grausch

I did spend a fair amount of time running around with the Nalrend bounty. Based on how I play the game now, I probably could have used Moonwell and some potions and hacked it out, but I was not comfortable with too much risk at this point.

Survival Guide for the Shattered Mind As discussed above, Act I was based on Wodjee's guide. With the exception of the Caed Nua throne room, anyone can complete Act I with the minimum amount of fuss. To complete the throne room, use the Bronze Horn figurine to summon the Animat and let it die fighting the spirits while you hide near the stairwell. Close the door behind you to ensure combat ends once the animat dies. In order to kill Maerwald, I chose to use a Potion of Fleet Feet to ensure I could get both the beetles and the spiders in on the act while I hid in his room. Sometimes it works perfectly, other times you will need to fight one of the blights. Leave the rest of the Endless Paths until you have Soulbound weapons that need upgrading (Steadfast, Unlabored Blade and Stormcaller) as level 2 and 3 should allow you to max them out quite easily. Once I got to Act 2, I bought Shatterstar quite quickly. Still used Wodjee's guide, but I went back to Act I to clean up some easy quests. I also modified the quest sequences slightly but still followed his template for encounters, i.e. Rotfinger Gloves and Ring of Searing Flames. If you use the Antipathetic Field in conjunction with the Combusting Wounds from the Ring, the damage output can be very, very good. Cliaban Rilag presents a unique challenge, but the solution presented here helps, i.e. Stealth 12, Mechanics 8, Lore 4, Rite of Walking Shadows. With the Boots of Stealth and the Gloves of Mechanics, this should be easily achievable. Once I got to Act 3, I had enough freedom to do quests my way. I can't remember exactly when I when to Stalwart, but the same strategy of keeping one foe paralyzed, using Antipathetic Field and Combusting Wounds worked quite well. WM1 was difficult, but manageable. For my Ultimate run, I used a test char and tended to perform difficult fights at least 3 times before attempting them with my Ultimate save. WM2 was a cakewalk and most of the dragons too. Everything relating to Concelhaut was tough and Llengrath too - there I chose the most direct route I could and did not clear any more of the maps than necessary. After defeating Llengrath quite easily, my first attempt at Thaos resulted in a very quick victory. Thereafter though, I got brought back to earth quite quickly. Once Despondent Blows and Devotions for the Faithful landed, I could never hit anything. The only way I found to neutralise those spells was to run around until they expired. A ring of suppress affliction may have been useful... I was lucky with my Ultimate save as the top judge sometimes buffs first and sometimes attacks first. If he buffed first the fight would have looked very different.

