Ganrich

If you want damage then focus on Might > dex > per. If you want big pally auras and long cipher charms then focus on intellect > might > dex > per. If you want a more tanky build then focus on resolve. I'd leave con around 10, and focus on whatever other attributes you'd like to make you better for what spells you want. If you want mostly melee damage then use Soul Blade. Use your Flames of Devotion to help build focus, and then use your sould annihilation ability to dump your focus. If you want ranged then I would play ascendant and use FoD to max focus, then dump cipher spells as much as possible. Paladin subs are minor in difference. So I would select the Order that fits how you plan to do dialogue. If that doesnt matter then play the one whose sub specific ability fits the play style you're going for. There are a lot of ways to build this combo, and I'd need to know what you want out of the class in order to be any more specific.

On the contrary, it seems the extra time was needed. Besides, I didn't see a really bad bug yet. I've had a few crashes, game chugs in the city (especially when it rains), I've had my Companions acting like their AI is on and it isn't (using spells I didn't tell them to cast when I've turn off their AI), I respecced my Chanter and lost a level 1 talent selection (So, I don't think I would recommend respeccing Chanter), etc. Nothing major, really. Nothing I can't live with anyway. Game runs mostly smooth, it's fun, it has pretty minor bugs, and my only real complaint is that it is too easy (but that I can understand). Anyway, I have no buyer's remorse, and I feel it is in a better state than PoE was on launch. So, it's solid all around.

I'm bad about certain things. This is sort of one of them. I have restarted my character about 3 times. Troubadour/Rogue. First time, I was Troubadour/Trickster, and (unlike in beta) I never used the Illusion spells much. This is because I have Explosives, and make and use grenades to get those AoE status effects, and because I picked Trickster I was without a good Sneak Attack. So, I restarted, and I guess I messed up Char Creation because I though I was a generic rogue, but I must have accidentally selected Assassin. This build isn't a Stealth/Backstab build. So, I was eating +15% damage for nothing. Now I have him right. I swapped around weapon style for this one too. Went from War Bow/Xbow/Quarterstaff with the earlier builds to Scepters/Wands/Flails in a one handed style. Now I crit all the time with my Scepter and Flail which are what I use most. I'd probably dual wield next go, and maybe I will respec at some point, but it works really well right now.

Chanters start combat with some phrases which they didn't in PoE1. As you level the number of Phrases you start combat with increases. This allows you to cast low level Invocations at the onset of combat, and then start Chanting to build them back up. Skald will start combat with 2, iirc, but their Offensive invocations are at a cost of 2. So, they can start doing work immediately. Troubadours take a couple levels before they can cast at the beginning of combat. Beckoners should only require 2 Phrases in order to cast the first level summons. Both Skeletons and Spirit summons should require 2 phrases. Once, you summon one they should start gaining phrases again. I hope this helps. If not let me know.

On that topic flails are a pretty well represented class (I think there are four). I have been using one on my Troubadour/Rogue. Toggle the modal, Strike the Bell (one handed weapon), -25 Reflex debuff applied, and cast a fully upgraded Thrice Was She Wronged while StB dot is going. 3 hits of 25 damage in an AoE, and then the little chain lightning effect comes out to dish out more. Things explode. Lots of fun to get 2 or so gibs in a spell. Never mind when I use Empower, and my plus 1 power level necklace. I wish I would have gone Nature Godlike, though. I always feel like not playing Godlike first. That way I can notice the reactions. Eh, I will play this build again. I really enjoy it. I am glad there are a few flails. I have been a fan of them in my RPGs for years.

The Wizard Subclasses suffer from losing 2 schools of magic. There are only 5. So, you lose about 2/5ths of your spells, roughly. You also have increased recovery time for all schools not of your main school. In this case, you get a +1 power level to Transmutation and can turn into an Ogre, but you lose Enchanting and Evocation, and Illusion and Conjuration have +20% longer recovery. If your ok with that trade then it will be fine. I am of the mind that the cost is too steep for all 5 Wizard Subclasses, but you should be able to kick people's teeth in quite nice and look like Shrek doing it.

It could also be people that backed at the level to create a weapon. I know I did, and I avoided swords like the plague. I figured everyone and their mom would make a Sword. I made a Flail. Sungrazer. You are welcome.

