Jojobobo

Boeroer showed me the light on 3 Res Barbarians a while ago, solo PotD currently I'm running (with resting bonuses, etc.): Might 24 Con 15 Dex 10 Per 17 Int 18 Res 3 I'm aiming for: MIG: 26 CON: 19 DEX: 10 PER: 15 INT: 22 RES: 5 (Sorry for the change in capitalisation, but I've already written up most of the class build and I'm far too lazy to make the change). I've just started Act III, I'm going to get Rymyrgand's Boon, Dungeon Delver and Song of the Heavens then probably do WM part I and II, the bounties then finish off the third act. There's really no problem with low Resolve on Barbarian, early game they will have a lot of trouble hitting Wichtes because of the interrupt, but other than that it's fine because if you get a hit or two in Carnage will do the work for you. I tested recently the maximum Res you'll need on a level 16 character to not get interrupted, and 13 is more or less the goal if you're really concerned about it. Upscaled PotD Ondrite Tidal Fists at the Abbey of the Fallen Moon (late game, and very tough) hit 34 interrupt on a crit, and 13 Res gives 84 concentration at level 16. This means only 50% on the time, on a crit, they will interrupt you - and even with lowish Deflection they're still not going to be critting you that often at level 16, so you're fine (or run the Lost Periapt of the Winding Path like I'm intending too - even though it's late game I'm still not really hurting from the low Res). Ultimately a spread like I've suggested works well, Dex isn't really so important if you take Frenzy, Bloodlust and Thirst - particularly when considering Two Handed (which I'm also currently using).

Save some War Paint and Potion of Merciless Gaze for when they show up? Tbh, the Hammers never showed up when I killed it solo, could be that I killed it too fast? Kana with some summons, so long as he's tanky enough, should do the trick. Keep one summon to the side, then when the first one dies send the other in. Rinse, and repeat - use a fast Chant if you need to.

This thread really has taken a turn.

Maybe mention it into the 3.04 wishlist thread too?

Fenwalkers are good for paralysis, as is the Orlan Bramble Ring. Blaidh Golan is best to reduce Stun duration and protect while stunned (particularly when you use a Preservation shield too as the effects stack). To actually ward against Stun in the first place the only thing you can use is Looped Rope (or play a Coastal Aumaua). Equipping these and buffing your physical attributes as high as possible (Lyrinia's Boon, +3 Might or Con resting bonus, Goldrot Chew and Pearlwood Chicken, any physical boosting items you can get your hands on like Bracers of All-Consuming Rage) as well as using Scrolls of Defence is the best way to try and ward against these effects.

From what I've seen the Tidefall Wounding does apply exactly as it should, you'll get one tic from the HoF main attack on target then additional tics per enemy surrounding you (from the Carnage from the main attacks on each of them). Having a closer look deaths by Wounding only trigger Blood Thirst very rarely, so what I mentioned was mostly correct (I think it'll often say it has triggered in the log, but when you go to hit an enemy you won't actually have zero recovery).

I'll have a look and see what I can see about the DoT tics, all I noticed was there was a lot of them - I wasn't really looking for specifics. I still haven't seen an enemy trigger my Blood Thirst by Wounding death, I'll have a look out for it but if it does happen it much be incredibly inconsistent.

Someone somewhere (MaxQuest or Kaylon I think, EDIT: found it here) mentioned that Dual Wielding actually provides two separate 0.5 duration recoveries instead of the standard 1.0. So with Durganized Sanguine Plate and weapons, Two Weapon Style and Frenzy you have (1.15*1.2*1.33) - 1 = 83.5% recovery reduction vs. 0.5 + 0.35 = 85% recovery, so very nearly zero recovery I think. What is worth mentioning is that Frenzy rarely activates twice with Sanguine Plate as I always find the second proc occurs when I'm already Frenzied (because of the Deflection debuff), so I think it's only dependable for achieving one additional Frenzy. In this way, Bloodlust is still likely worth it on a dual wielding character, Blood Thirst as you mentioned previously not so much because your recovery is already reasonably minimal. Yeah it's a bit of a bummer with Tidefall as you want Blood Thirst to be triggering as often as possible. Still, your largest damage is still from your attack so you usually do kill more enemies through attack damage and get Blood Thirst procs. I suppose it's a trade off between being able to easily take out enemies regardless of DR because of Wounding or just going for a different two hander where you always kill through attack damage like the Hours of St. Rumbalt.

