DecayWolf

Well, if you are mix-max I think the +20 stun defense from the coastal Aumaua to be the best racial. There's AoE stuns in the game. Being stunned not only can make your character die, but also prevents the cipher from doing DPS and casting spells. +2 MIG is also solid. For Ranged there's no much to think about. Dump CON and RES, max out everything else. Requires a party, but the cipher won't be ranged otherwise anyways. For melee. If you want a CC cipher, 10 - 12 MIG, max DEX and INT, dump RES. Your perception can be as high/low as your party gives you accuracy buffs. For a damage cipher, inteligence can be lower, but might needs to be maxed. For melee, I'd pick pale elf or the same coastal aumaua.

I could also bring a Cipher instead the Wizard. But the cipher's blind is much weaker. Their AoE CCs aren't that great in comparison.

So, I played a little bit, and stopped in 80% of ACT2. Going to return to the game, got a few doubts. 1. Party composition: At start, I though the core of my party to be my main Cipher, an Priest, an Paladin and Rogue. For I believe all those classes have a very strong synergy together. Paladin can tank, dps, heal, buff accuracy and attack speed, which will make my cipher build more focus. Priest almost same thing, they also had debuffs, their dps is a little lower on auto attacks. Rogue could assassin bosses and otherwise dangerous foes, also I though they would be the best users of Reaping Knives, due their natural bonuses to damage modifiers and criticals. And they kinda are, except for their attack speed. I just noticed that in auto attack, another Cipher can build more focus per second than a Rogue, purely due attack speed modifier alone. (Time Parasite) However, Rogues absolutely can do more DPS with either with his active abillities, or with any attack speed buff (out lander's frenzy, potion of alacrity motion, vielo vidori, hastening) Any of these would make the rogue's auto attack to give a better DPS. They can reach about 100 raw damage per second in auto attack alone. Which is pretty crazy is you think about it. I mean, he could kill bosses petrified in 3 seconds or less, faster with criticals. But then, another Cipher would add another entire new layer of CC, of which I believe it would make the party much stronger. Another problem is, I need someone great with mechanics. A chanter needs high lore to compensate for his lack of abilities, A Cipher needs high survival for extra damage. I could use a wizard for that, but I think it's a little bit weird. Rogues are the best mechanics. If I am to bring 2 cipher, then another rogue feels less important, because I could cast Reaping Knives on each other, so I feel the rogue has lost his otherwise unique role and major synergy. The last pieces I am thinking are: Wizard for CC, and Chanter/Rogue as the last piece. Chanter would enhance my cipher's DPS, Rogue still are the best RK user and mechanic. 2. Firebrand. So, I was thinking about giving it to Durance, it would be cool with all his fire lore stuff. Also, Holy Radiance, Divine Mark, Searing Seal, Shining Beacon, Storm of Holy Fire, Hand of Weal, Symbol of Magran and Burst of Summer Flame. Very strong choice of Scion of Flame and Firebrand. The thing is, priest spend a lot of time casting buffs/debuffs spells and not auto attacking. I think a Firebrand would be a little bit wasted on him due that? My original choice was my Paladin, with Firebrand becomes completely awesome, very high defenses, attack speed and accuracy buffs, healing, and very good DPS. Besides, Flames of Devotion, Intense Flame, Sacred Immolation and Sun Beam (Armor), with the dead fire's belt he also would get an Firebrand, Fire Shield and Flame Torrent. Also making him into a solid Scion of Flame. I could give the gloves to Durance and the belt to Pallegina though, so both would have Firebrand. That's what I am thinking. That also would allow me to give her the gloves with overseeing. 3. How are criticals calculated? I mean, does it applies it's modifier BEFORE DR? Or does it first take the base damage with all modifiers, minus DR, then make an additional mod from the value after the DR reduction? 4. Attributes: MIG 18, CON 15, DEX 20, PER 10, INT 12, RES 3, for a damage specialized Cipher, almost no CC spells. or Should I get Int 18 at the cost of Per 4? Well, the highest monster deflection (no boss) is about 70ish. Natural cipher accuracy at level 16 = 70. Priest can net an additional 30 (10 being 1 cast only, short duration) Pallegina can net another additional 30. Legendary weapon 15 / Spells 5 to 10. That's already 145 for Weapon and 135/140 for spells. Durgan steel should give another 15 to hit to critical, and priest buff another 20 hit to critical. That would make I critical on every single auto attack, no exception. Against no bosses. Then, we still have Flank for -10 Deflection, and Petrified/Paralzed for -40, or Stunned for -30 or Blinded for -25. I really don't need accuracy for auto attacks. Which also would give me 100% critical even with the hit to critical modifier. Spells are another story though, for resistances are much higher and debuffs defenses much weaker (weakened only -20 Will/Fortitude). Also I believe it completely ignores the modifiers from weapon and talents. In the other hand, Desintegration is stronger with lower int. Anyhow...

