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Hey guys, Played this game a few years ago and liked it a ton, back then it was a forbidden fist single class monk that managed to do all content on veteran difficulty without much issue. I'm looking to play a caster centered build and I'm toying with the idea of an ascendant/blood mage that does ranged weapons to reach ascended state and chain cast vampiric shield, secret horrors, mind minding and the better shred spells to massively debuff foes while being able to stack damage on bosses or high priority targets. Considering Pull of Eora, expose defenses and miasma as good wizard spells. I'm not too sure on what weapons to use though, and also not certain on what grimoire would benefit me the most. I am wondering if St. Omaku's Mercy recovery on crit helps with spell casting and what other good sustained DPS options are there for range that would allow me to pummel things from a distance. Not really interested in dual mortars because honestly they get boring pretty fast and I mostly want to chain together a lot of casting with brief moments of gaining back focus to ascend again for the longer fights.

Decided to try a dual wield cipher, thought multiclassing it with a rouge and creating a begulier/assasin or begulier/vanilla rouge. They obviously have great synergy, begulier and rouge but with assasin? I cannot decide, mainly because I don't believe having an increased stealth attack won't help me much since imstead entering into stealth and repositioning my character then doing a an enhanced attack, I can use all that time attacking and using my spells. Which is arguably a better way to deal damage to the enemy party. Also taking %15 more damage is a big deal but nearly everyone were saying otherwise in the other threads I read, so I am a bit confused.

I cannot for the life of me figure out how a Cipher would work with low Resolve. The minmaxer in me wants to dump it, but the rper has a big aversion against it. Like even ignoring my background as a slave (who would need resolve to mentally survive), then comes the Cipher ability. reading all those minds around you when like 10% of those are benevolent towards you would drive one insane not having a... 'sturdy' mind. And even ignoring all that, you are a leader-role. A leader without irl resolve sucks ass. I really struggel with this and just for that reaosn I consider going Paladin or Chanter after all xD

So, yeah, I am completely hooked on my Priestess of Berath from the White That Wends (Death Godlike on top) and finally stopped contemplating over different classes in the Dyrwood. My main team will consist of Aloth and Pallegina, with a certain focus on Vailian related quests and NPCs (I only know of Ydwin and Fassina by accidentally spoiling them - they seem cool). But lo and behold, Deadfire is on the distant horizon. Last time I asked about Cipher MC I think, so yeah, that is thrown out of the window for the most part. Single Class Priest of Berath vs /Druid vs /Wizard vs /Cipher vs /Chanter I am mostly uncertain if i would lose a lot of singleclass power of the Priest if I went for a MC? As far as I understand it, I not only lose the last 2 spell levels of both classes (or however it is calculated with the Chanter), but also the Power Level of each class' spells is missing out on 2 levels, which would mean weaker damage/heal spells? And also I would get my spells at a much slower rate, like ~5 levels later for my 'last' tier of MC spells? Seems like a lot of wasted potential, unless I am missing something, as I look at it all from a rather uneducated perspective? Like, looking at the unique Berath spells, the final 2 tiers seem like a huge boost in damage dealer potential, especially as Berath's spells add a lot of non-fire spells, which would be pretty cool. But on the other hand, my POE1-stats are more focused on talking (12/6/15/15/15/15), so I wonder if I would even be a worthy addition to DPS anyway. Though I am doing a lot of damage in POE1... don't know how much changes in Deadfire. But then with a MC I would have a lot of versatility added. Wizard would get me both potent self-buffs and aoe debuffs (which could be subbed for with Aloth/Fassina), Druid would get me massive AOE damage spells (storms and such - the only Universalist build on the build page lists DoT as a main selling point), Cipher (Psion for passive Focus or Ascendant for powerful spells?) again with the debuffs and self-sufficient resource, Chanter with passive resource replenishment and passive buffs/debuffs. I am slightly more inclined to go for singleclass, but as usual, I am VERY unsure... Any advice is always much appreciated

really, only stat spread questions. The problem in big battles is always the same. Either I blast through each encounter, or I lose the moment my Cipher gets targeted. But I like the theme of a melee Cipher a bit more than ranged. Which is ironic because I settled on Wood Elf for flavor My Stats look like the following rn - respecced so often already: M 16 C 8 D 12 P 18 I 16 R 8 16 might gets me massive focus boost it seems when using Firebrand and Perception seems far more important than Dex for a Cipher... Currently wearing Edér's armor for the added defense, simply because of having an 'Oh-****'-button

I have 2 Rangers, 2 Paladins, 1 Cipher and 1 Chanter. I really like this setup so far, also, I cannot think of any classes that would make snese for Sagani/GM/Kana/Pallegina aside from their standard one, aside from Eder, who I think makes quite the fitting Kind Wayfarer Though I could imagine him as a Ranger as well, with his high affinity to animals. But 3 Rangers would be a bit insane I think xD So, stats look like this: Orlan Ranger MC: M17 C3 D19 P20 I15 R4 Arbalest as main (One-Eyed Molina with nexus patch) Sagani Ranger: M20 C4 D17 P19 I15 R3 Hunting Bow main (Currently still her personal one) Eder Paladin KW: M17 C10 D14 P14 I18 R5 Greatsword main (Justice so far, but Imma buy some others soon) Zealous Focus Pallegina Paladin: M16 C10 D15 P14 I20 R3 can't decide and constantly switch between SnS with Outworn Buckler, or dualwield small weapons. Zealous Charge (that thing saved me so many times) is insane. GM Cipher: M16 C8 D14 P16 I16 R8 Warbow/2handed main, switch between the 2 depending on scenario. Haven't found any unique Warbow/Poleaxe/Estoc yet, currently she has Durance's Staff and a Fine Warbow with Wilder enchantment on. Quickly became my second-hardest and most efficient hitter next to MC Ranger. Went down only once (against my first encounter with an Ogre Druid - never again), Kills second highest number, deleted Raedric with Soul Ignition after buffs. Kana Chanter: M20 C8 D15 P14 I18 R3 am really not sure how to build him effectively as a support ranged unit. Just Ila constantly is good enough I guess, collecting phrases for an emergency heal or a summon, but eh, I feel like he's a bit underutilzed there, aside from the tangibly ridiculous speed buff he gives my MC. Also, he has Gallant's Focus to buff the backline even more... I thought (and tried) a gunslinger style setup, but it's weird... Kana I feel like I need the most advice with. The others work very well so far and I feel neither like they are carrying the rest of the party nor that they are underutilized, but Kana is in a weird place imo. But of course I am open to any kind of advice/criticism

so, yeah... I struggle a lot deciding on which caster class to pick for my MC. They all are very appealing to me, I played them all up to Caed Nua on potd and loved it all. Now, as I haven't been past CN, I have yet to meat GM and Hiravias, but thanks to me spoilering back when, I know for a fact that I'd want to keep them in my active party a lot. Only, equally I want to keep Aloth and Durance in my party. Not that I will have them all 4 as 'permanent' companions, but I will probably use them all a lot... Now my question is in the title. Which caster class is getting the most out of using two of them? As far as Act 1 goes, I *think* Wizard is the best in that regard, as I can either slot different spells for different specialties on me and Aloth, *or* I can balance spell usage between the 2 and reduce my need for resting - the latter should also be true for the Druid.

