Jojobobo

You'll eventually kill the Kraken, giving you the legendary enchantment. I guess just wait it out and hope for the best - I'm in a similar boat as I got a little greedy with my enchantments going solo PotD enchanting my secondary weapon to superb and leaving my main weapon at exceptional until I reach the Kraken for legendary. While this sounded like a great plan in theory - in practice I'm now hurting quite a lot from the lack of accuracy on my main weapon, so in terms of making things easier on myself superb to legendary would have been better. For the Chanter, honestly the Dragon Thrashed and Seven Nights are surely the main ways you're getting damage output with them anyway - unless you're going for the damage shield chant? I'd give your chanter something like Persistence and keep them off your front line, the wounding lash gradually will stack up to decent damage because of it being raw even though you've not built the Chanter for damage specifically. I wouldn't commit overly to a poor(ish) weapon that you made a mistake on (the staff).

Wouldn't it permit you three separate rolls though - in which case it ups your chances of getting the maximum length stun/prone? I get that stun and prone don't stack - but adding two additional chances to score one of these debilitating effects on top of stunning shots seems worth it in terms of probability. I'd say the issue is long reload weapons aren't great for kiting - as the reload animation needs to be done while standing still (though it can be stopped and started, so if you get half way through the animation then you'll pick up where you left off when you're still again - which I have to say looks very weird). This means more kiting than normal, and probably doesn't work well in conjunction with stun/prone-locking enemies as all that running around is delaying the time between shots. It also seems a little pointless to stack blind and stunned, as the only effects which are suppressed by stunned are -accuracy and -move speed, which won't have an effect while they're not moving from stunned in the first place.

The reason why I asked about Driving Flight earlier is I'm pretty sure a Ranger with an arbalest and Swift Aim could chain prone effects, they can certainly chain Blind as standard through Silver Flash through my testing (though it's a little useless given that you blind your pet too - and it only works with Swift Aim so no Powder Burns unfortunately if you want to chain blind) and the reload isn't much different though it is slightly longer. With Silver Flash I used Swift Aim, Int 26 (18 base + 1 Old Vailia + 3 resting bonus + 4 Gwyn's Band) and Dex 22 (18 base plus Viettro's Footware), Gunner and Gauntlets of Swift Action and found you can chain it on blind effect crits (with the idea that blind crits perpetuate more crits by hitting on the lowered reflex once you score the first). With Aedrin's Wrecker you're looking at two possible nasty CC effects, and with Stunning Shots possibly a third separate roll. If this does work on Driving Flight that's two guys potentially out of action quite easily - which with the high base damage of arbalests would be pretty neat. Definitely something to think about, and it certainly avoids some of the problems with Silver Flash even though it doesn't hit such a large group (which you probably don't really need it to on a Ranger, considering Binding Roots).

Hmmm, how does Driving Flight work with Prone/Stun on Crit Weapons? Can it hit more than one guy? I would test, but laziness gets in the way.

Here's a post that will answer most of your questions, particularly how the speed benefit works. In terms of no armor penalty, 0 x anything is still 0 so you won't feel a benefit to your recovery. However all the other phases (attack, reloading, etc.) will still be sped up by Dexterity. It's for this reason a fair number of melee builds leave Dex at 10 but look to minimise recovery as this already significantly increases DPS, obviously Dex in addition is even better but you'd probably have a better investment going for the other attributes.

Hmmm maybe accuracy on bash shields isn't calculated as I thought then, it's been a while since I tested.

I would consider taking Viettro's Formal Footware as your end game shoes, not because you need the Dex per se but rather to shore up your reflex save further. With the lore bonus you can easily have access to the level 10 spells, which are quite powerful. Obviously if they're intended for another character then ignore this.

Should the Yellow Flash Rogue build have a feature on this thread? I'm guessing the mosspit didn't PM AndreaColombo or Tigranes for hosting, but IMO it's the best Rogue build you can find addressing the mechanical changes from 3.02 to 3.03 for Riposte. Definitely worth hosting if it's slipped through the cracks.

Bash is actually extremely useful for the Rogue's Strike abilities, as they get two opportunities at the strike effect - with the less accurate bash hitting first. So for example with Blinding Strike, if you hit with a graze on the bash initially then reflex is dramatically debuffed from the second attempt resulting from the weapon - resulting in crits a lot of the time. So yeah, don't rely on it for dual wielding on a Rogue but bash shields are far from useless. Boeroer has rather expertly listed the various shield alternatives, my picks would be Badgradr's Barricade using the Rogue's +hit to crit abilities and talents or Alia Braccia with Adept Evasion. The Yellow Flash build gives a nice summation of most of the effects going. The trouble I've had with these Rogues is I find them way too lacking in initial defence and their offence requiring buffing that their talent and ability slots are highly contested. Playing a Riposte/Retaliation Deep Wounds Rogue - though it works - is way more challenging as a result than playing a Chanter who is doing a dramatically better job of DoT effects with the Dragon Thrashed. Something to think about, and don't let it put you off a tank Rogue, just be aware of their shortcomings which at base 15 deflection are significant.