There is a few problems with that. 1. I'll dumping 3 MIG away, because of +4 headgear, or would have to give it to someone else, means -1 MIG and removal of unbiding from my Cipher. 1,2. Likewise dump of 3 DEX or give away Ring of Thorns to someone else. Dumping 3 DEX is actually a pretty big deal, since the game does lack +3 DEX gear. 2. There's the DPS itself. I've made a math of BotEP vs tHoSR vs Firebrand. With plate, 1st place is BotEP, by a very long margin, due 5 DR bypass + speed mod. 2nd place it's tHoSR, 3rd Firebrand. tHoSR has +10% from legendary, burning lashes and +1 MIG (headgear stays). Plus it has annihilation, while I am not accounting or calculating critical, I do know it's present and will add up. The second run was a naked/0 recovery. I didn't made any change to BotEP because it had achieved 0 recovery already. Then I had the following result. 1st, tHoSR. (critical not accounted), 2nd BotEP (barely behind), 3rd Firebrand about 10 DPS behind tHoSR. Then if we include Annihilation to the equation... Against 0 DR. Against 10+ DR BotEP still on the lead. Firebrand takes the 2nd place against 20+DR, loses to tHoSR against 0 to 10DR enemies. 3. Problem. If I remove Firebrand from my paladin, he'll become rather weak and unflexible. I mean I'll either have to chose to completely dump and sacrifice his DPS, consequentely gimp his offensive abilities and items/skills trigger on kill, or have to either remove his marking role or tanker role, in favor of a 2H weapon set. 4. Since I did not include criticals, Tidefall should have the exact same DPS with Plate/Naked as tHoSR, thus it would also beat Firebrand, but give me drain and additional DPS from wounding lash. With all being said, I do believe Firebrand on my paladin is the correct choice. Edit: Early game however, it's a completely different beast and story. I'll be using Firebrand early game, till Tidefall.

Priest Durance Meadow human Attributes MIGHT 14 (+3) CON 13 (+2) DEX 9 (+4) PER 9 (+4) INT 15 (+4) RES 18 (+3) Talents Inspiring Radiance Inspired Flame Arms Bearer Quick Switch Scion of Flame Aggrandizing Radiance Gunner Weapon Focus Soldier Gear: Company Captain's Cap Cape of the Master Mystic Starlit Garb Girdle of Maegfolc Might Seal of Faith Gwyn's Band of Union Gauntlets of Swift Action Viettro's Formal Footwear Pliambo per Casitàs Arquebus Arquebus I had two possible builds for him. The above ranger, or a hybrid with interdiction + weakness. Weakness is very handy for Ciphers, they love it. But hybrids doesn't excel at anything so... in the end that was my build for him. Looking foward to cast Avatar + Aggravating Radiance + Salvation of Time. As a side note, he's immune to charm/domination with this gear, so if anyone catch one of my party members prayer against bewilderment. Cipher Grieving Mother Human Attributes MIG 11 (+3) CON 12 DEX 16 (+2) PER 12 INT 17 (+2) RES 10 Talents Quick Switch Biting Whip Draining Whip Marksman Penetrating Shot Spirit of Decay Apprentice's Sneak Attack Bloody Slaughter Crossed Patch Talisman of the Unconquerable Angio's Gambeson Belt of the Stelgaer Bartender's Ring Pensiavi mes Rèi Gauntlets of Swift Action Glanfathan Stalking Boots The Rain of Godagh Field Long-Feller She'll initiate with the Arquebus (which has grazes to hits), then switch to the bow for the remaining of the combat. After casting Reaping Knives that is. Then CC for the heart content. If that doesn't fix the poor focus generation, then nothing will.