I need advice on building a melee Cipher MC for PotD. I couldn't find any guides or much info in general on that. Stat-wise, I got this as my blueprint: M14 C10 D14 P14 I16 R10 But I am fully open to suggestions... For race, Imma either stick to the endearing Godlikes (Nature or Death - leaning to Nature for flair, but also Death gets a damage buff at low enemy endurance...), or go for Orlan, as I found some really lovely portraits for them.

Defensive Mindweb is not very good in the current incarnation -- any damage at all kicks you from the web -- but just as an exercise in theory: Theoretically, the best party for Defensive Mindweb is one person specialized in each of the four defenses -- that is, one person with high Deflection, one with high Reflex, one with high Fortitude, one with high Willpower. What builds would people suggest to max each of those out? And how would those answers change if you're only using the standard companions and sidekicks? For Deflection, I've seen some builds posted here that had extremely high Deflection ( for example, https://forums.obsidian.net/topic/100521-class-build-solo-arcane-knight-what-happens-when-you-have-210-deflection/ ) but I haven't seen builds that stacked other defenses similarly high -- is it possible? The two big hurdes I'm seeing are that some items (e.g., giftbearer's cloak) stack fort/will/reflex equally, so would be in demand for all three; also not all class combos are available in the standard companions (no wizard/paladins). What items would people leap towards? What builds in particular?

Glanfathan Soul Hunter Game Version - 1.2 Difficulty - PoTD up-scaled / Solo / Deadly Deadfire Race: Wooden Elf Class - (Ranger) Ghost Heart / (Cipher) Ascendant Alignment - Neutral (The strongest survives) Culture: Aedyr God - Galawain Companion - Bear Increase difficulty mod: Deadly Deadfire Hardcore (https://www.nexusmods.com/pillarsofeternity2/mods/43) Videos: Showcases L20 - Equipment (On this video I didnt have Bracers of Greater Deflection) L20 - Abilities, Attributes (On this video, I used my old setup, check new version in abilities section) L20 - Queen L20 - Ukaizo L19 - Fampyr L15 - Adra lighthouse L13 - Ondra Temple Attributes Might - 10 Constitution - 10 Dexterity - 19 Perception - 10 Intellect - 18 Resolve - 11 Skills Alchemy 19 History 19 Abilities Whispers of Treason (CL1) + Marked Prey (HL1) Resilient Companion (HL2) Penetrating Visions (CL3) Draining Whip (CL4) + Gunnery (HL4) Marksman (HL5) Weapon and Shield Style (CL6) Ectopsychic Echo (CL7) + Evasive Roll (HL7) Protective Companion (HL8) Hammering Thoughts (CL9) Body Attunement (CL10) + Stalker's Link (HL10) Recall Agony (CL11) Bear's Fortitude (HL12) Ring Leader (CL13) + Driving Flight (HL13) Borrowed Instinct (CL14) Tactical Meld (CL15) Disintegration (CL16) + Survival of the Fittest (HL16) The Empty Soul (CL17) Defensive Bond (HL18) The Complete Self (CL19) + Superior Camouflage (HL19) Snake's Reflexes (HL20) Equipement Pet: Abracham (https://pillarsofete...dia.com/Abraham Weapon 1: Bronlar's Phalanx (https://pillarsofete...cordeo's_Trophy) + Scordeo's Trophy (https://pillarsofete...cordeo's_Trophy Weapon 2: Hand Mortal(https://pillarsofete...com/Hand_Mortar) + Cadhu Scalth (https://pillarsofete...om/Cadhu_Scalth) Weapon 3: Dragon's Dowry (https://pillarsofete...ven's_Cacophony) Armor: Patinated Plate (https://pillarsofete...Patinated_Plate) Head: Heaven's Cacophony (https://pillarsofete...ven's_Cacophony) Belt: Girdle of Eoten Constitution (https://pillarsofeternity.gamepedia.com/Girdle_of_Eoten_Constitution_(Deadfire)) Ring: Ring of the Marksman (https://pillarsofete...of_the_Marksman) + Small Ring of Protection Footprints: Boots of the Stone (https://pillarsofete...ts_of_the_Stone) Gloves:Bracers of Greater Deflection (https://pillarsofete...eadfire_bracers) Cloak: The Giftbearer's Cloth (https://pillarsofete...eadfire_bracers) Belt: Captain Belt (https://pillarsofete..._Captain's_Belt) Amulet: Strand of Favor(https://pillarsofete...Strand_of_Favor) Modals: * Large Shield * Pistol * Blunderbuss Food: Captain Banquette Gameplay: Charm enemies Put Ectopsychic Echo on Companion Generate Focus and RS with Scordeo If enemies surround switch on Hand Mortal and use Heaven's Cacophony active skills When you Ascended put Disintegration on each enemy around you Tips: Food: Captain Banquette prevent you from Rogue distraction and stop enemies sneak attack Food: Captain Banquette prevent you from Fear, Terrified Food: Captain Banquette prevent you from Domination Alchemy: Potion of Piercing Strikes with Body Attunement helps penetrate Golems and Ukaizo armor Alchemy: Potion of Ascension increase Disintegration damage

