Jojobobo

Cool thanks, guess it's still worth it regardless.

I know it's a WM part I item, but out of curiosity is it possible to enchant Badgradr's Barricade to Legendary? I still haven't got that far into WM part I to get it, and I can't find an image of it to know how many enchantment slots its enchantments occupy.

I got to level 15 using Riposte with high Deflection, and it really does suck. When you think you could be having an extra per encounter ability (really you want Hobbled, Withering Strike, Blinding Strike and Sap -> Withering Strike lowers Will which Sap targets, Sap lowers Reflex which Blinding Strike targets, letting you often crit with these abilities and stack their durations for Deathblows, with Hobbling Strike just being good as you can use it twice) or Dirty Fighting or Adept Evasion which is great on tanky rogues or Finishing Blow then you're seeing a situation here where it really is the worst out of the many many good options rogues do have.

I agree that this would be confusing, and it's not exactly difficult to cmd/ctrl + F "solo: yes". Thanks for your hard work Andrea. Something I might prefer slightly is if you credit the builds, mainly so that if there's a person who's builds you particularly like then it's easier to see more builds they've done without digging into each individual thread. Also, if a mod could sticky this so it doesn't get buried in the pile, that would be great.

I think as others have said, attributes are empowered by your soul and hence are more thematic attributing to both physical and mental manifestations of prowess. Therefore Might contributes not only to physical strength, but also to force of will given that it boosts the power of spells as well. As such, I think it's perfectly fine that Resolve contributes to Deflection. If your talking about your determination to outlast and outmatch your foes, then thematically I think that fits quite nicely with Deflection - your steely determination empowers you to be able to take hits for lesser damage. For Dexterity, I don't agree it should benefit Deflection. It already benefits Reflex, which is the ability to dodge incoming attacks that are dodge-able (e.g. a ranged attack you can see coming). Dodging in melee is much more difficult than dodging an AoE attack you can see flying throw the sky towards you, it makes much more sense that the attribute governing your determination would allow you to take these hits. Personally, I really like how PoE took normal attributes and made them apply to much more than what they normally would (Might contributing not only to physical strength but overall forcefulness in a general sense). For me it's one of the things that really sets it apart as a combat-based RPG, as there really isn't a dump stat to be found and it gave things like caster classes reasons to take attributes that were normally the purview of fighter classes - both in a practical and thematic sense.

I think this a little redundant, relative comparisons to the other classes is the only reasonable metric you can go by. And I don't think rogues are crazily underpowered, just the ease of use with monks because on their bulk while retaining DPS and AoE is pretty tasty. People have said this is only relevant on solo play, but in party play you can get them into situations where they take more wounds (let people flank them, etc.) so I think they are a low risk high reward kind of class. I'd say you're right, Armored Grace gives nice DPS and fighters have plenty of ways to boost base damage. Maybe the tankiness of a fighter compared to the monk when you focus on DPS is better, it's a tough call. The AoE of monks, as it is level 1, is pretty good however.

What I'm telling you is the accuracy is the same for the damage component of something like Crippling Strike and for the added effect component. If you're using perks like a Weapon Focus it also applies to the added effect. There's no spell bonus listed in the tooltip. Oddly, if you're using a weapon one-handed the +12 ACC applies to your damage but not to your added effect - you'll notice a 12 difference between these two values.

Yes I tried it with different weapons (spear and unarmed) and the bonuses are the same, so it's not a +10 ACC spell bonus or anything like that.

Didn't realise you could mouse over (hence, "stupid question"). Seems like it does benefit from the weapon accuracy bonuses, so I needn't worry and should just stay the course. Thanks.

Anyone got an answer on this before it rolls onto the second page and never gets looked at again? Reason being, I'm re-rolling as a Rogue (I don't really want to be respecing on my first playthrough, which this still will be unfortunately) and before when I've gone PotD solo 10 PER has been enough (getting to level 14 and most of the way through the game - obviously in conjunction with the Rogue's high natural accuracy and Reckless Assault). However this time I wanted to dump PER (!) and just take a weapon focus to get it back to that around that 10 PER accuracy level which I found suitable before - focussing on the more tanky attributes. But, if the per encounter status ailment abilities go off base accuracy rather than weapon accuracy, obviously running base PER is the way to go. I have tried looking at it in game with my new character, but early game it's pretty hard to tell.

Are the extra effects of Rogue's per encounter abilities also running off your weapon accuracy, or just base accuracy? As in, I know the damaging bit targeting Deflection will be running off your weapon accuracy - but I was sure about the bits targeting Fortitude/Will/Reflex.

It's a bug, it's been posted elsewhere and been sorted 3.02. Suffice to say, him visiting as a "visitor" is different to him visiting as a trader. He will still come and trade after his dilemma has been solved (and frequently from what I've found) but not so long as he's in the visitor capacity. I'm not sure what the fix will be, maybe just removing his visitor capacity entirely. You also need to wait for that initial visitor period to elapse before he will trade with you or, pointlessly, visit you.