Chanter Kana Rua Island aumaua Attributes MIG 16 (+3) CON 12 (+4) DEX 9 PER 14 INT 17 (+3) RES 10 (+4) Talents Ancient Memory Beloved Spirits Weapon and Shield Style Brisk Recitation Veteran's Recovery Bear's Fortitude Body Control Superior Deflection Gear: White Crest's Helm Voice of the Mountaintop White Crest Armor Sentinel's Girdle Gathbin Family Signet Iron Circle Siegebreaker Gauntlets Frythr's Plated Greaves Blesca's Labor The Last Tower Spectacular Spetum Cloudpiercer My tanker. Did both of the fortitude saves to avoid Paralyse like the plague, so I believe it simply won't die. (hopefully) He can also work as a maker with his pole axe, or a ranged unit. Very versatile. Plus chants ofc. Paladin Pallegina Avian godlike Attributes MIG 12 (+3) CON 13 (+3) DEX 11 (+3) PER 14 INT 13 (+3) RES 15 Talents Vielo Vidòrio Critical Focus Wrath of Five Suns Scion of Flame Two-Handed Style Intense Flames Greater Lay on Hands Deep Faith Paladin's abilities Flames of Devotion Zealous Focus Sworn Enemy Coordinated Attacks Hastening Exhortation Lay on Hands Sacred Immolation Healing Chain Gear: Nîdhen's Finger Ryona's Breastplate Belt of the Royal Deadfire Cannoneer Ring of Deflection Ring of Protection Forgemaster's Gloves Bilestompers Abydon's Hammer Old Gerun's Wall Cladhalíath Shame or Glory Firebrand Very versatile build. It can tank, can mark targets and can deal tons of damage with Firebrand. The idea from talents/abllities is to aid the team, especially the ciphers to get the first focus going really fast, until they can cast Time Parasite. Versatility could be a problem, I'll see how it works. The idea is to switch to marking only against very high defense and dangerous enemies, otherwise she can wreck stuff on her own. Or to captalize when a enemy is say paralyzed, or to hold the line when most needed. Rogue Cemoc Death godlike Attributes MIG 18 (+2) CON 14 (+2) DEX 20 (+3) PER 18 INT 5 RES 3 (+2) Talents Weapon Focus Ruffian Two Weapon Style Vicious Fighting Devastating Blow Shadowing Beyond Backstab Savage Attack Bloody Slaughter Rogue's abilities Blinding Strike Reckless Assault Dirty Fighting Finishing Blow Withering Strike Deathblows Fearsome Strike Sap Gear: Finreah's Grace Vengiatta Rugia Broad Belt of Power Ring of Deflection Snerf's Folly Rabbit Fur Gloves Glanfathan Stalking Boots Purgatory Resolution Borresaine That's my first rogue, hopefully it ended alright. Yes, by over killing damage over the top is intentional. He'll be using Reaping Knives as end game, which is also raw. The more damage it does, the more focus my ranged cipher will get. Besides, she'll be able to cast it from the start of the battle, from how I built her, so it's a win-win. Since my CC and debuffer will be my cipher who will constantly be casting things that trigger sneak attack, I believe I can dump int freely.

