Anoregon

Shattered pillar for a ranged monk seems like a given, as you should be dishing out a lot more damage than you are receiving (and that relates to wound generation). Ranger I'd probably go standard, but sharpshooter could work. Edit: sorry, I forgot that Shattered Pillar is melee damage only for wounds, so it wouldn't work with bows.

I think most of the subclasses are at least functional and have a purpose, but it's definitely true that some are just flat out better than others. I also agree (as do most people, I would think) that the Wizard subclass penalties feel too severe for the relatively modest benefit. A pure nuker Evoker is pretty much the only time the sacrifice is worth it.

On my skald/berserker I went with Min's fortune as my 2nd weapon, enchanted to cause a random affliction on crit. Seemed to work quite well given the various crit and attack speed buffs present.

I want to eventually try a 2hand Devoted/Wizard in order to sort o try a different take on the BG2 kensai/mage. I know 2hands in general aren't great, but the soulbound Pollaxe is available essentially right after you leave Port Maje, or you can go 2hand swords if you want to use Whispers of Endless paths.

Did you click on the blood orb thing after killing Menzzago? That actually advances the quest, not just killing him.

Exactly this. When I saw the original numbers - from 20% damage to either 40% damage or 20% damage + 100% increased focus gain, I was very split, (double the damage bonus or double the focus gain), but with the nerf to 30%, it's now a 10% more damage (ends up more like 5% more total damage) or double focus, the choice was extremely obvious for my Soulblade. Double focus. Yeah, it would make sense that double focus gain would be overall more damage for a Soulblade, since it is a direct boost to how often or how hard you can Soul Annihilate.

I have her as Ranger/Rogue and Blightheart seems to be doing quite well.

Skald/Berserker becomes ridiculous once you get a couple of key weapons in Neketaka. Modwyr negates the confusion from Berserker and increases attack speed, and there are a couple of unique sabres that either increase attack speed or crit chance. Since your bread and butter invocations will all cost 2-3 phrases, you end up being able to use them every few seconds.

Yup. That combined with the stacking attack speed buff makes it an absurdly strong choice for Berserker/Skald.

I remember in Pillars 1, the majority of weapon/armor effects were disabled while shifted. Any weapon ability that triggered on hit or armor ability that triggered by getting hit did not function while shifted, as you technically aren't equipped with those items while shifted. Is that still the case in Deadfire? What about items that provide passive benefits like auras? There are quite a lot more interesting effects on arms and armor compared to the first game, so I'm curious if there are any exceptions to the rule. Also, are there any shift-specific items in Deadfire? Pillars 1 at least had the Wildstrike belt, which was a flat damage increase while shifted.

Where does Blighteart come from, anyway? I'm like 25 hours into the game (lots of side questing) and so far haven't found a single soulbound weapon aside from Modwyr.

I just picked it up on Maia with arqebus and checked combat log - It does list the 15% damage boost/

Or become a drug addict and pump your alchemy to get 5+ minutes of int affliction immunity per svef!

No weapons, but I did buy some gloves that have a 50% chance to knock down on crit, which is very similar to Tall Grass.

Which weapon cancels the int affliction and what does taking the sword to its original owner do compared to manually maxing the soulbond? The sword told me where to go, but I was planning on doing that last... Well, I'll answer my own question. Modwyr grants the immunity to Intellect afflictions once you complete her soulbond. She also seems like an excellent, endgame-worthy sword. Legendary (for 30k gold), lash, stacking attack speed buff, immunity to intellect afflictions and gives a stunning per-encounter attack. Do you know if the int affliction immunity is regardless of class? I know when you soulbind Modwyr you have to choose which class to bind her as if multiclassed. Modwyr Thanks for clearing that up! Being stuck at work sucks, I gotta get home and do ladysword stuff.

Yeah I figured that. What I mean is, as a Soulbound weapon that seems to have differing stats depending on the class of the character it is soulbound to (as was the case in PoE 1), is the Int affliction immunity always there? Edit: oh wait, according to the wiki, once you finish the quest by visiting the original owner, it turns into a standard unique weapon instead of soulbound anyway?

I'm really curious about Modwyr (the talking 1h sword) specifically. I know that for at least some classes she grants resistance/immunity to int afflictions but I'm not sure if that's regardless of class or not. That would make it a build-defining weapon for my Skald/Berserker.

I, too, have been trying to find this information for the various soulbound items. Having to choose a class on a multiclass character before actually knowing how the item changes is a wrinkle to be sure.

Which weapon cancels the int affliction and what does taking the sword to its original owner do compared to manually maxing the soulbond? The sword told me where to go, but I was planning on doing that last... Well, I'll answer my own question. Modwyr grants the immunity to Intellect afflictions once you complete her soulbond. She also seems like an excellent, endgame-worthy sword. Legendary (for 30k gold), lash, stacking attack speed buff, immunity to intellect afflictions and gives a stunning per-encounter attack. Do you know if the int affliction immunity is regardless of class? I know when you soulbind Modwyr you have to choose which class to bind her as if multiclassed.

Confused makes our AoE hit allies, but I don't think it causes your chanter buffs to buff enemies. Also, there are a number of ways to suppress the confusion. Any int buff will cancel it out (such as the level 3 priest spell that gives a 1-min Smart buff), Svef nullifies int afflictions, and I believe there are unique items that have int affliction resistance.

I'm nowhere near finished, but I'd say yes. Especially if you are going Skald.

Oh that sounds very nice. I'm planning to try a 2H (probably Devoted) guy eventually.

Well that sounds great. I'm running dual wield Skald/Berserker and have been looking into ways to nuke int afflictions. BTW, are there any sites yet that have the stats/images of various unique items yet?

I honestly wouldn't be surprised if the reason there are so many sabres is because it's the stereotype pirate/naval melee weapon. It fits the aesthetic.

They do not. Shapeshift forms are not actually classified as unarmed, they use their own form-specific weapons while in that form. So sadly Devoted/Shifter is a combo that the game doesn't support.