's also very slow...

Wouldn't mind that solution for my dual mortars :D

Well, one other option is to stand inside Chill Fog. Or the infamous Blunderbuss Powder Burns modal.

Aren't the extra Wounds due to Helwalker starting combat? The description mentions 1 Wound, but I seem to always start combat with 3 at level 10. So maybe the amount scales with PL?

But Stunning Surge refund behavior is supposed to be corrected in 2.0 (will only refund skill cost, that is 2 Mortification).

Whispers was nerfed (no longer strikes primary target twice). Due to low base damage it is now more of a niche weapon to deliver some special attacks/afflictions in a melee aoe.

Well, The Red Hand only procs special abilities once. For me it actually seems to stop once the first shot is completed while using Stunning strike (need to issue attack command again to get the shot from the second "barrel"). Frostseeker's aoe is a separate attack also, I think. There's also "unusual 1h" Hand Mortar, Fire in the Hole. Though I'd prefer Obsidian not to nerf those.

Monk is slower, yes. But particularly Helwalker massively boosts the Cipher powers as well (at the cost of extra squishiness). Streetfighter on the other hand sure, is very powerful. But the rogue abilities will overshadow the Cipher damage abilities IMO. Better to go SoulBlade or Beguiler in that case IMO. Plus the durations will be kinda short, Accuracy will be poor. Powder Burns constantly running out... it's a hassle. Been there, done that (admittedly at a rather low level only). Sure, it can be done... and it's fast. But the synergy with an Ascendant isn't the greatest IMO.

Yeah, it's a huge mess with once per rest/per encounter abilities. I think all active abilities should be changed to 1-3 times per encounter (some weaker ones could be changed to x2-x3 to somewhat compensate for the weaker effect). And regarding the effect trigger chance... I think Obsidian went overboard with the nerfs. The trigger chances were actually very good for many items on launch. Perhaps too good in some cases (often 100% on crit on stuff like Nature's Embrace and Ngati's Girdle). But instead of reducing them to 50% or even 30%, then nerfed them to the ground and changed the trigger chance to 10%, making those effects almost useless (because unreliable) flavor.

I'm currently playing a Transcendent. It's a really nice multiclass. The Helwalker Might boost is great for the damage spells and the massive Int bonus is awesome for buff/debuff durations (including Ascension), as well as effect aoes. That said, if I was starting again, I probably would have gone pure Ascendant. I feel the Monk wasn't really pulling his weight prior to level 10 (when he got both Duality of Mortal Presence and Stunning Blow - one level earlier). Till that point I'd rather have the earlier access to stronger powers. My character is now level 11 and if he were pure, he'd already start melting enemies with Disintegration (with accuracy boosted by Borrowed Instinct). As it is, I have to wait till level 16, which feels like eternity (and wait till 13 for Borrowed Instinct). And I will never experience the awesomeness of Time Parasite speed or the horror of Death of 1000 cuts while spamming mind blades and shredding the enemy every second with Ectopsychic Echo. The decision would be more difficult if there were less awesome weapons. But there are some ranged weapons that will fill the focus of even single-class Cipher quite rapidly. Particularly the already mentioned Red Hand and Kitchen Stove Thunderous Report (the latter just once per encounter, but it's nice to instantly max the focus while seriously damaging and dazing a large mob).

Considering that most Cipher spells, including large aoe debuffs like Secret Horrors, Eyestrike or some hard disables, like Mental Binding, take only 0,5 second to cast... this is simply wrong. There's still the recovery, but that's more like 3 seconds, not 6 (and can be further reduced with buffs/special abilities). The vast majority of them are a 3 sec cast plus the recovery. Plus the armor penalty on top of that. No they are not. I just provided 3 good fast cast examples. Some other include Phantom Foes, Psychovampiric Shield, Borrowed Instinct, Pain Block, Echoing Shield, Tenuous Grasp, Body Attunement. And offensive damage powers also: Mind Blades, Ectopsychic Echo, Mind Lance. In fact, fewer Cipher spells are long cast then fast cast.

Yeah, optional unique enchantments are missing for many weapons on that list.

Considering that most Cipher spells, including large aoe debuffs like Secret Horrors, Eyestrike or some hard disables, like Mental Binding, take only 0,5 second to cast... this is simply wrong. There's still the recovery, but that's more like 3 seconds, not 6 (and can be further reduced with buffs/special abilities).

Well I just got Mind Lance on my Helwalker Ascendant (along with Duality, hehe). Have to be careful not to cause to much friendly damage... But boy does it rock when Ascended. Fast spam, attacks Will, interrupts, does good damage. Suddenly my build became a lot more effective and fun. Of course Duality helps massively as well (and dual aoe Stunning Fist). So yeah, Wildstrike is a very poor pick, also on its powelevel. At least for an Ascendant.

For Ascendant.. I'd rather pick Mind Lance and, if I care a little about party play, also Pain Block.