Hello! I just completed PoE1 and absolutely loved it. I played a pistolero Rogue and wanted to keep that going in the sequel as well but I'm having some real bad choice paralysis and would appreciate some tips and pointers.

The character fantasy I'm looking for is something like the Freelancers from the ICON ttrpg if that says anything to anyone. TLDR gunslinger with magical bullets or attacks. The first thing that came to mind was Arcane Archer Scout but I'm a bit iffy on the animal companion (Even though something like Ghostheart would fit with Freelancer's astral chain gimmick.) That is at the moment my most favoured pick but I'm still a little hung up on actually making it work.

Holy Slayer seems fun and fairly functional even with dual wielded guns since flames of devotion counts as a full attack. Bleak Walker seems the optimal pick for the free sickened but the rp flavour is a little restrictive so I'm leaning on Kind Wayfarers. I'm a bit worried a backline or even mid-range gunner might be wasting Paladin's excellent defenses and I'm not really interested in playing a tank.

The next option I was thinking of was Spellblade with either enchantment or illusion but I'm a little scared it might end up with too little support for the guns themselves. Could still potentially be interesting.

For weapons I'm mostly fine with all types of firearms, though dual wielded pistols or blunderbusses are calling me. I am also aware of the Street Fighter/Blunderbuss modal interaction but I'm a little wary of friendly fire since I'm not doing a solo run or anything.

Every opinion and tip helps!

Hi,

a dual pistol Paladin may not need the good defenses he or she naturally comes with, but it's not bad to have a ranged Paladin standing among the backline/behind the front line.

Stuff like the zealous auras and also White Flames (healing in Flames of Devotion) but also Shared Flames (burning lash for your party members who stand near) work better if your party members don't move too much - which usually is the case with fellow party members with ranged weapons. And you will be standing among them. One of my best Paladin characters was a dual pistol Kind Wayfarer (single class) and it was a LOT more practical than I imagined it first.

Arcane Archer is a great class imo. It has a little flaw though (if you are not using the Community Patch mod): the damaging imbued shots (Missiles, Fireball) don't scale their penetration. This makes them lackluster in the late game. However, I personally think the other, non-damaging imbued effects (Binding Web and Pull of Eora) are much better anyway.

Other classes that work well with pistols and might bring a "magic bullets" kind of vibe in combination with a Rogue:

• Cipher:

  the accuracy bonus from Borrowed Instincts work very well on addition to the pistol modal Rushed Reload, which is excellent if you can balance out the accuracy debuff

• Wizard:

  the Essential Phantom you can summon will carry all your items, including the pistols, in Deadfire.

  A Wizard can also prolong all benefical effects on them with Wall of Draining. There is a special pistol in Deadfire that gives you a stacking recovery bonus. If you prolong each stack you can reach incredible shooting and casting speed.

• Chanter:

  Sure-Handed Ila works with pistols and applies its -20% recovery bonus twice (!) to reloading weapons. It doesn't stack with Rushed Reload, but you can then achieve similar reloading speeds without the accuracy loss. If you pick a Troubadour with enough INT you can overlap Sure Handed Ila and Aefyllath Uses Mith Fyr which is a great DPS boost for you and any other party member who attacks with weapons, especially ranged ones and extra especially the ones with reloading weapons.

All these have the benefit that they have more options than pure shooting which adds a lot of versatility. I think I personally would like the Kind Wayfarer option best. The healing while shooting is very useful and leads to great action economy. The accuracy of Flames of Devotion (especially if combined with the early Ring of Focused Flames) is enough to balance out the accuracy loss of Rushed Reload. So you will have a fast shooter with high reactivity who's also doing high dmg per hit and can do support and healing (on the fly and actively with Lay on Hands etc.), too. It's a complete package and a good combo imo.

Also a Rogue/Paladin will be more sturdy/have better defenses than most other Rogue combos and most backline/ranged characters - which usually leads to less enemies targeting you. That means they won't bother you as much and that can remove a lot of potential frustration where you'd have to heal yourself, run away etc.

Cheers!