/\ the above is wrong. There some sort of glitch on that calculator. When you mentioned 0,7f it was giving me that with plate. When I did the above, the Firebrand was giving me 1,65s with plate, and 0 recovery naked. Tried again, nope. Was looking into dual sabres, one end result was 51f, another gave me 41f. Basically I need to refresh once or twice every time I want to check something, in order to avoid issues. Also the above even has burning lash, forgot to take out. ____ Melee Cipher. Human. First and foremost, while BotEP is my main end goal, I'll be using Tidefall before getting that a lot, and may not choose BotEP. I'll be using Firebrand early game, I'll rush the gloves and belt to my cipher, until I get Tidefall. That's why Scion of Flames is so high on the list of talents. After Tidefall, I'll give it away to my paladin, both items. Attributes (I am planning 1 or 2 respecs) 1. MIG 20, CON 8, DEX 16, PER 10, INT 14, RES 10. 2. MIG 20, CON 8, DEX 12, PER 10, INT 18, RES 10. 3. MIG 20, CON 9, DEX 18, PER 10, INT 18, RES 3. 1. Is the initial build out of the gate. 2. Is after acquiring 0 recovery, may be ignored if I acquire the item from below. Reason, dex has diminish return the faster the character is, while longer buffs become more relevant. 3. After acquiring Belt of Chimes. The only reason why I didn't dumped res was because of concentration, this item solves that. Since this gives 7 free stat points, I had to put somewhere. If I get this item before 0 recovery then I skip respec n2. (Even with diminishing returns, DEX does increase DPS...) Note: I am still unsure how my final CON and PER will look like, I may do just a final respec to tweak that. Talents Greater Focus Biting Whip Draining Whip Scion of Flame Outlander's Frenzy Savage Attack Two-Handed Style Apprentice's Sneak Attack Gear: Maegfolc Skull Brîshalgwin Mindmarker / TotU He Carries Many Scars Belt of Chimes Ring of Deflection Ring of Thorns Gauntlets of Swift Action Malina's Boots Blade of the Endless Paths Stormcaller or Tidefall I know Stormcaller is kinda ****y to build focus, but it's a ranged weapon with two damage types, plus it deals good damage from spells active spells. This build should be able to build focus extremely fast, so why not? My intention for the build. A 22 to 33 DR Cipher, aided by Psychovampiric Shield, Borrowed Instinct, Going Between (ally cipher), Unbiding (if needed) a tons of healing from the team (if needed), while having the best DPS and focus generation as possible.

I was thinking about saving such weapon for specific encounters where the enemy is either immune or has a very high slash DR. Because going bittercut I'll lose the bonus from Scion of Flame. I mean, I already have a chanter giving a free burning lash, so was thinking about spec all my melee into that. Well, after last fixes. BotEP (Plate): Focus per second 0 DR / 15 DEX 64,06 91,52 Focus per second 10 DR / 15 DEX 56,06 83,52 Focus per second 20 DR / 15 DEX 40,06 67,52 Focus per second 30 DR / 15 DEX 24,06 51,52 Firebrand (Plate) Focus per second 0 DR / 15 DEX 60,53 90,79 Focus per second 10 DR / 15 DEX 50,54 80,80 Focus per second 20 DR / 15 DEX 40,55 70,81 Focus per second 30 DR / 15 DEX 30,56 60,83 Firebrand (Naked) Focus per second 0 DR / 15 DEX 87,60 131,41 Focus per second 10 DR / 15 DEX 73,15 116,95 Focus per second 20 DR / 15 DEX 58,69 102,49 Focus per second 30 DR / 15 DEX 44,24 88,04 The focus has a multiplier of only 1,03. So one can consider this as dps. With all offensive talents, might, dex, time parasite, etc.

Indeed.

Nice I'll fix that. I though it was 0.05 and it was multiplicative after total. So, firebrand will have a lower dps.

Hmm... By the way... Does annihilation stacks? I've already chose purgatory to make rogue, annihilation + drain, kidding me? It's my first rogue ever, I am going to build him crit focused with spell striking and a few utility spell biding. Stats: Might 20 Constitution 13 Dexterity 16 Perception 18 Inteligence 8 Resolve 3 Is that good? Haven't looked on talents nor abilities yet.

