Kaylon

Making spiritshifting work like a modal and removing healing is something I was also thinking about and for me it is perfectly fine. Of course keep the melee oriented specifics and prevent casting while shifted (being able to shift back and forth can alleviate some of the drawbacks anyway). In the case of the infinite spiritshift having short buffs doesn't make much sense and it would be preferable to replace them with some weaker passives maybe. Specific items would be the icing on the cake.

That's the point, sacrificing Marksman, Driving Flight, Gunner and Shot on the Run is more than other class combos have to sacrifice. Also you make it sound like losing access to Carnage, Accurate Carnage, One Stands Alone and Interrupting Blows - some of the specific traits of the barbarian - is not a big deal either. The idea is other combos can put arguably more on the table while sacrificing less. Bloody Slaughter is one of the worst passives in both PoE1/Poe2, I wouldn't call it nice. Speed is good, but you can already have Captain's Banquet + Rapid Shot. Also the fact that it can work "well" is beyond the point, you can make even a melee caster work very "well", but that doesn't mean it will be as good as the other options. You keep reminding about the particular case of the Mage Slayer. Yes, it can have an interesting interaction with the ranger, but that's a gimmick indeed - first, to be able to crit reliably with Frostseeker you need very high accuracy (which isn't the case here) and secondly there are better ways to disable mages - CC, interrupt or simply kill (and that's the reason the mage slayer doesn't justify his drawbacks and was never a top pick). Maybe on paper... Hunter's Claw is really useful only against some bosses where you can prepare in advance and, personally, I would never sacrifice Nature's Resolve for a bonus that works only against some enemies. Sure you can keep the same bonus through the entire game, but then it makes little difference compared to someone who doesn't have the buff. Without mentioning you will be under Bonded Grief more often than not. In fact I would even argue that Stalkers work better at range with the pet always near them as a bodyguard who can intercept attackers and also make the ranger sturdier. Fighter/rogue has already great synergy and the fact that you can't engage isn't a big deal - enemies rarely disengage anyway. Sure it's a bad subclass combo, but not the worst for me - it still tanks very well and can also dish lots of damage.

Priest/druid is great for healing, support and also damage, I don't see any bad synergy here. Same with druid/wizard or priest/wizard - all perfectly viable combos. Of course you can make a melee ranger/barbarian - the point is you will waste all ranged abilities, thus no synergy. Also having some gimmicky uses doesn't mean it's great or something, when any other choice can be better. Personally I don't see other combos that have to sacrifice so many core abilities in order to "work". If we talk about subclasses then sharpshooter/berserker would be the one with the worst synergy. A tactician/streetfighter (even if the post wasn't about subclasses) can also work. Shaken and confused can be easily solved with items/food/abilities. The only drawback of being flanked is you can't trigger Brilliant, but it's not such a big deal because fighter/rogue is already a great combo and doesn't require Brilliant to perform well. And Brilliant Tactician can still be triggered while invisible or other situations if you need to replenish resources - not a bad combo at all.

You don't need 100% hit to crit from Gambit. You can also use items/abilities to achieve over 90% which is reliable enough. VS multiple enemies you have to use Vanishing Strike and kill them one by one, resetting combat after each kill. VS single tough enemies you can't stay invisible long enough and you will need either some form of hard CC that disables them or Gouging Strike+Lover Embrace method. Anyway, high accuracy is crucial to make gambit work and the assassin with +20acc, +4pen and 50% crit damage while invisible beats a streetfighter with blunderbusses (because low acc/pen/base dmg). Scordeo's Edge with its 20acc buff and Blade Cascade is great and pairs well with Grave Calling and its Grave Bound (which freezes on crit anything that's not immune to dex afflictions while adding also 25% hit to crit). VS tough enemies you can "charge" them before the fight (target yourself with No Quarter from Rakhan Field Boots) or use Strand of Favor to make their buffs infinite. Obviously vs enemies with high resolve any CC is not an option. I haven't tried if the aura from Keeper of the Flame can hit you while invisible, but if it does you could in theory use the Shroud of the Phantasms to gain Brilliant and restore some guile.

Like I said, you can make anything work to some extent or find a niche. However, for me, even Spell Disruption isn't enough to justify a build, since there are multiple ways to deal with casters and you don't need a specialist just for that. The idea is a ranger has many core abilities that work only with ranged weapons, while the barbarian only within melee range, thus no good synergy.