In terms of the whole armoured thing, Iron Wheel now really gives you a lot of DR to play with even without armour. I guess it's a level 11 ability, but still I wouldn't say it's that hard getting to level 11 going solo.

The point I was trying to hone in on though is that even in party play, it seems like monks still have the advantage. To get higher damage for a rogue, you need your other characters to be dishing out cc and regularly in a prolonged battle. Monks don't need that, and you can inflict 4 or more Torment's Reach with Swift Strikes (more or less 4 sneak attacks within 10 seconds) with AoE at level 3. It's tricky for rogues to reach that rate and not go completely glass cannon. I get that rogues can deal more damage, but monks are so much more of an easy pick either solo or on a team it's pretty crazy. If I were running even a level 3 monk on a PotD party, due to the AoE of Torment's Reach, things would be absurdly easy. I can't say the same for running a rogue on the same party.

A mod said it hadn't been placed in the game by accident, but would be by 3.02.

So I tried PotD solo with a rogue for ages, getting last act and stuff. It was tough but do-able, I went tanky with retaliation, a shield and deep wounds. I could usually ground my enemies down between my sneak attacks and the raw retaliation Deep Wounds (which I got to 5 damage per tick in the end), especially in conjunction with stuff like Overwhelming Wave on the White Crest Armor. However I decided I wanted to re-roll, so recently I started a monk, again solo and PotD. Damn, it's so much better. With Torment's Reach you're essentially getting a AoE Sneak Attack that you can use far more many times in a single battle than all a Rogue's per encounter abilities put together (sure, it's a crushing lash which things can be immune to, but still). You also have Swift Strikes which significantly ups your speed and duration, making you DPS like crazy - not to mention that both of these are level 1 abilities. Then later you get all the tank abilities like Crucible of Suffering, which is on top of your great accuracy and pretty good endurance as well as deflection. Going back to the rogue, sure with Dirty/Vicious Fighting, Deathblows, Finishing Blow, Reckless Assault and Backstab you're going to get maybe slightly higher damage on the whole (because of Reckless Assault - although if you're running Lightning Strikes I'd say it's arguable) and certainly higher burst damage (with Backstab and Deathblows) but when you compare that damage to the Rogue's fairly miserable lack of bulk and defenses and it the monk wins pretty much hands down every time - particularly when you factor in the AoE of Torment's Reach letting you tidily handle mobs. You're also more free to recklessly DPS with two weapons, as you do have the health to take the hit. And sure maybe rogues are better in a party context with more people running the CC, but even still they are much more situational than a monk who gets similar to sneak attack damage every few seconds and can spam that AoE, and has great bulk. Then I went onto compare a monk to a fighter, and sure the fighter is likely the better pure tank (Unbroken, Triggered Immunity, Constant Recovery) but I'm not seeing anywhere near the DPS per that amount of tankiness that I do with the monk. Likewise, when you look at a Paladin, though it does have great tankiness due to Faith and Conviction it's certainly limited in offensive clout due to Flames of Devotion still only being a few times per encounter. I guess what I'm getting at, compared to rogue the tankiness and AoE abilities are far greater than the slight loss of damage, and compared to a paladin/fighter the loss of tankiness is far greater than their somewhat lack of DPS. Anyone else feel this way? I'm certainly not calling for a nerf or anything like that, but I was surprised to go from a rogue to a monk and really see the damage spike and to find PotD so much easier.

I think it's pretty lame this bars you from the Helwax Mold, duping two a desired weapon is quite a big deal if dual-wielding (i.e. like most monks, which is probably the most common TCS build to go with if I'm not mistaken) or if you want the same shield in two item sets. I was hoping to dupe Whispers of Yenwood so I could get +4 CON on my PotD solo (not TCS) because I've heard that when both boosts are are weapons they don't get suppressed - before I realised it was a stronghold quest item. It'd maybe be nice to be able to hire someone (i.e. not a proper companion, so you could maintain "solo") with the drawbacks being a hefty hire cost (most of the provided cash reward) and possibly the adventure taking an additional turn.

I found the scaling pretty harsh in Elmshore (which is a good thing), that group of ogres by that cave was numbering into the early teens it seemed which is pretty daunting for a solo PotD run. I didn't really notice the WM part I scaling, after that initial bit in Stalwart (which was really hard due to not being able to rest) subsequent areas seemed much easier. I'm now re-rolling, so I can't comment on WM part II.

I do find that, after his dilemma is solved, he shows up pretty regularly. I'd wager to say they incorporated this due to people getting frustrated not being able to get his items often enough.

