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When back in 2017 I heard of multiclassing in the then upcoming PoE2, I wanted to combine my two favorite classes in the game: Cipher and Paladin. I thought the synergy between the two would be monstrous: Faith and Conviction and the defensive arsenal of the Paladin would make a squishy Cipher more than capable to dish out all the damage possible without dying. At the same time, Cipher has renewable resources, so, yay, great for solo. You never wanna run out of fire. In my first playthrough, I didn't go solo, and because of the tooltip warning against multiclass, I opted for pure Cipher. By the time I did multiple playthroughs to know the game better, Paladin got nerfed to death: - increased cost to Greater Lay on Hands - 100% to 25% Virtous Triumph proc chance - FoD nerfs left and right In light of these changes, I deemed any Paladin tank build inferior to any Fighter multiclass, having Unbending become better compared to GLoH, and not having "infinite resources" by killing enemies anymore. Boy, was I wrong. Cipher, that to many is considered one of the most boring and underpowered classes - and the rationale behind their opinion escapes me, having this class access to all types of affliction and a whopping 300+ raw damage nuke - got nerfed, most notably with: - Body Attunement from -4/+4 to -2/+2 armor - Borrowed Instinct (literally single best spell in the game) from 30s base duration to 20s. - Time Parasite from -50% to -25% (note: this is one of the few way that allowed to achieve ~0s recovery at lvl 20) I recently decided to prove myself wrong, and tried an Inquisitor. I've always been a great fan of the Ascended, which for many (party, mostly) builds is insanely good, thanks to its ability to get max focus and then spam the best single target nuke in the game on literally everyone. Alas, Ascend got nerfed, too (from 20s to 12s base duration). What was I left with? Base class, meh. Beguiler, definitely not good for non-Rogue multiclass. And Soulblade. The latter can be surprisingly good when combined with Whispers of the Endless Path, as one can Soul Strike on multiple targets, recover focus at the same time by hitting the secondary ones, thus never actually being starved of focus. The counterattack on top, allows you to keep focus high. I would like to say that this is the best weapon for this build, but what I discovered by going through all the SSS challenges, is that it is not. The best weapon for a character with all the afflictions, with high defenses but excelling in none of them (compared to Tricksters, Skaen Priest, Wizards) is versatility. This build will not point out (except for a few slots) a fixed equipment. What we aim to achieve is the best Armor against every encounter. Therefore, we will focus on boosting Armor. Similarly, the other side of the coin is having good Penetration alongside with it. We plan to have a versatile arsenal. And since we decided that versatility is the name of the game, we will save all the unnecessary ability points from the Paladin tree, and invest them to get the Cipher spells that really matter. THE RACE THE BACKGROUND THE STATS THE SUBCLASSES THE ABILITIES THE EQUIPMENT To be continued... https://goo.gl/Eq12FG (soon)

Build Name: Adra Infused Duelist Edit: 09/09/2018 Updated Party members after full Play-Thru, made minor change to Equipment. Removed level 20 stats as its redundant and unnecessary. Born in the Deadfire, this Inquisitor follows a simple rule, do good upon others and you will be rewarded tenfold. She is fast and deadly and can strip enemy defenses down to allow allies to pummel away at those who dare stand against the Watcher of Caed Nua. Unlike many inquisitors, she cares about finding the truth, but will get it out of compassion and benevolence and not cruelty or violence, like many other inquisitors out there, that only care about getting the "truth" and not the means used to get it (I am looking at you Rhadam Asunawa, Wheel of Times Inquisitor for the Children of the Light). And in reality she has a frail constitution, but a very strong spirit that guides her through the worst of situations. Class: Inquisitor (Paladin & Cypher) Subclass: Kind Wayfarer & Soulblade Difficulty: PoTD Game Version: 2.0 Play Style: For Party Setup Party Set-up Main-Tank: Eder (Swashbuckler - Fighter/Rogue) [Melee dual wield] Healer: Tekehu (Theurge - Druid/Chanter) [Ranged with dual blunderbuss - Kitchen stove and Serafen starting weapon] DPS-Support: Xoti (Contemplative - Monk/Priest) [melee unarmed with Tuotilo for fast dps and recovery] DPS-Control: Serafen (Witch - Barbarian/Cypher) [dual wield with scimitar combos] Race: Wood Elf Starting Attributes: (Not Including Berath's Blessing or bonuses after Hasongo, Gift of the Machine and Effigy) Culture: Deadfire Backgroud: Raider or Hunter Active Skills: 5 Athletics rest into Alchemy Passive Skills: N/A Went into Metaphysics 9, rest spread for conversation options. After Nemnok fight you get a beautiful staff which scales of Metaphysics, which you can then respect out of two weapon style into two handed style combat with the staff and it gives a decent 2.7s recovery with nice damage output and long range. Active and Passive Abilities Equipment: Weapon Variants Setup: This is a very fast combat Watcher. Where s/he will attack fast and have significantly fast recovery times; because of that we can get away with using a Sword of the main hand (which gives best of piercing or slashing) and we cover crush with the flail. We could change the flail for Kapana Taga which is crush and slash as well and its also equally fast as its a club (includes +5 Accuracy as well). You want to start the fight with Sword Rival (enemy) and follow up with a Borrowed Instinct, after that use Recall Agony on high HP enemies and use Flames of Devotion to heal up your allies that may be taking too many hits and yourself, while generating a lot of focus. This will push you into a Soul Strike Annihilation. Depending on your enemy you will throw Tenuous Grasp (if there are multiples) as to increase splash damage; since Paladin is a single target kinda gal(guy). With the current setup, you will have almost immunity to Intellect, Dexterity and Constitution Afflictions. Your attacks will do high damage, and also you will be able to 2 hits most enemies while on tougher enemies you will be able to stand toe to toe with them. Conclusion: I used this build all the way to the end of the game, and I loved how fast she moved and reacted to everything, being able to heal myself as well as party members, while also doing massive damage was extremely satisfying. Like I said in the beginning, she is a little frail, but what she lacks on Hit Points, she has in healing. Hope you enjoy it as much as I did, I even went into a few fights solo, Nemnok for example, and it was a blast. I wanted to have Eden next to me since I build him using Swashbuckler build, for high survival and damage; but I was able to do it solo no problem.

(Keep It Stupid Simple) KISS Inquisitor Class: Inquisitor ( Soulblade/Paladin ) Difficulty: PotD+ Version: 2.0 Solo: Untested PATCH 2.1 NOTE: The low INT trick that this build was built around has now been fixed and a higher INT is now always better for overall disintegration damage. So this build's concept is now deprecated unless you just want to play a low INT Soulblade Inquisitor using Soul Annihilation and other shred abilities. DESCRIPTION: A build around the Mule's Wit ring to dump INT to the lowest value in order to shorten the time needed for disintegrate to do its maximum damage and to raise other stats that would have gone into INT. Using the paladin's innate defenses and the raw damage skills of the cipher, the KISS Inquisitor is a decent melee that can be a functional tank while still maintaining a decent DPS presence against armored single targets. The higher the RES or hostile affliction reduction on a target, the nastier disintegrate gets thanks to how fixed damage DoTs work. The build's simplicity allows it to be easily AI scripted to perform its function well enough so you can do other things with the party. In a higher damage party, you can switch out from disintegration to just Soul Annihilation or even Amplified Wave although disintegration is great for tougher targets. With its resilient bonuses from the ring and the paladin's passives, it can continue doing its thing unhindered and can be further enhanced thru other items and drugs. While