There still seems to be a bug with Galawain's Maw (I know the original bug of combat not ending did get fixed). Sul will often get into fights without the play character even having to enter the Maw proper (just re-entering the Maw a few times), getting herself killed. Paradoxically, this only allows for the ending of the New King and the Old Queen where she is named champion after you kill the bear. I made a bug report in technical issues, but there isn't really anything more to say. Maybe just changing the area where the other lions patrol would fix this.

Sul will often get into fights and get herself killed on re-entering Galawain's Maw a few times, this results in the ending of the New King and the Old Queen where Sul remains the champion beast - regardless of the fact that she's, you know, dead.

Just did a quick test, they do suppress unfortunately. As other spells like the Brideman Slew Thirty also don't stack with any kind of food, it's probably best to assume all those kind of spells will suppress food bonuses. Still for soloing, or just parties lacking a Priest or a Chanter, it's pretty neat.

I never really looked at drugs that much either, but Whiteleaf definitely seems to have benefits which outweigh its cost with or without Mind Grubs. Something I didn't mention in the first post is that you can use the combo to easily hit Intellect 30 so long as you maxed it at character creation, and so double durations for all effects: 18 (base) + 1 (Godlike race or Old Vailia culture) + 4 (Gwyn's Band of Union) + 3 (Forum resting bonus) + 4 (Mind Grubs) = 30. Doubling any kind of CC duration is very nice and can make a world of difference in tough fights.

I've never seen anyone mention combining these two, so I thought I'd make a quick thread mentioning it (maybe it's old news?). For those of you who don't know, Mind Grubs found in the Luminescent Caves in White March part II offer high attribute boosts (+4 Per, +4 Int) at the rather terrible cost of being sickened (-10 Fort, -10 Will, -many other attributes further reducing defences). By taking Whiteleaf at the same time, you're immune to sickened giving you those juicy attribute boosts at practically no cost (the cost being Whiteleaf crash - 15% less max endurance - if your fight lasts for 10 minutes, and slightly slower attack speed). Further, Whiteleaf can be pretty good against boss monsters already if you don't want scrolls of Prayer Against Fear clogging up your inventory and you're not happy to use Steadfast. Given that the defences offered by the Mind Grub are pretty high because of the attribute boosts (+8 reflex in particular) I'm surprised no one has mentioned this combo before (I couldn't find anything searching the forum or googling the two). I got seven Mind Grubs when I cleared out the caves which is more than enough for all the big boss fights in the game.

I think on a long enough timeline most of them do crop up. I've sunk about 50 hours into to my playthrough now (finishing off Act 3, then doing WM part 2, then the boss monsters) and I think I've seen most of the items come by once or twice, so I think it's just a waiting game. Then again I'm playing solo, so they're all useless to me! Does saving and reloading before you generate a new turn work? I thought how these adventures were generated was random, in which case reload spamming before you finish a quest might help you get something you're after.

I quickly realised that with good positioning only one or two would hit you, however what I didn't realise and found through a quick search was that the fight could actually be initiated by snaking up the right wall (I was approaching from the front). When you're in this position as I mentioned only one of the tendrils can throw stuff at you so you don't have to chance that opening barrage by approaching them from the front (my fortitude was in the 140-150 region, and I was taking some heavy hits).

After you kill the Radiant Spore, do all the enemies in the area clear? I've got to it finally and rested, but I have no more camping supplies after this so I don't want to be having to clear out anymore insanely hard Vithracks afterwards (which I presume I wouldn't, because of the mind control and all). Maybe there's camping supplies elsewhere on the level, but if there is I haven't found them and as far as I know there's no way to go back to Stalwart. I'm level 16, so barring some additional items I'm about as good as I'll get defensively - doing this fight PotD solo turns out to be extremely masochistic. I'm sure I'll get there but it's going to take me many retries, and afterwards I don't want to be faced with an entire level to clear out. I have kept saves from before, so if push comes to shove I can return from before I entered the level. EDIT: Never mind, I defeated the spore and found out that you can then explore the area freely and the remaining Vithracks are non-hostile. I used the tactic most people do of hugging the right wall so only one tendril can get at you and keeping my fortitude save up with scrolls of defence and whatever food I could get my hand on. Being a Chanter I killed all the sporelings with Dragon Thrashed and then spammed Hearts Grew Bold while remaining in that corner and systematically taking out the tendrils with Instruments of Death - usually the summon would last until I had enough chants stored to produce the next one. Once you take out that first tendril that can hit you, you should be relatively safe.