Hehe. I completely forgot about "Soul Whip's 20%" Gonna fix that in a sec. I forgot to fix HoSR, still it's pretty safe to assume it's not a competitor of Firebrand/BotEP (I mean without crit). I think BotEP cannot go legendary. marking = 2, speed = 3, legendary = 8, lash = 2. lash + superb > legendary without lash. only If I could remove the marking... Yes, I've added the scion of flame to firebrand base damage, as well to burning lash. My firebrand formula is Firebrand Base Damage 20 30 Modifiers Firebrand 0,45 0,45 Bitting Whip 0,2 0,2 Savage Attack 0,2 0,2 2 Hand Style 0,15 0,15 Sneak Attack 0,15 0,15 MIGHT 26 0,8 0,8 Modified Bonus 2,95 2,95 Modified Damage before DR 59 88,5 Modified Damage 10 DR 49 78,5 Modified Damage 20 DR 39 68,5 Modified Damage 30 DR 29 58,5 Scion of Flame (0,2) 0 DR (Base) 70,8 106,2 Scion of Flame (0,2) 10 DR (Base) 58,8 94,2 Scion of Flame (0,2) 20 DR (Base) 46,8 82,2 Scion of Flame (0,2) 30 DR (Base) 34,8 70,2 Aefyllath Ues Mith Fyr (0,25) 17,7 26,6 0 DR 17,7 26,6 10 DR 15,2 24,1 20 DR 12,7 21,6 30 DR 10,2 19,1 Scion of Flame (0,2) 0 DR (Lash) 21,2 31,9 Scion of Flame (0,2) 10 DR (Lash) 18,2 28,9 Scion of Flame (0,2) 20 DR (Lash) 15,2 25,9 Scion of Flame (0,2) 30 DR (Lash) 12,2 22,9 Final Damage no DR 80,2 120,4 Final Damage 10 DR 67,2 107,4 Final Damage 20 DR 54,2 94,4 Final Damage 30 DR 41,2 81,4 Final Focus no DR 82,6 124,0 Final Focus 10 DR 69,3 110,6 Final Focus 20 DR 55,9 97,2 Final Focus 30 DR 42,5 83,8 Focus per second 0 DR / 15 DEX 42,6 63,9 Focus per second 10 DR / 15 DEX 35,7 57,0 Focus per second 20 DR / 15 DEX 28,8 50,1 Focus per second 30 DR / 15 DEX 21,9 43,2 I'll see about crits later, I want to finish my builds first, then if I see a crit could turn better, than I just need to switch one weapon, in worse case scenario a little talent adjustment as well.

https://filebin.net/gcothczk3jj2q8vj see if that works.

I'll give one script from one weapon that I am running on excel BotEP Base Damage 14 20 Modifiers Superb 0,45 0,45 Bitting Whip 0,2 0,2 Savage Attack 0,2 0,2 2 Hand Style 0,15 0,15 Sneak Attack 0,15 0,15 MIGHT 27 0,85 0,85 Modified Bonus 3 3 Modified Damage before DR 42 60 Modified Damage 10 DR 37 55 Modified Damage 20 DR 27 45 Modified Damage 30 DR 17 35 Burning Lash (0,25) 10,5 15 Aefyllath Ues Mith Fyr (0,25) 10,5 15 0 DR 21 30 10 DR 16 27,5 20 DR 13,5 22,5 30 DR 8,5 17,5 Scion of Flame (0,2) 0 DR (Lash) 25,2 36 Scion of Flame (0,2) 10 DR (Lash) 19,2 33 Scion of Flame (0,2) 20 DR (Lash) 16,2 27 Scion of Flame (0,2) 30 DR (Lash) 10,2 21 Final Damage no DR 67,2 96 Final Damage 10 DR 56,2 88 Final Damage 20 DR 43,2 72 Final Damage 30 DR 27,2 56 Final Focus no DR 69,2 98,9 Final Focus 10 DR 57,9 90,6 Final Focus 20 DR 44,5 74,2 Final Focus 30 DR 28,0 57,7 Focus per second 0 DR / 15 DEX 67,2 96,0 Focus per second 10 DR / 15 DEX 56,2 88,0 Focus per second 20 DR / 15 DEX 43,2 72,0 Focus per second 30 DR / 15 DEX 27,2 56,0 I'll upload it somewhere and link the achieve. I am still messing around. Basically, step 1 = base damage + modifiers. Step 2 = adds lash damage, with the proper correction from dr. step 3 = adds utility elemental talent damage boost to lash, (or jump this step, also for Firebrand I am also adding this mod for it's base damage) step 4 = adds base damage after modifers + lash damage after modifiers from dr and stuff for total damage step 5 = divide total damage per s, so I get my real dps. step 6 = get my dps and covert into focus per second. more or less that's the idea. I'll upload somewhere, sec.

Some silly stuff, to see which talent is better than what, and the optimal order to get. Also taking in consideration of other party members spells/skills and such. Between that I also started checking Focus per second.