The Shattered Mind - no one knows whether it refers to the mind of his foes or of the Wild Orlan Cipher...Be that as it may, whenever he wields his fearsome warhammer "Shatterstar" most foes would be wise to run for cover. The idea behind this build was to make a melee cipher. @Raven Darkholme created one and chronicled his entire POTD solo adventure on YouTube under the moniker Victor Creed. Another player called Vlado Bl on Youtube had a dual wielding melee cipher who was fearsome to behold. What follows is my build and tactics used to obtain the Ultimate achievement. I used the @Wodjee YouTube video for his Ultimate Run with a rogue as inspiration and almost carbon-copied Act I. During Act II, I started doing things differently, but several tougher fights were still done using his blueprint. Although, with a cipher several fights should be done differently to use the cipher's strengths. This specific build relies quite heavily on disabling foes and then getting crits to quickly build focus. It is quite simple in concept and I found him to be quite powerful as long as I kept at least one foe disabled as a "focus battery". =================================== The Shattered Mind =================================== Difficulty: PotD v. 3.02 onwards – solo -------------------------------------------------------------- Class: Cipher -------------------------------------------------------------- Race: Wild Orlan - I chose Wild Orlan as I wanted the defensive bonus from Defiant Resolve. Any race will do as combat tactics are more important than the racial bonuses. -------------------------------------------------------------- Background: Rauatai - Background : Drifter (+1 Stealth / + 1 Mechanics) - I tend to always choose Drifter as the Stealth and Mechanics bonuses are extremely useful in Act I. -------------------------------------------------------------- Stats: MIG: 19 (Base 15 -1 Orlan +1 Gift from the Machine +1 Galawain's Boon +3 Garodh's Chorus) CON: 19 (Base 11 +1 Rauatai +4 Iron Circle + 3 Woodland Trails Resting Bonus) DEX: 17 (Base 13 +4 Viettro’s Formal Footwear PER: 18 (Base 11 +2 Orlan +1 Song of the Heavens +4 Mantle of the Excavator) INT: 20 (Base 16 +4 Gwyn’s Band of Union) RES: 10 (Base 9 +1 Orlan) -------------------------------------------------------------- Skills: Stealth: 12 (Base 8 +1 Cipher +1 Drifter +1 Blooded Hunter +1 Dungeon Delver) Athletics: 4 (Base 1 +1 Galawain's Boon +2 Woodland Trails Resting Bonus) Lore: 11 (Base 7 +1 Cipher +3 Viettro’s Formal Footwear) Mechanics: 8 (Base 5 +1 Cipher +1 Drifter +1 Dungeon Delver) Survival: 6 (Base 4 +2 Mantle of the Excavator) -------------------------------------------------------------- Talents obtained at level-up: Draining Whip - because every Cipher needs as much focus as quickly as possible Weapon and Shield Style - I like weapon and shield style as it increases my odds of survival. Biting Whip - more damage = more focus. What's not to like? Spirit of Decay - to increase damage from Antipathetic Field and corrosion's green colour matches nicely with my armour. Greater Focus - I know several posters regard this as a wasted talent, but it allowed me to cast Borrowed Instinct at the beginning of the encounter without needing to attack first. This can be a real game changer for difficult fights. Bear's Fortitude - because the worst afflictions target Fort. Deep Pockets - because I am addicted to scrolls. Psychic Backlash - to make dragon fights easier. Story talents: The Merciless Hand - this build needs to crit hard. Gift From the Machine - why not? Blooded Hunter - for the stealth bonus Song of the Heavens - again, why not? Dungeon Delver - extra crit damage, +1 stealth and +1 mechanics - sign me up! Dozen's Luck - why not? Flick of the Wrist - why not? Galawain's Boon - +1 Might, but any option could really be chosen Scale Breaker - no dragonslayer is complete without this ability. -------------------------------------------------------------- Weapon Set 1: Shatterstar (Legendary / Durgan-Reinfored) / Litte Saviour or Aila Braccia (Legendary / Durgan-Reinforced for both shields) Weapon Set 2: St. Ydwen's Redeemer or Steadfast and one of the above shields depending on the foes faced. Head: Garodh's Chorus (Preservation options) Chest: Argwes Adra (Legendary / Durgan-Reinforced) Hands: Gauntlets of Swift Action Ring 1: Iron Circle Ring 2: Gwyn’s Band of Union Feet: Viettro’s Formal Footwear Waist: Looped Rope Pet: Concelhaut’s Skull Quick Items: Potion of Deleterious Alacrity of Motion, Potion of Infuse with Vital Essence, Potion of Major Endurance, Scroll of Valour, Scroll of Moonwell, Scroll of Defense -------------------------------------------------------------- Cipher Powers: Level 1 Antipathetic Field - One of the best damage dealing powers available. Combine this with Combusting Wounds from a Ring of Searing Flames and watch enemies melt. Whisper of Treason - I used this way too infrequently, but it is a great power. Wreak havoc in the enemies' back line or use this to neutralise those pesky spellcasters. Tenuous Grasp - Can be cast from stealth, but the results are a little unpredictable. Did not use it much. Eyestrike, Mindwave and Soul Shock - never once used them in this run Level 2 Mental Binding - This is the build's bread and butter power. A paralyzed foe is a good focus battery cause crits are easier to land. The AOE can also cause enemies to be stuck which allows the cipher to reposition. Unless I wanted to do damage to a larger group of foes, I preferred this over Silent Scream. Recall Agony - Great power once you have Disintegrate. Psychovampiric shield - Did help me survive until I got Borrowed Instinct, but thereafter it saw no use. Phantom Foes - could have been a useful power if I had chosen Apprentice's Sneak Attack as a talent, but I did not have issues dealing damage, therefore I chose a different route. Mind Blades - never used this once in this run Level 3 Secret Horrors - This is a great primer for my Disintegrate combo as it targets will and sickens them leading to a Fort debuff. Fractured Volition - Once Fort has been debuffed with Secret Horrors, this has a much better chance of landing. Once this lands, the debuff allows Disintegrate to land much easier. Soul Ignition - If I was not sure that my Disintegrate combo would kill of an opponent, I added Soul Ignition to the mix. Puppet Master - In theory this should be better than Whisper of Treason, but I hardly used this. A dominated foe does not have any debuffs whereas a charmed foe does. I like it if the enemies can at least kill the charmed foe, therefore I hardly ever used this. A valid alternative though. Level 4 Silent Scream - The big AOE damage dealer for a cipher. Useful at times, but me mindful than the debuff for stun is not quite as good as the debuff for paralyze. Therefore, it may be better to paralyze tougher foes with Mental Binding. Body Attunement - Great power for reducing DR of targets. Effect ends once the target dies which is unfortunate. You can either use it to buff your own DR, i.e. choose a foes you do not need to take down quickly, or to debuff a foe with high DR. Wild Leech - Another great power. Unfortunately the effect ends once the target dies. Use it in the same way as Body Attunement and it is very powerful. Mind Lance - I used this a couple of times when I had surplus focus and everyone was already stunned from Silent Scream. Level 5 Borrowed Instinct - Game changing power. I chose Greater Focus just so I could cast this as a combat opener. Ringleader - never used in any of my playthroughs. Level 6 Disintegrate - Best single target damage dealing power and very useful against dragons. Typical combo would be Secret Horrors, Fractured Volition, Disintegrate, Recall Agony and Soul Ignition. If they all hit, then nothing remains standing. Level 7 Time Parasite - Once I got access to this power, it would be the first I would cast in combat. However, that meant that I did not get off a Borrowed Instinct that quickly. Therefore I changed my combat openings to Potion of DoAM, Borrowed Instinct and only then Time Parasite once the potion was about to run out. Stasis Shell - Never used

