Jojobobo

I never even read Boeroer's first post in this thread last night, like some sort of madman! With regards to the Wizard's Double vanishing all the time, the Deflection bonus of Llengrath's Displaced Image (+25) would still apply if it does fade (only 15 different, so a buffed score of 190 total or 200 with the Defiant Resolve I haven't factored in). Looped Rope and Bull's Will (which you can take if you like) plus Defiant Resolve would make the 150 Will defence 190. Checking against Llengrath's dragons, one of them has 150 accuracy for the effect. I think the 60% hit-to-graze probably applies to all attacks (maybe?), which would turn that 10% hit chance to 4%. That translates for a 1/25 chance to hit, which will definitely happen over the course of a long fight, but given you can have 5 castings of Wizard's Double per fight (the 1 per encounter, then the 4 level 1 spell castings) it shouldn't be too bad. Possibly, you could drop an accuracy Talent and also take Mental Fortress with Bull's Will, in which case they can't hit you with the fear effect at all (200 vs 150). Very true, I have profoundly failed in my efforts

Very true. There is one talent slot free, so Arcane Veil can easily be taken, just not Harden Veil with the current set. However, accuracy talents can always be dropped without too much harm to the setup. All depends on how you want to shake it up. Definitely I think a Priest can get higher defences, but particularly on solo that's an awful lot of spells to spam and they don't have incredible durations (though certainly the Minor Avatar Intellect boosts helps - though you can get halfway there with a Mind Grub at +4 Intellect). I think the real appeal of the tanky Wizard above is that 180 Deflection is constant, Llengrath's Displaced Image for the Reflex has a sizeable duration (45 secs modified by Intellect) and then all you realistically have to do is pop off Citzal's Martial Power and Scrolls of Defence is you feel the need - plenty of time to get lots of Drawn in Spring stabbing in! I guess the Priest edges out in party play by a mile, due to many of the spells being friendly AoEs. Both would be very solid builds, and super high defences after a point do get a little silly and redundant, but I thought it would be fun to see how far it can be stretched.

EDIT: I'm not going to keep this post updated with the entirety of suggested changes as I'm hoping to develop it fully into class build. Read the comments if you want to keep up to date with all the juicy details! With the new Deadfire DLC pirate armor and the extremely high defensive boosts it offers, I wanted to see what was theoretically possible in terms of making a solo tank with crazy high defences. My top priorities for this little project were: 1) I don’t care about the Will defence. Being Charmed and Dominated in solo play really isn’t a big deal, and it’s easy to buff against Terrified. 2) I wanted a very high more-or-less permanent Deflection, and I would focus on buffing Reflex and Fortitude. 3) I wanted to use Drawn in Spring, because why not… To best meet this criteria, here are the different factors I considered… Class Getting massive semi-permanent Deflection Attribute choice, Fortitude and Reflex bonuses Will save Important spells, talents and quest based talents Legendary Drawn in Spring accuracy The summary Putting it all together, this cheeky Wizard can accomplish: -------------------------------------------------------------- Unbuffed (or at least semi-permanent) defences: Def/Ref/Fort/Will – 180/132/127/118 End-game buffed defences (add a further +10 to each for Defiant Resolve if you like): Def/Ref/Fort/Will – 205/203/200/150 Enemies need an accuracy of 156 to have a 1% chance of scoring a hit and breaking your Wizard's Double (which is converted to a 0.4% chance with the hit-to-graze conversion detailed below). If you use Looped Rope, your chances of status are pretty much non-existent. I've not factored Hardened Veil into the build, as I didn't want to rely on temporary bonuses, but if you did use it that would be a temporary 280 (!!!) Deflection. -------------------------------------------------------------- Endurance: 300+ Hit-to-Graze conversion: 60% (Llengrath’s Displaced Image, Old Gerun’s Wall) DR: 16 (Helmsman’s Uniform, Ironskin – practically always on with the defences, Second Skin. You can drop the Intellect enchanment of the uniform for a further +2 with a Superb enchantment instead). -------------------------------------------------------------- Citzal buffed legendary Drawn in Spring accuracy: 116 (120 with Mind Grub/Whiteleaf, 106 if you drop the accuracy Talents for more Will defence) -------------------------------------------------------------- And an end-game buffed spread of: MIG 30 CON 30 DEX 22 PER 19 INT 18 RES 30 -------------------------------------------------------------- Hope you enjoyed… I’ll show myself out!

That too.