Rygmrand's "Artist" Class: Spiritualist ( Soulblade/Chanter ) Difficulty: PotD+ Version: 2.1 Solo: Hel Yes DESCRIPTION: A powerful build that snowballs early into a biawac of destruction and test the power of your gaming contraption! Kill your enemies with ice and decay. If you thought Grave Calling/Hel Beckoning's imp route was neat, you're in for a real big treat. Soul annihilating summons all day! RP: A character I imagined who would rise up to be Rymgrand's top agent. (EDIT) Patch 2.1 - Soul Annihilation's killing blow now has been fixed, but the skeleton and chillfog synergy is still going strong. Difference is now you can either dump SA on enemies or spam cipher spells during chillfog bursts kind of like a semi-ascendant that has Soul Annihilation. I also recommend trying out a Berserker Howler (skeleton nukes) or Harbinger multiclass (deathblow passives) for damage output if you can make do without the cipher utility to increase accuracy or weaken enemy fortitude defenses. There are 2 things that make this build work: 1. Soulblade's Soul Annihilation (SA) despite saying "Primary Attack", will trigger any weapon "on kill" effects if the target dies from the raw damage portion of the attack even if the weapon with the effect is equipped on the offhand. Apparently it also ignores the type of creature it is when it is killed, which will fulfill any "on kill" effect that requires a certain monster type (kith, etc). CAUTION: I am sure this is unintended so enjoy it while it lasts. D: 2. Most abilities that are activated or procced from a weapon will usually calculate damage and special effects using the weapon and any passive abilities the character has. In the case of the cipher, it will generate focus for them. There are some exceptions, but it is usually the case. Technically you could use SA's agnostic killing blow on any soulblade multiclass, which would probably make soulblade/rogue into an insane force of destruction on trash, but the chanter multiclass was the safer choice in order to supply your own "easy fuel" for SA kills and to default back to a chanter summon line on harder fights. Using the raw damage hit of the Soulblade's Soul Annihilation, I am able to 1-2 shot my low HP summons and able to proc the on kill effects of Grave Calling and Hel Beckoning regardless if they are a vessel or spirit. For Grave Calling I have enchanted it to cast chill fog on a vessel kill which will be my skellies. This will result in a free AoE non-hazardous chillfog spell when I kill my summon that blinds and pulses damage to enemies that ALSO contribute to my focus gain, which means I can then use soul annihilation immediately again on an enemy or spam cipher spells. This also stacks my ice lash buff and with the paralyzation on crit enchant, many of the enemies caught in the chillfog spam become blinded and paralyzed as they get torn apart. The afflictions will still persist even if they are immune to freeze damage. The even nastier thing is that if a vessel dies from chillfog it will spawn another chillfog because it is still benefiting from Grave Calling's passives. You will want to cull near-death non-vessels with SA to take advantage of their deaths. POST 2.1 - While this still can work when fighting spirits, it now requires a bit more micro of what blade does killing blows. The other styles seem a lot more viable now and even weapon/ranged can work since the build has no full attacks. In the case for Hel Beckoning, which has procs on a spirit kill and behaves similar to Grave Calling, the two options are a corrode AoE or a corrode imp summon. Although the AoE option is definitely the higher damage option on normal fights, the single aoe cast can miss since it is after all going against fortitude defense, can be resisted by poison immunes, and it doesn't pulse like chillfog does. So for this weapon in solo mode I opted to turn it into a imp summoning tool though in a party you can opt for the AoE instead since you won't have to worry about resistances and survivability as much. The main benefit is to gain ranged cannon fodder separate from the chanter's summons that will also leave usable bodies for "The White Worms AKA Corpse Explosion," which will give a crush damage vs reflex option. Note: The bodies still have the summoning timer and will disappear when it expires. Also of course, the white worms can be used aggressively to unload even more damage on top of the chillfog deathzone to end encounters even quicker without needing focus to spam amplified wave. Hel Beckoning may not always be your main offhand since there are options like Resounding Hammer that gives a free Might+PEN inspiration when killing your summons. Now the obvious weaknesses of the 2 weapons is that the major damage abilties go against fortitude, chillfog is only freeze damage, and maintaining an imp army can only go so far with their pitiful corrode damage PEN. In these specific situations, we can then fallback to the summon meatshield wall of chanters while we pick off targets to gain focus and grind them down via cipher spells or switch to another weapon with another kill effect (although not as strong as Grave Calling but they are "good enough"). We also still have the options from chanter and cipher abilties to lower defenses for the weapon's abilities to land. Some freeze immunes like rime constructs still are vulnerable to the paralyzing effects of chillfog so even if you do no damage, the enemy is prepped to be killed via other means. POST 2.1 - Auto skellies instead and dump SA on enemies while chillfog taps them for focus. While the fire lash chant is great for focus gain, the build does not use it because SA gets countered if your summon is benefitting from the fire lash chant for some reason. In this build, I've opted to use 2 chants: 1. Life Leech Chant: Since you will be doing a lot of damage on trash and hitting your weak defense summons, this chant works great as a healing option. In times of desperation you can back away and "tap" your minions to recover. 2. Skelly Summon Chant: This frees up phrases that would have been used to initiate battles with summons to allow different invocations to be used. Unlike the invocation skellies, the bodies of these skellies can be used for corpse explosion if you are fast enough to trigger it before the body disappears. OTHER NOTES: You do not gain focus from hitting your own summons even with confuse just to be clear with it. There is also a bit of mental micro of needing to know, which blade is being used when auto-attacking your summons. This build also makes use of the Magran belt. While the additional burn damage is nice for minor focus gain, the primary reason is to gain a chance to summon a fire elemental whenever you hit, which is a lot when you have several weapon aoes hitting mobs. The elemental will then serve as easy focus fuel in the midst of tougher or dwindling enemies. There is one really interesting caveat you need watch out for and that is the confused affliction. With the affliction, your aoe zones will damage you which will result in death if you don't have the defenses to get out or survive it if you happen to be in the thick of it. For this reason, INT and DEX resistances are recommended to have. It also serves as an amazing mechanic since now you can just summon your skeletons directly into the chillfog and have them blow up into a nuclear chillfog, which is pretty amazing to watch honestly if your computer can handle it. In a party, have some berserker caster or rogue put a controlled confusion on you for skelly chillfog bombs that would violate the Geneva Convention so hard. Having said that, a howler (berserker/chanter) can do this all by himself using Grave Calling normally. With the SA trick, you could also go double imp enchants for 2 imps for the price of one body. Keep killing your imps to generate more imps as long as you alternate hitting an enemy in between since hitting your own summons does not generate any focus for you. Using this trick, even a non-chanter can build up a ton of imps really quick that can fuel other types of mob builds, but chillfog is too good to give up for an imp. SUBCLASSES: Each chanter subclass has its perks in the build. Skald - Skeletons and wisps have really low defenses so hitting them will generate phrases really quickly, which then can be spent on discounted offensive invocations. Unfortunately it does not generate any phrases from chillfog or noxious blast. Troubadour - Not as bursty as skald's phrase generation, but a lot more consistent than beckoner for rapid phrase generation and helpful when retreating after enemies ripped apart your summons really fast. A skelly every 3 seconds from the skelly chant is also amazing for lazy summon fuel. Beckoner - The lowered HP of the summons helps for initial kills with SA. Even with the lowered duration of summons, a high INT build is still sufficient to be able to have summons constantly up and there is usually enough time to kill a few. It is however, tighter on resources on tough fights until level 19 where the skelly chant will free up some room to use phrases on non-summoning invocations and a bit difficult to use on lower INT builds. It also is the strongest nuclear chillfog subclass when using confuse affliction. Ascended - If you prefer autoattacking summons with just Grave Calling, Ascended works just as well, but this guide will be about Soul Blades since ascended builds perform similar to each other once hitting the ascended buff. RACES: Pale Elf - I chose pale elf to be more in line with the lore of being Rymgrand's BFF, but the real benefit of it is that the fire and freeze AR is extremely helpful when finding several summoned fire elementals chasing your character around or a sudden intellect affliction has the character in the middle of a chillfog deathzone. Wood Elf - Same stats as Pale Elf, but gives a free dexterity resistance. Human - Can be useful in a party since the accuracy boost and damage boost from being bloodied is easier to maintain and control, but you will have to forgo using the life leech aura. CULTURE & BACKGROUND: The White that Wends for perception since accuracy is the highest priority in the build. Matches with the whole RP thing too. You're free to choose whatever though. ATTRIBUTES: SKILLS: WEAPONS & MODALS: ABILITIES: +Good / ?Notable / -Bad EQUIPMENT: +Good / ?Conditional / -Bad