I have been progressing with my Ultimate Cipher quite nicely. Have completed most of Act 3, have completed White March 1, got Steadfast, Stormcaller and Unlabored Blade and used levels 2 and 3 of the Endless Paths to level all of them up. I had chosen Weapon and Shield style and use Aila Braccia and was quite content until I saw this insane cipher play - . So, I decided to test several weapons and see how they stack up against each other. Since I needed to still defeat Zolla, I chose this encounter as the first test case. My tactics evolved as I experienced this encounter more, but the basic premise stayed the same. Only use damage from weapons and not spells. My short summary is as follows:Two handed weapons - Only used great swords, but Tidefall is a clear winner for me. The wounding is ok, but the draining makes this weapon truly stand out. Having a weapon that drains makes encounters easier. Firebrand did great damage, but its duration is too short. BotEP could be great as well and I may test it in the future. Dual wielding - Boeroer mentioned a dual flail build and I tried that. It is decent, but did not really blow my mind. Dual wielding the Sword of Daenysis and March Steel Dagger with Vulnerable Attack (rather than Savage Attack) was a combo that surprised me a lot. Weapon and Shield - Here I chose various weapons that I liked. Standouts were March Steel Dagger, Gaun's Snare and Shatterstar. Spelltongue was a little disappointing as I did not Durganise it (believe there is a bug) and its speed seemed a little slow. Steadfast and Unlabored Blade lost out from not being Durganised and the lower attack speed (vs similar weapons) felt noticeable. All-in-all, I am happy using a Weapon and Shield, but I am not that keen to take on dragons with Steadfast...it just does not have the damage potential of some other combos and I may need to revise my strategy. However, I really wish to have Aila Braccia available for Thaos as I believe Cleansing Flame can be reflected back at him. In any event here are the three YouTube videos highlighting this specific encounter.