No, to clarify, you can have one of each category: Food + 3 (Dragon Meat) Resting Bonus + 3 (Chapel resting bonus) Equipment + 3 (Ring of Changing Heart) Or... + 4 (Siegebreaker Gauntlets) Weapon + 3 (Gyrd Háewanes Sténes) - only bindable to some classes Or... + 1 (Steadfast) Prostitute boon + 2 (Big Durmsey’s boon) So that's a +15 bonus for some classes, or +13 for others. So you'd need either a base 5 or base 7 Resolve, depending. Some classes have access to extra boosts through spells (+8 Resolve from Minor Avatar for a Priest, +5 from The Brideman... for a Chanter) - but they don't stack with food so remember to remove the food bonus if using one of those spells to hit 20. I think there are a few more pieces of +3 Resolve gear, and definitely some +2s, but Ring of Changing Heart is pretty accessible anyway so I didn't bother to mention them. Other food also has a +3 bonus, but the Dragon Meat itself is the cheapest.

If you mean "do" you need it, then to fully unlock it, yes. Possible (sizeable or easily stackable) sources for Resolve are: + 3 (Dragon Meat) + 3 (Chapel resting bonus) + 3 (Ring of Changing Heart) + 4 (Siegebreaker Gauntlets) + 3 (Gyrd Háewanes Sténes) + 1 (Steadfast) + 2 (Big Durmsey’s boon) Individual boosts from weapons, armor, a resting bonus, a prostitutes boon and food will all stack with one another (as per usual, bonuses from two pieces of armor will suppress one another).

I've unlocked the first few levels on a couple of different classes, and they don't appear to. Most disquieting part - it' a hat, with requirement of drinks. The drinks helmet of Eora, I guess.

I've unlocked the first few levels on a couple of different classes, and they don't appear to.

Yeah I'd have to agree. Looking at the defences of my Gunslinger build, you would think there's no way that could solo PotD. However, the simple fact of the matter is Dragon Thrashed is insane, and I was effectively buffing Dragon Thrashed by Blinding consistently. It was a cool build (if I do say so myself), and at least retained some challenge on solo, but I'd imagine Chanters in a full party have a tendency to make things a wash fairly easily.

I guess try PMing a dev if you still have an issue? It seems like they were predominantly thinking this was a Linux/Mac GOG only problem.

Yeah they should have probably done a little more testing. The self-confusion bug isn't too much of a problem as the hat makes you immune to the Confusion effect after a point - however it becomes a little tedious to hear the "enemy immunity" line of dialogue when you cast it on yourself (and I think anyone who casts a spell on you - i.e. Priests - can also be effected). I have it paired with Shod-in-Faith currently, so the procs on self and dialogue happen a lot. Potentially they could argue that the arbalest thing isn't a bug (it's powerful, so it fired more slowly, etc.) however I think the fact that the reload speed is unlocked later for the item is quite telling as it's unusual at that late stage a weapon to get worse. I guess another patch is maybe not too likely now, as they'll be interested in the PoE 2 Beta. At the very least the items are functional, even if they are a bit poorly implemented in places, so possibly they think they've done enough at this stage - I'm not sure.

Just testing it quickly, the animation appears to be the same as the Forgemaster's Gloves. Still, it's a fast animation from what I'm seeing, same goes for Torrent of Flame. As mentioned, the Flame Shield is insta-cast on a crit.

Well if you compare any build to the monstrous Monksterlasher, it's probably going to come across as a little weak! I'd say the upside for such a Barb build in comparison is that it can open with Dragon's Leap, HoF and Barbaric blows, so you might kill groups slightly quicker due to access to those highly damaging nukes. Retaliation then would become more a matter of cleanup, and provides fast weapon attacks due to Blood Thirst, so I think it pulls away slightly from being a dedicated Retal build - Retaliation just becomes a very nice extra. In terms of Forgemaster's Gloves + the potion, it's not hugely different but it is slightly. Putting a pin in Fire Brand because it can be surpassed with things like Hours of St. Rumbalt, per encounter Flame Shield is quite significant as as it makes it truly spammable. While you can depend on potions for your Flame Shield, getting an extensive supply is a little time intensive and can encourage the player to think about conserving their supply - and plus their duration is unaffected by Intellect, whereas with 20 Intellect the Cannoneer Flame Shield works for over a minute. I think both the added duration, and eliminating worries about supply combined with the fact you don't need to go through the drinking potion animation all stack up to make it a worthy option. The other key thing is that the belt provides Torrent of Flame, which is seamlessly added to the existing Barb repertoire of Dragon Leap -> HoF -> Barbaric Blows as an opener, and has a hefty accuracy bonus that plays well off the Reflex reduction conferred by Dragon Leap due to Dazed, plus it has a huge AoE. It does damage your party, so you need to be a little careful, but it's still well worth it IMO. When you take its other attributes as a whole package (able to buy it in Act I, Firebrand being insane through most of the game, it's trivial to upgrade, the stat bonuses being exactly in a Barb's wheelhouse and potentially eliminating the need for other +stat items) it all becomes pretty powerful - particularly if you are running solo due to the Flame Shield alone. I wouldn't think physically nerfing its characteristics isn't necessary, but moving it outside of Act I might be a good idea. That said it's not all that tricky to get to Act III early, so moving it or changing the timing of when Bird-Scorned appears at Anslog's Compass might be a little arbitrary anyway. I guess what I'm trying to say is, it's very good!