[CLASS BUILD] The Soul Sniper - Mindstalker - Solo PotD Full Playthrough with Megabosses Class: Assassin/Cipher (no subclass) Concept: Ranged glass cannon (ab)using stealth mechanics and highly synergistic skills, weapons and items to deliver high burst damage and DoT while staying in the safety of the shadows. Game Version: Works with latest updates and DLCs as of v5.0.00040. I recommend the Full Community Patch and the No Forced Rests mod (otherwise just metagame around them, it’s fully viable but just a bit annoying). POTD Solo: Yes. Base Game, All DLCs, All 4 Megabosses completed. Some strategies below. Companion: Nope (really meant to play solo by definition) Important Opening Notes: 1) This build originated from playing Kaylon’s excellent Glimmer Man Tactician/Assassin build. I reused a lot of his findings here, and other thoughts from Boeroer, Thelee and others. 2) This build will NOT work with Berath’s Challenge. 3) I would not recommend this build for a first playthrough in the Deadfire. It relies upon a niche type of gameplay that you will most enjoy if you are a returning player with some understanding of the combat mechanics of Deadfire. 4) This is a long post… bear with me, I hope it will be worth the read! -----INTRO------ The idea of this build came to life while trying out Kaylon’s Glimmer Man build. I was really interested in a solo PotD capable ranged Assassin and Kaylon’s build was extremely appealing. As I played it up to lvl 20, I got really impressed by its potential and it turned out to be a lot more versatile than I thought. I also realized a few things along the way: - Brilliant Tactician was very nice but maybe not that crucial, even for a full playthrough. - Some of the drawbacks of Tactician were not optimal (lower PEN and ACC mostly) - There were lots of synergistic Fighter skills, but some not as much (e.g. the +ACC bonus of Stances doesn't stack with Arquebus modal, Constant Recovery doesn’t do much for this build). - Most importantly, this weapon user, high damage build could really benefit from having all 4 mythical adra stones, but Hauani o Whe can’t be reliably dealt with as Kaylon pointed out. I decided to try something different, and the Mindstalker made sense because of class synergies (Biting Whip, Hammering Thoughts and Disintegration cost 3 skill points and are on their own very incremental/transformational to the Assassin), plus you can easily take Hauani (Disintegration + Marux Amanth), and it has a nice thematic fit. From there, I decided upon vanilla Cipher because of the lack of drawbacks and because it brought the best Whip ability for weapon damage. It’s probably debatable, but since you mostly attack with Rogue skills, you don’t consistently generate focus so you have a permanent 20% DMG increase and a 20% Raw Lash on top. Nice. From then, the big questions was: can you complete the game, the Megabosses and the DLCs solo on PotD with a resource-intensive toon that mostly doesn’t have resource regeneration? The answer is yes. From the heights of Vilario’s Rest down to the rectum of Wael’s Titan body, this toon performed far above my expectations. As I’ll explain in a bit, it is one of the most synergistic build I’ve played, in the sense that every skill point invested or item equipped brings something specific to the build. Nothing is wasted, even if certain skills aren’t used that often. The build can basically trivialize 95% of the game including Megabosses. It slows down a little bit in the last 5% which are the DLC fights where the game suddenly puts you in a small enclosed space with lots of respawning enemies and no way to reset the fight. Even then, you just have to slightly adapt your build and you basically turn on God Mode again. The key then is to keep your Guile for stealth and to have high Arcana to nuke everybody with AoE Scrolls (which will benefit from your bonii of attacking from stealth). I’ll detail everything below after a quick rundown of the skills and items specs. -----SPECS------ Race: Wood Elf (optimal, doesn’t matter too much) Background: The White that Wends – Hunter (doesn’t matter much) FINAL STATS WITH ALL PERMABUFFS AND NO-REST BUFFS AS OF 5.0 (without combat buffs): MIG 25 (18 Base +2 Berath +1 Gift from Machine +2 Alchemic Brawn +2 Hot Razor Skewers) CON 9 (3 Base +2 Berath +2 Alchemic Brawn +2 Konstanten Boon) DEX 22 (15 Base +1 Elf +2 Berath +2 Alchemic Guile +2 Amira’s Blessing(?? To be investigated, apparently it has to do with the Neketaka burning house event. Never got the bonus before although getting the event 100% of time. This time I didn’t pursue the arsonists…) PER 29 (18 Base +1 Elf +1 White that Wends +2 Berath +1 Konstanten Boon +1 Effigy: Sagani +2 Alchemic Guile +1 Savage Cunning +1 Cauldron Brew +1 Ajamuut) INT 25 (18 Base +2 Berath +1 Konstanten Boon +2 Alchemic Wits +2 Charm of Bones) RES 11 (3 Base +2 Berath +2 Alchemic Wits +2 Nature’s Resolve +2 Rikuhu’s Blessing) ADDITIONAL PERMABUFFS: Food: Hot Razor Skewers Adratic Glow All Trainings Dawnstar Blessing Luminous Adra Potion Nature’s Resolve (Accuracy) Savage Cunning (Survival) Galawain’s Gift x3 (Acc. against beasts) BERATH BLESSINGS: I am not ashamed of investing all 105 points. BUT none is required to win with this build. SKILLS: I like to roll Diplomacy, Survival, Athletics, and Mechanics (and a bit of Stealth of course) over the course of the game as they enable important stat checks early on. After level 20 and once I’m in the thick of the DLC’s, a stronger focus on Arcana is very helpful and mandatory for the biggest cheesy fights. ----- ABILITIES ------ ASSASSIN Core to the build: Crippling Strike, Fast Runner, Arms Bearer, Smoke Veil, Blinding Strike, Dirty Fighting, Two Handed, Debilitating (or Arterial) Strike, Gouging Strike, Finishing Blow, Deep Pockets, Withering Strike, Devastating Blow, Tough, Uncanny Luck, Deep Wounds, Toxic Strike, Improved Critical, Deathblows. CIPHER Core to the build: Whisper of Treason (just to make Krovix of the Deep your pet), Biting Whip, Hammering Thought, Disintegration. Situational Skills: Borrowed Instinct, Empty Soul (both for Hauani), Farcasting, Rapid Casting (for end-game, Arcana heavy build). Caution: NEVER Take Echoing Horror, it will make you come out of Stealth/Invisibility! A Couple of Notes: -You don’t need the Shadowing Beyond tree. Smoke Veil and the occasional Potion of Invisibility or Scroll of Withdraw are all you need in stealth. For extra mobility, you can consider the Bounding Boots with Boeroer’s tricks. Not required at all, but fun if you’re really into Arterial Strike. I prefer Debilitating Strike because I have already a lot in the DoT department, and because it enables Deathblows which can synergize with Thunderous Report. -Backstab doesn’t fit the playtstyle of this build and is in my experience buggy with Arquebus. -I really don’t spread much into the Cipher’s skill tree, but what I take is incredibly helpful, and then it allows me to invest heavily in the Assassin skill-intensive tree. This is synergy! -----GEAR------ Weapon Set 1: Dragon’s Dowry, Mythic, Volatile Runelock, Serpent’s Rage. Weapon Set 2: The Red Hand, Mythic, Double Tap, Unburdened Soul (trust me on the long run Unburdened Soul is the better choice. See notes below). Weapon Set 3: Main Hand Fire in the Hole, Mythic, Chain Shot and Off-Hand Kitchen Stove, Mythic, Thunderous Report, Everything and Anything. Also keep handy: Marux Amanth. And