delfador

Caedebald's Blackbow? I tried it for a bit, it's nice, but I still prefer Spirit Lance (hits just as hard but has AOE damage and 20% speed) or Minor Blights. The terrified effect is kind of nice though, and it certainly looks cool. For level 8 spells, my favorite by far is Wall of Many Colors.

Apparently it is a permanent change, because it is still present in the release version 3.0. They fixed Ciphers before the patch released today (in the previous beta patch). Essentially, they kept the increased focus cost, but buffed focus gain and many of the powers to compensate.

Maybe it's a custom Hide Armor? That's the one kind of armor in existing PoE that has this problem. But otherwise I agree with your sentiment. I've been happy with the look of most PoE armors. It's nice when the armor looks functional & protective.

Aha, makes sense! Had no idea it could bounce between two targets like that--only tried it against groups. Thanks Wolken3156 & Boeroer for explaining

Disagree. When it comes to 7th level spells, Wizards definitely got the best deal out of all the classes. Concelhaut's Crushing Doom - Good damage plus it Prones with each hit, make it a great tool for stunlocking a dangerous target. The only downside is that this spell is only available after clearing Cragholdt. Delayed Fireball - Really high burst damage, and probably the best burst spell overall due to its delayed nature. You can set it as a trap for advancing enemies or use it directly on top of them, pair it up with Reflex lowering afflictions and the damage is quite incredible. Also, it has a fast cast speed, so yeah, this one is a real winner. Llengrath's Warding Staff - This doesn't deal as much damage as the other summoned weapons, but it does knocks back enemies with each attack, making it a really good weapon for keeping enemies off the Wizard or anyone in the party. The initial knock back is also quite good but also affects party members which can be a problem. Ninagauth's Killing Bolt - This deals a massive amount of Raw damage and if you kill someone with it you get a Spectre in your party to help out. The Spectre has Sneak Attacks and can Stun with its auto-attacks just like the Chanter summon. Substantial Phantom - Its identical to Essential Phantom, though it does have some decent spells to cast, with Necrotic Lance and Minoletta's Minor Missiles among them. Its a very good summon, plus it allows you to switch out Essential Phantom for another spell as well, which is nice as there's a lot of good 4th-level spells ^^ Tayn's Chaotic Orb - The afflictions it does is random but this spell is really good for three reasons. First, since it works like Chain Lightning or Firebug, this spell can disperse in a wide area. Secondly, this spell has the potential to hit the same target multiple times, which can make it very damaging if there's only a small number of enemies, especially if you factor in Combusting Wounds. Third, even if the afflictions it inflicts are random, they're all powerful ones anyway! The "weakest" out the stuff it can inflict is Sickened, but tbh, it does lower Fort, which is always welcomed anyway. Wall of Draining - If you fight enemies with buffs, this spell is a good alternative to Arcane Dampener or Deprive of the Unworthy. This can also make your self-buffs last for an incredibly long time. This spell alone makes the final battle very easy. Heh, I probably should've been more specific. Was running out of steam. Concelhaut's Crushing Doom - one of the good ones, but yeah like you said, it takes too long to get it. Substantial Phantom - definitely good. --- Llengrath's Warding Staff - knocking back 1 enemy at a time isn't that great, and it doesn't hit very hard. It's amusing to use, but I don't see it winning battles. Wall of Draining - it works, but it's very very situational. I don't like when a level 7 spell is marginally better than a level 4 spell. Ninagauth's Killing Bolt - slow cast speed, single target, and the damage is a fraction of Cipher's Disintegration. The specter isn't exciting ... that's like, a Chanter level 1 ability Delayed Fireball - yeah, that's a good point about fast cast. Maybe I should give it another shot. It just always seemed a bit weak for level 7. If I just want to throw some AOE damage around, I can use Kalakoth's Minor Blights or Ninagauth's ice spells or Citzal's Spirit Lance or pretty much any Druid spell. Tayn's Chaotic Orb - I don't get why people like this. Just about every lower level control/debuff spell is better, right? (edit 3: explained below, this spell is good because it can bounce between 2 targets) (Edit 2: I think Wizard level 7 is a bit misleading because you have so many choices. But it only matters if 3/rest uses are well spent. Personally I'd take Storm of Holy Fire or Minor Avatar over most of the Wizard choices.)