Thank you both for the comments. My cipher was level 5 at the time of my query. I have since done a few quests in Act II, but in order to complete Built to Last and win the fight with Dodwyna, I needed the Rotfinger Gloves. Even with my wood beetle figurine, winning that fight without the ability to spam Touch of Rot was just too high risk for my Ultimate save. After completing that quest and subsequently buying Shod-in-Faith, my survivalibiliy has become a lot better. I went back to Act I to complete some minor quests and see how Firebrand performs in the bear cave. Dual-wielding damage hits and crits tend to be in the region of 20-30 dmg per hit when using Gaun’s Snare and Azureith’s Stiletto. Using Firebrand, I would do 40-60 depending on whether I hit or crit. This was all at level 5 with only my physic whip fully upgraded. As Boeroer mentioned above, the recovery time with a two-hander made quite a difference. With Res 7, interruptions felt like they cost me more with Firebrand than when dual-wielding. So, what decision did I make? Well, once I reached level 6, I chose Apprentice’s Sneak Attack. Damage output has increased nicely and I now typically have the opportunity to cast other powers (rather than just Mental Binding) as I have more focus at my disposal. Gut feel tells me that a hasted 16 level cipher wielding Firebrand will destroy most foes, but at this stage of the time the quicker recovery is still crucial. Once I reach level 8, I will need to review this decision again, and I feel that level 10 is the latest for me to make that decision.

You have to first travel to this area from an adjacent area. The exit point to Heritage Hill can be found in Ondra's Gift.

I am currently attempting an Ultimate Run using a wild orlan cipher. Probably should have gone with a boreal dwarf, but I always struggle with the idea of having a dwarven MC. Just completed Act I sneaking and avoiding most fights, but where I needed to fight I used a rapier & dagger or mace & dagger (depending on the foe) and I am wearing brigandine (50% recovery penalty). Stats are as follows: Mig 15 Con 12 Dex 10 Per 17 Int 17 Res 7 I have upgraded my whip fully to increase focus generation and am using the typical cypher powers that one would use this stage of the game (Mental Binding & WoT). Managed to score a fair amount of crits against the foes that were hit with a mental binding, but in general I needed Mental Binding to be active for this build to really generate focus at a decent pace. At this point in the game, I did not need to specialise in a specific weapon type, but going forward it will be needed an I am still undecided. Some thoughts on each approach follow: Two-handed weapon Saw Boeroer's post where he mentioned using the Forgemaster's Gloves for Firebrand and getting crits of 100+ damage. This would definitely be a viable option, but I would not be able to use Gauntlets of Speed. I could use the Deadfire items and get the Cannoneer belt, but have been avoiding using them as these items were not part of the base game. Alternatively, I could go for the Hours of St. Rumbalt and have annihilating (Firebrand also has this), which would mean very decent damage and therefore decent focus generation. After a couple of more levels, I could go for Tidefall which almost seems like a step down from the above two options as it loses annihilation, but it would still be a decent DPS option. This also prepares me for using Abydon's Hammer which would be a decent end-game weapon when finishing up the dragons and final bounties. I could also use an estoc, which has some decent options, but Weapon Focus Soldier (great sword) also includes the arquebus which gives me some ranged flexibility. Dual wielding Dual wielding with Godansthunyr and We Toki is a very decent synergy whereby opponents can be both stunned or proned. Neither has annihilating which is a bit of a bummer, but they worked extremely well in my Frozen Crown Solo run with a rogue. A surprising second combo, which is usable now, mentioned by Boeroer as well is the Sword of Daenysis and March Steel Dagger combo using Vulnerable Attack. That would have decent DR bypass and decent attack speed, but I have never used that combo in any playthrough. Not really sure how well this would stack up against the Godansthunyr and We Toki combo, but at least it only requires a single Weapon Focus. Currently I am using Gaun's Snare and Azureith's Stiletto, but this combo is not that great at generating focus although the Jolting Touch is quite a damage dealer at this point. Any feedback on the pros and cons of the above options would be appreciated. Remember, this is not just about DPS, but other synergies as well. For instance, using Mental Binding, I already get the paralyzed affliction which is better than either prone or stun. I am currently leaning towards a two-hander, as the damage output and focus generation would be insane at this stage of the game.

