Haplok

Was PL bonus for Ascendants nerfed? I haven't noticed. Ascension duration, yes. But it's still pretty decent, particularly with good Int. And no, Ascendant is not worse at combat start, IMO. Due to having a much bigger Focus pool and more starting Focus. Also many powers have limited PL payoff, so you can cast those. Ascendant's Soul Whip provides less damage, true. But you conveniently forgot to add that it also provides significantly more Focus.

Thank you very much for your detailed reply, MaxQuest! That was indeed very nice and professional how you checked and calculated everything. You're right about the damage reduction on bounces, of course. After a few more it will hardly damage at all. Also thank you very much for checking the Lightning Strikes/Turning Wheel lash effects on spells. So +20% lash instead of +35%. And unfortunately as late as level 16. Still it's something. You got some nice damage results on SoulShock. 2 crits (out of 5 procs) is a pretty good result for that level I think. Then again, it does target a nice saving throw. Plus I think my Streetfighter had like 8 Might when I tested it. Still I think I'll stay with Mind Blades. Not due to damage (as you've proven, Soulshock can do better with enough targets in range), not even due to cast speed, but due to general convenience of use. I don't have to pay attention to positioning, enemies don't need to be bunched together around the tank. And it will also hit fairly distant casters and ranged enemies staying back, even if they are spread.

Why did you take Biting Whip on an Ascendant? Don't you like Ascension state? The other comment that I have is that you pick very few Cipher powers. And have none damage powers before level 10. Is that intentional?

It depends on perspective. Looking at power's impact during a fight, Disintegration/1000 Cuts, Ring Leader and Amplified Wave do stand out to me. But it also matters on the build and cipher's niche in party. Not to mention how early a power can be acquired. For spell damage-dealing cipher, my (favorite + most-used)/2 powers are: (from top to bottom) - Amplified Wave - Soul Shock (...) Streetfighter/ascendant damage dealer feels quite decent in v1.2. Not as OP as devout/ascendant prior to v1.1.. but still deals respectable total damage. Does Soul Shock scale decently? I remember I was rather dissapointed with the damage output when I tried it on my Ascendant/Streetfighter. Mind Blades seems so much better, particularly under favorable circumstances (2-3 enemies). But it was better even when there were many enemies, due to multiple bounces and great range. In the end I decided that my low-Might Ascendant/Streetfighter does fill up focus very fast and does cast at a very nice speed, but the damage spells in general lack impact, it might be better to auto-attack instead. So I decided to restart with a relatively high-Might Ascendant/Helwalker and I like it more so far. I still have enough focus to cast some cc when needed, it takes a bit longer to reach Ascension, but when I do, spells are quite effective and feel quite impactful. +50-60% damage from Might does make quite a difference. Plus I guess quite a few may also get the elemental lashes from Monk? Of course, he's even more squishy, so I try to hang in the back. Ship combats with multiple enemies focus-firing are a nightmare though.

Mind Blades: Fast cast, can be spammed, particularly on an Ascendant. When there are 2-3 enemies without particular slash resistance, the damage is pretty great due to all the bouncing (and contrary to PoE1, the chain does not get interrupted by misses). Also scales very well, adding another bounce every 2 PL (so +3 PL from Ascension helps a lot). Ectopsychic Echo: Targets Reflex (only this and Soul Shock does), can do sick damage over the duration to 1-3 enemies if positioned well. Also if you have good crit chances, can generate a lot of extra Focus with The Complete Self. Tenuous Grasp: Was skeptical at first due to single target and "soft" debuff, BUT it costs nothing and debuffs both Int and Res for a total of -20 to Will save. Hilarity ensues if enemy is weak to Int or Res afflictions... Cast this, smack an enemy with the club modal, and voila, -45 Will for next to nothing. Can go nuts and also cast Psychovampiric Shield for -65 Will. Mental Binding: worse then in PoE1, but still, with decent intellect, it's pretty good to stunlock a boss or as an "oh ****" panic button to save a squishy (or the Cipher himself). Secret Horrors: Wide area, fast cast, shuts down enemy abilities and spells, debuffs healing, Will and Fortitude. What's not to like? Phantom Foes: Again large area, fast cast, cheap, debuffs enemy Deflection, preps them for Sneak attacks (well, there are many conditions for that, but none as wide+cheap as this and Deflection debuff helps the whole party). I actually find most of Cipher powers good or very good.

Yes. Note you can get actual legendary gear much sooner then that...

So those abilities should be upgraded to 1 per encounter.... like Heart of Fury, which initially used to be 1/per rest. I prefer the attrition based rest system from PoE1. With the awesome Health and Endurance mechanics, which have also been cut. That said, I do strongly believe that PoE2 is the better game overall.