I just want to say I think restrictions are great in an RPG. I know this thread became very quickly about pre-buffing, but I agree that giving buffing a time cost in combat makes it more of a tactical choice - and so to me that's better. In PoE 1 you can use food to pre-buff, and in PoE 2 I think that's now involved in resting bonuses or something? In any case, the decision to make buffing happen during an encounter or before is an arbitrary one. You can argue that logically if someone can cast a buffing spell then they should be able to pre-buff, but by the same dint maybe they need the adrenaline to work effectively - so you can't slice it down on a purely logical basis and as I said it is truly an arbitrary dev choice. From my perspective, recently I played Skyrim, and it's good - but it gets a little dull fairly fast. I think it's a great ARPG but still the game is fundamentally lacking in restrictions, and while it's good as an open world sandbox and some of the key dungeons and visuals are great there's not enough of the those set pieces to make it really juicy. At the same time if you were to pack a game with colorful dungeons and set pieces, it feels a little forced. Ultimately the lack of a restrictive RPG elements means it lacks a challenge. Then I went back and played Arcanum, and it's full of restrictions. You can't have a both a Magick and Tech character, you have to pick one or the other, and a lot of the racial differentiations are meaningful, particularly when you stack them on a huge array of backgrounds that also have mechanical impact. Character point allocation is also capped and slow to progress, meaning you have to have be sensible with your choices. At the same time, it's fundamentally classless system - so really all the restrictions are those imposed by the setting and a reasonably well pitched levelling system, but it's easy to see the possibilities are huge and only more interesting because of those confines. Arcanum thrives on its restrictions, as does PoE 1, yet something like Skyrim doesn't have those and as long as you sink the time in you'll get there. So yes I'll always go feet first into an RPG with restrictions, heaps of them, because for me that makes for rigorous and challenging gameplay. Not looking to change the status quo just because it's the status quo (e.g. pre-buffing) isn't a good mindset to have when making such an RPG.

So I've mentioned elsewhere I thought this would be a good combo, but let me just say this is ridiculously good. Blood Thirst gives you zero recovery. The fully upgraded the belt gives you +3 Might, +3 Dex and +2 Int, as well as 3 per rest of Firebrand, 1 per rest of Torrent of Flame and 1 per encounter of Flame Shield when hit by a crit (which for a Barb is all the time). I'm only in Act II on PoTD solo, but I'm playing a 21 Might Living Lands Aumaua, 24 Might with the belt (I've not even had time to get the Training Grounds yet). This gives me 37-56 damage with Firebrand, 57-86 damage with Torrent of Flame (at +15 accuracy I may add), and I think +10 accuracy with Flame Shield (which I believe is also effect by Might, but it's a fairly meaty effect anyway). Currently Flame Shield procs instantly more or less (and I have Shod-in-Faith which procs at the same time), and then I start hitting things with Frenzy Firebrand. Enemies die either from Firebrand, or from Flame Shield, which nets me an instant free recovery hit - with either more Firebrand or Torrent of Flame any time I want. I also have Veteran's Recovery and Savage Defiance, so keeping healthy just isn't an issue. This completely pulps enemies in seconds, and I haven't even hit HoF or anything like that yet. I know it's only Act II, but I've played PotD solo before and never seen anything like this. Not sure if it's nerf worthy, or maybe just triggering the appearance of the salesman much later (because to be honest the Flame Shield and stat boosts are insane anyway), but it sure is insanely powerful. A Barb Retal stacking build with this belt wouldn't have a hard time throughout the game IMO, as any Retaliation kill nets you a zero recovery Firebrand hit in the first place.

You can use this with Shod-in-Faith, and crit yourself with the Confuse effect on a Consecrated Ground pulse (with the hat making you immune to it's own Confuse effect), which sparks another Shod-in-Faith passively outside of combat if you crit yourself. This isn't exactly a common occurrence, but it has happened to me already.