You can make anything work to some degree, especially with a full party behind. But based on their main roles/abilities I would say barbarian/ranger.

Yeah, I think you're right, I wasn't aware you can't empower abilities added using the console and I added Inner Death to one of my old saves. When empower didn't work I remembered a patch with a nerf related to monks, empower and Skullcrusher and I thought it had something to do with that.

Ah, I see... In vanilla you can't empower Inner Death, either.

What damage bonuses do you had? Even when you backstab with soul annihilation it's difficult to deal over 700dmg.

Yes, but only with CP...

It was the first thing I suspected too, but it has the keyword Fire. I was also thinking it's because it does slash as the main damage, but I tested with other attacks with fire secondary and it works as expected. Another strange thing, when you're using the console command "god", the damage is displayed in the logs but actually you never take damage, however Brutal Cleave still does damage and Dorudugan might even kill you (if he would spam it). What makes this attack a "god" killer?

There's something strange about the dreaded Brutal Cleave of Dorudugan - it does slash/burn damage however (if you have higher slash resistance) you still take fire damage when you wear Rekvu's cloak. There's a reason to this or it's another bug?

The blood mage benefits less than the cipher, but the Chill Fog from Grave Calling is still interesting because it is affected by the weapon's bonuses, is "foe only" and can also freeze. Unfortunately you still have to do the kills with Grave Calling. To make things smoother you can damage first your skeletons with a spell. A possibility is to cast yourself Chill Fog which will do damage to everyone in the AoE and then kill them. Later you can also use the Essential Phantom to assist you. To optimize even more it might be a good idea to wear the Charm of Bones and equip Amaliorra in the offhand (it helps to attack faster with the main hand and also gives accuracy against vessels to all your attacks).

Your weapon set is good for tanking mega bosses on potd, but for normal difficulty and common enemies you should focus more on offense. Summons are meat shields, you shouldn't use them for damage - use invocations instead (Her Revenge...). You should ideally have 3 weapon sets: Sasha's Scimitar + Kitchen Stove / Modwyr + Lethandria's Shield / Dragon's Dowry. Two Necklaces of Fireballs (for 8 fireballs available every fight) + Ring of Focused Flame can help a lot (make sure you also pick Scion of Flame passive for increased penetration on fire abilities). Other nice items to have are Belt of Magran's Chosen, Horns of the Aurochs, Rakhan Field Boots, Abraham pet. If you cycle through all abilities you can finish fights very fast. Here's an example: Start at max range from stealth with Dragon's Dowry equipped (and modal activated) and cast Eternal Devotion on the nearest target -> cast Brand Enemy starting with tanky enemies until your zeal is depleted -> switch to Sasha+Kitchen and cast Thunderous Report -> empower and cast Her Revenge... -> use No Quarter (make sure you have Clear Head passive and Powder Burns activated) -> switch to Modwyr and cast again Her Revenge... until you deplete all phrases -> cast Fireballs -> Bottom's Up -> finish enemies left Make sure you pick also Retribution and Inspired Path (helps casting more Brand Enemy at the start) besides the passives already mentioned. Other dps combos you could try: Rust's Poignard + Blackblade's Hood Aldris Blade of Captain Crow + Fair Favor + Ring of Prosperity's Fortune Essence Interrupter + Deltro's Cage Helm (before any fight you can use No Quarter on yourself to obtain the buff) PS. And always play at max speed when using a herald.

While WotEP has the potential to passively restore your focus (using Offensive Parry), its main advantage is the ability to spread SA in AoE (which can become huge with all the rogue bonuses); its Run Through is also great for backstabs and refilling your focus instantly. Basically vs single enemies you should use Sun & Moon + Tuotilo's Palm, while vs multiple enemies you switch to WotEP. Later you can use replace Tuotilo's Palm with The Best Defense, add The Left Hand of the Obscured and have three sources of Terrify (which is just as good as Stun/Paralyze while also triggering occasional disengagement attacks). Other weapons worth using, depending on the situation, are Grave Calling (Chill Fog proc will replenish your focus continuously), Voidwheel (can instantly refill your focus when it procs and is great for backstabing enemies at the start of the fight using No Quarter from Rakhan Field Boots), Engoliero do Espirs can also heal and replenish your focus with its proc.