Actually a Streetfighter with Heating Up or On the Edge is a lot faster then a Barbarian.

It's particularly notable on Mind Blades, which get a new bounce every 2 PL. So an Ascendant under Ascension will usually have 2 more procs of the spell.

Possibly, not sure about that. But a Berserker can still get the same bonus from external sources, for example Priest buffs. Plus he also gets +2 Armor (can upgrade to +3), +2 Penetration, +5 Might & Con, and +25% speed (can be further improved on kill).

What do you mean that a Streetfighter Spellblade won't get the same attack speed bonuses as a Monk? A Flanked or Bloodied Streetfighter is actually much faster then a Flurry Monk. Unless you mean the extra attack procs on crit. Then it can't quite replicate those, agreed. But having a much higher recovery speed overall (including casting recovery!), right from the start as well, more then makes up for that IMO. And Heartbeat Drumming is a level 19 ability for a multiclass character....

Well, he could stand inside his own ChillFog for a massive boost to physical attack damage and massive recovery reduction. Would need to eat a Perception (accuracy) debuff though.

Might not needed to do damage mainly applies to Rogues, particularly Streetfighters, IMO. They get crazy additive damage bonuses that indeed dwarf the Might bonus. It helps other martial classes and particularly damage-oriented casters (who get far less damage bonuses for their spells). That said, 14 Might doesn't sound bad.

Alpha strike means first attack, out of stealth in case of Assassin. And you don't need blunderbuss for Streetfighter. You can also just stand inside Chill Fog conjured by the party wizard. Also you get blooded often - more then you'd typically like.

Well I'm certainly up for your take on the Streetfighter. It was very powerful on my Swashbuckler (Blackjacket/SF) once he got Persistent Distraction. Ran high Resolve and Riposte. But he required more specific conditions than I was willing to micro every fight. Trickster is actually the best class for Riposte. Also, Assassin/Soulblade = highest single target DPS :D Yeah,no way. Alpha strike might be ok, but a Streetfighter will build Focus much faster = way more Soul Annihilation damage.

Yeah... or you could instead have someone in the party/cipher smack the enemy once for a -25 will debuff - limitless times per combat. Plus, if you were not hiding, you could have debuffed that enemy further with Tenuous Grasp/Psychovampiric Shield for another -20 will. And maybe buff yourself with +20 from Borrowed instinct? Being forced to waste time and stay hidden for the assassination bonus is actually a huge limitation.

Trickster is good, Assassin so-so (slightly better then vanilla), but suggesting that there is a better rogue subclass then Streetfighter is just crazy! Early on, Streetfighter easily does double damage of regular rogues if you can trigger the conditions. Which isn't that difficult. Plus has very rapid recovery, which helps with other things as well

Yeah, make him Helwalker if you like living on the egde... and significantly bigger numbers.

Stand inside Chill Fog spell radius? Due to how the Streetfighter recovery bonus works, you supposedly still get like 30% reduced Recovery, even after Blindness. Even better if you have Perception resistance (there's a starting hat for that), you downgrade the effect to Distracted and get the full bonus (well, your Perception/ACC is at -5, but definitely worth it).

On the Neketaka island, just west of the town.... There's also a nice Acolyte's Frostbite handaxe on the same island, in a cave a bit further (but the enemies there are not very easy).

Eh, but it's pretty awesome flavor-wise. You kinda absorb storms into your pollaxe!

Don't forget Berserker Frenzy. That's +2 AR as well!

+10 Morale if you have Xoti pray before

I think that's 10% Recovery bonus on DoC BP post 1.1. Armor penalty for breastplates was.. 35?

Getting Flanked isn't very difficult due to Perception affliction mechanics - all of them also include Flanked status in their package. Blunderbuss Powder Burns modal is a great starting solution. Use it before Frenzy,as Frenzy Confusion Int malus will decrease effect duration. Blunderbuss + melee one handed is suboptimal damage wise due to lack of full attacks or stronger damage/effects of some two-handers. Long term weapon + modal switching is tedious and causes waste of time due to added recovery/modal activation. I've had good success on my Streetfightr/Ascendant with having party wizard cast Chill Fog and standing inside with the starter hat which provides Perception Resistance to downgrade Blinded to Distracted. But your Marauder will likely have significantly higher Fort save so this may not be reliable. Perhaps the best solution is to rely on Lord Darryn's Voulge you mentioned, which once upgraded, will afflict enemies with Distracted after hit+crit - and under Berserker Confusion allies will be afflicted and you as well. Just bring a lot of healing and be careful not to kill your Allies with the mighty Static Charge discharge. Also vs single strong enemies you can switch to dual wielding to rapidly spam OP Full Attacks.