For the armor it seems on any tank build it becomes massively superior late game to give you sky high defences, however early game you can stick to plate and only use the pirate robes when one particular defence is being hard pummelled. I will say with the Helmsman's pirate gear my Barb achieved 100 Fort defence against Stun before Caed Nua (high Con and Might, Frenzy, Coastal Aumaua, etc.) and yet unless I was facing a single Phantom they would still Stun-lock and kill me - despite having a defence about 40 higher than their attack I'll also add that the Belt of the Royal Cannoneer is pretty great on a Barb. Outside of the obvious that's been mentioned (Firebrand that you use Gauntlets of Swift Action with), +3 Might, +3 Dex and +2 Int are exactly what a Barb wants - meaning if you're not bothered about the highest possible stats or Looped Rope it's a fantastic way to save equipment slots. Flame Shield activates on Crit which works great with a Barb's sucky Deflection - dealing 10-15 fire damage on hit to enemies (which is further boosted by strength, and stacks with other forms of Retaliation as far as I'm aware, such as Barbaric Retaliation). Torrent of Flame is a great nuke, and if you have Blood Thirst (no recovery on next attack after a kill) you can instantly cast it after the standard chain of Dragon Leap, HoF and Barbaric Blows. All in all, it's very good.

Boeroer mentioned a while back that Blood Thirst can be used on Barbarians to cast spells with zero recovery when they get a kill. With the new soulbound Belt of the Royal Cannoneer you get a pretty sweet spell-binding in Torrent of Flame that could be used for this purpose. In addition to Torrent of Flame, Belt of the Royal Cannoneer also activates Flame Shield once per encounter on crit (perfect for a Barb with their sucky Deflection, and pairing nicely with Barbaric Retaliation, regular Retaliation and Battle-Forged) while offering great stat boosts for a Barb (+3 Might, +3 Dex, +2 Int) and giving you the option of Firebrand which is pretty lethal with Carnage (and can now be used with Gauntlets of Swift Action, unlike before where you had to use the Forgemaster's Fingers for it). The belt is super easy to upgrade (take 100 ranged damage, then take 200 melee damage, then deal 500 fire damage), I've been using it casually on my current Barb and it's really good. On top of the belt, you can throw in either in either Amulet of the Summer Solstice or Sun-Touched Mail of Hyran Rath as Boeroer mentioned and have 3-6 Sunbeams too (though no slot for regular Retaliation if you use both and are a Fire Godlike). For a tricky encounter, you now have a situation where you can chuck out a Sunbeam to damage and blind the enemy, summon Firebrand, Dragon Leap into the middle of them, use Heart of Fury, use Barbarian Blows (remembering that Firebrand has Annihilation, so the existing blindness coupled with hit to crit conversion of Blows is great here), then use Torrent of Flame, then chuck out some more Sunbeams to the edges of the mob (avoiding yourself and you can blind yourself with it), and then keep at them with Firebrand or start spamming spell scrolls. At every stage of this when you get a kill, Blood Thirst means you do the next attack almost instantly, and of course you'll be putting out Barb Retaliation and Flame Shield damage with possibly Battle-Forged and regular Retaliation too. This is personally would be my pick for a battlemage sort of archetype, given that the casting is so damn fast and your main weapon fits the bill by being magically summoned.

The hotfix is available on GOG, and the previously alarmingly pink saves on my Mac are fine. So if you update, you should be dandy too. Huh, I could have sworn I checked and there wasn't anything there, but now that I've looked you're correct. Might be an issue on GoG's end, as I don't use Galaxy, and occasionally they don't post up patches outside of Galaxy quite so quickly. Thanks, and I'll redact some of my crap talk elsewhere on the forum - I genuinely thought they hadn't fixed it only to go and enjoy their turkey day.

EDIT: I didn't think the hotfixed GoG version was up, but it is! Just a heads-up if you weren't aware, like me.

As a heads-up Obsidian have posted in the Deadfire Backer Beta Announcements subforum that the offices are closed until the 27th, so mac and Linux GoG users like myself will be out of luck until then. It's always good when a new patch introduces game-breaking bugs and then requires around two weeks to get resolved

EDIT: Never mind, have a good holiday!

When behind a wall or under an archway the pirate outfits don't go transparent, however the rest of the character model does: Might be worthwhile getting it fixed if this is the definitive version of the game, as it looks unsightly.

Should games started in v3.07 with the missing textures still function fine with the version of the patch with this corrected? I've started a few and didn't want to lose progress, however it'll be worse if I go to start WM Pt I there's some sort of issue.

I prefer dual weapons, but something cool someone mentioned is trying the new Deadfire DLC Soulbound belt to use Firebrand with Gauntlets of Swift Action. You can also use one-handed with Cladhalíath or Wē Toki, going one handed gives you way more accuracy (and hit-to-crit conversion if you take the perk) allowing you to more effectively Stun or Prone lock enemies by earning more crits. See the Trashman build for more details.