pi2repsion

Scrolls can also make any class a competent nuker. If that singleclass chanter who has the best and most powerful summons in the game and has one of them active, at the same time as he is buffing his entire party or hurting the enemy via one or two powerful chants (swamping them with skeletons or whatnot), and uses his spare phrases to foe-jump-nuke cold/crush or paralyze groups of enemies, wants more nuking between his invocations, he can do that. Heck, he'll even get an extra bonus to Arcana if he uses the Animancy cat rather than Nelvi for groupwide armour recovery penalty reduction. Of course, making a character a competent nuker with scrolls runs the same problem as making him a competent healer with scrolls - while materials for low- and mid-tier scrolls are plentiful and can easily be bought in shops, the high-end materials are usually few and far between limiting the use of high tier scrolls. Not an insurmountable problem, but it does mean the player can't fling around high-tier scrolls as easily as he'd be using high-tier healing or nuking spells.

That might be so, yet it remains utterly irrelevant to the topic of this thread, which is exactly those abilities. If you want to discuss single vs. multiclass as a whole, do so in a thread dedicated to that purpose rather than derailing this thread.

True enough, but for the purpose of this thread the game starts at level 16, since the topic of this thread deals exclusively with the worth of classes' tier 8 and 9 abilities, i.e., what does a singleclass bring to the table at high levels that a multiclass doesn't, and how valuable is it.

That's an insult to Xaurips. Orlans need to stand on TWO books to put them on the same level as Xaurips, not one.

I don't really see the point in summing scores for "number of abilities scaled to max" and "power level" to determine rank, since that means merely having a lot of abilities of which none are powerful ranks as highly as having few abilities of which all are powerful, and the same as a number of mixes in between, and moreover, regardless of whether a character has many or few abilities to choose between at ranks 8 and 9, he'll only be able to select 4 of them of level 8, and 3 additional of level 8 or 9. It is your methodology and it makes sense to you, but I just don't get why you'd let "having a lot of options, regardless of quality of options" weigh so heavily in your rank score. That aside, I'm currently nearing the end of a playthrough with a singleclassed Troubadour main + companions, and having previously played with singleclassed priests and wizards, I can't help thinking that chanter probably deserves a solid 9 in power ranking for end game abilities, putting him just below wizard rather than on the same level as priest and cipher, because he gets access to several extremely powerful invocations (and invocation upgrades) and chants at tiers 8 and 9, touching on different aspects of combat depending on what one needs, and as if that wasn't enough, some of them scale well with power levels for empower abuse. (And due to sasha's singing scimitar chanter is made for empower abuse, though that's just icing on the cake.)

Taking a look at your list again, I think Squid's Grasp warrants one more comment. You write: "Decent defensive option for dps frontliner. Very useful in solo play, bit less useful in party play." Which is true enough so far as it goes, but there's one other really good use for it. You've already written about Kapana Taga that it is pretty bonkers for a tank when combined with Reckless Brigandine, but it gets even more bonkers for dual-wielding tanks if you take the madness one step further and pair it with Squid's Grasp. Kapana Taga can provide flanking affliction immunity via All Comers, but when you pair it with Squid's Grasp which provides straight out flanking immunity at all times, you can use the Kapana Taga's enchant Unblockable +4 melee acc/engaged target instead of All Comers. And take Attempted Parlay on Squid's Grasp for +20% action speed whenever 3 or more enemies engage your tank. This combination makes for a very powerful DW party tank, such as the ever popular fighter/rogue with persistent distraction. (It is pretty much my go-to Eder build, though it can obviously be made even more powerful as a custom adventurer/main character build). I'm not arguing that Squid's Grasp should be higher in the tier list, but perhaps add a comment to Kapana Taga and Squid's Grasp about the combo possibility for DW tanking?