Oooh, that's a good theory. Maybe it happened from crossing the chasm and I didn't notice it right away. So, does that mean Athletics still has a (hidden) +10% fatigue modifier? Or maybe the script penalizes characters with Athletics below a certain value?

Wizards: Level 1: a lot of these spells are pretty weak. Mirrored Image (2): what is up with these "until hit" single use defense spells? I never use them. Rolling Flame (2): hard to target Level 3: all damage spells are trumped by Kalakoth's Minor Blights. Ironskin (4): it'd be good if it lasted longer. Flame Shield (4): Wizards usually try not to get hit. It's a good effect in builds for other classes. Minoletta's Concussive Missiles (4): I'm not a fan of attacks that are split up into a bunch of separate DR checks. So none of the missile spells are really my cup of tea. Usually there's a better use for the spell slot. Now if they were Raw damage ... Wall Of Force (5): didn't seem to do much when I played around with it. It would be cool if the wall had a stronger effect, like stunning or pushing back enemies. Arkemyr's Capricious Hex (6): it's like designed so you save/reload. Meh. Level 7: most of these are pretty weak, with one or two exceptions.

Druid spells: The only real issue is lots of redundant pure damage spells. Given the choice between pure damage and damage + debuff/CC, I'll take the latter: Level 1 -- tend to prefer Sunbeam over other damage spells. Blind is such a strong debuff. Level 2 -- I tend to save these slots for fighting Beasts. So good. Level 3 -- Returning Storm > all. Level 4 -- Calling the World's Maw is usual choice here. Overwhelming Wave is strong but hard to target. Level 5+ lots of good choices I guess the lesson here is Druid's spells are pretty balanced.

Yeah, a lot of lower level priest spells have very small AoE for some reason. None of the other casters have that problem (including Cipher, Chanter). Speaking of Priest spells. In addition to the ones you mentioned: Barbs of Condemnation (1) - it's a good effect when applied automatically by a weapon, but not worth it for 1 target. Instill Doubt (2) - Interdiction gives a better AoE daze. Not to mention, Wizards get it for free from Arcane Assault. Repulsing Seal (2) - Haven't tested it yet in latest patch, but it was not working in the first patch. On paper the accuracy looks way too low. Suppress Affliction (2) - Duration is soooo short now. Restore Moderate Stamina (3) - worse than Consecrated Ground or Watchful Presence. All of the direct healing spells are pretty weak. Pillar of Faith (3) - AoE is too small. Compared to the CC that Wizards and Druids and Ciphers will have by this point, it's very weak. I know priest isn't a CC class, but still, a little would be nice. Searing Seal (4) - Can't see this ever being worth casting, with Devotions and Shining Beacon on the same level. Pillar of Holy Fire (5) - small AoE. I'd rather cast the 4th level spells, if I could. Where are metamagic feats when you need them. Level Six (6) - Just kidding. These spells are godly. Level Seven (7) - In case level 6 wasn't crazy good enough.

While clearing the Dyrford Ruins dungeon, I noticed my three 0 athletics characters (+1 from fletcher's stay) all got "minor fatigue" at the same time. It was much sooner than I expected, as the party had rested part way through the dungeon. Is this a bug? The tooltip for Athletics doesn't mention anything about "combat fatigue gain" anymore. Maybe that code is still there? I had thought with the new heal, that the old effect of Athletics was gone. If this is intended, it would be good to document it on the tooltip. (I used to always get 3 athletics on everyone, because I hate having to rest until spells/health is running low. And I try to conserve those so resting isn't too frequent.)