its damage output does not come close to a cipher/rogue who can also benefit from low INT (deep wounds), the paladin choice was to increase disintegrate damage via sworn enemy's blanket +20% damage boost for focus generation and disintegration while being a tanky melee that has lower maintenance. GAMEPLAY: Core Style - Use sworn enemy on target. Hit them. Disintegrate. Repeat. Use Soul Annihilation in early game until you can get Disintegration or you need to quickly dump focus for an execute or getting fast focus gain from attack speed buffs. Sworn Enemy/Fire Brand Style (AoE/DoT Mode)- Cast sworn enemy/fire brand on everything. Scroll and bomb things to take advantage of brand's damage boost on the targets. Amplified Wave might be useful in this way, but its small AoE is limited. Fire Brand can also be useful too to contribute chip damage though PotD armor can reduce it quite a bit without PEN bonuses. OTHER NOTES: Ascended? The build's low INT only gives you about ~7 seconds of ascended mode. If you are in a high level party with a priest with salvation of time, you could give the priest the brilliance inspiration, which then makes them to go into a loop of constantly casting salvation of time to extend everyone's buffs. In this way you can achieve ascended long enough to chaincast disintegrate. However, you will be stuck being mediocre for majority of the game until you reach that level. DISADVANTAGES: The build's core abilities aren't exactly exciting since it's supposed to be stupidly (har har har) simple that you could script the AI to do so you will probably want to spice it up with some other micro in the party or skills/weapons. SUBCLASSES: Bleak Walker - For damage oriented builds to get more focus from the corrode lash. The sicken debuff is also awesome for stripping off CON buffs from enemies. Goldpact Knights - You will be casting sworn enemy a lot, the added AR is great for huge fights. Kind Wayfarer's - Since you are abandoning Lay of Hands thanks to your dismal INT score, the healing from FoD can be a lifesaver for the lazy. Darcozzi Paladin - Low INT reduces the buff, but the fire shield damage is alright. Lay of Hands is wasted on the build though. Shieldbearer of St. Whatever - The lay of hands boon is dismal on low INT so this subclass is the worst even for a tank paladin. RACES: Human - The boost from being bloodied is great for the extra accuracy and damage for disintegrate. Since the paladin has decent defense stats, you can stay bloodied relatively well. ATTRIBUTES: MIG - Maxed. Make that disintegrate damage as high as you can. CON - Medium. Nice to have to keep your comfort level in bloodied state. DEX - Varies. Adjust accordingly if the character will be a dedicated damage dealer or a tank. Faster hits, more focus. PER - Maxed. Disintegrate will be your bread and butter so you will want it to land as much as possible especially since it is going against fortitude defense. INT - Dump. Completely wasted with mule's wit -8INT penalty. RES - Varied. Adjust accordingly if the character will be a dedicated damage dealer or a tank. Reduces hostile debuff timers on you. SKILLS: Since the build has abandoned lay of hands. You will want something that can heal you. Arcana - It does not get affected by your low INT and can be used for pinch aoe damage, healing, and stripping off buffs from enemies. The fire +1PEN passive may be viable if going arcana for meteor showers. Alchemy - Gives good mileage from even the lowest of potions. The extended self buffs from potions are always great. Athletics - Useful for events and if you are lazy in a party with a dedicated healer. Good to have if tanking with Cadhu Scath large shield. Explosives - Useful for AoE and stripping off enemy buffs. Has healing bomb, but it also can heal enemies. CULTURE & BACKGROUND: Avoid Old Vallia for the wasted INT, but anything else should be fine. Living Lands for the MIG or White that Wends for the extra PER is my recommendation. I find the idea of being a scientist or scholar amusing for a build with the lowest INT possible, but its skills are decent for the build. Colonist is the choice I would recommend. WEAPONS & MODALS: +Good / ?Notable / -Bad There are a few strong recommendations, but you are free to choose whatever happens to be the best focus generation weapon for your encounters. ABILITIES: +Good / ?Notable / -Bad EQUIPMENT: +Good / ?Conditional / -Bad

