I've played a cipher in the first PoE and with my first PoE II character. I'm not really changing my Watcher class, but I'd like to ask how the "basic/no subclass" cipher compares to the Ascendant for a mainly pistols/blunderbuss dual wielding ranged char for my second game.
Mainly, the ascended time seems a little short, but also the high level spells consume lot of focus with the "no subclass" cipher, so replenish the focus in combat it looks not really different gameplay wise.
It is Ascendant really better? Or the no-subclass build despite being less powerful stays significantly more flexible?