True Lover’s Kiss if you want. Acina’s Tricorn Charm of Bones Devil of Caroc: whatever enchantments. With permabuffs, it gives us 12 Guile/Encounter. Ajamuut’s Stalking Cloak: amazing! Killer’s Gloves (keep Burglar’s Gloves and Firethrower’s gloves handy) Ring of Focused Flames (synergizes with Dragon’s Dowry and Thunderous Report) Ring of the Marksman (keep Kuaru’s prize handy) Slippers of the Assassin (free stealth once per encounter when you kill your first enemy: this item is amazing!) Sash of Judgment Harley Dog (keep Eviee handy) Potions and Scrolls: Invisibility, Withdraw, high level elemental and physical damage scrolls, anything that can also paralyze/ petrify. A couple of notes: -On the Red Hand, I initially went with Guilty Conscience. Even if it fits the idea of the build, +40% damage taken still sucks. The Red Hand doesn’t need the extra-extra 20% DMG to be awesome. Also, Guilty Conscience will make the (very) optional fight in SSS where you are turned into an Ironclad impossible to win. -Double Tap and especially Thunderous Report are some of the most powerful, transformational weapon effects in the game. Worthy Sacrifice also, but just for one fight. -Overall, just keep unique stuff you come across to have options, especially if you haven’t played PotD a lot. If you come across items with immunities/resistance, hold on to them. You will have more than enough money anyway. -----GENERAL STRATEGIES------ Our Defense is dismal, and we will take a lot of damage because of our passives. Our only option is to stay hidden in the shadows, and to strike hard. Luckily we have a pretty serious and flexible offensive potential: long range single target, short range AoE, both able to apply Burst or DoT, plus afflictions that enable more damage. Lots of combos in perspective. Our ACC will routinely reach 200+ and our PEN is always above 20. So you will always crit and so you will always overpenetrate etc. Thunderous Report is usually critting at 182 ACC with 33 PEN and 400+ DMG. The arquebuses can reach higher ACC and PEN of 36 and hit for 200-300 DMG a shot – and then you can add the DoT! All in all, this build always has the PEN mechanic working in his favor, and will crit 99% of enemies 99% of the time. BURST DAMAGE: -Debilitating Strike: Cheap, big damage, enables Deathblows. Nice opener for Burst DMG. -Devastating Blow: Very strong finisher on enemies with lots of health and closer to the end. Thunderous Report: Outstanding damage in a BIG AoE cone. -Any combination of those will obliterate most enemies. With Dragon Dowry, you can routinely do about 600 DMG on a single target with Debilitating + Devastating in a double tap. -Debilitating Strike with Fire in the Hole immediately followed by Thunderous Report from Stealth is ridiculously strong and will result in potentially 3,000+ total AoE damage depending on the size of the crowd, in less than 5sec of combat. -The Red Hand’s Double Tap will instakill all vessels… except Dorudugan, Concelhaut, the Fampyr’s in Splintered Reef, maybe a few others. But the other Ancient Fampyrs in their cave, the Ancient Liche Battlemage, the Ancient Deathguards, the Steel Ironclads, the Engwithan Titans… all instakillable. -Pierce Immunes are never a problem between double tap for vessels and the lashes/additional effects, especially if using Dragon Dowry. -Do not use Dragon Dowry on Fire immunes. All its attacks are keyworded as Fire which is on the other hand great with Ring of Focused Flames. (Also works with Thunderous Report). OVER TIME DAMAGE: -Gouging Strike: will prolong combat and work until the enemy is no more. Amazing. -Toxic Strike: will increase in potency over time, scaling to incredible damage. -Disintegration: one of the strongest single target damage spell in the game. You can apply all 3 DoTs above to the same target. It works very well at absolutely obliterating enemies that thought they could out-heal your offense, and can speed up boss fights. We are concentrating in this build some of the stronger DoTs in the game. Sure you could also have Arterial Strike, and team up with your Priest, Paladin and Ranger buddies for a crazy DoT-fest. But you have all you need there already to make any enemy a dead man standing. -Deep Wounds: always on, and pretty cool! -----MEGABOSS/HARD FIGHTS STRATEGIES------ You may argue that I use very cheap tactics against those magnificent beings. But if I can’t even abuse Gouging Strike with an Assassin, then who can? Dorudugan: Equip upright captain belt, shoot Doru in the face with Gouging Strike, Stealth and retreat to the exact South East corner of the map (right in the corner). Come back an hour later, it’s cooked. Belranga: Shoot her in the face with Gouging strike, Stealth and retreat at the beginning of the map. Once she’s done, proceed to finish the remaining spiders with Thunderous Report on the biggest cluster and stealth+snipe on the stragglers. Hauani O Whe: Shoot it in the “face?” with Gouging Strike, then retreat to the south of the beach and chill. Once it’s at Near Death, take a +ACC potion/scroll, gulp a potion of invisibility, fire Borrowed Instinct on Hauani. Restealth and use your additional +ACC to land Disintegration (Empower ok but not necessary). Restealth, walk to Hauani and make sure it’s not moving and it’s under the effect of Disintegration. Yank it with Marux Amanth for a nice instakill. Auranic: It’s actually pretty easy even with this build: you need potions of invisibility, the Eviee pet, one Empower point, and do NOT damage Auranic from the beginning. Keep her for last. First, go kill the bodyguard that can charge/stun. Stealth and Thunderous Report + maybe a normal followup attack will do. This will trigger your invisibility from the boots. Go slightly south while switching to the Red Hand. Fire on the Sigil that opened (obelisk of terror) and the remaining bodyguard both with Gouging Strike. Yes, even if obelisks are pierce DMG immune they will take the hit, triggering lashes and additional effects. Drink a potion of invisibility and retreat to the entrance to chill a bit. Now you will repeat this strategy to apply Gouging Strike to all the remaining obelisks but never attack Auranic. It’s actually really easy, walk up, Auranic opens an obelisk, shoot, stealth, run away. Use potions of invisibility and replenish 6 points of Guile out of your 12 Max when needed. Once all obelisks have the Gouging Strike, wait at the entrance for their destruction. Because Auranic is still relaxed, she won’t open the obelisks unless provoked. Once they’re gone, shoot Auranic in the face with Gouging Strike from Dragon’s Dowry and retreat to the entrance. Wait until she’s done. Of note, you can use the same strategy without using the Empower points and the True Lover’s Kiss, but it’s probably very tedious. SSS Hard Arena Fights /BoW Bridge Ablaze/FS Oratory and Oracle: Those fights might seem impossible at first but respec to max Arcana and load up with the strongest AoE scrolls with potions of invisibility and use your Guile to stay invisible or Gouging Strike key opponents. The fights will become a cakewalk. As an Assassin, you retain your bonii from striking from stealth when you use scrolls which leads to devastating AoE strikes. -----THE END------ Happy to read your thoughts and potential for improvement. Retrospectively, I may have underutilized the Cipher half of this toon, but at the same time this version is very effective!