It somewhat balances out with Brisk Recitation. Phrases take 6 seconds to cast, and have a 3 second linger. Which means the buff is up a total of 9 seconds. Troubadour without BR modal on has an extra 50% linger. So their linger time is 4.5 seconds. This means a Troubadour can have a linger than lasts 75% of his next phrase. this means if 2 phrases take 12 seconds to speak then you will have 10.5 seconds of each buff before they fade. This is at 10 Intellect. Add in a higher intellect, and it is possible to get darn close to 100% upkeep if not all the way. My current Troub doesnt have that much Intellect, but my Linger is 5.6 seconds. So I am only .4 seconds away from 100% upkeep. My base Intellect is 15, but I have +2 from gear. So at 17 intellect, and level 8 as a Troub/Rogue I have 6 seconds phrase with a 5.6 linger. If your intellect got near 20... I am guess 100%. When BR modal is on you have 3 second phrase cast, and no linger. This generates phrases quickly, but you can only have 1 phrase at a time. That is the balance. Yes, all your invocations cast 1 more to cast than a standard Chanter. Your 3 chant invocation costs 4. So a Chanter takes 18 seconds to cast 3 phrases. A Troubadour with BR modal on takes 12 seconds to cast 4 phrases. Once you get into the higher cost Invocations the difference gets bigger. Skald is the only other chanter that could keep up, and his is based on RNG of whether you got a Crit or not. Then you get a 50% chance of a phrase generated based on that crit. So, you have to crit, and then you have to win the coin toss. However, Troubadour's BR always generates phrases quickly. So, all that said, The trade off is, do you want to double buff with phrases and have Ancient memory for AoE heal plus the high level chant that gives everyone 12% life tap on their weapons? Or do you need to get some phrases out quickly and hit that big dumb Ogre with Killers Froze and stop him in his tracks? I toggle BR pretty frequently. Some battles it is on the whole time. If things get hairy, I turn it off and switch to a solid buff chant and try to stay in the middle of my group. Simultaneously swapping between ranged and melee depending on the conditions on the battlefield. However, my current Troubadour/Rogue is squishy. So I am either flanking with Shadow Step ready to go, or I am firing from behind the tanks but in front of casters. In a tank build, if you aren't getting slammed too hard then you can turn on BR and get some AoE damage in, or a buff out, or a CC. If you are taking heat then you leave it off, have 2 Chants up most (if not all) the time, focus on you other classes abilities, and cast invocations when they come (Much more slowly of course). BR makes the build fun, at least for me. The Troubadour is the swiss army knife of Chanters. It can be what you need it to be right then and there. You just have to toggle BR. Also, I typically have a Chant set that ONLY has 1 chant in it. I have 2 right now. Sometimes I will Turn BR on, and switch to a single chant because that chant is the one I need. Then when I turn it off I go back to the Chant that has 2 phrases in it to get the "near" double buff. Just something I do occasionally when toggling BR. Take it for what it is worth. It does create some down time while you are switching, but sometimes there is a clutch phrase you want up 100% but you need to cast some invocations too.

Not as of yet. Other than seeing what people like Boeroer are posting. Also, some things are a bit different in the game now then they were in beta. They definitely patched things. Might was an all or nothing stat because it was Multiplicative, but they made it additive. So now it is still a powerful stat, but the others are closer. Some combos work better than others. Beckoner/Kind Wayfarer with Heal chant or Fire weapons chant + summons is powerful, and probably broken. Devoted combines with a lot of melee classes to silly ends. Devoted/Skald or Barbarian/Skald (not mage slayer subclass) can generate phrases for invocations pretty fast. So they are good. I can't get into specifics as I rarely play that way, but I read what others do. Honestly, if you are dabbling with Paladin, Monk, Barbarian, Fighter, Chanter, or Druid as one of your classes... I think you are fine. They are all super strong. Priests are good to, but I haven't messed with them enough myself, and don't know for sure. Ciphers are good, but they need to work with certain classes. Rogues and Rangers are ok in a MC imho. Especially if you play to their strengths. Wizards are great. They just are tougher to MC with. Either your buffing and going melee, or you mix with a caster and need to know the spells and the spell system with some detail. Honestly, everything works minus a few odd things that i could see troublesome like a Mage Slayer/Skald. That's because the Mage Slayer is resistant to magic. Both positive and negative, and the Skald's Chants might not stick to him. Which basically makes a goofy class. I might play one just to let RNG kill me. respec just lets you reset your talents after Character Creation. You cannot change classes, reset attributes, background, race. At least as far as I know. I would try to not rely on it as I ran across a bug after respeccing and lost a talent from character creation. Chanters need a phrase and an Invocation in order to function as a class, and when I respecced well I lost one of those so I was a talent point short. I doubt it will effect other classes, but I am not sure. Just a heads up.