I’ve not encountered enemies who teleport to my mages yet (only played a couple of hours), but that would be a great addition to combat. If the AI can’t find ways around your tanks, what is the point of having AI? If I am attacking opponents, then my first priority is neutralizing spell-casters. Shouldn’t my opponents do the same?

PoE 1 did manage to do this quite well though... I can see the benefit of certain design changes, but the current system restricts my playstyle in a way PoE 1 never did.

I had completed PoE 1 on POTD (either solo or with a party) with a druid, a wizard, a cipher and a rogue. All of these classes had certain pros and cons and all of them were fairly balanced once adjusted to their role. None of these classes were particularly good at straight-up melee until they were buffed, which is where the melee classes shined. It was also quite nice being able to adjust to different circumstances fairly effortlessly. I played my first 2 hours of PoE 2 with a druid, which is one of my favourite classes. I found the limited spell selection (maybe I chose bad spells) to be a very big letdown and I tended to use him mostly in melee in shapeshifted form. Since druids and priests don’t have grimoires, any changes in spells require a retrain. Not the biggest deal, but rather than buying camping supplies, I will just head back to an inn to retrain. In fairness though, the recent changes have made spellcasters much more powerful. Who needs flexibility when you can just nuke every encounter? The current method reminds me of the Dragon Age 2 system, i.e. a dumbed down system where people would just spam their special powers after they cooled down. PoE2’s system is not quite that bad, but after my initial druid experience, I restarted as a monk. That playstyle seems to fit into the PoE2 universe much better.

Yep, my wizard could quite easily nuke the battlefield in PoE 1. However, that was mostly done by opening with Ninagauth’s Shadowflame and then hitting my paralyzed opponents with Kalakoth’s Freezing Rake until the battle was over. It does not look like the current system addresses that. It merely allows me to do that every encounter, whereas previously I would need to rest before I could do that again. The current rule changes seem to encourage the above, rather than discourage it. My wizard tended to preserve his spells and only use what was needed for the situation (since I needed to rest). Why would I need to do that now? Having flexibility means that casters could find more interesting solutions to problems. Right now, I need to preplan my build more and it needs to be more specialized in order to ensure that I can nuke when I need to. I would also like to experiment with different spells to see how they work and whether they are useful. Doing that now just seems to be a massive pain.