Description: Mindstalker (Beguiler Cipher + Debonaire Rogue) attacks a target afflicted with charm via Whisper of Treason. Sneak Attack's +30% damage successfully applies, since the target was affected by the charm affliction, but Soul Whip only applies its +10% damage, instead of the +20% that Beguilers should deal when attacking Sneak Attack-able targets. Steps to Reproduce the Issue: 1. Afflict an enemy with Whispers of Treason on a Beguiler/Debonaire Mindstalker 2. Crit the charmed target with a basic attack 3. Confirm that Sneak Attack applied, since the target was afflicted by a mind affliction (charm) for +30% 4. Confirm that, despite the target being sneak attacked, Soul Whip only applied a +10% damage bonus Attached screenshot shows damage applied by Soul Whip only applied +10%, despite Sneak Attack also being present on the attack at +30%.

Hello all, I know this has been asked before but I haven't been able to find a solution yet. I tried fixing it myself by removing the ability (soul_whip) from the character and adding it again through console commands, I tried tweaking my graphics card settings and the game graphic options but it didn't work. The one time I managed to make it work was by removing the "Assembly-CSharp.dll" file from the managed folder on the installation directory and replacing my save files, it took a little longer to load up the game but the purple glow worked, I reloaded the same saved game file and my soul whip vfx was gone. So, has anyone been able to fix it? I don't mind tweaking the game everytime I load up my save file or anything, I know it's just a cosmetic problem, but I feel like the purple lash on the cipher weapon means a lot to the roleplaying aspect of being a Cipher, I know some people don't like it, but maybe someone with more knowledge and experience solving bugs could help me out

Hi there, Bought both games on their respective launches but ended up not having time to play them (well, steam says I have 12 hrs on PoE1) but now I have some time on my hands and plan to play both of them porting the save. I'll do a run of Kingmaker after that if time allows. Now, the games are not current anymore and even though I've read till my eyes burn, most of the builds are heavily outdated, at least for what I want to play, Back in the day when I first played, blunderbuss ciphers were all the rage. So I'd like to ask for some help with a more or less detailed build and recommended party for what I want. I plan on playing on normal with story companions. I'm not a competitive player, don't want it super easy but don't want to bang my head on the wall just for beating the game on hard or PoTD. I want to enjoy the story. I want to play a Dual Wield Melee Cipher, because it's the unique class to this game and the most similar to a Battlecaster. I have always liked the idea of casting magic while slashing with a sword. Since I also like dual wielding and in this game there's no need to have an empty hand to cast like Geralt (or Magus on Kingmaker).... I'm not about minmaxing so, as long as I don't die terribly on each fight during all the game I prefer to have fun and roleplay my character instead of searching for the most OP Can this be done? Can you help me please? Thanks!

I'm playing an Ascendent/Assassin mindstalker, and I'm noticing that when I make my first attack from stealth (to initiate combat), sometimes I gain focus, and other times I don't. The weapon seems to make a difference (I have never received focus from the initial sneak attack with an arquebus, and most of the time it works with a warbow, but not always). Is this a bug? What am I missing?