Druids are silly good because if you want to heal Lifegiver is one of the best. If you want to melee then you have Shifter. The other 2 are more of a hybrid between using their forms and casting. Although, I am less familiar with the Fury. Druids can do damage via spells, melee, or heal. They are versatile. If you get something that breaks your front lines your druid can always shift, and intercept. Wizards, well they have the versatility of Grimoire swapping, some solid self buffs, and so on. They have a great kit, but it isn't as versatile as Druid IMHO. However, if you are casting predominantly then it should be fine. If you are mostly casting then I would look at what defense the spells attack. Druids have a few solid spells that do damage, but also give afflictions like Hobble or Sicken. If you are reducing an enemies dexterity via one of those spells (the Hobble affliction does this) then you are also reducing their Reflex save, and thus I would look at spells from wizard that feed off of that. -5 dexterity from hobble should be reducing their Reflex save by 10. 2 lost per dexterity. I can't think of any blatant combos. Unfortunately, MCing casters doesn't lead to those neat little combos as often as MCing 2 melee classes or mixing a melee and a caster. So, my best advice is look at debuff spells that help your other spells hit. Right click and read the tool tips. The only MCing with casters I have done a lot of (in beta) is mixing Chanter with Druid and Wizard. Once again, no real combos to speak of, but they work. Especially if you look at ways to reduce the enemies saves before you start dropping your damage. The lower the save the more likely you are to hit or crit. In beta I made a skald/Shifter, and used a Flail. The flails modal reduces Reflex by -25. That is a bunch. So, I would pop them once, and start casting in there face. Then I would shift, and keep in their face. Since you can't cast while shifted with the Shifter I would break shift once my chants built back up, and repeat. It was pretty fun, and worked really well. Druid/Wizard Example: Nature's Mark is a druid AoE spell that reduces deflection and Reflex by 10 each. Hit a pack of enemies with that spell, and then launch a Wizard spell like Fan of Flames or Fireball because they attack against the Reflex save. Another Druid spell is Vile Thorns which does damage and attacks Fortitude, but it sickens the target. Sicken lowers Constitution by 5. Thus it lowers their Fortitude by 10. So, follow up with the mage spell Fetid Caress, or whatever else you have that attacks Fortitude like Noxious Burst (corrode fireball). MIght and Constitution govern Fortitude save. Dex and Perception govern Reflex. Intellect and Resolve govern WIll saves. The 4th defense save is Deflection which is predominantly for weapon attacks, but some spells attack it too. The afflictions and inspirations that reduce these are much more numerous, but the game's built in hyperlink system should let you hover the Affliciton in question and figure out what it reduces. These Afflictions have other things they do. Like Sicken reduces the healing the target can receive on top of the -5 Constitution. So keep that in mind. It can be a good way to further give you an advantage. Also be wary that some enemies in the deadfire are resistant or immune to these sort of effects. If you hover an enemy, and it says Immune to attacks on Constitution then Vile Thorns won't work because the Sicken won't apply to the target. Hover enemies, pay attention to what their saves are, and try to be versatile enough to have a combo for most situations. If you come across a fight where your spells aren't very effective... Spiritshift and maybe some wizard buffs and step into melee for this one encounter, Keep a plethora of Grimoires so you can swap into some spells that are helpful too. Don't hyper focus on spells that attack a single save like Reflex, fortitude, or will. You want to try and attack the save that is the lowest on your target or targets. Usually though the battlefield has a mix of types. Some enemies might have high fortitude while others will, and they are mixed together. Use your best judgement. To answer a bit more specifically, Fury or Animancer would both be great at Damage, can be built to mostly cast, and can off heal really well too. I can't get into too much more specific at the moment as I am about get some shut eye. Fury does have the passive that increases your shifts duration if you kill the enemy. So, keep that in mind if you want to mostly cast. You still won't go wrong with either of these Subclasses. I hope I helped at least a little bit. One more quick thing. You really can't screw up unless you are running on PotD. Even Veteran is pretty easy once you get to understand debuffing in this new Affliction/Inspiration system. You will be doing stuff that is suppose to be above your level regardless of which classes you mix together. I am playing a Troubadour/Rogue. It isn't a meta build or anything. I just gave it some flavor, and have learned how to play to its strengths. I really don't think you can screw up your character. Unless you screw up on your attributes, but as long as you aren't dumping anything below say... 8 you will be fine.