I have a problem with this kind of games, where there are many choices and I can't stick with one. So help me out here.. I am trying to start the game in POTD... 1. Votary (PLD/MNK) (BleakWalker/Shattered Pillars or Nalpazca) 2. Inquisitor (PLD/CYP) (BW/Soul Blade) 3. Shadowdancer (MNK/ROG) (???/Streetfighter [unsure of subclass as well]) On all 3 builds I plan to use Two-Weapon Fighting. Also so far I do not want to be a tank, maybe offtank but not main tank in any way. For Race either Godlike Nature or Frost Elf or Human. Since I haven't reached end game yet, I have no idea of possible good helmets or if the elf or human bonus are actually good compared to the power level from Nature Godlike. For weapons I was thinking of either Battle Axes, Swords, and/or Flails. For Armor Light armor or Medium (depends if using MNK because of Swift Strikes) For Low levels I am so confused, because I feel that no matter which class combo I choose I miss a lot even with the 18 perception. MNK/ROG (Shadowdancer) Rogue Subclass: Street Fighter (This will make you very adopt a high risk fighting style, which you want to have more than 1 enemy always engaged and then squeeze into them.) But in the end I went no subclass, as no penalties are better than some for situational benefits. Monk Subclass: Nelzpaca (Constant wounds generation while drugged, and +10 P.Level to drugs Stats (Edited after a comment from AeosnLegends, I had copy pasted from a dps build the stats) (Also you can include +2 to all stats with Berath's Blessing) M:15 C:14 D:10 P:14 I:10 R:14 Traits Athletics until 5 Alchemy (after you get Athletics) (Passive not sure, use survival and others for RPG checks) Active and Passive Skills lv1: Crippling Strike & Swift Strikes lv2: Force of Anguish (retrain into backstab later on, but use this to dump wounds early game) lv3: Lesser Wounds lv4: Blinding Strike & Two Weapon Style lv5: Dirty Fighting lv6: Long Stride lv7: Riposte & Torment's Reach lv8: Swift Flurry lv9: Stunning Blow lv10: Persistent Distraction & Thunderous Blows lv11: Duality of Mortal Presence lv12: Rooting Pain lv13: Deep Wounds & Raise Torment lv14: Uncanny Luck (again this is to trigger Riposte as there is a higher chance to miss [haven't tested if Riposte triggers from this "miss"]) lv15: Stunning Surge lv16: Slippery Mind & Turning Wheel (Upgrade from Duality of Mortal Presence) lv17: Improved Critical lv18: Flagellant's Path lv19: Deathblows & Heartbeat Drumming lv20: The Dichotomous Soul Equipment: Weapon (offhand only as bare hand monk damage is superior to any and recovery speed is in par with daggers 3.0 base): Modwyr or Duskfall (which both can be acquire early in game.) Head: Fair Favor (acquired with level 2 or 3 with Serafen) Armor: Miscreant’s Leather (I enjoy the speed recovery bonus, which means hits more often and acquired without a single fight) Neck: Precognition Cape: Cloak of Greater Deflection (+7 Deflection, yes please!) Hands: Gauntlets of Ogre Might Ring1: Chameleons Touch Ring2: Entonia Signet Ring (again this is to increase deflection, Riposte, anyone?) Feet: Boots of the Stone Waist: Instant Potion Belt (you will have high Alchemy, so benefits from a potion on each encounter are great) Will be working on a Votary one next, but also build towards high dps with high survivavility

I have started the game as an Inquisitor (Paladin + Cipher) and have never retrained. The only Cipher abilities I can use are the level 1 abilities. Anything beyond that is categorized on my action bar but the abilities themselves won't show up and are not clickable. Clarification: The bug is caused by UI creating categories for abilities while they are only passive abilities, so they show up empty and weird. Savegame, outputlog and dxdiag Thanks.

Anyone play around with this. I was thinking of continuing my POE1 character (Bleak Walker + Guns) with a Bleak Walker + Ascendant with blunderbusses to build focus real quick. Anything wrong with this idea on its face? High Dex/Per/Might/Int Might spread it too thin, although I don't know much about the stat distribution changes in PoE2.