For primary melee, yes - but it sure looks great. I've found exactly one combo where it shines, and that is ranged chanter with the singing scimitar (upgraded for party action speed bonus) in one hand and a good pistol in the other (e.g. Scordeo's trophy upgraded for action speed bonus to both melee and ranged). Not the greatest personal ranged damage, of course, but that's not the point there - extremely fast actions for the chanter and boosting the reactions and damage of the rest of the party via improved action speed is. ---- Anyhow, that's not the OPs question. Rule of cool beats minmaxing and the question is Scordeo's Edge vs Grave Calling. With regards to Scordeo's Edge as a damagedealer in melee (as opposed to the benefits to swapping between melee/ranged), the duration during which the recovery bonus lasts scales with intellect and other effects that extend beneficial durations, something that has great impact on the weapon's effectiveness. The OP will know best whether his stats and available items supports taking ruthless advantage of this. Also, unless something has changed in recent patches, it should still be possible to cheese the mechanic completely with a priest along to cast salvation of time to extend the duration substantially to hilarious effect. Since the OP is playing inquisitor and hence probably has decent INT, Scordeo's Edge should do well either way.

Yes and no. Take the Blackened Plate armor that he chooses as an example; With the right enchant, that provides -1 armour to every enemy in 1.8m(+int%) radius. That means that against any enemy he would underpenetrate with his chosen weapons while wearing any other armour in the game, regardless of their weight class, he deals substantially more damage per hit. For each point of underpenetration we are talking about 25% less damage, and reductions are multiplicative rather than additive like increases. Now, given that his chosen weapons are Grave Caller and Eccea's Blaster, that doesn't matter for his ranged attack as it is raw damage (if he doesn't imbue), but it does matter for Grave Caller. That said, even with a recovery boosting bet such as Abraham or Cuthroat Cosmo (personal boost) or Nalvi (party boost) overall the inquisitor will likely deal more damage with the light armour, because he won't underpenetrate most common enemies - but on the other hand, those where he will be underpenetrating in melee are typically the nastier enemies. Finally, there's the point that the reduction of armour benefits not only the damageoutput per hit against enemies he'd underpenetrate of the character wearing it, but also of any attack from any other party member or summon on the player's team that would underpenetrate against enemies in the aura. (And, goes without saying, against weaker enemies with some low armour values, it will significantly increase the ease of gaining the overpenetration bonus.) Having a frontliner wear the Blackened Plate makes it the best armour in the game for damagedealing purposes of the party rather than the individual. Of course, whether it should be his inquisitor or another frontliner wearing it, that's another matter entirely. If his sabre & pistol inquisitor spends most time at range rather than in melee, then it definitely should go to somebody else who is stuck in melee most of the time, because the aura isn't that large.

Which is a good an argument as any in favour of scrapping empower entirely and just giving everybody +50% resources as default; It is what everybody who remembers to use empower in the first place gets, who doesn't have access to one of the few abilities that scale superbly with power level. (If there were meaningful barriers to resting and regaining empower points, this argument would be less convincing, but there aren't so it isn't.)

Thinking back on my four decades of gaming, I must agree. If music and environmental audio is bad, it always stands out, negatively impacts my view of the game, and I may even remember the negative associations years later if hearing it again. If it is average or even good work, but not great, the music is quickly forgotten even if the game is otherwise great. Most musical works obviously fall in this category. Whereas if it is great, merely hearing fragments of it will years later remind me of a game and trigger the nostalgic impulse, regardless of whether the game itself was otherwise great or not. And if it is truly outstanding, I'll remember the music and be able to hum parts of it even decades later without any audio cues, but that is rare indeed. For Pillars of Eternity 1&2, if pressed to rate them I'd be in a bit of a bind. The composer is obviously talented, yet the overall impression I've got is one of "really good craftsmanship, but not great or memorable", on the simple grounds that mostly I don't think of its presence at all while playing. That's not bad where environmental music and effects are concerned, as it suggests that they are doing their job of supporting the mood well, but it does mean that to me the game's audio lacks that certain something that makes good into great. ...and I wish I knew what that certain something was, but as always that's the hardest thing to nail down. The composer will just have to be satisfied with a player who is completely satisfied with his work, yet wishes it were better yet. That said, the real test is yet to come; Ask me twenty years from now; If merely listening to a fragment of POE music reminds me of the game at that time, then obviously it was better than my initial impression.

