Boeroer

I haven't used that exploit myself - but I suspect that like with the other switching tricks (Lethandria's Devotion, Outworn Buckler etc.) this should work while the game is paused...?

It is better because it already has superb quality and an additional enchantment (Preservation) - but if you have a second shield user in the party it's better to let them use Little Savior (because everybody can equip it) and leave Outworn Buckler to Pallegina (because only Paladins can equip it). The main reason is: the Herald enchantment stacks with everything, even itself, so with both shields in the party you will apply +10 to all defenses instead of just +5. If you only have Pallegina as shield user in the party then yes: Little Savior is the better shield and you should use that instead of Outworn Buckler.

There is an attack roll. Most likely you only fought vessels who have weak deflection so far. Two consecutive hits doesn't mean you're not allowed to miss in between. You can hit, miss and hit again and Double Tap still destroys the vessel. The thing with the Red Hand's Double Tap is: only works against enemies of lower level than you. And it only works against vessels. It's awesome in general, but that are its limitations - which means you cannot rely on it 100% as backup weapon. If you meet vessels who are of equal or higher level it will not destroy them. If you meet pierce immune, non-vessel enemies (some blights for example) it will also not help you. It also gives you -10 accuracy because you are devoted to pistols. But if it works for you so far then that's great of course. Still I would try to get Eccea's Arcane Blaster at some point. There's a scripted interaction on the way there you need to pass with some skill checks. If you did that successfully you can catch Eccea (the foe who carries the pistol) while she's alone, guarding the entrance to a cave. There it's not too difficult to kill her and loot the pistol. Return later for the rest of her party (it's quite a challenging fight). Then you'll have an excellent backup weapon for all sorts of enemies. No one is immune to raw damage and you'll have a pistol with no accuracy drawback. It also has a very good second modal that adds elemental damage on top.

Devoted with pistol is a bit difficult because there is only one pistol that doesn't do pierce damage. So if you face enemies who are immune to pierce damage you are a bit screwed(you'll have to eat a -10 accuracy malus if you want to use any other type of weapon or pick Monastic Unarmed Training for fists). The pistol that does raw damage (Eccea's Arcane Blaster) is not easy to get early. But I would try now. Critical hits do PEN *1.5 automatically. I don't recall if Penetrating Crit does add +2 before the 1.5 multiplier or after. Before would be better of course. If it doesn't display the bonus at all it's maybe bugged? Since crits already do PEN*1.5 (which is more than enough, especially on a Devoted), I never bothered with Penetrating Crits but chose the +25% damage variant instead.

Because in terms of game mechanics, Bloodmage is generally the superior subclass over any other (and vanilla). A non-subclass Wizard has the only advantage that he/she could use Empower and has a little better basic sturdyness. Both is not relevant for this build. A Bloodmage can replenish spell casts as often as he/she likes (and if there's enough healing). This is relevant for this build since - once there's enough stacks of recovery bonus - you can spam spells a lot faster. Later you want to cast Wall of Draining in combo with a heal over time asap - and also as often as necessary.

I think Helwalker/Priest of Berath is a nice combo. Monk's/Helwalker's abilities increase melee as well as casting capabilities. You can add two further lashes (shock and burn) as well as up to +15 MIG and +2 PEN to the Spiritual Great Sword, have +10 INT for huge AoEs and long durations and so on.

This build wasn't intended for solo play, but I guess trying it wouldn't hurt. Merciless Hand just gives a bit more crit damage which isn't very helpful in the really difficult fights (in which you won't crit a lot in the first place) - so I personally would go for Second Skin. At least that will give you some value in every fight.

It doesn't matter much because you'll have barely any recovery. Dagger level damage with no recovery is way better than any regular sort of weapon damage. At the same time you'll get plenty of use from all the on-kill effects and the non-offensive enchantments of Wahai Poraga. Besides that I also said:

Yes (not in the build list though). You pick Berserker/Troubadour (or Beckoner) with maxed INT (to counter confusion's -5 INT and still hgave decen friendly-fire Carnage AoE size). You use Amra with Riven Gore (procs on crit, same size as Carnage). This raises the chance to "accidentially" kill your skeletons significantly. Blood Storm (Frenzy will last forever basically), Bloodlust, Blood Thirst, Bloody Slaughter. Ancient Brittle Bones first and then Many Lives Pass By for skeletons. Use a pet that heals on kill to completely counter Frenzy's self damage. Battle Axe modal always on because the recovery malus doesn't matter with Blood Thirst. That's basically it. Alternatively you can also use a reach weapon to better place the Carnage on certain enemies in order to hit more skeletons. You can do this without Berserker's confusion: use Whahai Poraga. It has friendly fire without confusion. You can combine Corpse Eater with Beckober or Skald for example: secondary summons like Ancient Brittle Bones' second wave skeletons, second wave drakes and also Many Lives Pass By will leave corpses when they die. You can use White Worms on the skeletons corpses and eat drake the drake corpses. The Berserker variat is significantly more brutal though. If you have a Chanter in the party already then it's better to use a Brute though: Blood Thirst in combination with Cleaving Stance is even more brutal when you accidantially kill your Chanter's skeletons: each kill will proc Blood Thirst but also a Cleave which usually kills the next skeleton and so on. In any case you do NOT want to have low health party members near such a guy who is wielding Amra in confusion. Riven Gore will destroy them instantly when they are below 50 health, removing them from the party without further ado.

No, not really. All but one of the Rogue's attack abilities are Full Attacks which are more effective with two weapons instead of one.

Every class that doesn't rely on Full Attacks can make good use of a single pistol. So Cipher and Chanter are good picks for example. Monk doesn't profit much from pistol and especially not a single one. Fighter, Barbarian and Paladin: same. Babarian's Blood Thirst (no recovery after a kill) doesn't work with reloading weapons.

Exactly Also doable. Fighter was just an example with some explanation why it would work especially well with scrolls (and potions), which to me seemed to have been the main focus of the original question. Paladin is good for soloing for several reasons, but not particularly effective with scrolls (but also not bad due to okay base Acc + Zealous Focus).

Cool! My congratulations!

Didn't try this solo, but Scordeo's Trophy on a Bloodmage/Ranger is pretty cool in general imo: The enchantment "Opening Barrage" reduces recovery universally (also for spells etc.). With Driving Flight and Gunner as well as the Pistol modal "Rushed Reload" you can stack a lot of those recovery bonuses quickly - and with Wall of Draining you can keep all of them going on forever, which leads to very short recovery and reloading times. You can then spam all sorts of spells with very short recovery time, shoot with little reloading time (there's a cap on reloading time though, at some point it won't get reduced further). Combine with Deleterious Alacrity of Motion and you can not only shoot and cast very quickly but also run very fast and not get engaged (immunity to engagement). Being able to kite enemies is very useful in a solo run. A Bloodmage can use Healing Hands (the gloves) in combination with Wall of Draining (the Minor Lay on Hands' healing stays forever) and Blood Sacrifice - and thus you don't have to worry about the self damage of Blood Sacrifice and Alacrity too much. All those Wall of Draining shenanigans in combination with Bloodmage make a solo run more easy anyways. There's also the Essential Phantom (summons are always nice for a solo run) which gets an exact copy of all your gear, including the pistol. The phantom stacks Opening Barrage, too - so it shoots faster and faster the longer it stays. However, it neither has Driving Flight nor the Rushed Reload modal and it cannot use Wall of Draining. But it gets the +12 accuracy for single weapon usage, so its accuracy is very good (for a summon).

I did one (long ago) for scrolls: It's bascially a Rogue who combines Deathblows with spell damage (+100%). Direct damage spells profit from Deathblows (bot not from Sneak Attack). Rogues can use spellbinding, spellholding and spellstriking gear to get spells - and of course scrolls. It's not a solo build though. For solo: A Fighter could use the same concept - not for the damage boost with Deathblows ofc., but scrolls in combination with his high base accuray and Disciplined Barrage (+20 Acc). Fighters are usually quite limited when it comes to AoE, especially disables and CC, which makes them meh at soloing - at least on PotD. With the right spells from spellbinding and scrolls and that high accuracy this is mendable. At the same time they have great base stats (acc, health, endurance, defenses) - which is nice for solo. High INT and PER are important I think. High INT and PER are also very nice with Clear Out. It's per rest - but your other spells are per rest (or consumables) are per rest, too, so Clear Out is not really adding restriction - it also works like a spell (no weapon involved actually) and it's very strong with high INT (big AoE and long prone). There is no need for a special build for potions imo. They don't change their workings no matter which class or build you use. Potion drinking animation is buggy (or was, maybe it got fixed with the current beta).