​I don't think anyone expects full access to all their abilities, but merely preserving the long-standing ability to select from the whole spell catalog. There is a whole dimension of RPG gameplay which gets obliterated by these changes, and for many of us it was an important aspect of RPGs. BTW, many other casting classes (clerics, druids, etc) also had dynamic access to their whole spell catalog, so it's not just wizards. ​ ​Traditionally, dynamic selection was a core aspect of casting classes, going clear back to P&P and for decades of CRPGs since, but was balanced against real rest restrictions. However, this started to break down when CRPGs began to pursue a more mass market / casual audience, many of who would play by spamming everything they had even in small fights to feel powerful, and then be left in a lurch. Players complained, and CRPG makers responded by relaxing hard rest restrictions more and more, making them into soft restrictions, or sometimes no restrictions at all. That appeased the people who didn't like long-term gameplay decisions, but it did massive collateral damage: ​ ​It negates the importance of smaller fights. They no longer have any meaningful cost, because you auto-regenerate what you used right after. In the traditional way, even the small fights are part of grinding you down over time.​ ​You no longer have to play smaller fights efficiently. You're getting everything you used right back. ​You no longer have to make meaningful choices about which spells to use, or limit yourself strategically. They're all coming right back. An element of decision making is hence rendered obsolete (granted, one many people didn't like - but others found quite appealing). ​It removes flexibility around creating your own combinations. You get to pick a few permanent ones, but otherwise are restricted to "canned" sets, so a whole aspect of creating custom novel strategies is lost. Less thinking / creativity results. ​A class differentiator is now lost. Previously you had sustained damage classes, and powerful but intermittent damage classes. Some players couldn't tolerate one PC not doing something in every single fight, or doing only a little in some fights, so this differentiator has been more and more lost over time. ​There's little to no long term strategizing. The "unit of attention" becomes a single fight. ​The feel of being on a journey is eroded, and hence, the immersion of the game. Now I just feel like I have an unrelated series of standalone fights, and I'm reset after each one so I can meet the next with the full catalog again. ​There's no more satisfaction in avoiding resource starvation, because I'm getting reset after each fight. A whole element of enjoyment is thus erased.​ ​There's no more pressure when you start a fight down to a few weird spells you've never used before, and have to improvise and create clever tactics. All fights are driven towards the same thing, because start each fight with my spells reset. ​I could go on, but suffice it to say many of us see the loss of these things as a catastrophe for the genre. It sacrifices long term considerations on the alter of the short attention span appeal.​ ​I understand many people like it and want that more "action" experience where all their skills and abilities are reset after every single fight. That's cool with me - to each his own! That's why I think it should be a game option, like "hardcore" mode: "Let me pick my own spells, but don't bloody reset them or my HP pool after each fight like I'm playing Diablo". That way both camps can have their preference. That has happened with other "casualizations" of CRPGs - e.g, early CRPGs had severely restricted saves, where you had to make it back to a safe place to save, and there were no quick-saves or mid-stream saves or any kind. There was a lot on the line, sometimes hours of gameplay, so you were forced to take matters seriously rather than mash F5. That annoyed a lot of players, so that also was changed, but many games still provide it as an option - and many players still use the option! That's all I want: an option, so I don't have to deal with what feels to me like an eviscerated RPG experience. ​ ​EDIT: fix missing words. Agree fully with this post. While I have not spent a lot of time with the game yet, the new spells / rest mechanism has taken away an awful lot of the strategic play from my druid. At level 3, my spell selection is limited immensely and by not having access to different spells, it restricts my options. Sure, I could pre-plan my spell selections to synergyse my spells more, but losing the flexibility I had previously is quite disappointing. From a strategic point of view, I liked needing to manage my resources. Blasting through all my spells in one encounter, just to have them back for the next one, makes it seem like the game targets a different audience than PoE I did.

Consecrated Ground also triggers a Confuse on the caster by the wearer of the hat. Perhaps the user of the hat should be the one to use shod-in-faith.

I bought the hat and managed to get it almost completely unlocked. In order to unlock the final level, I need to have a drink in every inn in the Eastern Reach. Does anyone know exactly what is meant by that?

You need 5 stealth to sneak past the guard at the top of the stairs if you climb up the wall. Even then make sure that you click on the door the moment it is visible, otherwise you will most likely be detected. You need 4 mechanics to detect the hidden stash in the cells. To accomplish my stealth and mechanics requirements, I choose drifter as starting class (+1 Stealth, +1 Mech). Put all the points into stealth at first level up. 1 point in stealth at next level up and rest in mechanics. You will be one skill point short in mechanics, but you can get that by choosing the right rest option in the Gilded Vale inn. I tend to rest for the mech bonus when I rest for the level up just to save time. You will also need to disarm the trap in Raedric’s bedroom while you still have the mech bonus, i.e. don’t rest for the items until you have disarmed that trap. Wodjee also has a shorter video that shows how to do all of this. Just remember that choosing a rogue or cipher gives more leeway with skill point allocation. Other classes will need to follow my advice to get the items in Raedric’s Keep on time. EDIT: Mistake on my part - you need the resting bonus to disarm the trap, but you need the Gloves of Manipulation to get to Mech 4. Classes that do not have a mech bonus will only be able to have mech 2 if you use the skill point allocation I detailed above.