I was afraid you'd ask that . Disclaimer: I haven't used Dropbox in ages! Hope I did this right: https://www.dropbox.com/s/d8ojv29e5p9xdjc/37d5ad5dafee4d51a400aaf99086fe87%2016897089%20TheGrfsRest.savegame?dl=0 If not let me know, I can give it another try. Assuming I found the right save, it should be in The Gref's Rest, max level wizard, date 2016-1-16. You'll get the Spell Mastery pop-up on load. I have a lot of older saves too if it helps.

Yeah I agree about Whisper. It's too strong now and I don't understand why it got buffed (though I'd still recommend against taking it, because I think Puppet's the better overall option now). If anything I would have given Tenuous Grasp the fast-cast speed and left Whisper at Long. Whisper makes some of the tougher low level fights feasible for a party led by a melee focussed cipher. The behaviour of charmed victims when they are the last foe standing seems inconsistent, it cam: Time out naturally End immediately Enemy remains charmed but attacks you anyway (party can't fight back until charm expires) Greater Focus is HUGE at L2, 20 initial focus instead of 10 makes it almost compulsory. Pressing "A" then clicking will allow you to attack a friendly target. So you don't have to wait for Charm to expire. Usually the charm won't expire instantly even after you start attacking, so you get some time (1 "round" ?) of free attacks against a weakened target.

I noticed accuracy was at least +6 too high for all of my party, when loading an old save from patch 2. Just a guess: maybe an old Zealous Focus effect is still stuck on the characters, or something, and stacking with the new one? I recall a paladin aura stacking bug of some sort, but it only affected range, and was fixed in an earlier patch. Maybe that guess is wrong. Everyone's at max level. Zahua's accuracy breakdown, for example, is: +36 Monk (BUG: should be 30, Monk's base accuracy) +6 Weapon Focus: Peasant +39 Level +15 Transcendent Suffering 4 +6 Zealous Focus [Pallegina] But this bug affects every character, including PC: Wizard PC: +26 Wizard (should be 20) Pallegina: +31 Paladin (should be 25) Durance: +26 Priest (should be 20) -- he didn't have a weapon focus talent in this save, which made me think paladin aura as possible source of +6 modifier. These two confuse me even more, the discrepancy is +11 (edit: figured this out, it's gloves of accuracy +5, also being double counted): Hiravias: +31 Druid (should be 20?) Grieving Mother: +36 Cipher (should be 25?) Area transition did not fix, nor does combat affect it. It does show up in the combat log, with the incorrect values. Toggling Zealous Focus doesn't fix either. Removing and then adding the party members *does* fix them, so that's nice. But I'm not sure how to fix my player character. Maybe it will go away on its own at some point. EDIT: more info I went back through old saves. The problem definitely starts when a Paladin is in the party and has an active Zealous Focus. Found one save right after I had recruited Pallegina but before leveling her: no accuracy bug (Wizard base == 20). Very next save (in Catacombs): accuracy bug (Wizard base == 26) New saves created since the 3.0-beta patch don't seem to have the problem, so that's good. But save & reload of an old save doesn't fix it. Also strange: a druid PC in a different save, seems to have a +9 bonus ("+29 Druid" accuracy). Other characters in that save are bugged by +6 (including GM). Ah, but that druid has +3 gloves of accuracy. So maybe any accuracy bonus from the save is getting duplicated.

Here's a theory: while in combat, spirit shifted, drag a selection rectangle around your druid and/or whole party. That may be the UI effect. Finish combat before spirit shift ends. Result is a green Hiravias. If I don't drag a selection rectangle, then it doesn't seem to happen. I wasn't able to reproduce this with my higher level PC druid, though, at least in a quick test.