Druid healing is pretty legit. Lifegiver is just icing on the cake. Druids, Chanters, Pallys, and Priests all have solid healing. Priests don't have a lock on it anymore. Chanters and Pallys MC really well with the other 2 as well, and MC well with each other. I haven't tried Druid/Priest. So, I won't say it is good or bad. I have little interest in it. I would rather be either of them as a single class first. Just keep in mind that Grimoires only have 2 spells of each level in them in this game. You cannot memorize spells like in PoE1, and those spells are static, but grimoires can be put in your quick item slot and swapped during combat. Works just like weapon swap, but with your grimoire and it is in your quick item slot vs weapon slot. Anyway, I would avoid the Wizard Subclasses. losing 2 schools of magic for what you get is a horrid trade off, but if it fits your character... Do what you have to do. Just be wary. You can't cast those spells from those 2 schools you lose even if your grimoire is chocked full of them. I would be a generic wizard. Focus a lot on Druid with talents, pick up a wizard spell here and there, and then have spells from your grimoire to cast. Perhaps focusing on a skill that doesn't have consumables so you can use all 4 slots for spell books. That will mean you will retain a lot of the wizard flexibility and get a good bit of the goodies from Druid too. Yes, I believe Concelhaut's Staff and TotH work together. How well? Can't say, but I doubt it's not viable to do. Unless, maybe, you are playing PotD. But since PotD hasnt been tuned, and is easier than it should be at present... You should be fine. Both Druid and Wizard have good damage spells. I don't think you can go wrong, but I (personally) like the Druid stuff more. Druids are just silly good in Deadfire. They and Chanters are amazing to have on a team.

Agreed. Over beta, Troubadour became my favorite Chanter Sub. It's just so versatile. It can combine with just about any other subclass and not be hampered. It can tank, heal, and do damage. Want to focus on phrases and try to keep 2 phrases up all the time? Well, it can. Want to switch on Brisk Recitation, and be a frontline nuker? Well, it can. Want to be a buff/debuff/CC focused tank? It's got you covered. It doesnt rely on crits like Skald either. Nor are you penalized for any of the Invocation types. It can use any of them. Want to be a front line healer/tank? I'd pick Kind Wayfarer/Troubadour for my Herald. You can basically be constantly healing between FoD and Ancient Memory. Have LoH for clutch heals in melee, Invocations for big AoE heals, and so on. Also, you can use the pally defensive stance. Wearing heavier armor doesnt hurt phrases, but does slow down Invocation recovery. However, it is a lot of fun. You can adapt on the fly with a good list of Chants, Invocations, and your other classes abilities. It has a tool for every situation. I'm playing a Rogue/Troubadour with explosives using ranged weapons. It is so fun. Using grenades, appropriate invocations, and rogue abilities for debuffs in order to get Sneak Attack. Saving Guile for escape to reposition, switching Chants depending on your current battlefield location, excape plus Killers Froze means you can maximize your paralyze really easily. Constantly doing paralyze, armor debuff, and an occasional nuke. I highly recommend Troubadour.

Tried respeccing my Troubadour/Trickster and I retained my Invocation from Character Creation, but I lost my phrase. Although, I am far enough along that I can afford to replace it, I will still be a talent point behind. No matter. I was debating restarting for a reason or two. So, this just ensured that. Either way. Minor bug, methinks. However, I thought you should know. Enjoying the game. Thanks!

I can't say for sure that rogues are or are not weaker in Deadfire vs the original game, but I can say that (which I've repeated a few times) their interrupt is top choice. Also, interrupting casters is very important in Deadfire. A caster can delete a squishy pretty easily with a couple different spells. A rogue can teleport in and interrupt with 2 Guile cost. It's potent. Very potent. Interrupt actually stops the spell in Deadfire. It doesn't increase recovery like in PoE1. If you are interrupted casting your Chill Fog, and you only had 1 level 1 spell available to cast... Well, you lost that level 1 cast because of interrupt. Since Priests have their main heal at level 1 their healing can be stifled hard, it is similar with Druids, and with Wizards. If you know what the icons above their heads indicate you can swing battles fairly easily. Pay attention and learn what those pesky casters are doing. Then shut them down. An assassin could initiate on that caster and delete him at the beginning of a fight. So, they are fine. They are viable in all difficulties. Are they the best class in the game? No. Are they dead weight? Absolutely not. They can be the deciding factor in a fight by stopping a heal, MM, or what have you. That interrupt then hobbles the target, and they have 15 seconds (at 10 intellect) of +30% damage on their attacks. If you habe a higherintellect that time gets longer. Power Level also increases duration. There are also passive talents that do the same. I am also of the mind that they have the best single target Blind in the game since you can upgrade it so that every hit after the blind is placed adds a stacking deflection malus to the target. I dont know if there is a cap to the deflection malus, but two party members hitting that target usually does the trick. It's called Confounding Blind. This costs 2 Guile IIRC. Totally worth it in my eyes. Anyway, rogues have two issues. 1) They dont have a lot of high level abilities, and 2) Sneak attack was nerfed in the launch release from 50 to 30%. Their low level abilities are top notch imho. Those abilities are better than their PoE1 counter parts imho. They get good toys at low levels. Nothing wrong with that.