Yep, that's the one item that makes me remember empower exists... once every fight starts with an empowered Eld Nary. That invocation scales so well with power levels, even before you get the tier 8 upgrade that sends it into wizard level destruction territory without any friendly fire (so long as you aren't fighting enemies with Arcane Reflection...) On topic, I'd love for empower to go as I do not find it an interesting game mechanic. Used on abilities, it is either completely underwhelming because most abilities scale poorly with power level, or overwhelming because they scale well with power level. If your class has any of the latter abilities - and there aren't that many of them - that's what you'll be using it for (when you can remember), if not, it extends your power pool by 50%... when you remember it. I like using empower with some of the few abilities where it is completely bonkers, but... If your character doesn't have any of the latter abilities, and most classes don't, you are unlikely to use empower on abilities even if you remember you have it, and you could scrap the empower mechanic entirely and just give them +50% power pool in every encounter (and 2->3 spells) resulting in a better playing experience... ...and if your character does have one of the latter abilities, you could scrap empower, give +50% power pool and end up with a better balanced game. So overall I think it would make for a better game to scrap the mechanic and just increase the power pool resources.

Version: Windows/Steam/2.1 beta I am still able to create new characters with the accumulated Berath's Blessings.

I'd suggest adding the following items: Amulet: Charm of Bones: +2 INT, +5 accuracy against vessels, 10 uses of summon vessel. The +2 INT alone makes this a great item for any high INT character, and it is a contender for the best amulet for any character relying heavily on INT for AOE and/or buff, debuff, summon, chant linger duration. Sold by the Orlan Peddler in Brass Citadel. Belt: Gwyn's Bridal Garter: +1 CON, resistance to DEX afflictions. Sold in the Dark Cupboard. (Just like Cipher's Shackle that has the same stat for another misc. slot, this is easily obtained and good on a frontliner until you've got better.) updates: Ring of Overseeing is also sold by the Berath's Blessings vendor

Happens fairly frequently on 2.0.1 with seemingly neither rhyme nor reason. Only solution is to remember what your gold balance was when you saved, and then when you need to load next time, keep reloading until you have the right amount of money. A very, very, tedious bug indeed.

For first time play? How about going straight Chanter(Troubadour). Either as melee or ranged build, it works well with anything, so companion choice is completely free. It certainly isn't the most complex character to play, but you get to play with summons, and with brisk recitation turned on at all times you can also fairly frequently throw other invocations into the mix. If you want to have other active abilities to use in between chants rather than autoattacking, you can always level Arcana and carry scrolls. Though it must be said that a ranged chanter dualwielding Sasha's Singing Scimitar (party upgrade, empower return upgrade) and Scordeo's Trophy (upgraded to 5% recovery bonus to melee and ranged) does a fairly impressive amount of autoattack damage. Nothing to write home about compared to dedicate dps builds, of course, but the stacking of action speed bonuses from dex and scimitar and recovery bonuses from trophy, dualwielding, and dual wield talent makes for an obscenely low recovery rate. Pair it with Miscreant's Leather to look stylish. And you get to give action speed bonuses to most of your party as well, and can use empowered Eld Nary in each fight at medium and high levels. At high levels you can start out with empowered Eld Nary and then, with the 3 phrases returned from scimitar, either follow up immediately with a lower level summon or send in a high level summon within 3-6 seconds. It gets pretty silly. Max DEX, PER, INT Dump RES Split the difference for MIG and CON; While high MIG is certainly nice for healing/damage, much of what such a chanter brings to the board (summons, board control) is MIG-agnostic. ..Should probably write up a simple guide for such a chanter; Not the most powerful character around, certainly, but very useful and easy to play, and as a singleclass character that grows strong quite quickly it should be eminently suitable for first time play.