I've noticed this with Hiravias, since the new patch landed. Not sure the exact trigger, it might be related to some buff spell or spirit shift or starting combat in stealth. He ends combat and then is stuck with a green tint. It will go away with a reload or area transition, or swapping out his armor. Only happens with him in particular. Haven't figured out a reliable way to reproduce it yet. (Every software engineer's favorite words in a bug report ). If I can narrow it down I'll report back.

Yeah, don't think I'll be using Mind Blades. Amplified Thrust is usually better (still generates focus & hits harder now). Soul Shock was also buffed. Usually prefer debuff/CC on Cipher anyway. Damage has to be really good, like Ecto Echo, to make up for the opportunity cost. A few other thoughts: Whisper of Treason. It feels too good for a level 1 power now. All level 1 powers were buffed indirectly by faster focus gain, and Whisper went from Slow to Fast cast. I really like the Fast casts, as Ciphers have so many things competing for their time, but it feels a little too good at 10 focus. Not sure what to do there. Puppet Master feels about right, though. Maybe make Whisper Average speed, and leave Puppet at Fast, so you have a choice between spending time or spending focus. Like the boost to Psychovampiric Shield. Not sure it's the best use of focus, but thematically it's nice for a "spellsword" type character. Nice for tank builds too. Mental Binding: the buff helps account for the focus change. Feels about right now. Pain Link is combat only. Don't think I'll be taking it. Not sure how I feel about Tactical Meld. On PotD sure, extra spell accuracy (vs Borrowed Instinct) is sometimes handy. On other difficulty levels, doubtful. Happy they fixed the out-of-combat bug, but those two powers could use some tweaks now. Silent Scream: like the changes. This is a fun way to clean up at the end of combat, if you find yourself with extra focus. Interesting choice between this and Mind Lance, which was also improved. Time Parasite: not sure yet. It's still expensive, but the debuff works better now, and the buff will last a long time, at least. Disintegration: haven't tried much yet, but the change seems helpful. Can open with a gun shot and then throw this on some target. Amplified Wave: the change definitely helps. If you find yourself with enough focus, you'll get a bit more damage and CC out of it than level 1 Mind Wave, at least. +10 starting focus from Greater Focus: this change was already in the previous patch, but it's documented now. Another nice talent, as you can start combat with 1 spell level higher. Especially noticeable at level 6, where it takes you from 20 -> 30 base focus. Extra focus gain: this change is nice. Felt like there was enough focus to cast higher level powers again. It's not too much focus -- you still have to decide between spending focus immediately or saving it -- but it doesn't feel like the class is 70% auto-attacking, or wait-for-the-end-of-combat, as it was in the previous beta patch.

This looks like one of the new Caed Nua assignment quests. The quest name is "Skulls for Mother". The reward lists 3 things: "15% experience, Missing characters *1904*, and 150-300 copper in treasure"

Count me unhappy with this too. For me, it's not about whether the class is powerful or not. They're just more boring to play now. The point of leveling up is to get cool new abilities that add variety. Ciphers now can use powers less often. When you pick a spell at level up, odds are you'll hardly use it. (contrast: almost every other class) There were already plenty of weak level 3-6 powers rarely used. Those all got nerfed. I personally thought that level 1-2 powers were useful the whole game, before the change. So I'm not sure what problem they're trying to fix here. It's interesting to see the struggles with both the Cipher and the Chanter. Thematically, two great classes, but struggling to have & use interesting spells, without their per-encounter nature seeming too powerful.

Yeah, that seems consistent with what I'm seeing. Spell traps don't work either. Tried Priest's Repulsing Seal, as well as Chanter's Rime and Frost, neither has any effect.