======== Alistair ======== ~the Trickster Prince~ -------------------------- Class and Specialization -------------------------- MindStalker: Cipher (Beguiler) + Rogue (Trickster) Wood Elf: Resistance to Dexterity afflictions Origin: Old Vailia Background: Aristocrat -------------------- Stats: M/C/D/P/I/R -------------------- 16/10/15/15/17+1/04 Notes: ----- I prefer Beguiler since I'm more concerned with casting Control skills than with dishing out damage. Rogue on its own provides most of the damage needed and Arterial Strike (Crippling Strike upgrade) and then Killing Blow does most of the work damaging an opponent while the damage bonus from Trickster Sneak Attack (+20%, later Deathblows +50%) and Beguiler Soul Whip (+20%, +10% under Sneak Attack conditions) makes this unit's AA powerful enough on its own. The Rogue skill-tree exists primarily for its passives--'Persistent Distraction' is powerful in melee (-10 Deflection, +1 Engagement, no defense check) and the Trickster's class spells augment the Beguiler's power and flavor quiite nicely. I am aware that Beguiler is an unpopular pick at the moment, but I will make the distinction that, compared to the other three classes, Beguiler is useful and powerful as a function of volume rather than strength. Bear with me as I explain. For this purpose, I'd like to make a comparison between Ascended and Beguiler. Unlike Ascendant, Soulblade and especially Psion, Beguiler benefits not just from a better Soul Whip (+50% although it is locked behind a Sneak Attack condition), but also from being able to frontload its spells whereas the others have their power backloaded. Unlike Ascendant which needs to build up its focus painstakingly and with a massive disadvantage, the relative DPS of a Beguiler is much more consistent and with about 10~ focus resotred on Hit per Hit at level 15-20, it's easy to get enough Focus per cast in order to cast high-level spells consistently. The only time when Ascended does take over would be during through the Ascended buff and even then not by much. They get the full Soul Whip bonus and a +3 to power level but the amount of time to get there is much slower unless when taking advantage of AoE attacks. Trickster, on the other hand, is chosen both for the utility gained from their bonus spells and the offensive power of both the Rogue abilities and the bonus from Sneak Attack. With this last, the build gains at least (1 + 2.10)x damage to its Auto-attack from the collective benefit from Rogue's Sneak Attack + Deathblows (20% + 50% +x% from PL scaling), and the bonus from Biting Whip and the Bonus from Sneak Attack to Soul Whip (20% + 10%) not including any bonuses from items. Sadly, these bonuses only apply to auto-attacks and weapon-based attacks. I am unsure if the bonus from Soul Whip applies to the Rogue's Full attacks but it should not be too much of a problem considering the above par margin on damage these abilities gain simply from a combination of Sneak Attack and Dual Wield. On the utility side, the build gains bonuses not just from its free spells but also a plethora of other utility skills from Rogue Cipher such as Persistent Distraction, Hammering Thoughts, Gouging Strike, Cipher Afflictions, etc. These range from the extremely useful Llengrath's Displacement, to the powerful but niche Ryngrim's Visage. Alternatives: ------- Some of the better alternatives to this build involve exchanging Trickster either with (1) Assassin or (2) Debonaire, the first to take advantage of any invisibility the build might obtain through its abilities while the latter is best paired with double Blunderbusses in order to take advantage of the party-unfriendly modal available to the Blunderbusses ========= Synergies ========= The usual opener I'd suggest would be (Secret Horrors) + (Phantom Foes -or- EyeStrike) Blind is one of the most powerful afflictions in the game since it not only reduces a two defenses but reduces the enemy's max range and accuracy. Frightened does two things, the first is that it reduces the Will defense and lengthens the duration of Afflictions and similar status ailments. Since the Beguiler bonus works with Body and Mind Afflictions, Casting Secret Horrors first and then EyeStrike should net the Cipher a good bit of Focus for future casts. When going melee, the following is recommended (Llengrath's or Mirror Image) with Wael's Sceptre + (Borrowed Instinct) Based on this, https://forums.obsidian.net/topic/104896-the-big-post-of-stacking-rules/ it should be possible to stack the above for a total of +30 Deflection and +30% Hit to Graze conversion from both abilities. If one's defenses are sufficiently high, Mirror Images would be a better pick clocking in at +50 Deflection add in (Body Attunement) + (Tactical Meld) if Accuracy or Armor is insufficient. Body Attunement alone is pretty useful even when ranged while Tactical Meld is useful for engagement. That said, (Tactical Meld) + (Ryngrim's Repulsive Visage) + (Persistent Distraction) is a good way of getting free Disengagement Attacks for bonus damage if surrounded. It should be noted that I get almost no damage skills, but a few could be useful. Amplified wave should be easy to cast consistently with the Beguiler bonus and barring that, casting the lower level spells like Ectopsychic Echo and Mind Blades should be easy. There are others but these, I think are the best. ========== Equipment ========== --------- Weapons --------- Set 1: Rannig's Wrath + Tuotilo's Palm -or- The Best Defense Set 2: Watershaper's Rod -or- (Fire-in-the-Hole + Hand Mortar) -or- (Wael's Sceptre + The Best Defense) Set 3: Whispers of the Endless Paths Armor: Honor Guard Breastplate -or- Caroc's Breastplate -or- Miscreant's Leathers Notes: ----- (1) Weapon swap is recommended when using the Trickster spells--which, incidentally, is probably the most annoying aspect of this setup. The melee weapons are the main source of DPS; Hand Mortar has AoE for Focus generation and AoE distraction; Wael's Sceptre grants +2 Illusions Power Level and 10% chance to become invisible on crit (backstabs); Current's rush has y% Crit guarantee ramp and z% Crush dmg on crit. (2) The build can make for a very good off-tank since the Cipher spell 'Borrowed Instinct' (+20 ACC, +20 all defenses) and the Trickster access to Mirror Image (+30 DEF) and Llengrath's Displacement (+10 DEF +20 REF, 20% Hit to Graze) [these two spells don't stack] makes for a very durable off-tank. (3) There's an interesting interaction between Wael and Current.Current makes it so that both Sceptres trigger their on-crit effects. Try to get Backstab from Rogue to make the most of the free invisibility. Otherwise replace Hand-Mortar with Eager Blade (4) One important thing to note is that the Rogue afflictions will transfer using AoE weapons. This is where the double Blunderbusses come in. Using these Blunderbusses, you can transfer Gouging Strike to a large number of units so that they will suffer from AoE bleed. This usually helps clear out waves of enemies especially in PotD since Gouging Strike lasts until the end of battle. (5) Caroc's Breastplate would be the best armor to use on most occasions but I prefer Honor Guard just for looks. ------------- Accessories ------------- HGr: Heaven's Cacophony (+2 INT) Amt: Bauble of the Fin (+1 INT, +1 CON, +3% Damage Aura) Clk: Giftbearer's Cloth Blt: Sash of Judgment (+10% Damage above 50% Health) Bts: Footprints of Ahu Taka (+2 DEX) Glv: Aegor's Swift Touch (+1 DEX, +5% Action Speed) -or- Hylea's Talons Rn1: Chameleon's Touch (+1 INT, +1 PER) Rn2: Entonia Signet Ring -or- RIng of Clenched Muscle (random afflictions and random inspirations on hit) Notes: ----- These Accessories focus on giving additional Hit damage and utility instead of direct stats. The rest focus on improving defenses or Damage. =============== Level Progression =============== This section has a tier-system to facilitate the creation of a list of recommendations for the build. Recommendations are ranked according to priority starting from a rank of (1) onwards with (1) being the highest priority. Cipher is marked as (C) while Rogue is marked as (R). So a first priority skill from a Cipher will be indicated (C) while a second-priority skill from the same class would be indicated (C2). (1) Eyestrike (C), Crippling Strike (R) (2) Soul Shock (R) (3) Penetrating Visions (C) (4) Draining Whip (C), Two-Weapon Style (G) (5) Phantom Foes (C) (6) Blinding Strike (C) (7) Secret Horrors (C), Gouging Strike (R) (8) Hammering Thoughts (C) (9) Recall Agony (C), Weapon and Shield Style (esp. when using "Tuotilo's Palm" or "The Best Defense" as shields) (G2) (10) Body Attunement (C), Persistent Distraction (R), Riposte (R2) (11) Withering Strike (R) (12) Silent Scream (C) (13) Ringleader (C), Deep Wounds (R) (14) Borrowed Instinct (C) (15) Tactical Meld (C) (16) The Empty Soul (C), Toxic Strike (R) (17) Amplified Wave (C) (18) Improved Critical (R) (19) Ancestor's Memory (C) Deathblows (R) (20) Stasis Shell (C) Notes: ----- As can be seen from the distribution, there is an emphasis on getting important Crowd Control spells from the Cipher tree as opposed to the usual damage spells. Due to the benefits to resource-volume from Beguiler, Amplified Wave is sufficient in its role as main DPS source and combined with Sneak Attack and Deathblows by Rogue (+70% Sneak Attack damage to Spells) one would need little in the way of DPS in terms of spells. Feel free to take DPS spells along the way. Stats can always be re-specced so its no real burden on the build. One thing to look out for is the fact that this build specializes in single-target damage. AoE Damage is best delivered through weapons since these benefit from the bonus ailments and conditions made possible by Rogue. Otherwise, the build still performs well as an AA build with the combined effect of Deathblows, Biting Whip, Persistent Distraction and Borrowed Instinct. Take note that I don't take the lower level Charm spells. First, one can take them at lower levels then spec out of them upon reaching higher levels. Second, consider that Ringleader does most of the work of those spells only better and that you can opt out of any earlier build by paying the innkeep. Third, while those lower level spells are fun to spam and undoubtedly powerful (charm is powerful in general), one can easily do without them. There's the not-so-good reason that it would be a waste of a Charm spell if it stands in the way of your AoEs but by far the best reason is that there's already a higher level spell that does most of the lifting. Ringleader does for AoE what the others can only hope to achieve and with better range.