@didntdemon, Congratulations on your achievement! Glad you found this guide useful. I also found that reddit thread. I may be mistaken, but it looks like both TegGet and TheTodWilkinson (reddit usernames) got the Ultimate achievement with wizards. A link to TheTodWilkinson's full run can be found here - I watched it all and there are some tactics that I would incorporate into my Ultimate Run should I attempt it with a wizard. Definitely a lot to be learned from watching those videos and I really underestimate the usefulness of some spells. Some of these tactics and spells would have decent synergy with my tactics and make tough fights significantly easier. Regarding your other comments, I can offer some of my thoughts. Drawn-in-Spring vs Unlaboured Blade - You may very well be right. A fully upgraded and durganised DiS is pretty powerful. I switched between both blades frequently trying to decide which one to use. The final decision was made when Unlaboured Blade procced a Firebug 3 seconds into a fight with 2 humans and both of them died. Took me a while to figure out what happened, but thereafter I stuck with UB. From a pure DPS perspective DiS may be better depending on how frequently Firebug procs. Arcane Veil and Hardened Veil - This would allow me to dump RES and possibly make for a stronger overall build. I just did not want to dump any stats so that I would have a balanced build. Dumping RES however, would allow me to boost MIG and CON to boost the Fort save and do even more damage, which would definitely be very useful. Looking at the YouTube links I posted above made me regret not having more MIG. Melee - Using chokepoints or terrain to keep opponents from overwhelming me was key. The FL is pretty weak when surrounded. I needed to pull a fair bit during WM1 and WM2, but less than I needed to with my druid. You can also use figurines to block opponents and create temporary chokepoints. I used figurines quite often and they bought time. First move in combat would be to unstealth, summon figurines to block opponents and then work from there. I now also have a better idea as to how recovery works, and I would probably use heavier armour to increase survivability. I ignored heavy armour believing that my spells would compensate for this, but in hindsight, I could have sacrificed some attack speed for better survivability. Combined with a dumped RES, the extra damage would probably have negated the slower attack speed quite easily and made my nukes even more powerful. In any event, thanks for your post and I appreciate the feedback. Edit - I wanted to add that I cleared Durgan's Battery using just my melee approach and no nukes. It was pretty easy as long as I could use chokepoints, and there are plenty of them there. Battery sirens were annoying, but once I got going they died pretty quickly. There were plenty of parts in the game that I cleared just by going in with my melee character, but there were also plenty of fights where nuking or pulling were the only viable strategies. Magran's faithful required both nukes and then mopping up with melee.

When I did my solo playthrough the high MIG combined with a two-hander (well, Concelhaut's staff in my case) did pretty insane damage when I hit. It worked great for Act I where I just avoided fights that I could not reliably win. During Act II, that strategy stopped working and I needed to revert more to a regular caster with summons and of course liberal use of the Rotfinger Gloves combined with spells. However, since you are playing in a party, you could use other characters to draw some heat away from your wizard. During Act III, once I got all the buffs I needed, the melee wizard became the most impressive fighter build I ever played. Sure, I could probably replicate this with some other classes, but that is just one of the tricks my wizard had up his sleeve - when needed he could nuke most fights and he completed most of the high-level bounties (non-upscaled) without breaking a sweat. If you wish, you can review some of my strategies and spell sequences in the Frozen Lance build.

@MaxQuest & @Boeroer, Thanks for taking the time to clarify this. Guess I need to revisit some of my strategies and plans for my Ultimate Run. Was hoping that dropping MIG and compensating for this with CW would work, but I now need to make very sure of my planned strategy.

Apologies for not testing this myself - my gaming PC is packed away and will be for another couple of weeks. If I understand correctly, then something like Chill Fog which "attacks" (and could still miss) every couple of seconds would still trigger a CW hit, but things like Touch of Rot and Autumn's Decay (picking spells you had not ruled out yet) which apply a DoT and can't miss, would not trigger an attack and thus no CW damage is applied. If I understand correctly, then Wodjee has made one error in his run since he usually used the Rotfinger Gloves before Combusting Wounds. Not that it makes a major difference in the end since each target would only receive 5 more damage. Lastly, with CW not triggering on DOTs, I have new respect for my Plague of Insects, Rotfinger Glovers, Insect Swarm and Autumn's Decay combo. I though it was so deadly since every tick added another 20 damage, but turns out that combo is just pretty mean by itself. Edit: Forgot about Wicked Briars and Wall of Thorns in my aforementioned combo. Those should cause a CW trigger and yes, getting all of those spells up took time, but very few opponents survived this barrage from my solo druid. Unfortunately he still needs to do all the dragons, so I still have to see whether this combo would work as great as I hope it would...