I still can't believe there were people claiming this bug wasn't at all significant and that I should stop whining about it and be grateful. To put it in relatable terms: Taking the average damage in that range to be 21, then (36 / 21) = 1.71. Then (1.71 - 1.0) / 0.03 = 23.8, meaning that this bug is like having an extra 23 (almost 24) Might. Makes me glad myself and others was such a pain in the arse about it that they decided to put 3.04 into production (or that at least seemed to be the effect, given that they mentioned 3.03 was a final patch and then quickly reneged that statement). It also seems likes many, many more bugs have come out of the woodwork since 3.03 - which if that have had stopped then would have left the game pretty lacklustre to me. With 3.04 it looks like there shouldn't really be anything very bothersome left, so it's great the devs decided to press on and get these things ironed out just before Tyranny.

As far as I can tell using Tidefall, Wounding gets applied multiple times through HoF, causing huge DoT to anyone remaining alive. If someone managed to Helwax Mold Drawn in Spring and dual wield them, I'd say pretty much any group will die as the Wounding itself would rack up probably a coupled of hundred damage itself. I'd say this is worth it in some ways than just dealing everyone a bit more damage with the initial attack, however it's worth mentioning that DoT effects don't trigger Blood Thirst when they down an enemy.

I think Tidefall is one of the best weapons in the game, easily. In terms of two damage types on weapons, all one-handed swords are naff, but some war hammers are good - but none of them have anywhere near as good enchantments. Bittercut is great, but again the big nerf is coming, so it will be not near as good as it was before. Tidefall is (a) high damage to bust through DR, unlike dual wielding, (b) wounding so even if the dual wield isn't good enough, consistently damaging © drains and restores endurance, (d) has the two damage types to consistently deal damage and (e) is both legendary-izable and additional lash-able at the same time. In terms of what a weapon offers, it's perfect. The Hours of St. Rumbalt is also one of my favourite weapons in terms of design. I picked it up before Defiance Bay and yet it has accuracy equal to a Superb enchantment meaning more crits, and those crits deliver higher damage due to Annihilation and also make people Prone which is extremely easy to chain. I did better damage with St. Rumbalt than with Tidefall, but Tidefall still edges because of Wounding more than anything. I think people playing this game are way too much obsessed with DPS from playing the likes aRPGS such as the Diablo franchise to get the system is much more nuanced and weapons which can punch through DR are also worth consideration over high rates of attack. I also think the main trouble is very few two handers are worth it other than great swords, which I think is the main issue with two handers going into 3.04. To say, at least for great swords, two handers going into 3.04 aren't worthy I don't think is true. PS You can get Tidefall with Mechanics two. I got Gloves of Manipulation from Raedric's Hold day 4 from the lists (which I know some people have trouble replicating some of the time, but from my many playthroughs that got through Act I I don't), you get +2 from the Artificer's Hall, you get +1 from Gfeja's Boon and I think you can get a guaranteed scroll of +3 Mechanics from the Vailian Embassy (either that, or I'm very lucky). So long as you have 4 Lore for the scroll, getting it is extremely easy, with literally no optimisation. I know, I'm a filthy meta-gamer, but in any case you're welcome

Based on the J E Sawyer mod from New Vegas, I'd wager the difficultly that his canonical difficulty would be PotD. However, naturally, there won't ever be a "canonical difficulty" (as in, one actively espoused by the devs) for any game as it is too prohibitive in terms of developing a general audience. I like expert mode (which essentially hides helper functions) and PotD myself. I think expert mode encourages acting naturally without every bit of information being provided to you, but as AndreaColombo mentioned the vast majority of options can be toggled on and off in the core game anyway. Expert mode just catches them all, so it's helpful to people who may toggle between choices during the course of their game and then regret it and want to replay the character without the help. But it's really up to you, anything that can be done in PotD can technically be done in Expert PotD ToI as well.

No problem, I just thought the build should get some recognition I was thinking, do we need a catchall thread for untested builds (as in, builds that are completely planned out, but writer lacks the time to play) or should people just post these as class builds - mentioning the caveat that they're untested (and perhaps pointing to any anticipated tricky areas or styles of encounter for the build)? I have three builds entirely planned out now designed for solo, however the trouble is that play-testing all of those in a completionist way will probably take several months if not longer with my current schedule (the final year of my PhD). With party play it's much easier to test builds out, as then you can test up to six simultaneously if you want making it much more efficient. Besides, this would allow for someone else to actually test the build - at which point it could be updated. I guess I could just try them against specific bosses, but I'd rather just play them fully when I get the time (it takes a bit of the fun out of it to just warp straight to a boss and take them out, part of the enjoyment of the game is building up to those difficult moments). As I say, that will take a long time to get to that stage. Any thoughts? EDIT: Never mind, I'll be good and just release them fully tested. My hangover patience is not good.