Hey guys I recently started playing PoE2 and have tried to find some solid starting builds for MC but there's a lot of information out there that's based on older patches, with dexterity probably being the most contentious stat when it comes to turn based mode. I've had a look at the wiki to plan out my party and have pretty much settled on Eder (fighter), Xioti (priest) and Tekehu (druid), with flex spot that will also determine my MC class reserved for Pallegina (paladin), Aloth (wizard or battlemage) or Serafen (Cipher). Which means my MC would be either paladin, cipher or wizard (evoker). The problem is that I don't know how to spread out the stats. For Wizard I took 18 might, 8 con, 10 dex, 19 per, 18 int, 4 res. I'm not far enough into the game to gauge the usefulness of dexterity yet and I'm still not fully clear yet if the game works on a round system or if initiative works more like speed in other RPGs, giving you more turns over a period of time. In any case, I'm wondering about Cipher specifically, and how to build it. Ideally I'd like to keep it as close to my PoE1 cipher as possible, which was using ranged weapons (blunderbuss, and later the legendary bow). However, I wouldn't mind some tips regarding starting stats for casters or melees either as it will surely help me with stat optimisation (gear wise) for the companions further down the line. Thanks in advance for answers.

Hi there. Relatively new player here (played 20 hours last year at launch), looking to create a ranged mindstalker for a Classic playthrough using the Turn-Based mode. I was hoping to get some advice re: stat priority, weapons (2h vs DW), and key abilities to really make the multi-class shine. Any advice is appreciated. Thanks!

I can not seem to get the numbers to add up in testing. Even if AoE spells only count main targets hits I am coming up with weird numbers. Does being resistant(even though being hit) to affliction remove bonus trigger? I am hitting groups(6+) of enemies already afflicted by at least phantom foes(flanked) and at best I am getting in the 30s for Focus generation when my tool tip suggests +14 Focus on hit with deception spells. I also have complete self(+5 on crit with spells) and when I register 6 crits against foes with flanked I regained 22 focus. I don't know if the description is misleading or this is bug.

First time poster here! So, I've been enjoying the game, and playing an Ascendant Cipher has been fun, but the duration for the übermode always feels just too short, doesn't it? Even if you can use the Salvation of Time to make it last a bit longer. (And to be honest, one Ascension is plenty against the vast majority of fights.) Now, I ran into the actual gimmick once I hit level 13 on the Cipher and got Ancestor's Memory. I discovered that the Brilliant Inspiration is busted when a slot caster class gets it. The fun here really begins when a friendly Priest gets it, and can from then on cast Salvation of Time as many times as you like (1 spellslot comes back every 3.0 seconds from Brilliant). So, buff up, Ascend, and enjoy your Eternal Ascension! No more need to build it up again, and since there are a couple of guns with nice activated abilities that basically fill your focus with one shot, it's easy livin' from there on out. This is not a superbusted thing, I feel, and not really something that one really needs, but it is a fun trick and smooths up those long boss fights considerably.

Hi, i would like to report an issue with the focus generation for the beguiler and ascendant subclass. The ratio between damage and generated focus does not match with the anticipated numbers. Here are my results testing the subclasses: no subclass cipher (draining whip): 1 damage point : 1 focus point Soulblade (draining whip): 1 : 1 Ascendant (draining whip): 1 : 1.25 Beguiler (draining whip + non-afflicted target): 1 : 0.5 Beguiler (draining whip + afflicted target): 1 : 0.75 As you can see the beguiler subclass is in comparison to no-subclass cipher and soulblade at a notable disadvantage. The ascendant subclass also gets less focus points than the 150% in the description would suggest. I hope this will be addressed in the future, because i really would like to play a beguiler at full power.

(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

Seeing how a lot of people sing the praises of the Liberator and Warden, I got to wondering if combining the Druid and Cipher in the Oracle multiclass would at least be functional. It kinda fits with some of the ideas I've had for my Cipher Watcher from PoE1 since day 1, adding a spiritual aspect to the Cipher, without directly tying myself to the gods and stuff, especially as a Mystic from the White that Wends. The end result almost feels like a Jedi from Star Wars, using the "Force" of Soul energy that flows through and binds all living things, with a strong influence on the weak-minded! Hel, if I made the character an orlan, they could basically be Yoda! Obviously I'd be interested in following a similar route to the popular Liberator setup, using the Lifegiver Druid subclass to provide healing and defense, while the Paladin (usually the Bleak Walkers or maybe Goldpact Knights) provides the offensive might. To that end, I suspect I'd have to use the Soulblade subclass, as if I'm going into melee like a Liberator, Soul Annihilation will be an vital tool. Other than that, though, I'm not exactly sure how to approach constructing this build. What say you, the more experienced forum goers? Is this a workable idea? And what would MAKE the idea workable? Thank you all in advance!

First of all, this post will be heavily edited as i play this guy further, but he has been tested at higher lvls using console to lvl 16 to test if the concept would work, and it did. As of right now the character is lvl 13 and is a blast to play. I am currently at work, bored to death, wich is why i thought id start this post and i could edit it later when i get home, but because of this i cannot at this time be 100% accurate on my attributes or spells picked per lvl but i will edit that in when this character is all done. Class: Mystic - Ascendant/Priest of Wael Race: Wood Elf (not important tho) Attribute dist. priority: Mig: Medium Con: Low'ish Dex: Medium Per: High Int: High Res: Dump Skills: As of right now not important, that might change later but its doubtful. Key gear pieces: Weapon slot 1: Scordios Trophy + Nerian's Ward (Vs singletargets) Weapon slot2: Whisper of the Endless Paths (vs groups) Head: Whitewitch Mask Chest: Fleshmender + 1 weaponslot (The Regen HP regen is much needed) Gloves: Using 10% hit to graze gloves atm, cant find them on Wiki, later i might switch them out for something else. Neck: Charm of Bones Cloak: Cloak of Greater deflection Rings: Marksman's Ring and Ring of Greater Regeneration Belt: Trollhide belt Boots: Ahu Taka https://pillarsofeternity.gamepedia.com/Footprints_of_Ahu_Taka Pet: Abraham Food: Captain's banquett, Mohara Wraps, Glazed Chops or Brew Battered Ysae How do we play this? First, before we pull we place a spell trap on the ground in front of us, the burn+blind is solid (searing seal), then we wait so we get our resource back. Pull with borrowed instinct, before u get borrowed instinct pull with the pistol so we get two rapid shots asap. Activate shield modal if enemies have good acc, cast Litany for Spirit (Accute, +5 int +1 PL) and then Arcane Veil, keep shooting until Ascended. When we Ascend we cast another arcane veil incase it ran out, then hit urself with Salvation of Time x2, enjoy ~1min of Ascended with massive deflection and hit to graze conversion pluss very high action/recovery speed from Scordios + Captains banquett. If u want to use potions or buff scrolls, use them right before u ascend. psychovampric shield + secret horrors + shining beacon - Mind Lance spamming is an amazing combo! Keep pistol modal on at all times, we have enough ACC so we dont have to worry about, and we rather have the speed to build up action speed for spell casting rather then pistol shot crits. This character is very defensive while also being very offensive, its a great mix =) While i play this character i will record some fights and make a video to show how i play her. I will edit this quite a lot during the next couple of days