I tried some of these on your suggestion before, and I found Bittercut to be extremely underwhelming due to the radius. However, Overwhelming Wave is literally os OP as all hell and the Deep Wound it inflicts are pretty severe. Spell scrolls and spells attached to items as you mentioned are reasonable due to the Rogue's natural accuracy. I suppose what I'm after now is a character with a higher chance to crit on his per encounter effects, and with spell effects bound to items, without compromising on bulk. I guess I'll probably try the build as is (more Per to Con and Res doesn't seem too rewarding) but if it doesn't work out I'll restart again and switch it up fairly early for a more average build. I'm still looking to make a class build out of this at some point, Deep Wounds and Retaliation is a fundamentally good combo. I will say maybe the current build I'm running is good - it certainly seemed that the jump from 26 Might and 4 Deep Wounds damage to 27 Might and 5 Deep Wounds damage (upon getting Galawain's Boon) really did make all the difference in cracking Stalwart Village when you arrive there solo and can't rest (as well as many other encounters besides). However, the 11 Might investment you need from 16 to 27 to ensure that extra damage seems a little needless, when you can be using Deathblows and high Int to wrack up a lot more damage 1-to-1. I guess I'm struggling with the optimum here. I know Might must hit 16, and Int is likely good to max to eventually ensure some stun-locking with Sap precluded with Withering Blow, however what's the best compromise with the other stats between tankiness and accuracy. I'll take a stab and see how I go.

So I made a solo Rogue tank on PotD, and I've got to level 15, and it's working well. However, I'm wondering, could it be better? I don't want to respec, at least on the current playthrough, so as such I'll run down my current situation - and while it's potentially inadequate - and my musings on the new build I want to make. Here we go: Current build: Max Might, max Con, max Res, dump Dex. Talents: Crip Strike, Reck Assault, Deep Wounds, Riposte (a very bad choice), Blind Strike, Sap, Dirty Fighting, Death Blows. Abilities: Weapon and Shield, Vulnerable Attack, Deflecting Assault, Cautious Attack, Superior Deflection, Shadowing Beyond, Vicious Fighting. 16th slot choice: who really cares? Essential equipment abilities: Retaliation Conclusions: It's worked well. With the Machine's Gift and Galwain's Blessing plus relevant equipment and Training Ground bonus I hit 27 Might - meaning 5 Deep Wounds proc damage which with Retaliation is beastly. However, Riposte isn't at all great, and if it was subbed for Withering Strike (which damages Will) then I could crit on Sap, following a crit on Blinding Strike, etc. It builds a nice chain of crit effects that I currently lack - not saying it's the end of the world, but I want better. Current thinking: Hit Might 16 for 4 rather than 5 Deep Wounds damage, max Int and Per for more crits and very long duration debuffs, dump Dex again, leave Con as is and slightly boost Res (talking about 1 point). Take Withering Strike over Riposte. With the higher Int my damage output will be much better, and will allow for Death Blows to proc easily which isn't currently the case. High Per lets spell effects like Overwhelming Wave from White Crest Armour hit really well (which is already damn sweet). My problems with the new set-up: Is the Con too low? I haven't dumped it, but I do want to (somewhat) tank while maintaining DPS - is 10 too low on this kind of build late game (ultimately, will the well-rounded defenses and damage output offset the lowish endurance)? Also is my concentration too low to whack out some nice item spell effects and scrolls or not? Reassurance on the problems, or not, would be much obliged. I could always run a more average set - maxing Int (which I'm now convinced is the best idea with Death Blows) but averaging stats between Con, Res and Per. Thanks in advance cheery people.

Sweet, thanks for the info.

So - to confirm - you can go from Superb to Legendary with just two slots, rather than eight? It's mainly useful to know so that I can use those slots for other things in the mean time.

So I've not been keeping up to date with the patches, and back in the day people were grumbling about enchanting - specifically, "Why on a Superb item if I have 6 slots of enchanting left can I not enchant with Legendary as it would remove the Superb enchantment and so free up more slots?" Did Obsidian ever cave and change this so that enchanting factors in the slots lost (if you know what I mean), or do you always have to have the slots free for the enchantment you want to use (so Legendary needs 8 slots, yet if it overides Superb you'll get two slots back - but you still need those initial 8 slots)? Obviously the answer will effect my current enchanting choices (i.e. if I only need two slots free to go from Superb -> Legendary, instead of eight) if it was patched from the original situation. Personally, I always thought it made sense that you did have to have the free slots to put an enchantment on an item even though slots are recovered and never really got the original gripe - but that doesn't mean Obsidian wouldn't have necessarily conformed on a crowd-funded game and I currently don't have any items that fit the bill to test this with.

I think Oidhreacht is pretty good just purely because of the endurance restoration, I have thought about enchanting it high late game but might go for something else because it doesn't have too much interesting to offer.