I gave advice about a tanky Rogue in this post, all of which should work fine for PotD. I do have my own ideas for a solo Rogue that are quite unique and have worked through testing, but I want to keep them under wraps so I can do a class build. I'm currently trying to finish off a Barbarian build, so it'll probably be my next build after that.

As you say, it doesn't stack - it's the advantage of having at least two frenzies per encounter (though Sanguine Plate has two per encounter uses, I think the second normally procs while I'm already frenzied and so suppresses the first). As limaxophobiacq mentioned Bloodlust is probably better than Thirst if you're looking to have zero recovery, but Thirst is the bomb with a slow but damaging weapon (or if you want the heaviest armor, etc.).

I'm playing a Barbarian currently, so I'll share my thoughts: (i) Frenzy is fine to take early, so long as you don't so something weird like dump Con so you're super fragile. The natural huge health and endurance of Barbarians means they can take a beating, so if you stick them in heavy armor and take Savage Defiance (which heals a ton and is per encounter) you shouldn't really have survivability issues. My Barbarian is Resolve 3 and I'm playing solo on PotD, so they have about the worst Deflection you can get, but they managed just fine - even being interrupted with that low Resolve isn't as much an issue as you'd imagine (I still haven't had to take a Spirit Shield potion and I've got to WM part I). (ii) It's hard to say, it depends what you're looking for. An idea I came up with was to have a shield Barbarian so their Deflection would be much better (which sounds to be pretty much what you're looking for), then when you think about Frightened and Terrified they both debuff accuracy which in a way more or less makes them a 25 Deflection base class minimum with these effects (as well as assisting your entire party), especially when you add in the Daze from Dragon Leap. However if you're not looking to have high defences, you don't necessarily need either. Boeroer is currently developing the idea further, so hopefully you'll see a class build of it soon (Threatening Presence and the Executioner's Hood is another great way to keep enemies frightened, so you could always respec these out when you get that). (iii) I much prefer One Stands Alone, it's much more consistent and pretty much entirely stops you being flanked. However, if you're trying for Vengeful Defeat, you're kind of looking to get low health anyway - so it really depends. There's many ways to build a Barbarian, so how much mileage you get from a particular ability varies. (iv) I think pretty much all of them should take it. Even if you do a Vengeful Defeat build, you can use something like Second Chance to revive them and then get pretty much all your endurance back with Savage Defiance - or if you're going pure DPS it keeps you alive long enough to do heavy damage (it's pretty much instant cast). (v) I've taken both, but honestly I think you could forgo Bloodlust and just use Deleterious Alacrity of Motion Potions or strap on the Sanguine Plate. Blood Thirst on the other hand I would say is one of the best Barbarian abilities - it literally makes encounters a blood bath. Most mobs consist of a few tougher guys and loads of weaker ones - if you concentrate on the tougher one the weaker ones will die from Carnage. Once you pick off the first weak enemy, you instantly attack again, making it very likely you'll pick off another weak enemy in the process (seeing as all the weak guys have similar health), and then another - before long you've landed about 6 consecutive hits on the tough enemy and all the little guys are dead. If you take one ability other than Heart of Fury, make it this one. (vi) I wouldn't say so as Raven mentioned, Barbarians have high enough endurance that you don't really need to try and optimise their DR (though you are correct, it is now +3). Stick them in decent armour if you want DR, as mentioned with Blood Thirst you can often produce an extremely rapid succession of hits regardless of what armour you are in - so long as you are taking on a group. (vii) It's not something I've ever taken, however Boeroer has mentioned previously it's a great means to get right to a caster as you don't get any disengagement attacks. Personally, I'd just use something like Dragon Leap to get there instead. (viii) I guess you can take it if you need the extra CC, and the damage is good, but it is only 1 per encounter and you've got to wonder whether just taking talents to up damage has more worth at the level you can finally take it. It's pretty decent, but not exceptional. I hope that was some help, and good luck with your Barb!

I like Cthulhu as much as the next man, but isn't the point of cosmic horror to be esoteric? To try and replicate it never really works in the same way as when you read the stories. I mean I've read a lot of Cthulhu mythos stories in various collections, but as none really capture the slow building dread and utter hopelessness in the face of adversity that's incomprehensibly overwhelming and horrific as Lovecraft did I don't really see how a game developer can replicate that - especially in a graphical sense. I never did play the PnP game, so maybe players would tell me that feeling can be replicated, but as Lovecraft stories have such a unique tone, pace and voice it does feel unlikely. I just don't see Lovecraft as ever really being truly replicable in any medium, he picked a writing style that was thoroughly outlandish to even his contemporaries so to try and ape it when it was odd for the time has never really in my opinion worked. I guess I'm just not a fan of bastardizations of Lovecraft's work, I find even C M Eddy Jr and Robert W Chambers don't have quite the same effect.