What I wish I knew: classes are very flexible & can be built in different ways. And don't listen to the often-linked-to over-min/max'd guide on Steam . Any class can use any kind of equipment, and most talents are the same between classes. So if you want to make a tanky character, or a DPS using some particular weapon style, go for it. Odds are it will work. Same thing if you want Resolve or some other conversation stat. Higher level magic equipment opens up a lot of possibilities. Most classes get plenty of talents. So if you want, say, a shapeshifting druid that's also caster, it will work just fine. Maybe your priest starts out tanky, but you go for lighter armor over time as you get more spells. Totally works. There are lots of good build guides in here, like from Boeroer and AndreaColombo. Another thing: around level 5 or so, things might seem hard. You have access to a lot of areas, but many will be designed for higher level. Once you get to about level 7, a lot more opens up.

Same here on not swapping Grimoires. Most spell levels only have about 4 spells I'd want to cast anyway (especially true of the higher levels). There are a few I might swap in for particular encounters, like if I want to strip enemy buffs, or need elemental damage protection.

After casting a Repulsing Seal during combat, the priest doesn't seem able to take other actions, for example, casting Holy Radiance or a spell immediately after. It will cancel out Holy Radiance/the spell without consuming it. Also the seal itself does not have any effect on enemies. I've reproduced this on two games started since 3.0, both with Durance and with a PC Priest. For example, try facing the bandits in Valewood. This could be related to Repulsing Seal changes in 3.0? The workaround is to avoid using it.

It's supposed to be per encounter now. Pallegina's ability was working correctly for me, but only after respeccing her.

Sorry, that was my bad, I should've pointed out the 10 power per level pattern for Ciphers. @Boeroer I looked at all of the tooltips and didn't notice any buffs to high level Cipher powers. In fact, Amplified Wave was double nerfed: not only does it cost more but the radius is much smaller. Also Tactical Meld can't be cast it out of combat anymore. Time Parasite unchanged (other than focus increase). It was already worse than the potion/wizard 3 spell. Seems like an undeserved nerf. Definitely feels to me like over-steering. What bugs me is I can't see higher level powers justifying the cost anymore. Mind Wave, Mental Binding, Echo were already bread & butter, but now even more so. When a Cipher gets a new power, they don't get more resources to spend. Contrast with vancian casters. When priests get Minor Avatar and Storm of Holy Fire, they're just a bonus on top of all existing Priest spells. It's not the nerf, but just that Ciphers seem less interesting. On the plus side, Chanters are more interesting now. Oh, a few other spell changes I noticed: Pillar of Faith (priest 3) looks to have a longer prone duration than it used to. Firebrand (druid 2) now has +4 accuracy. Web (wizard 2) creates a ground effect and ticks every so often but switched to Fort save, Slicken does not seem to have had a similar change. I might be imagining this, but "push" effects seem to be a tad stronger, Warding Staff (wizard 7) was really knocking enemies around. They may have dropped base accuracy on Repulsing Seal (which is fine assuming it still gets a mechanics bonus). The "ground" spell change is nice for Prone causing spells that aren't "ground" spells. Mind Wave is like that. So is Calling of the World's Maw (druid 4) and Pillar of Faith. So sort of a buff there. Back to Spell Mastery, yeah, I keep reminding myself: you don't lose your levels 1-3 spell selection. So it should be no change for hard fights. It's picking the one spell you want to always have in your back pocket. More about quality of life. On that note, I think I'm persuaded by @AndreaColombo on Suppress Affliction. That is one priest spell I would never want to be without.

Yeah, the patch notes don't explain the balance changes, unless I missed it. Here's what I'm seeing in game (3.00.929 beta): Chanter at level 1: 100% phrase time (e.g. 4 seconds for level 1 phrase) Chanter at level 4: 90% phrase time (3.6 s) Chanter at level 7: 80% phrase time (3.2 s) Chanter at level 10: 70% phrase time (2.8 s) Chanter at level 13: 60% phrase time (2.4 s) Other phrase levels are scaled the same way. There's a talent/active effect called Brisk Recitation on the character sheet. Seems pretty nice. I don't think higher level phrases build up points any faster, though (disclaimer: haven't tested it much yet.)