Review any of the videos by Wodjee to get an idea of how powerful this is. Combined with the Rotfinger Gloves, it can make most of Act II's fights considerably easier when playing solo. Someone affected by CW and hit by any DoT weapon (like Tidefall) will take the full damage every time the DoT ticks. Combine something like Rotfinger Gloves with Chillfog, Ray of Fire and Ninagauth's Bitter Mooring and you have pretty insane damage per tick. Cipher can use the Ring of Searing Flames, Rotfinger Gloves and Antipathetic Field and watch most enemies take significant damage in a very short amount of time. Until I saw the Ultimate Wizard run, I thought it usefulness peaked in Act II, but after learning (errr....copying) some new tactics and thinking of how to combine CW and the RF gloves, I am convinced that I can make most post Act II fights a lot easier as well. Unfortunately, after reading some of the posts above, I realise I have been thinking much too small...

Has anyone ever tested this? As I said, I may be mistaken, but all of my fast-cast buffs seemed to have no recovery, thus DAoM should theoretically have no influence. My buffing sequence never included longer casting spells as I needed to get fully-buffed before I was overwhelmed. It was a solo run though and when I play in a party, I just use Aloth as a blaster wizard as that is more effective. Sure, I could do a melee build, but you're right - the buffs take time and unless you can hit several enemies with the blast from the lance, it is just more beneficial to cast fewer spells and add a ranged blast to the party's damage output. I would still cast DAoM as late as possible though.

My Frozen Lance is extremely powerful when fully buffed. However, if I do not put up defensive spells my druid would beat him in a straight melee fight. With defensive buffs in the wizard, the druid would struggle to hit and the wizard would most likely win quite comfortably. The wizard also has fast-cast spells that could disable the druid like Ninagauth's Shadowflame. If either class would underestimate the other, they would lose. However, I don't really see the point in these comparisons. I play both of these characters completely differently once they are high level. Mid-level will see some overlap in tactics and Act I would be played pretty much the same with every class. DPS is only one element and does alone determine which class is more powerful. Rather, just enjoy the game for what it is and try to either make your strategies fit into your party play, or spend a lot of time fine-tuning and researching strategies if you play solo.

Actually, you want to cast it last if you have Citzal's Martial Power. If you do not yet have Citzal's Martial Power then you want your last two spells to be DAoM and then Eldritch Aim. Only then should you cast Citzal's Martial Power. I gave the optimal buff sequences in my Frozen Lance build in order to maximize overlap of buffs. I may be wrong, but I do not think the right buffs have any recovery, thus DAoM would not benefit casting time of buffs and having DAoM expire led to a drastic reduction in damage. You would also not be able to recast it immediately upon expiry since Martial Power will still be active and that disables spell-casting. However, the Frozen Lance buffing sequences would have DAoM and Martial Power both expiring pretty close to each other allowing minimum downtime from all the buffs. Not that I ever buffed twice in a fight - if you needed to do that, full nuking was probably the best option and having Martial Power expiring very shortly after DAoM can be a real life-saver.

Ring of Searing Flames, Rotfinger Gloves and the Beetle Figurine are you're best friends for Act 2. Used correctly, you don't even need to engage in melee to win several of the Act 2 fights.

The druid can also use overvwhelming wave before shifting which really boosts his initial DPS. I lured the Torn Bannermen to me individually, stunned them and then went to town. Not a single Bannerment survived long enough for the stun to wear off if it hit or crit. My druid did not have all of the wildstrike talents, but still managed to hit for 80-100 per hit while the foes were stunned. Damage did drop off once the stun wore off, but by then the fight was as good as over. However, this is where wodjee's rogue would shine. His foes will be perma-stunned or perma-proned. However, as with the druid, it is very useful against single foes and not as useful against groups. Both have escape options, i.e. druid with his storms or other spells and rogue with his shadowing beyond. So neither needs to die when they encounter groups, they just need to handle them differently.