Well either roleplay as you were and enjoy meaty consequences, or pre-google quests to avoid such eventualities. I still don't get the problem, if you're Trial by Ironing for consequential gameplay I would feel almost satisfied someone had died to re-affirm my gameplay choice - even if it was due to a scripted event; if you're Trial by Ironing for the difficulty/achievements I would pre-search the outcomes to avoid pitfalls. If you're going in blind to a perma-death run and you aren't satisfied with people dying by scripted events/glitches/extreme misfortune, then I'm not really sure what you were looking for with going in such a difficulty setting. Besides having just one guy die out of the plethora you can hire doesn't sound like a dramatic setback, even if you do lose their equipment.

I think the difference is an extra 2 DR or 3 points of Deflection is more negligible by that point - end game enemies have high accuracy and high damage so a little more DR or Deflection is going to be a drop in the ocean of what you already have. Comparatively, I'd say that as legendary enchantments add both accuracy and damage they make much more of an impact - so it's a lot more fun to get to use them against the remaining boss monsters after the Kraken. Even so, I think it does need to be a little tougher (more than just DR added) - it's just important not to go overboard and make it just as tough as the Bog Dragons or maybe Alpine Dragon, etc. From the sounds of things it seems like they're pressed for time, so likely DR will be the only thing added.

I actually kept a save for it on my last play through right before, so it'll be interesting to try it again post patch. It was rather a wimp, however I'm not a 100% sure on what difficultly to pitch it at however as you kind of want its eyes to legendasize (a legit word, obviously) your end game weapons to attempt the other tough fights. If the Kraken is made much tougher than the dragons, then there isn't really much point it making its eyes the thing that upgrades your weapons as you're not going to get to use you legendary weapons on anything interesting.

They were for me, as you can't Confuse them like most dragons - and there's two of them, and you occasionally seem to get turned into a piglet no matter how high you buff. Something I've always wanted to try with the pair is dominating Gafonercos, he's not immune to it like Turisulfus. I'd imagine if you could fire fast enough with a Wizard, Priest or Druid and Gyrd Háewanes Sténes you could let Gafonercos do the fighting for you. Something that I've only recently realised is that Carow Golan is probably better than Llengrath potions for most boss fights, Llengrath potions boost Deflection higher than Carow Golan but they both boost Reflex by +20. As most monster boss fights don't target Deflection, Carow Golan frees up a load of quick slots that would normally be filled with Llengrath potions for figurines, offensive scrolls or whatever else you fancy - plus you only have worry about reapplying your Scrolls of Defence (I found there was almost inevitably a time where I wouldn't have both on at once, you can of course reapply prematurely and suppress the previous but you will at some point take a heavy hit in these battles and then you have to heal - scuppering your plans to reapply one or the other). Though the Carow Golan Int penalty is quite hefty, it can be perfectly offset for a while with the Mind Grubs and Whiteleaf combo I've mentioned previously. Even on a 3 Int character the Carow Golan/Whiteleaf/Mind Grubs combo is suitable as you can still obtain 11 Int for reasonable Scrolls of Defence durations: +4 from Gwyn's Band of Union, +2 from the Dragon's Lair in Dyrford (assuming you want the +2 Might/Con, otherwise you can go for the Forum resting bonus or whatever) and +2 from Aldwyn's Boon (though Lyrinia is usually better, such a low Int usually means higher scores in Might and Con, so on balance it plays out fine). As long as you don't have lengthy recovery (which you shouldn't as armor is practically worthless in the face of enemies who are going to way exceed your DR anyway in a single hit) it shouldn't be a problem to keep them maintained. While I'm still playing solo, I imagine for team play if you buff just one tanky guy on your team like this and give them Drawn in Spring you should be able to take down the Bog Dragons, particularly if you manage to score some decent hits with your team mates before they're knocked out.

I found the upscaled Sky Dragon easy, I didn't even do any consumable buffing for it - just used a few Scrolls of Defence and Llengrath's Potions. It's not hard to get decent positioning with Boots of Speed (north west on the map behind the stone structure) with it and so keep it at arms reach, plus most of the trash mobs are left behind. It also doesn't attack very fast, so while it can Stun you it can't usually make good on hitting you again while you're debuffed. I found the Adra Dragon to have similar bulkiness to the Alpine (in terms of how quickly they died) - so possibly it's effected by upscaling? Either that, or its base for PotD is already pretty good.

When I play a build that uses the Coil of Resourcefulness I might give them a try as the accuracy would be better with decent Mechanics too, until that point I can't be bothered.

Great, thanks guys!

As you say, probably a bug then. Never hurts to rule out the obvious.