In game certain keywords will have hyperlinks to explain things as well, and this shoupd cover most game mechanics. There is a good bit of the hyperlink stuff in the character creation.

Don't know about the App Store, but there is always https://www.gog.com/game/pillars_of_eternity_ii_deadfire They support OSX as well.

SLI usually has trouble on initial launch. Thats in AAA games with much larger budgets. What would you expect here? If I had SLI/XFIRE I would turn it off for this game. You can throw all the horsepower at it you want, but of it isn't optimized for SLI you will have trouble.

You dont have to get spells as there are passives that the mage can get as a MC. You have to get one spell at first level, and you can grab mage passive abilities after that. Now whether you can find enough passives worth taking... That's a different story. There are 7 points you have to put into the wizard tree. So id look to see what passives seems appropriate and go for it. A lot of mage passives are spell related, though. Keep that in mind. Edit: between the two classes you may be forced to buy spells just from lack of options combined with the slower power advancement of a MC. That's the only other hitch I can think of.

That was my bad, MG. I must have read that it had been nerfed "BY" 20%, and remembered it as being nerfed TO "20%" Sorry.

Beta 4's sneak Attack = +50% damage Launch game's sneak attack = +20% damage. B4 trickster SA = +20% Launch trickster SA = +10% Cohh streamed Saturday, but Sunday there were other streamers with early access that looked at the rogue. It's a confirmed nerf.

Early access streams. witch early access stream ?? I watched coohhcarnages one and he looked at the trickster subclass only. It has 10% sneak attack damage becasue of its subclass It is 20% in beta 4 for trickster. Regular SA is now 20% from 50% (?) in beta 4, and trickster is down to 10% from 20%. I think these are the numbers. Dont quote me. It sucks. The class was already weak from its mid-high level talent tree, but now I dont know... I'd only MC it right now for interrupts and mobility.

Well, Barbarians always interrupt on crit with the tier 5 passive. Wizards have Thrust of Tattered Veils... etc etc. Barbarian Tier 5 is on crit. It isn't reliable, nor is it on demand via a 1 guile ability. It "may" interrupt if you get lucky. A rogue "will" interrupt if you pay attention. Big difference. Especially on higher difficulties where critting isnt reliable. Wizards have Thrust, but only 2 an encounter, and you may not have it in your spell book. Every rogue should have crippling strike just because of its guile cost. Same with Escape. Rogues will have more guile than a Wizard will have level one spells, it's reliable, it is dirt cheap to use, you can shut a caster down for a while. Even if monks can interrupt... Their wounds arent nearly as reliable as a rogue's guile.

Yeah, interrupt is silly good in this game vs PoE1. Enemy casters can be a pain. It actually shuts the cast down, and removes the resource from the caster. Rogues have a 1 guile teleport and a 1 guile interrupt with an added bonus of hobbling. Then they get bonus damage on attacks for 15 secs. Dont have the game in front of me, but Monks are the only class nearly as good as rogues at interrupt. They have a few abilities that interrupt on hit iirc. I cant remember if it is still the case in beta 4.

It works pretty well. Chanter works with anything, IMHO. Except Mage Slayer. Lol that would be fun to try regardless of MS resisting his own buffs. Cipher MCs best with a weapon based class for obvious reasons. Focus. The other 3 caster classes are a little tougher to mix, but it can be done I'm sure. They aren't a synergistic as melee for sure. At least imho. You could still pull it off though. Especially if the party could benefit from the MCed casters versatility.

I agree with the transparency thing. However, I would say a Chanter with a phrase and no invocations is a semi functional character. A Chanter with an invocation but no phrases is useless. It would be dead weight as you will never be able to cast it. Also, forcing the player to pick onw of each at CC ensures they don't do something stupid. They will always have 1 phrase and 1 invocation throughout the game. Even if they select most talents from their other class, and/or non-phrase passives from chanter.