I think there's a bit too much focus often on the overall best build in terms of damage, rather than going for an interesting "best" build. For me personally, I tend to focus on a build that is the potentially the best at what I wanted them to do, and is also viable. Best two-hander character definitely falls in that kind of category, lacking a little DPS but having many nice advantages (the high base damage being the chief one, as well as having two damage types in the sword and lots of nice uniques). I'd focus on making a two-hander character and trying to optimise them from there. It comes to a point when you've completed an RPG enough times it's less about making a team as damaging as possible and more about trying to do something interesting and unusual which at the same time works mechanistically too.

Another bug I've noticed is Cape of the Master Mystic has stopped triggering invisibility, even when I am being critically hit. I made a thread about it here, but the there's not any extra detail about the bug in the thread. EDIT: Never mind, the bug seems to have fixed itself so it's unlikely to be a severe problem.

Invisibility seems to have stopped activated for the Cape of the Master Mystic even though I'm still getting critical hits in the encounters. It has worked previously for the character, but I thought it's been a while since Invisibility triggered and then sure enough looking at the combat log it's no longer triggering. I can provide saves if desired. EDIT: The bug seems to have resolved itself on saving and a few times, likely just a one off.

Do both, you can't keep someone withdrawn forever and when it drops you're not going to have the +100 defenses (which can form a nice blockage with the right positioning) - plus prone enemies will eventually be able to stand back up and use a powerful invocation. Besides, not everyone wants to have a Priest on their team. As I said this is just a place for spitballing ideas, adding to an existing idea is fine but I'd rather steer clear of total naysaying.

Something that's probably not a bug but a general needless inconvenience is that you can't change chants outside of encounters in combat zones, but you can in non-combat zones (towns or cities). This makes zero difference in terms of gameplay, as if you set fights to their slowest real time setting and instantly pause you can set whatever chant you want before chanting commences at the start of an encounter. However, this is obviously awkward and annoying, and has no logical basis (I find it hard to believe a person can't just choose to say different words from one moment to the next). It seems like if there's already a way to set this in non-combat zones, using those same settings in combat zones would be easy - unless it's a cooldown issue and fiddling with the mechanics would affect cooldown in combat. Still needless inconveniences are a little irritating.

While that is good (and appreciated) a fix for enemies having charm end way prematurely/borderline instantly would be great. I'm at Longwatch Falls currently, and as soon as I get a charm/dominate in on a Broodmother (which is a great thing to do, seeing as Cleansing Flame straight up kills you very fast) the effect ends within a second or two. Loren Tyr obviously mentioned a potential fix, hopefully this would rectify the problem. I am playing solo, and while I appreciate this game was never designed for solo, it's frustrating losing out to quirks in the mechanics rather than errors you yourself are making.

I thought I'd make a thread where a dedicated class build isn't necessary, either because it's a short sketch of an idea or because it's contingent on additional party members in the first place. These should be all proven concepts (as in you've tested them) but they don't have to have been played through. Quite possibly if you've noticed a quirk in the mechanics building an entire party around it and giving it a solid playthrough is a little excessive in terms of your own enjoyment. So anyway, playing a Chanter something I've noticed (which I think Boereor may have picked up on before, he's definitely mentioned testing it) is that while you can't chant while paralysed, petrified or stunned - you can chant while prone. With a Ring of Thorns (or other Preservation item) and Ilfan Byrngar's Solace say hello to +100 defences, while still chanting. Obviously party support is good here (Fighter/Ranger Pet Knock Down, Calling the World's Maw, arbalest crits, etc.) but you're effectively making an immortal character who you can put wherever you like on the field of play and have them put out solid damage with the Dragon Thrashed. All in all, it's very nice - and great at dealing with prone inflicting dragons. If anyone has likeminded either character or party ideas, then this is a place for them.

I wouldn't recommend dumping Dex, spells that increase attack speed only increase your recovery phase (not the spell cast animations phase) and so you're actual cast times are going to be quite increased. In addition, the drop to your Reflex is significant with severe dumpage. At most, I'd probably leave both Dex and Res at 10, which gives you another 5 points to play with which isn't insigificant. Concentration doesn't need to be super high for the game to be manageable on solo, but with a spell caster dumping Res doesn't seem to be the best idea, especially if dumping Dex which will increase your casting times in the first place. While I'm sure the build would be perfectly doable how you're trying to play it, I don't you're not really making any improvements to it with your changes so you will have a needlessly tougher time.